《The Beast in the mirror (Completed)》


 Case M6-10-73 - Meredith Bauer #1

    -10th of June 2022, Cologne


    Being a Detective in Cologne has always been a ride, what with the number of tourists disregarding signs and the Department for Esoteric Defence breathing down our neck.


    And as if the job wasn''t hard enough by default, Cologne is a hotspot for supernaturals like vampires, mages, lycanthropes, fey and even the occasional demons. Dragons prefer the settlements towards the east, thank fuck, so they are rarely seen here. It has something to do with the local ley lines but I was never formally taught about the magical side of things.


    I have always dreamt of working for the Department of Esoteric Defence since I was a little kid, relishing in the stories of my grandfather and wanting to be as cool as him but my slip-up in university and the revelation of just what I''d be dealing with quickly stomped that dream into the dirt.


    I mean, who would want to constantly argue with creatures far stronger than oneself, when the most they would get for killing you was a metaphorical slap on the wrist?


    So I applied to be a Detective in Cologne, moving way west to get some distance between me and my past. But hoping that distance would help me, is a fool¡¯s dream.


    But I am getting off-topic. Apologies.


    It was a nice winter day and I was at home cooking for my family.


    Rebecca, my wife of four years, she had red hair at the time, prone to dying it often depending on her mood, and was completely exhausted from work. She lay on the couch and watched a Cartoon -Bugs Bunny- with our son, Daniel, while sipping a soda.


    Daniel was always a bright kid, learning quickly and always on the prowl for a new book to read. Although he was quiet and never had many friends, no one disliked him as far as we were aware. His ninth birthday was in a week and he had subtly hinted at wanting a book about modern myths at every single opportunity that presented itself.


    I¡¯d just gotten the roast out of the oven when my mobile rang.


    "There''s a new case," a familiar feminine voice said, without as much as a greeting. I recognized her as Claire, my secretary.


    "It can wait," I replied, basting the roast in its juices after having stuck the phone between my shoulder and ear. "I just finished dinner."


    "You''re going to want to hear this," she said right before I would have hung up on her.


    I checked on the potatoes. "You have five minutes to convince me."


    I heard her reshuffle some files before starting, probably putting the most important ones towards the front. "They have very little evidence to go off and I''ve got your favourite coffee for you, " she offered, followed by another bout of paper being shuffled around. "They want you on it because of your gift even after I denied you having one, but they wouldn''t listen. Sorry."


    They? It must be the Department of Esoteric Defence, Claire didn''t easily take orders.


    "Yeah, what''s my favourite coffee?" I challenged but we both knew she had me at ¡®the Department of Esoteric Defence calling it little evidence.¡¯ I had a penchant for solving those cases, finding miniscule traces, or even connections to people others wouldn''t have considered.


    She hummed thoughtfully before answering "Your taste in coffee is just as bad as your taste in women. Irish, with one sugar and a shot of milk."


    I looked over to my wife. She had her big Wyrm plushie in her arms, blissfully unaware that such a thing actually existed, and let me assure you they did not like to cuddle. Her red hair was a mess and she had two stains on the shirt she was wearing -my old university shirt- but she was still cute, though perhaps, homely might have been more fitting.


    Noticing my look, she stuck her tongue out and made the Wyrm glare at me. I shouldn''t forget that she can be childish.


    "Agree to disagree," I said.


    Claire loudly slurped a drink, probably some of my coffee, before replying "Yeah, the coffee is drinkable. Not rancid."


    I never understood what Claire disliked about Rebecca. I mean, sure, she was a cutthroat lawyer who¡¯d fought against us dozens of times, defending the very people I tried to put behind bars, but she¡¯d never met Rebecca outside of work.


    Insulting Rebecca is still one of the few things that could make me actually boil in anger, but I know Claire and Rebecca didn''t see it as serious badgering, more like friendly banter without the chatting in between. Old friends who fell out of touch, but the connection remained, allowing for the banter. It did make me wonder whether they knew each other, but they only met the few times Rebecca surprised me at work.


    "Yeah, send me the address, I''ll be there." I hung up and put my phone on the counter.


    It lit up before I even put it down, showing me an address fifteen minutes away from my apartment, with a pouting emoji beneath it.


    I checked the potatoes again, knowing they wouldn''t be ready, before cutting off a few thin slices of the roast.


    I grabbed my lunchbox and two slices of bread, and made myself a sandwich using the roast and some coleslaw I had in the fridge as my late dinner.


    "Another case?" Rebecca asked, putting the plushie on the couch next to her. I always felt bad for leaving her for work, but we went into this knowing that we were both going to be putting in way more than 40 hours a week, and we made it work.


    I grabbed my lunchbox and left my thermos -Claire had coffee for me after all- and walked over.


    "Yeah, it''s another one they need me for," I explained, stopping to place a kiss on her forehead, "I think this one might take a little longer, so don''t wait up. I''ll sneak in tonight. Oh, the potatoes need three minutes and then you two can eat."


    "Wait," Rebecca said, catching my arm, "you forgot something. "


    I leaned in for a quick kiss and felt her slip something into my bag as our lips met.


    "Do not stay awake to try and catch me, Daniel, you''ve got school," I reminded him, ruffling his hair as I passed him.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    He continued to watch TV, but I saw the glint in his eyes. He would try.


    <hr>


    "I hope you weren''t drinking my coffee earlier," I greeted Claire before ducking under the police tape.


    "Of course not," she said, handing me my coffee and a folder. "I took a quick peek inside the scene and this is probably going to be the first of many. No way you are going to catch this one today."


    "Wanna bet?" I challenged her, flipping open the folder with one hand while sipping the coffee with the other.


    "No, I know how that''d end."


    I was greeted by a picture of a middle-aged Caucasian woman holding a sign with her name and a number in an orange overall. An ex-prisoner. Meredith Bauer was her name, and she had previously been arrested for multiple accounts of Driving under the Influence of Drugs and a homicide. Claire did her homework and the files for her former misconducts were attached along with financial records.


    Claire showed her badge that she got online for a few euros, and the two uniformed officers let us into the apartment. She didn''t need a badge and it didn¡¯t even look like a proper one, but the officers recognised us, as we¡¯d gained a bit of a reputation at this point, and let her in either way.


    Meredith Bauer didn''t have any close family or friends as far as official records and neighbours went, but she seemed familiar to me. Her family had cut ties with her during her sentence, and the neighbours told the officers that she rarely left the apartment outside of work and never joined them for drinks.


    I would have to talk with the neighbours myself at one point or let Claire do it. Her gift allowed her to be even more thorough than my years of experience.


    The apartment itself was nothing out of the ordinary. A three room apartment with a small kitchen, living room, bath and bedroom, all visible from the living room. All the doors had been ripped open and left like that.


    "She must have searched for something before being attacked," I voiced my thoughts out loud as per usual.  "Or the attacker did." I¡¯d have to check for any obviously missing objects like jewellery.


    Claire had always been smart, but this part of the job was not for her, which was why she never made the jump to Detective. She still picked the files from my outstretched hand and diligently wrote down everything I said, organising it.


    I may have been a great cook and an even better detective, but I¡¯d never been tidy as my long suffering wife can attest.


