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elvenbeard · 1 year

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Timing

Summary: Kerry and V keep missing each other's calls, and need to work on their communication. Kerry decides to investigate what's going on with V, but is not prepared for what he will find. (Post-Sun-Ending, Chapter 2/?, 4003 words, Kerry Eurodyne/V) >> Previous Chapter

“Are you fucking shitting me?” Kerry cursed when once again all he got on the holo was the goddamn voicemail. This time he didn’t leave a message, angrily hung up, and only just resisted the urge to fling his phone off the studio roof.

“You need to work on your fuckin’ timin’, V,” he muttered, pacing around the rooftop terrace as he lit up a cigarette. Once he’d noticed the missed calls – despite everything it had been a really good day recording today – he’d immediately dropped everything to run outside. The reception in the booth was miserable. He’d been anxiously waiting for a sign of life from V from the moment he left two days ago. He’d barely slept, and now that he was back he still couldn’t get him to answer his damned holo. Kerry breathed out a huge plume of smoke through his nose, then took a deep breath in. The studio may have been in the middle of Charter Hill, but up here all he heard was the wind. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on that, visualized it blowing away all his frustration, even if only for a few minutes. Then he pulled up his holo again. Even if he couldn’t reach him now, he could at least listen to V’s voice in the two messages he’d left him.

The first one was from almost two hours ago… V had come back in one piece, at least. But as he did so often lately, he sounded so absentminded, which worried Kerry more than anything. More than the hesitation to talk about his clients, which he’d usually never been shy about, especially the stressful, annoying ones, which this one seemed to be. It worried him more than the ridiculously long hours he stayed away lately, too, ‘cause V’d been like that occasionally even before taking over from Rogue. Something in V’s voice wasn’t quite right, hadn’t been for a few weeks, and Kerry wished he’d at least let him have a glimpse into his mind… but it seemed utterly impossible to peer behind his walls, was getting harder every day. Something had happened, but he didn’t know what it was. It drove him nuts. At the same time, he wondered if he was reading too much into it, only making it worse… or if he was not doing enough and V withdrew on purpose... Would leave him, like everyone else had before.

He opened the second message before his thoughts began spiraling too much again.

“Hey back at ya. Again. Just wanted to say, I’m almost home now, just driving through Corpo Plaza.”

Yeah, Kerry could hear the noise of the rush hour traffic in the background. Ridiculous how he kept doing that to himself without thinking much about it. But V was good behind the steering wheel, and old habits were hard to kill.

“I’ve… been thinkin’ about you a lot, about us.”

Kerry’s heart almost stopped. Had he been thinking about him, about them, just like that, or… was this the start of the “we need to talk” conversation he dreaded more than anything?

“I finally had a moment to listen to your messages from earlier today, too…”

Fuck… He’d regretted leaving those the second it was too late to take them back. He’d been still half-asleep, worried sick, and honestly, a bit mad at V for the way he’d been acting lately. Had he picked up the phone then, hearing his real voice alone probably would have been enough to soothe Kerry’s anger and sadness. But he’d been out there somewhere, unable to answer, and Kerry just blurted out what he was feeling at that moment without thinking it through, talking to a wall more than to V directly.

It was true, he wished they’d spend more time together… but he also knew only too well that V was trying everything in his power to even allow them to have more time. Alt had given him six months, at most, roughly. That was over three months ago. Viktor had done everything he could to patch V up after Mikoshi, and when he was at his wits end, Kerry phoned around and gathered some of the best specialists for brain stuff his endlessly deep pockets could buy them. But all they did was quickly come to the conclusion that the tech V would need to survive this didn’t exist yet. They could ease or delay some of the worst symptoms, and maybe that could give him some additional weeks, or a month, but not much more. Hearing that almost destroyed him, and he couldn’t even imagine what V must have felt when they told him. The nights they’d both spent crying afterwards, about how unfair it was that the time they’d have with each other was so limited. So many wasted years, and V wouldn’t even get to live half the lifetime Kerry had under his belt.

And here he was, getting pissy about V forgetting to go to the grocery store. Again, the urge to toss something off the roof rose, so Kerry threw his half-smoked cigarette. He’d been so lost in thought that he didn’t even catch the rest of the message, so he had to replay it.

“I finally had a moment to listen to your messages from earlier today, too…”

The pause that followed was almost unbearable.

“I love you, Kerry, I hope you know that. ‘Cause I know I’ve been bad at showing it lately.”

“Fuck,” Kerry cursed, a huge chunk of tension falling off his back, so much so he felt the overwhelming urge to sit down on the floor for a moment. He only just caught the tail end of the message of V saying goodbye.

“Yeah, I know that, ya gonk,” he said quietly, “Now please just pick up your fuckin’ holo so I can tell you the same.”

He called, and this time V at least wasn’t talking to someone else, but he still didn’t pick up for some reason. There was no way he’d made it all the way back home already, right? Or maybe he had, no reception in the elevator. Or he was in the shower already.

“Urgh, fine!” Kerry yelled, his voice echoing across the city. He got back up, paced over to the stairwell, and jogged back down the few flights of stairs to the level the studio was on. The recording engineers were still there, sitting on the sofas by the enormous mixer console just outside the recording booth. They seemed to be enjoying their short coffee break, as Kerry had instructed them to before running upstairs, and were joking with Kerry’s new manager Lee who hadn’t been here yet before.

“Kerry!” he said, beaming with annoying joy but also flinching slightly as Kerry stormed into the room, “I have great news! I’ve been phoning back and forth with the Crystal Palace management - …”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, send an e-mail. I gotta go,” Kerry brushed him off as he snatched up his jacket from one of the chairs by the mixer and immediately turned around to leave. The engineers stared at him wide-eyed but didn’t dare to say a thing.

“But… Kerry, this is huge! Let me just-…“ Lee stammered, but Kerry was already out the door.

