by brett hicks
I put my free hand on Sally’s thigh and said, “You can stay with us for as long as you like. Maybe you can get your dad to simmer down? I am still pissed about him attacking me, but mostly I still love him like an uncle, or a father figure. I don’t wish any harm on your pack, I hope you know that.”
She nodded and gave me a thin smile. “I know that and thanks Kay. I do not want to be in the position to pick one or the other, but right now I know you need my support more than he does. Maybe he will chill the fuck out while I am gone. One can only hope so. My animal side is grieving the fact that I had to make such a radical decision, but I know I did the right thing.”
I let out a long breath and just brooded for a few moments about the past twenty four hours. I just could not understand why the hell Sally’s dad would turn on me so harshly overnight. I was literally at his mercy the night before, but he had me fixed up. I have never seen him so over the moon about anything in my life. It was like someone else was in his body.
I looked back to Sally and I was about to say something when my mom said, “Girls I hate to actually have to remind you both that you start senior year tomorrow morning. You both need to get some damn rest. Let me worry about figuring out what bur is up your dad’s ass. Next to your mom, I am probably the best person to get him to come clean.”
Sally frowned a little deeper, but the nodded and said, “I will just take my room then Miss Mac.”
Mom gave her a sassy look and said, “Scoot you two.”
Chapter: 14
I was drug from my peaceful rest by a feisty blue streaked werewolf this morning. I cursed all the way to school, because I am naturally, not a morning person. We had stopped off at Star Bucks to sate my savage beast. Sally was so damn hyper I tried to get her to take a decaf, but like me, she was not a decaf girl.
When we were out of my little silver Civic, we heard little girly squeals ahead of us. I saw Lacey tickling Marla to death, with her stomach showing a bit, because Lacey could not keep her hands outside her clothing. I rolled my eyes and inwardly smiled at my friends, as I took a long sip of my mocha. I heard the squealing stop, then I see them walking over to us like nothing was just happening. Sally looked giddy and I could already smell the lust coming from her. We were barely on school property and she was sizing up her first conquest of the year. It is a damn miracle she has not ended up preggo yet!
“Kay! Sal,” Marla exclaimed loudly to us. She ran up and hugs each of us tightly. Lacey settled for nodding to us and giving a small wave. Lacey may be the more brazen of the two, but Marla was fiercely territorial about her girlfriend. It was always amusing to watch her around the hormonal teenage boys, who eyed all of us like we were on the lunch menu.
“Hey how’s my favorite couple this morning?” I smiled and took another sip of my coffee. Sally was still distracted with all the male eye candy and she did not really say anything. I could sense that she was frustrated and it was growing into an annoying stench for us sups. I tried not to let her scent bother me too much, because it is generally unwise to let people see you bothered with smells they cannot sense. It is a dead giveaway that you’re not human.
“So looks like we all have the same courses more or less this year right?”
Marla chuckled and said, “Yeah thank to a certain horny she-wolf. Think we all have math first.” Sally rolled her eyes at the mention of her. She had a few pack members who worked in the office at our school. We also had some teachers and our gym teach too, all wolves. Sally’s pack was huge and it basically covered all the wolves in, or around the whole city.
She had been very relaxed, like it was just another day at school, but I was worried about all the wolves on campus. Everyone would know that the heir to their pack throne had left the pack by now. Hell I am sure they felt her sever connection with the pack bound. I did not know exactly how pack connections worked, but it brought them closer together and strengthened each other. Apex alpha’s like Sally could be exactly as strong and be a lone wolf, thus why she does not care. Sally loves her pack and I know it, but she will never feel the need to have a pack the way lesser wolves do. They flock to the flame of power that is the apex. Sally was now like a full blown forest fire of power. I felt it sizzle off her skin, like warm waves of a camp fire.
“Ok girlies get your blonde butts into the school!” I turned around and Leia was smirking at us. I took another gulp of my mocha and walked over and gave her a half hug.
“I think Kay switched teams on us, or maybe she always batted from the other box?” I turned back and gave Sally my full steel storm eyed glare. She threw up her hands in mock surrender and said, “Hey just trying to figure out how to get you laid cheri!”
“You horny ass wolf, we need to get you spaded after class!”
She snorted and grimaced at the thought, because someone had actually taken her to the vet once when she shifted for the second time. They did not know she was a were. Someone thought it was a good idea to shift during rush hour in the city. Sally has always been our craziest gal pal on every level.
“You take me anywhere near that butcher again and he is gonna be missing more than a finger this time!” She growled it out at me. I rolled me eyes and said, “Well pretty sure you should have known better then to shift anywhere near Bourbon Street.”
“It was a dare! Common you know how nutty the first moon is for new wolves! It makes rush week look tame!” Marla, Lacey, Leia and I all bust out laughing. Marla calmed down first and said, “Pretty sure only Cajon were’s are crazy enough to do shit like that.”
Sally beamed with pride and said, “At least someone remembers I am a Buoy girl! All these people at school think I am some sort of Georgia peach or something.”
