Diamond was standing outside of Aziza and Lay’s apartment before knocking on the door with the back of her knuckles. Diamond took a step back as she heard movement in the apartment and the door opened slightly with Aziza’s head peeking out.
“Morning,” Diamond said, “Lay needs to get ready as Ophelia is coming to pick her up.”
“Okay, wait…why is she coming to pick up Lay?” Aziza asked with slight concern in her voice.
“Moonlight Coven interview,” Diamond sighed. “Normally it takes weeks to months to get one but with three big members recommending her, and what her sub-race is, she got an express ticket to get one.”
“Oh, well I’ll wake her up…guessing that means we are going to be manning the shop?” Aziza asked and Diamond gave her the thumbs up. “Alright, I’ll get ready to go too.”
“Please do, also to remind you both, the walls in the apartments are thin.” Diamond said and Aziza just lit up bright red from the comment. Aziza closed the door quickly and Diamond chuckled as she returned to her own apartment.
Lay was twirling her thumbs while sitting beside Ophelia in her suv and feeling nervous and unsure what to say to Ophelia. They had dropped off Aziza and Diamond at the Nightshade Inc store and now they were heading to the west side of the city.
“So little Az is a bit passionate in the bedroom?” Ophelia said finally breaking the silence and Lay turned bright red from her words. “Hickey mark on your neck is showing.”
“T-Thank you,” Lay said as she shifted the turtle-neck sweater she was wearing. “Normally giving me a few but st night…she was more passionate.”
“That is normal for any werebeast when they don’t have hold back,” Ophelia chuckled and adjusted her own sweater. “Though hickeys are a very normal thing for werejackals.”
“Really, what about biting?” Lay asked as she shifted her colr bit more. “Not that I’m compining…”
“You’ve been dating for three years now, right?” Ophelia asked and Lay nodded. “It's normal for jackals to give lovers love bites and hickeys as they embed their scent into their mate.”
“That seemed a bit weird.” Lay said but her heart was fluttering as the thought of Aziza ciming her.
“They only do that when they find the mate they want to stay with forever.” Ophelia stated and chuckled. “I’m guessing Az had a nickname in high school, something like ‘One week girl’?”
“Yes, that was due to only dating someone for a week before breaking up with them.” Lay said. “Whenever I asked her about it, she would just say something was off.”
“Even in a weakened state the werejackal mating instincts run hard.” Ophelia ughed and Lay tilted her head. “Werejackal are very picky with their mates but once they find ‘the one’ they are loyal to the end.”
“Then that means I’m the one for Az.” Lay said with a blush and smile on her face and her heart happily fluttering but a thought creeped into her mind. “Miss. Ashwood, how long do werejackal live?”
Ophelia gnced over to Lay and saw her clutching her chest with a worried look on her face. “Without outside forces a werebeast can live at least two hundred years. We know this due to a little old asian weretiger, she may have lived longer but she took her own life.”
“She took her own life, why would she do that?” Lay asked and clutched her chest a bit more. “What kind of outside forces are you talking about?”
“At that age she barely did anything by herself, her healing factor was failing, and cancer would take her months ter if she didn’t end it.” Ophelia sighed as leaned back in her seat a bit. “Outside forces like fighting others werebeast or being frozen in an iceberg.”
“Frozen in an iceberg?” Lay asked with complete confusion and threw her off her depressing spiral of questions. “Who was frozen in an iceberg?”
“That’s for another time as we are here,” Ophelia said as the SUV stopped in a parking lot attached to a rge building. The building looked like an old mental hospital that had been upgraded for modern uses. “Welcome to the main branch office of Moonlight Coven in Wacksqueslia City.”
“This used to be a mental hospital,” Lay stated and Ophelia smiled. “I remember it from history css, there was a big fire that caused it to be closed down.”
“Yep and years ter the coven bought it and fixed it up.” Ophelia said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “The main floor and basement levels are for business, while the upper floors are living spaces for vampires and family members.”
Lay took off her seatbelt and left the SUV when Ophelia was getting out of it too. “Is there a reason why they choose to live in a coven house?” Lay asked.
