Of Blood and Monsters

by D. G. Swank

  “Why would they make his house a crime scene? Robert was killed in the warehouse.” Nausea washed over me as the truth hit me hard. “You were murdered there.”

  “In his basement,” Hudson said calmly, as though we weren’t discussing his death. “But there’s no reason for you to go down there. The weapons are in the display cases in his study.”

  “How are we going to get into Robert Corden’s house?” I asked.

  “We have the perfect cover,” Jack said. “He was one of my parishioners—a new member of the church.”

  “Which means they were watching you too,” I said.

  He gave me a grim nod. “But his duplicity is to our benefit. And the fact that he and his wife were friends of your grandparents purchases your admission. We have the perfect excuse to drop by for a visit.”

  “That’s presuming she knows he’s dead,” I said.

  Jack pushed out a sigh. “Olivia called me about an hour ago.” He held my gaze. “The police know.”

  My stomach fell to my feet.

  “They’re investigating the scene. They’ve notified Robert’s widow.”

  Which meant they’d found Hudson’s broken, naked body. I felt my chest tighten.

  Hudson walked over to me and squatted, placing a hand on my knee. “I’m not there, Pippy. I’m here with you.”

  I shook my head, his face growing blurry with my unshed tears. “I should have protected you.”

  His hand tightened on my knee. “Enough. I can be more help to you dead than I ever was alive.”

  “Don’t say that, Hudson.”

  “But it’s true.” He stood. “You need to deal with more important things, like getting the weapons.”

  “He’s right,” Jack said. “The sooner we go the better.”

  “I’ll be going as well,” Abel said.

  “No,” Hudson said. “They know Abel is part of the spiritual world. Corden’s wife will never believe it’s a sympathy call if he’s anywhere near the house. It needs to be you and Jack.”

  “But if his wife knows about Abel, won’t she slam the door in the face of the man they kidnapped and the woman they planned to use?”

  “She doesn’t know about Jack. She was out of town and he was a last-minute addition to the plan. And as for you…” He grimaced. “Her reaction could go either way.”

  “I’ll play dumb,” I said. “I didn’t know anything about Robert’s involvement until I saw him at the warehouse, and she has no way of knowing I was there.”

  I snuck a glance to Collin, who cast a suspicious glare in my direction. Collin clearly didn’t trust me, but based on what he’d told Tommy in the attic, he’d stick around anyway because of Ellie. I didn’t totally trust him, so perhaps it would be best to keep him close, even if Collin wasn’t truly our enemy. I hoped.

  “I want to bring Collin with us,” I said.

  Both Collin and Abel exclaimed “What?” at the same time.

  “If there are a lot of weapons, we’ll need help carrying them,” I said. “Not to mention, Collin apparently has experience with this kind of thing.”

  “I don’t like it,” Abel growled.

  Hudson glanced between me and Collin, then said, “I think it’s a good idea, but be wary of the son of the land, Pippy. He doesn’t have your best interests at heart.”

  “I’m going too,” Abel said, making it clear he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  Hudson’s gaze narrowed. “You need to go to the seer and make amends. She holds an answer you seek.”

  Instinctively, I glanced down at my left hand and noticed Abel did the same. Our gazes met and I whispered, “You have to try.”

  If my plan worked, we wouldn’t need her help, but for all I knew, the mark might appear before the battle.

  “She’ll refuse to speak to me,” he said. “It will be a wasted trip.”

  “Hudson says you should go, and besides,” I said with a grin, “it will give you something to do while we’re gone.”

  He leaned his face close to mine and whispered, “I don’t want to let you out of my sight, Waboose.”

  “I know how you feel,” I whispered back, “but this is the best plan and you know it.”

  Holding my gaze, he nodded then gave me a gentle kiss. “Get your weapons and hurry back to me.”

  I planned to, because after my chat with the Little People, I was pinning all my hope on defeating Okeus.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Piper

  I’d half-expected Collin to resist going with us, but he was on board from the start, which I found slightly troubling, but not enough to make me change my mind.

