Blood Part 2/?

I don't actually remember writing this story...so if there's something glaring wrong...I'm soooo sorry...

The pain woke me up. It made sense, but it wasn't something I was particularly happy about.

Opening my eyes to a squint, I looked around me. If I was unlucky I would be in a creepy cellar somewhere waiting for ugly men in suits to come in and drag me into a lab with a nice and happily cold metal slab in its middle. If I was lucky, I was still under the hospital bed that had been so conveniently placed.

What I saw made me open my eyes properly and look around.

No cellar or anything similar to it, and no hospital. Where in the world was I now?

The door opened, as they do after you just manage to wake up. It's like everyone has an innate ability to show up into a room the moment you wake up...friend or foe. The giant squid walked in. To be completely fair, she didn't look much like a squid anymore, but then again I could understand how my drugged up mind had drawn the connection.

"Glad you're finally awake," she said. Her tone was a lot more welcoming than the professional hospital voice I remembered. Apparently the drugs made her seem more like an evil doctor...somehow I missed the drugs.

I tried to shift into a more comfortable position but the floor was making it difficult. I also realised, rather belatedly, that I was actually chained this time and not in the good way.

"Relax," she said. I looked at her, incredulous.

She sighed and took out a key from her pocket, holding it up as though trying to show that she wasn't about to attack me. I watched her approach and unlock my wrists. She immediately jumped back, as though afraid of what I'd do now that I was free. The faint smell of apples drifted in the air around me.

"I assume you're in pain," she said warily. I was tempted to say "nah duh" but that seemed a little childish, even for me.

"I'll just get you some pain meds, don't go anywhere, please," she said, backing towards the door.

There was something faintly pleading about the please that made me look at her in a new light. Perhaps there was more to this story than I originally thought, at the very least she seemed vaguely invested in my comfort and that was better than most other people already.

It took her about five minutes of my pain filled mind to come back with a syringe. Now you have to understand, I’ve been injected with all sorts of strange concoctions and to be honest, I’m surprised I’m still alive from them, but this is probably the first time I’ve ever been happy to see a syringe. The effect was almost instantaneous and I was now even more grateful for drugs than before, if that was even possible.

“I don’t suppose you want to talk?” she asked. I looked at the squid. I’d actually forgotten she was here, which is disconcerting given that I’ve been trained to be fully aware of my surroundings at all times. I blamed the drugs and generalised pain for my lapse in concentration.

She looked at me as though she was expecting a reply. I realised, once again belatedly, that she had actually asked me a question expecting a reply.

“I wasn’t lying when I was in the hospital,” she continued, “I actually do need to ask you some questions.”

Now really wasn’t a good time. In fact, if she’d just wait until I didn’t feel like every breath was a competition I would have been more than willing to answer her questions.

“El!”

The squid, apparently dubbed ‘El’, spun around to face the door. A bearded, kind of scruffy looking man was standing there.

“Leave her alone El, we can talk to her in a few days when she’s healed a bit more,” he said. Internally I was nodding enthusiastically. I was grateful for them saving me, and if they knew what I am, I’m doubly grateful that they’re saving me, so answering questions in repayment was probably the easiest thing I’d ever had to do.

“But...”

“Elaine! She’s just had surgery. She’s not physically capable of doing much more than just breathing at the moment,” the guy said, cutting in before the squid could protest. She nodded and pushed past him, not particularly gently either.

There was silence as the man watched me watch him. It was a nice mutual watching session.

“I doubt you’ll try to escape. From what I know, you lot have a strangely strong sense of honour, and given that all we’re asking for in repayment is a few questions answered, I’m hoping that you haven’t been so twisted by those bastards that you try to leave without answering them. For now, the best thing you can do is sleep, and if you heal as fast as you’re meant to, you’ll be fit to fight by the time you wake up.”

The man turned around and walked away, shutting the door gently behind him.

Most curious. He seemed to know more than he was letting on but to be completely honest he was right on both counts. I decided that now was not a good time to question the hand I had been dealt and drifted into a slightly troubled but revitalising sleep.

The sound of giggling woke me up.

