At First Sight (Persephonii Waters Book 1)

by Melanie Brown

  Making her way around the room, pulling blankets and throws from every corner and bin, she covered the wolf pack, collecting bowls as she went. Finally, she placed the collected and stacked bowls on the table in the corner of the den, turned off the T.V, dimmed the lights and sought out her own bed.

  However, the world had other ideas about how she would spend her night and came with a call from Chase, who was down stairs waiting to take her to meet Madison and Agent Fox at the Morgue.

  Persephonii had been texting Madison for updates on Mr. Blake's autopsy, and Chase to catch up with her theories. She had assumed he was working from home as Aaren had mentioned he was following up on a few of their cases.

  Medical Examiner's Office. Lakewood, WA. 9:47pm PST.

  Walking towards them was Madison, cups in hand, she had brought hot drinks with her. It must have been the way she worded her texts, but Madison always knew when she needed a hot stout cup of tea.

  Taking a swig of what Persephonii knew was coffee, well Madison liked a little coffee with her sugar and creamer, they talked shop while waiting for Agent Fox to arrive. It was easier to start with everyone present rather than have to go over the information multiple times. In addition, Fox had been one of the first officers on the scene and as lead Investigator for the case, could shed more light on a few questions. He arrived scant minutes later as the drinks were finished and discarded, no food was allowed in the examination and lab areas.

  Lakewood's Crime Labs, Morgue and Medical Examiner's office resided in a large warehouse like building, not to dissimilar from Persephonii's warehouse, though they were literally on the opposite ends of town. The brick and mortar building had Three stories and a basement, which housed the ballistics and firearm storage. The M.E lab was in the back on the first floor, connected to shipping and receiving and the loading docks. Far from the glass and chrome technological marvels that appeared on television, the building had finally been retro fitted about five years ago. With larger windows, the steel structure made sure the brick building could withstand a few earthquakes and allowed for a more 'open concept' space on each of the floors. Freezers and a state of the art air filtering system took up the back half of the building, allowing for easy access and storage of bodies still waiting to be processed or released to their kin.

  Stainless steel tables and chemical resistant plastic laminate, Formica floors, had been updated to a light grey marbled pattern. Persephonii liked the updates and thought the once dark and florescent lit space had become more environmentally friendly. It was still a shock to see so many bodies on the exam tables.

  "What is that smell? I thought decay was bad enough but what could make decomp smell that much worse?" Chase's voice was muffled because his arm was raised, nose and mouth buried in the V of his elbow as he walked in.

  "I'll get to that later... Mr. Blake was definitely Turned, sometime within the last four months. Though pin pointing an exact time with this advanced decomp is unlikely." Even so close to the smell Madison presented a facade that said 'it could have easily been roses'. It was something she knew irked Chase, as he rarely took cases like this, especially if he would have to interact with advanced decomposing bodies. He often could be quoted saying he had, had 'enough of that with the Bureau'.

  "So...more complications from the Rogue Maker's Turning?" Chase was looking a little green standing so close to Mr. Blake's remains on the table.

  "Could the heat have attributed to so rapid a decomp? I've never smelt anything quite like Mr. Blake here." Agent Fox looked somewhat amused at Chase, who gave the Agent an annoyed look over his arm. Persephonii took pity on her partner and handed him a small container of smelling salve from a belt pocket. Like a vapor rub, the petroleum jelly based salve was her own concoction to help mask the more intense odors on a case. Grabbing it from her with an expression of gratitude, he stepped over towards the lab doors, inhaled a big breath of fresh air and put on the salve. Walking back to the autopsy table, he begrudgingly held the salve out to Agent Fox, who merely shook his head, and turned back for Madison to continue.

  "As you know, bodies decompose rapidly in hostile climates, although the heat in the house sustained the core body temperature at a steamy 89.9 degrees, we see little to no insect or microbe activity on the body, nor did the heat overly contribute to the advanced decomposition." Madison, typed a few keys on the computer enhancing a slide from the microscope onto the larger screen.

  "This is a tissue sample from Mr. Blake's liver, as you can see the liver was in later stages of necrosis..." Before Madison could get any further Persephonii chimed in.

  "He died from Cirrhosis of the liver?" Persephonii's voice held no small amount of incredibility.

  "The cause of death wasn't a result of the Turning?" Chase and Agent Fox looked from Mr. Blake's body to the monitor and back.

  "No, he did die of complications from the Turning just not any we would expect to see. I've never seen anything like it. Persephonii take a look." She headed over toward the lab counter Madison was pointing to, where the slide in question was under the microscope and camera, the liver was sectioned and laid out for examination.

  "Some parts of this liver look almost normal...are you saying it may have still been trying to function after he was Turned?" She asked while examining a few more slides to be sure. Persephonii couldn't imagine the type of pain Mr. Blake must have been going through.

  "That and more." Madison brought over a small wheeled table that had Petri dishes of different substances in them. "From the inspection of the house a few bottles of something that looked like blood was found in a wine fridge in the office. Turns out its a new Blood substitute not yet on the market. In fact, they're still in the testing phases and you'll have to guess what's in it..." Chase and Persephonii exchanged a heated looked, while Agent Fox lifted an eyebrow behind his glasses.

