by E. A. Copen
Knight nodded to the officer behind me and pulled a pair of latex gloves from a baggie in her pocket, snapping them on. I had to turn away as she shifted the body, searching for the card I’d seen in my vision. The sound of rustling wet fabric alone made me want to gag.
“Brandi Lavelle.” Knight held up a blank scrap of cardboard with some blood splatter and ink on it. “There’s a phone number here.”
“It’s hers,” I said plainly, a pang of guilt stabbing me in the gut. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry to rush home and get laid, Brandi might still be alive. “She came after hours. Must’ve thought I was already gone for the day. She was going to leave her name and number for me, but I surprised her by coming out of the shop and interrupting her.”
“So that wasn’t just a vision?” Knight dropped the card into a plastic baggie printed with red letters that read EVIDENCE.
I was too busy focusing on the name. Brandi Lavelle. That had to be her. With a name, there was a lot I could do to find out more about her given half the chance.
Knight made a disgusted face and waved me off. “Please escort this scam artist from my crime scene.”
Alcoholic cop tried again to put his hands on me, but I pushed them off and turned on my heels. “I’ll show myself out.”
I held Brandi’s name and face in my mind all the way back to the car. She’d been running from something magical, something she thought I could help her with, and I’d dismissed her. She was dead because of me and my hurry to get home on a Friday evening. If I’d just stopped and taken the time to hear her out, they wouldn’t be scraping her remains off my front steps.
What could crush a person like that anyway? Whatever it was, it’d happened on my steps in front of my shop. There was too much blood for the body to have been moved. I’d seen a few jumpers whose bodies wound up like that thanks to the sudden stop at the end, but even if she’d jumped from the roof of my building, it wasn’t high enough to have broken her body apart like that. That’s the sort of damage you see from skyscraper and bridge jumpers.
The right curse could do it, but you’d need to be extremely powerful to pull it off, and you’d need DNA from your target, as well as a direct line of sight. I didn’t know of any powerful witches in the area, at least none capable of throwing around a curse like that. With the right ingredients and enough prep work, I could, but I knew I hadn’t done it. Maybe there was another necromancer in town. Or maybe I was looking at taking down a whole coven of witches.
Rest assured, I’ll be taking you down whoever you are, I thought, climbing back into my car. I glanced over at the police now closing off my view of the body. It couldn’t be chance that she was killed on my doorstep. Not like this. They could’ve killed her anywhere. This felt like a message, one I couldn’t let go unanswered.
About the Author
E.A. Copen is the author of the Judah Black Novels and The Lazarus Codex. She’s an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy and other genre fiction. When she’s not chained to her keyboard, she may be found time traveling on the weekends with her SCA friends. She lives in beautiful southeast Ohio with her husband and two kids, at least until she saves up enough to leave the shire and become a Jedi.
Connect with E.A. online:
www.eacopen.com
www.facebook.com/EACopen/
Or turn to the next page to sign up for her e-mail list and get some free books!
No one is Above the law.
At least, that’s what federal agent Judah Black believes. Her job is to police supernaturals—werewolves, vampires, and fae—who have come out of hiding to live alongside humans.
The rest of the cops in her precinct are all too eager to dismiss her latest case, an apparent werewolf suicide. But the suicide note lays the blame on a cold case swept under the rug by the very department Judah works for.
When Judah decides to dig deeper, she uncovers evidence that could bring down one of the most powerful up and coming politicians in the country. Her superiors tell her to leave it alone, that everyone who’s ever crossed this senator was fired or worse—dead. Pursuing this case will place Judah in the center of a growing struggle between humans and the supernatural, and change her life forever.
Join my e-mail list and read Judah Black’s story from the beginning with this exclusive short for subscribers only.
An ancient evil lurks in the waters of the Concho River.
After a massive storm, flood waters threaten Paint Rock, Texas, home to over three hundred supernaturals. In the water lurks a new predator, a giant, venomous snake shifter with origins in Native American myth. When one of her own is bitten, Judah Black must find a way to hunt down the monster and a cure before the venom kills her friend and more people get hurt.
But nothing's ever simple.
To find and catch her prey, she'll have to work with a bounty hunter named Logan Creed whose decades long hunt for the mythical snake borders on obsession. He'll sacrifice everything to complete his hunt, including her family and friends.
Read it for free as a subscriber or buy it for $2.99 on Amazon.
Books by E.A. Copen
The Judah Black Novels
Fortunate Son
Guilty by Association
Perfect Storm
Blood Debt
Chasing Ghosts
Playing with Fire
Other stories in the Judah Black Universe:
Kiss of Vengeance
Broken Empire:
Aftermath
Renegades (Coming fall 2018)
The Lazarus Codex:
Death Rites
Organ Grind
Shallow Grave
Knight Shift
Other Works:
Beasts of Babylon