THE BLUE PHONE next to Detective Saera Targaryen's desk rang, waking the girl up almost instantly. At that point in the day, she was already 3 cups of coffee deep, and there was no end in sight.

Before she answered the ringing phone, she checked her watch. The family heirloom that she had gotten from her mother had a dragon embroidered on the side, and she recently had to replace the battery.

But it worked perfectly fine because the time on her watch matched the time on the clock in her boss's office. 3 AM.

When she finally answered the phone, she rubbed her eyes as she waited for the other person to speak.

"Hello?" She recognized the voice as that of Alyn Hull, another detective in the Homicide Department.

She knew the man, but she knew his brother better. Addam was the coroner, and she had much more of an interaction with him.

"Hello..." Saera spoke, causing Alyn to sigh. "Is this Detective Targaryen?" Saera exhaled as she took another sip of the coffee on her desk. It was cold, but she'd do anything to keep herself awake at that point.

"Yes, is something the matter, Alyn?" Saera asked, putting the coffee cup down. "We have a case."

By the sound of the people on the other end of the phone, the call had been made from a house near the crime scene.

Saera quickly grabbed a pen from her partner's desk, grimacing when she realized that it was a tip-and-strip pen.

"Address?" Saera asked, immediately writing it down as Alyn spoke. "I'm on my way." Before Saera could put the phone down, Alyn spoke again.

"I have to warn you... it's a bad one, Saera." Saera hummed in agreement as she put the piece of paper containing the address in her pocket.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. See you soon." Saera put the blue phone down and proceeded to walk out of her office, down the steps, and out of the District to her car, which was only parked a few blocks away from the District building.

Her hair had begun to come undone from the sleek bun she had put it in the morning before, and she put the small red curls that hung beside her head behind her ears.

She finally got to her car and unlocked the door before getting in. She had already prepared herself for a long night, and with the new case, it would be even longer.

When she got to the crime scene, her eyes scanned over where it had happened. Near the lake by the side of the road. As she got out of her car, her senses were immediately overwhelmed by the almost swamp-like smell of lake water.

She noticed Alyn waiting for her by the black tarp that was thrown over the body. Several officers stood around the body, probably discussing the cause of death or other things relating to the deceased person lying on the sidewalk.

Alyn walked straight to Saera when he realized that she had arrived and started filling her in on the case details.

"A jogger said he found the body. He was running along this street when he spotted something on the sidewalk, and he immediately ran into one of the homes to call us."

Saera felt bile building up in her throat as she saw pieces of the person's brain lying on the sidewalk that wasn't being covered by the tarp.

"Let me guess, gunshot wound to the head?" Alyn hummed. "Close range. Victim didn't even see it coming."

Saera stopped in front of the tarp as one of the other officers picked it up, making Saera cover her mouth so she wouldn't throw up.

It was impossible not to given the state of the body.

Once she looked closer, however, she had to run to nearby bushes to empty the contents of her stomach.

Concerned, Alyn walked to her, putting his hand on her shoulder as she let out a sob. "I'm sorry, I told you it was bad..."

Saera let another sob escape as she sat down on the sidewalk, putting her head in her hands as Alyn looked down at her with a frown.

"Saera... are you OK?" Saera shook her head slightly as Alyn sat down beside her. "What's wrong? I've never seen you react like this."

Saera's breathing was rapid and irregular as she refused to look in the direction of the body.

"I can't work this case." Alyn was now more confused. "Why?" He asked as Saera looked at him, her eyes glassy.

"That's my sister's son, Luke."

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"Saera?!" The redhead stiffened when she heard her sister call her name. She guessed that Alyn had called her because Rhaenyra had shown up quite fast, given that Saera had only been at the scene of the crime for half an hour.

Instinct immediately kicked in when she saw Rhaenyra walking towards the tarp. Saera moved as fast as her tired legs could carry her, holding Rhaenyra back from the body.

"I want to see my son." Saera shook her head. They had at least cleaned up most of the scene, but the ambulance would not arrive for another 10 minutes.

"I would advise against it." Rhaenyra made an attempt to push Saera out of the way, but it did not work.

"Rhaenyra... please stop." A sob escaped the elder woman's lips as she stared at the tarp covering her second son's body.

"Jace is with Mysaria... how am I gonna explain to him that his brother is-" She cut herself off, not wanting to utter the words she knew were true.

Rhaenyra wrapped her arms around Saera, making the girl stiffen ever so slightly as she sobbed.

Saera pulled her off the road and into a nearby garden so they could be alone for a moment.

Rhaenyra remained broken, shaking as she cried in Saera's arms, not letting go until the ambulance had left.

When Alyn approached the two sisters, Saera gave him a small nod. "Rhaenyra, this is Alyn Hull, he'll be working on Luke's case."

The confusion on Rhaenyra's face was quite evident when Saera spoke, her eyes still bloodshot from crying. "What do you mean? I thought you were investigating this."

"It's a conflict of interest." Alyn spoke, but Rhaenyra's eyes remained on Saera. "A conflict of interest? He's my son. He's your nephew, and I want you to find the monster who did this to him."

Before Saera could protest, however, Rhaenyra interjected. "It's the least you could do for family."

Rhaenyra knew exactly what to say to get Saera to do what she wanted. She'd been doing it since they were children, and she'd learned it from their father.

Saera let out a sigh. She had so many things she could say to Rhaenyra about family, but she held back.

Why? She did not know. Perhaps it was because she felt obligated to help Rhaenyra, or perhaps it was because she wanted to catch the criminal that killed her nephew.

Either way, Saera Targaryen was going to investigate her nephew's murder, whether she liked it or not.

♤♡◇♧

a/n- This is gonna be so tragic and so interesting LMAO!!