She tiredly turned off the computer and arranged for the boxes of copy records to be returned to the hospital for destruction. She kept only the boxes with her chosen few in. Checking her watch, Tessa was amazed to see that she had been working away for four hours, and as if on cue, her stomach growled viciously. On her way out to her car she called Lee to see if he wanted to meet her at the diner nearby for lunch. It was only a short drive over and Lee could use the planes to get there when she arrived.

  Apparently to walk betwixt the planes of existence one must know intimately where they are going or have someone they knew well there, to act as a beacon. If not, they could become disorientated or overshoot their destination. An interesting concept given the consequences that may entail. It was entirely possible they could launch themselves into a wall, or spawn inside a human being.

  They each ordered a burger and milkshake, the best to be found in the neighbourhood of the Agency headquarters. As an intern staying at the Agency she could never afford to eat here and had always longingly sniffed the amazing smell of food wafting over on the breeze, ripe with paprika and roasting meat.

  Once again Lee had his horns hidden by the beanie, looking rather out of place in amongst the pompadours, shaven heads and mohawks. He grumbled about his hair as she excitedly tried to tell him about the film.

  ‘Sounds stupid.’ Lee grouchily whined as he threw last of his burger into his mouth. Tessa rolled her eyes.

  ‘Yes, it's stupid, but it’s where they are getting the ideas from for the supposed magickal murders.’ She tried to reason with him, unwilling to lose the bliss of a full stomach.

  ‘So I have to watch some crappy human movie that not even the humans like?’ He was becoming downright belligerent, flicking a pickle slice onto the side of her drink. Tessa looked disgusted as she picked it off.

  ‘No, you don't, you utter sack of misery, but I do, it may give us some clues. We don't have much else aside from visiting each of these guys on the list and politely asking them if they are killing people to incite some good ol' fashioned unrest. So yeah, I am gonna watch the stupid movie from start to finish and try to glean some damned insight from it. Is that all right with you, do I have your demonic permission? Because I don't particularly care if I don't. I just want to catch the stuffing murderer.’ Tessa finished, feeling slightly winded from such a litany. Even Lee had the grace to look impressed at her efforts and gave her a break.

  The diner had gotten oddly quiet, conversations had stopped in order to listen in, so Tessa decided to leave before she could shout more Agency secrets to a diner full of people. The car park was full of cars, but utterly devoid of people. It was just as well really, considering an obsidian horned demon was leaning casually against Tessa's car. Her hand immediately flew to her bag to grab hold of one of the little plane banishing bags while she tried to act nonchalant.

  ‘Well, witch, I guess you lied to me. I wonder why you would do that for this pathetic demon? That really does annoy me, you know. I really cannot tolerate liars of any kind. What am I to do with you?’ As Berserk spoke he menacingly dragged a blackened and pointed nail down the side of his face. Tessa shivered slightly but held her ground, Lee balling his hands into fists beside her. ‘You know I can occasionally kill a witch or even a few humans if it means I get my target. I am not opposed to spilling some witch blood. Rather like it to be honest.’

  ‘You will do nothing with her. You will do nothing but to return from whence you came, and rather swiftly at that.’ Snarled Lee as he naturally fell into a far more archaic way of speaking. Berserk simply laughed, a large and very fake guffaw which seemed to be utterly devoid of any real warmth or humour.

  ‘Or what Stanrael? Or what?’

  Chapter Nine

  The silence roared with the threats that lay between them, not needing to be spoken. The wind picked up, carrying distant voices and the usual city detritus. Tessa palmed a planes banishing ball and pulled off the sealing band.

  ‘Just leave it alone Berserk. This has nothing to do with you.’ Snapped Lee, trying to shield Tessa with his body.

  ‘Well, I can't. See, I was summoned here for this purpose, and those who summoned me want results.’ Answered Berserk, idly flexing his fists above some kind of concealed dagger Tessa only just noticed. She interrupted their little face off when she noticed what he had said, stepping forward to speak and see Beserk’s face.

