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VALENCIA NOIR

ACT VI

That night down at the docks was maybe the worse Tyler and I had ever been through. It was almost as bad as the night I got run over by that car and died while saving my old girl. We were threatened with our lives more times than we could count; and were shot at, sliced up, blown up and nearly electrocuted too. We were in a bad place then. Even with everything that we learned that night, it didn’t feel like it would help us much in determining if Tayte really did kill Cyrus. All that we learned was that those in the gangster world played for very high stakes behind closed doors-and the losers paid in a big way. Maybe it factored into the case, maybe it didn’t…all that was clear that we barely made it out alive…and were left to walk home in the rain.

If having to walk through town while wearing soggy clothes was bad enough, having to walk through town in soggy clothes in the rain made things even worse. Dexter and Tyler managed to fish themselves out of the bay after having to swim to a different dock-just to make sure that they wouldn’t bump into anyone that would recognize them from the warehouse. The firefighters were quick to arrive to put out the fire-so were the police to determine if it was arson or not. After that, they started to walk because no bus ran that late at night and Dexter was too tired to fly them home. The October night showed them no compassion as the cold winds blew, the scent of the winter that was to come thick in the air as it frosted their clothes and froze their bones. The detectives finally couldn’t take it anymore and had to seek shelter. As luck would have it, they were just passing the Valencia Race Track. It was easy to jump over a few gates and take cover in the stables with the horses.

“This is just embarrassing… I should be used to this kind of cold temperature.” Tyler grumbled as he shivered in his water heavy coat and clothes as they walked into the stables.

“It’s been a while since you felt a true winter…and water makes these kinds of things worse.” Dexter replied, holding his shoulders as he shook like a leaf all the way to his feathers.

They decided to rest in the Fallons’ empty horse stalls and let some things dry out. After finding a lantern, they hung up their coats and hats on whatever nails they could find, ditching their ties like limp bits of seaweed…and ditching whatever seaweed they found in their clothes and shoes. Tyler was ringing the water out of his shirt as Dexter sat on a stack of hay, still shivering from the cold. “Hold on. I’m going to see if there are some spare blankets around here…” The werewolf offered as he hung his shirt up and started to search the stables.

“Thanks…” The angel was feeling pretty bad. Not just because it was cold out but because it felt like this case had no chance. All of their clues were leading them nowhere and without even a statement from Tayte-which would be impossible to get now after the events of that night-it looked like the harpy was doomed to jail. Or even worse, the Wild Hunt. It made Dexter feel lower than low. Even after everything he’s seen, even after nearly trying to kill him, Dexter couldn’t help but…feel something, towards Tayte. It probably made him the biggest idiot in the world but…he wanted to save her. He couldn’t explain it but he felt like there was more to her than just the violent gangster everyone else saw…or maybe he was just another sucker that fell for her because of her good looks and beautiful red hair…

Red…hair…

Dexter suddenly had a thought and went to pull the photos that were still in his pocket. They were a little wet, but the envelope they were in still saved the pictures from running. Flipping through them until he found the right one, Dexter studied it in the light of the lantern before he realized something. Then he studied another and saw something new again. “Oh my God…” It was around that time that he noticed that the lantern was starting to lose its power…and it started to get a lot colder.

Tyler, meanwhile, was gathering up some blankets from the other stalls. “Hope you guys don’t mind, it’s pretty cold for us too you know.” The werewolf said to the horses that were still using the stables. He had a few in his arms when the horses started to act funny. They started to snort and whine while trying to back away from the Fallon’s stalls. Something was going on over there that was making them nervous. He was starting to feel something too. Something that made his fur stood up. “Dexter?”

The angel was witnessing something bizarre taking place at his feet. A spot on the ground started to give off a pale glow and almost…pulsate. It wasn’t long before something started to come up out of the ground. It was like a body being pushed up out of the water, the top of the back emerging first before the figure started to stand up right. Its head hung low before it finally straightened up and looked at Dexter with pale, glowing eyes.

