I awoke to hushed voices coming from the cell to my left, and snoring from my right. The Italian had company, and they were speaking in their home language. If I wanted to, I could eavesdrop --I did know the language-- but I didn’t care. I’d been here way too long.

Before I had a chance to voice my discontent, I heard footsteps and a returning Officer Madison. I then noticed that she was taller than me by a couple of inches. It was uncommon to come across a woman who was taller than me, so I made a mental note of it. I offered her my hands so I could be re-cuffed, as she did so and led me out of the cell, and into another room.

The interrogation room was small… without that big two-way mirror you always see on movies and television. They had me cuffed to the table, as I relaxed, watching the red blinking lights of the 2 video cameras aimed at me. The room smelled of Lysol and sweat, as my fingers took in all of the scratches and gouges etched into the metal table. This was not where I wanted to be today. My attention was drawn to the door as it opened.

Chief Anthony Calahan stood about 6’4, with his horseshoe balding hair trimmed short, causing a soft ring of white around his head. He was built in his youth, but a gut had formed in his old age. He was pushing 60, and it seemed like only yesterday that I met him as a beat cop in East Asheville.

“You know you’re the last person I expected to see in here, Tannin.” He shook his head, as his southern drawl echoed around the room. I looked up to see Detective John Static walk in behind him. He closed the door and both men sat down in front of me.

“We don’t need these, Tony,” I said as I let my arcane energies flare, the cuffs unlocking themselves and falling to the table.

“How in the hell did you do that?” John gasped, as he looked to the chief. “Did I tell you that she got both of my guns from me when I dropped by for that follow up?”

Tony chuckled. “Jacquelene Tannin has many, many secrets. I met her damn near 40 years ago. I got gray and wrinkles, and she looks like she hasn’t aged a day. I’ve seen her dodge freaking bullets and she shoots better with my gun than I do.”

“You’ll make a woman blush like that, Calahan…” I said, batting my eyelashes. I then leaned onto the table.. “Now we need to talk.”

“What the hell happened, Tannin? We don’t have gunfights and car chases in this city. This ain’t like you.”

“We were leaving the Fayre, when a black Navigator pulled behind us off Deaver Park. The passenger pulled out an AK-47 and started firing on us. We returned the favor. I took out their radiator and they took out a tire. The Navigator pushed us onto US 23 where y’all got us.”

“That’s the same story we heard from Mr. Douglas. We picked up 2 assault rifles and 3 unregistered handguns, Two Beretta 45 ACPs and a S&W 929.” John clasped his hands together as he finished.

“Did you arrest Chaz?” I asked, hoping that they didn’t make that mistake. He didn’t do well being arrested.

“Mr. Douglas kinda just disappeared after questioning. I looked up and he was not there.” John still kept that puzzled look on his face.

“Wait… you found a 9mm revolver?” I looked at them,hoping to catch my former cell-mate in a lie.

“We have forensics looking over the guns. We can’t yet tell you if the 929 was the gun that fired those rounds at you.” John said, sighing. “Other than that. there’s not a lot we can tell you. They lawyered up as soon as we cuffed them.” He concluded.

Tony continued. “They’re brothers… Carmine and Savio Serra. All we know at this point is that their father is an Italian immigrant who was well known in Rome.”

“Vatican ties perhaps?” I asked, shaking my head softly. “That’d explain the myrrh and salt etched bullets…”

John started again, “What I don’t understand is why. Do salt-etched bullets kill better?” I looked at Chief, a question in my eyes. He picked up on it and nodded. He banged on the wall and the red lights on the cameras went out. Good. We could speak freely now.

I looked in John’s eyes, then looked back to Tony. “Do you trust him?”

“I do. I wouldn’t trust anyone else in this room with you, especially since I need him to work on something with you.” Tony said with a serious look on his face..

“Well?” John spat.

“Blessed ammo is used on beings that aren’t human…” I said softly. “John, I’m not human. I’ve never been human.”

“What? You two are pulling my damned leg,” he uttered puzzled.

Tony spoke up. “John, did you know that her birthday was a few days ago?” he said, crossing his arms.

“Well, no I didn't…” John replied.

“Her one-hundred fifth birthday?” he followed up with. Shit. I never keep up with this.

“Wait just a minute…” John said,. scratching his head. “You’re telling me that this woman here, who doesn’t look a day over 25, is about to be a hundred and five? Are you for real?”

“After she learned to confide in me, Jackie here told me stories of being present for the groundbreaking of the Biltmore House, and how Vanderbilt himself asked her to try to keep his land and the city of Asheville pure and wholesome, and not go downhill like Charlotte and Atlanta That puts her older than that..”

