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"Sit down, Mac"

I sat "Goodto you too, Lieutenant" Seemed I wasn’t the only one in a nored oing to do one for me"

I leaned back and took a sip of ent for hi to pretend you weren’t seen leaving Amanda Franklin’s house yesterday afternoon" I opened o out and do your da for you We’re low on resources with a cop killer on the loose And you obviously need to be kept busy or you’ll get yourself into trouble"

I grittedwas a collar I’d nor Lieutenant Vasquez knew quite well--but I didn’t need the distraction froht now

"Should be quick," he continued "We’ve got a problem down in Willowbrook You know it?"

I nodded Willowbrook was south of the station, an older neighborhood full of ; people’s garbage has been tossed You get the picture"

"Sounds like a kobold, hobgoblin, or some other pest I don’t think a detective is--"

"I didn’t ask for your thoughts, Detective I’ you a job to keep you out of my hair Did you really think we didn’t have your partner’s house watched?"

I didn’t knohat to say, so I kept lamorous work It’s probably just a pest, like you said But someone needs to take care of it, and I need to keep you busy Deal with it" He tossed a file in eneral direction and nodded to the door "Talk to the people in the neighborhood Call for backup if you get anything solid to follow up on"

The teet back to A than I would arguing with the Lieutenant With any luck, it would be a hobgoblin or a brownie, an easy fix with the right gear, and I’d be back on the incubus by the afternoon

…

It took longer than I had hoped to find out exactly what I hunted and where itseveral fah a nearby wooded area coht storm drain, I was ready to finish this hunt

The house was dark, the sht from the streetlamps blocked by the blinds, and the second the door opened the stench hit e, waste, and a metallic overtone meant blood It s a revenant No one had died in this neighborhood in hbors, and none in this house Revenants were always drawn back to their own honored the odor and pushed the door so it stood wide open The light fro hole, so I pulled a sun from my shoulder holster withfor the backup I’d called only a ainst it Backup would almost certainly be slow The critter could escape by the tioblin or kobold on e and retire

A hobgoblin likely hid in the foreclosed and abandoned hoht not be beyond the realm of a kobold or a brownie--they would hunt if starved--but this thing seee That was unlikely for the scavenging creatures, who strongly preferred to pick through huhborhood was full of trash, set out in front of dozens of ho thatroom The source of the s,quietly through the house, I checked the rooms one by one The kitchen was the only place that showed any use It was a round It looked like its food--both trash and aniht tile The trail led frorioblins and their ilk always gravitated toward dark places, strongly preferring underground areas