10 - A Detective and a Dead City

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Sibbie was already waiting for me outside the Roccia Nera Police Department's stoic modern building when I pulled up behind the line of parked cruisers. Driving around so many cops always made me nervous, as I was prone to playing different, terrible worst-case scenarios in my head. Sib would say I was overreacting, but I'd always thought being overcautious was better than being dead. 

My friend got into the car and tossed her purse into the backseat, flashing her gun and badge when her suit jacket fell open. Her door came shut with a click, and I slowly eased the car into the line of traffic, using my blinker as I stuck to the speed limit with extreme care. Sibbie chuckled.

"You know, they look for people who obey all the rules a little too well. It makes you suspicious."

"You're joking."

"No, I'm actually not." 

Frowning, I stepped on the gas to better match the speed of traffic as Sibbie chuckled again, reaching into the inner pocket of her jacket to retrieve her phone. She rattled off an address with a sigh, muttering about overtime and unappreciative captains as I interrupted her.

"I don't recognize the street name, Sib. Where is that?"

"Oh." She paused as we came to a stoplight and entered the address into her phone's GPS application. "Here—."

Sib stuck the phone in my face, almost knocking off my glasses. Grunting, I leaned back so I could see the map—and almost swore when I saw the street was in Amondale.

Why did it have to be Amondale? I dreaded going there about as much as I hated Alfie's house.

Amondale had once been a suburb in the southeastern climes of Roccia Nera's county, but when the Riots happened and the majority of the city's human population was either killed or fled, the suburb was abandoned. Looting and vandalism ruined most of the homes in a few short years. Unnatural copses of wild thorn trees and vicious plants cropped up thanks to the Unseelie magic flooding out of the Court of the Archon farther west. In effort to cut down on the amount of crime in the area, the city council had almost all of the suburb bulldozed—but a few houses, tucked out of sight in all the trees, survived. 

"Someone reported another dead vamp," Sib explained as we crossed the aqueduct into the ruins of the east bank and I sped up. "We've had a lot of them lately, all dumped in the county limits, and most done on the east bank." 

"Makes sense. There's more neighborhoods and tract housing on the west bank, while there's almost nothing out here—well, if you discount the Fae lands." Which, if I were being honest with myself, was not a smart idea. The Court of the Archon, the Unseelie court, and the Court of the River, the Seelie court, were both located in the mountains on the eastern side of the county. Their territories split this side of the valley in half.

Sibbie sighed as she leaned on her arm and stared out at the ruins still scattered over the land. "See, that's another problem. We found that one vampire alive yesterday out by the Court of the River, but we don't know where he came from. No ID, no registration, but some of the others who've been discovered were from some local cadres."

My skin prickled with dread. "Anyone from the Havik cadre?"

Her eyes narrowed as Sibbie peered sidelong in my direction. "No. The Havik cadre only has—what? Four people in it? I'd think we'd know if one of them showed up dead."

Grim, I nodded, then changed the subject. "Which cadres?"

"A man from the Caron cadre, and a boy from the Merula cadre."

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