“Kade, Sydney...what is hell this?” Both Kade and Sydney snapped their heads to see what Ada was talking about. They both knelt down and watched Ada cradle the girl’s chin in her left hand, and with her right hand, she held a long pair of tweezers. “There is something in here. Syd, flashlight please.”
Sydney grabbed her flashlight, flipped it on and shined the light down the girl’s throat. Kade reached around to lift the girl’s head and helped to keep the mouth open so Ada could work. Slowly Ada reached in and pulled the tweezers back out. “It looks like maybe a small scroll or a piece of paper?” Ada had seen a lot of shit over the past five years as a medical examiner, but nothing like this. Kade held out his gloved hand and took it from Ada. The object was a red paper, folded into a five-sided star, a pentagram. He started to carefully unfold it.
Sydney joked, “Looks like someone has been practicing witchy origami. Kade, there’s writing on it. Let me see.” She leaned in close to Kade to get a better look at the paper. Her shoulder was flush against Kade’s chest. He held his arms out far enough so she could see the paper. She wished she wasn’t on a crime scene, but in a bedroom. The heat of his body enveloped her and she could feel her nipples tighten in response. She needed to get this case finished soon before she lost her mind from lust. Hello? Crime scene. Dead body. Sydney pulled her thoughts back into focus and read the note.
Written in black ink, there were only four words. 'You will be mine.' As she leaned toward the note, she smelled the faintest hint of cinnamon. She turned her head to look up to Kade. “You will be mine? What kind of note is that? Kade, do you smell that?” She knew he had super vamp senses. She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination.
Kade tried to keep a poker face as Sydney read the words. Simone. He had banished her from the country and from his bed. He would never be hers no matter whom she killed. “Cinnamon? Yes, I smell it. It’s a common ingredient in witchcraft, probably infused into the ink.” Kade was fighting to keep from screaming in anger. He wanted to take Sydney right then and there and lock her up to protect her from this evil woman. Simone was back. He had to tell Sydney. He needed to find a way to share with her what was happening so he could get her off the case without completely pissing her off. If he could get her to understand, maybe she’d let go of the case.
He needed to get her alone so he could tell her everything. “Sydney, I have to consult with a few people about what we found. I have a witch on retainer back home. Let’s get the scene cleaned and then we can go back to my place and make some calls, together.”
Sydney looked up at him somehow knowing it was important for her to trust him on this. She could sense he knew more than he was telling her. Yet, she felt she should hold off on asking questions. Maybe they did need a witch to consult on this? She sure as shit didn’t know the answers to all this Voodoo crap. “Okay Kade, let’s get the scene wrapped up. The faster we get this done, the sooner we can call the witch.”
Kade felt an enormous relief. She was finally starting to trust him, and they were starting to work as a team. He also was acutely aware of the intense, sexual connection growing between them. One that he wanted to explore as soon as he knew she was safe from Simone. But more importantly, he was feeling emotionally connected to this incredibly smart, tough-talking detective. Sydney was turning him inside out, and he suspected she was destined to be his, and not just for a night. Kade wanted to make love to her until she screamed his name in ecstasy. He wanted her to know that with every cell of her being, she was his.
For now, he needed to keep his feelings to himself. It was hard enough keeping his hands off of her every time he saw her, let alone torturing himself with thoughts of what would happen in the future. If Simone was indeed after him, she would see Sydney as competition to be eliminated. He would not let Sydney be harmed even if that meant taking her off the case, better she hate him than end up dead.
It was several hours later when everyone had finally left the scene. Sydney was still looking around the edge of the row homes hoping she’d find something the killer left. She looked over to Kade and saw him talking on his cell phone. He said he would call Luca to come pick them up. She agreed to let an officer take her car back to the station so she could meet with Kade and Luca. As much as she loved her convertible, it was a two-seater and not very practical at times, and if she was honest with herself, she knew she would not mind letting someone drive her around in a nice limo. They’d been on the street for hours now. She was sore, hungry, and tired. At this point, she could use a few Advil considering her back was still very much bruised.
All of a sudden, Sydney felt a cold breeze sweep across her neck; it was the middle of August. What the hell? She looked around at Kade, and he seemed unfazed, as if he didn’t feel it. She looked up for lightning. She didn’t think they were expecting rain tonight, but it was common to get thunderstorms in the summer. Suddenly, she heard laughing, a conversation? No, maybe it was just a woman’s voice. She waved over to Kade getting his attention and pointed down the small covered tunnel that ran between two of the row homes. He was still on the phone as she turned into the small alleyway.
Sydney could smell the trickling, stagnant water in the darkness. The odor was overpowering: urine, rotted food, feces. It could have been left by animals or humans; either way, it was gross. That’s the city for you. She could barely see where she was walking, so she dug in her vest to find her flashlight. Before she reached it, a woman’s laughter cackled in the distance. It was getting closer. Almost frozen, Sydney watched in awe as a small orb of light appeared about twenty feet away from her; it floated in the air like a tuft of feathers. It flashed and in its place was an apparition of a woman floating where the orb had been.
A ghostly woman with a beautiful face and long, flowing, black hair hovered in the cramped, dank alley. Sydney could hardly believe what she was seeing. While the woman seemed to have the outline of a body, there were no feet, only a long, red dress that stopped a foot off the ground. The woman began to laugh maniacally and stared at Sydney. The laugh turned into deadly silence as the woman’s lips straightened into a tight line.
Sydney had dealt with enough women to know that this one was aggressive; there was no mistaking a bitch on wheels. She had no intention of letting any woman frighten her off the street...ghost or no ghost. Sydney quickly reached for her gun. She had no idea what killed ghosts but she wasn’t going down without a fight. She decided this might be a good time for backup and called out to Kade, “Kade love! Could use a little help down here!” Sydney wasn’t sure if her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she thought she saw the woman’s eyes flash red.
As soon as she called for Kade, ghost woman let out a shriek, “He! Is! Mine!!!!!!” In a flash, the spectral woman flew toward Sydney. Sydney fired off a round just before she fell onto her side dodging the apparition. She landed on the gritty, wet alleyway and everything went black. As Sydney fumbled for her broken flashlight, she felt Kade pick her up off the ground. She put her arms around his neck allowing him to carry her out of the tunnel.
As they came back into the light, Sydney realized that she was enjoying him picking her up a little too much. “Kade, I’m good. Really, you can put me down. I just fell, that’s all. She’s gone.”
Reluctantly, Kade gently let go of her legs, placed her upright and then pulled out of the embrace. He had to let her go. Things were getting out of control but fast.
“Sydney, are you sure you are okay? I heard you scream for me. And then I heard a shot. What happened down there? I sensed no one. No humans. No supernaturals. Wait, who do you mean, she?”