Part 2: Justice: Chapter 3: First Case on The Job

Devin and Dante go into New York to investigate a grisly murder that may have been committed to an odd OTherworlder

Chapter 3: First Case on the Job

Outskirts of Cherryplain, New York. Present Day.

 

 

It was a quiet morning in the downstate New York, and standing on the outskirts of The Cherryplain State Park, where a boy stood outside of a newly refurbished 80’s American muscle car, its Onyx paint with green racing stripes finish still sleek to the touch. The boy stood outside on the cool autumn morning, the time of dusk where the sky is brilliantly vibrant with warm colors.

 

Over the past two weeks, the boy known as Devin Knight has had a life changing experience enough to last a lifetime. It all started on a day like today, an autumn day, where he found out he had the ability to control magic with the sound of his voice. During that same day, he found out the girl he’s been in love with for years, felt the same way. But his happiness ended there, where he came home with his mother dying on the floor.

 

That was when his father told him he was a Nobleman, Warlock warriors with the power of the Enchantment of Words, who go around fighting and defending the world from Supernatural creatures such as Werewolves, Vampires, Fairies, and Demons in a world unknown to him called The Other World. His destiny was to be a Nobleman, and first thing he did was kill the Demon who murdered his mother.

 

Since that day he’s been on the road, leaving his hometown Mystic and Danielle, the girl he loves, forever. Now he must go around the nation investigating Other World crimes and criminals, including slaying any Demon that comes across their path.

 

All these events keep bringing him back to the same question: Why did it have to be him?

 

 

Why did he have to be an owner of mystical powers, going into a life he has no idea about, maybe even getting himself killed one day? All he wanted to do was go to school and spend every free minute with Danielle, take her to homecoming, talk about how bad the music is being played, get out early and listen to their own homecoming soundtrack.

 

But he knew that would never happen with him, he has a new life now, whether he wants to accept it or not.

 

“So what do you want me to do exactly with this life?” Devin said out loud to the sky, hoping some higher power would give him an answer.

 

“I want you to get me that pizza we have leftover in the trunk, because I’m starving,” said a voice behind him, sounding half asleep.

 

Devin turned and could see it was his God brother Dante, waking up in the driver seat of the car that is owned by him. Devin rolled his eyes and asked, “How did you sleep?”

 

“A crazy dream is how I slept,” said Dante. “I had a dream of this battle, with people in glowing white armor, facing men in black armor, their eyes yellow and fierce. Flames were everywhere, and one guy stood out the crowd, who was a man in pure white robes, holding a staff with blinding light. He held it up and said ‘be gone you damned souls!’ and I was awaken by your little question”

 

“Weren’t you making a painting that was like that dream?” Devin asked, opening the trunk.

 

“Yeah, I think it might be the same one. One thing that was crazy about it the guy"Oh awesome, the last pepperoni!” Dante grabbed the last piece of pizza and bit into it, interrupting himself.

 

Devin looked at him, waiting for Dante to finish his sentence. But Dante just stared back, chewing on the pizza from the night before. “Well,” said Devin. “What about the guy?”

 

“Can you let me eat breakfast first? Jeez. Anyways, what was crazy about the guy is that he took out dozens of the black armor guys in one wave of power. He was like Neo in the Matrix: total badass.”

“Wonderful, so do we have enough money to get to wherever the hell we need to go?” asked Devin, sounding unenthusiastic at his unknown mission.

 

“We’re not going anywhere near Hell, but we’ll be going somewhere less terrifying”

 

This time it was Devin’s father and Dante’s Godfather, Morgan who got out of the car and answered Devin’s question. Morgan was the one who taught them how to fight as a Nobleman, using their Words of Enchantment to vanquish enemies, more specifically the Demon that killed his wife.

 

“Okay, where are we going exactly?” asked Devin.

 

“We’ll be heading into town, there’s been a case where a young woman was brutally murdered, one thing that struck the detectives pretty badly,”

 

“What was it? The chick’s heart was missing?” asked Dante, obviously trying to be a pain.