He was drumming against the control panel restlessly, a random little beat that wouldn’t leave his head, as the elevator took him down to the parking garage agonizingly slowly. He knew it was in vain, but he tried calling V a couple of more times before he made it to his car. Then again as he finally emerged from the darkness, greeted by Charter Hill’s fake cherry trees and glass skyscrapers gleaming golden from the setting sun. But no luck.

Kerry sighed and turned right to get on the highway. It was the less direct way home, but no way in hell he’d squeeze himself through the City Center rush hour like some people did. On the way to Little China he kept trying to reach out to V a few more times, but he didn’t answer. For a moment he pondered calling Rogue but brushed the thought aside. Why would she know anything he didn’t?

Finally, Kerry arrived in the street their penthouse sat on; the parking garage was just around the corner. Even Little China was busy around this time of day… or at least it was today. There was quite the commotion ahead. At first Kerry didn’t think much of it, slowing down his car. Traffic was still moving, but apparently redirected elsewhere. As he got closer to the intersection, he saw that the NCPD had blocked off the road, and a tow truck just arrived to get rid of the carnage of a nasty-looking car accident. An NCPD officer gestured him to turn around, and Kerry almost did without second thought. Then he looked back to the wrecks once more, he wasn’t even sure why, and his heart stopped for the second time in under half an hour. He thought to recognize V’s grey and gold Quadra V-Tech being one of the wrecks. He slammed on the breaks and froze, the guy in the car behind him honking angrily.

“Please turn around, the road is blocked!” the NCPD officer in front of him yelled over her megaphone, but only garbled nonsense reached Kerry’s ears. Almost automatically he put his car in park mode and got out.

“Sir! Stay in your vehicle!” the cop yelled, while in the background the V-Tech was prepared for getting towed.

Kerry started marching towards the police cordon, more cars behind him honking, some turning around chaotically and almost causing another accident.

“Sir!” the cop yelled again, more threateningly this time. But yes, seeing it up closer now, Kerry was absolutely sure this was V’s car. The windshield was broken, the entire front damaged almost beyond recognition, but the color and a few other details were quite unique. The other car, a red Mizutani, was in even worse shape. Lying on its roof the rescuers had cut off the doors to get to whoever had been still inside. Then Kerry saw a body covered in a white tarp a little further back behind the Mizutani, and his stomach turned.

“What happened to the driver of the grey car?” Kerry half-screamed at the cop, almost not recognizing his own voice, the noise of the traffic and his own heartbeat deafening. Only then he noticed she had her gun drawn, pointing it at him. But he did not budge, he couldn’t. He was too shocked by this entire scene.

“Sir, get back into your car, this is a crime scene!” the cop ordered, her voice shaky. Kerry couldn’t see her face behind her tactical visor, but she sounded very young still.

“What happened?” he yelled, his heart beating so fast he couldn’t think straight, he barely understood what she was saying and what was happening anymore. He turned back to face the wrecks.

“Don’t make me lose him like this, not like this…” he whispered to himself, hands on his head, clutching his hair, as his chest was about to explode.

One of the other cops at the scene noticed the commotion and sprinted over to help their younger colleague.

“Officer Riley, status report?” the cop asked loudly, her voice also muffled, but older, more seasoned sounding.

“I just wanna fuckin’ know what happened, how hard can it be?” Kerry snapped and turned back to the cops briefly, half tempted to climb over the makeshift barrier they’d set up.

“Sir, calm down,” the older cop ordered, “And Riley, put your gun down.”

The younger woman did as she was told but kept a close eye on Kerry regardless. The older one walked over to him, keeping her distance, but spoke to him directly.

“Are you a relative?” she asked sternly, but calm.

“The Quadra,” Kerry stammered, “It’s my… mainline’s car. He tried to call me less than half an hour ago…”

“Trauma Team came and picked him up only just,” the cop said, and Kerry finally managed to pull his eyes away from the wreckage to look at the cop, “He was injured, but not in a life-threatening manner as far as I’ve gathered. The shitheads that caused the accident had it much worse.”

“Where’d they take him?” Kerry asked breathlessly.

“Med Center just down the road. Now please move your vehicle out of the way!”

He sprinted back to his car, engine still running, then turned around tires screeching and sped off to the Med Center.

Everything was a blur. He didn’t remember how he got here, where he parked the car, or if he’d even turned the engine off this time, but by the time he burst into the lobby of the Med Center his mission was clear. The young guy behind the only currently available counter kept smiling but also visibly recoiled when Kerry slammed his hands on the desk.

“Can I help you –“ he stammered but Kerry was quicker.

“They just brought in someone, I need to get to him,” Kerry blurted out.

“Um, are you a relative?”

“Look it up, Vincent Ezaki. But he goes just by V,” Kerry ignored him.

“Isn’t that Kerry Eurodyne?” one of the other receptionists gasped, and several more heads turned into his direction, visitors and staff alike.

“Oh my god, yes! I was there for the premiere of ‘Off the Leash’!”

Kerry sighed. Anything for his fans, usually, but currently all that mattered to him was making sure V was okay.

“First person that fuckin’ tells me where the fuck V is and how to get to him gets a front row ticket for my next concert. Go!”

This was the fastest he’d ever gotten the information he needed at a hospital. Not even “my wife is in labor, where can I find her?” had worked as well as this. He’d had to keep that in mind for future reference. A med-tech was called and led him all the way to the correct floor – but then only to the visitor waiting area. Kerry grew angry again.

“No, I wanna see V, not sit around here like a useless piece of shit,” he complained.

“Mr. Eurodyne, that’s not possible. Mr. Ezaki –“

“V,” Kerry immediately corrected her.

“… V is in treatment, and as a Trauma Team Platinum customer receiving the best medical care available. As soon as the doctors are done you can go and see him, but please let them do their work first.”

Kerry raked his mind for a witty reply, his pulse still racing at top speeds, so much so that his biomonitor had started to alert him of his blood pressure. He took another deep breath and forcefully swallowed down his anger.

