Hunted Girls

by brett hicks

  My eyes widened and I felt as if I had just been punched in the gut.

  “So, that’s it? A mob attacks us and I save Skylar’s life and I get the boot?! Fucking humans.”

  He grunted in what nearly sounded like agreement. He huffed and he dropped some papers on the desk in front of me. He leaned forward and uncuffed my right hand.

  “You need to sign these termination papers and then you can go home.”

  For a long moment, I just stared at him blankly. This was almost too much. I had dreamed of being in law enforcement since I was a kid. I wanted to be a good cop who took care of the down-trodden and less privileged, like the ones who had taken me to breakfast or dinner as a kid and a teen and helped kindle some spark of hope in an otherwise dead-eyed youth.

  This was my dream and it was so ephemeral that it only lasted a week.

  I barely felt the pen in my hand or the sloppy cursive scribbling that I called a signature. My heart seemed to squeeze tighter with each stroke of the pen. When I was finished I felt like I had aged two centuries. I slid the papers back to Johnson and I couldn’t even look in his eyes now. He might have had reason o be angry with me, but part of me wanted to throw him from the top floor of this department building.

  “Just a little friendly advice, find a new section of town. Perhaps you should go crawl over to Brooklyn and beg the Sky Lord for permission to run your outfit out of his turf.”

  Was I being childish? Yes, but I was mad and I was feeling vindictive.

  “What are you implying Thea?”

  Johnson asked with a weary tone and I shrugged casually.

  “Just that I won’t be held responsible for what my people might do once word spreads.”

  I smiled a bitter smile and I stared at the one-way mirror. I still couldn’t look into his eyes. I didn’t want to know what was there. I didn’t know if it was sympathy or just pity.

  I stood up without any preamble and I spun to the door.

  “This was fun. When you realize you fucked up, don’t try to come crawling back to me.”

  I turned and I stormed out the door and made for the elevator. I ignored all the hard stares and I pressed the second basement level. My time here was limited before someone realized I had slipped into the morgue, so I had to be fast.

  ***

  The morgue was dead—pun intended—this time of the late night. I slipped past the two assistants and the single bleary-eyed medical examiner.

  Blowing through the halls at my inhuman speed, I came to the cool room. I slipped inside quietly and I opened the drawer that contained the fairy from the second murder. While I might not have been able to give the shifter a new chance at life, I was able to raise a fae as a revenant. She might not have access to her former life-magic, but she would have speed, strength and vamp skills.

  Mina Trenton was blue-white and her corpse was vibrant with the potential power to my necromancy. I pulled a dagger from my hidden sheath in my boot and I slashed my palm and I the stabbed into the girl’s chest over her heart and I placed my bloody palm over her heart and let my magic unfold around me like icy wings of death.

  My metaphysical hand punched deeper into her and I felt the dead void where her soul had once been. I followed the trace of her fleeting essence and it seemed to go miles and miles below the surface. Finally, after what had felt like an eternity of searching, I felt my ghostly grasp tighten around her soul and I pulled with all my might.

  I sagged forward and I heaved several deep breaths from the exertion of magic. This felt like what women describe childbirth to be like. I felt as if my blue threads were being pulled from my body as my magic wove neatly into her body, reworking and reshaping it. I felt the changes knitting themselves into her body. Her muscle tissue grew denser and her nature magic all but fled her reanimating body. I felt the light-blue sparks of magic lighting in all the chakra points of her metaphysical body. Her soul tethered firmly to each of the chakra points along with an infusion of my magic to spool her up and charge her corpse.

  I felt the cells coming to life and regenerating. Her mortal wounds knit together leaving pale-pink tissue of her naked body.

  With one final exertion of my power, I pushed my magic deep into her lungs and she sucked down a long breath of life. Mina opened her eyes and they glowed like light-blue gemstones.

  Twenty-Eight:

  A terror-addled shriek built in her lungs and I covered her mouth quickly, to muffle her. Her eyes widened and she shot her gaze to me. First terror was present, but that gave way to confusion and then I saw her still. Mina and I had met several times. She was not a friend, but she was friendly to me. She knew I would not do her harm.

  I spoke softly and clearly despite my magical exhaustion.

  “Mina Trenton, you know what I am? You know that I am a necromancer and that I can raise the dead?”

  She nodded mutely under my hand and I bit my lip.

  “I’m going to remove my hand now, but know that you are safe with me I swear it to you.”

  She nodded again and I slowly pulled my hand away from her mouth.

  “Princess, what happened, where am I?”

  I scratched my head and I looked around quickly.

  “That’s a long story. Mina, you’ve been dead for days now, but I decided to give you a choice. You can live life as a new living being, a revenant, or you can be put back to rest. You were a very young inhuman and you did not deserve the fate you were dealt. I failed to protect you.”

  Her eyes were wide as she took my words in, but she seemed to be grasping her situation quickly. Mina was young by supernatural standards, but two-hundred years is still a long ass time on this earth. She knew what a revenant was and how she must have come to be one.

  Mina sat up and I took a step back to give her some room. She leaped off the metallic body drawer. She looked around her at the room and she looked down to her naked body.

