Swing Shift -CH2- (Patreon)

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A loud and lively chime dragged Gus up from a deep sleep.

Prying his eyes open he managed to glare at the offending device. His cell phone, sitting on the wireless charger across from him on the dresser.

Buzzing, chiming, and happily throwing flashing lights around, it was an annoying monster Gus wanted to destroy.

Groaning, he rolled out of bed, and stumbled over. Snatching it up he tried to thumb the alarm off.

Only to realize it was an incoming call instead that he’d just accepted.

“Uh, hello?” Gus asked, pressing the phone to his ear.

“Good morning dear,” said his mom in a cheery voice.

“Mom,” Gus said, closing his eyes. “Why are you calling me at whatever it is in the morning?”

“Because you’re supposed to come over for dinner this weekend. And if I don’t remind you, and get you on the phone, you’ll forget,” she said, still just as cheerful. One would never suspect her of being a Boogieman. “Your sister will be there along with her boyfriend.”

“Uh huh,” Gus grumbled, yawning. “If that’s your way of asking if I’m seeing anyone, I’m not. Still pretending to be human. Remember?”

“That doesn’t matter anything at all, dear. I was pretending to be human when I met your father after all,” his mom said.

“Dad read your mind,” Gus said, standing up straight, scratching at his head. “After that you weren’t pretending anymore.”

“Mm. True, I suppose. It was rather nice to find someone who wasn’t afraid of what I was,” she said, her voice turning predatory. He imagined she was now looking at his father as she said that.

There was a certain feral desire that apparently all individuals of their race had. To hunt, invoke fear, and devour it. In the past it even went as far as to eat the still beating fear filled heart from a human.

“Mom, don’t look at dad like that,” Gus grumbled. He knew exactly what look she was giving his dad.

“Hmm? Oh, yes, sorry. Anyways. Dinner, Saturday, see you then,” his mom said, then disconnected the line.

She’s going to jump him.

Gus shuddered away from the mental thought. His mom was a true apex predator in the paranormal world. She had no problem dipping into what she was. From what he knew, the only reason she wasn’t a terror in the city, someone his department would be after, was his dad.

Shuffling his feet one in front of the other Gus made it into his bathroom. Staring back at him was his own reflection.

Except it wasn’t at the same time. Gus knew he was the same as his mother. He could see it. See it in the eyes in the reflection. The chained and desperate hunter that wanted to break free. Break free, and feed.

Except it couldn’t. Where his mother had his dad, Gus had a previous life spent dodging bullets. Running from building to building with a rifle.

He’d had his fill of fear and killing.

Glancing at the clock, it was six in the morning.

Might as well get the day going.

***

It was determined pounding on the door that got Gus out of the shower. Except it wasn’t really something he could ignore. He knew that knock.

Anyone who had ever served a beat knew that noise.

A policeman’s knock. A deep three punches that was more likely to wake the dead than ever be considered a knock.

Wrapping a towel around his waist he shambled over to the door and peeked out the peephole.

And found only blackness. Whoever it was had decided they didn’t want to be seen.

Frowning, Gus reached down to the coffee table near the front door. Pressing his thumb to the reader underneath the lip, the false drawer opened up below the table.

Reaching inside, Alex was planning on drawing his off-duty weapon. A mirror image of his issued sidearm that he’d bought from the same company who supplied his department.

“Gus! Open up the door already, it’s Vanessa!” called a feminine voice on the other side of the door.

Huh?

Confused, and not really sure what to make of the situation, Gus unlocked the door and pulled it open.

Sure enough, the detective from the previous day was standing there, staring back at him.

“Sorry, do I know you?” Gus tried, wondering what the hell she was doing here. And how she seemed to know his name.

“Yeah, nice try,” Vanessa said, then her eyes tracked down from his head down to his feet, and back up. Her mouth turned into a dark frown and she raised her eyebrows at him. “Do you always open the door like that?”

“No. But I don’t normally have people who shouldn’t remember me showing up in the morning either,” Gus said. Stepping beyond the doorway, he looked up one side of the street, then the other. Everything was as it should be, though there was a car he didn’t recognize parked in front of his house. He assumed it was the detective’s.

“You can invite me in or I can stand here and make a scene,” Vanessa said. “I grew up in a big family, I can really project my voice if I want to.

“Would you prefer angry ex-wife or insane girlfriend?”