“Can you tell me anythin’ at least?” he then asked as he slumped down on one of the free armchairs she had directed him to. The space was quiet and nicely decorated with fake flowers on dainty little tables and artworks on the walls, but it still felt pretty sterile. The tech pulled up a file on her data pad and skimmed through it briefly.

“Some broken bones, bruises, scratches. The most severe injury that is currently being looked into is a possible concussion. But he was conscious and talking to our team briefly before being brought in.”

Kerry couldn’t stop his leg from bouncing and he crossed his arms as he stared down the long hallway leading here, eyes fixated on the door that said “Staff Only” in bright red letters.

“Mr. Eurodyne,” the med-tech said, following his gaze, “Please be patient. Everything’s gonna be fine.”

She patted him on the shoulder, then slowly turned to leave. Kerry got up from his chair as soon as she was out of sight. He pondered lighting up a smoke right then and there to calm his nerves, but he didn’t want to get kicked out of two hospitals for the same thing. So instead, he started pacing again, up and down the hallway, trying to get rid of his nervous energy. The fact that V was somewhere behind this door, so close and yet so far, and him incapable of doing anything to help him, was torture. Eventually he sat back down again and pulled up his holo interface. He hadn’t even noticed Lee trying to call him a couple of times through all of this. He ignored him for a little while longer, instead pulled up V’s last voicemail message again. Received at 6.48 it said. Now it was almost 8. The accident must have happened minutes, if not moments after he’d tried to call. Kerry cursed. He listened to the message once more.

“I love you, Kerry, I hope you know that. ‘Cause I know I’ve been bad at showing it lately.”

If V had died wondering whether or not Kerry knew he loved him… After the messages he’d left this morning, it was no wonder. But knowing this was what was on his mind moments before some random Tygers almost killed him… it would have killed Kerry along with V.

They both sucked at showing their love for each other lately, each in their own way. They’d both been incredibly busy, V with this mysterious gig, Kerry with the new album, barely seeing each other some days. Whatever the reasons were for V withdrawing, it played right into Kerry’s fear of being abandoned once again. And him being snappy and mad and sarcastic played right into V switching into defense mode and withdrawing even more. They needed to work on their communication, desperately, but also… when they finally had some time for each other, just the two of them alone, serious talk like that was the last thing on their minds to blow off steam.

At 8pm sharp a small notification bleeped in the corner of Kerry’s peripheral. “Feed the cat” it said.

“Ah, crap…”

What use was an automatic feeder if you’d still have to refill it so often? While Kerry still pondered who to call to delegate this task to, Lee tried calling him again.

“Well, ya did this to yourself…” he mused as he picked up.

“Kerry!” Lee exclaimed with too much enthusiasm for Kerry’s current state of mind, “So happy to reach you, what I’ve been trying to tell you - …”

“Can ya do me a big solid, Lee?” Kerry interrupted him, “Swing by my Little China pad and feed the cat, would ya?”

“Oh, um…”

Kerry ended the call before Lee could finish his sentence. Something, something, the Crystal Palace, whatever. Kerry couldn’t care less about that stupid space station right now.

Another hour or so passed, and slowly but surely the last couple of nights’ sleep-deprivation began to kick in. Simultaneously he was still on edge, his patience wearing thin at the lack of updates and information, the utter bleakness of this hallway and seating area dragging Kerry down even more. He didn’t remember the last time he’d been in such a weird state of mind… almost as if he was drunk out of his mind while simultaneously high on something that shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol. Lee had given up on calling him, instead sent a photo of Nibbles eating, and a wall of text afterwards about whatever it was he’d been trying to tell him all evening. Right when Kerry got so bored out of his mind that he almost considered reading the text, the “Staff Only” door swung open. Immediately he was wide awake again, jumped out of his chair almost.

The med-tech from earlier was back, accompanied by what he assumed was a doctor, as she wore differently colored scrubs. That’s at least how you could tell them apart on TV shows.

“How is he?” Kerry asked, his voice coming out not nearly as confident as he’d have liked it to.

“He’s sleeping but doing good overall. We gave him some pretty strong painkillers that will keep him knocked out until tomorrow,” the tech explained.

Kerry sighed, relieved and exhausted, his head spinning slightly but in a good way finally.

“There was some minor damage to some of his implants that we could fix, and he will make a good recovery regarding any broken bones. There is something though I wanted to ask you about, as his emergency contact,” the doctor said and pulled up something on her data pad. Kerry’s first wave of euphoria dwindled at the sight of a brain scan with several large areas highlighted in red presented to him.

“He suffered a concussion during the accident. Standard procedure here is a thorough brain scan, but what we found was a lot worse than what the impact could have caused. So, not having his complete medical history on file currently, maybe you can give us some insight?”

Kerry interlocked his fingers behind his head, looking at the images only with reluctance.

“Y’know, I’m no expert on that stuff, dunno what’s everything s’pposed to look like even…” he said.

“We know that,” the med-tech chimed in calmly, gently putting a hand on Kerry’s back, “But are you aware of any past trauma or illness V went through that affects his nervous system?”

Kerry dropped his arms.

“Can I see?” he said, pointing at the data pad. The doctor handed it to him. Kerry flicked through the scans, actually very familiar with the sight. He was just startled time and time again by how severe V’s condition really was, having it laid out so clearly in front of him.

“Guess ya could say he’s quite ill, yeah,” he then explained quietly, “Had a bad injury about half a year back, followed up by… I don’t even know how to describe it. I just know things kinda kept getting worse after that, and still are.”

“An infection following the injury?” the doctor asked, and Kerry laughed weakly.

“Somethin’ like that, I guess. Been told his case is pretty unique. So far, no treatments available. He can explain it better than me.”

“Do you happen to have any more recent scans available? From other clinics?” the doctor asked.