  ‘Summoned? I thought you were normally sent out?’

  ‘Nope, this time I got summoned. I guess you two pissed someone off!’ guffawed Berserk again, enjoying the entire situation far too much for comfort. Tessa looked at Lee, horrified realisation in her eyes.

  ‘It must have been Schimpf. He must have seen you that day at the store, and he is the only one who can do summonings. None of the other Agency hunters know about you or care.’

  ‘Who cares people, make with the leaving Stanrael. I'm bored already.’ Berserk interjected rudely. He was clearly used to people doing what he wanted them to do the first time he asked. Unfortunately for him, star-crossed lovers were notoriously difficult to convince.

  Lee looked at him before drawing one of his odd serpentine blades from behind his back. Tessa swapped the plane banishing bag to her other hand and fished out her knife, ready herself. This simply widened the smile on Berserk's face as he drew his own dagger, which had an odd blade made from a blood red metal. There didn't seem to be any mundanes around luckily, a small blessing for the situation. The last thing they needed were any more headlines featuring violence.

  Long moments passed again, then Berserk simply laughed one last time and launched himself toward them, with unbelievable speed. Lee stepped back in front of Tessa, blocking her off with his body again. Their daggers flashed as they got close enough, striking only metal again and again, never quite meeting flesh. The speed they moved was dizzying to Tessa, and now punches were thrown into the mix. There was the occasional thud as fist met flesh, however no blood had been drawn and neither demon was seeming to slow.

  With both battling under such close proximity there was no way Tessa could get the powder for the planes spell in Berserk's face without also hitting Lee. If she did, they would probably just continue the fight in the other planes. Lee took a nasty blow to his jaw, however returned the favour by drawing the first blood and opening a large gash on Berserk's shoulder. Thinking as fast as she could and wanting to end the fight, Tessa shouted to Lee to look out and she threw the bag. Not at Berserk's face, but at the fresh wound on his arm. All it needed was the blood. The bag glanced off his neck but puffed out a spray of powder as it went, coating his upper arm. Berserk looked confused for a moment before it settled. The demon blurred then disappeared. Tessa ran over to Lee to make sure his face was free of powder, as well as checking him over for wounds. A killer bruise was already flourishing on his jaw and neck, but overall, he was well enough to put some distance between them and the planes locked hunter demon. They jumped into the car and took off, wheels squealing in their haste.

  ‘I am going to kill Schimpf, that bloody little... weasel!’ Tessa shouted from the adrenaline flooding her system, hitting the steering wheel as she drove. Lee remained quiet, brooding as he looked out of the window.

  His odd mood continued when they returned home, and he cloistered himself in their bedroom with the Demonology book. Tessa left him to it, taking the hint that he wanted his solitude. Instead, she went around the apartment boosting the magickal protection she had and adding a few warding and hiding sigils. When she finally felt safe, Tessa drew the curtains and popped on the film her new pet murderer was emulating. It was exactly as awful as she thought it would be, full of clichés, bad acting and a few particularly brutal murder scenes. They were unfortunately identical to the ones going on in sunny Bayton, so Tessa called it in to the boss. Sir McAdams seemed positively thrilled by the prospect that a person was running loose and murdering people based on a D grade horror flick.

  He also had the news that pressure was being put on them to wrap this one up fast, as the media was snowballing on the idea that there was magickal killing of mundanes occurring. As expected, this was causing a great deal of unrest. Several anti-magick groups were already stirring up the masses with a call for witch identification and ‘control’. Tessa felt the pit of her stomach drop at the words, knowing exactly the kind of ideas they were advocating. There was still a lot of bad blood over the witch trials and genocides which had occurred throughout history, and that was before the world as a whole knew that witches existed.

  After she finally got Sir McAdams off the phone, Tessa sat back and pondered her next move. The film was a big connection and may be able to be used with her list of ten names. She tried using a search engine and entered each of the names with the title of the film but came up with nothing. On a whim she began to search social media for the names as well as links or likes for the film. She was partway through the list when she fell asleep, the late nights finally catching up to her.

