Tangled Pathways

Chapter One

Chapter one

Malyia had got a call that morning. The skies were still dark and moody. A murder, another murder. The town had never had this many murders. This magic killer was making a name for himself with every news channel playing his newfound name. Maybe he enjoyed the publicity. Malyia slipped into the white lab coat and threw her dark chocolate hair into a ponytail. The weather outside was just like a scene from a horror movie and the fog that ran through the town was thick, the perfect scene for the call she received.

No later than an hour later, Malyia arrived at the station and the office was empty and sullen. There was that cold feeling that filled the place and as she walked down the steps she felt her stomach flip over and over. She wasn't the police exactly. She worked for the station as a detective and dealt in forensics as a coroner with her work, she had to have a really strong stomach and the recent killings that had been happening were not as gruesome as others, but they were still hard to handle and to have to autopsy every victim. Every woman victim was heart-wrenching.

Upon flicking on the lights she watched as each light panel lit up and laid on the table was a body covered by a white sheet. There she was Samatha Greenhouse. Her skin was pale and her eyes were frozen with fear... To look into the eyes of the dead was to look into someone's soul though they played back nothing only the last moments before their death. Her lips were a purple-ish blue and they parted slightly, almost as if to whisper her last words. In this line of work, you will see many wounds and punctures, though it was never easy to see the vocal cords of someone slashed in half, the wound Samantha was a long s***h across her neck. The poor girl became one of his victims and one of his prey. Every other victim had a long slit across their throat as well that never changed it was if he wanted to take their voices to rape them then take what they used to scream.

The only thing that had changed with this murder was Samatha was 12 weeks pregnant. To be exact, the killer couldn't have known why he? Hel,l the town didn't even know and as her friend, Malyia didn't either. Then, like a bag of bricks,

Knock knock knock, three loud knocks interrupted her thoughts and her work as she peeled her gloves off and glanced over at the door. There stood in the doorway a man about 6’7 m masculine, beautiful emerald eyes, golden-brown hair and just a perfect jawline he was perfect all by himself, just too perfect he had to be married but there were no kids rings, maybe not he didn't look like the type.

“Ms.Kenta is it?” the man said, walking in from the doorway as he shut the door behind him. “Yes, may I ask who you are? “She responded, looking at him and his voice had some type of accent, not the sweet southern country but something more English she knew he wasn't from around here.

“The new detective, Tristan James, nice to meet you. The chief asked me to come to see you and said you could explain the case much better than him?” Tristan responded.

“Well, detective James, our latest victim, Samantha Greenhouse, who was murdered in her own home, was 12 weeks pregnant, guessing our magic murderer didn't know although there was something that also caught my eye. There's a pattern almost every woman he killed was married, so there may be some issues with his mom and dad's marriage. Maybe a failed marriage. I'm at a stump with this case. The whole damn pricent is We don't have much time before there's another dead woman on this table.” she stated.

“We'll, Ms.Kenta that is something I saw too when Cheif showed me a bit of the file. We'll have that bastard in no time. I'm going to borrow some of the files. I want to check for anything else that might help I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you. How about dinner? Food and murder files have always been my favorite," he said with a charming white-toothed smile.

“ Yes, I'm sure we could schedule something I enjoy disturbing cases and food as well” Maylia gave the detective one of those sweet southern smiles before laughing softly. The two had a long moment of eye contact before Tristan's eyes went up and down her body as if he was analyzing every curve, even with the lab coat on, she felt exposed. It was the way his emerald green eyes, like little lanterns, burned into the skin. "Ahem.. it was a pleasure meeting you Detective," she said as she watched his eyes snap back up to hers. "Oh yeah, you too Malyia," he said before he turned to leave the morgue.

The cold feeling filled the room once more and she was faced with continuing the autopsy of Samantha. Hours passed and it had been nighttime right about now. She made her way up the stairs into the stations where the chief greeted her with a fatherly smile. He was like a father to her after her parents' death. Malyias parents died in a car crash, so she stayed with the chief and his son, who was her age at the time. His name was Austin. Those two spent a lot of time together and Malyia even had her first kiss with him, but they became best friends instead. “ Going to spend time with my son Mal?”, his gruff voice was like home and his smile was a pot of warm honey and it filled her with the warmth she needed after the death of Samantha. It was easy after doing this so long that she was able to flip the switch, from having to analyze a dead body to having a warm light conversation, and even though Samantha was her friend she knew she couldn't take her death truly to the heart she was just another victim now.

