The Voodoo Killings

by Kristi Charish

  Her eyes widened, stagily. “Wow, Strange, you really know how to lower the tone in a place. Did they shut that joint down by the docks or something?”

  I stared at Aaron, willing him to defend me. I could have cared less what Neon thought of me. But he just sat there. Neon leaned forward to whisper to him, her eyes never leaving mine….

  Three words reached my ears.

  Too much Otherside.

  She was laughing at me. Worse, Aaron smiled back at her.

  After he’d come crawling back, after he’d begged me to help him work the case…Randall was right: I wasn’t anything to Aaron except a means to an end.

  My tentative wall against the sensory overload came down. Lights, music and Neon’s laugh pierced me. I needed to get out of here—now. I stumbled as I turned on my heel, managing to grab the edge of the neighbouring table so I didn’t fall on my ass.

  Now where the hell did I leave Cameron? More noise and lights flooded in. This wasn’t good. Steady, Kincaid. Find Cameron, deal with the issue at hand…

  A strong urge to pull a globe hit me—something, anything, to dull my senses before I exploded. I might pass out, but the Otherside would drown out everything else.

  A hand fell on my shoulder. “Kincaid?”

  It was Aaron. I refused to turn around. I’d either hit him or burst into tears.

  “Kincaid, please look at me.” This time he didn’t leave me with a choice as he turned me around. I didn’t have the strength to stop him.

  Concern was etched across his face, but also embarrassment. “What are you doing here?”

  That stopped even one tear from falling. “Excuse me? What the hell am I doing here? My job. Making sure Cameron can stay sober for work functions that feature alcohol. Why the hell are you here with her?”

  I caught the tick in the corner of his eye. Subtle, barely a twitch, but I knew what to look for. He was couching his answer. “She’s another practitioner who’s agreed to work with me.”

  “So you sleep with every one of us?”

  His composure dropped. “Of course not! I’ve been seeking out other practitioners because you said you were overusing Otherside.”

  “So why did you just blow me off like some piece of trash? You humiliated me!” I was yelling and the room was whirling again. I steadied myself against the wall.

  “It’s not like that,” Aaron said. “She said she’s got information on the case and she asked to meet me here. That’s it. Jesus, Kincaid.”

  “You think I missed the way she laughed at me? And the way you just went along?”

  “Kincaid, she has information I need. It wasn’t personal. How many times do I have to say it?”

  “Until I believe you! You never once brought me somewhere like this.”

  “What?”

  “Not once, Aaron, the entire time I was seeing you.”

  It was his turn to act as if he’d been slapped. “Kincaid, I never thought—”

  “Never thought what?”

  He met my eyes. “Look at yourself. You don’t exactly fit in here.”

  I knew I didn’t fit in here, but to hear it said so bluntly…

  I had to go. I needed to get Cameron out of here, and I wasn’t going to last much longer either. I turned to get away from Aaron and staggered. He caught me.

  “Kincaid, what the hell are you not telling me?”

  “Go back to the practitioner you’re not embarrassed to be seen with, Aaron. Ask her for help from now on. I’m done.”

  “Kincaid, I don’t care about her, I care about you—”

  “You’ve got a lousy way of showing it.”

  “Kincaid?”

  Saved by a zombie.

  Cameron said, “Is there a problem?” His tone was light, but the look on his face was anything but.

  Aaron stared at me hard, then let go. Backing away, he said, “No, no problem. Kincaid just slipped. Might want to start wearing flats. You’ve been stumbling a lot lately.”

  Cameron slid his arm around my shoulder. “Washroom then exit,” I whispered.

  “What the hell happened there?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

  “Kincaid, whatever he said, it’s not your fault—”

  I held up my hand to stop him. “You were right, I was wrong.”

  Cameron frowned. “I said a lot of things tonight I shouldn’t have.”

  “Having Aaron see me like this?” I shook my head. “It wasn’t worth it.” We reached the restrooms. “Cameron, I need a few minutes on my own.”

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea right now.”