“AH!” Dexter let out.

“AH!” The figure let out.

“AH!” Dexter again.

“AH!” The figure again.

“WHAT’S GOING ON OVER HERE!?” With Tyler’s sudden arrival back in the stall, it triggered a screaming session between all three-the mysterious being possessing an unholy shriek that rattled the boards in the stable-before it rushed to a corner of the stall and…dove into a metal pail while turning into mist. It was hiding in the pail, obviously scared…to death. “ARE WE ALL DONE SCREAMING NOW!?” Tyler wanted to know, still feeling freaked out himself by he just witnessed.

“Ah! Ah…h-hold on.” The angel got up and went over to the shivering bucket. He looked at the confused werewolf before gently tapping on the pail. “Hey-Hey. It’s okay…come on, it’s okay. You just…sort of surprised me. I’m sorry if I scared you…”

“Dexter…what are you talking to? Other than a bucket that is…”

“…he’s…he’s talking to me. It’s okay…I’ve been scared a lot lately…” The pail finally said in a startled whisper. A mist started to escape from the pail then, slowly materializing into a more humanized form. A young man started to stand before them then, albeit a see through one. One look at his short brown hair, honest brown eyes and modest work clothes and Dexter and Tyler were scrambling through police photos to pull up the only one with a name attached to it.

“You’re…you’re really…”

“Are you…Cyrus Gilmead?”

The young man nodded. “I am…or, I guess I was…I’m…still trying to figure out how to refer to myself…” Cyrus had a very proper English accent in his voice, and his voice sounded very sad then.

“You’re a ghost! An honest to goodness ghost!” Dexter exclaimed, unable to contain himself. He never met a ghost before.

Cyrus thought it over for a moment before finally nodding. “That I am…”

“Whoa…you’ve been hiding out here this whole time?” Tyler asked, sticking his forearm through Cyrus’s torso. It went through as clean as if going through smoke. “Why didn’t you come out and shown yourself when we were here earlier?”

“AH! S-Sir, I must ask you to restrain yourself! Please!”

“Tyler! Seriously!”

“Sorry.”

“I-I haven’t shown myself up until now because I was afraid of what people would do when they saw me… Ghosts aren’t any easy thing to accept after all, even in a city such as this.” Cyrus replied. “Now please…remove your arm from my…person. I still believe in personal space…” After Tyler removed his arm, Cyrus came up a little closer to the boys and sat down on a stack of hay…only to fall through it before bobbing back up to a position that looked like he was sitting. “I’ve also been struggling to learn how to move during the last few days. One would think that being free from gravity and physics would be a rather enjoyable experience…”

“This is great though! If you’re still here on this plane of existence then that means you can tell us who really killed you! You could clear Tayte’s name no problem-people would have to believe you!” Dexter said, looking as happy as could be at the idea of the harpy being cleared of all charges by the word of her supposed victim.

“Miss…Fallon, you mean? I’ve…I’ve heard that she’s suspected of killing me. But…”

“But…?”

“…I honestly can’t remember.”

Dexter and Tyler both had to stare at Cyrus in total disbelief. “You…don’t remember?”

“How in the Hell can’t you remember your own death!?”

“I-I remember dying, but I don’t know who killed me!” Cyrus said, color draining away from his form as he tried to defend himself from Dexter and Tyler.

“Don’t…don’t worry about it. The testimony of a ghost is only so good in court.” Dexter replied, trying to keep from sounding disappointed by this. The angel was still greatly disappointed though. He pulled out his notebook and pencil…only to discard it when he saw that it was still sopping wet. “Just…just tell us what you do remember. Then I can tell you about my new findings.”

“New findings?” Tyler questioned. A look from the angel told him to be patient.

“I will try.” Cyrus replied. “Let me see…a few nights ago…I remember that I was with Miss Wildhunt…Asthore…outside of the track. I had just escorted her to her father’s car when I decided to check on the horses. I usually checked on the horses before I left for home every night.”