    There¡¯d definitely been a fight before she was killed. Cutlery and food had been used as improvised weapons, two sets of cutlery but only one glass. I put my gloves on, so as to not taint the evidence.


    A quick check of the drawers confirmed my thoughts, a second person was here or at least expected to show up. None of the drawers were ripped open and the kitchen showed no signs of a fight.


    The bathroom and bedroom similarly showed no signs of a fight so I closed those doors, narrowing my focus.


    The only thing that struck me as odd inside of the bedroom was the unmade bed. Considering the prison she went to, she should have always made her bed as a ritual and that normally would have lasted longer than two months.


    The warden had always been an asshole but he was fair as long as you hadn''t given him a reason to hate you. "Remind me to check in with Lars, see who Meredith''s cellmate was over a game of darts," I told Claire and she quickly scribbled a reminder on a sticky note.


    I turned to our main lead, the fight, and started to state all relevant details I could find to Claire.


    The plates and the cutlery had been thrown towards the front door and smashed against the wall, probably an opening move on our attackers side. That means Meredith sat with her back to the door and the floor mirror.


    The food was a simple Stew, fancier than prison food but not by much. Our prisons served pretty good meals considering their low funding.


    The two knives laid next to the floor mirror, which was cracked, and were drenched in blood.


    A big blood trail led right up to the mirror, staining the bottom of it and the entire floor. It was two metres long, thinning away from the mirror and had furrows in the carpet, like someone got dragged away, through or into the mirror.


    The floor mirror seemed to be the focus of this scene so I investigated it in detail. It was approximately 190cm tall and 95cm wide and hung just above the ground. It was cracked but the singular pieces hadn''t fallen out. It looked like something big and softish impacted it from the web of cracks.


    I remembered a talk I had with the Warden about a trick his prisoners frequently used to hide notes or money and tilted the mirror forwards.


    A folded piece of paper slipped out from the back, landing in the blood for but a moment before I picked it up. It must have been dislodged during the fight.


    It was a picture of Meredith and my wife, Rebecca, hugging each other around the neck with one arm while holding a beer in the other.


    Claire handed me a plastic bag so I put the picture inside before handing it back.


    She glanced at it before noting something else on her clipboard.


    I took a sample of the blood splatter just to be safe before sitting down next to it. I had exhausted all of my mundane methods to gather information for now so I turned to the esoteric ones.


    "Wait outside, let no one in," I ordered Claire. She could have stayed because she knew about my abilities already but it was always safer to keep a lookout for other people. It didn''t help that I had more violent reactions sometimes and I didn''t want to hurt anyone.


    She complied but hesitated for a second before shutting the door.


    I put my hand flat against the blood stained carpet and reached out, steadying my breath before the inevitable black out could-


    <hr>


    I was being dragged over my floor, hands desperately trying to dig into the carpet as I felt my feet getting ripped from the rest of my body, tendons snapping.


    Scorching knives of pain dug into my thighs, cutting through my muscles and impacting my bones with an audible crack.


    I screamed my throat hoarse, hoping that someone, anyone would be able to hear me.


    I felt my muscles being peeled away from the bone. Two more painful tendrils impacted me, one puncturing my lower back and leaving a gaping hole as the other one slaps against my neck from the side.


    The second one quickly coiled around my neck and started to squeeze, trying to pop my head off of my body before twisting to force my head to look back at it.


    The mirror. It was looming over me, impossibly contorting and seemingly growing even more tendrils that were coiling in the air.


    Snap


    My neck snapped and I found myself staring at my own back and the bloody remains of my legs along with an utterly horrified visage staring at me with tears in its eyes. Was I crying?


    <hr>


    I was laying on my back, staring at the flickering lights above and had lost the feeling in my legs.


    "What the fuck," I rasped out, my throat  feeling as if it was closed off, "did that- no, no!"


    I tried to sit back up as I slowly regained the feeling in my legs, thoughts racing.


    I couldn''t believe my senses but I knew that my ability was never wrong. It showed me exactly what the victim had been feeling around the time the wound was inflicted, including the sensation of having my -their- life extinguished if the timing''s right.


    That in and of itself was a strong ability but I could not change my focus or notice stuff the victim hadn''t noticed themselves. I couldn¡¯t review the memories and focus on a specific part like the crying face, it could have very well just been Meredith''s reflection but she didn''t notice it so neither could I.


    I managed to right myself and sit up shortly after but I was wary of reusing my ability so soon on a memory of me dying.


    The memory was still fresh in my mind and I had a great memory so watching it again wouldn''t have helped me, the more likely scenario would have ended up with me incapacitated for the rest of the day.


    The amount of times I had experienced being eaten alive was something I wanted to keep under ten and I was already getting dangerously close to that threshold.


    Even after having seen it myself, my thoughts went back to the same conclusion, disregarding my knowledge of the Esoteric, as limited as it may be.


    Mirrors can''t eat people!

 Case M6-10-73 - Meredith Bauer #2

    Claire and I left the crime scene after one final sweep of the apartment, which revealed nothing new.


    I made my way to the first witness, the landlord, Paul Fischer, while Claire had to go to a prior personal arrangement. She had put in more than enough hours to allow herself that much and it was already getting late so I allowed her to take the rest of the night off.


    Paul Fischer was a big fellow with broad shoulders and muscle overshadowed by fat, beginning to go bald and trying to hide it with a wig. Not a very impressive person. But neither was I, so perhaps I shouldn''t judge.


    "Sir Fischer," I greeted him with my badge around my neck, presenting it. "I am the leading Detective on the murder of Meredith Bauer. May I come in?"


    "What did you say your name was?" he asked suspiciously. If he was smart or paranoid would still have to be decided.


    "I didn''t, " I said, "Detective Kurt Snowthistle."


    He narrowed his eyes at me in suspicion. "You aren''t one of these fey, are you?"


    So he knew about the fey. It was never a closely guarded secret but the majority of people never encounter a revealed spirit in their lives and those that do once, chalk it up to their imagination. Unless it''s a dragon, they made themselves known before showing up anywhere and were annoying to deal with.


    Most spirits disguised themselves for convenience and it was rare enough, that one had to actively seek them out to unveil the truth.


    "No, Sir," I said, which was technically the truth. I was only a descendant, after all, not fully fledged. "May I talk with you about Meredith Bauer?"


    He gave me one last suspicious look before letting me inside. "Of course, I am just wary of fey. Bad memories and I''ve got a feeling they might be behind this," he said while leading me to a small but nice kitchen.


    He probably took a look around the apartment before we arrived -she had been dead for multiple hours at that point after all -and drew his own conclusions before calling us.


    I declined his polite offer of tea as we sat down at the table, and engaged in a moment of pleasant chit-chat, before I brought up my reason for this visit again. "How long have you known Meredith Bauer?"


    "Two years, she came to me with nothing and begged me to allow her to stay in one of my apartments," he readily answered. A bit too quickly; he must have prepared for someone to show up.


    "Were you aware of the fact that Ms Bauer was an ex-convict?"


    I saw him struggle not to roll his eyes, but his discipline won in the end. "Yes, of course, I do in-depth background checks on all my tenants. I did not care about her being an ex-convict as long as she was paying rent on time. I¡¯d made that clear from the beginning."


