A Very Thin Line Ch 02

Thanks to everyone who took the time out to read my story, and actually like it. I will admit that I didn't know much about dragons when I first wrote this, but I am doing some research on them, and their myths, hopefully I will be successful at putting my own little twist to it. Feedback is more than welcome. Tell me how you feel. But please be nice I am not so confident with this chapter. BTW a big thank you to the editor little_blonde_jug.

Why? Why? Just why does every fucking thing have to be so fucking hard? Why can't I just run away from this day? Why isn't there some magical spell that can pull back time just two days prior for the sake of Riley? Why? If he was such a brilliant fucking wizard, how come he was stupid enough to go on a sting operation without a protection spell in the first place? Ohhhhh god Riley, why did you do the things you did? Taking a deep breath, I try to wrap my head around the simple fact that you're gone. I am sitting here all alone, doing all the paperwork by myself, with no one to talk to but myself: this is a fucking mess.

A knock at the door cause me to break my train of thought.

"Hey there Lulu, how you feeling?" Jimmie Bob asked me with a sad look upon his face.

"I feel like shit, what else would I feel like after I found out that my partner and best friend was fucking murder by a group of rabid vampires? And after talking to Samson, he basically died for nothing, because there was one fucking cart of Red Diamonds there, and no fucking kingpin, so something tells me that the whole operation was rigged in the first place," I said, letting out my frustration with this whole mess.

"And by the way, where was his back-up? Did he not have any? What the hell happened? I asked Samson, but once he told me about the little tidbits he fucking disappeared on me. Where was he when Riley got fucking jumped, and hell, where were you in this whole mess?"

"Listen Lulu, I know you are upset at the moment. In fact, we are all upset, but please understand that when things got all heated and complicated he just ran in there in the heat of the moment, you knew how he was when the adrenaline of the chase got a hold of him, you know he loved this job, hell, to be honest about it he would have done this job for free if it came down to it. And once he ran in there, we all just attacked. There were so many of them, they were like roaches. I mean, there was no holding them back," he said with a sad look on his face. I tried to enter his brain to see if was lying, but apparently he put his mental shields up. DAMN. That's the trouble of working with witches and wizards: they can easily put up a mental block, and the only way I can use my telepathy is to catch them off-guard, when their mental shields are down.

"Look, we all know how you are feeling because we lost a good friend and wonderful co-worker too, so please don't just blame anybody for his death. We all did the best we could with the raid, but everything was so fucking unexpected at that moment. I am sorry Lu, if there was anything I could do differently to bring back Riley, I would do it in a heartbeat, but there isn't. I'm sorry," he said, looking back at me.

"Hey, what time are you going over to tell his family about his death?"

"I don't know yet, I am still processing his death myself to be honest."

"All right, well, take your time and I will be here if you need anything."

"Yeah, sure," I finally said, letting out a long sigh.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Dunlap, Dunlap, where the fuck are you? You are supposed to be my fucking back-up, where the hell are you?" On the other end was nothing but silence. I stand in complete darkness with my back up against the wall. Even with my supernatural abilities I am still somewhat human and I still can't see shit, which made my heart jump into my throat, causing me to panic even more. Closing my eyes, I debate on what I should do in order to protect myself. I know there's a pack of rabid vampires out there to attack me at any moment, and there's nothing I can do about it. Slow, steady footsteps catch my attention in the far distance to my left; my panic level really starts to rise as the steps come closer to me.

"Come out, come out of hiding my little witch, there's a lot of fun to be had with you, sweetheart. My friends and I are so bored." Fuck, the vampire scented me. Oh man.

Through the darkness, I try to feel around my surroundings. With my back up against the wall, I start moving towards my right in hopes of getting away, but my hopes soon die as I hear a second pair of footsteps coming towards me. I stand, frozen, scared out of my mind as I am being surrounded by these monsters. Tears fall down my eyes as I know my life would end right here, right now. No matter how good of a witch I am, I still will not be able to defend myself against a group of hungry vampires.

Sinking to the ground as my fate has been sealed, I start thinking of Riley. I could feel his dread as he knew this was the end of the line for him, just like it is for me. I will never see my family again, I will never get a chance to say I love you, I will never get the chance to see my child's smiling face again, or get a kiss from my loving partner as death is walking towards me with a huge beautiful smile on his face.

"Oh little witch, we are going to have so much fun watching that last little bit of magical light leave your eyes," he said to me with such a soft, soothing voice. It was then that I felt the icy touch of a cold finger on the back of my neck.

There was no need for me to turn around to see my death's friend behind me, giving me that reassuring touch of his icy hand. Tonight I will take my last breath of life on this earth. The hand suddenly cuts off my supply. I look up to see my end coming towards me with razor sharp teeth, and then I see nothing but complete blackness.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"CARTER, CARTER, WAKE UP!" The screaming voice of my captain brought me back to reality. Taking a deep breath, thankful that he brought me out of that nightmare, I looked down at my desk to see unfinished reports and paper.

