Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
W hat an asshole!
That’s what Ollie found himself watching as the detective reached the mouth of the alley—his ass. He had a nice one, and Ollie didn’t mind watching him walk away.
But what an asshole!
Detective Keller. The guy didn’t give him a card, his number, or even an Insta profile name. How the hell was he supposed to contact him?
He thought of a dozen things to throw at Detective Adrian Keller’s back—the finger, rocks, a binding spell. But instead, he forced a deep breath and stomped out of the alleyway. A werewolf detective with a shockingly bad attitude wasn’t going to stop him from doing what he was there to do. The vision and the sense of responsibility—his need to see if there was any sort of connection to his mother’s death—were too strong to dismiss .
Ollie started off in the direction he’d come, back toward the crime scene. It was only a fifteen-minute walk from the bar. The lively sounds of the city seemed to muffle as he went first through the residential street and then into the now-oppressive quiet that hung over the alleyway. And he stood for a long while, far enough away that he wasn’t noticed yet close enough to see the scene play out.
After a long while, the action had died down. There were no more onlookers standing around in bathrobes to whisper about the police presence. But there were still crime scene vans lining the alleyway, parked well away from the scene, and one uniformed cop standing guard at the crime scene tape. More importantly, the detectives were nowhere to be seen—especially Detective Ass.
He needed to get into the scene itself, if nothing else, to read the resonance of the place where Zachary O’Brien had died. Knowing the victim’s name was good. Names carried power, and it meant he could perhaps even summon the man’s spirit back to speak to it directly, assuming it hadn’t already moved on to wherever it was destined after death. Even among mages, there was still a lot of debate on that theory.
Could he cloak himself again? Then he could walk right on by the uniformed officer. But that kind of thing worked best with minimal movement. Light was harder to manipulate as one moved. Besides, it would mean he couldn’t really cast anything else, as all of his focus would be on keeping himself hidden. No, he needed to figure something else out.
Ollie turned to walk back out of sight of the police officer. It wouldn’t do him any good if the officer witnessed him standing around. But then he noticed a jacket sitting in the front seat of one of the vans, the back of it emblazoned with the words Forensic Services Division.
With a quick glance back at the uniformed officer to ensure he wasn’t staring, Ollie tried the door. It was locked, but a quick focus of magic made the lock click. The power coursed through his body when he called it, and it flared into the van.
The van started honking, and the lights flashed on and off. Of course, the police officer took notice then, and he even started to walk toward where Ollie stood.
Ollie pulled the door open and dropped his bag on the front seat, then he grabbed the jacket. As he did so, he reached a hand toward the ignition switch, pushing even more power into it. Something snapped and the smell of burned rubber touched Ollie’s nose. But the van’s theft alarm stopped.
He heard the scuff of a shoe as Ollie emerged from the van, already slipping the jacket on.
“Sorry,” Ollie said as he finished putting the jacket on and faced the officer. “I forgot I had the alarm set.”
The officer looked him up and down. A crease in his brow said this wasn’t going well. “Where did you come from? ”
Ollie grabbed his bag and put it back over his shoulder. “I just got here. I know, I’m late.”
The officer still didn’t look like he was buying it. “Where’s your badge?”
For a moment, Ollie’s mind blanked with panic. But then he reached into his pocket and found his name tag from work. With a quick pull of power from the space around him, Ollie focused it into the name tag as he pulled it out. A perception spell worked better with a component, but it was one of those things that could also be cast on the fly. The street lamp above flickered. That was the side effect of working componentless magic. Sometimes it manipulated the surrounding environment.
Ollie showed the officer the name tag. To him, it still looked like what it was, a tag with the logo of his shop, Rowan & Co., and his name along with Manager underneath it. But assuming the magic worked—and that Ollie’s magic didn’t misfire—the officer should see what he expected to see. In this case, a badge belonging to a member of the Forensic Services Division.
The officer’s shoulders seemed to release tension. “Well, I think you guys are about done in there. Hope your supervisor doesn’t have your ass for being late.”
