Creep: Karma Inc. Case 4

by Gillian Zane

  “Oh. Damn. I guess it's time to get back to work.” A few months? It had felt much longer, decades, years…but maybe only a few days. I guess I should have been glad it wasn’t that long.

  “Brandon mentioned you have a case waiting for you that needs your immediate attention. I don’t mean to rush, but the stakes are high. He’s waiting in the lobby.”

  “Brandon’s waiting?” I asked. If I had forgotten about his promotion, I wouldn’t know he was here, right?

  “Oh yes, he’s in Oversight now, he assigns the cases. That’s my division, too,” she preened.

  “What, you’re slumming it today?”

  “Taking care of the operatives is what we do.” She smiled, but the mirth didn’t reach her eyes.

  She turned her back to me and pressed a hand against the wall. A panel slid back and she tapped on what looked like a keypad. The door opened to reveal a hallway.

  I followed her down a long white corridor until we came to an elevator.

  “Take it down to the lobby,” she said as she slid her wrist over the call buttons. She made sure I got in and then made the same motion to make the doors close. She smiled, but again it didn’t reach her eyes.

  I pressed the lone button for the lobby and waited the few seconds it took for the elevator to take me down, or up, who knew what direction I was in.

  “Cassie,” he said with a big smile as the doors opened. Brandon. Looking much more stylish than his old self. He wore a tailored, modern looking suit without a tie, and his hair was styled and cut in a professional trim. He looked slick.

  When I walked out of the elevator, he pulled me into a hug and I tried to relax into it, tried to forget about the fact that he had thrown me into that room. I shouldn’t remember what he had done. I shouldn’t remember that he had forced me into this place. This should be me seeing Brandon for the first time after his promotion. I had to be the Cassie– shit, I didn’t know how far my memory was supposed to be erased, so maybe I didn’t even remember his promotion. I decided it would be too hard to pretend like I didn’t remember Persephone taking over Karma, so I went with his promotion as my last moments. That had to work.

  “Where have you been?” I asked, keeping up the charade.

  “I got promoted to Oversight,” he said, not letting me go. “It’s the department in charge of the karma divisions, among others. We’re the ones who make sure everything is working properly. Not much different from my last position, actually.” He laughed like he hadn’t dragged me down a hallway and thrown me in a cell.

  “Not much of a promotion,” I repeated.

  “I have more power,” he said, another deja vu moment, and then he finally let me go. He stepped back and looked at me, studying my face. I looked down at my feet. Still bare, and the piece of grass was still there. I couldn’t look at him and pretend like nothing had happened. I couldn’t pretend we were all good, that he hadn’t withheld information from me, or called me a spoiled child because I mourned the loss of my– Drake.

  “That’s great,” I said begrudgingly.

  “Are you feeling refreshed, ready to get back to work?” He peered at me like he could see visible signs of my resting.

  “That last case must have taken a lot out of you.” He brushed the hair off my face, his hand lingering a little too long on my ear. It took everything in me not to flinch away.

  “Yeah, I never want to see that office building again.”

  “Don’t worry, you won’t.” He laughed again like we were old friends. How was he so good at this? This duplicity? I couldn’t look at him.

  “I’ve been gone awhile.”

  “Yes, you have. And some things have changed.”

  “What do you mean?” My head shot up with the last comment.

  “Well, for one, you have a new boss.” I glanced up in time to see his smile fade to a frown. I was confused by his sudden hostility.

  What did that mean? Did he not like the new boss? Who was it? Another god? That couldn’t be good.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “You also have a case waiting for you. It’s another doozy, as usual,” he changed the subject, which had me suspicious. What was Brandon hiding?

  “The boss, Brandon, you gotta tell me,” I said, but he ignored me. Was he really ignoring me?

  “There has been a bit of redecorating again too, which is typical. You might like it better.” Brandon chatted away as he led me across the lobby and opened the doors which led to what looked like an atrium.

