Fantasy FTK: Black Rose Detective Agency

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah clenched her teeth at his remarks, the urge to punch him in the face growing.
She'd felt guilty for pushing away this...this uptight bloodsucker?!
She rolled her eyes, clenching her fist, watching as her fingers flexed within the tight ball.

She didn't notice that he had cut the engine until her partner had slammed the door shut.

Delilah turned her head, watching as he edged towards the railing of the highway.
She frowned, taking a drag of her cigarette.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Central's gonna close in half'n hour and here you are enjoying the view," she threw the butt of the cigarette out the window.
"Of course I had to blessed with a vamp who likes to get distracted by everything," she muttered, pushing herself down in her seat.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec kept walking, until he was on top of the cement barricade. In one second, he was falling.
His hands came together and he seemed rather comfortable. His cloak formed a parachute that slowed his descent.

Winston felt a thud on the roof of his house. A few moments later, Lautrec entered the building soaking wet.
He removed his cloak and hat, wearing his suit inside the coroner’s office.
The office was closed, but the doors remained open as long as Winston was working. Lautrec let himself in.

“Good evening Bloodhound! I have many questions for you.” Winston said the second he saw St. Leore enter

“it’s a mutual sentiment...”
“Where’s the lady?”
“She’s on her way. Said I should get started.”
“Okay then... the body brought in... I cannot call it elven.”
“The victim was a vampire.”
“Aye, just as I thought... but the morphology doesn’t fit that theory.”
“He could be third or fourth generation. They can manifest different quirks including lack of fangs.”
“I see...”
“How did the tox screen look?”
“Hard to tell when the victim has no blood.”
Winston lifted the drape covering the moulding shriveled corpse of the drug dealer.
Lautrec cringed and stepped closer with hand extended.
A pentagram of blue light took shape in his palm, and he began his deep scan.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah let out a shout of "Hey!" when she saw Lautrec's body fall over the edge.
She scrambled to get out of the car, slipping and falling on her face with a grunt, the pebbled pavement of the road scraping her palms and face.
Delilah shook her head to rid herself of the pain, pushing herself up from the ground and running over to the cement block.

"Oh no, no, what the-?!"

Had he just thrown himself over the edge?!

"Detective! Leore! Mother of Mitra, Lautrec St.Leore, if you're playing with me, I'm going to kill you!"

A few cars passed, the passengers staring at her strange behavior.
Delilah ran back to the car, sliding into the drivers seat and starting it up, racing to the building down below.
Parking next to the mortuary, Delilah searched the grounds for his body. When she found nothing, she raced inside.

She was a mess. Her hands and face were bleeding, hair askew, and makeup smudged.

"Winston! Winston! Where the hell are you?! Have you seen Detective Leore? He jumped off the highway!"

 

[Jodyguru]

Winston turned around. “Oh... Detective. We were expecting you.”
Lautrec had both hands extended towards the corpse. His magical energy was growing around it.
“It’s started to show something. Blood... pills... oh god, it’s worse than i thought.” Lautrec had a horrific look on his face.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah simply stared at Winston, eyes slowly dragging to Lautrec, chest heaving with anger.
Who. The. Hell. Did. This. Man. Think. He. Was?!
Hands clenching into fists, she stomped over to Lautrec, slapping him.

"You shameless bastard! What do you think you're doing jumping off of bridges?! I thought you died!"

 

[Jodyguru]

The slap stung him out of concentration.
He bore his fangs at her.
“Go to hell. I’m this close to putting it all together. I don’t need your help.”
He owed her no explanation or apology. She got what she deserved.
Winston got between them and pushed Delilah back.
“Find me outside once you cool your head.” Lautrec said.
“What’s the matter with you, huh?” Winston asked her.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah let out a chuckle, hand slapping against the wall.
"What's the matter with me?!" She ran a hand over her face, laughing harder before roaring, "What's the matter with him?!"
"He jumped off the highway, Winston, the highway. First his damn sister comes and knocks me up for catching him stealing a damn file! Then he acts like he cares and tries to dazzle the hell out of me so that I accept everything he says and crap. What comes next?!," she waved her hands in the air for dramatic effect, "Why don't I just jump off the damn highway where I could potentially die?! Mitra, I wish he was dead! I wish he had actually died from that jump and broke his head open and then all my damn problems would be solved!"