“Some are saving up to buy their own pce, some can’t live around humans, and some have jobs that make them travel around.” Ophelia said as she led Lay into the building. “The reason is many but you don’t have to worry about it as you have an apartment.”
Once inside the lobby room had a rge floor space with few rge pnters against the wall and in the center of the room is a round reception desk. The receptionist bolted up in seeing Ophelia but she motioned for them to sit down and they did.
“This way, Lay.” Ophelia said to lead Lay down a hallway that was left of the reception desk. It led to a room that was a restaurant with booths and Ophelia stopped in front of a corner booth with Anderson already sitting there.
“Just on time, Ophelia.” Anderson said as he looked at his phone and smiled on his face seeing the homescreen.
“Lay Licwood, this is Anderson Silvervine, Diamond’s father,” Ophelia said and Anderson waved to Lay, she waved back. “Just wait here with him, I’ve something to do before the interview.”
“O-Okay.” Lay said as she slid into the booth across from Anderson and he took off his hat, putting it on the table. Ophelia turned around to walk away and out of sight.
“So you’re little Az’s mate,” Anderson said with a charming smile. “You're a very lucky gal, though a bit surprised you don’t have a ring already.”
Lay paused as she gently fiddled with her ring finger, “Truth, I always had a feeling Az wanted to ask but due to my family she held back.” Lay said while looking at her finger. “Maybe that will change with moving out of their pce.”
Anderson rubbed his goatee and smiled, “Are you currently looking for a part-time job by any chance?” Anderson asked as pulled out a business card.
“I was thinking of picking something up,” Lay said and Anderson slid the card to her. She took the card to see ‘Corvus' Nest’ and that it was a bar chain that had been around since 1710. “Looking for any night shift part timers?”
“I do have a night shift for a medical student.” Anderson smirked as he held hand out to Lay shake and she took a hold of it. “Welcome to Corvus’ Nest team, Miss. Licwood, or will be Mrs. Smith soon?”
“No, Az has hinted at taking my family name instead of keeping hers.” Lay giggled and Anderson chuckled. “She t-”
Lay stopped as the booth behind her started speaking a bit loudly and it caught her attention. The booths were separated by rge pnters and rge flush greenery, though it didn’t soundproof the booths anyway. Anderson’s attention was also locked onto the other booth and kept quiet.
“If we get in this coven we will be able to do anything.” A male voice said. “Just look at that rootfang beast that killed all those other beasts, she got away with it, there was no way the coven didn’t help.”
“Well not right away, man, we will have grease wheels a bit,'' another male voice said. “The rootfang’s step-dad is well connected.”
“Probably just asked ‘daddy’ to get her cleared,” Male one said. “Maybe even gave him a little action from it too.”
Anderson silently snarled from the words and Lay felt disgusted by the men’s words. Lay noticed Anderson’s hair tips started to turn bck and bck feathers started to grow on his neck.
“I heard the rootfang got a sweet little thing under her wing,” Male two chuckled. “I think I could get some action from her if I give her some food?”
Lay’s eyes widened and there was a rge crunching sound causing silence in the room. Anderson’s eyes widened seeing Lay’s hands shift into hunting mode and one of her cwed hands just crushed the table edge.
“That was reinforced with magic,” Anderson could only muster up at the sight of her crushing the table. His hair had returned to normal and the feathers had disappeared.
“Excuse me, the heads of the coven are ready for you.” A female voice said and they looked to see a blonde hair woman in a suit. “Please follow me, please.”
Anderson grabbed his hat to put it on and got out of the booth, Lay followed suit. Lay crossed her arms to hide her cwed hands and the two followed the dy to the elevator in back of the room.
“You know the floor, Mr. Silvervine, yes?” The woman asked as the elevator door opened up and Anderson tipped his hat.
“Yes I do,” Anderson said and leaned into the dy's ear to whisper something to her. Lay didn’t catch what he said as she was gring over her shoulder to the two vampire males that were talking before. “This way, Lay.”
