Jeremy's Kiss

Table of Contents

Prologue

The Old Job

The New Job

The Past (8 - 20 years ago) – Cold Case 1

New Boyfriend

The Past (8 – 20 years ago) – Cold Case 2

Tired

The Secret

The Past (8 – 20 years ago) – Cold Case 3

Thoughts

Jeremy’s Story

Brennan

Permission

Crime Scene

Watchers

Detective and Witness

Too Lo

Old Blood

Hiding Places

Bait

Awakening

The Investigation Begins

Plans

Jade’s

Carolyn

Natalie’s Trial

Missing

Opening The Investigation

Conversation With Lilith

Meeting With Sasha

The Old Blood

Powers

The Lucky Break

Revenge

Blood Oath

About The Author

Preview – Natalie’s Hunt

Prologue

(Present Day)

Natalie stood at the kitchen sink to wash the blood off her hands, the sweet luxurious blood covering her hands and her right arm up to her elbow. Even the little drops of blood touching her skin on her face and neck felt like little pleasures of life to her skin. The blood was life, the source of her nourishment and immortality. She knew she needed to drink it to survive, but the feel of it on her skin was like a wondrous drug to her senses.

The scent of the blood filled her nostrils, urging her to taste it, to drink it and let it fill her with life. She could feel her fangs pushing against the inside of her bottom lip. She wouldn’t drink any of this blood though. They deserved to be dead and she would not allow even a portion of their blood to live inside her.

She turned on the water and thoughts of Lady MacBeth crossed her mind. The image of washing the blood from her hands passed through her mind before her hands touched the water.

The water was like a bucket of ice thrown onto her while relaxing in the bathtub. Losing the pleasure of the blood on her skin was so intense it felt painful.

From the living room behind her, she could feel Steve’s sanity slipping. He knew he had just helped kill the man who employed him. He knew the two dead bodies in the living room were as close to friends as he had known in his life. He also knew he had been powerless to do anything but help Natalie kill them.

He wasn’t slipping away from her though; the link between them was going to last longer than his sanity. The thoughts of sharing his fall into insanity were far more unsettling than washing the blood and flesh from off her hands and arms.

Looking back, she wondered how she got to this point.

(American Revolutionary War)

The smell of gunpowder and wood smoke, mingled with the smell of sweat and fear, permeated the forest. The bodies of soldiers wearing homespun clothes lay beside bodies of their red coated enemies.

Three men hid within the dark shadowy bushes, where the moonlight was unable to penetrate the thick cover leaves of the tall trees around them. They looked over the forest, waiting for the sounds of four red coated soldiers to fade away. The soldiers had passed within inches of one of the three men and never saw him because he was so well hidden. They could have easily killed the four soldiers, as they had killed several other red coats earlier in the night, but their target tonight was close, and they would not risk him getting away just to kill a few more soldiers in this forest.

The men were part of a dying group that started out with fifteen, and was now down to six. Divided into two groups of three, they were closing in on the target responsible for the deaths of the remainder of their company.

Their target was a respected major in the Royal British army, and he was a vampire. He commanded a division that included an unknown number of vampires, which were responsible for routing at least three divisions of the colonial army. They always attacked at night, and disappeared in the daytime. Usually after they were done with their attack, they didn’t have to worry about a counterattack, as most of the colonials were dead or routed.

This time was different though. This time, eleven vampires supported the colonial camp. None of the people in either camp were aware of the vampires fighting in their midst. The vampires remained careful and did not allow the people to see that they were more powerful than those they fought beside.

The redcoats attacked using the same method that had served them so well in their last few engagements. Under cover of darkness, they would slowly move in on their enemy’s position. Once they were close enough, they would launch a nearly simultaneous attack from all sides. Thanks to a warning from a young colonial captain, named Connor, and ten men under his command, the colonial regiment was ready for the attack. They were badly outnumbered, and outgunned, but they fought bravely and retreated in an orderly fashion. Surprise worked to their advantage and they inflicted heavy casualties on the British, but took numerous losses to the superior force.

