16. Cade

16

CADE

J ay set his phone down, "Well, the place is yours. Technically you do not have possession until next Monday, however I managed to swing the current situation as an emergency. You can continue to stay here, and the McCauley family will not ask for any additional compensation."

"You are amazing," I said.

"Yes I am. Now I'm calling Rosemount to see about Shirley. You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely positive."

"I think you're insane. Last I heard she hadn't been lucid for years. But who am I to question any of this. I just want that terrifying little bitch out of my house."

After Jay had calmed down, he told me in graphic detail about his run-in with Olivia. I took a step toward Jay, ran my finger through the shocked lock of hair, then leaned down and gave him a kiss. It lingered. I could feel the tip of his tongue teasing my lips, so I opened my mouth, allowing him entrance. The gentle and kind gesture turned passionate. Jay stood and wrapped himself around me.

I let out a moan, "You feel so damn good. Taste pretty awesome too."

"Just think, tonight we'll have a safe house, a bed, and supplies for a glorious evening." The corner of Jay's mouth ticked up in a lascivious smile. "I want you to make me completely forget about everything else even if it's just for an hour."

"Oh, it's gonna take longer than an hour." I grinned.

"I should hope so."

The doorbell chimed.

"And that will be our bed." I cocked an eyebrow. The anticipation of the evening before me promised a testosterone-laden refuge in Jay's company, and as he had mentioned, a bit of time away from everything that was going on.

As I broke our embrace and ventured toward the door I was confused as I saw red and blue flashing lights. The blinking colours danced across the white of the snowbanks outside, refracting and flashing in through the side windows. Nothing outside had been shoveled or cleared. I didn't have any tools to do so, besides, we weren't really supposed to even be here. But that did remind me I'd needed to buy a slew of yard equipment including a snowblower.

There really was a lot of snow.

The light display was courtesy of the local police who had shown up in a four-by-four, heavy-duty truck. First time I'd seen law enforcement driving anything other than a sedan.

I cautiously opened the door only to find Officer Hycha on the front stoop.

"Afternoon. I'm here to talk to Jay McClaren. I understand he's here."

"Billy! I'm in here. Come on in. Is this about Pam?"

I squinted as Billy Hycha passed me. Something wasn't right. I squinted trying to discern?—

It was his gait. The left foot dragged, and the walk was… awkward.

The officer also didn't take his boots off.

As he walked toward Jay clumps of snow fell off his boots and from the cuffs of his pants, leaving wet marks and soon to be puddles on my floor.

I could say that now. It truly was my floor.

"Ah, Jay…" I wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but something definitely was off.

"Jay, where is Sam?" asked Hycha.

Jay pulled back, tilted his head to one side. "He would be in school. Why?"

"We need Sam. We know it's him. You have to go get Sam, now."

"Billy, what the hell are you talking about?" Jay stood, his brows furrowed.

"Jay, step back. I don't think that's Officer Hycha." I couldn't believe this was happening, or that they'd managed to get across the threshold of this house.

Jay peered over Hycha's shoulder. "What are you talking about? Billy and I went to school together?—"

I gestured to Jay by making a slice across my throat, hanging my head to one side with my tongue hanging out.

Then I made the "shh" with my lips.

I walked as silently as I could until I was directly behind Hycha. I dug in my pocket for another trinket I always carried: a silver cross. I took the cross and pressed it in between Hycha's shoulder blades and spoke the beginning to the rite of exorcism:

Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus,

omnis satanica potestas.

Omnis incursio infernalis

adversii omnis congregatio

et secta diabolica.

Hycha's head rotated all the way around to stare directly in my eyes. I could hear the snap and crack of the spinal column as the head twisted itself unnaturally toward me. His eyes had the haloing blue tinge to them that all spirits tended to carry, and as those orbs glared at me with intense ager, he snarled, baring teeth.

I repeated the incantation again, loudly.

He screamed as his jaw distended, opening far too wide. Ghostly fingers crawled out of the mouth as the spirit within pulled itself out of its host. It was a desperate attempt to escape the physical body. The exorcism was making the flesh unwelcome to its host.

