by Jen Pretty
"Nick and Zander took off and I can't find my way out of this stupid house," I moaned.
Falcor made an annoyed noise in his throat and then wrapped his hand around my arm. He shifted us to the driveway, but nobody was around. Zander's car was still parked there, shiny with the moon gazing down on it.
"Where the hell are they?" I muttered just as the front doors burst open and an angry Nick and Zander came striding out.
"I already told you it wasn't me, what more do you need to know?" Nick's voice was deep and tense, but his face softened slightly when his eyes fell on me.
"What's going on?" I asked Nick as he approached.
"I have a twin brother, younger, by two minutes."
Shock struck me hard. Nick and I hadn't talked much bout families, but that was pretty big news.
"You think he killed that girl?" Falcor asked. "I might not have seen his face, but I think I would have recognized you even from behind."
Nick stopped and looked at Falcor. After a moment, he shook his head. "If it wasn't him, we will find out. But we need to find him first."
"I didn't even know you had a brother."
Nick glanced back at Zander, then his eyes returned to me. "He and I are estranged."
"I would guess that, since you've never mentioned having any siblings," I said.
A car pulled up in front of the house, a flashy sports car with racing stripes. "I can't believe they still have this," Nick muttered before taking the keys from the driver who had stepped out and then he slipped into the driver's seat. Zander folded himself into the passenger seat. "Are you coming?" Nick called to us.
I looked at Falcor and then we both climbed into the back seat. The drive was tense and silent. I could tell Nick wanted to say more to Zander, but Zander just kept his eyes locked on the city passing by, ignoring the angry vampire beside him.
My eyelids were so heavy, I had to fight to keep them open.
The car drove up and down the streets until finally, Nick pulled over in a creepy warehouse district. "He is around here somewhere." He slipped out the door and pocketed the keys. We all followed him.
"How do you know he is here?" I asked, speed walking to catch up to Nick.
"I can feel it," Nick whispered.
My voice dropped and I tried to walk quietly. "How do you feel it?"
Nick shrugged and twisted the doorknob on the small door in the side of the tall warehouse. The door was locked, but Nick kept turning the handle until metal screamed and the knob broke off.
"I don't think you should..."
Nick walked into the pitch-black building, completely ignoring me. Nice. I rolled my eyes and went to step forward, but Falcor grabbed my arm.
My eyes slid to him and he just shook his head, bringing his finger to his lips in the universal sign to be quiet. I waited patiently the silence of the night almost making my ears ring. I was just about to pull out my phone and flick on the flashlight when a yell rang out from inside the building. I yanked my arm, but Falcor held tight, pulling me back from the door just as two bodies came tumbling out.
Arms and legs flew, punching and kicking each other with vampire speed and power. The sound of bones breaking rang out through the night, making my stomach churn.
"Stop them!" I yelled to no one and everyone, but Zander, Falcor and I seemed to be stuck in place as Nick and his twin fought. The resemblance was insane. If it hadn't been for Nick's green hair, I wouldn't have known who was who, but the fight continued for several minutes before they both collapsed on the pavement, bloody and broken.
"I'll kill you," Nick's brother hissed through what I figured was a broken jaw since his face was crooked.
Nick's eyes were red, and blood smeared across his face, but he didn't respond, his chest heaving with a wet rattle.
"Fuck. Let me go, Falcor." I ripped my arm out of his hold and ran to Nick's side. "What the hell?" I asked staring down at Nick.
"Just... getting re... accounted," he said with a crooked grin.
"Fuck you," Nick's brother uttered flipping him off.
Nick laughed and fell into a coughing fit. When he rolled on to his side, I watched as a rib that was poking out through his skin was somehow sucked back in, skin growing back over it.
"That's so gross," I said, smiling to force back the gag reflex.
Nick rolled back. "Feels much better." He coughed up a bit of blood then rolled up to sit, his legs bent and arms resting on his knees. "Selena, I would like you to meet Aryan. My younger brother."