“Did you see the Fallon dame or anyone else that night?” Tyler asked.

“I do know that Miss Fallon was there because Miss Wildhunt’s magic saw her there…but I don’t think she returned after we saw her together. The only other people that could have still been there that late were some of the stable boys…but I didn’t see any of them…at least, I don’t think I did…”

“So, after you left Asthore…” Dexter prompted him.

“Right, of course. So I left to check on the horses. Normally, the stables are pretty quiet and the horses are asleep by that time…but there was something going on in the Fallons’ stall so everyone was still awake. I went up to the stall as quietly as I could and I saw…people…men I think…in dark clothes…kneeling before the horses!”

“What were they doing to the horses?” Tyler asked.

“I don’t know. The next thing I remember was feeling something heavy hit me in the back of the head and everything went black. A few minutes later…someone was holding me up by the arms…and then…something sharp entered my chest…” Cyrus was starting to lose his color again as he struggled to finish his story. “I…I felt it again and again and again…”

“…we get it, Cyrus. You don’t need to tell us anymore beyond that.” The ghost’s story was a hard one to swallow. Dexter could understand sensations like that, and what it was like to die. It still made him pretty uneasy to this day…

“I-I do remember something though from that night. A smell…”

“A smell?” Tyler asked again. This was something he could understand.

“Yes. A very faint one, but it was exotic. Like…like a…”

“A perfume?”

“Yes. Yes, like that!” Cyrus noticed the expression Dexter had on his face then. He was probably thinking that the ghost meant a woman’s perfume. “But it wasn’t like anything Miss Fallon would wear. It was too…musky… Gentlemen, I may not remember much but I do remember that Miss Fallon wasn’t here that night, I would remembered that much because it’s Miss Fallon. This I swear to be true.”

“…It doesn’t matter anyway. I think we have some new clues that proved she didn’t do it.”

“Care to explain that now, Dex old buddy?”

The angel was more than happy to explain. Setting up a stack of hay to act as a table between the three of them, he spread out all the photos for everyone to see. “Ty, when someone gets their hair pulled, how does it usually look in a person’s hand?”

“Pretty wild. Lots of loose strands, hair everywhere, really messy, sometimes bloody… stuff like that.”

“Exactly. Take a look at the photo of the hair in Cyrus’s hand…uh, Cy, it’s okay if you can’t look at these…”

“It’s perfectly fine, Investigator McBane. I’m used to it by now…”

“Just call me Dexter. Anyway, look at these photos.” Taking a closer look at the photo, it was easy to see how neat and tidy the hair in Cyrus’s hand was-it fanned in the former jockey’s hand without a single strand out of place. “Doesn’t look like this came from someone’s head in a struggle, right? And besides that point, look at the ends. They’re all straight.”

“Like they were cut…or cut off of someone’s pretty red head during a fight!” Tyler realized. “Someone pinched Tayte’s hair from the arena’s floor!”

“That’s what I believe. Something else too. Look here in this picture, along the wall near the back. There’s a dirt outline of something. Cyrus, what’s usually on the wall’s nail over there?”

“If memory serves me correctly…it’s usually the bucket that I hid in moments ago. It’s not yellow…but I do remember telling the Fallons that I have a certain…condition about yellow buckets so…yes…I remember.”

“Yellow what? N-Never mind. If the bucket is usually on the wall, then why is it on the floor? I think it’s there...” Dexter got up and walked over to the bucket. “Because…” He lifted it up. “Of this.” One clearly defined bloody shoe print. And it was a man’s.

“Well, I’ll be a son of a b***h.” Tyler let out in astonishment.

“My word…” Cyrus agreed.

“Either the bucket was knocked over or placed here to hide it as a last minute cover up. I may not know Tay-Miss Fallon all that well, but I can guess that she’s the kind of woman that wouldn’t wear anything less than a pair of heels. Whoever did this slipped up in a big way and left us several important clues that proved that Tayte Fallon didn’t kill Cyrus Gilmead!”