But knowing the wards within this house, a free spirit within these walls? That would be the ghost's demise. Without the body of flesh around it, all the wards and supernatural barriers erected in the very bones of this structure would take effect.

As the spectre ripped its way out of Hycha, both Jay and I watched in horror as the flesh pulled apart, until the internal organs, sinew, and tissue were exposed from the chin to mid ribcage. The ghost within split the body in order to escape. Hycha's body crumpled onto the floor. The ghost hovered above the two of us, then slowly began to melt, and sizzle, and scream.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Jay yelled above the horrific noise the spectre made. The poor guy's face had contorted into a mix of rage and fear.

The air around us crackled and snapped as the entity continued to decompose.

"Cade! What the hell?" The look on Jay's face crushed me. His body began to curl into itself in an involuntary defence mechanism. He was losing it. And I couldn't blame him. I reached for him and pulled him toward me, hugging him, protecting him, but it didn't matter.

A flash of light erupted as the spirit was destroyed.

"Are you okay?"

"No!" He yelled into my shoulder, muffled by my shirt.

I held him tighter.

Now we had a dead body on our hands, and worse, somehow the spirit realm had its sights on Sam, and a puzzle piece fell into place.

I got off the phone with the police detachment. This was going to get ugly. How the hell were we going to explain a dead officer's body in a house I don't legally own yet? Emergency situation be damned. This situation was going from bad to worse.

Furthermore, how was I going to explain to Jay what I think I had figured out.

Our "adult night together" was looking pretty remote at this point, and although I could definitely say I was disappointed, a larger part of me, while looking at the late Officer Hycha's body in my kitchen, didn't really feel all that sexy anyway.

"What the hell are we gonna do with this?" Jay was a mess. So was my kitchen floor.

"We're going to explain everything to the cops," I said.

"Yeah, that's going to go over well." The sarcasm was thick. Jay slouched against the wall, bent over holding his head in his hands. He was hyperventilating again.

"What can I do?"

"You can fix this." His yell came out muffled.

"I'm trying, Jay; really I am." My heart sank. I wanted nothing more than for Jay to feel better, but there was a small part of me that wondered if he would feel well ever again.

"You haven't told me how this thing got past the front door in a house that is supposed to be safe. Nor have you told me why he knew about Sam." Jay's words were hushed and tinged with anger.

"Hycha was obviously possessed. With a flesh and bone body surrounding the spirit, it wouldn't have triggered the wards on the house. An entity? Sure. A spirit? That would have been stopped. But a beating heart? That's a different kind of warding. I might have to do some research and put up some of those types of glyphs. Usually, they're meant for shapeshifters and witches. And a witch owned this home, so…good reason not to slap those marks up."

"Excuse the fuck? Did you say shapeshifters? As in, werewolves?"

"Ah, yeah, sort of. Shit. Maybe I shouldn't have said that."

Jay looked up at me, "You've got to be kidding me. Next you'll tell me demons and vampires are real."

I pulled my lips in tight. They were nothing more than a thin line, and I glanced away from him.

"Fuck me," Jay said as he closed his eyes. "So, the monsters are all real?"

"Well, yes, but no. What you see in the movies and on TV are all aberrations of the real things, but there's always a seed of truth in the stories. The existence of them is well-known in the Romani world, but the beasts are also extremely rare. I don't know anyone who has seen one, but I've heard stories. Demons, though, that's different. They exist. There are plenty of malevolent entities out there."

"Please stop, Cade. I can't." Jay stood, though his posture made him look beaten. He wobbled on his feet.

"May I?" I reached out for him, beckoning him to come to me.

He acquiesced and fell into my arms.

"I can't deal with this."

"I know. It's okay. I've got you." I hugged him close.

We stood like that for several minutes until a knock on the door ricocheted throughout the mostly empty house.

As I glanced up, the intensity of the blinking lights had changed. There was more red.

I pulled away from Jay. "You're going to be okay. I'm going to fix this. I promise."