Her back slammed against the wall and she slid to the floor, gathering her knees into her chest.

 

[Jodyguru]

Winston folded his arms. “Have you gotten any sleep lately? You’re acting nuts. Just take a deep breath.” He wasn’t hearing any of it. She made no sense to the coroner. Lautrec went back to work and continued his dissection. His eyes focused deeply into the tissue.
”He was killed by an activated substance in the bloodstream. Those pills were lying dormant waiting until a trigger phrase was spoken. That’s how he’s keeping his men quiet... mad bastard.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah mumbled something incoherent in response, head falling into her knees.
"Heh. That's what every damn person says. If I told you that someone else was at the scene when we were, no one would believe me because everyone thinks I'm nuts."

 

[Jodyguru]

Winston tried to comfort her. “Look, everybody gets hoodwinked once in a while. Just let it be for now. You gotta relax.”

Lautrec left the two of them behind and started leaving the office.

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Delilah didn't follow. Instead, she sat curled into a ball, hiding her face behind her knees.
Hearing the door shut, she chuckled weakly.
"Told you he's an arrogant bastard. Thinks he can do everything himself."

...

It was around 11 o'clock at the office and Rheitz was feeling good.

Like really good.

She had managed to go to bed early last night, and finding Tobias at her house, cuddled with her boyfriend for about an hour or two after dinner before falling asleep in his arms. He was off duty the next morning, so he stayed, making pancakes and cracking bad jokes. She had received a letter from her mother and apparently everything was going very well at home. Hopefully, her mother had said, that for her birthday, the family would come to the city to celebrate. Rheitz hadn't seen her family in a year. Normally, she would have saved up for a train ticket to the next country, but with her being so busy, she just hadn't had the time last year. Now with the prospect of seeing them again, her heart leaped.

She had come into work whistling, shooting her Boss a big grin before greeting him. He must have stayed overtime because of something, so she poured him a cup of coffee and placed it on his desk before turning to her own tasks.

...

It had been about two hours now and Rheitz was utterly and thoroughly confused.
How could St.Lucia's blood stores be full? They had been running a blood drive and they had cases of death due to the lack of available blood.
She frowned, jotting the same response down on her paper next to the thirteenth hospital she had called.

"Hey Boss? You gotta hear about this," she called, tugging on her ear.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec entered her office. “Oh? What’s the word?” He asked. She told him about the full blood supply.
“Someone is cooking the books, but they didn’t cover the paper trail... good work, Toccash” he smiled.

“if Venrir is a vampire, he may be using his power to prey on the hospital. We need to find him and have a word. Delilah could probably get him to talk, if she stops screeching at me for five seconds.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"Venrir? But if he's a vampire, why isn't he with the Fangs? Plus, even Vamps haven't pulled these things since...a couple of decades ago."
Rheitz frowned, pencil eraser between her teeth.
"Wait...how did you even know he was involved in this?"

"Who was involved with what?" a voice slurred. Delilah leaned against the doorway, a file in hand. There were bags under her eyes and she let out a sleepy yawn.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec fixed his tie. “I wanted to say last night but I was busy putting the fire out here. I have to work alone since my detective partner is going through something.” He gestured at Delilah.
“Drunk and exhausted. She’s useless. I need you to come with me on this, Rheitz. You’re the most reliable person I know.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz glanced between Lautrec and Delilah, unsure of how to proceed.
"Okay, I'll-," she was interrupted by a snicker. Delilah laughed into her hand, clutching the file tightly in the other.

"Of course I'm useless. I stayed up all night doing tests on the medicine, background checks on the elf, got his criminal file, and even got the final coroner report," she ran a hand down her face.
"Since I didn't have my car," she spat, "I walked here. From the station."

She moved forward, placing the folder on Rheitz's desk.
"So I'm sorry I'm so useless, Detective Leore. I'll make sure to be more useful in the future."

She made her way to the doorway, rubbing her eyes.

"Um...Detective Waters? Do you need a coffee or somethin'?" Rheitz looked worriedly after the female detective.

