Sherlock Gnomes: Irene Novels & Stories

"Damian, let this be the first and the last time that you would divert from the topic whenever you are talking to me?" "I am sorry Alpha Xavier, I didn't mean to divert from the topic. He was doing something that could jeopardize our collation of evidence......" I cut him short instantly, not ready to listen to his tales about what a member of the pack did. "So, what did you find?" "We found a locket and the locket is that of Irene and her late mother. She would never lose something like that and that shows that she was kidnapped!" The sound from Irene's room started again, causing me to cut off the mind link abruptly.

My guards stepped aside and a woman entered, moving like a shadow given form. She was dressed in sleek black from head to toe—fitted trousers, a high-collared coat, and boots that didn’t make a sound as she walked. Her hair was long and straight, cascading down her back like dark silk. Her expression was calm, composed, almost too perfect. Around her neck hung a single obsidian pendant etched with glowing silver runes. She stopped a few feet from me and offered a shallow bow. “Lord Hades,” she said. “I am Irene. A witch, and a loyal confidant of Gamma Celeriac.”

She rushed out of her office and went to the Emergency Room with Theo but her steps faltered as whiffs of something that smell so heavenly attacked her nose. “Oh wow. Our new air freshener smells so good!” she told Theo which the latter replied with a puzzled look. “Oh my goddess. Who is that fine specimen over there?” she whispered just enough for Theo to hear. “That’s Alpha Hunter, Doc. Our patient’s mate?” he answered in duh tone. Irene pouted, disappointed that the gorgeous looking wolf is taken. She rolled her shoulders and approached the Alpha. “Alpha Hunter? I’m Irene, the pack doctor. Is it alright if I discuss something regarding your mate with you?” Irene started.

AT FIVE minutes to six that evening, Irene barrelled into the foyer of Fullbuster House with her hair and scarf flying and a variety of shopping bags hanging from her arms. She looked around breathlessly for the penthouse buzzer and was intercepted by the commissionaire. She gave him her name and told him who she needed to see. He looked doubtful for a moment but led her to the penthouse lift—he had the grace to look apologetic when her name was received in the affirmative and the lift doors opened on cue.

“Baby… boy or girl?” Irene’s voice trembled. “Boy.” A sharp gasp tore from me. “No.” I shook my head, stumbling back another step. “No. You’re lying. You’re— you have to be lying.” “I’m not,” Irene said quickly, panicked now. “Please, I didn’t mean to upset you. I shouldn’t have said anything. You must think we’re monsters, but my sister’s been trying to make it right. Please, don’t call the police, she’s just desperate—”

It was another one of the assistants that she had hired—a girl named Irene Cook. Samson was a tall boy, so he towered over Irene and blocked her from Luna’s view. Plus, she had not spoken a word since Luna came out of the bathroom, so naturally, Luna did not even notice her there. Hearing her name, Irene, with her phone at hand, greeted Luna timidly, “Hi, Director Luna…” “Hello.” Luna sighed, turned around, and walked back toward their booth. “Come on, let’s go back now.” “Okay,” Samson chirruped in reply, then glanced at Irene and whispered in a low voice, “No matter what you heard, don’t leak it out to the public, do you understand?”

"Zelda! Oh my god, Zelda, you actually picked up!" Irene’s voice burst through the speaker, frantic, breathless, and laced with genuine terror. "I’ve been trying to find a secure line for hours. I just got back to the Brooks pack house from my trip, and everything is completely insane. Are you okay? Where are you?" "I’m... I’m safe, Irene. I’m okay," I whispered, keeping my voice as low as possible, terrified that Bane's acute wolf hearing would pick up the conversation from downstairs. "What's happening over there? The guards... what are they doing?"

“I kind of know Adam. He is … not that bad.” Irene had seen through her. She took off the silvery necklace from her neck, then passed it to Amelia. It had a heart-shaped little locket in the middle of it. “Take this,” she said, “I hid a dose of special powder in it. It’s the strongest anesthetic for all supernatural creatures. Whether wolves or vampires, they will pass out after inhaling even a bit of it. It works the same with the originals. But you are a wolf, too, must be careful when you use it.”

Irene was rounding the corner in the grocery store when her cart collided with another. The clang of metal resonated off the shelves of boxed lucky charms and she looked up in surprise to see none other than Dr. Stone pushing the opposite cart, sleek and elegant in her heels as she shopped for sugar free oatmeal. Her cell phone was wedged between her chin and shoulder. “Shit,” she exclaimed, sparing her a wide-eyed glanced. “Look, I have to go. I’ll call you back.” She ended the call and slipped the phone into her purse and suddenly all of her attention was on Irene.

AS AWARE AS I AM OF IRENE’S MANEUVERS TO KEEP ME IN THE asscrack of nowhere, I still allow it, and I can’t help wondering why. It’d be a good case study. An interesting dive into hybrid behavior. Unfortunately, my temperature is climbing, and I’m starting to feel too shitty to ponder the wonders of the halfling mind. “You should drink,” Nele tells me, holding out a glass. She’s the youngest of the women I spotted downstairs. When I returned to my room, Irene instructed her to follow me. I assumed she’d be my designated jailer, but Nele doesn’t have the look for it.