A Torment of Savages (The Reanimation Files Book 4) (5 page)

“Paranormal Investigator?” His eyebrows rose.

I nodded. “I’m working in an undercover capacity for the PCC to investigate wrongdoings in the paranormal community and resolve them as quietly as possible. The PTF does good work, but in light of the rampages the city has endured recently, public paranoia is high and the PCC strives to avoid freak-outs that could be triggered even by something minor. Enter, me.”

“A one-woman army, huh?” Dr. Lane’s lips quirked in a smile.

“You could say that.” I put the badge away and gestured to the bones. “I was investigating a dead witch suspected of creating tainted runes and I came across shoe boxes that contained infant skeletons. I took a bone from each box and brought them to you. I need them examined discreetly because it seems this dead witch has been doing more than just creating bad runes. You understand, right?”

“Yes, I understand,” he said. He picked up the bones and wrapped the tissue around them. “I will help you and I will keep quiet. I can’t promise a time frame but I will try to do it as quickly as possible.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate it.” I stood up and shook his hand.

“Happy to help.” He walked me to the door. “Uh…Selene?”

“Yeah?” I turned back.

“The blood on your shirt that I concluded was your mother’s, what came of that? I don’t mean to pry, I just found it so surprising because I remember you saying your mother had not been in your life since you were very young.”

“That…that’s complicated. I honestly have not really processed it yet. It isn’t good, but…” I shrugged. I didn’t know what else to say.

“I see,” Dr. Lane said. He didn’t ask any more questions, just opened the door for me and said good-bye.

“Bye, and thanks again.”

He nodded and closed the door, and I left the building with thoughts of blood and bones swirling in my head.

* * *

After leaving Dr. Lane’s place, I called Kyo for an update. He told me Leena still had not returned, so I decided to head to Queens. By the time I had parked and scaled the wall to Sacred Heart cemetery, the sun had set and the sky was a dusky blue with faint stars now starting to become visible. I walked the familiar path to the crypt that led to Magda, and after making the journey down the staircase and into stuffy darkness, illuminated by my cell phone flashlight, I found myself in Magda’s chambers. I wished, for the millionth time, that the enigmatic dead witch was holed up somewhere just a little more accessible with better ventilation. I mean, that wasn’t asking for too much, was it?

“Hello, child,” she gave by way of usual greeting. And as usual, she didn’t look up at my arrival because she was busy with her runes. Instead of sitting on the stool in front of her cluttered table, I said hello and went to sit in the middle of the room. I took out the obscenely large bottle of water I had bought after leaving Dr. Lane’s and took a drink. After coming here more than half a dozen times in the past few months I had wised up. I couldn’t do anything about the air circulation down here, but I could at least combat the heat and try to stave off any lightheadedness by drinking a lot of water.

While I waited for Magda, I was greeted by her shadowy ghost cat. It, or she, as Magda had informed me, walked over to me in her cocoon of roiling darkness, her piercing red eyes taking me in yet again. I had grown used to the thing, so much so that I had named her Storm Shadow. That had been the day after Ethan had made me watch G.I. Joe with him. Magda had flicked her eyes at me when I announced her name but said nothing to the contrary, so Storm Shadow was what I went with.

Stormy did her usual business of stalking a circle around me before edging closer and rubbing her entire body against my leg. It felt like velvet running along my skin. She would then lay down somewhere nearby and watch my interactions with Magda.

While I sat there, I was surprised when another ghost animal emerged from a pocket of darkness. This one was a massive serpent with the same red eyes as Storm Shadow. It flicked its long, forked tongue out at me. I couldn’t help the gasp that escaped me even though I knew it was just the ghost of a snake. The snake, like Stormy, ran a circle around me, then slithered off to another dark corner. Since it blended in with the shadows, all I could see were its red eyes, which were focused on me.

“You have questions, girl.”

My attention snapped to Magda, who I had not even seen come over. She was kneeling in front of me arranging the skirt of her dress. I only ever saw her in variations of a simple sheath dress. This one was dark red. Her hair was piled up on top of her head today, and there were rubies entwined within it.

