“Listen, you’re at peace now. You have an eternity to process that, but Bob’s pineapple barbecue ribs only happen on special occasions, so today’s your day! Now come along!”
I stared helplessly at Salem as Cheryl took my hand and led me away.
I already had an excuse to leave. I’d tell them I’m vegan and we’d chat awkwardly about that and then Salem and I would be on our way.
As Cheryl walked us up to a house that looked straight out of the seventies, I tried my mom again.
Mom? Hello? Is this thing on?
Why couldn’t I reach her? If I could just slide right into this dimension, shouldn’t she be able to pick up my signal? Unless there was a spell to keep gods out...
Now that was an interesting thought.
We were at the door and inside before my introverted-consciousness could process I was a hostage.
“Goodness, aren’t you tall!” a handsome Asian gentleman in a familiar-looking blue sweater said to Salem. “But I bet you get that a lot. You must be sick of it.” He extended a hand.
Salem nodded and shook his hand. “I have been known to get the comment.”
“Gorgeous eyes though,” the gentleman said with a smile before turning to me.
“Love the hair. I wish I had been brave enough to pull that look off in my lifetime. Though, blue or green hair for an eternity? Not sure Bob would have married me.”
“Don’t be silly, Kevin. I would have said ‘I do’ to any hair color—and then gone to Sunnyvale Convenience to see about natural hair dye right after.” Bob chuckled as he walked up to the group. He winked at me.
He wore a big apron that read, #HeavenKnowsI’mGayandIGrill.
Cheryl was giggling and waving her hands around. “You two stop it or you’ll frighten them away. How’s that patio of yours looking? You know I love sitting by that pool.”
They could change clothes, they could shake our hands... What kind of dead people were they? Who had enough power to generate a pocket dimension that made ghosts...alive?
Could this be the work of another god?
“The pool’s nice and cool, and the sun is warm. Come on, gang—and if you feel like a swim and don’t have a swimsuit, don’t worry, we have suits for guys and gals. We host a lot here at the Richardson house. Follow me.” Bob waved his hand and we all followed him out.
There were pictures on the wall, house plants... It was just like the living world. My mind was spinning. I’d never heard of nor seen anything like this. Not even in my mother’s hell dimension.
I wondered if I could...
I wiggled my fingers as we made our way through the living room and flexed my necro-powers. I caught Bob by the left hand and gave it a flick.
“Ow,” he exclaimed, holding his hand.
Kevin stepped over. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
I hadn’t hurt him. I’d surprised him, though. I could puppet him around just as I could any other soul or undead.
Bob looked around. “Yeah, I just... I must have hit my hand against something. I just don’t know what. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
Cheryl came over as well. “Perhaps it’s just the excitement, Bob? It’s been a couple months since we’ve had anyone new in the community.”
Her worry appeared genuine. Their happiness didn’t seem to be for show either. These people were really friends.
Bob nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Just excited to show off our house and my new grill!” He was back to his upbeat self and opening the sliding glass door before we knew it.
I guess a concrete patio with a pool was his idea of heaven. The rest of the yard was fairly bland. I wondered if this world included upkeep too—did they have to mow the lawn? I hadn’t heard a mower yet.
“Now that you’re officially in and the grill’s cookin’, how about we start with introductions?” Bob said.
Kevin stepped over and put his arm around his husband. “We’re Kevin and Bob Richardson. Bob died in the 1950s and I passed in 2002.”
Bob smiled wide. “Yep, just had to wait fifty years for my soulmate to arrive. Worth every minute.”
Cheryl cooed and held her hands at her heart. “Aren’t they darling? I was a smoker and died of lung and throat cancer. Can’t believe I wasted all that money and those years on it, but now here I am, so I can’t really complain. I haven’t met my soulmate yet, but I’m hoping he’ll arrive someday soon. So many in the community have finally found their happily-ever-after. It’s beautiful to see.”
Cheryl didn’t look like someone who’d died from cancer. She appeared very healthy. Was it because she imagined she would look this good in her afterlife? Was all of this based on belief, the same way regular ghosts could interact with the physical world once they believed they could?
It would explain all the different houses, vehicles, and especially Bob’s hashtag on his apron. The man had died before hashtags were a thing. He must have seen it somewhere...and it somehow manifested?
A pocket dimension that created itself, based on the imaginations of the ghosts trapped in it. How fascinating.
“What about you two?” Bob asked before stepping over to check his grill.
“We killed each other—”
“Car accident—”
Salem turned to look at me. His facial expression implied I’d gone too far with a double homicide.
“Uh... We were fighting in the car and accidentally crashed.” I scratched the back of my head. It was time to get out of here.
“So it was a tragic car accident,” Cheryl said. “My word. See Kevin, I told you I’ve always had a gift... I just hate being right when it comes to these kinds of things.”
Everyone was quiet.
Bob cleared his throat. “Well, no place like heaven to forgive and rekindle the love that once was.” He gazed lovingly at Kevin, who smiled back at him.
