Requiem for the Living (The Reanimation Files Book 2)

by A. J. Locke

  “I think we could have a wonderful relationship,” Andrew said. “Just wait and see, Selene.”

  “Yeah…right. So dinner…”

  “I would love to cook for you,” Andrew said. “Why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?”

  “Oh, tonight? That’s…” Sudden. “Fine. Sounds good. I’ll see you at…”

  “Eight.”

  “Eight it is.” I stood up and Andrew pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back, feeling all sorts of weird. On the one hand, I couldn’t forgive Andrew’s treatment of me when he was alive, but it was sad that he was stuck in the living world like this, trying to pretend he was still the same as before he died. As much as I didn’t want another thing to deal with Tielle was right, I had to do whatever I could to make sure Andrew didn’t turn into an anchored beastie.

  “OK, well I am going to see if I can get some work done.” I pulled back.

  “Work? As much as I would enjoy you being here, you know that you are welcome to take a leave of absence.”

  “I know, but I choose to be here, is that OK?” My words were stronger than I’d intended but I was really tired of being told that I should stay home and rest. Andrew’s eyebrows rose slightly but he nodded.

  “Of course it is. I didn’t have any clients scheduled for you today but tell Amy to send a couple your way.”

  “Great.” I left his office and headed over to Amy’s desk.

  “Hey, Amy,” I flashed her a smile I didn’t mean.

  “Hi, Selene…um, how are you feeling?”

  “Rotten.” I laughed at my silly joke more than I should have. Amy’s face faltered.

  “That…sucks.”

  “How’s your car?”

  “What?” Her brow furrowed.

  “You had car trouble the other day, right? And Micah helped you out?”

  “Oh right, yeah. My car is fine. Was really nice to Micah to stop and help me.” Mention of Micah’s name made her smile recover. I almost rolled my eyes at her.

  “Yeah he’s really nice, that Micah. Good at helping people out. Good at a lot of things actually.” I gave her a second to let the implication trickle in. Her eyes widened slightly. “Anyway, Andrew says you’re to give me a couple of clients to work with today. Any ghosts I can take off someone’s hands?”

  “Let me check.” She typed at her keyboard for a moment. “Yes, there’s one available. She’s in the holding area, I’ll have her sent up.”

  “Great. Thanks ever so much.” I headed to my desk, which was in a more disastrous condition than I remembered leaving it. I might as well try to straighten it up to help make a good first impression on my client. I was more excited than I should be for someone who’d been a working necromancer for as long as I had been. It’d felt like forever since I’d done something as normal as help a ghost settle their affairs.

  “Selene, here’s your client.” I stopped my tidying and turned around to see Amy standing there with the ghost of a young woman. Amy walked back to her desk, and I offered a smile and gestured to the seat in the cubicle that the ghost could sit on. She was already wearing energy runes.

  “Nice to meet you…”

  “Diane,” she offered. She was petite and had short, curly ghost hair and glasses.

  “Diane,” I said. “What I’m going to do is use runes to figure out what your unfinished business is, then as long as it’s doable, I will help you get it done. Sounds good?”

  “I already know what my unfinished business is,” she muttered. “And you’re sure to make fun of me over it.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Don’t worry, we take an oath of professionalism that includes not making fun of our clients.”

  She gave me a flat look. “I doubt you’ll be able to resist.”

  “Well, let’s see why don’t we?” I found my bag of runes and pulled out the one I needed.

  It was a light gray stone with purple undertones, irregularly shaped, and heavier than other runes. I channeled some energy into the rune to activate it.

  “Hold your hand out, palm facing up.”

  Diane did as I asked, and I placed the rune on her hand.

  “Diane, what’s your unfinished business?”

  She stared at the rune for a moment then sighed. “I was kind of leading a double life that no one really knew about. By day I taught middle school, but by night I was a product tester for an adult toy company.”

  My eyes widened, and I had to fight not to smile at how amusing I found this.

