3/3

Harris stood in the door looking like a kicked puppy for a full five seconds before he stepped in, eased the door closed and took a seat.

“Right pocket Rocky.”

Rocky fished out a listening device then glared at Harris. Harris held up a recording device in answer, overtly clicked it off and ejected the tape.

“How long?” Rocky grunted.

“Few months. The scumbag that hung himself using a block of ice.”

“Where did I slip?” Rosie said it like she was thanking him for a gift.

“You didn’t. It was in Rocky’s eyes that day and a few times since. He was worried. It was always the jobs so tight that they were destined for the cold room. Person doing them knew too much though. Almost like an inside job. Your turn to talk Rosie. I know Rocky wasn’t feeding you.”

Rosie grimaced, “I figured out how to pull one way. Sorry.”

If it hurt, Rocky didn’t show it.

“What now?” Rosie pointed at the tape.

Harris broke it in two. “Insurance I don’t think I want anymore. I.. I don’t hate what you’re doing. It kills me to admit it, but I don’t. Twenty years and this city keeps getting worse. But this thing, it’s gonna catch up, we need to get ahead of it.”

Rocky sniffed, “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying we go after a big fish. Someone… untouchable.”

“Shayla. How?”

“It’s impossible to plant clues on the scene after the fact, right? But. What if they were planted during. Subtlety.”

Rocky whispered, “Fabricating evidence?”

“Truth laced lies, Rocky. It’s not the justice I want, but it’s what we can get. Right Rosie. That’s what you’ve been doing. Getting what you can get.”

Rosie nodded.

Rocky nodded too, albeit slower. “Let’s bring down a mountain.”

Absolutely wonderful. Just perfect. I love it. I didnt even think about the trolley problem when i wrote my part, so its awesome that you used that as the tie in. Thanks so much for the 3/3!

2/3

Rocky stuffed his hands in his pocket and turned to head back down the path.

Harris shot him a look, “Leaving already?”

“Gonna grab a tea and mull this.”

“Mull what? You been here two minutes. Can I buy a vowel?”

Rocky decided to give him a little bite to keep him busy, something that he wouldn’t call crazy talk, ”You were more right about the double than you know. Slap a mustache on the one in with the nice shoes and they’d almost be twins.”

Rocky tossed the more… eclectic clues he’d noticed around in his head as he made his way through the streets. Someone had tried their hand at a ritual. That someone had been sloppy. Real sloppy. And fortunate. Not only had they positioned the bodies pointing the wrong direction, they had also inverted the runes they’d carved on the surrounding trees. Hell, they’d even gotten the timing wrong. Last night had been a wanning crescent. A hack job like that could’va ended up getting a whole lot more people killed.

The more he thought about it the more it didn’t add up though. The ritual they had attempted wasn’t something you looked at a book and copied. It was something that gets locked into your mind’s eye as you progress from binding lesser demons to middling ones and so on. It took time, patience, and precision.

Rocky bent down to tie his shoe, not because he needed to, but because he was feeling vexed by the whole thing.

Opposite moon, reversed direction, inverted runes, almost twins. Why or who on earth would…

And then, while his fingers were making bunny ears with the laces, the answer hit him like a trolley with no brakes.

293/300

Fevered

A mansion party in the heart of Burlington was way out of our usual weight class, but there was no way we were going to turn down the chance. We’d made a pact to stick close, at least until we got the lay of the land. It was nothing more than words on the wind though. I’d no sooner dropped my keys in the fishbowl, when Laurel had accepted a pile of white with her nose and jaunted off towards the source of the music echoing in the foyer.

I did my best to keep up, and gained some ground when Laurel broke into a boogie where the hallway décor changed from paintings to people, but it wasn’t good enough. She slithered into the press of bodies that made up the dance floor and disappeared behind a wall of tight vests, thigh high dresses, and go-go boots. This kind of party didn’t know the meaning of shy though, and I wasn’t given a moment to worry about her breaking our promise. The first drink of the night hit my palm by way of a caramel skinned beauty who wore a wide smile lined by glittering red lips and a brilliant dress comprised of every hue of blue.

We weaved some playful banter between two more drinks then she worked the same magic as Laurel and positioned us beneath the mirror ball so we could bathe in its kaleidoscope of lights. There in the center, where the electric heat of bodies becomes a sizzle, everyone is your dance partner. Some people are embarrassed by the idea of free love, but I love it, and that haven where flower power had been given miracle gro is where I get to live it.

I danced for ages, until Avalon’s ‘Venus’ fumbled it’s way through the speakers, which I took as a sign to catch a breather. I didn’t rush it. The fishbowl was making it’s rounds, and I watched with a smile as Blue dug her hand in. There was nothing random about what came out. She flashed my keys at me with a wink. She was barely under my arm when a sound rippled through the room. It was familiar enough to make everyone pause. It repeated itself, but louder and closer. Unmistakable. A scream.

All eyes went to the doorway on the opposite side of the room. A lady slid into the opening, covered with blood. She tried to corner but faltered. Her boots weren’t made for the maneuver. I made it one step in her direction when a tiger tackled her. Up until then I’d filed the rumors of exotic pets in my mind under lies built on lies. Despite the tearing of flesh and gurgling of blood my mind struggled to parse something so out of place.

Through the cacophony of chaos, Blues voice pulled me from the shock. A single word, then action. Run. I didn’t get far before an incessant tug of my arm slowed me. I failed to shake it off then glanced back into wide teary eyes. Blue pointed at her left boot, specifically, the odd angle beneath it. I tried again to pull away, then she dangled the keys in front of me. It clicked and I scooped her up and made for the threshold.

She watched behind and did the screaming while my stomach did the sinking as the crowd around us moved faster and farther away. Somehow, we made the front door, the stone stairs, and the car without being turned into meat ribbons. I dropped her in front of my Pacer and she passed me the keys. We were in with the engine running when I remembered Laurel.

Blue yelled about it being the wrong way, but I pulled us up to the steps anyway. I had one hand on the door handle, contemplating joining a man who had charged up the steps with a revolver when the gore covered tiger barreled out. The man squeezed off two shots before being mauled. They tumbled down the stairs together until they met with my bumper. An instant later the beast’s paws slammed down on the hood, and its eye’s crept up to meet mine.

I’d always imagined I would have a story I could tell with my chest thrust out.

I sensed Blue move the shifter. I pushed the pedal down, reversing away from the monster, its claws raking lines in the paint.

I’d never imagined the story would be whispered when I entered a room, punctuated with words like ‘yellow’ and ‘coward’.

Blue did the honors again on the shifter. My hands shook as I turned the wheel and gunned it down the main drive. I didn’t bother looking in the rear-view mirror.

796/800

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i love crit!

/r/dmonrth for old stuff havent updated in a long time though.