I was woken up by knocking. I looked over at the alarm clock on my bedside. It was well past 11 am. I sheepishly got out of bed and headed to the door; I opened the door and immediately shut it again.
Probably out of shock or instinct.
"I have coffee," Darren shouted from the other side. I hesitantly opened the door. The coffee was the only thing pleasant about this visit, but after what happened yesterday I wasn't sure if I wanted to drink it.
"Are you going to sleep all day or hunt down a Warlock?" He said smiling.
"Don't you have a job or something?" I replied sheepishly.
"They think I'm with a big client, and honestly I just landed a major corporation so they won't check up on me that often." He bragged.
Oh, look at Mr. Fancy lawyer.
"You defend the rich and powerful and I put bad guys in jail you're not impressing anyone by bragging." I said moving into the kitchen space.
"I completely forgot you're not a morning person. You're so feisty I like it." He replied smiling. I returned his smile for a brief moment. He was back to his charming-self, the outburst of yesterday, a thing of the past.
"Okay, back to business, Octavia sent me to come get you." My anger flared up a bit.
"What are you now, her lap dog?" Okay, that was mean even for my standards, but I couldn't help but be annoyed.
"You've clearly got some issues with the Freya's that I don't know about, so I'm choosing to ignore that because firstly this bedhead look is really attractive and secondly we need your detective skills to track down this Warlock." My bad mood was immediately turned around, the darkness had faded ever so slightly.
"I'm sorry and you know I rock this look." I said, referencing my pajamas.
"Let's start with the Café. He must have pretended to be a waiter or something to have easy access to our coffee. It's what I would've done, easy access without raising suspicion." I started heading for the door.
"Uhm Al, you might want to get changed first."
I turned around slightly embarrassed.
"Yes, of course, I knew that," I said, walking in the opposite direction. After a quick shower and change, we were on our way. Whyte had slipped out while I was asleep, I was a little worried but decided to focus on one problem at a time first the Warlock.
"Rule number one, I do the talking. Rule number two, please refer back to rule number one." I said, smiling moving towards the front door.
"Yes, boss." He replied.
Interrogating people at my favorite café was the worst thing ever. Finally, after almost an hour of questioning and waving around my badge, one waiter actually had some intel.
"There was a guy here, said his name was James. He was only here for a few days. He was really nice to me, but I don't know it felt like something was off with him." It was a beautiful petite waitress with medium blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Did James have a last name?" I asked, taking down notes.
"He never told me sorry." She replied.
"Clara, do you remember anything about how he looks, anything at all will help?"
"Well yeah, I remember, he had curly black hair and light brown eyes. But his eyes popped like nothing I've seen before. Almost like molten gold." I looked up.
"Molten gold?"
"Yeah, sorry I'm an English major." She apologized.
"Don't apologize, is there anything else like a scar or a tattoo?"
"Yes! He had almost like a—" She paused. "What do you call it when they burn animals with a symbol to mark them?"
"A brand?" Darren asked, confused.
"Yeah, a brand. He had one on his left hand."
"Do you remember what the brand looked like?" I asked handing my her my pen. She nodded and drew the symbol on my notepad. I looked at it, I didn't recognize it, but then again it wasn't my field of expertise.
"Thank you for your cooperation," I said standing up.
"Anything to help." She said, smiling at Darren. He of course returned the smile.
"You know that the waitress has a crush on you right?" I said getting into my car. He got into the passenger seat.
"Of course, that's why she helped us." He replied smiling, almost looking proud.
"So you think we'll find this guy?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Yes, no doubt. With all the information she gave us I'm sure we'll find a hit somewhere."
"Will they allow you to check the CPD database?"
"Well seeing as I've used their database a few times before I don't see how this could be a problem. I actually forgot about work."
I'd have to call in sick, although I had very flexible work hours, I had to sign in and out which would just be a waste of time at this stage.
I started driving back to the Freya's.
"So that Whyte guy's gone?" Darren asked.
"Seems that way," I replied shortly.
"Soo…" He gave a long pause before he continued. "Did you guys ever date?" He asked, fishing.
I decided to play it cool.
"Briefly." I needed to see his expression to understand what was going on inside his mind. I looked over to his side, for a brief moment he looked well not happy about the fact that Whyte and I used to have a fling. But what does it matter? Why did he care anyway?
Silence fell between us the rest of the drive.
A small part of me hoped April wasn't at the house, after the way I left things last night I wasn't quite ready to face her. I knew we'd end up making up but I was still a little hurt that she felt the Freya's could offer her something I couldn't, the worst part is, she wasn't wrong I could never understand the responsibility and sometimes frustrating territory that came along with the powers.
"Are you okay?" Darren asked, sensing my frustration.
"April and I had a fight last night, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to see her yet. I kind of handled things badly."
"I'm sure it wasn't that bad. Besides you and April have been friends for a very long time. A spat every now and then will only do you good." Darren was only trying to give half decent advice, bless his soul, but honestly this 'spat' could end in a catastrophe.
"You're right." I simply replied.
"Were you in love?" He asked out of the blue.
"April and I? Yes, all these years we've been planning on running away together." I joked.
He didn't laugh.
"You and Whyte? Were you in love?" His tone serious
Where was this coming from? Thankfully right at that moment, we drove into the driveway. I didn't even think twice, I quickly got out of the car avoiding eye contact. How would I even answer a question I didn't even know the answer to.
I turned around and faced a grumpy Darren.
"Yes." I simply said to his face. How could such a small word hold so much power? It felt empowering rubbing it in his face.
"Finally, we sent for you hours ago," Octavia said, opening the front door.
"First of all, it's not been that long and secondly, we got information. You have the internet I assume?" I asked, annoyed.
"Of course, we do."
I set up my laptop on the dining room table; thankfully April was at work and would be joining us tonight. I quickly logged onto the CPD network; it took a while to scan through the database but finally got one match. I printed out all the information I could find on this guy. "His name is Luther Brian. This guy is a piece of work. He's the main suspect in eleven unsolved murders, he's on the most wanted list for the FBI and Interpol. The sooner we find this scumbag the better. Where's April?"
"At work?" Octavia simply replied.
"Is April even safe during the day?" Darren asked like he was reading my mind.
"No, guys like him are smart and even a public place in broad daylight is fair play. I'll go get her and bring her here, you guys figure out a way to find him." Maybe we shouldn't rely on magic to solve this one. When did I become so lazy? Using magic to track people.
The drive back to the city was silent, leaving me with my own dangerous thoughts.