“So, what do you do?”

There it was, that question, hanging pregnant in the air between us as I searched for a reply. What could I say to him, this perfectly ordinary man who had asked me on a date.

Should I tell him that I was something like a cross between a private detective and a cop for the supernatural community? That I was part of that community, and not fully human?

No.

That wouldn’t go well, I suspect.

“Sales,” I said instead, smiling sweetly and taking a big gulp of my too strong cocktail as I desperately hoped he wouldn’t press. “How about you?”

Nicely deflected.

He was so happy talking about himself that he forgot to ask me any further questions about my job. In fact, he was a little too happy to talk about himself, listing off his accomplishments as though he was reading from a presentation.

 I sipped at my drink as he continued to talk, any actual interest in him fading away with every new utterance and irrelevant detail of his life. His apparent self-worth was tied strongly to his bank balance, and he made a point of flashing his clunky watch at me before telling me how much it had cost him.

All too soon I knew how much he had spent on his car, his apartment and half his wardrobe. When he began detailing the ridiculous amount of money he had spent on some overhyped restaurant in the tourist trap area of the city, I’d had enough.

“Actually, I’m a vegetarian.”

That seemed to give him pause, leaving him sitting with elbow on the bar as he leant there for support, the cocktails having taken their toll. His other arm half-raised mid-gesture as his mouth hung open and he blinked, slowly, as my words percolated in the pickled brain of his.

“You’re what, now?”

“A vegetarian. Don’t eat meat.” A lie, but easier by far than the truth.

“What… like, even steak?”

“Especially steak. Never could manage to enjoy the taste.”

Which was the truth.

“But… what do you eat then?”

I gave him an incredulous stare before throwing back my drink and placing the glass on the bar beside me.

“Think I’m about done,” I said. “How about we call you a taxi?”

“Noooo,” he whined. “Don’t go.”

“I have work… and your hand is on my thigh.” I gave the offending appendage a hard look. “Now, I am definitely done.”

He protested, but not too hard, his attention already wavering as his wandering gaze perused the women in the bar as he looked for an easier target.

Good luck to him.

I rolled my eyes and pushed through the crowd towards the exit, and then breathed in the cold, night air as I stepped out onto the street.

Another failure of a date in a long line of failures. Pretty par for the course, the way things were going for me of late. I checked my watch and sighed as I realised the time with him had only seemed to be hours, and had in fact, been barely twenty minutes.

Not a lot of time to determine whether someone was relationship material, but certainly enough time to determine that they were not.

I set off walking.

The city streets were teeming with people finishing up their shopping for the Christmas holidays or heading out for a drink after finishing work. Many more were dressed up and starting their Friday nights early as they headed for the pub in clothing that was entirely unsuitable for the weather.

Not that I could really comment. I’d worn much the same only a few years prior when I was clubbing with friends and drinking excessively. Partying as only a nineteen-year-old can do.

A shame that had all ended.

“Alright, love. Fancy a drink?”

I gave the guy a glare which just brought laughter from his mates as the group of lads moved on further up the street.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Apparently not everyone was just starting their night out.

I watched them go, a smile touching my lips. I almost envied them and the carefree lives they were living. There was an innocence to their playful banter as they eyed the girls going by and egged one another on.

My smile faded as a chill breeze brought another odour with it. Faint. Only the barest hint of it, but enough to get my attention. It was all too familiar and promised nothing but unpleasantness for the night ahead.

I lifted my nose, sniffing the air as I closed my eyes, trying to home in on the scent. How strange I must have looked, standing there in the street, but it was no stranger than the usual things seen on a raucous night out in Liverpool.

There it was. I started walking, the scent growing stronger as I turned off the main street and down another. A short walk and then I turned into an alleyway.

I paused there, at the entrance. As faint as it was, so faint that a human wouldn’t be able to smell it, the source of the odour was down that dark and narrow alley, I was sure of it.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my knife, flicking open the blade that shone silver in the little light there was. Wickedly sharp, anything supernatural would feel the burn of the silver and anything human, would bleed if they tried to attack me.

At least that was the hope.

I set off, walking slowly and placing each step carefully. The alley was filled with rubbish and pools of what I very much hoped was rainwater. My heeled boots squelched in the mud, and I struggled to retain the scent I was following as a multitude of other pungent aromas overtook it, making me gag.

A short distance and I stopped. There, between two large metal bins, was the source of the scent. I wrinkled my nose and took a careful step forward, craning my neck as I searched for any sign of danger in the darkness.

