[Kassandra Lyall Preternatural Investigator 03] - Bloody Claws by Winter Pennington Page A

you've seen crime photos, the scene itself still manages to catch one off guard. The pictures are never as horrible as having the real thing right in front of your face. There are some things you can't prepare for. You can only look and hope you don't run screaming.
    Lenorre stood close to my side as Arthur led us through the house and around the huddling group of blue uniforms and the forensic team in their black jackets with bright white letters reading "Forensics" on the back. It wasn't a large house by any means, and having so many people, whether they were working or not, made it seem even smaller.
    The one thing that was very different about this crime scene was that it smelled blatantly of blood, tangy and metallic. The smell of it hit me in the face like a ton of bricks, threatening to rouse the wolf. I drew my shields tightly around me, using those careful walls I'd spent years working on building to keep her contained.
    Arthur led the way cautiously around the streak of blood in the hallway. He didn't bother pointing it out because it was unnecessary. Even if I hadn't seen the pictures, there was no missing the dark stain on the light carpet. We walked past a bathroom, a bedroom, another bedroom, and into the room at the end of the hall.
    I looked up at the bloody symbol above the bed and a tremble went through me, making my hand twitch. For several minutes, all of us just stood there.
    Arthur finally spoke. "Your turn," he said. "I've already seen this mess."
    I sighed and moved closer to the bed. The dark blue and gold celestial blankets were black and brown with blood. There wasn't a lot of furniture in the room-two small nightstands, probably his and hers, a dresser with a large vanity mirror, a potted ivy plant hung over one of the windows with its goldenrod curtains. I had a very strong sense the plant was Miranda's doing.
    "Gloves," I said, holding my hand out behind me.
    Arthur went to the door and called out, "I need some gloves, people!"
    It took about a minute for someone to appear with a box of gloves and a sack used for trash. One of the forensics guys with an ID badge that read Reeves appeared in the doorway. Arthur passed the box around. Even if forensics had found what evidence they could find, it'd be a bitch if we messed up the crime scene in the process of finding a potential clue. Every clue we could find or salvage from the scene counted.
    I drew my sleeves up using my teeth and went to the bed, drawing in a deep, steeling breath before leaning over to search the comforter.
    That's when another smell hit me. Something wasn't right.
    "Arthur?"
    "Yeah, Kass?" he asked from his post near the doorway. Reeves was quietly standing beside him. He was the only other man in the room besides Arthur who hadn't put on a pair of gloves. Which meant neither of the boys intended to get close to the evidence again.
    "Your guys are testing the blood?" I asked Reeves.
    He shook his head. "They had a runner take it back to the lab, but we haven't gotten the results."
    "Lenorre?"
    She moved up closer to me like some graceful shadow. "Yes?"
    "Can you tell by smell if the blood is human or not?"
    "Yes."
    I touched the corner of the comforter where the blood hadn't managed to soak through.
    "Wait," Reeves said. "Hang on a second…" I waited. He returned with a small vial of swabs. Gently, he plucked one of the ends from the vial with his bare fingers and went to the wall. His brow furrowed in concentration as he retrieved a spray bottle from his pocket and sprayed the tip of the swab. He placed the swab against a line of blood that had dried seeping from the symbol, gave the stick an artful spin, and handed it to Lenorre.
    "I doubt this will hold up in court," Reeves said, "but I'm curious to see if you're right when we get the results in."
    She took it, waving it under her nose. Her pale nostrils flared slightly, and her dark eyelashes fluttered closed. "It is not human," she said, voice dripping with the damp