{UNDER MAJOR REVISION}
Seventeen-year-old former cult member Virgo Samuels wants to put her past behind her but someone refuses to let her forget everything she's seen and the terrible things she's done.
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Virgo Samuels, also known as the Zodiac C...
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THE FLOCK OF ABRAHAM ASSEMBLY
Las Vegas, Nevada
Detective Andromeda Miles arrived at the scene of the second ritual murder well after she should have been in bed. It was a quarter after one a.m. She'd been woken out of a dead sleep by dispatch 20 minutes and one shot of high-octane espresso ago. Being on-call is hell. She'd drawn the short straw when the detectives of the Major Crimes Division were playing to see who'd get stuck covering the overnight. That explained why she was out here on a Thursday morning, dressed in yesterday's suit, a zombie on her feet; nevertheless, present and accounted for.
Flashing lights and grim faces were the usual greeting under the circumstances. Another day, another death. God help her, she was getting used to this.
Andromeda flipped up her badge to get past the bright-eyed lookie-loos and the uniformed patrol officers keeping them from contaminating her scene. They exchanged nods more than words. Words were at a premium when there was a predator on the prowl. There was something sacred about the taking of a life that demanded a little circumspection, a little discretion.
This was the second murder Andromeda had been called to in the last two weeks. The other cases on her desk were a high-profile kidnapping, a string of smash-and-grab bank robberies, and a coordinated investigation with Organized Crime over a suspected sex trafficking ring on the ragged edge of the Strip. Andromeda didn't usually find herself taking care of murders, there was a designated squad for that, but there was something about these two killings that had got Captain Lyle's back up; he'd handpicked her for the job.
Her partner, Sergeant Keiko Demesne, had the night off so Andromeda was going to be counting on uniformed officers and her own council. If the duty sergeant called anyone else in to give her a hand, they'd have to do. Andromeda wasn't fool enough to turn down assistance; she had her white, male colleagues beat on that one. She couldn't afford to screw up and people who only trusted themselves tended to screw all the way up. But for her that could be ruinous.
She motioned over the nearest officer who didn't seem occupied with other tasks. He crossed the scene with his hands hooked on his belt.
"You the investigating officer?" he asked and introduced himself as Officer Opstead.