 

Morgan slightly narrowed his eyes and continued. “Her entire body was completely drained of blood. Not a trace or drop left in it.”

 

“So we got a vampire who’s thirsty, seems simple enough after killing a Demon,” said Devin, sounding confident.

 

“Hang on there, hotshot. There’s one thing you’re forgetting: Her whole body looked like she got ripped apart by wood shredder.”

 

“Okay, so what’s that supposed to mean?” asked Dante.

 

“Well Vampires are like the guppies of The Other World. They all live to live wealthy and exotic lives, thinking they’re like royalty. Because of this, they like to keep themselves clean when they feed. Every kill by every Vampire looks like the victim was bitten by a large spider. Whoever killed this girl had a brutal nature.”

 

“So do you know what killed it exactly?”

 

“That’s why we’re going into Stephentown, boys. I know a friend that might be able to help us. But first, we’re going to spend the morning doing some advanced training, a little overview about you as Nobleman.”

 

“Sound great, just one question first?” said Dante, raising his hand.

 

“Shoot, Dante.”

 

“Can we get breakfast first? That pizza from last night is not helping me at all.”

 

“I’m going to have to agree with Dante on this one, Dad.” said Devin with a laugh.

 

Morgan then gave Devin a look, the look he gives when Devin calls him ‘Dad’. He doesn’t like being called Dad; he thinks it makes him sound old. It’s true his hair is fading than being a dark brown five years ago, but that doesn’t stop him from killing demonic creatures on a daily basis.

 

But in a quick second that look went away, smiled at his boys, and told them “Yeah, let’s go to that doughnut shop a mile back, I could use some homemade coffee.”

 

 

After the hour of the trio of Warlocks had a nice breakfast of egg sandwiches and surprisingly good coffee, they boys made it back to the open field outside Cherryplain. The boys took out their favorite weapons. For Devin, his twin katana swords, both crafted by Otherworlders to kill any demonic creature. Engraved with Holy markings and blessed by a saint, it could burn the flesh of any Demon just by touching it. It didn’t work out too well the first time. The Demon was powerful enough to engulf the sword in Hellfire and use it as its own weapon. Devin also uses mystical pistols, engraved with Holy markings and silver hollow points filled with Holy water. The pistol has the shape of an ordinary handgun, but the craftsmanship is very different for it was made by an Elf, said Morgan.

 

Dante has a different approach for weapons. His sword is no ordinary sword. It is called the Guardian Sword, a sword that is made from Ithuriox, a holy metal. It was the color between black and gold with a shining blue orb at the hilt of the sword. The sword was Dante’s father, who was a Guardian Nobleman, who protects sacred and powerful Other World items. Dante just doesn’t know what his father was guarding. Dante always likes to use heavy powerful guns, this time he chose two mystically modified MP-5s and one five barrel revolving Shotgun.

 

Both boys have been trained in martial arts since they were 3 years old, so they know their way around a fight. That training area also goes under sword fighting, and marksmanship with guns. Morgan never mentioned to the boys why they had to do all of those things, they thought he wanted them to have hobbies. They never expected it was secretly training them to be mystical warriors.

 

Morgan stood a few yards in front of them, unarmed and with a large bracelet on his right wrist. Devin and Dante exchanged glances, wondering what he could be teaching them.

 

“Now you boys have many skills in fighting, both hand to hand, sword, and gun fighting.” Said Morgan.  “Both the Knights and Karmichael’s were Nobleman warriors. Both I and Dante’s father wanted you boys to be part of the Otherworld, but your mothers insisted that you live a life that isn’t clouded in blood and death. So we gave them their wishes and never showed you the Otherworld till now. So we gave you training all your lives without your knowledge.

 

“Nobleman can get their powers at a young age, but for some reason they were kept dormant until you two were in the middle of your 17^th year. This is when your powers are beginning to fully mature. Now you may not have noticed, but once your Nobleman powers become active, your body begins to make changes. You become stronger, faster, more agile, stamina greatly increased.”

