Cause of Death Unnatural - By Eliza Ford Page 0,2

arrival and almost shivered with a ghoulish joy. She was certain Alina had left her father's side without his permission. She grinned again at the thought. He would eat Alina alive as soon as he found her. And she completely deserved it. Em had just been waiting for the right moment to report back to the lord of the clan. She was biding her time, waiting to see what Alina was up to, and besides, she'd found she was reluctant to see her father again, hesitant about sinking back into her own realm. Too much time with the humans, she thought wryly.

She hadn't thought for a second Alina was doing something like this. And this throbbing in her head wasn't Alina either. It couldn't be.

She sighed again at the mess in front of her. They were such young men - fit, beautiful, full of energy. Whoever had done this had wasted them.

“Not pretty, is it?” said a voice behind her.

Nick.

Em looked at him. He looked crumpled, with a five o'clock shadow, like he hadn't slept at all. Anyone who looked at his rakish smile, his tussled hair, the way his upper arms so completely filled his shirt would think he'd spent the night at a club wooing some gorgeous young thing, but Em knew better.

Nick's sister had three young kids and the youngest was sick, really sick. When the littlest one and his mum were in hospital for days on end, Nick and the rest of his siblings took care of the other two, sleeping on the sofa, packing school lunches and delivering the pair to school and after school activities. Nick had obviously pulled the night shift tonight.

“Sorry I couldn't get here any quicker,” he said. “It was 3am. I couldn't get anyone else over to Lucy's to care for the kids.” He ran his hand through his hair and grimaced. “Is Robert mad?”

“Only a bit,” Em said. “I'll protect you.” She smiled, and Nick rolled his eyes.

“What the hell happened here?” he said. Em saw his expression tighten a little as he completely took in the scene. So, the violence here upset him too. In a way, the notion that both her men found this repulsive pleased her. She'd chosen them well. She just wondered who she'd choose if she had to choose between them.

“Something new,” Em said. “We'll figure it out. Can you work with Poll please, Nick. Robert wants us off the street by sunrise.”

Nick raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged into his crime scene jacket. “Sure thing, boss,” he said, with a slight smirk on his face. Em remembered how Nick enjoyed the dynamic of her being his superior in the workplace, how he enjoyed it in other locations too, but with this mental itch still tugging at her brain she wasn't in the mood to play along.

“Just do it, Nick,” she said. “I need to...”

Her phone rang. Em glanced at the screen and frowned. Jennifer? At five in the morning? What the hell?

“I've got to take this,” she said, and turned her back on Nick. She felt rather than saw him throw a hand in the air, in much the same way as Robert had done earlier, and stalk off towards Poll. At least he'd get some work done.

“Jenn?” Em said into the phone. “What's up?”

Her best friend was in an impressive state of hysterics. Through the sobbing Em heard, “We broke up. He dumped me. He said he never even loved me.”

“Who?” said Em, and then caught herself. She couldn't think with this pounding in her head. “He's a jerk, Jennifer. You're better off without him. Where are you? Jenn?”

There was more wailing on the other end of the phone. “We were at the Harbor Bar. It was supposed to be our anniversary.” She sobbed again and Em held her forehead again with her spare hand. “He's driven off and left me here. And...”

“What Jenn?”

“I haven't got any money for a cab.” Jennifer dissolved into tears again.

Em groaned. She told Jennifer to stay where she was and hung up. She'd take Jenn home, tuck her in and leave her to sleep it off. A gentle psychic nudge would set the girl up to sleep all day and Em would get a good day's work in at the lab. Now, how did the rest of routine go? Sometime in the afternoon, Em would take a tub of ice cream and a bottle of red wine over to Jenn's place. They'd watch Titanic and