“Thanks. You and me both.” Ollie smiled at him. Inside, his heart pounded with a mix of excitement and fear that this could all still go wrong, and he’d end up in handcuffs. They both started toward the crime scene’s perimeter. “Sometimes it’s hard finding a babysitter, you know?” But then he cussed at himself for pushing the lie even further. It would be weird if they didn’t have some sort of conversation, though, wouldn’t it?
But the officer scoffed. “Tell me about it. My wife’s a nurse, and I’m a cop. We both have to work twelve-hour shifts sometimes. My mom is our go-to, but if she’s not around, try calling someone to ask them if they can watch your kids for twelve hours.”
“I’m lucky,” Ollie said. “My husband works from home…” Now he’s married in this lie? “So he’s got the baby situation under control,” Ollie continued. “But he’s out of town for meetings this week. And our normal sitter has a test tomorrow.” Ollie gulped. The lie just kept growing…
“Working from home, huh? That must be nice.”
“Yeah. It’s super helpful,” Ollie said. Luckily, they reached the crime scene tape, and the officer lifted it up for Ollie to duck under.
“Have a good one,” the officer said.
“You too!” Ollie huffed out a breath. It was a good thing that the conversation came to an end. Otherwise, he figured, he’d suddenly have a condo in the Gold Coast, and his fictional husband would have to be a successful graphic designer—or maybe an architect. They made more money, right? And, thank the gods and goddesses he didn’t have to come up with names for his kids.
But now, at least, he had full access to the crime scene. To Keller ’s crime scene. It was time to obstruct some investigation.
The air in the alleyway felt thick, charged with the residual energy of the violent act that had taken place there. He glanced around cautiously, making sure none of the evidence technicians were nearby.
Of course, they were. But they were all paying attention to various parts of the scene, shining flashlights into corners and behind trash cans. One picked through spilled trash. Looked like a fun job…
He followed suit, scanning the ground, searching for any clues or traces left behind. He went to the wall where he’d seen Detective Keller standing before he got all nosy and up in his business. The jerk. But he spotted it on a brick wall—a small, dark stain smeared across the surface, barely noticeable. Ollie’s breath caught in his throat as he realized it was a smear of blood, likely from the victim. This could be the starting point he needed for his magical investigation.
Ollie bent toward the bloodstain, his hands trembling slightly with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension. He knew he needed to proceed with caution—summoning a ghost was a delicate and unpredictable process, especially when dealing with a violent death. And one without a soul. This could definitely take a turn. He reached into his bag and retrieved a small pouch containing various herbs and powders. He figured he’d be working with someone who just died, so he came prepared.
Sprinkling a pinch of graveyard dirt mixed with bone dust onto the wall and over the stain, Ollie began to murmur the incantation under his breath. The words flowed like a gentle stream, each syllable carrying weight and power.
Ollie’s fingers hovered just above the concrete. His eyes closed as he reached out with his magical senses. He was not physically touching the blood, but he could feel the residual essence of the victim.
As he continued the incantation, the energy in the air shifted, the veil between the physical and spiritual realms thinning.
Finally, he closed the gap between his fingers and the blood, the blood becoming the component through which he channeled his magic.
The sensation hit him at once, a wave of violent emotion. It was more than he expected, and it knocked him backward a step. Ollie quickly regained control and concentrated on clearing the negative energy from himself, focusing on becoming that open conduit.
In that moment, he reached for Zach’s spirit. He tried to find the part of Zach that remained, the part that might be lingering somewhere in the space beyond the veil between the living and the dead, the gulf between life and death. Theoretically, the Boundary opened for the dead to pass, a one-way door that ushered spirits through it. For this to work, he had to catch Zach before he slipped through it, otherwise he’d be cut off for good.
Unless they were restless dead like the spirit that kept bothering him. Then they lingered on this plane.
At first, there was nothing when he sought Zach. He expected that. Even though he’d seen Zach’s soul stolen, there was still something of him in whatever waited beyond. It was that part that Ollie searched for now .
He reached farther, extended his power outward. Whatever was left of Zachary O’Brien should be close by. A ghost or something. But still, he remained elusive.
Then came a hint of… something, a darkness that yawned like an empty pit. It was like standing on the precipice of a vast vacant space where the absence of something became a physical presence of its own.
And that darkness took notice of him.