 

Devin looks over to Dante, who was flexing his arms to feel his muscles, which were much more toner and leaner. He gave himself a look of pleasure, glad he was getting a six pack. Devin gave Dante rolling eyes, but he could help but swipe his hand across his chest, feeling the lean muscles under his shirt. He gave a look of surprise to himself, surprised that he didn’t notice it until now.

 

“That’s your warrior blood maturing your body, but now you must learn how to curve your magic into full maturity.”

 

“I thought we had that covered, after training for a couple days in that cabin.” Said Dante.

 

“You trained yourself to control the magic through the most basic of our abilities: Words of Enchantment.” Explained Morgan.

 

“You mean there’s more ways to control magic?” Devin asked.

 

“We can do many things with magic: We can project it, balance it, harness it, use it, but more importantly; it’s inside of us. The magic you use in the past couple of days has always been inside you, flowing through you like the blood in your veins. The amount of magic you use is only limited by your will to live and fight for the greater good. The more willpower you have in making right in this world and the Otherworld, will your magic be more powerful.”

 

Devin could see Dante give out a smile that got bigger and bigger every word Morgan said.

 

“We Nobleman have the ability to use magic with ease than any other Warlocks and Witches. They need to learn spellcraft and rituals for years in order to do the things we can do that takes us as fast as the speed of thought. Using the Words of Enchantment is useless when you’re not able to speak. That’s why we’ve learned to use other magical tactics. First thing to learn, your Soul Element.”

 

As if they were the same person, Devin and Dante raised their eyebrows and said simultaneously “Soul Element?”

 

“Yes, Soul Element. You can control almost any element by their Words of Enchantment. But every Nobleman is blessed by the angels of an element that is their natural magic. The elements range for many things, such as me where my element is as simple to do as this,” said Morgan and he flicked his hand, and suddenly an icy chill blew through it, and he created an orb of ice, floating over his hand.

 

“How do you do that?” asked Dante, eagerness in his voice.

 

“Look inside your soul, and it will immediately speak to you, and release your Soul Element. Not only that but if you combine your Soul Element with your words of Enchantment, it’ll be five times as strong.” Explained Morgan.

 

Dante nodded, let his hands stand out, closed his eyes, and breathed slowly. For a few moments Dante’s expression seemed confused, as if he didn’t know where to look to find his Soul Element. Then, in a split second, his expression came to a halt, shock, or more realization. His expression became calm again, opened his eyes, and flicked his hands. At that moment crimson flames appeared in his hands, burning passionately. Dante gazed at his power, and smiled.

 

“Good Dante, you found out that your Soul Element is fire. Doesn’t surprise me. Now it’s your turn Devin. Let’s see what you got.” Said Morgan, giving an encouraging smile.

 

Devin nodded, and bowed his head to see how he was going to find his Soul Element. He closed his eyes, and all he could see was the blackness of the back of his eyelids.

 

It’s in within my soul, that’s where I’ll find my natural magic, Devin thought to himself, and at first he couldn’t feel anything. But then, somehow, he saw something within his mind. A flash, he didn’t know what, but a flash of hope. He searched for that flash, and then he saw a line of flashes, dancing within his mind. As he got closer, he saw the core of it. It was like an orb of lightning, but the aura had a flaming essence to it. He didn’t know what it was, but he knew: It was his Element.

 

He opened his eyes, raised his head and flicked his arm, and a spark of light came trough his arm and floating above his hand was an orb of blue light, shooting out sparks, giving out a flaming aura. Morgan gazed at the orb, mesmerized by its appearance.

 

“Looks like you have the element of lightning within your soul, Devin. Looks different than other soul lightning’s, but then again everyone’s soul is different. Okay, the next thing I will show you to do is the Soul Push.”

 

“Okay, how do we do that?” asked Dante.

 

“Well you use the power of your magic to make a powerful push to objects and enemies, giving you space between them and give time to react to their next move.”

 

“So is it just like a Jedi using the force?” said Dante, only half joking.