  The glass doors opened to a lush and green paved area with potted plants in every corner. I recognized the courtyard of my little part of Afterlife. I was home. Or what I was supposed to consider home. It didn’t feel like home.

  Brandon turned and looked at me expectantly, but my feet were rooted to the ground. I was supposed to go out there and pretend like nothing happened. Pretend that everything was perfectly fine. Nothing at all had taken place. Drake wasn’t dead. We both weren’t the victims of some psycho killer. I wasn’t all by myself.

  “Cassie?” Brandon raised an eyebrow in question. I had to do something. I pressed my teeth together, sucked in my bottom lip and walked out of the lobby into the courtyard.

  I turned back to him, and his eyebrows drew together in irritation. Did he expect something?

  “Well, I guess this is goodbye, Cassie.”

  “Yeah, guess so,” I mumbled. I ignored his frown and the way his hand extended like he wanted something from me.

  The door slid closed with a hiss and I heard a faint, “Good luck.” I was back in Karma, Inc. Brandon hadn’t followed me into the realm.

  5

  Now Hiring

  “Cassie! Where ya been?” A dripping wet Fallon trotted around the pool toward me.

  “A little R and R,” I lied to keep up the charade. I didn’t want to explain the atrocity that had become my life.

  “Jelly!” She rolled her eyes. “How’d you get something like that, you’ve been gone forever?” She emphasized the forever in an exaggerated accent.

  “I guess I was stressed,” I shrugged.

  “You missed all the drama, girl.” Her eyes were as big as saucers, her lips pursed like a fish to emphasize all the crazy. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes.

  “Fill me in.” I really didn’t want to know, but it was expected and I didn’t want to hurt Fallon’s feelings.

  “Not while you’re wearing that,” she frowned at me. I looked down. I was in a thin shirt that was boxy and not flattering, the only thing under it was a sports bra and cotton panties with leggings. So much for inconspicuous. I looked like I had recently escaped a mental institution. I tapped my bra self-consciously; the two vials of liquid were still there.

  To fit in, I manifested a bathing suit, and a tiny purse to hold my vials, then trailed after Fallon as she chatted her way to the pool.

  “Persephone is finally gone, we have a new boss. Ohemgee, Cassie, he’s fucking hot, like hot hot, not like nerdy hot Brandon. Like my panties are tingly wet just thinking about him.” She squeezed my arm and I tried not to wince. “He’s not exactly receptive to any of us, though. Kind of scowly, and bossy. He yelled at me a few times.”

  “Scowly?” I asked. She rolled her eyes and handed me a beer from the cooler next to the pool.

  “Oh, and Trish and Otto are an item, like really an item, moved their shit into one house and stuff, calling themselves Trotto, or maybe Trito, I don’t know, but it’s weird. Em said she heard them fighting and hot new boss guy went over there to break it up. It was a mess.”

  “Trish and Otto?” I asked stupidly. I couldn’t place an Otto.

  “Yeah, they do make a cute couple,” Fallon sighed and glanced over at Trent who was sun bathing, even though he could tan with a thought. Fallon had been crushing on him for a while. Sensing eyes on him, Trent sat up, took his sunglasses off, and did the cool-guy-chin-jut-greeting thing.

  “Hey Cassie! You’re back. Boss said you’d be back today.
Well, he said the missing operative would be back today. Never said your name or anything, just that if we see 'the missing operative', to tell her to go to his office immediately because he’s tired of being fucking short-staffed…” Trent said in one breath.

  “Yeah, I think I already have a case,” I responded despondently. I guess it made sense, considering I was supposed to be on some kind of weird Afterlife vacation for the last month. I really didn’t want another case though.

  “Already? Really, girl?” Fallon rolled her eyes. “Whatevs, you’ve been off duty for like months. Wish.” I had the urge to tell her all about my off duty status. Maybe that would wipe that frown off her face, but I bit my tongue and kept it to myself.

