The sun was barely peeking over the horizon at the time of seven in the morning, as Diamond stepped off the bus with Aziza at the college Aziza was enrolled in. “So which css is first?” Diamond asked as she adjusted her bangs as they walked into the college.

  “Actually I want to head to the library first to print off my paper to hand in.” Aziza said and paused to stare at Diamond and choice of clothing. “What made you choose that outfit, I figured you were a jeans and t-shirt kind of dy.”

  “To look more professional if we meet up with any of your friends.” Diamond said as she shifted on her feet. Diamond was wearing her hair lower ponytail, a nice pair of bck scks, a maroon red dress shirt, a forest green scarf, long dark brown trench coat, and pair of bck leather dress shoes. “Also if people ask, I'm a bodyguard hired by the police to protect you.”

  “And I can’t talk about the case that made the police hire you.” Aziza added to Diamond’s words and Diamond nodded. “What about my appearance? I didn’t look like this when I first started here.”

  Diamond paused in her step to rub her chin then snapped her fingers, “Doctors found out what was wrong with you.” Diamond said before returning following Aziza. “And you don’t want to talk about what they had to do to fix you.”

  “That may work,” Aziza muttered to herself as they reached the library and she led Diamond to a table close to the public printer there. Diamond sat down as Aziza set up her ptop and connected to the printer. “This shouldn’t take too long, hopefully.”

  Diamond took off her scarf to slip into her coat pocket and slipped a piece of jerky to chew on. Aziza pressed print on the paper she wanted and the print started to whirl up as it started to print. Aziza got up to check on the printing, “Hello there, mind if I sit here?” A male voice asked.

  Aziza looked over her shoulder to see who was most likely speaking to Diamond and Aziza paused, “Henry?” Aziza asked as she fully turned around and Henry looked confused when looked towards with his brown eyes. Aziza remembered Henry looked handsome and sometimes even to sparkle but now she was seeing he looked dull and average looking. He had messy blonde hair, light tan, and he stood about five feet and eight inches tall.

  “Do I-wait…Az?!” He almost yelled while looking Aziza up and down. He looked completely baffled seeing Aziza’s new healthy appearance. “What happened to you, and where have you been?”

  “Well I can’t go into details at the moment but the doctors finally figured out what was wrong with me.” Aziza said and turned when she heard the print stopped whirling. Aziza gathered up her papers and checked if it was only her paperwork. “Also we don’t have much time either, css is about to start.”

  “Right,” Henry said as he took out his ptop and set it up. Diamond stood up as Aziza closed up her ptop and put it back in her bag. “Well you in css, Az, and welcome back.”

  “Ya and thank you, Henry.” Aziza said as she walked off with Diamond trailing behind her. Once out ear shot Aziza looked at Diamond. “That was weird, I remember Henry being very handsome but now he looks like…”

  “Average?” Diamond asked as she pulled out a piece of jerky to chew on. “I don’t know what that’s like but you're going to have to get used to it. Though I hope you weren't hoping to be his girlfriend.”

  “What? No, he’s not my type.” Aziza said and the two walked in silence for a few seconds. “Why do you say that, is he sick or something?”

  “I believe the term for him is manwhore?” Diamond said, waving her hand in front of her face, “One too many woman scents on him. Also when talk to me he did it in a flirty way.”

  “Really…wait, you were able to catch on flirting?” Aziza asked in a teasing manner and Diamond pyfully punched her arm.

  “Humans are easier to read than other races.” Diamond said, “So their flirting methods are easier to catch, you will understand when a male werebeast hits on you.” Aziza giggled before becoming quiet as they entered a lecture hall and Aziza led Diamond half way down the stairs.

