Searching For Answers (Open)

Shadow scowled at the college report he was reading. There had been reports of demons, some in high ranks. Those close to Disparion would have connections. The downside was the demon hierarchy was embalanced. Releasing a demon from its trap would break too many rules, even if it was for an interrogation. The college student had been reckless in the deals. Everything had been right, except for...a connection.

A voice called his name, and his already angled eyes furrowed. A librarian was the last person he needed to talk to. But instead he saw.

“Jane...”

Beneath the exhaustion and frustration making his voice raspier than it already was, there was a sense of relief.

“Looking up demon hierarchy for an investigation. All the cases we had before dealt with lower types.”

He kept curt. If Jane was here for lesson plans, he didn’t want to keep her. Besides, he was telling the truth. It was an investigation. Just not one he was going to lay out with his fellow officers. Thrax had been, despite it, one of the lower ranks according to articles. Well...mid-high rung. Shadow opened another tab, studying a picture of an exorcism where the child’s red irises, not unlike his, glowered in the camera’s direction. But more interesting were the red words in Latin on the child’s arms. They weren’t tattoos nor were they self harm marks. They were imposed words, as if he had been stamped. He clicked another tab to type in a Latin translator. He didn’t care if it was shitty, it would be better than nothing

Shadow minimized the article. If this was a school library or run by anyone gruff or crotchety, they'd be thrown out for talking. Jane wanting to talk to him could have meant anything from having to vent to giving a legitimate crime. She had come to him when Omar had been kidnapped and that led him in organizing a search party. Honestly, he was the only cop she came to every time she had some sort of crime or a cry of distress. Each time she did bring up an issue, it was one that needed support. He grabbed a chair from a table close by and pulled it up, silently gesturing for her to sit and chat with him,

More important things? The most important things were personal affairs, and if his looks said anything, he was doing a bang-up job of it. He looked at her body language. She was trying to make herself smaller with her arms barring her body. This was a position he had seen many young people make when they were brought in for questioning. The position showed insecurity. Whatever Jane wanted to talk to him about, it was gnawing at her mind and breaking through her stubborness.

She described a woman that did something, and immediately Shadow tensed. Jane had seemed so on guard, unwilling to let anything touch her. How was it possible that she got tagged? The answer; the woman who got her had disguised herself as her mother. Then she did something involving disgust. Shaodw opened a writing document and began rapidly writing every she explained.

"We had a report come in about the park having a chunk taken out of it, too," he mused. He may have been on the brink of exhaustion, but he was aware of hearing some of the other officers being dispatched to check out damages. Some members of the parks and recreation were going to see what was destroyed. Once the investigation was done, a clue could be revealed."Did you see what she looked like before she disguised herself?"

Burned away? Burned from the inside. This was hell magic. He jotted it down in his notes, being extra careful to emphasize the burn part of the notes. Whoever this woman was, she may or may not be able to give some clues. Maybe even talk to her about getting out of the whole Disparion thing. Highly unlikely she'd help, though.

"Freaky," was the only comment he could make of the drawing. The woman was practically wavering, unable to ake out one certain shape. The only thing that stuck out was the intense stare being given. The stare was a big weapon Others used. Some used it for hypnosis, others used it as a means to show they were a threat. He fell into the latter category with his own bright red irises. He did a summary of the drawing, even including a note for a (see sketch my Namine nee LaRue) in the text.

"This...this is bad. But why attack you?" He dropped the questioning to sigh in relief, "I'm just glad you're okay."

Latin...the only people in this town who spoke it were...if Jane was right in saying the chants were spoken only to her, then this woman was fluent in it. He added to the profile text and saved quickly. But it didn't make sense. Why would a demon track down Jane? She was a school teacher minding her own business. Demons also usually avoided trolls...or at least that was one interrogation had said.

"The only people who speak Latin are Demons. And you said something about turning yourself into a vessel of disgust, right?"

Shadow began skimming the piles of research in front of him. A psychology book fell from below, opening to a chapter titled 'Core Emotions'. A chart, with a sort of flower shape. There were five big circles, each a cooresponding color to a word. But in the far left hand corner, written in the green petal, was the word 'DISGUST'

Core emotions?

"But why would demons want anything with core emotions?" Shadow asked half to himself, half to Jane.