Page 1 of Death Raiser

Chapter One

Red and blue lights flashed as I ducked under the yellow crime scene tape. The moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating evergreen trees that stood tall over the commotion at the path’s entrance. Gravel crunched under the police officers’ boots, people spoke in low, hushed voices, and an owl hooted in the distance as if trying to join the conversation.

Still summer, the air lacked the usual bite it held during the other nine months of the year. Crickets and katydids boisterously sang with each other, adding a loud hum as a backdrop to the morbid crime scene.

For a temperate rainforest, we hadn’t seen a lot of rain in the Greater Victoria Area and the forest floor showed the impact with its dry grass and dead moss. The smell of baked pine needles, dirt, and sun-ripened blackberries surrounded me.

I approached the officer standing nearby with a clipboard and flashed my identification. “Lark Morgan to see Detectives Kang and Jacobs.”

The officer nodded and held out the clipboard for me to sign in. His nametag read, “Shaw.”

“Where’s Rodriguez?” I asked.

The female officer was usually the one I checked in with. Her or Daniels. I didn’t know this one.

Officer Shaw shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”

I frowned and unclipped the pen to write down my details. The night hummed with death energy and called to the necromancer magic screaming in my veins. I handed back the clipboard and after a silent wave to Officer Shaw, walked down the marked path into the wooded area of the park. Worn for ease of cleaning blood spatter, not comfort, my leather vest and pants creaked with each step. I’d been tempted to throw on a pair of heels, just to see Kang’s reaction, but as much as I would enjoy that, I wouldn’t enjoy a broken ankle. My outfit was already impractical for the summer heat.

At least it was nighttime.

Though necromancers worked openly in society, we preferred to work in the cloak of darkness to avoid judgemental drabs. Besides, death magic was always stronger at night when the barrier between the living realm and the veil grew thinner.

Tonight, the power held an extra punch. With my experience working for Raisers, a registered necromancer-for-hire agency, I raised the dead almost every night. I’d become used to the nuances in energy. This was not a fresh death, but detectives Connor Kang and Oliver Jacobs felt the crime scene merited calling in a necromancer.

I’d worked for the Victoria Police Department for the last six years as a consultant. I would’ve preferred to be a member of the force and leave my job at Raisers, but the VicPD had a human-only hiring policy.

Technically, I was human, I just had a little extra spice in my blood.

The police department didn’t see things that way, though. When they specified “human only,” what they really meant was humans without any supernatural abilities—drabs. They were too good to hire a necromancer as a unionized staff member, but not good enough to not need one.

I sighed and pushed a branch out of my way.

Luckily, Kang and Jacobs didn’t echo the sentiments of their agency. Probably because Kang wasn’t exactly human, either.

Stepping off the path, I found Detective Kang right away. Despite wearing jeans and a light cotton, short-sleeved Henley, no one would mistake Kang as a civilian.

“About fucking time,” Kang grumbled.

If Kang ever stopped greeting me with at least one swear word, I’d keel over from shock.

Around six foot three inches with a muscular build, Kang didn’t need the surly expression to make an impression, but that didn’t stop him from always looking at people like they were going to be the final straw that finally made him lose his shit. He looked at me that way right now.

Hell, he always looked at me like that.

Kang had black hair, dark eyes, and chiselled cheekbones I could slice lemons on. A long scratch down his face appeared to be in the latter stages of healing, a visual reminder of how sideways our previous case had gone, but otherwise his skin was flawless. Despite working with him for more than half a decade, he appeared no older than the day we met.

The man could be fifty, and I wouldn’t be able to tell.

“How old are you?” I blurted out.

Kang straightened, his dark eyebrows slashing downward. He hesitated before answering. “Thirty-four. Why?”

“Just checking,” I muttered and approached the section of the crime scene where someone had draped a blanket over the victim’s remains. Death magic pulsed from beneath the sheet.

Detective Jacobs stood off to the side speaking with one of the crime scene technicians. He looked over when I spoke. “Don’t let Kang’s grizzly behaviour fool you,” Jacobs called out. “He missed you.”

I turned to Kang and blew him a kiss. “I missed you, too.”

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