The Judah Black Novels Box Set

by E. A. Copen

  I relayed the story, leaving out the part where I thought forceps would make a decent zombie-slaying weapon. After all, it wasn’t me that blew Annie’s face off, and it wasn’t my fault she’d sat up and attacked me.

  When I was finished, Abe cocked his head to the side. “Doctor Ramis. Why is that name familiar? Oh, yes. Some of your previous paperwork mentioned him from another case.” He shrugged and looked around, seeming to notice all the bodies for the first time. “It cannot be helped, I suppose. I am less concerned about Annie and more about Harry. I spoke to the Continelli family on my way here. They seemed unaware one of the prominent members of their family had been murdered at all.”

  Oh. Shit. Abe had gone and done exactly what I was hoping no one would do. If the Stryx knew about Harry before I had a suspect in hand, it could spark retaliation killings on suspicion alone. With Crux here, all they had to do was relay the order and he’d be obligated to follow, killing whomever his higher-ranking family members told him to.

  “I was trying to keep it quiet until I had a suspect,” I growled at Abe.

  He ignored my objection. “So, what killed all these men?”

  “Uh…an ice giant?” Abe raised an eyebrow. I waved a hand at him. “I’ll explain once we get back to the office. There’s a lot for you to get caught up on.”

  “I think it is important enough you should explain sooner rather than later, Agent Black.”

  My gun was still a few yards away. I went to retrieve it, still picking bits of brain off of my best shirt. “Look, Abe—”

  His face twitched. “Abraham.”

  “Whatever. I’d love to stand out here and talk shop with you all day, but I need to know. Are there any more of those draugr lurking around? Have you been inside? You didn’t see any more of them, did you?”

  “I have been inside,” he admitted. “I have not done a room to room sweep, but I did find a sign-in roster at the security desk. Bevens, Trent, and Cray were the only ones I could not account for.” He paused. “I think he was Bevins. Check his nametag, would you?”

  I glared at Abe and stood there for a minute, hands on my hips, waiting for him to at least say please. He didn’t. After several moments of staring each other down, it became clear why. Abe thought he was in charge. In the end, I wound up kicking the body over and checking the ID tag clipped to his chest. Ethan Bevins.

  “How many of these did you kill?” I asked.

  Abe shrugged. “A baker’s dozen, perhaps? Does it matter?”

  “How’d you even know to come here?”

  “Oh, I have been to the scene of the crime as well. One of the owners pointed me here. Robin? Robert?”

  “Robbie,” I filled in.

  “That is it. He was worried about his co-owner. She had not come in for two nights, and he indicated he had not heard back from you, either. I called the station and left a message there, should you come to meet me there, and then I drove here, expecting to find your corpse.”

  I frowned. “I see how competent BSI thinks I am. Bust my phone and everyone thinks I’m dead.”

  Abe shrugged.

  “Okay, then,” I continued. “I assumed we’d get caught up. You know, sit and go over case notes and stuff? I can walk you through what happened here and my plan going forward to…” My voice trailed off when Abe started walking around the side of the house halfway through my sentence.

  “I acknowledge your need to discuss the case, Agent Black,” Abe called back to me as I followed him. “And I am willing. But I am also very hungry. Perhaps this is a conversation best had over some breakfast?”

  As we came around the side of the building, I saw a truck parked there, the make and model of which hadn’t seen production since the seventies. At one time, the truck was red or brown. It was too rusty to tell. He went to it and opened the driver’s side door, tossing the shotgun in behind the seat.

  I stopped a few feet away, putting my hands on my hips. “What about the bodies here? We can’t just leave them to rot.”

  “I have already called someone to come and clean up.” He left the door open as he sat in the seat, pulling out a pad of yellow legal paper and a pencil to log something. “There should be a team here momentarily. Until then, the local police can cordon the place off and keep any curious humans out.” He paused and looked up. “Well? Which vehicle belongs to you? The Firebird or the truck?”

  “Both…sorta.”

  Abe frowned at me. “Well, can you recommend a place with a good rare steak?”