The void that was once the soul of Zachary O’Brien shifted and coalesced as if it turned to stare at him, sizing him up, and Ollie knew beyond a doubt that this thing wanted him. In a way, Ollie expected this. The unpredictability of his magic often got in the way, and he braced himself for that familiar sensation of his power going awry.
But this time, it felt different.
He smelled it, the same resinous citrus odor.
This wasn’t his magic shifting sideways as it often did. This was something else seeking him out and attempting to draw him closer.
Ollie pulled his hand away from the bloodstain to break the connection, but it was too late.
The darkness lunged for him, surging forward like a wave, searching for a way to gain purchase.
And it found it.
Ollie felt himself pulled toward the darkness. It was as if there were a hook inside him that yanked at his soul. He screamed and tried to pull away .
But the darkness had a grip on him now. It held him and pulled him in.
Ollie fought. He tried to resist the pull.
Then something hit him hard from the side. A growl roared in his ear as arms gripped him and pulled him backward and to the ground.
The connection to the magic shattered, the darkness losing its grip, and Ollie found himself on his back, staring up into a pair of hazel eyes that seemed tinged with yellow.
“I thought I told you to stay out of it!”
Ollie looked up into the eyes of the man who straddled him, his hands pushed down hard on his shoulders.
Keller.
His face was only inches away so that Ollie could feel the detective’s hot breath touching his face and neck.
“I… I was...”
“You were casting something,” the detective said. “Summoning something. I could smell it, something I’ve never scented before.”
“I wasn’t summoning anything!”
The detective pressed down again, his face moving marginally closer to Ollie’s. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”
“I told you before. I’d seen this scene. I watched the whole thing. It came to me in a vision.”
Finally, the detective let up and sat up straight. He still rested his weight on Ollie’s hips, his thick thighs spreading on either side of Ollie. Ollie, in spite of his situation and what he had just experienced, couldn’t help but take a glance at the detective’s crotch.
“Um, are you going to let me up,” Ollie asked, “or would you like to buy me dinner first?”
After a moment, the detective removed himself from on top of Ollie, and Ollie sat up.
The other evidence techs took notice. Some of them moved in their direction.
“We have visitors,” Ollie murmured.
The detective looked over his shoulder then back at Ollie. “They should take notice. I should arrest you right now.”
“If you don’t want to answer some uncomfortable questions, I suggest you tell them things are okay.”
Detective Keller’s jaw tightened. He stood up and faced the tech coming toward him. “It’s okay, guys.”
The tech looked from Adrian to Ollie. “You sure?”
This was some vindication. Ollie stood up, brushing himself off. “Yeah. I’m fine. The detective here just tripped, and I became his soft place to land.” He walked over and patted the detective on his shoulder.
Detective Keller shot Ollie a hard glance and stepped away. But he went with it. “Yeah, there’s a pothole.”
The tech glanced to where Detective Keller referred, and he was still skeptical.
“I’m good,” Ollie said. “It was an honest trip and fall.”
“Okay,” the guy said. He backed away. “I’m going to be right over there, working.”
Ollie nodded. “And I, uh, got some work to do over here.” As he spoke, Ollie reached into his shoulder bag for a small pouch of mirror shards. He pinched a piece of mirror between his thumb and forefinger, and as the tech turned around, Ollie pushed a spell into place, one to show him and Detective Keller in a simple conversation and that would keep out the content of what they talked about. The tech was ready to stop a detective from attacking him, so maybe it wasn’t a great idea to put up a barrier to hide their actions. But it was probably for the best considering their topic of conversation.
“What did you do?” Keller demanded once more.
“I figured you’d want to keep our conversation away from prying mortal eyes and ears.”
“Stop casting magic.”
Ollie shrugged. “Sorry, but it’s what I do.”
The detective huffed out a breath. “I don’t trust mages.”
Ollie’s lips pressed tighter. “Aww, what is it? Did a mage give the big, bad werewolf a boo-boo?”
Keller took a step toward Ollie so that Ollie almost called up his defenses again. But he didn’t. He didn’t think now would be a good time to escalate matters any more than they already were. There was something in the detective’s face, though, that gave Ollie pause and made his snark soften.
“Did a mage do something to you?” Ollie asked him.