Now the majority of that British force was following the colonial regiment as the regiment retreated. That left a small detail of English soldiers to guard the major and other officers. They had taken over a small farmhouse and they were now using it for their base of operations.

The six men knew this was not going to be an easy fight. They suspected at least half the officers were vampires, and probably one or two of the guards were also vampires. They divided up into two groups of three. Their first job was to take out the guards without alerting the occupants inside the house. Once that was done, they were going to charge into the house with guns and knives, hoping to surprise the occupants and kill them all. It wasn’t much of a plan, but if they didn’t do it now, then the major and his command staff would get away, and they would not get another chance without bringing in a much larger force.

The three men moved silently through the night after the soldiers were clearly past. They arrived at their destination in less than twenty minutes without seeing any other soldiers in the forest.

The farm was still fairly new. The main house was a small one-room structure with a stone fireplace on one side. A hastily constructed pen was connected to the house, and only a lean-to served to shelter the animals. Both the pen and the lean-to were on the opposite side of the house from where they now positioned themselves. If the farmer and his family still lived here, then by the end of summer, he would have constructed a better shelter for the animals, and something to cover their feed to get them through winter.

Three soldiers were sitting around a fire under the lean-to. If everything went according to plan, the other group would take out those three soldiers. On this side of the house were two soldiers. Unfortunately, these two weren’t looking at a fire. It would be harder to take them by surprise.

While under cover of the trees, Brennan indicated for his first man to attack the guard closest to the door, he would take the other guard. The third man knew he was to follow them in as backup. If either of the first two went down, then he would take their place and dispatch the guard and continue into the house with the attack. If they were lucky, the third man would be the first into the house, quickly followed by the second man and Brennan. If they were really lucky, Connor and his two vampires would already be in the house surrounded by the bodies of the enemy officers.

Once Brennan was sure both men knew their instructions, they turned to execute their plan. Brennan moved to his left to stay under cover as long as possible. The other two quickly disappeared into the brush behind him. Once he was in position, Brennan threw a small pebble back into the woods. It hit a tree with a barely audible thump. Another thump followed the first.

Brennan charged out of the forest running as quickly and quietly as possible. The guard turned, but was too late and too slow, Brennan’s bayonet slid between the guard’s ribs and into his lungs. Without breath, the guard could not even cry out a warning. Brennan reached out and held the guard’s mouth and nose while lowering him to the ground. Once he was down, Brennan drew his knife and sliced through the guard’s throat, ensuring he would die quietly.

Brennan got up and ran for the door to the house. The other guard was down as quietly as the first. Brennan’s two comrades were already going into the house. Brennan ran past the second guard without looking at him. A shot rang out in the house before Brennan could reach the door. Both of the soldiers with him were in the house now, and Brennan could see they were only barely inside the door struggling with someone in the house.

The first soldier fell to his knees from where he was standing. The second went around him grabbing the first’s loaded rifle. Brennan entered just in time to see the second soldier and a British officer exchange shots. The British soldier took a hit in the gut, and the soldier with Brennan was hit in the shoulder. Both of them were so close together that the muzzle loaded weapons caught their clothes on fire.

The British officer ignored the flames on his uniform and grabbed another rifle to shoot with. Brennan didn’t hesitate to raise his own rifle. His shot hit the officer in the throat, knocking him back against the wall. The officer slid to the floor clutching his throat.

Brennan lowered his weapon and turned back to his comrades, only in time to witness the first soldier being beheaded by the major wielding a sword. The second soldier to enter the house was already dead in similar fashion.

With unnatural speed, the major rushed Brennan and grabbed him by the throat lifting him off the ground. Brennan couldn’t believe how quick he was. The major’s face was covered with blood and his fangs were exposed. He looked like he had just been feeding. Brennan could only wonder how old this vampire was to be so quick.