“No, but you sure do put out a lot of cherry pie for the boys at school Sal.” I received a snarl for that remark, and threats to my Civic, in the form of peeing in the car, while shifted.
After we finished giving Sally hell, we decided to grace the school with our beautiful selves. We were barely in the door, before I could smell all the hostility in the air. I saw the forest colored auras of the young pack members who attended our school.
Our High school was located on the other side of the bride, just outside the French Quarter. Larry Walker High School, it was built as one of the five replacement schools, after hurricane Katrina leveled half the district. It was also a golden opportunity for the were community to use some capital, to help gain a place to teach their young. Many other sups use this school, since it is centralized around the cities territories.
I could see the smoke or fog like aura around a few witches here and there. I saw some deep purple auras, but I had no idea what that meant yet. This new sight was still very new to me. I saw the way the werewolves and the witches mostly clustered apart from each other into their own little clicks. Nearly a quarter of the roughly nine hundred students, are sups.
Landry-walker High School looked like three rectangles connected together, in a boxy u shape. It was a modern building design, which is still new and shiny. Its grey and finish stuck out like a sore thumb next to the deeply green grass of the lawns. The building all had windows lining most of the structures on the inside section of the walls.
Inside it was grey floor tiles and grey walls, which lead to yellow text designs on the upper half of the walls. The yellow on grey was very ugly to me, but I only have to endure it for about nine more months. I was just going to have to suck it up and look at senior year like an unwanted pregnancy and just survive it.
We climbed the massive main stair case and found our calculus class on the second floor. Several mid ranking she-wolves and a few young dominant males were in this class. They all stopped talking when our group entered the room. Their very malicious stares would have killed me, if looks could indeed kill.
I could hear them gossiping about us in hushed tones, but not so hushed that Sally and I could not hear every word of it. They were talking about how the apex had to throw his wayward daughter out
of the pack, because she was consorting with vampires. They went on to suggest that she had contracted three types of STDs too. Sally did not really care what they were saying, but she saw me glaring at them like they were my next me, so she pushed her apex aura out and let a subhuman level growl rip through the floor. It vibrated your ears and the raw power promised death and destruction. Her savage nature promised all that dared oppose her a swift death.
I saw the little midlevel beta class girls tremble. They tried to make it look like they were not about to piss themselves, but I saw them stiffen up and tremor in terror. Betas are the second tier of the wolf food chain. They are not weak by any means, but compared to the very apex alpha female before me, they were nothing.
We all took a row of desks on the far left in the class at the front. I may hate the education system, but I am a very good student. My friends tend to all be decent too, since we all study together. I guess you could say we have a little sub click of attractive young ladies, who do not get along with the prep squad barbies.
………
We were going to eat lunch off campus, since all four of us have so many credits, that we only have to attend half days this year. Somehow I still felt like my sanity was drained by the time we exited the building. We waved our half day passes with cheery smiles, to the ridged staff members questioning our exit. It felt damn good to not have to be in that hell hole for a whole day now. I really could have graduated already, but I was taking classes that applied as first semester basic credits, to any university. It was worth the hassle, since some of our gang was a few credits shy of graduating at the moment. I did not want to start college without my friends.
I was about to unlock my car, when I saw one six foot hunk of LA bread detective leaning against my door. I gave him my best, ‘what the hell are you doing here,’ look and he nodded to me.
“Damn tell me you’re going to hit that Kay.” I punched Sally in her arm. She whimpered a little and pretended to be hurt. Damn horny, sulky she-wolf. Thankfully Lacey and Marla had already left, so had Leia. I did not know if my human friends would ditch me if they knew what I was or not.
“Detective, do you mind telling me why you’re loitering on the school grounds. Or why your ass is assaulting my car door?” He snorted his amusement and gave me a winning simile, showcasing his dimples. I was pretty sure I smelled a little bit lusty to any sup around me right now. I never seem to control my emotional balance around attractive guys.
Sally walked up to him and offered him her hand and said, “So I guess Kayla has some damn good reasons for wanting to work with the police, if they come as hot and young as you detective, Sally Early, nice to finally meet you.”
I saw the recognition in his eyes from her name. She was a well-known supernatural, even as young as she is. I have only been able to keep all human attention off myself, because I had Sally to claim that she was defending people on pack business.
“Jeune femme Early it is a pleasure to meet you.” Jon shook her hand and said, “I am Jon Divichi, I work supernatural crime.”
Sally laughed lightly and said, “Oh I know who you are, you’re the detective that came to the pack land yesterday afternoon and threatened to throw my dad in jail.”
He shrugged and said, “I could not forgive a man who would strike a pretty young lady, or anyone for no reason. My granddad raised me better than that.”
Sally waved him off casually and said, “Oh I am not mad at you. I was only absent from your arrival, because my dad flipped his shit and threw me in the pack cells. I heard the gammas gossiping about it while I was planning my daring escape.”
He gave her a concerned look, when her face said that she was not joking. “Cheri are you ok? I can go back out there and find a reason to take him in for a few nights if that might help you?”
Sally poked me with her thumb and said, “Oh I am crashing with blonde locks over here.”
