Back at the Purple Diamonds' Headquarters, four Paranatural creatures were sitting around the table in the dining room bickering. Overhead, floating candles illuminated the room, causing the lighting to flicker and change with the flow of air circulating throughout. The blinds on the windows were drawn, hiding the goings on from the outside world.
"I'm telling you, that Detective deserves to die for what she tried to do." Randall was telling the others, his mouth full of sharp canines that had manifested to show his dislike of the earlier situation. "She must know it's extremely disrespectful to interrupt a Halfborn’s rituals without permission.”
"Yeah. I know, and I wish I could kill her too, but Tuiste would get pissed at us if we did." Malin replied, sipping blood out of a glass with a straw, their fingers nimbly jumping over the tablet in their lap, eyes hidden away safely under their fringe.
"Speaking of El..." Kiandra murmured as the Halfborn waltzed into the room, their mask hanging at their waist, opposite to the ever present potion bottles.
"Right, let's work out what we know." Aelfrun sat down on the table and pointed at Aiken. Their voice was strangely sharp, the undercurrent of static more obvious than usual, and it was clear the encounter with the detective earlier had put a dampener on their usually decent mood. "Initial Forensics report. Go."
"It's pretty simple. Missing her face, like all Faceshifter attacks. That's what I'm assuming killed her. Of course, it could have been something else, but you'll have to wait for me to do a more in depth analysis. Give me a week." Aiken reported casually. Aelfrun pointed at the next person.
"Anam Cara, darling, report on local Paranormal activity."
"There hasn't been much reported there recently. A few Ghost sightings, someone apparently seeing the Slenderman. I doubt that one's real. But other than that, nothing much. I'll talk to the Paranatural residents that live nearby." Kiandra responded quickly, a hand reaching out to touch Aelfrun’s sleeve in a placating manner.
"Good. Not as much as I’d hope, but good. Cana, report."
Randall sighed, slightly frustrated still "It was raining last night, so it was difficult to pick up on any scent. There were a few faint footprints, but they're Faceshifters, they have light feet. I couldn't track them."
Aelfrun sighed, and the candles above them dimmed in unison. "Great. That just makes this more difficult." They turned to Malin, and their face softened. In a gentler voice, they asked: "What do you have, Asthore ?"
"The victim was a widow, her husband died serving the army overseas. She had two children who were killed a few years back in a still unsolved Faceshifter attack. No living relatives that I could find. She was retired, but volunteered part time at a soup kitchen which provided food exclusively for the Paranormal residents of the city." Aelfrun perked up at this new information.
"Was she a Paranatural herself?"
"No. And neither was her husband. But her children were half-fae."
"Complicated family dynamic there then." Randall interjected. Kiandra smirked slightly.
"Yeah. But I can't find who the Fae parent was."
Aelfrun sighed again. "Keep looking. I want that Fae found. Who knows what they got mixed up in." They jumped up on top of the table and started pacing.
"My turn. My, admittedly rather brief, scan turned up nothing in the house that was out of the ordinary, other than some random old Fae artefact, which makes slightly more sense now. I took that of course, we can't let Detective Smith get her filthy hands on it." They pulled an amulet out of her pocket and placed it on the table." Kia, do your thing." The Faceshifter picked it up from the table and closed her eyes.
"Nothing specific. It's of Seelie origin, but that's all I can get from it."
"Yay. Seelies." Aiken drew out, clearly enthused with the idea of having to deal with them.
"That's a job for later. I don’t want to deal with them right now either." Aelfrun decided, jumping off the table and pulling up a chair to sit with the rest of their team. The conversation quickly moved to lighter topics, and the candles in the room slowly increased in brightness.