The rifle dropped from Brennan’s hands. The major stood there looking at Brennan, and then pulled him close. Brennan felt the steel of the sword slicing through his stomach.

Connor made you. The major said with a distinctly French accent. He didn’t ask, but merely stated a fact. The major then withdrew his sword from Brennan’s stomach and threw him back into the wall with such force that Brennan felt bones in his back crack. Brennan fell forward from the wall and onto his hands and knees. He could see the major’s feet and knew the major was preparing to chop off his head. Another pair of feet wearing deerskin moccasins appeared behind the major’s feet.

Brennan waited for the blow to come that would end his life forever, but it didn’t happen. With effort, Brennan looked up. A vampire had caught the major from behind and was drinking the major’s blood. Brennan fell over on his side, and watched as this unknown vampire fed on the major. Once he was done feeding, the vampire tore the major’s head from his body. Brennan couldn’t believe the strength. He might have been able to duplicate the feat, but not that easily.

The other vampire then looked at the roof and let out a deafening sound that was like the combination of a moan and a growl, before he ran out the door.

Brennan reached out and grabbed the body of the major. Pulling the body to him was like torture, but Brennan knew he could not stop. Once the body was close enough, Brennan bit into the rapidly cooling flesh. There wasn’t much blood left, but Brennan knew he had to drink whatever he could so he could heal himself enough to leave this house. Otherwise, even a human soldier would be able to kill him quickly and easily.

Brennan was able to drink enough blood to heal himself some. His back still hurt with every movement, but the bones were knitting together. The major’s body was drained of all blood.

Brennan dragged himself to the next closest body. It was the body of one of his company. Once again, Brennan drank the blood from the body and healed himself.

Connor entered the house while Brennan was drinking the blood from his fallen comrade. With quiet efficiency, Connor drew his own sword and beheaded the last two vampires in the room. The bullets to their heads and necks incapacitated them, but they would have healed eventually.

We are the only two left, Connor said as he helped Brennan to his feet. Together they walked back out into the night.

The Old Job

Senior Airman Stringer, Natalie to her friends, shook hands with Staff Sergeant Kirkland for the last time. Today was her last official day in the United States Air Force. Today was the day she said all of her final good byes to her friends and coworkers. Except for the ones deployed overseas that is. Natalie considered herself lucky that Sergeant Kirkland was not deployed today.

At the age of twenty-two years old, Natalie was leaving the Air Force to pursue her dream to become a criminal investigator. Thanks to summer school and correspondence courses, she was now in her final semester at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. She already had a job with campus security, and she still received some military benefits to help pay for school. She felt sure she could find a good job as an investigator right after graduating with her degree in criminal law. If she couldn’t do that, she could still find other work that would get her foot in the door. Four years in the Air Force Military Police carried a lot of weight with law enforcement agencies.

Natalie released Kirkland’s hand and found herself looking around the room. It was a small room, only three desks. The furniture was new modular type furniture, designed to make rooms more efficient. Unfortunately, it didn’t really work out that way. The only way to set up the desks was to put each of the three personal computers facing against a wall, so every time someone came in, whoever was working at a computer had to physically turn away from their computer screen to talk. Natalie hated having to work in this room, and avoided it when she could. Two of the personal computers were set up for filing paperwork electronically. They used to have to fill out paperwork dealing with all their duties by hand, buy now they got to do it on computer. Natalie thought it was just as tedious doing it on the computer as the old timers described how they used to do with pen and paper. It seemed like every time Natalie was in the middle of a lengthy report, she would be the only person in the room and someone would come in needing something. After talking to them she would have to try and get back to her train of thought on the report.