Delilah laughed. "Nah. I don't deserve coffee, since I'm so useless."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec rolled his eyes at her. “Well thanks for doing the work, but coming here like this after last night isn’t appreciated. You were supposed to be sleeping. Now go home, you miserable bitch.”
He wasn’t taking her crap anymore. Any chance at friendship was ruined by her behavior last night. She was completely irrational.
“Your help is unnecessary, since we have a strong lead on whose behind everything. Rheitz will by my partner from now on. I’ll get the paperwork from High Command to make the change permanent. Congrats on the promotion, Inspector Toccash.” He patted her on the shoulder.
“We were about to head out, weren’t we?”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"I...Yeah Boss...I'll just....get my stuff," Rheitz murmured, sliding out of her seat.
She walked to the doorway, stopping to turn and look at her Boss. She opened her mouth to say something before shutting it quickly, turning to get her coat.
When had....had this happened? The two detectives normally bickered like an old married couple but they had become so alien to each other and- Rheitz hissed, rubbing at her elbow which had accidentally collided with the coatstand. She needed to repair this relationship and fast but how was she going to do it?

"Boss? Could you make me a promise? If I go with you, you have to keep Detective Waters as your partner."

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec put his coat on and had his umbrella.
“She can stay a detective if she goes home and gets some rest. I’m sick of trying to carry her fragile ego.”
He walked outside. It was raining. At least the sun was hiding today. He unfurled the umbrella. His height allowed Rheitz to walk beside him without getting wet.
“I have an idea of how to draw out Venrir. Can you be cool around a tough crowd?” He asked. This was the first time in awhile they were hacking it out together. How was Rheitz meant to behave as an inspector?

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"What do you mean by..tough crowd?" Rheitz said nervously, tugging on her ear.
She drew closer to Lautrec when she felt a few drops of water land on her shoulder.
If he was expecting her to entertain a group of gangsters, Rheitz didn't know if she could even stand in front of them without looking like a frightened child.
"I mean...I can try?"

 

[Jodyguru]

They walked and hailed a cab. Lautrec wanted to be inconspicuous, and leave his car here so nobody could track him.
“one hundred and third street, Chappy Shops.”
“You got it” the cabbie said and started driving.
“I got a tip on a poker game today. Venrir’s goons aren’t expecting us, but I got money and, more importantly, my lineage. The wanna bes will listen to me for that reason alone.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz nodded nervously, shifting in her seat.
She tried to calm her pounding heart, letting out shaky breaths.
She had never been very good around gang members. Something about their cocksure demeanor and classy smiles just...terrified her. She could talk to a prisoner accused of murder, yes, but to a gang? Maybe it was the fact that behind that facade there were murderous goons underneath. Maybe it was the fact that these men were so good at hiding that fact. So was she ready to talk to an entire group of gang members?
She wasn't too sure about that.
"If...if they don't like us...will they kill us?"
She looked up at Lautrec with big eyes, wringing her hands.

 

[Jodyguru]

He placed a reassuring hand on top of her hands.
“Now why wouldn’t they like us? We’re nice folks just looking to enjoy the afternoon, that’s all. Believe it or not but most gangsters don’t like being violent if they can help it. The hits usually come from higher up. Unless they feel like they’re being trapped, we should have no problem”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

"Oh, okay...alright," she murmured, looking down at her feet.
She looked up, watching the thick raindrops gather and slip down the glass of the window, tracing the descent of one such large drop until it slid out of sight.
"Wait, but if we're just going there to enjoy the afternoon, what are we going to do there? I thought you said you wanted to speak to Venrir?"
The cabby made a small noise of surprise, attempting to cover it with a cough.

 

[Jodyguru]

Lautrec shot a look at the cabbie and then looked to Rheitz.
“Certainly not. He’s too important to bother with a silly poker game.”
His gaze met with the eyes of the cabbie through the rear view mirror. When that happened, his eyes flashed red, and he hit the cabbie with a brief hypnotism spell to make him forget what he heard.
“Let’s get into professional mode now, and not use the V word.”

 

[alwaystheOptimist]

Rheitz hadn't noticed the exchange between her Boss and the cabby, but she turned her head to him, giving him a nod.
"Alright Boss," she pumped a fist, "I'll do my best!"
She glanced out the window again.
"Oh! Are we almost there?"