Troy Ounce (Lopez Time Book 1)

by Phillip S. Power

  That probably meant that he was being mind controlled or something like that. The big issue there would be how much it was going to damage him when things all came to pass. One way or the other, it was going to be a problem. On the good side, he was almost certain that he was going to forget all about it as soon as Riley walked away. He always did. At least that specific point.

  For the moment, the man just seemed agreeable.

  “I got your back on that one. As long as there’s pie. This world needs more pie. Apple, if anyone cares what I think on that.” Then he left, the idea of who he was, other than the man that had been working with Troy fading away almost instantly.

  Back in the little office he was sharing with Tran, he got to sit for a whole minute before the phone rang. It was his cell, but that didn't matter, since he used it for work, mainly.

  “Troy Lopez, how may I help you today?”

  “Um, hello! This is Heidi Valenti. We met yesterday? I’m calling to pretend to have some kind of supernatural emergency? One that will probably take place at a restaurant. Possibly in a movie theater?”

  It actually took him a second to place the rather cute blonde in his head.

  “How are you feeling? That wack to the head looked pretty harsh.”

  “That part is less than fun, but I figured that if I waited too long to ask you out, I’d get cold feet. So… was that you ignoring that part or…” She didn’t sound half as shy as the words made her seem.

  “That sounds fun, actually. Um, not to be one of those people, but you got the thing where I’m a vampire, right? I mean, you might have been confused, what with me being up at noon, but…” She’d mentioned eating after all. He didn’t do that, strictly speaking.

  “You know I kind of did pick up on that one. I mean, the super speed, not sleeping at night… The fact that your card says, Officer Troy Lopez, Vampire, on it.”

  It did say that.

  “I’m in then. When and where?”

  They hashed things out, planning to meet up at a restaurant, since she ate, though she did ask if that bugged him, since food could be a problem. It really wasn’t though.

  “Later then. See you then, Heidi.”

  “Bye!” Her voice sounded happy.

  Across from him, Denise nodded.

  “Car wreck lady? That was fast on her part. Well, could be worse. It could be Morgan the bat boy. That would get awkward, fast. Hey, you want to do the call backs on that? I’ll bug the people here on our stolen cases. The drug house and the raped teacher. If we don’t keep up with things, people will think we don’t care.”

  “That sounds like, well, at least like what we should be doing. Let me get with Principal Butler first, to make sure no one has been spreading more rumors about him. Not new ones, anyway.”

  That part didn’t take long, since the man hadn’t heard anything new at all. The secretary hadn’t either and it was way too early in the day to call the kids involved, even if he had the numbers. On the nice side, they were delivered a new case at just before noon.

  The Chief came in, his face grim.

  “This is probably nothing. Six headless chickens on a doorstep, in a circle of blood. It was called in and the uniforms took a report. Darla Gibson?” The man tried to make his face seem bland. As if he didn’t know what that meant. “She asked for you two personally.”

  Troy stood up and got his jacket back on.

  “I can go and look into that. I don’t know if…” He was about to give Denise a way out, but she stood as well.

  “Nope. If the local greater demon is having supernatural trouble, we need to look into it. Especially if it’s low level enough to push onto us. That was the game, right? We get the easy things?” She had an interested look on her face. So did Chief Benson.

  Troy danced a bit in place, getting his jacket situated correctly.

  “Sure. But keep in mind that us fighting to the death and taking whatever this is out with us when we go probably makes the cut with her. Greater demons play by their own rules, unless they don’t want to. Also, when you meet her, try to wrangle the language a bit? I’d hate to come back carrying your head. It would be messy, for one thing. I can’t afford to replace this suit. It was a gift.”

  The Chief smiled at that.

  “I had wondered about the nice clothing. That would cost a few thousand at least. Did one of your Council give it to you?”

  Straightening his shirt, a bit, even if it didn’t need it, he shook his head.

  “Nope. Avery Rome. Really, you should look into that one for yourself. She does good work and is always looking for people to make things for. You’re her… Step-grandfather? I think that’s about right at least. Eve and Edom have adopted her, officially, even if they aren’t married. As in the legal paperwork and everything.”

  It was a bit confusing, since Ed was Eve’s Maker but that was the modern world for you.

  The man in charge furrowed his brow.

  “I… Think I missed that one. Well, I should send a card or something, right? After being the world’s worst father, stepping up and being a decent grandfather will probably make it seem like a direct slap in the face, don’t you think?”

  Troy nodded then.

  “Yep. Pretty much. Hang a lantern on it? If you make it all about supporting Eve in what she’s doing, that will be a good place to start. Not that it’s any of my business, other than hooking you up with some better clothing. Possibly.”

  What the man had on was pretty close to top end already, after all.

  “I’ll see about making some calls then? Now, you were just about to leave? Get pictures. We can’t send the photographer out, since he’s on vacation.”

  Which was probably code for being replaced due to budget cuts. Then, they had just added a new department, so that might explain the lack of funds that way.

  Troy just decided to take a camera with them. It would be easier that way, if nothing else.

  Chapter five

  The description of the front stoop had been fairly accurate.

