I sat in a chair in the middle of the bar, again… another shower, hair washed and all. Alec walked to the table, setting his blue tackle box down. “So the pack is going to look after Ray and Narkavis?”

“Yeah,” Chaz grumbled. “Lizard-breath here cheated.” He had a manilla envelope in his hands. “Damn, it even smells like them.”

“Don’t knock it. It’s not like we’re coming up spades thus far.” I growled in frustration as the door opened, revealing Sandra once again. Although I could tell by scent that her clothes were clean, her outfit was the same as last time.

Alec had a pair of scissors in hand as she stepped to the table. “Not your locks!” she howled, feigning horror. “Just kidding. Ever consider Locks Of Love?”

“I have,” I said, as Alec started working my tips with the scissors. “Was afraid that they would find out that they had fifteen hundred year old hair.”

“I thought you said you were older than that?”

“I am, but that’s how old this shell, this humanoid body, is. I have a place I take my hair to. A fae stylist who does weaves and extensions. Speaking of which, Alec, You think we should? It’s been awhile.”

“They’re dark fae. I refuse to answer on principle alone… but yeah… it’s getting to be a pain in my ass to keep up with.”

I looked up to Sandra. “What brings you back? Didn’t get enough of the non-human gossip?”

She smiled weakly. “Sorry to hear about last night. I want to help out, I do. But they’re calling me back to DC, I just wanted to drop off your new credentials. Birth cert, passport, Business license, and driver’s license.”

Chaz looked through the stack of papers she dropped on the table. “So you’re from Monroe, Wisconsin, born to Elsie and Greg Tannin, November 1st, 1995.”

“That puts me at a believable age…I get to ‘blame it on good genes’ I guess.”

Your paternal grandmother was full-blood Dakota, and your mother’s people were from here, hence you being here. It looked like you had already routed your last name to Brazil, so it was easy to patch it in.”

“You went through a lot of work doing this,” I noted, as I cringed at the sound of the scissors going through a large section of hair. “Hey, wait. It’s Saturday. How did you get all this done so fast?

“Alec did most of it… I just pointed him away from red flags along the way. You also forget I work for the government, so I do have some tricks up my sleeves.”

“Yeah it’s much more challenging when you have to do things legally AND discreetly…. there. It will look better once you wash and dry it again.. but I’m done.”

I flipped my head back and forth as I saw how short he had taken it. Not overly so, but it was reduced to a modest length. “My head feels lighter, too,”

“Ya think?” Alec smarted off, holding up a coil of hair, tied with a black ribbon, that was nearly as big around as a soda can.

“Shit! I think if my hair was that thick, I’d shave it off. Damn…” Sandra exclaimed, as she tapped on the stack that Chaz dropped back on the table. “Don’t forget to destroy your old records, okay? Take care. John will be by a little later. Saturday’s his day with his mom. I’d stay longer but I do have a plane to catch,” She yelled as she ran out the door.

“She’s a bit high strung, for a human…” Chaz commented, as he looked at the door.

“...For a human…” I reiterated, as a chuckle overtook me. My eyes glanced over to the envelope Jerome had delivered, reducing my chuckle to a sigh, I stood, heading to the apartment.

“What’s up?” Alec said, walking to the bar for a broom and dustpan.

“When John gets here, send him down. We need to go through that…” I groaned, pointing to the envelope in question.

“No worries,” Alec said, grabbing a broom.

~v~

“What time is it?” John asked, looking at the nearly empty coffee pot

“Going on 3.” I replied, pinching the bridge of my nose. “You can crash here if you want.”.

“You got Church, detective?” Chaz asked from the staircase. He looked like he was asleep, but Chaz never sleeps.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“Was going to, before all this shit happened. Working a case… the story of my life.”

Alec chuckled. “Hey Jac… if it’s an issue, we could get your angel friend over…” The spontaneity of his joke and the fatigue cause all of us but John to burst into laughter.

“You’re friends with an angel? after everything you’ve told me?”

“It’s complicated. He’s the one I got all of this info from, indirectly. I’ve known him almost as long as I’ve had this body. I also knew him when he was alive, so there’s that.”

John made his way to the couch. “I’m gonna grab an hour or two. It’s all blurring together at this point.”

“Knock yourself out. I’m gonna gather all of this and get it upstairs…” He was asleep before I finished my sentence. I looked at Chaz.

“You’ve been running too long without any recharge. I got you…” he said as I collapsed on the bed. You’d think after millenia that I'd remember that Xochil’s body does not have the level of endurance that my natural form does. I slipped into the Astral, and all three of my forms cuddled together… Xochitl snuggled up to Luna, and I wrapped around them both, like a mother protecting her eggs.

