Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“Why are they looking?” Talia asked as we got out of our SUVs. She wasn’t asking me specifically, but as I was nearby, I answered for her.
“People are curious beings. They look at these scenes and want to know what happened, who the victim was, what happened to them, who the killer was. They see it as entertainment.”
“That is just sick.” I could tell that she was heartbroken. “Don’t they care that this used to be a person?” She was glaring at the people that were pushing past each other to see more of what was happening.
“Some people do, but not most of them. They feel that as long as this didn’t happen to them or the ones that they love, then it doesn’t matter. It’s just a story. It’s just entertainment. It’s just something that they are hearing about. They can’t relate it to their personal lives because it has nothing to do with them personally.” I could understand why Talia was upset. She was just now getting a taste of what the real world was like. I wanted to shield her from this, at least a little longer, but I couldn’t. She was with me right now, and she was going to be exposed to it throughout this case.
“Do they not have a heart? Can’t they see that this was a person that suffered?” There was a thickness to her voice, something that spoke of heartache and pain.
“They lack the empathy to do that, Talia. That is the problem. Many people in this world, more than I would like to admit, don’t even understand the word empathy, let alone experience for themselves. They’ve closed themselves off and don’t care about the people and things that don’t directly affect them. It’s a sad truth, but the truth it is.”
“I guess people wouldn’t be able to kill others like this if they had empathy. The fact that there is so much pain and loss in the world tells you that there is a serious lack of compassion and empathy in the world.” She was crying now. Just a single tear trailing down her cheek as I looked at her face, but it was there.
“That’s right.” My voice was filled with pain and loss. I knew what she was feeling, but I couldn’t make it go away. She was an empathetic person. And one that felt things so much more strongly than others. “Come on now, Talia, we need to see the crime scene.” I held my hand out toward her and wrapped it around her shoulders when she came closer to me.
I was guiding Talia toward the location that the other investigators were at when I felt Talia freeze.
“Huh?” Her voice was filled with surprise, like she was sure about what she was seeing.
“What is it?” I asked her and noticed that Alexio was paying attention to what was happening as well.
“I..I feel like I’ve been here before.” She was looking around her and taking in the whole scene. “I mean, I have seen this place before. I have seen it all, but it was nighttime.”
“Talia, you have never been here before.” I was confused. I knew that she was remembering something with full detail, that was just how her mind worked, but she had never been here before, of that I was certain.
“I know that I have never been here before, but I feel like I have. I mean, I remember being here. Yet, I also know that we have never visited this place together as a family. I..I don’t know how to explain it.”
We started to walk again, but the moment that Talia’s feet touched the sand, she froze again.
“No. It can’t be. This just can’t be. It’s not real. I am just imagining things.” She started to walk again before I could ask her what she meant.
“Talia?” I called after her, she had stepped away from me and was walking alone. Joaquin, Alexio and I were having to catch up to her.
“No.” She was shaking her head back and forth. “No.” She was just repeating that over and over again.
“Talia?” I called out to her again, but she had already gotten to where the body had been found. And that was where she froze once again.
“No.” She was still shaking her head. “No.”
“Is she alright?” A man that looked like a police detective asked me as he stared at Talia.
“She will be fine.” I reached out my hand toward him. “I am Riviana Gray. We were called in to investigate.”
“Yeah. I know who you are.” He grinned at me. “My name is Abraham. I was called in to help as well. There are a lot more nonhumans in this area than there used to be, and I have been put in charge of them. We mostly have water folk here. I am sure that you know a few of them. However, we also have a large community of magic users.”
“Who was the victim?” Joaquin asked as he came to stand next to me. He was glazing over what Abraham had said.
“Her name was Andrea.” This didn’t come from the man in front of me, the man that smelled like he was from the sea. There was a strong scent of salt and brine around him, more than what the beach should have had.
“That’s right.” He looked at Talia then, and so did I.
“Talia? How do you know that?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking her. I didn’t think that she had made contact with the soul yet, so she shouldn’t know this yet.
“Her name was Andrea. She was around twenty or twenty-two years old. She had bright red hair that had been in a high ponytail. It looked short but it was actually long if you stretched out the curls. Her eyes were bright green. She was close to six feet tall, but not quite there. She was thin and very feminine looking. She was wearing a white summer dress with flowers on it and white strappy sandals.”
“That is all correct.” Abraham was staring at Talia like he was more curious about her than the murder.
“She was waiting for a date. The girl she was waiting for was named Ashlynn. That was who found her. A man killed her before then. He was of the same group of killers that we are chasing, but he did something that the others didn’t do. He still carved the runes into her. He still left the words that the others did. He still ripped her heart out of her chest. But this man, this time that he killed someone, he raped her. He violated her and told her that it was the first time that he had done it. Before he ripped out her heart, he told her she was a good fuck, but played for the wrong team. He did all of that to her, and still he killed her.”
Talia was crying, full on sobbing, by the time that she was done telling us what she had to say. I didn’t know how she knew about this stuff, but she did. And judging by the look on Abraham’s face, she was right about it all.
“How do you know that?” He demanded as he glared at her. “How could you possibly know all of that?”
“I..I dreamed it. I didn’t know that it was going to happen for real, but I dreamed it. I..I saw it days ago. When my parents were out for the night. When I.. when I woke up the next morning, I checked to see if there had been any murders that night. When I learned that there had not been any, I thought that I had just let the horrors of the case get to me. B..but it was real. It was all real. It just hadn’t happened yet.”
Talia nearly collapsed then. I was going to grab her and help her, but Alexio was faster. He lifted her off the ground and cradled her like a child in his arms.
“It was real. It was all real.” She was sobbing harder and harder and that was all that she was able to say.
“Alexio, take her to the car. I will talk to her soon.”
“Right away, Queen Riviana.” He nodded and they walked off. This was a development that none of us were expecting.
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