He nodded, however hesitantly. Honestly? I didn't believe that Jay was going to make it through this unscathed.

I went to the door and opened it. On the other side was another police officer and a team of first responders.

"Please, come in. The body is in the kitchen." I gestured toward Officer Hycha.

"I know it all sounds crazy, but it's true," I said to the detective. For the last hour I'd attempted to describe my last six months and how the journey had ended up here. I had nothing to lose, certainly nothing to prove, and I figured I couldn't spin anything anymore. There was a dead policeman involved now.

Oddly enough, Detective Kett sat there, nonjudgmentally, nodding several times while taking notes. Jay and I shifted nervously in our seats but remained quiet. He seemed like a nice enough guy, if not a touch stoic. Not strangely, another acquaintance of Jay's. Small-town life. Something I was going to have to get used to, but damn, it was small. Everyone knew everything.

The paramedics had removed Billy Hycha's body quite some time ago.

A clean-up team had ensured the bodily fluids were also contained and removed, but they didn't do a great job, so I'd definitely need some floor cleaner and a mop. And soon.

The beds had been delivered by some poor unsuspecting delivery guy. That had been several kinds of awkward. But the last twenty minutes or so it had been Jay, me, and Detective Kett. Or Curtis as Jay kept calling him.

Silence descended upon us as Kett went over his notes, then glanced up at us, squinting. "I'm trying to determine if I should trust you or not. I know who you are." He pointed at me. "My sister used you a month ago. Said you were the best. You told her to move out."

"Wait, did she have marks on her body? Live in an old colonial in Edmonton? A World War I soldier problem?" The minute he said it, I saw the family resemblance.

"Yeah, that was her."

"I'm sorry. There wasn't anything I could do."

"And that's why I'm going to be honest with you. You didn't take her money, and you told her the best possible advice. Get out. They did, by the way. The place is empty. They're broke because the lease is still in their name. Living with our mother is not an easy thing to do, but they're strapped."

"I'm glad they got out, but sorry for the ramifications. Whatever was in that old Colonial was super pissed off."

"Seems we have a lot of that lately."

"What do you mean?"

"I shouldn't do this, but—" Kett's gaze dropped to the floor. "—I have no expertise in this arena. You're the closest thing I've got to someone who knows anything. Can you come down to the morgue with me?"

I nodded. I glanced over at Jay; he'd gone ghost white.

Throwing on our winter jackets and shoes, we climbed into Kett's police car and within a few minutes arrived at the hospital.

"Morgue's in the basement."

"Of course it is."

We followed him in as he flashed his badge. "They're with me."

The clerk at the admitting desk said, "I'll page the doc."

After several minutes, a woman showed up. She looked very familiar.

"Ah shit, Sharon, I'm sorry we're bothering you." Jay frowned.

"Wait, this is your ex?" I said, shocked.

"Sharon, this is Cade. Cade, my ex."

I stuck out my hand. Sharon smiled, took it, and gave it a good shake. She then turned to Kett. "Basement?" Kett nodded. "Do I want to know how you're involved?"

"Later. It's crazy."

"I can only imagine," Sharon said. "Come on, then."

We followed her to the nearest elevator, went down one flight, and then followed Jay's ex-wife through several twisty hallways until we ended up outside some heavy-looking doors that required a swipe card to gain entrance. With a swoosh of her badge, the door locks clicked open. Sharon yanked on the heavy doors and led us in.

It was just as you'd expect a morgue to be. Shiny stainless-steel drawers, bright white lights, and a room full of ghosts.

They all eyed us suspiciously, but none of them showed any signs of hostility. Not yet.

Sharon walked over to the wall of handles and pulled open several drawers. She then took the sheets off each one.

Nine in total.

Jay gagged and turned away from me.

"We have Jay's Pam, throat ripped open, and half her rib cage exposed, and now Officer Hycha." Kett pointed to the bodies. "But the seven other corpses on slabs right now all exhibit the same wounds. Our medical examiner is stumped. He's never seen anything like this before. It looks like the bodies were torn apart from the inside, like someone, or something was trying to get out."