    I grabbed one of the files and quickly scanned it, looking over Meredith''s financial records. She always paid on time but I would have to look into the real estate situation in this area to make sure he didn''t have a motive. I made a note of it.


    "Was there anything out of the ordinary that you noticed about Ms Bauer in the past few days?" I asked.


    He thought for a moment before answering "Yeah, yeah there was. She was unusually chipper, even approached me and asked for my mother''s stew recipe for her guest two days ago."


    "Her being chipper is unordinary?" It seemed like her time in prison might have hit her harder than I expected.


    The stew wasn¡¯t eaten, so whoever was invited either didn¡¯t show up, or was the aggressor and ambushed Meredith Bauer before they got to eat.


    ¡°Oh yes,¡± Fischer said, taking a sip of tea. ¡°She was usually glum and quiet, but I just thought she was getting her life together, maybe a promotion. I was happy for her.¡±


    ¡°Where were you yesterday evening and do you have any proof of it?¡± I asked, and continued to explain when I saw him bristle slightly, ¡°I am sorry, it¡¯s just a boilerplate question I have to ask, establishing alibis and all that.¡±


    ¡°I was in the Diamonds Club with a group of friends. The bartender and bouncer can probably ID me and I can get you the receipt for my purchases,¡± he offered.


    ¡°I''d be much obliged. Thank you for your time.¡±


    We made some more small talk before I took my leave.


    <hr>


    I opened up my front door around 23:30 -an early night for me- and found Daniel lying on the couch with his flashlight, asleep.


    I sighed, put my bag down, and carried him to his room to tuck him into his bed.


    He stirred awake the moment I put him down, mumbling something about dragons and hydras.


    I kissed his forehead and left him to his dream wonderland.


    Going towards our shared bedroom, I put my bag down as I passed through the kitchen, and a note Rebecca had slipped inside dropped out. It read ''Have fun, hun, enjoy the bun''.


    In our bedroom, I found Rebecca was still awake and scrolling on her phone, using the wyrm plushie as a pillow. She was probably looking through Instagram, looking for recipes for me to try out and ruining another good night''s sleep of hers.


    ¡°Evening, milady,¡± I said, taking my shoes off.


    She let her phone fall down onto her chest and looked up at me. She studied me for a few moments with bags under her eyes, and I saw a sleeplessness in her that was highly unusual for her at this time. She was a night owl through and through. Before I could express any concern, she asked, ¡°What¡¯s wrong, can¡¯t solve the case?¡±


    I sighed. "It''s difficult and it probably sounds insane either way," I said. I knew that I could tell her from prior experiences. We had talked about our work often and went over the laws together, figuring out what we could talk about. I usually presented everything esoteric as a theory, never wanting to burden her with it.


    "Go on," she encouraged me, "I''ve heard some insane stuff before."


    I changed into my pyjamas and slipped under the covers, sliding an arm around her shoulders. "You''ve read your stories, but this is a real case," I said, kissing her on the cheek. It sounded a lot more condescending than I intended.


    She glanced at me thoughtfully before answering "I am serious, I''ve worked some ridiculous cases. No matter the case, you can talk to me about anything publically available."


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    It was somewhat of a habit of ours, venting about everything public in our jobs. We always kept it professional, sticking to justified rants or mute support and keeping anything we learned to ourselves when it came up at work. Of course, we had some exceptions but those were minor cases. Not homicides.


    It felt like she was fishing for something, and the face in the mirror floated past my mind. I doubted that she knew anything about the specifics of this case.


    "I am sure reporters will be using it for every headline in Cologne, " I said, "but currently, it seems like the mirror killed the victim."


    "The mirror?" She asked, putting her phone away and massaging my scalp with her free hand.


    "Yeah," I agreed. "I thought the same thing but I still have some other leads."


    "You''ll catch that perp, mirrors aren''t known for running," she joked mirthlessly, grabbing my hand. She turned to me and looked into my eyes.


    It seemed like she wanted to say something else, being lost in her own head and going through different approaches, but decided against it.


    We drifted off towards less serious topics. Daniel''s new friend, for example, and went to sleep cuddling.


    <hr>


    -11th June 2022, Cologne


    I woke up at 06:30, and Rebecca was already in the kitchen, eating cereal, Daniel''s lunch was prepared and bagged. She was staring at her food, sluggishly eating it in silence.


    I hugged her from behind and looked over her shoulder. "Really? I thought you hated cereal."


    "I hate the sugary kind," she said between two mouthfuls of cereal. The cereal she was eating was filled with sugar but I knew what she meant nonetheless.


    I kissed her neck and asked, "Why are you already awake, do you have to leave early?"


    "No, " she said, thoughtfully chewing on her cereal for a few seconds before explaining, "I just couldn''t sleep."


    "Say, have you heard of Meredith recently?" I asked, making myself a bowl of ''sugary'' cereal.


    "Bauer?" She inquired. She continued after I nodded. "Yeah, I''ve been keeping in touch with her for a while and she wanted to have dinner two days ago, but cancelled at the last minute."


    "She cancelled? Did she say why?" I asked.


    She fiddled with her phone and brought up their text messages, reading aloud " ¡¯Can we reschedule? I don''t feel so good.¡¯ Why do you ask?" It was sent relatively late at night, around the projected time of death, and we hadn¡¯t found her phone, yet.


    I put my arm around her waist, preemptively trying to comfort her.


    "She is the victim. I found an old picture of you two, so I had to ask."


    Rebecca was never the crying sort, but I had expected her to react in some way to the death of a friend. She only kept staring at her cereal, slowly chewing on it while lost in thought.


    "Do you want to talk about it?" I weakly asked after a few seconds. I felt bad for springing this on her so suddenly and her lack of reaction unsettled me but I didn¡¯t want to leave it like this or pass on to another topic.


    She grabbed a tissue from the tissue box on the table and blew her nose. "Yeah," she said, then stopped to think before continuing, "It was just so¡­ sudden. We were supposed to have dinner and she was so proud of her stew but..."


    "How did you know her?" I prodded after noticing that she wasn¡¯t going to continue. I wanted, and needed, to know more about their shared past but it seemed odd as I had never heard her talk about Meredith.


    "Mirabel took her case, " she explained, shoving her cereal away, "we talked during our break and Meredith quoted Die Hard. We just hit it off after that, chatting about movies and books. She didn''t kill anyone, but got framed. The judge was bought off but we couldn¡¯t prove it."


    Ahh, Meredith was a fellow nerd. That explained how they had gotten so close in such a short time.


    She stared at the table with a distant look in her eyes and clenched her fists before continuing "Her entire life was unfair, then she got framed for a murder, and now she got killed by¡­ a mirror. She didn¡¯t deserve this."


    I caressed her hair and asked her "The mirror isn''t the only suspect. Do you know of anyone who could have wanted to kill her?"


    "No, " she said resolutely. "This must have been an accident, maybe somebody got into a fight and it escalated, but that wouldn''t explain the mirror."


    "Yeah, " I agreed, "anything else?"


    She fiddled with her spoon and asked "Did you find a body?"


    "Not yet, " I answered, "we have some Officers searching for it but there was no trace of it being moved out of the room."


