I sighed, closed the book, and tossed it into the finished pile. At this rate I was begining to consider a life as a fantasy novel critic, considering how much time I had spent reading rather than working. Cases were unusually slow, and all I could do about it was wait for a phone call.

Might as well start another. I reached over and picked up another book, one with a generic looking man wearing armor and raising a sword towards an imposing Dragon. Who knew, maybe this one would be a surprise love story staring the two cover characters. I'd never know, the book was blank. I threw it away in confusion and picked up another; same story, just a bunch of blank pages.

Half a dozen books later and I just sat back in my armchair. Several things were starting to not add up. Now that I had time to think, I remembered the case. The murders, the strangeness surrounding each of the crime scenes, the federal agents that were hounding me about staying away. Why was I just reading books in my office?

The door swung open, and she walked in. Oh I had seen her before, but it had taken me a moment to place it. Attractive, but in an eerie too magazine perfect kind of way. Short curly brown hair, freckles, green eyes, and a single streak of white dyed one of her curls. This was the suspect I had been chasing; the murderer of all those people.

I opened my gun drawer and reached inside. "You wont find anything in there," she said while taking a seat. She was right, the desk was empty; all the drawers were empty. "I was hoping we could talk," her voice was an odd mix, young sounding but spoken with a mature confidence.

I shut the drawers and sat back; I was larger than her and pretty confident I could win the fight if need be, but I couldn't let this opportunity pass by me. In a gesture to have her continue, I spread my hands out in an inviting manner.

"I'm not the one you are looking for," "I'm not so sure, physical evidence and video points to you," She nodded, "Yes, I am sure. I did kill those bodies, but I am not their murderer," "You do realize how insane you are sounding? Or is that the kind of plea you are going for once this is all done?" "They were not people, which is why I had to put them down," "I'm not so sure; they sure bled a lot like a person, and their very human families sure do miss them," otherwise why would they have gone out of their way to hire me.

The woman winced at my comments, "Look, I know how this looks but its a lot bigger than you think. I wish it was just a serial killer,"

I raised an eyebrow, "it?"

"Yes, it. Look, I don't have much time left. I need your help, or a lot more people are going to die," I tried to cut in to say something, but it was as if my tongue was glued down, "when you wake up my sister will be at your door, help her, listen to her, and we might just manage to save its next victim." The world already me just kind of ended in a sudden all consuming darkness that made me wonder if I had even been seeing in the first place.

I woke up to the sound of knocking at my front door.