Lay’s head snapped to the elevator and entered it once see Anderson was standing in it. “Yes, sir.” Lay said as she entered the elevator. She closed her eyes to calm down and let out a loud sigh.
“It’s alright to lose control of your powers, you just got them.” Anderson said as he adjusted his hat. “Or is it from losing your cool? Piece of advice, get used to feeling rage when dealing with other vampires.”
Lay checked her hands and they have returned to normal, “Why, are they all as bad as those two?” Lay asked and put her thumbs in her belt loops.
“No but every vampire has some prideful thing that can get under your skin.” Anderson said as the elevator stopped. “The real trick is not ripping out their throats when you do get angry.”
“Right, not acting on it.” Lay said as the doors opened and Anderson stepped out, Lay followed behind.
They walked down a short hallway to a rge desk with a secretary sitting behind it and behind her was a pair of rge wooden doors. Lay could hear yelling in a different nguage behind the door and Anderson leaned over to Lay.
“Irish Gaelic,” Anderson whispered and Lay nodded before hearing another nguage being yelled. “French.” Lay’s eyes widened when Ophelia’s voice rang out but yelled in nguage. “Oh, it's been awhile since I’ve heard her yelling in Greek.”
“What are they yelling about?” Lay asked and was a bit worried it was about her joining the coven.
“My guess…trying to move a couch into the interview room from the side room.” Anderson said and Lay thought she heard the secretary snicker from Anderson’s words.
One of the doors opened up and Ophelia stepped out of the room, “We’re ready for you, please come in.” Ophelia said as she adjusted her suit jacket.
Ophelia led them into the room, the room was sparse with only one long desk that had three chairs and a very comfortable looking couch in front of the desk.
Lay sat down on the left side of the couch and Anderson sat on the right, leaving the middle open. Ophelia sat down behind the desk, in the seat closest to Lay and nodded to her.
Lay looked over to the other three people in the room and sat behind the desk. “Hello, Miss. Licwood, my name is Jeanne Lavigne, one of the heads of Moonlight Coven,” The woman beside Ophelia. She had short blonde hair, blue eyes, pointed ears, and inverted triangle body shape.
“I’m Finn Moore,” The man closest to Anderson. He had long ginger hair tied in french braid, pure bck eyes, and his body shape reminded her of Superman. “I’m basically the head of HR of the coven.”
“You already know me, this interview is just formal,” Ophelia said and the other two nodded. “You are an official member of Moonlight Coven and we had three choices for your guardian since you are very new to our world.”
“And guessing with me here, means I was chosen to be her guardian.” Anderson said as took a more rexed sitting position.
“That is right, Nix and Ophelia were the other two choices but Nix is overloaded with her work.” Finn said, flipping open a folder. “And Ophelia has her hands full with working with the Cleaners and Cops.”
“With winter, Anderson’s schedule is opened up.” Ophelia said and Anderson smirked. “His wife, Amaris, really gets affected by winter, basically complete hibernation.”
“Actually that won’t be happening this year,” Anderson said and all three paused and looked at Anderson with worry. Anderson leaned over to Lay, “You’re going give first hand experience in dealing with a pregnant werebeast.”
“Oh no.” Jeanne groaned as put her face into her hands and Finn leaned back in his chair while muttering something in Gaelic. Lay raised a brow from their reactions and gnced at Ophelia, who was glowing happily with a smile.
“How long has she been pregnant and does Diamond know about it?” Ophie then paused to think what she asked. “What am I asking, of course she knows with her nose.”
“Three months now,” Anderson said as he put up two fingers with a big toothy grin. “We did tell Tullia about it a month but Diamond silently confirmed it two months ago.”
“Please tell me, the sperm donor isn’t part of a high society family,” Jeanne asked with her face still in her hands. “We don’t want another Vi family incident.”
“There will be nothing like the Vi family incident this time.” Anderson said and Jeanne sighed after hearing that. “We are off topic, we are here because Lay is here for her interview.”
