The drive over to Fraza’s house took me longer than usual. , I drove slowly; it felt like I was scaling a high building from the outside. She would be angry for sure, but what would happen next? I loved her. I would even go as far as saying I loved her more than life itself, and I had betrayed the love she had given me. All that she had given, all of that I had squandered by sleeping with Kendra. And to make matters worse, Kendra was the daughter of the new vampire leader. That whole night had gone from disaster to catastrophe in seconds. As I arrived at Fraza’s home I sighed. It had been a place I had always felt safe, it was where I went after Dragon died, or a case would turn darker than I had hoped it would. She had always been there for me, and I sullied that in the course of one night. I hated myself for what I’d done. As I looked at the building it seemed to condemn me for my actions, telling me it knew exactly what I had done and why I was here now. The humans have a saying: “If these walls could talk, all the stories they would tell.” Here in New Billingham it seemed the walls did talk, just not to us but to each other, a citywide network of secrets that even Hud would drool over. I rang her bell and felt my heart skip a beat when there was no answer. I reached in my pocket to grab the spare key and as I looked at the old but still shiny key I couldn’t help but consider just running off, pretending like nothing had happened … but I knew that if I wanted this to work I couldn’t lie to her. I loved her too much for that.
It seemed that Fraza wasn’t home; her house felt empty cold and eerie. I figured she would be at my place, probably bickering with Rikku about how she treated Didymus. Fraza had never understood why I still kept that little cat around. For demons a pet should serve a purpose, to defend them or gather food or whatever, but as far as they were concerned the cats who had come here with the humans were machines that only ate, peed and pooped. But there was so much more to them. Didymus would often lay his head on my lap when I felt sad, or curl up beside me when I was reading a book or listening to music.
I decided to go see her at my house when Fraza’s phone rang. Knowing it might be her calling – because maybe Kendra had told her about what had happened before I could
– I answered the phone.
“Tara? Is that you? It’s Petra. Look, I have no time for pleasantries; something has happened in the investigation, we need you to be here, so come to the police station right away,” Petra blurred through the phone before she hung up. It sounded really important. Petra hadn’t been this hyperactive in a long time; not since we caught the murderer. She had been so thrilled we had finally managed to arrest the jerk. I wondered what had happened now; maybe the lycans or the vampires found something, or better yet they had found the girl.
I rushed to the front door, pulled it open and bumped straight into James Xrobzix.
“Miss Tara Duluc, New Billingham’s saving gem. Fancy meeting you here,” he said as he brushed off the lapels of his expensive-looking suit.
“Why are you here? Have you been following me?” I asked as I gave him a suspicious look.
He smiled at me and shook his head. “No, I have not been following you at all, Tara Duluc. But I am here for you.” He reached into his pocket and took out a cigarette case, offering me one.
I declined with a shake of the head. “For me? But this isn’t even my house; how did you know I was here?” His story did not add up, and I was starting to feel uncomfortable. “I got your address from that adorable girl in your office, and after seeing you were not at home that cat girl you live with told me you might be here, with your demon lover.” He shook his head. “To see the city’s very own savior lie with a demon; such a pity, and in some quarters heavily frowned upon,” he said.
My hand went to my gun. “I do not care for your human God, or care what you ‘frown upon,’” I snarled. “You fear demons like they are evil in the flesh, sexual deviants that go to your teenage children and tempt them into sex and debauchery. What you fail to see is that they would have done that anyway; it is just how humans are. That God of yours just gives you an excuse to blame your own deviant behavior on someone but yourself.”
He smiled and started clapping his hands together. “My, my, it seems you have us humans pegged quite nicely, Tara Duluc; but why should I be offended by that? The good folks of this city might see you as their savior, but I see you as what you really are, nothing more than a filthy demon whore.” Shooting was too good for him, so I let go of my gun and punched him in the face. Who did he think he was, calling me that? There were so many religious nut jobs among the humans, types that would try to get the city’s demon quarter closed and demolished for being a den of evil. And when they didn’t manage to get their way they would demonstrate outside the demon neighborhood, yelling that their God would punish all who entered and would smite them. Whatever smite meant. As far as I knew I had never heard from their God, just from people who claimed to speak for him or were a channel for his voice.
Xrobzix looked at me and rubbed his jaw. “I hope you know you just made a huge mistake,” he said, looking angry. I didn’t care what kind of human justice he would rain down upon me. “Bring it,” I said. I walked to my car, got in and drove off.  

Next Chapter: Like a puppet on a string