Excerpt from the sequel to The Arcane
The crime scene tape stretched across the open doorway like a bandage trying to keep the carnage from seeping out and tainting all of the normal surrounding it. The building was an old one, and not even close to a high rent district, but it was not one of those junkie-infested crap holes you'd be afraid to go near after dark. It was neat and well cared for, and not the kind of place you usually saw swarming with cops like it was this morning.
"I just don't understand why anyone would do this to him." The young mother shifted her baby to the other hip as she shook her head in confusion. "He was the sweetest guy in the whole building. Always had a kind word for you if you passed him in the hall, loaned me money I know he couldn't really afford when my electricity was going to be shut off. He always made extra food and took his leftovers across the hall to Maria and Jorge's place, telling them it would go to waste otherwise, because he knows they have four kids and not really enough food for them, but they wouldn't have taken a handout if it looked like that's what it was."
"So he didn't have any enemies that you were aware of? No quarrel with anyone in the building?"
"No, not at all. Even the teenage boy in 2C that has a bad attitude and snarls at everyone actually smiles at Chris. He was just that kind of guy."
Detective Samantha Collins closed her notebook with a heavy sigh. Why is it always the nice ones? "Thank you, Mrs. Bennett, you've been very helpful."
"Let me know if there's anything else I can do, Detective. Chris deserved a better fate than this. I really hope you catch whoever did this to him."
"So do I, Mrs. Bennett. We'll do our very best." She nodded a farewell and walked back inside to consult with her partner. He wasn't so good with people, so she usually ended up doing the witness interviews while he checked out the crime scenes. It worked out well for them. On days like today she was especially glad to let him do the detailed inspection of the crime scene while she did the talking. This was one of the worst she'd seen. Blood was everywhere, splashed across the walls and the light blue carpeting in huge arcs like some crazy abstract painter had had a field day with the place. The victim, Christopher Tucker, had already been taken away. In six pieces. She swallowed hard to quell the nausea that arose as she recalled the way the body parts were scattered around when they had arrived. Shaking off the image, she crossed to where her partner stood surveying the scene.
"So, Jack, what do you think?"
He shook his head. "You don't want to know what I think."
"You think it's the same guy, don't you?"
Jack shrugged. "Doors and windows all locked from the inside, smells like sulfur, sooty residue on the floor and one wall, victim torn to pieces while still alive, yet nobody in the building heard a sound. What do you think?"
She rubbed her forehead, trying to squelch the headache that was starting to build already. "I was afraid you were going to say that. How many does that make now?"
"Four for sure, with a possible six. There were two over in Cooper's jurisdiction that are similar but not exactly the same. Nobody has been willing to say definitively that they're connected too. It would make sense though, since they happened first and they're similar enough, just not as savage, and you know attacks of this kind tend to escalate over time."
She nodded as both of their cells let out chirps at the same moment. Glancing at the screen, she eyed him and asked, "The captain?"
He nodded. "Bet you dinner he's going to assign us exclusively to this case."
She shook her head. "That's a sucker's bet, and I always end up buying dinner anyway because you’re always broke."
He grinned. "Then what do you have to lose? Come on, let's get this meeting over with so we can get back to work."
She rolled her eyes and followed him to the car.
Chapter 2
"Wake up!"
A pillow slammed into Brekken's head as Danyel shouted at him. He raised his head and looked daggers at his brother. Then groaned and flopped back down holding his head as a massive pain ripped through his skull.
Danyel smirked. "And just what were you doing last night to leave you with a hangover like that?"
"I have no idea," Brekken groaned, "I can't remember."
Danyel laughed and headed toward the kitchen. "Get your butt in gear and I'll make you something for that headache. Adame wants to meet with us. Now."
Brekken frowned without bothering to open his eyes. "What? Why?"
Danyel shrugged on his way out the door. "Don't know for sure, I think something's doing on the Earth plane, but he didn't elaborate."
Brekken dragged himself into a sitting position with a grunt and eyed his closet, wishing it wasn't so damn far away. Danyel came back in with glass of lightly steaming green liquid and held it out to him.
Brekken opened his eyes and closed them again with a grimace. "You're trying to poison me."
"Just take it, bro, I know it tastes like shit but it works and you know it."
Brekken glared at him and reluctantly took the drink.
Danyel crossed to the closet and grabbed a shirt and pants, throwing them on the bed beside Brekken. He turned to face him and settled back against the wall, crossing his arms and regarding Brekken. "Just FYI, that drink isn't going to do you any good in the glass, and it tastes worse when it gets cold."
Brekken glared at him again and bracing himself, chugged the drink as quickly as he could, gagging and shuddering at the taste.
Danyel took the glass. "That's better. Now get dressed, we've gotta get going." He took it to the kitchen while Brekken dragged his clothes on and they headed for the palace.
***
Fifteen minutes later, they strode through marble halls to the huge carved double doors of Adame's study. They pushed through the doors into a darkly wood paneled room, lined on two sides with shelves full of scrolls. Their footsteps were muffled by the thick crimson carpet, but the large male behind the desk, illuminated by the flickering fireplace, looked up anyway.
