Ghoulish

by Kat Bellamy

  “It’s fine. It’s...well, I feel kind of silly now,” Jason said, wringing his hands. “It’s just something that happened at work.”

  “Hey, if it’s important to you, it’s not silly. Sit down,” Colt said, leading him over to the couch. He sat down next to Jason, offering him a drink. “What’s going on?”

  “Okay, well, you know how I’ve been kind of obsessed with this whole werewolf thing, right?”

  Colt swallowed hard. “Yeah. What, the Wolfman walked into the DA’s office to turn himself in?”

  “No.” Jason rolled his eyes. “But I did find out that I’m not the only one who’s noticed something weird in this city. Look at this,” he said excitedly, taking a stack of stapled papers out of his messenger bag. He scooted forward on the couch and handed the papers to Colt.

  “What is this?” Colt asked, flipping through the pages. It was all just a bunch of police jargon, as far as he was concerned. Dates followed by case numbers, names and one- or two-word summaries that looked like they had been pulled from autopsy reports were organized in neat blocks on each page, with each entry arranged by date all the way back through the last decade.

  “It’s a list the DA has been keeping of every murder over the last decade where the police couldn’t find the suspect. A good twenty-percent of them, the coroner wrote off as ‘animal attacks.’ Do you get what this means?”

  “That our city needs a better Animal Control Officer?”

  Jason scowled. “It means I’m not crazy. It means that there’s something going on in Providence--something awful and bizarre, and the man at the highest level of law enforcement thinks the same thing.”

  “The DA gave these to you?” Colt asked, hoping he didn’t sound as panicked as he was.

  “Well, no,” Jason said reluctantly. “But his assistant did. Sort of.”

  Colt groaned inwardly. “Andrew Wilbur?”

  “Yeah.” Jason blinked. “How’d you know?”

  “I met him once,” he said, deciding it would be better to come out with it since he was sure Wilbur would make the connection eventually. “He came to badger me after Chuck’s death.”

  “Oh. That’s...awkward.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “Well, he’s really nice. I’m sure if I tell him who you are --”

  “Don’t do that,” Colt said a bit too quickly. He added, “I mean, it’s fine. It all blew over, so I’d rather not dredge it back up.”

  “I don’t get it. First, you wanted to come out as a couple, now you don’t want me to tell my boss about you?” he asked in a half-teasing tone.

  “I’m just a little gunshy after all the police interaction I’ve had lately,” he muttered. “I was hoping things would just go back to normal.”

  “I know.” Jason sighed, leaning into him. “But that’s the problem. After what we saw, I can’t believe in normal anymore. At least, not the kind of normal we’ve been led to believe exists.”

  “So what, you’re a paranormal investigator now? Is the DA going to have you hunting werewolves?”

  “No. Mostly I just make coffee and file old reports,” Jason muttered. “But I’m hoping if I get closer to Wilbur, he’ll let me in on what they’re doing.”

  “I thought he already gave you the reports.”

  Jason winced. “Well, not exactly. It’s more like he left them on his desk and I accidentally grabbed them with the copies he wanted me to make. And...accidentally copied them, too.”

  Colt arched an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. Well, good thing it was ‘accidental,’ otherwise, I’m pretty sure intentionally copying classified documents is a felony.”

  “It’s not a felony,” said Jason. “And they’re not classified, they just weren’t for me. Besides, I’m pretty sure Andrew wanted me to find them.”

  “He’s Andrew now, is he?”

  Jason rolled his eyes again. “Hey, if I’m not giving you a hard time about the guy I just found making eyes at you in your living room, don’t start with my boss.”

  “That wasn’t a guy, it was Ronnie.”

  “Meaning…?”

  “He’s practically a kid, for one thing. More importantly, you know I’m not like that. I’ve only had eyes for you since we were kids.”

  Jason sighed. “I know, I know.”

  “What makes you think Wilbur wanted you to find those files, anyway?”

