Death raiser, p.2
Death Raiser, page 2
Kang nodded and knelt to grab the corner of the cloth. “Let me know when you’re ready.”
I pulled a knife from my pocket and unfolded the blade in a well-practiced move. I didn’t often work on bodies with a lot of decomposition because Kang and Jacobs usually got fresher crime scenes. How much worse could this one be? “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Kang grimaced and pulled back the sheet.
My brain misfired, trying to process the mangled remains in front of me. How could this possibly have been a human?
Stomach acid bubbled up my throat and my gut twisted. I swallowed nausea down and took a deep breath.
And instantly regretted it.
“Are you okay?” Kang asked.
I swallowed again and contemplated running over to the bush to throw up. “Never better.”
Kang narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together.
No fooling him. I looked over at Jacobs. “Ready?”
“Always.”
I cut the chicken’s throat quickly and let the blood drip onto the exposed femur jutting out from the tangled mass of limbs. Without looking, I handed the chicken to Jacobs, embraced the death magic around me and pushed the power through the bones. I mumbled an incantation and called out to the deceased. “Amy Steele.”
The spirit would still come even if I used the wrong name, but it made the pull stronger.
Energy surged up and answered my call. The death magic hung dark and sticky around me. A shaking spectre formed over the blood-drenched bones and wailed.
Kang stiffened beside me. Whatever he was, he could see and hear spirits without me having to force them into reanimating their corpses. I’d also found out on our last case together he could identify the unique smell of souls. Kang was full of surprises but to onlookers he pretended to be like everyone else.
Everyone “normal.”
Drab.
We’d worked together for six years—six long, frustrating years—and I had no inkling Kang wasn’t a drab until our last case together when he’d reacted to an invisible spirit’s wailing. I didn’t know what kind of glamy he was, but I planned to find out. Discreetly, of course.
Kang might be a grumpy asshole who said some mean things to me, but I’d keep his secret. I didn’t want him to lose his job. He was good at what he did—ruthlessly hunting down murderers and making sure they received maximum sentencing for their crimes.
Kang excelled in his role, and I did, too.
“Amy?” I called out. “Amy is that you?”
The spirit continued to shake and wail.
“Amy. My name is Lark Morgan. I’m a necromancer consultant with the Victoria Police Department. We found your remains and want to know what happened. Can you answer some questions? We need to know who did this to you.”
Amy stopped wailing. Shaking her head back and forth, her phantom hair covered her pale face. She wrapped her arms around her chest and swayed side to side. The T-shirt, jeans and sneakers she wore were covered with dirt, and her exposed arms were lined with scratches.
I exchanged a look with Kang.
“What’s the problem?” Jacobs asked.
“The spirit is too distraught to speak,” I answered, knowing Kang couldn’t. Wouldn’t.
“Will she calm down given time?” Jacobs asked.
“Maybe. But it’s already been about six months if you think the body was dumped here shortly after she went missing. Her death isn’t fresh. It’s draining to hold a spirit for a long time, though, and there’s also a risk of her soul becoming volatile and escaping my control. I’d rather set her free.”
We’d recently dealt with an angry spectre who possessed the partners of cheating women to slaughter them. That hadn’t been a fun case and the necromancer who’d raised the spirit was still at large.
Whomever they were, they had a lot to answer for.
The spirit had gone on a murdering spree and even possessed Kang for a few minutes before Kang kicked the spirit from his mind. But the spirit had taken root long enough for me to find out Kang had feelings for me and long enough for the spirit to try to kill me using Kang’s anger, frustration, and physical strength. I survived by escaping to the veil and taking the spirit with me.
After the whole I-got-possessed-and-tried-to-kill-you fiasco, Kang had sent flowers to my work. This time the bouquet of roses had a card with an apology note for almost strangling me.
My hand drifted to my neck involuntarily. Under the chain of my necklace, the bruises from the attack had mostly healed, leaving a slight yellow discolouration on my fair skin.
Kang had nothing to be sorry for except not asking me out and leaving me confused as fuck.
“Yeah,” Jacob said. “We don’t want another volatile spirit rampaging around Victoria.”
Kang shuddered and looked away.
Amy wailed again, opening her mouth wide to howl at the sky.
“She doesn’t have a tongue,” I whispered.
“What?” Jacobs and Kang turned toward me in unison.
“Someone cut out her tongue.” My stomach twisted in a knot. I glanced down at her physical remains. Due to the level of decomposition and the impact of scavengers on her body, the coroner wouldn’t have picked up this detail—at least not here at the crime scene. A full autopsy might’ve revealed the information, but it was doubtful. “Amy…can you give us any hint to who did this?”
Amy continued to wail. She turned to run away, but my magic held her in place. The knot in my stomach tightened. This wasn’t right. I shouldn’t be holding her. Amy needed to find peace. She deserved it.
The spirit stopped running, and the wailing stopped. She swayed back and forth some more, rubbing her arms.
“Who are you running from Amy?” I asked.
She shook her head, back and forth.
“Who did this to you?”
