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“Was there a death?”
So much speculation; rumors would be flying through the tiny streets in a matter of minutes about what possibly could have brought us here, what evil act was committed to summon the Onyx Guard. Our units were meant for specialty cases only. Typically, our younger Faction members—the Deltas and Dairchtas—were sent out alone or in pairs to assist local guard units in investigations where help had been requested, but they never officially took over. When a group of our size arrived, outfitted in the official black armor of the Guard on our obnoxious lectracycles, everyone knew that whatever had happened was serious. They knew we were here to take over, and it scared them and thrilled their gossiping hearts all at once.
This time, though, no one would be able to guess the treachery that had been committed right under their noses.
We parked our cycles in a street that was protected by local guards, the eight of us securing them. We didn’t want to overwhelm the small town by bringing the entire Hierarchy, yet Nolan wanted as many people as possible to come and see one of Elliott’s victims firsthand. So, all of the Keturi had come, along with one second of our choosing. I had brought Taylor this time, Eden accompanying Nolan, Liv with Beckett, and Emric had brought his second, Colton. We silently walked past the barricade of local soldiers keeping the crime scene safe, all of them saluting us as we passed by.
The moment I walked into the crime scene, my senses heightened, my eyes taking in every detail around me. You never knew what would become an important part of the case; sometimes the smallest details were the biggest pieces to find the monsters we hunted.
Everything about the bakery was perfectly in order, down to the beautifully decorated display case not yet filled with fresh pastries, frilly curtains hanging around the different windows filtering in the midmorning light, and the pastel green walls that matched the white marble tables and chairs strategically placed around the room. Nothing was out of place, not even the front door, no tampering of the lock or signs of forced entry. If someone had peeked into the window this morning, they would have assumed it was any other day at the bakery.
We crowded in the entryway, Nolan and Beckett standing at the front of the group, waiting for someone to bring us to the victim. Soon enough, we were approached by a middle-aged Shrivika soldier, his black curly hair cropped close to his scalp and a matching bushy beard well-groomed to highlight his round face.
“Hello, I’m Lieutenant Felix, I’m the ranking officer here.” He came forward, his face already covered in a sheen of sweat, hand quickly reaching out to shake all of ours in rapid succession. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“This is a priority case for the Guard,” Beckett said, face calm and schooled, giving away nothing about how important this victim was to us.
“Can you walk us through what you’ve done so far while you show us the victim?” Nolan asked, foot tapping, arms crossed tightly against his chest, fingers brushing over the hidden pendant on his necklace.
He seemed anxious. Interesting.
“The victim, Melinda Graves, a human woman of thirty-two, found in the kitchen of the bakery she owns by her assistant baker, who came in two hours ago,” Felix explained, walking us to the back of the open space. “She was completely drained of blood, and the initial report from our local physician is that she died from blood loss. We couldn’t find any traces of blood in the entire building, leading us to believe this was a drop site, not the location of the draining.”
He hesitated by a door for a moment, looking wearily over his shoulder before pushing it open, all of us following him inside.
My eyes burned the moment we entered the kitchen; all of us Varg Anwyn Ibridowyn instantly recoiled and covered our faces. The scent of wolfsbane was powerful, filling the enclosed space, my eyes and nostrils burning with it, head dizzy just from inhaling the scent of acid-soaked floral. Even the Shrivikas winced at the potency.
Wow, Nolan had really undersold how intense the wolfsbane cleanup was with each victim.
“Victim was rubbed down with wolfsbane,” Felix stated the obvious as we moved closer to the body. “No other scent has been detected in the room or anywhere around the bakery. We are in the process of contacting her next of kin, hopefully that will get us more information about her and her past.”
“Once you find them, we’ll need to interview them before we leave,” Nolan said.
Felix nodded emphatically. “Of course, of course, Alpha.”
“We’ll also need a group of your men to transport the body back to the Faction Compound once we’re done here,” Beckett instructed, the lieutenant writing everything down in a palm-sized notebook. “I’ll take care of the autopsy myself.”
“Yes,Ar Dtus.” He nodded once again. “I’ll begin assembling a team now and will get a status update on her family right away.” He gave us a quick salute before shuffling out of the room, leaving the eight of us alone with the young woman.
“So,” Nolan was the first to speak up, circling the victim, his booted footsteps echoing in the room, “what do you all notice?”
“She was killed within the last twelve hours.” Beckett said, being the first to get close to the body. The poor woman was lying on her back, everything about her perfectly positioned, down to her hands gently placed on top of her stomach, eyes closed, hair wildly splayed around her. Beckett leaned forward, adjusting his black leather gloves, making sure they were secure. “The branding is right here,” he brushed Melinda’s hair aside, showing off the fresh, blackened burn mark right under her left ear. “This is Elliot.”
I had seen a few crude drawings of the branding, but this was different, clean and perfectly pushed into the skin: the lettersEandWentwined together with a circle of thorny vines around them.
“As if that was ever in question.” Nolan grumbled.
“Her hair was dyed within the last few days as well.” Eden pointed out the strands. “And not well, her roots are terribly done, it’s still peeking out as blonde. That makes me think it was done while she was held captive, or after she was killed.”
She was right; Melinda’s hair was mostly a honey brown, but the roots were bright blonde. If the scent of wolfsbane wasn’t so overwhelming, we would probably be able to smell the chemicals of the dye.
“Is that common for Elliot?” Liv asked from next to me, directing her question at Nolan.
“Not always, but there are a handful of cases where he’s been known to change the appearance of his victim.” Nolan crossed his arms again. “We’ve never been able to pinpoint why.”
Beckett moved away, wiping his hands on his pants, giving me space to move forward and finally crouch near Melinda to get a better view of the details.
“I think he knew her,” I said, my eyes never leaving the poor, lovely woman, heart aching to know her life had been cut too short.