“Dr. Fuentes is conducting a study on hard to cure diseases of the nervous system,” the med-tech explained, “It might be a long shot, but maybe, a few years down the road, there will be a treatment that could help someone like V.”

“He doesn’t have a few years,” Kerry said numbly, any sparks of hope flickering in the doctor’s words immediately extinguished by the timeframe they gave, “Months, at most, we’ve been told.”

“Even so,” Fuentes said firmly, “I would like to look into this. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

“Only V can decide that,” Kerry shrugged, “But yeah, there are recent scans. Pretty sure his Ripper has somethin’ from a couple months back. ‘bout a month and a half ago we had that brain specialist have a look, uhh… Wilson, or Williams or somethin’ like that, can give ya her number. If V agrees.”

“Of course,” Fuentes nodded, keeping up the friendly professional attitude. But something in her eyes told Kerry that she meant serious business. Kerry hadn’t decided yet if it was in a way he liked or not.

“Can I go see him now?” he just asked and handed back the data pad.

“Yes, of course,” the med-tech said and led Kerry deeper into the winding intestines of the Med Center. He’d really had enough of doctors. Not even for giving them false hope, no… for seeing V as not much more than an interesting and unique case to study and dissect like a high school science project. They weren’t interested in helping, they were interested in profiting of a dying man, in furthering their careers and agenda. What was a hospital if not just another corporation, and what was a doctor if not a corpo playing dress up with a white coat…

>> Next Chapter

#cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #cyberpunk fanfiction #cyberpunk 2077 fanfic #cp2077 fanfic #kerry eurodyne x v #kerry eurodyne #male v cyberpunk #vincent ezaki #otp: to bad decisions #my writing #what a hell of a writing sprint today o.o #I wanted to do so much other stuff but I guess I had to get this out of my system #no idea when I'll continue with chapter 3.... but THINGS will happen!!#for sure xD #love is stored in the olive jar

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bucketsofmonsters · 2 years

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The Shapeshifting Detective - Part 3

cw: parental death, grief, slow burn, panic attacks, mild body horror, more tags will be added as the story continues

male shapeshifter x fem character

word count: 6k

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7 part 8

Kate spent the next few hours itching to leave. She was desperate to go check out the address she’d found but the universe seemed intent on thwarting her. The first second she got alone was in the middle of the night, when she was meant to be asleep.

As soon as she was sure that the house was settled and she wouldn’t run into anyone in the halls, she was rushing out of bed to put on the most practical clothes she owned. They were a far cry from her stilted mourning clothing but she needed to be able to move in them.

The necessity to be able to move was made abundantly clear when Kate made the decision to climb out the window. Sure, a door would have been easier but she was less likely to be seen this way so the window it was.

She opened the window as slowly as she could, cursing every creak that seemed to echo endlessly off the walls. She finally got the window opened and hopped up onto the windowsill, her determination to figure this all out refusing to wane.

“Kate?”

She heard Anne’s confused voice and considered running, just bolting and not having the nightmare of a conversation she knew this would be, but she couldn’t do that to her. So, with her face contorted into a grimace, she turned to face her.

Anne was looking at her like she’d lost her mind. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.” Kate didn’t think Anne was stupid, not by any means, but she hoped that maybe she would take the hint and drop it. It was a long shot but it was all she had.

“Are you climbing out the window? What are you wearing?” She couldn’t seem to make any sense of the scene in front of her.

The concern was dripping from her voice and that almost made it worse because Kate couldn’t say anything, wouldn’t say anything. She would not put anyone else she cared about in harm’s way.

Anne could see her pulling away and refused to back down like Kate had prayed she would. “What’s happening to you, Kate? What are you hiding? Are you alright? You can talk to me about whatever is going on.”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can't?” She was searching Kate’s face for any hint as to what was going on, trying to find something to latch onto.

“I just… I need to leave, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“For once in your life can you stop being stubborn and just let me help?” The exasperation was clear in her voice, fed up with her behavior, something that was probably boiling over from long before her father’s death had made the whole situation worse. Any other time, Kate would’ve done anything to try and fix it but not now. Now she had more important things to be doing.

“I’m sorry.” That was all she said before she slipped out the window, hitting the ground and immediately heading out through the streets of the city, trusting Anne to close the window behind her. She kept her head down, trying not to meet anyone's eye and go unnoticed, knowing that someone seeing her in these clothes out alone at night could be devastating to her reputation.

It didn’t take long to get there. Honestly, more of the trip was probably spent getting mildly lost and having to gather her bearings again than was spent actually getting there.

It didn’t take her long to realize that she hadn’t really put much thought into what she should do once she got there. It was like she assumed that simply arriving at the location would tell her exactly why it was written on that card but here she was and she still had no idea.

There was nothing that seemed particularly out of place about the building she’d been so desperately trying to reach. She had never been to this part of the city before but it looked more or less like every other building around it, although it was admittedly hard to tell at night.

No one lived there, she knew that much. The street was full of shops, most of them poorly labeled, if there were any signs at all. This one lacked any way to identify what it was other than the numbers on the side, the paint chipped and barely readable but still matching those on the torn little sheet of paper.

Hopefully if it was a business, it would be abandoned at this time of night and she would be able to explore in undeterred. She couldn’t exactly just knock in the middle of the night and going home now wasn’t an option.

The doors were all locked but she managed to find a window that opened and sneak through it. A week ago she never could have imagined sneaking through a window and now she’d done it twice in one night, it felt absurd.

Gathering her bearings was difficult, it was dark inside, barely lit by the moonlight streaming through the window. It was going to have to stay that way, Kate didn’t want to risk anyone seeing a light and finding her.

She had no idea how she was going to do anything this way, she was stumbling around like a newborn deer. It turns out investigating was quite difficult to do when you couldn’t see.

That problem was quickly resolved when the walls of the room were lit by the light of an oil lamp coming from behind her.

“Done with the black a little quickly, aren’t we?”