  "Our super duper protein?" Chase seemed smug that he came to the same conclusion as Percy just a quickly. She gave him a smile in congratulations.

  "Exactly." Madison gave both Percy and Chase an intense look. If Percy had to guess, it meant the two women would be debating biology and physiology, for the next few days at least.

  "Let me get this straight. Mr. Blake's C.O.D is ultimately Cirrhosis?" Agent Fox seemed skeptical that anyone else would believe such a strange diagnosis.

  "Ultimately... yes. We can tell by the lipid panels that the liver was still functioning normally, well at least trying to when it succumbed to Cirrhosis which led to necrosis." Madison was pointing to sections of the slides Percy was currently examining, the larger version of which, was being traded out on the monitor screen.

  "The liver's main functions are ridding the body of harmful substances in the bloodstream, including toxins, drugs and alcohol. Along with manufacturing blood proteins that aid in clotting, oxygen transport, and immune system function." Persephonii talked while she worked, finally pausing to look back up from examining the liver.

  Looking to the M.E. she hypothesized a little. "Here's a theory for you, Madison. If Mr. Blake is one, if not the first Chylde of the Rogue Maker, say the experiment and theory were new, and untried.... Perhaps it wasn't as successful as they would have liked...but somehow against all odds, Mr. Blake survives..." Against all known evidence about Para, specifically those infected with the H.V. Virus, they were looking at the first half-Turned Chylde, possibly in existence.

  "But his systems are only half Vampyre with a few organs still trying to hold out and function properly..." Madison continued the line of thought, she was always up for crafting a good hypothesis.

  "So he needs blood.... but normal human blood would be a stop gap, he would need something that did more than just cycle through his system. He would need something that might help repair it..." Persephonii hadn't heard of another substitute other than Red and Crimson Tide, which was being produced by a friend of the family, who were hoping to go more mainstream with the product in the near future. But if another lab was still in the ea
rly stages of testing, the company may not have wanted to let the information out before it was ready.

  "Or even push the Vampyre virus to completion." Agent Fox chimed in from his corner, connecting dots with their theory.

  "From the preliminary tests the lab has gotten back to us, the blood substitute is full of different supplements, a concoction of proteins, including your 'super protein,' synthetic blood and a small amount of Vampyre blood." At this last statement all four of them looked at the samples on the cart.

  "You mean that the Rogue Maker's Blood is in this substitute?" Chase was clearly disgusted at the thought.

  "Is there any way to get a D.N.A. profile on the blood?" Agent Fox looked rather hopeful, as if this could provide the break they were looking for.

  "Unfortunately, no. It's too degraded and intermingled with the synthetic plasma and other proteins to isolate any kind of profile. The lab has been working on trying to identify everything in the mix, but it's a literal mess." Madison's soft tone was both put out and said she was trying to let them down easy. It was a big fall compared to the outcome they had been hoping for.

  "So what about the smell?" Chase popped in with a question that had obviously been in the back of his mind though out the entire conversation.

  "The necrosis combined with the large amounts of this concoction and its degrading throughout his system is what is causing the intense smell. Mr. Blake must have been in severe amounts of pain, and drinking the substitute like water. His internal organs all show at least some sign of necrosis but the liver is by far the most severely affected organ." Shaking her head as she explained, Madison rounded the corner of the table, moving back to the counter to turn off the microscope and camera.

  "In other words... Mr. Blake was basically rotting from the inside out while still alive." Persephonii's quite voice broke the silence after Madison's explanation. It was a harsh reality, there was now no doubt in her mind that Mr. Blake knew he had been Turned. Had he chosen to participate in this experiment or was he tricked into it?

  "Blood subs...blood transfer supplies... Is there any way to link the order of this drink to anyone? The shell company we have yet to get any specifics on?" Fox asked as he moved around to the head of the body, looking intently at the samples. He had obviously come to the same conclusion. If Mr. Blake was getting his Blood Subs from a supplier, maybe they could lead the investigation back to the Rogue.

  "So far..still nothing. I've handed over what little information we have to the tech department, but they are having just as much trouble nailing down any sign of this company." What little evidence they had was on the supplies themselves. Paper trails ran cold and internet searches provided nothing.

  "So..Mr. Blake's paperwork will either give us the break we need...or leave us in the lurch." Agent Fox seemed less than pleased that the biggest lead was up in the air and might still be there for a couple more days.

  "I think it might be time to..what do they call it? 'Circle the troops for a pow wow'?"

  "Wow Percy! Nice way to mangle way too many sayings." Chase's smile said he was giving her a hard time for the fun of it.

  "Fine... what I'm saying is that we have enough evidence, a sound enough theory that Agent Savage should see it as a good possibility. A least enough to redistribute some of his task force's resources." Looking around at the others, she noticed Agent Fox's expression was shuttered.

  "Right?" Persephonii had yet to speak one on one with the Task Force Leader as Parker had been glued to his side, but surely he could see reason when the evidence clearly went against the current purposed theory.