From the sound of it, it was a child, and from the faint smell of apples, it was probably a relative of the squid. I dared to open my eyes and sure enough a mini squid was sitting next to me, her finger poised over my stomach.

She was about to touch it when she glanced up, presumably to check that I was still asleep. When she saw my eyes open she promptly fell back, wincing as she landed harder than she wanted to.

“Mica,” hissed someone from the door.

I noticed that this child looked old enough to perhaps be an older brother, but given that the little girl looked six, the boy was only ten or so.

It was comical to see his face contort into fear when he realised I was awake. He was fast though. I had to grant him that as he quickly stepped into the room and pulled his sister behind him. He edged backwards, forcing his sister through the door, his eyes never leaving me.

The moment he was out of sight, I shifted my body slightly, checking to see if I was still in half the pain I was in before my questionably long period of sleep. Thankfully my body’s generally faster than normal healing powers had me back to essentially full strength already.

I sat up, regretting the fast movement when the room around me swam slightly. Apparently I was a little further from full strength than I thought.

Testing my limits, I tried standing. This was obviously a bad idea and I had never been more grateful for the squid’s timely entry until then.

The faint smell of apples surrounded me as I essentially snuggled into her arms. Not the smartest way to come out, but definitely the comfiest.

“Good to see you up,” said a man’s voice. The same man as yesterday, complete with beard, was standing in the doorway. There was laughter in his eyes and if my guess was correct, he was laughing at the squid’s expense.

I put my feet onto the ground properly, the extra blood flow helping me finally stand up on my own. The fact that I could do that was probably more thanks to my faster healing ability than some strange blood characteristic.

I coughed slightly and then swallowed. That was a bad idea. I realised fairly quickly that swallowing when there’s nothing to actually swallow hurts. Before I could wallow in that thought, a cup was placed at my lips and pure heavenly water was sliding down my throat. That’s twice in two days. I must be going for a record.

“Better?” asked the squid. She sounded a mixture of amused, wry and, dare I say it, concerned.

“Infinitely,” I replied, glad my voice didn’t crack or croak or some other equally embarrassing and creepy noise.

“Then you can answer our questions,” said the man.

My stomach chose this wonderful time to make itself known to the world. I’d been ignoring it for about three days before the extremely fascinating hospital trip. Understandably, it must have been fairly upset with me.

“After food,” offered the squid. I smiled. The squid returned it and for a whole second I was swept away with how different she looked genuinely happy. I almost named her ‘El’ in my head, until the light dimmed back down in her eyes and her smile lost its power.

Squid it was.

Blood Part 1/?

It hurt to just breathe and for a whole minute I contemplated the idea of not breathing.

A car drove past nearby, its wheels screeching slightly when the driver obviously failed to slow down for the sharp corner. I lifted my head slightly and looked towards the road, the slight black of bitumen teasing me from between the blades of grass. The grass started swaying in my vision and I knew that I'd lost entirely too much blood. Logic told me to put my hand on the wound and pray for the best, but even that movement seemed too much at the moment.

Another car drove by and I wanted to laugh. How many cars would drive by without the drivers ever noticing the half dead person in the grass next to it? I sighed, blaming the ditch I was in, the sudden sharp corner of the road, and my generally small size.

The sound of a car door slamming made me wince. It seemed a little too loud for some reason.

"Is someone there?" asked a woman. From her voice, I'd probably have to wager more girl than woman, but I was never all that good at guessing ages anyway.

"Oh my God," exclaimed the woman. I was tempted to laugh, and mentally I was rolling around in laughter, but my only physical reaction was a slight quirk of my lips.

Trust my luck that the person who was going to 'save' me was probably incompetent enough to just speed up my death. A warm hand touched my head and I mentally shut down, if I was going to die, I was totally doing it in my sleep.

It was cold. Not in a 'holy cow it's freezing' sort of way, but in a 'my skin is probably ten degrees colder than it needs to be' sort of way. I sighed and winced when the action caused my chest to start hurting again.

Fantastic. I was alive.

I opened my eyes slightly and was greeted to the fascinating green curtain of hospital privacy. I closed my eyes again and counted to ten, just because it looked like I was in one of those stupid hospital dramas on tv doesn't mean I was actually in one. When I opened my eyes again, I was greeted to the same creepy curtains. Life really wasn't going my way.