“Someone-was framing Miss Fallon for my murder?!” Cyrus exclaimed, shocked by such a notion.

“It looks like it! Dex, you may have broken the case here!” Tyler said, happy by what he just heard. The angel looked happy too and they were almost ready to celebrate this recent accomplishment when the werewolf realized something. “WAIT! I hate to rain on this little parade of ours but we’re still missing something here. If Tayte didn’t kill Cyrus here, who did? No one’s going to believe us unless we bring in the real killer or killers.”

“I think that’s where our investigation needs to go next… And I already have some ideas of where to start looking…”
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Dexter, Tyler and Cyrus spent the rest of the night talking about the case until they were all blue in the face. When the two detectives finally fell asleep, they fell asleep in a pile of hay and under some horse blankets. Cyrus, who apparently could still sleep despite being a ghost, was drifting above their heads almost as if sleeping in an invisible hammock. The werewolf was snoring softly while the angel was curled up in his wings when the wolf’s ears started to flicker. Someone was coming. Sitting up and tapping the angel on the shoulder, Tyler quickly gestured towards the front of the stables as the voices got louder. It was Lillian and Raphael…and they were getting pretty heated about something.

“…an’ I’m tellin’ ya, I ain’t seen ‘em today!”

“And I’m telling you that I don’t believe you! Your boyfriend and the creampuff are suspected of arson and you claim to not have seen them?!”

The mention of arson made the two detectives freeze where they sat before they started to scramble to get out of the hay, gather their things and find a place to hide. The footsteps were getting louder as they looked around the stable. The ghost woke up in the ruckus but before he could say anything, the detectives below him raised fingers to their lips in an attempt to silence him as they searched for a hiding place. Having found nothing, they both looked up.

“Look, I dun care wha’ the police say! I know Ty an’ Dex an’ I know tha’ they didn’t do this!” Lillian challenged as she walked into the stable with Raphael tailing behind her. She looked really mad as she gathered up the blankets and packed them away. There was no longer any sign of Dexter or Tyler or Cyrus in the stables as she swaggered around in an attempt to work and shake Raphael off her tail.

“Like I said, I don’t care. Your beau and the creampuff are in a lot of trouble and are wanted for questioning! You could do time as an accessory to the crime if you’re hiding them from the police!” Raphael challenged, stepping back into the werewolf’s path again to face her. “And I would hate to have to throw a pretty little thing like you away in jail…” The angel’s attempt at smooth talking was met with the end of a pitchfork pointed at his face and a werewolf girl snarling at him. “AH! Hey, hey! Take it easy with that thing!”

“Mister! You’re barkin’ up the wrong tree if you think I’m dumb enough to fall for a bag of manure like tha’! An’ dumb enough to listen to a spineless, bag of feathers like you who thinks he can sweet talk an already mated lady! Now git! Git outta here an’ dun let me see ya snoopin’ around here again or else this pitchfork will be the least of your worries!” Lillian’s eyes were already shifting into that of a beast as she backed the angel out of the stable with her pitchfork and slammed the door in his face.

“Don’t-Don’t think this is over, you redneck hick! If those two are responsible for the warehouse, they’re through! I’ll see to it!” Raphael shouted through the door before it sounded like he walked off.

Lillian took a few breaths to calm herself down, her eyes returning to normal before she returned the pitchfork. She was starting to brush out one of the horses when she decided that it was finally safe to talk. “So, how long you two been here?”

“All night.” Dexter and Tyler found their place to hide-above everyone’s head in the stable’s rafters. The angel flew them up before the werewolf stable girl and angelic cop came into the stables. The detectives placed themselves between the rafters and the ceiling and held themselves in place with their arms and legs. It was hard on the limbs but thankfully Lillian caught onto their scents fast enough to know to get Raphael out of the room. Once he was gone, it was safe to let go and fall into the pile of hay again. “And who’s Raph trying to fool!? Calling me a creampuff when he’s a desk jockey that couldn’t even find his own butt!?”

