Corruption

by Jennifer Blackstream

  Corruption

  Blood Trails, Book 4

  Jennifer Blackstream

  Skeleton Key Publishing

  Contents

  Copyright

  Summary

  Also by Jennifer Blackstream

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Next Book

  From the Author

  Other Books by Jennifer Blackstream

  Did you find a typo?

  Ahoy, ebook pirates!

  CORRUPTION

  A Blood Trails Novel, Book 4

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  JENNIFER BLACKSTREAM

  Website

  Mailing List

  Facebook Fan Page

  Corruption

  ©Copyright Jennifer Blackstream 2018, Skeleton Key Publishing

  Edited by 720 Editing

  Cover Art by Yocla Designs © Copyright 2018

  * * *

  This is a work fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form without the written permission of the author. You may not circulate this book in any format. Thank you for respecting the hard work of all people involved with the creation of this ebook.

  USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Blackstream brings another pulse-pounding mystery to the urban fantasy genre with a thwarted

  exorcism that will redefine the battle between good and evil…

  * * *

  Shade is a witch, not an exorcist. But when two priests are killed during an exorcism, the surviving witness begs Shade to find out who–or what–is responsible.

  And what good is a private investigator who’s afraid of the tough cases?

  Danger mounts as Shade plunges into a world of hedonism to wade through the muddy waters of good vs evil. If she’s going to survive against the army of enemies piling up, she’s going to need help. But who can she trust when the demon who survived the exorcism creates chaos among allies and suspects alike?

  After all, with the proper temptation, anyone can be corrupted…

  ALSO BY JENNIFER BLACKSTREAM

  * * *

  Join my mailing list to be alerted when new titles are released.

  * * *

  Urban Fantasy

  * * *

  Blood Trails Series

  Deadline

  Monster

  Taken

  Corruption

  Mercenary

  * * *

  Paranormal Romance

  * * *

  Blood Prince Series

  Before Midnight

  One Bite

  Golden Stair

  Divine Scales

  Beautiful Salvation

  Bonus Novel: The Pirate’s Witch

  * * *

  Blood Realm Series:

  All for a Rose

  Blue Voodoo

  The Archer

  Bear With Me

  Stolen Wish

  * * *

  Join my mailing list to be alerted when new titles are released.

  * * *

  Short stories are not listed here, but can be found on my website here.

  “Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire.”

  - Dan Brown

  Chapter 1

  “Shade, why is there a rhinoceros in my family room?”

  I didn’t answer Andy. My full and undivided attention rested on the two thousand pound rhinoceros standing less than five feet in front of me. The two thousand pound rhinoceros with the twenty inch long horn aimed at my vulnerable gut.

  I said a small prayer of thanks it was laundry day, so I was wearing my least favorite—and least colorful—pair of leggings. Plain gray. And after all the Coke I’d been drinking, perhaps I even resembled a rhino.

  “Majesty,” I said, keeping my voice low. “If you understand me, please make the rhinoceros go away.” I swallowed hard. “There’s a ball of yarn in it for you. And kitty treats.”

  The kitten I was speaking to raised its black-striped grey head to show me innocent blue eyes highlighted by the smattering of white fur on his face. He appeared unconcerned with my predicament. Of course, considering he was facing the less imposing end of the rhino—the side without the twenty inch long weapon of Shade-destruction—the beast probably seemed significantly less dangerous to him. He blinked, then resumed his intense scrutiny of the rhino’s swishing tail.

  If he swipes at that thing, this animal will maul me.

  No one’s life should rest on a cat’s ability to resist a dangling object that close to its face.

  I scanned my immediate surroundings, even though I knew damn well there was nothing in my vicinity that would help against a rhinoceros. The room we were in was the lower floor of a split-level house, what Andy referred to as the family room. It was a large room, divided into two sections by a long L-shaped navy blue couch. Andy sat on a stool at the half bar on the right side of the room, the long surface covered with boxes of FBI files.

  I was on the others side. With the rhinoceros.

  “Can’t you use magic to get rid of it?” Andy asked.

  The rhinoceros snorted and stamped its foot. My heart leapt into my throat, muffling the scream building in the boiling pit of panic in my stomach. I didn’t think I’d made a sound, but the beast’s tube-shaped ears swiveled in all directions before facing me.

  “No,” I squeaked. “No, I’m too close, there’s nothing I could do to it that wouldn’t either hurt me too, or be so slow to take effect that it would have time to gore me first.”

  I could picture Andy’s face, that empty expression he pasted on whenever he was thinking and didn’t want to give anything away before he reached a decision. “The kitten made that thing?” he asked.

