“Come on,” she said, reaching her hands out to me. “Let’s get you up and off that cold ground.”
I sat up, wiping away the streaks of tears on my cheeks and let Lauren pull me up.
“What the hell was that?” My eyes shot to my arms and I released a relieved breath to see the blackness was gone. Dorian was searching the pockets of the rogue, who lay dead just a few feet away from me.
“This one was using a meat suit,” he replied, looking up at me.
“Do I even want to know?” I wrapped my arms around myself and looked over to the right. Multiple dead bodies lay strewn haphazardly amongst the tombstones and oak trees.
“Demon inhabiting a freshly dead guy,”’ Dorian said as he stood up. “The soul was already gone.”
I nodded, cringing in remembrance. While in Moon I had accidentally lifted Aura’s soul out of my cat’s body. Dorian explained that since her spirit didn’t belong in the cat’s body, I was able to connect to it and release it. Now I was left with a normal cat and lost my familiar when Aura moved on.
“So what I was touching was a demon?” I would have to take a few scolding hot showers to erase the feeling it gave me. I didn’t even know that kind of depression existed. An involuntary shudder trembled through my shoulders.
“I tried warning you.”
“You could have tried saying something like ‘If you touch him, your hand will be swimming in demon gunk’.”
“I’ll remember that next time,” Dorian responded.
My eyes fell to my forearm again. “What were those black vine things?”
“My guess is that the demon was trying to inhabit your body because it knew its host would be killed,” Lauren replied, staring down at the dead rogue. A few deep scratches lined her neck and cheeks but were already in the healing process.
“She’s right,” Dorian replied. “You’re lucky I got here before that happened.”
I nodded, swiveling my head to see all of the dead rogues. “You think they’re working for Holly?”
“I don’t know, but Flora isn’t safe anymore.” Dorian walked to my side. “Let’s head back home.” He placed his hand on the small of my back to turn me around, but I held my ground.
“We can’t just leave dead bodies lying around.”
“Aren’t dead bodies supposed to be in a cemetery?” Lauren said and she and Dorian shared a laugh. I glared at him and his laughter ceased but an amused grin remained.
“Do either one of you have a cell phone?” I asked.
Dorian slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He held it out but when I went to grab it, he tugged it away. “Where’s yours?”
“At home,” I said. “I didn’t think I’d need it.” I tried to grab it again but he held it up and over his shoulder.
“Have you learned your lesson?”
“That I shouldn’t invite annoying men to move in?” I asked. “Yes, lesson learned.”
Dorian grinned. “Admit it, if we hadn’t come to your rescue you’d be in a serious shit.”
“Give me the phone.” I reached my hand out, palm side up. Dorian quirked an eyebrow and smiled when I frowned at him.
“Fine,” I snapped. “You and Lauren saved my hide. Thank you, oh-powerful-ones. Now give me the damn phone.”
Dorian chuckled, placing the cell in my hand. Shaking my head, I turned away from the smugness on his face and dialed the only person who could handle a cleanup this bizarre.
“Who are you calling?” Lauren asked from behind me. I held up a finger in a ‘wait’ gesture. It was a little after midnight, but I knew Micah kept his cell right next to his bed in case of emergencies.
“Hello?” His raspy voice answered after the second ring.
“Sorry to wake you up,” I told him. “I have a situation that needs dealt with.”
“Gwen?” he paused. “It’s 12:30. What could possibly be that important?”
“How about ten dead bodies in the cemetery?” I glanced over my shoulder, cringing when I saw a man’s arm torn off and lying a couple feet from his body. I was guessing that was Lauren’s handy work.
“The cemetery is full of dead bodies,” Micah said, his voice low and rough like he was fighting staying awake. I wondered if I should be concerned that Micah shared the same sense of humor as Lauren and Dorian.
“Fresh dead guys,” I said. “They’re rogues that we just killed.”
“Who just killed?” Lauren chimed in, leaning over my shoulder. I swatted her away.
“Listen, I’ll just call the department. I’m sure one of your lackeys can handle it.”
There was a groan and then the squeaking of the bed. “No, I’m on my way. But I’m calling Wyatt too. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be woken up, too.”