“And thinking that he can hit on my wolf woman!”

“Forget tha’! You two blew up a warehouse!?!”

In the face of an angry redneck werewolf woman, Dexter and Tyler started to spill their guts and place the blame on something else. “It wasn’t us! We swear! It was this kid with black wings and bombs!”

“And it was mostly Dexter’s fault!”

“My fault!?”

“You’re the one that went homerun derby on those bombs!”

“It saved our lives! You think you’d be more grateful that I can do that AND of my homerun records!”

A loud growl and a snap of some slowly protruding jaws from Lillian stopped the bickering before she got a hold on each of the detectives. “Start…explainin’…now…”

“OKAY!”

“DON’T KILL US!”

After maybe…twenty minutes of explaining and calming an angry and upset werewolf girl down, the detectives had gotten Lillian all caught up on what happened last night and their latest developments in the case. There was no sign of Cyrus-he had disappeared when Lillian came into the room-but maybe it was for the best. Seeing your dead best friend again was the last thing she could probably use right now. “So…Miz Fallon may not have killed Cy?” Lillian asked as she sat in Tyler’s lap, his hair pulled around her shoulders like a shawl like usual.

“That’s what we think but we can’t be sure until we get some more suspects.” Dexter replied. “But we think that it has to be one of the gangsters that the Fallon family competes with.”

“Tha’ would explain me not smellin’ anything unusual…but those fellas ought to be fixin’ to kill ya both now after wha’ happened last night! Not to mention the police are lookin’ fer ya…”

“That’s why we’re going to be careful from now on.” Tyler assured Lillian. “You said our office is being watched by the police right? We just need to swing by there for a sec to get some things and then we’re going to be working until we find out who really killed Cy and pinned it on Tayte.”

“I dun know… They’ve already questioned little Sveta to try an’ find ya…and these gangster fellas are dangerous…”

“We know, Lulu. But we can’t give up now… Think of Cyrus.”

The werewolf girl did think about this for a few moments before letting out a sigh. “I want to help ya boys…but it’s probably too dangerous fer me…at least, tha’ is wha’ ya would try an’ tell me.”

“That’s what I’m telling you.” Tyler told Lillian. “I know you hate it when I pull the whole ‘I’m the man, you’re my woman’ deal, but this time it really is too dangerous for you!”

“You need to lay low for a while and don't draw attention to yourself. Do it for our sake.” Dexter begged Lillian.

“…it’s mighty fortunate tha’ I got horses to care fer-some I gotta take to the vet today. Otherwise I wouldn’t let ya out o’ this stable without me.”

“We promise to be careful. We won’t get caught and we won’t let anyone see us.”Dexter promised. He started to get up and get his things together. The angel saw Tyler and Lillian get up before looking each other in the eyes. They were doing their whole…talking without words thing again. It must have been some kind of werewolf thing. Or maybe it was just a couple’s thing. Either way, Dexter was sometimes a little jealous of that. Taking a moment to look around, the angel saw something near the stall opposite of the Fallon’s. Using a rubber glove from his pocket, he moved some of the hay and saw a pile of broken glass. It looked like it was, maybe…a vial once? He scooped up the glass into a glove to examine later.

Tyler and Lillian finally hugged each other and gave each other a little kiss before the wolf male started to leave with Dexter.

“Ya better watch out fer each other! Or else I’m gonna be really mad!”

“Don’t worry, my little tomato! You’ll have your boys back soon-with a busted case!”

“Just keep safe and away from the police!”

Watching their backs as they left the stables, the detectives started to sneak out of the Valencia Race Track and started to make their way back to lower L.A. They had to avoid the roads and busy streets or else risk running into a cop car or an officer on the street. As they walked, they wondered what happened to Cyrus. They were bouncing theories off of each other until they finally got an answer-from Dexter’s hat. “I’m right here.”

