by Lelana Croft
At the bottom of the stairs, there was an open door and a wall plaque that had ‘Omar Hobbs’ imprinted on it. I leaned in and said, “Hello?”
I peeked into the room. All the lights were off, except for one desk lamp that lit up the stacks of papers and files all over the place.
Looking down the hall, I took a deep breath and decided to see if I could find him. Passing the next room, it looked like storage with nothing but shelves of medical supplies. I noticed a set of metal swinging doors with windows.
Not sure why I felt the need to tiptoe, but I moved as quietly as possible towards the double doors and peered in through the glass.
The old man was short and round, and the white lab coat didn’t help his stature. I could only see the back of him, but his hair was disheveled and sticking up in places. He was up on a platform, so he could better reach the body that was lying on the slab in front of him.
I tapped on the aluminum door and it echoed through the basement walls. Mr. Hobbs turned around and waved at me to come inside.
Pushing open the door, I was met with a smell of formaldehyde and menthol. Most people in this line of work kept Vick’s Vaporub in business, since it was used under the nose to block the smell of dead bodies.
“Grab a mask there and put it on,” he said gruffly.
“Mr. Hobbs? I’m Scarlett Steele,” I said as I held a mask over my nose and mouth.
“Oh, hello, glad you could make it in today. I’ve been expecting you,” he replied as he turned his attention back to the woman on the table.
I walked over and looked down at the pale face that had no life. She was so young, had to be in her teens.
“What happened to her” I asked.
“Not sure yet. I’m examining her now to see if I can find out. She was found fully clothed out by the marina. She hasn’t been raped, so it isn’t a sexual assault. In fact, she’s a virgin. But most of the blood has been completely drained.”
My curiosity got the best of me. I really wanted to see what had happened to this girl and I could if I touched her and used my powers. But I wasn’t sure just how much of my power I could use before the anklet would send a signal to Tony and whoever else needed to know.
“So, you’re the medical examiner, too?” I asked.
“The examiner, the coroner, and the funeral director. I do it all, here in this small town.”
“I guess you see everyone who dies then…” I asked, knowing it was kind of a silly question.
Mr. Hobbs peered over his dark, rimmed glasses at me.
“That’d be a correct assumption,” he leaned back and snapped off his gloves. “So, you ever deal with dead bodies before?”
“Not in this capacity. I mean, it doesn’t bother me.”
He gave me a once-over look and walked over to the wall of coolers. Opening one of the small doors in the middle, he slid out a body covered with a white sheet. I looked down, holding my breath for the unexpected. Hobbs reached up and pulled back the sheet.
I resisted the urge to step back as he pulled the sheet back. It was the body of a young man, probably in his twenties, that had been mutilated in a way I’d never seen before. It was pretty gruesome.
“What happened to him?” I asked, glad I hadn’t just eaten lunch.
Hobbs studied me for a few moments before drawing the sheet back over the body.
“He was hit head-on by a drunk driver. The drunk survived with a few scratches, although he might be in jail for the rest of his life. This kid didn’t have a chance.”
I shook my head. “Such a shame. Did you know him?”
That might have been too personal to ask, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“No. You’re hired.”
“Oh? But…”
“You didn’t hurl when I showed you that kid. You’re hired.”
I nodded and gave him a slight smile. He walked back over to the girl on the slab. Putting on a fresh pair of gloves, he started back on the girl.
“What will I be doing?” I asked.
“Mostly makeup. Ruby will show you the basics. It’s easy work, but some days it can be challenging,” he said as he looked down at the young girl once again. “This one isn’t so easy.”
I walked over to the other side of the slab and looked down at her. She was so young and pretty.
Hobbs turned around to find a scalpel and I briefly placed my hand on her shoulder. I summoned just a small amount of my gift to see if I could find out what had killed this girl.
I felt a mild shock coming from the anklet as I quickly pulled my hand away. I’d only gotten a glimpse of what might have killed her.
Vampire.
Chapter 5
“Can you come in tomorrow and Friday?” Hobbs asked.
“Yes, what time?”
“By nine. We aren’t early risers, unless I get a call that there is an emergency.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said as I made my way out of the room and back up the basement stairs.
My mind was swirling. Could there be vampires in Ste. Geneva? Or was this just a body dump?
A woman’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and back into my current reality.
“Will we be seeing you again soon?” It was the older lady from the front desk.
“Yes, I’ll be starting tomorrow,” I said with a smile.
The lady clapped her hands together and smiled huge. She came around the desk and held out her hand to shake mine.
“I’m so happy to have you, dear. My name is Ruby. Ruby Scott. But you can just call me Ruby.”
I sensed a distinct southern drawl that sounded suppressed, like she was trying not to be southern.
“Nice to meet you, Ruby. I look forward to working with you,” I replied.
“Well, Omar has needed someone to help him for so long, and it just seems like he can never find anyone that can manage to stay more than a day or two. I hope you last longer than that. He really needs the help and he is getting older…” her words trailed off, like she stopped herself from saying something that she wasn’t supposed to. “Anyway, we’ll see you tomorrow!”
