The Ravaging in Between (The Reanimation Files Book 3) (12 page)

Damn it, I had gone for a run to clear my head from these thoughts, not use them as my soundtrack. I turned the volume up on the music I’d been barely listening to and sang along in my head to force my thoughts elsewhere. By the time Luna and I were running back, I was sweaty, my legs burned, and I had sang through a couple playlists. I felt calmer and clearer, though I had a sneaking suspicion that it would not last.

As Luna and I walked up to the front door and I took my earbuds out, I paused when I heard a noise behind me. When I turned around, a middle-aged woman was approaching with an apprehensive look on her face. I was immediately on alert and wished I had my rune gun on me. Was I trigger-happy enough to shoot anyone who approached me? No, but given the state of my life I couldn’t be too careful.

“Um, Ms. Vanream?” She stopped a few feet away. She was on the heavyset side, had a short, face framing haircut, and features that made me feel as though there were strong family traits, and she and a lot of her relatives looked very similar.

“Selene,” I said. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“My name is Glenda Whittle,” she said. “I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

“Something like what?” I picked Luna up because she was straining against her leash to go investigate the newcomer.

“Um.” Glenda looked around nervously as she wrung her hands together. “I have a ghost problem. At least, I think I do. And with the things I know you’ve dealt with recently, I think you’re the only person who can help me.”

“Give me the details, Glenda,” I said impatiently. “I am none too happy about strangers approaching me for help at my home.”

“Well, I went to Affairs of the Dead, but was told you no longer worked there,” Glenda said. “The young lady behind the front desk was kind enough to give me your address.”

I bristled.
Thanks, Amy
.

“All right, but you still haven’t told me what you think I can help you with.”

“It’s my husband, Harvey,” Glenda said. “I think…I think that a ghost from his past is trying to kill him.”

“Come again?”

“Let me explain.” She took a deep breath, and continued to twist her hands. “Harvey works at a construction supply warehouse in Red Hook. He’s been there for a long time, but it doesn’t pay that well. About seven years ago, we fell on hard times. His mother was ill and needed surgery, I had lost my job, and we were trying to put our oldest through college. We tried to manage, but it wasn’t long before we were in danger of losing our home. So as a last resort, Harvey went to a loan shark named Grant Pano. He loaned Harvey a large sum of money, and we were able to sort out our finances, but when it came time to repay it we weren’t yet in a position to do so and Grant wouldn’t give us more time. He came after my husband at his job and attacked him. During the scuffle, Harvey grabbed a utility knife and stabbed him. He…he killed him.”

“Whoa,” I said. “He killed Grant?”

“In self-defense!” Glenda said. “He wasn’t convicted, it was deemed self-defense. But Grant’s ghost rose, and the ghost agency that worked with him found out that his unfinished business was to hurt my husband. So they used a necromancer circle to send him to the Afterlife. But now…now Grant is back!”

“How could he be back?” I asked. “If he was circled away, that shouldn’t be possible. Do you have proof?”

“A few days ago my husband started to feel as though he was being watched. Then he started to see Grant lurking around. It freaked him out. He thought he was going crazy. I did too—I mean I thought he was stressed out from working so much and his mind was playing tricks on him. But then he got a picture…”

She took out her cell phone and held it up to me. The picture wasn’t very clear because there hadn’t been good lighting when it was taken, but I did make out the image of a man. He was of medium height, kind of on the heavy side, balding, and looked mean. And it was clear that he was a ghost. He had the glow and everything. I also saw the energy rune around his neck, which is the only reason he was able to be photographed. Without energy runes to make them visible and tangible, ghosts don’t show up in pictures.

“Harvey took this picture two days ago,” Glenda said. “He says it’s definitely Grant.” She flipped to another picture on her phone and showed it to me. This one was much clearer and not of a ghost. “That’s what Grant looked like when he was alive. Isn’t it the same person?”

