“That’s true,” Poppy said. “She certainly didn’t come here thinking she’d be dealing with mythological creatures, monsters even.”

  “Plus, it hasn’t been that long since she lost her brother,” Marty added. Yes, it had been a very sad day when Cain, Taliyah’s brother and Marty’s cousin, had been murdered.

  “Adopted brother,” Roy corrected her.

  “A brother is a brother, Roy,” Poppy replied, frowning at him. He just shrugged, but I noticed his eyes lingered on her.

  “Fair enough.”

  We all watched as Taliyah hung up the phone and opened the door, motioning for us to enter. “This case is proving to be a nightmare,” she said as she frowned at each of us in turn.

  “How’s that?” Marty asked.

  “Killing an elf is a serious offense, but killing a grim is the equivalent of murdering an endangered species,” she answered, still pacing. “The problem is… I can’t rely on anything I’ve been trained to rely on.”

  “What do you mean?” Poppy asked.

  “Human law is different to supernatural law, as you know,” she answered, finally sitting down at her desk as she threw her head into her hands and sighed. “And trying to walk the fine line between the two isn’t easy.” She looked up at me then. “Speaking of, when you called me, you didn’t say anything about what happened to Darragh and Cranough to Deputy Sanchez, did you?”

  I shook my head. We’d already been through this. “No, I just asked to speak to you.”

  “That’s right, I already asked you that, didn’t I?” I just nodded and gave her an understanding and sympathetic smile. She responded with another deep sigh.

  “Luckily for us, I’ve managed to keep the crime scene on the down low, so the place isn’t covered with forensics and detectives.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Marty said, before reaching over and patting her hand. “Just take deep breaths, Tally, we’ll figure this out.”

  Taliyah nodded, but it didn’t seem like she was acknowledging him—she looked like she was still lost in her own thoughts. “So, now I’m stuck with a dead elf and an oil slick that used to be a grim and I don’t know what to do about either.”

  “Let the council handle it,” Roy answered from the corner of the room, where he was towering over everyone else. “It’s our jurisdiction, anyway.”

  Taliyah looked up at him and her eyes burned with fierce indignation. “This is my town, therefore it’s my jurisdiction.”

  Roy just sighed and shook his head, like he wasn’t interested in going up against her temper. Not that I blamed him—Taliyah’s temper was becoming pretty legendary.

  Taliyah turned back to the rest of us. “Usually I’d order an autopsy if I had a dead body on my hands, but how am I supposed to do that when all my coroners are humans? Not to mention, I only have one body—the other is… dissolved.”

  “Regardless, the council should be included in this case,” Roy said again.

  “Why? You have someone who can explain the death of an elf and an oil slick that won’t seep into the dirt?” Taliyah asked, glaring up at him.

  “Not exactly,” Roy answered.

  “Do you even have paranormally inclined morticians on the council?” Poppy asked him.

  He paused a moment too long. “Well, no.”

  “Then how is the council supposed to help me?” Taliyah continued.

  Roy cocked his head to the side. “You have a point—those types of tests are beyond the scope of what the council can handle, but I still think they should be involved.”

  “You’re on the council, aren’t you?” Taliyah asked him pointedly. He nodded. “Then consider yourself involved.” Then she looked at me. “What was protocol before I came here when a supernatural creature wound up dead?”

  Protocol had been trying not to get Cain involved in supernatural affairs, but it wasn’t as though I could say that to Taliyah.

  “Protocol was… private,” I started.

  “Private?”

  I cocked my head to the side, realizing I’d have to explain without explaining too much. “Whether or not the death was looked into… depended on what the families wanted.”

  Taliyah frowned at me and started tapping her fingernails against the desk like she was in a hurry and I was taking too much of her time. “What does that mean?”

  “It means the way Haven Hollow handles supernatural deaths is to leave it up to the families of the deceased as to what they want to do with their dead,” Roy answered in his concise sort of way.

  “And if they wanted an autopsy?” she asked.

  He nodded as if he was expecting her question. “If the family chooses to do an autopsy, then they have to find the coroner and order it themselves.”