"Oh good, you're awake. You gave us all quite the scare you know," said the nurse. Or well, I assumed it was the nurse, he didn't seem very doctory. Not that I knew what a doctor actually looked like.

I stared at him. Just because my instant response to his comment was to tell him that he was a wimp if a half dead girl could scare him, doesn't mean he had to hear it. I was grateful, really I was. Now all I needed to make my day was a giant squid coming through the curtain and strangling me.

A squid walked into the small enclosure.

Alright, not quite a squid, but if you saw her, you'd think she was a giant squid too. I sighed. Please just strangle me and be done with it.

"Mick, get her some water," the squid ordered. The nurse nodded and then seemingly ran to do her bidding. I was tempted, oh so tempted, to ask her if maybe she'd want the water more.

"I'm assuming that you know where you are. You haven't made any attempt to talk and though I would ordinarily assume that you seem to be the type to not enjoy talking, I need you to answer some questions and then I believe the police would like to ask you some." She said all this without taking her eye off the small screen next to my bed. A good thing since my first reaction to 'police' was to blanch.

Before I could figure out my chances of knocking her out and escaping, Mick was back with a jug of presumably water and a cup already filled in his hands. He put the cup against my lips and gently urged me to drink. The first sip was like heaven. I could feel it sliding down my parched throat. The rest of the cup went without incident. I smiled at him gratefully and he bustled off after the squid waved her hand.

"I know what you are," she said. I looked at her then, my eyes really looking at her instead of trying to discern how squid-like she actually was.

"Leave," I rasped. She smirked.

If you've ever seen a squid smirk, you'd understand that there are some things in life people can live without. This was definitely one of them. If I wasn't already mentally scarred, this would definitely do the job.

"I'm sorry, but I have orders to keep you here," she said. Despite sounding unapologetic, something in her eyes gave her away. She seemed to be trying to tell me something.

Fantastic, my brain was still mushy and a giant squid was trying to tell me something with her eyes. I was tempted to just close my eyes and go back to sleep, but then the threat of police was a very real and very dangerous problem.

"I need to check on some other patients. I assume you're a little too tired to do anything anyway but just in case."

I heard the snap of hand cuffs and looked down at my wrist. The cuff lay uselessly next to my hand, snapped around air. She did that strange talking to me with her eyes thing again and I followed her gaze towards the left side of the enclosure. Did she want me to jump out the left side of the enclosure?

Before I could actually verify anything she had left through the right side and left me to my own devices. Figuring that I'd probably have a higher chance of survival jumping off a building than winding up in the hands of the police, I removed all the weird tubes from my body and dashed out of the left side of the enclosure.

Well, I attempted to dash out. Reality was nice and cruel by making me essentially crawl out of the left side. Apparently I wasn't quite ready to walk yet.

I wound up under another bed, which was probably a good thing given that in the next minute a man yelled and suddenly there was lots of yelling, most of it running along the lines of 'she escaped'.

Deciding that under a bed was as comfy as on top of it at the moment, I curled up and went to sleep, praying more than anything else that no one would find me.

Blood Magic - Part 2

Blood Magic - Part 2 - Just Another Case

Rated: R...if it changes, I'll say so

Summary: Well...guess you'll have to read it to find out. Essentially it's in a contemporary setting with demons and magic (obviously I've watched too much Buffy). There will be homosexual relationships as well as heterosexual ones in this, though mainly homosexual. Possibly gore in the near future (or far future) we'll see...

Feedback: feel free to tell me what you think (eg. whether it's crap or not) and umm...no one to read it so yes, mistakes are all mine...I'M SORRY!!! But tell me and I'll fix it

Liz stalked down the corridor and jabbed the elevator button. She didn’t know if she was scared, angry or annoyed, but it felt more like all of them at the same time. The elevator doors opened and Liz walked in, stabbing at the button for ground level before folding her arms and settling a scowl on her face. Sal rushed in as fast as she could and got in just before the doors could close. The elevator doors jerked back to allow her entry then closed silently, locking them in.

“Are you alright?” asked Sal, her voice wavered slightly to show her hesitancy to broach the subject.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Liz questioned. Her tone was far from ‘fine’ and Sal flinched from the harshness of it.