For all of that though, Natalie knew she was going to miss this. Her duties at Offutt were mostly manning the gates accessing the base or flight line, and for a few months, she drove a patrol car. The hours were pretty tough. It seemed like they were always short-handed because people from this unit were deployed to at least four different locations in the world at any time. Natalie did her share of deployments. This was the end of her four years of active duty with the Air Force, and she spent more than a year of that time overseas. Mostly in Saudi Arabia guarding the flight lines they used while enforcing the no-fly zones over Iraq.

Natalie’s supervisors were always amazed at how well she handled working her shifts and rotations while working on her degree. Natalie was simply glad they worked so hard to help her with the rotation schedules and the time she needed to work at her home base so she could actually make it to classes and study.

You know I can still give you that recommendation for the Omaha police.

Natalie jumped at the sound of Major Sorenson’s voice. He had snuck in behind her while she was looking at the things she thought she would miss after today. Natalie turned to see the Major’s smiling face. He knew he had gotten the best of her this time. Natalie was not an easy woman to surprise. The Major liked that she was not easy to surprise; in his view, that made her a more effective police officer for the military. He also knew she was a very smart woman, and her goal to finish her degree and go into investigation was the right move. More than once he considered trying to get her into OSI, the Air Force’s version of the FBI. If she had reenlisted, he would have found a way to make sure she scored well enough on her test to make Staff Sergeant and then pave the way for her to go into the OSI.

He would have considered it a huge favor to OSI too. More than once, the Major had seen her make sense out of a situation well before any of her coworkers could. The first time was when she had been called over to the dorms because of a fight. It seemed as soon as she got there, she knew two guys were fighting over a girl. Once she knew that she got them cooled down a lot quicker than just cuffing them and putting them in a car. Just about any good cop would have figured out they were fighting over a girl, but two men her senior were there and they both thought the guys were drunk and blowing off steam. She started getting respect from her coworkers before that night, and it just seemed she kept getting more and more respect from them.

In four years, she had learned everything she could learn from being in the military police. Major Sorenson reached out with his hand to offer the young woman his handshake. In three years, they had only shook hands once, the first time they met. After that, he was the officer and she enlisted, and just the same as he did with all of the people in his command, he kept it that way. He made it a personal policy to not get too involved with the people he worked with. That policy made his life at home a lot easier. When he took a bad day of work home, it was usually because of a something that affected all the security police in his unit, and not a personal issue with someone he worked with.

Natalie accepted the handshake and met it with a firm grasp of her own. After today he would no longer be her commanding officer. She would probably never consider herself his equal, but after today she wouldn’t have to stand on military protocol around the Major.

It was another example of just how much her life was going to change after today. The first time she met the desk sergeant who would be her supervisor at the university, he told her to relax because the university wasn’t the military. Natalie wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. If the military worked as relaxed as the security guards for the university, they probably would not have won the wars they fought in. On the other hand, university security wasn’t expected to be in a war, in fact, if they had any serious problems, they were supposed to call the police immediately and turn the situation over to the police when they arrived.

Natalie released the Major’s hand and offered a last crisp salute to the man who made her education possible. Technically, she was not supposed to salute indoors, but at that moment, she could not think of anything else she could do to show her respect.

Major Sorenson smiled and returned her salute. After nearly eighteen years of service, he had seen any number of young airmen come and go, he knew the difference between a salute given in respect and a salute given as required. Good Luck Ms. Stringer. he said. Then turned to return to his office.

Natalie watched him go back to his office, not wanting him to leave just yet, and knowing that he needed to get back to his duties as squadron commander. She couldn’t think of anything else they could say. Natalie recognized that part of her was trying to hold on to her time in the military.

Having recognized that she was trying to hold on, Natalie also realized it was time for her to leave. She had only one last stop before she officially became a civilian once again. She had to turn in her ID card and the window sticker on her car. After that, she would have no choice but to leave the base, and this part of her life behind.

