Copycat Killer (Psychic For Hire 1)

“Sure, my knowledge will be all yours!” I ring up her purchases at the cash register and bag them. “Looking forward to Monday.”

We agree where to meet as I see her out of the store. I stand in the doorway to give her a little wave as she walks off. “Stay safe!” I shout instinctively.

She looks at me curiously. I point at my hair. “I meant tonight. We blond girls can’t be too careful with the Wolf-Claw Killer on the rampage.”

She laughs. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

Chapter 2

DIANA

Later that night, I walk home after finishing my shift at Luca’s restaurant, taking care to stay in well-lit areas and keeping my eyes peeled for any wolfish maniacs.

I walk past India’s house. The house has four floors just like mine. In fact, it is pretty much identical. Pillars flanking the front door, cream painted facade, pretty stone-work masking a rather different story on the inside. I glance up at the windows across the multiple levels, wondering if one belongs to India. She is probably still out celebrating Rachel’s birthday.

I wonder what Rachel is like, and whether she’s a werewolf too. She has to be. Werewolves almost always live in packs as far as I know and this is especially true of female werewolves. The fact that the two of them have moved to London together strikes me as more than a little unusual.

I suppose they will be safer than most. All of the victims of the Wolf-Claw Killer have been human girls.

It irks me that the press have named this murderer Wolf-Claw after the notorious Devil Claw Killer, the serial killer who had murdered my biological mother. It’s like they were trying to create the same sort of panic in the populace. Completely unnecessary given the savage nature of the crimes, and the fact that the last two kills had happened outside of the full moon, making every night a terrifying night.

Theo has given me a shield bracelet and taught me an incantation to activate it. He’s also given me a nasty two inch dart dipped in a super-concentrated wolfsbane potion of his own invention. He’d designed it to be carried on my keyring.

I am holding the dart now, clenched between the knuckles of the index and middle finger of my right hand. Just in case. It feels a bit stupid to be doing so, but he’d made me promise. Fat lot of use it’ll be if the killer decides to spring at me now. I am bone tired. I doubt I have the energy to swing it with anywhere near enough force to pierce a werewolf’s hide right now.

I realize I have come to a standstill outside India’s house. Boy would she think I was creepy if she happened to glance out of her window. Yawning, I trudge onwards.

Thinking of Theo reminds me that the sticky note I left for him about India’s wolfsbane potion may have gone astray. Little Mozz is always touching things she shouldn’t, but even if she hadn’t misplaced it, there’s no guarantee that absent-minded Theo will have actually seen the note.

I dig out my phone from my satchel and give him a ring. It is past midnight, but Theo being a night-owl answers immediately.

“Hi Theo. Did you see the note I left you?”

“The wolfsbane potion? Yes, I’ve already made some up.”

“Thanks Theo, you’re the best. What’s that noise? Is it Mozz? Is she singing? It’s so cute.”

“Yes, very cute,” he says dryly. “Speaking of Mozz, did you see if she got into the store room again today?”

“I didn’t notice it. I thought you had put up a guard spell to keep her out?”

He sighs. “She’s always finding a way to slip past them.”

“Why? Did she get her hands on something she shouldn’t?”

“Oh just a few more things gone astray is all. I was a bit worried about a couple of crystals from the inventory. I’m sure I’ll find them. Were you looking up demonic possessions again?”

“Why?” I ask, suddenly wary.

“You left the book on the counter. Is your friend having any trouble with the amulet I provided?”

I wince when he says ‘friend’. I suspect Theo full well knows the friend I had claimed to be trying to help is none other than myself. I have no friends, unless you count Storm and Remi, who probably think of me just as a colleague. I would have said Deepika and Aisling, fellow waitresses at Luca’s restaurant where I still work the occasional shift, but I never see them outside the restaurant. Theo doesn?

??t need to know that.

“Er, no, the amulet’s fine, I think.”

“You should ask her to come and see me. If it really is a spiritual possession I am sure I can do something to remove the spirit. Most of the weaker spirits aren’t terribly complicated to remove, and if it’s the pain that she’s worried about—”