I nodded. "So, these are happening everywhere? All around the city?"

"Yes, and surrounding areas. I don't know what is going on, but I would really like it all to stop. I've had calls from Edmonton, Red Deer, and Stettler. They all have victims with this MO"

Sharon piped up. "Maybe now would be a good time to explain?"

Jay's chest heaved, and he swallowed hard. "Maybe not." He put a hand over his mouth. "Can we leave?"

Sharon put things back as Jay fled the room.

As we began to leave, the other occupants that weren't currently showing themselves to anyone other than me loomed in closer. I said a little prayer under my breath, and they all seemed to back off a tad. Once we got out into the hallway, I spoke.

"I have an idea. I don't know if I'm right. But I want to visit someone at… What was the name Jay?" I turned to him. His pallor had turned ashen, a little green.

"Rosemount. He wants to go see Shirley McCauley, Curtis."

"The old witch?" Curtis leaned back.

"Curtis, really?" Sharon cocked her head and wore a dissatisfied look on her face.

"What? Sharon, that's what everyone called her. She used to call herself that. But my wife works there. She's?—"

"Yeah. I've told him." Jay put a hand over his face. "Why, Cade? Why? What does some demented woman possibly know that we can't figure out?"

"She built the house," I said, referring to the witch's cottage that I now owned. "There had to be a reason why she remodelled it the way she did. She had to know something. And I think I know what it might be."

Jay cocked his head as his mouth twitched.

If I didn't know any better I would have said he was holding back anger? Maybe he was going to throw up.

"That's the second time you've said that. What do you mean? Do you know why Billy came to the house asking for Sam?"

"Wait, what?" Sharon interrupted as she put up a hand. "What does Samuel have to do with any of this?"

"I have a theory, but I need to confirm my suspicions, which I'm hoping Shirley can do. Or, at the very least, point me in the right direction."

"Okay, so, who are you again?"

"Cade Ivanov. You may have heard?—"

"The psychic?" Sharon pulled back a step, looking incredulous. "Jay, what the hell?"

"Oh no, don't look at me, Sharon. Cade came to me wanting to purchase a house here in Camrose. Besides, how the hell do you not know your parents sold your grandmother's house?"

"I don't deal with that side of the family. They're nuts." She twisted her gaze toward me. "Why the hell would you move here? You'd give up what you have in the city, and from what I've read, a rather successful scam, and come out here to do what?"

"Get away from all the violent ghosts in the city."

"Uh-huh, sure. Okay. Why not."

"He's serious, Sharon. So am I. We watched both Pam and Billy get ripped open. The ghosts are real."

I didn't think Jay could get any sicklier looking, but he did.

"Apparently there are lots of monsters out there." He glanced at the floor.

"How does Samuel fit into this?" Sharon glared at me. Whatever kindness she had shown at the start of this meeting had quickly evaporated.

"Sam was attacked. Cade was over and saved him. Out with it, Cade." Jay's entire body shook. "What's your theory?"

"What do you mean Cade was over?"

"Not now, Sharon. Cade…?" Jay gestured for me to start talking. I'm guessing any redirection of the attention away from him was what he wanted.

"This isn't going to be easy," I said, my glance went from Sharon, to Jay, to Curtis. "All three of you are struggling with the current situation, which I totally get, but for different reasons. I didn't want to say anything until I was absolutely sure, so this is premature. But I want you to know that I'll be here for you and Sam," I said, while staring at Jay. "Whatever it takes." I reached across and grabbed his hand.

"What's your theory, Cade? I don't want any more dead bodies," Detective Kett said.

Sharon eyed my hand holding.

"I don't know if you've ever heard this story or myth, but—" I stopped short and glanced at Jay, sizing him up, trying to determine if he could take what I was about to say. "—it's gonna sound crazy."

"Just get it out there, Cade. Please." Jay shook.

"There's an old story that if you kill Death, you have to take its place."

"What?" All three of them said at the same time.

