Scythe
Page 22
“Thank you.” She started to turn away then turned back to Keely, a frown on her brow. “You were there that night weren’t you?”
Keely only nodded. “I…we…my boyfriend and I found you.”
She reached out a hand to Keely. It passed through Keely’s like a shock of ice water being pumped into her skin.
“I saw you when I floated up. You wanted to help me.” The young woman gave a tremulous smile. “I’m sorry you had to find me. But I’m glad it was you. You stayed with me while your boyfriend chased that guy away.”
“I wouldn’t have left you alone.”
“I know. You’re one of the good ones. Not like the other guy.”
The other guy?
“The one with the bad hair? Midnight?” Keely already knew the answer to that, but thought she’d ask anyhow, for clarity’s sake.
“Yes. He’s the one who took me and brought me here.” She rubbed the spot over her heart. “It hurt, you know. Like someone ripped me in two. I didn’t think I could feel pain…you know…after.”
Josiah ran into the room and skidded to a stop. “Keely?”
Her heart filled with love for him. How much had she underestimated him when they’d first met? And how glad was she to have been wrong about him?
“Over here.”
He turned to the sound of her voice and strode over like cock of the walk. God, she was a goner. She even got hot for him when she was bathed in blood and he was acting all arrogant cop.
The young woman beside her faded away.
“Wait, don’t go. I want you to tell Josiah what you told me.”
“They’re finished,” Samson said. He wiped his blades on his robe and put them in his pockets. “With Death, Inc. defeated, their souls are released.”
“What about the cords not being severed correctly?” Keely watched as the other souls sighed and faded from existence.
“They’re being taken to a holding area to be evaluated. Perhaps they can be mended and recycled or moved forward. That remains to be seen.”
It wasn’t much of an answer, but at least it was better than being trapped in purgatory.
“So, is this it?” she asked, looking up at Samson. She hadn’t liked him much at first, but now there was no one else she’d trust at her back—other than Josiah.
“No. I think it may only be a very rough beginning.” Samson looked around him at the carnage that slowly faded from sight. He held his hand out for both her and Josiah to shake. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Take care.” Keely heard the tears in her voice.
He turned to walk away and, like the other beings of his kind, faded into the darkness.
“Come on,” Josiah took Keely’s hand. “I have a suspect to interview.”
“You caught Midnight?”
“You had any doubts?”
She slipped her arm through his as they began the walk back through the storage room. “Never.”
29
“Where did you get the identity? Watching the obits?” Josiah stood, looking down on a petulant Midnight.
“I’m not telling you shit.” He turned his face away and lifted a hand, giving a cocky salute to those who stood behind the two-way mirror.
Josiah imagined Shelia was ready to storm into the interrogation room.
“Then you won’t mind going down for about five murders in the last month, including the Trinity Park jogger.”
Midnight laughed. The resonate quality sent chills down Josiah’s back. There really was something desperately wrong with the guy, but the more time he spent in Midnight’s presence, the more he tended to discount Samson’s version of the story. The guy was nothing more than some punk who was caught up in something beyond himself. He was flesh and blood enough. Josiah had felt it when he’d punched the guy.
No, there was some other explanation for Midnight’s involvement. Call him naïve after all he’d seen in the past few hours, but if Midnight was an agent for Death, Inc., wouldn’t he have disappeared with the rest of them? But if Midnight wasn’t willing to give them any particulars in the murders, maybe he’d at least answer some of Josiah’s questions.
Josiah pulled a chair out and turned it around. He straddled the seat, resting his arms on the back. “So why didn’t they take you with them? You not important enough?”
Midnight sucked his lips in. That struck a nerve.
Josiah lowered his voice. He leaned closer. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re so low on the radar, you don’t even register.”
“Shut up.” It came out as a growl.
“Or what? You going to put me on the list?” Josiah stared into Midnight’s eyes. They were as dark as a bottomless pit. There was no emotion or intellect there. He’d seen sharks at the state aquarium with more emotion in their eyes. He pushed back the uncomfortable feeling moving in his gut. “You don’t scare me, Midnight.”
“You aren’t invincible because you have a Scythe for a girlfriend. One of these days, your name is going to be on that roll.”
