Kiss of Souls

by Morgan Kelley

  He didn’t know what she was going to do that he didn’t already do, but he figured why the hell not. This was heading toward unsolved cold case.

  Or Beau’s incarceration.

  “Later, I’ll head into your office with the list of phone numbers we pulled from your mother’s cell.”

  “His mother. Again, we were estranged.”

  “I’M. WITH. TORI. ON. THIS. ONE,” the radio chirped. “SHE. LEFT. AND. NOW. SO. HAVE. WE.”

  “I love you, Trey,” Tori stated.

  “WE. LOVE. YOU. SPROUT.”

  It still astounded Arsen that she was having a relationship with her brother via radio, but after what he saw today?

  Yeah, what was one more weird thing?

  “Is that it?” Arsen asked. “He did his thing, and you channeled your ghosts. Is that all for the team or do Julian and Claire have a gift too?”

  “Actually, I’m not done,” Tori stated. “They aren’t psychic. I still have one more trick up my sleeve.”

  “What?” he asked.

  Like he needed to see more crazy.

  “He did his touch thing, and what are you going to do?”

  Yeah, she was up.

  Tori rolled her neck as if she was getting ready for a fight. “Julian, will you catch me?” she asked.

  He always would.

  Even if he hated this part, he’d make sure his wife was safe. That was the least he could do. Besides, Trey and Bethany would protect her with their lives…uh, deaths…uh, with whatever they could.

  Damn!

  This was confusing.

  “Yes, honey, I have you.”

  That’s all she had to hear.

  “I’ll be back.”

  “Where is she…?” he stopped when she closed her eyes, and then opened them again. They were blank, empty, and tracking him.

  She looked dead.

  No, that wasn’t quite it. Actually, Tori looked like a zombie. Her motions were hesitant, heavy, and lumbering.

  “Jesus!”

  Yeah, he could say that again.

  Julian hated this part. His wife was awake, but not awake. It was damn scary to watch.

  “That’s freaking creepy,” Arsen offered, waving his hand in front of her face. “What’s she doing?” he asked.

  “She’s talking to the dead.”

  “Seriously?”

  Julian held onto his wife.

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

  No.

  No, he did not.

  It was crystal clear that ‘Littlemoon Investigations’ had some bizarre hiring requirements.

  This was the proof.

  Tori hated this part.

  The falling was always the worst. The world rushed past her in dizzying swirls. It always made her feel like she was falling out of control through the darkness.

  It felt like being on a runaway rollercoaster.

  When she finally stopped moving, Tori opened her eyes to focus on her surroundings.

  She was in the same room, but this time, there was no blood, and her brother and Bethany were there.

  He was lounging on the bed in his camo gear, arms propped behind his head.

  He was ridiculously handsome, and from the grin, he knew it.

  It made her laugh.

  Trey winked at her.

  Beside him, Bethany was sitting there, and she was wearing some cheery sundress in pale hues of summer.

  They looked happy.

  Oh, and dead.

  How ironic.

  “Tori!”

  “Hey, sprout,” Trey said.

  “I missed you guys. I could hear you calling for me, and I thought I’d pop in to see what you needed.”

  Trey lifted a brow.

  “What?”

  “Someone was calling me,” she reiterated.

  They both looked back and forth at each other, and then Trey broke the bad news.

  “We weren’t calling you. We were just chilling here in the bed and watching your back while you worked.”

  She looked doubtful.

  “Okay, we were making out, but I had one eye on you, and one on the prize.”

  She didn’t have a reply for that, other than she was confused. Then who was nagging her to show up?

  Someone had been touching her mind, and it had really had felt like Bethany.

  “Um, someone called me.”

  They shared another look.

  Tori caught it.

  “What was that?” she asked. “That look. What was it? You both know something.”

  Bethany shook her head. “Nothing. We know nothing. We were hoping you’d leave so we could have sex. It’ll be really raunchy sex. Hurry along.”

  “Yeah, you should go, sprout.”

  Tori stared at them.

  Now she knew they were up to something. Trey never wanted her to leave. When she’d pop in, he loved their time together.

  This was odd.

  “I think you guys are lying to me. No, I know you’re both hiding something. Spill it, Trey.”

  Bethany giggled nervously.

  Trey wouldn’t look her in the eyes.

  There was her proof.

  “What is it? Tell me, or I’m going to set you both free,” she threatened.

  Trey sputtered.

  He knew if that happened, he could lose Bethany. He’d just found her.

  “You can’t do that, and you know it!”

  “I can get Julian’s holy water. I bet that stings like a bitch!” she threatened. She wouldn’t use it, but they didn’t know that.

  “Tori!”

  “Then spill it.”

  Trey gave up.

  “It’s mom.”

  She wasn’t shocked. If her deadbeat mother didn’t linger, making her life hell, she’d be shocked as shit. This didn’t even register on her shock-o-meter.

  “That’s not surprising.”

  Trey watched her with the same stormy eyes. “You’re okay with that?”

  “I know she’s around. I can feel her,” Tori said, letting them off the hook. She got why her brother didn’t want her to know. He was trying to protect her from their mother, even in her death.