“Whelp, I am so sorry, everyone, but we must get going. I’m actually a vegan—no desire to eat meat in death either—and we both really need to have a sit-down and heart-to-heart about what happened. Everything here is just so overwhelming and—”
Kevin interrupted with a wave of his hands. “Fresh into the afterlife. You two sure didn’t waste any time. Cheryl, Bob, you’ve got to give people a little room to breathe and time to adjust before you bring them over.”
Both Bob’s and Cheryl’s face dropped as Kevin chastised them.
Kevin put his hands on Salem’s and my back and led us to the doorway. “Please excuse them. They have good intentions, but sometimes get ahead of themselves. Take a walk, find a place to park, but most importantly, take your time. We’ll be right here.”
We were at the door and he smiled and waved to us as we exited.
Tanner, I whispered in my mind.
I could feel the rat spirit tickle my back from underneath my black jacket.
He popped out above the coat tied around my waist and then scurried up to my shoulder.
Salem glanced my way as we walked back toward the entrance.
“Weird, right? Tanner is here, you...but I cannot summon my mom... Such a strange place, with strange rules.” I bit my lip.
As if on cue, someone cycled by us on a unicycle, happy as a clam.
Salem and I couldn’t help it and we both laughed.
DEATH GODS LOVE CHEESEBURGERS
“Mom, you wouldn’t believe this place,” I mumbled between bites. “It’s like a sunny California movie, but in this little pocket dimension where all these ghosts think they are in heaven. It was a masterpiece. From what I could tell, the ghosts appear to manifest things they want—like clothes or even the decorations in their houses.”
I took hearty bites of my veggie burger. Right after we’d left the quaint little pocket dimension, I’d steered us straight to the HopScotch, where I immediately summoned my mom. For whatever reason, being in that dimension had taken a lot out of me.
My mom listened with mild interest as she ate one of her chees
eburgers.
Salem was silent beside me. Like all undead, my mother’s presence unnerved him. She could dismantle his undead body with a thought and push his soul into the veil or drag it to her hell dimension. I understood his unease, though I also knew she regarded Salem and Cheetoh as mine and would not interfere with them unless I asked.
I absently patted his knee.
“So, you didn’t feel my summons?” I asked my mother before I took a sip of my iced tea. Our server was great—he’d kept the iced teas coming. Between my mother and I, we were like iced tea voids. I would have a major caffeine crash later.
“I did not,” the goddess replied. “Though I am not surprised, as you are a demigod. Wards typically work one way or the other, while demigods walk somewhere in between. Whoever created the dimension does not want gods knowing about it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Woooo. Lucky me.”
Salem huffed a chuckle beside me.
I smirked and then ate as many fries as I could stuff into my mouth.
Mmmm. Crispy, golden goodness.
I was definitely enjoying my meal, but I knew I’d have to tell my mother about the grim.
“Daughter.” My mother’s eyes passed over me, as if scanning my thoughts.
I wiped my hands on my napkin and sighed, sitting back. “I saw a grim.”
“Before you stumbled into this pocket dimension?” she asked, and then bit into her second cheeseburger.
“Yeah,” I said, realizing that I’d have to take the rest of my fries to go. I’d overdone it with the food, but I wouldn’t complain later when I had leftovers. No sir, I would not.
My mother’s plates were clean and her last iced tea all but empty. She was thoughtful. “I would not overthink this grim. Not yet. Be on your guard, of course. We cannot guess its intentions until it reveals them. As for this pocket dimension, it needs an energy source, if it’s not naturally occurring. The energy source will anchor it to this reality. Whatever it is, it sounds powerful. Approach it with caution.”
“What is the anchor to your dimension?” Salem asked unexpectedly. I was almost proud.
My mother looked equally intrigued. “Why I am, of course—though a reservoir of souls helps to fertilize my extensive garden.”
Salem shuffled uncomfortably and nodded.
I snorted. I would have to take Salem to the hell dimension sometime and really freak him out.
I waved the server over and asked for a to-go box. Once he was out of earshot, I said, “So, it’s up to me to dismantle this pocket dimension, eh?”
“I can assist you with the lost souls once the dimension is down, but until then, it appears so.”
She studied me. I wondered if she knew I was secretly happy for the distraction.
My eyes wandered over to a shelf above the cashier by the front door. They’d gotten a new pony for their store. I couldn’t explain my addiction to plastic ponies from the eighties, but I definitely had one. My collection at home was slowly growing, but this pony was one I’d been searching for for over a year now.
She was pink with blue hair and had delicate butterfly wings. What I loved most was her mark—a cow jumping over the moon. There was something about her that took me back to my childhood, a time when I saw more fairies and flowers than I did dead things.
“A new pony,” my mother observed without following my gaze.
“Yeah. I’ve got her on my list. I’m just upset they beat me to her.”
My mother smiled and conversation settled into more casual things. I’d skipped all my classes and was happy about it. I’d much rather be here with my mother and Salem than waste my time on anything else right now—but I made sure I neglected to mention that.
NECROMANCY IS ILLEGAL
Kiara rubbed her eyes and then reached for her coffee. She had changed her regular order to coffee with cream and no sugar and was struggling to get it down. She had been a double cream and double sugar girl for most of her life, but with this case, she needed so much coffee, she’d started worrying about her health and made changes.
