by T. G. Ayer
“You didn’t dream it up,” said a disembodied voice from beside Vee. The door clicked ajar, and Vee tugged it open, giving the space beside her a dirty look.
“I don’t have time for this,” Vee mumbled and hurried into the stairwell, heading down the stairs two steps at a time. “Can you leave me alone? I stuck my neck out for you, and now I’m probably going to end up in a psych ward because of it.”
“I’m sorry. I can explain.”
“No need to explain,” Vee said as she reached her floor and swiped her card at the stairwell door. “I know now that I’m just making this shit up.”
“Watch your mouth, young lady,” said the ghostly voice.
Vee stormed off down the passage and reached her lab which sat at the end of the corridor. “Look, hopefully, I’m not crazy, and you are real, but unless you are prepared to confirm your existence to someone else, I can’t help you.”
“That’s just it, Vee. Nobody else will be able to see me.”
Vee froze, card hovering over the reader as she turned to stare at the space beside her, where her grandmother’s form was beginning to materialize.
“Now you appear?”
“Nobody else can see me,” she repeated.
“Then why did you appear to me in the room just now? You made me think that all you had to do was show yourself for her to believe me.”
“I’m sorry, Vee. If I gave you that impression, I’m sorry. It never occurred to me to tell you that. I guess I’m new to this thing too.”
Vee took a deep breath. She had gone on an assumption. She should have asked Radhima first, before she’d demanded she materialize for her mother. She only had herself to blame for that, and it wasn’t fair to be angry with her grandmother.
She sighed and swiped her card through the reader and headed inside the lab. Lights flickered on as she went, the sensor picking up her presence and turning them all on. No point in wasting solar energy.
At last, she faced the spirit and sighed, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that. And I should have che— What the hell are you wearing?”
Vee stared at her grandmother’s clothing.
“What? Why? Is something wrong with it?”
“Ma! Those are jeans. You never wear jeans.”
Radhima waved a dismissive hand at Vee. “Since when can’t I wear jeans.”
Vee folded her arms and lifted an eyebrow. “Firstly, you’ve never worn jeans in your life. Unless you wore them and danced around in your closet for kicks,” Vee huffed.
“And two?”
“Huh?”
“You said one, so I’m assuming there is a two coming along. I’m dead, not senile.”
Vee rolled her eyes and rounded the desk, pulling a plas from the in-tray. “Number two was I had no idea that there was such a thing as ghost jeans.”
The old woman let out a bark of laughter, which was cut short when Vee’s phone pinged with a message from Monroe.
Checked SL house. See report attached.
Vee swiped to open the document and read through it. Her stomach churning.
“What is it?” asked her grandmother.
“It’s the report from Monroe. They went to the victim’s house. Nothing. No sign of intrusion, everything appears intact. They found more identification though. A social media chat group that the family had set up to keep in touch. The mother and daughter were going away for the weekend.” Vee sighed as she stared at the report. “One last hurrah as single women, apparently both of them saw responsibility in their future once the baby was born. The victim was a widowed lawyer, but she’d been disbarred for illegal activity and ended up working as a journalist; disciplinary report on that was classified, happened years ago, so Monroe doesn’t see a correlation and neither do I.”
Vee glanced up and looked at Radhima. When she’d been alive, Vee used to talk about her cases with the old woman, who would often revert with good points for discussion. Today, she remained silent.
Vee continued to go through the report, giving her grandmother the gist as she went. “It appears she was using the money from her husband’s life insurance to assist her daughter with expenses. She’d been frugal though. Plenty left in there for the daughter and the baby.” Vee scanned further in the report. “They appeared to be just a normal family, no suspicious connections or activity.”
“So you think this attack was random?” asked Radhima.
“I do. If it weren’t random, he wouldn’t have hesitated when he came across the girl. He would have expected her. Killed her then and there.”
“But that depends on what they were after.” Radhima was staring off into space, and Vee paused. The old woman was a ghost, and she lived in an in-between world, so how did this world appear to her eyes?
But Vee forced herself to focus. “Which could also mean there is something we are not seeing.” Vee sighed. “What could this woman possibly have had that he’d have wanted. He drained her dry. She had no blood left in her veins. She was expendable.”
“So why was the pregnant woman not expendable?”
Vee paused and tapped her fingers on the phone’s face. “The only difference is that one was pregnant. So if we went on the assumption that they were after the baby, which means I could have misinterpreted the demon’s aural language which then begs the question as to why.”
A voice echoed through the lab. “Who are you talking to?”
Both Vee and her grandmother turned to the doorway to find Syama standing there with Akil at her side, her fine-boned face all hollows and shadows. She looked emaciated, though her black eyes gleamed with happiness.
Akil’s tall and lithe frame seemed somewhat thinner too, as if during his journey he’d been starved of food. His pale hair was lank and oily, and dark shadows circled his almond-shaped eyes. The Sirin—an owl-shifter—looked decidedly filthy too, his usual attire of white pants and white shirt could no longer claim to be any other color but…filthy.
Light shimmered off the pair as they unglamored themselves and walked toward Vee.
