Ancient Wings : Book 1 - Aegis

46 - The Hateful Eight

= Cidney =

They were running through the hospital towards the morgue.

Benjamin had sounded shaken on the phone. He'd never heard him shaken before.

By the time they reached the morgue doors, his heart was pounding. He was pulled up short by the scene waiting for them.

Every table had a black body bag.

Every. One.

Shocked, he counted. Eight. Eight dead bodies since last night.

He finally noticed Benjamin at the farthest table. And he wasn't alone.

Detective Grayson Locke was with him. The human with a badge wasn't a stranger.

He had known the tall, hot mess of a man for several years now. They dated for a few months. Grayson's black short hair was messy, his chiseled face was, as always, striking. When his brown eyes spotted him, he sighed heavily.

"Another one of yours?" Grayson asked.

Kraten moved to stand slightly in front of him, as if to protect him from the detective.

He rolled his eyes and stepped around him to stride down the room to Benjamin's side. Kraten stayed in step with him the whole way.

"Unfortunately, yes," he admitted.

Grayson's suit was rumpled, there was even a mustard stain on his tie. The detective's eyes moved to Kraten, his large quiet shadow.

"Who's this?" Grayson asked, his eyes inspecting Kraten.

Before he could answer, Kraten did for him. "Kraten, his fiancé's brother."

Cidney kept the surprise off his face as Grayson frowned at Kraten.

"Since when do you have a fiancé?" Grayson's eyes moved to him.

He shrugged.

"That is none of your business, really," he offered lightly.

Both Benjamin and Grayson scoffed.

He looked at the body bags. "What happened?"

"They were all found around three this morning. All within an eight-block radius," Grayson began. "It seems completely random at this point."

"All of them have different injuries, no murder was the same," Benjamin offered.

Cidney looked over the bags and sighed. This wasn't going to be fun.

"Have they been through forensics?" he asked, going to the wall and grabbing a pair of latex gloves.

"Yes," Grayson answered. "What are you doing?"

He pulled his hair up into a loose bun and pulled on the gloves. "I'm taking a look."

"Cid," Grayson warned.

His eyes moved to his. "You know this is one of my weird ones," he said calmly. "Take a walk, Locke."

Grayson strode towards him. Kraten moved faster than Cidney could follow. He was suddenly between him and the detective.

Grayson eyed Kraten. Kraten eyed him right back.

"Hey!" he snapped, getting both of their attention. "Knock it off with the testosterone poisoning and play nice."

Grayson backed up a few steps and Kraten relaxed as the distance between Cidney and the human grew.

"You can't examine the bodies, Cid. We're not dating anymore, I'm not risking my ass for you," Grayson warned.