  We grabbed a quick lunch from the kitchen before we piled into the car. I was worried Abel would flip out at the last minute and try to stop me from going, but he watched in grim silence when we left.

  Jack climbed into the passenger seat, and Collin sat in the back wearing a ball cap. He had a duffle bag filled with what he’d called “necessities.” I started the car and headed to South Asheville.

  “Do you know the neighborhood well?” Collin asked, lowering the bill of his hat to cast a shadow on his face.

  “I’ve had a few clients there,” I said.

  “Ghost clients,” he said in a disparaging tone.

  “It’s better than petty theft,” I said, then cast a glance over my shoulder. “Yep, we know about your prior arrest. Hudson researched you.”

  Jack chuckled. “What do you want to know about the neighborhood, Collin?”

  “Is there much traffic? How easy is it to blend in?”

  “Not much traffic,” I said, “and from what I can tell, most of their neighbors are gone on the weekends. We should be good.”

  “Is there an alley behind the house?”

  I grimaced. “I’m not sure. I’ve been inside their house before for Christmas parties and the like, but I didn’t exactly scout it out. There aren’t many alleys in that neighborhood though, so I would guess not.”

  “It’s okay,” Collin said. “We’ll make do.” He glanced out the window. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’ll let me off around the block, and I’ll head to the back of the house. One of you will excuse yourself to the bathroom and open a back door or window to let me in. I’ll take the loot, toss it out back. If it’s too big or too conspicuous to haul to the car, I’ll hide it and we’ll pick it up later.”

  “I’ll let you in,” I said. “I know the house. I can let you in through the kitchen and point you toward the study with the glass cases.”

  “Sounds good,” Collin said. “I’ll try to finish within five to ten minutes, but I’ll need you to keep the homeowner busy so she doesn’t walk in on me.”

  “We can do that,” Jack said. “Text us when you’re done so we know when to leave and pick you up.”

  “We’ll determine the pickup location after we drive around the neighborhood,” Collin said. “Ideally, we wouldn’t do this all on the same day, it’s too damn suspicious, but time is not on our side.” He grimaced as he glanced out the window again, then turned back to look at me. “So how much do you make on a ghost gig?”

  I frowned. “I didn’t charge in the beginning. My clients just gave me tips, which was sometimes cash, sometimes homemade jam, sometimes a gift card to Bed Bath & Beyond.”

  “Back when you were a fraud?” Collin asked with a smug grin. “You and I aren’t so different.”

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t argue with that.

  “But you charge now,” he said.

  “Piper provides a great service,” Jack said defensively. “She not only lets people say goodbye to their loved ones, but they can see and touch the ghosts. Of course she charges.”

  Collin looked amused that Jack had come to my defense.

  I just shrugged. “It’s my job now and I have bills to pay.”

  “Lucky you that you have a job,” Collin said in a snide tone. “Ellie lost her bed and breakfast in a fire created by the Great One and David had to take a
sabbatical.”

  “And you?” I asked sarcastically. “What gainful employment did you give up?”

  He leaned back in his seat with a lazy grin. “I’m a fisherman. Got a boat and everything.”

  I laughed. “I struggle to see you with a rod and reel.”

  “Nets, woman,” he teased. “Real fishermen use nets.”

  “Have you seen Ahone?” Jack asked abruptly, turning to look at Collin.

  Collin’s grin fell. “Yes, but I heard him before I saw him. He called out to me on my boat.” He shook his head with disgust. “The fucking bastard ruined my life.”

  “He told you to break the curse,” Jack said.

  Collin looked startled but nodded. “Yep.”

  “A voice told me to quit law school,” I said quietly.

  “And a voice has been guiding me as well,” Jack said, “one I fear I’ve followed too blindly.”

  “A word of unsolicited advice,” Collin said. “Do not listen to that asshole. Take what he tells you to do and run in the opposite direction.”