  I looked down at my blood- and gore-stained clothes. You’d think by then I would have learned to keep a spare set in my trunk.

  “Just follow me,” I told Abe and started the long hike back to Chanter’s truck.

  I took Abe to the McDonald’s down the street. They’d just switched over from serving breakfast to lunch, which was the worst time of day to go in there. The employees were grumpy, and ordering took forever. Abe frowned when he saw the fast food joint but I couldn’t care less. I couldn’t afford anything fancy and I wasn’t dressed for it.

  I ordered myself a sandwich, some fries, and a coffee before I carried my tray over to a table in the corner. Abe joined me with a large coffee and a burger. He poked at the sandwich, tried to take a bite, and promptly pushed the box away.

  “Do they not have quarter pounders where you come from?” I asked. “Wait, I saw this in a movie once. What do they call it in Europe? A Royale with Cheese?”

  Abe frowned. “I prefer steak and fine wine, not a lukewarm hamburger and a cup of fizzy sugar.”

  I chewed on my sandwich. “Where are you from, anyway? You’re not American.”

  “I have dual citizenship both here and in Russia, but I have lived in many other countries.”

  “And which is your favorite?”

  “There is something you should know about me.”

  “Oh?” I raised an eyebrow as I chewed. “What’s that?”

  “I detest small talk.” He pushed the entire tray aside. “Let us get this over with. Tell me what it is you think I should know.”

  I told Abe most of it. I left out I’d gotten some information from Mara and Chanter, saying instead I’d found the information on the internet. Abe took it like a champ, hands folded and face blank.

  When I was finished, he asked, “Do you not have a single suspect, Agent Black?”

  I stabbed a cold French fry into a paper soufflé cup full of stale ketchup and shoved it thoughtfully in my mouth. “Until the attack, I thought I was chasing a spirit, and after that, I was a little busy trying not to die so no, Abe, I don’t.”

  Abe pushed up his floppy hat to look at me. “Hmm. It is a good thing they called me in. It looks as if you could use some help after all.”

  “I thought I would work it backward.”

  Abe snorted.

  “What? Did you have a better idea? I’ve already talked to everyone who was at the club two nights ago, all the witnesses…The only people who had motive don’t have the means, and the people who have the means had no motive. I’ve been chasing my tail.”

  “Based on what I saw inside the house and what you are telling me,” Abe said, leaning on the table, “the most recent attack was focused on the owner of the property, Kim Kelley. She is at the center of this. Whoever is responsible believed she would be at Aisling two nights ago and thought they would get a two-for-one deal, killing Harry and Kim in one move.”

  “I came to the same conclusion,” I said after pushing the half-eaten fries away. “But neither of them shared any enemies that I know of.”

  Abe tapped a gloved finger to his chin. “Except for one. The one who pointed us both at Kim in the first place.”

  “Robbie?” I laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. If Robbie could open portals to Faerie, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t be running a nightclub and selling glamors. And he was pissed off enough I doubt he even knew about Harry and Kim cutting him out of money in the first place until Harry was dead.”


  “It is as good a motive as any,” Abe said. “And he is the only one whose alibi you fail to mention in your reports from the scene.”

  I opened my jaw and then promptly closed it. Dammit. He was right again. I hadn’t even questioned Robbie’s whereabouts. I knew he’d been at the club that night, but it didn’t clear him or make him guilty. He ran the place. He was always there. As I worked through it, I realized I hadn’t ever seen the extent of Robbie’s power. But he was fae. Fae had an uncanny knack for magick. With the help of his glamors, he could do almost anything. But there was still a nagging feeling in my gut he was innocent. I didn’t care much for Robbie, but I couldn’t shake the suspicion this just wasn’t his style.

  “Are you on good terms with any judges in the county?” Abe asked, pulling out an outdated cell phone. He tugged at the antenna, extending it three whole clicks.

  “Not in particular. Why?”

  “A search warrant for Robbie’s office could turn up something useful. It could give us the last thing we need for an arrest.”