Natalie entered her small studio apartment, carefully winding her way past the boxes still in the main room. The apartment was built over the garage of a retired couple she rented it from. Her landlord was about to turn seventy, and the landlady was only sixty-three. Natalie liked them from the moment she met them. Instead of letting the rest of their life waste away, both were active and outgoing. The landlady attended at least three social meetings a week and both made efforts to stay involved in community politics. They also kept their yard and house up very well, the flower beds were well tended and Natalie was certain she would smell freshly bloomed flowers in about four months.

The apartment itself held only one bedroom, a sitting room, a small kitchen and one bathroom. Not much, but for a woman coming from living in barracks the last three years, it was wonderful. For the last four years, Natalie always shared a room with someone, or was waiting until the next person moved in. Before now, she shared one bathroom with as many as three other people at any time. It didn’t matter how small the apartment was, it was luxury to Natalie.

So far Natalie had spent only one night here in this apartment. She moved all of her things out of her barracks room yesterday morning. Like most people living in the barracks, she didn’t accumulate much stuff, so it was pretty easy moving everything. In the end, she counted seven boxes, two suitcases, a duffel bag, a TV and a small stereo. Sitting in the apartment without any furniture seemed to make the apartment even larger than it was.

Natalie grabbed a pair of loose fitting jeans and a sweatshirt from her suitcase and quickly changed out of her Air Force uniform and then grabbed her socks and her warm slippers. Winter could be incredibly cold in Omaha, but it wasn’t that hard to get used to it.

Natalie was glad she managed to put some money into savings. She didn’t see how they did it, but so many enlisted people somehow managed to get through four years in the service with a ton of debt and no savings. Looking at the apartment, Natalie knew she would have to buy some furniture, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to find some things for good prices. She only had three more paychecks from the Air Force, and she wouldn’t see her first paycheck from the university for about a month.

Classes would start in another week, and she had three days before she started work with the university. That certainly left plenty of time to get unpacked and get some furniture. Natalie grabbed the first box and started unpacking things she could unpack now. While she did so, she made mental notes of what she would need to buy. A small couch for the living room A coffee table would be really nice, an end table and a lamp would be really good in this room too. Then she would need something to put her TV and VCR on, so some sort of small entertainment stand, a couple bookcases, and a computer desk and chair for this room. Then in the bedroom she would need a bed, something big enough and soft enough to really relax in would be great. She would also need a chest of drawers or dresser, and she would consider a footlocker or something for storage. The kitchen was already taken care of. Last month she found a set of pots and pans, a set of dishes, glasses, and utensils all on sale, and since she knew she would need them, she got them.

Natalie looked through the remaining boxes and realized she needed to do her shopping before she could finish unpacking. She decided her first job would be to find a bed. One night of sleeping on a floor over an unheated garage was more than enough. Not that the garage was truly unheated, just that most of the heat was for the apartment, with some heat allowed to get into the garage to keep the cars warm in the winter.

Jeremy looked over his class schedule, checking to make sure he was in the classes he wanted. The student admissions office would close in just another ten minutes, and Jeremy was the last student to come in for the day.

The two classes he had signed up for were correct. It wasn’t much of a schedule, but Jeremy didn’t feel rushed to worry about his degree. He was busy with other things in his life, and right now the education was more an act to control boredom than anything else. Of all the things he knew he could be doing with his life, going to school just somehow seemed the most satisfying.

Jeremy wasn’t abusing a system of scholarships and grants or staying in school just to keep his parents giving him money. Jeremy was just rich. Both of his parents died while he was young and he inherited a small amount from their estate and insurance; Jeremy seemed set for a comfortable start on life. Then he got some really good financial advice and turned his inheritances into millions.

Sometimes Jeremy worked, and sometimes he went to school. Mostly, he went to school. Just taking a class or two at a time; giving those classes more than enough attention to get an A in the courses, while enjoying the leisure pace afforded by the lesser course load.

Jeremy thanked the middle aged woman behind the desk, and took his course schedule with him to the cashier’s window where he would pay the full amount due for tuition and fees.