She almost seemed too happy. But I smiled and took off out the door.
Well, if I am working with a bunch of stiffs, at least I won’t have to deal with tedious office work. I’m glad they didn’t put me to working as some desk slave. That just wasn’t my style. I liked the idea of the potential investigative side of this. Putting makeup on would allow me to see some of the lives of the people who came through.
I squinted when I opened the door into the bright morning sun. Hopping on the orange demon, I took off back towards Main Street. Time to check out this game store. It may be the saving grace for my sanity.
By now, many of the little shops and restaurants were opening. Several of them had set up seating on the sidewalks. There were a couple of wineries that had patios covered with pergolas and grape vines, and I could smell the food wafting through the air as my stomach growled.
I made a note to myself to try one of the small shops that sold pizza. It’d be nice to know that I could at least have a good pie once in a while.
Turning down Main Street, there were long rows of buildings with different store fronts, speckled with a few two-story homes that had been converted to bed and breakfasts. There were large plaster planters all along the wide sidewalks, full of burgundy and yellow mums. Great care had been taken to make sure to preserve this little piece of history.
I passed a little shop where a lady was putting out a few antique items. I had a fascination with nostalgic items, so I made a mental note to come back and visit this place as the lady waved and smiled at me.
People are truly friendly here. In the city, it was a bit different. There were friendly people, but most people were suspicious of you first, and friends after you proved yourself. Making friends wasn’t something I was good at anyway. I preferred my solitude without having to worry about taking care of anyone else’s needs.
It made life so much easier when I just had to worry about myself. Having someone in my life could be fun, but it also made life complicated when you had to explain that you might be off killing a demon or something. It just didn’t work.
As I got to the end of the line of buildings, things began to spread out. At the top of the curve was a large block building that was painted with a giant tree on the side. The tree was done in four colors. Green, Blue, Orange, and Brown. The four elements. I thought it was very well done and quite clever.
I pulled into the little parking lot and hopped off the scooter, making my way inside. There was a large open area with everything from video games to board games. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they even had some of the new releases of video games. I went and looked over the newest PS4 games to see if there was anything that I hadn’t already played to death.
“Hi! Can I help you find anything in particular?”
I spun around as the voice startled me. It was a woman about my age with bright red hair and wearing yellow skinny jeans and a white button-down top.
“Um, I was just browsing,” I said.
“Okay, well, I’m Patty. Just holler if you need anything,” she replied and trotted back over to the counter.
I made my way over to the section where there were a ton of board games, puzzles, and even a few model cars and planes.
“You guys seem to have quite a bit more than I expected. Is business that good here?” Inquiring minds want to know.
Patty smiled as she looked up from her computer. “Yes, actually. Being such a small town, there isn’t a lot for kids to do. A few years ago, Katie opened this place to help keep the kids from being so bored. As it became more popular, the adults began asking for other games and it just grew from there. Now, we actually have tournaments in town. People here really love their games!”
Her enthusiasm was almost contagious and she seemed happy to share information. I thought that might come in handy.
“Katie? Is she the owner?” I probed. If Katie had done this for the kids, maybe she knew something about the young girl on Omar’s slab.
The beaded curtain that divided the front from the back parted and out walked a tall, robust woman with long, straight black hair, dressed in a royal purple dress that fell to her ankles. She was the opposite of Patty, who seemed pure and peppy.
“Yes, I am the owner,” Katie said, giving me a little bit of a side-eye. I could sense something different about her. She wasn’t just different in looks. She had some kind of power about her. It was subtle and beneath the surface, but it was definitely there. I had a feeling that she could sense mine as well.
That’s the downside about being half human. My spidey senses weren’t always correct and sometimes, even wrong. I had to go a lot on gut instinct.
“Hi, Katie. Great place you have here,” I said, trying to be a bit more enthused.
“Are you here to visit our tourist town?” she asked.
“Yes…no…kinda…”
She cocked an eyebrow and a half smile rose up on her pale face.
How do I explain my stay here? I knew there was something Tony had been trying to explain to me before he’d left, but all I’d wanted was for him to leave so I hadn’t paid attention. I had to make up something, and fast.
“Well, I’m trying it out for a bit. I’m from the city and needed a break. I was told that living in the country could be good for my health. So, I decided to give it a try for a year or so and see how I liked it.”
Oh, Scarlett, could you have a more lame excuse?
Patty smiled and clapped her hands as if she’d just won the ring toss at the county fair. “Yay! We need more girls our age. Glad you decided to come here.”
Katie looked over at Patty and shook her head with a smile, half-rolling her eyes. “Well, the pace here is much different than the city. You might get bored. That’s what usually happens with people like you.”
“People like me?” I was slightly offended at the way she’d made it sound.
“I just meant, that it always sounds so perfect in your head when people daydream about moving out to the country. Like how it’s always so peaceful and nothing bad ever happens. But give it a week without your daily Starbucks fix, and most go crawling back within a month,” Katie jested.
