Page 51 of Death Raiser

As if someone grasped him by the waist and violently shook him, the spirit thrashed back and forth. His mouth dropped open to emit a high-pitched scream.

“YOUR NAME.”

More screaming.

“Who did this to you?”

He convulsed.

“Tell me what happened.”

His spirit form wavered and separated before coming back together again.

“Lark,” Kang’s deep voice interrupted me. “Lark, let him go.”

I jerked back and ripped my gaze away from the screeching soul. Kang had taken the second chicken from me at some point and bagged it, and now he held my arm and studied me with concern. His eyes were dark pools I could easily drown in.

“You’re destroying his soul. Let him go.”

I turned back to the spirit. Kang was right. Something prevented the spirit from answering me. Like a vicious game of tug-a-war, something, or someone, pulled on the spirit from their end with enough power to combat mine. And the poor man’s soul was caught in the middle.

I whispered the incantation to release the spirit. He faded away instantly.

My stomach sunk and nausea rolled around my gut, threatening to rush up. I’d tormented a spirit and hadn’t realized it as soon as I should have. Would I have stopped if Kang hadn’t warned me? I took a long, shaky breath in and focused on the floor in front of me.

“Too bad we don’t have the bodies,” I said. “We could check to see if their tongues were removed.” Though the police had identified the remains of Amelia and Amy, the bodies were too decomposed to discover the missing tongues from their remains alone. We’d only figured out this detail because I’d called their spirits and noticed they had no tongues. If we had the bodies of the victims from this scene, they would’ve been fresh, and it would’ve taken seconds to check whether they had their tongues or not.

“Those cases are probably not linked to this one,” Kang said, dashing my hopes with a single sentence. “The victims here died a horrific death and left no trace of their bodies. Amy and Amelia were both women who were shot and had their bodies dumped in remote locations. The manner of death alone suggests different killer profiles.”

I plucked the evidence bag from his hand and dropped the severed finger inside before releasing it. “I know. It’s just that I’ve gone my whole career never having issues getting a spirit to talk, and now all of a sudden, it feels like every case.”

Kang stepped closer and brushed the hair from my face, gently tucking it behind my ear. “The cases aren’t linked, but it does seem odd that we have two separate sets of murders with a similar issue. You’re not at fault, though, Morgan. This isn’t on you. They required five people and a summoning circle to rouse whatever it is they called, and they all died for it. Maybe it’s for the best that you didn’t win that battle. I’d hate to see what could’ve been pulled over to our side.”

I shivered.

Kang remained close, his hand still near the side of my face. His gaze dropped to my mouth and his thumb stroked my chin. “Let me take you home.”

A different kind of shiver shimmied along my limbs. As much as I loved the sound of that, I had unfinished business. Death magic still clung to my skin, unused and unanswered, and I knew just what to do with it.

“I have some client business to finish up.”

“I could wait for you and drive you home after.”

God, that was tempting, but if I went into an enclosed private space with this man right now, the angry magic pulsing in my veins might try to find another form of release and I wanted to start things right with Kang.

Maybe.

Or I could just take him home now and skip all that dating stuff.

I bit my lip. “No, thank you. I need you to have something to look forward to tomorrow.”

Kang grumbled and dropped his hand. “I’ve given you a lift home before.”

“Yeah, but now it’s…” My brain fumbled to find the right words.

He raised his eyebrows.

“Different.”

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