Borderline Chapter 2. 'No way! You're not going to stare at me while I'm working!' Jasmine Tulip was partly a goblin, which shown in her height. She was also a coroner and she really disliked company during autopsy. Raine could have been her good friend; the one you go to the movies with or eat ice cream in front of a TV, gossiping about male specimens of all races, but still Jasmine would kick her out when she was about to cut the body. Raine knew that; she would just leave, eat something, read a paper and go back when everything was over, the internal organs weighted and described and the body itself covered tight by a white sheet. This time was not different. 'So?' She entered the cold, grimy room and stopped right by the doors. 'What can you tell me?' 'Not so eager to wait for the report, are you?' Jasmine took off her huge glasses and started chewing her gum. That was disgusting. 'All right, come here. All done... For now.' Raine approached slowly. Seeing a dead body was one thing, even a mutilated dead body, which did happen occasionally, but looking at a body lying on that table, in the light, pale and stiff, was another. The thought - a remote one, but still - that Jasmine likes her job, was horrifying. She could have eaten a whole sandwich while describing the insights of a victim. And she didn't even wince, not once. 'Right.' Jasmine looked at Raine, than turned towards the body. 'An elf. Female. Age... Approximately 260, 270 human years... But I may be wrong. No visible wounds, bruises, nothing. She wasn't raped.' Raine looked at the victim's white face, the only part of her body that was still uncovered. Damn, she was beautiful. All elves are, but she was... Exceptional. Even now, even dead and cold, she was still enormously attractive. It was nearly certain that she was of a High House. Very, very bad. 'Magic, right?' She asked, her eyes still fixed on the pale face. 'Naturally.' Jasmine waved her arm, showing a small glass container on the table. Inside there was the elf's heart, six ventricles, flowing in a liquid. The liquid was blue. 'You see? Azure. It was not a human magic. It was elvian.' 'The magic caused her heart to stop?' 'Apparently so.' Raine took a step towards the container. 'You can make a graph of the aura. It's still possible, true?' 'Sure, but not till the day after tomorrow. It's not the only corpse I'm dealing with right now.' Jasmine smiled. 'What, you've got some date or something?' 'Now, your humour is getting lame. Too much time spent with orks, I presume... Look, I'll do my best to prepare the graph for tomorrow, but no promises. Happy?' Raine nodded. 'So, out, out, now!' Jasmine waved both of her arms. She was small, almost a midget, but she had a powerful voice. 'Oh, and say hello to Daniel from me, OK?' Raine usually did what she was asked. It was Daniel who had no idea who that Jasmine is and why does she want him being said 'hello'. * * * The moment Raine took the first step into her house, she knew it's not empty. Her mother was home. Oh, she didn't live with her daughter since the last one graduated from the Academy, but she did drop in, occasionally. Usually when Raine's father was absorbed in a match in TV and she couldn't watch her favourite soaps. Raine had a TV. Mum had it on, full sound, as she couldn't hear it well in the kitchen. Raine gazed at the screen; it was the 2548 episode of 'The Bold and the Magical', Ms Lasair's precious show. At the moment the leading male, a tall, slender elf, was confessing his love (By Gods! How many times!) to the leading female, a tall, slender half-elf. 'Hi, honey!' Ms Lasair showed up in the kitchen door. 'I've made some delicious pancakes! How's work?' 'Great.' Raine took off her shoes and sweater and strolled to her bedroom. 'Honey, don't leave your shoes all over the place!' 'Yes, mother. Just give me time to...' 'And wash your hands before dinner! And change into some fresh clothes.' 