by A. J. Locke
Fortunately, it seemed as though the reporters had some sense after all. Realizing that trying to get around the beastie would only render them dead or injured, they’d taken to flattening themselves to the ground in between the rows of seats. That cleared the area up and made it easier for those of us with guns to fire at the beastie. Now that we had a better opening, over a dozen people rapidly firing bullets into the beastie did the trick. It screeched, and I felt the air around me vibrate, then it crashed to the ground, twitched for a moment in a cage of rune magic, then fell silent and faded. I released a huge breath and slumped to the ground, but not only because it was over. The unexpected excitement of the beastie’s appearance had aggravated my headache and nausea. I put my gun away and flattened my palms to the floor, taking several deep breaths to try and calm myself down. My body shook, and my elbows buckled and almost had me face planting the ground if it hadn’t been for a pair of arms that were suddenly holding me up. I looked up, hoping to see Micah’s face, but it was Renton.
“Are you OK?” he asked, looking concerned.
“Not in the least.”
Ilyse was soon there, and Renton released me into more comforting arms.
“I should have known that the worst possible thing that could happen during this press conference would,” I said as Ilyse helped me into a chair. The beastie was gone, but people were still frantic as hell, and everyone seemed to want nothing more than to get out of here. Police and paramedics arrived. I hoped the people on the ground were not dead. I took my phone out and called Micah, but he didn’t pick up, which I wasn’t happy about. I didn’t bother leaving him a voicemail about what happened.
“Why the hell a beastie would choose now of all times to rampage through the building is beyond me,” I said. “Yes, I know what a ridiculous statement that was, but doesn’t it seem coincidental that a beastie happened to show up right now? It could have gone anywhere, but it decided the conference room on the twelfth floor of Affairs of the Dead was the place to be?”
“Don’t over think it,” Renton said. “Just be thankful that it’s gone, though I’ll admit this is not how I saw the press conference ending.”
“At least it ended,” I muttered. “I can’t say I was looking forward to the Q&A.”
“This will not help you.” Tielle appeared, and her severe face was staring at the spot where the beastie had fallen. “This press conference was supposed to be about order, not chaos.”
“Well, when you’re dealing with me you should expect more chaos than order.”
Tielle gave me a sharp look.
“Hey, it’s not like I summoned the beastie here!”
“I did not accuse you of anything,” Tielle said. “But it has happened, and now we must deal with it.” She turned to Renton. “Gather and confer with the others and start creating a narrative to control the situation. I don’t want this to get out of hand. It will only make the issues we are dealing with regarding Selene even more complicated.”
Renton nodded, gave my shoulder a squeeze, then moved off. Not long after, Andrew was there, for once looking grave.
“I will close the office for the rest of the day and go see what damage has been done by the beastie,” he said. “It’s likely that we’ll have to close down for a while. I am hoping there won’t be any dead bodies to count. Are you OK, Selene?”
“Just dandy,” I said, waving my hand at him dismissively. “Go do your boss thing Andrew, I’m fine.” He touched my cheek before I could flinch away, then left. I slumped back in my seat and sighed.
“Would you like me to make you some soothing tea?” Ilyse asked.
“She doesn’t have time for tea,” Tielle said, and the tone of her voice startled me. “You have to come with me now, Selene, there is something of importance I need to speak to you about.”
“More important than the shit show this press conference turned into?” I did not relish any alone time with Tielle, and I was sure whatever she wanted to talk to me about would not be good.
“Yes,” Tielle said. “What happened here is over, and whatever comes of it will be dealt with. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to meet with you in my office.”
I exchanged a look with Ilyse, but she just patted my hand and nodded. I rolled my eyes, not caring if Tielle saw, then followed her out of the room. When we were in the hallway, I looked up and saw that as far as building damage went, it looked like most of it would be contained to this floor, which was the top floor, because the beastie had barreled in from the roof. It had probably slimed its way up the side of the building, though for a second I pictured it parachuting down from an airplane and almost laughed out loud.
* * *
It was clear no one told Tielle and her posse how much room they’d get to occupy judging from the way furniture was literally spilling out of her corner office. It was larger than most of the offices in the suite, but she had bought too much crap to put into it. Did she really need two desks? One of them was sitting in the hallway.
“Our furniture wasn’t good enough for you?” I asked, looking around. Whatever furniture had been in here before was long gone, hopefully to storage but more likely to the sidewalk.
“If I am to stay here for any prolonged period of time I would like to be comfortable,” Tielle said, sitting behind her desk, which she had neatly arranged. Her computer monitor was obnoxiously large.
“And I guess it takes a certain amount of inanimate objects to do the job, huh?” I sat on the cushioned chair in front of her desk. Tielle’s face remained rigid, and she clasped her hands in front of her. I should make it a goal to get her to smile. That would be a fun challenge.
“So, what is it you wish to speak to me about so urgently?”