“One of these days, yours will, too.” Josiah stood. He’d had it with the guy. Either Midnight was going to talk or he was going to sit in a holding cell. The public defender assigned to case had yet to show. Maybe they’d get more out of the guy.
As Josiah turned the door handle to leave, Midnight said, “I’m a lure.”
He turned, assessing Midnight who still sat at the table, hunched over like the oppressed and downtrodden. “A lure?”
“I’m the one who draws them in. Catches them in my web.” He gave a shrug as if he was of no consequence. Josiah had news for him. He’d just freely admitted to being an accessory.
He opened the door and gave Shelia a wicked smile. “Did you hear that?”
“Caught and recorded.” She looked through the window. “What the fu—.”
When Josiah turned back around to see what made Shelia react as she did, he closed his eyes.
The room was empty.
30
Keely folded herself onto the sofa. Soft music played in the background and candles lit the room in a romantic glow. Pugsley bedeviled a plastic bone on the floor. His reward for a job well done.
In the weeks since the storeroom brawl with Death, Inc. and Midnight’s disappearance, Keely and Josiah had attempted to fall into some kind of routine, though for them that was a relative term. It still bothered her that Midnight had slipped into the ether. As yet, they hadn’t seen nor heard from him and all dead bodies had been accounted for by the Scythes, or human intervention.
Death, Inc. had been doing pretty much what Josiah had suggested. They were killing people and stealing their souls to hold in the defunct purgatory to wait for bidding to start between heaven and hell. The highest bid won the soul. It was heinous and evil and had all the hallmarks of Lucifer. What Keely failed to grasp was how someone actually outbid God. Could heaven lose a bid? And if so, what did they use for currency? She’d have to ask Samson at their next staff meeting.
Josiah took a place beside her, drawing her into his arms. “I’m so glad we’ve had a normal week. It’s nice having you here and not wondering when and if Samson’s going to show up.”
Keely laughed. “Normal for us still includes a few dead bodies and chasing killers. It’s not right, you know. Anyone hearing us talk at the end of our day would think we were a couple of lunatics.”
“Aw, but to know us is to love us.”
They turned to each other and fell into a slow, sensuous kiss. They’d indulged in so many of them over the past week, Keely had lost count. What she really wanted was for them to keep coming.
She didn’t think Josiah would mind.
Josiah kissed a path down her neck. His hand crept around her waist, brushing the underside of her breast. Things were just about to get interesting when the doorbell rang.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he mumbled as he kissed her one last time and gently pushed her away.
“No need to rise on my account.” The voice
came from the direction of the bedroom. It was Ephraim, carrying another scroll. He took a seat in the recliner and gave them both a big, goofy grin. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
Keely and Josiah exchanged glances. They hadn’t made it official yet, but it seemed their angelic friends had already got the jump on them.
“Thank you, Ephraim. Now, what did you want? We were trying to have a little us time.” Keely waved her hand around, indicating the über-romantic setting.
“Oh. Yes, here.” He handed the scroll to Josiah.
Laughter bubbled up in Keely. She covered her mouth as she watched a bewildered Josiah crack the seal and unroll the scroll.
“It’s from the Office of Denial and Damnation.” His dark eyes scanned the page. “It seems I’m being recruited to become Heaven’s Holy Investigator.”
Keely could hold back no longer. “It does not say that.”
“It does.” He showed her the scroll.
Sure enough, it said exactly that.
She smacked him with a big kiss as she let loose with gales of joyous laughter. “Welcome to the company.”
About the Author
MK Mancos lives and works on the beautiful Florida Gulf Coast. She shares her house and life with her artist husband, Dave, and their dogters, Lily and Daisy. You can find her at @
www.MysticKatPress.com
MysticKat1965@yahoo.com
Books By
Look for these titles
Now Available
By MK Mancos
Crown and Country Series
Queen’s Menagerie
Weather Mechanics
Crystal Spyglass
Alchemists’ Elixir
Doran Witch Series
Hattie’s Spirit
Rewind
Shadow Realms
The Host:
Shadows
Conflagration -coming soon
Pine Barrens Series
Immorati
Corpesetti - coming soon
By A Silken Thread
ParaMatch.com
Writing As Kathleen Scott
Dragon Tamer
Solarion Heat
MKYA titles
Castle Street Fae
Into the Pink
Blue Day -coming soon
With Envy - coming soon