“This is not the place for this, Tony,” I sighed.

“Correct.” He reached over and patted John on the shoulder. “John, we need to make sure that the fact that she’s a non-human doesn’t come up. New paperwork and all. I’m too old for me to be learning all this techo-crap…”

“I have a trusted friend who is now a US Marshal. I can call her up, see if she can help some.”

“Good, thank you,” I said to John, then looked back at Tony. “Now, since you’ve helped me… I have some information for you.”

Tony and John both pulled out memo pads in roughly the same condition, along with pens to match. “Okay, whatcha got?” Tony asked.

“Get your drug units to hook up with the highway patrol. New blood is trying to set up routes from Spartanburg. I’m hunting this new cat… but we need to keep their shit out of the city.”

“Who’s this new player?” John asked, Tony patted his arm, shaking his head..

“The chief and I have a ‘Gentleman’s agreement’…” I explained. “I will share with the police if it will save lives, but they will leave me alone to run this city the way I see fit. He will be given to you once I’m done… Alive this time.”

“Who does she think she is, chief? A mafia boss?” John asked, almost beside himself.

Tony chuckled at him, while placing a hand on mine. “They call her ‘Madrecita’... and the city takes care of her as much as she takes care of it.”

The two stood, leaving the room. Officer Madison entered, escorting me through the precinct. I wanted to help her relax, but I did tell Callahan that I would not give his officers too much grief. I tried to pull my aura in, hoping that this ‘gun-toting badass’ would be seen as someone benign, unassuming, completely harmless. Hoping that i kept everything calm, we stopped at a desk labeled ‘Booking’ where they gave me back my wallet, my Sig, magazine and all.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Thank you Officer Madison,” I said softly, actually looking at her. Her pixy-cut red hair brought out a light sprinkle of freckles and really set off her green eyes and creamy white skin. Another pair of green eyes. Now I’m intrigued.

“Call me April…” she said, with the barest of irish accents peeking through, as she walked away from me. I looked down to my belongings again, to find a blank business card on the table. She threw a sway into her hips, which were a tad bit on the narrow side for her height, but was definitely not a deal breaker. Upon flipping the card over it read, ‘Call me.’ and had her first name and phone number on it. I smiled, tucking it into my back pocket with my wallet as I walked to the front.

“Alec is on his way,” Chaz said as we headed out of the building.

“Your buddies at Angel’s Tire gonna get the Mach 1 fixed?” I asked, looking at him. He nodded. “I’ll make sure they are well taken care of.”

“Good,” he said. “That car was the first thing that I could say I earned for myself.” I could hear his frustration and anger. He sighed, calming down a tad. “So…what do we know about those assholes?”

“Italians… their father immigrated from Rome.”

“Great. We have The Vatican coming against us now too.” He sighed, shaking his head.

“Actually, if they can be believed, they were only coming after you. I was apologized to for not being a devil. Just to make sure, I’ll go talk to Jerome again. He’ll be able to tell us if this is the Vatican or something else.”

“That angel… Really? What the fuck Jac? After all they’ve done to us…” Chaz tensed up, his hands clenched into fists.

"It is a life debt, Chaz…” I started, looking out into the parking lot.

“I swear… Dragons and their damn stories…” Alec said from the window of a silver Ford Windstar that was now parked in front of us. “Come on. I left Emily cleaning the dining room.”

“How’s she picking things up?” I asked, walking around the minivan to get in on the passenger side. “Also… take me by the range. Tony might come by. I’ll be able to speak with him more freely there.”

“Ah, I gotcha. That’s why Chaz got you another gun then.” Alec nodded as he buckled his seat belt. “So… Emily’s sister was a waitress in high school… so she was taught a few things,” he said as Chaz got in the back. “Can you two assure me that you won’t destroy this van? I’m still making payments on it.”

“No promises there,” Chaz said, chuckling. Alec cut his eyes at him before pulling off. I spent the trip explaining to them everything that I found out, even telling them about my ‘age’ issue.

Alec spoke up. “You should have told me, Jac. We have been dealing with stuff like that for about a century.”

“I honestly hadn’t paid it much thought. I have a shell that I can keep permanently now, so the age issue hadn’t crossed my mind. Well, they have Detective John Static on the case now.”

Alec replied, “Oh you mean the Titan…”

“The what?” Chaz asked what I was thinking.

“Titan used to refer to the descendant of Titania, now it is used to refer to a human that has fey in their bloodline. I don’t think he has any latent powers or gifts… his blood is way too diluted for that… but it’s there… four or five generations back… maybe more.”

“So that was that out of place scent I got from him when I first met him…” I mused, nodding to myself as we pulled up beside an old VW beetle. And when I say old I mean old… as in ’engine in the back’ old.