Kate whipped around and saw Evelyn sizing her up, the lamp set on a table beside her. She felt like prey under her gaze. Even in the middle of the night she was still dressed to the nines in black, her dress intricate, covered in laces and ribbons, and her makeup dark. Kate wondered when she slept, although she supposed she wasn’t one to talk considering her sleep schedule as of late had been nonexistent.

She let out a huff of laughter as she looked Kate up and down. “I wonder why you’re so eager to get out of the mourning clothes, did black just not suit you or is mourning not your style?”

Katherine reeled back. “What are you insinuating?”

“Nothing. Why, what did you think I was saying?” Her voice dripped with mock concern.

“Eager to pin my father’s death on someone else, aren’t you?”

Evelyn rolled her eyes, the flame reflecting off her pitch black irises. “Please, everyone already thinks I did it. With no proof, mind you. Me throwing some accusations at a girl no one will even know was here won’t do shit. We should talk more anyways. We’re not so different, I think. We’re both on trial for murder. Pretty important similarity, I’d say.”

“I didn’t do it,” she said, her voice curt, not willing to give this conversation the time of day.

“Another similarity, look at us! We’re practically twins. Sorry for taking your inheritance by the way. I hope you understand it's not personal, no ill will intended.”

That was the most amicable thing the woman in black had said thus far. “I don’t care,” Kate replied. “Take whatever you want, that’s none of my business.”

“Are you not upset? It was yours.”

“No, it was my fathers and he lost it to you, I have no part in it.”

That seemed to surprise her, taking a moment from her snide remarks to really take her in, not just to make her squirm under the woman’s gaze but in an attempt to really figure her out.

“Well, I’m glad that there’s no bad blood between us,” she decided. ”Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. What is a lady like you doing in an establishment like this at this time of night?”

Despite the indifference Kate had towards her inheritance being taken, there was most certainly bad blood between the two of them. Especially considering that she’d just caught Kate breaking and entering and then accused her of murder. “That’s none of your business.”

“It’s none of my business why you’re in my place of work? Are you sure you want to stick with that?”

Shit. Well that wasn’t good. Any half decent excuse she could have come up with just went out the window. At this point she was just at Evelyn's mercy and despite the fact that she basically just met the woman, she had a distinct feeling that that was a very bad place to be.

Another voice sounded from the other room and Kate managed to make out the words, “Evelyn, can you rewrite this part, I can’t read your handwriting,” before her bumbling detective came crashing through the door and for the first time in her life, Kate was thrilled to see him, praying he could get her out of this mess.

The second his eyes hit Kate he froze, his eyes flicking nervously between Kate and Evelyn, a look of dread washing over his face.

Evelyn shot Kate a smile, clearly thrilled by this turn of events as she said, “And of course you know Harvey,”

Kate was scrambling to make sense of what was happening and the only thing she could manage to say was, “Vincent?”

Now it was Evelyn's turn to look surprised, turning very intentionally to the detective and shooting him a glare that Kate would never want to be on the receiving end of. “Yes, Vincent, what a surprise?”

He winced but his attention remained on Kate. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I know.” Biting back her pride and admitting defeat was difficult but she had a feeling she was in over her head and frankly, she couldn’t make enough sense of what was going on to properly defend herself.

Evelyn tutted beside her, shaking her head in disappointment. “Come on, Katherine, where did that bite go? We were having such a good conversation too, such a shame.”

“Evelyn, please leave her alone.” Vincent pleaded.

Kate was observant enough to know that there were layers of this conversation she was missing. The endless knowing glances between the two were practically impossible to miss if you were paying even a modicum of attention. What she couldn’t figure out was what they meant, what subtext she was missing.

Evelyn, on the other hand, was unraveling a completely different mystery. Her eyes widened once more and she practically hissed, “Have you gone soft on her?”

“No.” The word came out sounding sharp and defensive and even Vincent seemed to know that they weren't convincing.

It was all but an admission and at the same time a look of confusion crossed Kate’s face, Evelyn let out a knowing sigh. “Of course you are, I don’t know what I expected. This is why I never ask you for help, you know. You’re useless, I swear. Come on, she’s…” her sentence trailed off as she gestured vaguely in Kate’s direction and yet Vincent seemed to inexplicably understand what she meant.

It set something off in him and he drew closer to her, standing almost protectively between the two. “Kate, you should not be here.” He repeated himself but this time his tone was sharper than anything she’d heard from him before.

Everything in her wanted to fight him, his unwavering voice not helping the matter, but something about him told her not to, the same instinct that told her to bite back her pride minutes before. There was something she couldn’t quite place in his face, he almost seemed scared and she knew he was right.

She shouldn’t be here.

Beyond just the legal ramifications of breaking into this place, something else was wrong, something Kate just couldn’t understand, no matter how hard she tried.

“Okay,” she managed, unused to going along with anything he said.

He seemed just as taken aback with her agreement as she was, already ready to fight her on the matter. When he recovered from his shock he gave her a little nod and started herding her towards the exit. “We should be leaving.”

Evelyn pouted behind him. “You’re no fun, Vincent. Katherine and I were just getting to know each other.”

His hand wrapped around Kate’s forearm and he pulled her closer to both him and the door. “That’s a shame, but we really need to leave. Bye, Evelyn.”

He practically dragged her out the door, desperate to get out of there. He was stronger than he looked. Kate honestly got the impression that he was holding back but she could still feel it, the way he effortlessly hauled her behind him.

As soon as they got what he deemed an appropriate distance away he dropped her arm and turned to face her.

“That was really stupid, Kate.”

Her placidity from earlier immediately melted away. “Excuse me? I’m not the one who’s having midnight meetings with people they’re supposed to be investigating. God, no wonder you were defending her.”

“Oh please, you have no idea what’s going on here.”

“No! I don’t! Because you’re not telling me!” She was basically screaming at this point, her frustration getting the better of her.

He sighed and looked back towards Evelyn’s building, like he was worried she might have followed them. “Does anyone even know you’re here?” His voice was softer now, more concerned.

