Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues

by Joyce Lavene

  I’d never seen this man. He was dressed in a sharp gray suit and wore a burgundy tie. His shirt was a dazzling white. This was a man who cared about what he looked like. I caught a glimpse of a large ruby ring on his finger. He had very blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was smiling until Lucas and I were fully in the office.

  “Abe.” I nodded to him. “I brought Lucas this morning because—”

  The stranger jumped to his feet and tossed the chair where he’d been sitting against the wall. He held out both his hands toward Lucas, and the ruby ring began to glow.

  “Lucas Trevailer! Stand ready. I mean you no harm, but I will defend myself if attacked.”

  I turned slowly to face Lucas who had adopted a similar pose without the glowing ring as he faced the stranger. “You have me at a disadvantage, sir. I do not know you, but I do not mean you harm.”

  There was so much tension in the small room between the two men that I could almost hear the electricity snapping. Neither man moved, but each kept a careful eye on the other.

  Abe got to his feet and slammed his hands on his desk loud enough that the concussion hurt my ears. “Enough! None of that in my office. Take it in the alley if you must fight.”

  Sorcerers. Geez!

  This was exactly what had happened with Jasper, Abe’s necromancer. At least this man didn’t pull out a sword immediately and come after Lucas. That might’ve been harder for Abe to stop.

  Both men put their hands down, and while their eyes remained on each other, each of them took a seat in the office. It seemed the challenge was over.

  Abe sat behind his desk. “This is Artemis Elkheart. I assume you both realize he is a sorcerer of the highest rank. I brought him in to help with our ghost problem.”

  I gulped, realizing that I hadn’t breathed or swallowed while the two sorcerers had faced each other. “I brought Lucas for the same reason.”

  “I appreciate your offer of aid.” Abe smiled at Lucas. “But I believe we have this well in hand now. Perhaps it would be best if you left.”

  Lucas got up to leave without a word.

  “Wait! What about the ghost?” I asked him.

  “Abe and his sorcerer have it well in hand.” Lucas smiled in a predatory manner.

  I looked into his eyes and knew it was best to let him go. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

  When Lucas had left the office, Brandon closed the door behind him.

  “There was another attack last night, Skye.” Abe shuffled through some papers on his desk. “I’m not sure which of my people was destroyed, but I felt it. I know the whole thing is part of a curse, thanks to my new sorcerer.”

  Artemis got to his feet and shook my hand. “I’m sorry there was no proper introduction. You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

  “Skye Mertz. Nice to meet you.”

  It wasn’t nice to meet him. He was a threat, just as Jasper had been. Lucas was well-known in magical circles. He might not remember them, but they certainly knew him.

  Artemis said he was glad to know me and had heard a lot about me from Abe and then sat back down. Brandon was smiling and shaking his head. I supposed it was funny to him somehow.

  “As I was saying, I’m leaving it to Artemis to locate the person who became a ghost last night. Because I don’t want this to happen to any more of my people, I have retained him as my sorcerer and tasked him with finding the answers to this problem before it becomes a plague.”

  I watched Abe as he spoke. He looked older and more tired. The shiny black flesh on his face sagged. Was it me he was talking about? Was Lucas right, and Abe couldn’t tell that I was the LEP that had changed last night? He could feel the loss of the magic that had escaped him but didn’t know who it was?

  “I am honored to be working with Abe on this problem.” Artemis got to his feet again. He kept fingering the ruby ring. It wasn’t glowing, which I assumed meant he wasn’t accessing its power. Was he nervous or worried that Lucas might be waiting for him outside?

  “Artemis has already come up with a plan to save my people,” Abe said. “We know that not only those returning to me can be infected. Artemis has come up with a way to preserve my people as this curse strikes them.”

  “I am on the verge of that discovery,” Artemis corrected. “In the meantime, since there are too many of Abe’s people to keep watch over all of them, I will be going out with you, Skye, when you are required to bring in another worker.”

  Everyone looked at me. I shrugged. “Okay. Is that it?”