 

Morgan chuckled and said “Just like that, only it’s like a gust of hurricane wind coming at you and not a wire pulling you back in the movies. Here let me demonstrate. Heavy object appear.” Said Morgan, his last words summoning a large rock a few feet ahead of him.

 

He stood there, his hands pulled back to his chest, pushed his hands forward and suddenly a gust of wind came out of Morgan’s body and was aimed towards the rock, flipping it over and hurtling it  a good fifty yards. Morgan turned to the boys, and said “Okay, go ahead and try to do it together, getting it airborne.”

 

The boys gave each other a nod and mimicked what Morgan did. Put their arms back and just felt within themselves to release a gust of wind, and it worked as if they said it. The rock went airborne with the combined force and went back to the ground, making a trembling noise and feel around them.

 

“Impressive, you boys know how to use the Soul Push technique. Now you guys might be wondering what’s on my wrist right now” said Morgan.

 

“I just thought you knew how to accessorize in Nobleman fashion, really. It looks fabulous!” said Dante in a high, female voice.

 

“Keep it up, Dante. Just wait and see. This bracelet is a Noble Shield. It can be only used by Nobleman and its sole purpose is too protect you when your use your Words of Enchantment.”

 

“So how do you use it exactly?” asked Devin.

 

“Hit me with your Soul Element and I’ll show you.” Said Morgan, and stood in a stance to prepare for an attack.

 

Devin looked over to Dante, think if he really should hit him with lightning. Dante just shrugged and Devin summoned his Soul Lightning, and shot a bolt right at Morgan.

 

Morgan raised his arm with the bracelet and yelled “Shield!” and the bracelet shined into a large circular silver shield that covered his whole body, deflecting the bolt of lightning like a rubber ball. Devin and Dante stumbled back because the bolt was a feet away from them when it was deflected.

 

“Now that,” said Dante, pointing at Morgan “Is something I want for my birthday.”

 

“Well consider your father’s old Guardian gauntlet as an early birthday present. Devin, I got this one for you.” Said Morgan, and he tossed two metal gauntlets over to the boys.

 

Dante grabbed his father’s gauntlet, which was made from the same Ithuriox metal as his sword, with a blue orb on the forearm of the gauntlet, identical to the one on the hilt of his sword. Devin’s gauntlet was made from a white-silver metal, a crest of something on the forearm. It looked like an angel, a powerful one holding a burning spear.

 

“Okay boys, here I come! Double fire!” yelled Morgan, and two balls of fire came right at Devin and Dante. Dante raised his arm and said “Shield!” and Devin put his hand up and said “Protect!”

 

Dante’s Words of Enchantment made a blue dome of energy surrounding him. Devin had a large white shield appear on his wrist, covering his whole body like a small fence. Both were protected by Morgan’s magical fire. They stood up from their crouching positions and both the boys and Morgan grinned with pride.

 

“There, now you two know how to use the full potential of your magic. Now we need to go to Stephentown, and talk to a friend of mine about that murder.” Said Morgan, and gestured the boys to get in the car.

 

“So who’s your friend, a Otherworlder or something?” asked Devin.

 

“Not quite, he’s the Sheriff of Stephentown. Now come on, we have a busy day.”

 

Devin and Dante exchanged glances, both puzzled and surprised, and got into the car.

 

        *             *              *

 

 

Just ten minutes down the road, the scenery in upstate New York changed quite noticeably. Just two or so miles ago from where the trio started they’re way down to Stephentown, it was full of nature and tall trees and open field. But once they hit the border of Stephentown, civilization returned into the path. The recognizable landmarks of houses, traffic signs, and small town shops gave Devin a little ease into his mind from traveling and seeing nothing but road and trees. The people of the town seemed calm, quiet. Didn’t look like anyone was terrified of some dark force, one that tore up a girl in half from bloody murder. They just went on with their daily routine, smiling, doing their autumn chores, and make a living for their family.

 

Typical, thought Devin. A grisly death strikes an average town, and no one seems to even flinch. Don’t even care someone in their community died a painful death.