  She would have done it too.

  “She’s learning how to communicate,” Bethany offered, cuddling closer to Trey. “She’s trying to figure out how to talk to you, and she’s angry.”

  Tori got it.

  When you died like Shelby had, the residual anger had to be a bitch to handle. Shelby was trapped as a victim in life, and now in death.

  They were going to have to set her free.

  This made her think about something else she’d noticed, as of late.

  “Who is doing the freaky shit at the office?” Tori asked. “You know…all the pencils flying, the scissors that nearly killed Julian last week.”

  “It’s not us,” Trey promised.

  She stared, her hands on her hips. She knew her spirit guides loved the family, but the dead were the dead. It wasn’t like dealing with the living. They were…complicated.

  “Trey!”

  “I swear. I wouldn’t do something like that. We love Julian. We may bust his ass, but we aren’t ever going to hurt him.”

  Bethany agreed. “Julian made me Veronica’s godmother. I wouldn’t hurt him or her. They are mine.”

  She believed her.

  “Then what’s around? I’m not the only one who has noticed, and it’s getting irritating.”

  “Mom maybe?” Trey offered.

  “You can’t tell?” she asked.

  What the hell kind of spirit guides were they if they couldn’t warn her what was lurking?

  “I’ve never felt anything like it before,” Trey said. “I’m pretty new to this.”

  Bethany touched his cheek. “I can feel it, too, but until it reveals itself, it can play ‘Hide and Seek’.”

  “Great.”

  Julian wasn’t going to like this.

  At all.

  They were tw
o spooks too many, and this was going to be bad. Shelby ruined his career, and his business. If she was lurking in his building, he was going to hose the place with holy water. It would be any dead spirit for themselves.

  This was beyond bad.

  “What can you tell me about Shelby’s death?” she asked Bethany.

  Her spirit guide thought about it.

  “This room is full of things that go bump in the night, Tori. You need to be careful. When she was killed, she was filled with hate and anger. That’s only going to magnify.”

  She didn’t disagree.

  “What’s coming is bad.”

  Uh, that didn’t sound good.

  “What’s coming?”

  “I don’t know, but I can tell you it’s going to be powerful. I can feel it when I’m with you. It’s watching and waiting.”

  Okay, Julian was really not going to be happy.

  “Mom deserved what she got.”

  “Shelby. Let’s make her wear that name, since she didn’t earn being a mother,” Tori suggested. “I can’t, and I won’t, call her Mom.”

  Trey knew his sister was upset, so he changed the subject. “I thought you should know, but I proposed to my girl.”

  Tori smiled.

  That was sweet.

  She didn’t know if ghosts could get married over on this side, but it touched her heart.

  “And she said?” Tori asked.

  “I said yes!”

  “I wish I could give her a ring,” Trey stated. “We don’t have jewelers over here.”

  Tori crawled onto the bed and hugged Bethany first, and then Trey. He felt firm beneath her hug, and she let it linger.

  God!

  She missed him.

  “I miss you, too, sprout,” he said, reading her mind. “At least we have this. Don’t be sad. I’m with you forever. Literally.”

  It would have to do.

  Then, Tori had an idea.

  “You can have my ring,” she said, pulling her engagement ring off her finger. She was pretty sure it would appear back in the real world.

  If not, Julian would understand.

  Since Veronica’s birth, he’d been very ghost tolerant. When Bethany sat in the nursery with Veronica, rocking her cradle, he got it.

  She’d had a baby.

  She’d lost her child to death.

  He didn’t mind, and neither did she. They had guardian angels…err…guardian ghosts for Veronica.

  “Really?” Bethany stated.

  “Absolutely,’ Tori said, holding it out to Trey. He touched it with his fingers and picked it up.

  Then he slid it onto Bethany’s finger.

  It fit perfectly.

  “I love you both,” Bethany said. “Thank you for putting us together. We will always have your back, Tori.”

  She was aware.

  “And I’ll watch over Veronica no matter what. I’m her godmother, and she’s going to be safe and protected.”

  That, in itself, was worth everything to Tori. Their daughter could use the babysitters from beyond.

  “I wish I could take credit for bringing you guys together, but I didn’t have anything to do with it. Fate did.”

  “You were the catalyst, sprout. If you didn’t embrace this gift, and fought it, we wouldn’t be here.”

  Okay, maybe she did have a little to do with it.

  She was about to say as much when the air around them went cold.

  She turned, and in the corner, there was a figure forming.

  Trey was off the bed and standing between it and Tori. At first, she thought it was to force it away from them, but then she got it.

  It was Shelby.

  “Help me!”

  Tori moved to stand by her brother. “We are.”

  “Help me!”

  She moved closer.

  Trey and Tori took a step back.

  “Help me! I was murdered!”

  The room started going hazy, and Tori knew why. There were three ghosts there, and they were all feeding on her energy. She couldn’t hold three for long.

  “Get out!” she called to Shelby.

  The ghost moved even closer.

  “I said, get out!” Tori screamed so loudly, the room shook with it.

  Shelby shook, flickered, and then raced right at her. When her form hit Tori’s, she materialized right through her.