  “Did you happen to bring something for me to wear? Or am I going to have to streak back to Cold Coffin from here?”

  I scratched my head absently again and chuckled.

  “Well, this was not exactly a planned event for the evening, so I think we’re going to have to improvise.”

  Mina muttered a few choice curses and she followed me out into the hall. We found a locker room for the morgue staff. Thankfully one of the doctors was a petite woman. We found a pair of brown boots in another locker that was only one size too big for Mina. With my freshly risen fairy in toe, I made for the elevator and led her back to my car.

  “So, what do you remember Mina?”

  She was looking out the window and her pale eyes were in deep thought.

  “I remember coming home and I was settling in when I felt a sharp jab of pain in my neck. Then there was burning and agony that seemed to last for several lifetimes. I vaguely remember something else was happening…”

  Tears came unbidden to her eyes and I reached over and I squeezed her left shoulder.

  “It’s ok; we’re going to find the son-of-a-bitch who did that to you. That’s actually part of why I raised you, besides the whole, you deserved a chance at life part. I think the killer is also a revenant. He started out killing very neat and tidy; the first vic was a rabbit shifter. He butchered her, but everything was neat and orderly. He injected her with an obscure drug that works on shifters and he raped her while she bled to death.”

  Mina stared out her window and I caught her eyes reflected in the glass. Her gaze was analytical and full of her stubborn wit.

  “I was attacked much the same way, except I will wager the poison was iron in my case?”

  I nodded.

  “Then you would be correct. You were injected with pure iron. The rest was much the same.”

  She frowned at the window and asked the hard question.

  “How many women total?”

  “Four so far all of you worked for the same company. That seems to be the only discernable link. The third vic was a human employ of Fairy Fla
re and the fourth was a half-fae with one human parent.”

  She swore and rubbed her palm over her eye.

  “Shit, how the hell did the humans take that third death?”

  I flatly stated, “Badly.”

  She hummed her comprehension.

  “Why did you steal me from the morgue? You work for the police now, right? You could have just told them what you planned to do. It’s not illegal to be a necromancer and wish to raise a revenant.”

  I huffed and bitterly said, “I was fired right before it accrued to me this was my only chance to resurrect you.”

  She whipped her head around and stared at me with a gaping mouth.

  “The fuck?!”

  I began to tell her about the events leading up to my termination. I started with the scene of the third murder and the differences in the MO of the kill. She seemed to shiver as I mentioned the sexual assault. Her body seemed to be recoiling visibly at every mention of the vile act.

  I took her through my suspicions about the Captain calling in some of his bigoted buddies and the ambush in the lobby. Then I told her about Skylar and his near death experience.

  Then I told her about the interrogations that led to my unceremonious firing. She whistled loudly and sighed.

  “Well shit…”

  “Shit indeed.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “So, what are you going to do now?”

  I spared her a look and I smirked.

  “We’re going hunting for a revenant. Besides, I have a few theories about the puppet master behind all of this. Again, no hard evidence yet, but just a sinking feeling.

  She looked at me and waited patiently.

  “I think Henry is back in town. You know the necro-witch who pretended to be a white witch for all of his formative years. He would have the ability to raise a revenant, but he wouldn’t have the type of power needed to keep him on a short leash if he decided to buck against Henry’s will. That’s why the change in MO. Henry is losing control. My guess is he raised a serial killer and now the man’s own immortal power is over-ruling Henry.”

  Her eyes widened and she studied me.

  “That is a huge leap given the facts you currently have. Do you have any physical evidence of Henry in New York? How would he have slipped in through your wards? You reactivated all the wards in this city.”

  I sighed and shook my head slowly.

  “I don’t know any of that yet, but I just know it’s him. This stinks of his particularly poor taste in tactics. He wants to stir up public unrest in a way that is proven to work time and again, killing young women in very public ways. I mean, think about it. He did that with Libby just to start a war with other domains. How is this any different? Now he is pitting inhumans and humans against each other.”

  “If that’s the case, he’s doing a very good job of it, considering.”

  Her tone was dry and I cut her an annoyed glare.

  “Salt, meet wound.”

  I muttered dryly and she snorted in amusement.

  “I did know you and I would be good friends. You have a very interesting temperament for a young inhuman.”

  “You mean I’m a complete smart-ass and I drive people crazy, right?”

  She waved her hands in front of herself.

  “Your words, not mine, Princess.”

  I snorted derisively and rolled my eyes. I focused on my driving so that we wouldn’t end up back in the morgue again.

  “How do you think your kin is going to react to this?”

  My gaze flicked to Mina for a moment. She looked nervous and I placed my hand on her shoulder again.

  “Don’t worry about it, besides you can help me tame a Dhampire.”

  Mina searched my face as if to check if she believed me. She nodded reluctantly.

  “That’s fair enough, considering you basically gave me a new life and all. Besides, I already like this new body. I was very human-like in my frailty before this and I had the natural iron allergy of my people. Now I feel powerful and strong.”

  “You fly that freak flag, proud girl.”

  I said mockingly and she huffed and then started nibbling on her lip.

