Path Three: Occupational Hazard

Witches, magic and wizards 

Watch the beginning here
She got to the scene of the crime, and she headed straight to see her lieutenant who gave her a brief summary of what had happened. One human and one wolf had been killed with blue markings on the neck. A note was on each body stating the reason they had been murdered for. She thought it was similar to the serial vampire case she once treated but changed her mind when she learned that the wolf was the second alpha in his clan. Her first hunch was that it could be an internal feud but the human that was killed alongside didn't add up. She proceeded to check the bodies herself when she saw a man bent over the bodies. "Erm..whoever you're, you must be way over your head, This is my crime scene so leave Mr.!" she said. He slowly turned while still bent over the body to reveal a handsome face, clean shaven, and well-set jaws. He would have made her melt if he had smiled she thought but she was jolted to reality by the voice that came from him. "A wolf got killed, and they sent a witch to find the killer! I need a drink. Get gloves and stop staring like it is a circus," he said coldly. She was flushed with embarrassment as she picked gloves and went to the other side of the bodies to observe as well. Before he could begin in his baritone voice, she said: "They were killed by someone they know and the wolf was killed first." "How can you tell by just staring at the bodies?" "Well, for starters, the distance between the bodies showed that the human chose to reason with the killer instead of running, and as for the wolf, he clearly was not expecting what happened if one would consider the look on his face which to me, is an expression of surprise and anger." she stopped to look up at him. He paused for a moment then looked up at her, his cold demeanor seemed to have been replaced by respect. "You might be on to something here," he said finally as he continued to look at her they both held each other's gaze for a while. Dereck, the wolf investigator, brought in, in this case, was a crescent wolf and the best of the investigator of all wolf clan. Gretchen was awed by his handsome features, and the way he absentmindedly brushes his curly hair from his forehead gave him a sexy and alluring look. He had never had to work with such a beauty in his life he thought to himself. How would he handle this? He almost laughed when he thought this situation to be an awkward one. He had taken his time to look at her in detail as she gave her opinion on who the murderer might be, her exposed cleavage made it a bit hard to keep up with what she was saying. The perfume she had on smelt like jasmine which he loved very much. He stood up from the side of the victims while she followed suit in his stride. He said over his shoulder: "The high clan chiefs of the wolfs demand a swift investigation as they want the murderer to be brought to justice as quickly as possible. The death of a ranked official might cause panic in the clan if you catch my drift" She nodded and walked past him trying to hide the flush of her cheeks for she needed some air to be rid of this feeling she had not felt since Sylvester proposed to her. She was embarrassed. Lucky for her, no one noticed anything. She exchanged contact with Dereck, and she drove back home to study the pictures of the scene to determine if any clue was left on the crime scene. The next day, she was just heading out to her Buick when a Mustang parked, and Dereck came out smiling. She quickly looked away as she felt the flush again. He had a fine set of white teeth to complement his boyishly handsome features. "Best we have one ride to take us around till this investigation is concluded, no offense but your Buick won't give much of competition in a hot chase!" he said. She brought her hair to her face to cover part of her colored cheeks which she usually let down when she's working. He certainly was mesmerized by her, but he did well enough to mask this. "You would be surprised. It is never about the car but the driver!" She replied as she walked up to his car with a folder file in her hand and a cup of coffee in the other hand. "Should I quickly pour you one? I still have a hot pot inside!" she said pointing to her cup. "Sure, black please!" he said. "I don't take it any other way myself," she said as she turned back to go inside while Dereck, who was leaning against his car stared and admired her behind as she went in to pour him some coffee. She returned to see Sylvester's Sedan also pulling up on the driveway. She was alarmed at first thinking something had happened to Sebastian but was further puzzled when she saw Sebastian came out running toward her. He wasn't supposed to be with her until another three days or so. Sly slammed his door and walked past Dereck who was still leaning on his car toward Gretchen. He began "I have an emergency meeting I need to attend in the other town, and I will be out for two days, so I need you to watch little man f.." "Not on your life!" she interjected. "You cannot expect me to carry him to work because you know the nanny I hired to watch him while I work won't be here until Thursday! You are his father, start acting like one!" she said. "Is it because of this thing you're seeing that's why you refused to watch your son? What is it? Only a year, and you are already sleeping around?" He retorted. Dereck began: "Excuse me, there se..." "Hold your tongue Mr. I-look-like-a-playboy-model! No one called you in on this one" Sly said curtly. Dereck looked away and smiled. Gretchen was livid with rage "I thought jealousy was beneath you. I am disappointed you would stoop so