“Right, shall we begin then,” Finn said as he leaned forward. “So…what would you like for brunch?”
Diamond was cleaning up some broken gss from a clumsy customer dropping a gss jar. Aziza was behind the counter after dealing with the same customer and Diamond could feel Aziza staring.
“What’s on your mind?” Diamond asked as she swept the gss into the dustpan. “I can feel your eyes staring.”
“Bloody Week, how did you get away with it?” Aziza asked and Diamond poured a dustpan into the garbage.
“I didn’t get away with it,” Diamond said as she put the broom away. “I was sent up north to be under house arrest by the Olsen family.”
“Olsen Family, who are they?” Aziza asked and Diamond pulled over another chair to sit behind the counter. “Sounds like a German family name.”
“The origin of the Olsen family is from Norway and they are my blood father’s family.” Diamond said as she started to fiddle with a pencil. “The thought was they were the best people to keep an eye on me and mellow my temper.”
“Well they did a wonderful job,” Aziza said and Diamond looked at her deadpan expression. “O-Or not.”
“My uncle called me a ‘Cruelly-made Bde’.” Diamond said and Aziza flinched when Diamond snapped the pencil in her hand. “I broke his jaw and any Olsen that agreed with him, which was most of the males there.”
“I thought bears were s-solitary in nature?” Aziza stuttered and Diamond dropped the broken pencil. “Are normal werebears not the same way?”
“Werebears are like elephants, males are solitary and females stay together,” Diamond said as she cleaned up the broken pencil. “The males were only there because it was a family gathering at the time.”
“So what happened when the males left, most of them with broken bodies?” Aziza asked and Diamond leaned back in her seat now.
“Lots of discipline training…the mind is a sharp tool,” Diamond said. “Just make sure it does not turn inward.”
“Wh-” Aziza was interpreted by the door opening and she looked to see Chris walking into the store. “Hello, Quinn, what brings you to the store today?”
“Few things, first thing, Diamond you finally got approval to carry and wear this.” Chris said as he put some type of harness on the counter. “The Chief personally filled it up for you.”
“Finally, I’ve been waiting for two years to get approval for this thing,” Diamond said as grabbed the harness.
“That’s red tape for you but having a magical pocket dimension on hand will be useful.” Chris said and Diamond started to put on the harness. “It has evidence bags, tex gloves, spare clothes, and beef jerky.”
“Magical pocket dimension? Are you talking about a bag of holding?” Aziza asked as she poked one of the pouches.
“That would be the best example of what she is currently wearing.” Chris said and Diamond adjusted the straps a bit more. “It was made by one of the Moonlight coven mages.”
“That means it’s built right and won’t fall apart randomly.” Diamond said and pulled out some beef jerky. “Vampire magic items are so useful when built right.”
“Is there a difference between vampire magic items and werebeast magic items?” Aziza asked.
“Actually, werebeast magic and vampire magic are different due to the source of it.” Chris expined and Aziza’s eyes locked onto Chris. “werebeast draws magic from the earth and its far more protection base items.”
“Like the neckce I’m wearing, it wards off curses,” Diamond said as she touched the neckce around her neck that had cw bone on it. “Also only druids can perform werebeast magic and make magic items.”
“Of course this does not include cn power and ability to transform.” Chris added to Diamond words. “While vampire magic has more inner magic and their magic items are more tools.”
“For example, one vampire made a wand that makes it faster to cast a spell.” Diamond said. “Though it still takes time to cast and he didn’t have much time when an angry werebeast barrelled down on him.”
Aziza saw a quick devilish grin fsh onto Diamond’s face when she said the st part. “Okay that’s got a story with a bloody ending attached to that and I don’t want to know.” Aziza said and she finally noticed the folder in Chris’ hand.
“Right, the other reason I’m here, a cold case.” Chris said and handed the folder to Diamond. Diamond raised a brow before taking the folder and opening. “I put Aziza’s dna in search and found this case.”
“What case ab-” Aziza was cut off when Diamond pulled out a photograph and handed it to her. Aziza took the photograph and saw what she thought was her but hair style was all wrong. “W-Who is she?”