“You didn’t know,” said Sal. It was more a statement than a question, but it was what Liz needed to hear and her composure slipped.

Liz felt the first few trails on her face just before the torrent came through. Sal just held her as she cried her heart out. Sal pressed the emergency stop button and waited for her partner of four years to stop crying.

“Why didn’t they tell me?” asked Liz, her voice childish and sounding so lost and alone that it took all of Sal’s control to not break down into tears herself.

“I don’t know sweetie, I really don’t,” she said, her voice as soothing as possible. Liz gradually calmed down and pulled back, feeling embarrassed and sheepish.

Sal just shook her head. This was neither the time nor the place to have a pity party. She pressed the emergency stop button again and the lift started back up, heading down to ground level. By the time the elevator doors opened, it was as though Liz had never been crying in the first place. They waltzed straight through and went to the car park; both of them by unspoken agreement went to Sal’s car and drove out.

The case had just begun.

Spinning around the corner Liz hung on while Sal drove at breakneck pace. They were going to Liz’s old home and they were going to do their jobs. Though to be honest it would most likely be Sal going in, collecting statements and the like whilst Liz hid in the hotel or in the next town.

Liz walked into the hotel just as Sal drove off to greet her relatives in the next town and find out what they needed. She didn’t have much. Essentially they only carried what they needed and that was the case notes, a laptop and clothing. Altogether it was a fairly light and travel easy way of life.

The desk clerk seemed to know exactly who she was before she even spoke and he wordlessly gave her a key, she nodded to him in acceptance before leaving. A tip landed on his desk as she walked away.

The lift was new and clean. There was a silver sheen to the metal that could only be achieved with meticulous cleaning and she didn’t see a need to damage it by touching it. Standing with a backpack on one shoulder and a small suitcase in her hand she stood in the middle of the lift and waited for the lift to stop.

It opened out to a corridor. There was no sound to acknowledge its new location and she was tempted to laugh, they were a fair way from cities now and she was lucky that this place knew what a lift was. Hefting the bag into a better position on her shoulder, she lugged the suitcase to the new room, opening the door with the appointed key.

The room was spacious and would serve as their new base of operations until further notice. It seemed that whatever happened until the case was solved would most probably revolve around this room.

Liz set the suitcase down and threw her backpack onto one of the two beds in the room. They were both queen-sized and she felt comfortable knowing exactly which bed was hers. They had settled long ago who would take which bed, and it never troubled her.

Opening her backpack, she took out a change of clothes and her pyjamas. Under that were her toiletries and a small book her mother had given to her when she was a child. It was a spell book and it held the simple spells that were unique to her type of magic. Sal had her own book but their magic ran in different circles and could never mix.

They had tried once, when they were both still rookies, and they had never tried again. It was worse than a hangover and didn’t have the benefit of being drunk before it. Though rumours did say that certain types of magic mixed, it was obvious theirs never would. That was made more obvious when Liz had realised that she was gay and Sal had comforted her. Of course Sal had then gone to set her up with all the lesbian friends she had ever met.

As comforting as it was that Sal still accepted her, it was slightly daunting to have a blind date almost every night of the week. It was after an extremely disturbing date that Sal had finally stopped trying to set Liz up, but it was obvious that she still cared about her.

Sal’s sexuality was somewhat more definitive. She had met a perfect man during one of their jobs, but he had turned out to be an absolute sleaze and Liz had kicked his ass to make him understand that she didn’t like him. What it did show was what Sal’s magical mix was and though they had yet to meet another man with the same type of magical mix, Sal was hopeful.

Liz felt a wry smile on her face and instantly dropped it back to an impassive look. She could feel sorry for herself later; this was neither the time nor the place for her to think about her love life, or lack thereof.

With her bag unpacked, she opened up the suitcase on the spacious ground between the two beds. Taking out her laptop first, she set it up in the near power point and let it load. She pulled out a small device after that and set it on one of the bedside tables. Flipping a small switch on the side, she let it scan the entire room to make sure it wasn’t bugged; magically or otherwise.