I cocked my head a little and smiled. Knowing that I was stuck here for the next year made this argument easy.
“Are you a betting girl?” I said with a smirk.
Katie smiled at me. “Maybe…”
“I’ll bet you in a year, I’ll still be here.”
“Hmmm…what’s the wager?” she asked.
I hadn’t thought that far ahead and had no clue what to wager, so I thought of the only thing that came to mind.
“How about dinner at your favorite place? If I lose, I’ll buy for both you and Patty.”
She nodded her head. “Okay, and if I lose, you can take your pick of the new releases, on me.”
“Deal!” I laughed and reached out to shake on it.
The moment Katie’s hand touched mine, it was as if someone had opened up a hole in time. Everything felt like it paused, long enough for me to see exactly what Katie was. She had powers as well. I looked up at her face and she felt it too. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly. We both immediately released our hands, pulling them back as if we’d both had been bitten.
Patty noticed it too.
“What the hell was that?” Patty asked, looking back and forth at both of us.
“I…I’m not sure exactly,” I said.
Katie’s faced scrunched as if she was trying to find the words.
“It can’t be. I’m not ready yet,” Katie said and she went over and sat down on the small couch that was made from crushed red velvet.
“Ready for what?” I asked as I moved over to sit next to her.
Patty came and squatted down, placing her hands over Katie’s and looking up into her face.
“You are ready. You’ve been ready for ages. The spell worked, didn’t it? She’s here to help you,” Patty said to Katie, totally ignoring me.
“Ready for what? What spell?” I asked again.
“I…I don’t know. I thought…I thought it was supposed to be…I dunno, different.”
Katie was mumbling now and I was really starting to get irritated that no one was listening to me.
“Hey!!” I yelled and stood up, startling both of them, “Would one of you please tell me what the heck is going on?”
Patty looked at Katie and Katie nodded and turned sideways, leaning back on the arm of the couch.
“I put a spell on myself. As soon as the one who’d be my guide showed up, I’d know. That there wouldn’t be any doubt it was the one who’d mentor me to becoming a full mage. I noticed it when I first saw you. Your aura told me, but I wasn’t sure because I didn’t expect it to be so soon, or with someone so young. So, I thought I’d done the spell wrong. But as soon as we touched, I knew it had worked,” Katie explained.
I let the words Katie spoke sink into my brain as I slowly sat back down on the couch. Guide? Mentor? I was neither, and especially not for a witch. Her spell definitely didn’t work. She had the wrong person for sure.
“Look, I’m don’t know anything about being a guide or mentor or any of that. I have a hard enough time keeping myself out of trouble. I think there may be something wrong with your…spell or whatever it was.”
Katie shook her head. “The spell worked. You’re the one.”
I sighed heavily. I hated to burst this girl’s bubble, but there was no way I was getting involved with this. Then it occurred to me that I hadn’t felt my anklet shock me when I saw what she was. Could there be some kind of connection to her that allowed me to use my powers without being detected? I needed to find out, but I didn’t want my own powers to be revealed just yet.
“Okay, let’s say I am ‘the one’. What am I supposed to do here? With you, I mean?”
Patty stood u
p and scurried back behind the beaded curtain, only to return with what appeared to be an old book that was bound in leather. She handed the book to Katie. Katie opened up the book to the beginning and started to read.
“There will be a coming of a great warrior that will guide you to your destiny. You will know because of the power they bring to show you how to use your gifts. When you cast this spell, only the power of your guide can break it.”
She closed the book and looked at me with a bit of confusion and almost sadness in her eyes. I obviously didn’t look like a great warrior to her and she didn’t know about my past.
“By the way, what is your name?” Patty asked.
I took a deep breath. This was all quite heavy and I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with it at the moment. “Scarlett. Scarlett Steele.”
“Scarlett, are you hungry?” Patty asked, pulling my attention out of my confusion.
“Yes. Actually, I was thinking about picking up a pizza on the way…”
“Awesome, let’s go get some lunch! My treat. Sorro’s has a great salad bar and their pizza isn’t bad either,” she said as she hopped up to get her purse. “You can leave the scooter here if you like, and ride with us.”
I looked over at Katie who was also in a state of confusion. Katie stood up and grabbed her keys.
“Patty, I’m sure Scarlett would like to take her scooter, so she can leave from the restaurant,” Katie hinted.
I took the hint. Patty obviously didn’t understand what was going on between Katie and me. For that matter, neither one of us did either.
“Yes, I’ll just follow you, if that’s cool.”
Katie nodded and I followed them out of the building. Katie locked the door and jumped in her Rav4. I followed them down to Sorro’s and parked on the street, then we made our way inside. We grabbed the table at the back which would be the most private. Hopefully, that would give us the chance to talk a little more about this, and maybe I could find out more about what was really going on.
After we got our drinks and visited the salad bar, I finally leaned over to Katie and asked, “So, what did you see? Or feel? Or whatever?”