"That car accident you were in eleven years ago?" I swung my head in Sharon's direction. "The other person who died — like I said, I need to confirm it, but I think he was a reaper. An entity often referred to as Death."

Jay shook his head. "I don't get it. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Okay. Fuck, this isn't easy." I let go of Jay's hand which had grown hot and clammy. I mentally wrestled with the concept I needed to say out loud. It's one thing when you grow up in a culture that talks about the bogeyman, superstitions, and the unseen. But I've found over the years most people can't take the truth. Or, at least, my version of it. "When you die, there is said to be a supernatural creature — Death — who escorts you to your next destination. Right? We've all heard that story. And this agent is often called a reaper. In Romani culture, I've heard it said that if you kill the reaper, you have to take its place.

"I think Sharon killed a reaper in that collision."

"This is crazy. You're all crazy." Sharon crossed her arms over her chest.

I continued while giving her a dirty look. She hadn't seen crazy, and she'd best hope she never did. "And there isn't just one reaper. Obviously. The world has seven billion people. There are a lot of reapers. I think the guy who you killed in the accident was one…which means Sharon should have become the next Death." I pointed at her. "But you were pregnant. Like seriously pregnant. I think the responsibility for being the replacement went to Sam, bypassing Sharon."

"The fuck?" Jay stared at me.

"I'm not standing here listening to this crazy man. You let him into our house and near our son? What is the matter with you?" Sharon spit out at Jay.

"I know this is tough to believe. Most people have never had an encounter with the supernatural, but it's been my entire life." I attempted to lecture Sharon, but I could tell from the look on her face she'd shut me out. She wasn't having any of it.

I hated doing this, but sometimes…

I concentrated on Sharon, on the space just around her. The electrical field that we all generate, and the colours that played within that halo. I dove into that, looking for a deceased relative. Didn't take long to find one.

"Your Gido says, "Hi, patooneya ."

Sharon glared at me.

"Gido died seventeen years ago. August seventeenth. He drowned when the canoe he always used capsized at Dried Meat Lake."

Sharon's entire face turned into a scowl.

"How the fuck would you know that?"

"Because Gido is telling me."

"Sharon, it's legit. I can't explain it, but I actually saw Pam get ripped open by a ghost. I saw Sam's imaginary friend attacking him, and I saw Billy die the same way Pam went. They're real."

"Sam was attacked?"

Jay and I nodded. Curtis wiped the sweat from his brow.

"This is getting to be too much." Kett huffed out a breath.

After a few minutes of Sharon staring at me, she relented, "So you're trying to…do what exactly?"

"I need to figure out why the dead have become so violent. Why they're angry enough to physically rip apart bodies they've possessed. Why one ghost is attacking Sam."

"But Sam being a reaper? That's what you're saying, isn't it?" Jay's mouth quivered. I could tell Sharon had been the emotionally steadfast one in the relationship. Jay was a little more in touch with his feelings.

"It makes sense, Jay." I squeezed his hand as he tried to pull away from me. "The ghosts haven't been able to transition to the next realm from this area in over eleven years. I think that's why they're all angry. They're desperate to move on and can't. The ghosts are trying to go inside people. The ghost in Edmonton that attacked me? He put his hand through my chest and gripped my heart. Pam, when she was possessed, the spirit kept saying, "It isn't here." Olivia said Sam wouldn't let her go. It's the doorway to the next realm, Jay. They can't find it. Death is gone. But the spirits are going inside bodies looking for the doorway. That portal to the next dimension the dead go to is not shown to those who have passed by Death, Death is the doorway. "

"What?" Jay almost yelled at me.

"I think being the reaper means you are the doorway. I think Sam is the doorway. That's why they're looking for him. The ghost world in this zone has been missing their reaper for eleven years. And now that Sam is older, I believe they want him to start doing the job he has to do. He needs to be a reaper."

"Fuck this." Jay turned away and walked down the hall.

Sharon stood there, mouth agape.

Detective Kett had turned white.

Gido stood there nodding.