“Thank you, Micah.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, red and blue flashing lights lit up the night. Micah and Wyatt walked down the beaten trail, their eyes drooping and Styrofoam cups in their hands. When they stopped in front of the three of us, their eyes instantly landed on Dorian. I knew what they were thinking: their squinting eyes, drawn together brows and tight lips all screamed of their suspicion of the tall, leather-coat-wearing man standing to my right. Little did they know he wasn’t just some rough neck.
“Gwen,” Wyatt said in greeting, nodding his head in my direction but his eyes still on Dorian. It was nice to see that I wasn’t the only one affected by Dorian’s presence.
“Sorry for waking you guys,” I said, and their eyes finally found my face. Micah and Wyatt were brothers and you could definitely tell. Though Wyatt’s hair was shorter than Micah’s, it was the same shade of cocoa brown. To the casual observer, their eyes would also appear brown but I couldn’t miss the gold swimming through them that marked them as werewolves. Both men were tall and muscular, five o’clock shadows lining their sharp jaw lines, though Micah’s was a little scragglier compared to his brother’s.
“Not a problem. I know when you call it must be serious.” Wyatt smiled. “I didn’t realize you were back from Moon until the other day.”
“The other day?” My eyes caught movement behind the brothers. The spirits lingered amongst the tombstones, their necks craning as they watched the FPD’s team invade their territory. I curled my lips inward to restrain my smile. I imagined what the police would do if they knew they had a phantom audience. I envisioned a lot of screaming and heavy footfalls as they ran for the gate.
“Yeah,” Wyatt said, bringing my attention back to the conversation. I looked up at him and he looked over his shoulder. “When you were attacked at your shop... You were already on your way to the hospital by then.”
“Oh, yeah, I got back about a week ago,” I told him and he looked back at me. I smiled and he cocked his head a little to the side in question. The last time I had seen Micah and Wyatt, I thought I was just a normal witch with an unusual talent for reading the dead. They hadn’t heard that I was actually a spirit walker.
“So what happened tonight?” Micah asked, his eyes falling on each of the dead bodies. He took a drink of his coffee while he walked over to the nearest dead rogue. We all followed and he knelt down to inspect the man who attacked me.
“They’re rogues,” Dorian answered.
“Why would rogues be after Gwen?” Wyatt asked, joining his brother beside the body. He pulled a pen from his pocket and used it to drag down the man’s shirt collar. Having not found anything, he then used the end to tilt the man’s face away.
“They’re working with the Veil,” Dorian said, crossing his arms.
I caught Lauren’s smile in my peripheral and turned to look at her. She was tracking one of the uniforms with her eyes. “I’m going to see if he needs any help.”
Before I could threaten her to keep her fangs to herself, she was gone and charming the police officer. Shaking my head, I turned back to the three men. Wyatt turned the dead man over and pulled down the back of his coat to reveal a dagger tattoo spanning his neck. I vaguely remembered the man at my shop having the same tattoo.
“Who the hell did you piss off enough to warrant a visit from the Veil?” Micah asked, his golden eyes hard.
“So you guys know about the Veil too?” I’d been living in my own little world in Flora and hadn’t questioned the things that lurked outside its boundaries. My ignorance was going to get me killed. First thing tomorrow, I was doing some serious research.
“It’s sort of our job to know about this stuff, Gwen,” Micah said without humor. “Who hired them?”
“I’m pretty sure it was Holly,” I told them. “She’s a member on the NAWC’s council.”
“What the hell happened in Moon?” Micah asked. It’d been the FPD’s case that started the downward spiral, though that was just the tip of the messed up iceberg.
“It’s a long story,” I told him. “In short, Holly and Ian were a couple. Ian thought that since I’m a spirit walker, I could accept the vampire virus and be turned into some sort of hybrid and used for his revenge on the VC.” By the time I finished talking Micah and Wyatt were staring at me with disbelief.
“Can you accept the vampire virus?” Wyatt asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t want to find out.”
“And Ian?” Micah said.
“Dead.”
“You?”
I smiled. “Silver stake through the heart.”
“Damn,” Micah said. “Seems we missed a lot. I’m happy you’re home safe.” He looked down at the dead man in front of him. “Well, home at least.”
“Now that you’ve given Gwen her welcome home speech, can you clean this up and keep it quiet?” Dorian grimaced.