Double Deal

Chapter 5 (Part 1)

Ajax woke up groggily the next morning in his bed to Sam yelling. “No! How? Are you sure? Dammit,” He heard Sam say.

He got up and walked downstairs, rubbing his eyes. “What’s wrong Sam?” He asked.

“They found another girl,” Sam said.

“In the same spot?” Ajax asked, his uncle nodding.

“Same M.O. Same park. Same killer. Everything,” Sam said.

“How is that possible? I thought you had put Tom Collins under surveillance because of my suspicion,” Ajax said.

“I did. The PI said Tom didn’t leave his house all night. He did the same routine he does every night. Go home. Eat. Look at documents for half an hour. Get in the shower for 20 minutes then go to sleep. He did nothing out of the ordinary, for the past week,” Sam explained.

Ajax hesitated. “Are you sure?” Ajax asked.

Sam nodded, “The hidden cameras we placed inside his house show it. I’m sorry Ajax, but maybe your deduction was wrong.”

Ajax rubbed his chin and scrunched his eyebrows. “Maybe he has a partner,” Ajax suggested.

Sam shook his head, “The PI says that he never meets up with anyone other than Lola.”

Ajax had to think. He sighed again. There was no way Lola had done something like that. “What was the time of death?”

“Forensics says the body is 3 days old. Most likely died between 12am and 2am. This one appeared to be stabbed then strangled before having died” Sam responded.

Ajax rubbed his forehead then proceeded to run his hand down the rest of his face. “I… I have to think. I’ll give you an answer later,” Ajax said.

Sam nodded. “Get dressed. I have to go in early today, but I’ll see you later,” Sam messed up Ajax’s hair despite it already being all over the place before grabbing his files, keys, and phone and heading out the front door.

Ajax sighed again and walked back upstairs, getting ready for the day, lost in thought, going over details and threads. He rinsed his mouth, spitting the water out. The victim was astrangled. That’s not something that had ever happened before, though it was entirely possible since each of the previous victims had lacerations on the wrists and ankles, showing that they had been tied down. He rested his hands on the counter, his head down, before looking into the mirror. He pursed his lips. He was sure it was Tom Collins, but all the evidence pointed away from him. He squeezed his eyes shut. Could it have been someone else who was helping him? He could try to claim that all he wants but there simply wasn’t the evidence to show that there was a partner. He was at a dead end. Without evidence, there was nothing he could go off of. He had no suspects.d g All he had were a pile of dead bodies with nothing linking them together. It was too convenient.

He needed Zephyrus. He had been so sure that it was Tom. If Tom was able to somehow… freeze the cameras or teleport away while he was showering. Something, anything, that could get him out of the house to kill an innocent girl… But unless Tom was a monster or a crazed human, neither one of those possibilities could have happened. He needed Zephyrus.

What had he said? Call him? No, he had said to call for him. He texted Lola, saying that he was going to go to the cafe with Zephyrus. Then he said, “Zephyrus?”

A few seconds later, there was a knock on his front door. He opened the door to find the white blond, light blue eyed boy standing on the porch. “You called for me?” Zephyrus asked.

“Yeah. Walk with me to the cafe. The guy, Tom, he works there in the morning,” Ajax said, grabbing his keys and walking onto the porch, locking the front door. “Lets go.”

Ajax and Zephyrus had to walk past Lola’s apartment to get to the cafe. Kharis walked out a few minutes later and saw the two of them. She almost stopped walking when she saw the two of them, causing the guy behind her to scoff and walk past her. “Sorry,” Kharis said, shaking her head and continuing to walk. She pulled her phone out and brought it up to her ear.

“Have a nice day,” Lola placed another coffee onto the coffee counter just as her phone began to ring.

Lola and Tom had caught up on drinks and customers had stopped walking in, so Lola answered it. “Hello?”

Tom’s phone buzzed at the same time as Lola answered. “Kharis, you are too much. Can you not call me while I’m working? Also, okay, cool. He’s coming to get coffee, there’s nothing strange about that,” Lola rolled her eyes.

Tom looked at her, “Lola, I have to leave. Something is happening with my mom.”

Lola nodded and Tom ran into the locker room. A few minutes later, Ajax and Zephyrus walked in. “Hello,” Lola said.

“Where’s Tom?” Ajax asked.

“He had a family emergency. He just left,” Lola said.

Zephyrus raised an eyebrow, “He left right before I got here?”

“Yeah, something about his mom,” Lola said, “Are you guys going to order anything?”