    "Can you prove anything without a body or murder weapon? It looks like you have no evidence and the mirror thing feels¡­ impossible." She asked, like she was trying to make sure that I''d catch whoever killed her friend.


    I had to admit that there wasn''t enough evidence at the moment but I was sure that this wasn''t going to be an isolated occurrence. If this was truly an accident as Rebecca thought, it might have been a new kind of spirit that had yet to become accustomed to our world and would repeat its actions before learning from the consequences. It happened with the lycanthropes, being the newest addition to Terra. They¡¯d killed quite a few people before adjusting to our society.


    "Not yet but I still have leads to research, don''t worry. Do you remember anything special about her mirror?"


    "No," she said. She mulled over her thoughts, debating if it was worth mentioning or not, but decided to continue, "There might be something. Daniel told me about the Mirror Monster, something that can travel through mirrors and has tendrils strong enough to crack bones or tear bodies apart. It''s obviously a fairy tale but it sounds like they want you to think it''s that thing, like a scare tactic. Maybe you can do something with that."


    I had never heard of a Mirror Monster, and the only spirit it could be would be a fey. But I¡¯d need more proof than merely my son¡¯s tale, if it was one of them. Most fey were mischievous, not murderous, and any accusation of one wouldn¡¯t even get past my captain''s desk unless it was airtight. The fey courts were notoriously vengeful and took huge liberties to enforce their will whenever they can.


    "But it''s just that, a fairy tale. I''ll look into someone mimicking it but I doubt there is much literature on it." I replied, rubbing her shoulders. I would have to contact the Department of Esoteric Defence to get information like this but it was worth a try.


    "I should have been there, and helped her," she suddenly said. "I could have saved her."


    "Whoever killed her might have just killed you as well," I told her, dropping my arm around her waist.


    "But I could''ve saved her, " she stubbornly insisted, gripping her spoon.


    She looked at our floor mirror, reminiscing about something. "What if it''s really it?"


    "The Mirror Monster?" I asked, remembering the crying face in the mirror.


    "Yeah, maybe she got mauled by a magical beast because she provoked it," she offered before shaking her head and reconsidering. "No, that''s stupid, there is no mirror beast. It''s a fairy tale."


    "It might be stupid but it''s still a lead, thank you," I reassured her, kissing her cheek. ¡°I¡¯ll look into it.¡±


    She looked at the cereal in disgust, it had lost all of its flavour and texture at this point so I didn¡¯t blame her. "Are there even laws that would apply to magical beasts?" She asked curiously.


    "There is probably some application of them," I reasoned, "but I''ll have to leave that to the judge. I am sure there may be some loophole."


    I promised her that I''d do something about it and left to pour over paperwork after some more chatter, trying to close the leads.


    <hr>


    An excerpt from the Case File: M6-10-73 - Meredith Bauer


    Investigation Progress:


    Despite initial suspicions, Paul Fischer¡¯s contracts for renovations indicate a lack of motive. In fact, it was found that he suffered financial losses due to her untimely demise. However, to ensure a comprehensive investigation, Claire Thornwood was contacted to engage in an interrogation with Paul Fischer, utilising [Redacted].


    During the interaction, no incriminating transactions or sufficient motives were uncovered. Similarly, all of the victim¡¯s neighbours have provided alibis that appear watertight and lack any apparent motive. However, as part of standard procedure, Claire Thornwood was tasked with additional checks on each neighbour to eliminate any potential leads or connections.


    Case Status:


    The case remains open and under investigation. Additional evidence and testimonies are being pursued to uncover the truth behind Meredith Bauer''s death. Further updates will be documented in subsequent case reports.


    Kurt Snowthistle

 Case M6-14-55 - Harvey Klein #1

    -14th of June 2022


    I had been working on a report for another case, when Claire dropped a huge folder which quickly collapsed and covered my own paperwork on my desk. It was the third time that the same company car had been broken into and Tools were stolen, so my case wasn''t exactly high priority, but I was still annoyed at the interruption.


    "What are you doing?" I asked her, glancing at the huge amount of paperwork she dropped on my desk with a self-satisfied smirk.


    She sat down on the edge of my desk and started to fiddle with the desk toy Daniel made me last year, a little dinosaur out of plaster. "My Job," she answered, her self-satisfied smirk not faltering.


    Whenever she said that, it meant that she got me a case she thought I might''ve been interested in, or that she went above and beyond with what she actually had to do. Much like me, she was prone to over-committing when she deemed it needed.


    I snatched my toy from her hand and placed it on the opposite side of the desk from her, not wanting it to get damaged or destroyed by her probing. "I am busy. Why don''t you put it with the other cases, I still have to get the reports from the lab regarding the blood in the Mirror case."


    Word had spread quickly about Meredith Bauer¡¯s obscurely strange case. It had even earned itself the ¡®Mirror¡¯ nickname, already.


    "Been there, done that," she said before snatching a file from the pile and opening it up. "The blood is Meredith Bauer¡¯s, with a high percentage of tin chloride and silver. No other traces of blood were found. Kai was very dismissive of it, but after some research-"


    "It''s used in the production of mirrors," I cut her off, grabbing the now topmost file from the pile. "So, what''s so special about this case?"


    I looked at the header on the file and read the name of the victim, Harvey Klein. Harvey Klein might have been just another name for the majority of people but I knew this Klein, every Detective dealing with the esoteric in Cologne did.


    He had been the Alpha of the pack living in Cologne for years, uncontested by the others due to his overwhelming strength and ties to dozens of high-ranking officials. He supposedly knew the dragon that took residence in the Sauerlands.


    He was dead.


    I reread the report thrice, uncomprehending.


    It just didn''t want to compute, he had been uncontested for years and now he was dead with fist-sized holes in his torso and almost no blood left in his body. The photos were savage, worse than a fight among werewolves.


    I had to give it to her, this was a higher priority than the other case.


    Werewolves were notoriously difficult to kill, even dropping one from an aeroplane didn¡¯t bother them. They could only be hurt by magic, or weapons forged out of specialised alloys that were restricted to government-sponsored task forces. Even if you managed to get your hands on such weapons, their increased senses and reflexes would have alerted them to you long before you could have used them. One exception were snipers with specialised training, who could shoot them from outside of their perception.


    I scanned through the rest of the folders but it only got more and more ridiculous with every fact uncovered.


    He had been killed in his private manor, surrounded by the elite of his pack, during a short, vicious brawl. The wounds on him were similar to huge spikes puncturing him and he was halfway through his transformation, which should have made him ridiculously resilient.


    His corpse had been found twenty kilometres away from the manor, dumped next to a, no points for guessing correctly, mirror.


    A Dragon would have been able to kill Harvey in an ambush, but it would have taken the entire manor with them. They are very prideful after all and were disgusted by the thought of having underhanded techniques, such as ambushes, staining their reputation. Destroying the entire manor did solve that neatly, even if it left them hypocrites, but they rarely cared about that.


    "I think you figured it out yourself," Claire said with a knowing grin, placing the Bauer file to the side. "Is this worth putting the other case on hold for?"


    "Do you have a coffee for me?"


