Among Demons : Succubus Divine

Ch. 7 : Questions

*Devin Venenum*

The next day at work, I arrived feeling much too tired and sluggish. I had spent that whole night talking and dealing with my brother's antics while I looked over some big projects that needed my approval stamped on them. So by the time I was done and he left for the night, I lay awake in bed going through the dozens of things I had just reviewed and got very little sleep. It also didn’t help that my neighbors were fighting again and their yelling woke me up a full two hours before my alarm was meant to.

I made it to my office and dropped onto my seat, smiling since I had successfully avoided the receptionists that always glared at me.

A moment later, I opened up my computer and started looking through the listed evidence that was found and cataloged yesterday, looking for anything that might help. But as I flipped onto another page on the screen, a knock at my door stopped me. I went to answer but the door was pulled open and the sleepy looking face of Detective Daniel popped in.

“What are you doing?” He immediately asked, looking a little annoyed.

“Good morning.” I chirped back, ignoring his question. “What can I help you with, Detective?”

He stared at me for a long moment, seeming confused and much too tired to handle my reaction to him.

“Just…” He ran a hand over his face and sighed, moving aside and motioning out of my office. “Follow me.”

He yawned as I got up and gathered my things, waiting while I locked up my little cave and trailed behind him. I could see that he was leading me to the team office that he and the others used, but I felt so very out of place that my entire body stiffened as we neared it. And the passing glances and murmurs of the other people walking around weren’t helping ease my troubles either.

When Detective Daniel paused and opened the door, I hesitated, peering in before stepping inside.

It was a much bigger space than my little cave, with three large desks that formed a pointed circle of sorts on the far right side of the room. Each desk held different personal items and was covered in opened files, and papers along with their computers. A leather loveseat was pushed into that right wall behind the desk that the Team Lead was sitting at, and a few filing cabinets rested behind Detective Izaak as he sat at his. When I walked further in, I caught sight of a large bulletin board that took up half of the left wall while the other half was a whiteboard. Pictures of the victims and small papers that listed facts, places and names were scattered all over these boards, along with some marker writing of dates and times. More shelves, framed pictures, awards and diplomas decorated the other walls and a small table stood by the door I just walked through, holding two large coffee machines and paper cups.

I stood awkwardly near the door while the three men looked on, feeling like a student that had just been called into the office. And that feeling only intensified when I failed to look at the Team Lead in the eye, recalling how stupidly embarrassing my brother had been last night.

“The family of the second victim will show up soon.” The Team Lead said, thankfully breaking the silence. “As well as the family of last night's victim.”

“Not the thirds?” I questioned, turning to look back at the boards.

“The only family she had is the Human half and, for some reason, they aren’t being very forthcoming at all.” Detective Daniel answered, making me flinch a bit.

My mind instantly thought of my own Human relatives and I quickly shut my eyes, struggling to remove their images from my head. I shuddered a bit to make sure their faces wouldn’t reappear before I dug through my bag, pulling out the plastic vials filled with hair that I had taken from the women in the morgue.

All four containers rested on my palms, yet only half were getting returned to their families, since the first had no kin to speak of. So I returned the two whose families I was going to meet and kept the other two out, silently promising that I would look after them and their final Blessings. My throat ran dry at the fact that I was in a similar situation as both of these Demon women, and if it wasn’t for Nick, no one would come forward to claim my remains if I was to die. Especially since my mother's family, being Human, had denied my existence and refused to claim me after my parents' deaths, leaving me in that orphanage.

A loud and sudden ringing startled me as I stood there and I quickly shoved the vials back into my bag as I turned to find Detective Izaac talking on the phone.

“They’re here.” He told us, getting up from his seat while he gathered the files at his desk.

I waited while they each took what they needed and followed them out of the room. The short trip to the first floor was quiet as we made our way to the larger interview rooms that were used to talk to families and victims that survived attacks. It helped them feel more at ease, since each room was not only far away from the interrogation cells, but it was decorated to look and feel cozy too.

“Let me greet them first.” I told the Detectives, catching them looking back at me with varying degrees of confusion and annoyance.

“Why?” Detective Daniel asked, seeming the most bothered by my request. “You’re just assisting in the case, WE are the ones working it and looking for the one responsible.”

“Yes, but you’re all Human.” I told him softly, turning a corner and finally seeing a small family waiting in a room at the end of the hall.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” He continued, sounding even more irritated, and maybe a tiny bit insulted too.

“Put yourself in their shoes.” I said, forcing all three of them to stop a few feet from the door. “Who would you feel more comfortable talking to if someone you loved had just died? A Demon that doesn’t care to understand anything about your people? Or a Human that can sympathize?” I glared at the now stunned blond man, watching his reaction while his warm brown eyes widened, lighting up with sudden understanding.

Without another word, I turned and opened the door, taking a deep breath in before stepping inside.

There was an older looking blonde woman with red-ringed eyes that instantly stood up as I walked in. A younger boy with darker blonde hair and another, even younger copy of him sat nearby, both with pink splotches on their faces from crying. And a man that looked to have been waiting on his feet approached his family from the left end of the room, clearly struggling to keep his composure.

“Thank you for coming all this way.” I started, looking through my bag once more and pulling out the vial with their daughters initials. “My name is Devin Venenum, I’m assisting in the investigation involving your daughter.” I stopped a short distance from the family and popped open the small cylinder, bowing my head while I offered the Token to them.

I could hear the mother gasp and the boys whimper while I stood there, my heart clenching in response. A second later, rough fingers took hold of the small blonde locks I held and I slowly straightened up, seeing the father weeping silently as he stared at the Token he held.

