A Life for a Life

Jess met up with Matt and Charlie back at WISP and led the way to the basement holding cells. As they walked Jess filled them in on what Adair told her.

“So, I was thinking we should talk to someone who knows more about necromancy,” Jess finished.

“I might be able to help with that,” Charlie said. “I have a contact in New York who is a very skilled necro. I doubt she’ll know who’s doing this from the opposite side of the country, but she might have some ideas we can bounce around.”

“That’s a start,” Jess agreed. “What about you two? Did you find Bob?”

“No, but it’s not uncommon for the homeless to move around a lot. I’ll keep trying,” Matt said. He glanced at Charlie, clearly waiting for her to speak.

“I did find some magical residue in the air that I couldn’t identify. It created a trail that we followed for a few blocks and then it abruptly stopped on a side street. It’s possible whoever was creating it got into a car.”

Jess felt herself start to smile. “So, you’re like a bloodhound?”

“That’s exactly what I said.” Matt said with a snort. Charlie rolled her eyes.

“Yes, I’ve never heard that one before. You’re both hilarious,” Charlie told them, deadpanned. Matt, though, was still grinning.

“Tell her the rest.”

Charlie looked reluctant but eventually answered him. “There was a smell to the trail that helped me follow it.”

“You are a bloodhound!” Jess exclaimed, her and Matt laughing.

Charlie glared at them. “Shut up, it’s what was there. And the smell was important, it smelled like fresh baked bread.” Jess stopped laughing as she tried to figure out why that would be important.

“So?”

“So, if you are trying to lure a probably hungry homeless person, why not with an enticing smell? And it wasn’t just a smell, but a compulsion woven into the magic that made you want to find the source. I imagine it would even work on someone who wasn’t hungry. Now, the spell isn’t active anymore so no one else seemed to feel it, but I could sense what the spell did. I would estimate it was active right around the time Joseph Park went missing based on how old the residue felt, so that fits with our timeline.”

“Okay that kind of makes sense,” Matt said, “but we don’t know for sure that it’s connected to our case. For all we know it could be some food cart vendor using an illegal spell to get more customers.”

“It’s possible,” Charlie admitted. “The magic was so faint I couldn’t tell if it was directed to a specific person or to anyone in the area. I would assume if it is our guy that he would have to make it specific somehow or he would end up with more witnesses as people flocked to him and why would he want that? But I don’t have proof either way.”

“So, um, would this have been a powerful spell, requiring someone strong or with a lot of power?” Matt asked, looking unsure about the phrasing. Jess looked to Charlie for an answer but she was shaking her head.

“Making it specific so only one person would be affected would take a little more skill but even then, this wasn’t a super sophisticated spell. Anyone with a moderate amount of magic could have cast that spell if they knew how.”

“Would it be hard to find out how then?” Matt asked Charlie.

“Not a spell like this,” she said. “We learn in school how to create all types of spells like these ones and even how to weave more than one spell together, like a smell and compulsion. We also learn to recognize and resist magic like this. Like you said, it is illegal to force people to do something against their will in any form, but that doesn’t mean they don’t do it anyway. Another witch or warlock would have probably known a compulsion spell was being used against them, which may be another reason why this guy is targeting Norms.”

Matt seemed to accept her explanation and Jess continued to lead the way to the jail cells. A young Inspector was sitting at a desk doing paperwork when they walked in.

“Hey Karen,” Jess greeted her.

“Good afternoon, Inspector Baker,” Karen said. She wore a crisp uniform and had her straight brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She looked like what she was, a young rookie cop trying to make a good impression.

Jess didn’t know her that well yet, but she liked what she saw. She introduced Charlie and Matt and asked about the homeless woman brought in.

“She hasn’t been down here long, but she’s seemed calm so far. She just sits on her cot, rocking back and forth and humming to herself. They’re thinking she should be checked out by someone. She’s in the last cell on the left,” Karen told them, grabbing a set of keys from a desk drawer. They followed Karen down the short hallway.

Each state had a magically enhanced prison for long term prisoners, and Washington’s was outside Seattle, about halfway between there and Spokane. The basement they were in now was more of a temporary holding station with ten cells, five on each side of the hall. The cells were accessible by a single door with a three-by-three-foot glass window allowing you to see inside. Currently there were only two other occupied cells, one holding a teenager with spikes in his hair and multiple facial piercings who glared as they walked past. The other held an older man sleeping on his cot, snoring loudly with his back to the door.