“Might I point out you are blonde too little blue!” We exchanged sassy looks, then the horny wolf was back to eyeing the man candy. I cleared my throat and said, “So detective, what brings you all the way to this fine public education institution?”
I saw his expression go blank cop now and he was all business now. “Cheri I was hoping you might let me take you on a date to the morgue. I have a string of murders, which are all vampire kills, but there not making much sense. I thought maybe you would see something I did not.”
I arched my eyebrow and gave him a snarky tone. “Are you asking for my help again detective?” He shrugged his shoulders and I found myself lost in the thought of the thick muscles on them for a moment.
“I am not less of a man, or a detective, because I know when to ask for help cheri.”
I nodded and said, “I was not suggesting you were not good at your job for the record. Here Sally you take the car, tell the girls I have a hot date. I will get the nice detective to drop me off at home.” I looked at him and said, “That is not a problem I hope?”
Sally snatched my keys and Jon nodded. “Of course I will drop you off at home cheri. It would be the least that I can do, considering.” I nodded and said, “Ok, let’s go then.”
Chapter: 15
We were pulling into the morgue back lot, at the local city police precinct. The 8th precinct was down on Royal Street, in the heart of the French Quarter. I smirked to myself as a group of tourists were going around to the front for a tour. Only in New Orleans would you find tours of the down town station house.
Jon led me into the back entrance and down into a basement level. The hall ways down on this level were very tight and I was pondering how they managed to cart bodies down here. After a couple of lefts we ended up in the door to the morgue. Jon swung back and looks at me.
“You sure you want to go in here after filling your stomach?” I rolled my eyes and said, “Please like it is anything I haven’t smelled before.”
His eyes narrowed a bit and he said, “Interesting that you mention smell and not sight Kayla. Mot humans would say, ‘nothing I have not seen before.” I rolled my eyes again and crossed my arms over my chest.
“Look if I was a normal person, you would not be skulking at my car, outside my high school.”
He snorted and said, “Don’t I know it cheri.”
He opened the door and the mix of cleansers and rot was like a punch to the gut. I suppressed a hiss at the stink, but I could see his amusement at my reaction. I was glaring daggers at him, willing lasers to fire from my eyes, but no lasers today, dammit!
A middle aged, balding coca skinned man was looking me over now, with a strong mix of skepticism and mistrust.
“Doc this is Kayla McQueen, she is a civilian consultant on these cases. Kayla this is Doctor Jake Barnes. He is our head medical examiner.”
I extended my hand and he was polite enough to shake my hand firmly. “Nice to meet you Ms. McQueen, I don’t know why Jon here thinks you will catch something I did not. I am a doctor and a practicing witch.”
I gave him another look and sure enough he had some magic aura around him. It was not strong, so I had missed it my first look at him. I could barely feel a spark of power from his grip. It was different than mine or moms, it was more like a were. I tilted my head and rationalized it out in my mind for a moment, before I came to a conclusion.
“Earth type magic practitioner right?”
He looked shocked at my pronouncement. “How the hell did you guess that, most need to see your element, before they know what you are?”
I shrugged and said, “Instincts Doctor no parlor tricks.”
He nodded and said, “Ok, maybe the kid might be able to see something I did not Jon.”
Jon laughed roughly and said, “Yeah she don’t miss much doc.”
“Detective do you mind showing me these bodies, before you start a damn tea party?”
He laughed again and nodded to the doctor. Dr. Barnes went and opened a large metal body drawer, like I would see on crime shows. It was frosty inside
and it had held the smells of the dead inside.
I was looking at a young woman and Dr. Barnes was reading from a clipboard now. “Name is Shelly Rogers. She was twenty before her death. If you look over here she was killed by neck injury, during the vampire feeding. We think the vampire got too excited and snapped her neck.”
I looked her over and I could see the purpled neck wound of the twin punctures on her neck. I looked at it closely and examined the bite radius by eye. I looked at the neck injury, but it did not look like an angle of accidental cause to me. I was not an M.E. but I was a dyamphyr, so I knew a bit about how vampires latch at the neck. The other thing that was bothering me, was how clean this bite was, like she was drugged, or under a spell. If that was the case, then it might show up in trace magic.
I pushed my vampire magic and my witch magic to the surface a little, but not enough to spook the M.E. I was sure my eyes were glowing silver now. I kept myself out of direct view from either men and I could see very slight traces of glamor on her skin. I could also see a thick blackish purple smoky film around her. I sniffed in the scent of her skin and I about gaged, because it stank of bleach.
I pulled out my phone and texted my mom, told her the address of the 8th and to come to the morgue. I did not know what kind of magic this was, but someone covered up whatever the ritual was, with bleach.
“So what you thinking there Kayla and who you texting?”
I let out a long breath and said, “I am having my mom come down to examine your trace magic here. She is the heir of the largest coven in this state, or so I am told.”
Dr. Barnes eyes were bug now. “You’re that McQueen then?”
I sighed and nodded grimly. “Yep I am a genuine monster Dr. Barnes.”
“Kayla you’re a witch? Why not just tell me that in the first place?”
