Page 4 of Death Raiser

“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.

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