“Ah! Cyrus?! What are you doing in my hat?” Dexter asked.

“I’m sorry…it looked like we all needed to hide and hiding in here was the first thing that I could think of.” The ghostly voice explained from the fabrics of the angel’s hat.

“Well, it looks like you’re coming along with us then if you’re going to hide in there.”

“I want to see this through to the end. I want to know who it was that killed me and why.”

“You’ll get your answers if you stick with us.”Tyler promised with Dexter nodding in agreement.

“I know you will…it’s just…I have a request to make of you two.”

“What is it?”

“I…I don’t know how this case will go or if I will get my answers. But if I do…I don’t know if I’ll move onto the next world or not. Before I do-if I do…I want to see Miss Asthore.”

That felt like a pretty good request to the detectives as they shared a confirming look with each other. They would honor this request.

“We’ll take you to see Asthore then and help you explain everything to her.”

“You can’t leave a girl behind without a good explanation for it. She’ll hate you forever.”

“And we can’t have that happen now, can we?”

“Thank you. Thank you both so much. Raphael was a fool to have been so disrespectful to you two.”

“Yeah, well…”

“We are pretty awesome!”

All boasting and humility aside, it was time to get back on the road to the office. It was going to be a long and busy day- they needed to be ready.
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The little bulldog of an office was under lock, watch and key by the police. Two cop cars sat outside on the street, watching the building from top to bottom-making sure that no one got in or out. Across the street on the roof of the building were the two detectives and the ghost in hiding. They were watching and thinking of how to get inside. They couldn’t use the door on their roof without being seen…they needed a distraction. Thankfully, Tyler could think of such a distraction in the form of the neighborhood kids. “Remember how we told them that they couldn’t shoot fireworks at people?”

“Yeah…?”

One wide smile, a trip down the storm drain and fifty cents later, the werewolf was back on the roof with Dexter. “Get ready to fly, Dex!”

A minute later and a ball of fire landed on an officer’s foot below the street. As he jumped to put out the fire on his pants leg and get out of the way of the incoming fire, the neighborhood kids were laughing like little imps and firing fireworks left and right. The police scattered and started to retaliate, chasing after the kids and shouting at them as the kids ran away-as they were instructed to do. With the office no longer the center of attention, the angel flew himself and the werewolf onto their roof. Thankfully, they always left a spare key to the door on the doorframe. “Ty, that really wasn’t okay.” Dexter said as he unlocked the door to the staircase.

“Their parents will most certainly have a field day when they hear about this.” The ghost threw in as he sat on top of Dexter’s head.

“Hey! If their parents don’t care about them lighting trash cans on fire on a school day, I don’t think they’re going to care about this!”

Deciding not to argue about how he managed to get them some results, the sleuths went down the staircase and onto the floor of their office and bedrooms. After ditching their salt encrusted and sea battered clothes for fresh suits and coats, they returned to their office to gather up the rest of their things. Notes, notepads, magnifying glasses and handcuffs-they were heading out with everything in their arsenal and they wouldn’t be back until they had someone in custody. The detectives were ready to head out when the werewolf heard something. “Someone’s coming!”

They had a better place to hide this time around and hid in one of the empty rooms outside of their office. The sound of footsteps traveled up the stairs as they watched from the crack in the door. They were expecting police officers coming in to check out the scene…but it wasn’t. It was a group of men-big men-dressed in black, generic clothes and coats. And they were carrying gas cans with them in leather bound hands. “Think this is good enough?” One of them asked.

“Who cares?! You know what the boss said! We just need to torch the place to teach those sleuths a lesson and scare them off of the Fallon b***h’s case!”

“They’re going to burn down your office…”Cyrus managed to whisper, a tremor in his voice as he shook in Dexter’s hat.

“Shh!”