  “So you don’t have a police force to look into such things?” Taliyah asked, her eyes going wide.

  “Not exactly,” Roy answered. “Deaths of supernaturals are usually rare occasions anyway given that this is a Hollow and owing to our long life-spans, but when they do occur, they’re handled by the surviving family members.”

  “The council doesn’t get involved?” Poppy asked.

  Roy looked at her, and his expression softened. “Only if the family asks us to. Usually, we just document the death, and whatever the reason for the death as mentioned from the family members and we leave it at that.”

  “That sounds very archaic to me,” Taliyah said, and Poppy nodded in agreement.

  “Has anyone notified Darragh or Cranough’s next of kin?” Taliyah asked, as her gaze settled on me once again.

  “Um,” I started. “I doubt it because I don’t think anyone in Haven Hollow knows their next of kin.”

  “This case just continues to spiral downwards,” Taliyah responded.

  “Seems to me like these deaths could be the work of a hunter,” Marty said, almost as an aside.

  Just as there were monsters in the world, there were also hunters—humans determined and destined to hunt down all monsters and end them. That was one of the reasons why supernatural creatures rallied to Hollows—they were designated sanctuaries where those paranormally inclined could gather in numbers for protection. So, if this was the work of a hunter, that hunter had some serious guts to have come into a Hollow. But, I couldn’t say my mind was fully concentrated on the idea of hunters coming calling to Haven Hollow. Instead, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that this case could spell the end for Hallowed Homes.

  The more I thought about it, the more I decided news about this situation could definitely have a bad impact on my new business—especially given the fact that Darragh had been actively working with us to find a graveyard. As soon as this story broke through the supernatural community, everyone would associate Hallowed Homes with dead elves and grims and that was a connection I wanted no part of.

  I turned to Marty, hoping to find comfort in his smile or the kind word he always had at the ready, but as I looked up at him, his eyes were already engaged—on Poppy. A small smile adorned his face and if it hadn’t dawned on me before that Marty was head over heels for my friend, it really dawned on me now. It was just… in the way he looked at her—the way he couldn’t take his eyes off her—the way he hung on every word she said. I didn’t think Roy was thrilled with the realization either—he was doing his best not to look at either of them and I felt for him.

  “Well, I’m not about to let whoever did this get away with it,” Taliyah said, pulling our attention back to her. “I’m still in charge of this town and it’s still my responsibility to protect our citizens and visitors, regardless of what form they take.” She nodded as she took a deep breath. “But, the first step is finding out whoever the hell did this.”

  “And you can’t rely on human authorities,” I reminded her.

  “Right,” she said.

  “I have Fox Aspen’s number,” Poppy piped up then. “He’ll be able to tell me if any hunters were dispatched to Haven Hollow recently.”

  “Fox Aspen?” Taliyah repeated, her tone one of confusion.

  Fox Aspen was just another name the Prince of the Faerie Court of Autumn, Prince Reynard, assumed. But, Reynard wasn’t just a prince—he was also a supernatural detective of sorts—going by the alias of Fox Aspen. Not only that, but Prince Reynard/ Fox was promised in marriage to Olwen, the faerie Taliyah would become when her transformation was complete. As soon as the spell on Taliyah finally broke away and she became Olwen, the heir to the Winter Court, Prince Reynard would wed her. With this marriage, peace would be declared between the two currently warring courts.

  Why were the two courts warring? Because there had been a usurper to Olwen’s throne and the Court of Winter called Janara. It had been a couple of months ago that Janara and her retinue had come to Haven Hollow, searching for Olwen/Taliyah. Once she located Taliyah, Janara planned to murder her (just like she’d done to Taliyah’s parents).

  In their attempts to locate Olwen/Taliyah, Janara and her cronies had kidnapped some of the local children, including Poppy’s own son, Finn. They’d tried to use the kids as ransom in order to get their hands on Olwen/Taliyah, but it was poor planning on their part. A seer had told them about Taliyah becoming Olwen, but the seer had been off regarding her timeline. She was a year too early, and Taliyah hadn’t yet begun to transform into Olwen. Now, Janara and her attendants were being held captive within a magic circle in the middle of a forest on the outskirts of town.

