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“No,” she said in a deflated tone. “He’s not picking up what I’m throwing down. Either he’s clueless or just not interested.”
“I’d go with clueless.”
It wasn’t often that Angel got turned down. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time that happened.
“Maybe he’s Johnny’s type,” she offered.
I shrugged. Johnny was my roommate. As a public defender at the Arcana county courthouse, he specialized in supernatural cases. That meant two things: he was extremely smart and extremely broke. But, we liked our little apartment with its broken tiles, seventies laminate flooring, and the odd brown stain on the living room carpet. Johnny’s partner, Steven, spent a lot of time at our place. They were the perfect couple – always teasing and giving each other mushy grins. Basically, my relationship idols.
“Speaking of dates…” Angel leaned her elbows on the counter and raised her eyebrows at me. “Are you excited for yours?”
Groaning, I turned away and grabbed the stack of mail I’d dropped there this morning. Angel had set me up with two blind dates this week. They were probably her castoffs from last month.
“No comment?”
I could feel her giving me one of her mother hen smiles, even with my back turned. She was constantly sending men over to me, hoping I’d hit it off with someone. While she didn’t support my idea of eventual monogamy, Angel was determined to make my dreams come true. Even if I didn’t agree with her methods.
“Is there anything else you’d like to add to your statement?” Gideon asked. He and his partner had closed back in on me. I was thankful for the counter space between us.
“Nope. I already told you everything,” I said between tight lips.
If and when I had another vision of a crime going down, I certainly wasn’t going to use my cellphone to report it. If only telephone booths still existed.
“And you’re saying this information came from a vision you had?” Agent Silva asked. She fixed her incredibly dark brown eyes on my face.
“Yes, we’ve been over this already. I’m a harpy.” I pointed my thumb at my chest. “Harpy equals visions of crimes. That’s not exactly old news.”
While harpies weren’t very common, they were infamous for their abilities. And as an agent, Rita Silva should’ve been aware of that. The SI and harpies didn’t exactly get along very well. Harpies had a way of getting in the way of SI justice.
“Did you get a vision of the murder?” Agent Silva asked.
My eyes snapped up to her face. “Murder? What murder?”
She leaned back and stroked a thumb along her mouth. “Interesting. So, you had no idea?”
“Who’s been murdered? Tell me.”
My day was only getting w
orse. I swore, if anyone even hinted at blaming me for a murder, I’d go all harpy on their arse and fly out of here.
“Mr. Yonas was found dead an hour ago in an abandoned building in south Arcana,” Gideon said. “His arms had been cut up, like someone was bleeding him.”
There was a ringing in my head. Mr. Yonas had seemed like such a sweet guy. And now he was dead. It felt surreal. The idea that I’d never see him again when I picked up my mail in the evenings was slowly sinking in. He’d been taken from my apartment. It could happen to anyone. It could happen to me.
I didn’t understand why anyone would want to bleed an elemental. It didn’t make sense.
“Was it a vampire?” I asked.
While it wasn’t completely unheard of nowadays for a vampire to go rogue and kill, it’d be an incredibly stupid mistake on the part of the vampire. Blood banks were established to prevent this very thing from happening. You could get a pint on practically any corner – just like Starbucks. There was no reason to hunt down live prey anymore. Plus, the SI cracked down hard on creatures that killed humans.
“No, no teeth marks,” Gideon answered, putting an end to that theory.
No creature I’d ever heard of liked to cut and bleed its victims. If a creature had an appetite for humans, it usually ate them whole.
“Was it some kind of sacrifice?”
Agent Silva shook her head. “Maybe, we can’t be sure yet.”