  “You first.” Aziza said as gestured for Diamond and Diamond walked down the aisle, with Aziza following her. Diamond picked a seat and Aziza set out her ptop and textbook, “I’ll be right back.” Aziza gathered her paperwork and took them to the teacher’s desk at the bottom of the hall. There were other people down there handing in their paperwork and Aziza stapled her paper before handing it. Aziza turned around to feel like everyone was looking at her and she rushed back to her seat. “Why does it feel like everyone is looking at me?” Aziza whispered to Diamond.

  Diamond’s eyes gnced around when Aziza’s words then gave a quick smirk, “Well when mysterious beauty you never seen, of course they would stare.” Diamond whispered and Aziza tilted her head. “Vampires aren’t the only ones that are physically beautiful to humans either.”

  “Wh-Oh, right,” Aziza said as she slid down a bit in her chair. Aziza spotted Henry a few levels down sitting with a few of their friends. Aziza gave him a small wave and he waved back, while their friends looked confused. Aziza could hear Henry expining it was her and most of them did not believe him at first.

  Diamond slipped her trench coat off to rest on her chair before kicking up her feet to rex. “Az?” A voice said to their left and Aziza looked over to see one of her friends, Lay Licwood. Lay was of african american descent, her eyes were deep brown eyes, long bck hair, and stood around six feet tall. Her clothing choice was cottagecore aesthetic and she smiled seeing Aziza’s face. “It is you, Aziza, no one in this college has those bright amber eyes and that face tattoo.”

  “They finally figured out what was wrong with me.” Aziza said as Lay sat down beside Aziza. Lay took out her ptop and textbook and noticed Diamond nibbling away at some jerky. “Lay, this is Diamond, Diamond this is Lay. Diamond was hired by the police to protect me.”

  “Protect you from what?” Lay asked and looked at Diamond with worry. Diamond looked back and put finger up to her lips, “O-Okay, Aziza is th-”

  “Alright css, I have a wonderful surprise for you.” The teacher’s voice rang out and cut off Lay. “I have a guest speaker here today, say hello to Doctor Nix Martin, she is chief medical examiner of Wacksqueslia City.”

  In the corner of her eye Aziza saw Diamond make a small smirk before returning to nibbling on some jerky. Nix walked into the teacher stage with a ptop bag and bck leather trench coat with a rge puffy fur colr. When she took off her coat revealing she was wearing a waist corset belt, bck waist high dress pants, and bck and blue sweater with a keyhole cut around her chest.

  “Hello there, thank you for having me.” Nix said as she put her ptop bag on the desk up there. “I’ll try not to bore you with my visit.” Even though Aziza couldn’t see her eyes, Aziza felt like she was looking at them for seconds before locking on Diamond.

  “Lay, are you alright?” Aziza asked as she looked at her friend, who was looking green around the gills. Nix’s presentation has some graphic images that made Aziza feel nausea and Lay bolted up to rush out of the room.

  Aziza was stunned for a second before getting up to follow Lay and it was easy for Aziza to trail Lay into the closest woman’s bathroom. Lay rushed to the first open booth to start dry heaving and Aziza quickly gathered up Lay’s hair so it was clear from her face.

  “Is everything alright?” Nix’s voice called out as Lay finally puked and Aziza looked to the opened booth door. Nix peeked in the booth with a very worried look on her lips, “Do you need any medical help?”

  “I don’t think,” Aziza said as she moved Lay’s hair in one hand and using her free one rubbed Lay’s back. “Anymore, Lay?” Lay was panting before spitting into the toilet and lifting her face from the toilet.

  “Yes, I think that was all of it.” Lay said after catching her breath and once standing up Aziza let go of Lay’s hair. “Sorry for worrying you, Dr. Nix.” Lay flush the toilet and Nix pulled out tissue for Lay. “Thank you.”

  “I guess I should have used less graphic images.” Nix said as pointed to the right side to her lip and Lay cleaned where Nix pointed on her own lips.

  “That, or maybe a warning instead as the images were needed,” Aziza spoke up and nervously smiled as both looked at Aziza. “A-Also Lay is studying to be a pediatrician and what you showed today mainly focuses on surgery.”

