Walk on the Striped Side

by Jessie Lane

  Elena

  Sitting down at the oversized kitchen table, Elena opened the file on the dead demon and started spreading out the information they had. They had to figure out what their next step was going to be. Chairs scraped against tiles as they were pulled out from around the table and her Aunts and sisters sat down.

  “What’s next?” Chloe asked while studying her manicure.

  “We need to track down Lulu Ivanov.”

  Chloe pulled a nail file out of somewhere and started slowly filing her nails. “Should we buy some catnip and little mouse toys? Maybe we can use those to lure her out to talk to us.”

  Elena felt that muscle under her eye start to twitch again. If she didn’t know that Chloe was being purposely daft she’d give into the urge to throttle her. Grabbing a typed report, she started skimming over it. “Let’s go back over what we have. The victim, a demon, according to the Ninth Circle’s coroner, died as a result to a penetrating wound to the chest cavity-”

  “Ewwww. Something penetrated him to death?” Chloe gasped in horror. Leaning forward, “Did they at least use lube to make it easier on the poor guy?”

  Elena’s hand crumpled the report in frustration. With a mock growl she leaned towards her sister and snapped “Would you let me finish my damn sentence before you cut me off with your nonsense?”

  Chloe shrugged her shoulder and started filing her nails again as a response.

  Clearing her throat, Elena tried to get through the report again. “Like I was saying, the victim died as a result to a penetrating wound to the chest cavity, where his heart was then removed.”

  Delta stopped rubbing her bottom lip, a habit she did while deep in thought, to murmur back. “So, the Others are immortal, can heal from most things that would kill humans, but they can’t regrow organs. Interesting.”

  “Nope. We can add organ removal to the ‘It kills them list’ Miss. I-must-study-everything-like-a-science-experiment. Moving on.” Elena dropped the coroner’s report to the table and pushed some of the pictures out so that they were in the middle of the table. Pointing to the graphic up close shot of the victim’s chest she went on. “See the edges of the wound? The coroner goes on to state in the report that they’re jagged. Not a clean cut edge like you would get from a scalpel or knife. He states they’re consistent with torn skin from claw marks. Their conclusion makes sense given the fact that the body has wounds all over consistent with claw marks. Most noticeably are the deep scratches on his face, neck, arms and hands.”

  “Defensive wounds.” Aunt Thea murmured.

  “Exactly. Those claw marks, along with a report of the victim fighting with Lulu hours earlier, are the evidence they submitted to us. Because of those two things, the Ninth Circle says Lulu is guilty.”

  “Did any of their documents about the crime scene mention scents from the room?” Aunt Indigo asked.

  Chloe wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. I’m ever going to get used to the fact that they can smell things.”

  “Like that you’re full of shit?” Elena muttered.

  Chloe started to sputter in indignation at her sister but Aunt Indigo cut her off. “Not now girls. Focus. The Ivanov’s have a reputation and we don’t want to piss them off.”

  Chloe snorted. “What’s wrong? You afraid Gage will have a hissy fit?” She looked over to her sisters. “Get it? Hiss-y fit?” Chloe started giggling but stopped when it was met with silence. Throwing her hands up in the air, “Get it? Cats hiss, so hiss-”

  “Don’t ever tell that joke again.” Elena interrupted.

  Chloe stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. “Ohhhh… did I make you mad? Are you upset because I made fun of your boyfriend Garfield?”

  “Not at all. I could care less about Gage Ivanov.” Elena lied. “That was simply the worst joke I’ve ever heard and I never want to hear it again.” She looked down to the pictures before her and shuffled them around until she found the one she was looking for. Using her finger tips she pushed it out so that everyone could clearly see it. Pointing to shards of glass lying on the floor next to the wall, “That’s what is left of a woman’s perfume bottle. Because it had been thrown at the wall and shattered, they claim that was all they could smell at the scene. The Ninth Circle investigators state that it’s Lulu’s perfume.”

  “And there was no other evidence?” Her Aunt Thea asked. “No witnesses who might have heard them arguing around the time of death? Nothing to tell us the motive of why Lulu might have killed the demon?”