“It concerns Andrew,” Tielle said. “We’ve spent this past month doing a lot of research into what’s going on with you, Selene. As stated in the press conference, this is something we have never dealt with, at least not in the life span of anyone alive today, so it is going to take some time for us to know how we should resolve the situation.”
I did not like the way she said resolve.
“Some of the things we found brought us some concern. Especially since we have now confirmed that Andrew’s ghost cannot succumb to a necromancer circle.”
“Are you going to get to the point any time soon or just continue to beat around the bush?” I said. “Because as you’ve seen, it’s been a very eventful morning.”
“Selene, even though we may not be able to send Andrew’s ghost into the afterlife, we cannot ignore his unfinished business.”
“You mean the fact that he wants me.”
Tielle nodded. “We did our own rune work with Andrew and have confirmed that what his ghost wants is to be with you. If he does not get that, you know what will happen.”
I really, really did not like where this conversation was heading.
“He will turn into a beastie.”
“Yes, but he will be an anchored beastie. It’s one thing to have his normal ghost hanging around and continuing to helm Affairs of the Dead, but if he turns into a beastie what we will have on our hands is a monster we will have absolutely no way of getting rid of.”
Well, the good news just kept rolling in today, didn’t it?
“Shit. I can’t believe that never crossed my mind. Of course Andrew would need his affairs settled, even if he wouldn’t fade.” I paused. “But his ghost has been around for over a month, I definitely haven’t been playing the part of his girlfriend, and he hasn’t turned into a beastie.”
“We think that for now, being in your presence almost daily is keeping things under control,” Tielle said. “Which is why we have not taken him into holding. It is extremely out of the ordinary for a ghost to be working in the capacity Andrew is, but we feared that if we separated him from you he would turn.”
“Different answer than you gave that reporter.”
“You know very well it was the better answer to give. Imagine if that beasti
e we just encountered had resulted from a ghost that was anchored to you. We could have stood there and fired a million rune bullets at it and it would have had no effect. We have no choice but to allow you your freedom, but there are important things you need to keep in mind. Making sure Andrew’s ghost does not turn into a beastie is one such very, very important thing.”
“I get it. But I guess Andrew can continue to see my face every day and it will keep him from turning, right?”
“Not quite. What I just told you is only strong speculation as you and I both know that the amount of time it takes for a ghost with unsettled business to turn varies. For some it’s a few days, for others it could take over a month. We don’t want to take any chances here. I’m sure I don’t have to stress how bad it would be for everyone if Andrew were to turn into an anchored beastie.”
“But if he did wouldn’t that get a warrant in your hands that much faster?”
Her eyes narrowed. “This is no joking matter. My concern is for the safety of the general public, and while I would very much like to see you detained, I would not want it to come at the cost of Andrew becoming a beastie and enacting a massacre.”
I sighed and briefly hung my head. I knew it was no laughing matter. There was nothing about this that I found remotely funny, but I had just about as much seriousness as I could take. Thinking about Andrew turning into a ghost monster that we wouldn’t be able to get rid of was too overwhelming.
“OK, so what do you want from me here? All of this happened outside of my control, I didn’t want any of this, and I certainly don’t know how to fix it.”
“What I want is for you to play the role of being with Andrew,” Tielle said.
My eyes widened. “Come again?”
“You are what he wants,” Tielle said, jabbing a finger at me. “If he does not feel like he has you then you are going to have more hell on your hands than you want. So tell me, Selene, do you really think you have a choice here?”
“You really think I’m going to waltz out there and throw myself at Andrew? You think he’s going to buy it after I’ve spent the last month rolling my eyes at him and rejecting his advances?”
“I’ve been told you’re a good liar. I’m sure you’ll know how to make it believable. Don’t be stubborn about this or there will soon be more blood on your hands. Don’t you think it’s been an eventful enough summer for you?”
I shot to my feet with my hands on her desk and my face in hers, gritting my teeth. She was taken aback by my sudden movement and leaned away from me. There was a fine trembling going through my body, and I fought not to unleash the verbal tirade that was on the tip of my tongue.
“We’re done here,” was all I said before I stepped back and stalked out of her office.
I had a dead girl’s body in my backyard, the Rot was going to make sure I didn’t see the leaves on the trees turn, the government’s paranormal lackeys had set up shop where I worked, and now if I didn’t make Andrew feel like something was going on between us he’d turn into a beastie that I’d be anchoring here. It was hard to decide which nightmare was worse.
Micah, I needed Micah. I tried to call his cell phone again and it went straight to voicemail. That made me even more pissed. Where was he when I needed him, damn it? I felt like I was losing my mind and it was barely two in the afternoon.
The staff had already left since the office was closed in the wake of the beastie, and the only people around were from Tielle’s team. Even though I could leave, I sat at my desk and rested my head on my arms, trying to calm the storm that felt like it was blowing through my head. There were a lot of shitty things going on, yes, but letting it overwhelm me every moment of the day wasn’t going to help. I needed to stay in control of myself in order to stay in control of whichever nightmare I could. So I had to be less hostile to Andrew, I could do that. I didn’t know how much further than that I could go though. Micah certainly wouldn’t like it, but he’d have to come around. Not like he was the one who’d have to bat eyes at a freaking ghost so it didn’t turn into a monster.