"By two minutes," Aryan said with a sneer, his voice already returning to what I assumed was normal. His jaw was straight now, his vampire healing straightening out his jaw and nose.
"And you know I go by the name Ryan, Anick. Don't fuck around or I'll break more of your ribs."
Nick chuckled. "Yes, brother."
"Don't call me that either. Why are you here?" Ryan asked, staring daggers at Nick.
"Selena is the Black Crow," Nick said.
Ryan scoffed. "As if I don't know who she is. I Haven't been living under a rock."
"No, just in an abandoned warehouse, like a homeless person. You stink, by the way." Nick finally rose to his feet, offering his brother a hand up.
Ryan slapped Nick's hand away and got to his feet. "I would rather live like a homeless person, than under the roof of a tyrant and terrible leader."
Nick sobered. "I hear you, but we need to talk about what's happening in the city."
"What do you need to talk to me for? You have your Black Crow."
Ryan's eyes landed on me and they were not kind like Nick's, but the longer he stared, the less intense they were and the more I saw Nick in his face.
"She isn't a superhero. She needs help. Besides, we caught you on camera at the last crime scene and we need to talk about that."
Ryan squinted at Nick. "The rave?"
"Yes, the rave. A girl was killed there, what do you know about it?" Falcor said from behind me in his usual sneering voice.
"Who the fuck are you, magic boy?"
Falcor spun a piece of his magic out and lashed at Ryan, snapping him in the arm making a drop of blood well. An instant later, Ryan launched himself at Falcor, who just shifted over beside Nick, leaving Ryan to crash onto the ground.
"I am the Black Crow's warlock. I wasn't chosen for no reason," Falcor said with a smug look. "You would be wise to remember that, vampire boy."
"Enough," Nick said. "Let's go somewhere and talk."
"I'm not going back to the king's house," Ryan said.
"That is also your mother's house. She worries about you." Nick’s said.
A look of sadness washed over Ryan's face. He shook his head, and it washed away. "As long as our father lives there, I won't return."
I had already started to wonder if I wasn't better off without a family since it seemed like no one ever got along with their family, but with a father like the vampire king, I couldn't blame these two. Amon was not someone I wanted to spend any time with, and I had only met him twice.
"I passed a diner not too far up the road. How about that, Ryan? Can we put our old feud on hold for a few minutes?"
Ryan stared at Nick for so long, I thought maybe he had frozen or something, then he huffed out a breath. "Fine, but I'm doing it for her, not you," he said indicating me with a thrust of his chin.
Nick nodded. "Whatever gets you through the day." He turned on his heel and began walking down the dark road. There weren't many street lights in this area, leaving us to follow by the light of the moon. Luckily Nick still wore his sparkly tank top, though it was a blood-stained now on his right side where his rib had popped out. Even just thinking of it grossed me out.
I thought of mentioning it, but I figured any diner in this area probably wouldn't notice the bloody guy in rave clothes. It seemed like something that would happen around the warehouses.
I was more interested in how Nick knew where to find his brother. It could have been a twin thing, but I thought
it was more like a vampire thing. Or maybe a vampire twin thing? Anyway, I wanted answers. Vampires were still a pretty big mystery to me, though Nick had given me enough details to understand the basics. Live forever, fast healing, super hearing and speed, blood-drinking--the usual vampire stuff.
We walked along for another mile or so before we found an all-night diner. The place was a dive. The tables and chairs were old, worn and, as I quickly discovered, sticky. Paper napkins and cheap cutlery sat on the tables along with tiny, overturned coffee mugs.
All five of us crammed into the out table, Falcor pulling a chair from another table. I felt outnumbered with three vampires sitting beside each other across the table from me.
Nick and Ryan's faces were normal again and once Ryan wiped his face with a napkin, he and Nick were identical. Their features so similar, they were indistinguishable, even their hairstyle was startlingly similar, apart from Nick's green hair. I had never seen him without dyed hair, but his brother's dirty blond hair was a peek at what he would look like if he grew out the colours.