  “According to the victim’s brother, Lulu was his mistress.” Elena replied.

  “So, they’re trying to pitch this as a lover’s quarrel.” Thea mused. She leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms and stared at the crime scene photos. After a few silent seconds Thea said, “I don’t like it. It’s too clean cut.”

  “Clean?” Chloe asked. Her eyebrows inching up her forehead. Pointing her nail file at the pile of photos in front of them she said, “Nothing about that says clean to me. Do you see the way that room looks? It’s a mess. It looks like to wrestlers decided to have a no holds bar smack down in that room. And look at all of that blood! It could be a scene from Saw 4! How does that say clean to you?”

  Aunt Thea rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t talking about the room. What I meant was the Ninth Circle’s case against Lulu. They give us a coroner’s report that points to shifter’s claws as the tool implemented in the cause of death. There are no scents because supposedly Lulu’s perfume bottle was thrown against the wall and shattered. They don’t mention any witnesses, but the man was at his place of employment, which is a dental office?”

  “If they met at his office after hours, why would there be any witnesses?” Delta asked. “The place is closed. Everyone probably went home already.”

  “His office is located in a medical plaza with several other different medical practitioners. At least one of those offices also doubles as an urgent care clinic. Because of the hours the urgent care clinic operates on, there should at least be a witness from there. I’d bet good money one of those employees saw something or someone around the time the demon was murdered. I’m telling you girls, the case the Ninth Circle is giving us is too clean cut. It may seem circumstantial to anyone else who looks at it, but all I see is that they’ve left out any information that might give us reasonable doubt.” Thea explained.

  Elena shuffled through the reports again. “She’s right. There are no witness statements here. We’ve got the coroner’s report and the crime scene report. With the pictures, that’s all they gave us.”

  Elena leaned back in her chair and tipped her head back to look at the ceiling. Why? Why in the fuck couldn’t this have been a slam dunk case? Was it too much to ask that Lulu Ivanov would be guilty without a doubt? Then, when she handed that asshole’s precious sister over to the Ninth Circle Council, she could enjoy some much needed revenge. But NOOOOOOOOOO – fate had to go and fuck with her plans. Now she faced the reality that there was a good chance her Aunt was right and Gage’s sister was innocent. And if that was the case, she couldn’t do it then, could she? There was no way that Elena would stoop as low as turning an innocent woman – or tiger – over to some pompous demons to be tortured in god awful ways before they killed her. She didn’t like to admit it to people, but she did have a strong moral code. Elena just let everyone who didn’t know her think she was capable of anything because then they were more likely to fear you.

  The thoughts running through her head made her want to punch something. Gage’s face sounded like a good target, but he wasn’t around for that. Which was a shame, because the idea of breaking his pretty face was the only thing that might make her feel better right now.

  “I’m sorry Elena.” Thea said.

  A hollow laugh escaped from her. “For what? Pointing out that I was already starting to let my emotions rule my judgment and common sense? Don’t be. Perhaps I should be apologizing to you instead.”

  “For what?” Thea mimicked her. “Being one of the
many women in the history of the world who wanted to hurt a man as much as they had hurt her? Don’t be. You forget your ancestors were basically born from the concept. At least you didn’t do something stupid, like TP his house and slash his car’s tires. Your mother did that once you know.”

  Elena felt her spirits lift as an idea started to form. Her Aunt Indigo’s voice interrupted her plotting. “I don’t like that look on your face Elena. Please tell me that you aren’t planning to toilet paper Gage Ivanov’s house and then slash his tires?”

  A slow, sure smile spread across her face as she looked over at her sisters. Trying to mollify her Aunt she shrugged her shoulders. “Me? TP somebody’s home? Naw. You don’t have to worry about that.”

  Indio’s brows furrowed and she hedged, “No? Then what should I be worried about? Because you’re definitely up to something.”

  “I’m not up to anything. But tell me, if you were a scared tigress with two big, burly, badass brothers, where would you run to for help?”