“No.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed, you cannot be doing this.” He was practically pleading with her.

“You think Evelyn would kill someone?” Here he was, admitting to it, and yet he’d sworn to her that Evelyn couldn’t have possibly hurt her father.

“This is more complicated than that.”

“How?” Even as she asked the question she knew she wouldn’t get a straight answer.

“I can’t tell you.”

Of course he couldn’t. He couldn’t tell her anything.

He kept glancing around nervously and started guiding her back in the direction of her home as they talked. Despite how frustrated she was, she followed him. Home sounded like a good idea right about now.

“How did you even know to come here?” he asked as he led her further and further away from the mysterious store.

She should’ve lied. Of course she should’ve, but she was shaken and confused and she was done with lying. “You had the address written down by your weird little murder board, I stole it.”

He didn’t get upset. He would have every right to be but instead that same vaguely impressed look crossed his face again.

He cracked that familiar smile and said, “I really should get more diligent about stuff like that, especially when angry people are storming around.”

“Yeah, you probably should.”

They walked in silence for a while, both lost in thought. Kate was trying to piece together what could be happening, running through idea after idea while Vincent floundered, looking for the right words. Finally he broke the silence and settled on, “You cannot go there.”

Of course he was telling her to stop now, to stay home and out of trouble. She was a fool to believe him when he said he was alright with her being out here, looking for answers. “I thought you were alright with me investigating, what happened to it being ‘incredible?’”

“You can!” he promised, but the words felt hollow now. “Just not there, anywhere but there.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” Kate felt like she could scream in frustration.

She watched his face fall as her voice cracked, her desperation clear. “I’m so sorry, I can’t. I want to but I just… shit.”

He just buried his head in his hands for while, letting out the occasional groan as he worked through whatever emotions he was feeling right now and she at least felt a little less embarrassed by her voice cracks. It shouldn’t be comforting, having mutual break downs with someone, but it was the most sane she’d felt since this all began. Both of them were clearly spiraling, admittedly about different things but spiraling nonetheless.

He spoke into his palms and Kate wasn’t clear if his words were meant for her or if they were solely for his own benefit. “God if I ask you not to come back you’re definitely coming back.” He wasn’t wrong about that, she couldn’t imagine there was much he could do to keep her away from anywhere that had answers, no matter what her gut was telling her about that place. “How about you don’t come here without me?” he reasoned. “Is that alright?”

“Oh, so you want to babysit me?”

He looked up from his hands and she saw just how genuine he looked. At this point she wasn’t sure he was capable of anything but absolute sincerity. “Listen, you’re upset, I get that. But you’re smart, really smart, like the smartest person I’ve met since I got here…”

“Got where.”

“See, that, right there!” he said, pointing at you victoriously. “You pick up on everything I say, you’re smart! You can investigate with me, no babysitting involved.”

It felt like an attempt to placate her, no way could he really mean that. “Investigate with you.” She said the words like they were in a foreign language.

He nodded eagerly. “Yeah, you can come with me to investigate and I’ll share all my information. You seem to want to do this and I could use the help, it’s a win-win. Come on, Kate.”

There was no way he meant it. The idea was absurd, even from her perspective, knowing she didn’t do it and that she wanted nothing more than to find the truth. And yet she knew he meant it. She’d be able to tell if he didn’t, he wore his emotions too clearly for that.

“Alright,” she agreed. “We’ll do this together.”

Vincent punched the air victoriously and she couldn’t fight back a giggle.

Without her even realizing it, they’d come upon her house “Miss Kate, I believe this is your stop,” Vincent said.

The window she’d exited through had been left slightly ajar, making it her easiest entrance point. She considered waiting for him to leave before climbing through but dawn was fast approaching and she wanted to be back in bed as quickly as possible.

She pushed the window open once more and he watched her, head cocked to the side.

“Do you need a boost?”

She didn’t respond, instead opting to hop up on the windowsill and pull herself through to the other side.

She heard him mutter, “obviously not” before giving her a final wave and heading off on his way, leaving her to scramble towards her bedroom before anyone spotted her.

She managed to make the trek covertly and as she entered her bedroom, she found her mother sitting just inside the door.

She was fuming, the anger clear in her eyes as they locked onto Kate.

Kate squeaked out a quiet, “How did you know…”

“Anne told me.”

She felt like she’d been stabbed. Anne had told her? That couldn’t be right, she wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t give Kate up like that, even if she was being sneaky and secretive.

Her mother continued, clearly seeing her confusion. “She’s worried about you, as she should be. You could ruin your whole life this way. What if someone saw you? Look at you, you’re a mess. Cover up the bags under your eyes at least, have some dignity.”

“Sorry, mother,” she snapped, any attempt at playing nice being forgotten immediately. “I forgot to look pretty in my mourning, I’ll get right on that.”

“You’re being unfair, Katherine. I’m not the one who’ll be judging you, they’re not my rules.”

Kate knew she was right, that it wasn’t really her fault. But that was how it worked, wasn’t it, girls were made to resent their mothers for shaping them up to survive a world not built for them and then, someday, her daughter would resent her. The cycle continues on.

Her mother looked perfect, even when she’d been woken up in the middle of the night by a worried maid. She was sad in all the right ways but composed. The mother she inevitably resented must’ve been proud of how efficiently she tore her daughter down. If only her mother had taught her the same way maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

Kate sighed. “Can we do this some other time. We’re going to argue and then I’ll do it again and then we’ll argue again, there’s no point in it.” All she wanted was to be miserable in peace.

“I need you to understand. Katherine, the neighbors are talking.” She said it with such intention, like she was telling her of a death sentence.

Of course they were talking, when were rumors not being spread? This week it was about her and next week some other poor girl would be in the spotlight. “And what are they saying?”

“They’re saying you’re not grieving.”

