Page 32 of Deal with the Devil

“Zavros said it was ransacked, but it didn’t look like there was any struggle on her body, like he got her clean…so why rip up her place?” Knox cocked a brow, stepped off down the sidewalk. They had about two hours before the after party and Maevin had someone else following Amelia today, just in case.After he showed his hand, he was worried she would spot Maevin on spite alone.

“Fair,” Maevin sighed, clearly bemoaning his choice to follow Knox into the fray. Maevin tended to work best from the shadows. He looked like someone who enjoyed the limelight because that was part of the disguise. When he was working, no one could see him. Maevin was a chameleon.

They got to the apartment about thirty minutes later and ducked under bright orange tape from the Enforcers guild. Stepping inside, Knox crunched his boots over shattered glass. To his left, where a coffee table used to be, was a hollowed-out husk of pieces. To his right was a shattered mess of an apartment. The poor landlord would have to completely gut the place. There were shards of wood embedded in the ceiling and blood splashed everywhere in the living room. Where her body was found, blood soaked deep into the hardwood to the point it bubbled up. The kitchen was smashed to bits. Drawers were ripped out, silverware and plates were broken against the floor.

“He had to be desperately looking for something.” Maevin side stepped another pool of blood. The pair crept through the apartment to the back room. Sandy lived in a singular bedroom apartment on the top floor. Her living room had a window, and her bedroom had a window, other than that, she had no light . There was a massive lamp in every room. Knox walked up to her bedroom window and pulled the curtains. Maevin loudly gagged as he clicked on the floor lamp.

A foot sat rotting in the middle of the floor.

Knox grumbled, “The Enforcers can’t clean up all the body?”

The sound of crunching glass came from behind them and the pair whirled around. Maevin had a knife already out and at the ready. Knox held a ball of purple flames to his side and his cane in the other hand. That’s when Aravis Blightwood stepped into view of the room, blocking out all the light from the room previously. “That’s not Sandy’s foot. It’s why we left it.”

“Lord Commander,” Knox huffed, dropping the flames. Maevin edged away from the large Fowlst gentleman. “And what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m interested in why you’re traipsing through my crime scene, Mr. Zrazduel?” Aravis cocked a brow.

“Sandy was an employee of mine, and called out sick three days in a row, very unlike her. I had an associate come to check on her and found her apartment in a mess. I came to personally investigate it.” Knox motioned around the room.

“Was? Hmmm, so then you know that Ms. Little is dead?” He cocked his head to the right.

“I wouldn’t have come if she was alive.” Knox looked around the room. “Her killer was looking for something.”

“And left his snack behind,” Maevin gagged, pointing at the foot. Unlike Sandy’s head, the foot was detached with little care. Bone and gristle flopped over the top of it, like it had been sawed by someone without the arm strength to finish the job andthen ripped off the rest of the way. Knox couldn’t argue it was unsettling. He stepped around the foot and headed for Sandy’s closet.

“What are you looking for, Mr. Zrazduel? I have half a mind to arrest you for trespassing.” Aravis leaned against the door frame that whined from the strain.

“A clue as to what our killer was looking for. Sandy wasn’t high up in my business, rather entry level, if I do say so myself. However, she got into an unfortunate scuffle with a vagrant and now was murdered? There’s a reason here somewhere.” Knox pushed aside tossed items and used his cane to wade through the sea of broken things. Clothes ripped apart; the closet was tossed well.

Not well enough, though.As he saw the charm on the bottom corner of the walls. A shimmering barely held together charm to cover up something. It was at the bottom of the closet, hidden in the wall trim. He crouched, hand igniting in purple flames again. Blowing on them, his spell attacked the protections. With a hiss and a sharp snap, like glass, the charm broke away and an already hard to see notch was exposed. Peeling off his glove, he used his fingernail to catch the lip of it and pulled a small wooden drawer from the trim. It was tiny, would have been ignored either way, but the spell was over kill.She didn’t want anyone to see it, including his vampire.

A simple ‘if you’re looking for the item, you can’t see it’ spell. He would have applauded her for getting away with it if she hadn’t been murdered for it. Since Knox wasn’t looking for anything specific, he caught the hint of the spell.

Inside the drawer was a flash drive. Knox stuffed it in his pocket before Aravis entered the closet.

Knox showed him the drawer. “Whatever our killer was after, they found it in here. Sandy was hiding something.”

“Hmm,” Aravis didn’t sound convinced, but Knox wasn’t in the mood or place to persuade him. He had a party to get to and an author to devour.

“I apologize, both our efforts seem to have been wasted, Lord Commander.” Knox rose to his feet and swiftly walked past the massive, black-feathered bird folk with a sour face.

“Mr. Zrazduel,” Aravis called after him. Both Maevin and Knox stopped, only Knox turned to face Aravis. The Lord Commander pointed to the foot. “The foot belongs to a Tony Broadsword, you know him?”

Knox knew him. Immediately, without having to think very hard. Tony was not only a grifter, a purveyor of services…but the very man who made Rick’s fake ID. Their vampire was cleaning house, it seemed.

“The two-bit, fake ID maker? No, he’s not mine. I would never hire anyone so…meager. I apologize, Lord Commander, I can’t help you there.” Knox ducked his head, hoping he gave enough to keep Aravis looking without giving away everything.

Knox intended to find his vampire. He would find and slaughter the beast for interfering in his affairs. However, having the Lord Commander on the prowl wasn’t a bad idea. If Blightwood figured him out first, it might help.

Maevin waited for Knox to get out into the hall before putting his hand out. Knox smirked to himself, slipping the flash drive from his pocket into his friend’s palm. Maevin tsked, shaking his head. “You’re such a little stinker.”

“I want to know what’s on that by the time I get home tonight.” He jabbed a finger in Maevin’s face.

“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Maevin snickered, plugging the flash drive into his crystal pad. “Just Amelia or is the whole family coming home with us?”

He exhaled heavily. That was the question, wasn’t it? If Amelia didn’t come willingly back to his home, it would be a struggle.He’d worked in harsher conditions, but he hated the idea of forcing her hand. It was for the best. “Everyone.”

Calling up Denver, he informed his butler to have at least three rooms ready for guests. He didn’t say the third was for Amelia, just in case she denied him. He didn’t want her unwilling. Knox craved her as she was with him that night. Daring, fiery, biting, and deliciously willing.

---