  Chapter Ten

  The morning was a black and pendulous one, storm clouds brewing over Bayton and rain threatening to wash some of the grime away. Tessa awoke in her own bed, Lee having carried her in there when he found her on the couch asleep. She felt much better, having had a full sleep before showering early and getting breakfast. The kettle had just about boiled for her morning tea when her phone blared the Agency emergency tone.

  Tessa groaned loudly, turned off the kettle and grumbled all the way to her phone. A body had been found; an address was given and that was that. Sir McAdams wasn't even in yet; this order came from the night shift Lady in charge. Lee was still asleep, curled up with the cat, so Tessa left him a note with details of what had happened. As she walked to her car Tessa glared at the clouds, which were yet to unleash their burden.

  The drive was short and sweet, ending up in another mundane dominated area of Bayton. A townhouse this time, the young resident a beautiful and promising medical student and much-loved local waitress. The attending police officers were all rather green looking, and at least one had lost their breakfast in the front garden by the look of the plants. Some bore chunks. The introductions were skipped in favour of a quick exchange of information and the promise of exchanged reports.

  The front door had an odd eye with a pentacle in the place of an iris painted on it in blood, a disturbing greeting to the scene. Tessa took pictures and swabs for the forensic unit as rain started to patter down, just in case it washed away before they got there. She entered the little house tentatively, feeling rather like a sacrificial lamb. The poor girl had been killed in her main hall, by the looks of it she had been about to leave for the day. Her bag was flung to the side, study notes flowing out of it along with cosmetics and a purse. Tessa picked up the purse, discovering that one Clair O'Neal had not been robbed, her cash and bank cards were still present.

  The stench that Tessa was beginning to consider a signature of the killer was present much stronger this time, testament to how soon they had found the girl. She supposed that a giant bloody eye tended to attract attention fast, even in Bayton. Once again, the walls were painted up and splattered with blood. Arcane lettering seemed to be taking form more and more in the sick graffiti, as well as the word curse mentioned a few times.

  Tessa took in every pattern and detail, searching for sense or magick, but there was neither. The back of the door had a crass pentacle on it and chunks of congealed blood caked the handle. She also searched for fingerprints, but once again only found glove marks. Finally, Tessa looked to the body, needing to steady herself when she did.

  While Clair had been beautiful in life, in death it was stolen from her. Lidless eyes stared up at her, the eyelids having been cut off, as her face had been defiled with cuts and gouges. Small stabs dotted under each eye to make her look even more unusual and her rich chestnut hair had been cut roughly. There were pieces of it around her body, however most of the hair seemed to have been taken.

  Her body had been cut and stabbed repeatedly, mimicking the same patterns as the previous murders and the film. The monster doing this was obviously beginning to get creative, deferring from the film here and there and changing up the pattern. Tessa doubted that the eye or the pentacles were for any use but shock tactics. She suspected it would be mostly to give the media some extra hate fodder.

  A theory was beginning to form in Tessa's mind that this was some kind of reverse hate crime, where the mundane killer was trying to frame those of a magickal nature for the murders, and would probably become more and more public about it. Whoever this was clearly hadn't made friends with sanity lately. Tessa finished looking over the body just as forensics arrived, with the same girl on the team as the last victim. Tessa nodded to her; glad she had someone in who knew the last scene. As they set up for their investigations, Tessa checked through the rest of the house, but nothing seemed out of place. Even the tiny courtyard was in perfect order, so she went back to watch the team working while she digested some of her thoughts.

  They had already ruled out magickal involvement, as well as assessed that Clair O'Neal had only died approximately one hour earlier.

  ‘She still be warm, see?’ The forensics assistant offered the victim’s hand to Tessa to check for herself, but she declined.