When it gave a small blip to indicate it was done, she checked the screen to make sure there was nothing before repeating the process for every room in the suite they were given. It didn’t take long to complete the task and the only camera she found was in the shower and it was obviously done by amateurs, which only made her role her eyes at men and their perverted ways.

Logging into her laptop she began to open the necessary files for this case and began to read. They needed info and they needed it fast, whatever was happening had been happening for a while and it was obvious the enemy was way ahead of them.

When the door opened to reveal a smug Sal holding a folder, some take away and her own backpack, Liz had just finished reading the info from the laptop and was about to start on the file that the agency had given them.

“How’d it go?” asked Liz, barely sparing a glance from her file.

“It went well, though considering you’re off the comp I believe you went well too,” said Sal, unpacking her bag as well. It was similarly equipped, a change of clothes, a set of pyjamas, toiletries and her spell book.

“What’d you find?” Liz asked, setting another sheet into the ‘read’ pile.

“Your family is more than helpful and it’s a pity you didn’t want to see them. They miss you,” said Sal. Liz ignored the comment and just continued to read. It was one thing that Liz had never told her. The reason why Liz had joined the agency and the reason she had left her family, her home, to do so.

“Here’s the info they gave,” said Sal after a minute of frigid silence. She handed the folder over to Liz and then set about organising the food.

“Thanks,” muttered Liz, and it referred to more than just the folder. Sal nodded wordlessly. Whatever had troubled Liz was still a sore point in Liz’s life and something Sal had never pushed.

“Food time,” said Sal cheerfully. Liz just quirked her eyebrow and looked at Sal with something akin to disbelief.

“You don’t honestly think I didn’t know that you haven’t eaten since this morning right?” asked Sal incredulously.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Liz. Sal just pointed out the window to the setting sun. Liz blinked at it and then looked somewhat sheepish. She always forgot to eat and it was lucky Sal was here or she’d never remember to eat.

Sal handed her a container and then grabbed her own. They sat surrounded by the file notes and Sal noticed that there were three piles on the bed. One was obviously for unread things because the folder she just gave Liz was in it and one was the read pile because it was on top of the laptop, but the third pile was stacked fairly neatly and was still very small.

“Not much info?” asked Sal, staring at the small pile as if it was insulting her.

“It’s been condensed, most of the stuff is old news and we already know it from other cases, but this is the stuff that’s different from other cases,” explained Liz. She shovelled another forkful into her mouth as her appetite emerged. Despite being slight, Liz still ate a whole lot more than Sal though Sal was somewhat fleshier than Liz.

“What’s in it?” asked Sal. Her container was empty and she was simply sipping at her juice now.

Liz handed her the stack and went back to eating heartily. Sal started reading and soon lost herself. There were references to other cases they had done and it didn’t take long for the picture of this new case to paint itself, and what she saw wasn’t something she liked.

Somewhere along the lines Liz had cleaned up the food and had gone through the pile of unread info, writing up some more notes through the process. Sal watched her friend put everything away.

“Something’s missing isn’t it?” asked Sal, somewhat perplexed at Liz’s packing. There were still some holes in everything and though all the evidence pointed to one thing, something was still missing from the equation.

“What?”

“This isn’t everything. Shouldn’t we be researching until we know everything?” Sal reiterated.

“I know everything,” replied Liz cryptically.

“Care to tell me?”

Liz looked at Sal and then nodded slowly. She picked up all the notes that they had deemed important and put it into a separate folder. Silence reigned whilst Liz seemed to wait for something. Sal didn’t want to push and realised exactly what was missing.

The last piece that was missing was a memory.

And here's another part...

Blood Magic - Part 1

Well...long time no post...

Blood Magic - Part 1 - Of Blood and Magic

Rated: R...if it changes, I'll say so

Summary: Well...guess you'll have to read it to find out. Essentially it's in a contemporary setting with demons and magic (obviously I've watched too much Buffy). There will be homosexual relationships as well as heterosexual ones in this, though mainly homosexual. Possibly gore in the near future (or far future) we'll see...