At the last door on the left, Jess had Karen unlock the door, then thanked her as she turned to go. Jess entered the small room, shuddering when she crossed the threshold. Holding persons of magic required suppressing their magical abilities so they couldn’t escape. The cells were specially designed for this purpose and it felt oppressive and draining to their occupants, which now included Jess. Matt and Charlie looked in from the doorway, not wanting to crowd or frighten the woman, but she wasn’t paying any attention to them.

She still looked a little electrified, with her wispy gray hair flying all over the place, but was otherwise much calmer than the last time they saw her. She was sitting with her legs crossed on the cot, her eyes closed, and her arms wrapped around her as if she was comforting herself. Like Karen said, she was rocking slightly back and forth and was humming so quietly that Jess couldn’t make out the tune, if there was one. Jess cleared her throat, but the woman didn’t react.

“Excuse me, ma’am?” The woman stilled and opened her eyes. They were electric blue, no longer wild-looking, but sharp and piercing.

“My name is Jessica Baker. I’m with WISP and this is my partner Charlie Morgan and Detective Matt Jacobs. Can we speak with you for a minute?” Jess asked, keeping her voice softer than usual. Within the cell Jess could barely feel the essence of the woman, even with her shields wide open, but what she did feel was kind and gentle. She couldn’t see her soul at all though.

“Y’all were there. You stopped me today,” the woman said, her voice calm and clear. The hint of a Southern accent suggested she wasn’t from Seattle originally. After her rantings on the street earlier, her steady gaze as it focused on each of them surprised Jess.

“Yes, I was there. We all were,” Jess said carefully, but there was no accusation or malice on the witch’s face.

“They said no one was hurt. That’d probably be because of you so thanks for that.”

“Was she off her meds or something?” Matt muttered to Charlie. The woman smiled.

“I don’t take meds, Detective,” she told them. “Sometimes too much magic makes me a little crazy. And my name is Chloe.”

“Chloe what?” Matt asked.

“Just Chloe.”

“Okay, fine, Chloe. Why does magic make you crazy?”

“If I do too much, I lose control and don’t realize what I’m doing,” Chloe said, hanging her head.

“What, like a drug?” Jess asked without thinking.

“You won’t catch me touching that crap. God didn’t intend for us to be putting bad chemicals in our bodies. I don’t even drink, not that I expect you to believe that,” Chloe spat at her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” Jess said, trying to placate her. “You mean you’re too sensitive to magic, right?”

Matt was frowning so Charlie answered his unspoken question. “It’s not unheard-of Matt. There are some out there whose chemistry doesn’t mix well with magic but they’re not Norms so they can’t help touching the magic anyway.” She turned to Chloe. “But most can be given a magical dampening device and still live regular lives as Norms.”

“I can’t do that. I have people on the streets depending on me and I need my magic to help them. I’m a healer,” Chloe said proudly.

“But isn’t it dangerous to use magic you can’t control?” Jess asked.

Chloe shook her head. “I don’t have it as bad as some people. I can use magic in small amounts and it keeps me sane without having to completely cut myself off. I haven’t had an episode like today in over ten years.”

“What happened today?” Jess prodded and was surprised when Chloe looked ashamed.

“I should’ve known better. There’s something unnatural in the air that’s been bothering me like an itch I can’t scratch for weeks now. I’d been using almost no magic at all, but little Joey was burning up with a fever and his mother can’t afford a hospital bill even though he should’ve been in the ER by then. I had to help him.

“Normally something like that would be no problem for me, but with the magic messed up, things got out of hand. I don’t remember much of it. They say I was shooting bolts of lightning?” At Jess’s affirmative, Chloe winced. “It’s always lightning,” she muttered, more to herself than to them.

“It’s actually kinda nice being in here where I’m not feeling that queerness anymore. If I didn’t have people relying on my gifts, I’d be tempted to try to find a way to stay.”

“What can you tell us about the imbalance you’ve felt?” Jess asked her after a moment.

“Something unnatural is happening,” Chloe answered promptly.

“Do you know what?”

“No, it’s just a sense of something wrong. I’ve never felt anything like it before and I’ve been around. I’ve asked a few other witches I know if they’ve noticed anything strange out there but they don’t seem to feel it.”

“When you were, uh, unwell,” Jess said, “you said that ‘we are being hunted.’ What did you mean by that?”

“I’m not sure,” Chloe said with a frown. “Maybe I was sensing something more when I was fully open to the magic. Usually I keep myself pretty locked down so I don’t lose control.” Chloe leaned forward and waggled a finger at them.

“I can tell you that if I said ‘we’, I betcha I was talking about those of us on the street. The rumors are that a lot of people have been disappearing.”

“A lot?” Matt asked, stepping farther into the cell.