“You…you have another one,” I said, indicating the snake.

A smile twitched her lip. “That was not a question.”

I sighed. “It’s not like you’ll answer it this time. I’ve asked more than once how you got Storm Shadow over to this side. And now Snake Eyes.” Might as well keep with the G.I. Joe theme.

Her eyebrows rose slightly at the name, but she said nothing. Another naming win for me.

“I summoned them,” she said.

Now my eyebrows rose. “Summoned,” I repeated. “What does that mean? Like through a necromancer circle?”

“A lesson for another day. Perhaps,” she replied. “Let us do what you came here to do.” She stretched out her hand, and I unclasped the rune bracelet she had given me and handed it over. As soon as the bracelet was off I had to clamp down even harder on my dead magic since control of it was now completely up to me. I noticed that both Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes edged closer. Magda noticed too.

“They like you,” she said.

“It’s the dead magic,” I said. “It likes ghost energy. The darker the better.”

“Indeed. Now, let’s begin. You know what to do.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Magda began to hum, and I forced myself to leave my stream of thought behind and focus on the sound of her low, throaty voice. Once the noise in my head settled, my body started to relax ever so slowly. I eased the hold I had on my dead magic and let it rear its head. It did what it usually tried to do, fly out of my grasp and ensnare any ghost that it could, meaning Stormy and Snake Eyes. I did what I had been learning to do these past few months with Magda’s guidance. I kept my control over it and didn’t allow it to unleash itself so it could do whatever it damn well pleased. I knew the dead magic was connected to Garrus and thus most of its force came from him and his appetite for ghosts, so it was important for me to keep the upper hand. I snatched the dead magic back from exploding out of me, but I didn’t shove it back into its cage. I let it remain on the surface, feeling the thrum of it from my fingertips all through my body. It always felt as though I were an empty cup being filled with thick, dark liquid. I hated the feeling, but I had grown used to it.

“Test the waters,” Magda instructed.

I opened my eyes and saw that she was looking at Storm Shadow. I blew out a slow breath. This was the part I had the most anxiety about, but it was a necessary aspect of building my control. I shifted my gaze to Stormy, who remained where she lay, eyes on me, and slowly, very slowly, let the dead magic trickle out to her. The dead magic wanted to run, fly, and gallop over to the ghost cat, but I kept it at a crawl. It was not without a lot of effort though. The toll always brought on a headache and made me feel me more overheated than I usually did. However, it was less intense than it used to be when I first started coming here to train, and I was looking forward to the day when there would be no side effects at all.

I felt the dead magic reach Storm Shadow. Now I had to focus harder than ever and make sure I stayed in control. I let the magic touch the ghost cat, but not trap it, and certainly not swallow it. I used the dead magic to caress her, as though I were petting her. Magda told me it would be important for me to know that I could reach out and touch things with the dead magic without resulting in swallowing the ghost of whomever I touched. I couldn’t agree more. The last thing I wanted was to send more ghosts to the awful fate of being consumed by Garrus in the In Between. The reason I had started coming to Magda for training was because I had slipped up twice and done it to three ghosts on two different occasions while I was out and about. Fortunately, no one had seen it happen, but those ghosts were added weights on top of the guilt I already felt over the ghosts I had done this to the first time I had used the dead magic to recall the crossover ghosts.

“Good,” Magda said after a few minutes. “Now the other one.”

I pulled the dead magic back and held it inside me for a moment while I took another drink of water. Once I felt slightly refreshed, I turned to Snake Eyes, who had slithered out into the dim battery lights that illuminated the place.

“Touch but do not take,” Magda said. I nodded, then reached out with the dead magic to the ghost snake. Clearly Magda had summoned it to give my training variety. At some point I would probably come down here and find myself faced with scores of ghost animals to practice on. Fun.

* * *

As I was walking back to my car after leaving Magda, Kyo called. I was enjoying my tenth deep breath of fresh air, as well as the cool wind on my skin. Every time I left that crypt, I felt like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. But the trips to Magda were worth it because my control over the dead magic grew each time.