She sighed and lifted her government-issued spelled binoculars. Ever since the government had contracted a company owned by The Wizarding Society of Great Britain and North America, her job had gotten a hell of a lot easier. She still had a lot of guessing to do, but at least her list of possibilities got significantly shorter with spelled items.
As she looked through the binoculars, all three subjects came into focus. Both verified otherkin emitted powerful auras, giving them away. The humans in the restaurant had much smaller auras by comparison. Unlike Cecile and the otherkin she referred to as Mother, Salem did not emit an aura. While otherkin had massive, vibrant auras, Salem was either human or somehow disguising himself.
It was neat seeing humans in an array of colors. Some people had blue-green auras, some yellow-orange, and some were blue and red, seemingly contradictory. The auras misted around their bodies and sometimes even touched. Cecile’s and her mother’s auras were so large, however, there was no mistaking that they were otherkin.
From her limited experience, Kiara had discovered that the larger the aura, the more powerful the being. Cecile’s and her mother’s auras consumed half of the building. The auras that touched theirs seemed to shrink away, almost disappearing, until they erupted out again a distance away—as if rejoicing.
It would have been a fair assumption that Salem’s aura was hiding from theirs, but even alone, the presumed otherkin never emitted light.
Cecile had a strange aura that flickered between black, pink, and blue, while her mother’s was black, red, and purple. Kiara had never seen black in any otherkin’s aura before. Not like this. Wherever the black landed, it was like it leached color out, and unlike the colors that wove in and out of it, like small moving nebulas, the black seemed to have a mind of its own.
Kiara picked up her phone and pressed record while she observed them. “Subjects are eating lunch at the HopScotch. Both female otherkin are eating, meanwhile the male otherkin is not. This is the fifth recorded account of Salem Dunlap meeting up with them for a meal and not eating. Subject still has no visible aura. I believe subject to be undead, similar to my accounts of the zombies observed in Halifax, prior to their reaping. What type of undead remains to be seen, though upon observing him, he is far more intelligent and notably less feral than the rabid creatures I’ve encountered. Subject easily goes outside during daylight hours and is not a vampire...”
She paused, considering her next words, and then added, “Possibly another draugr like Rafal Smith, whose remains were recovered from Silverbrook General upon my arrival. Unlike Rafal, Salem’s appearance is more lifelike and passes a visual test for the living. Is this a higher form of necromancy—and if so, who is the responsible party? Cecile or her mother?”
Kiara hit the off button and lowered her binoculars. She tapped her phone.
Necromancy was illegal in Canada, but when a powerful otherkin raised the dead, there was a lot to consider. Could Cecile or her mother be the True Vampyre that had raised an army of undead in Toronto? If not, then what other type of otherkin had an aura that powerful?
In her five years in the field, Kiara was more familiar with human necromancers, such as those who created zombies through voodoo, or those who died in freak accidents, like self-creating wendigos. She’d encountered a few vampires as well, though their kind was usually monitored by the local authorities.
Any reports of non-consensual turning led to the culprit being sent to the new magickal prisons, designed and monitored by specially trained humans and wizards. She had hunted down one or two fugitives herself, but most vampires who fled the law found themselves prey to hired reapers these days.
If Kiara could just uncover where Cecile’s mother’s lair was, she could get to the bottom of what type of otherkin she was. The woman had this irritating way of disappearing around a corner whenever Kiara followed her.
Cecile, by all accounts, maintained the schedule o
f an average university kid and did not appear to be involved in any necromancy. Could she be innocent in all of this and her mother’s actions to blame for the slaughter in Silverbrook General? If Kiara could pin down what type of otherkin the mother was, she’d have a better idea of what trouble the half-breed daughter could bring...
Kiara decided to stake out the house by Star River for the rest of the night.
She started her car and pulled out of the parking lot.
Kiara struggled to stay awake while watching the last house at the end of the laneway. She was bundled up but shivering. She wore a hat and gloves, multiple sweaters, a winter coat, was wrapped in a blanket, and still wasn’t warm enough.
Her labors were rewarded, though, as a tall figure left the house. He was cautious and stuck to the shadows.
Kiara waited till Salem was almost off the street before she got out of her car and followed. It was ruthlessly cold this time of night, but at least this way she was moving.
It wasn’t easy. Considering his height and unnatural speed, but given the direction, she guessed where he was headed. And that was a good thing, because she could not keep up with him. He was too fast for her mortal legs.
Kiara had to stay fit for work, but it was a rare human that would have been able to keep up with Salem. She doubled back and got in her car. If her suspicions were correct, he was headed to the nearest funeral home. All undead cannibalized, that was the one thing that they had in common and, eventually, got all of them caught.
Bless her hybrid car, because Kiara could pull up to the funeral home silently. She put the car in Park and waited.
No lights were on, but that’s what she’d expected. Salem had shown traits similar to a vampire before. He’d often heard her coming, despite her best efforts to observe him quietly, so she wouldn’t be surprised if his vision was similarly advanced.
Death Made Me Do It Page 4