  There were exactly six chickens, all hens, in a circle. Ringed in blood that was already drying. There was enough dampness left to it that a few of the larger puddles gave off a heavenly aroma. At least to Troy.

  Looking up for a moment, he saw that the house itself was large enough, probably having four to six bedrooms and seemed like it was very well cared for. What it wasn’t was a giant mansion that screamed about how the person living there was richer than you. Instead it looked like something a well to do, but very real, family man might have provided for his wife and kids.

  There was a garage off to the side, but that was closed off. Interestingly, there was a blood smudge in the shape of a hand print on it. Focusing on what was in front of him, he started taking pictures. There wasn’t a whole lot to see that way, if he wanted to be honest about it. There were dead birds. Blood had been played with. The scent left over was of a clean human. Possibly two. There was perfume in the mix, as well as deodorant. Men’s. It could mean a man and a woman.

  Then, Denise had that going on in one body, so it might not mean that at all. That was different in profile, though. A familiar thing to him now, so nothing that was going to confuse his hunting skills.

  Next to him, Detective Tran took notes.

  “Circle… Does this look like some kind of magical ceremony to you?”

  He had to consider that for a moment, then nodded.

  “Yeah. Clearly someone is going for that. I’m not getting any sense of magic though. That… Well, it could have all been used up, doing whatever was intended. It isn’t strictly human style. Um… More mage like, I think. I’m not an expert on that kind of thing. No pentagram or Christian symbolism. Just a circle. Demons don’t really need that. They tend to just write things out in Sumerian. If they bother with that at all. So do some of the mages, come to that. From what little I know that isn’t strictly needed for any kind of magic to function though. The trappings are a way to help the
mind focus, not what makes it work.”

  Though the blood could be part of that. Six chickens would provide a small, but real, kick of life energy. Enough to keep a vampire going for about a day, if they drank the blood, instead of forming a link. Little birds like that were too small to last. That meant drinking them would be the plan, for one of his kind. That could be, since whatever had happened, the light red life energy that had once made them move was all gone.

  It would be, though. That was what death meant.

  Walking over to the very clean, eggshell colored garage door, he snapped a few pictures of the hand print. It wasn’t Darla’s being too large for that.

  “This… We can’t get fingerprints from it. It’s either a medium to small man or a medium to large woman. There’s perfume in the air still. Faint, but real. Deodorant as well. Something like summer breeze Old Spice. We need to get with Miss Gibson on this, since it could all be hers.” It wasn’t what she normally wore, but the girl was a shape shifter.

  She could have been a man ten minutes before, as far as he knew.

  Tran took charge then, moving back to the circle, and tapping gently on the front door. Her footwork was careful, preventing any smearing of the brownish red blood. Most of it was dry enough not to be a problem that way. When the door opened, a very cute blonde answered. She looked to be about twenty-four or so.

  Instead of wearing fine clothing, she had on a light blue sweater and blue jeans. On her wrist was a charm bracelet that glowed in white and silver to his eyes. He couldn’t make out what was on each little fob that hung off the chain, but he was willing to bet it was a weapon of some kind.

  “Miss Gibson? I’m Detective Tran. This is Officer Lopez. We were asked to come and take a look at the situation here?” She sounded professional and calm, even if faced by a greater demon.

  Darla didn’t stand on ceremony, just waving a bit at Troy.

  “I asked for you. What’s your take on this, Troy?” She sounded friendly, actually. As if dead chicken magic was just a matter of course in her world.

  That wasn’t going to be true though. Only an idiot would go after a greater demon. That or another one of their own kind. Especially if the best they could manage was making a mess.

  “Hey, Technician. Um… Well, there isn’t any trace of power or magic here. I was just thinking that could mean it was used up already, but normally there should be some remaining hint. That either means someone really good, or that no magic was used at all. Detective Tran and I are thinking that this probably isn’t human magic. That doesn’t mean it might not be your jealous ex just being a pain in the behind, of course. That or the kid down the road that doesn’t know how to get your attention in a polite fashion? If that’s the case… Well, I mean, six chickens… That is pretty impressive. Most just go with boring old flowers.” He gestured for the demoness to follow him, then headed back to the garage.

  When they got there the hot blonde girl nodded.

  “I’d noticed this. It isn’t mine, by the way.” She held her hand up, to show that she was dainty and delicate that way. Not that the palm and finger prints on the door were huge.

  Troy tilted his head back and forth a few times. The sun was making it hard to concentrate, but he really needed to at the moment. It was a thing he was good at though, so after a moment the world snapped into sharper focus. The pain didn’t really go away, as much as push back from the front of his thoughts. It was a trick, but one that worked, more or less.

  “The scent is different. Let me…” The blood was trying to overpower him, so he made that go away. It didn't take super human effort or anything for that one, since it was a vamp trait. Even the new kids could block out scents. Otherwise they’d all go nuts and be running around holding their noses constantly. The perfume stayed. It was different than what Darla had going on. She smelled a bit of ylang-ylang and some kind of bread product. Crackers. It came from her mouth, so she’d probably just been snacking. Her kind needed to eat a lot, so that made sense. It got blocked out as well, or nearly did.