  Her Aunts still looked at her suspiciously, if perhaps a little worries as well, but Thea nodded in understanding. Elena’s sisters who knew her inside and out more than likely knew without a doubt that she was up to something. Instead of chastising her, they did what any good sister would do. They gave her equally devious smiles that let Elena know they were on board for whatever she was planning.

  “Ladies, it looks like we’re headed into the tiger’s den.” Getting up from the table, with a confident stride she headed off towards her room to collect some much needed supplies.

  She had one large kitty to interrogate and irritate.

  CHAPTER-SEVEN

  Elena

  “So let me get this straight. You want us to go in there, shoot the bitch, and then drag her fat ass out here to our car? Are you nuts?!” Chloe screeched.

  Elena huffed. “No. I want us to make entry into the structure, detain the suspect, and then secure her in our vehicle.”

  “Say WHAAAAA-” Chloe asked in confusion.

  “Yes Chloe, Elena wants to go cap a beyotch. Where’s your ride or die love homie?”

  Chloe and Elena stopped glaring at each other to slowly turn their heads and stare at Delta, slack jawed and a little confused as to what she was talking about. Whatever cockamamie thing that had come out of her mouth was not her sister. Giving the redhead a slow head to toe inspection, she decided that it still looked like her sister, even if it didn’t talk like her sister. Had Delta been a victim of a modern day body snatcher’s scenario? Was this someone else wearing a Delta suit? There was a lot to the paranormal world she hadn’t learned about yet, but she didn’t think there were body snatchers. Which meant only one thing.

  Sighing wearily, Elena muttered. “What are you researching now Delta?”

  Her little sisters cheeks slowly turned bright red in embarrassment, and then that blush spread down her face to cover her throat too. Chagrined, Delta looked down to her feet. Then, used the toe of her silver ballet flat with little spikes on the tip to kick a rock before answering. “I might have watched a few movies to learn the intricacies of urban slang.”

  She didn’t know what to say. So she kept gawking at Delta. Aware that Chloe was doing the same thing, and that both of them doing it was probably making her shy little sister anxious. Which would make her feel bad, but she kept doing it anyway until Delta threw her arms up in the air in exasperation.

  “What? You never know when we might meet a new potential informant that has a rich dialect in urban slang! One of us would need to be able to understand what they’re saying!”

  Still unable to form words to respond to another one of Delta’s oddball ideas, Elena shook her head in disbelief. Her lack of response didn’t deter Chloe though. “I love you, perhaps not as much as I love my Jimmy Choo’s, but I do love you. However, if I ever hear your supposed urban dialect again, I will take your precious laptop upside your head to deter you from further research.”

  Elena snorted and Delta sulked. “Whatever.”

  Too keep from a fresh round of ridiculous sibling fighting, Elena snapped. “Can we get back to the mission at hand please?”

  “Yes G.I. Jane!” Chloe gave a piss poor mock salute that Elena had to grit her teeth over so that she wouldn’t correct it. “Please tell me again how you want us to go into the Ivanov house, shoot Lulu, and then have us drag her body out to the trunk of Aunt Indigo’s car! The car that you STOLE I might add.”

  Elena rolled her eyes at Chloe’s theatrics. “We’re not shooting to kill you idjit, so calm down. We’re just tranquilizing her so that we can chain her up at our house and question her.”

  “And we can’t go knock on the door, ask her for a cup of coffee and some answers, why?”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” Chloe reached out with her hands to towards Elena’s neck like she wanted to strangle her, but Delta stopped her. “Besides, I’m leaving behind a few presents for Ivanov. If I can’t get my revenge by arresting his sister, at least let me have this.” When both of her sisters continued to glare at her, she did what she’d never done before. Begged. “Please.”

  “You’re going to get us killed.” Chloe sighed as she shook off Delta’s hold on her. After straightening her clothes, Chloe nodded silently, and then turned to start stomping towards the Ivanov’s house. “Fine. But if I get turned into cat chow during this stupid bullshit, you better make sure to bury me in my Manolo’s. I wanna be the hottest chewed up dead chick anyone’s ever seen.” She snapped.