Feedback: feel free to tell me what you think (eg. whether it's crap or not) and umm...no one to read it so yes, mistakes are all mine...I'M SORRY!!! But tell me and I'll fix it

There’s something about magic. The way that it courses through your veins until every single nerve ending in your body is singing makes me feel complete. I’ve always held onto magic. It’s always been my safety blanket, something to wrap myself in until someone could find me. There are lots of creepy crawly things out there, usually of the bug nature, but some are more dangerous, more threatening and altogether bad news. But when I’m wrapped in my magic, I feel like there’s nothing that could hurt me, nothing that can cause me pain.

Then again, that was years ago. I’ve stopped magic since then. I don’t touch the stuff. I guess I grew out of it or something, but the essential idea was that it didn’t hold me like it used to. When I’m scared, I still wrap myself in my magic, but I don’t get scared anymore. At least I pretend I don’t.

***

The alarm clock went off.

Three grumbles, several muttered curses and a yelp later, the alarm clock was turned off. Eight shivers, sixteen half jump half skip steps, and four yawns later, she was in the bathroom and brushing her teeth. It was another ordinary day. At least it was in her books, considering she hadn’t managed to hit anything and suffer serious bruising from a table corner or wall, she figured it was a good day already.

At least it was a better day than all the other ones she’d been having so far.

The phone began to ring just as she was sticking some bread into the toaster. Throwing it in quickly, she picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she said. A muffled sound of someone falling out of bed was heard before a second yelp was heard.

“Herrow?” asked another woman’s voice.

“Good, your both up,” said a cheery third voice.

“Wharra want?” asked the woman’s voice.

“Good morning Sal. Morning Mira,” she said, just as her toast popped out.

“Good morning Liz. Sal, get out of bed and wake up properly, I need you both listening,” said the third voice.

Liz sat down and started eating her breakfast. Knowing Sal, this could take a very long time. She smirked at the thought as she heard a muttered curse followed by a yelp and the sound of the phone being dropped.

“The sound of Sal waking up is worth every morning phone call,” said Mira. Liz just laughed and proceeded to make small talk with the background sound of Sal waking up. Compared to Sal, Liz’s way of waking up was extremely tame.

The sound of a crash followed by a meek “I’m alright” stopped the light hearted chat on the phone. It was coming up to the end of Sal’s wake up routine. A few more muffled yelps and crashes later, Sal finally made it to the phone.

“Morning,” she said. Liz rolled her eyes and returned the sentiment, waiting for Sal to actually settle and all the crashing sounds to stop.

“Are we all settled then?” asked an amused Mira.

“Yep!” said Sal, her normal cheerful self. Liz supposed she’d just finished her coffee.

“What’d you need us for?” asked Liz, toying with the rim of her coffee.

“Are either of you busy for the next few weeks?” asked Mira, her tone suddenly serious. Liz’s forehead crinkled in thought. Something serious was happening and it was obvious that she was going to end up in the middle of it. Sal seemed to have the same thoughts.

“What happened? Where do you need us and what do you need us to do?” she asked. Liz smiled. They had been partners for so long they already knew exactly what the other needed.

“We have a job for the both of you, and if you’re not busy we’d like you to come in and we’ll explain it to you,” explained Mira.

“We’re on our way,” said Liz, downing the rest of the coffee before setting the cup on the sink and hanging up the phone.

It didn’t take long for Liz to make it to the station. She was a detective and had no need for a uniform, but she generally wore exactly the same thing anyway.

“Morning Liz!” yelled Veronica. Liz waved and walked over to her desk.

“What’d I miss?” she asked.

“Nothing much,” replied Veronica, picking up a file off her desk and handing it to Liz.

“Sure, cause this is nothing much,” she said sarcastically, pointing to the thick file that she just got handed.

“Could be worse,” replied Veronica, indicating the other desk where another detective was getting handed an entire box.

“Right, happy with the file then,” said Liz, grinning sheepishly.

“Glad to hear it. Talk to you another time then,” said Veronica, getting straight back to work as Liz waved and shuffled off.

Sal met her on the way to Mira’s office holding an identical looking folder.

“I guess you got your own precious little gift then,” said Sal wryly, hefting the file with one hand like weights.

“Yea, just then,” she said, smothering a laugh at Sal’s antics.

