Ritual of the Broken (Haunted Hearts)

Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

O llie stared up into the face of a man, the detective, gone feral. Clean-shaven before, now he had hair—fur—on his face and down his neck. His teeth were bared, sharp, the kind of teeth for ripping flesh. And the eyes caused Ollie to instinctively flare a shield around him with the help of a labradorite stone bracelet, which had been carved with a set of protection runes created for just this type of situation. A quick focus of magic and the shield locked into place. The detective let go and moved back a few feet like Ollie disgusted him.

They stood there in a standoff for a moment, with Ollie pushing power into his shield and the detective appearing to go through some sort of breathing techniques. Or maybe that’s just how he breathed when he turned into …

“So,” Ollie said with a hard swallow. “You’re a werewolf.”

He didn’t have a lot of experience with werewolves. Of course he knew about them. There were mages who made werewolves a subject of their life’s work, embedding with them in the rural places where they lived like anthropologists. But, for the most part, werewolves were a semester at mage academies. They weren’t living in cities, and they definitely weren’t known to be working with the Chicago police.

Ollie maintained his defensive stance, the shield shimmering around him as the detective regained his composure. The werewolf’s features gradually softened, the hair receded from the detective’s (still decidedly attractive) clean-shaven face, and the animalistic snarl faded into a more human expression. His eyes still burned with an intensity that set Ollie on edge.

“You don’t need to be afraid,” the detective said, his voice gruff but controlled. “I’m not going to hurt you.” The detective glanced down. “Oliver. That’s your name?”

For a moment, Ollie’s eyes widened. Did werewolves have the ability to read minds? He thought back to his classes at Synod school. But then he glanced down at himself. His name tag from work. With a frustrated sigh, he grabbed the name tag from his chest and shoved it in his pocket. Ollie pushed more force into the bracelet, the runes etched into the stone glowing faintly.

“Yeah, right. Okay. First you drag me out of the bar, then you flash teeth at me. Now I’m supposed to let you call me by my first name?”

The detective held up his hands, palms outward, without the claws, in a placating gesture. “I know how this must look, but I have it under control. I’m a detective with the Chicago Police Department.”

“Yeah, I gathered that much.” Ollie lowered his own hands, but he still pushed a little of his magic into the shield and kept it in place.

The detective straightened. “And you were at my crime scene tonight.”

“You chased me around the corner,” Ollie said.

“If you hadn’t run, none of this would’ve happened in the first place.”

“I didn’t run.”

The detective appeared to get angry again. “You turned tail and disappeared in someone’s driveway.”

Ollie crossed his arms. “I think we’ve established tonight that you’re the one with the tail.”

For a moment, Ollie got the sense he’d taken it too far. The detective’s face reddened, and a vein showed itself on his forehead. Ollie pushed a little more focus into his shield. But the detective’s eyes only narrowed. “What were you doing at the crime scene?”

“Same as you. I was investigating.”

“On what grounds?”

“On the grounds I saw it happen.” Ollie regretted saying that as soon as it left his mouth. He made it sound like he was there. He sighed. “I mean, I saw it in a vision. A ghost that’s been haunting me for too long seems to have suddenly decided to show me things. I think. And I saw the man get chased by a dark…something, a shadow. I saw it kill him.”

The detective stared at him with his brow furrowed. “You’re saying a ghost told you about Zachary O’Brien’s death.”

Ollie looked up at the detective. “That’s his name? Zachary O’Brien?” The detective’s eyes narrowed, and Ollie got the sense he let the victim’s name slip. Bad for the detective, good for him. At least now he had a name to go on. “And Zachary O’Brien was murdered.”

The detective lifted his chin. “We don’t know that he was murdered.”

“Well I do, because?—”

“Because you saw it happen.” The detective moved toward Ollie and stopped when his bulk was repelled by the shield. “How do I know you didn’t have something to do with his death?”

“That’s a pretty hefty accusation there, officer.”

“ Detective ,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Because I was at my shop when it happened. Then I used a locator spell. That wasn’t easy because I was only going on a vision. Busted a brand-new laptop in the process, but I found it. Not to mention I shattered a perfectly good imbued crystal.” And Ollie was rambling, something he had a habit of doing when he was nervous.