    She pulled out a coffee mug from behind her, placing it in front of me. "Never doubt me."


    <hr>


    "Can''t let you in, boss''s orders," the guard told me for the third time, crossing his arms over his broad chest.


    I took a sip of my coffee, unimpressed by his attempts to make me back off by using his huge frame. I''d seen more impressive people a lot more closely. "Tell Martha that Kurt wants to speak with her, she''ll understand."


    "Don''t know any Martha," he lied, taking a step back and preparing to slam the door in my face.


    I put my foot in the doorframe, which was really more a symbolic gesture than a practical one, as he could probably break my foot without much inconvenience for him. "I know how this works," I said, fishing for the last 20 Euro bill in my wallet, "This is for your loyalty to whoever your new Alpha is -very impressive- but I need to talk with Martha, so if you are heading her way by coincidence, tell her to give me a call. "


    He snatched the bill from my hand, gave it a sniff, and stuffed it in his pants pocket. "I might head her way but I can''t guarantee that she will call you."


    He must have been a new member of the pack. I pulled out my phone and selected Martha''s contact, subtly angling the phone so he could have noticed the name of the contact and confirmed the number if he tried. "That''s alright, this is just a courtesy, after all, Phil."


    His face morphed into an ugly, remarkably wolfish grin as he snarled "Don''t you dare threaten me, human."


    "Why do you think I am human?" I asked with a cheeky grin, simultaneously admitting to my threat and unnerving him as best as I could. I didn''t have to mention that my fey inherited ability was useless in combat and that while my Skills and reflexes were rather impressive, they were still entirely within human possibility, just effortlessly elevated to that level. It did have the unpleasant side-effect of making me look kind of scrawny but it definitely had its upsides.


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    He sniffed twice before replying "Wait here, fey. " He all but spit the word fey, slamming the door in my face.


    I just managed to pull my foot out of the door frame before it got squished. Rude.


    Claire, who had been silently listening in and checking out the flora, finally spoke up "How does everyone fall for the fey thing? I am a genuine fey and people don''t fear me nearly as much."


    She had dropped her disguise once we got into the actual estate of Harvey, her ears elongating and her skin taking on a remarkable shade of orange, which was normally reserved for her disguise''s hair colour. Her hair turned into its natural colour, a deep crimson with strands of purple.


    "Because I hold myself with enough self-respect and don''t get excited or distracted by the smallest disturbances," I teased her, knowing that she could divine what I actually meant with her gift. Having a living lie detector as a secretary was incredibly useful especially when it works on writing as well, even if it is overall inferior. "It also doesn''t help that I give no indication of what my gift is so they have to speculate themselves and you tell anyone who indicates that they want to know. Is he going to get her?"


    She hummed thoughtfully, pretending to study the patch of flowers next to the door. "Yeah, you scared him pretty good for some reason. He doesn''t want to deal with you anymore and dislikes Martha, so he is loading you off on her."


    I wasn''t even hurt by her statement even though I knew it was true. I didn''t need to have her gift to know when she was lying, she was hilariously bad at it and I''d aimed for him to think like that after all.


    It didn''t even take a minute for Martha to open the door with a huge grin on her face. "Kurt, I haven''t seen you in ages," she greeted me, leaning against the door frame.


    She was just as I remembered, an elderly woman with an apron and an outfit that does its best to conceal her figure, looking like the most stereotypical grandmother anyone had ever seen. I had seen her fight once before and knew that beneath all the fluffy clothes and slow movements, she could and had killed many people with her bare hands. She was just as dangerous as Harvey, but had more experience in hiding it.


    "I was hoping to keep it that way," I said with a much more restrained grin.


    She looked unimpressed, but stepped out of the hallway to let us through. "What can I do against you?"


    I followed her -Claire walked along without saying anything, probably intimidated by her- and got straight to the point "I need to investigate Harvey''s murder, specifically his room."


    "Why do you suspect that he is dead?" She asked, eying me suspiciously.


    I pulled out one of the folders and flipped it to show the pictures of Harvey''s corpse, knowing she would have wanted to confirm it herself and wouldn¡¯t care for any regulations. "His corpse was found twenty kilometres away from here, but one of our informants told us that Harvey was in his room at the time of his death. Surely there is no harm in taking a look around, if you haven''t found any traces of a fight?"


    "It was Mark, wasn''t it?" She inquired, not even bothering to hide it as she took a sudden turn to lead us to Harvey''s room instead of the common area.


    I didn''t remember reading who it was but either way, there was only one correct answer to this "Our informant asked to remain anonymous."


    Claire snickered as Martha nodded. "Yeah, that''s Mark, " Martha said confidently.


    We arrived in the room shortly after and it was a huge mess, even more than Meredith Bauer''s apartment was, but more strikingly, there was a bloody trail of footprints going from his room to the opposite one.


    The footprints were soaked in so much blood that they were reduced to puddles of red and blue, but I still asked Claire to check them for partials or anything regarding our suspect. The pattern made it look like the person was limping, and I was hoping the blue was the blood of our aggressor.


    Sending Claire to do it had the unfortunate side effect of leaving me alone in the room with Martha.


    Harvey had had a lot of sway and wasn''t afraid to show off. His room, larger than Rebecca and my apartment, demonstrated that perfectly with the abundance of decorations and riches.


    Once I was left alone with Martha, I spoke up "I am sorry for your loss, Harvey was a good man."


    "Stuff it," she said, "he was a shit man and you know it, but he was a great Alpha."


    Her calling someone great was probably one of the biggest compliments one could get and I agreed. "Yeah, I can''t say I agreed with him on everything, but he made the best out of every situation."


    She snorted derisively. "He did have some weird quirks, that bag of bones. Now get to work or did you expect a refreshment?"


    I let her grief in her own way, knowing how she hated to show ''weakness''.


    The first thing I noticed was the mirror on the eastern wall, smashed to pieces, but I put it out of my mind for now, looking over the rest of the room independently.


    Trophies from his previous hunts lined the northern wall, hanging over his very large bed. It had enough room to fit four people and according to the pictures and some official documents, he had been married to two of the members of his pack. It had supposedly been a happy marriage but I''d have to ask Claire to talk with them either way.


    Blood splatter was spread over his bed and two of the trophies, having flown well over five metres. Someone powerful must''ve stabbed him, such as the Mirror Beast. Its tendrils had been unyielding when they¡¯d penetrated my flesh.


    The memories of it tearing through my abdomen and snapping my neck were still too vivid. I shook myself to get rid of the phantom feeling and continued my search, reminding myself that that happened to Meredith Bauer and not me.


    The southern wall with the doorway we were coming from, was almost completely hidden by bookshelves with a few mannequins dotted in between. They were all pristine, which meant they weren''t immediately relevant to why I was here. Maybe he had left a message, but that''d have required him to know who he was attacked by. I noted them down but continued on.


    The Western part was similarly pristine, showing a clay workshop and a few chests I was sure I didn''t want to open, leaning against the bed. His preferences weren''t much of a secret anyway and my time with them drinking had led me to know quite a bit about their habits. I was glad that they had no traces of blood so I could ignore them for now.


    I turned to the relevant section of the room, immediately finding a snapped sword with blue blood on it.


