Chapter 4
Chapter Four
“Well, that was unfortunate.”
Luke passed an annoyed stare at Remiel as the archangel appeared by his side in the Catholic cemetery he’d been called to about the student murder.
In his human form, Remi was almost as tall as Luke.
Shoulder-length, wavy blond hair that he’d pulled back into a ponytail, and eyes so blue that they appeared electric.
His white, golden-tipped wings were currently hidden.
Though it would be amusing to see them contrast with the angel’s jeans and black button-down shirt.
“Not as unfortunate as my being seen with you in public,” Luke quipped.
“I still say our relationship had nothing to do with your banishment.”
Right… Luke completely disagreed. “My father hates you with every beat of his callous, black heart.”
“Samael doesn’t hate me. He’s merely angry that I didn’t join him in his rebellion and no one holds a grudge better than he. That being said, I’m sure he’s over it by now.”
Luke laughed. “That eternal hope in you is annoying, my friend.”
“We’re all creatures of habit and birth. Should I toss a bone for you?”
“Ha, ha.” Luke rolled his eyes at the reference to his being part hellhound. “Low blow.”
Remiel smiled. “Sorry. I’m feeling a bit…puckish over the waste of that young life. She had such promise. I weep at the cruelty.”
“Yeah.” Luke wasn’t happy about it himself. It’d been a brutal murder that he was sure the poor kid hadn’t deserved.
But at least one thing was clear… “This wasn’t one of us.” There was nothing demonic about it. Well, other than the gore. But even that was over the top for his kind.
Unless they were really pissed off.
Sometimes if they wanted to make a point.
“It wasn’t human, either.”
“You sure?” he asked Remiel. “Humans can be far more vicious than any of our ilk. I can see a human doing it for some sick and twisted reason…like she didn’t compliment someone’s shoes.
Their senseless cruelty is legendary.” Luke knelt by the girl’s side.
Someone had shredded her horribly and then ripped out her throat.
Her face was so badly battered that he couldn’t even tell what she’d looked like before her attack.
This had been ruthless. Savage.
Human.
“Where’s her soul?”
He looked up at Remi’s question. “What?”
“It’s not here, lingering as it should be. No psychopomp was dispatched to escort her to her final place, and I don’t detect her soul in any dimension. What happened to it?”
That made a good point. If no psychopomp had come here to gather it, then her soul should be wandering about the grounds with the ghosts.
And it wasn’t, which left him with an interesting list of possible culprits. “It was done during daylight.” That meant no vampires were involved. Sadly, though, the list of soul-eaters who could walk in daylight was a long one.
Rising to his feet, he sighed. “Any ideas?”
Remi smirked. “You’re the detective.”
“And you’re the asshole.”
Remi laughed.
But at least Remi had pointed him in the right direction. They were hunting someone who’d stolen the girl’s soul.
No, Luke realized as he glanced about and considered what Remi had said about it not existing in any dimension. They were looking for something that had eaten it.
Sorcha dried her face that she’d just washed. Six years on the New Orleans police force and she’d never once vomited.
Today, she made up for it.
Never in her life had she seen anything more gruesome than the crime scene in the graveyard. She doubted if Jack the Ripper had been worse.
“You okay?”
She caught sight of the captain in the mirror and blushed at having been seen like this. Like she was a rookie on her first crime scene. “Yeah.”
“It’s always hard when it’s a young person.”
True. The girl had been no more than eighteen or nineteen. Sorcha was just grateful she wasn’t the one who’d have the awful job of notifying the girl’s parents. The very thought made her want to vomit again. Those poor people.
“Do you see anything?” the captain asked.
Sorcha wiped at her face one last time and shook her head. “There’s nothing I’m picking up on. What about Luke?” She’d left him as soon as she’d seen the mangled body someone had placed near a marble statue of a dog named Prince.
Two seconds later, she’d emptied her stomach in the nearest bush and had made a trail to a local construction business and into the bathroom where she currently stood.
“He’s not picking up anything either. Was hoping you might be able to see the girl’s ghost.”
Shocked, Sorcha froze. “What?”
“Your father told me what you can do. It’s one of the reasons I hired you. We could use a medium on staff. The last one we had…didn’t work out.”
Sorcha could imagine the trouble a medium would have, given everything she’d seen in the office, alone. Never mind everything else that haunted Savannah.