“Hey, any sign of Leena?” I asked when I answered the phone.

“She came home about ten minutes ago, which was when I started calling you.”

“I was with Magda,” I said. “Just came out. Sit tight, I’m heading back.”

“I sense a confrontation is at hand?”

“It sure is.” My anger over the grisly discovery under Leena’s stove surged, and I had to fight to shove it back down. I couldn’t descend on her with my emotions leading the way because I would probably beat her to a pulp before I could get any answers.

“I’ll be there in forty minutes or so. If she leaves, follow her and let me know where to go.” I hung up and hurried back to my car and the city.

When I pulled up on Leena’s block and got out, Kyo materialized from a narrow alley next to the building. I quickly swapped out his energy rune for a new one, then we walked over to Leena’s building. We had to wait a few minutes, but eventually someone exited the building and we were able to get in before the door closed.

“She’s still here?” I asked.

“Indeed,” Kyo replied.

“Good.” We got on the elevator and stepped off at Leena’s floor.

“You know the deal, stay out of the way.” I eased out my rune gun and some immobilizing powder, and we cautiously approached Leena’s door. Once there, I had Kyo stand to the side, out of view, and rang the bell. We waited a few moments, but I heard no movement on the other side. I rang the bell again. Still no answer. I was starting to get a feeling of déjà vu from our earlier visit. I rang a third time and knocked loudly on the door. When there was still no answer, I turned to Kyo.

“Are you sure you saw her come home?” I brought up the picture I had shown him earlier of Leena. “You saw this woman enter the building?”

“I am positive,” he said. “I have a good memory.”

“And you’re sure she didn’t leave again?”

“I would have told you had I seen her leave again,” Kyo said flatly. “I never took my eyes off the door to this building.”

“Then maybe she’s not answering on purpose,” I said, putting my phone away. “Which would make sense since she’s up to no good. Or if she did leave, maybe there’s a back exit that she took.”

“So is it a bust again?”

I chewed my lip as I thought. “We need to verify whether or not she’s here,” I said. “If she’s home, I’m gonna need to have a word with her. If she’s not here, we need to figure out where the hell she went. I may have to get Tielle’s help with setting up a stakeout.”

“Thought you were a one-woman team?”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t get help when I need it. Stay out here, if she’s home, she can’t see you. I really should have made you wait in the car.” I fished out the key Tielle had provided me with and slowly unlocked the door. Then, just as slowly, I pushed the door open.

At first glance, the apartment looked as empty as it had when we were here earlier. I eased in and took a few moments to scan the area. There was not a sound to be heard. Not a television or appliance, and definitely not a person talking or moving around. I walked further in.

Just as I was debating whether to check the bedroom and bathroom first, I happened to look into the kitchen and the scene that met my gaze made my entire body freeze up as shock catapulted through me.

“Oh my God.”

“Selene?” Kyo called. “Everything okay?” When I didn’t answer, he came inside, but when he saw what I was looking at, he didn’t have to ask any more questions.

Leena had been home all along. But the reason she didn’t answer the door wasn’t because she was trying to hide.

It was because she was lying on the kitchen floor with pools of blood spreading out from her slashed wrists.

CHAPTER SIX

“Selene? Selene? Selene!”

I snapped to my senses and realized that Kyo was standing in front of me with his hands on my shoulders and his face thrust into mine. I blinked several times, then forced myself to get a grip on myself.

“I’m okay. Well, I’m not okay. But…”

“We have to deal with this.” Kyo stepped back and my eyes were once again filled with Leena’s blood-soaked body.

“I have to see if she’s still alive.” I headed into the kitchen, trying not to focus on how much blood there was, and knelt down to carefully check her pulse.

“She’s alive,” I said, surprised. I stood up and took out my phone, then called nine-one-one.

“So much for keeping things quiet,” Kyo said once I’d hung up.

“Nothing else I could do.” I stepped out of the kitchen, anxiously hoping the paramedics arrived before she slipped away.

“Fuck,” I said. “Why would she do this? Did she know we were on to her about the runes? That’s hardly the most serious offense she could get in trouble for.”