  Jack shot me a dark look. We’d both let that voice rule our decisions—me for a year, but Jack for most of his life. How did we rectify that now?

  The two men talked about Ahone, who’d appeared to Collin and Ellie as an older man with a long white beard and robes like he’d stepped out of a biblical adaptation. I’d seen that version of him in my vision, but he hadn’t started off that way. He’d walked out of the ocean as a young and virile man, and I couldn’t help thinking the old man image was a ruse, a way to appear less threatening.

  When we approached the neighborhood, their conversation fell away as they studied the houses lining the street.

  “That’s it up there,” I said, pointing down the street. “There’s no alley, but there’s a road that runs behind it.”

  “So the houses opposite it face the backyard,” Collin said. “Is there a fence?”

  I drove past the front of the older, Tudor-style house, relieved to see a tall wooden fence surrounding the property.

  “Let’s hope there’s a gate at the back,” Collin said. “I’m not sure scaling a six-foot privacy fence in broad daylight is the best idea.”

  “Do you want me to drive down the road behind the house?” I asked, shooting a glance at him.

  “Sure, but first let’s stop and put up a sign announcing that we’re thieves,” he sneered.

  “Look,” I barked. “I’ve never broken into a house before, so forgive me if I don’t know all the rules.”

  Collin looked like he wanted to say something, but he pressed his lips together and frowned. “Just try not to look too conspicuous, okay? Drive down the damn street and don’t slow down or look at the house. Let me check it out.”

  I pulled up to the stop sign at the end of the road, then cast a sideways glance at Jack. He gave me a slight nod, so I made the turns onto the road behind the Cordens’ house. I drove to the stop sign at the end of the block, looking straight ahead. When I pulled to a stop, I glanced at Collin in the rearview mirror. “Well?”

  “We’re good. There’s a gate. Let me out here.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked.

  “As a fucking heart attack. Give me fifteen minutes, then let me in the back of the house.” Before I could respond, he hopped out of the car, carting his bag of goodies with him.

  “Should we trust him?” I asked Jack as I turned right, catching a glimpse of Collin heading down the street we’d just driven down.

  “I was about to ask you the same thing. You were the one who suggested we bring him.” Then he shot me a wicked grin that told me he thought I’d made the right decision.

  As I continued on toward the next stop sign, it struck me that I hadn’t been alone with Jack since our world had been blown to hell. This was my chance to talk to him, and the way things were going, it was unclear whether there’d be another. “How are you doing with all of this? You’ve been through a lot over the past twenty-four hours. Hell, you suffered a head wound a couple of days ago.” Sitting up straighter, I tried to look in his hair. “Do your staples hurt?”

  “I’m fine,” he said dismissively as he glanced out the passenger window. “It’s nothing.”

  Instead of turning right toward the Corden house, I went straight.

  “What are you doing?” Jack asked in alarm.

  “We’ve got fourteen minutes and thirty seconds before I need to let the petty thief in the back of the house. We can spare a few minutes.”

  Jack looked surprised by my statement. “Don’t you think we should go talk to Mrs. Corden?”

  “Hudson suggested she was with the Guardians, which makes her culpable in Hudson’s death, so forgive me if I don’t feel like offering my condolences for her bastard husband’s much deserved death or chatting it up with her in her fancy living room.”

  Understanding washed over his face. “I didn’t even consider that. Maybe I should go in alone.”

  “It was my idea to come, and I need to open the back window for Collin. Your job is to keep her entertained.”

  Jack nodded but didn’t look happy about it. Then he sat upright, looking startled. “Do you think Robert Corden’s ghost will be there?”

  Well, crap. I hadn’t considered that. “He was killed by a demon, but I slayed the demons that killed him, so I set his soul free.”

  “So that’s a yes?”

  I made a face. “It’s a maybe.” I gasped. “That’s an even better in.”