  “Summoned, not made, but yes.” I choked as the rhino threw its head down, ears moving again, this time pointing at Andy. “At least I am ninety-nine percent sure.” I resisted the urge to take a step back. “Beasts such as this one don’t appear out of nowhere on their own. And I assume you don’t own a pet rhino you’ve neglected to mention?”

  Silence.

  “How long can you hold it?” he asked.

  “I’m not holding it. I’m…making it hesitate.”

  The rhino stomped again, grinding the rose-colored carpet beneath its massive foot. It was a display of aggression, the animal’s way of telling me to back off. The beast was irritated, and obviously felt threatened, a natural reaction to finding oneself torn from one’s home and blinked into a different part of the world. If I hadn’t locked gazes with it so quickly after its appearance, it would have attacked immediately. But even a witch’s stare wouldn’t hold it once the disorientation of the summoning wore off. My knowledge of rhinos was limited, but I knew they had strong aggressive tendencies and a willingness to charge any threat, real or imagined.

  Sort of like pixies.

  Only bigger.

  Much. Bigger.

  Metal sliding against leather pricked my ears. “Please tell me you didn’t draw your gun,” I said, trying to keep the panic out of my tone. “You must realize you have no chance of killing that thing before it turns me i
nto so much meat.”

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  No one should sound that calm with an agitated rhino standing less than ten feet away. Andy might not realize it, but standing behind the couch wouldn’t save him. If this thing charged, it would crush me, the couch, Andy, and probably the wall behind him. I zeroed in on the horn again.

  That is not how I want to die.

  “Wait.” I held still and hoped my heartbeat didn’t sound as loud to the rhino as it did to me. How long had it been since the beast materialized? Thirty seconds? Forty?

  I couldn’t take my eyes off the rhino, had to hold its gaze as long as I could. I didn’t completely understand Majesty’s abilities, but a summoning like this rarely lasted that long. Another thirty seconds, and everything would be fine.

  It was only out of my peripheral vision I registered Majesty’s movement. A split second later, I realized what was about to happen. My lips parted.

  “Majesty, n—”

  Majesty leapt at the rhino’s tail, one tiny paw topped with razor sharp claws slapping the thin limb and raking down the length to the hairy tip. The hulking grey-armored beast swiveled around faster than any creature that size had a right to—and charged.

  The kitten leapt into the air, sailing like a piece of fluff carried on a sudden wind, then landed on the rhinoceros’ back and dug in. A sound of pure fury exploded from his mount, and the rhinoceros charged, plowing through the glass sliding door, crunching the metal frame on its way into the backyard. The towering maple tree that shaded most of the area behind Andy’s house shook with violent vibrations as the rhino struck it—and vanished.

  I stood there, heart pounding, and stared at the broken glass, the horn-scored tree trunk. The empty backyard.

  “What the…” Andy still held his gun, his posture tense as he searched for the wild beast. He crept around the couch and peeked out the large space where the door had been. As always, his brown hair was combed neatly back from his face, his blue suit wrinkle-free. He didn’t look like someone whose house had been temporarily turned into a zoo. “Where did it go?”

  I took a shuddering breath then pasted a reassuring smile on my face. “Back to wherever Majesty summoned it. Crisis averted.”

  Andy dropped his gaze to the ruined sliding glass door, the torn carpet, and the dented doorframe. He didn’t have the most expressive face, so when his mouth tilted down at the corners, it was as good as a growl.

  “It could have been much worse. I mean, insofar as collateral damage goes.” I pointed at the door. “A sliding glass door is easier to replace than a wall. Or a partner.”

  Andy ignored my attempt at humor as he holstered his weapon. “I’ll call a repairman.” He gestured at Majesty where the confused kitten sat in the middle of the floor. “He’s not going to summon something else, is he?”

  I wanted to say no. “Well…” I hedged.

  The skin around Andy’s left eye twitched. “Can you make it stop? Keep it from doing that again?”

  Majesty mewed at me as if he were cross with me for sending his fun away. I scooped him up and held him so I could talk to him face to face. “You are in big trouble, mister.”

  Another mewl was his only response.

  “Smack him!” Peasblossom shouted.

  I glanced up at the large shelving unit that took up most of the wall on the other half of the room and wagged a finger at the pink pixie leaning over the top shelf. “I’m not going to smack him. With our luck, it would make him…go off again.”

  Peasblossom glided to my shoulder and grabbed a lock of my hair to get her balance. “I still say he deserves a smack. First he makes it rain all over my house, and now he puts an elephant in Andy’s living room. Look at his door! Ruined!”

  “That was a rhinoceros, not an elephant,” I corrected her. “And he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s the curse.”