  “Just stay here. I promise, just a few minutes.”

  Cameron looked as if he was about to argue, but I didn’t wait. Thank god for overpriced hipster-bar single-stall bathrooms….

  I turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on my face. I checked my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were rimmed with red and I was really pale. I stuck my hands under the running water.

  “You know the whole Aaron thing? It might not be any of my business—”

  Nate. I closed my eyes and leaned over the sink. I thought about lecturing him on privacy, but I didn’t have the energy. Besides, he’d strategically forget whatever I said. “I take it you were listening?”

  Nate took that as an invitation to materialize in front of me. He shrugged. “Voyeur, remember?”

  I wiped my eyes. It only made them more red. “And what does your infinite wisdom tell you?”

  “He cares,” Nate said, settling on the counter. “You called him on something I don’t think ever crossed his mind. Let’s face it, you aren’t exactly a touchy-feely, discuss-your-emotions type. And this isn’t exactly your scene.”

  I drew in a breath, held it for five, then let it out. “I can’t really screw things up any more than I already have, can I?”

  “Oh, don’t get me wrong—Aaron’s being a dick. Part guilt because he let you get fired and figured you’d be cool with it because he wasn’t an active participant. And then he shows up at a place like this with someone else.” He shrugged. “Hard to explain that one away.”

  “From where I was standing, it looked like he was embarrassed to know me.”

  “It’ll blow over, K. He figured you’d have forgiven him by now, and you haven’t. Like I said, he’s being a dick.”

  “What if I don’t want it to blow over this time, Nate?”

  I couldn’t tell what Nate was thinking as he stared at me. Finally, he said, “You push and push and push people away, K. I get it. It’s easier that way for people like us.”

  “What do you mean, ‘people like us’?”

  “The kind who can’t help but self-destruct.”

  I was about to disagree but then thought about the mess I’d managed to reduce myself to.

  “Seriously,” Nate asked, “are you going to be okay?”

  I nodded. “Okay” might be an overstatement, but I knew what I had to do. “Want to give me a couple minutes alone here? I need to collect my thoughts.”

  He gave me a sidelong glance.

  “Trust me, Nate. I’m about to do something really stupid and you don’t want to be here.”

  For a moment it looked as though he might argue with me. Which would be completely out of character. Finally, he said, “Nothing too stupid?”

  “Not off the scale, anyway. But it’s something I have to do on my own. It’ll only take me a minute. Promise.”

  I waited until he’d vanished before pulling my china marker out of my purse. The bathroom mirror in here wasn’t set, but I didn’t think that’d be a problem.

  Hand shaking, I wrote Gideon Lawrence across the glass. I knew I couldn’t keep living like this, and the alternative? I didn’t want to think about that right now.

  In less than a minute he was there, in the mirror. His expression shifted from mildly pissed to neutral as he took in my appearance. “Somehow I don’t think you’re calling me to deliver a messa
ge from Max,” he said.

  My mouth was dry and part of me wanted to run screaming.

  Gideon’s eyes flashed black. “You know, I do have other things on my plate besides answering every practitioner who writes my damned name on glass whenever they happen to swing by a mirror.”

  Steady, Kincaid, steady. This was the only way. “You said you could show me how to see Otherside without a globe?” I could barely hear my own voice.

  “And?”

  “Is it true?”

  He regarded me, his eyes shifting to a ghost-grey blue. He gave me a slow nod. “I can do that, and a great deal more. Why?”

  Come on, Kincaid, not the time for pride. I took a big breath. This was the only way.

  “Because I need help,” I said.

  Gideon watched me as I tried not to shake. “My terms?”

  I nodded.

  Apparently a nod was enough. Gideon materialized in front of me.

  Before I could move back or rethink my course of action, he placed a hand on either side of my head in the kind of grip I’d only thought a poltergeist capable of. I gasped at the cold.

  Gideon’s eyes glittered black and the barest trace of a smile passed over his lips. “Brace yourself, Kincaid. This is going to hurt.”