"Are you okay? Oh god, you look awful, that nightmare you had must really have done a number on you, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Listen, once you talk with Riley's family, why don't you just take the rest of the day off, okay? I'll get Samson or Dunlap to finish these reports."

"Yeah, thanks captain."

Getting up, taking a nice long stretch, I thought back to the nightmare I had. It was weird that I would be dreaming something like that. Chalking it up to nothing but missing Riley, I didn't think anything else of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I thought I could do this with a straight face, but I couldn't, not like this, not with the Happy Birthday balloons on the mail box. But this is not about me, I reminded myself. I have to stop being so selfish with this. I rung the doorbell with a heavy heart, and waited.

Hurried and excited footsteps came to open the door.

"Oh Lulu! I am so glad that you are here, you can help me set up Riley Jr.'s birth....day... party, oh god no, please don't tell me Lu, pleeeeasseee don't tell me Riley's dea..... oh god, I think I'm going to...."

It was too late for the rest of the words. Susie vomited all over me and the front the porch. I guess the idea of her husband's death combined with her youngest child's birthday was a little too much for her to handle. Hell, I am still processing the information since this morning.

"I am sorry Lu." She said to me, crying, with shaky breath.

"Oh no, it's fine, I understand your pain. I guess I should be going now." Seeing her so upset made my own tears resurface.

"No, please, don't go. I need somebody right now," she said, dragging me inside by the hand.

Once inside, our heartache seemed to increase as we kept drying our tears, but it was to no avail, fresh ones kept coming back. Riley was like a brother to me, an older brother. A much needed older brother. He took me under his wing when I first joined S.A.B. He saw something in me that the other S.A.B. agents didn't. He didn't laugh at me like the other agents did when I fell flat on my face, chasing my first newborn baby vampire. No, he picked me up, help dust off the dirt and said "It's okay, you'll get your chance to shine."

He didn't look down on me and talk shit like the other agents did because I was so short and skinny. What I lacked in size, I made up for in my magic.

And most importantly, he didn't give me shit like the other males did, since I was the only female in the agency at the time. I guess I set a precedent, or kicked down a few doors since then, because now we have three more female agents. Yep Riley, you were truly something special, and you are putting everything into perspective now that you're dead. Losing you is awful on me, but I cannot imagine the terrible gut-wrenching pain that your wife is feeling at the moment, and I definitely cannot fathom the pain your kids will go through once they found out.

Over the years, being an S.A.B. agent has made me tough. Chasing down demons, rouge werewolves, psycho crazy warlocks, power hungry demigods, and covens of evil wicked vampires that cause havoc amongst innocent people will certainly toughen you up. However, I guess I was wrong. Riley's death was hard to deal with, but I cannot imagine the loss of my little sister Lucile. She drives me crazy, and makes me want to take an energy bolt and throw it at her head, but I wouldn't want to lose her.

My mother gets on my case all the time about me being bisexual, and not accepting any grandchildren, but she's the reason why I am here doing the work I do, and I love everything about her. And last but not least, I think about gran-gran.

Dear old gran-gran, she is such an amazing woman. My mother, Lucile, and I would probably lose our heads without her.

"I just..... I just don't know what I am going to do Luanne, oh god, why do these things have to happen?" she said, putting her head down in her hands.

All I could do was just sit and watch. There was nothing I could do to ease her pain.

"I told him that job would be the death of him," she said, raising her head. "I just told him."

"You didn't get suspicious when he didn't come home last night or even early this morning?" I asked.

"No, I didn't, because that's what Riley would do. He was dedicated to that job. In fact, he was so dedicated he would spend late nights working till morning. Hell, sometimes he wouldn't even come home until noon. So no, I didn't get suspicious at all. Sometimes I would think he loved that job more than his own family."

"Aw no, don't say that he didn't love you guys, he talked about you all non-stop at work. He probably worked those long hours for you guys."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. He probably didn't want what happened to Dana to happen as soon we got married."

"Oh, Dana, I have only heard bits and pieces of her. He never really flat out told me what happened."

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but there's no point of withholding it now. Riley's older sister Dana was murdered by a master vampire. He was sixteen and had just awakened into his powers. She was eighteen and had awakened into her powers two years earlier. Despite all the magic she learned, as well as her natural abilities, she was no match for a master vampire and his minions. Ever since that day he was determined to seek revenge, to get justice for the ones who didn't have any, and to save a damsel from distress. It is such a shame that the vampire that killed Dana is still at large, doing god knows what to innocent girls." She gave out another cry.

Now I have to figure out what I am going to do when the other three awaken. I mean, me being a regular human I don't know what to do. Hell, I was scared for Jacob when he awakened, but Riley was there to walk him through it. Now I have to think about the twins, Selena and Sabrina, and little Riley Jr.

A loud buzzing sound came from the dryer, indicating that my clothes were done drying. Susie got up with shaky legs and retrieved my clothes.