“It looks like it…” I was frowning as I looked at the picture, because it did, in fact, look like the ghost in the previous picture. Exactly like him. But assuming everything Glenda had just said was true—that Grant’s ghost had been circled away years ago—just how the hell was he back here?

“Look, Glenda, I’m not saying I believe you and I’m not saying I don’t, but what exactly do you expect me to do about any of this?”

“Help my husband, please!” she said. “Talk to him directly, he can verify everything I’ve told you. I’m afraid that it’s only a matter of time before Grant makes a move on him and do what he wanted to do when his ghost first rose. I don’t know how he’s back here and I don’t really care. I thought that nightmare was over but it’s back to haunt us. Please help!”

I sighed. She made it look convincing with her tears, hysterical words, and picture proof. But I wasn’t keen on potentially putting myself in harm’s way for no reason.

“I tried to go to the Paranormal Task Force, but they turned me away,” Glenda said. “I tried ghost agencies to see if they could have one of their necromancers try to track down Grant and capture him, but they turned me away too. Even the one that worked with him all those years ago. I have no one else to turn to if you do the same.”

I sighed again. Why did I get the feeling that I was going to try and help this woman?
Damn my good nature. Save the city from a few psychos and all of a sudden, it’s like an addiction.

“Where is Harvey right now?”

“At work. He said he has to work late today, here’s the address.” She handed me a piece of paper.

Well, damn, it’s like she just knew I’d help her.

“I’ll go talk to him, but I’m not making you any promises. I especially am not promising that I’m gonna go track down some ghost with vengeance on the brain who shouldn’t even be here.”

Her face lit up anyway. “Oh thank you, Selene, thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t done anything.” We exchanged numbers so we could stay in contact.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

“Yes, of course, I’ll be on my way now. I am so grateful that you would even try. Thank you so much.” She tearfully left, and I headed inside to try and talk myself out of this.

* * *

About an hour after meeting with Glenda, I was driving off to the address on the piece of paper she’d given me.

The self-talk hadn’t worked. I was just too curious about this whole thing to not look into it further. Especially when I did some online research. There was a public directory of all the ghosts that had been registered with a ghost agency, and even though it didn’t indicate what their unfinished business was for privacy reasons, it did say whether or not they faded naturally or were sent over through a necromancer circle.

I’d found Grant Pano, and like Glenda had said, he’d been circled away seven years ago by the Dead but Not Done ghost agency. I also saw the picture she’d shown me among the pictures in his public file. If I had a ghost problem on my hands, it certainly wasn’t the run-of-the-mill kind. Then again, with me, when was it ever?

I was driving through Red Hook, to an area near the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway that was mostly occupied by warehouses. It was just past sunset so it was getting dark, and the people I saw looked like they were on their way home.

When I got to the right block, I parked and walked about halfway down to where Harvey’s warehouse was. The wide pull-down door was partially open. I ducked and entered. Once inside, I stood up and took a moment to look around. The warehouse was vast and full of building materials: large sheets of metal, beams, bricks, and such. There were also forklifts and other equipment. I didn’t see anyone.

My first instinct was to call out for Harvey, but as I was drawing breath to do so, I heard something. There were sounds coming from the back. It sounded like a scuffle.

Now, I could fall into my old ways and just run into whatever was going on there and end up in a lot of trouble, or I could be smart and take precautions. I voted for the latter.

I exited the warehouse, called nine-one-one, and told them there was an altercation happening at my location. After I hung up, I reentered the warehouse. Help was on the way, so I would see what I could do before they got here.

I was happy that I’d brought my rune gun with me. Holding it in a two-handed grip, I quickly, but carefully weaved through all the junk toward the back. When I got close, I stopped behind a stack of crates and peered around.

There were two men about thirty feet away engaged in a brawl. It seemed very one-sided though, since one man was on the ground getting pummeled by the other. And the one doing the pummeling was without a doubt the same man from Glenda’s pictures and my Internet research.

The ghost of Grant Pano. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

He was furiously beating up another man—Harvey—who at one point may have tried to defend himself, but had long given up and just submitted to the beating. Well, I couldn’t very well let Grant beat him to death, which was definitely what would happen before the police arrived.