  Then he realized that whoever had been there might have similar things going on. That didn't come into focus for him though. After a bit, something did though. He smiled.

  “Right. At least one human woman has been here. Other than Denise. I can pick up the estrus. That means she isn’t pregnant. Young enough to still have a period, so, you know, most women in the world. I can’t tell if there was a man here, other than the deodorant, which means very little. All of that could be faked, of course. What kind of chance is there of this being a greater demon? Would any of them bother pranking you like this? Um… Keeley, maybe? She seems like a person that might be down for something funny like this, don’t you think?”

  The other demon tended to be cute and was younger than he was, by a lot. Really, even Darla probably was, come to think of it. He’d spent a long time in the void, after all. Not that he was going to mention that in the moment. There was the time when he was younger, too. That had taken a while.

  There was a slightly annoyed look from The Technician.

  “Not very likely. Little sis is currently in a different reality, getting ready for a big meeting, I hear? Zack took her, so it isn’t my mentee either. Plus, he isn’t this much fun. Dad…” She stopped then and shook her head. “That one could be. It might even be about getting you involved, given everything. He does like you, after all. I can’t think of anyone else that would do something like this. I mean, leave a deadly trap for me? Sure. A pile of dead bodies that I’d have to hide? It’s happened, more than once. Chickens though? You aren’t wrong, that’s practically a courting gift. I can’t even think of any mages that I’ve ticked off enough to bother trying anything. Even in my human life. It’s a bit of a mystery, given that. A younger female, you think?”

  That part was leading. He hadn’t said that at all.

  “One of child bearing age. Slightly larger than you are. We can’t rule out that more than one person was here. What kind of thing are you doing these days? You look old enough to be working. Or attending college. You do have to watch those modern college girls. Always protesting and joining Marxist groups.”

  That got him stared at, a bit harder than was strictly comfortable. She did break it up with a nice smile, after about ten seconds. Troy wasn’t buying for a moment that it wasn’t all about controlling him and Tran though. Everything she was doing would be about that.

  “Well, these days I’m going to high school, thank you very much. With Avery?”

  Troy blinked and nodded.

  “I’ve been a bit out of the loop there. I think I recall something about you and Ann being there? Is that a thing, or…” He stopped then shook his head, slowly. “Never mind. That isn’t my business. Still, could it be related to that at all? That would be up in Vancouver, so a bit of a commute just to make a mess on your porch like this. Avery could do it, but wouldn’t.”

  Out of the loop in her life or not, he couldn’t see that one happening. She was a great kid, after all.

  Darla shrugged.

  “That’s possible, actually. At least that she might have gotten some of the others in. She has a deal with them, for weekly line travel. Plus, The Pristine is her mentor. That… Well, Bente wouldn’t go in for anything this messy. Not unless she wanted to throw me off, of course. It probably isn’t that, though… Some of the sizes could match up. I do have some female friends that could fit the pattern here. I can’t for the life of me see that happening, however.”

  He nodded, noting that Denise was taking physical notes of it all.

  So, he went on, trying to act like he had a clue about what to do himself.

  “Well. You called us in on this, which means you don’t really see it as a threat. I can see that one, really. Unless it is, of course. That’s all of life, so I can’t hold it against you. This is probably local, but you have people in your life that could do this coming from a distance. Possibly other realities. If it turns out that it’s something l
ike that…”

  There was a soft sound then, and oddly enough, a hug. There wasn’t even the tingle that would indicate she was taking a copy of his entire life. When that happened, he had to pass over a copy of everything Troy. It was kind of a rule, he thought. It had almost certainly already happened that day, without him noticing at all. That it didn’t right then made that part nearly certain.

  His partner gave the scene a skeptical look.

  Darla Gibson spoke though.

  “It’s all part of my clever plan, Troy. You see, if this is about an alternate reality, there’s only one investigator in the world who can handle it. At least who I don’t have to pay to go and poke around, since it’s your actual job. It isn’t though. I get that the plan Bey and the others have is to hide that you’re a line walker from the government. As if they don’t already know.” She looked at Tran then, who seemed a tiny bit baffled. “A line walker is a person or being who can use intense focus to move between realities. Inside of them as well. Most use node points for that. Weaknesses in space? Troy spent…. What, six or seven hundred years on that? Only a tiny handful of people have ever learned how to do it, meaning he’s incredibly special. Really, Denise, you should hit that, before your heart gives out.”

  She laughed then and shook her head.

  “If you don’t work out that he can hook you up with a fix for that. Honestly Troy… Well, I won’t give it away, since I’d have to charge you for it. You know people that can get that done easily enough who would do it just for you asking. Kind of a dick move, you not setting that up yet.”

  He faked a laugh then.

  “Right. Great point. So, that’s your part in paying for my time here? Sweet of you. Probably about right, as well. A hint in the right direction, without being too much for me doing my job. A tip? Probably not a bribe, or you would have offered it to Tran yourself. I mean, if you save her life, you’d be a good way toward owning her. If you don’t already.” It was her area, after all. That meant something for Greater Demons.