Target: The Royal Cleaner, #1

Cop/British Lingo

SIO - Senior Investigating Officer - The police office in charge of a crime scene.

Hen Do - A bachelorette party.

Firearms Unit - Police with guns.

Chief Constable - Police Chief

Target

The Royal Cleaner, Volume 1

L.C. Mawson

Published by L.C. Mawson, 2017.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

TARGET

First edition. September 1, 2017.

Copyright © 2017 L.C. Mawson.

ISBN: 978-1386851660

Written by L.C. Mawson.

Also by L.C. Mawson

Aspects

Love/Hate

Justice/Loneliness

Empathy/Pain

Stability/Conflict

Loyalty/Betrayal

Trust/Doubt

Hope/Fear

Aspects: Books 1-3

Aspects: 4-6

Aspects: Books 1-6

Castaway Heart

Castaway Heart

Castaway Soul

Castaway Love

Castaway Heart: The Complete Story

Daughter of Nature

Fire

Air

Water

Earth

Storm

Bloom

Ember Academy for Magical Beings

Advanced Dragon Studies

Basics of Magical Bonds

Advanced Mermaid Politics

Foundational Dragon Law

Interspecies Social Studies

Advanced Power Transference

Ember Academy for Young Witches

Basics of Spellcraft

History of Magic

Advanced Healing Spells

Ethics of Magic

Advanced Combat Magic

Politics of Magic

Ember Academy for Young Witches: Books 1-6

Engineered Magic

Soulbound

Engineered Rebel

Rebel

Resist

Rebuild

Reconnect

Reconsider

Resolution

Engineered Rebel: Books 1-3

Engineered Rebel: Books 1-6

Engineered Rebel: Books 4-6

Freya Snow

Hunt

White

Wings

Oracle

Witch

Enhanced

Reaper

Trident

Kingsguard

Princess

Queen

Warden

Pandora

Sacrifice

Darkness

Trapped

The Freya Snow Pup Trilogy: Books 1-3

Freya Snow Short Story Collection

The Freya Snow Hammer Trilogy: Books 4-6

Freya Snow - The Beginning: Books 1-6

The Freya Snow Elemental Trilogy: Books 7-9

The Freya Snow Princess Trilogy: Books 10-12

The Freya Snow Final Trilogy: Books 13-15

Freya Snow: The End (Books 7-15)

The Freya Snow Complete Collection (Books One to Fifteen)

The Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Clockwork Suitor

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Parisian Thief

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the American Escapade

The Complete Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles

The Royal Cleaner

Target

Home

Separated

Healing

Family

Exiled

Torn

Prisoner

Belonging

The Royal Cleaner: Books 1-3

The Royal Cleaner: Books 1-6

The Royal Cleaner: Books 4-6

The Royal Cleaner: Books 7-9

The Royal Cleaner: Books 1-9

Table of Contents

Title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Also By L.C. Mawson

Part One: Caroline Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Epilogue: Caroline

Dear Reader,

Part One: Caroline

Chapter One

Dealing with crime scenes had taught Caroline three important things.

First: breakfast was never a good idea. Queasiness was a lot easier to handle when there wasn't anything in her stomach to bring back up.

Second: coffee - specifically the caramel latte - was the greatest invention mankind had ever produced, and she wasn't sure how she had ever functioned without it.

Third: Humans could be easily unsettled by a deadpan, unamused glare.

Caroline jumped out of her black SUV, coffee in hand.

The door shut firmly behind her as she strode up to the warehouse she had parked outside, ignoring the police tape in her way.

The uniformed officers looked up, but quickly looked away as they recognised her. They were more than used to this routine.

Caroline walked into the warehouse, entering only to see a ritualistic display of severed limbs pinned to the metal storage racks.

She took a deep drink of her coffee as she examined the scene in front of her, trying to detach the reality of blood and flesh from the intent of the arrangement.

And there was definitely intent. This wasn't just some random pattern, she could feel the magic these components were attempting to focus.

Attempting, but not quite managing.

The question being, was the problem incompetence, had the police already tampered with the scene, or was there another component to the spell that hadn't been set up yet?

The second factor was the easiest to rule out, and her gaze swept the room as she tried to decide who to approach.

If she had been prone to such outward displays of emotion, she probably would have smiled as she recognised one of the CSIs.

Good morning, Sas, she greeted as she walked over to him.

Sas simply sighed, brushing his long black hair from his eyes. I knew this would be one of yours, he said as she approached. The ritualistic and physically improbable placement of the bodies...

Have any of your people interfered?

No, not yet. I told them all to just look busy until you arrived, but the SIO is starting to catch on.

Can't you just tell them this is one of mine?

Normally, I would. But she's new. The Chief doesn't exactly like admitting that there is a strange woman who wanders onto our crime scenes and takes them over, so I don't think she's been brought up to speed on everything. And to be honest, I can't exactly blame the Chief because I thought about explaining this situation to her but I couldn't come up with an explanation that made any kind of sense.

I don't know... Not wanting to get in the middle of something you can't handle seems like a perfectly valid explanation to me.

Sas shook his head. Really? Because I can't think of any way to phrase that without making this entire department out to be abject cowards.

Caroline shrugged. Better coward than dead. Still, I suppose I should introduce myself.