  “Months? It was that long for you guys too?” For some reason I thought it would only be that long for me.

  “Yeah, you never came back from your last case. That was like, at least 3 months ago.” Fallon frowned at me. “We thought something happened, or you got promoted without them telling us. That would have sucked. They didn’t tell us shit. But it happens like that sometimes.”

  “They said it was only a month or two,” I replied. “That’s what they told me.” Fallon shook her head and Trent looked skeptical.

  “You were on R and R and you didn’t know how long it was? Where did you go? Antarctica?” Trent asked.

  “Uh, no, just like a relaxing place in Afterlife.”

  “I’ve never heard of an operative doing that.” Trent got up from his chair so he could grab a beer.

  “I don’t like to be normal,” I shrugged and Fallon laughed a little harder than the joke required, like she was faking it or didn’t get the joke.

  “Don’t worry. No one thinks you’re normal.” She laughed again loudly and I frowned, not sure if I should take it as a compliment or an insult.

  “So, this new boss,” I changed the subject.

  “Yeah, go see him, he’s kind of strict,” Trent said.

  “Where’s he set-up?”

  “There’s a little cottage where Persephone’s throne used to be. It’s through the middle door,” Trent informed me.

  “Strict and scowly, this doesn’t sound good for the division?” I tried to get more information out of them before I had to face this guy.

  “No, he’s fine. He leaves us alone, mostly, and he’s totally…”

  “Hot,” I finished for Fallon and she nodded excitedly.

  “Makes up for all the scowling.” She made a shooing motion with her hand.

  “Don’t keep him waiting,” Trent reiterated and pointed to the far side of the pool.

  “Yeah. What’s his name?” I asked, but Fallon and Trent were whispering something to each other.

  I set the untouched beer down on a side table and headed toward the former dais that had been Persephone’s domain. I was relieved that Persephone was gone, but I didn’t know what to think about this new strict and scowly boss. What did they mean by strict? Was he one of those micromanaging bosses? Would he follow us around on cases? Want expense reports? Make us fill out manifestation usage forms? I didn’t like paperwork.

  He couldn’t be as bad as Persephone though. Karma had become oppressive when she took over. Everything had felt off. We tiptoed around the place, not wanting to get on her bad side. She was a goddess, who knew what she would do if she was upset.

  She had formed Karma into her own domain. The world had become bigger, the sky overwhelming. Yet, now, it seemed back to normal. Things were the right size. The sky wasn’t so big. The boss wasn’t a god. We were back to human dimensions. I felt tension I didn’t know I was holding on to, release and give way. I could deal with a human. Deities, not so much.

  Even though the place wasn’t big and overwhelming anymore, it had changed from how Brandon and then Persephone had styled it. Instead of the neoclassical style of the goddess, it was modern and natural. The tall palms that had once dotted the landscape were replaced with large pines and thick trunked, green trees I couldn’t identify.

  The pool area ended and a new pebble path opened up, leading through trees to a small wooden house on the edge of a densely packed forested area. It was quaint, but masculine at the same time. There were three doors, but one was off to the side, and the other was utilitarian, like it led to a closet. I headed for the one in the middle, not bothering to knock, since I was supposed to go here first thing.

  I was struck with an instant sense of deja vu, which usually meant my whole world was about to be upended.

  I had been here before. In this exact office. I glanced around frantically. My past slammed against my present in a violent episode that left my breath hitched. I stumbled and grabbed onto the back of a chair as the room came into perspective. I knew this office. I had been in it recently. Only a few months ago. A few months that seemed more like a millennia ago.

  “Ms. Hail. Why am I not surprised?”

  6

  Back in Black… & White

  His voice splattered against me like a cold shower. I couldn’t find him. The back of the office was so deep in shadow. I could only hear his voice, which had to be a trick. The universe didn’t work like this. I wasn’t this lucky. I wasn’t this unlucky. They wouldn’t have put him here, in my domain. My mind must be playing tricks on me. I was confused. I so desperately wanted to see him again that I was imagining this.