  Everyone in the Hollow knew this—everyone except for Taliyah, that is. She was still in complete ignorance about what and who she would become.

  “Yeah. Fox has an in with Jonathan Moses, the current leader of the Hunter’s Guild of the Americas,” Poppy explained.

  “It sounds like this Fox Aspen person is aligned with the hunters, then? If not a hunter himself?” Taliyah asked, her expression suspicious.

  “He’s only aligned with himself,” Poppy answered with a shrug. “Besides, Fox owes me a favor so I’m sure if I asked him to do a bit of snooping on our behalf, he’d oblige me.”

  “A favor?” Taliyah repeated, eyeing Poppy narrowly, suspicion still ripe in her gaze. But, Taliyah’s lack of trust wasn’t a slight against Poppy personally—it would have surprised me if Taliyah trusted anyone.

  “I sort of saved his life,” Poppy replied. “I’ll give him a call tomorrow.”

  Taliyah exhaled the breath she’d been holding. “I guess it’s as good a place to start as any. I’ll work on a list of likely suspects, but first I need to do a more thorough examination of the graveyard, which I’ll start at first light.” Then she looked up at Roy. “Maybe I don’t need to say it, but I’m not leaving the details of these deaths to Darragh and Cranough’s family members, if we’re able to actually locate said family members. Even if Haven Hollow doesn’t have a standard protocol for dealing with these types of situations, I’m going to implement one.” Then she paused as she faced each of us again. “I don’t suppose any of you could find a coroner to examine the elf’s body?”

  “We could ask around town to see if anyone knows of someone,” Poppy started, but Taliyah shook her head.

  “We need to keep this news from breaking before I’ve got a handle on the case. That means, you can’t alert any of our supernatural residents to what’s going on.”

  “Then how are we supposed to find a coroner?” Marty asked.

  Taliyah looked at him, and her lips were tight. “You’re going to have to get creative, and that creativity would be best suited outside Haven Hollow town limits. I don’t want this case leaving my office—not until we know more.”

  This was going to be a tough assignment.

  “I’ll see if I can find someone,” I told her, eager to resolve the case before word started getting around that might affect Hallowed Homes. Maybe it might have seemed selfish or insensitive of me, but I wasn’t thinking of myself. Mostly, I was thinking of all my employees and their families. If Hallowed Homes failed, that would mean I’d not only failed myself, but I’d also failed them and that was a thought I just couldn’t face.

  “Alright. Let’s adjourn for now and report back any news as soon as you have it,” Taliyah said, as she turned to face Roy. “I’ll need your help to retrieve the bodies. Well… the body.”

  “No problem,” Roy answered.

  “I can help too,” Marty offered, but Roy nearly interrupted him with a deep growl.

  “I’ve got it covered.”

  Taliyah nodded and then stood up, showing us the door.

  ***

  As we went our separate ways, gloom surrounded me and that gloom just doubled at the thought of trudging back to the house I was currently sharing with Angelo. I had so much to deal with, so much that was already plaguing me, and Angelo was the last person I wanted to add to the list.

  “Hey, Fifi!” I heard Roy call as he approached me, sprinting to catch up. I stopped and waited for him. “Where are you headed?”

  “Home, not that I’m excited to see Angelo,” I grumbled, shaking my head.

  Roy nodded, and it seemed his thoughts were causing him some distraction. “You could always stay at my place.”

  I looked over at him and frowned, surprised and guarded all at the same time. My expression must have revealed as much because Roy instantly started chuckling and held up his hands in a surrendering sort of way.

  “I’m not propositioning you, Fifi,” he started. “I’m just well aware of how Angelo is and we both know he’ll only bring you further down. And you definitely don’t need that right now.”

  “That’s true.”

  “So… I’m just saying you could stay at my place, as a friend. I’ll happily sleep on the sofa.”

