The Moonlight Monsters Detective Agency Volume One

by Maggie Harper

  ‘Sounds like a plan,’ Tina smiled.

  They climbed back into the car and sat down.

  ‘God damn right you came back,’ Sam accused from the back seat, ‘I thought you were going to leave me here.’

  ‘Relax,’ Tina laughed, ‘besides, it’s not like you’re going to see any of the action anyway.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Parker asked.

  ‘You see these SWAT guys?’ Boris said, ‘they get all the fun today. I knew we shouldn’t have bothered with the normals.’

  ‘That’s exactly what I said!’ Parker nodded, ‘I mean, we’re the ones with the super powers, right? What do we need human backup for?’

  ‘Oh please,’ Tina sighed, rolling her eyes, ‘typical male bravado…’

  Up ahead Commander Daniels barked an order and the SWAT vans opened their doors. The SDA detectives watched as the special officers filed out and then set off out of the alley way. Daniels turned back and nodded to Tina. It was about to begin.

  Five minutes later, she knew something was wrong. Commander Daniels was speaking heatedly into his phone pacing up and down outside his car. Occasionally, he would glance back over his shoulder at Tina and the others. He didn’t look happy when he did.

  ‘This doesn’t look promising,’ Parker observed from the back seat.

  ‘Shut up a minute,’ Tina said.

  Daniels began striding towards the car. He tapped on the window.

  ‘What’s up?’ Tina asked.

  ‘Follow me,’ Daniels said, ‘we’ve got a problem.’

  The detectives stepped out of the car, Tina releasing Parker from the makeshift prison in the back of her company car, and then they headed off after the police commander. He hadn’t bothered waiting for them as he walked out of the alleyway.

  They crossed the street towards Draco’s compound and immediately Tina knew that the operation had failed. Some of the SWAT guys were hanging around the gates smoking cigarettes and looking pissed off. The guys in the high viz jackets with the smirks on their faces walking around them were obviously Draco’s men.

  ‘Oh bloody heck,’ Parker muttered as they approached, ‘they’ve cocked it all up, haven’t they?’

  Tina didn’t answer. At the gates Daniels was waiting for them.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘follow me.’

  They walked across the lot to the warehouse. An armed SWAT man waited at the doorway. ‘Commander,’ he nodded as Daniels approached.

  The commander turned back to face the others. ‘This warehouse was supposed to be filled with cocaine, right?’ he said. He stepped back to allow them through.

  Inside the warehouse was empty, save for a few reels of copper wire.

  ‘But I saw it with my own eyes,’ Tina said.

  ‘I believe you,’ Daniels answered, ‘not that it matters now either way.’

  ‘The ships,’ Tina said, ‘did you search the ships?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Daniels said, ‘nothing that is, except copper wires.’

  ‘What about Aiolfo?’ Tina asked.

  ‘Yeah, he’s inside,’ the commander answered. ‘Let’s go up and see him, shall we?’

  They stepped into the warehouse and walked up a set of metal stairs. At the end of a boardwalk was a door to an office. It was already open.

  As they approached, Draco rose from his desk inside the room and smiled widely. ‘Ah Miss Peterson,’ he said, ‘we meet again.’

  ‘Where’s the gear, Draco?’ Tina asked.

  ‘What gear?’ the demon replied, ‘the only gear is wires – that is my business.’

  Before Tina had a chance to respond, Sam arrived at the office door behind her. Draco’ face dropped when he saw the vampire.

  ‘Draco?’ Parker said, ‘remember me?’

  Slowly, Draco smiled again. ‘No,’ he said, ‘no, I’m afraid not. Have we had some business perhaps? I do so much business, I can’t remember everybody I deal with you see.’

  Tina could feel the rage building inside Sam before he acted on it; that was how angry the vampire was.

  ‘You son of a bitch!’ he shouted, ‘you killed the only person in the world I really cared about!’ Parker darted forward and tried to get into the office, his fangs spiking out and his eyes turning blood red. Boris grabbed him before he tried to tear the demon to pieces.

  Draco backed away slightly but the cool smile on his face never faltered. ‘Commander,’ he said, ‘are you really going to let this reprobate threaten me like that?’

  ‘Shut your damn mouth Aiolfo,’ Daniels barked. He turned to Tina and in a quieter voice said: ‘get him the hell out of here, will you?’

  ‘Sam!’ Tina shouted, ‘cool down, for Christ sake. You’re only making things worse here.’

  Parker shook himself loose from Boris’s grip. He was still enraged, but at least his fangs had disappeared now. ‘Oh really?’ he said, ‘and just what the hell is there left to solve around here anyway Peterson?’

  Tina said nothing, she could feel the pain radiating off the man.

  ‘You screwed it up Tina,’ Sam continued, ‘I told you we should have moved when we had the chance and now it’s too God damned late!’

  Daniels stepped forward. ‘Just who the hell is this guy anyway?’ he demanded.

  Tina ignored him. ‘Sam,’ she said, ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Yeah? Well me too,’ Parker said and stormed off down the staircase.

  Commander Daniels was still worked up beside her on the boardwalk. ‘Dammit I asked you a question?’ he said, ‘who the hell is that guy?’

  Tina stared at him. ‘Oh shut the fuck up,’ she said, ‘Sam was right. There’s a leak in your department somewhere Daniels and now a whole warehouse full of cocaine has slipped through the cracks and out into the city we’re supposed to be protecting. Come on Boris, we’re out of here.’

  Before leaving she turned back to Draco. The demon prince nodded slightly as he smiled.

  ‘Miss Peterson,’ he said, ‘will there be anything else?’

  ‘Not this time,’ Tina snorted, ‘but soon. Watch your back asshole.’

  As she walked down the steps with Boris behind her, Draco Aiolfo called out after them. ‘Oh I always do!’ he laughed, ‘a pleasure as always, Miss Peterson…’

  When they got back to the car Parker was nowhere to be seen. Tina guessed he’d decided to make his own way back to the city.

  ‘Ah Christ, what a screw up,’ she sighed as she pulled out of the alleyway.

  ‘These normals,’ Boris shrugged, ‘what can be done? If they are not corrupted, then they are completely incompetent.’

  ‘I’ll say,’ Tina nodded.

  She was upset about letting parker down sure, but it was impossible to ignore the bigger issue at hand. If all those narcotics were intended for sale in Moonlight City then an epidemic of massive proportions was on the horizon. And they’d missed the tiny window of opportunity to kill it before it grew into the monster it was likely to become. Trouble was coming, for the paranormals and normals of Moonlight City alike.

  It all made sense now, she observed. That freak incident over Christmas with the Krampi – and the massive bank heist that had gone beside it – that was Draco Aiolfo’s doing. Hell, he’d probably used that money to fund his burgeoning drug enterprise. He’d been setting himself up in the shadows this whole time, right under her nose, and now it was too late to stop him.

  And Parker, when he’d told her about the Krampi, he must have known the full score. She’d known there had been something he wasn’t telling her. All this time, he’d been trying to stop Draco.

  Dammit, she thought, if only he’d been straight with her from the beginning. It was his own fault. It was his own damn fault.

  ###

  About the author:

  Maggie Harper is a writer and musician from Massachusetts. When she’s not penning fantastical tales or bowing her fiddle, she enjoys cycling and cookery. (They say she makes a five bean chili that’d knock your socks off�
�)

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