Amy finally looked up, her hair falling to the side to reveal white eyes that had glazed over. Her cheeks were hollowed out as if starved before she died. She met my gaze and screamed.
I flinched and leaned away.
Amy kept screeching, the pitch high in the air and eardrum-shattering. Her death energy pulled at my control.
“Lark?” Kang shouted. “Let her go, Lark.”
“Why are you yelling?” Jacobs whispered.
Wincing under the sheer volume of screams, I gathered my magic and mumbled the incantation to banish Amy’s spirit back to the veil.
The wailing stopped, fading away into the night, replaced with the low rumble of conversations and the crunch of boots on the path.
I blinked open my eyes. I had somehow ended up sprawled on the ground, halfway between kneeling and laying on my side.
Kang walked over to me and held out his hand. “Here.”
I reached up and grabbed it, letting him haul me to my feet.
“Are you okay?” he asked for the second time since I arrived at the crime scene.
“I will be.”
He didn’t let go right away. Instead, he stayed still, only inches away and studied my face. His subtle cologne wrapped around me, and I tried desperately to ignore how good he smelled.
“Are you smelling me?” His lips quirked up at the corners.
I totally was. God, he smelled good. I shook my head and stepped back, pulling my hand from his warm grasp. “I see you’re still delusional.”
Kang smirked and turned to Jacobs. “Not sure where we can go from here. The lack of evidence surrounding the body suggests she was dumped shortly after death, but we’ll have to wait until forensics finishes their investigation and issues their formal report.”
Jacob sighed. “I guess we’re going to have to canvas the area. See if anyone saw anything suspicious.”
Kang grunted.
“Did she say anything useful?” Jacobs asked.
Kang opened his mouth to say something, but I stepped in. “Not really. She screamed and tried to run away. Her appearance was also very gaunt and she was covered in dirt and scratches. I suspect she had been starving prior to her death.”
Kang nodded at me.
When Kang confirmed he wasn’t quite the drab he presented himself to be, I’d asked him who else knew. Apparently, only his partner Jacobs. Nobody else suspected, or if they did, they wisely kept it to themselves. Hell, it took me six years to figure it out. We needed to keep this act up for all the other officers and forensic analysts milling around the edges of the crime scene or Kang would lose his job.
“That gives us something. The killer is smart enough to anticipate a necromancer and cut out the tongue,” Jacobs said.
“Shouldn’t everyone anticipate a necromancer?” I asked. “It’s not like necromancers working for the police is new.”
Jacobs scoffed. “You’d think, right? Not everyone is smart and not all police departments contract necromancers, so we gain a little insight into the killer’s mind. This probably wasn’t a crime of passion and probably not the killer’s first victim. Personally, I prefer the messy, clueless ones,” Jacob said before turning to Kang. “I need to ask the technician some stuff. You guys can finish up here. Catch you later, Morgan.”
I nodded and lifted my hand in a half wave. “No offense, Jacobs, but hopefully, we don’t see each other too soon.”
“Hah! You’d die of boredom without us, Morgan.” The detective turned away with a smirk and walked over to where a forensic technician waited, leaving me with the dead body and a grumpy cop.
Kang frowned at his partner before returning his attention to me. “Do you need a ride home?”
I straightened, not expecting that question. Usually, I got dismissed and had to find my own way back to my apartment.
“This spirit seemed to really affect you,” Kang explained. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea for you to head home on your own.”
“I drove,” I said. “I don’t want to leave my car here.”
“We can take your car and I’ll get someone to pick me up or I’ll catch a cab back,” he said.
“You seem intent on giving me a ride.”
He leaned in. “You have no idea.”
I laughed and shook my head. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were worried about me.”
Hell, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was flirting, too.
Kang sighed and looked over his shoulder. The others were busy talking and processing the scene. “I just witnessed a spirit’s wailing bring you to your knees, Lark. Let me take you home.”
Kang rarely used my first name, but when he did, it made my knees weak and did funny things to my stomach.
I…I think I liked it.
Ugh.
I totally liked it.
Kang’s determined expression told me I shouldn’t bother arguing about the ride. If I truly pushed back, he’d respect my answer despite his feelings on the matter, but he was right. I wasn’t okay and having someone else drive me was probably for the best.
“Fine,” I relented.
Chapter
Two
I sat in the passenger seat of my car while Kang expertly navigated the streets of Victoria. Before we left the crime scene, he’d consulted with one of the analysts and grabbed a thick folder full of papers from Jacobs’ vehicle before heading over to join me. He dumped the folder in the backseat and held open the passenger door for me to get in.
It was almost sweet.
Oh hell, it was sweet.
And I had no idea how to process Kang taking care of me, so I remained speechless for the first half of the trip.
Kang didn’t need directions. He’d dropped me off at the apartment building numerous times but even if he hadn’t, he would’ve known my address. Kang was the type to investigate everyone in his life, in both a personal and professional capacity.
Part of me wanted him to keep driving around so I could avoid going home.
