Fantasy FTK: Black Rose Detective Agency

[alwaystheOptimist]

"I think you're lying," she said smoothly, leaning on the table, "Come on, chief, you're gonna have to do better than that. No details? Just proves you don't deserve what I got."

 

[Jodyguru]

Barber growled. “Alright, fine. Sadler asked me to do something for him.” He paused, hoping to get her attention. “He brought me some tools. Medical stuff. Tubes, needles, and glass bottles. He wanted me to... catch someone with these. You dig?” He waited for her to catch on to what he was saying. He was asked to exsanguinate someone.
“I-I didn’t do it though! That’s too sketchy, even for me. The box is still in my apartment. I’m telling the truth.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"You sure that's it?," she popped the button on her shirt open. She was gonna milk this thirsty bastard as much as she could before she threw him into the slammer.
"Come on Chief, I wanna make this worth my while," she gave him a small pout, "I mean if you're not doing it then who did?"

 

[Jodyguru]

Barber leaned back and snarled at her. “Please. I’m trying to stay out of jail. A peek of tit ain’t worth turning over for. You got enough.”
He was pulling away. He could flip on one guy, but more than that wouldn’t happen until he felt the heat.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Damn. And here she thought she could get somewhere without embarrassing herself.
She looked at him for a moment, turning over the idea in her head. Was she really gonna do this?
She had to, dammit. This was an easy lead she needed to exploit.

She let out a sigh, pushing herself up from the chair. Hips swaying slightly, she walked to his side of the table.

Gods. If Leore found about this she'd never hear the end of it.

"Come on Chief," she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his ear, "It's just between you and me."
She dragged a finger, tracing the line of his jaw.

 

[Jodyguru]

Barber shrugged her off of him. “Beat it, pig. I’m not that stupid. I’ll take it up with the judge.” He turned his head away from her. It seemed like he was slamming the vault shut on her. Either that or he was a two bit thug who really didn’t know more than that.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

That was it then. The bastard had made her look a fool for nothing. She pulled back, grabbing his ear, twisting it painfully.
Her red nails dug into the skin, marking it with red crescents.
"I'm not some useless broad, bastard. This isn't the first time I've gotten one of you goons to spill."
She leaned down to look him in the eye, "I don't think you want to see what I'm capable of."

 

[Jodyguru]

“Ouch! Hey, what’s your badge number?” He grinned. “Yeah, I thought as much. Go goon somebody else.”

The detective tapped on the glass.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah released his ear, pushing his head forward. She glared at Barber's grin, before opening the door and slamming it shut.
"Damn bastard either knows something or he thinks it's fun being irritating," she muttered.
Onsler smirked, leaning against the glass of the window.
"What?!," Delilah glared back at him, placing her hands on her hips.

 

[Jodyguru]

“I liked your restraint” Onsler said. “You should get out of here before the lawyers catch you on the premises.”

—————

Toby was walking the beat tonight. He hears a strange moaning and decides to follow the sound. He was nearing a dry cleaners that was still open this late. Normally it was dim by 11. His watch said it was 1 in the morning.

He stood on the corner and looked for movement. A pair of legs were moving on the floor. He entered the laundromat with baton in hand.

He finds a lizard woman straddling a vampire, and her limp body laying in his toothy embrace.
Officer Toby quickly tries to switch to his gun, but fumbles it. The weapon falls to the floor. The vampire gets up and launches himself at Tobias.
The monster snarls. Toby swings his baton upwards, catching the vampire in his chest.
He jumps for the gun, sliding onto the floor and grabbing it. He puts his foot against the wall and take aim at the bloody vampire.
“Mitra’s blessing: Holy Arrow” he says with the beads from his wrist glowing with miracle light.
He shoots, blasting a hole through his target’s heart. A killing blow.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

The flash of cameras lit up the scene, shouts of officers mixed with that of reporters and photographers.
Delilah pushed through the crowd surrounding the scene, shoving over a few stubborn reporters who were desperately pushing to get past the line of officers.
She stopped at the tape that marked the scene, leaning forward.
The door leading to the crime scene itself was hanging open, officers popping in and out of the space, the occasional one rushing forward to push back the crowd.
Catching sight of Onsler, she pushed her way to the crowd over to him.
"The kid told me you found a vamp."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec was there as well, crouched over the corpse of the vampire. It hadn’t turned to ash, so he believed it wasn’t truly dead yet.
“What’s left of one. Officer Tobias should be rewarded for his concentration.”

Detective Onsler looked over at the black bag being loaded into the truck.
“A shame we couldn’t save the girl.”
Lautrec looked up, and deeply stared into Delilah’s eyes. He had realized something. This was a hit. Venrir was listening somehow, and knew exactly how to snap their line of communication. He’d stopped them a week ago when they caught the first blood supplier, Alex. He was two steps ahead, for now.

