by Luna Quinn
Archer shook his head, his lips tightening. “I blame the families of the missing. According to our source, the girls all shared a few common traits. They partied days on end, and some came from abusive homes, so they weren’t missed when they didn’t come home. Easy prey. None reported the abuse, so there would be no one checking up on them or noticing they were gone, and apparently none of their family cared enough to put out a missing person report with you or your commanders. But here’s where it gets worse.”
“Of course,” he grumbled. Why wouldn’t it be worse? It seemed like they’d been living in relative peace for so long. When shit finally hit the fan, it was to be expected that it would be a mess.
“There have been ten girls reported missing by their schools or by the clubs and bars they frequent. A few days ago, five souls were collected. They belonged to five of the girls on that list.”
“Why are Reapers getting involved in missing cases?” Razor was sure there was some rule that said Reapers were supposed to be impartial.
“Yesterday, two bodies were discovered in Sector Two. They were identified as two of the five girls still unaccounted for. But their souls never made it to any Reapers. Nor to their final gate.”
Running a hand over his closely cropped hair, he exhaled a harsh breath. “All right, I think I understand. But I still don’t get why your boss wants this investigated. I mean, I’m furious, and I’m going to get to the bottom of the missing girls, but what exactly does Xavier want from me? I don’t know anything about souls.”
“He wants what he knows you’re going to do anyway: find out what the fuck is going on.” Archer moved closer, lowing his voice. “This next part is to remain confidential. We need this sorted as quickly and as quietly as possible, because the two missing girls that were recovered weren’t destined to die. Somehow, whoever is taking these girls is beating the system. They’re killing these girls and they’ve figured out a way to pull their souls from their bodies, something only a Reaper is supposed to be able to do. And only when it’s their destiny to die. A Reaper can’t just walk up to a person and say, ‘Here, let me have that juicy soul of yours,’ and bam, it’s out. Well, they can in certain, rare, circumstances, but it generally doesn’t work that way.”
Great. So someone was fucking with the death schedule and successfully pissing off the Reapers, who were the keepers of the balance between life and death, and therefore all the magic.
What Razor knew about the balance was that Others were creatures of magic, as were some humans. While living, their bodies used up the magic in their blood and in the universe to live. It was a cycle. When they died, the magic they used up during their lives would be returned into the universe. If their soul was good, it would be taken to the Realm of Eternity where they would continue to live happy little lives producing endless amounts of white energy. The evil souls, however, took a left turn, do not pass go and all that, and went to the Pit. There, at the hands of Erummon and his minions, they suffered eternal torture, creating dark energy. Together, they were the perfect power source of energy to fuel the magic of this world. The balance needed to be maintained, otherwise the influx of magic to all the realms would be thrown off.
Someone taking enough souls out of their cycle was akin to pulling out the wrong block of a Jenga puzzle. To say that scenario could be disastrous would be an understatement.
“We believe the creature I encountered,” Archer was saying, running a hand over his jaw, “the woman with the torn throat, and these missing girls might somehow be connected.”
And possibly the melting bodies, Razor thought, but kept the suspicion to himself. No need to add more to the pile. At least not until he knew for sure. “Okay, so why is he coming to me and not directly to Edge?”
Archer smiled sheepishly. “Well, that’s the other reason for my personal visit.”
“You mean you aren’t here to make fun of my…unfortunate situation?” he said dryly, gesturing to his nose.
The other man chuckled. “No, that was just good timing on my part, and a sweet little bonus, I must admit.”
He didn’t reply, simply leaning back on the nearest wall and waiting for Archer to continue. He didn’t think it could get any worse than having souls going missing, dead/missing girls, some unknown creature running around Shadow Realm, and possibly contagious dead bodies.
“Xavier’s meeting with Edge and Night as we speak. I’m here to break the news that you and Sasha are teaming up, buddy.” Archer patted him sympathetically on the back.