The words hit her and in an instant she understood what they meant. They thought she did it. “Let them talk. They’ll see, I’ll find who did it and then I can grieve.”

Another kind of sorrow crossed her mother’s face, this one not rehearsed and flawless. A real emotion. Kate wondered what she could've done to earn that.

Her mother searched her face, although Kate had no idea what she was looking for “What’s happened to you? You were such a well behaved girl, your father wouldn’t want you to come unraveled like this.”

“My father can’t want anything so it’s not like it matters. And for the record, my father wanted more for me than this, he didn’t want me to be miserable like you are,” she spat.

Her mother stood, her face still perfectly unreadable. “Pull yourself together, before it’s too late.”

That was the last she saw of her mother that night. There was something very final about it, one last warning, like she wouldn’t try to stop her anymore. Her life was in her hands now, hers to ruin.

She tried to sleep. She really did, to get at least a few hours in, but her mother’s words kept running through her head. ‘They say you’re not grieving.’ She was in her own personal hell and they didn’t think she was grieving.

When she finally gave up on sleep and got up, Anne didn’t speak to her. Kate was glad, she had nothing to say to her. She wanted to fix it, to fix everything, but she knew it would turn into another fight. Sometimes saying nothing was easier.

A knock sounded at her bedroom door as Anne wordlessly helped her get dressed and someone popped their head in the door. “You have a caller, Miss Katherine.”

She prayed it wasn’t Daniel. She knew that she needed him, that without him her whole life would fall apart, but she didn’t know if she could keep herself from snapping at him. Not with the state she was in.

When she went out to investigate, she found Vincent peeking through the doorway, looking aimlessly for her.

His face lit up the second they locked eyes. “Miss Kate! Are you prepared to go play detective with me?”

Somehow she still hadn’t believed her own intuition that he’d meant it, him standing here waiting for her felt impossible. “You meant it?”

“Of course I did, why else would I have said it?”

That was the first good news she’d received in a very long time. “Then yes, I’m absolutely ready. Where are we going?”

“To see that couple we talked about, the one from the will reading. I’ve done some reconnaissance on them but we haven’t officially met, I figured you’d be good to have there considering you’re family friends, might help diffuse the tension a little.”

She hadn’t seen them in a while but surely she’d be able to handle the situation better than Vincent would’ve alone, if her interactions with him were anything to go by.

When they arrived at the house, she could see the couple's surprise at her presence the second they set eyes on the pair. Vincent seemed less aware of their bewilderment.

“Hello, I’m Detective Harvey Lewis.” He said it with a smile, like he always did.

Neither of them were looking at him.

“Katherine? Why are you here?” Theresa asked.

Vincent cleared his throat and stepped in. “I asked her to be here, she’s helping with the investigation.”

“Are you sure that’s wise? We’ve both… heard things, can she really be unbiased in this?”

Kate should have assumed they’d be like this. If people were talking, of course they’d heard that she wasn’t grieving. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for her to be there after all.

Vincent wasn’t having it. “I assure you, she can be, I know how to run an investigation, thank you very much. Can we speak to you separately, we can start with Mrs Moore.”

Peter didn’t even give her the chance to speak. “No, you can’t.”

“We can start with you if…”

“We will remain together.” His tone was threatening and his shoulders were puffed out, trying to make himself look bigger. He didn’t even need to in order to have a few inches on Vincent and Kate couldn’t help but worry about what would happen if they did start a fight.

Vincent seemed more baffled than threatened. “Alright, although I really should speak to you both separately some other time.”

As they got situated, Vincent pulled out his little notebook and Kate almost wished she had one, to make her feel more official and a little less out of place.

“Alright, and how did you two know Mr. Hayes?”

Theresa opened her mouth to answer but Peter didn’t give her the chance. “We were friends.” He was clearly upset, his answer riddled with spite.

Vincent prompted him further. “You and your wife or…”

“Yes, my wife knew Mr. Hayes very well.”

Theresa nodded off to the side, still not being given the opportunity to speak.

“And where were you on the 12th?”

Was that the night it had happened? Kate hadn’t thought to check. The date had seemed so unimportant.

Peter shot a glare her way and spat, “Not standing over his dead body, I’m sure Katherine can attest to that.”

Vincent didn’t understand it as the accusation that it was. “She didn’t witness the murder, she just found the body. Can you just tell us where you were?”

They weren’t getting anywhere. Every question was getting sidestepped, both of them infinitely more interested in Katherine than in saying anything productive.

Theresa cut in for the first time. “I really don’t understand why we’re doing this, is this really necessary? I can tell you about Katherine but it seems odd that you brought her.

They were blaming her. Evelyn had. Anne had asked her, Daniel seemed to think she might’ve, even Vincent didn’t seem fully convinced of her innocence.

Vincent shook his head, trying to put the idea to rest as quickly as he could. “No, I’m not here to talk about Miss Kate, I’m here to talk about you two.”

Despite his words, she knew when she wasn’t wanted. She might as well leave them to theorize about how and why she murdered her father like they were apparently doing anyways. “I should go, my mother wanted me home. I’ll leave you in the detective’s capable hands.” No one had a chance to respond before she was running out of the room.

The second she was out of view she gasped, buckling over and letting out a little wail. She felt pathetic, she needed to get ahold of herself. It was all too much. It felt like the whole world was looking at her. She couldn’t breathe.

She didn’t even realize Vincent had followed her until she felt his hand on her back. She immediately stood up straight, trying to compose herself.

His voice was low and comforting. “Hey, you’re alright. Just breathe, you’re gonna be okay.”

“I need to leave,” she gasped out, trying to get out of his way and let him work the case she clearly had no place helping with. “Me being here is a hindrance. I’m sure you think I did it too, I’ve messed this all up, I should just go.” She could feel her breathing getting faster and faster but she couldn’t do anything to stop it. Everything felt like it was crashing in all at once. All she wanted was to help and she couldn’t even manage that, somehow worsening the disaster that was this investigation.

