Page 9 of Reaper
He rose and walked over to the monitor, gesturing at the four faces there.“You have the photographs of four lycanthropes who have apparently been murdered in Charlotte recently, but what of other paranormal or supernatural beings that don’t leave bodies in mysteriously perfect health?How do we know that this is only a problem of the lycanthrope population?What if someone is once again hunting cryptids and supernatural beings of all stripes?”
Fuck me, I said to Becks through our link.We hadn’t even considered that, but it was definitely possible.It wasn’t too long ago that DEMON, the government agency that used to be responsible for protecting humanity against paranormal and supernatural threats decided that the best defense was a good offense and went full genocide on every non-human being they could find.We blew DEMON up, in some cases literally, but there was nothing to say that this wasn’t another broad-spectrum assault.
“We…don’t know that,” I said, sitting down on a barstool and holding out a hand.Mort, a great bartender no matter what body he’s borrowing, slapped a bottle of Jameson’s into my palm.
“Howwouldwe even know that?”Saint asked.“If somebody left a dead vamp on a golf course, you’d burn to ash in the sunlight before anybody came along to find you.A dead demon would melt into disgusting demon goop, and I don’t even know what dead fairies turn into.Glitter?”
“The bodies of most deceased fae return to their home dimension upon their expiration,” Luke replied.“And yes, most supernatural beings leave very little in the way of evidence behind.It is one of our natural protections against humanity’s prying eyes.”
“So how do we find out if there are other types of dead paras in town?”Becks asked.
“We ask,” I said.“We identified three of our four known victims by asking the weres.Now we talk to the witches, the demons, the faeries, the vampires, and any other supernatural types we can get to meet with us.If Luke’s theory is right and this isn’t limited to just shifters, we might have a much bigger problem on our hands.”
I looked across the bar at Mort.“Sorry, pal.I think we’re gonna need to have a few more moots at Mort’s.”
“Long as your uncle is picking up the bar tab, you can have as many moots as you need.”
7
What do we know now?”Becks asked, standing in the middle of our living room.It was three days later, and between her, Luke, and I, we’d shaken almost every tree in the Charlotte bureaucratic forest, both legitimate and criminal.Glory and Faustus were still off doing their angel stuff, having just popped in long enough to make sure I didn’t slaughter two dozen shifters in Mort’s bar.
“Fuck and all,” I said.“None of my usual contacts know shit about missing paras.I went over to see Saint today, and he had nothing new from his people, either.”
You went to see Saint, or you went to see Saint’s niece?Becks asked across our mental link.
Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, babe.You can feel everything I feel, so you know I don’t have any feelings for Cindy.
I know, but it’s fun to watch you squirm.
My fiancée can be truly evil when she wants to be.“None of the fae will speak to me after that dustup with Oberon down in Atlanta, so if there are faeries involved or being victimized, I’ve got no way of knowing.”
“The local vampire covens are aware of seven of their number missing in the past quarter, but some of those seem to be due to the vampire in question wanting a change in scenery.And one was put down for misbehaving.”
“Put down?”Becks asked.“I don’t remember us going after any vampires in the past few months.”
“You didn’t,” Luke said.I gave Becks a little shake of my head, hoping she’d drop it.Luke has mostly accepted his role working within the framework of the DHSPD, but he’s not what anyone in their right mind would call a tame vampire.If a bloodsucker stepped out of line, he wouldn’t hesitate to take them out, and he apparently wouldn’t even ask forgiveness, much less permission.
“I…see,” she said.“So how many of their missing do we think are connected to this case?”
“No more than four.Likely three at most,” Luke replied.
“That takes us to seven semi-confirmed victims.”
“Ten,” I said.Every head in the room swiveled to stare at me, even Nameless, who was perched on Luke’s lap as per usual.I swear, the cat spends any more time snuggling with my uncle, I’m going to make him clean the litterbox.Or at least buy one of those robotic ones.
“You said you didn’t get any information, Harker,” Becks said.
“I didn’t.Madame Wanda, however, made some calls on my behalf.Her and that cohort of crazy-haired witches she runs with have some good contacts down here.”
“Contacts that won’t speak to you?”Becks asked.
“Contacts that kinda tried to kill me a couple times,” I said.“But they told Wanda that three witches from different covens have been found dead recently, all naked as the day they were born.Except they called it sky-clad, because they’re witches and have to make everything twice as complicated as it needs to be.”
“And you wonder why these women tried to kill you,” Luke mused.
“They’re not all women,” I said.“Get with the times, Uncle.Men and nonbinary people can be witches, too.And in this case, that’s who was attacked.Two guys and one nonbinary person who looked pretty masculine at first glance.”
“So our killer is targeting men, or at least male-presenting people,” Becks said.“That’s something, at least.”
