SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (181 page)

Evelyn cleared her throat. “That’s all right. I’ll try again.”

“Dr. Vale,” the steward said, his voice low and annoyed. “We don’t have time to waste on your ‘impressive’ displays of power. You have no name to summon her with and no totem she held dear, but you
do
have her body. Use it.”

Evelyn swallowed down the bitter saliva in her mouth. “Her body? You want me to…uh…” What did he want her to do exactly?

“Try skin to skin contact and infuse some of your energy into her body. That might get her to come back. Didn’t you learn this in your studies?”

“Well, sir, the university didn’t teach us to do things that are considered
illegal
in Greater America.” Most people couldn’t push enough energy into a human corpse for it to directly affect the spirit that had vacated the body, but many of those who could were now in jail or working for companies like Immortal Bounty.

In the span of human history, the twenty-seven years since The Great Collision was just a blip. And although they’d managed to figure some things out, mankind’s knowledge of the other dimensions, spirit manipulation, and Abaddon itself often came down to not much more than supposition and experimentation.

“Hurry it along, Dr. Vale. And remember, you’re under contract with the GBGA itself. Is anything really illegal when you’re working for the government?”

“Not that I would go out of your way to mention this to the Commissioner,” Jesse said under his breath, and a Sentinel across the roomed laughed out loud. They all seemed to get a kick out of that.

She turned and walked to the dead body lying on the floor. If breaking a few rules would lead them to the traffickers who were killing these innocents, it was worth it.

She knelt down near the woman and steadied herself. She wasn’t sure she could actually make herself touch the body. “With gloves, so I don’t contaminate the scene?”

“Skin to skin,” Clark answered.

Well, it had been worth a try.

“Hand me a glove,” Jesse said to the nearest man in a white suit, then he took the blue nitrile glove, slipped it over his hand, and knelt beside Evelyn. “Let me get the sheet, Doc. You just focus on the rest.”

Evelyn could have kissed him. It wasn’t that she couldn’t lift a stupid sheet, but once again, her partner’s reassuring presence was right beside her, buoying her resolve and giving her strength to do something that she
really
didn’t want to do.

When Jesse pulled back the sheet, Evelyn saw the brand on the naked young woman’s ankle and the bruises peppering her corpse. Yeah, these assholes had to pay. She placed her hand palm-down on the woman’s bare chest, just below her collar bone, and felt sick that even in death, this victim was still being denied her dignity.

Her skin was already cool to the touch and her cadaver was as lifeless as a piece of meat. No energy remained. Bile suddenly surged up Evelyn’s throat and she had to swallow it back not to further disgrace this woman by vomiting all over her.

“Just breathe, Evelyn,” Jesse whispered at her side, and she remembered how he said something similar just the day before, though under very different circumstances.

She took a deep breath and cast him a sideways glance. “I’m pretty sure I’m still breathing,” she retorted, recalling yesterday’s words for the comfort of having even a little shared history with one human being in this cold place.

He smiled at her, but the crease in his brows told her he was concerned. “We have groceries in the trunk and a dog waiting for you at the shelter. Let’s get this done so we can go home.”

Home.
That sounded like heaven right about now.

She closed her eyes and tried again, allowing her energy to bubble to the surface and flow along her extended arm, through her hand, and into the body before her. “Spirit, whose flesh I have under my hand, I summon you from your resting place to meet with me here.”

Her energy was flowing strong and steady into the woman, but it didn’t deplete Evelyn’s strength, instead it created a circuit between the two and poured right back into her body in a sizzling current.

“I’m getting something on the scanner,” the tech guy said. “This spirit wasn’t more than a level three when she departed, but I’m getting readings of a level six now.”

Oh, shit. Evelyn couldn’t have brought on the attention of a free-ranging soul in a state of unrest, could she? This was not the time—in front of the steward and every other member of the team—that she wanted to be possessed against her will.

She almost pulled her hand back, but Jesse placed his hand over hers. He seemed to know what she was thinking. “You’re safe, Evelyn. Just stay the course. If any SSUs find you, we’ll scare them away.”