The ding of the elevator alerted them to their new floor. Sharing a grin they both walked out at the same time and with the same style they always employed, waltzed into the corridor of the upper offices of the Agency.

A few heads poked out from cubicles and offices as they walked. Finally reaching one of the last few doors, they glanced at each other before opening the door and walking in fluidly. It was almost like a well rehearsed play that they had done for years and were completely comfortable to do for the rest of their lives.

“Ah, you both arrived promptly then,” said Mira. She was an intense woman to say the least. She filled up the room despite the fact that she barely took up one hundredth of the space.

“What did you need us for?” asked Sal, her cheery voice permeating Mira’s serious demeanour until they were both grinning like idiots.

“I suppose you got the files?” she said, indicating the thick tomes they both held.

Liz and Sal nodded in response, sharing a look of amusement.

“I need you to handle the case. It’s been puzzling us for a while and we need it solved,” said Mira, indicating the seats. This was obviously an important case if they needed to sit down. Usually it was just, come in, get words of encouragement, get out and solve the case before coming back in for congratulations.

“What’s so special about it?” asked Liz, her voice puzzled and a furrow appearing between her eyebrows as she concentrated.

“There are slightly …disturbing instances that do not make logical sense and it requires people of more…open opinions to take a look,” explained Mira, indicating the open door. Sal got up silently and shut the door with a resounding click. The blinds were shut and the room was essentially plunged in to absolute darkness.

“What’s happened?” asked Liz. Mira turned on her desk light and it cast a slightly eerie glow in the room, enough to see by but not enough to make out everything clearly.

“There have been a string of murders. They’re all demonic in nature and we’re certain that it’s the same group of demons,” said Mira, her tone completely serious.

“What’s so special about them? Did they kill someone important on the food scavenges?” asked Sal, her tone still slightly jovial.

“I wish,” muttered Mira. She merely opened up a file on her desk and handed them both separate copies.

“They’re not killing for food. They’re hunting for something and we’re not quite certain what. We need you to find out for us,” she said. Liz looked at the sheet she was given, there was a list of names and each name held some kind of link to the next person that was killed.

“They’re going from bottom to top,” said Sal. Her voice was finally serious and when Sal was serious it was obvious that it was a dire situation.

“What do you mean?” asked Mira, her voice perplexed. It was obvious that she was worried; no one liked it when Sal became serious.

“I mean that the demons are starting at the bottom of the chain and working their way up,” said Sal, indicating the names.

“Explain,” said Liz. Now was not the time for words.

“These women, I recognise some of their names,” said Sal.

“They’re all women?” asked Liz, looking to Mira for confirmation.

“Yes, all of them, but how’d you know?” Mira asked Sal.

“For one thing, magic like this is passed through the females of the family. For another thing, this kind of magic is extremely valuable. I’m presuming all of these women were bled dry?” asked Sal. Mira nodded.

“What’s that mean?” asked Liz.

“They’re going after women with a certain type of magic in them. This type of magic is passed through blood and thus they’re hunting down the women. Most of these women are related by birth, most are married so their names have changed and the like, but essentially they’re all from the same lineage,” explained Sal.

“What makes you think they’re working their way up?” asked Mira.

“They were taking out children in the beginning. Children don’t know how to control their magical abilities; these demons would have taken that into account and gone straight for the ones with the most potential and were unable to control it. The children’s mothers would have had to be the ones that taught their daughters how to control their abilities. Greatest or perhaps worst thing about this type of magic is that it doesn’t skip generations and it doesn’t have carriers in the males,” said Sal.

“So they’re finding the children, draining them, draining the mothers and then looking for more,” said Liz.

“Exactly, but it’s hard to hunt down women as demons, they would have to either have human appearances or otherwise they would need to have a human handler,” said Sal.

“Something tells me that this is going to get messy,” muttered Mira.

“What type of blood are they looking for?” asked Liz, tucking the sheet into the already full folder.

“Yours,” replied Sal simply. Mira and Liz looked at her.

“What do you mean?” asked Liz, fear etched into her voice despite her attempt at masking it.

“I mean…” Sal pointed at her sheet of paper and the name on the list made Liz's blood chill.

It was her aunt’s name.

I've started something new, I'll see where this takes me, though I might never finish it