Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness) Read Online Free

colored dust out of their system it would accumulate. The result? Well, they might end up dancing naked in a fountain before the senate in the middle of Paris. That’s why most faerie s preferred life in the country, by the way.
    It would take a while for her to calm down judging from the glittery cloud swirling arou nd her and making her glow like a firefly. I closed my eyes and drew in the energy of the dust flying around us and hoped I had enough time to take care of the delicate faery situation at hand.
    I kicked my shoes off and stepped into the fountain. The water was cool and refreshing after a hot summer day. “What’s your name?”
    “Pauline, and yours?”
    “Hi Pauline, I’m Maiwenn.”
    “Oh , that’s a beautiful name and you’re beautiful, too.” She must be delirious. “Like an Amazon...” she bounced around, flashing her breasts at me. “Dance with me, please!”
    Yep, delirious.
    I approached her to take her hand. “I’m sorry Pauline!” I threw a golden brown powder in front of her face as she breathed in, and caught her as she fell. It wouldn’t hurt her. T he sleeping powder was mainly made out of valerian root mixed with a little magic. It just knocked her out long enough for me to bring her to safety.
    I wrapped her up in my jacket and carried her as f ast as possible to my apartment clouding us in fog so we couldn’t be seen. At home I laid her onto the couch for a while, preparing a bed in one of the other rooms in the mean time. When everything was ready I tucked her in.
    I would have liked to crawl into my bed too, but had this feeling that the patrol wasn’t done for tonight so I headed out again.
     
    The streets were rather quiet with only the distant and tidal hum of cars, air conditions and electricity pumping through the city’s veins. The evening was warm, the air stagnant, but there was a hint of refreshing music in it. People, illuminated by streetlights and colorful neon signs, on their search for a next drink, a next dance or a next flirt passed me by, and I kept going, watching for vampires or other shadows of the dark. Then, with a new slowly risi ng wind came the smell of blood. A nd death. Not far away.
    Five mutilated bodies were lying in an alley not far from my apartment. Surprisingly, they were naked. Shapeshifters, who had changed back to their human form after death?
    I was used to seeing this stuff but I sure as hell would never get used to the feeling of loss and failure.
    Pushi ng away those negative thoughts since the situation a t hand needed my full attention I pulled out my cell, prayed for the lost souls and started taking pictures of the crime scene. After that was done I crouched down and I got out a small plastic bag and carefully filled it with a sample of the bundle of fur that seemed to have been rather deliberately placed between the bodies. Standing up again I sealed it and tucked it into the waist bag I carried around my hips.
    Next step was the clean-up. Of course, I had some acid with me but it was not nearly enough to make five bodies disappear. Special situations needed special treatment and for this one I needed help. Lucky me, I knew the right guy for this. Well, actually he was the only one I could depend on with such a case so hopefully he would hold his stomach.
    I pushed the button for speed-dial on my phone . Mathieu Ardent was a human, or almost, and a friend of mine. We had met three years ago while I had been on the pursuit of an exceptionally nasty vampire, who had tried to open his own personal blood bank by stocking anything that walks on two feet in a hidden basement – among them Mathieu. He had been sixteen at that time, and we have been close friends ever since. In such a way that more often than not I feel like the bigger sister running after her baby brother.
    Mathieu answered after the second ring, “Allô?”
    I was running out of time, so I kept things simple. “Salut, I need your help!”
    Understanding, he sighed .