  “Ah, working as a pediatrician has different skills and mindset.” Nix said as her and Lay went to the sink to wash up. “What about you, Aziza?”

  Aziza paused from the question for a second before turning off the water, “I don’t know, I’m still chasing my tail for what kind of doctor to be.” Aziza said used the air dryer and Lay joined her. “Some things have changed recently and I think I’d avoid surgery.”

  “That makes sense from what I’ve heard from Officer Quinn.” Nix said and Aziza noticed the way Nix spoke Quinn’s name with a breathy voice and slight blush for a second.

  “Officer Quinn?” Lay asked as she finished drying her hand. “Who is Officer Quinn?”

  “Chris Quinn, is the police officer that works with Diamond.” Aziza said and gnced at Nix. “Also seems like Dr. Martin has little thing with Officer Quinn.”

  “Oh more than a little something.” Nix giggled happily with a small blush. “He’s a keeper and I pn to keep him~”

  “Good to hear you found love, Dr. Martin.” Lay said, “I’m going to get my stuff, see you in the next css, Aziza.” Aziza nodded as Lay left the two in the bathroom.

  “I'm a bit surprised you showed up instead of Diamond,” Aziza said, “Though your softer personality is a lot more suited than Diamond stern personality for what happened.”

  Nix chuckled and nodded, “Diamond would be less empathetic and look a lot less empathetic to your friend’s human eyes.” Nix said and Aziza nodded. “Even through the speech Diamond would look like a stone statue to every human, but we saw every small quick smirk she made.”

  “Does my facial expression move that fast too?” Aziza asked with a bit of worry in her voice.

  “No, you currently have a normal facial expression, the effect of being raised by humans.” Nix said. “While talking about the effects, the winter season has an effect on werebeasts as well.”

  “Oh, like thicker fur coats or something like that?” Aziza asked, making Nix chuckle.

  “Well that can happen but what I’m talking about is winter causing werebeasts to become more docile than normal. Research has shown werebeast crimes lower in winter by ninety percent.” Nix expined and Aziza perked up at these facts. “The other ten percent are normally not affected by the winter and Diamond is one of those people.”

  “That makes sense with her being a por bear.” Aziza said then paused as she noticed she hadn't noticed any change in herself. “Could I be one of those not affected by winter?”

  “Highly not, you have recently awakened your full power,” Nix patted Aziza’s head. “So your body is kind of super charged with energy but once it lowers to normal, I bet you will start to feel the winter effect when that happens.”

  “I see…what with lower werebeast crime, is that reason why Diamond is wearing more formal clothes?” Aziza asked.

  “Yes, Diamond’s going to deal with vampires more in winter and most vampires can’t handle Dia-” Nix stopped as her head looked over her shoulder. “Maybe we continue this less public pce.”

  “Ah, good idea.” Aziza said, “Diamond is probably still in the cssroom.” Aziza and Nix left the bathroom to return to the cssroom but stopped seeing Diamond walking back to the cssroom from the opposite direction.

  “Done tending to your friend, Aziza?” Diamond asked as she was cleaning her hand with a handkerchief and Aziza could smell a small amount of blood. “Just getting information from a punk.”

  “Wha-” Aziza’s words were cut off by a blood curdling scream and all three women started to sprint to the scream's origin. They got to the top of the stairway and looking down they saw two people at the bottom of it.

  “Don’t touch him.” Nix yelled as she rushed down to the stairs and Aziza turned very pale. She couldn’t believe her eyes as the body on the ground was Henry's and his head was facing his back. “Diamond, call Quinn!”

  Diamond took out her phone and dialed up Quinn and Aziza was frozen as other people started to crowd around the top of the stairs. Aziza’s mind swirled for seconds before a question entered her mind, ‘Why was Diamond called Quinn and not general nine one one?’