"So, you think I killed that girl?" Ryan asked as he flipped over his mug. I noticed a waitress coming our way and flipped over my mug too. Coffee was mandatory. It was nearly morning now, and I still hadn't slept.
They paused the conversation since the waitress was within earshot.
"What can I get ya?" she asked, her southern accent thick.
"Coffee," Ryan and I said in unison. I caught his eye, and he smirked so much like Nick, I ended up smiling back at him.
My eyes slid to Nick, and he frowned at me.
"Well, I will take actual food," Falcor said. "A burger platter, please."
My stomach chose that moment to remind me that I had eaten little the day before or recently. "I'll have the same."
"Anyone else?" Nick and Zander shook their heads, and the waitress wandered off without another word.
"I thought you guys only drank blood?" I said.
Ryan glared at Nick. "Some of us prefer a less restrictive diet. Others are too stuck up to deign to the level of humans." Nick returned his glare but didn't say anything. I had never thought of Nick, with his dyed green hair and sometimes flamboyant clothing choices as stuck up, but apparently, that was how his brother saw him.
"Back to the important topic, why were you at the rave?" Falcor asked with a long-suffering sigh when it became apparent that the vampires wouldn't say anything.
Ryan shot Falcor a look I was familiar with. He definitely didn't like Falcor. Or maybe it was all warlocks and witches.
"I saw a flier," Ryan said, his eyes shifting to Nick's profile. "It had his name on it and I wanted to see if it was true... If my brother had come home."
"I'm not home. I'm just here for the case."
Ryan's eyes moved away from the table, hurt evident in his features.
Nick cleared his throat. "You know why I left. You should have left too."
"Someone has to stick around for mother." The words were spoken so low, I almost didn't hear them. The tension at the table seemed to drop as if a truce had been reached between the brothers.
Finally, the waitress arrived with our food. Falcor and I ate while the rest of them got lost in their thoughts. Zander took out his phone and made a few quick phone calls, speaking low enough I couldn't hear, though I noticed Nick's eyes brows raise and his eyes shot to Zander at one point. I wished for a vampire hearing so I could eavesdrop on the phone call too, but it was probably for the best I couldn't hear anything.
Zander flipped his phone shut.
"We have two more bodies." He said as I brought my burger towards my mouth. "And one of them has been half-eaten."
I set my burger down and pushed my chair back from the table. "Well, I'm not hungry anymore."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The drive across the city was quick, thankfully. My eyelids were so heavy, I could barely see straight when we piled out of Nick's car and met up with Ryan who I realized had still not exactly denied killing the girl, but seeing as the bodies were still warm, as nick had informed me, it was unlikely his twin brother was the killer. He had been with us while the murders happened.
At the scene, police cars were parked at odd angles blocking the road in both directions and yellow tape flapped in the breeze like some morbid birthday party. As we approached, Zander pulled out his badge and stepped ahead of us to talk to the police officer who stood guard. He was an older man with a trim build and thick beard. He hooked his thumbs into his belt as we approached.
When the officer saw the badge, he snorted a laugh. "You all with the creep squad?"
"The creep squad?" I asked.
"Yeah, you know. Creepy crawlies." He used his hand like a spider crawling across the air then laughed like a drunk hyena.
"No. We are with the DPI," I replied.
"Same thing." He grabbed his walkie talkie and announced the ghost hunters had arrived. My eyes tried to roll back into my head at his ignorance.
Detective Winscott strode up in jeans and a sweater and her Blond hair down long, making her look younger than she was.
"Hey guys, come on through."
The officer held up the tape for us and we ducked under, but he made spooky ghost noises as we passed, making another officer laugh from his place further down the police line.