  Desperately my eyes scanned the room, landing on a dark shape in the corner near the window. The bright light from outside obliterated any noticeable details of what stood in front of it. I could make out the wide expanse of his shoulders, the sweep of his dark hair, and the impeccable cut of his suit. It was him.

  It was Drake Greco. He was alive. No. Dead. No, he was here. Here. With me.

  “Drake.” I said his name like a prayer and my feet began to move forward. My hands itched to touch. My body wanted to close the distance and prove with my senses that he was real, that he was here. But nothing was working quite right. One step. Two steps. He spoke again.

  “Not a lot of things surprise me, but I have to admit you walking into this office has thrown me off. I didn’t think I would see you again.” I froze as his voice penetrated the exhilaration I was feeling at seeing him here. He sounded hostile. Angry. He paused, waiting for me to say something, but all I could do was stare at him dumbly. I was so confused.

  “I’m assuming you’re my missing operative,” he went on, not disturbed by my silence. He bent over his desk and pawed though some papers before looking up at me and letting his gaze trail up my scantily clad body. There was interest there, but it wasn’t like before, his gaze held hostility, distrust. I shivered from his perusal, self-conscious in the tiny bikini Fallon had pressured me into slipping into.

  “You’re in charge of Karma?” My voice was gravely, full of cracks and fissures. I had wanted to run to him. My first instinct was to throw my arms around his neck and bury my face in his chest, to prove he was real in the only way that would satisfy my muddled brain. But the way he was talking to me, the fact he’d used my fake last name, I knew something was wrong. I knew my worst fears were true. The fates had put him in my path, again…but they had made him forget.

  “Yes, I’m in charge of Karma. And you’re a Karma operative. I knew you were keeping something from me.” His voice was lofty, his point finally proven. I had been lying. We were back to our old distrustful ways. That push and pull that had driven me crazy. I couldn’t go through this again. Unfortunately, I had to. I couldn’t be selfish. I should be rejoicing that he was here, that he was safe. That I got to see him again. But all I was doing was focusing on the fact that I didn’t get him back the way I wanted him.

  Selfish as always.

  I covered my sadness with defiance, pulling it around me like a cloak. We would just have to start again. I could do that. The Cassie he knew would fight back.

  “I couldn’t tell you, you should understand that–now.” I scanned his face in desperation, hoping his cold tone was something I was misinterpre
ting. Hoping to see some kind of softness there, some kind of emotion. There was nothing but disgust.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, his eyes studying my face. I wasn’t sure how I was looking at him, but if my face conveyed how horrible I felt, I probably looked like I was about to vomit, or maybe cry.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again.”

  “Because I died?”

  “Yes,” I said on a breath, chewing down hard on my lip because the cloak of defiance wasn’t exactly working.

  “It would seem I got myself murdered.”

  “I was there.”

  “You were?” It was his turn to look confused, to look off balance.

  My entire world spun around those two words as my stomach plunged to my knees. It confirmed what I already suspected, what I knew from the moment he called me Ms. Hail.

  He didn’t remember.

  He didn’t remember his death. That meant he probably didn’t remember the days leading up to his death. He had no idea about us. How we came together in those final moments. The connection we had.

  “Yes,” I answered him. My word was stronger than I expected, my voice hiding the sobbing girl flailing inside. It quivered on the last little S sound as I fought the tears pooling behind my eyes. I didn’t need to break down in front of him. Not this way. If I cried, I wouldn’t trust myself not to spill everything that happened. And how stupid would that be? How selfish of me?

  I know you don’t remember, but we were together. We had a connection that I’ve never felt with anyone else. Because of you, I wasn’t alone anymore. Because of you I wasn’t desperate…

  “I think we have to have a conversation, Ms. Hail—”

  “Stop calling me that,” I snapped a little too gruffly and when he stepped forward into the light, I could see he was frowning, real concern on his face.