    I took a cotton swab and collected a sample for the lab. This might have been the blood of the attacker so I put the sword in its separate bag, determined to try to watch through their eyes once I was safe, or done with the rest of the room.


    Flipping the mirror over showed a bloody imprint on it. Harvey must have smashed it in the fight. Smart man.


    I collected a sample of the red blood just to be safe, and finally looked up.


    There was splatter on the ceiling, red and blue mixing to make a purple liquid that had already dried up and seeped into the material.


    The antiques and decorations around this spot had been disturbed and thrown over, showing signs of a fight, or at least a tussle. The worth of the broken antiques was staggeringly high, eclipsing my monthly salary.


    Following a hunch, I walked over to the bed and looked over to Martha. "Please wait outside, I''ll have to follow a lead and need silence for it."


    She looked at where I was sitting and gave me a stern look "Fey bullshit?"


    "Fey bullshit," I confirmed. She knew about my ancestry, but I had always been secretive about the details.


    She sighed and stepped outside, looking over Claire''s shoulder for a while.


    I put a hand on the blood splatter next to me, searching for traction until-

 Case M6-14-55 - Harvey Klein #2

    I was looking through my less valuable collectables for something to give to Sarah because she had been getting more and more restless and needed something to calm her down. She was pretty petty and if she couldn''t sleep, neither could I.


    I picked up a sword that I didn¡¯t even remember how I got, when I was suddenly assaulted by a rancid smell from someone appearing behind me. There was neither a trace of magic nor movement in the air, only the bizarre smell. It smelt like ancient parchment, dried herbs, and a hint of weathered wood, but tainted with the metallic smell of rotten blood.


    It was someone small- no, big- it was hard to gauge from the impressions they were giving me, appearing out of my mirror and trying to sneak towards me. Once out of the mirror, they positively radiated magic, glowing to my senses like a bonfire and unfolding to increase their size.


    Before I could whip around and attack them or figure out what they were, I felt something surge towards me, aiming for my stomach.


    Completely on Instinct, I twisted to the side, dodging the first strike, but a second one followed too quickly for me to dodge it from my current position.


    Foolishly trusting my thick hide that had saved me so many times to block it, I embraced the attack and prepared to throw the assailant by grabbing onto it.


    This only allowed the tendril to shoot through my shoulder, throwing blood over my room and sending spikes of pain roaring through my body as I twisted against the unyielding flesh.


    I clawed at it but it recoiled a moment later, my hand uselessly sliding off. It left a huge hole in my shoulder. I would need to transform to survive and I started to do so.


    I turned around to my mirror and threw a punch, launching myself towards-


    <hr>


    I grasped at my shoulder as the phantom pain took a few seconds to fully fade away, breathing heavily.


    It was an ambush after all, but he¡¯d managed to defend himself somewhat.


    It didn''t give me much, as there was too little blood to go off of, but I had another lead and I could always try to use the huge pool even if it might be a dumb idea. I couldn¡¯t control how long I stayed, that was fully dependent on the amount of blood shed. I might get stuck long enough to lose my mind.


    I unpacked the sword against my better judgement and strained myself to find purchase, anything for my power to work off of. If I could look through their senses, I might be able to glean insight into their motives or even figure out who they are.


    I felt the little smudges of blood with my power but they felt distant, almost recoiling from me until-


    <hr>


    I ducked beneath the punch and shrieked. It did nothing to stop the punch and it continued undeterred, shattering the mirror, my only escape.


    No, I could always find another one to return home.


    Harvey Klein, that bastard, swung down his sword and I caught it with two of my tendrils, expecting it to bounce off of them like everything else I''ve encountered so far but against my expectations, it sank halfway through them and spilt my blood. It was blue.


    I shrieked in terror, coiling more tendrils around it so he could not swing it again, almost burying it in tendrils and yanking with all my strength to restrict his movement.


    My free tendrils whipped around us uncontrolled, throwing over anything not nailed down and smashing that which was. I strained myself to try and control them but found my grasp on the sword slip when I did, so I let instinct take them over.


    "Who are you?" He snarled, spit and blood covering his short beard.


    I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to risk someone hearing or finding out about it, like he had with Miss Bauer. I didn''t know the limits of him after all, and he was already getting too close for my taste. If I could do stuff like this, I feared to think of what others could.


    He reeled back his free fist and prepared to smash my head in, but I coiled another tendril around it, protecting my face with my hands. Light glinted off of the ring I¡¯d forgotten to remove,  and I quickly dropped my hands to hide it.


    I took a knee against my stomach for that, as my tendrils kept twisting the sword, seeking to break it apart.


    I retaliated with two quick stabs through his chest, getting stuck as he grew in size and the wound began to close around the tendril. He looked almost swollen, muscles and fur spreading over his skin as he towered over my diminutive figure.


    I had to end this quickly, I knew that, but seeing his expression twisted in pain and anger had me hesitate. He didn¡¯t look like the corrupt, greedy owner of a Security firm, but like a ragged, dying puppy.


    He let go of the sword as it snapped and I felt my tendrils rise higher at the sudden lack of resistance, leaving me wide open.


    I knew I had to raise my guard, but before I could do anything, he darted forwards, grabbed me by a tendril, lifted me high, and slammed me on the ground.


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    Stars filled my vision before an alien instinct took over, clouding my judgement and filling me with the desire to see him dead, to rip him to shreds for all the people he has hurt, until not even his mother would recognise him.


    That thought caused me to abruptly sober up, two tendrils in his chest as he slumped against me, lifeless.


    What had just happened?


    My hands hovered in the air as his last breath left him and I was left wondering.


    What have I done?


    <hr>


    That had been a bombshell.


    The beast felt familiar and I knew I recognised the ring on its finger.


    It was the same model as mine.


    It didn¡¯t have to be Rebecca¡¯s. It was a regular commercial ring and Claire owned the same one, even if she was single. But it just fit too well.


    Whoever our monster was, they were young, but strong, and constantly learning. A dangerous combination.


    Somehow, they knew that we were using supernatural methods to investigate, but didn''t know what. They were oblivious to somewhat public knowledge about spirits. It seemed overwhelmed by its newfound power and the revelations, but still sought Harvey to kill him for personal reasons. Perhaps someone it knew died because of his firm?


    It wasn''t a member of his pack trying to climb the ranks. That didn''t mean they couldn''t have hired them to kill Harvey, even if it seemed unlikely, not with the¡­ emotions of the attacker.


    They weren''t used to fighting and failed to keep themselves defended, which further spoke to them being inexperienced, or perhaps, simply young.


    I felt a headache approaching but there was one more element I had to investigate with my gift.


    I stayed clear of the huge puddle. His visceral death and desperate defence would probably have broken me for good. I did not want to experience dying for half an hour, even with the monster thinking he breathed his last breath towards the end.


    I refused to believe he''d died this quickly, not with his track record.


    I wiped the tear out of the corner of my eye and moved into the hallway.


    Claire was kneeling on the ground, investigating the last of the footprints and getting partials from them but looked up at me as I emerged from the room. "Holy shit," she exclaimed, rising to her feet, "are you alright?"


    I waved her off, not wanting to mention my theory. I hoped it wasn¡¯t correct. "Let me see, I''ll try something."