~v~

Coffee. The scent drew me from slumber. I’d fallen asleep? Meditation went wrong. I didn’t like that. Things could have went…

“I told you I got you,” Chaz growled as I sat up too quickly. Oh hell.. Two Chaz’s.. trippy.

“What the hell happened?” I asked as a headache ripped through my skull. “I’m going to rip his fucking wings off..”

“Give him some slack, lizard-breath. I told him to. That body was about to drop. It needed rest.” He grumbled. “Also, The humans are on their way back. They actually made it to their Church thing.”

I got up and headed upstairs to find Alec standing there, with a cup held out for me. As I took it, the mingling of Coffee, chocolate and caramel tempted my nose and quelled my anger. “You’re forgiven, this time…” I muttered before taking this wonderful concoction to my lips. He may get on my nerves, but Alec did make some wonderful coffee.

John headed to the nearly empty coffee pot, as she moaned like a zombie. “I've been staring at the same thirty-five pages for the past two hours.”

“What do you make of it?” I asked.

“It’s mostly photo-copied photographs of that damned shifter, in various places, along with some receipts. Here’s a photo of a black mustang, along with a description that matches the big guy there.”

Chaz walked over to the tables pushed together, with papers and pictures scattered all over it. “That’s my Mach 1,” he growled.

John continued. “Here’s the license plate number and your normal routes. This is info for a hitter.”

“There's also this,” I said, picking up a piece of paper I’d earmarked last night. “Listen to this… Target, Five-six to five-eight, long hair, appears feminine. Frequents bank on blah blah and often seen walking to BP gas station, where he buys Mtn Dew and random candy bar… never same candy bar twice in a row.” I looked up to see John sitting back down, with two cups of coffee.

“If that is supposed to be me…” Alec started. “I’d like to know what makes me feminine… and that gas station always has new chocolate bars to try out. Still looking for one I like better.” He filled the pot with water from a spray bottle behind the bar, and started another pot. “If this is a hit list, then these dudes are sloppy. I mean ‘sloppier than the demons’ sloppy.”

“I heard that, you overgrown sprite,” Chaz bellowed, as sat down, leaning it against the wall, feigning sleep again.

As he said that, I looked at the photos scattered about, and something caught my eye. I grabbed the photo and looked at it once again, this time with focus. I pointed at a woman seen walking away from my attack, just out of focus. “John, look at this.”

“If you insist…” he said, just blurting out an answer without really taking another look at it… then he stopped and looked closer. “Wait a damn minute. That looks just like the woman we found killed. Here’s more. Look here, at the perp’s hand. Money was exchanged.”

“Elaine hired her own killer?” I asked in disbelief as I heard the entrance door open. ,

“Looks like it. Here’s a picture of her giving a stack of money to the shifter.”

“Let me see that,” April said as she walked up, looking over my shoulder. “That’s Cassie. It’s the hair. They look a lot alike, but Cassie can’t grow out her hair…”

“Because she has a golem body…” I surmised. “I turned to her. She stood, solemn-faced, in a red chiffon top and blue jeans. She was holding a large Bojangles’ bag.

John thought aloud, “So that's why I have seen you two together so much at the station.. How does this all tie together?”

“Need help?” April asked. “I brought food. Look, there’s something…” As if scripted, her phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket, as she set the bag on another table. As she looked at her phone, her shoulders slumped. “It’s Cassie.”

“Answer it, put it on speaker, and I’m she’s not here at the moment.” John whispered as April pushed the button, and sat her phone on the table.

“Madison…” she said, with a loud and authoritative voice.

“April, where are you at?” I heard through the speaker.

“I’m at Tannin’s bar looking over some paperwork with John…why?”

“Is she there right now??”

“At the moment, she’s freshening up.” I gave April a thumbs up at her remark.

“Oh my god, April… I need help. All this shit has gone sideways.”

“What happened?” she replied.

“Sam has gone off the deep end, He’s gone crazy, forcing me to do something really bad. He’s going to kill me. How much do you know about Jackie and what she is?”

“I know she’s not human. What is she? Shifter? Fae?”

“No, sis. She’s a dragon, like me. Sam has it in for her and some silver beast…bad. He said he’s hiding Elaine because the assassins failed to get the others out of the way... and now he wants me to attack her directly, or he’s going to kill Elaine and you too.”

“When? I need to get John out of here. He’s not involved…”

“Dusk tonight. Look, I need to go. He’ll kill Elaine if he catches me.” The call then ended.

“Looks like you’ve gots some ‘splainin’ to do…” John said.