 

“Take the next left on this intersection, Dante” ordered Morgan, getting more serious as they near closer to the Sheriff’s department.

 

“Can we take this right instead? There’s a homemade cupcake bakery down there” asked Dante, his eyes showing his eagerness to satisfy his sweet tooth.

 

“Honestly, we just ate an hour ago. How are you not fifty pounds bigger?” asked Morgan, sounding annoyingly baffled.

 

“Must be my supernatural metabolism, keeping me lean and skinny.” Said Dante with his usual smart a*s smirk.

 

“Just take the next left,” said Morgan, not even looking at Dante. “Or I’ll get the cupcakes without you and Devin and I have them all to us.”

 

Dante chuckled in his response, and turned into the left like he was told. Shortly down the road was the Sheriff’s Department, with the wooden sign saying “Keeping our community safe and peaceful” under its Police emblem. That gave an odd sensation under his skin for some reason.

Dante parked in front of the building and Morgan turned to the boys and said “Just follow my league and let me do the talking, understand?”

 

Morgan was mostly directing the question to Dante, who gave an eye rolling nod and Devin, gave a soft nod. Morgan smiled in reply and got out of the car, and the boys followed him into the police building.

 

When Devin walked into the building, he felt like he was in a volunteer fireman’s office more than a Police department. The place lobby was small, with was a combination of a lobby and deputy’s office. It consist of a receptionist whose desk space was small as Devin and Dante’s school desks, with a young girl around Devin and Dante’s age, reading a teen fashion magazine and fiddling with a colorful rubber band.

 

While on the other side of the small room was a deputy talking cheerfully, laughing and smiling with an inmate who was inside a prison cell. They seemed to be having a conversation like they were old high school pals.

 

This is a law enforcement building? Thought Devin. How can a law enforcement facility have an unproductive teenager and a very social deputy?

 

Come to think of it, the deputy talking to the prisoner was the only police officer in this entire building. The place was deserted besides the teenager and two chit-chatters. I guess a small quiet town doesn’t need a powerful police force. That is, until one young woman had all her blood drained and ripped apart like a ragdoll.

 

Morgan made a loud coughing “Ahem!” and the deputy stumbled off his chair and sat straight up looking at Morgan with respectful but alarmed eyes. He walked over, trying his best to look like a formative officer. He cleared his throat and said “How ya doing, mister Knight? Deputy Corkfield here, reporting for duty. Sheriff Coleman will be out shortly, just finishing the report.”

 

Devin gave a better look at the Deputy named Corkfield. He was a small skinny man, probably twice the age as Devin and Dante but third smaller than them. His face was scrawny, smiling cheerfully and carefree, his stubs on his chin growing gray. His old fashioned cowboy deputy hat made him look he was a long ways away from Kansas. What annoyed Devin the most was he could smell the alcohol in his clothes, and it’s only late weekday morning.

 

“Hey boys,” Deputy Corkfield said to Devin and Dante. “Nice to meet ya. You boys came to work with your daddy? Stepping up in the world huh?”

 

Devin gave a short nervous grin and popped his eyes out in a greeting, and Dante gave a big grin and said “How’s it going Deputy Dog?”

 

Corkfield’s grin instantly disappeared and looked over to Morgan in hopes Morgan would tell Dante to be respectful. Morgan made a small smile and said “Sorry, he’s not mine in blood. I can’t really control him.”

 

Before Corkfield could make a reply, a slightly older man, about Morgan’s age, clean shaven, and broad shouldered, and even a broader figure appeared. He put out his arms and said in a low voice “Morgan, how are you my friend?” and gave a meaningful hug. Morgan laughed and replied “I’m doing well James, how are you?”

 

The man known as Sheriff James Coleman looked over to the two boys, smiled and said to Devin “You must be Devin, correct? My do you look just like your mother, her complexion and all.”

 

Devin gave a small smile, his insides wrenching at the mention of his mother. Coleman could tell what Devin was feeling by the look on his face and looked over to Dante and said “Dante, Karmichael’s kid right? Good to see you lad.” And Coleman took out his hand, and Dante shook it and smiled, having a sense he shouldn’t make any smart a*s remarks right now.