“Yes, sir, it is our annual movie night” Malyia replied with a smile to match his. He gave her a quick pat on the shoulder. “ Now you be careful out there. It's supposed to be a storm stay off that dammed phone while driving”, he said, and she laughed. She never texted while driving, especially after her parent's deaths. "Of course, Cheif you have a good night," she said with a smile.

Soon she made her way to her car and the rain was pouring heavily. She pulled out her phone, seeing she had a text message. Austin's name appeared on her screen, though she chose to ignore it as she wanted to get home before the storm came down harder. Any time it stormed she grew afraid and being the one driving made it worse, but it was not long until she pulled into her driveway. There stood Austin. He was drenched in water as he stood on the porch of her house and the rain only came down harder having no intention to stop anytime soon.

“You i***t, have you been standing outside? Why didn't you get back in your car and wait for me?” she said, walking up the stairs to the front door opening up and pulling him inside.

“You're the one who didn't respond to my text, plus you moved the spare key,” he said, discarding his wet shirt. Malyia went off into her room, coming back out with a pair of pajamas. “Yes, with the killer on the loose, you can't be too careful. Anyways, here are some of Brian's old clothes you're getting my rug all wet" She said and he chuckled wringing out his shirt just to piss her off a little more. "keep it up asshole" she said before walking into the kitchen to pour a glass of wine while Austin went to change. Wine was an amazing remedy after being in a quiet and taunting steel room all day she didn't drink often but when she did she savored every sip,

The pajamas Austin was wearing were a little small as they clung to his muscles and his body, making it hard for Malyia not to stare. The clothes he wore were from Malyias’ deceased husband who served in the military and lost his life during his service. She donated most of his clothes but she needed a memory of him. Though she had taken off her wedding band a few years ago, she couldn't just give anything else away he was a part of he life still even in death giving away any more of his stuff broke her heart. Brian was a bit smaller than Austin so she wasn't surprised the clothes didn't fit as well but it was much better than having him soaking her sofa and carpet.

"Too tight?” She asked as she handed him a glass of wine

“It's fine now let's go, the movie is starting” he chuckled as they walked over to the couch settling in. Austin put an arm around her shoulders. She was used to this their closeness, she had only had a crush on him when they were younger, of course, who wouldn't Austin had always been handsome with his olive-toned skin and thick black dark curls that fell to his neck, his eyes were so bright and blue and if you stared into them you would feel as if you were falling deep into an ocean which was terrifying yet beautiful. When they were younger they dated a bit but it never got serious because they were friends before anything and when he got married she pushed those feelings away even after his divorce from his cheating wife who was also a friend of hers in high school and they fell out because of Austin friendship with her. Every time he touched her even the smallest or shortest touch all those thoughts filled her head again. Seeing as she was not even focused on the movie she shook her head and gulped down the wine before setting the glass on the table.

“Hey what's wrong?” Austin asked as he turned his head to face her his breath tickling the skin on her neck making her shudder and she hesitated to turn around.

“Noth-” she began to say as she turned her head, their lips grazing each other. Austin pulled back his ocean blue eyes wide and panicked as he stared at her.

“I'm sorry-” she was cut off by Austin's lips crashing back into hers, it was confusing yet she did not pull away, in fact, she couldn't She had felt so consumed by the murders and with Samantha's death, she needed to feel something anything. This wasn't the first time they kissed it didn't have to mean anything she didn't need it to mean anything at this moment. "Are you sure..?" Malyia asked as she pulled away searching those ocean eyes and he stared back at her searching her's as well. "No but I don't care," he said, and before she could protest he swooped her up carrying her towards her bedroom his lips never leaving hers once he claimed them again.

For 18+ scenes read the next episode to skip this scene and continue to episode 3.

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.Thank you for reading Chapter one and episode one of the Tangled Pathways follow me on i********: @a_random_writerrr and w*****d @a_random_Writer.