“Let’s just get to it! The cops are going to be back any minute and we can’t be here when this place blows up!” They started to spread out then, dousing anything and everything in the hallway and in the office with gasoline. The boys in the empty room watched in horror as their building was doused in gasoline. If they didn’t do anything, not only were they going to lose their office but they were going to lose their home too! With no other choices available to them, they had to fight. Hiding in wait for the nearest goon to pass by their room, both Dexter and Tyler sprung and pulled him quickly into the room. The sounds of fists and a struggle drew the attention of the gang of would be arsonists. They started to gather around the door, dropping the cans of gasoline to draw their various weapons out of their coats. Someone was ready to open the door and ambush the detectives when the door flung open and the body of their beat up companion went flying out and knocked down two of their own! Following his body there was a battle ready angel and werewolf, letting out a war cry as they jumped into the heat of battle!

Tyler grabbed two goons before they had a chance to knife him, slamming their bodies together before spinning them around. “Don’t try to burn our house down, punks!!!” He shouted as he released them and turned around to catch the arm of someone trying to stab him.

“Where did they come from?!”

“Who cares!? Kill them! Kill them both!”

“Kill this!” Dexter shouted, summoning up a sword to knock the guns out of hands and catch blades coming at him. He could smell the gasoline seeping into the wood boards, the sick sounds of it splashing under his feet as he fought off the goons that tried to kill him and Tyler. They were soon fighting back to back, doing their best to keep from becoming overwhelmed. One goon managed to slip away, a weak and shaky hand pulling out a box of matches and trying to catch a spark. “NO!”

“Don’t you dare!” Cyrus materialized out of Dexter’s hat and dove into the nearest object he could find-in this case, it was one of their chairs. The instant the ghost was in the chair, it was sent flying onto a collision course with the man trying to light the matches. It crashed into his face and torso, compelling him to drop the matches and fall onto the floor as the chair broke. The ghost emerged from the broken pieces, rubbing his shoulders and body. “Oww…ow, that hurt more than I thought it would…”

“Cy, you can possess stuff and throw it around?!” Dexter asked, sounding impressed by what he just saw.

“Apparently I can to such an effect.”

“Cool!”

Tyler picked up one of the fallen attackers by the collar of his coat and slammed him up against a wall. “Okay, fire bug! Start talking! Which of the gangster bosses ordered you to burn our house down!?”

“Like I’d tell a filthy werewolf like you!” That little insult prompted Tyler to let a little of the shift from man to wolf start, a deep growl escaping his throat as his fangs grew longer, his jaws growing outwards as his eyes took on a dangerous and bloodthirsty look to them. “Okay-okay-okay! I’ll tell you! We-We were sent by all of the bosses! They all agreed that they don’t want you stooges snooping around in the Fallon case and dragging the cops along with you!”

“Did any of these bosses order you to kill Cyrus Gilmead and pin it on Tayte?!” Dexter wanted to know, getting in on this interrogation with his sword.

“I don’t know-we’re mostly Vivi’s boys and watch over the casino! Whoever killed the jockey is keeping tight lipped about it! No one knows who killed that twerp! Whoever it is wants what everyone wants-to bump the Fallons off their perch and take the top slot!”

“And how would killing Cyrus accomplish that?!”

“I don’t know!!!” The pressure of the interrogation finally made him snap and start lashing out at the detectives. He pulled a gun out of his coat and tried to aim at the angel and werewolf. Both boys could dodge easily-and they did-but soon, they lost track of the man as he ran down the hall and towards the fuse box. He popped it open and started to pull wires out, the sparks dancing with short lived flashes and pops.

“What’s he doing?! He’s going to light the place up doing that!”

“We got to stop him!” The werewolf and angel charged at him, their progress slowed by the bullets that came at them. Cyrus could pass through them unharmed but without anything to possess, he couldn’t do anything. It wouldn’t matter though. A spark of electricity finally found its way to the floor, landing on the gas with the delicacy of a snowflake…with the explosive speed of a hand grenade. “OH CRAP!” One small flame soon turned into a growing blaze.