I stepped out from behind the crates and pointed my gun.

“Hey!”

The element of surprise worked. Grant’s fist stopped mid-air and his head whipped to the side. When he saw me, he looked shocked, but that was quickly replaced by anger. Guess he was not a fan of being interrupted mid beat-down.

“This doesn’t concern you, bitch, get out,” Grant snarled.

“Help…pl-please…” wheezed his very bruised and bloody victim. “Grant, please…”

“Shut up!” Grant yelled. He raised his fist again, but I fired off a shot that hit his shoulder. Sparks flew and he dropped Harvey and turned to me with fury in his eyes.

I fired another shot, aimed at his left leg, but he moved out of the way and I found myself body slammed. My gun flew from my hand and skittered out of sight, and I had a painful slide on the floor that ended when I crashed up against some wooden crates. Grant was advancing on me.

I spied a crowbar on the ground nearby so I rolled out of the way and snatched it up, then came up on one knee and swung the crowbar as hard as I could. It connected with Grant’s knee and he buckled. He wasn’t down for the count though. He managed to slam his elbow into the side of my head on the way down and I literally spun, then fell to the ground.

Grant grabbed my leg before I could move out of the way. He pulled and twisted, making me scream in pain. I still had the crowbar though, so I brought it up and slammed it into his head.

But the unfair thing about fighting with a ghost was that even though my blows could connect, they couldn’t hurt him. My rune bullets could, but I had no idea where my gun was. He grappled with me until he was able to wrap his hands around my throat and he did not hesitate to try and squeeze the life out of me. This was too reminiscent of my encounter with that ghost at the memorial.

I struggled, but I was at a disadvantage since my strength had not built back up yet. My vision was starting to get eaten by darkness and my lungs burned for air. Then I spied the energy rune around his neck and realized I had been going about this fight all wrong.

Even without my reanimation power, I was a necromancer, and if there was one thing I could control, it was a ghost. I yanked the energy rune from around his neck and threw it away, making him intangible. He was shocked to find his chokehold abruptly gone, and now I was able to move away from him. With some distance between us, I opened up my necromancer power and threw that invisible net over Grant to immobilize him. But to my surprise, after struggling for a bit, Grant broke out of my net and ran for the exit.

I ran after him and tried to net him again, but wasn’t able to. Before long Grant had used his ghost advantage to run through walls until I had lost him completely.

I stood there for a moment to catch my breath. It was upsetting that I hadn’t been able to capture him, and was again reminded of the ghost that had barreled through the memorial ceremony. It had escaped my hold too. And that ghost also wasn’t dropped by rune bullets.

Why the hell were these ghosts so damn strong?

My body, especially my throat, was sore, but I wasn’t too badly beat up. So much for not putting myself in harm’s way. I guess Grant decided to exact his revenge on Harvey in the same spot where he’d tried the first time around and gotten knifed. Which reminded me, Harvey was still in there.

I headed back inside the warehouse to where Harvey lay. I knelt down next to him and gently moved him so he lay on his back with his head in my lap. He groaned, and tried to open his eyes, but they were almost completely swollen shut. His face was decorated with bruises and there was a gash on his forehead that bled down his face.

“Is he gone…did he…” Harvey coughed, and blood came out with it. Not a good sign. Grant must have beaten on his chest something fierce.
Shit
.

“It’s OK,” I said. “Help is on the way.” It would do him no good to know that Grant had escaped.

The man continued to wheeze and look agitated. “He’s not…shouldn’t be here…Grant…”

“I know,” I said. “Your wife Glenda asked me to help you. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here in time to stop him from attacking you.”

“Thank…you…” He lapsed into spasms, coughs, and wheezes that I could do nothing to help except try to hold him still. Once the fit passed, he fell unconscious. He likely had a concussion.

Thankfully, I soon heard sirens in the distance.

How nice for help to arrive when it was all over.

CHAPTER ELEVEN