A Torment of Savages (The Reanimation Files Book 4) (6 page)

“I don’t think it was the runes,” Kyo said. “Look at the stove.”

I had been so focused on the body on the floor that I hadn’t even noticed that the stove had been moved away from the wall and the floorboards pried up.

“Shit. She must have realized someone was here.”

“I just spotted this.” Kyo had walked away but came back with a rune, which he placed in my palm.

“An Absorbing Rune,” I said. “She picked up traces of us and must have checked the boxes and realized they’d been disturbed. Damn, I should have used one myself to remove any indication that we were here.”

“But rather than get caught she decided suicide was better?”

“If this is as huge and dark as you’ve told me it is, I’d think so,” I said. “Okay, we can think this out more later, right now you need to get out of here before the paramedics arrive.” I took his phone and energy rune. “Go downstairs and wait for me in the alley at the side of the building. I’ll come get you after things are wrapped up here.”

Kyo nodded and headed out without another word. I took a deep breath, then carefully stepped over Leena’s body and replaced the floorboards. I then pushed the stove back in place. I couldn’t give the police any reason to look there. After that was done, I checked Leena’s pulse again. It was weak, but it was there. Then I gathered the tainted energy runes Kyo had found earlier and put a call in to Tielle.

* * *

I was weary and starving by the time Kyo and I were walking through the front door of my house. It was close to midnight now. Dealing with the mess at Leena’s apartment had taken a few hours, as I knew it would. After Leena’s body had been taken to the hospital, I had been questioned by the police. Fortunately, by that time Tielle had arrived, vouched for my presence there, and pulled rank as to why more details about what was going couldn’t be released. It was an investigation involving a dead witch so the police had no choice but to defer to the Paranormal Control Center to take care of it, and thus could not speak publically about what happened. Of course her neighbors and people outside saw the cops and paramedics and saw Leena get put into an ambulance, but that didn’t mean the investigation was exposed. For all they knew she could have had a heart attack or something.

After they left, I had given Tielle the tainted runes and told her that was all I had uncovered from my search of her home. Thankfully, she trusted me enough to take my word for it, although she was having a hard time believing that Leena had attempted suicide because she was afraid of being found out for that. Until Leena was questioned further, that would be what she’d have to go with. And questioning Leena would be left up to me. We’d see where things went after that. Now was not the time to clue Tielle in to what I knew about dead witch history.

Once Tielle and I left, she had the apartment sealed off, which gave me some ease because it meant that the contents under the stove would remain hidden. I was glad I had at least taken those few bones to be analyzed. We’d parted ways after that and I had headed home with Kyo. I’d check in with Tielle tomorrow.

The house was dark save for one lamp, and when I peeked into Ethan’s room, I saw that he was sound asleep. I gave Kyo a new energy rune, left him in the living room, and went to wash this very long day off me. I felt like I had done a week’s worth of activities in one day. When I came out, Kyo was on the couch watching television, as I knew he would be. I headed into the kitchen to fix myself something to eat. Late or not, I had skipped lunch and dinner, so there was no way I was going to bed on an empty stomach. I might end up snatching Luna and trying to gobble her up in my sleep. She was at my heels anticipating a taste of whatever I procured for myself. Now that Ethan was back, we had a well-stocked kitchen once again. Not only that, he had apparently cooked before heading out today. There was pasta and meat sauce, a quick but tasty meal. I munched on a granola bar while I waited for it to heat up. I also checked my phone for the first time in an eternity and saw that I had a couple missed calls from Micah, and one from Amy. I frowned. Why in the world was Amy calling me? Last time I saw her, she’d been looking haggard as she managed the front desk for a desolate Affairs of the Dead. She’d said her chances of landing a better job weren’t good, but if I were her, I’d choose to go on unemployment benefits rather than continue to work for Jacob McNabb. Well, whatever she was calling for I’d have to call her back tomorrow. If I remembered.

“Smells good,” Kyo said as I sat down next to him with my food. Luna started to do her begging dance at my feet, but I ignored her.

I threw a questioning look at Kyo, and he flashed a half smile.

