Dead to Bites

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Crawling around under the Valley was not what I had been thinking about when I thought I was going to see the Queen of the trolls. No, walking through the old sewer system was not what I had pictured at all.

I wasn't stomping through human waste or anything, but the amount of cobwebs and spiders that were clinging to me would have made a normal girl run screaming for her life.

“Andrew, I don't mean to complain or anything, but are we almost there?” I was tired of walking around in the decay.

“Soon, Kat.”

About five minutes later, a tall blue green man with pointed ears and flaming red dreadlocks stepped out of the shadows.

“Greetings Marlock. Jaz is expecting us.” Andrew bowed to the sentry.

I followed in his footsteps.

“Ah, dis be da woman?” He sniffed the air, “She hangs wit some odd folks, mon.”

“Yes, I'm Agent Kat Purrowells.” I stepped forward and squared my shoulders, I would not be talked about in third person- a pet peeve from my childhood.

“It be nice meetin' ya. Go thru. And Andrew, watchcha yaself here. Strange dings happenin' dese days, mon.” Marlock faded back into the shadows.

“They're really good at that.” I whispered to him.

“Yes, and they're hearing is excellent.” He smirked.

“Oh.”

I followed Andrew through what seemed like an underground world of jungle ruins. I wasn't sure if all the plants were even known, let alone in the Valley. I am still in the Valley, aren't I? It occurred to me that maybe I wasn't in the San Fernando Valley anymore.

“Andrew, are we still in the Valley?” I tried to keep my voice calm, but inside I was freaking out.

“No. This place is an inbetween. It exists in a small chasm inside the Valley. Marlock is one of the many sentries that guard the entrances.” He kept walking.

I looked around and noticed all of the interesting bits of the troll culture. It was like going to a completely different planet and finding things that you could relate to. I saw a mother and father playing ball with their small child, another kid was learning how to walk, a group of teenagers were talking awkwardly, all the things that we all seem to go through. I smiled as I watched the world unfold around us.

“We are here.” Andrew suddenly said as we stood outside what could only be described as a large hut.

“Okay, now what?” I wasn't sure why we were just standing there and not knocking or something.

“We wait. She knows we're here. Have patience, Kat.” I watched as he sat on the ground.

I sat next to him and shrugged.

“Fer up toppers, ya know how ta follow our ways. Come in.” A strong female voice called out to us.

Andrew got up and gave me his hand. I let him help me up.

“Thank you, Jaz for seeing us.” Andrew said.

“Vampyre, ya kind don't normally walk our ways. I wanta talk to da girl. Ya stand outside, boy.” She told him and he went out.

“I am very thankful for you taking the time to see us.” I had no clue as to how I was supposed to address her.

“Ya can call me, Jaz. I don't use no fancy title. No need here. Tell me what I can do fer ya.” Her skin was a beautiful shade of teal.

“There have been several horrific murders in the San Fernando Valley. My team has been assigned to try and solve them. I was hoping that maybe you or someone in your people might have heard something that could help.” I felt like my words just weren't working right.

“Ya, we been hearin' about dat. I didn't hear nuffin' about it. There been some talk about a girl. One who been pokin' where she don't belong. I'm thinkin' that be ya.” Her vibrant orange eyes looked knowingly at me.

“I suppose that is me. I've been trying to solve this case. I don't want anyone else to die.” I hoped that she would understand what I was trying to do.

“I don't like death. It don't matter who be dying, I don't like it. I'll help if I can. Maybe someone knows somethin'... Let me ask around, find things out fer ya. Now, take ya vampyre back up top. I wouldn't want nuffin' to happen to him.” She dismissed me.

“Thank you, Jaz. I hope to hear from you soon.” I back out of the hut.

Andrew caught me as I tripped off the step I hadn't noticed.

“Let's go.” I said and let him take the lead.

Going out of the troll-zone as I will forever refer to it seemed to take less time than going in. My thoughts were hopeful that Jaz would find something. I was pretty certain that something was being hidden from me. I had talked to the vampires, werewolves, witches, and trolls. All I had left were the goblins.

I took a breath of fresh air.

“Let me get those off of you.” Andrew dusted the debris from my back.

“If there were any huge spiders, I don't wanna know, kay?” I shivered with the thought of being covered in huge spiders.

“So, what happened?” I could tell that he wasn't comfortable with the fact that he had been kicked out.

“Well, she said she didn't know anything, but she'd look into it. I suspect that something is being left out from all of these meetings we've had. If I don't meet with Boris, will it cause problems?” I was trying to think ahead.

“It might. The goblins are very tricky creatures. I don't think you'd want to cross them. Now that you've met with Jaz, Boris will come forward. It has always been a sort of competition between the two. A few days tops and you'll have a meeting. He'll wine and dine you.” His distaste for the goblin was apparent on his face.

“Wonderful.”

“Now, let's get you cleaned up.” He picked me up and carried me back to the car.

“Really not necessary.” I laughed as he set me on the hood of my Jeep.

“No, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.” He told me as he pulled a leaf from my hair.

“There's no way that picking this crap off me is going to work. I'm not even going to think about what I'm putting in my car, nope. We are just going to drive back to my house.” I hopped down and took my keys from him.

Andrew climbed in and we left the trolls far behind us.