Kym Grosso - Kade's Dark Embrace

“Uh, Syd...One more tiny detail...”

“Seriously?”

“P-CAP is meeting us there.”

“Hell no, I don’t feel like dealing with their shit tonight.” P-CAP: Paranormal City Alternative Police. Sydney wasn’t a fan of working paranormal cases. For the most part, Sydney stuck to the cut and dry, run-of-the-mill human murders. She didn’t have to work with supes, nor did she want to. She wasn’t exactly prejudiced without reason. Two years ago, when working a supposedly simple hit and run, an unknown were-bitch shifted into tiger mode and killed two cops. It turned out the perp was related to the hit and run driver, and the tiger thought she could fix the problem by killing the humans. Too bad for her, Sydney always carried a silver knife. Sure, she came out with a few scratches, and almost died in the I.C.U., but Sydney came out of the skirmish alive, the tiger didn’t.

Sydney sighed. “Okay, Tony, but I swear if there are any kitty cats workin’ this case I'll be taking them directly to the vet to be fixed and declawed. I am not dealing with shifters tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah, one close call with a pussy cat and now you’re allergic to all of P-CAP?” he jokingly asked.

“Make all the jokes you want, Tony. It’s all fun and games until their claws come out, and the next thing you know the knives are flying. Good thing I've been practicing my aim. See you in ten.” Okay, so it was probably more like twenty given the city traffic on a Friday night, but at least she was going. She was annoyed that her one night off was screwed thanks to a floater. Nothing got much grosser than that, especially when the skin came pulling off...yuck. It was probably just another idiot who thought it was a great idea to take a swim in the Delaware on a muggy August night.

When Sydney showed up on the scene, there must have been at least ten black and whites, not to mention the buzzing crowd of spectators who decided to show up to see if they could catch a glimpse of a dead body. What the hell was wrong with people? She knew damn well the answer to that question was 'everything'. It wasn’t as if she hated the general population, but she tended to see the worst in people, human or not: drug users, rapists, murderers, and perhaps the worst of the bunch, child abusers, and pedophiles. The sick bastards never ceased to amaze her. She shuddered thinking about what might be waiting for her beyond the yellow tape tonight.

Walking down the gravel sidewalk, she ended up in trampled, soggy weeds that formed a makeshift path. The scene buzzed with CSI and fellow officers. Swiveling her head around, she felt a chill in her bones. It was ninety degrees outside. Something was off, really off. She tried to remain steady on her feet as she gently eased down the slope of the slippery grass. “Sydney! Over here!” she heard Tony call.

As she approached the body, the smell hit her first. “Oh God, what the fuck is that smell? Dead body mixed with algae? Shit, that is just terrible,” she complained.

“Nice mouth, Syd. Soon you're going to have to carry around that cuss jar with you in the car,” Tony teased.

“Yeah, well, fucking sue me. I’ve given up on the damn cuss jar. I’ll just write your favorite charity a check. That should cover me for the year,” she winked.

“Okay then, I’ll be waiting on it. Yeah, I know the smell is pretty bad, huh? I guess I failed to mention that the gal who discovered the body passed out from the smell. Buck up, Syd. I’ll buy you roses afterward,” he chuckled.

Tony thought he was so damn funny. He was a tough cop, born and raised in South Philly. Six-three, Italian goodness wrapped in a hot, witty package, he had no difficulty getting dates. Dark, olive skin; cropped, raven hair, with just a wisp of a flip to the front, the man looked like he could bench press a Septa bus, minus the bulk of a wrestler. To top it off, he knew the city like the back of his hand, and there was no one Sydney would rather trust to have at her back.

She loved him...as well as she could love anyone. He was a good friend. Okay, sometimes she thought of him as a very good friend and was often tempted to turn things into a 'more than friends' arrangement, but she had worked hard to get where she was in the department. Sydney would be damned if she gave into her primal urges to screw her partner and then end up an office joke as the 'cop who liked to be on top.' Still, she couldn’t help but admire his manly physique, which reminded her that she needed to get out tonight and find someone to play with. A quick, meaningless quickie would give her the release she desired, one she very much needed before she ended up breaking her own 'no-dating-on-the-job' rule.

Thoughts of sex were pushed to the back of her mind as the body came into view. The body was that of a young woman. Her skin was almost translucent after being in the water for so long. She was dressed in a long, white gown, which shimmered in the harsh lights. She almost looked like the porcelain dolls her mother used to collect, beautiful to look at but no touching allowed. Yes, this girl looked innocent, fragile. How old could she have been? Maybe twenty-one? Sydney blew out a breath. “What a fucking sicko. What the hell? What is that stuff on her eyes? Her face?”

As she leaned in for a closer look, Tony tapped notes into his cell phone. “I know, Syd. We definitely have a demented one on this case. It's almost as if the perp wanted her to look a certain way, cared about her appearance...well, except for the whole ‘sew her eyelids shut and dress her up like a doll’ shit...and of course, we still need to find cause of death. The coroner is on her way. Take a look at her face.”

The girl’s eyelids were sewn shut in the shape of an 'X', and she still had what looked like makeup on her face. She had been in the water for at least a day or two. Maybe it was something else besides makeup? Tattooing? Sydney had a friend who tattooed eye makeup on women so they looked fresh-as-a-daisy, day or night, no muss, no fuss. Well, except there was plenty of muss here. Actually, the water-logged loose skin looked like you could pull it right off the girl, as if it were a translucent glove. Ew...Sydney might be a cop, but that didn’t mean she didn’t get grossed out by the sick ways people died, or the things they did. Like the guy they found dead with a gourd shoved up his ass. Yep, another day in the city...still gross.

“Tony, her skin looks so pale. Paler than what I would expect from your average floater. It's almost as if....” Sydney’s skin pricked in awareness. The feeling she had on the docks, the guy who’d been watching her earlier, had he freaking followed her? What the hell?

Kade stepped into the spotlights, dominating her space and finishing her words. “It almost looks as if her blood was drained from her body, and indeed, it was. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Kade Issacson from P-CAP, and I am now officially in charge of this case. You are welcome to stay on and assist...” Kade spoke confidently, concealing his excitement. He could not believe the woman at the docks was here at his scene. What was she? Her sweet scent called to him arousing all his senses. He struggled to remain professional, determined to find out who she was while controlling the situation.

Sydney tsked. She could not believe the sheer audacity of this guy. As she spun on her heels to address him, her eyes locked on the source of her chills. The heat began to rise to her face as she realized this guy was a serious, supernatural being...dangerous; added to that, he was drop dead gorgeous. She could barely bring words to her lips to argue with him. Desire pooled in her belly. She quickly focused her thoughts back on the body, letting her anger rise to the surface.