“I’ll see you both in Hell! That is if you don’t end up like your worthless ghost friend here!” That earned him a good smack in the face from the pommel of Dexter’s sword before the angel caught his limp body.

“That’s enough lip out of you!”

“Dexter! Dexter, we have a problem here!” Cyrus called to the angel, directing his attention to the hallway that was quickly turning into a raging inferno and spreading to the office and the rest of the building. It wouldn’t be much longer before it reached all the floors, or the gas lines-whichever came first.

“Correction-me and Dex have a problem! You can get out of here, Cy!” Tyler told the ghost, quickly scooping unconsciousness men onto his shoulders. “It’s pointless to say ‘Save yourself’, but save yourself!”

“No! I don’t want to leave you two here!” The ghost protested. He was terrified-despite already being dead-but he was determined to stay with his friends.

“If he can help, let him help! Come on! We need to get out of here!” Dexter quickly settled the matter as he pulled more unconscious men on his shoulders. He started looking for a way out of the fire. The stair case was off limits now with the blaze rushing down the steps, so that left the windows at the end of the hall. The detectives jumped over the blaze and ran towards the window, kicking out the glass to look down below them. The window was above an alley and right above a dumpster. “Cy! Open up that dumpster! We can use it to jump in!”

“Right!” Cyrus fazed through the wall and flew down into the lid of the dumpster, making it rattle and shake before it flew open. “It’s up!”

“Bomb’s away!” The angel and werewolf dropped their unconscious cargo into the dumpster, the trash cushioning their descent and absorbing the force of their fall. Once they were all safe, it was time for the boys to jump. “Okay, come on! We need to-“

“FREEZE!” The shout from below made the boys freeze in the window. The police were back-and had their guns aimed at the window. “YOU TWO GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW AND COME WITH US! YOU’RE WANTED BY THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT!”

“Oh crap.” Tyler ducked by into the building then. “Okay, need new way out!”

“Back to the roof!” The fire was getting bigger and hotter than, chunks of the ceiling starting to fall and nearly squishing the only people left in the building with bodies. Dexter and Tyler could really feel the heat and the pressure to escape as they made a mad dash up the stair case and onto the roof. With a series of well practiced movements, Dexter opened up his wings as he ran, jumping up into the air as Tyler jumped up and grabbed onto his hands. Cyrus caught on and dove into the werewolf’s hat as they both took flight. The police below them had no fliers so there was no way to catch up with them. All they could do was shot at the angel and hope for the best. “HOLY COW!”

“Don’t stop, Dex! Don’t stop no matter what!”

That much was clear to them both-they couldn’t stop now. They couldn’t stop running. Looking back at the building behind them, the blaze was starting to become visible as it started to escape to the outside and lick up the fresh oxygen. The children from before were watching with glee as the old bulldog building was turning into a giant firework of its own right. What was a sight of joy to them was one of heartbreak to the detectives. Their home was burning-their little office… all gone. The only blessing in this situation was that Sveta wasn’t there to be put in danger. If they lost her…there really would be no turning back.

“Ty…I think we’re officially criminals now.”

“I think you’re right, Dex. I really think you’re right…”

On the run…we were really on the run then. Never in my life did I think we could get into so much trouble that we couldn’t go to the police for help. What started out as a snoop job was turning into a three ringed circus and people trying to kill us was the new center act. All Tyler and I could do at the time was run. Run and think about our next move. Our only shot at keeping out of jail at that time rode on figuring out who killed Cyrus, our new accomplice in this madness. Why did the gangsters have him killed, not just dumped somewhere? What were they doing that night that would have taken down the Fallons? Did Tayte…have a say in the decision to have our office destroyed to scare us off? I didn’t want to think that. I didn’t want to think about anything then. I just wanted to get away…just for a little while, I wanted to get away. And I had to get away. At the time, our lives were depending on how fast and how far my wings could take us…