  Elena leaned over to Delta and whispered. “And she says we’re weird.”

  Delta looked at her and deadpanned, “You’re like the Amazon version of RoboCop with your ridiculous mission speak and small armory hidden away in your bedroom. I watch movies like Friday and asked a vampire once if I could rub his fangs all in the name of research. Are any of us normal?”

  “Good point.” Elena pulled out her tranquilizer gun that had enough darts in it to put down a herd of elephants and headed after Chloe. “Now let’s go get that crazy hooker before she gets herself clawed to death by tigers.”

  They walked up to Chloe who was standing at the front door. As Elena walked up she could hear the faint sounds of scraping and clicking, so she peered over her sister’s shoulder to see what she was doing. There was no way to hide her shock when she saw that Chloe was picking the lock.

  “Where did you learn to do that?”

  A louder snick sounded as Chloe turned the knob and opened the door. Without looking back, she whispered “From a friend I met at a casino.”

  Elena wondered when Chloe had been to a casino and what else she had learned from this mysterious friend as she watched her sister tip toe cautiously into the house. Elena edged silently past her, holding the tranquilizer gun up and ready to shoot. Looking around, she cursed the layout because it was in essence one big open area. One room flowed into the next, so there weren’t a lot of hiding spots should they need to take cover. There was a hallway to the left. The bedrooms and bathrooms would probably be back there. Just as she was about to start silently easing her way towards that hallway, a small body topped with red hair tumbled on the floor past her.

  She watched Delta try to pull herself into a pitiful looking crouch. Delta was far from coordinated though, so her feet slipped out from under her. For a second she almost looked like she was trying to run in place with her feet slipping and sliding all over the place. Finally Delta stopped her pathetic running man imitation so that she ended up in a squat. Her hands held out in front of her, clasped together with her pointer finger and thumb in the shape of a gun. Good Lord, her sister looked like a Charlie’s Angel reject.

  “What are you doing?” Elena said in an angry whisper.

  “A tuck and roll.”

  “That was NOT a tuck and roll.” Elena argued.

  “Yes it was!” Delta snapped back.

  “NO, it wasn’t. A tuck and roll is a quick, smooth, efficient maneuver that allows you to stay out of the l
ine of fire while still moving forward towards your target. Whatever THAT was, was not a tuck in roll. It was more like a flailing, sad advertisement that you would be the easiest one to kill first. And why are you still holding your hands like they’re a gun? Are you going to shoot imaginary bullets now too?”

  “Well, you wouldn’t give me a gun! What else was I supposed to do?” Delta wailed.

  “You’re damn skippy I wouldn’t give you a gun! You’d probably shoot yourself while trying and failing to do your stupid tuck and roll!” Elena yelled back, forgetting that they were in a tiger’s den and supposed to be quiet.

  “Eh… guys…” Chloe shakily whispered.

  “My tuck in roll is not stupid!” Delta shouted, ignoring her oldest sister.

  “Not only was it stupid, I should video record it and send in a copy to the Army! They can use it in their demonstration of how not to do a tuck in roll.” Elena yelled back.

  Delta stomped her foot. “I wasn’t that bad.”

  Chloe raised her voice a little and said “Oh s-i-s-t-e-r-s…”

  Nodding, “No, you’re right, you were worse.” Delta started to sputter, but Elena cut her off with a wave of her hand then pointing back to the front door. “That’s it, go back to the car-”

  “HEY BITCHES!” Chloe screamed. Elena and Delta’s heads snapped up to glower at Chloe. “Can you shut the fuck up about your rolls and tucks and LOOK. THE. FUCK. UP!”

  Slowly, knowing they weren’t going to like what they were about to see, the two sisters looked up, and there, on the other side of the vast living room, was a full grown tiger laying across a beam. Watching them. Analyzing them really. And Elena would swear that the tiger was smiling. Or, at least she hoped it was a smile. Because otherwise she’d have to admit that all of those shiny, pointy white teeth it was showing right now was a threat. This was not good. Like, a tiger’s going to eat me, and not in a good way, not good.