low. He's a wolf investigator I am working with concerning the murder at the boulevard which I am sure you must have heard about" she said as she walked toward Dereck. "Go to Mrs. Ashley's; she would be more than happy to watch him till I return. I will call the nanny on my way but be sure to pay her whatever she wants to charge and be sure I will encourage her to milk you as much as she can!" She hissed and closed the door to the Mustang while Dereck who had already taken the driver seat drove off. Sylvester was left speechless when he finally found his voice; He said: "Come on little man, let us go to Mrs. Ashley's house, I bet she would give you those candies that you love". Sebastian hopped along, struggling to keep his soccer ball in his small arms. "I am sorry you had to see that." she apologized to Dereck as they got into the precinct driveway. He smiled "What's the story?" Dereck asked, and she told him summarily how it had been with Sly. "He is a douche, and he doesn't know what he had lost. If I ever have a woman like you, it would be for life. And not just because we wolves are the 'always and forever type' but because you deserve so much more." he said as he parked in front of the precinct. She was nonplussed, she struggled for words and finally said: "wow! Thank you! That's so sweet of you". He turned to look at her and they held each other's gaze. For that brief moment, they stared into each other's eyes and Dereck began to lean closer. Her her raced faster as she leaned in as well. The sound of a siren driving out stopped them, and they both hurried out of the car clearly embarrassed. In her office, she pointed out the clues she found when she studied the pictures. The shoe markings is that of a boot, and there's only one place where boots are sold in the district. They went there and realized that only three people had ever purchased that kind of boots, and the purchases were done only two weeks ago. Two of them were from a farming family while the third person raised quite a suspicion. They demanded to see the CCTV video for those dates recorded on the ledger. They saw the third person and Gretchen gasped that he had seen the guy before. It was the same Russian, Alexandria that tapped her butt at the club. They went to the club and asked the bartender about him. From there they were able to locate him. Alexandria saw them in time, and He recognized Dereck, so he took to his heels while they gave him a chase. Dereck suggested that they split up so they can round him up. Gretchen kept up the chase while Dereck took an alley route to cut him short. Gretchen made the bend to find Dereck wreathing in pain on the floor. "Wolf's Bane! He said, he's in that shack" he said and pointed. "Go and get him! This cannot kill me immediately. Go! This is just an occupational hazard, I have been dealt worse. Now go!!!" he barked. She stood up and entered the shack, clearly angry, she barked: "Incendia!" and everywhere was on fire Alexandria ran out unable to put out the fire on him as he was in obvious pain. "Immobilis!" she said again, and he became immobile while she put out the fire. "I was hired!" Alexandria began: "The high chief hired me! He said he wanted the wolf dead so his son can be the alpha once he dies as he was already dying". "His son was there as well. I was able to kill the wolf with help of the son who distracted him. The human was only at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was the chief's idea to put those notes so it can throw investigators off the trail." Arrests were made, and Dereck was taken to a healing home. "This type of Wolf's Bane has only one cure, and it is with the elves." the healer told her. "He has only a few days to live" she concluded. Witches and elves are not the best of allies; she would need a mage to help her get the cure. The only one she knew was her Sylvester. She called him and explained what she needed. As expected it came at a price, but she was relieved to know that Sylvester wanted out of the child custody arrangement by providing child support instead. She agreed to this and papers were signed to that effect. The next day, the cure arrived at the healing home and was administered to Dereck. There was no immediate response as the healer explained that it would take some time for the whole thing to heal. A week after, Dereck has recovered. "Good to see you're alive, so what's next? Heading out to another wolf investigation? The healer has replicated the antidote so you can have one to carry around." she said. "Thank you! I owe you my life" he said. She sat next to him on the bed and held his hands "Working with you was not great at first, but it became exciting, and I am glad our paths crossed" They were about to kiss when the healer entered to give them the bill which they told her the precinct would foot. They departed at the healing house. She went home, made food for her son and herself then retired to bed. Two weeks after the High Chief and his son had been tried and sentenced to death by silver bullets, Gretchen was home alone as Sebastian had gone out to soccer practice with his nanny. There was a loud knock on her door and she went to open the door. Dereck raised his head up and said: "I couldn't stop thinking about you" as he walked in. She only stood there not taking her eyes away from his face as he came close and held her by her waist and kissed her. She kissed him back; he carried her off her feet as he made the way to the living room. He placed her gently on the sofa. The phone rang, and he stopped. "You might want to get that," he said. "Not right now!" she replied as she drew his head in and continued to kiss him. The End.