Jeremy looked out the tinted Plexiglas windows into the darkness as he walked the short distance to the cashier’s window. Omaha sat just far enough to the north that the winter nights could be very long. In the middle of winter, with daylight savings time in effect, night could fall completely by 5pm, and the sun would not come up again until around six in the morning the following the day.

The woman working the cashiers window was young, probably a student working for the university so she could get the reduced tuition rates. In moments she had his account pulled up, and printed out the amount for his tuition of all his fees for the next semester.

Jeremy wrote a check for the full amount, and did not seem to notice the girl looking at him out of the corner of her eye. The look she gave was shy, indicating she thought Jeremy was attractive, but she didn’t feel confident enough in her own appearance to look at him straight on.

In moments, Jeremy had his receipt and left, leaving the girl wishing she had said or done something to get his attention. She didn’t realize that Jeremy did notice the way she looked at him, but for his own reasons chose not to respond to her.

The New Job

Natalie arrived at work fifteen minutes early, her uniform crisp and starched and very obviously new. She couldn’t help but think even the slowest students would know she was new the moment they saw this uniform. One thing she couldn’t deny though, it was a pretty good job, and it would get her through the next few months so she could finish her degree.

The security offices she would be working out of were located in one of the older buildings on campus. The building had been gutted and remodeled, so the inside looked much newer than the outside, but that meant it looked only about fifteen years old instead of thirty.

Natalie entered through a side entrance which faced the parking lot. The lot and part of the building where somewhat hidden by trees and bushes, and in the spring and summer both would be practically invisible behind the screen of leaves. Natalie followed the scuffed but polished tile floor to the third door on the right. There she found desk sergeant Owens talking with someone on his phone, her supervisor for at the least the next few months.

Yes sir, he paused, yes, of course, another pause, I’ll get someone over there right away.

Natalie thought sergeant Owens looked like he was trying to swallow a large and very bitter pill. If she could have melted away and left his office, she would have done so, but Owens had already looked up and saw her in his doorway.

I will sir, Owens continued on the phone, Yes sir, I understand. I’ll send someone right now, another pause, Yes sir. Owens said, then hung up the phone.

He looked at Natalie and pointed at a chair across from his desk, have a seat, I’ll be just a moment.

Natalie stepped into the office to sit in the chair while Owens got up and stuck his head out the door yelling, Geri, where’s Jenkins?

Natalie heard a muffled female voice from down the hall, she thought Geri was indicating Jenkins wasn’t here, but it wasn’t clear enough.

Damn. Owens muttered under his breath. Take my calls Geri, I’ll be out of the office for at least an hour. Natalie heard the muffled female voice again. No, I’ll be at the Sigma Phi house. If anyone really needs me, call my pager.

Owens stepped back and looked at Natalie. Why don’t you come with me; we’ll go over things while I check on something.

Natalie nodded, Sounds good to me.

Natalie followed Sergeant Owens to one of the compact University security cars parked outside the door. As they drove across campus to the fraternity and sorority houses, Owens explained that last year and through the summer, there seemed to be some kind of fraternity prank war going on. It seemed like all the fraternities were involved yet all of them denied involvement. There wasn’t much they could do as long as things didn’t get out of hand. The administration was worried that someone in the fraternities would get hurt if this kept up though, so security was expected to be right there to keep things calm. Of course, if anything actually got out of hand, then it would be turned over to the Omaha police.

Since you’re new, just stay close to me and observe for now. Like I said, there isn’t much we can really do, and these are smart kids. They know we have to turn anything over to either the school or the police, so they put on a show of looking good and clean around us. Owens said as they arrived at the Sigma Phi house.

Natalie thought it was small for a fraternity house. She expected it would be a huge place with about twenty rooms like the ones seen in the movies. It probably only had eight or nine rooms. Then again, the university wasn’t that big either. The fraternity houses at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln probably looked more like what she would have expected.