  “Do you think I’ll get my job back?”

  She looked to me with hopeful eyes and I spread my palms up on the steering wheel.

  “Who knows? We do happen to know the big boss.”

  Like all things inhuman in Manhattan, Seri had her fingers in the pie that was Fairy Flare. She owned a controlling interest in the media conglomerate. She did not regularly interject herself into its day-to-day operations. One of her loyal subjects had requested the support to start up a new news company after The Dawning.

  “Well, that’s good.”

  She was back to nibbling at her lip again.

  With any luck, the news company would pick her back up again. I was pretty sure once Seri had enough time she would get everything sorted out. I was now going to have to figure out what to do with myself.

  “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t mention jobs to you right now, huh?”

  She asked almost timidly. Mina was not a timid girl, so it spun me for a second. I cut a glance at her and she tapped her forehead.

  “I can feel some of your emotions. I didn’t realize that was what I was feeling until a few minutes ago. You have a metaphysical link to all vampires or resurrected beings you re-make.”

  “I’m going to have to learn not to broadcast my thoughts and feelings for all of greater Manhattan then.”

  Mina sniffed and went back to studying the passing cars as if they held all the mysteries of the universe.

  “I can sort-of remember being dead now. My soul went somewhere way below the surface. Most of it is all foggy though.”

  I felt chills prickle my arms at her words. My mind had traveled deep to retrieve her soul.

  “So, are you going to be ok with this new life? I can return you still if you want me to?”

  Mina shook her head lightly.

  “I’m good Princess; I like this body, as I said before. Though I do wish I could still eat vegan. I was not much for meats in my first life. My people are generally vegetarians or vegans by nature. And, I seem to be down a pair of wings, but I’ll learn to deal.”

  I had not given much thought to her wings. She was now a vampiric being made of my necromancy. While some of her sharp traits are still noticeably fae, her wings had dissolved and her eyes were not very pale-blue. I knew a little about revenants, they all had pale eyes of a few varying colors. All revenants survive on fresh meat and some of it has to be human. Hopefully, Seri knows how to acquire human meat without breaking any major laws.

  I suddenly felt bad for my new girlfriend. I just threw a mountain of new problems at her feet constantly. Seri might dump my butt just to get some peace of mind!

  As we pulled into the parking sub-level under the massive inhuman owned apartment complex, I fortified myself for Seri’s wrath. I knew I was playing fast and loose again. I also knew that I was probably going to walk in to face the music of my most recent brash actions.

  “We’re home. You and Skylar are going to be staying in my apartments for the time being, but I have three bedrooms. I hope you don’t mind?”

  Mina snorted and rolled her eyes.

  “This beats the morgue drawer any day Princess.”

  Twenty-Nine:

  What has her crazy kin done now?!

  Seri wondered to herself as she felt the arrival of her kin and a second vampire-like being with a nearly identical aura. The pale blue was lighter in shade than the magic of the Dhampire sleeping in the next room.

  “Fuck me…”

  Liam then turned around and quirked a brow in question at her random outburst. Seri huffed and gestured towards the direction of the elevator.

  “My fubar kin has apparently resurrected herself a revenant to add to her growing collection of subjects.”

  Liam chortled and then he let out a loud snorting sound.

 
“Well, I’d say that’s a wee-bit past due for her. Thea was behaving much too well for that trend to last much longer.”

  Seri couldn’t disagree with Liam’s observation. Thea was like a human-sized wrecking ball. A hot Latin wrecking ball that seemed to plow through every wall she found in her path.

  She heard the door open off in the next room and she looked up. Thea strolled in with Mina Trenton, the same fairy girl who had been lying dead in the morgue. Mina fit the proper criteria for a healthy resurrection to Revenant. She wanted to chastise Thea for the recklessness of her actions, but Seri was already struggling against this in her own mind. Mina did not deserve what had happened to her and she would not be the one to say the girl was better off dead.

  Seri would find a very distant and isolated place to confront her kin about this matter privately.

  Liam’s smile became one-hundred-thousand watts of masculine charm and amusement. His eyes twinkled mischievously once he spotted who Thea had resurrected. His humorous gaze fell on Seri in the next beat and she almost imperceptibly narrowed her eyes—daring the fucker to verbalize his taunts.

  “Well, I see ye have been a very busy little beaver lassie. It is very bloody good to see ye again Mina. How are ye this fine eve? Hopefully, this young lass did not forget to install all yer brains properly. I do hate when the necros forget to do that.”

  Mina smiled brightly at Liam and giggled girlishly at his joke. She nodded to Seri politely as well in greeting and seemed nervous. Seri knew this was because the young immortal was awaiting her Princess’ judgment.

  Seri stepped forward and she reached out and gently squeezed Mina’s right hand.

  “I’m so glad to see you again. How are you handling the changes?”

  Her tone was tender and kind. Seri tabled all her personal concerns for Thea’s latest choice. The young former fairy was likely still reeling from the shock of being pulled from the place souls travel to and brought back to life in a new slightly different form. Seri had noted that the wings were gone from her back, likely in the process of reanimation.