  “For now,” Abe said. “Once we have a way to locate a problem before it becomes bad, I might need your help going to everyone. Until then, we’ll do the best we can.”

  I got to my feet. “Nice to meet you, Artemis. Give me a call when you need me, Abe. I’ll be working on Harold’s murder.”

  “Fine. Thank you, Skye.” Abe nodded and smiled. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Brandon waved but didn’t move. I left the office and Artemis followed me.

  “You look like an intelligent woman, Skye. I must warn you about your companion. Lucas Trevailer is not to be trusted. He is a madman and a murderer.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  I toyed with the idea with telling him to mind his own business. But he was dangerous, and there was no reason to antagonize him. I hoped he and Lucas wouldn’t go at it like with Jasper. I didn’t want it to become an issue between me and Abe.

  “Thank you. I appreciate the warning.” I smiled, turned away, and started to leave.

  Artemis put his hand—the one with the ruby ring—on my shoulder. Something was coming from it, like prickles after your foot goes to sleep. I knew it must be magic. Was he trying to influence me against Lucas?

  “You shouldn’t be with him, Skye. He will harm you and those you love. Leave it to me and I shall protect you and your daughter.”

  His eyes glowed as red as his ring. He was exerting himself into my thoughts and emotions.

  I wasn’t sure how I knew that so clearly unless it was because I had been around Lucas’s magic for a while. Lucas might be as evil as Artemis was trying to convince me, but he had never tried to use his magic to influence me this way.

  “I understand. Thank you, Artemis.” I smiled again, but my patience was beginning to wear thin. “I have to make those decisions. And I don’t appreciate you including my daughter in this. We’ll work it out. You concentrate on Abe’s problems. I’m sure that will be all you can handle.”

  He seemed amazed that I didn’t heed his advice and that his magic seemed not to affect me. Artemis removed his hand from my shoulder. “I fear for your life. Be careful and call me if you need help. I know Lucas is powerful, but I can defeat him.”

  I was done smiling and being polite. “Okay. Sure. I guess I’ll see you later.”

  “You doubt my word?” He peered closely into my face. “Do you not know who I am?”

  Brandon popped his head out of the doorway to Abe’s office. “Sorry you two. Artemis, if you’re done with Skye, Abe wants you back in here.”

  All the glowing and weird side effects were immediately gone. Artemis nodded curtly and went back to Abe’s office. I left the tattoo shop like a rabid dog was chasing me.

  Lucas was waiting outside the van with the air of an impatient man.

  “Well? What happened? Did he actually figure out the answer, or was he just bluffing?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t give out any details, except for warning me about you.” I glanced at my phone and saw that I’d missed a text from Gerald Linker. He wanted to meet with me at the spot on the road where Jacob, and Julie, had died. Maybe this was a good time to meet with him and see what he had to say.

  “What did he say about me?”

  “That you’re evil and you’ll kill me and Kate if you get a chance.” I got in the driver’s side of the van. “There was something odd though. I think he was trying to use his magic to make me believe him. I can’t explain it—something just popped into my
mind, and I knew it. Probably spending too much time with an evil sorcerer, huh?”

  Before I could start the van, he put both his hands on my arms. “Yes. I can feel his magic on you. I can almost smell it. He’s very strong. I’m surprised you weren’t influenced by him.”

  “Thanks.” I started the engine. “I have enough common sense not to trust someone like him. He even brought Kate into it. I guess Abe must’ve told him I had a daughter. “

  “This has nothing to do with common sense, Skye. Power was exerted to control your thoughts. Only someone with magic could deflect it.”

  “We’ve already been through this, Lucas. I don’t have any magic—that can’t be what brought you here or what stopped Artemis from causing me to hate you. It must be something you’ve forgotten.”

  He wasn’t happy with that answer. I couldn’t help it. I explained that we were going to meet Gerald and got the van out into traffic.

  “Abe didn’t say anything about you being different, did he?” Lucas asked.