Her hand began to burn against the woman’s chest, and the eerily loud wailing of a young woman came a moment later. When they all started looking around, Evelyn knew that she wasn’t the only one hearing it. How the victim’s spirit was now a level six, Evelyn didn’t know, but she was sure the voice she was hearing belonged to the woman beside her.

She’d just begun looking around the room for where the spirit might manifest when Jesse yelled, “Shit!” And from his position on his knees, slide-tackled Evelyn to the ground.

Her head landed on his cushiony biceps, but when she lifted up to look around, she saw the woman’s spirit peeling up from her corpse, her angry gaze locked on Evelyn. “Why are you touching me?” the spirit demanded. “Stop touching me! You have no right!”

“Stay back,” Jesse yelled at the form, and it was then Evelyn realized that he’d shoved her down because he’d thought the spirit was coming to possess her.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. I just want to talk.” Evelyn put her hands palms-out, and as she willed her energy to fade, the spirit’s opacity faded with it.

“What’s happening?” Clark demanded. “Vale! Don’t lose your hold on her.”

With great effort, Evelyn called forth her mass of swirling energy again and the woman’s image almost glowed.

“Dr. Vale…” the tech guy said. “The spirit is almost at a level seven now. Do you…uh…think you can dial her back to something safer, like a four?”

She didn’t want to take her eyes off the scared and angry spirit, but she did it anyway to spear him with a glance. “I’ve never done this before! It’s not like I can just twist my dial down to four.”

“Let me go,” the woman cried, her ghostly hair beginning to float around her head. “Please, just let me go. Don’t hurt me anymore.”

“Does she think she’s still with her captors?” Jesse asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe she does,” Evelyn answered, and then she leaned just a little closer to the spirit. “Listen to me, sweetheart. You’re okay.” Well, that was a matter of opinion, wasn’t it?

“Let me go, please,” the woman wailed.

“Doctor…” The tech guy sounded scared now, and that’s all it took to make a shiver crawl down Evelyn’s back. “She’s at a level eight and increasing. You need to abort.”

“No, just give me a second. I can do this.” Against all odds, she’d brought the woman back to her body, and now she would show Tanner Clark that she was useful for more than just a shell to loan out to a more experienced IB employee. Her heart was racing and her veins burned with pain, like she’d swallowed acid. But she smiled through it and softened her tone. “You’re going to be all right, sweetheart. What’s your name? Can you tell me that?”

The spirit was steadily growing brighter and brighter, and Tech Guy looked about ready to bolt for the door. “Amelia,” she whimpered. “I want to go home now.”

Evelyn wanted to pump her fist in victory. She had the spirit talking now. “Pretty soon. Just a few more questions.”

The spirit’s unfocused gaze sharpened on Evelyn—and then it happened. One minute she was a crying mess, sinking in on herself in fear, and the next, her face contorted in anger and she flashed so bright that Evelyn was blinded.

“LET ME GO!” said the disembodied voice, so loud it felt as though Evelyn’s eardrums were ruptured. And after that, everything was silent and black.

Immortal Possession: Chapter Eleven

Particles rained down on her head, and it took a moment to realize that they stung when they hit her cheeks. Her ears pounded. She couldn’t see a thing.

“Does anyone have a fucking flashlight?” someone called as though from a great distance. Through the throbbing in her ears, it sounded like Investigator Reynolds.

Someone’s strong arms scooped her up and cradled her in his lap. Her head lolled against the thick wall of a chest, and when she took her first deep breath, it smelled like Jesse. Oh, God, what had she done?

Suddenly one small light flicked on, and then a second. At least she wasn’t blind. But what she saw before her wasn’t good. Not good at all.

The room was in total disarray. The spirit had managed to shatter every florescent light tube that had hung overhead, and those tiny bits of glass covered the floor like someone had thrown handfuls of fake snow.

Haveland’s eyes lit the dark as much as the flashlights of the two other Sentinels, and all three were casting their beams here and there to view the destruction. Haveland picked up the shattered hologram device and tossed it aside. “Well…there went the steward.”

Oh, shit. She was so screwed. She pushed off of Jesse and tried to stand, but he had to reach out a hand when she wobbled. The four Sentinels that had been guarding the parking structure barreled through the door, and seconds later, the beams of four other flashlights were roving around the room, slowing when they got to the worst destruction.