  Her eyes started to scan the stairway and Henry’s body then it became clear to her. His body isn’t in the pce where someone just fell down the stairs, it was too far from the bottom of the stairs.

  The police arrived and Diamond was beside Aziza while waiting for Chris to finish with Nix. Chris walked over to the two and pointed to Diamond, “You are not on this case.” Chris said and Diamond put her hands slightly leaning back. “Good, got any information I can use.”

  “Look into all the women he slept with.” Diamond said while Aziza was hugging herself while looking at the body bag Henry’s body was in. “He got around a lot.”

  “You alright, Aziza?” Chris asked as he gently touched her forearm. “Did you know him?”

  “Yes, he is-was my friend since middle school.” Aziza said as her eyes locked onto Chris’ eyes. “Before you ask, no, Henry and I have never slept together…though now that I think about it, he has been flirty with me in the past.”

  “Aziza was also with Nix when the body was found.” Diamond pointed out and Chris looked at Diamond. “I was returning to the cssroom after ‘talking’ with a Hellfist.”

  Chris gnced at Diamond's hand, “Get anything important to any case?” Chris asked and Diamond nodded. Chris gnced around before making a small gesture with his head to point outside and Diamond gave a hand signal for five.

  “Come on Aziza, let's get our stuff from the cssroom.” Diamond said and Aziza followed Diamond back to the cssroom to grab our things. The two walked outside and headed straight to the street where Chris’ unmarked police car was.

  “So what information did you get from that Hellfist you ‘talked’ to?” Chris asked as he walked up to his car. “And do I have another body hidden here?”

  “I only punched him once when he was being smartass and he figured out who I was.” Diamond snapped back and Chris held his hands up as an apology. “A Wild Hunt has been put in order on the ‘Sons of Sand’.”

  “Great, just great,” Chris muttered and sighed in annoyance. “We are either going to find lots of bodies soon or a lot of people coming in to be arrested.”

  “Wild Hunt? What does the old Norse story have to do with gangsters?” Aziza asked as she shifted her messenger bag.

  “A Wild Hunt is a local gangster thing and only happens when all local gang leaders agree on destroying someone.” Diamond said. “It rarely happens bu-”

  “But apparently the ‘Sons of Sand’ disturbed the ‘peace’ among the gangs.” Chris said and leaned on his car. “Basically all members of ‘Sons of Sand’ have a target on their back while in the city.”

  “Leaving them the choice to leave, die, or get arrested.” Diamond said and pulled out her cell phone. “Though even if arrested, they aren’t fully safe in jail either.”

  “This also means you, Aziza, can rex a bit more.” Chris said. “As rexed as a newborn werebeast could be.”

  “I would say toddler,” Diamond remarked and Aziza slightly blushed. “Anyways, I think it would be best if we cut the college csses short today, Aziza.”

  “I agree but I’d like to talk to Lay before leaving.” Aziza said and Diamond nodded. “I’ll be right back then.”

  “Alright, go talk with your girlfriend.” Diamond said without looking up from her phone. Aziza deeply blush before rushing away and Chris tilted his head.

  “Girlfriend? I didn’t know she was dating anyone.” Chris said and Diamond looked up to Chris.

  “Her name is Lay, they were secretly flirting all through Nix’s speech.” Diamond said. “Aziza was helping Lay because Lay became a bit green after Nix’s speech.”

  “Oh, I did tell Nix to pull back on the pictures.” Chris said and Diamond looked back to her phone. “So you want me to drop you off at your apartment?”

  “No, Nightshade Inc.” Diamond said as she put away her cell phone. “Aziza needs to keep her mind busy.” Chris nodded and unlocked his car.

  “Let’s stay warm inside my car while we wait for two lovebirds to say goodbye.” Chris said as he walked around to the driver seat. “Ten bucks says she will have lipstick marks on her cheek.”

  “I see you and it will be on her lips.” Diamond said and opened the passenger side.