“We are sending help. Please stay on the line. Is the animal still in the vicinity?”
“I... I don’t know. We need a supernatural response team. It wasn’t a normal animal.”
“Ma’am, can you describe the creature?”
“Not right now. I’m Harlowe Kelly, a witch. I was hired to investigate the attacks on the cars. Trust me on this one.”
“I’ll call a team.”
Harley’s eyes slid down to her hands. She could hear the sirens in the distance. They weren’t going to make it. She could see his spirit getting ready to leave his body.
“Hang in there, Mike. Think of your wife. Think of your kids. Help is almost here. Just hang on.”
Hot tears ran down her cheeks. He needed to hang on.
“Damnit Mike, don’t you dare die on me.”
She could see the lights. The ambulance was pulling in the parking lot. Harley knew his heart had stopped beating. There was no more blood to pump out of his body. She prayed to the Goddess and sent a small electrical pulse through his body. Using a modified version of the one she’d sent through the creature earlier.
“Ma’am are you still there?”
“I’m here. So is the ambulance.”
Harley didn’t take her hands off his throat until one of the paramedics was there to take over. They went to work on Mike, trying to save him. She had managed to restart his heart.
She stood there, blood dripping from her hands onto the parking lot. Staring, hoping, and praying. She’d forgotten all about the 911 operator.
Police cars pulled into the parking lot. A fire truck and another ambulance. She was beyond numb, covered in blood, and suddenly freezing.
She trembled from cold, from sadness, and from fear as the officers surrounded the area guns drawn. Once they checked the area and called the all clear, one of them approached her.
By that time, Mike had been taken away in the ambulance. Harley had no idea if he was still alive when they loaded him. He had lost so much blood. There was a pool of it on the parking lot where his body had been. She was covered in his blood.
“Miss, can you tell me what happened?”
Harley looked at the officer in front of her. He was a few inches shorter, a few years younger. His name plate said, Officer Rodriguez.
Harley wasn’t sure where to begin. “Where do I begin? Why I was here, or the attack?”
“Go ahead and tell us everything from the time you got here.”
The blood was drying on her hands. Another officer had come up and put bags over her hands. He told her that they were evidence, and would be removed after the crime lab came and got samples. She nodded her head numbly at him.
“I arrived late morning. I was called in to investigate the creature that was causing damage to the vehicles on this lot.
“After taking evidence, we decided it would be best to complete my work after they closed the lot. They closed early and I came back.
“After investigating, I concluded that we were dealing with an unknown paranormal. One that could not be immediately identified with a spell or potion work.
“I asked to be able to stay overnight to try and get a look at the creature.”
Harley paused and took a deep breath. She realized that she was trembling. The EMT’s were surrounding her by the time she paused.
“Why don’t you follow us? You can sit over here. The crime lab is here. They can process the evidence while you are telling the police the rest of the story.”
She followed them to the ambulance. Sitting down on the edge of the back door while the crime lab team processed the blood on her hands and other parts of her body.
Officer Rodriguez decided she could finish telling them what happened when the crime lab was done. The paramedics were concerned that she had been hurt.
All the blood was Mike’s. There was so very much blood. She looked in horror as they swabbed her hands. She looked like she should be in a slasher film. Unfortunately, all the blood was real. No one had put blood packs on her to explode at just the right moment in the scene.
No, all this blood belonged to the man she had spent hours talking to. The one who had shown her pictures of his wife and kids. The one that was more than likely dead.
The blood was embedded under her fingernails. One of the techs took the time to scrape it out from under each of her nails. It hurt a little. She endured it without comment.
In part, she felt numb. She had never had anybody die like that. Not in front of her, not with their blood all over her hands. When the tech was done one of the paramedics started cleaning her hands.
Each hand was examined for wounds before they moved on to the blood on other parts of her body. Blood samples were taken, cataloged and then she was cleaned up to make sure none of the blood was her own.
Eventually, she was cleared to talk again. Officer Reyes suggested they finish up inside of the building. The sales manager had arrived by then. He corroborated what he knew of the story and made sure everyone had hot coffee to drink.
CSI and other teams had arrived to comb the area. The police had brought in K-9 units to see if they could track the creature. Most of the dogs were hound dogs. They were perfect for tracking.
After drinking a cup of coffee, she picked up the story. “Mike, one of the salesmen, stayed after with me. We viewed several of the videotapes. Finding no