  “Just a hunch,” Jason admitted. “But I’ve been applying for that internship for two years. I’m not egotistical enough to believe they just happened to accept me now that I was involved in one of the ‘animal attacks’ they’re investigating.”

  Colt frowned. “And you’re okay with that?”

  “Hey, like my dad always says, it doesn’t matter why they open the door. All that matters is that you get your foot in.”

  “Your dad says a lot of things. Doesn’t mean it’s good advice.”

  Jason gave him a look while he put the papers back in his bag. “I’ll cure you of your cynicism yet, Colt Jager.”

  “Is it really cynicism if I don’t believe there’s a high-level conspiracy involving a police coverup of maneating monsters?”

  “Yes,” Jason said matter-of-factly, leaning in to kiss Colt before he stood. “Are we still having dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Yeah, but we could always go for twice in a row if you wanna stick around.”

  “I would, but I’ve gotta be at the office early in the morning to set up for a press conference. I’ll be lucky if I can get everything wrapped up in time for dinner as it is.”

  “Guess that’s just the price I pay for dating a soon-to-be high-powered attorney,” Colt teased, walking Jason to the door. After kissing him goodnight, he closed the door and let his head fall hard against it.

  So much for hoping Jason’s internship would keep him distracted from ghouls. With Colt’s luck, his boyfriend would end up becoming a damn hunter.

  Chapter 22

  Colt was headed home from work when Jason called him. He put it through the hands-free system in the new truck he’d bought earlier that week. It was the only thing he’d splurged on after the significant pay increase that came with his new job, but while he couldn’t bring himself to part with the “old girl” that was now sitting in the back of his apartment parking lot, Jason had been needling him for the better part of a year about how she was a death trap. To be fair, she probably was and Colt didn’t feel like finding out the hard way if Stan’s insistence that ghouls could regenerate limbs was true or not.

  “Hey. I was just on my way to pick you up.”

  “About that,” Jason said in a guilty tone.

  “Let me guess. The DA needs you to make another coffee run?”

  “No, I wouldn’t stand you up for that.”

  Colt smirked. “So what do I have the honor of being stood up for?”

  “I overheard Andrew and Liam talking, and apparently, there’s something big going down in the hospital system. I can’t say anything more than that on the phone, but they asked me to stay late to help pull files and I’m hoping I can finally get some answers.”

  The moment Colt heard the word hospital, his heart sank. “What does the hospital system have to do with animal attacks, exactly?”

  “That’s what I intend to find out. You’re not mad, are you?”

  “No, of course not.” He was worried for Jason’s safety and concerned about what such an investigation might mean for Stan, but not angry. “We’ll have dinner another night.”

  “Thanks for being so understanding. I’ll make it up to you,” Jason said in a sultry tone. “You know, I do have a few minutes before I have to go back, if you’re alone…”

  “I’m alone in my truck, but as tempting as that offer is, I’d rather not get arrested for public indecency,” Colt said with a laugh.

  “You’re on the phone while you’re driving?” Jason’s voice was sharp with judgment.

  “Hands-free calling, remember?”

  “Oh, right. The
upgrade. Well, have fun with your shiny new toy,” he teased. “I’ll call you when I’m off.”

  “Yeah, stay safe. Love you.”

  The words slipped out of Colt’s mouth yet again, but the fact that Jason responded without hesitation was reassuring. “I love you, too.”

  Colt waited until Jason hung up to dial Stan’s number. The older ghoul didn’t answer, but when Colt swung by the Brown family residence and saw that his car wasn’t in the driveway, he knew Stan was still at work. He turned back onto the highway and headed straight for the hospital.

  Maybe the DA’s investigation had nothing to do with Stan and the ethical supply chain he was running through his surgery, but he had to warn him, either way. He parked in the visitor lot and found what seemed to be the main entrance. After asking around at every desk and wandering down the wrong corridor twice, Colt finally found the elevator that led down to the basement morgue. Hopefully Stan was there and not in surgery.