“Damnit. What the hell is wrong with you?” Gus grumbled and stepped to one side, gesturing to the interior. “Well then, by all means, come on in.”

Walking into his home, the detective did an immediate scan of the area. Something Gus had himself done many a-time.

Is there anything visible I should be aware of.

“Off-duty sidearm is in a bio-reader drawer in the coffee table. Everything else in the bedroom in the gun cabinet,” Gus said, walking back toward the bathroom. “So, care to tell me why you know who I am? And where I live?”

Being called out as she was, Vanessa’s body posture immediately shifted to something more casual. “Sorry, force of habit.”

“Yeah, got that. Now, how do you know?” Gus called, walking into his bedroom.

Pulling open the top drawer Gus fished out a white undershirt and some boxers. Throwing both on top of his bed, he went to his sock drawer and pulled out a pair of black socks.

It was all he owned anymore. When you had to wear black socks for work there wasn’t much of a point in owning anything else anymore. You just ended up having to do more laundry to keep up on your black sock inventory.

“That… Enchanter… showed up after you left. She took one look at the scene, and said she was going to be too busy to ‘blank’ me,” Vanessa said, an edge to her voice. “Your watch commander told me to take a few days off, then called my boss and made that happen. Apparently I’m supposed to not do anything I wouldn’t want to forget.”

Part of him wanted to make a comment about seeing him the morning after was indeed a forgettable experience, but the wisecrack died on his lips before he even started.

The strange dull ache came back instead, making his chest hurt.

“Yeah, standard procedure in that case,” Gus said, moving into his walk-in closet. “They’ve got you listed and registered for a wipe. No time to do it right now. I imagine that Troll was seen by a number of people, and those take priority.”

“I figured… if they’re going to take the memories from me anyways, I might as well find out more,” Vanessa said, her voice muffled by the interior of the house. “So I tracked you down in the police database and… here I am. You didn’t mention you were a detective yourself, agent Hellström.”

“Doesn’t really matter, does it?” Gus asked, pulling down a polo shirt from the rack.

“I suppose not, if you thought I’d forget about you. Oh, your watch-commander said he was going to call you in to work today. Apparently he wants you to track down who did his ‘mask’ and then where he’d been the last few days,” Vanessa said. “He either didn’t care that I was listening, or forgot what the Enchanter said.”

Sighing, Gus put the polo back onto the rack and pulled down a white button up shirt and a navy suit.

“He probably forgot. Most people get wiped same day,” Gus said, marching back out of his walk-in. “Wait. Then why are you here?”

“Because I want to know more. I don’t like… not knowing. Even if I forget, I’d rather know. So I figured I’d take you to breakfast.”

“Huh… fine. Mark probably won’t call me in till noon. Trying to get anything done at the DME before two is pointless. Not enough employees,” Gus grumbled.

“DME?” Vanessa asked, her words followed by a soft clatter.

Frowning, Gus whipped off his towel and pulled on his boxers quickly. Peering out from his bedroom he saw Vanessa.

She was poking through the pictures on his mantel.

“Department of Magical Enchantments. It’s where Para’s get their masks assigned by a Fairy or Fae,” Gus said after moving back to get dressed. His assumption was that something went very wrong with the mask the Troll was wearing. Especially since he hadn’t actually been wearing it. Which wasn’t technically possible without breaking it outright. “So, breakfast?”

“Yeah, my treat. But we need to go somewhere cheap. I’m still paying off student loans. Apparently your department’s version of a detective makes a lot more than mine.”

“Yeah,” Gus said, that cold ache coming back. “Hazard pay.”

“After yesterday… I’m not sure they can pay you enough,” Vanessa muttered.

Getting into his clothes quickly, Gus finished up by loading his duty weapon, and holstering it. Then walked back into the main part of his house.

Vanessa was sitting on the couch, flipping through something on her phone.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Oh, yes. Sorry. Was reading a book,” Vanessa said, pressing the lock button on her phone and getting up.

“Anything fun?” he asked moving to the door and opening it.

“I’m not sure it’d be your cup of tea,” Vanessa said passing by him.

“And how do you know that? Maybe I like all sorts of tea,” Gus said, closing his front door and locking it.

“It’s a romance novel, and I’m driving,” Vanessa said, moving toward her car.

“Hey, I like romance. Especially the kind that ends up with a lot of grunting and moaning,” Gus said, catching up with her.