He had been wrong. It could get worse.
“I don’t need a partner, Arch. I’m a big boy; I can handle this all on my own.” Although he’d delivered the words calmly, he felt anything but. Razor was suddenly hot. The heat from the day had begun to cool hours ago, so the weather wasn’t to blame.
“Yeah, see, it’s out of our hands now. Locke and I have our own assignments to handle, and the deal with Edge and Night was that a Reaper had to be in on the investigation, for many reasons. Souls are involved. This is dangerous shit.” Archer sighed, fiddling with the silver band he wore on his thumb. “Furious doesn’t even begin to describe Xavier’s mood. Someone’s messing with his shit, and he wants a name. He also has the powers above riding his ass hard, demanding answers.” Archer said the powers above as if the words tasted foul in his mouth.
Shit. Shit. Shit. It was an awful idea to pair him up with Sasha. Not because he thought they wouldn’t be able to solve the case together, but because he’d be stuck with her for who knew how long, inhaling her scent, watching her move with that cat-like grace of hers, catching those rare glimpses of a flirty, teasing Sasha… Razor groaned. Yeah, bad, bad idea. Plus, there was a possibility that touching her earlier had lost him any chance he’d ever had at a mutually friendly relationship with her.
Surely, Edge would tell Xavier where he could stick his demand and let Razor work this case by himself.
“Sorry to break it to you and Xavier, but no one tells me what to do. Edge knows how I work, and that’s alone. It’s better for everyone.”
That wasn’t exactly true since he had his Sector commanders, enforcers, and officials who reported to him. But they didn’t count since he rarely went on hunts with them. Mostly because he had a hard time cohesively working with another person for long periods of time.
Archer shrugged. “Can’t help you there, Raz. I’m only the messenger.”
“I would have gotten a call by now if Edge had conceded.”
His phone chose that moment to ring. Well, fuck, Razor thought as he looked at the caller ID.
He picked up. “Yeah, Edge?”
Chapter Five
The next day, Sasha was still in deep denial. There was no way in hell she’d accept Razor as a partner. He was everything that would drive her nuts and distract her. Case in point, she was still thinking about all those lickable tattoos she’d finally gotten a glimpse of the other night.
So she decided to save herself the headache and tackle this case on her own, orders be damned.
Dressed in her signature biker boots, dark jeans, and a hoodie, Sasha locked up her apartment and ducked out of the building complex. Her tight curls bounced with her heavy steps. Looking over her shoulder and fruitlessly trying to push her wild hair out of her face while making sure no one suspicious was around, she pulled out her cell and hit her most frequently called speed dial.
“Sash, what’s up?” Sael’s rich voice filled the phone before the first ring even finished.
“Can you meet me? Nothing urgent, just want to chat.”
“Duh, of course I can. What kind of question is that?” By the tone of her voice, Sael had recognized something wasn’t quite right. They knew each other too well. “I’m just doing my rounds right now. I’ll be on Main and Ivy in five. See you there.”
Sasha hung up and felt relief rush through her. There was something to be said about the magical properties of being in the presence of your best friend. She and Sael had beco
me close very fast. At first, it was because they were both fighters. Not just the physical type, either, though they were both pretty damn fierce, if she said so herself.
More than that, though, they’d both been through hell and back: Sasha figuratively, her friend literally. It hadn’t taken any words for both of them to recognize a kindred soul, one wounded mother to another.
They had first met not long after the establishment of Shadow Realm. Sasha had just been reassigned to the new realm from Russia and had been dealing with the aftermath of all the shit she’d gone through there. The very first soul she’d collected had been one of her now-best friend’s kills.
Her best friend was easily recognizable, her skin like nothing else Sasha had seen before or since. The cinnabar skin that shone like glitter was part of her DNA, as if she were made up of crushed rubies and diamonds. The woman had all the curves Sasha didn’t have, but nothing caught her attention like her friend’s youthful pixie face. It was difficult to believe that Sael had a grown daughter.