Tilting my head, I listened but heard only the sounds of the revellers on the main street, and the occasional rustling of the rubbish bags as the rats scattered at my approach.

Another look around as I stopped, and then I crouched down, pulling out my phone. I flicked on the torch app and shone the light down towards the ground.

“Balls,” I muttered.

Or, more to the point, a hand.

Just a hand.

Nothing else.

Blood stained the edge of the wrist where it had been cut, but there wasn’t a great deal of it on the ground, which told me that the hand hadn’t been cut off there in the alley. Or at least it hadn’t been cut off of anyone living, while in the alley.

With the tip of my knife, I poked at the hand, trying to tilt it so that I could better see the wrist. Not cut, as I had assumed, but torn.

It wasn’t the first time that I regretted the gifts of my family legacy. The ability to detect even the faintest whiff of dead and decaying flesh was not even the worst of it.

“Double-balls,” I muttered as I tapped on the display of my phone and dialled a number. It rang four times before it was answered by a gruff, and decidedly unfriendly, voice.

“What?”

“Hello to you too,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“I was supposed to finish an hour ago,” Jack said, his voice loaded with his annoyance. “And the only reason you would be calling is because either your date went so well that you are quitting and running away with him, or you’re gonna ruin my evening plans.”

He paused before adding, “since I know you well enough to know your date probably ended in less than an hour, that means I’m gonna have to call Anna, and you know how that’s gonna go.”

“You finished?” I asked, trying to hold back my laughter.

“For now.” He grunted softly. “What’s up, Em?”

“You need to call Anna and tell her you won’t be home for a bit.”

“Aw, bollocks! Why?”

“Found a hand.”

There was a pause that stretched taut and then, “A hand?”

“Just a hand.”

“Are you sure it’s…”

“If you know of a human who can rip a hand off someone’s arm, then by all means call the police. Otherwise, it’s one of ours.”

“You really are trying to ruin my night, aren’t you?”

“Always.” I did laugh then. “If it makes you feel any better, my date was an absolute knob.”

“Your standards are too high.”

“Hardly.”

“Where are you?”

I brought up my location on the phone and sent a pin across to him. He muttered thanks and grumbled to himself as I waited patiently, head turning constantly as I kept watch for danger.

“Okay, I’m gonna call, Nina.”

“Do you have to?”

“She’ll want to know.”

“We don’t even know what this is yet.”

“It’s a hand,” he pointed out. “That’s enough to call the Council.”

“She’ll be annoyed if it’s all we have.”

Another pause as he thought about that.

“Good point. Have you even tried looking for the rest of the body?”

“Sorting through rubbish bins in this outfit isn’t going to happen.”

“Wuss.”

“Yeah, well if they paid me better, I might be willing to ruin my clothes. Until they do, you get to come out here and ruin yours.”

More grumbling followed by a snort of annoyance and then a groan as he levered himself out of his chair.

“Be with you in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

I ended the call and sighed as I slipped the phone back into my pocket. My stomach rumbled loudly, and I sighed again. Just what I needed.

“Should have worn gloves,” I muttered as I shifted my weight from one foot to another.

My fingers were going numb where I gripped my knife but I daren’t put it away and stuff my hand into my pocket in case I needed it. So, instead, I stood in the cold with numb fingers and nose as I sniffed and shivered.

When you have nothing to do, time moves slower. It was just a fact, and when you have nothing to do in the dark and cold, it moved interminably slowly. I had to force myself not to pull out my phone and check the time as the light would ruin my night vision, so instead, I stood and listened to the sounds of the alley and retraced the evening’s events so that I could make damned well sure I wouldn’t find myself in this situation again.

I stopped rubbing my hands together and tilted my head, listening.

Silence.

Either the rats rooting through the rubbish and left over food scraps had all fallen asleep, or they had vanished into the night with a speed that set my teeth on edge.

A shadow crossed the alley mouth, and I stamped my feet as I raised a hand in greeting. “Finally!”

The shadowed figure didn’t move, and I lowered my hand slowly as I realised it wasn’t Jack.

“Please be someone looking to take a piss,” I said to the night air.

Two pinpricks of amber light appeared where the eyes would be, and my heart sank. The shadowed form shifted as the head moved, tilting its head back to sniff at the air.

Then those amber lights shone directly at me, and I felt a shiver of fear run up my spine.

“Oh, balls!”