  CHAPTER 21

  PERSONAL DEMONS

  I’m amazed I walked out of Club 9 on my own two feet. “This is going to hurt” had been an understatement.

  “Lousy ghost barely stuck around to see if I was okay,” I said, mostly to see if my ears still worked. They did. Whatever Gideon had done to me had blocked out the bar noise. The lights weren’t bothering me either. The son of a bitch had kept his word. For some reason, that pissed me off more than the pain he’d inflicted.

  Cameron had been watching me closely ever since I stumbled out of the bathroom. I’d refused to tell him what had happened. But Nate had taken it upon himself to do that.

  “Of all the stupid, reckless, idiotic stunts,” Nate whispered in my ear.

  “Be really nice if you’d shut up about now, Nate.” Miraculously, he did.

  Cameron still wasn’t letting me walk unassisted. I focused on seeing the Otherside in the way that Gideon had instructed, and Cameron’s bindings flared, showing every little gold thread winding through his skin. I barely had to think about it. Whatever he’d done to me had worked. I could see Otherside without tapping the barrier.

  “He might be an evil son of a bitch, but he held up his end of the bargain, Nate,” I said.

  “Great, just fucking fantastic, K. I hope you remember that real fucking well when he asks you to pay up.”

  “Will you two stop arguing and tell me where we’re going?” Cameron said.

  I motioned for him to stop so I could rest awhile against a shop wall. It was a good question. Back to Cameron’s? With my luck, I’d run into Neon stalking the lobby. My place? Neon was one of my goddamn neighbours, but at least I’d be back on home turf. Thanks to a lack of funds to fix the deadbolt, I knew my door was un-pickable.

  While I stood there trying to decide, Cameron’s phone rang. He removed it from his pocket and stared at the screen.

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “It’s Jayden. My drug dealer.” He answered. “Jayden? What’s up?” Out of reflex, he stepped towards a nearby alley. I swore and started to follow, but my phone chimed too.

  “Don’t worry, K. I’ll watch him,” Nate said, and headed after Cameron into the blind alley as I tried to figure out how to silence the ringer on my phone.

  Aaron.

  I stared at the screen until Cameron reappeared, a perplexed look on his face. He frowned when he realized it was my phone making all the noise.

  “Are you going to get that?” he asked.

  “Not a chance,” I said. I turned the ringer off and shoved it back in my pocket.

  “I want to stop by Jayden’s,” Cameron said.

  I shook my head. “An hour ago I’d have been all for it, but not now. I need some rest, and I’m pretty sure you need more brains.”

  “But I think something’s wrong,” he said. “Jayden never calls me—we only ever text. And he never asks me to come over, which he just did.” Cameron shook his head. “He seemed eager.”

  Nate snorted. “Your drug dealer’s eager? Big fucking surprise.”

  Cameron shot Nate a dirty look. “He’s never been eager. Ever.”

  “Cameron, neither of us is in any shape to be dealing with this,” I said.

  “Can’t we just stop in and see if he’s okay? It’s practically on the way to your place.”

  Practically? I felt my phone buzz with a text message. “Let me see what the hell Aaron wants while I—I don’t know—decide what the hell to do.”

  Aaron’s message was to the point: Kincaid, please call me back.

  Could he not take a goddamn hint? I called him back.

  Aaron picked up on the first ring. “Kincaid.” There was relief in his voice. “Where are you?”

  “Aaron, what the hell did I tell you?”

  “I don’t have time for your identity breakdown. We need to talk.”

  My identity breakdown? “I told you to get yourself another damn practitioner and never call me again.” I hung up. Cameron and Nate were both staring at me.

  “All right, where the hell does this dealer of yours live?”

  —

  Ever get the feeling you made the wrong choice? That’s what I was thinking as I followed Cameron up a warehouse stairwell a few blocks and a bad neighbourhood over from where I lived.

  I heard scurrying ahead of us, as if large rats were trying to get out of the way. Bubonic plague, anyone?

  I almost bowled into Cameron as he stopped in front of me.

