CHAPTER 11

It was another three days before we were allowed access to the bodies. For a woman determined to figure out who is killing her ducklings, Gloria sure did take her sweet time. Which irritated everyone, from me to the police. But that irritation gave me the ability to put out of my mind what truly scared me.

And Lorivander? He, she, whatever they wanted to appear as, they scared me. I’d almost died the last time I came into direct contact with her. Yes, I’m calling them a her because she appeared to me as a woman. Sue me.

The car accident was meant to attack my very human body, one of the few weaknesses I have. While it was scary, I healed with the help of Eli and Silas. But when an attack comes not only in physical form, but in a metaphysical assault too, that’s a little harder to bounce back from. I still remember feeling like I was being set on fire from the inside out the last time Lorivander attacked me. It’s not an experience I will soon forget because, as I’ve come to learn, if you were made, you can be unmade. Which means no matter what protections Dan or I have, one day, it’s not going to be enough. We could both die because we can be unmade.

That is a simple truth no creature, human, celestial, or any other species can outrun. I embrace that even as it scares me and, in the end, it makes me stronger. Not a lot of others make the same concession. They think they’re invincible, and that is their downfall. Me? I’m a scrappy little fighter. I fight dirty with the hand I’m dealt, and I’ll keep doing that. It’s the one small advantage I have with Lorivander. I don’t think the god has any sense of right or wrong. She just does what she wants because she wants to.

I do what I do out of necessity. Out of needing to stay alive to keep my family safe.

“Hey.”

The gentle tone pulls me out of my thoughts, and I glance over at Officer Dan. His brown eyes are concerned.

“You sure you’re up for this?”

Nope, but I’m doing it anyway. “I’m fine. I promise.”

“Liar.”

“It’s my lie, so please let me tell it.”

“I mean it, Squirt. You don’t have to go in there. Vampires don’t have souls. There’s nothing in there for you to attempt to contact. Just dead shells.”

He’s not wrong, but he’s not right either. Some vampires retain their souls. Like Aleric Rinaldi, the Necromancer’s boyfriend. He has his soul intact. His brother and my once captor, Kristoff, had no soul. There is a big difference between a soulless vampire and one that still clings to theirs. The small shred of humanity it gives them keeps them from true evil.

If even one of these had a soul, it might still be hanging around. It’s worth a shot.

“We’ll see. If there’s nothing there, I’ll wait out here.”

“Not alone, you won’t.”

I glance to where there are six parked cars. Two are black and whites, the other four unmarked police cars.

“I can stay behind with patrol.”

Dan snorts. “They won’t be able to protect you against whatever is doing this, let alone a god who has his sights set on you.”

“She.”

“Huh?”

“She. Lorivander showed herself to me as a woman, so she’ll always be a she to me.”

Dan nods. “She, then, but you and I both know these doofuses can’t do anything against her, let alone who she sends after you next.”

“Then stop whining about me going inside.”

His eyes narrow. “I don’t whine.”

“Yes, you do.” I lean over and give him a kiss. “But I love you anyway.”

Sighing, he rubs his temple like a migraine is coming on. “Why do I even bother?”

“Because you love me.”

He reaches over, cups the back of my neck, and pulls me toward him until our foreheads are pressed together and all I can see is the fathomless depths of his eyes. They’re churning with so much emotion, it causes my breath to catch.

“Always.”

Then he kisses me, and it’s the sweetest, gentlest pressure of his lips against mine. I feel how much he loves and cherishes me. Gone is the frustration, the fear, and the anger, until it’s just the depth of his love. It takes my breath away.

“Always,” he repeats when he pulls away.

I shake my head to try and clear the fog. Dan has always managed to make me forget anything and everything around us. Not great when surrounded by danger on all sides, but I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything other than his life. I’d give up anything to keep him safe, and he’d do the same for me. Which is why the Powers That Be are terrified of us. We choose each other no matter the consequences.

“Come on.” He reaches over and unbuckles my seatbelt. “Let’s get this over with. The cops aren’t going to wait outside forever. It’s a miracle they’re letting you go in first.”

“I did tell you not to say anything until after we were done.”

“This is too important. More people are dying every day. We need to stop it, and that means the police need to be brought in.”

I disagree. We can solve this on our own. Might take a few extra days because I don’t have access to all the databases the police do, but it’d get done. But Dan, being the police officer he is, insisted. I didn’t fight him on it because I know how important it is to him.

Dan gets out of the car and comes around to open my door. This is another fight I let him win. I am perfectly capable of opening my own doors, but his father taught him that opening doors and pulling out chairs for his significant other is simply good manners and a means of showing me how much he loves me. How can you fight that even if you think it’s a little archaic? I can’t.

Lieutenant Rivers is waiting for us when we reach the side door of the warehouse. It’s in the same vicinity as mine, which did make me pause. I doubled up my wards when I found out the location.

“Miguel.” I nod toward him and notice the rest of the rat squad is still in their cars.

“Mattie.” He smiles, and it actually reaches his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Right as rain.”

Dan snorts, his arm around my waist tightening.

“How mad are they?” Dan looks toward the unmarked cars.

“They’ll get over it.” Miguel turns and knocks on the door. It’s only seconds before it opens, and Gloria’s human servant, Michael, is on the other side.

“Good day.”

“Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to let us in?” I’m cranky this morning.

He steps back and allows us to enter. The building is ice cold. Considering how hot it is outside already, the bill to keep this place cool must be astronomical. Heck, the power bill for my warehouse is steep, so this place has to be at least a hundred times more expensive to cool.

