Meeting my contact was easy. Aaron’s umbrella stood out like a sore thumb, bright orange and decorated with paw prints.
“I’m aware this isn’t appropriate for the situation,” he said in greeting. “But this was the only umbrella in my car.” Though still in training to be a professional people helper, he wore nice slacks and a checkered button down, his brown hair neat, like he came from his on-the-job training and would go back there later.
“Are we going in?” I nodded for him to lead the way.
“No, why would we? I deal with living people and Temple hasn’t given the all-clear to open up the scene.”
Which meant the cheap seats on the other side of the yellow tape for us. Maybe that was for the best. What Bill showed me had been close enough.
"What happened?"
“The victim visited Bliss earlier in the night. He isn’t logged as having an, uh,encounterwith any of thepatrons.” Aaron whispered, doing his best not to say things likesex demonsin the company of potentially human bystanders with no knowledge of the supernatural. “It could be a...” Aaron glanced around, then mouthedsex demon. “Except killing the victims, doing this much damage… it’s unusual for this type of… suspect.”
Unusual but not impossible, according to Orion. I had to agree with him.
Some magic had long ago fallen out of favor and been deemed too dangerous. Like anything that involved trading in souls and life forces. Modern, well intentioned supernatural folks often forgot thatoff-limitswasn’t the same asimpossible.There were all kinds of forbidden arts that people in my circles were just itching to uncover once more.
Some techs loaded something in a van near the back doors of the club. Not the body, probably, but it was still eerie as shit. I met the victim before he died. Damn, that was heavy.
Aaron snapped his fingers to get my attention. “So, what do you know?”
I shrugged. “Nothing, not really.”
“What?” Aaron did not appreciate this answer and drew me away from the others to speak more privately. “What’s your interest here?”
Telling him I met the victim or was here last night would only confuse matters. Aaron was giving me that extremely unimpressed expression that meant he wasn’t angry, just very disappointed in Rob. It took real balls to make that face when at a crime scene with a ridiculously cutesy umbrella.
“Rob, whatever’s going on, you can tell me. We’ll figure it out. It will be okay.” Now he seemed a bit concerned. Maybe scared. “Just tell me the truth.”
I laughed, even though none of this was funny. “What you think I’m involved? You really think—"
“Sometimes you don’t think and get in over your head.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t argue with that. “If there’s more going on here, just let us help.”
Given that I started the day by texting him about a prominent incubus then asked to meet him at a crime scene outside of a sex demon club, him thinking I knew more than I said wasn’t really a stretch.
I thought about telling him more. I didn’t have too many friends or people on my side these days. Hanging around low lifes like who I used to be weren’t the best company for a guy trying to change. But respectable people didn’t exactly trust me.
And hanging with Aaron had gotten a bit complicated.
Aaron was an old friend who’d gone on to better things while I… hadn’t. Well, it hadn’t all been rosy in his life. But after discovering and mastering his empathic gifts and becoming mates with a growly werewolf who loathed me as much as he adored Aaron, yeah, the guy had everything.
Technically, I was always welcome at his place but... Aaron’sfriendRob was always welcome. Acriminalwho committed crimes and then tried to hang around the Director of the Ashvale DSA and his mate was not welcome. Until I could say for sure I wasn’t the guy I used to be, things would always be a little weird between us.
And was I crazy or was that the same guy as before lurking behind another section of crime scene tape? The same guy from the gas station. Leaning so hard into biker badass vibes sometimes veered into leather daddy or poser territory. He was that third category, the real deal who gave no shits and could seriously fuck you up. There was no mistaking him for somebody else, but I tried to tell myself seeing him again was just a coincidence. Had to be, right?
I ended up being vague and unhelpful and giving Aaron some lame excuse to leave.
I had nobody who was always in my corner anymore. Tommy was like that. But he was gone now. I was pretty much on my own. Besides a bird. My only ally was a bird. With so few people on my side, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what it would be like to have Orion Lennox in your corner all the time.
But there was a better question. Where would I go from here?
6.A Match Made in… Somewhere
Rob
Orion was in about the same place I left him. His office. This time, he was cleaning up after our little experiment.
His office looked clean and minimalist before when everything was in its place. Then his energy flew back at him after colliding with the ring of fire and knocked over his desk and cabinets, sending papers everywhere. The supplies he brought in added to the mess. I watched him from the doorway, working up the nerve to say something.