  “It paid well, OK, and I was having a hard time paying off my student loans on a teacher’s salary. Plus my father was ill and my mom was struggling to pay his medical bills so I would send her some money. Anyway, my dad has been on the mend so he and my mom were coming to visit me, and I planned to come clean about my double life. But then I was hit by a car. I’m sure my parents have already found the many toys I had hidden at my apartment, and I need them to know I’m not just some sex freak. I don’t want to leave them with some tainted idea of me.”

  “Well it’s going to be a little tainted no matter what,” I said. The rune glowed so she was right, this was her unfinished business. I removed the rune, activated a different one, this one dark green with streaks of black, and placed it on her palm.

  “Do you have any other unfinished business?”

  “No,” Diane said. The rune remained dormant, so she told the truth. I took it back and put it away. I then typed up a summary of our conversation for our records. I printed out a copy to take with me.

  “All right, one awkward conversation with the parentals coming right up. Where can we find them?”

  “They’re staying at my aunt’s house in Queens.” Diane got up and sighed again. “Boy, I really am not looking forward to this.”

  “It may not be as bad as you think.”

  Diane gave me a look. “They’re conservative Christians. It’s going to be worse than you could ever imagine.”

  “Well then, let’s get to it.” We left the suite and headed out to my car.

  * * *

  Around five-thirty I was wearily closing my car door and walking to my house. The day had been more mentally draining then physically, but the Rot was taking care of the physical part. It had been quite a doozy trying to help Diane make her family understand why her ghost had stuck around. It was even more difficult because it wasn’t just her parents, there were at least a dozen extended family members at her aunt’s house all mourning her loss. One of her uncles had thought her ghost had risen due to some unfulfilled charity project. Yikes. It had taken Diane a long time to even say the words she needed to say, and after she did, all hell had broken lose. I think holy water had even been thrown, or maybe someone had just spilled their drink on me in their shock.

  After a long, long time and a lot of talking in which Diane revealed that her very strict, restrictive upbringing played a role in her rebelling behind their backs as she grew up, her family finally came to enough of an understanding that allowed Diane’s ghost to fade. And I couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough after that. Her mother had tried to persuade me to stay for a few hours to pray for Diane’s soul. I had nothing against religion and had my own beliefs, but hours of prayer with a ghost client’s family? Can you say awkward?

  “Tell me there’s dinner,” I said as I walked inside and closed the door. Luna did her usual flying tackle greeting, and I dropped onto the sofa with her in my arms.

  “Lasagna,” Ethan said from the kitchen. It smelled good and not burnt.

  “Long day?” he called.

  “I had to help a ghost client who needed to tell her Christian family that she moonlighted as a sex toy tester.”

  Ethan gave a choking laugh. “You’re kidding.”

  “Can’t make this stuff up.” I put Luna down headed to my room. “I’m going to take a shower; be a good ghosty and fix me a plate?”

  “Like you had to ask. Where’s Micah by the way?”

  “Oh w
ow, haven’t heard from him all day, was too busy with my client. I’m guessing he went to work after his errands. I’ll call him after I eat if he doesn’t show up.”

  After a nice hot shower, I was pulling on shorts and a slouchy T-shirt when Ethan knocked on the door.

  “Uh, Selene, I think I sense something…”

  I opened the door and gave him a quizzical look. “Sense something? What are you talking about?”

  “Remember I told you that I had sensed Isabelle’s ghost? Well, I’m getting the same feeling again…like there’s a ghost lingering around.”

  “You’re kidding.” I ran over to my bedroom window and my heart felt like it had fallen to the floor when I saw the ghost of a young man standing uncertainly in my backyard.

  “What the hell happened to the alarm system!” I yelled at Ethan as I headed to the back door.

  “Um…I may have forgotten to turn it on the other night because I was in another raid then I fell asleep…”

  “If you weren’t already a ghost I would kill you.” I yanked open the door and approached the ghost. I could not believe this had happened again despite taking precautions. This is what I got for thinking Ethan could handle as simple a task as remembering to press a button.