 

“Please, won’t you three come in my office? We can discuss our engagement in there.” Said Coleman, gesturing toward the room in the back of the building. Morgan nodded in agreement, walked over to the room, followed by Devin and Dante. Devin walked in to the room, where it was stuffy, boxy, and cramped he didn’t know if all four could fit in. The room was filled wit file cabinets and stacks of papers, the smell of cold coffee and stale doughnuts in the room.

 

How Cop cliché of this place can be? Thought Devin and he looked over to Dante and from the look he gave he was probably thinking the same thing.

Coleman walked in and scooted through Devin and went over to his desk and said “Can I offer you boys a seat? How about Coffee? Water?”

 

Devin shook his head, Dante said “Nah, I’m good” and Morgan asked for some water.

 

Coleman gave Morgan a cup of water, and gazed upon Devin and Dante, examining them; he trailed his eyes down to their wrists, and smiled. “You boys already have your Shield Gauntlets.” He said “Stepping up quick in the Nobleman training, aren’t we?”

 

Devin’s eyes widen in alarm, and Dante tensed up, his hands clenching to fists.

 

“Relax, boys. James is also a Nobleman. Having the Sheriff Job is the perfect cover up for him to investigate Otherworld crimes and penalties.” Said Morgan, sipping on his tap water and not even turning around to see the duo’s reactions.

 

“Do I have a doozy one for you boys. I just hope these boys are up for something that hasn’t been seen even in yours or my days in the field Morgan.”

 

“Jimmy, they killed a demon, and I didn’t even graze a bullet on it. They can handle this just fine.” Said Morgan, with a sense of pride, but a matter-of-fact tone.

 

Coleman held back a smile and said “Okay here’s the overview of the case. Haley Fortview, age 19, she was born and grew up in Buffalo, New York. Went to Syracuse for college, majoring in political science.”

 

Coleman handed out three case files to the trio, all of them trying to reach for it but can’t move their arms around because of the tight space the two boys were moving in. Coleman noticed this and said “Here let me help. Room: Expand.”

 

Coleman waved his hand around the room, and the corners of the room started to creep away from them, revealing more floor board beneath their feet, giving more space between all four of them. Devin let out a breath of astonishment, thinking how is ever going to get over this magic stuff while Dante made an approving chuckle. The boys then gave each other space and looked into the case files. Devin looked at the pictures of the girl, whose entire chest was ripped apart, torn up like some animal clawed it up and bit into her insides. From what he could tell what was left of it she was wearing a small halter top, a black short skirt with blood splattered on it, and high end expensive high heels.

 

“She was found in an abandon gas station, everything but where she was murdered was clean and spotless. Even the oil cans were spotless inside out.” Said Coleman.

 

“She’s dressed awfully nice to be roaming here in a small town of New York,” said Devin, examining the picture of Haley.

 

“What do you mean son?” asked Coleman, looking at Devin.

 

Devin returned the glance, and glanced at Morgan and Dante. They were waiting for a reply, like he was some kind of detective. Then again, he actually is one.

 

“Well this girl was dressed like she was going to a party or club in an urban area. Do you have a dance club here or something?”

 

Coleman chuckled and he said with a smile “We got a karaoke bar and that’s the best you got.”

 

“Well look at the way she’s dressed, and it says in the report she had flat top shoes in her purse. Now this girl wouldn’t bring her flat tops in her purse if she wasn’t planning to walk in those high heels a long time. Not to mention look at her left palm.”

 

Devin pointed out the dead girl’s wrist, and the others looked closer at it. The top of the palm had dark blue ink on it, the letter P imprinted on it.

 

“Looks like some kind of stamp…” said Morgan

 

“The kind dance clubs give to people who pay to get in.” said Dante, finishing for Morgan.

 

“Exactly, and I recognized this stamp. A couple of seniors I knew went to this club on their weekend trip to New York City. It’s called the Pacha Club right off of Times Square.”