“Yeah, Caramel Macchiato,” Ajax said, Lola tapping the screen.

She looked at Zephyrus, who shook his head. “I think it is interesting that he left before I got here, but there isn’t a monster who can sense people coming,” Zephyrus said, pursing his lips, "Not in that way at least."

“There isn’t anything strange about a family emergency out of the blue. Sure, it’s convenient that it happened before you got here, but there’s nothing wrong with that,” Lola said.

Ajax handed her some money and she finished the order. She walked away from the counter to make Ajax’s coffee. Zephyrus followed Ajax to the other side of the cafe subconsciously. “Maybe you could look at a picture of him,” Ajax said, bringing Zephyrus’ focus back to him.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said, maybe you could look at a picture of Tom,” Ajax repeated.

Zephyrus shook his head, “I can’t tell from a picture. I have to meet them.”

Ajax pursed his lips, once again thinking. “Why are you so desperate to know if he’s a monster or not?” Zephyrus asked.

“Because another body was found and the PI who was watching Tom said he did nothing out of the ordinary. I want to know if he used magic to have a window of opportunity,” Ajax explained.

“Well, one thing you have to know is that we can’t teleport without a magical artifact or replica that was magic infused. So unless he has one, there’s no way he got away like that. Also, you have to remember that there are plenty of monsters disguised as humans. The PI could be in alliance with other monsters. There are also rogue humans. Tom could be one of them,” Zephyrus said.

Lola called Ajax’s name, showing that she finished his coffee. “I have an idea to figure out what Tom really is,” Zephyrus said, eyeing Lola.

“No. No way,” Ajax said, standing up.

“Ajax, you can’t just dismiss the idea,” Lola said.

“Let you willingly get hurt? No way,” Ajax said.

“It’s not like it is going to be anything major. Just a little scratch is all it would take,” Zephyrus pointed out, “Besides, I’ll be the one to do it.”

“Can’t we just fake an injury? Does anyone actually have to get hurt?” Ajax suggested.

“It has to be real or we won’t get anywhere. They can’t sense fake pain because fake pain doesn’t exist!” Zephyrus started to argue with him.

“Why must we do this!’ Ajax yelled back.

“I already told you why!”

Soon Zephyrus and Ajax were both yelling nonsense to each other. “Can you two stop it!” Lola yelled over the two of them.

Both boys looked over at her. “Don't you think that I should make the choice since, I don’t know, it has to do with me?” Lola said.

Both boys shut their mouths. “Listen, both of you,” Lola looked at Ajax, “If it can help clear Tom of suspicion, then I’m all for it.”

“But, Lola-” Ajax started to protest.

“I’m doing it. End of story,” Lola cut him off.

Ajax was silent because he didn’t agree with her decision but didn’t try to protest anymore. He looked at Lola and Zephyrus solemnly while they discussed the plan.

Lola woke up late the next morning. “Oh god,” She said, getting ready as quickly as she could.

She grabbed her phone and texted Tom:

L: Hey, can you pick me up? I woke up late.

T: Yeah, I’ll be there in 5 minutes.

Lola ran down the stairs and met Tom in the front. She hopped into his car and he made a U-turn to head to the cafe. They got there a few minutes later. “Thanks Tom, you’re a lifesaver,” Lola said.

“Well, can’t have the manager be late,” Tom said, pulling into the parking lot.

The day went by rather quickly. Soon Hyram and Kharis showed up to take over for them. Tom and Lola headed out the back and stopped on the sidewalk. “Does this mean you’re no longer upset with me?” Tom asked, handing Lola her coffee.

Lola grabbed it, smiling, “Only if you’re done being irrational.”

Tom looked away, biting his lip. “Okay, fine. I overreacted the other day. I’m sorry,” Tom looked at her.

Lola smiled. There was no way that he was a monster. “Fine. You are forgiven. But you have to make up some other way,” Lola said.

Zephyrus was watching and listening from around the corner, waiting. He put on a beanie and sunglasses, zipping up his sweater, and walked towards where Lola and Tom were standing. He bumped into Lola, causing her to fall to the ground and spill hot coffee all over herself.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Zephyrus said, dropping down on a knee to help Lola up.

“Lola, are you okay?” Tom said, also helping Lola up off of the floor.

“As good as I can be,” Lola said, pulling her shirt forward off of her stomach.

Zephyrus looked at Tom’s face. “Come on, let’s go get some napkins from inside,” Tom said, glaring at Zephyrus.