Natalie stepped out of the car and felt the cold seep into the fabric of her starched clothes. At forty two degrees, the day was probably as warm as it was going to get, even with only a few clouds in the sky.

The inside of the fraternity house was nice and warm, enough so that the fraternity brothers were comfortable in just t-shirts and jeans. Even though it was only the beginning of the semester it already smelled like stale beer. One of the guys came up to Owens and Natalie right away. He was an attractive man, probably about a year or two younger than Natalie, but Natalie decided right away she didn’t like his confidently smug look.

I’m Brad, the chapter president. Is there something I can help you with? Natalie noticed he didn’t address either of them as officer.

Owens took the kid’s attitude in stride. Brad, I understand one of your brothers had a little prank pulled on him last night. I don’t suppose you’d want to tell me about it?

Natalie noticed that Brad’s smirk never changed. He really didn’t care what Owens thought about the prank. It was nothing. Someone put some fingernail polish on his chest last night while he was asleep. No big deal at all.

No big deal then. So the nail polish wasn’t used to put the letters for Delta Chi on his chest, or anything like that? Owens asked.

Brad smiled, You know, I didn’t get a chance to see what was on his chest. I guess he washed it off before I got up this morning.

Owens returned the smile. Look Brad. You know as well as I do that if all that happened was someone painting him with fingernail polish, then there isn’t anything I can do. My biggest worry is to make sure no one gets hurt. These little pranks have been going on longer than the university is comfortable with, and sooner or later, someone is going to lose it and do something they might regret. Are you and your brothers looking to get even? Owens asked straightforward.

Brad actually let his smile fall back some. Two years ago, someone got hurt in Lincoln and one of the fraternities got shut down. Jeff will get ribbed for sleeping so hard someone could paint on him, but I am not going to let this fraternity get shut down over a dumb prank. Besides, we don’t even know who did it. Sometimes other students like to play pranks just to get fraternities going after each other. Brad answered.

The answer seemed to satisfy Owens, so he closed his notebook without taking any real notes. Let us know if anything else happens. We are going to do our best to stop these pranksters before anything gets out of hand.

Brad’s smile returned, No problem officer, we’ll do whatever we can to help too. Apparently, he could be quite the charmer when he wanted to be.

Natalie and Owens left the fraternity house and went back to the security offices. It didn’t take Natalie long to figure out that the trip to the fraternity house was about the most exciting thing that was going to happen on this job. The rest of the day and the rest of the week passed by without anything more exciting happening than writing parking tickets.

Classes were another matter though. Especially Cold Case Research, her last advanced elective course. The idea of researching cold cases was especially appealing, and the instructor always managed to get real cold case files for the students to work on. The real bonus about the class was a guy named Jeremy. Natalie remembered him from a class she took last year. He was still as good looking now as he was then.

Jeremy stood out because he just seemed so much more mature than his age, and that meant he seemed a lot more mature than just about any other male student Natalie had encountered.

Natalie decided that this semester she was going to get to know Jeremy, and if he was available, then hopefully something more might develop. Natalie’s biggest fear is that she would end up acting like a lovesick teenager instead of a woman trying to get a career going. Lucky enough for her, the professor decided to assign seats before assigning cold case files, and Natalie found herself sitting side by side with Jeremy. Before the end of class, she and Jeremy were reintroduced and shaking hands, and he was asking her if she was busy after class. This was the last class of the night, so that was an easy question with an easy answer. Natalie found herself having hot cocoa with Jeremy at a small and quiet restaurant only seven blocks from the school.

The Past (8 – 20 years ago) – Cold Case 1

Lilith did not understand magic, and didn’t really care to understand magic. She grew up learning to rely on herself. By the age of eight, she had given up on the idea of a white knight coming to her rescue. At twelve, she found the nerve to do something about her life and get away from a mother who didn’t care, and a stepfather who treated her like she was either a punching bag or his personal plaything, usually when her mother was either not around or too drunk to care. She ran away, and found that without friends on the streets, she