~~
Reece
~~
In the morning we all seemed to be a little more rested than usual. Maybe it was because we were able to relax here with Star and Artem. Maybe it was just being around friendly faces and comfortable surroundings. Whatever the reason for it though, I was grateful. Even Talia seemed to be a little more relaxed and happy compared to how she had been lately. She was smiling and I knew that she and the triplets had enjoyed their night. I was just happy to see that she was having fun with them for the time being.
After breakfast though, it would be time to get back to work. I tried to keep the topic light while we were eating, but there wasn't much that could make the death of so many of our people worldwide a light conversation.
“Reece, I am going to come with you.” Artem nodded at me. “I know that, technically speaking, Crescent City has their own Alpha, but I am still going with you. I am the noble of this area and he answers to me anyway. So, with that being said, I want to make sure that I am on top of this.”
“Understood. We can use all the help that we can get to make sure that we solve these murders. As you know, there have been way too many victims. Over seventy of them now altogether. And I want to stop anyone else from dying.” I felt like a failure of a king and an Alpha. I had let so many people down, and it didn't look like it was ending anytime soon.
.....
“We will make sure that it ends soon, Reece. I promise you that. I don't want any more people to die either. These are wolves, bears, felines, witches, Fae, they are our people. And we need to help them.” Artem had always been on an energy level that was close to my own. We both were fierce protectors of our people and our families. I respected him a lot, and right now I could feel that respect growing.
We ate our food in peace after that, then decided to head out almost immediately. We were going to the crime scene first, so there was nothing to worry about. Those with weak stomachs wouldn't lose their meal just from the scene.
And with us was the large group that arrived with us as well as Artem. So, it was me, Trinity, Talia, Rudy, Alexio, David, Shane, Vincent, Gabriel, Jackson, Rawlynne and Artem. A round dozen of us to investigate this scene.
The beaches around Crescent City were one of two types. There were the visitor friendly beaches that were covered in sand and great for swimming at. And then there was the one that we were at today. This was one of those beaches that was covered in rocks. The rocks had been smoothed by the water, so it wasn't that bad to walk on, but it made things a little more frustrating.
“Where was the body found?” I asked the local Alpha, Will, who had met us at the beach. He was there with a local cop that was a bear shifter and together they were going to be helping us to investigate.
“It was over there, just outside the high tide line.” The entire beach had been roped off, so it wasn't that easy to see it from a distance.
“OK.” I nodded at him and started to follow the two of them toward the scene.
“What is this?” Trinity asked as we got closer to the scene. She was looking at the rocks and seemed to notice something that we hadn't.
“They're just the rocks.” Will said as he looked at her.
“They were scattered differently than we expected, but we just assumed that happened in the struggle.” Chris, the bear shifter cop added as he watched Trinity and Talia get closer to the rocks.
“That isn't all that it is. They've been written on.” Trinity was moving a rock with her shoe.
“We didn't see any writing.” Will came over and looked at them.
“You wouldn't.” Talia said as she crouched down. “It was written with runed water. The water isn't visible without magic, but it's permanent. It will never come off.”
“Shit. That is crazy.” Chris shook his head.
“I wish that I could make them visible to the others.” Talia said as she reached down. “It would make things so much easier for them all.”
The moment that she touched the rock that she was reaching toward, there was a flash of pink light. It lasted only a moment, but when it was gone, I could see that there were a lot of rocks that were written on. There was a lot more than I thought that would be, there had to be hundreds of them at the very least.
“What the hell!?” Will blinked in surprise as he looked from the rocks to Talia and back again.
“That was amazing, Talia.” Artem congratulated her. “This will help us all quite a bit.” He grabbed a canvas bag that was in the backpack that he had on his back and slipped on a pair of gloves. “I am going to collect these rocks so that we can sort them all out later.”
I thought that it was kind of silly for him to bring a backpack to the investigation. I didn't think that there was a lot that needed to be collected, or that there was much that he might be able to do with the different tools that he brought with him. Now though, as I looked at the scattered rocks with letters and numbers on them, I could tell that I was wrong. He actually had a need for the stuff that he brought with him.
“I will collect them with you, Artem.” I was the one that needed to admit that I was wrong, so I was going to be right there with him while collecting dozens and dozens of rocks. It looked like there might even be hundreds of them, but I wouldn't know for sure until we got them all. And that was assuming that we were able to find all of them.
“Look, they've all got letters and numbers on them.” Artem held up two different rocks. They had one word on the smoother and flatter side, but on the back of them, there was a number as well.
“Did he number them all so that it would be easier to put them in order? That is some tedious and meticulous psychopathy.”
“I certainly didn't think that a man that was going to murder someone like this and leave a hidden message would leave such a big clue.” Artem looked about as perplexed as I felt at the moment. “Do you think that they know these messages are being seen? D..do you think that they watch the crime scenes so that they can see all of us scratching our heads in confusion.” As he said that, Artem was indeed scratching his head. Coincidence, or were his words inspired by the truth at the time that he was talking? I didn't know what to think, but he did make me wonder.
Were these people watching us? Did they stick around and wait for us to investigate the crime scene? Does that mean that they were there yesterday while we started to check out the other beaches? Was there one of them here right now?
“Artem, do you have men that are nearby? Does Will? We need to have them search the crowd that is still out there watching us work.” I didn't look up toward the gathered humans. I hadn't really noticed any nonhumans as we walked by, but I hadn't paid that much attention either. I was too busy working at the time.
“Yeah, I can call in Toby and Kent. My son Julian and his husband Spencer can help as well. All of my boys can, actually. And I am sure that Will has some men close by. What are they going to be looking for?”
“I want them to check out the crowd. I need them to make sure that there is no one suspicious. If there is someone that is a little too invested or seems to be doing anything out of the ordinary. I want them to take them into custody.” I still wasn't looking at the group of people that were rubbernecking and trying to see what we were doing.
“Were there that many nonhumans in the crowd?” He moved his eyes in that direction but didn't move his head at all. Like me, he was just collecting the rocks that were spread out below us.
“The culprit is most likely human. I would venture that they are not pure human, but they are more human than not. They think that we nonhumans are an abomination.”
“Wait!? Are you serious?” He looked up at me then, surprised and shocked. “Humans are responsible for what is happening here? I don't believe it. That person's heart was literally ripped out of their chest. That is what Will told me, and humans don't usually have the strength to do that.”
“Yeah, well, I did say that they might not be a pure human, but they are humans nonetheless.” I rose to my feet and still refused to look at the crowd. “I am going to go tell Will and Chris to call in backup. But I don't want them to be obvious. Have them pretend to be onlookers as well. They need to blend in. This way the suspect won't get spooked and run away.”
“Got it.” Artem nodded at me. “I will let them know. And Reece, I still can't believe that humans are the ones that are behind this. I never thought that our biggest threat would be people. Not now that there are no more epic wars between us, and we've become nothing more than an urban legend to them all.”
“These ones don't think of us as urban legends. They think of us as monsters that need to be eradicated from this world. And they mean to do just that.” I looked toward Trinity and the others. “To be honest, I don't know how much longer we can hide what we are. Now that we are immortal. People have already started to notice the differences in us. Not to mention with the older people getting younger, like Star's great grandfather, that was a big red flag for them.”
“Times are getting scary for us, isn't it?” He was right, but I didn't want to make him worry any more.
“I'm sure we will be fine.” I nodded at him. “I'm going to talk to Will and Chris. See you soon.