“Let me see one of those lights!” someone from the forensics team said.

Haveland took his flashlight from his utility belt and handed it to the man, “Take mine. Looks like I don’t need it today.” He blinked his eyes a couple of times, illustrating that his eyes were lit up plenty…thanks to Evelyn.

“Oh, you have to be kidding me! Look at the state of this body! We’re never going to find any evidence now.”

Evelyn averted her eyes from the sight of whatever had happened to the body of the victim, doing everything she could not to break down and cry. Forget making it past her first month’s probation—she wasn’t even going to make it past her first week. She looked at Jesse, wanting to tell him how sorry she was.

He grasped her hand and ushered her toward the exit, then addressed the men. “Get a cleanup crew in here, and do what you can to recover the trace evidence that was on the body. We have to get going.”

From the looks she was getting, she wondered what these men would say to her if her partner wasn’t in charge.

Haveland caught up to them in the hallway and seemed to notice that he had blood running from his nose. He wiped it away with his knuckles as though it was an afterthought. “Do you need an escort, Commander?”

“No, we’re fine. Just stay until the forensics guys are done and the cleanup crew gets here. Beyond that, you’ll have to ask Jack.” His gaze went distant and he put his hand to his ear. “Hold on, it’s the steward. Yes, sir?”

Jesse walked away like he wanted privacy, and Eric Haveland just stood there, looking at Evelyn like there was something he wanted to say.

When she couldn’t handle it anymore, she blurted, “Just say it. I probably deserve it anyway.”

“That was…incredible.”

A little hiccup escaped Evelyn’s throat and her eyes blurred with tears. She knew she was about to lose it. “Thanks. That’s one of my many parlor tricks.”

His dark brows shot up. “Really?”

She shook her head. “No, not really. I didn’t even know I could do that…or that she could do that through me.”

Haveland nodded, looking pensive. “Well…I’m sorry. But you know, I thought it was kind of cool.”

Evelyn’s unexpected burst of laughter was loud enough and with just enough crazy to make Jesse turn around as he spoke to the steward. “I’m glad you liked it.”

Haveland’s eyes were dimming back to their natural state, and without the glow distorting his features, it allowed her to see something odd in his expression… Was he actually flirting with her after she had just blown up a crime scene?

He shifted from one foot to the other. “Were you serious about needing a dog for your undercover assignment? I mean, I might be able to ask for a transfer. I could talk to my commander about it.”

Evelyn wanted to crawl into bed at her mom and dad’s apartment and cry her eyes out. Her dreams were shattered. She just couldn’t deal with this right now. “It was the steward’s idea, but I think they want…you know, a real dog. No offense, Haveland. It’s just that you might show up if someone was scanning for mutant DNA.”

“Yeah, I get it. That’s okay.” He shook his head and laughed it off, but she could tell he was disappointed. “And please, call me Eric. Why don’t I just give you my number in case you—”

“Evelyn,” Jesse called, his voice grim. “It’s time to go.”

Jesse waited until she’d caught up with him, then he placed his hand behind her back and ushered her to their car. He seemed upset, but then, why wouldn’t he be?

Once they pulled onto the road, she said, “It’s okay, Jesse. You can tell me the truth. Clark told you to fire me, didn’t he?”

His head rocked back. “No, of course not. We need you for this case. Just maybe…not in the capacity of what you did back there.”

She was so ashamed. “So he didn’t fire me?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“But he’s mad?”

Jesse shrugged. “It’s hard to tell with Clark. I wouldn’t say he’s
mad
. I would say…let’s not visit the campus in the next few days. Or maybe…the next few weeks.”

She wiped at her eyes then and sucked back the mucus that was clogging her nose. “Ah, shit.”

There were many things about Immortal Bounty that weren’t turning out to be exactly as she’d imagined them in her dreams. And this was one of them. In her first few days on the job, she’d managed to disgrace herself so thoroughly that she wasn’t even allowed back on campus.

“Chin up, short stack,” Jesse said. “You need to be thinking about one thing and one thing alone—how tall you’re going to be walking when we find these body-trafficking bastards and make them rue the day they ever fucked with Evelyn Vale.”