Sorcha winced in empathetic pain. “That must have been awful.”
“Yeah. I had clothes on when I was tossed. I don’t know if it was my dad or Sorath who thought it’d be funny to remove them when they dumped me in the human world. Either way, I’m still not amused by it.”
“Sorath?”
“One of the fallen angels who chose the wrong side.” He sighed. “Had Imp not been with me when I was banished, I don’t know what I’d have done.”
Leave it to Helly. “She got you clothes?”
He shook his head. “I can conjure those and I was quickly in a parka before the old lady in front of me could scream and call the police…then again, given the lecherous smile on her face, I don’t really think that was her intention with her phone. Pretty sure there are photos of me naked online somewhere.”
She laughed even though there was a part of her that wondered if she’d be able to find those photos.
“I heard that.” Luke winked at her.
Heat filled her cheeks at his teasing tone.
Clearing her throat, she gestured at his work. “Anyway, what is all this on your board?” It looked like he’d been busy on their case after she’d left him last night.
There was a preliminary police report. Police pictures from the crime scene and a list of possible perps off to the side.
“Yeah,” he said, dropping his deep voice a full octave. “I bet you want to see my full board, baby.”
She growled at his suggestive tone, even though he was good looking enough to get away with what would be offensive from anyone else. Reyes was right. He was definitely a handful. “Would you stop! I’m here to work.”
“A’ight.” He picked up a remote and turned the board on.
Which made her curious about one thing. “Why do you have physical pictures taped to it? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having a smart board?”
“Lazy. I haven’t put the files into the system yet, and there are things I’m not sure about. Don’t want to go to the trouble of adding photos and info until I know I need to. It tends to clutter my thinking.”
That made sense. “Gotcha.” She walked closer and saw a list that was written on what appeared to be old parchment. “What’s this?”
“Quick list I made of soul-eaters.”
It was quite long. She pulled it down so that she could read it.
Revenants, Wendigo, Vampires, Draugr, Lamia, Ammit the Devourer, Wanyudo, Soucouyant, Bakeneko, Nekomata, Daimons, Valravn, Bubak, Ankou, Cat-sith, Kasha, Raven Mocker, Shinigami, Slaugh, Boo hag and witches.
The last one made her curious. “Bit prejudiced to put witches on here. They don’t kill and eat children, you know? One of my best friends is a witch.”
“Trish isn’t the only kind of witch out there. Like Trish, there are those who use it as a religion, and I mean them no disrespect. Then there are the Witchbreeds who are born with powers. Those are where the old legends and stories come from. They are completely different from religious witches or Wiccans. Honestly, we should come up with another term for the Breeds because they do blacken the names of those who are honest and decent.”
A knock sounded on his door.
“Come in, Yuichi.”
The door opened to show a young man around thirty. Sorcha was five seven and he was maybe an inch taller with jet black hair and sweet brown eyes.
Luke inclined his head to him. “Sorcha meet Detective Nagata Yuichi.”
“You go by your last name?”
Yuichi smiled. “I’m Japanese and Luke is honoring me by saying my name as we do. Family name first.”
Oh. “Sorry. I knew that. I just wasn’t thinking. Not enough caffeine yet.” She took a sip of her coffee that was perfect.
“All good.” He gave Luke an arch stare. “Got your text that you wanted to see me. What did you need, big guy?”
