Foxblood: Rise of the Hellion (WattyAward 2012 Finalist)

Part Six

I pondered the display of chocolate bars but nothing enticed me. It had only been an excuse to get out of the house anyway. So I hastily grabbed a Twix for Beth and turned to pay.

“Thought you’d have picked a Lion bar. The bar with bite.” The gravelly voice concluded with the sound of teeth snapping together.

It was him…the guy from the club!

I stared up at a mountain of man and whimpered, “Can I help you?”

His stare was almost predatory. “I think maybe you can.” He smelt as if he hadn’t bothered to shower since the night I’d seen him at Despots, and I noticed that, apart from the addition of a denim waistcoat, his attire hadn’t changed either. “You have a magical aura. Prisms of light around your head.” He spoke like a man who drank too much whiskey in smoky clubs.

“Excuse me.”

“Magic.”

“Yeah, I heard you the first time, but you don’t strike me as the kind of man to believe in magic.”

He grinned, and revealed a set of nicotine stained teeth.

Up close, I had a clearer view of his tattoos. An ornate cross wrapped around his left forearm, and on his right, a huge bird chased a snake that slithered around his wrist and rested its head on the back of his hand.

“Ed Rockwood, Detective Ed Rockwood, Special Branch OD13 division, but you can call me Roc.”

He offered the snake in friendship and it would have been rude not to accept, but I made a mental note to give the hand that shook it a good scrub upon my return.

“Sophie Crevan, student. Now we’ve introduced ourselves, do you think you could stop following me?”

“I haven’t been following you.”

“Well if you haven’t, who has?”

“I’d be very interested to find out.”

Happily, Mr Saliq was now stocktaking over by the fridge, and was safely out of earshot.

Roc continued, “The recent spate of murders in this area came to our attention. I figured you might have the heads up on the town.”

“You did? Why me?”

“I headed for the largest energy and there you were.”

“Well I can’t help you. I don’t know anything.”

“All the same, I’d still like a chat. Can you meet me tomorrow? I hear the coffee shop around the corner does a mean bacon butty, say eight-thirty?”

Somehow, I got the feeling that the word no wasn’t going to be an option. “Make it nine, and I’ll only come if you promise to shower first, or you’ll put me off my breakfast.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I tend to rough it when I’m on a case.”

“There’s a B&B on the corner of Montague Street. I’m sure Mrs Penrose will be glad of the business. I must go now. Everyone will be wondering where I’ve got to.”

I shouldn’t have worried. Back at the flat, my extended absence hadn’t even been noticed.

I went to my room and called Sebastian.

“I’m coming with you,” he stated. “No, it’s not open for discussion. I’ve heard of OD13, but I can’t have you meeting strange men alone. My appointment’s not until ten, so I’ll have plenty of time.”

The next day, I dressed in a plain beige, linen, shift dress—quite staid but tight fitting and sexy—tied a leopard print scarf around my head, and picked out some bronze coloured gladiator sandals to match. Sebastian’s Christmas present called to me from its box, and I secured the gold bracelet to my wrist as the finishing touch.

Mum had caught an early bus into the city to look for work, but Todd and Beth still hadn’t surfaced by the time Sebastian arrived, so we managed to leave the flat unnoticed.

Roc was already waiting. Seated with his back to the counter, in the quietest possible corner of the cafe, he hugged a large mug of steaming coffee and showed mild surprise when I entered accompanied.

“Detective Ed Rockwood, Sebastian Lovell.” I introduced them and sat down.

A waitress arrived with Roc’s sandwich and took our order. Roc waited for her to leave and cleared his throat.

“No explanation needed for you, Mr Lovell, your aura is clear, and your family is well respected in the Were community, but I still can’t decipher what kind of Supe you are, Miss Crevan.”

“I’m not. I’m a tenderfoot.”

“Impressive.” Roc nodded.

“Sophie is in training to be the Goddess Tokala’s chosen successor,” explained Sebastian.

“I should have guessed from the hair,” Roc waved his finger at my head and talked with a mouth full of bacon butty. “Beautiful woman, Tokala, although being an animal lover myself, I find her white fox form much more striking. Mmm…delicious.” He licked his fingers in an uncouth way, smacked his lips, and pushed his plate to the side. “Now about these murders.”