"Hey bro, what's up?" Danyel asked as he crossed to the chair in front of the desk. Brekken trailed in behind him and flopped on his back on the nearest couch, closing his eyes and clutching his head in an effort to keep his brains from spilling out of his ears like it felt like they were already doing.
Adame gave him a wry look. "Yeah, 'cause I wouldn't want you to bow or call me 'my liege' or anything like I'm, I don't know, the ruler of the entire underworld or anything."
Danyel snorted and put his feet up.
Adame looked over at Brekken. "You look like shit."
Brekken fingered him without bothering to open his eyes. Damn but he wished that crap of Danyel's would kick in. He usually felt better faster than this when he drank that sludge.
Adame shook his head. "You guys have been spending too much time over on the earth plane if you're even picking up their insulting gestures."
"And whose fault is that?" Danyel asked. "You're the one who dragged us over there as backup all the time until you two figured out how to get Roseline over here safely."
As if summoned by the sound of her name, Roseline ambled in the small door behind the desk, perusing a scroll as she walked.
"You're going to run into a wall one of these days doing that," Danyel teased.
She looked up in surprise. "Hey guys!"
Brekken waved weakly.
Roseline looked at him with concern. "Brekken, are you okay?"
He tried to sit up, opening his eyes and nodding, then clutched his head and groaned, "I shouldn't have done that."
"You poor thing!" Rose exclaimed, "Let me get a cold cloth for your head, you just lay back down." She set the scroll on Adame's desk and went back out the way she came in.
Adame regarded him with a frown. "So who'd you party that hard with last night to leave you in this kind of shape?"
"I have no idea, I can't remember anything. I don't even remember deciding to go out."
Adame shook his head. "You've gotta settle down some time, bro, you keep this up and you're gonna kill yourself."
"Yeah, well, when I find my Rose, I'll settle. Until then I'll just have to keep looking."
"I don't think wherever you were last night is the place to find a good mate."
Brekken shrugged.
"I do, however, have what may well be good news for you on that front." Adame pulled out a file full of what appeared to be newspaper clippings. "I need you and Danyel to head over to the Earth plane for me to check something out, and a certain blonde has graciously offered to be your hostess."
He cracked his eyelids. "Oh yeah?" He smiled. "Nice."
Danyel laughed. "That perked him up."
Rose came back in the door with a bowl of cool water with a cloth soaking in it and carried it over to Brekken. She glanced over at Adame. "He's smiling, you must have just told him he's about to get to see Ashley." She wrung out the cloth and laid it across his forehead, then crossed back over to Adame, who nodded, scooting his chair back and pulling her onto his lap.
Danyel chuckled and turned back to Adame. "So what's going on over there that's bad enough to send us to check it out?
"Dead humans."
Danyel gave him a blank look. "And that concerns us how?"
Adame frowned at him.
"Come on, you know they kill each other off all the time."
"These are different." Adame tossed the file across the desk to Danyel. "They have demon written all over them. They were killed with extreme violence, literally torn apart, yet no one ever hears a thing. A few witnesses have mentioned the smell of sulfur coming from the crime scenes, though the official line doesn't include it. Now these witnesses are just bloggers on the internet, and considering the other crap they write, they may just be looking for attention, but Rose says sometimes the human cops hold back information about crimes from the people who write that stuff," he gestured toward the file, "in order to use that information to catch the real culprit. Of course the human cops have no idea what they're looking at, they're thinking it's a normal serial killer... well, as normal as you can call a serial killer."
Danyel snorted at that and started flipping through the file. "Wouldn't you feel it if some psycho was popping across the veil to take out humans?"
"Unless whoever it is isn't going voluntarily."
Brekken cracked an eyelid at him. "You think someone's being summoned?"
Adame shrugged. "It would make sense. I'd feel anyone going on purpose, unless someone has come up with some way to sneak over that we don't know about yet. That's why I need you guys to investigate. If someone is dragging one of our people over, I want them stopped. If some sadistic asshole is sneaking over, I need to find out how and both stop him and make it so that loophole is closed."
Danyel looked over at Brekken, eyebrows raised. Brekken responded with a shrug. Danyel closed the file and tucked it into his coat. “Ok bro, we’re in.”
Adame nodded. "Good. I want you two to start by finding out what the cops are holding back, and then if it still points toward a demon doing the killing, we have to find out who and stop them."
“You got it.” Danyel stood. “C’mon, party animal, let’s go see your girlfriend.”
Brekken staggered to his feet. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
Danyel eyed him doubtfully.
“...yet.” He grinned evilly and headed out the door.
Chapter 3
Ashley fidgeted, straightening the pillows on the couch for the tenth time, smoothing her dress, wanting everything to be perfect when the brothers arrived. Well, when Brekken arrived, anyway. Not that it would make a difference. This was business, not a personal visit. After the way the two dates they’d managed to squeeze in while he was here with Adame had gone, she wasn’t surprised she hadn’t had a visit from Brekken since. How could it go from such a great start when they were talking in that alley after getting rid of Adame’s enemies to so cold and awkward when they were alone? She sighed. It doesn’t matter, she told herself, he’s not here for you, he’s here to solve the murders. That’s it. Just forget the rest. She heard boots on the stairwell of the apartment building and her heart, completely ignoring that little pep talk, pounded.
