The Banshee's Song
Chapter 1
Moonlight flooded the gym, illuminating the small amount of equipment that we'd finally bought to avoid striking fear into the hearts of the poor little humans. I'd had a membership at the local gym for about five years, but after I'd had to wrestle with a vamp, the owner asked me not to come back.He said something about their insurance not covering werewolves. You wouldn’t believe the number of businesses that claim that their insurance has problems with werewolves and vamps.It was better this way, though. Now, I could work out without being pestered by men who seem to feel affronted by a woman having the nerve to be in the gym.Most of the men I’ve met at the gym seem to feel that it is sacred ground and a woman defiles that sacredness. Or maybe it just pissed them off that I could bench more than them. That could be it. Sometimes egos can be so fragile.In any case, the new gym was a great perk for me. I no longer had to leave the office to get a good workout. We'd had an obstacle course for a long time, but nothing beats weight work for really blowing off some steam.I continued doing my reps but I wasn't blowing off much steam, it just didn't feel right. The problem was that the office was silent for a change. No loud obnoxious music, no arguing, it was in a word, irritating. I just wasn't used to so much peace and quiet. I’d tried turning on the radio that we kept in the gym, but it didn’t help. Not even the sounds of Cara's ear-shattering music could disguise the fact that the office was completely empty.You'd think I'd try to enjoy being alone while I could, but I had changed. For nine hundred years I'd walked a path of solitude, but the last fifty had found me making friends and enjoying it. For the longest time, I'd thought that friends were a liability. I still believed that to an extent, but I had to admit that having friends made the world much brighter.Now, sitting alone in my office for the first time in years, I was uncomfortable. It made me feel like I was all alone in the universe, not that I was feeling sorry for myself or lonely or anything. Not me. I was the big bad wolf, a complete loner, and I was bored out of my mind.Things had been quiet because we were all still recovering from our last case. That case had been bad, bad enough that I’d tried therapy afterwards. That was a total laugh. The doctor and I just didn't hit it off. Apparently therapy and I don't mix. Imagine that.The case had kicked off when Adam Whitter, the tribal sheriff of a reservation in North Carolina, had hired my preternatural detective agency “Night’s End” to solve a series of disturbing murders that had the police baffled.Once we looked over the case files, we'd found that clues were few and far between. The killer struck old and young alike. No survivors at any of the scenes, each corpse had been decapitated.It was truly the toughest case we’ve had to date: two vampires and two werewolves against an ancient being. Balor had been a Fomorian, a member of an ancient race of giants. When the gods themselves went to war against the Fomorians, they had damned near lost. In the end they'd had to imprison Balor in a crystal. The crystal was taken across the ocean and given to the Lakota tribe for safe keeping.In order to battle Balor, we'd had to contact one of the fallen gods who'd been there during the imprisonment. He told us how to kill Balor. We did as he bid and won, but victory was not without its price. Cara Gipson and Kyle Sommers, my vampire coworkers, had lost a bit more of the precious humanity that they’d held onto for so long, and it was my fault.The only way to kill the beast had been to drain it of blood. I had provoked the blood lust in my dear friends and turned them loose on the monster. As Balor was dying he had told me that Eerek had used the scepter of Danu to awaken him.Balor died before I could find out where Eerek was hiding. So I had missed my chance to find him, the one prey that I'd been unable to catch in nine hundred years of chasing. The man responsible for so much pain and suffering, not just for me, but for the rest of the world as well.Three months had passed but still my guilt remained. In my heart I felt that although my friends had forgiven me, I would have a very long time before I could forgive myself. It's always easier to forgive somebody else than it is to forgive yourself.In my case, there are a lot of things weighing on my soul. Kyle and Cara were just the newest weights on my already overburdened soul. I have racked up over nine hundred years of bad karma, which is an awful lot to carry around on your conscious.The fight with Balor had tested everything that we knew and all that we held dear. Alaric Wilder, my fellow werewolf and my mate, had been