“Of course you do,” replied the detective with a roll of her eyes.

Thirty minutes later and she pulled them into a some greasy spoon Gus had never been inside.

In fact, the last time he’d gone somewhere like this was before he’d joined the military. He tended to stay away from places like this because Para’s liked to frequent them.

And Gus might as well have a neon sign above his head that said Para-cop. There really wasn’t much else he could be since he had a mask, but was entirely human behind it. Any other human who would appear as such, could almost always make their own mask. Usually one that was infinitely better, too.

No such thing as an undercover human Para-cop.

Sure enough, the hostess looked like some type of Elf behind her glittering spell mask. Her eyes were a full blue color without any whites. She was staring at him, the recognition instant.

“Booth preferably, two people,” Gus said, trying to get the girl moving. The longer she sat there staring at him, the harder it’d be to get her rolling.

Giving her head a quick shake, she smiled at him in the same way all waitresses did. Though she did have a set of overly large canines that visibly slipped free from her lips. “Of course, right this way.”

Vanessa pulled off her jacket when they got to the booth and tossed it lightly into the corner of her seat. The gun in it’s shoulder holster was very visible.

Reaching into her blouse she fished out her detective medallion and set it outside of her clothes.

As was the fact that Vanessa was actually stacked. She also had a narrow waist that spoke to a lot of walking. There was no denying that she’d be worth approaching.

Now that he was looking, she was actually rather pretty, too.

Deciding he might as well follow suit since she was deciding to openly profess she was a cop, Gus pulled off his coat and ditched it in the same way. Though he didn’t pull out his medallion. His was also his mask, and he didn’t want to put himself more on display if he didn’t have to.

Watching the hostess Vanessa waited till she was out of earshot.

“Let me guess, she’s not normal, and she knew you were a cop,” Vanessa said.

“Elf,” Gus said with a shrug of his shoulders, opening the menu. “All mask holders can see through other mask holders.

“Keeps everyone playing fair and in the open. It also makes it a lot easier to pick out Paras without a mask.”

“She gave you the same look I get when I go home,” Vanessa muttered, pushing her menu to one side. “Order the waffles, trust me.”

“What? Eh… whatever,” Gus said, closing the menu. “No matter what I order I’ll probably get something special added.”

“You won’t, I come here often enough that they know better,” Vanessa said. “So… tell me what I need to know?”

“Need to know?” Gus asked, getting a sinking feeling.

“Yeah. Need to know. If I’m only going to keep these memories for a few days, I might as well help you work this case. Your boss already got me several days off and I’m not going to just sit around in my apartment.”

“No. Just, no. You’re not going to do this,” Gus said, shaking his head. “You’ll just-”

“You can clue me in, and bring me along, or I just follow you. What are you gonna do, call the cops on me?” Vanessa asked.

“Are you serious-”

A waitress, who was very clearly not human to Gus, walked up with a pad in hand. She had short black horns coming out from her brows and long down-turned ears.

“Uhm… I,” she said, staring at Gus.

“Hi Judy,” Vanessa said.

“Oh, hey… Ness who’s your friend?” Judy said, somehow breaking her eyes from Gus.

“I’m not working, and she didn’t know till yesterday, and she’ll forget the next time you see her probably,” Gus said with a sigh. “I’ll take the waffles and whatever dark soda you have.”

Judy the waitress looked back to Vanessa.

“The same but coffee,” she said.

Judy went off toward the back to put in their oder.

“Her too?” Vanessa asked.

“Yeah, looks like a Fae or somethin’,” Gus said. “Fine, ok. Fine. You can come with me. If, and I mean if, my boss actually calls me and puts me on the case. Otherwise, you’re going home, and I’m going to go run some errands.”

“I can agree to that. So… what do I need to know?” she prompted.

Pressing a hand to his face, Gus didn’t know where to start. “Right, uh. All the things that go bump in the night are real.

“Humans outnumber Para something like three to one. They’re moving into the cities faster and faster as the government makes it easier. Outside of some dos and don’ts, thats most of what you need to know.”

“Do’s and don’ts?” Vanessa parroted back.

“Yeah. Don’t make a deal with a Warlock, Fae, or Fairy. Vampires and Werewolves can turn you if you get bitten. It’s not a guarantee you’ll contract the disease but it’s like a one in five to catch it.

