Inheritance

Chapter 2: Jack (Part 1)

"She has crossed what cannot be crossed. She has killed that which she should not kill, and she has taken what does not belong to her. It is not her right. An innocent has died."

Zephyr crumpled in his hand.

Fortunatus grabbed Jack up and shifted outside. He dropped Jack down in the grass. Jack blew on Zephyr trying to keep her warm while he hopped from one foot to the other to keep his blood flowing. Fortunatus turned and sniffed the air.

"Stay here," he said.

He disappeared and returned in the blink of an eye with Jack's luggage.

"Sweet!"

Jack handed the vampire the unconscious wiznit and slipped on his fitted jeans and a thermal tee with a phoenix on the front. He tied on his boots and slipped into his duster. Last, he pulled on his fingerless gloves, wrapped a large, gray scarf around his neck and tied the black bandana around his head.

"Let us go." Fortunatus said as he handed Zephyr back to Jack.

"Let's. Let's go, Fort," Jack said, slipping Zephyr into her steal protected, feather-lined pocket in his duster. "It's a contraction. Try it, sometime."

"Someone had died and it was a death by magic." Fortunatus ignored him.

Jack lifted his crossbody bag. They went to the Camaro and dropped his luggage inside. Jack took his Glock 17 from the glove box, pulled back the slide to check the load, and nestled the holster in his duster pocket. He climbed into the driver's seat and, in a spray of gravel, followed Fortunatus pointed finger out of the parking lot. Fortunatus rolled down his window sniffing the air. He tilted his head now and then to catch a change in the scent as they headed down the service street in front of the hotel which ran along the highway.

"Pull in here." Fortunatus indicated a dirt road.

Jack killed the lights and parked the car under the deep shadows of an old tree. They climbed out and double checked their weapons. Zephyr breathed but remained unconscious in Jack's pocket. A large plot of open land surrounded them. Jack assumed it belonged to the Peterson family. Their land sat undeveloped here and there, waiting for the homes and roads of the city employees to move their direction. 

A gate with a weather beaten "No Trespassing" sign blocked their path. Jack and Fortunatus ignored it. They climbed over the cattle gate and jogged out into the field. Fortunatus led them to a copse of leafless sycamore trees, long fingered branches rubbing in the wind, mixed with haggish live oaks reaching to the night sky with twisted limbs. The body lay in a sandy depression by a dry creek bed. Jack pulled out his flashlight and shined it over the corpse gleaming in the moonlight.

"I know him," Jack whispered.

"He goes to my school. His name was..." Jack paused and looked up at the sky thinking. "Derrick! His name is, was Derrick Gate. Weird that I know him."

Taking a sniff, Fortunatus said, "This was a magical death. The smell still lingers," he leaned down closer.

"I cannot tell if someone killed this innocent in a magical accident or..." He squatted down getting closer and Jack, flashlight in hand, leaned over him searching for hints to explain the death. He waved the light back and forth over the body undisturbed by the open, staring eyes.

"What do you see?" he asked, wishing he could see the magical clues around them.

The vampire stared at the body for a few minutes and then stood up.

"Look at this with a clear mind. Forget what Zephyr said and tell me what you see Jack, or more importantly, what you do not see."

Jack focused on the body trapped in the beam of his flashlight thinking it through.