injured. Something good had come of it though, Alaric and I had finally owned up to our feelings for each other. We'd been like a couple of teenagers since. So not all was bad, as long as something good can come out tragedy, then not all is lost.Even though some good came of it all, still I tire of blood and death. May the gods keep the horrific from further cases has become my prayer; and yet, I have come to fear that the gods aren’t listening. Perhaps I have hoarded far too many sins, or maybe I'm just unlucky. Luck is something that I have never had a large supply of.Upon our return to San Francisco, we found a boy who we discovered was my nephew on our doorstep. I still had trouble with the fact that my sister, Gennera, had been trying to lure me into a trap. Of course, it worked. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. It turns out that I actually am the gullible type after all. Who knew?Gennera had fallen in with a rogue pack. She had sent Anthony to my office to lure me out to save her. I had rushed to the house and discovered Gennera covered in blood.We'd gotten her out and blown up the house, but when I looked around for her, she was nowhere to be found. She'd left me a letter telling me that it had been a trap. She also told me to keep Anthony, that she didn't want him.Anger still filled me at the thought of her betrayal, not that it had been the first time she'd betrayed me. I could always count on Gennera to cause chaos and mayhem. Even after nine hundred years, she still hadn't learned that I'm good at survival. She'd underestimated me. A lot of people do that, though few live to tell the tale. It’s such a pity that Gennera isn't one of them. Gennera dead would certainly make my life easier than her remaining among the living.That's how I came to have my twelve-year-old nephew living with me. I’m a Private Detective, werewolf and now makeshift mother. Talk about an impressive resume. Who would have ever thought that I was capable of motherly acts? The boy had gained my pity before I knew he was my nephew, but in no time at all he had wormed his way into my heart. For better or worse, Anthony was mine now. Gods knew that even I would be a better mother figure than Gennera.I stared blankly at the padded walls of the gym area. After a thousand years of life I had finally given in to more emotion than I was comfortable with.Nine hundred years ago, my emotion had almost gotten me killed. I learned quickly to keep it under control. It turns out though that emotion is much like a wildfire, able to spin out of control without warning.The phone rang, breaking the silence and jarring me from my thoughts. After five rings it became clear that no one else was going to answer it. Where the hell was everyone?“Night’s End, Talia speaking.”“Talia, this is James O’Rielly. I need you to get down here to my office. I- I need your help.”What it must have cost him to utter those words, I couldn’t imagine. The man hated me; having to ask for my help must have really stuck in his craw.“I’ll be there in a few minutes, Chief.”Hanging up the phone, I went to my office to change. I gathered my weapons mechanically while my thoughts raced. What could the Chief of Police want?None of my people were in jail tonight, at least I hoped like hell none of them were. We spent way too much money on bail. If it kept up, then I was going to have to invest in a bond company.Normally speaking, O'Rielly would rather shoot me than speak to me. Whatever it was, it had to be big. In fact, it sounded to me like we had a new case. Either that or O'Rielly wanted help picking out drapes. Guess which one I was betting on?I left a note on Cara’s desk telling her where I’d be and hoped she could decipher my handwriting. Since our last case, the poor girl had been getting frantic if she wasn’t able to find me. Sometimes it was sweet, other times it just annoyed me. I hate answering to people or vampires as the case may be. It is a big part of the problem I have with authority. I answer to no one. I like it that way, too. That’s me, Talia, the big bad wolf with a gun and a problem with authority.A cool breeze blew over me, lifting my hair to float around my face. It was shaping up to be a very nice night. Of course, in my opinion all October nights are nice, as long as no one is shooting at me. There's almost a spice to the air that you just don't get any other time of the year. I breathed in deeply and the tension I didn't even know that I had, eased up. There was nothing like October, in my mind anyway.Children love October for the candy and fun of Halloween. But I remember a time long ago when Samhain was a revered time. A time the continuing cycle of life, death and rebirth, the endless spiral was celebrated.My brother Daemon and I would often