Wait. I sat up suddenly as something occurred to me. Andrew wasn’t the only ghost that was anchored to me. There was also Isabelle’s ghost. If her unfinished business didn’t get resolved, she could very well end up being the anchored beastie we’d have on our hands, not Andrew. Shit. Wouldn’t Tielle just love that. I had to find Isabelle’s ghost.
I opened up our stalker software and typed in Isabelle’s name, going through over two dozen Isabelle Ryes before I found the right one. Her parents were John and Maria Rye, and their address was listed in Queens. I jotted it down then grabbed my bag and left the suite, sending a text to Micah about where I was going. Since Micah had driven us to work I hailed a cab and headed to Queens.
CHAPTER FOUR
Forty-five minutes later I was walking toward Isabelle’s house. How would I handle the situation if I found Isabelle’s ghost snuggled up at home with her parents? I’d thought it through the entire drive out here and had concluded that if force was what I needed to use to get Isabelle’s ghost away from her parents then force was what I’d use. Plus, I hoped I’d be able to get to the bottom of how her parents had gotten her body to my backyard. If a third party was involved I had to stop them before I found more dead bodies around me.
However, the closer I got to the house, the more I didn’t feel like things would turn out positively. There was no car in the driveway and no curtains in the windows, which gave me the distinct feeling that the house was empty. Before even trying the door I peered inside the curtainless windows and was not happy at the scene that met my eyes. There was furniture, but the living room was a mess, as was the part of the kitchen I could see. Random items were strewn everywhere, as though these people had left in haste and careful packing hadn’t been an option. I stood back and crossed my arms over my chest, frowning. Should I really be surprised that the Ryes had hightailed it? It only solidified my theory that the Ryes had buried Isabelle near me to get her ghost to stick around. Needless to say, going back to a normal life with their ghost daughter wouldn’t exactly be an option. They’d have to skip town and lay low somewhere else.
I considered trying to break in to see if I could pick up any clues as to where the Ryes could have gone when I caught sight of one of their neighbors, an elderly man, coming outside to check his mailbox. He glanced up and saw me, so I put a friendly smile on my face and decided to try the route that was less likely to get me in trouble. I walked over to him.
“Excuse me, do you mind if I have a word with you?” I debated on whether or not to approach him in an official capacity or lie and pretend I was an acquaintance of the Ryes. I decided badges often had more luck getting information out of people than spontaneous lies. I took my badge out and showed it to him.
“My name is Selene, I’m with Affairs of the Dead,” I said as he adjusted his glasses to squint at my badge. I hoped my name didn’t ring a bell, and if it did I hoped he wasn’t one of the many people who were afraid of me. He looked from the badge to my face.
“A ghost agency?” he said. “Is something wrong?”
“Not particularly,” I said as I put my badge away. “I just had some business to look into involving the people who lived in this house, but they seemed to have left.”
“They packed up and left last night,” he said, shaking his head.
Last night? Damn, just missed them.
“Strangest thing, I had no idea they were planning a move.”
“I see, so mister…”
“Stodder,” he supplied.
“Mr. Stodder, did you notice anything strange around the time they were moving? Was it just John and Maria?”
Stodder frowned a little as he thought.
“Didn’t notice anything I’d call strange,” he said. “Just that they were moving quickly, like they were in a rush to get somewhere.”
“And I don’t suppose they told you where they might be going?” I was sure I already knew the answe
r.
“They didn’t, dear,” he said. “It’s so odd for them to have moved with little Isabelle being so sick.”
“They had a sick child?” Better to pretend like I didn’t know anything and see what information Stodder could provide.
“Isabelle had leukemia,” he replied. “Last I heard it didn’t look like she was going to make it. Her parents were at the hospital every single day; hardly ever saw them around here. I figured they moved because they’d gotten her transferred to a better hospital.”
“I see.” Wasn’t really information that was helpful since I’d already figured out Isabelle was a terminally sick child, but his words did make me think of something. If Isabelle had been the kind of sick you’d refer to as “not going to make it,” I was sure her parents wouldn’t have been able to get them to discharge her so they could bury her in my backyard. Even if they had somehow sneaked her out, her absence would be noticed and would be something that made the news. So how had the Ryes gotten Isabelle out of the hospital without making waves?
I had to investigate the hospital. I thanked Mr. Stodder and quickly dialed a car service. According to the hospital bracelet on Isabelle’s wrist, she’d been at North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical Center, LIJ for short, which wasn’t too far away since I was already in Queens. While waiting for the cab I called Micah again, but he didn’t pick up. What the hell? I never had this difficult a time getting hold of him. Guess he’d have to get the full update of my day over a plate of ribs. I tossed my phone back into my handbag and waited impatiently for the cab.