  Then there was silence.

  “Tori.”

  “I know, Trey, I know. I have to deal with her. Only it’s going be on my terms. She can’t haunt my head.”

  Or her life.

  Or her heart.

  Or their building.

  Trey tried to hug her, but his death state was returning. “Celebrate love with your girl. I’m going back. I need to figure out who killed Shelby, or we may lose Beau.”

  “We can’t let that happen,” he stated. “Not on our watch, sprout. He’s ours to protect.”

  She was aware, but honestly, it felt like it was out of her power.

  A lot of things were.

  This was just one more to add to the list.

  When she opened her eyes, she was sweating. Julian was, too, and then she figured out why. She must have gotten chilly, and they were trying to heat her up.

  “I’m okay.”

  “What happened?” he asked. “You screamed and then there was nothing from you.”

  The detective was watching her.

  Could she blame him?

  This was a circus, and hell! These were her monkeys. What could possibly happen next in her life?

  Maybe she shouldn’t ask.

  “Trey and Bethany got engaged, and Shelby showed up,” Tori muttered, as she tried to regain some of her energy.

  Truthfully, that wasn’t the issue. She simply hated even saying the dead woman’s name.

  “Seriously?” he asked.

  That couldn’t be good. He thought back to what Trey had confided in him. So much for keeping the dead wicked witch away from his wife.

  “You saw her in there?” he asked, pointing at her head. “Really?”

  “Yes. She didn’t tell me anything. She was barely able to manifest. As time passes, we’ll see more of her.”

  Arsen was fascinated with all of this. “You actually saw her?” he asked.

  “Yes. I channel, and unfortunately, she’s attached to me. Talk about not wanting to cut the cord.”

  Julian stared at her.

  “What? Too early?”

  He shook his head in exasperation. “Uh. yeah.”

  “I can’t believe any of this,” Arsen muttered. “I feel like I walked into a story.”

  Tori had felt like that early on too. Now it was her life, and she’d adjusted.

  Mostly.

  “If we need to talk to her, I need to do it a little differently. She’s not able to hold her form. She’s only been dead a week. Trey and Bethany have years between them.”

  He didn’t know what that meant, but she was driving the crazy bus, not him.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “You head to our office with the numbers, I’ll have my team there, and we’ll get started.”

  “By doing what?” he asked.

  “Talking to the victim.”

  “How are you going to do that?” he asked, crossing his arms. There was amusement in his brown eyes.

  It was clear to tell he thought they were a joke.

  Julian suspected where this was going, and he really did not like it.

  Not one bit.

  “No, Victoria!”

  “I have to, Julian. What choice do I have?” she asked.

  He sighed.

  Julian knew his wife didn’t like doing things like this—especially when they were divided, but it was important. This was Beau’s life on the line, and for that, everyone would deal with the uncomfortable.

  It was part of life, and their jobs.

  “Come tonight after dusk,” she offered to the detective.

  “Again, wh
y?” he asked.

  “We’re going to have a séance. You can ask Shelby who hurt her yourself.”

  “You have to be shitting me.”

  From the looks on their faces, he could tell one thing.

  Clearly, they were not.

  Chapter Five

  Littlemoon Investigations

  Monday Night

  W hen they got back to the office, the whole team was there working. They were grabbing dinner and sitting at the conference room table as they attempted to find a killer.

  Tori strolled in and Justin automatically handed her his container of takeout. She looked like shit.

  If there was one thing she was grateful for, it was that the men in her life, brothers and husband, were always worried about her health.

  She was starving, so she helped herself.

  “What did you find?” Tori asked, hoping there was something there. They needed whatever they could dig up at this point.

  “Shelby had zero money in her accounts. In fact, it would be safe to say that she had no money to her name,” Roman stated, as he passed his takeout to Julian so he could eat.

  He took it willingly and inhaled a huge bite. As he chewed, he thought about it. “She was likely running on cash,” Julian stated. “If she was selling drugs, any big numbers hitting her accounts would look suspicious.”

  They agreed.

  Well, most of them.

  “Except, she was dying,” Tori stated. “Why did she care?”

  That was a good point.

  “We’ll talk to the desk clerk at the motel. Anything he can tell us about any traffic in and out of the room will be helpful. We can also ask if she was flashing big wads of cash.”

  Well, there was the next step in the investigation.

  “I’ll take him,” Justin offered. “Vivian is going to hang out there, and I’ll divide up some of the interviews with you,” he offered.

  Julian appreciated that. “You can take Kane. I don’t want anyone out there alone. Who knows what the cops will try and pull next? If they are, in fact, gunning for us, then we need to make sure everyone is partnered up and safe.”

  No one disagreed.

  They knew what they were up against.

  “Anything else?” Tori asked, scanning the room of unsmiling faces. That pretty much told her everything they needed to know.

  It wasn’t going to be good news.

  They’d hit a wall.

  Roman shook his head, taking one for the team. “I’ve run her cell number, and none of the software we have has given me anything. I’m sorry. Without help from maybe the FBI, we won’t get anywhere. I can’t locate any of the numbers online in the searches.”