The detective stared at Ollie for a long time, then he turned away. “What were you doing?” Keller asked again. The detective turned and paced before turning back. “What was that… this… whatever I interrupted?”
Ollie gulped. “I was trying to call Zachary O’Brien’s soul. Or what was left of it. Of him. I mean, even though he doesn’t have a?—”
The detective held up a hand. “You said you weren’t summoning anything.”
“I wasn’t!” Ollie stopped. “I mean, I wasn’t intending to. Talking to a spirit isn’t the same as summoning. I was merely trying to reach out to a man who recently died. It shouldn’t have been a hard spell to work.”
Keller looked at him. “And?”
“And nothing. There was nothing.”
“No ghost?”
“I mean, there was nothing there. It was a void. Some kind of darkness.” Ollie shivered involuntarily as he thought back to the way that darkness reached for him. “I don’t think there’s a ghost for me to get into contact with,” Ollie said at last.
The detective looked at him again, this time with his brow knit like he was thinking of something. “The body smelled different,” Keller said. “It smelled off to me.”
“Don’t most bodies smell off?”
The detective shook his head. “No, I mean it smelled like there was something missing. And there was a different scent like lemons and wood.”
Ollie met the detective’s gaze. “Like frankincense and citrus. ”
The detective gave Ollie a hard stare. “That’s oddly specific. How’d you come up with that?”
“Simmer down, Detective. That’s not a confession. I smelled it in the vision.” No need to mention it was written in his family’s grimoire too.
Adrian’s lips pressed tight. “I don’t think I’ve ever smelled frankincense, but I suppose that fits.”
“It’s a woodsy odor, kind of like sandalwood but warmer and spicier.”
Keller frowned. “Yeah.”
“And he’s missing a soul, so that could be what made him smell off. I mean, it never occurred to me that a soul might have a smell.”
The detective rubbed at the five-o-clock shadow growing on his chin. “It’s like the thing that made Zachary O’Brien him was missing.”
“So, his soul. Like I just said. Maybe half a dozen times now.”
“Twice,” the detective shot back.
Ollie’s brow knit. “What?”
“You said it twice.”
He didn’t expect the detective to harp on semantics. “Well, I’m pretty sure I said it three times, and I kind of implied it when I said there was nothing there. So we’re up to four.”
Keller looked to Ollie again and rolled his eyes. Then he walked to the blood stain on the wall. “I don’t know what else I hoped to find by coming back here.”
Ollie moved toward him. “I know what I expected to find and didn’t.” Ollie crossed his arms. “And that would make five times now that I mentioned him missing a soul.”
The expression on the detective’s face when he looked at Ollie again wasn’t nearly as combative. It wasn’t exactly friendly, but at least he didn’t think this guy was going to wolf out on him and try to eat his guts or something.
“I told you I could help you,” Ollie said.
Keller’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to face him again with his arms crossed. “Help me how?”
“I can start by telling you what I saw in my vision. Then I can help you by seeing the things you can’t, the things that only magic can bring to light.”
He shook his head. “I told you, I don’t like magic.”
Ollie moved a step closer. “Look, Detective Keller, I don’t know what mages did to you in the past, but I’m not them. I feel like there’s a reason for me to be here. I was shown this murder because something dark is involved, and the gods or whatever you believe in have seen fit to include me in this. I’m not stepping on your paws or anything, but I’m not going to let this go that easily.”
For a long moment, the detective studied him. Finally, he said, “Adrian.”
“What?”
“My name is Adrian. Adrian Keller, homicide division.”
Ollie let out a breath, this time with a little more relief. “Well, Detective Adrian Keller, homicide division, I’m Oliver.”
“Your name tag already told me. ”
“Most people call me Ollie. I didn’t tell you that, did I?”
Adrian, now that he was able to put a name to that handsome face, didn’t give Ollie a response except to say, “So, Ollie, why don’t we start by you telling me all about that vision you saw? Maybe something I don’t already know.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be hard, telling you something you don’t know.”
Adrian started to say something, but Ollie held up his hands in a kind of surrender.
“I’m just kidding. How about we start here, and I’ll tell you how I figured out that the murder victim, Zach, was at the Second City Saloon last night...”