sneak into the human village and watch their rituals as they honored the loved ones that had passed on to the next life. It was both a beautiful and frightening celebration.The burning of the stuffed man disturbed and frightened me. To watch the dummy go up in flames with its red hands pointed out to the crowd was one of the most terrible things my child self had seen. I had slipped up by asking Macha about it. Fortunately for me, my interest in human rituals amused Macha, allowing me to escape punishment for sneaking out of the palace.Daemon and I were always sneaking out to watch the humans. For some reason they had fascinated us to no end. Maybe it was the fact that they aged, or the passion that filled their short lives. Whatever the reason, the two of us were drawn to them like moths to a flame.My life wasn't always this complicated, that's what makes it so damned rough. I can remember a time when I laughed more and when my love was freely given without fear. I wonder though, do adult humans miss their childhood days and the innocence that goes with them?I brought my thoughts back to the present and slid into the driver's seat of my Cruiser. I could ponder the mysteries of the human world later. I rolled down the windows and started the car.Fortunately, I'm hot natured. I don't use the heater until the temperature is in the thirties. Frankly, the cool air of fall will always feel better to me than summer. Strange for someone who lives in California, but other than the fact that I think seventy six degrees is hot, I love it here.A vibrancy cloaks this city with a type of energy and glamour. People here see themselves as immortal and invincible, they do not worry about their own mortality. They are much too busy for such a thing. Mortality is something that other, less important people worry about. Is it any wonder that so many vampires feel comfortable here?Traffic was bad, even this late in the evening. The San Francisco Police Department was only two blocks from the office, but it took twenty minutes to go those two blocks. I guess that's the price you pay for progress. Sometimes, although I really do love television and cell phones, progress really sucks.I suppose I could have walked the two blocks, but every damned time I leave my car at the office, I end up getting a call that takes me out into the middle of nowhere. It just saves time to drive the two blocks rather than ending up having to walk back and get the car, then head all the way out to God knows where.I pulled into the parking garage and made sure to click the alarm button. I know, why set the alarm when you’re at the police station? Well, the fact is, there are some criminals out there, dumb enough to try to break into a car even if it is parked at the police department. Check the news sometime, the world is full of not so smart criminals.The slight heels on my ankle-length boots clicked loudly on the concrete as I made my way to the door. If I’d been a human woman, I’d have been a little nervous walking through a parking garage alone at night, even if I was right in front of the police station. I’d never noticed before how dark and deep the shadows could be. Of course, normally when I came down to the station I was so pissed off that I never really noticed anything.Even so, I was a little relieved to reach the door. As usual, when I walked in, all the officers looked the other way. It’s amazing the amount of fear that can be caused by one little rampage. Some time back, the Chief had arrested me for using automatic weapons in view of civilians. It didn't go over well with me. I'd ended up destroying his office, threatening to stop helping him out with his preternatural problem and tossing a few people around before he wised up and realized that he didn't actually want to detain me. I actually think it was the threat that made him release me, he'd have had to have been insane to want to deal with all the night time nasties by himself.Still, the fear the officers have toward me is an irritation. I wish they would get with the program and realize that I’m on their side. It’s not like I’m going to eat them, for God's sake. There's not enough salt in the world to make them palatable.I fought off the urge to jump at them. Every time I come down here I always end up with this picture in my mind of me yelling boo at them and then mass panic ensuing. Fortunately for them and probably me too, I wasn’t that hard up for entertainment at the moment. Someday, though, I’m going to do it. I can only refrain from childish behavior for so long before I'll have no choice but to cave in. It’s an issue that I’m working on. I haven’t seen any real progress yet, but I hear that these things take time.I made my way to the chief's door, being careful not to startle