He led Lola away to the cafe, leaving Zephyrus confused on the sidewalk. Tom grabbed a whole bunch of napkins. “Lola, what happened?” Kharis asked from the other side of the counter when she and Tom walked in.

“Someone ran into her outside, she spilled coffee all over herself,” Tom said, running over to Lola with napkins.

Lola winced, her stomach still burning from the coffee despite her shirt cooling off, as Tom patted her thighs with paper napkins. “I’m going to the bathroom,” Lola said, getting up and practically running to the restroom.

Tom threw the wet napkins away at the milk counter. Tom looked over at the coffee counter for a second before leaning on the counter, his eyes closed as he sighed.

Lola’s stomach was red from the scalding hot coffee. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Ajax. “What did Zephyrus say?” Lola asked quietly.

Ajax started rambling. “What? What do you mean he doesn’t know?”

“What I mean,” Zephyrus’ voice started coming through the phone, “Is that I don’t know what Tom is.”

“How? Why?” Lola asked.

“Lola, I’ll explain it all later. Hurry and get out of the bathroom before he becomes suspicious,” Zephyrus said.

Lola hung the phone up. She looked in the mirror. How could Zephyrus be confused? It’s a yes or no question. She pulled her shirt down and walked out of the bathroom. “Are you okay?” Tom asked when he saw her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just going to go home and change,” Lola said.

“Do you want me to drive you home?” Tom asked.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll walk home,” Lola said.

“I’ll go with you,” Tom offered.

“No. Please, I just want to be alone right now,” Lola said.

Tom hesitated. “Fine, just, take this,” He said, taking his hoodie off and handing it to Lola.

Lola grabbed it and put it on. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lola said, walking out of the cafe.

She basically ran to the corner, where Zephyrus and Ajax were waiting. “Are you okay?” Ajax asked.

“Keep walking,” Lola said, walking right past them.

Zephyrus and Ajax tripped over themselves and followed after Lola. “Zephyrus, what do you mean you don't know what Tom is?” Lola asked quietly.

“Not here,” Zephyrus said, looking around the block.

They quickly got to Lola’s house. “Just stay here. I’m going to get changed,” Lola said, heading to her room. She grabbed a pair of looser clothes and walked into her bathroom. She grabbed some aloe vera and rubbed it against her stomach. She could feel the coolness of the gel but it stung against the burn on her stomach. She did the same thing to her thighs when she took her pants off. She changed into the clothes she grabbed and walked back into the living room. “Explain,” She sat down on the couch.

“I’m good at telling monsters apart from humans but with Tom, I couldn’t tell at all. He had the reaction of a human when you got hurt. He didn’t look like he was trying to hide his emotions other than he was genuinely upset with me for hurting you. But, just being around him, he didn’t feel human. Either he really is human or he’s been in hiding as a monster for a very long time and has gotten used to masking his emotions. But meeting Tom… it doesn’t help either of you,” Zephyrus said.

“What do you mean, he doesn’t feel human?” Ajax asked.

“It’s hard to explain. Monsters have a presence to them that is close to humans, but normally I can tell them apart. With Tom, I couldn’t tell his “presence,” for lack of better words, apart from either side. But I don’t know why,” Zephyrus said.

Suddenly, the lights went out and the room got chilly cold. “What happened?” Lola said quietly.

“Don’t move,” Zephyrus said just loud enough for the two of them to hear.

From the dim light coming through the window into the house, the three of them could see a shadowy figure moving around the living room. It stopped in front of Lola. She tried not to move as the figure slowly approached her. She stood confidently as it stood face to face with her. “Show yourself,” Lola heard Zephyrus say.

The figure turned to the noise. It made a hissing noise at Zephyrus. “I said, show yourself,” He responded.

Lola glanced at Zephyrus, who stood face to face with the shadowy monster. The light was hitting his face, making his icy blue eyes look like they were glowing. The monster hissed and disappeared. “Get on the couch and stay there,” Zephyrus said, before walking around Lola’s house.

Lola and Ajax listened to Zephyrus. They heard something break down the hall, followed by the sound of Zephyrus crying out. Lola was going to get up and see what happened, but Ajax put his arm out to stop her, shaking his head. Lola went back to how she was sitting and listened carefully. The lights flickered for a moment and Lola caught a glimpse of the monster.