This morning, I’d found a single rose outside my apartment door. Technically, it could’ve been for my assassin brother Logan or his lawyer boyfriend Brandon, but something about the rose gave me chills. Why would anyone leave a flower outside our apartment door without a note?
Logan and Brandon swore they weren’t fucking with me, which I took with a grain of salt, but if they didn’t leave it, who did? The only other person who’d sent me flowers recently was Kang.
“Random question,” I started. Kang really wasn’t the type to sneak into an apartment building to leave a flower for a woman, he was too direct for cat and mouse games. But I had to ask. “Did you leave me a flower?”
“A flower?” Both his eyebrows shot up.
He didn’t leave the rose.
“Uh, yeah. Someone left a rose without a note.” I didn’t dare say where or when. That would probably result in Kang calling the Emergency Response Team. I had no need for ERT to swarm my building—at least not until I knew for certain whether this was something serious or not. The rose hadn’t been left inside my apartment, after all. Someone might’ve dropped it, and I was playing amateur flower detective for no reason.
“I sent a bouquet to your work a while ago, and another bouquet more recently, but I have a feeling that’s not what you’re referring to.” He pressed his lips together and remained silent while he turned onto another street. “I didn’t leave you a rose, Lark.”
His use of my first name again sent warmth flooding through my body.
“But now I’m worried about who did,” Kang said.
“You don’t need to worry.” I was definitely worrying enough for the two of us.
“Are you dating someone? What happened to that Hudson guy?”
I froze at the name. Hudson Harrison and I had dated briefly until he tricked me and used me to hitch a ride to the veil. We were definitely not dating. Harrison probably wasn’t even his real surname. “I’m not seeing anyone, Kang.”
He shook his head. His grip on the wheel tightened.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m debating whether to pull over.”
“And do what?”
He pressed his lips together. “I’m not sure.”
“Lock me up? Shove me into a padded room? Chain me in your basement?”
He thought about it for an entire city block. “Those all sound reasonable.”
“Kang…”
“It would only be until I found this rose-giving shithead. I’d let you go after I knew you were safe.”
“I can take care of myself, Kang.”
“If you’re in a situation where you have to take care of yourself, that’s a problem.”
“It’s not a problem,” I insisted. Yet.
He glanced at me, gaze narrow. Barely controlled rage simmered beneath the surface and the dark part of me wanted to reach out and stroke it, just to see what would happen. “Are you sure about that?”
“Yes,” I said. “If that changes, I’ll let you know.”
“Promise?”
“Of course.”
“Should I even be dropping you off at home alone? You have mysterious flowers showing up and you almost fainted at the crime scene today.”
“First, there was only one rose, as in singular, and second, I really feel fine,” I said. “I could’ve driven myself home.”
He nodded, keeping his eyes on the road. His lips pressed together, and I could almost see the proverbial steam coming out of his ears. “I’d rather we not find out whether that was true while you’re driving on the highway at night.”
I sighed and dropped my head back on the headrest. “Thank you.”
Kang nodded again and silence filled the car, not quite uncomfortable, but not quite comfortable, either. I had so much to say but didn’t know where to start.
“How are you doing?” I finally asked.
“Fine. I’ve seen a bad decomp before,” Kang said.
“That’s not quite what I’m asking about.” I played with the buttons on my jacket. “On our last case together, you were possessed by an angry spirit who tried to kill me. We haven’t really talked since then.”
He pressed his lips together and didn’t respond.
I looked out the window and watched the streetlights fly by. He trusted me with knowing he had glamy abilities, although not what kind, why couldn’t he trust me with his feelings? We hadn’t spoken about the possession, and from Kang’s reaction, we probably never would.
“It was the oddest thing,” he said.
I jumped a little in my seat. He’d actually answered me. I held my breath and waited.
“I could feel the spirit slithering under my skin,” he continued. “I could feel her anger, and then her frustration when she couldn’t take over my mind right away.”
“But she did.”
Kang squeezed the steering wheel, making the plastic creak. “Eventually, yes. I wasn’t strong enough.”
I reached out and rested my hand on his forearm. He stiffened under my touch. “It’s not your fault, Kang. You didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t blame you for anything that happened. You need to know that.”
“I was getting her out of my head,” he said. “I almost had her, but she would’ve choked you to death before I managed to remove her. If you hadn’t wrenched her out of my body and taken her to the veil, I would’ve killed you.” He glanced over at me. His pained gaze dropped to the faded bruises on my neck, and he clenched his teeth together hard enough to make the muscles along his jawline pop out.
“But you didn’t.”
He swallowed and refocused on the road. “I didn’t.”
I removed my hand from his arm and went back to staring out the window.
“But you know what I realized?” he asked.
“What’s that?”
“I want to take you out on a date.”
Surprised laughter bubbled out of me. “It took getting possessed by a murderous spirit and nearly choking me to death to realize that?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “When you say it like that…”
“Seriously. I thought you would’ve figured that out after our dance.”
During the last case, we ended up at a club where we danced together in order to blend in while we waited for the angry spirit to show up. I was still trying to recuperate from the experience. If Kang made love like he danced, I wouldn’t survive the encounter.