the poor little police officers. It was time to find out just what was so bad that he would call the big bad wolf, no pun intended.The door with its little brass plate reading: James O'Rielly loomed in front of me. Normally I don’t knock on the chief’s door, I always burst right in. But then again, I’m usually really pissed off when I come down here. It’s always his fault too. He arrests my team and I have to come down here and raise hell about it. Just once I’d like to do some role reversal. I could arrest his people then he could come down to my office and raise hell with me. Yeah, that probably wouldn’t work out too well, but it would be more fun. Well, more fun for me at any rate. He probably wouldn't like it all that well.I was not at all angry today, curious as hell but not at all pissed off. So knocking sounded like a good idea. After all, this time I was invited, not forced to come down here to fight over some silly bullshit.I knocked and prepared myself for a wait that didn't come.“Come in,” he barked.I stepped in and waited. I'd expected to be kept waiting so he could show me who the boss was. Well, who he thinks is the boss, anyway. That part has always been up for debate in my mind.“Well? Sit down, damn it! I can’t talk to you while you’re hovering,” the chief snapped.I sat down in the chair in front of his desk. What bug crawled up his ass? Who says I'm not smart enough to keep my big mouth shut?My eyes lingered on him. He didn't look like himself today. O'Rielly normally looked like he was fresh out of the box. His suit was always neatly pressed and paired with a spotlessly white shirt. The chief is usually so clean and shiny that I always have the urge to throw mud at him, or at least mess up his hair. We've already established that I have childish tendencies. No mud was needed today, though. Today, O'Rielly wore a suit so wrinkled that it looked like he had slept in it, while his eyes looked as if he hadn't slept in several nights. His normally carefully gelled hair bore the marks of having his hands run through it over and over again.Basically, he looked like shit. Not a look that worked for him. Even a fashion disaster like me knew that.Something had been keeping O’Rielly awake at night. Call it a hunch, but I was betting that it was the reason he had called me in. A frown crossed my face. Anything that would make O’Rielly willingly call me in had to be bad. Just once I’d like to chase down an unarmed thief, someone who wouldn’t try to kill me. I pulled myself away from my little fantasy and turned my attention back to O’Rielly. He leaned forward and stared at me for a moment, increasing the feeling I had that something was wrong.“You must be wondering why I called you down here, right.” At my nod he continued. “Last time we spoke, you told me that we are on the same side. I hope like hell that you still mean that.”“Of course I still mean it. Neither of our jobs has changed lately. We both still go after the bad guys,” I replied.He nodded and sighed softly. “I have to ask for your help. I don’t know shit about all this supernatural stuff, but you do.”Something sure had him all shook up. With the exception of me, I had a feeling that it took a lot to scare Chief James O’Rielly. You didn't make Chief of Police by being a chicken-shit little coward. Well, not unless you had some damn good connections, and honestly, the chief just wasn't that big on diplomacy. So the connections angle just didn't compute.“Whatever I know is at your disposal, of course, but don't you have anyone on the force that can help?” I asked.He snorted and shook his head, “Why, hell no. You honestly think that we have that kind of budget? To be honest, Talia, we don't even have enough manpower for regular crimes, let alone supernatural ones. That's the reason I've stopped arresting your people.“I need them out there doing their job. We sure as hell can‘t handle it. While you were off in North Carolina chasing demons or whatever it was it you were hunting, we had a call concerning a vamp attack. I sent Watkins and Carmine to take care of it. They were slaughtered. Both of them had to have closed caskets. I don’t think I've ever seen anything that bad. They were two of my best men, Talia. Yet they were taken out like there was nothing to it. It really drove home the point that the department needs you.“We don’t have to budget to hire a witch like some of the departments in other areas are doing, but San Fran has something better than a witch. And, you’ve never asked for a single dime, in spite of the hard work you’ve done.”He had a point. They were badly under-funded and I had been wondering about the lack of arrests concerning my team lately. Good to know that we were appreciated. I’d had no idea that he’d lost men while we’d been out of state, no wonder he looked like shit. His words were flattering though, and I found myself feeling an unfamiliar warmth in my chest.