“I can’t really smell it, of course,” he said. “But I imagine it would smell good.”

There was that wistful tone I’d come to recognize in his voice.

“Been a long time since you’ve had food, huh?”

“Been a long time since I’ve had anything,” he replied. “I know that the world around me is vibrant and beautiful in many ways, but it feels like I exist here within a bubble. As a ghost, I can’t experience things the way others can. Like when I am holding this remote or petting Luna. I know I am making contact, but I don’t feel it. It’s like I’m touching air. You need nerves in order to feel.” He sighed. “I can see the sun, but I can’t feel it. I can see food, see others enjoying it, but I don’t even remember what it’s like to take a drink of water. To do normal things like go out with friends, or spend the day working then come home and wrap myself up in bed and go to sleep. I don’t remember what it’s like to touch someone…truly touch them, in a meaningful way. What is it like to be in the embrace of a beautiful woman? I don’t recall…”

“Sounds like you’re trying to remember someone from your past. Had a special someone?”

“I had many someones,” he said with a rueful laugh. “I was not one to get tied down, but there wasn’t anyone I could say was my ‘special someone.’ Or if there was, I don’t remember her, which means she wasn’t special after all.”

“I guess,” I said. “You know, only recently, when Ethan was a ghost, did I realize how hard it is for a ghost to remain on this side for a prolonged period of time. In my line of work, I helped ghosts and they faded. But with Ethan, and now you, I’m seeing things differently. To be here but not really be a part of anything while the entire world moves around you…it must be so hard.”

“It is. Especially when all I’ve known for so long is utter and complete darkness. It’s so familiar to me I feel as though I need to return to it. It’s part of my being now, permanently. No matter how much sun shines down on me I will always know that for three centuries the darkness had my soul.”

“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” I said softly.

“No, but you can understand more than most. You were where I was. Briefly, but I’m willing to bet you’re the only person who has been revived who can say they remember being in the In Between.”

A shiver went through me. “Three centuries in the In Between. Fighting ghost monsters and avoiding ghosts that want to chomp you up. I can’t fathom that.”

“You grow used to it, but that doesn’t mean it gets easier. I’ve seen a lot of ghosts lose their minds and just give themselves to the ghost monster pits or to another ghost’s appetite. And I understood. Every time I saw a ghost do something like that, I understood.” He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling.

“The darkness calls to me; it is the light by which I see, the air I cannot breathe.” His voice was low and lyrical as he spoke. “I am trapped in the embrace of endless night, lost forever to a magic I cannot fight. So what can I do but surrender to temptation, let myself suffocate and forget there was any light…”

“There you go, waxing poetic again.” My tone was light, but his words had struck a chord within me. “Fancied yourself a poet when you weren’t tossing ghost monsters into pits?”

Kyo rolled his head toward me and flashed a smile, though it had a sad edge to it. “I had a love of poetry before I became a resident of the In Between,” he said. “And it only had time to grow, especially when I became acquainted with the ghosts of so many writers and poets.”

“Really? Like who?”

“Just about all of the famous ones from decades past,” Kyo said. “Twain, Dickinson, the Bronte sisters, Poe, Shakespeare, Keats…”

“Whoa, all of those ghosts are in the In Between?”

“Yeah,” he said. “You have to remember, they came from a time where the norm was to use necromancer circles on ghosts with unfinished business. And who could have unfinished business more than some creative type? That poem they needed to write, that manuscript they had to finish, that painting they were in the middle of. Lots of artists are there too. Van Gogh has forever been looking for his paintbrushes. And his ear.”

“Wow. That makes sense, but how sad that they have to stay trapped in the In Between…”

“Some of them succumbed to the dismal existence,” Kyo said. “Some of them kept their writer’s spirit with them.”

“So you learned from some of the best.”

“You could say that.”

We lapsed into silence for a while. I continued to eat while Kyo sat with his head back and his eyes on the ceiling. Even though he kept up an easygoing disposition, I could see sadness within his eyes sometimes, and when he was serious like this or spewing poetry, there were deeper emotions that came to the surface. I couldn’t fathom three centuries in the In Between. It must have done a number on Kyo, but he had trained himself to lock those emotions down. Now, being back on this side in a world completely different from how he’d left it, it had to be an added burden to try to adjust, especially as a ghost who had to stay hidden most of the time. More and more I wanted to help him get his body back.

