“Coffee, tall, black.”

Raven yanked his wallet out as he stepped up to the barista. He slapped some bills on the counter as hot steam filled the air behind the worker and handed him his coffee. He grabs the cup as his order is rung up and goes to take a sip when someone brushes up beside him.

“Everything is black to you isn’t it?”

Raven panics as he tries to keep his cup from spilling. His coffee safe, he turns and glares at Claire at his shoulder, doing her best to look innocent with a pleasant smile. Her smile brightens as she continues undeterred.

“Your hair is black, your eyes are black, your coffee’s black and even your name’s Black. What is it with you and black?”

Raven pinched his eyebrows together as he mumbled into his cup taking a sip, “Family tradition, or something like that.”

He walked out of the coffee shop and headed down the street back to the building, pointingly ignoring Claire following close behind. She easily kept up with his pace as she trailed at his side.

She walked by his arm as she continued talking to him, “What family tradition?”

Raven barely glanced her way as he drained more of his coffee, “You never heard of the Black family?”

“I have,” Raven glanced in time to see Claire with a sobering look on her face, “I just never thought I’d meet one here. So you are a part of that family?”

He said nothing as they bounded up the steps and creaked the door open saying a barely audible, “Yes.”

Before they could walk inside though Henry met them out the door, pulling on a shirt as he strapped his badge and gun on, “C’mon, we got a case.”

Claire followed quietly behind as Raven snapped around and followed Henry to the back of the building. They came upon a small parking lot whose care also matched the rundown building. Claire raised an eyebrow as they walked up to a car.

“We’re taking a car?”

Henry only glanced her way, shoving the straw back into his mouth as Raven stopped and stared hard at her, “Yes. Is that too old-fashioned for the high and mighty mage?” He took a minute to blink and crossed his arms, “And what makes you think you’re coming with us?”

Claire blinked, clearly confused, “Well I’m your partner, remember? And this is a joint assignment too, remember?”

“Doesn’t mean we need a mage’s help.”

Raven walked away before Claire could comment and was startled when Raven got behind the wheel and peeled off. Claire stood there with her hands on her hips huffing at the disappearing car. Inside the vehicle Henry cautiously glanced at an irritated Raven and smiled to himself. It’s not every day he sees Raven so on edge.

They zipped through traffic with the sirens blaring going at high speeds. Henry kept a firm hold on the ‘oh-shit’ bar as the scenery blurred by. They finally came upon their crime scene at an old warehouse by the docks. Raven led the way as they got out and walked towards the crowds of people behind the area being sectioned off by electronic caution tape. Raven and Henry flashed their badges at the beam of tape. It beeped as it scanned their badges allowing them passage.

Raven stood there studying the victim’s body as Henry went off to talk to the sergeants in charge. He walked over to the body and crouched down, taking in the pungent crisp scent of burned flesh. The body was burnt to charcoal, barely recognizable. Raven tried to get closer, studying the face.

“I wouldn’t do that.”

He nearly jumped as Claire suddenly appeared by his side. She was crouched as well with her chin popped in her hands, studying the corpse. Raven leaned back, placing his arms on his thighs, pinning her with a look.

“Why not?”

She glanced at him with a strange look in her eyes and went back to studying the body, “He’s cursed. His body was burnt with a spell, some sort of hex I guess.”

“You can tell if he was male or female?”

Claire laughed as she stood, “Heck no. My eyes aren’t that good.”

Raven stood next to her and watched as she studied the victim some more, “How’d you find us?”

Claire walked around the body, careful not to touch it as she continued to study it, “I just asked the fairy to find the crime scene. What you thought I was tracking you or something?”

Raven couldn’t comment as a coroner came up to the scene about to start his work. Claire stopped him before he could come in contact with the body, “I wouldn’t do that. He’s covered in magic and I don’t want it to transfer to you. Do you have a Mage on contract?”

The coroner clearly backed away as he wrung his hands, “Are you sure? We didn’t get the call that this was a magic case.”

Claire nodded her head as he ran off to his van to make the call. She stood there perplexing over the body and even Raven could hear the gears and cogs rolling. Henry walked over before Raven could question what she was thinking and was quickly flipping through his little notebook.

“Call came in around 30 minutes ago. Anonymous tip, no ID. Caller said and I quote, ‘big ol’ piece of burnt log someone left in the middle of nowhere.’ Dispatch GPS’d the location and sent a unit to check it out. They’re the ones who called in the body.” Henry looked up to see two pair of eyes staring down at the victim. He wondered what Claire’s opinion would be and took a plunge, “So Claire, whatda think?”

Claire glanced up, rubbing the back of her neck as she thought, “No ID, no bracelet and plenty of magic. This stuff is nasty. Whoever used this was contaminated too.” With that she whipped out her hand and snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. From her fingers small glints of sparkling lights can be seen as they cover her eyes, “Ah there! Right there is where the caster stood.”

She led them to a spot roughly 3 feet from the foot of the body. Raven followed close behind as Henry glanced back at the body.

“You can see magic?”

Claire looked at Raven and smiled, “Not all the time. That would be a headache, believe me. This simple spell allows you to see for a short period of time. Wanna try it?”

Raven was hesitant but consented, wanting to see what she saw. Quick as a flash Claire reached over and snapped her fingers in his face. He blinked as sparkles blinded his vision, taking him aback. His vision cleared and he was stunned at the sight he saw. There at the ground Claire pointed to was covered in silver light. His eyes followed the silver trail from the spot to the body and saw the body covered in silver, almost glowing.

“This is what you saw?”

Claire came up beside him and shook her head, “No. Like I said, I can’t see magic 24/7 but his body was so covered in it I could sense it. I’m not sure but it looks like hex magic from an artifact. Whoever the caster was didn’t know what they were doing or they could have avoided the flashback.”

“Flashback? You mean something like a backlash?”

Claire nodded, “Something like that.” She walked over to Henry who was chatting up the Mage corner, “A hex was involve so take special precautions. Also see if you can identify the magic signature.” The mage nodded absently and her eyes widen as she saw Claire walk away. Claire came up to Raven, “You ready to go on a walk? That spell may not last very long for you but we can follow the trail to the perpetrator.”

Raven raised his eyebrow as he followed the silvering trail, “You really think he’ll stick around?”

“No, but it can lead us to where he went and we can go from there.”