  There was only one guard in the wing, as far as Colt could tell, and he was too busy playing some game on his phone to notice Colt slip in through the double doors with a herd of orderlies. Colt followed the signs pointing toward the morgue and noticed the sudden drop in temperature.

  Dead people had always given him the creeps, and despite the fact that they were now his primary food source, that hadn’t changed. At least the hospital smelled so heavily of antiseptic that he didn’t notice any other scent.

  Colt had always found it best to just do whatever he was wary of doing without giving himself time to get worked up about it, but he found himself at a loss when he opened the door to the room at the very end of a dark hallway only to end up staring at a man and a woman leaning over an open cadaver.

  The woman was wearing floral yellow scrubs with a bright orange smiley face sticker on her front pocket and other than the fact that she was in the process of loading a spleen into a cooler packed with ice when Colt came in, she looked like the picture of normalcy. From her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun to the wide-eyed look of confusion in her blue eyes, she looked like the girl next door. The man next to her, dressed in a sharp gray security uniform, wasn’t nearly as delayed in his reaction.

  “This is a restricted area,” he growled in a voice that was just a bit too rough to be human. If Colt hadn’t known what to look for, he might have missed the black bleeding into the edges of the man’s eyes.

  “Lance,” the woman whispered in warning, shoving the flesh in her hand into the cooler and closing the top before she peeled off her bloody gloves. She looked Colt over warily. “Sir, you really can’t be here.”

  Colt forced himself to look up from the cadaver. He hated that his first reaction wasn’t horror, but hunger. “I’m looking for Dr. Brown,” he said, trying to keep calm. “His wife sent me,” he lied, deciding that was a better explanation than the truth. Just because these people were ghouls didn’t mean they could be trusted. He held up his ring for their inspection.

  Lance and the woman exchanged a look and they both seemed to relax. “Oh,” she sighed, running an ungloved hand through her hair. “He’s still in surgery, I think, but he should be done soon.” She frowned, on edge once again as she studied Colt’s face. “Are you his brother?”

  “No, just a friend of the family.”

  The woman seemed to relax once more. She offered her hand to Colt with a faint smile. “I’m Candy. This is my boyfriend, Lance.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Colt said, shaking her hand. Lance didn’t offer his, so neither did Colt. “I’m Colt.” None of the ghouls he had met--though his pool of acquaintances was admittedly limited--had introduced themselves with last names, so he felt justified in doing the same.

  “Oh! So you’re the one Susan is always talking about,” Candy said with a knowing laugh. “You are cute.”

  Lance muttered something under his breath and resumed unpacking the cadaver’s organs.

  Colt gave an awkward laugh. “I don’t know about that, but the Browns have been kind to me.”

  “Is it true that you were raised with humans?” Candy asked, tilting her head. “What’s that like?”

  “I don’t have much to compare it to,” said Colt. “It was pretty normal up until a few months ago.”

  “How interesting,” Candy mused.

  “That’s certainly one word for it. So this is where the supply chain starts?” he asked, glancing around at the ashen bodies in various states of disassembly on the cots around him.

  “We call it the buffet line,” Lance said dryly, watching Colt as if in hopes that he’d offend him.

  Colt decided not to give him the satisfaction. Besides, his own ideas of morality were up in the air, at best.

  “Ignore him. And yes, this is one of the hospitals that supplies meat to about half the ghoul population in the city. The conscientious objectors, anyway,” she said with a weary sigh.

  “So neither of you kill humans?”

  “No, we just spend all day working with stiffs in a dank basement because we like it,” Lance snapped, shooting him a filthy look.

  Candy gave Colt a sympathetic smile. “There are more of us who choose to live humanely than you’d think. Stan has played a big role in that. He’s the one who came up with the idea to use the morgues and hospitals.”

  “Really?” Colt asked. Stan was always one to downplay his accomplishments, but he was surprised Susan hadn’t mentioned it.

