Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy 1)

“Not sure. I think I'm missing. ”

“Raquel did seem very on edge. ”

I sighed. “Yeah, I should probably let her know I'm not dead. ” I didn't get up.

“You look tired. ” He briefly shifted back to wearing me, showing me my heavy eyelids and the dark circles under my eyes.

“Gee, thanks. I love hearing that. Why not just tell me I look like crap?”

He laughed and switched back to the cute guy. “I still can't get your eyes. ”

“I'm an original,” I said cheerfully.

“More than you know, I think. ”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

He shrugged. “Just that I've never met a human I couldn't replicate exactly. ”

I stood, scowling. “Look, Water Boy, the only paranormal in this room is y

ou. ”

“If you say so. ”

I was too tired for Lend's nonsense. The doorway was wider than a normal door and totally open. “What's the security on this room?”

He lifted the foot with the ankle tracker. “If I cross the threshold of the room, an alarm goes off and my ankle thing goes zap. ”

No problems for me then. “Excellent. I'll see you later. ” I walked out without another word.

I didn't spend much time in the security sections of the Center. By the time paranormals got here, my work was done. Guessing, I turned left and followed the hall to a familiar area. I was pretty close to Central Processing, so I went in and found Raquel talking frantically with Lish. “That's not acceptable! The werewolves have to be able to find something!”

Lish looked up, saw me over Raquel's shoulder, and promptly burst into tears. At least, I think that's what she was doing. I'd never seen her cry, and there weren't tears since she was already in water, but the facial contortions and shoulder movements were enough to clue me in.

Raquel turned around and yelped, then threw her arms around me. “They didn't eat you!”

“No, they didn't eat me. ” I had to laugh at the odd symmetry, pushing back my own tears of relief. I was so glad to be back here, with Raquel and Lish. For a while there I'd honestly thought I might not ever see them again.

Regaining her composure, Raquel pushed me out to arm's length, holding onto my shoulders. “What on earth happened? Where have you been? And why did you kill all those vampires?”

“I--Wait, what? Kill the vamps?”

She nodded, looking severe. Killing paranormals is not okay for employees of IPCA. All paranormals are classified as endangered; that's why even the icky ones just get neutered instead of, well, dead.

“I didn't kill them! They were one bite away from killing me! I tased a few and slashed around with my silver knife, but I'm sure I didn't pierce any hearts. ”

“How did you get away?”

I looked down at the ground. “I called for Reth. ”

She let out a this is going to be an even bigger mess than I thought sigh. “Then who left twenty-?five vampires dead?”

Chapter Eight

DUMBBELLS, BOYS, AND OTHER DENSE THINGS

Raquel's vampire explanation came first. “When the panic team got there, they found all the vampires dead. ”