  “I’m telling you, Abe, it wasn’t Robbie.”

  He looked over at me. I must have been a sight in my dress-up clothes with blood and gore all over me. Abe didn’t even comment on it. “Agent Black, did anyone brief you on how this works?”

  “I’ve had partners before,” I said, feeling like I was back at the academy and he was one of my instructors.

  “I am not here to be your partner,” Abe said flatly. “I am here to put this to bed. I do not care about notoriety, credit… Any creatures you are dealing with are your problem. I am here to bring in the person responsible. Human, vampire, fae…I do not care. I will round up the whole county if I have to in order to get the job done.”

  “But you’re not going to do jack about the ice giant that’s actually killing people,” I finally finished, understanding. “You just want a body to put in cuffs.”

  “As tragic and dangerous as it is to have one of those running around, it is not the cause of this. It is a symptom.”

  “What about those draugr?” I said, gesturing to the wall. “If it makes more of those—”

  Abe cut me off. “Then the consequences will be bad but not nearly as bad as if the Stryx are not given someone to punish.”

  “I think a fucking draugr apocalypse and a mad ice giant running around doing his Hulk impression is way worse than bad.”

  He was quiet for a moment. When he did speak again, it was with a softer, gentler tone. “I will make you a deal. Work your angle. Work that angle until you are satisfied. If I can be of any assistance, I will help. However, I was brought here to arrest a suspect and hand him over to the Stryx for punishment. I owe it to the taxpayers here not to go off chasing legendary giants that we do not even know how to kill. But, if that is what you want to do, be my guest.” He adjusted his posture in his seat and then added, “As for me, I am going to go get a search warrant for Robbie Fellows’ home and office. Then I will follow up with Kim Kelley, who I assume has taken up with one of the local covens.”

  Abe stood and discarded his sandwich and coffee, placing the tray on top of the trash can. “Abe,” I called, and he looked back. “Whether you believe it or not, this thing is dangerous. It’s already killed one vampire. Be careful.”

  “I am only half-vampire.” Abe scoffed and tipped his hat slightly. “But I will take your concern to heart. Now, if you will excuse me… Oh! And you should replace your phone before headquarters cashes in your life insurance.”

  He dug his hands into his pockets and made for the exit.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I drove home to change, resolving to call Doc. Since I was covered in blood, there wasn’t much else I could do.

  All the way there, the scene played out in my head, me making a complete fool of myself in front of Abe. I had no doubt he’d make note of it in his report. My superiors were already questioning my abilities as an agent. I’d screwed up enough times in the past the disciplinary committee knew me by name. Gerry wasn’t kidding when he said a reversal of his recommendation could get me fired…or worse. I’d never heard of an ex-BSI agent. The people who didn’t make it, no one talked about them. No one talked about what happened to you if you made it through the academy and then weren’t effective in the field. All the bad agents I knew about had died in bizarre accidents. I didn’t want to have a bizarre accident.

  Even if I managed to keep my nose clean, BSI would keep poking around in my personal life once I got their attention. If they kept it up, it wouldn’t be long before they started asking questions about my son…who I had illegally chosen not to register with the very agency I worked for.

  I wasn’t blind. I knew BSI had its problems. I also knew what was best for the majority wasn’t always ideal for the individual. BSI worked to keep the peace and keep crime low. Things like registration, they worked for people who were criminals and who had records, giving them a second chance. But my boy wasn’t a criminal or a killer. He was just a boy. And if I registered him, the small degree of normalcy he still had left in his life would be gone.

  Once I got home and through the door, I stripped in the kitchen, putting the bloody clothes in a trash bag. While I could save the outfit if I really worked at it, I didn’t care enough to try. Already, I’d resolved it would be the last time I’d ever dress up outside of a wedding or a funeral. From there, I picked up my landline phone and called over to Valentino’s to arrange for someone to tow my car from the Kelley estate back to my place.

  To my great displeasure, Nina picked up. “Garcia residence?”

  “Nina. How’s everyone doing?”

