Detective Witch (Devil's Witch Book 2)
Chapter 1-New Employment

The hum of my heater sounds by my head. Hundreds of dust particles drift by in the soft glow of morning light peaking into my room through the blinds. It’s been one month since Colin shot me and the nightmares of my meeting with the devil have plagued my dreams ever since.

One month of me randomly coming across the nasty little demon vermin I’ve been sending to hell. It hasn’t been easy, luckily most of the encounters are at night when the coven isn’t around. When they are during the day, I have a better cover now.

“Ugh...” I groan, reading the time on my alarm clock.

With a wobbly hand, I pick up my phone off my nightstand and sit up in bed.

From the sound of pans and silverware jingling downstairs, I take it my roomie is already awake.

“Stella! Could you keep it down, it’s so early!” I holler feeling grumpy, but knowing my best friend will never cease to listen.

I really can’t say for sure if I like my new job better than working at Wally’s. Every day I wake up at six and walk into town, Stella’s store moved on the opposite side of town and she has to get up earlier than me so we don’t ride to work together anymore.

“Your eggs are going to burn in hell with you if you don’t hurry up and get down here!” she hollers back.

I smile, jumping out of bed.

Sadly for me, she’s probably right about that.

After I change out of my pajamas, I put on a white blouse and tan slacks. Then I do my hair and pick up my new long black coat.

When I’m done eating my breakfast that Stella kindly made, I help her clean up. Once she heads out to work, I call Will and update him about my little interaction with a demonic dog last night.

I’ve never had to exorcize an animal any bigger, but dogs are always the worst. My magic has a hard time trapping them, it must be because their body mass is bigger and they are smarter than the other animals.

Will didn’t like me waiting to tell him everything, from my second death and most recently, my new job. I haven’t told him about my meeting the devil though. He may be okay with it, but I know for a fact the other witches won’t be. He doesn’t like me working at the station, Stella doesn’t seem to mind. I think she’s finally accepting the vamps, but Will is still bitter.

Ugh, I hate being a witch!

Grumpily, I pick up my brown leather tote that I just got after receiving my first paycheck last Monday. Then I start walking my short commute to work. I even get my own little desk now at the police department, it’s out in the open along with a dozen of other desks and people.

It’s always so busy there, with everyone on their computers, talking through radios and rushing in and out. How easily I forget they’re vampires. When I’m in there working, we’re all just people trying to protect the town when it comes down to it.

At work, I just try to stay in my little space as long as possible doing my research. I thought detectives did more fieldwork, but maybe that was just Hollywood being dramatic. The only time I leave the station is when Yansmen and I go home for the day.

Oh yeah, Yansmen’s my new work partner. I guess he’s interning here from some college up north, doubt he knows what he’s getting into. No human would willingly work for vampires, but he knows what we all are though.

His hair is brown like mine used to be before it turned into old lady hair. Honestly, I think he would probably make a better career out of being a model with his looks.

His first name is David, but everyone calls each other by the last name here. Well, not everyone...

By the time I get to work, Yansmen’s already at his desk sipping his coffee and furiously typing on his laptop. I never knew before, but the hallway with the nice enclosed offices out front to the left of the front desk is reserved for the few higher-ranking officers.

I sit down on my comfy computer chair, I love my new work area. It’s when I turn on my desktop that my mind goes numb with boredom. I really never was a nosy person, I don’t like researching about creepy mysterious deaths or missing persons. It’s like I’m forced to dwell on my past every day sitting in here. The only reason I agreed to do this was to be able to leave when my curse decides to go into effect, I’m like a demon magnet now.

I always get this tingling sensation in my stomach when a demon is around, it has to be my black magic reacting to it.

Over the past month, I’ve learned the demons are actually coming to me. So I usually wait for them behind the station and lure them around to the dumpster in the back and exorcise them there. It’s become routine and when I had to do it at Wally’s, it was too risky to get caught by another witch.

I’m still scared of using black magic, but I’m just as scared of what the devil will do if I fail to capture the demons I replace.

At least here, the vampires wouldn’t kill me for such a thing. It’s probably a good thing they can’t see my magic though.

“Find anything on the stolen watches?” Yansmen asks me while swiveling his chair closer to my desk.

I rest my fisted hand underneath my chin.

“No,” I admit, dragging out a long sigh of defeat.

This computer is so slow, I click my mouse violently ready to send the device across the room.

Yansmen sets his coffee down on my desk and points at the screen, noticing my struggle.

“It’s because you have too many tabs open. Here, let me help you,” he offers while laughing.

I roll my eyes, still feeling like my nineteen-year-old self and not the twenty-nine-year old I’m pretending to be for my own sanity.

I scoot over, letting him gain access to my computer. He slides over and proceeds to click other things on my computer, it’s amazing how much he knows about computers. I think he told me he was double majoring in computer science or something.

I watch as he clicks something that says clear cache and cookies. Cookies? Is my computer eating now?

“Cookies, what’s that mean?” I ask next to him.

“Not worth explaining to someone who barely knows how to text properly.”

I can’t be the only one in the universe who texts with their index fingers. I like taking my time, plus I only need to text with one hand that way and can just hold my phone in the other.

I accidently bump my elbow into

“Parway, look what you did!” David Yansmen hisses.

“Hey, you’re the one who set it there,” I rush back, furiously wiping up the liquid with some napkins leftover from my outing to McDonalds.

I’m surprised when he returns to his own desk so quietly without another peep. In the surface of the brown liquid though, I see the reflection of my computer monitor and the person standing behind it.

My new boss. I never felt intimidated by him before, but it’s different now working for him. Everyone around here seems to feel the same too, so it isn’t just me.

My partner pretends to look busy and I really wish he wouldn’t, we both were supposed to have a report ready and we have nothing. Is he seriously going to let me take the blame on this one?!

“Any progress? We searched the warehouse and made no new discoveries. Hopefully, the two of you have come up with something.” Nick asks in his soothing voice and it makes me want to close my eyes and go to sleep.

Get it together, Valerie! My mind snaps at me and I straighten up in my seat.

His attention isn’t on me anymore, but my partner. Who happens to be catching up on the latest football game. Luckily, Nick can’t see our computer screens from where he’s standing.

“We haven’t found anything yet, chief.” I answer respectfully, watching David as he still continues pushing his luck. Finally, he closes out of the football website.

I don’t really like the way Nick looks at some of the officers, down his nose like they’re beneath him. He doesn’t do it to many of them, but Yansmen is one of them.

“Tomorrow then, come up with something,” Nick says calmly, his scrutinizing stare solely on David.

After that, he moves his hand off the top of my computer monitor and turns on his heels, walking back to his office quietly.

“Yikes,” I whisper, getting back to work.

“Yeah, you have no idea what that was really about do you?” Yansmen replies and I give him a funny look. What does he mean?

“What?” I ask.

“You’re a girl, so it’s not as obvious to you.” He tells me as if that answers my question.

A girl, well that’s the first time I’ve been called anything other than a witch. Maybe I’m finally becoming more like a human.

“Whatever, forget it. This whole place just seems unorganized and no one seems to care. How do they get anything done? I’ve been here a month and I’ve never seen anyone brought in arrested.” David tells me while looking around us.

“Yeah, you’re right. They probably suck their victims dry and then hide the bodies in the basement.” I laugh lightly, but Yansmen is silent.

He picks up a textbook next to his lunchbox and turns it over, using it as an armrest.

I’m not really sure if I took that last joke too far, but I must have said something to make him shut down like that.

I run a hand through my hair and internally scold myself, I’ll have to make it up to him later. I can’t imagine how nervous he really is working here with us. He’s probably afraid of me too.