Detective Leore shared his theory with Waters late in the morning, around 3:45 am. They were smoking in a diner with breakfast on the table.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah sipped on her coffee, tapping the flakes of ash from her cigarette onto the ashtray on the table.
"I can see what you're saying with both being silenced, but how the hell is Venrir involved?" She put her coffee cup down on the table, picking up her fork and stabbing at a piece of egg.
She made a few half-hearted attempts before putting her fork down and picking up a piece of toast.
"I mean, what in this entire case is pointing you to a new gang boss?"

 

[Jodyguru]

“The vampire who attacked the lizard girl was a new born. He craved death and found it. The transformation is slow and more painful than anything man can conjure. The problem hasn’t gotten better, and religion is being erased from mob culture. They all say he looks like a pale half-elf. Blood goes missing and starts showing up on drug busts... it makes sense to me at least.

He hadn’t realized that the sun was coming up soon.
“Let’s tell Rheitz the lizard girl went to go live in the Euradan River with her family. She shouldn’t hear this tragic news.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah rolled her eyes, taking another bite of toast. "We should tell her she died. She's a grown woman, Leore, not a kid. She can handle it," she took the fork in hand, stabbing at the egg and finally managing to pick up a few chunks. She took a bite, chewing slowly.
"Damn, this is salty," she muttered, shaking some pepper on it.
"Anyway, I found some new info from that goon who had the lizard girl. Pretty interesting stuff. Plus, I think it might give us a clue as to whether or not your suspect is guilty."
She cut a piece of sausage on her plate, gesturing with her fork. "Anyway, how do we know it's not the Fangs?"

 

[Jodyguru]

He nodded and dipped his toast into his coffee.
“Alright then, but you’re going to tell her.” He smirked. “And if you complain, you can handle the mountain of paperwork this case is going to produce.”
He bit his toast and avoided her kicking him under the table.
“Besides, you can’t call her childish one minute and a grown woman the next. Pick a lane, because I think she’s just like you, but younger.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah glared at him, though more out of annoyance than actual anger. She snorted at his comment, leaning on her palm to look out the window.
"Adults can be childish Leore. She's a grown woman but she's still young. She's mature but innocent, that's all I'm saying."
She turned to him, watching him dunk another piece of toast in his coffee and took another bite of sausage.
"Plus, why should I tell her? You're the one she's friends with. She's friendly with me but she's protective of you." She rolled her eyes when he gave her a questioning look.
"You don't see the way she treats you? Looks up to you? You're like her damn older brother or something," she muttered with a jealous tone.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec sipped his coffee and rested his elbow on the table.
“She looks up to you, too. We’re like her weird little family.”
He finished his coffee and was ready to head back to the office.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah finished off her food, standing up and stretching her arms overhead.
"Oh yeah? How did you come to that conclusion Detective?"
She frowned when he gave no answer, just placed a coin on the table, and walked to the door.
"Hey! I'm talking to you, you pale-face bastard!" She glared at the back of his head, walking quickly to catch up.

...

Rheitz sat looking through the files Delilah had brought the day before, though she had been rather slow at it with her arm all hung up in a cast.
She dropped her pen and let out a small groan of annoyance before hopping out of her chair and getting on her knees to pick it up.

 

[Jodyguru]

When she lifted herself up, she caught a glimpse of something in the window. An ashen face with blood red eyes and a long salivating tongue.
“Fresh... meat” the monster hissed and then vanished from the window.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz shrieked, scrambling to get up off the floor only to fall on her injured arm. She cried out in pain, stumbling to her feet and rushing to make sure the door of her office was shut and locked.
"Don't panic. Don't panic. Everything's gonna be alright," she repeated, rushing to close the blinds over the windows. Then she darted under the desk, shivering in the small space.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec spotted a ghoul outside the office, skulking around the building.
“There, another one!” He pointed, and shined the police car light on it. The ghoul was blinded for a moment, allowing Delilah to take the shot.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah pulled out her gun, looping a strand of blue beads around her wrist.
She ran closer to the monster, ensuring that she wasn't close enough for it to reach her quickly.
“Mitra’s blessing: Holy Arrow!," she shouted, pointing her gun at the ghoul.
The sound of a shot shook the air and the beads shone brightly against the dark sky.
The ghoul screamed out in pain, crumpling to the ground.
Delilah kicked the body, ensuring it was dead.

 

[Jodyguru]

“Two in one night. We’ll be alright once we get inside.” Lautrec said and unlocked the office door, holding it open for Delilah. He locked the door behind him, thinking they should also barricade the door space if more come.
“My guns are in the closet in the back corner.” He told Delilah. He had an old military rifle that used to hang on the wall before Rheitz joined the team. He had a box of silver bullets and a police issue .45 pistol.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"I'll get them, check on Rheitz would you?" Delilah rushed over to the closet, finding the gun. She dug through the closet and loaded the gun upon finding the box of silver bullets stashed in the mess.

Rheitz shivered under her desk, a hand covering her mouth. It was inside. Oh Mitra, save her. She didn't want to die! She had so much to look forward too!