“At least a dozen long-timers,” Chloe confirmed. “People come and go, sure, but it seems like more than usual have wandered off lately and most of them have been around for a long time. I knew three of them personally myself.”

Matt pulled out his phone and scrolled through his photos of the three victims. “Do you know any of these people?” he asked, showing Chloe his phone. She shook her head at the first two but cocked her head at the third. Jess craned her neck to see that it was a picture of Joseph Park, the journalist and latest victim.

“I think he was around not long ago. New to the area, asking a lot of questions. Some said he had to be a cop, didn’t trust him.”

“He was a journalist,” Matt told her. “He wanted to see if the city was doing enough to try to help the homeless population.”

“Well that’s better than being a cop I guess.” Jess opened her mouth to reply to that but Matt cut her off.

“He was supposedly hanging out with someone named Bob. That ring any bells for you?”

Chloe gave him an incredulous look. “There are a lot of ‘Bobs’ out there, Detective.”

Matt grimaced. “Yeah, I suppose so. Is there anything else you can tell us?” Jess crossed her arms, glaring at Matt as he questioned Chloe. She was irritated at his takeover of the interview, but he ignored her hostile look.

“Sorry but no. People are there one day and gone the next, I don’t know how or why.”

Jess cut in before Matt could. “Okay, can you give us a list of everyone you know who’s disappeared? And whatever else you know about them? We might not ever find them given their transient nature but we can try.” Matt’s look of annoyance was totally worth it, Jess thought.

“Sure.”

Matt handed her a notebook and pen from his pocket and both he and Jess stepped out of the room to talk with Charlie while Chloe wrote down her list of names.

“So, what do you guys think?” Jess asked first. Matt scowled while Charlie wrinkled her nose at their power play.

“It sounds like there might be more bodies out there we haven’t found yet, which makes me wonder why we found the three we did,” Charlie said.

“No kidding,” Jess said. She thought about it for a moment, then stuck her head back into the cell.

“Hey Chloe, how long have people been going missing for?”

“Hmm, about six months maybe.”

“Okay, thanks,” Jess said, turning back to the others. “So we probably found his latest victims and the earlier ones he hid or buried.”

“Do you think he’s spiraling out of control?” Charlie asked.

“Maybe. Maybe he’s getting closer to whatever end goal he has in mind and doesn’t care if cops know he exists. Or he’s getting desperate and sloppy.”

“All we’re getting is more questions, not answers,” Matt complained.

“That’s the way it works in an investigation sometimes,” Jess quipped.

“Thanks for telling me, I had no idea,” Matt said sarcastically. Charlie ignored them both, choosing instead to pull out her phone to check something. Matt and Jess continued to glare at each other while waiting for Chloe to finish up.

After a few minutes, Chloe said she was done and Jess went in to collect the notebook. There was a list of around a dozen names, some with the last name and others just a first name, along with some physical characteristics. Several had general time frames when they disappeared and a few with details about their lives if Chloe knew anything about where they were from or lived.

“Thanks Chloe, this is helpful. Can we get you anything?” Jess asked, handing the notebook to Matt to look over.

“I’m okay, thanks. I just want to get out of here. Now that I know I’m not crazy, I need to be warning people.”

“We’ll put in a good word for you, get you out of here as soon as we can,” Jess promised. “If you think of or notice anything else, give me a call.” Jess handed her a business card and Chloe nodded. Karen came to close the cell door and they left the basement, going upstairs to the pen with Matt trailing behind.

Matt’s phone rang as they reached their desks and he excused himself to take the call while Charlie sat in her chair and Jess leaned against her desk.

“So, what next?” Charlie asked.

“We need to figure out what this guy is trying to accomplish here,” Jess answered, tapping her fingers against her cheek thoughtfully. “Assuming he has a purpose beyond killing, we need to know what it is if we’re going to have any hope of stopping him.”

“I’m sure you’re right about that. I’ll call my necromancer friend first. I was also thinking maybe we should be looking at cold cases and see if any other murders jump out at us. It’s possible they didn’t always look like emaciated corpses, depending on what other spells our killer might have tried first.”

“Hmm, that’s a thought,” Jess said, thinking it over. Matt joined them, eyebrows raised.

“That was an informant of mine. Apparently the whole city is going crazy because he said his girlfriend just started freaking out on him, yelling that ‘the apocalypse is coming and can’t he feel it?’ Now, I’ve never met his girlfriend, but he swears she’s always been the levelheaded one in their relationship. She’s also a witch, not very powerful, but good with people.”

“Do you think it could be related to our case?” Charlie asked.