  “No. I guess you were right. He didn’t notice. He knew one of his zombies had become a ghost. I could tell he’d felt the loss of magic from the way he looked though, couldn’t you? But he didn’t know it was me.”

  “He appeared weak and fading.” He changed the subject. “What will you and Gerald do at the site of Jacob’s death?”

  “I don’t know. I’m assuming he wouldn’t have texted me if he hadn’t found some other information he wants to share. This is about justice and finding out who killed these people. If Jacob had survived instead of me, he would’ve done the same.”

  “Have you considered what you will do when you find this person?”

  “I’ll make sure he’s arrested. What did you think?”

  “I believe you’ll find that Gerald has other ideas, Skye. He wants to kill whoever killed his wife. He doesn’t care about your sense of justice.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. This is the closest I’ve been to understanding it. If we can take it one step further, we could have this person in custody.”

  Lucas was quiet for a few minutes as we drove out of Nashville. I saw him watching the road ahead of us out of the corner of my eye.

  “Artemis Elkheart is very strong,” he finally said in a low voice. “The magic contained in his ring is a diversion. He uses it as a distraction to pull your eye away from what he really intends.”

  “I noticed that he fiddles with it all the time.”

  His dark brows went up. “Fiddles?”

  “Messes with it. Plays with it. I noticed right away. I didn’t know why, but thanks for telling me. If we ever get into a sword fight like you and Jasper did, I’ll be sure to ignore the ring.”

  He smiled. “I don’t think that would help you.”

  “Maybe not, but if we get into a sword fight, I’ll just shoot him anyway. No distractions.” I pulled the van off the side of the main road near the woods where Jacob was killed. “I’m glad you’ve kept your sense of humor about it. I’m not afraid of Artemis, and his words mean nothing compared to your deeds.”

  Lucas shook his head. “Don’t underestimate him, Skye. His magic is real. It could be deadly.”

  “Deadly?” I puzzled. “You think he might have killed Harold?”

  “It’s possible. As you’ve witnessed—twice. We seem to fight amongst ourselves.”

  “I noticed.” I studied his face. “Didn’t you have the urge to kill Artemis back there?”

  “No. Perhaps it’s something else missing from my past.”

  “I guess that’s just as well. Let’s go.”

  Lucas and I found Gerald wandering through the forest. He was using a metal detector and putting small items he’d found into a cloth bag he had slung over his shoulder.

  He jumped when he heard us and pulled a pistol. “Who’s there?”

  “It’s me,” I reassured him. “Skye Mertz. You texted me to meet you here. Remember?”

  “Oh yeah.” He put the pistol into the cloth bag too. His hands were shaking, and his eyes were wild. “Sorry. It makes me nervous being out here, you know? But I don’t see any way to avoid it.”

  “Did you find something new?” I asked.

  “I thought of something.” He grinned. “That’s good for me. I’m looking for evidence to prove it.”

  Lucas and I walked with him through the woods as he continually stopped and picked up objects. There were parts of vehicles—from broken taillights to bumpers—strewn through the trees. Fragments of human lives were scattered everywhere. Teddy bears. Dolls. Flashlights. Broken cell phones. These things were what had been left behind when accidents were over.

  “What exactly are we looking for, Gerald?” I finally asked.

  “Proof that your husband and my Julie weren’t killed in the car accidents. It’s out here somewhere. We just have to keep looking.”

  “And what of the creature who stalks these woods?” Lucas asked. “Are you seeking proof that it exists?”

  Gerald and I both stared at him.

  “What do you mean creature?” Gerald questioned. “There’s not a creature out here stalking victims. It’s a man. Right, Skye?”

  Lucas smiled grimly. “Smell the air. Does that smell like a man to you?”

  We both took a deep sniff.

  “So it smells like dogs or wolves.” I shrugged and refused to believe it. “We have both around here. They don’t rip people from their vehicles. They don’t wait here for the next wreck.”