  Persephonii, then mentioned the meeting set up for a few days hence to make introductions, as well as meet with Agent Savage. Agreeing to try and get as many 'ducks in a row' as possible for the meeting, Madison decided to come to the meeting to back up the science behind their findings. With so many professionals subscribing to the theory, she hoped they could change Agent Savage's mind and turn some help in their direction, before another victim lost their life. With so much going on in one gathering, everyone was going to have to be prepared. It was going to be one hell of a meeting.

  Chase and Persephonii lingered in Madison's office, away from the smell Chase's mood seemed to lighten, drinks were refreshed and things seemed to be going well, until suddenly they weren't. Madison it seemed, had a date later that evening, taking off her white lab coat reveled a wonderful top and fitted skirt. Chase left the room to talk with one of the M.E investigators, as the two women changed from shop-talk to girl-talk, Madison gave Percy the specifics about her date in a few hours. Pulling a garment bag from her small office closet, she showed Persephonii a stunning cocktail, black lace, body contouring dress. Chase happening to walk back in at that moment, made comments about it being inappropriate for work, and a heated exchange took place. While the words went back and forth, Persephonii focused on the two people that where her closest partners and very good friends.

  As tensions came to a point, Persephonii ended up ushering Chase out of Madison's office and towards the door, past subsequent groups of on lookers. While Madison waved to her a small goodbye and headed back towards the lab, white coat clenched in her other hand.

  Madison was walking away with something close to tears in her eyes. It was one of the few times when Persephonii could have seriously done Chase some physical harm. This verbal sparring had gone too far, as she knew it eventually would. So she would give Chase a warning and then go talk Maddie down from her peak.

  “Chase.” It was said calmly, Percy not even glancing at him, instead watching the flurry of activity in the lab across the way. She though briefly about staking the conversation outside, but that would prove troublesome and take up too much time.

  “Yes?” His reply was more distracted question than real inquiry.

  “After all these years of working together it seems you haven’t picked up on a few nuances... so let me try to explain a few things about my...'gifts'.” She paused knowing he was only half listening.

  “The ability to see auras, corona's and the like is rather a nifty skill. You see..” her tone said 'nifty' wasn’t exactly what she would have preferred to call it. “As a person's thoughts and moods change so do their auras. It's very deliberate and quite extraordinary,” she took a drink of her cooling tea. She paused but his remained elsewhere, so she continued.

  “The colors and patterns change quite distinctly and over the years I have learned to read them like a book. Blues for sadness and grief. Reds for irritation and anger. Hues denote intensity, how strong the feelings are, a light rosy pink is crankiness, a dark vibrant red is contempt. Swirls and eddies denote their interaction with thought and even words,” she could tell that he had turned his full attention toward her as she went on, in fact those closest to them were also wearing expressions of rapt interest.

  “Like when you give Madison a hard time, every time you are about to say something snappy towards her your aura ripples, disrupting the colors of how you really feel.” She took a long pause surveying the hectic scene around them.

  “So you see... I can tell that you are lying, even before you say a word.” Chase’s somewhat blank expression, changed very little except for the widening of his eyes, that confirmed he had gotten her point. For some reason he was denying his attraction to Madison. The flirting had become a constant over the last few years, but it was only now that she was single again that his interest seemed to be more intense and yet he was more adamant at denying it. Persephonii felt she would never truly understand this creature called 'attraction'.

  Chapter 17: Liaison:

  The title given to an individual assigned to act as go between and who often bridges the gap between two different departments or parties.

  Preternatural Police Department of Lakewood. Lakewood, WA. 6pm sharp. PST.

  To say that the meeting was a complete mess and a colossal waste of time was an understatement. Even later the next day, Persephonii had trouble understanding
where things had gone wrong. Somehow, everything seemed to come back to Parker Vaughn. How one woman could have so much clout, so much control over the investigation, at the cost of people's lives, she didn't know. It made her head and heart hurt.

  They had arrived at the conference room, a large plain, beige room with beige chairs with a large nearly ten foot long faux wood table in the middle. Persephonii and Madison had set up the projector and arranged the files for a short presentation of their findings. The two of them had been working nearly non-stop the last few days, using their free time and nights to make sure the evidence was clear and spoke towards their plan. In that time, Madison had learned of the original reason for the meeting, though she had yet to met the House Investigator personally, Persephonii spoke highly of him, and she could tell that he was trying to back her friend up. But Madison worried about this new Liaison position and the extra weight that it added to Percy's already burdened shoulders.

  About fifteen minutes before the meeting turned conference was about to start, people came filing in. A few techs to take notes for the meeting, Studwick to officially meet the House Council Investigator, and Agent Fox who looked as cool and reserved as usual. Even Detectives Montgomery and Fitz were there for the official update on the situation. The two detectives had been monitoring Mr. Freedman's case and searching for connections between the Chyldren. Everyone was cordial and sipped their respective drinks with little chit-chat, mainly about safe topics like the weather.

  It wasn't until Parker walked in with Agent Savage, the two nearly arm and arm that Persephonii realized just how big an obstacle she might be facing.