Out the living room window we both see a yellow school bus that read Everfield Elementary. Little Riley ran out with a big smile, waving a piece of paper in his hand.

"You should be going now, I imagine you don't want to see a child cry," she said to me, handing me my shirt.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Taking my shirt, I hurriedly put it over my head and walked towards the door, opening it to a beaming little Riley.

"Hey there Aunt Lulu, leaving so soon? I wanted to show you my spelling tests results."

"Um I am sorry kid, maybe later, but right now I am in big rush," I said, while Susie was walking me out.

"Oh mama, this is the best birthday ever! I made an A+ on my spelling test, I can't wait to tell daddy."

Those were the last words I heard before power walking to my car. I catch a glimpse of myself, and think that the captain was right: I do need the rest of the day off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You know you were my first?"

"Your first what? Black girl?"

"Ummm naaah, well that too, but you are my first witch. I mean, all of my lovers have been werewolves or vampires, but I didn't know a witch would taste so good until I meet you," she said giving me a little wicked smile.

I usually don't go for blondes, but Cassie was a nice girl, she had a wonderful body, and she was eager to please me sexually. And I was eager to please her, but not tonight, I just wanted some time to think, but she just suddenly popped up on my front porch. I would have told her I didn't feel like being bothered at the moment, but she came all the way across town to see me.

She started rubbing my bare thigh underneath the night gown I was wearing, and leaning towards for a kiss, I stopped her dead in her tracks. She looked at me, puzzled by my actions.

"I really don't want to do that right now, okay? Can we just talk for a bit?"

"About what, my cocoa butternut?"

"Ummm, I don't know, anything, I just don't want to have sex right now."

"Ohhhh this must be something serious hun then, well I guess we could talk. So whats been on your mind lately.

"Work, and family, well mainly work."

"Unn huh." She said tracing a well manicured finger along the side of my neck

"Well a close friend and partner was murder doing a sting. They have been follwing this big kingpin for little over a year now, but when the sting came it was a big hoax, because there was only one crate of Red Diamonds and no druglord."

"So basically you feel like that your friend died for nothing, is that what you are telling me."

"Yeah, I guess, but you know what the funny thing is, Riley was a powerful wizard and damn good agent and I have seen him in action, and it was a sight to see, I mean with the powers he had and his detrimination was unbelivable, he was the best at everything he did in the agency. From tracking down rogue werewolves, to capturing mencaing demoons, to extriminating a coven a vampires, and everything else in between, so it baffles me that he would get murder a small group of them. In the back of my mind something is telling me theres more to the story, I can just feel it in my gut."

Cassie said nothing, but gave me sympathtic look, while she was still touching me, until she finally broke the silence by saying: "ummmm sounds you're dealing with something tough huh, well come here baby, you look like you need a cuddle session." She said wrapping her arms around me.

Feeling her arms around me had me feeling more relax, and stated. It surprised me that, she was so understanding and comforting with me, in fact she was so comforting that I found myself sliping into a deep peaceful slumber.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day I was feeling a little better. I noticed Cassie wasn't there holding me anymore, but was still around because I heard her thoughts coming from the kitchen.Getting up streching out my whole body, I headed to my bedroom to get ready for the day. Once I was done getting dress, the scent of bacon caught my attention. Going to the kitchen seeing Cassie there making breakfast brought a smile to my face "hey there whats cooking good looking?"

She let out a little giggle and said "you are so corny and cute, it's no wonder why I like you so much, but anyways I am making apple cinnamon pancakes, scramble eggs, some nice turkey sausage for you, and bacon for me. Hey do you think you could use you your magic to make some o.j. appear?"

"Hehehe, if I could use my magic to make any food appear, I wouldn't be going groccery shopping every other week, plus sometimes those type of things can sometimes go wrong."

"Ahhh, hey whats the point at having all these magical abilities, and you can't even those at your own benfits, or for self gain?"

"Well I don't know how anybody else with a magical family was raise, but I was brought up that magic is a gift, and should be used wisely and not take it for granted."

"Is that why you're with that agency?" my attention got distracted by Bob Marley's Jamming coming from the living room. I didn't have to check my caller the caller ID on my cell phone to know that the captain was calling me in.

"Hey listen, my capatin is calling me in so please be a dear lock up when you let yourself out okay."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'll tell you when we meet again, bye sweetie pie"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Once I went through the doors of S.A.B. I was greeted with "CARTER, I NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOU," my captain yell to me acroos the building.

"Have a set there Carter, I have good news for you this moring. As you know the drug Red Diamond is the lastest epidemic in Las Vegas, and I know you have been working really hard to put an end to this, and to find those missing young people."

"Yeaaaaah, so whats the good news captain?"

"Well you've got a lead, and help"

"What do you mean by help? I don't need any help."

"Well your getting it regradless, besides the agency can bennefit from this man by him helping us a whole lot"

"Who?"

My question was anwser by a familiar voice from behind me.

"Hey there my little witchy poo, I am so thrilled to be working with you."

"WHAT THE FREAK"