“I see. Well, then by all means, tell me what I can do to help.”He gazed at his desk and spoke softly. “It's going to sound unbelievable, even to you, I think. Three nights ago, we received a disturbance call. The caller said that a woman was screaming. When the officers reached the scene, they could still hear the woman but- there was no woman or anyone living who could have been the screamer there. Just a man who had been killed, well, butchered to be honest.“We looked for tapes, thinking that perhaps what we heard amounted to nothing more than a recording. We didn't find a damn thing, though. Nothing at all.”I nodded. I knew that there was more to come. A woman screaming wasn't enough to spook him. The body could have been the spooky part. I didn't buy that though. Gods knew the police in this town saw more than their fair share of violent, sickening crimes.“Last night, we received another call, this one four blocks from the original. Again, we arrived at the scene to find another dead man and the sound of a woman screaming. This victim was the first one's cousin. No tapes, no sign of the woman.“Talia, I'll admit that the sounds of that poor woman's screams have haunted me, but that's not even the worst part. The victims have been horribly mutilated. Parts are missing and there are no clues whatsoever. I'm lost here and I'm afraid that this shit is going to continue. I‘m in over my head and the water is rising fast.”I sighed, this definitely wasn't good. I must have shown it on my face because the Chief leaned forward studying me as if the answers to all the world's questions were hidden in the depths of my eyes. I only wished it was that easy.“I can tell you who the screamer is, Chief. I'll need to look at everything else to determine the killer. Your screaming woman threw me at first, until you told me the victims were related. It's a Banshee.” At his skeptical look I hurried on. “You see, Chief, a Banshee will follow the old families from Ireland and Scotland. She will usually have adopted these families and when death approaches, she mourns and screams both as a warning and a way of expressing her sorrow.”He started laughing, and shook his head. “Talia, you sound like my grandmother! Next you'll be telling me that Leprechauns have a hand in it as well.”Now that crack was just the sort that has always gotten on my nerves. Who the hell did he think he was? I swear, sometimes, I really wished that closed minds came equipped with closed mouths.“I see, Chief. You call a werewolf to get advice on a preternatural case, but you can't accept that a Banshee could exist? Yeah, makes perfect sense to me. Werewolves and vampires and ghouls are possible, but not a Banshee,” I drawled sarcastically.He flushed and averted his eyes. “I didn't mean it like that. It just sounds crazy, a Banshee? In San Francisco?”An unpleasant smile crossed my face. The one that usually means bend over and kiss your ass good-bye, and in my sweetest voice retorted, “If I'm not mistaken, Chief, O'Rielly is an Irish name, yet here you are. Are you not?”“Point made. Why is it that this shit always ends up going down in my town? Never mind, don't answer that, I probably don’t want to hear the answer anyway. I'll make sure that you have access to all of the information that we have. Not that it's a lot, mind you,” he replied.“I'll look over everything and let you know what I come up with.” I stood up and nodded in farewell. I was almost out the door when he called after me.“Thanks, Talia, for the help I mean.”Talk about a red letter day for surprises. An actual thank you and he didn't even threaten to arrest me. Made me wonder if I was dreaming, really. Or maybe I had fallen into another dimension, one where the chief wasn't a total prick. Yeah, that made more sense.The officer who had nodded at me was kind enough to go grab the files on the cases and make copies for me. I thanked him and left before he could be made an outcast just for speaking to me. Not only was I a werewolf, but I was an independent female werewolf with a gun. I didn't want the poor guy to spend the rest of his years on the force being mistrusted. It could happen, most of the officers on the force behaved as if I were diseased.Some people think that the only kind of discrimination that exists in today’s world is based on color or sexual orientation. That is not true. In today's world the distrust and fear spreads to cover religion, species, and so much more. That's just the way the world works. It isn't fair, but the philosophy seems to be that anything the masses don't understand has to be destroyed. Sadly, we monsters aren’t much better.