  Tears sprang to her eyes when Tessa realised that just as she was waking up this beautiful girl had lost her life. Seeing so many bodies had already begun to weigh on her, she already dreamed of their faces at times. Tessa swiped her tears away stubbornly, determined to stop this particular brand of evil.

  Suddenly the young forensics assistant ran over to her excitedly, clutching a zip lock bag in an outstretched arm. Tessa could barely get her to stop moving frenetically to be able to see the contents of the bag.

  ‘Look Lady Bale, I found a hair, and it ain't one of the deadie's!’ The forensics team leader cleared her throat angrily at the mention of the word 'deadie' and the assistant instantly looked horrified.

  ‘Erm I means de-ceased, Lady Bale.’ Tessa nodded, knowing it was more a matter of lexicon than disrespect for the dead. The bag did indeed contain a different hair, blonde with a twisty kink to it. It was definitely similar to the first one, and Tessa welcomed the extra evidence.

  ‘Thanks, uhhh...’ Tessa trailed off, realising she had no idea what her name was. Luckily the girl could take a hint.

  ‘Amy... Amethyst,’ she said brightly.

  ‘Thanks Amy. By the way, I have some swabs from the front door, here,’ replied Tessa, handing over a zip lock bag of her own. Amy took it and placed it with the other pile of evidence before going back to her work. Feeling like she wanted to be anywhere but here, Tessa took her leave, reminded that she had a score to settle with a certain slimy coworker back at the Agency.

  It wasn't hard to find Schimpf, all Tessa needed to do was wander the halls of the Agency until she scented his particular stench. She swooped in on him dragging his scrawny body, limbs flailing, into one of the many alcoves present in the old building.

  ‘What the shit Con-tessa? What is this?’ he blustered, his face reddening rapidly. She had never confronted him this aggressively before, and he seemed both shocked and embarrassed.

  ‘Like you didn't know I would come after when you invited the new friend out to play,’ Tessa spat into his face. The look on Schimpf's face went from angry to confused in seconds, a response Tessa was not expecting. She had thought he would gloat, delight in the chaos and cruelty he had brought forth.

  ‘What are you shitting on about? I am investigating the faery murders.’

  ‘You summoned Berserk to take back Lee!’ she cried, feeling close to exploding into tears. The confused looks continued.

  ‘What? I don't know either of those names. What are you on about?’ Schimpf looked at Tessa as if she had lost her mind completely.

  ‘You saw Lee at the store and then... to get back at me... You had no idea did you?’ Tessa finally conceded, a new horror dawning within her. If Schimpf hadn't brought up Berserk than who had? Now Mike Schimpf also knew Lee was still here as well, and could get her into some serious trouble.

  ‘You mean that demon you had? The store? I didn't see anyone but your haughty ass, but now you tell me you stashed a demon here?’ Tessa nodded, too horrified to respond. ‘And this Berserk is what, a bounty hunter? You would risk that for the pretty boy demon? You know the enforcers can kill us right?’ Schimpf asked, looking odd. Tessa nodded again.

  ‘Not going to tease me for being useless or feminine for falling for my first demon? No bitter remarks or jabs?’ Tessa muttered bitterly.

  ‘Actually no. I uhhh know what it is like to be in... you know... l-l-love with someone. And have it taken away. But I promise you it wasn't me.’ Tessa investigated Mike Schimpf's eyes, finding sincerity and even tears floating. He coughed and looked embarrassed, breaking the eye contact.

  ‘Mike...’ Was as far as she got before he interrupted her.

  ‘Next time make sure you have your facts straight before you accost someone,’ was his final gruff response before stepping back and stomping down the hallway. Tessa was left feeling utterly conflicted, and with the larger question of who had summoned Berserk.

  She tottered out of the Agency feeling confused and a little silly. She highly doubted whoever was murdering the women in the case she was investigating had caught wind and had launched a pre-emptive attack, or was even capable of it. The only other person who had an interest in the matter was Damien, but he certainly didn't have the skills. Still, perhaps it was time to pay him a rather unfriendly visit.

 

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