  “Took him a while to convince those pricks,” Lance muttered.

  Candy gave him a pleading look.

  “You mean the Moreaus?” asked Colt.

  “No, of course not,” Candy said nervously.

  Lance held Colt’s gaze in challenge. “You one of Vincent’s bootlickers or something?”

  “Never met the guy, and after everything I’ve heard about his family, I’d rather keep it that way,” said Colt.

  Lance snorted and went back to his work. Colt couldn’t help but assume that sentiment had won him the other ghoul’s approval.

  “You can never be too careful these days,” Candy murmured. “They’ve got eyes and ears everywhere and they always keep a tight rein on this place.”

  “Why?” asked Colt. “Shouldn’t the Moreaus be happy about anything that decreases the risk of exposure?”

  “You’d think that, but it also reduces our dependence on them. They don’t like it when more than a few echelons are working together toward a common goal,” Candy explained.

  “Can’t have the unwashed masses rise up in rebellion,” Lance said in a mocking tone.

  Candy rolled her eyes. “Lance is a bit anti-establishment.”

  “Can’t say I blame him.”

  The door opened and Stan breezed in. “No matter how many times you tell them not to eat the night before surgery, there’s always one,” he grumbled. “And somehow we’re the ones who -- Oh, Colt. This is a surprise.”

  “Unplanned, trust me. Sorry to bother you at work, but there’s kind of an urgent matter that needs your attention.”

  Stan cocked his head curiously, looking from Colt to Candy and Lance. “Of course. Well, my office is right down the hall. Why don’t we go in there?”

  Colt nodded, following him to the door. He glanced back at the couple who were already stitching their unwitting donor back up. “Nice to meet you guys.”

  “Don’t be a stranger,” Candy called pleasantly. Lance ignored Colt entirely.

  Colt followed Stan down the hall, surprised at how Spartan the doctor’s office was. There were pictures of Susan and Ronnie all over his desk, but the space lacked the flair he would have expected. To be fair, Jason’s father had always had flashy tastes.

  “Is everything alright with your family? Jason?” Stan asked, closing the door behind them.

  “They’re fine, but I’m worried about you,” Colt admitted, repeating what Jason had told him. Stan listened calmly, as always, and took a seat behind his desk.

  “Now, that is concerning.”r />
  “Any idea how the DA found out about your operation?”

  “I’m not willing to go that far just yet. But I’ll certainly look into it.”

  “How many people here know about it?”

  “Seven, myself and the two you just met included. I’m not willing to believe any of them would tip off the DA,” Stan said, thoughtfully running a finger along the stem of his glasses as he leaned back in his chair. “Not without evidence, at least. In any case, I appreciate you bringing this to my attention.”

  “It’s the least I owe you, but aren’t you worried?”

  “For myself? No. For Liam Carver, certainly.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Let’s just say that it won’t go well for him if the Moreaus think he’s actually onto something,” Stan said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Or for anyone else.”

  “Including Jason.”

  Stan pressed his lips straight. “If he continues to work for Carver, then yes. I don’t suppose there’s any way you could convince him to quit?”

  “I’m workin’ on it, but he gets his mind set on something and it’s like pulling teeth.”

  Stan smiled. “I know the feeling. I felt it was only right to ask, but truth be told, Jason’s position at the DA’s office could work to our advantage.”

  “How’s that?” Colt asked warily.

  “Roland has had tense relations with Carver for years. He’s always been aware there’s something going on, but if he’s finally getting close to the truth, it would be better if we find out before the Moreaus do.”

  “What, you think Carver can be reasoned with?”

  “I don’t know. But I think our chances are better with him than they are with Vincent Moreau. Vincent isn’t like his late father. I had my differences with him, but he valued discretion above all else and he was willing to listen to a logical argument. Vincent is young and reckless because he has something to prove to the Assembly.”

  “Hence, the free for all on hunting.”