Supernatural Sleuth, Case File #1

By Angela Wallace

In this short story spin-off from the Elemental Magic series, Paige Benson, an investigative journalist, tackles a mystery of missing pets in a quaint Seattle neighborhood. As far as investigations go, she's been on more dangerous ones, but Paige is about to bite off more than she can chew when she realizes there may be a supernatural component. Throw in a confrontation with a blast from her vampire boyfriend's past, and Paige once again finds herself in the middle of a supernatural showdown.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angela Wallace
• Release date: Jul 28, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301552603

Angela Wallace

Angela Wallace has been penning adventures ever since she was sucked through a magical portal as a child. What she saw and whom she met gave birth to exciting and complex fantasy worlds where defying the laws of physics was a bonus. She has since come back down to earth, only to discover this mortal realm has magic of its own. Now she is quite at home in the world of urban fantasy, though believes that love, faith, and hope are of a stronger magic than fire wielding and sorcery. She loves gun-toting good boys, and could have been a cop in another life except real blood makes her queasy. She'll have to stick to solving supernatural mysteries. Language is her pleasure, whether it's weaving words on a page or lassoing linguistics into translations as a sign language interpreter.

Book preview

Supernatural Sleuth

Case File #1

By Angela Wallace

Copyright 2013 Angela Wallace

Smashwords Edition

Cover art by Shelley at Spittyfish Designs

Copyright 2013

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Author’s Note

This short story was originally a series on my blog where readers got to engage in helping direct the story. Every week they read a segment and then voted on what action our heroine should take next. This free short is the final compilation of those efforts. The main character, Paige Benson, first appeared in the second Elemental Magic novel, Dry Spell. I hope you enjoy this free episode of the Supernatural Sleuth Case Files, and if you do, then be sure to check out the other books in the Elemental Magic world.

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Case File #1

The clacking of keystrokes pattered out a rhythmic, almost tribal dance as Paige’s fingers deftly swept over her keyboard. Letters spilled across her computer screen, some followed by a red squiggly underline; she was on a roll, which meant grammar and spelling could take a momentary backseat. The clock hand crept toward 11pm. The self-imposed deadline for posting the story on her news blog was midnight.

She didn’t always procrastinate like this, but she’d been hoping for a breaking story, something new and exciting to blog about. Yet the city of Seattle decided to have a quiet night, so she was writing a follow-up feature about a young woman who’d been rescued from a vampire’s blood slave ring a year ago. Not that Paige included the vampire bit in her article; she was trying to be a respectable journalist. It didn’t matter that vampires were real—she should know, she was dating one—if she started singing that tune, she’d be brushed off as a tabloid writer.

So maybe in her search for the truth, Paige had to muddy it…a paradox she was