  I was only half sure about that. A few months ago, Majesty’s human owner had taken him to a sorceress with a request to prevent the kitten from aging. The self-admitted cat lady had suffered a rash of feline deaths, and hadn’t been able to bear the idea of losing Majesty too. The spell that kept Majesty a kitten had bound up his lifeforce into a knot of pure chaotic energy. And last month I’d learned what that meant. It meant random magic ranging from summoning a very localized, very heavy rainfall, say, over a pixie’s dollhouse, to glowing. And now, summoning large mammals.

  So the rhino was Majesty’s fault. I just couldn’t say if he’d done it on purpose. His level of sentience was…undetermined as yet.

  Andy stood by the door talking on his phone to what I assumed was a home-repair company. I wondered what story he was making up to explain the damage.

  I ran a hand through my hair, then wrinkled my nose. The cold sweat that had bathed me during my time in the rhino’s path had made my hair damp, so the broken strands of hair at my temples curled in sweaty ringlets, and the rest of it hung in a limp blanket down my back to my waist.

  Andy got off the phone and sighed. “Not a cheap fix. Next time, don’t bring the chaos cat?”

  “I didn’t bring him!” I protested. “He…hitched a ride. Or something.” I frowned at the kitten hanging from my grasp. “If it makes you feel any better, he’s cost me a few hundred dollars sneaking into my office.”

  “It’s fine.” He smoothed out the already straight lines of his jacket. “Well, now that that’s over, should we return to the original point of your visit?”

  “We don’t seem to agree on the original point of my visit.” I crossed my arms. “Have you given my idea any more thought?”

  “Yes, and the answer is still no.”

  I put Majesty on the couch and watched Andy circle around to the bar tucked into the far corner. Stacks and stacks of neatly arranged files lined the bar from one end to another, all organized with help from an oracle. All of them were unsolved cases or cases that remained questionable due to a previously unseen link to the Otherworld. Each was now the FBI agent’s personal mission.

  I inhaled the scent of paper, folders, ink, and Post-it notes. The unique perfume of office supplies always calmed me. The scent of productivity.

  “Don’t dismiss the idea right off the bat. If you’d just—”

  “I’m not getting a tattoo.”

  He said “tattoo” as if I’d suggested he adopt an organ grinder’s monkey. “It’s not a tattoo, it’s protection.” I rounded the couch to meet him at the bar. “If you use an ink with a high iron oxide content—”

  “I’ll be fine. Let’s concentrate on our next case. My vacation days run out Monday, I don’t want to waste any time.”

  He grabbed a file, but I slammed my palm flat down on the stack, ripping it out of his grip. “Andy, you will not be fine. You shot a kelpie. Two kelpies. One of them is dead.” I met his eyes, willed him to take me seriously. “You need to understand what that means.”

  “I will be fine.”

  “You don’t know that!” I grabbed my hair, resisting the urge to rip it out.

  “Hey!” Peasblossom shouted as she lost her balance and slid down one long, black lock to swing like a pendulum near my waist.

  I winced and lifted her to my shoulder. “Sorry.”

  “I was defending a kid,” Andy argued. “That…kelpie, was going to drown him. Or worse.” He held the file in the air between us, wagged it at my face. “It’s done. Let’s move on.”

  “It is not done!” I stopped and took a deep breath. “Those kelpies won’t forget—or forgive—what you did. They will come after you.” I toyed with the small metal zipper on the pouch at my waist. “The tattoo wouldn’t be a huge help, but it would make you less vulnerable to glamour. That’s a big deal when dealing with the fey, glamour is fifty percent of what they do. They could glamour themselves as one of your coworkers and kill you in the break room before you ever suspected they were there.”

  “Get a tattoo of me,” Peasblossom suggested. She kicked her feet against my shoulder, her wings
fanning to stir the fine hairs at the back of my neck. “I’ll even make a scary face when I pose for it. It won’t be as good as having me with you in person, but it’ll scare them off.”

  That wasn’t true, but I didn’t argue. I couldn’t get images of that night out of my mind. Andy disappearing beneath the dark water of Lake Erie, his shirt caught in the flat, protruding teeth of a wild-eyed, furious water horse. Watching him go under, hoping the spell I’d given him would keep him from drowning… And teenaged Grayson screaming and sobbing, begging us not to leave him behind.

  I swallowed past a sudden lump in my throat and reached into my pouch, fishing around past three bags of fruit snacks, a sand bucket, and a fistful of twisty-ties to find the handle of the broom I kept there. I ignored Andy’s raised eyebrow as I pulled the broom free and headed for the mess of broken glass. I needed something to keep me busy while I figured out how to make him see sense.

  “No vacuum cleaner in there?” he asked.

  Now that he mentioned it, I did have a small Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner in the pouch. But I wasn’t going to dig for it after he’d made a joke out of it.

  “Andy, I don’t want to see you get hurt. Please, consider the tattoo. It doesn’t have to be huge, just enough to put some iron on you. Permanent iron they can’t take away.”