What more was there that she didn’t know about this job?
“Was she Luke’s partner, too?”
The captain shook her head. “No. Chris’s. He had a hard time dealing with her. She really didn’t like Winslow.”
How could anyone not like Chris and his ghost?
Right now, she’d give anything to have them as her biggest problem, because all she wanted was something to calm her nerves from a sight she was sure she’d never unsee.
This one would haunt her as much as her sister’s.
Reyes handed her a can of ginger ale. “Believe it or not, that’ll help.”
“Thanks.” Sorcha took the offering and popped the lid. She wasn’t a big ginger ale fan. But right now, she’d welcome anything to settle her stomach and get the awful, bitter taste out of her mouth.
“Take your time. I’ll be at the crime scene when you’re ready.”
Even though it was the last thing she wanted to do, Sorcha took a deep drink, then followed after her captain. She really didn’t want to see what was left of that poor kid again.
Think about the student’s family and the pain it’d cause them. No one ever got over the death of someone so young.
She knew that better than anyone. I miss you, Siobhan. Sorcha felt the loss of her twin sister every single day. It was why she’d entered law enforcement. Losing someone you loved was hard. Having no answers about their death or watching their killer go free was worse.
It left a devouring fury deep inside the soul that never abated. One that hungered for justice.
Explanation.
No one knew anything about Siobhan’s death. No witnesses. Just a crime scene with gory photos she’d memorized in hopes of finding out something. Someday.
All she’d ever found was pain.
No answers.
Don’t think about it.
She couldn’t change the past. All she could do was get answers for others. Make sure they didn’t live with the guilt and mystery that she did.
Trying not to make the poor girl Siobhan’s substitute, she returned to the cemetery and headed for Luke who was talking to a tall, gorgeous blond man. There was something about him that seemed ethereal and raw. Dangerous and yet comforting.
Strange combination.
“Sorcha.” Luke inclined his head to her as she joined them. “This is Remi.”
“Hi.” She smiled at the stranger.
A frown darted across his face before he returned her smile. “Nice meeting you…wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Yeah.” She pulled the blue latex gloves from her purse and the shoe covers. Last thing they wanted was to taint evidence or track anything home. “Are you with Infernal Affairs?”
That widened his smile and showed her just how exquisitely handsome he was. “More like Eternal Affairs.”
That confused her. “What?”
Luke laughed. “Remi’s the archangel Remiel.”
Her jaw went slack. “No way… You’re kidding.”
They both shook their heads.
“A demon and an angel…friends?”
“Luke’s not really a demon. He claims that status, but his father is an angel and his mother a hound. Demons don’t enter into his genetic code.”
Her partner snorted. “Remi is overly literal, as in he’s ASD on steroids. It’s one of his more annoying traits. And I assure you, my father would be highly offended hearing you classify him as an angel. He considers himself the first demon.”
Remi sighed heavily. “His pride…ever his downfall.”
“Stubbornness is ever yours.”
Remi gave Luke a gimlet stare. “Let ye who be without sin…”
“Oh, I’m casting that stone, brother. Just be happy that this time it’s not at your head.”
Tsking, Remi stepped back. “I shall leave you two to your business. Just be careful. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.” And with that, he looked about to make sure no one was watching them and vanished.
She shivered at his actions. “Does he do that often?”
“Yes, but generally not in public.”
“What about the we comment?” she asked. “You work with him a lot?”
“Not at all. He’s the archangel of hope who sometimes guides the souls of the faithful into Heaven.”
“Is that why he was here?”
Luke scowled at her. “You ask a lot of questions.”
She tapped the badge clipped to her waist. “Investigators usually do. Kind of goes with the whole detective territory.”
Snorting, he jerked his chin toward the body beside the family plot where the dog sat in eternal repose. Too bad she couldn’t ask it any questions. It would have seen everything that happened here.
“Remi said that no one had been dispatched to claim the girl and he didn’t detect her soul in any of the known realms.”
Now she was really confused. “What does that mean?”
“No soul. No psychopomp. No happy-ever-after or not-so-happy-ever-after…means something else took her soul, or worse, devoured it. And whatever it was is probably the one who killed her.”
“That’s disturbing.”
“More than you know. No one likes a soul-eater. On any side. It’s…unnatural.”
Sorcha made a face. “I would have thought they were among your father’s favorites.”