It had a long, pointed face. It was a dull grey and had wrinkly, rough skin with no hair as far as Lola could see. It had blood shot, dull green eyes. The monster was maybe a little shorter than Lola, who was 5 foot 6, and had sharp, gleaming claws. She saw Zephyrus following after it the next time the lights flickered. Zephyrus had claw marks raked across his chest, a bit of red showing through his tattered shirt. The lights stopped flickering. They turned on, showing Zephyrus breathing hard over a pile of green dust. “Damn thing snuck up on me,” Zephyrus said, rubbing his fingers together that had blood on them.

Zephyrus felt light-headed. Lola got off of the couch and walked over to him. Before she got to him, he crumpled to the floor, passing out.

Zephyrus woke up sluggishly and in pain a few hours later to find himself in Ajax’s house. He sat up, wincing. Lola was asleep on the couch. Ajax was nowhere to be seen. Zephyrus had bandages wrapped tight around his chest. “You’re awake,” He heard someone say from behind him.

“Barely,” He said as Sam walked into his view.

Zephyrus looked around. His shirt was also nowhere to be seen. “Your shirt was ripped up. I sent Ajax to the store to buy you a new one,” Sam said, laughing, “He was being territorial with his own.”

Zephyrus smiled for a second then went back to his serious face. “He’ll be back soon,” Sam said, noting Zephyrus’ serious look.

“Sam, do they know?” Zephyrus asked.

Sam smiled. “No, I haven’t talked to them about you yet,” Sam said.

“Sam, this is my last chance. If I don’t-”

“I know. The council already talked with me. Don’t worry Zephyrus. They’ll help you,” Sam said.

“What happened earlier isn’t helping…” Zephyrus said, his voice trailing off.

Sam was going to say something, but the door opened and Ajax walked in with a plastic bag. “I have a shirt,” He held his bag up before tossing it over to Zephyrus.

He pulled the shirt out and threw it on. “Thanks,” Zephyrus said, standing up.

Lola was breathing heavy while she slept. “Maybe we should go outside so I can teach you some magic,” Zephyrus said quietly, “Bring your stele.”

Zephyrus stood and walked to the backyard. Ajax ran up to his room and grabbed his mother’s stele from his drawer before following Zephyrus to the backyard. “Your stele is the most important thing you can carry. You lose it, you have no magic. You can hold it or it can be in your pocket. As long as it is on you, you can perform magic. Rule #1, if your stele is in possession of someone else, it won’t teleport back to you. Rule #2, If your stele is broken or destroyed, so is your ability to perform magic. Rule #3, to perform larger or more difficult spells, you must hold your stele. For smaller spells, it doesn’t matter where your stele is. Rule #4, hand magic does exist, but you have to be skilled, very skilled, in order to perform those types of spells. Not only must you have a little skill to perform smaller hand spells, you must be even more trained to do larger hand spells, the ones that normally require your stele. Got that?” Zephyrus smirked.

“Yes,” Ajax said, “...I think.”

Zephyrus smiled. “All I’m saying is, your stele is important. Basically, don’t lose it, don’t break it, and don’t let it get stolen,” Zephyrus simplified.

“Got it.”

“So, time for your first spell,” Zephyrus held up his stele, “Dissipation.”

“That sounds hard,” Ajax said.

“Perceptive,” Zephyrus said sarcastically, “No one said magic is easy. I am going to spawn a banshee for you to practice with. The banshee will shift into something that you fear. Since you’re starting, hold your stele,” Zephyrus continued to explain to him how to do the spell.

Ajax nodded, “I’m ready,” then held his stele up.

Zephyrus held his stele out to a part of the backyard, the engravings on it glowing blue to match his eyes. A thick black swirl of gas appeared and a little girl stepped out. She looked like she had come straight out of the Ring movie. She had thick, black, straight, long hair that contrasted against her pale skin. Ajax couldn’t see it’s face, but Zephyrus had already memorized the face of a banshee. It’s mouth was sewn shut and it’s eyes were pure white. Running down it’s thin face were two streaks of thick black oil, almost like tear tracks. Its nose almost didn’t exist. It was torn off just like part of her ears. She had a long white dress that hit the floor, the bottom of it stained black. Through the dress you could see her thin, frail body. Her arms and legs were like twigs, the skin pulled tight against her bones. It was almost like she had no muscles, so it was surprising that she could stand.

She looked up at Ajax, finally revealing the banshee's face to him. He almost took a step back out of surprise and fear, but Ajax held his ground. Its eyes glowed and its face and body started to morph. Zephyrus stood to the side, his arms crossed, as the banshee dropped to the floor. It morphed into a small, wicked snake. It was green, with forest green triangular patterns decorating it’s back. Ajax joked, saying, “I may have a new fear.”