The detective held up a hand. “You got any alibis that can vouch for your whereabouts? ”

“Alibis?”

“Yeah. You know, those people who can tell me that you’re not lying about where you were or what you were doing when this victim was, as you say, murdered.”

Ollie had to think. “There was a customer who came into the shop right before I had my vision. There are security cameras. And an employee.”

Now the detective crossed his arms. “When did you have this vision of yours?”

“I don’t know. Probably around ten. My shop closes at ten, and the ghost touched me right after I locked my doors. I’m pretty sure I got to see it all as it happened.”

“But nobody else was with you?” The detective’s expression looked even more skeptical to Ollie than before.

“I told you. An employee, but I sent her home early. It was after I saw this man get murdered, so you can ask her yourself if you want.” Now he was getting mad. “I promise you, I was nowhere near that man when he died.”

The detective gave an exasperated chuckle. “That doesn’t mean anything. I know what you are. I know you guys don’t need to be close to your victims to be able to control them.”

Ollie’s eyes widened at the detective’s accusation. Control victims? What was this guy talking about? Sure, there were dark mages out there who used magic with evil intent, but Ollie wasn’t one of them, despite what others in the Synod might think. The very thought made his stomach turn .

“Hold on a second,” Ollie said, holding up his hands defensively. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding here. I’m not some kind of evil magic user who goes around controlling people. I’m just a regular mage trying to figure out what happened to that poor man.”

The detective scoffed, his eyes still narrowed with suspicion. “A regular mage…” Ollie could almost hear the detective’s eyes rolling, and it made him want to start screaming.

Instead, Ollie sighed, running a hand through his hair. This was not how he had expected his night to go. First, the haunting vision from the ghost, then the wild goose chase across the city, and now a confrontation with a werewolf detective who seemed convinced that Ollie was some kind of villain.

“Look, detective...” Ollie trailed off, realizing he didn’t even know the man’s name.

“Keller,” the detective supplied gruffly. “Detective Keller.”

“Detective Keller,” Ollie continued, trying to keep his voice calm and reasonable. “I understand your suspicion, but I assure you, I had nothing to do with that man’s death. I’m just trying to understand what happened, same as you.”

Detective Keller’s mouth did this sideways thing that made Ollie clench his jaw tight. “And you expect me to believe that a ghost just happened to show you a vision of a murder?”

Ollie shrugged, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Believe me, I’m just as confused as you are. This ghost has been haunting me for a couple years, but she’s never done anything like this before. I don’t know why she decided to show me that vision, but I feel like I have to do something about it.” There wasn’t any point in launching into the story of his dead mother. Werewolves wouldn’t understand.

The detective studied Ollie for a long moment, as if trying to decide whether to trust him or not. Finally, he let out a heavy sigh. “All right, let’s say I believe you. What do you propose we do about it?”

Ollie took a moment and settled himself down. Maybe he could make this work. “I think we should work together. You’ve got the detective skills, and I’ve got the magic. Between the two of us, we might just be able to figure out what really happened to Zachary and bring his killer to justice.”

Detective Keller barked a laugh that made Ollie flinch. “Work together? Me with a mage? No, thanks. I’m good.” He turned like he was going to walk away. “You remember anything from your vision , you can contact me through the department.”

“What’ve you got against mages?”

The detective turned back to Ollie and took a couple steps forward until he bumped up against the shield again. “What’ve I got against mages? Plenty. How much time you got?”

“Maybe what you need is therapy,” Ollie said.

“Maybe what you need is to get out of my sight before I actually do take you in to answer more of my questions.” He turned to leave again, but he stopped to look back at Ollie. “And if I see you again, I’ll arrest your ass for obstructing my investigation.”

With that, Detective Keller stalked out of the alleyway, leaving Ollie there to think about throwing a brick at his rather impressive back.

This definitely didn’t go as expected at all.

As Ollie turned and snatched his bag from the ground, the ghost appeared again. Ollie fixed her with a dark glare. “Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble for one night?” He walked past her, leaving her in the alleyway.