  “I thought you had to help Taliyah?”

  “I do,” he answered as he reached inside his pocket and produced a ring of keys. He took one of them off and handed it to me. “Here you go.”

  Even though I was surprised (owing to what had happened between us earlier with the kiss and then Roy’s less-than-thrilled response) the desire to avoid Angelo was enough that I accepted Roy’s house key. But, not before promising myself nothing would happen tonight—no kissing, no touching, not even any hand holding.

  Roy and I were friends and friends we’d stay.

  Chapter Twelve

  When Roy walked through his front door, after a couple of hours since giving me his key, we both were fairly quiet, almost uncomfortable. The sun was just starting to come up and although I’d been awake all night, I couldn’t sleep. I just… wasn’t tired.

  Roy walked over to the couch, where I was sitting and previously staring off into space, and offered me a smile. “You want me to light a fire? It’s a little cold in here.”

  “Sure.”

  I watched him lean over and hoist a large log that had been sitting beside the fireplace onto the grate and then he shoved a few handfuls of pine needles underneath it, to serve as kindling. As he did so, the muscles of his torso strained against his shirt and it was all I could do not to notice them. But, notice them I did because they were just so… large. Just like the man himself.

  Roy lit a couple of matches, introducing them to the kindling surrounding the large log and the fire roared up, spitting and popping as soon as it made contact with the pine kindling. Roy leaned back on his haunches, his back still facing me, then apparently content with the state of the fire, stood up and turned to me with another handsome smile.

  “It should warm up in here pretty soon.”

  I just nodded, not really in the mood to talk. To his credit, he didn’t try to force conversation. No doubt he knew how devastating this whole Darragh situation was for me. What he didn’t know was how much it had wrecked me to watch Marty looking all moony-eyed at Poppy. Not only was I jealous and envious, but I also felt stupid. When Marty had come to the office to drop off his gift, it hadn’t been because he had ulterior motives. He’d just come to see me as a friend and that realization stung. And then I’d gone and stuck my foot in my mouth when I’d asked him out to dinner.

  Oh, demons below, that’s right—I’d asked him to dinner.

  Regarding the subject of Poppy and Marty, I was more than sure Roy had his own feelings. Maybe that was why he’d invited me over—maybe he just didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts?

  “Do you want anything to eat or drink?” he asked.

  “No, thanks,” I answered, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach. “I should… I should probably try to get some sleep.”

  He nodded. “Make yourself at home—I think you know where the bedroom is?” He motioned down the hall, apparently just in case I forgot.

  “Thanks, Roy,” I said as I stood up.

  “Sure. And if you need something to sleep in—my t-shirts are in the third drawer down.”

  “I appreciate it,” I said in a small voice as all the events of late started to rain down on me and I felt beyond exhausted, despair circling overhead like a buzzard waiting to devour me.

  ***

  It took me forever to fall asleep, my mind running in circles as I considered the ramifications of what had happened at Hollow Cemetery and what the deaths might mean for Hallowed Homes and my employees.

  There was no way to know what had really happened—who had killed Darragh and Cranough and why. I also couldn’t help but wonder if there was some sort of message behind the deaths? Even though I was sure it was just another instance of my imagination on overdrive, I found myself wondering what killing two innocent creatures meant? Could there have been any significance to the fact that they’d been murdered while looking at one of our property listings? Was there any way this murder could have been a message aimed at me? A warning?

  Or were their deaths just random, and they didn’t mean anything at all? I had no enemies—well, at least none I was aware of, unless one counted Angelo. While that might have sounded like a stretch, sometimes it definitely felt like we were more like enemies than siblings. But would Angelo have done such a horrible thing?

  No, I couldn’t believe that of him. Yes, he was petty and jealous, but he wasn’t diabolical enough to kill two innocent creatures just to spite me. For as awful as Angelo was, I couldn’t believe he’d kill anyone intentionally. He just… didn’t have that level of malevolence in him. Even as an incubus, stealing people’s life force—he’d never killed anyone.