“I’m going to question Leena once she’s lucid enough to talk to me,” I said. “It would be great if she knew anything about where your body might be. Come to think of it, do you recall where you were when your ghost was pulled out of it?”

“Japan,” he replied. “By the time it happened to me, the dead warlocks had long been aware of what the dead witches were doing, but our numbers had dwindled so much the most we could do was hide and hope that some of the higher ranking warlocks would be able to figure something out. But the dead witches weren’t stupid; they started with the highest-ranking warlocks, so before long there weren’t many strong warlocks left. I had been living in Pennsylvania but went to Japan to stay with relatives who lived in the countryside in Kyoto. But they found me and took me to the Japanese Underground, which was centered in Tokyo. That’s where they did it, that’s the last place I saw my body.”

“So…do we need to hop on a plane?”

“If we do, it may not necessarily be to Japan,” he said. “Before our own capture, we remaining warlocks had tried to uncover the bodies of our brethren, as the dead witches knew we would, and so they never left the bodies in the same place very long. They were constantly moving. I don’t know if it has kept up through today, but for sure my body is no longer in the Japanese Underground.”

“Damn, those dead witches are thorough.”

“Yeah. And powerful, which is why they have thrived.” He sighed. “It doesn’t feel like this has really been my existence. To be living my life only to be thrown out of my body and sealed away in hell for so long. And now to be back here trying to uncover what was taken from me.”

“It must seem extremely surreal.”

“Very much so. Sometimes it feels like a dream. I’m around far past my lifespan, yet I am not alive. I feel like a shadow, a lonely wanderer walking a path that leads nowhere…”

I reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “I’ll do my best to make sure your path leads you somewhere meaningful,” I said. “It’s been a long journey but I won’t see it end with you going back to the In Between.”

He gave me a half smile. “I believe in you, Selene. In your strength. On my darkest days it keeps me going.”

I returned the smile, then yawned. The late hour plus the food had made me even more tired. I got up and headed to the kitchen where I dumped my plate in the sink. I was too tired to even wash one plate and one fork.

“Goodnight, we’ll pick this up in the morning.”

Kyo had stretched out on the couch. Luna contemplated staying with him but ultimately came over to me.

“Sweet dreams, Selene.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

The next morning I was up at the crack of eleven-thirty and got dressed to head to the PCC to meet with Tielle. It was even colder than yesterday, so I put on jeans, a sweater, and my favorite pair of combat boots. When I walked out into the living room, only Kyo was there. He was hovering on the sofa watching television, which Ethan must have left on for him. As soon as I gave Kyo an energy rune, he turned on one of Ethan’s video games. A first person shooter I think. If I wasn’t careful, it wouldn’t be long before I was fluent in nerd language. Ethan had left a covered plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast for me, along with a note that said he had gone out to the college campus with his parents again. I was glad he was more at ease going out and being around people despite the fact that the buzz surrounding him hadn’t died down yet.

“What are the plans for today?” Kyo asked as I wolfed down my breakfast.

“I’m going to the PCC to go over Leena’s case with Tielle. I’ll get an update on her and see when it might be possible to go talk to her. I don’t think Dr. Lane will have the results from examining the infant bones yet, but maybe he’ll call. Unless Tielle has another case for me, that’s all I have for today.”

“Until tonight,” Kyo said in a teasing tone. “Your oh-so-special-most-anticipated-date-night with Micah.”

“You really need to stop eavesdropping when I’m on the phone,” I muttered. But I was barely holding back a smile. I was really looking forward to a date with Micah.

“Oh you living beings and your romantic trysts,” Kyo said. His voice was its usual teasing tone, but after our conversation last night, I knew there would always be pain hidden beneath words like that. “Have fun, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Or maybe you should.” He turned away from the game to wiggle his eyebrows at me. I rolled my eyes.