 

“My, my, you’re a natural investigator aren’t you lad?” said Coleman, smiling.

 

“Wait a minute, did you say New York City? That’s three hours from here. How did she get from there to here?” asked Morgan

 

“How did you know these seniors exactly, Dev?” whispered Dante.

 

“They were friends of Danielle…” said Devin softly.

 

Dante nodded, not trying to bring up anymore of Devin’s lost love.

 

“Maybe I can answer that,” continued Coleman with the conversation, taking out a piece of paper from the report. “She may have been sucked up dry of blood, but we were able to get traces of roofies in her stomach.”

 

“That girl still had a stomach?” Dante asked, half joking.

 

“So the girl was drugged with the date rape drug. If that’s the case someone must of slipped her the drug and bring her here. But why?” said Morgan.

 

“Good question! I guess there is only one way to find out…” said Dante, giving that mischievous smile of his.

 

“We’re really going to New York City?” said Devin, trying to keep his smile in, but failing a little bit.

 

“Seems like it, it’s our only lead and maybe some of my friends down there can help you out.” Said Coleman.

 

“That would be a great help James, thank you.” Said Morgan, reaching to shake Coleman’s hand. Coleman shook it and said “Don’t thank me, thank your son, Morgan. He could be put me out of a job one day.”

 

Devin smiled and shook his hand and said “Thank you sir, it was a pleasure.”

 

“Your welcome, son. Good luck in finding the perp.” Said Coleman.

 

Devin didn’t realize Nobleman also called Otherworld criminals ‘Perps’.

 

Dante gave a relaxed smile, waved his hands and said “Thanks Sheriff, and be careful of Eric Clapton, he might come over and shot you one day!”

 

Coleman laughed and said “I’ll be careful of that Dante. Thumbs up with the good taste of music, too.”

 

Dante gave a thumbs up with a wink too, and the trio walked out of the door.

 

“See you later Deputy Dog,” said Dante waving to Deputy Corkfield(who didn’t return the wave), then he crept up to the receptionist desk, looking at the girl flirtatiously “and you, I’ll call you sometime next time I’m down here. Bye-bye”

 

The girl smiled and looked away; pleased with being hit on like it seemed like the first time it’s ever happened to her. Devin dragged Dante away by the arm and made it out of the police department. They were outside now and Devin stopped at the door of Dante’s car and said “One thing that does strikes me odd though…”

 

Morgan looked at him with a slightly tilted head. “What is that son?”

 

“The girl attended Syracuse right? That’s a few hours away from the city. Why would she be down there at the end of a semester? It’s about that time where finals are being held and if what her files says of how great of a student she was she wouldn’t be out partying hours away, right?”.

 

Morgan curled a lip up, his thoughts lingering in his mind about the statement. “Those are some good questions, Devin. I guess we just have to wait to find out when we get there. I have a great contact down there that me and Coleman are pretty close with.”

 

“Yeah who would that be? An old roommate from Nobleman University?” asked Dante with his usual grin.

 

Morgan ignored the joke and said “His name is Leo Beckman. We used to work together when I resided in New York a few years before Devin was born.”

 

“Is he going to help us what’s going on with this murder?” asked Devin, shutting the door in the car.

 

“That and possibly much more. I have a feeling there is a lot more to this case than just a werewolf eating her up inside and out.”

 

“Yeah sure but Devin, we’re going to the big apple! I mean come on that’s a perfect hotspot for indie music!” said Dante, trying to get Devin to think about an adventure beside their job.

 

Devin rolled his eyes and said “We’re there for business Dante, nothing more. Now let’s get this thing before it kills again.”

 

“Okay but can we just do one little thing there please?” asked Dante.

 

“What would that be?” said Morgan with a sigh.

 

“Can I get a ‘I love New York’ T-shirt?”

 

“We should get some snacks for the long trip” said Morgan while turning on

The engine, preparing for the long trip ahead of him.

 

“Can we get those Cupcakes then?” said Dante and Morgan nodded.