  “Um…hello.” The ghost looked around. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  “First, who are you?”

  “My name is Marcus Trent,” he replied. Marcus was on the short side and had closely cropped hair. He was wearing what he’d died in: sweatpants and a T-shirt.

  “I’m Selene Vanream. Did you hear about me before you died?”

  “No, I was terminally ill for the past few months. I had an inoperable brain tumor and the last thing I remember was being told they were going to allow me to go home and try to make me as comfortable as they could in my last days. I remember a week or so of being at my parent’s home, then I guess I must have died.” His face looked extremely sad but I didn’t have time to be his therapist right now.

  “You had to have been alive when you left your parent’s house because you died here. Do you have any memory of who took you from your home?” He shook his head. Damn it.

  “No. Can you please explain what’s going on? Who are you and why am I here?”

  “I’ll explain, but come inside first.” I led Marcus to the living room and left him there for a moment. I found the bottle of whisky I kept in the kitchen and took a swig.

  “I should crack you over the head with this bottle,” I said to Ethan. “The one thing I ask you to do!”

  “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I know I messed up…”

  “And now I have another anchored ghost to deal with. Fantastic!”

  “Um, anchored? What are you talking about?” Marcus asked.

  “Have a seat.”

  Marcus tentatively sat down, and I explained everything he needed to know about who I was, what my power had evolved into, and what it meant that someone had buried him in my backyard. He looked beyond stunned by the time I was finished.

  “So you mean my ghost is stuck here?”

  “For the time being, yes,” I said. “But the worse news is that if your affairs aren’t settled then you will turn into a beastie that’s stuck here. And I cannot let that happen.” The only upside to this mess was that I could work with Marcus to settle whatever affairs he needed settled and that would ensure he wouldn’t beastie out. I retrieved the bag of runes I kept at home and first pulled out and activated an energy rune, which I slipped around his neck. I then got out the gray and purple rune, activated it, and lay it on Marcus’ palm.

  “Marcus, what have you left unsettled?”

  “Um…” Marcus stared at the rune in his hand for a while as he thought. “I owed my sister fifty dollars that I never got to pay back.”

  There was no reaction from the rune stone.

  “That’s not it. Try again.” Marcus thought again for a moment, then his eyes widened. “Of course, how could I not have thought of this first?” There was a sad note to his voice.

  “I had a girlfriend. She broke with me a few months before I got sick and it broke my heart. I was going to ask her to marry me. I’d even bought a ring, and I kept it on me at all times, even when I was in the hospital. I never told her I was sick so to this day she probably has no idea what happened to me. Despite everything, I always told myself I would give her the ring as something to remember me by, but I never got the chance.”

  The rune started glowing, and I nodded and took it out of his palm. “Bingo.” I then used the other rune to find out if that was all he had unsettled. It was.

  “So this ring is on your corpse?” I asked. Marcus nodded.

  I heaved a sigh. “I really wish your unfinished business was that you owed your sister money.”

  “Sorry,” Marcus said, looking down.

  “Not your fault.” I reached for my cell phone and dialed Micah. No way was I digging up a corpse by myself. Unfortunately for me Micah’s phone went to voicemail, which irritated me. I tossed the phone aside.

  “Well, I don’t think you are going to beastie out just yet, so I will give Micah some time, then we will unearth your body. Although maybe I should make you do it by yourself, Ethan.” I looked over my shoulder at him but his eyes were glued on the television, which I had muted when I came home.

  “Selene I think you need to pay attention to this.” Ethan restored the volume, and I turned to the TV. When I saw what the news was relaying, my stomach clenched. A ghost monster was on the rampage.

  “Another one?” I said. “At least I’m not at the scene this ti—” I cut myself off because what the reporter said grabbed my attention.