“I’m not sure, but it sounds similar to Chloe’s freak-out and they live near where we found the first body. I called dispatch and some patrolmen are already on their way. I’m going to head down there myself and see if she can tell me anything.”

“Do you want help?” Jess asked.

“Nah, I’m good. Chances are she’ll have to cool off for a few hours like Chloe did if it’s the same deal so I’ll probably head home after and try talking to her in the morning. It’s been a long day already.” That part was true at least. It was already after six and they’d been going at it nonstop.

“Good idea. Let me know when you go talk to her and I’ll come with you. Maybe I can get a reading off her,” Jess suggested.

“Did you sense anything with Chloe?” Charlie asked.

“Just a general impression that she’s a good person and that she cares deeply about the people she helps. Nothing pertinent to the case, though it was hard in those magical dampening cells to sense anything at all. It might be a good idea for me to talk to her after she’s released. I might be able to tell if something is trying to influence her, since I can’t feel the imbalance she seems to feel by itself.”

“I don’t either. I wonder why that is? So few are affected by it, there must be something that connects them,” Charlie added.

“We can add that to our list of questions we’ll work on tomorrow,” Matt said. “I’m off, I’ll see you ladies in the morning.”

They sent him off with a wave and turned back to their desks. Charlie contacted her necromancer friend and Jess made a few calls herself, including leaving a message with the court judge that Chloe was no longer a danger to anyone and should be released.

Charlie was chatting animatedly on the phone, more than Jess had ever heard her speak in person so far, so Jess waved at her and mouthed “Going home”. Charlie nodded and waved back, not stopping her conversation, and Jess headed out.

Jess’s apartment was close to the office so she left her car at work, where she didn’t have to pay for parking, and walked the nine blocks to her apartment building. The day’s heat was finally cooling off and Jess enjoyed the light breeze as she walked, reaching her home feeling rather refreshed. She jogged up the three flights of stairs to her floor and unlocked the door, keeping it shut until she could block the bottom with her foot.

As she opened the door, a gray and black cat tried to make a run for it, but Jess caught him with her leg and scooped him up in her arms. She walked in and closed the door before setting him down next to his brother, who was waiting by an empty food bowl.

“Hi guys, how are my boys today?” Jess asked, grabbing the plastic container of cat food out of the locked cabinet she had to keep it in to prevent the cats from helping themselves.

She got the boys from Adair of course, two brothers in the same litter that were simple tabby cats with gray and black stripes. Their markings were so similar that most people couldn’t tell them apart when Jess introduced them but she knew her boys. She named them Cookie and Cracker and though they looked like twins, they had completely different personalities.

Cracker was the one who liked to try to escape every time the door was opened and spent his days staring out the window, watching the birds fly by. He deigned to let Jess pet him only when he was in a particularly good mood or was buttering her up into opening the window, which had a screen. Cookie on the other hand, was content to never leave, as long as Jess kept filling his food bowl. He spent his time sleeping on his designated armchair, or in Jess’s lap if she was home as he loved to cuddle.

Currently they were the only male figures in her life and she loved coming home to them after a long day. Their antics never failed to bring a smile to her face.

After popping a frozen pizza in the oven, Jess walked into her tiny bedroom and changed into pajama pants and a tank top, throwing her clothes on the growing pile of laundry in the hamper of her microscopic-sized closet. Her gun went to its usual spot on her nightstand.

Members of WISP used magic to restrain and subdue as much as possible, but a gun worked on just about anything except vampires. Supernaturals heal quickly but you can bet they feel it when you hit them with those silver bullets. Enough silver could eventually kill most species but it tended to take more than a full clip unless one went straight through the heart. It was still a useful tool for slowing them down, but you better have a backup plan in mind. As for those pesky vampires, nothing short of fire or the sun permanently brought one of those down.

Jess let her hair out of its usual ponytail and ran her fingers through the curls, breathing deeply in what she thought of as her sanctuary. Her only real concession to decoration was here in the bedroom as it was full of plants, taking up every available shelf and dresser surface. They harmonized with Jess’s magic and instantly made her feel better. Otherwise the walls of her apartment were bare and the furniture comfortable but mismatched.

Going back into the living room, she glanced around, noting the place needed to be vacuumed of cat hair again. She didn’t have much, just the couch, armchair, coffee table, and a flat screen TV on the wall. There wasn’t room for anything else; apartments in Seattle were expensive and she was gone so much she didn’t feel the need to spend more money for more space. There were two barstools next to a small kitchen island that separated the kitchen from the living room so there was a place for her and a guest to eat upright if they wanted to. Jess normally ate in front of the TV when she was alone, which was more often than not. Since she didn’t like to cook, she didn’t need a lot of cookware taking up space in the small kitchen. Overall, she was happy with what she had.