“After that it’s like a fifty-fifty if you survive it. Vampires get rolled into a coven through their blood bond of the disease. Werewolves can go rogue.”

“What… what if you were bit?” Vanessa asked.

“Funny, I’ve been bit before. Werewolf,” Gus muttered. “CDC kicks over a regimen you take if you’re bit. It decreases the chances of developing the disease. If it’s vampirism, you end up having to leave the force but with a pension and usually a bit more power in your life than if you were a civilian. Werewolves get reassigned.”

“Can vampires and werewolves just bite whoever they wan’t?” Vanessa asked.

“No. There’s a bunch of paperwork people have to submit to get converted. Mostly because it’s a coin-flip if it’s suicide or note.

“Illegal bites get run as attempted murder or murder,” Gus said. “Kinda easy to track that back with DNA on the bite.”

“There’s a prison for Para’s?”

“Yep. The medium security and max prisons are mostly run up north across the border. Stick’em in the middle of nowhere and deep in the wilderness. Then just make it a giant armed and armored fortress. No visitations or anything.

“Non-violent Para crime end up in normal jails with Humans,” Gus said. “Anything else you wanna know?”

“I mean… there’s lots I want to know, but I don’t know what to ask. I don’t know what I don’t know,” Vanessa said, looking frustrated.

“Yeah, I get that. Honestly the Para world is just a giant gray space. You fill it in bit by bit, do research, and try your best to keep both sides of the equation safe,” Gus said, leaning back in his seat. “Paras can end up having it almost worse than Humans at times. Especially in the smaller places.”

“I’m not sure how I can see that. That Troll the other day was ah… frightening,” Vanessa said.

“In a one on one, sure, they’re terrifying. Except all you have to do is drown them in humanity,” Gus said. “If you want a good example of that, just rewind history a few hundred years and start going through witch trials, crusades, and inquisitions.

“Sure, a strong and prepared group of Paras can really cause a problem. But its their numbers and inability to band together that endangers them. A Vamp would rather drink from a hobo on a ten day bender of black-tar and booze than compliment a Wolf.”

“How does one get into your department?” Vanessa finally asked. Gus had been expecting it for a while.

“Recruited by watch-commanders. They usually do a yearly review of all the other forces that they can pull from and go from there if they have open slots.”

“And how’d you get in?” Vanessa asked.

Gus blew out a breath and finally met her eyes. He gave her a cold smile, and let just a hint of what he kept bolted down inside his soul out.

“I spent a month holed up in a tiny village in the shit-hole end of nowhere with nothing but my squad, sand, and something like six packs of Weres.

“Not all Wolves either. Pretty sure there was a few Lions in there,” Gus said. “Me and two other guys walked out. One ate his gun the week after that. The other works in my department but he works day shift, while I work the overnight.”

“You work overnight? But… you said you’d be working during the day,” Vanessa asked. At the same time Judy came back with their food and set it down on the table.

“Yeah, I guess that wouldn’t make sense at first,” Gus said, paying Judy no mind. “Because the Para community is more active at night. That’s the day shift. I’m the swing shift agent.”

Judy finished up, looking from Vanessa to Gus.

“Thank you, Judy,” Gus said, giving her a genuine smile. “Your horns are quite lovely. It’s like they’re polished. I bet they shine beautifully in the sunlight.”

Judy gave him a sudden and bright smile, surprised and flattered, nodding her head.

“Thank you. I gave them a good buffing last week,” she said, clearly surprised at his comment.

“Last week? I’m surprised. You look more like you walked out of a salon,” Gus said, maybe laying it on a bit thick. If he could get the waitress on his side though, he might be able to come back here another time.

Judy wrinkled her nose with a grin, shaking her head at him. Flattered and clearly liking it. Her large ears were also very bright red.

“Ah, let me know if you need anything and I’ll take care of it,” she said, giving him a hand wave.

Vanessa was giving him a strange look, unfolding her silverware from the napkin.

“Demons take pride in their horns. Hers were actually rather pretty,” Gus said, looking at his food. “No reason not to compliment her on them. That and it’d be nice to come back here sometime.”

That sentiment was mostly because the food smelled really good.

That and it didn’t hurt that there was an undercurrent of fear in the place coming from the patrons, all directed at him.

His inner demon chuckled smugly.

Meal with a meal. Should have thought of this before.