Before I could say anything, Alec explained, “That’s Emily’s sister’s car. I asked her to come by.”

“What for?” I asked as we spilled out of the van and headed for the door.

Alec started, “Like I had just said, Teresa waited tables in high school. Emily let me know this morning that her twin wanted to pick up some extra money, so I got her to come back. That was okay, right?”

“That should work out just fine….wait did you say twin?” I blurted as Alec and Chaz got out. Chaz got into the driver’s seat.

“I’ll fill you in later,” he said as I rolled the window down.

“Good. Have her drop by in the morning so I can meet with her.” Chaz slung gravel as he put the vehicle in gear and sped off.

On Target Gun Shop and Shooting Range is a friendly little place that has been around for 30 years or so. Law enforcement frequent it as well, so it’s a good place to pick up some info if you’re looking.

“Jackie! About time you showed up… You know the purpose of membership is for you to actually come by, right?” This was Matt. This salt-and-pepper haired man was a member of a shooting league, which meets here weekly. Matt however seems to live here, which means he hears all the juicy stuff.

“Yeah, yeah, just got out of the hospital. Things got pretty bad up the street from the bar.”

“I heard about that shit. The bastard is still walking around?” Matt lost his wife and daughter to a drive-by shooter a couple of years back. Since then he has been like a big brother to the younger shooters. I don’t have the guts to tell him that I'm way older than he is, and he is a sweetie.

“Where did you hear that from?” I asked, as my curiosity was getting me.

“Some reporter who found you. Elaine Davis from the newspapers. Short blonde… glasses… remember her?”

Rings a bell, that’s for sure. Hey… You heard anything about this new detective? Static is his name?”

“Ahh, the greenhorn. The locals don’t know a lot about him. He does his job, stays out of trouble, and Chief likes him. Want me to ask around?”

“Don’t go out of your way. Don’t want to stir the pot. Gossiping about cops is not a good thing. Tony just wants him to work with me on something. I didn’t want a dirty cop at my back, you know?”

Before Matt could reply to me, the door opened and Miss Elane Davis walked through. Tousled hair, white button down shirt and a gray knee-length skirt that matched the frames of her glasses.

“You… are you related to the woman who was attacked outside a convenience store about a month and a half ago?” she asked, her hand still gripping the door handle.

“It’d be best if we took this outside, don’t you think?” I whispered to her, as I waved at Matt and walked out through the open door. I made my way to a light green Honda Civic, parking my butt on her front bumper, waiting.

“What is going on?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips. That vanilla and sandalwood smell filled my nose, along with another. Her scent. “Are you her sister? Did she die? Why is the police trying to cover this up?” She is not human! This keeps getting better and better.

“Cover up? You’re talking to me about a cover-up? You’re not even human, and you have the gall to talk to me about a cover-up? Gods that’s rich.”

“So you are her then…” Her face flushed with anger, then faltered. “Wait… I’m not human?”

“You don’t smell human. I can’t place your scent, but as long as I’ve been around, I know the smell of humans.”

She thought for a moment, regaining composure. “I’m working on a story… Is there anything you can tell me about your attack? Why you were targeted?”

“Miss Davis,” I started. “I am known in Asheville for several different reasons, none of which I feel comfortable talking about with the press. It’s why I will not even give you my name.” I sighed, then continued. “As for you, I’d be willing to bet you that you were raised by a single mother, and you know very little, if any, about your biological father. If you were raised by a father figure, either he is your stepfather, or he adopted you. Furthermore, I’d go as far to say that no one in your family can give blood to you, because it’s so rare…but I’d bet you any amount of money that I could.”

“I seriously doubt that,” she said, crossing her arms under her breasts. “What blood type are you?”

“AB-Negative,” I replied softly, relishing in the look of shock that flooded her face. Before I could follow up, A police car pulled into the spot beside the Civic. Detective Static, got out, a smile forming on his lips as he walked up. That snapped Elaine from her stupor. She quickly jotted a number down on a scrap of paper that she dug out of a small, gray clutch purse, then stuffed the paper into my hand before walking to the drive side of her car, getting in quickly.

“I was hoping to meet you here,” John said, as I followed him back inside.

“Oh you did, did you?” I smirked as I walked up to the counter. Matt was leaning on the counter. “Hey Matt, grab me 4 boxes of Magtechs, will ya? 9mm. The boss here?”

“Nah, the little lady is running the shop today. Want to let her know you’re here?”

“If you wish.” I pulled out 5 twenty dollar bills, placing them on the counter. “Have her ring things up when she comes back out.”

“What about the change?” he asked, handing the bullets to John.

“Tell her to keep it.”