She staggered backwards, doing her very best to look like she was alright, to not cause any more problems as she made her exit.

Vincent did not seem inclined to let her do that.

“Kate, you didn’t mess anything up,” he promised. “This is going about as well as every other interview has been going, at least now we can do bad interviews together.”

His tone was lighthearted, attempting a faint smile but Kate felt like she was going to throw up.

Her hands were raking through her hair, desperate for something to hold onto. “I just want to fix it. They all think that makes me guilty. I’m not guilty, I would never do that. I just want to help, to make it better.”

She started choking up as she rambled, her words catching in her throat as she forced them out.

And then he stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. The second she was in his arms she basically collapsed, even the prospect of holding herself up too much.

The sniffles wouldn’t stop coming and she shed her very first tear since this nightmare had begun, everything hitting her all at once. Her tears wet Vincent's shirt as she shoved her face into it, terrified that he’d let her go she’d be left to deal with all these emotions on her own.

“I didn’t do it,” she managed to choke out, despite the state she was in.

“I know.” The words were muttered into her hair, the arms around her tight and unyielding and comforting in a way that she’d had no idea that she needed. She could hear his heartbeat thudding in her ears beside her own rapid one.

She had no idea how long they stood there, his arms pulled tight and her leaning on him completely. If he’d pulled away she would’ve collapsed but he didn't. He just stood there as she cried. If this wasn’t grieving, she’d hate to find out what was.

When she finally did pull away, night was already falling and Kate couldn’t help but wonder if they really had left in the morning. That kept happening. Seconds would feel like days and then all of a sudden, hours would slip away without her even realizing.

“I’m sorry, I messed up your shirt,” she said, wiping at the tears left on her face.

“It’s alright, I can get another shirt. Besides, I think we’re done for the day, do you want to pick this up tomorrow?” He looked hesitant, unsure if she really wanted to drop out of all of this after fighting so hard to get there.

“Yeah, tomorrow sounds good.”

“Alright, see you then partner.” He was beaming, every ounce of excitement clear across his face. Kate wasn’t sure he could hide an emotion if he tried.

It was too much. He was too weird and worse he was too nice. There must be something behind it, something malicious. She would not be fooled by him.

She ran through it over and over again as she calmed down on their walk home. He refused to let her go home on her own.

He’d caught her at a vulnerable moment, that was it, it wouldn’t happen again. She had to figure him out, find out what he was hiding.

When he dropped her off at her house, she pressed herself against the inside of the door, counting the seconds until she could chase after him. As she waited, she heard footsteps behind her. Anne stood there, no confusion on her face this time. She just looked defeated.

“I hope you know what you’re doing”

She left before Kate could muster up a response.

A pang of guilt ran through her chest before she was on the move again, she didn’t have time to stand around feeling guilty, she had a detective to follow.

He was hiding something. Like he’d said, she was smart, she wasn’t just going to drop it. The sooner she could figure it out, the sooner she could focus on more important things. She didn’t even find the time to put on practical clothes, bolting out of the house the second Vincent was no longer looking.

It was shockingly easy to follow Vincent. Surely a detective must have some level of awareness and yet, even as he walked into less and less occupied areas, he didn’t seem to catch any wind of Kate trailing behind him, doing her best to not be noticed.

The further they walked, the more she wondered where he could possibly be headed. This was an industrial zone, a seemingly mostly abandoned one at that, one that had flourished in years where the country was in better health and now fell by the wayside as people had less money to spend.

But even if the factories had been opened, what possible reason could he have to be here? He was already employed in a well respected position, so he couldn't be working. What other reason would he have to be here? He must be meeting someone. Maybe a lover, maybe something more nefarious.

Yes, she concluded, that must be it. She couldn’t fathom any other reason he might be here. As she theorized, she watched from a distance as he slipped inside one of the abandoned warehouses.

She approached the door and listened carefully for a while, making sure the sounds of his movement were far off and still she waited what she prayed was an appropriate amount of time, that he’d be both away from the door and distracted. She eased it open as little as she could, sliding inside, grateful for her black mourning dress that would help conceal her in the shadows of the poorly lit room.

The warehouse seemed even larger from the inside, littered with left behind crates and materials that it hadn’t been worth it to transfer out. Kate slipped behind one of them, peeking around the edge to try and find Vincent.

He was in the corner of the warehouse, all alone. He settled in, sitting on a smaller crate, his jacket in his arms. He tossed it down into a pile of blankets and started to unbutton his shirt and she realized what was happening. He lived there.

Surely he had the funds to live somewhere else, why would he be living in an abandoned warehouse? He was a well respected detective, it didn’t make any sense.

As he got undressed and made himself at home, he rolled his arms back and she heard a cracking noise echo across the warehouse. She couldn’t help but flinch sympathetically. He must be so tense to be able to do that, against her better judgment she’d grown mildly fond of the man, she couldn’t help but feel for him a little.

He went on, almost ritualistically, cracking his wrists and his neck, moving through every part of his body. And then his arm bent the wrong way, letting out that same familiar crack.

More and more cracks rolled through his body, his bones no longer just bending but growing. His body got longer as he moved, growing taller with every snap of a bone. His features started to melt away and became less and less distinct, that cracking still happening, sounding more and more like bones snapping in two.

She heard a scream. It took too long to realize it was her own, sounding distant and foreign, echoing incessantly across the walls. The creature whipped around to look at her and she couldn’t breathe.

She couldn’t feel anything but fear, incapable of forming any thoughts, an all encompassing terror blossoming from her chest and taking her over entirely.

And then the world fell out from under her.

#terato #monster bf #monster boyfriend #monster x human #shapeshifter #the shapeshifting detective #Monster time!#I love Vincent so much #Katherine: faints #Me: <3 bb boy #She’ll come around #I’ll try and get the next chapter out a little faster because this is a bit of a cliffhanger #I love the next chapter too so I’ve been working on it a ton lots of fun :)

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