'Yes, mother. The jeans smell of a dead body, sorry.' And there was quiet. Ms Lasair looked at her daughter with a puzzled look on her face. Raine sighted and disappeared in her bedroom. Ms Lasair was completely different from her daughter as far as appearance was concerned. She was of Italian origin, back on human Earth, and she started to get on weight pretty soon. After giving birth to Raine, she just couldn't get slim, though she tried. Dark skinned, dark haired, not very tall, she was an antithesis of Raine's father... And Raine herself. Brandon Lasair's grandparents originated from Ireland. He himself was born in Borderline. He had met his wife accidentally, when she was still pretty, slim and less talkative, during one of a field trips to human Earth. He was tall, taller than most humans and strikingly handsome. Even passing years couldn't take away his charm. Ladies' man, all the time. But he never did cheat on his wife, Raine would have known if he had. She was his father's daughter after all. When Raine was finally ready for the dinner, dressed in a T-shirt two numbers too large and tracksuit shorts, when it would seem that for once her mother would not babble about her father not being a proper husband and her daughter still being single, a doorbell rang. Raine thought it must have been a miracle, the kind of you can read in book maybe but never really experience yourself - and than she answered the bell. It was Daniel, with a few bags of take-away food and a big smile on his boyish face. Any other day she would have been very happy to see him, but not today, not with her mother prowling for a son-in-law in the living room. 'Oh, who's your friend?' Too late, she's spotted him. 'Please come in, make yourself at home! I'm Raine's mother, you can call me Giacinta, if you like...' Daniel looked quite scared and Raine fell a tiny bit of satisfaction. 'Yes, Ms Lasair... I mean Giacinta... I mean... My name is Daniel... Skavinsky... I'm... I'm Raine's partner... That is not as her partner, partner, I mean...' 'Yes, yes, dear boy. I know what you mean. Would you like a pancake?' And she was gone, into the kitchen. Raine put her hand on Daniel's wide shoulders. 'Oh, poor bastard.' She whispered. 'She likes you.' * * * An hour and a half later Raine was washing up in the kitchen, feeling totally exhausted. Daniel offered his help and now he was drying the plates with a tablecloth. Ms Lasair was watching another episode of 'Borderline Beach'... Or she was just tactically not disturbing her daughter and her 'partner'. 'I did a tiny research on my own' Daniel took another plate from Raine and their hands nearly touched. 'Research?' She looked at him, curious. 'There has been more deaths like the one this morning.' Her eyes widened. 'What do you mean "more"? When?' 'Five days ago, ten days ago. Another neighbourhoods. Not our precinct. It wasn't written about in papers as the victims...' '...Were of High Houses.' She finished for him. 'Yes.' He nodded. 'So is our... Body. Her father has shown up to collect her... Some time after you've left.' 'A High House.' 'She was Achall, daughter of Abartach. You know, the guy who's sitting in the Council? One of the nine?' 'Damn.' Raine nearly dropped a plate. For a moment they worked in silence. 'The chief wants the killer found.' Daniel broke the silence finally. 'For yesterday.' 'Abartach is one of his kin?' Chief Falan's ancestors were High Elves. A few generations back (about 1500 human years) one of Faolan's House had an affair with a lower class maid and got her with child. The House did not lose its position, as the one who fathered the offspring was not the first son. He was banished, naturally. His descendants remained in the lower class. 'Actually no, but he can be persuasive.' Raine turned from the sink and faced Daniel. 'If we won't find the killer his... Grief will focus on us, right?' 'Grief. Nice putting it.' Raine shrugged. The day was ending and she didn't think the next one would be any better. She was tired as hell. 'What was a High Elf Female Heir doing in a neighbourhood like that?' She whispered to herself. Daniel made a move as if he wanted to touch her shoulder, but he stopped. Ms Lasair was standing in the door. 'All washed up, children?' She was laughing, beaming with joy. 'Come on, let's sit and talk for a while... Daniel, Raine told me once you're from Ohio. Tell me, how's Ohio?...' to be continued... ___________________________________ I'm sorry for the odd format of the first chapter; I hope it's easier to read this time:) Thanks for Your attention and comments! Next chapter will be ready soon; I'm getting the hang of it:)