  Lucas knelt, and lifted a handful of soil. “This creature is neither dog nor wolf. He is not a man. Check your dates against the full moon. I’m sure you’ll find more interesting proof than exists here now.”

  Gerald and I exchanged crazy glances.

  “Are you saying a werewolf killed my wife?” Gerald laughed. “Man, you’re crazier than me.”

  But in the execution of my duties for Abe, I had watched a werewolf change back into a man one day before I took him to the mortuary. I knew they existed but had never considered a werewolf had killed Jacob.

  “Why would it stalk these woods?” I glanced around as a breeze rustled the leaves, making me shiver in the heat. “It could be anywhere, right?”

  “It probably lives within a few miles.” Lucas got to his feet and dusted the knees of his jeans. “But I tell you that the werewolf is what you seek. No doubt your loved ones deaths came on the night of its change. Find the wolf, and you find your killer.”

  Gerald was skeptical. He continued walking through the trees with his metal detector.

  I stopped Lucas from going with him. “Why didn’t you mention this before?”

  “I had my theories, but this is the first time you’ve brought me here. I can feel the creature. It will hunt here again. It is the way of it. We all look for the tried and true.”

  “It’s hard for me to believe a werewolf waits out here for cars to wreck.” Even though I knew it was possible, it was hard to believe. I studied the woods with new eyes, going back over everything in my mind.

  “If a cat is stalking a mouse and finds a spot in a barn where mice come to eat corn, the cat returns for plentiful hunting. These woods are, no doubt, safe during the month, except for the full moon. Cars may find catastrophe here at other times. I believe you’ll find that the unexplainable deaths happen here when the creature hunts.”

  My mind couldn’t settle on the idea. I’d been so full of conspiracies and theories of how and why Jacob was killed. This seemed too simple, too easy.

  Too crazy.

  A werewolf had killed Jacob. I couldn’t even say it out loud.

  “Will you keep an eye on him?” I asked Lucas after realizing that I had left my phone in the van. “I’m going to check the full moon schedule.”

  “Certainly.”

  I ran back to the van and pulled out my phone, flipping through the internet until I found a page that had a listing for every full moon for the last hundred years.

  There was the
date that Jacob was killed. I skipped forward. There was the date that Julie had died.

  My breath was strangled in my chest. I’d been so focused on bringing Jacob’s killer to justice. Now there was no justice—only a sudden, extreme urge for vengeance.

  I could kill a werewolf. That wasn’t the same as killing another human being who could go to prison for his crimes.

  Another thought occurred to me. Had Abe known about the werewolf? He’d had one in his employ previously. Was that why he hadn’t wanted me to look into Jacob’s death? Had he known all along and not told me?

  I had to force myself to back up.

  One theory at a time, even though the question of Abe’s possible involvement burned in me. The first thing I had to do was find proof. Even if it was a werewolf, there had to be some way to prove what had happened. And then we’d have to locate the werewolf, if such a thing was possible.

  Looking at the moon calendar, I saw that we were in the middle of a full moon cycle. Was it possible to capture a werewolf? If so, we could compare its DNA to blood samples taken from Jacob and Julie.

  Was that the wrong approach? Should I be out buying a weapon to kill the beast? If so, what kind of weapon?

  I remembered what a tough fight it had been getting Terry into the van last night. He wasn’t a werewolf—still not quite sure what he was—but I had to imagine a wolf would be smarter and stronger.

  I saw Lucas and Gerald coming out of the woods toward the van and jumped out to see if Gerald had found anything useful.

  “Do you believe this werewolf thing?” Gerald was openly skeptical.

  “I don’t know what to believe,” I admitted. “I’m not well-versed in werewolves or vampires. Not much of a supernatural person. What about you?”

  He held up the one thing he had found in the trees. “I might have to get some books.”

  In his hand was a large, dark claw that still had dried blood on it.

  Chapter Twenty

  “If you think a werewolf killed Julie, I’ll meet you back here,” he said. “It’s gonna take me a while to get drunk enough to deal with it and then get sober again.”