  “Sources are saying the ghost monster has already left a trail of destruction in its wake, starting in upstate New York. The monster’s first victims are being identified as John and Marie Rye. Their mutilated bodies were found in their car just outside of Buffalo. The beastie then cut a path through upstate New York as it made its way to the city…”

  I tuned out from the television for a moment because it felt as though my heart had momentarily stopped. John and Maria Rye, those were the beastie’s first victims, and no doubt it was because the beastie had manifested from the ghost of the little girl they were trying to flee with. Ethan and I slowly turned to each other. His eyes were as wide as mine.

  “Oh no,” Ethan whispered. “Isabelle’s anchored ghost…”

  “Is now an anchored beastie,” I finished. My body felt rigid, like I had gone into shock. I no longer had to find Isabelle, but now she was a beastie. I had the definite feeling that I was screwed. Extremely screwed.

  “Police reports are indicating that the strength of this ghost monster is like none they have seen before. Rune bullets do not seem to be having much effect on it…”

  “I’ll bet,” I said breathlessly. I grabbed hold of the back of the sofa because I felt weak. What the hell could I do now? Isabelle’s ghost monster could not be blasted away, and it was too horrifying to think that the only option would be to leave her to wipe out New York City then move on to the rest of the country. This couldn’t be happening. If this was a nightmare, now would be the perfect time to wake up.

  I reluctantly raised my eyes to the television again. All the screaming felt like it was happening right inside my head. The footage was hard to watch. Isabelle’s beastie looked about eight feet tall, was slender, bone white, and instead of feet, its torso tapered to a sharp point that it spun on with lightening speed. It had two sets of tightly muscled arms, and a halo of feathers around the top of its head. It’s huge, bulbous eyes were an electric blue, and its mouth was, of course, a big round thing full of sharp teeth. Oh, and it could fly. There were leathery, bat-like wings on its back. It made a massacre of buildings, cars, lamp posts, and people as it plowed down Twelfth Avenue.

  “Officials are at a loss as to how to bring this ghost monster under control. Necromancers from various agencies are on the scene trying to rein the beastie in, but so fa
r their efforts remain futile…”

  Something the reporter said caught my attention, and I straightened up as a thought occurred to me.

  “Bring the ghost monster under control,” I said.

  Ethan looked at me questioningly. “Selene? What is it?”

  I ran into my bedroom and came back with one of the binding runes I still had hidden under my floor board.

  “Remember the whole ordeal with Michael when he sent those two ghost beasties to capture you?”

  Ethan nodded.

  “He said he had bound them to a binding rune and that’s how he controlled them, so if I can do the same with Isabelle’s beastie, I can get her to stop rampaging!”

  “It should work,” Ethan said. “But can you really risk being seen? People are bound to figure out that the beastie is anchored.”

  “I will try to do it discreetly but I have to do it, regardless of if I’m seen or not. I can’t just leave it out there to kill any and everything, not when I know how to stop it.”

  “OK,” Ethan said. “But you should tell Micah so he can help you.”

  “He didn’t answer his phone just now. Keep calling and tell him what I plan to do.” I went back to my bedroom, changed the shorts for jeans, and put on a hat and hoodie, drawing the hood over my head. Then I headed to the door in the best disguise I could muster. “You and Marcus stay here, do not step a foot outside, got it?”

  Ethan nodded, looking grim, and Marcus nodded, looking confused and afraid. Ethan ran up to me and gave me a quick, tight hug before I was out the door.

  “Be careful.”

  “I’ll do my best to come back in one piece.” Once I was in my car I stepped on the gas and tried to make it to Manhattan as quickly as I could.

  CHAPTER TEN

  After a tense and reckless drive I tracked down the ghost beastie. It had stayed on Twelfth Avenue and was now in Chelsea. I parked my car and practically leaped out of it, running as fast as I could toward where the ghost beastie was tossing cars aside and barreling in and out of buildings. There were a lot of art galleries in this area and the ghost beastie was quickly dwindling their numbers. The area was clear of people from the general public, and there were necromancers and police officers everywhere. They kept up a steady stream of rune bullets at the beastie, who wasn’t affected by them in the least.