As Sael leaned casually against the crumbling building behind her, a machete propped up on one of her shoulders, her delicate facial features were at odds with how deadly she really was. Her friend liked close combat when she was working, and though she had some killer claws that came out when she was super pissed, she preferred carrying other weapons with her instead of shifting into her full Demon form. Even in the dull lighting, her skin practically sparkled, and Sasha liked to joke that it was a bold neon sign that said, Keep away.
It was nauseating to know that Sael’s species was hunted to near-extinction for their skins back in the Underworld. It was illegal, but that still didn’t stop it from happening. Plus, from the stories Sasha had heard, poaching didn’t seem too high up on the list of things for Erummon, the king of the Underworld, to crack down on.
“Hey,” Sasha said as she walked over.
The other woman gave her a friendly smile and pushed off the wall. “So, what’s really up?”
“I can’t fool you, can I?” Sasha smiled wryly.
“Not for a second. And let’s not even start on that ‘I just wasn’t busy’ bullshit. I hardly believe you sleep at all.”
“Sleep? Waste of time.” All with a few teasing words, Sael had managed to relieve her stress and relax her. Sasha ran a hand over her face, sighing as she got her brain back on work and what she really needed to talk about. “I have a job. From Xavier.”
“He hasn’t given you an assignment in a long time. Everything okay?” Sael glanced at her in concern as they walked down a nearly pitch black alley. They both had sharp enough vision that the low light didn’t hinder them in the slightest.
When they turned a corner, an icy breeze seemed to go straight through to their bones, and they both paused to huddle deeper into their jackets.
“No,” Sasha answered, her breath escaping as steam. “Things are getting very fucked up, and we don’t know why or how yet.” Lifting her hoodie, she pulled out her pistol from a shoulder holster. When wandering around Sector Three, it wasn’t a question of if you would get into a fight, it was a matter of when, and she liked to be prepared. “Xavier told me to get as much information as I can. I thought I’d start looking around here. But…” She paused, looking at Sael and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Souls are missing.”
“Oh hell…”
So she didn’t exactly have clearance to tell her friend any of this intel, but they had an unspoken agreement that what one knew, the other knew. They didn’t keep anything from each other.
“Souls are popping off the radar in record numbers, and all we have are coincidental observations. Archer saw an unidentified creature ripping throats off around one of the victims, but nothing else. All we know is that people who shouldn’t be dead are, and some of their souls are MIA. Have you seen anything strange recently?”
The Demoness snorted. “Stranger than usual, you mean?” She lifted a shoulder, her wrist rotating to spin the machete. It was a physical tic she had when she was thinking or processing information. “I’ll keep my ears and eyes open.” She was quiet for another moment, then added in a thoughtful voice, “You know, Ever mentioned there were girls disappearing. More than usual. Not in their group of friends, but younger girls they knew from parties and bars. I should check in on her.”
Sasha stopped, grabbing her friend’s arm out of concern. “Is she out tonight?”
Ever went to as many parties as she could attend, and her best friends were the same. Even though Ever was actually over two hundred years old, she still acted like she was a hundred. She and her two best friends—affectionately known as the Terrible Trio—were mostly good girls, but they also happened to fit the profile for the missing girls. Serenity, a mischievous Kitsune, was nearing her hundredth birthday, and could probably out-dance, out-sex, and out-party Night himself if she wanted to. The third girl in the group, Amelia Vidal, didn’t actually live in Shadow Realm, but resided in the realm across the border, Celeste Nation. She also happened to be the seventeen-year-old human daughter of Celeste Nation’s president.
Together, the three of them were a volatile mix.
Sael nodded. “They’re probably out, yeah. Want to go crash their party?”
Sasha met her friend’s gaze. “Definitely. They fit the profile a little too well.”