Crow burst onto the scene directly over the laughing police officer, making him drop to the ground with a squeal. Crows loud caw cut through the darkness, his wings flapping. He circled us once and then landed on the pavement, calling out like he was laughing at the officer who no longer thought any of it was funny. His face was pale as he dusted his pants and straightened himself out.
"You probably aren't helping," I muttered to the silly bird who just bobbed his head and screamed again as we passed him toward the crime scene.
"They were found pretty quickly. The owner of the deli goes in through the alley in the morning, the bodies were still warm when the first officers arrived on the scene." Detective Winscott paused. "I'll warn you, it's a bit gruesome."
"Fantastic," I muttered.
"It's two females, late teens or early twenties. We still haven't ID'ed them. No purses or wallets. They each had a cell phone on them though, so we will find out who they are soon enough."
We rounded the corner and there were two sheets covering bodies, but I didn't need the sheets moved to see what had happened to them because two wraiths waited for me, hovering over the bodies. My stomach churned at the bloodstains and terrible condition of the wraiths.
My magic jerked, breaking free to move around the alley. It didn't go directly to the dead bodies though. It circled the vampires standing around me, while I gaped at the horror etched into the faces of the victims.
"Oh god," I moaned.
"Why do they look like that?" Nick asked, stepping in beside me.
"I don't know." Usually, wraiths looked pretty good. Even the really old ones looked like they had when they were alive. These wraiths were mutilated.
"That is what the bodies look like," the detective said. "Shouldn't they look like that?"
"No," I said, throwing out my magic like a wave of power. The blue sparks finally took the hint and moved from me to the victims. As soon as my magic touched them, they looked whole again. I prayed that the reason they had looked bad was just a lack of magic. I would offer up my magic every time if it would keep them from looking so awful. Soon Crow hopped across the distance between us and the two women's faces morphed from fear to calm.
I sent a silent thank you to whatever force gave me crow and then grabbed my knife from Nick.
"You going to talk to them right here?" the detective asked.
The rest of the officers were at the end of the alley, far enough back that I could talk to the victims in relative privacy. It didn't matter to me if the officers blabbed to their friends or family. They would all just sound crazy, anyway.
I slit my arm over the first body, letting my blood offering splash down on th
e sheet covering her. I chose the one with the least damage first, though her neck had looked like a pack of dogs had gnawed on her for a while and blood had splattered on her face. Now she looked like any young adult out for the night.
Her dress was dark blue. A stark contrast to her pale complexion. She wore tons of bangle bracelets. Even as a wraith she twisted them on her arm, playing with the thin metal bands. It was so real, I almost forgot for a second she was dead. She looked solid, standing in front of me.
"Hi," I said, giving her a small wave. I felt awkward in front of so many people.
"Why am I here?" She asked.
"I just wanted to ask you a few questions. If that's alright?"
She shook her head. "No, I mean, in this alley? I was at a party with my friend. That's the last thing I remember."
That was interesting. So, they had been moved? The last wraith said her friend Annie had been shoved into a car. I wasn't sure, but for some reason, it seemed weird that a monster would drive a car. "Where was the Party?" I asked.
"At a house in the village, 322 spark street."
"That's across town," Nick said from behind me.
I tucked that piece of information away, though I noticed Zander was taking notes. The other wraith was waiting behind me, hovering over her body. I turned back to the first victim. "So, you have no idea who did this to you?"
She looked down at the sheet covering her body. "This fucking sucks."
I took that as a no. "I agree. I'm going to find whoever did this though."
The girl looked back up at me. "Thank you, I guess."
She started to fade, holding two wraiths at once was draining me faster than I expected, but the lightness of it felt amazing. As if the weight was lifted off me. "One more thing. What's your name?"
"Sherry Seemore," she said, her voice almost an echo.
I slit my arm again and let a drop of blood fall, sending her back to the ever after or wherever people went when they died.
I turned to face the second victim, but she had disappeared. My magic still hung in the air and coated the ground in blue sparks, but the wraith was just gone.