    She backed off and let me lean down to touch a blue spot of blood. With such tiny splotches, I thought that I would be able to play it off as a vague sense of what happened in the short time of the vision. I trusted Martha to stay discreet, but I didn¡¯t want her to know the specifics of my gift-


    <hr>


    I was staggering across the hallway, using multiple of my tendrils to support my weight as I carried the corpse on my shoulder, careful not to touch it with my hands.


    Sharp pain raced through my tendrils, dozens of cuts burning at the movement as my head swivelled from side to side, checking for any surprises. My blood felt like a raging inferno as I was intimately aware of every cut and bruise on my tendrils.


    No one showed up, but my calmness of mind and lacking reaction to being covered in gore scared me as much as any witnesses would.


    I should be feeling something, shouldn¡¯t I?


    I didn¡¯t understand how I was so calm, but I knew one thing.


    I had to get to a mirror, get home safely.


    I couldn''t put them in danger.


    <hr>


    The vision ended way too quickly and I found myself still kneeling on the ground.


    It was too little blood to go off of, similar to the blood splatter on the bed, but it gave me a vague idea, a motherly instinct that overwrote the hatred. It was a difficult mix of emotions, and very unfamiliar.


    I tried another footprint and was greeted by the same exact scene.


    "Anything?" Claire asked as I returned from the vision.


    I shook my head and lied. "No, nothing."


    Martha scoffed and patted my shoulder, reassuring me, "It''s fine, you''ll get them."


    "No," I said, startling them both, "I am handing this over to the Department of Esoteric Defence, I can¡¯t solve it. We''ll collect witness statements and then we are done with it."


    Claire looked shocked, but trusted me enough to not argue in front of Martha.


    Meanwhile, Martha glared at me. "I am not having the D.E.D. poking around our territory shortly after our Alpha died."


    "Relax," I said, taking a step back. "We''ll still collect witness statements and do our best, but if I don''t manage to solve it here, I''ll hand it off. They are better equipped for this and know a lot more about spirit politics than I do."


    I was also going to have to have another conversation, but that wasn¡¯t something I would share with these two. I didn¡¯t want to be right and if I falsely accused her, I might get into a lot of trouble.


    <hr>


    Witness Testimony - Case M6-14-55 - Harvey Klein


    Witness: Mark Gro?


    Date: 13.06.2022


    Statement:


    On the night of 13.06.2022, I, Mark Gro?, the Gamma of the Klein pack, participated in our weekly movie night, as organised by Martha Klein.


    The event took place in Harvey Klein¡¯s manor, specifically the living room. Thirteen of the fourteen core members of the pack showed up.


    Wolfgang Schneider, Ulrich Wagner, Greta Schneider, Emil Wagner, Ingrid Hoffmann, Klaud Hoffman, Heidi Hoffman, Dietrich Weber, Sarah Klein, Falko Weber, Martha Weber, Mark Gro? and Jones Jones were all present.


    Harvey Klein did previously tell us to start without him, seeing as he had to look for a gift for Sarah. We made jokes about it and left him to it, not expecting such dire consequences.


    We had soft blankets and pillows scattered on the ground with a huge plasma TV on the wall.


    After the first movie, around 22:45, we decided to check up on him and found blood in the hallway. We scoured the entire premise and found nothing, only the trail leading to another mirror with no traces of how they disappeared.


    We were ordered to stay quiet until our new Alpha was elected but I sent a quick report to the Police Department due to a prior agreement.


    Mark Gro?

 The End?

    -16th June 2022, Cologne


    I quietly unlocked our front door and snuck into our bedroom. Daniel was at a friend''s house and neither of us had work to do today, it was now or never.


    Claire was rummaging through our box of medications, probably searching for painkillers or her allergy medication. We always had a pack of painkillers at home, albeit weak ones, due to some restrictions.


    I dropped onto the bed as she took one of the painkillers, badly startling her because of the squeaky springs in our mattress. I had been meaning to get a new one for a while.


    She jumped and whipped around, scolding me ¡°Kurt, don¡¯t sneak up on me like that!¡±


    The bags under her eyes had only worsened over the week and she looked almost undead. I wasn¡¯t sure how much of that was due to her allergies.


    ¡°Why,¡± I asked, ¡°expecting someone else?¡±


    ¡°Uhmm,¡± she fumbled, pushing the box back into the shelf. ¡°No, why would I?¡±


    I sighed and patted the bed next to me, waiting for her to sit down. I always preferred doing this kind of thing while sitting down.


    She did but looked at me suspiciously, asking ¡°Are you alright?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Have you noticed anything weird lately?¡± I inquired. I had to make sure she knew what I was talking about, but I also didn¡¯t want to risk revealing everything to her.


    ¡°Weird how?¡± she asked but I stayed silent, counting on her trying to fill it to avoid awkwardness. Most people abhor silence, and sought to fill it however they could, and she was no exception. She continued after a few moments of awkward fidgeting ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°God damn it,¡± I muttered, putting my face in my hands. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you come to me?¡±


    She looked at me in shock with her mouth agape. It took her a few seconds to find herself, but she eventually spoke up. ¡°How did you know?¡±


    ¡°I am similar to you,¡± I said, grabbing her hand. ¡°I can replay the time shortly before and after a wound is inflicted by connecting with the blood. And you lost some when you killed Harvey. It felt familiar, like you.¡±


    ¡°Fuck,¡± she simply said, tightening her grip on my hand. ¡°How many like us are there?¡±


    "We are uncommon and very few people are fully aware that we exist. The majority of people think we are either fairy tales, grossly blown out of proportion, or conspiracy theories. The spirits keep it that way because it¡¯s easiest," I explained, trying to reassure her.


    She asked, "What now?"


    I groaned in annoyance, already dreading the amount of work I''d have to do if I actually went through with this. "You''ll have to explain to me how this happened and then I¡¯ll have a very difficult decision to make."


    "I was on my way to Meredith''s, but started to feel lightheaded. Once I arrived at her place I¡¯d developed a migraine, and when I leaned against her mirror and asked for some water, I just¡­" she stopped, looking for the right expression, "fell in. These tendrils sprouted from my body and dragged Meredith into the mirror, when I tried to leave it. She screamed in agony and pleaded with me, but I was¡­ so hungry, even as her body vanished."


    "Did you encounter anyone weird shortly before the event, or remember any childhood stories that you thought were just your overactive imagination?" I asked, covering my bases. It might have just been a dormant gift or some sort of experiment gone wrong.


    "No. But I had a weirdly lucid dream a few weeks ago," she said. "It was just a ton of eyes and¡­ tentacles talking about food. That might have been the¡­ thing."


    "Why did you kill Harvey?" I asked. I wanted -no, needed- to know why she¡¯d thought killing a wildly successful businessman would be a good idea.


    She bit her lip as I felt something poke my arm. A handful of tendrils had sprouted from her back, ignoring her shirt and idly roaming around. I assumed that they reacted to her subconsciousness, or something. "He deserved it."


    "Go on," I encouraged her. I knew he¡¯d had done some shady deals, but I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d kill someone intentionally, no matter the reason.