“Pay attention,” Zephyrus said strictly.

Ajax went back to focusing on the snake. For some reason, it had reminded him of the night his mother died. He froze, staring as the snake slithered it’s slimy body closer to him. “Ajax,” Zephyrus called out, but Ajax didn’t respond.

Soon the snake was tensing to attack Ajax, who finally snapped out of his trance. He held his stele out at it, but it didn’t light up. The snake pounced at Ajax. He took a step back and put his hands up, covering his face. He heard a thud as Ajax saw the snake’s lifeless body hit the floor. He moved his arms from his face to see Zephyrus holding his stele out. “You gave up,” He said simply, clearly annoyed.

“No I-”

“What did you expect to happen by covering your face?” Zephyrus cut him off.

“I don’t know,” Ajax said, louder than Zephyrus had.

Zephyrus glared at him before promptly turning and walking back into the house. “Wait, hold on-” Ajax called, following after him.

“Boys, what happened?” Sam asked.

“Ajax is incompetent at magic, that’s what happened. Hard to believe that Mariel was his mother,” Zephyrus said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame that led into the living room.

“You didn’t even give me a chance!” Ajax protested.

“If that was a real situation, you wouldn’t have a second chance! You would be dead!” Zephyrus said, getting into Ajax’s face.

Soon the two boys were yelling over each other, making Sam realize that the two of them were two atomic bombs that could explode at any minute. “Boys. Boys! BOYS!” Sam called 3 times before the two of them looked at him, “Will you two stop it?”

Both of them opened their mouths to say something, but Sam glared at them, making both of them immediately close their mouths, “Zephyrus, Ajax is new to learning magic. He didn’t grow up with it, he has to adapt. Be patient. And Ajax,” Sam said, “If you want to be able to do magic, you have to be able to perform it, not just read it. Zephyrus is right when he says that if that was a real altercation, then you would be dead. You two have to cooperate with each other if this is going to work. Stop fighting and get it together.”

Both boys stopped arguing, but they were both irritated and glared at each other. “Well, either way, I’m done trying to help him for today. Maybe you should study more,” Zephyrus snarkily said towards Ajax.

Ajax gave him a fake smile and then an irritated look before walking upstairs to his room. Zephyrus looked at Sam, “What happened to Lola?”

“She left, something about her friend being worried about her,” Sam said simply, picking up a newspaper and reading it.

“Her friend?” Zephyrus asked.

“Yeah, I think she said it was Katie or Kacey or something like that…” Sam said, not entirely focused on what he was saying.

“Huh,” Zephyrus said simply.

“Where were you? I was so worried!” Kharis said as Lola walked into their apartment.

“I… was out,” Lola said.

Kharis gave her look, “Original,” She said sarcastically before returning to her cheerful self, “And you were out not looking at your phone?”

“You mean the present you left me of 15 phone calls and 25 messages of ‘Where are you?’” Lola asked.

Kharis smiled, “I was worried.”

“You were being annoying and overly protective,” Lola corrected, walking towards her room.

“I almost called the police because you didn’t answer me,” Kharis called.

“Whatever Kharis,” Lola called back.

“Hey, wait, you didn’t answer my question!” Kharis realized as Lola closed her door.

Lola sighed, leaning against her bedroom door. Her phone buzzed. It was her manager, Giselle, telling her that she needed to come in to work the last shift for the night and close up the cafe because the person who was supposed to work called in at the last minute. Lola replied and told her boss that she would be there right away.

She changed into another pair of work clothes and headed back towards the front door. “Where are you going?” Kharis asked, pausing the TV.

“Giselle told me to work the closing shift at the cafe,” Lola said grabbing her keys, “I’ll be back later tonight.”

Lola walked out the front door as Kharis called, “Be careful!” She headed down the stairs to the front of the building and started walking on her normal path to the cafe. She walked into the locker room 15 minutes later to find Hyram already putting his apron on.

“Hey Lola! I didn’t know you were coming in tonight,” Hyram said while tying his apron.

“Yeah, I didn’t either. Giselle texted me a few minutes ago asking me to come in,” Lola said, opening her locker.

A piece of paper fell on the floor when she swung the locker door open. She leaned over and picked it up.

I know who you are.

You have three days to come clean to your friends investigating me

or I’ll do it for you.

People will know how fake you really are.

Remember daddy.