From the personal diary of Agent Marie. 

Headquarters.

The facilities for agents were different from the training campus, as I was finding out. One major difference was that I could work out without the pressure of having an instructor evaluating every move I made. And the facilities were nicer, newer, and less used.

It was hard on a subtle level, getting used to working out just for the fun of it, but also liberating, as I discovered from having trained with three different types of weapons for at least an hour and two different martial arts for at least another hour. At the moment, I was headed down the hall for a yoga class to cool down before a shower and a well-deserved lunch.

I was distantly wondering where Lorenzo was as I followed a group of fellow female agents down the hall, a yoga mat tucked under my arm, neatly rolled up. 

After the successful conclusion of the case involving the vampire Tasia, which was actually just a day or two ago but felt like a lifetime ago, I hadn’t heard from him since. Part of me was beginning to wonder.

We hadn’t started formally dating or courting, which I partly expected since Lorenzo came from old-world Italy while I came from new-world America. But I also hadn’t expected him to disappear on me. He said this morning he was going to join me for training. But he never showed.

Maybe he was involved with another case. He’d damn well better be careful. I hadn’t come all this way just to lose him now.

With that thought, I entered the room where the yoga class was to be held.

I was still wearing the same clothes I’d been wearing since I started my workout regimen—a dark, slate gray sports bra and pale gray leggings, bare feet, and my long brunette hair in a tight ballerina bun. I unrolled my yoga mat on a clear spot towards the back of the room, settled down with my legs folded under me, and waited for class to start.

While I was waiting, a familiar face sat next to me. Agent Aisha unrolled her mat nearby mine and rested her shapely butt on it. I sent a smile of recognition her way.

She beamed back in reply, reaching over to lightly squeeze my arm.

“Long time, no see,” she whispered.

“Yeah, seriously,” I agreed.

“What’s new and exciting?”

“I just finished a case,” I said.

“Yeah? Vampire or werewolf?”

“Vampire,” I said with a shudder.

She patted my arm reassuringly. “It’s gone now,” she said.

“I know,” I said. “You should have seen it.”

“They are horrible,” Aisha agreed. “But you should have seen my werewolf.”

I shuddered again. “Your case was about a werewolf?”

“Yep. We can compare notes later,” she murmured. “Class.”

“Right.”

*

Forty minutes later, I felt Aisha’s hand on my shoulder. “Hey.”

I opened my eyes. “What are you in such a hurry for?” I asked irritably. “I still got five minutes of my meditation.”

She gestured casually. “That man seems to be waiting for you.”

I glanced in the indicated direction. On the other side of the transparent glass partition, a familiar imposing figure stood in the community hallway, dressed in black as always.

“Great,” I muttered. “It’s Special Agent Andros.”

“Damn, that man is fine,” she murmured, gazing openly in his direction.

“Yes, well, that must mean he needs me for a new case,” I said, rising from my yoga mat and gesturing to Andros to wait a minute. So much for the meditation period. Oh, well.

“No lunch after yoga, I guess,” she said, casting her eyes down.

“Nope,” I agreed, rolling up my yoga mat. “Maybe some other time.”

“Yeah,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Some other time.”

I briefly rested my hand on her brown shoulder. “Sorry. Duty calls.” Thinking she shouldn’t have pointed him out to me if she was looking forward to lunch, although Agent Andros was hard to miss even when he was just standing there, I rolled up my yoga mat, tucked it under my arm, and headed out to the hallway. 

He must have seen the look on my face because he said, “I’m sorry to have interrupted what I’m sure would have been a very nice afternoon, but I’m afraid I need you on a case.”

“That’s what I figured,” I replied. “What’s it about?”

“A werewolf that needs catching,” he said grimly. “But go get dressed. I’ll get you briefed.”

“Right,” I said. “And you can also see about having something to eat brought in. I was going to have lunch.”

Andros nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

*

Half an hour later, I was in operations with Agent Andros, facing a large screen mounted on the wall. I’d changed from my yoga attire into a turtleneck sweater and generic pants. Specifically, we were going through the Annals, backtracking along the timeline of the werewolf, to see where we could head him off. On a table in the far corner were the remains of a rushed, improvised lunch that was nowhere near what I’d intended. But oh, well.

Andros was studying dates. Then he suddenly paused. “Son of a bitch.”

I looked over and noticed his face was pale and drawn. “Agent Andros? Are you all right?”

“No,” he said with a swallow, in a voice quite unlike his usual confident tone.

“What’s wrong? And don’t say nothing.”

He offered a half-hearted, lopsided smile. “You’re getting too good at that.”

“I’m a woman,” I said. “It’s a thing we women have. So spill it. You look like this case means something to you.”

“Because it does,” he said, quite emotional.

“Well?” I pressed him.

I was surprised, shocked even, when he actually brushed a tear away that threatened to run over his cheek.

“Oh my God! What is it?”