  “Fine enough,” she said in a high tone. “What can I do for you, Judah?” I told her about the tow. “Of course. You’re familiar with the fee?”

  “I’ll warn you, I’m a lousy tipper.”

  “Wonderful. I’ll tell him to calculate the tip for you.” She hung up.

  My next call was out to the Paint Rock Medical Clinic. Doc picked up on the second ring. “Paint Rock Clinic?” he said expectantly.

  “Doc, it’s me.”

  “Judah! Where have you been? I’ve been calling your cell all day.”

  “It’s kind of a long story,” I told him. “But my cell is dead. I’ll forward you the new number as soon as I get one. Did you find anything useful on Annie?”

  There was a slight pause and a shuffling sound, presumably as he moved somewhere more comfortable to finish up our conversation. “Her core body temperature was incredibly low. Impossibly low, I’d say, for someone who’d been at room temp as long as she was. And I had to thaw out her organs, Judah. She was literally a block of ice inside.”

  “What else?”

  “Well, she’s not a zombie, if that’s what you’re asking. Or wasn’t in the traditional sense before you shot her in the head.”

  “I said I was sorry!” I exclaimed. “And anyway, that was Doctor Kalma and not me.”

  “Water under the bridge, Judah,” Doc said excitedly. “I did some digging and came back with some information. Just after the Revelation, up in Finland, some supernatural researchers claimed to have come into contact with some similar creatures. There were fae involved. Something about necromancy. There’s some jargon…”

  “This is starting to sound familiar.”

  “Necromancy is one of the least studied varieties of magick.”

  I shifted the phone against my ear with a sigh. “That’s because it’s illegal.”

  “Magick of any kind isn’t inherently bad or good. You’ve said that yourself.”

  “Yeah…But there are kinds that naturally lend themselves to abuse. You know that. How many schedule one drugs started out as legitimate medical treatments?”

  “If you ask me,” said Doc, “some of them still have their uses. Cannabis, for example, is actually less harmful than caffeine.”

  “My badge is going to forget I heard that,” I said. “So, there’s necromancy involved. Great. What’s that got to do wi
th an ice giant?”

  “No idea. Putting everything together is your department, agent. I just cut people open.”

  “Thanks, Doc. Keep me posted.”

  He promised he would, and we hung up.

  I rubbed the back of my aching neck. My whole body felt gross, and I decided I needed to get cleaned up. I trudged down the hallway to the bathroom where I washed all the initial blood and gore off of me in the sink and then ran a hot bath.

  Like most people, the bathroom is where I do my best thinking. But that day, I could barely wrap my brain around where I was. I hadn’t realized just how sore and tired I was until I sank down into a tub full of hot water. I tried to work the case in my head, to make some progress since I was technically on the clock. But I’d been on the clock doing something since before sunrise the day before and, honestly, I really needed a nap.

  No! my brain screamed, and I jerked awake. You’ve got to stay busy, Judah. What haven’t you looked into yet? What’s the connection between fae-based ice giants, necromancy, and a porno directing vampire or a nightclub owner?

  My eyes fluttered closed in thought. I held a picture of the room in my mind’s eye, and as much as I hated to, I tried to imagine the scene. I placed cameras around the room, moved the crew and equipment into place. It took some doing but I put Annie’s body back together and made her beautiful again, doing my best to re-imagine everything from her point of view.

  I slipped underwater in the bathtub and held my breath. Harry had mentioned some thugs in leather broke his jaw. One of them might have decided to teach Harry a more permanent lesson rather than just throwing him out of the club. But it didn’t make Kim a target, and it didn’t explain everything else. Dammit, I had to be missing something, something important.

  A sudden noise made me open my eyes. I sat up out of the bath, not sure if I’d actually heard anything. My eyelids were sagging, and my brain was pounding. It could be just my headache playing tricks on me. But then there it was again, the distinct thud, thud, thud of footsteps in the hallway. Sal did say he would drop by later and he has a key. I probably just didn’t hear him come in.