For a moment, she wondered if she was overreacting. Maybe. But this visit could potentially kill two birds with one stone. If it resulted in a lead, the case could be solved sooner and things could get back to normal.
They were both silent as they turned and walked quickly through the sector. Using a gateway wasn’t even necessary because their destination wasn’t far. Sael led them to a house on a hill in the distance. The indistinct beat of music was audible even from where they were, and strobe lights flickered inside every once in a while.
“There,” her friend said. “This has been their favorite party spot recently.”
Sasha looked up at the house, dread settling into her stomach. A house party in any neighborhood was likely to have its problems, but a house party in this area of Sector Three was like summoning a Demon straight from hell: so dangerous that you had to have a death wish to even be in close proximity.
As they approached the house, they both saw Serenity’s flashy new sports car. A red convertible, of course. With the top down. Sasha groaned. If her motherly instincts were screaming to give those girls an earful, she could only imagine what Sael was feeling.
She glanced behind them, doing a sweep of the area. “I think we have a tail,” she murmured. It annoyed her; she was usually good at sensing and flushing out whoever followed her. But this tail was skilled enough to cover their tracks and not give her any hints about how close they were, or even if they were truly following her.
Sael subtly inclined her head as they walked up the front steps. “We’ll lose them in the crowd. Meet back here in ten.” Her best friend sheathed her machete while Sasha slipped her pistol into the front pocket in her hoodie. Readily accessible, but not out in the open to scare all the kids away.
Sael opened the front door, the dull thumping music turning into a roar. A sea of bodies writhed inside. Both women lithely moved inside as one, but got separated and pushed in different directions in a matter of seconds.
Some kind of techno or rave music was playing on the ground floor, but every once in a while, the rhythm of heavy rock thumped from upstairs. It was crowded enough that the only way to move from room to room was by squeezing past people.
No one was turned away from these kinds of parties, so Others of all kinds swarmed around her. Vampires, Shifters of every breed, Demons, humans, and Others she couldn’t identify immediately. Couples crowded every visible surface—couches, chairs, table, countertops, anything and everything. It wasn’t a writhing orgy like the one undoubtedly happening already at the Night House, but it was close enough.
Sasha moved with the motion of the crowd, which brought her into a large kitchen. She spo
tted Serenity first. The Kitsune’s dark, wide eyes twinkled with mischief as she danced seductively on the counter in obnoxiously tall heels, wearing only slips of material that were probably sold in the lingerie section. Shameless as always, the girl swayed her hips, with one of her hands holding her long, black hair up while the other held a drink. Two Demons danced on either side of her, and the Kitsune looked like she was having a blast.
The Trio was never too far from each other, so all Sasha had to do was find a trail of trouble and follow it. Standing still in the chaos, she closed her eyes. Tuning out the constant noise from the music, then the loud voices fighting for dominance, she could then sense the ebb and flow of the souls around her. All it took was a process of elimination until she found the two familiar souls of Ever and Amelia upstairs. They were especially close, and were probably right next to each other.
Walking into the next room without even opening her eyes again, Sasha didn’t bump into anyone. She could sense Sael in the other room, her soul instantly recognizable. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she sensed something in the distance, maybe still at the front of the house. This soul wasn’t easily identified, but neither was it the general impression she got from the people she didn’t know. She couldn’t put her finger on why this one was so different. All she knew was that they shouldn’t be here. It must have been her tail.
Before she could backtrack to investigate that, she made her way upstairs. There. Ever and Amelia were in a bedroom to the left. She sighed in relief as she saw the door was open and both girls were completely safe. They were sitting next to each other on a couch, laughing and sipping drinks while a group of boys vied for their attention. Yeah, they’d be fine.
After making sure they were safe, Sasha let her eyes drift closed to find her friend’s soul so they could get out of there—but something snapped her back to alert first. There were two very powerful souls to her right, with two human souls. Except there was a disturbing sensation about the human souls. She didn’t know what was off about them, but there was something wrong.