we can all get the fuck out of Dodge.”
“Ten minutes,” the fat detective snapped before stepping out of the way of the entrance.
Serah snarled something softly to herself that I didn’t quite catch. She was a feisty little thing who didn’t take shit from anyone, even me, which was more than a little surprising since she knew exactly what I was. I was beginning to think that Low Town had become a poorer place when she left the police force. TAPSS would never be challenging enough for her. It was just one of those moments when being a barely above five foot adorable woman was a hindrance in this world of chest-beating, hairy monsters.
My mind quickly shifted from thoughts of Serah’s rough lot in life to the crime as we walked up on the corpse. My heart broke a little at the sight of the woman carelessly slumped against the Dumpster. There was a hole in her chest where she had been stabbed in the heart, while a second slash had partially opened up her stomach. Her hands were still pressed to her abdomen as she had tried to protect her baby in her last seconds of life, but her attempts didn’t save either of them in the end. Her head lolled to the side and her eyes blindly stared straight ahead with a yellow tint to them.
“Fuck,” I murmured, shoving one hand through my hair as I paced a couple feet away.
“What?” Serah demanded, grabbing the sleeve of my coat to stop me.
“She was a shifter, probably werewolf. You’re going to have a war on your hands soon if this bitch isn’t caught soon.”
“Fuck,” Serah whispered. She looked over her shoulder at the woman, her wide brown eyes looking teary.
With a deep breath, I turned back to the body and knelt down a few feet away. The pool of blood had spread far from the body and had frozen on the dirty asphalt, keeping everyone a distance from her as if a moat had been erected in her final defense. A pair of forensics detectives was still collecting bits of evidence while another was photographing the scene. Several more people stood near the mouth of the alley, discussing the case or maybe just what they planned to do later that night. Regardless, there were just way too many people around for me to do any magic and that was all I was good at. I had no special forensics training that would give me insight into this crime scene.
What I needed was someone who could do magic out in the open. But he was going to be pissed at being called so early after the late night we had.
Jumping to my feet, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and pressed it to my ear like I had just gotten a call. I quickly walked toward the entrance of the alley and shoved past the fat bastard who had given us shit when we arrived.
“I need you here,” I said aloud, even though there was no one on the phone. What the world didn’t need to know was that I had used a little spell that had connected telepathically to Gideon. It was something that I had very rarely done with Gideon and only after I’d returned to the Towers as a guardian. As I had expected, I woke the warlock up and he was not happy with me.
And what’s to keep me from killing you when I get there? Gideon growled in my head, sounding as if he was still half asleep.
“I’ve got a body left by the Low Town killer that you need to run a couple spells on,” I said in a low voice so I couldn’t be overhead while still trying to keep up the pretense that I was on an important call.
Do it yourself.
“Too many cops here. Come be your charming self and do the spells. It could help us catch up with at least one of these damn psychopaths.”
I could both feel and hear him sigh. I’ll be there in a few.
“Now!” I nearly shouted before shoving my cell phone in my back pocket again. Gideon was going to make me pay for this later, but someone needed to use a spell or two to track down this killer before it was too late.
“What the hell?” Serah hissed at me as she gave my shoulder a hard shove so that I was now facing her. “Why’d you walk away to take