Caroline's coffee caught in her throat as Sas nodded over to a woman who seemed horrendously out of place compared to everyone else there.

She was tall, with curves that were somehow a perfect combination of soft and strong. Her cropped black hair was styled out of the way of her calculating, onyx eyes, and it shone under the warehouse lights, which seemed not to have the same washing-out effect on her dark brown skin as it did on everyone else.

Caroline thought she would look more at home in Amazonian armour than her plain black pantsuit, but the latter was certainly flattering.

She couldn't help but sigh at herself. Had it truly been so long since she had been with anyone that she was thinking of a Human in such terms?

A Human that was causing her trouble, at that...

That's her, Sas said, seemingly oblivious as Caroline cleared her throat and refocused on the task at hand. Detective Inspector Sharma.

Caroline nodded before striding over to the woman in question. As she approached, every other officer stood back, desperate to look anywhere except for right at her.

Sharma frowned, clearly confused by the behaviour of her colleagues.

Detective Inspector Sharma? I'm Caroline Raven of the RCE, and this is now officially my crime scene.

The detective's frown deepened. The RCE? I've never heard of that organisation.

Then consider yourself lucky. Most places never see us, or at least not frequently. Unfortunately, this city is a hub for exactly the kind of crimes that are our speciality. Crimes such as these.

And what exactly do you mean by that? What kind of crimes?

The weird ones, the officer next to her muttered, though he quickly did his best to look as if he hadn't said anything.

Caroline simply found his behaviour amusing.

You can't just waltz in here and take over my crime scene, the detective said. I need some form of identification or something...

No, you really don't, Caroline said firmly.

This isn't actually uncommon here, the man next to the detective said, once more under his breath. The Chief's standing orders are to hand over any crime scene to Raven when she arrives. Trust me, it's for the best.

The detective didn't seem to be buying it, however, and continued to glare at Caroline. I can't believe that the procedure is to simply hand over an active crime scene to some random woman with no identification or recognisable organisation.

Whether you believe it or not, it's true, Caroline said, her voice more than a little tired. For now, this crime scene is mine. If you have a problem with it, I suggest you speak to your boss about it.

It looked for a moment as if the detective wouldn't stand down, and Caroline had to curse her luck. Most of the Humans found her unsettling because part of their brain – the ancient, primal part – still recognised her for what she was.

A dangerous predator. The monster under the bed.

A Demon.

There were some Humans, however, who had just a drop of magic in them themselves. Those Humans were more than a little infuriating for their ability to see past what unsettled the others.

Caroline didn't exactly mind when it was someone like Sas, who wouldn't ever cause her trouble, but she suspected that the detective would be far more problematic.

She wondered for a moment if she would have to use her magic on the detective to get her to drop it. She hated using her magic like that, despite how skilled she was in it. There was always a small risk of hurting the Human. No, there were other, simpler methods to get what she needed. The only problem was, they didn't seem to be working right at that moment.

Thankfully, however, the detective sighed, shaking her head. Fine, I'll go and talk to the Chief about this.

Caroline would have preferred it if she had simply dropped it all together, but at least she could rely on the Chief to explain why the situation was the way it was, and to get the detective to drop it.

After a few moments, the police filed out, leaving Caroline alone to her work.

Chapter Two

When Caroline arrived back at her office later that day, she was thoroughly exhausted. Poking and prodding at artefacts of ritual, attempting to discern their purpose through various magical methods, had left her Energy reserves drained. Even for someone as powerful as she was, such an extensive period of repetitive magic sapped away her strength.

Thankfully, her staff were more than used to it at this point. As well as being more than used to the way she often forgot to look after herself.

Laila passed her a bottle of sugary pop as soon as she arrived.

Caroline drained the bottle quickly, feeling better in moments.

Was it that complex today? Laila asked.

Caroline nodded. This wasn't just the rogues getting out of hand, this was a complex ritual. And, I suspect, one with multiple facets. The scene I arrived at today was focusing magic, but that magic didn't seem to be going anywhere. Not yet, anyway. The focus wasn't off, as far as I could tell, everything seemed perfectly aligned. Or at least, none of them seemed to be misplaced in any of the most obviously blunderous ways. Of course, without knowing exactly what the ritual was designed to do, I can't know for certain if they were doing it correctly.

But if you disabled this part of the ritual, will that stop it in its entirety? Fiona asked as she wandered over.

Caroline shook her head. I have no idea. For some rituals, yes, that would be it. But for something this complex... It would require multiple setups like this all across the city, assuming that my estimations of the magic they were trying to invoke is correct. That kind of intricacy... They would have to know that some part of the ritual would likely be caught and disrupted. For this part to not be guarded, I would assume that it's a backup of some kind. Or something that would perhaps bolster the magic, but wouldn't be vital to the purpose of the spell itself.

She brought a camera out from her bag before turning back to Laila. Here, I have the pictures from the scene before I tore it all down. Cross-reference it across all of the rituals you know and try to find exactly what they were attempting to do. That should give us a clearer idea of where the other parts of the ritual are located, and how to disrupt them properly.

Laila nodded. Of course.

Caroline turned back to Fiona. "I take it you being back here means that you finished helping the Dark coven with their