“Thank you.” He choked out, looking me in the eye and nodding a little before he turned to hand the locks to his wife.

I stepped back and gave them a moment, feeling the gaze of the three Detectives burning holes into me as the family talked amongst themselves. A few minutes later, with the father now taking a seat between his wife and sons, I moved, taking a seat across from them.

“I understand that you need to return home and continue preparing for your daughter's final Blessings.” I told them softly, catching the father and eldest son glancing at the Humans behind me. “But if we could take just a bit of your time to ask you some questions, we would be very grateful.” I finally pointed at the three men that remained stoic behind my seat, feeling a little weird since I was doing all the talking. “These men are the ones in charge of looking for the one that did this to your family, and I’m here to help in any way I can.”

Silence hung in the air once again while the husband and wife whispered to each other and my anxiety climbed ever higher with each passing second. I could see that Detective Daniel was growing a bit confused on what to do, rocking from foot to foot. And even the quiet Detective Izaak didn’t look all that comfortable either. I couldn’t figure out what Detective Marcus was thinking though, his face remaining a perfect blank mask.

“We will answer what we can.” The mother said, sniffling through her words. “But our daughter had been away from us for weeks before her body was found.”

“Weeks?” The Team Lead asked, making the family look at him. “Had she moved out or gone on a trip after graduation?”

“She was missing.” The older woman clarified, shaking her head. “We had been trying to find her after she didn’t come home from a friend's house.”

“Did you file a missing persons report?” Detective Izaak asked, looking and sounding confused.

The father scoffed, “Why? So you Human cops could sit on that report and ignore our calls?” He glared openly at the three men while my heart raced, hating that things weren’t staying focused on the victim herself. “We know how your people prioritize even the smallest nuisance calls made by other Humans, yet missing Demons, murdered Demons, those get torn, burned and ignored. There’s no point in reaching out to you.”

“Did you try reaching out to the local Matron?” I cut in, not wanting some pointless argument to take over.

“No.” The father sighed, looking regretful and bitter. “We had heard that there was a small collection of Demon operatives that were helping families find their loved ones, so we reached out to them, but they never called us back.”

I stiffened, feeling something vile and dark twist painfully in my stomach.

“Can you give me their information?” I asked, pulling out my phone and quickly checking if my brother was busy.

They gave me the number they had used and the names of those that they spoke to. A few more questions were asked before I walked the family out, just as the family of the girl from last night appeared.

I presented them with the Token as well and was able to control more of the conversation than I had with the first. They were still in shock over the loss of their youngest but were very forthcoming with their answers. Of course, their discomfort with the three men was just as obvious as it was with the first family, but no one challenged them during our time in that small room. I also texted my brother throughout our time there and managed to pass along a bit more information to him.

It had turned out that this family had also reached out to this unknown band of Demons only to be left in the dark after the young Nymph had been missing for too long. A different number was provided and new names were jotted down as well, making the feeling of dread and anger grow within me.

I had never approved of a group of this sort since I had become Matron, and I was actually the first one notified when a missing report was made involving my people. But neither family went to City Hall or to my secondary office to file it, choosing to trust this group to find their daughters. And the very fact that each family was ghosted after paying them enraged me so much that I quickly started digging through everything myself. My brother texted me as the hours passed while I wrote things down and looked things up in the trio's larger office, actually finding their insight useful.

And it was thanks to their help that we were able to figure out that each family had met with someone that connected them with that group of Demons. The description of the person was nearly identical too, so they had talked to the same person, making our job just a tiny bit easier. Of course, she had used different names with them, so her true identity was still a mystery, but it was a lead that we could follow. So the next order of business was to identify that middle-man (or in this case, woman) and see if she was involved in the scheme, or if she had truly meant to help those families.

“How did you know that the group they were talking about was a fraud?” The Team Lead asked me, having sent out the other two to make copies and look through the victims' personal items again. “I mean, aside from the fact that they were all scammed out of their money and blocked from contacting them again.” He searched my face while I fought against my attraction to his closeness, taking a step back and reminding myself that there was someone else for him. “I saw that you pieced that part together rather quickly, even before they said anything about the money… so how did you know?”

I swallowed hard and turned away, pretending to focus on the board in front of me.

“The Matron.” I choked out, catching a small smirk that he quickly removed from his face. “She approves of all things related to Demons and she never announced a group like that.”

“She announces it?” He asked, looking genuinely intrigued.

“Yeah. It helps local Demons when they’re looking for businesses they can trust.” He frowned a bit and I smiled sympathetically, feeling the strange urge to wipe said frown off his face. “It’s the same with Humans, right?”

“Yeah…” He said softly, not looking very happy about his answer. “That’s true.”

“Marcus!” A female voice shouted, startling me as the door to the office rattled before being pulled open. “There you are!” A blonde walked in quickly and rushed towards the Detective, making me gasp softly before taking several steps back while she hugged and kissed him. “Danny told me you were still working, so I thought I’d order lunch for you guys so you won’t need to worry about it.” Detective Marcus seemed a little confused and surprised by her sudden arrival, though he didn’t stop her from nearly crashing into him. “Your dad called me too and asked if we could join him and Nicole out to eat tomorrow, what do you think?” She finally turned and saw me and I stopped breathing, my mind dragging me back to that night seven years ago. “Devin?”

I smiled stiffly and nodded, feeling my body grow cold as I spoke.

“Hey Hannah, long time no see.”