Syama stepped closer, squinting at the space beside Vee. “Oh, I see,” she said with a wry smile.
“You see what?”
Syama rolled her eyes, one hand on her hip. “I’m not blind,” she said to Vee before shifting her gaze to Radhima and saying, “Hello, Ma.”
Vee scowled and stared first at Syama and then at her grandmother. “She can see you but Mom can’t?” Vee wasn’t sure if she was furious or just done.
Syama laughed and responded even before Radhima opened her mouth to reply, “Humans can’t see ghosts unless that person’s spirit is bound to them. So you can see Ma but your mom and dad and Mac can’t. Supernaturals like Nivaan and Akil can’t either, unless they have the sight. I’m neither human nor supernatural.” Syama nodded, happy with her explanation.
Vee wasn’t. She glowered at Syama. “Do go on.”
Syama grinned, not in the least affected by Vee’s terrible mood. “I’m a hellhound,” she said, her tone implying that it should be obvious. “The role of most hellhounds is almost that of a bounty hunter. We’re charged with finding those souls who have either evaded, or escaped, from the underworlds. I, of course, have been given a different role. For which I’m most grateful.”
“And what role is that?”
“Watching your back.”
Chapter 70
After Vee’s grandmother had left the lab, disappearing with a promise to return soon, and a warning to ‘work on working things out’ with Devi, Syama and Akil had given Vee an update on where they’d been.
Syama rubbed her hands together. “I’m sorry. I had no way of contacting you. We’ve had a bit of a complication,” she pointed a decidedly grubby finger at the floor, “down under.”
Vee swallowed a snort and motioned for Syama to continue before sharing a questioning glance with Akil. He turned away as soon as he could, and Vee found herself studying the smudges on his cheek, the fading brui
se on his right eye and his swollen and bruised lower lip.
He seemed to be favoring one leg too, putting more weight on his right foot and holding onto the nearby counter every few minutes. Vee turned her attention back to Syama, giving her a more thorough once-over.
The hellhound’s dull leather trousers were torn at the knees, revealing deep gashes and bruises caked with dirt. Her face too bore the evidence of a beating. Vee’s head began to throb with heat as she recognized the signs of older, almost healed, bruises beneath the bruised cheek and jaw as well as Syama’s own matching black eye.
Though curious, Vee decided it would be best for them to tell her at their own pace. They certainly looked like they’d both been through an ordeal.
“When I received that call to return home for debriefing after the whole nexus-asura-trishula incident, I believed it was just a standard handover of information.”
Vee rounded the counter to where a handful of high stools were scattered. She took a seat and sighed as she touched her own tender bruises. Syama drew closer and sank onto the seat beside Vee, frowning at Vee’s wince. Akil followed too, hovering for a moment before grabbing the seat beyond Syama.
Excellent.
Vee hid a smile at her success. She straightened and said, “And I take it that was not the case?”
“Nope.”
Syama’s face scrunched and then she winced as blood oozed from her cheek, welling into a glistening ruby bead. She lifted her finger to dab at her wound. She studied the blood on her fingertip then wiped it off on her pants, her face inscrutable, her neck stiff.
“Not in the least. My superior was killed,” Syama said, her eyes shining with tears. “It was a coup of sorts, details of which I am unable to share. Not right now at any rate. Not until the dust settles.” Syama cleared her throat and looked around the room as she blinked away more tears.
Unable to share? Did she mean she wasn’t at liberty to? Or that she just wasn’t ready? Vee had never seen Syama this emotionally affected by anything. And though Vee felt the urge to wrap the younger girl in her arms, offer her some comfort, her gut told her that Syama wouldn’t want such a display of affection.
So Vee stayed where she was. “How did you get out?”
Syama poked a thumb at Akil, who was still strangely silent. He wasn’t usually the talkative type, but this silence…it spoke more of reticence, than of having nothing to say. “You sent him, so I guess I have to thank you.”
Vee turned to the sirin, frowning, but he just pointed a slim finger at Syama who’d already continued to speak. Though frustrated, Vee shifted her attention back to the hellhound. “Akil here came looking for me, snooping around when he found no trace. He had to go two levels deeper into the underworld to find me. Very dangerous trip, but he did it.”
“He got you out?” Vee asked, leaning closer. For all the worry that she’d had, she found herself so grateful that the pair was back with her, more or less in one piece. And still both breathing. She couldn’t handle any more deaths. Or ghosts, for that matter.
Syama shook her head, her short black hair glinting in the white light from above. She usually wore it neatly spiked, but today it was in disarray, longer stands drooping over her forehead, much of it plastered flat to one side of her head as if she’d risen from her bed and forgotten to run a brush through it. Now, she thrust her hair away from her face and smirked. “Nope. He went back up to Patala.”
Vee was more than confused and was beginning to feel a bout of fatigue hitting her. Not unusual considering the extensively long days she’d endured recently. “So Akil didn’t save you.” Vee turned to glare at Akil, but he was looking at Syama as she drew out her retelling of their adventures. He looked tired but was still projecting calm.
“No. He did save me.”
“Syama,” both Akil and Vee yelled in unison, Akil rolling his eyes and Vee doing more frowning.