“This way.” Michael leads us deeper into the building and opens what looks like a door for a walk-in commercial freezer. “We’ve kept the bodies on ice to prevent decomp from setting in as quickly.”

“Uh, Dan, why don’t you have one of the patrol guys come stand outside the door while we go in?”

Miguel looks at me when I say that and then glances to Michael, his gaze assessing. He takes out his walkie and has the patrolmen come inside. We step inside only after they take up their positions. I don’t trust Gloria or Michael as far as I can throw them. Seems Miguel had the same thought.

Large steel tables are set up in front of us. Twelve tables in all, and they each hold a body. Or what’s left of them, anyway.

“Mattie?” Dan nudges me. He doesn’t want me to see this, but it honestly doesn’t bother me. I’ve seen ghosts who are way worse than the bodies in front of me. Yes, these people are torn apart, but I think a whole body that shows the worst of the killing wounds is way more gruesome than the pieces of bodies laid out here.

“Were there photos taken of the bodies before they were moved?” Dan leans in, inspecting the first body. “And how were they moved? Were gloves worn so no trace DNA could be transferred?”

“I don’t know. My job was just to be here to open the door for you.”

“Then call Gloria and put her on speaker.” I look around at the very sterile environment. If they’d gone to all this trouble to make sure the bodies were stored in a clean room, then some care had to be taken in collecting the bodies, right?

“She is unavailable.”

Sighing, I take out my own phone and call her number. I’d programmed it before tossing the slip of paper in the trash.

She answers on the first ring.

“Hello, Emma.”

“Ah, so you are available.”

“Of course, my goal is to find out whatever is killing my kind as quickly as possible.”

“Michael said you were unavailable.”

“Did he?” Her tone turns cold. “May I ask you a question?”

“Go for it.”

“Have you been unavailable since your accident because you were still recovering?”

“Nope. I was good to go as soon as I was discharged.”

“I see.”

There’s a pregnant pause, and I swivel my line of sight to Michael. He’s gone quite pale. Sucks for him his lies got found out.

“I will deal with Michael. Now, how can I help?”

Dan repeats the questions he’d asked.

“Yes, photos were taken. I have ex-police and military in my ranks. They memorialized the crime scenes. I think those are the words Hank used. Gloves were used when handling the bodies as well. Did Michael not turn over the files?”

“No,” Dan answers. “We’ve received nothing outside of the phone call to set up this viewing.”

A long sigh comes through the phone. “I am sorry. I’ll have the file couriered to you shortly.”

“Send it to the station. We’ll need to transport the bodies to the morgue for a full autopsy.”

“I remember you mentioning that before. I have no problems. I will want the bodies back for burial, however.”

Something flickers at the edge of my vision, and I tune out Officer Dan and Gloria’s conversation, focusing on the shadow in the corner.

“Hello?” I call, using my inner voice only the ghosts can hear.

The flicker gets more agitated.

I let a trickle of my reaping abilities out to locate the ghost, hoping to soothe it. I’ve only ever seen this once, and that was when the ghost had died such a violent death, they couldn’t come to terms with it enough to face it, even in death. They kept trying to hide from the truth of what happened to them.

I hand Dan my phone and walk toward the corner, keeping my movements slow. I don’t want to startle or frighten the poor thing more than it already is. The fact it’s here is enough. It sought me out, and I’ll do my best to help it, whether it’s the soul of one of the victims on the table or just a random lost soul.

“Mattie?”

Miguel’s tone is curious. He knows what I can do. Dan explained it to him.

“Let her concentrate.”

“What is going on?” Gloria demands.

“Hush,” Dan says to everyone. “Just let her work.”

“It’s okay,” I whisper. “I’m here to help you.”

“I don’t see anyone.” There’s a hint of panic in Gloria’s voice. I glance over my shoulder at Michael, who is serving as her eyes even as she’s speaking through the phone. Maybe she’s afraid all the victims she’d killed over the years might be here hunting her. Serves her right.

“Be quiet.” Dan’s gone into Warrior of the Sword mode. His voice has deepened and drips with power. Gloria shuts up. Smart woman.

The flickering intensifies, and I get as close as I can to the ghost without touching it.

“It’s all right,” I try again. “No one is going to hurt you. I’m Emma.”

I’ve never referred to myself as Mattie when I do the whole reaper thing. I’ve always identified myself as Emma. Not sure why, but it’s something I want to talk about with my therapist. Yes, I see a therapist. We all need someone to talk to who’s not related to us or our friend. It makes it so much easier to open up when you’re not being judged.

Fear hits me square in the chest. It coats my tongue like the stench of smelly feet combined with urine. Whatever happened to this soul severely traumatized it. I’m not sure it’ll even listen to me in this state.

As much as I don’t want to touch it, I have to. It’ll be the only way to get a clear idea of what’s going on. Ghosts can inadvertently show me what happened to them through touch. My first experience with that was unpleasant. Silas made sure I’d never physically have to go through that again.

I reach for it, and Dan clears his throat.

“You sure about that, Squirt?”

He remembers when the dead girl touched me, too. I’d explained to him and his brother, Eli, exactly what I’d gone through. They’d both been upset. Reliving someone getting raped, beaten, then killed is not on anyone’s bingo card.

“No other way to figure this out. It’s not calming down.”

He grunts.

Shaking my head, I go back to my plan of action. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to see what happened to you.”

The second I touch the ghost, I’m sucked into her memories.

And the screaming starts.