  “We’re here,” he said, hand on the second-floor exit door. Given Cameron’s deteriorating appearance, I had a sinking suspicion the smell in the stairwell was Cameron, not rats.

  I pushed the door open a crack. The hallway, lit by flickering fluorescents, was deserted.

  “Just remember, in and out,” I said.

  Cameron nodded. “First a bar, now a visit to my old drug dealer. You realize this makes you the world’s worst sober companion?”

  I ignored Cameron and knocked on the door of apartment 251, wondering what the hell I was getting us into.

  The door edged open under my knocking. Both the deadbolt and the door handle turn lock had been removed. Anyone could waltz in.

  “Does Jayden normally leave the door open?”

  Cameron shook his head. “Jayden’s paranoid about locking the door. Obsessively paranoid.”

  “Nate?” I said.

  “Ahead of you, K.” A grey mist coalesced in front of me and slipped through the crack.

  A minute later I felt the cold brush of Nate returning. “K, you’d better get in and see this.”

  I pushed the door open and motioned for Cameron to stay close behind.

  In contrast to the stained yellow carpets and 1970s wallpaper in the hallway, Jayden’s apartment was white pine floors and sills; minimalist white furniture added to the appeal. I caught the scent of coffee, not burnt yet but close. And something else, a metallic smell…

  I stopped in the kitchen doorway, not sure what to make of the violent and visceral sight in front of me. By now I’d seen three Jinn kill sites, but never with the body still fresh.

  Cameron swore behind me.

  The Otherside had exploded, coating the kitchen walls and linoleum floor. The body was laid out face up with arms and legs spread. He’d probably been knocked unconscious first, considering there were no rope or ligature marks that I could see.

  “This one is different from the others,” I said.

  “It’s violent,” Nate said, and shook his head. “It looks like it belongs on my side of the barrier.”

  Using my sleeve, I flipped on the light to get a better look. Jayden was lying in a pool of water that also contained traces of Otherside. Unlike at the other murder scenes
, this water had blood in it.

  I stepped closer, careful to avoid the water, and crouched down. His grey sweatshirt was soaked with blood. Wrapping my hand in my sleeve, I reached for the hem of his shirt so I could see what had happened to his chest.

  Cameron hissed a warning. “There’s someone else here.”

  Nate whispered, “K, I checked, I swear—”

  All three of us heard the creak of the floorboards. I made it into the living room in time to see Neon coming out of the bedroom. She frowned when she saw me, then a sneer spread across her face.

  “You’re a lot faster than I thought.”

  “I’m running into you everywhere, aren’t I?”

  Neon bolted for the door.

  Athletic I’m not. Never have been. So I fight dirty. I stuck my foot out and she hit the floor face first.

  Neon snarled and pushed herself up in one fluid motion, a knife suddenly in her hand. I braced, hoping I could keep her the hell away from Cameron and my own flesh.

  Neon torqued her head towards the window as if listening then darted towards me, knife first. I jumped back, but instead of pushing her advantage, she bolted past me and out the apartment door.

  “What the—?” She’d had me here, unarmed, yet she’d been more concerned about getting away. I headed to the window. “Nate, Cameron, do you hear anything?”

  Nate said, “Alarms in the distance.”

  This time of night, not hearing sirens would have been out of the ordinary. Still…

  Cameron went back into the kitchen and crouched over Jayden’s body. “If we had of gotten here sooner…”

  I knelt beside him, careful to keep my knees out of the bloodstained water. “He’d still be dead, Cameron. He was dead before she made him call us.”

  I lifted the sweatshirt. As a general rule I’m not one to ruin a crime scene, but I had to see what had been done to his chest. The Jinn bindings had been carved straight into his flesh while he was still alive, then flooded with Otherside. From the traces left in the wounds, it looked as though the killer had got further this time; in all the other bodies, the bindings had been reduced to shrapnel. But it made no sense. Cameron’s drug dealer hadn’t been a practitioner. He hadn’t even been part of the paranormal community.