  His face scrunched with confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ll tell Loretta I’m there to offer my condolences”—I made a retching sound—“and then I’ll offer to talk to his ghost.”

  “No,” he said. “Keep the ghost whisperer stuff out of it. I doubt she’ll want him giving you a heads-up that the house was a murder scene. Our best bet is to go in and play dumb.”

  “And if his ghost shows up?”

  He pushed out a sigh. “We’ll deal with it then.”

  I drove another block before turning right.

  Jack shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable as he said, “So you and Abel… I take it you literally kissed and made up.”

  There was no sense in denying it. “We reached an understanding.” I eyed him for as long as I dared before shifting my attention back to the nearly empty road. “Do you believe we determine the fate of our own souls?”

  I hadn’t planned on asking him, at least not yet, but it had been tugging on the back of my mind ever since Abel and I had returned to the warehouse.

  A frown creased his forehead. “What prompted you to ask that? Collin telling us not to trust the voice?”

  I wanted to be truthful with Jack, but I also didn’t want to hurt him. I had to be careful about how I handled this. “Something was different when Abel and I came back to the warehouse.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I swallowed, not sure I wanted to admit it, but I needed the peace of mind I hoped Jack would offer. “My soul craved the demons we were fighting.”

  He was silent for a couple of seconds before he asked, “What exactly does that mean?”

  “That I wanted to kill them and possess their souls.”

  He turned to look at me. “As abhorrent as killing something—even a demon—must seem, they are demons. They’re pure evil.”

  “It was more than that, Jack. It was like every fiber of my being needed them.”

  He was silent again. “This morning was the first time it happened?” He didn’t give me a chance to respond before following up with another question. “What about the demon outside the attic window? Did you crave its soul?”

  I sat up in surprise. I hadn’t considered that. “No.”

  He gave me a reassuring smile. “I suspect it was a heat-of-the-battle type thing. The demons had captured your friends and killed Hudson. You had a need for vengeance, thus your thirst for their souls.”

  “But it felt like more than that, Jack. It felt almost�
�evil.”

  He was quiet again. “Do you think your close association with Abel has changed anything?” He made a face, clearly uncomfortable. “I couldn’t help noticing that you slept in the same room as him.”

  My face heated. Keeping my eyes on the road, I said, “If you’re asking if we slept together, the answer is yes.”

  There was a long pause before he said, “I see.”

  When he didn’t say anything else, I said, “You don’t approve?”

  “It’s not up to me to approve or disapprove, Piper.”

  “But you think it was a poor choice.”

  “It’s making you question the state of your soul, so you tell me.”

  I gave a slow nod, biting my lower lip as I focused on heading back to the Corden house. “Hudson assures me that my soul is my own to save or lose.”

  “Obviously you don’t quite believe it if you’re asking me.”

  I hesitated to put all my cards on the table, but he knew the hardest part. Might as well tell him the rest. Casting a long look at him, I said, “The supernatural world calls me Kewasa. What if I’m not supposed to deliver Abel to death? What if I’m meant to deliver him from his fate?”

  “How so?” he prodded, seemingly interested in my theory.

  I told him what I’d learned about the power structure in the supernatural world—how there was always an alpha, except when there wasn’t: Collin and Ellie balanced each other, and the same was seemingly true of Abel and me. “What if I can save him, Jack?”

  “If we’re truly masters of our souls,” Jack said, “then it stands to reason that Abel would be able to choose his fate.”

  “He’s certain he’s destined for hell because of his father. He said his father prefers him alive because if he’s dead and dwelling in hell, he’s a threat to Okeus’s throne.”

  “Does he want Okeus’s throne?”

  I paused on that question. The Little People told me if Okeus was defeated, someone would have to rule in his stead. Did Abel want the job? Somehow I doubted it. “I don’t know.”

  “That’s usually one of those prewedding questions I ask couples,” Jack said with the first hint of snark I’d heard since our conversation had started.