“Sorry, Akil couldn’t find a way into the dungeon. It was spelled so he couldn’t jump me out. That would have been way too easy of course. In the end, he went back up top and brought reinforcements. He was allowed to return but there was a battle, and I was saved, and now I’m here.”
“Syama, you do have some concept of a debrief, right?”
Syama grinned. She knew her behavior would be annoying Vee and she was enjoying it far too much. Then she giggled. “Don’t worry. I’ll send a report to your email. It’s too much to run through here and now. Besides, we’re both tired and need some rest and food.”
Akil grunted, bringing Vee’s attention back to him. “Took a vow of silence or something?”
For a moment he looked pained. Then the expression faded, and Vee had to wonder if she’d imagined it. “No. I merely had nothing significant to add. I was certain that Syama would provide a detailed explanation that would suffice.”
Vee got the feeling that Akil didn’t want to talk about what was bothering him—because Vee knew that there was something he wasn’t yet prepared to say. He’d need time, but Vee planned to get him to talk. She only hoped that it hadn’t been something traumatic.
Vee was pulled from her introspection by Syama who was waving her hand in front of Vee’s face. “Earth to Vee,” the hellhound said loudly.
Vee blinked and batted her hand away. “Shut up. You two better get going. You do look rather tired. And you guys stink.” Vee wrinkled her nose at the odor drifting to her from the pair.
At least that brought a grin from Akil. “It is difficult to find a place to bathe in caves and lava fields and battle trenches.” With that, he reached for Syama’s arm, and the two shimmered for a moment before disintegrating into particles of light.
Vee had taken a few minutes to absorb what had just happened. First Radhima, and then the terrible twins returning from hell? Things were never normal when it came to Vee’s life.
Now, under the microscope, Vee was studying the brain matter that her dad had retrieved from her hair. She’d already studied, confirmed, and refrigerated the bhayakara goo.
She’d sent samples of all her forensic evidence off to be tested for DNA, but now she was busy making slides to analyze the brain structure. Over a long period, they’d been documenting the DNA and brain structure of many of the demons Vee had crossed paths with. It was interesting to compare human brain structure to that of the demonic element—in this case the pey.
It turned out they were not that much different to humans in physiology. It had surprised Vee to discover that pey had brain matter. The old horror stories told to her by the older people she’d come into contact with, were more along the line of the pey being a devilish creature, more a spirit than a corporeal entity.
It seemed that the folk tales had evolved in order to decrease the fear, for if humans were to know the truth of the demonic existence, the folk tales would have been filled with a lot more morbid horror.
As it was, the demons’ banishment to Naraka millennia ago would have contributed to the lack of realism in the tales from the past. No doubt it had been centuries since humans had come into contact with a pey.
Vee prepared and refrigerated the slides then ordered the tests that she needed done. She would have to process some of the samples herself, but she still had to attend to her FBI tasks.
Chapter 71
Vee threw on silky purple lounge pants, a teal singlet, and a multi-colored cardigan. Nothing sedate about relaxing clothes. She twisted her long hair into an untidy bun on the top of her head and rolled her shoulders. Relaxing was serious business, and she sure looked the part.
Right down to her fluffy pink socks.
After checking Syama’s and Akil’s rooms, she headed downstairs in search of the two shifters. Vee suspected they’d be in the gym and hoped they wouldn’t be training. They damned well better not be, given their conditions.
She hurried down the stairs, wrapping her cardigan around herself as she entered the cooler climate of the gym.
Thankfully, neither of the two were working out.
Vee felt almost disappointed. She’d been so geared up to tell the two of them off. But all she did was smile when she found them both sitting on the floor, backs to the floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall mirror.
“You guys having a party without me?”
Syama snorted and pointed at a small bag on the floor in front of her. Vee sank down, smoothly moving into a cross-legged position as she opened the bag. Marshmallows, a paper bag with a donut, and a bar of chocolate.
“Interesting selection,” Vee said smiling as she reached inside to withdraw the donut. Things were so crazy in her life that she realized that the small things were the ones she should appreciate.
“No.”
Vee looked up, frowning at Syama, only to find the hellhound pointing beside Vee. A pizza box lay at her side, lid open. “You went to Tony’s?” Syama nodded. “And you bought my favorite.” Vee didn’t waste time lifting a slice of margarita with double cheese and garlic onto her palm. The slice was huge, but she ate, enjoying the low conversation of her two sidekicks as they poured cherry cola and passed her a glass.
“You guys were craving New York food, I take it?” Vee asked after chewing and swallowing.
Both nodded. “We didn’t get everything we missed. Still time for more,” Akil said with a grin. His mouth was covered in powdered sugar from the donut and Vee couldn’t decide if she wanted a second slice of pizza or the donut first.
Instead, Vee sipped the cola, swallowing as fast as she could. She didn’t have the heart to tell Syama that she hated the drink. It tasted like cough medicine to Vee, but she’d mentioned once that she’d loved it as a kid and Syama had believed that was the case in the present too.
“Now,” said Akil. “Is there something you want to tell us?”