Jess had just taken the pizza out of the oven when there was a knock at her door. She peered through the peephole and saw Charlie.

“Well hi Charlie, come on in. You’re not allergic to cats, are you?” Jess asked as she opened the door, grabbing Cracker on his way out. One handed, she motioned Charlie inside.

“Not at all,” Charlie answered, giving Cookie an affectionate scratch around the ears when he rubbed up against her legs. Having failed another escape, Cracker ignored them and went back to his window.

“I hope you don’t mind me stopping by. I looked up your address at the precinct and walked over.”

“I don’t mind. Want some pizza? I was just about to eat. It’s only the frozen kind though.”

“I could eat a slice.”

“Just one? They’re small.”

“Yes, I’m not a big eater,” Charlie said, gaze wandering around the room.

Jess placed her hand on her heart in feigned shock. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we can be partners anymore. I’m not sure I can trust someone who doesn’t eat.”

“I eat, just not a lot. I have a serious sweet tooth if that helps.” Charlie’s grin was impish.

Jess thought it over before nodding. “That is acceptable. You have been redeemed,” she replied in a serious tone. Charlie laughed and Jess smiled back, glad to have broken through Charlie’s aloof exterior even if for only a moment. They got their food and Jess found them some Cokes to go with dinner as they sat down on the couch. Charlie ate her slice quickly before reaching into her bag to pull out a notepad.

“I came over because I thought you might be interested in what Kelly told me,” Charlie said.

“Kelly?”

“My necromancer friend in New York. Kelly told me our corpses have a similar look to other attempts at bringing someone back to life.”

“Adair mentioned that could be a cause for the imbalance going on, but she said it can’t be done,” Jess said, tilting her head.

“It’s never been successful before and given the fact that bodies are still showing up, I’m guessing our killer hasn’t been successful either, unless that last one worked and we don’t know it. Unlikely, in my opinion.” Charlie flipped to a page in her notebook filled with neat writing.

“Still, that doesn’t mean people haven’t tried before. Kelly has heard some stories, stories about previous attempts that included trying to take the life force out of one person and putting it into another dead one. Usually it resulted in sucking the life out of every cell individually but doesn’t give the life force as a whole so you can’t manipulate it into another body. It ages the victims, sometimes to the point of death and sometimes not, depending on how far the spell caster goes. It will leave them weak and usually skinnier as well,” Charlie added with a significant look.

Jess got it immediately. “So our guy might be taking it past death so that there’s no fat or tissue left.” She frowned. “But our victims don’t look older.”

“Maybe he’s got a different method that doesn’t do that part. Maybe he’s getting closer than anyone else, it’s difficult to say.”

“What about the knife to the throat? Riley said that despite their appearance, they were alive when they were cut and it was the knife that actually killed them,” Jess pointed out.

“That part Kelly couldn’t come up with an answer for,” Charlie admitted. “Pulling out a person’s life force to this degree should kill them so there’s something we’re missing, assuming we’re correct about his methods.”

“Well it certainly sounds similar and adds up with everything else we’ve learned so far so I say we are on the right track.” Jess got up to clean up their plates and empty soda cans. Charlie helped, and said yes when Jess pulled a gallon of ice cream out of the freezer, eyebrows raised in question.

They ate their chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in companionable silence for a while. Cookie jumped into Charlie’s lap and began to purr, sniffing at her ice cream bowl. She let him lick the little bit left on the spoon while Jess watched.

“You’ve got a friend for life now,” Jess said. Charlie smiled back.

“Do you have any pets?” Jess asked.

“No, I wasn’t allowed pets in my apartment in New York but I grew up with animals. I like dogs and cats both.” Charlie looked lost in thought as she pet Cookie, staring off at a blank wall. Jess cracked her shield and saw a slight blue color around Charlie’s aura. Whatever memory she was thinking about was a sad one.

“I should introduce you to Adair some time. She’s always got animals that need adopting.”

Charlie jerked, startled. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She gave Cookie an affectionate scratch and moved him off her lap. “Well, I should probably get going. We’ve got plenty to do tomorrow.” Jess didn’t question her abrupt departure, showing Charlie to the door, and holding Cracker so he couldn’t make a run for it. At Charlie’s questioning look, she muttered “Escape artist” and Charlie grinned.

“Thank you for the pizza and ice cream. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“No problem. Goodnight,” Jess said, closing the door and turning to her feline companions.

“What did you guys think of my new partner? Did you like her?” Cookie purred.

“Yeah, me too.”