“Cleo Samira, she was found dead in her apartment with a silver dagger in chest.” Diamond said and positioned herself to prevent Aziza from looking into the folder. “Found in the apartment as well was a male named Ajax Makris, he was shot in the head and chest.”
“The officer on the case put in that he was her mate and it was random gang violence.” Chris said and Diamond’s face looked very confused in hearing that and looking at something in the folder. “You noticed it, he has the mark of the ‘Ares’ Shield’.”
“Those guys don’t take mates, they live like monks and…” Diamond trailed off as moved pictures in the folder. She looked closer at something and Aziza felt lost.
“The ‘Ares’ Shield’ is an order of men from Greece, and they help women and children from abusive households.” Chris said. “They dress like bikers and as Diamond said they live like monks by not taking a mate.”
“Who is the officer and cleaner in this case?” Diamond snarled as she pulled out a picture of the room that tossed. “Look closely at the corner of the wall.”
“James Gold was the officer, he died a year after this case, and there was no cleaner.” Chris said and leaned into the picture. He squinted at the picture and Aziza looked at the picture too. “There is some kind of magic rune painted there.”
“Scent eraser rune, freshly painted, you can see a fine tip paint brush under it.” Diamond said and pointed out the paint brush under the rune. “Now we know you weren’t abandoned, Aziza.”
Aziza froze up at those words and her hand tightened on the picture she was holding. Her mind was rushing with questions but none of them could come out her mouth. Aziza jumped when she felt Chris put a hand on her shoulder and seeing the worry on his face made Aziza’s body rex a bit. “What do you mean, Diamond?” Aziza finally asked.
“Their deaths happen the same day as you were found at the police station,” Diamond said as she closed the folder. “Ares was soaking wet from the rain that day and his body was found close to the door. Cleo was closest to the rune and paintbrush.”
“Also found on the knife that stabbed your mother was another person's blood, it had a familiar match to you.” Chris said and Aziza felt her blood turn cold. Diamond put the folder on the counter and kept one hand on it.
“With this evidence it shows, Ares had dropped you off at police station while Cleo was erasing your scent from the apartment, and when James returned to the apartment he was taken out first as he was a threat,” Diamond expined as she tapped a finger on the folder. “The killer is your birth father and being a werejackal willing to kill their mate, she would want to hide you from him.”
“W-Wait how do you know he was the werejackal and not something else?” Aziza asked as she looked at the picture of Cleo.
“In her file was listed as a striped hyena,” Chris said and gently grabbed the folder under Diamond’s hand. “Since you're a jackal, it means one of your parents is a jackal too.”
Aziza’s mind was swirling and trying to find the words to ask, her thoughts were broken when the door opened up, “Hello, Az!” Lay’s voice rang out and Aziza’s head snapped to Lay.
Aziza moved to leap over the counter and Chris quickly moved out of the way of Aziza. She rushed to Lay into a hug tackle that Lay easily stayed on her feet as Aziza buried her head into Lay’s chest. Lay looked at everyone confused before returning the hug and rubbing Aziza’s back.
“I think I’ll give these two a ride back home.” Ophelia said, who entered the store behind Lay. “I can trust you closing up, Diamond?”
Diamond gave thumbs up, “And I’ll give her a ride back,” Chris chimed in and Ophelia nodded.
After Aziza got her things from the back room, Lay, Aziza, and Ophelia left the store. Diamond tapped the counter and Chris adjusted his tie a bit before speaking up, “Did Ophelia or Belle inform you about their theory that our mad scientist is a hire by someone else?”
“Yes, she told me this morning over the phone,” Diamond said as she stood up to start closing down the store. “We won’t know for sure until the letter and notebook is decoded.”
“So are we going to tell Aziza more about her father possibly being Kek?” Chris asked which caused Diamond to pause in collecting the cash from the cash drawer. “Because that same blood is found in other crime scenes connected to Kek.”
“No, she doesn’t need to know, for now.” Diamond said as smmed the cash drawer close.