    "I was¡­ slipping, almost insane, because of the hunger,¡± she explained, hugging herself with her tendrils. She looked so terribly vulnerable that I had to remind myself that she had killed an Alpha without much trouble. ¡°I figured that I would kill and eat someone who deserved it, maybe do some good while keeping it sated. I¡¯ve¡­ been given his name dozens of times. He abused his protection company to coerce over two dozen people into giving false testimonies and used it to make himself ridiculously rich. I mean, have you seen his room? It''s full of priceless historical artefacts!"


    She was beginning to get worked up, so I tried to hug her tight and slip my hand between one of the tendrils and her back but they were immovable so I just put it around her shoulders.


    "I''ve been in his room, but you can''t just kill someone because of that," I argued. I hadn''t thought that I''d ever have to say that.


    One of her tendrils coiled around my waist and pulled me close as she answered, "I know."


    "We''ll figure something out," I reassured her. "But you can''t keep eating people."


    "Don''t you think I know that?!" She snapped, squeezing me with her tendril. "You have no idea how I felt!"


    I squirmed out from under it and stood up. "I am on your side!"


    "I know, sorry, " she said, slapping one of her tendrils away that bunched against her own belly. It looked uncomfortable, almost like she couldn¡¯t fully control it.


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    She mustered me before quietly asking, ¡°and?¡±


    I ran a hand through my hair and stood in front of her, debating whether or not to make a joke but I decided against it. ¡°There is only one real choice for me,¡± I said.


    <hr>


    -23rd June 2022, Cologne


    I looked down at the report I had to give, reading over it one last time before sliding it over. "Yeah, that''s all."


    Sergeant Micheals, a member of the Department of Esoteric Defence, put it in his folder. "Thank you for your cooperation. We will take the case."


    They did tell me to add every detail I could think of but I hoped I had done everything correctly. "Is there a number I can call if I remember anything, or where I could ask for updates?"


    "You''ve been working with us for ten years at this point, so we''ll keep your captain updated as a courtesy. He can inform you, or you could seek him out," he said. I doubted that they''d actually keep me up to date, but an empty promise was better than nothing.


    He dismissed me and called for the next suspect.


    This was a high-profile case and they were interrogating everyone involved with it, using the fey just outside the room as a living lie detector, even if Claire could have done the same. She would have probably have been better at it as well.


    Seeing as they were leading her into the room next, she was probably just as much of a suspect as me.


    I made my way home, having no other open cases at the moment and wanting to get as far away from the D.E.D. as possible.


    I grabbed my keys from my desk and stopped by my captain''s office.


    I caught his attention by knocking on the door frame of his office. "Going home, take a personal day."


    He looked up from his laptop and mustered me over the edge of his glasses. "Going home to the wife, huh? Don''t take it personally, everyone loses some cases."


    I made a non-committal noise and took my leave.


    Being able to think freely without a mind-reading fey nearby, my thoughts kept circling as I drove home.


    I couldn''t believe what was happening. No one had ever developed a gift this late nor this powerful. The only comparable case I''d heard of was one of a fey prince whose gift awakened during a duel. But as far as I knew, that story might have been merely that, a story.


    Unprecedented events aside, I couldn''t fathom what I was supposed to do. We had commendable savings, but I had no idea how long they''d actually last or how well we could acclimate to such a radical change.


    I kept thinking through scenarios and discarding them as inevitable disasters until I pulled into my driveway.


    I left my bag in the car and walked up the stairs, into our quiet apartment.


    I opened the bedroom door and found Rebecca, huddled on the bed with a veritable fortress of blankets and pillows around her.


    She looked like hell, with bags under her eyes that rivalled some beloved comic book characters. She had blue hair at this point, having dyed it two days ago. A tub of ice cream was laying on the mattress next to her, mostly eaten.


    "It''s done," I said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Daniel is at your parent''s house and I gave my modified report."


    She reached out of her blanket fort and pulled me into a deep hug, one of her tendrils coiling around my back and forcefully shoving me into the blankets with her before she managed to adjust their strength.


    "We''ll figure something out," I said, reassuring myself just as much as her. Whatever had done this to her surely had to have a reason.


    "Why can''t things just go to plan?" she asked into my hair, her chill breath playing through it.


    "I don''t know, " I admitted, wrapping my arms around her. "But we have enough saved up to lay low until this all blows over. Until you figure out how to control¡­ it. Daniel will be able to go to school like nothing ever happened, and you will be able to go back to work."


    "Do you promise?" She weakly asked, tightening her hold on me to an uncomfortable degree.


    I answered after a few seconds "Yes."


    I still couldn''t believe what we¡¯d stumbled into, but it didn''t matter anymore. I had made a promise and I intended to keep it.


    We could make this work, even if it would take us time to recover and figure things out.


    Rebecca loosened her embrace, allowing me to breathe more easily again.


    My phone buzzed.


    I recognised it as the custom ringer I¡¯d set for Claire and quickly shuffled around, so I could pull it out of my pocket and look at it while keeping one arm around Rebecca.


    [Claire: This isn''t because you think you can''t solve the case, is it?]


    One of Rebecca''s tendrils anxiously squeezed my arm around her waist, coiling up around it towards my hand.


    I held her tendril like I would her hand, stroking over it with my thumb to soothe her, while I wrote the response.


    [Kurt: What do you mean?]


    Her reply didn''t even take a second to arrive as she probably had anticipated my question. She knew me too well.


    [Claire: You have a hunch and you are afraid to be correct.]


    [Claire: You don''t think anyone else can solve it, so you¡¯d rather everyone think that you can¡¯t solve it, than succeed and find your hunch to be correct.]


    I saw her writing something else but I quickly wrote a response before she could get too wound up.


    [Kurt: No, I am taking a vacation. Rebecca got hurt badly and I want to be there for her.]


    The little bubble at the bottom that signifies her writing a response vanished, then reappeared before vanishing again.


    [Kurt: What did they ask you?]


    She took a while to reply, but it didn''t seem like she had been choosing her words for it, more like she¡¯d been occupied. She was still at the office, so someone probably wanted her to look something up.


    [Claire: They asked me about you and Rebecca.]


    Fuck.


    Rebecca had grabbed the tub of ice cream while I had been distracted with my phone and was currently eating it, using her tendrils to do so. "What did she tell them?" She asked with a quiver in her voice.


    I didn''t bother to tell her that I knew just as much as her and typed up her question.


    Claire followed up on her prior message before I could even send my question.


    [Claire: I told them that even if I didn''t like Rebecca, she wouldn''t do any of this, nor is she some sort of Spirit in disguise.]


    [Claire: I laughed at their question if you could have falsified the report but took a look either way. There were no discernable faults.]


    Rebecca and I relaxed after reading that, flopping down on the bed while she kept the ice cream rotated correctly and continued eating it without interruption.


    It certainly would have looked ridiculous from the outside. We were laying on a small bed made out of her tendrils that she used to eat ice cream.


    We were in the clear. Years of working with her had built trust between us, and Claire covered for me without knowing any details.


    I let that message go through my head a few times before typing a quick thank you and switching my phone to mute.


    We¡¯d done it. For now.


    The investigation wouldn''t stop, but we could keep it up. We would have to, I had chosen my path.