MADNESS: Book One of The Shadow-Keepers Series

by Jas T. Ward

  Throwing out a hand to steady herself on the wall as both Rose and Lily had their hands pressed over their mouths in horror; Emma steadied herself and sat on her knees next to Reno. She had to take deep breaths to keep from breaking down. She needed to rally her resolve to rise to the surface so she could do right by the man she loved. She’d break down later.

  “We’ll need extra rags. Can you get those, Rose? And my suture kit too? It’s under the sink.” Her two sisters looked at her for a moment before doing as she asked. Normally the wounds would just be covered since the body was going to be cremated and the ashes cast off the Bridge into the bay, but it seemed to give Emma something to focus on so they didn’t say a word to their older sister, afraid of sending her off the edge they knew she must have been tittering on.

  Emma carefully cleaned Reno’s face with the warm scented cloth and with Lily’s help washed his hair. Cleaning him from head to toe, cleaning his nails and wiping his body carefully as if she was trying to wash away the sad tragedy of it all.

  Soon they were done and he laid there on her soft crème-colored sheets. The same ones on the bed they had made love in so many times. She couldn’t help but wonder how much sleep he had gotten while he was gone.

  Did he eat okay? Was he able to get cookies? It all seemed so stupid now, but she couldn’t stop her mind from rolling over those questions.

  She knew now he had been staying with the homeless as he always had a soft spot for the invisible people of the city. She also now understood why after learning about how he came to be, that Reno had never had a home of his own.

  Not until he was given his own life.

  Driving those thoughts out of her head to be able to do this the best she could, she cleaned up his chest wound and pulled out a long needle made of bone to thread with stitch made from flax that she held in her teeth.

  Holding back more tears and sobs, she carefully pulled the two ravaged parts of his chest together, trying not to look at his heart that she knew belonged to her. Just like hers belonged to him. It was as if their love had been attacked as brutally as possible by severing its two now still halves.

  Biting her bottom lip, she flexed her fingers to calm herself down as she grasped the needle and began mending the damage. Rose and Lily watched in silence as they proceeded to gather the cut away clothes and put away the water and other materials, carefully putting the herbs and oil away in Mr. Hahn’s box. Emma took special care to make sure the stitches were tight and neat, but it still left a horrific zig-zag on his chest.

  With Lily and Rose to help her, she dressed him in that soft silk and then carefully arranged a pillow under his head with his hands crossed on his chest. Leaning down, she kissed his lips and whispered softly, tears dripping off her cheeks to land on his cold, still ones, “Witch is here Candyman. You’re home. I’m going to take care of you.”

  Once again, she didn’t have to say a word to her sisters as they left the room. The cremation would take place at sunset that very day, as even now the sun was burning off the early morning fog from the bay.

  It was their last day and Emma wanted him all to herself one last time.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Yin Yang

  Human emotions had always fascinated Yin Yang. The complexity of them was cause for puzzlement while the wasted energy of them was an irritation. She had blurred into the home only to remain invisible and observe the emotions of grief and sorrow among all those gathered in the Witch’s home. All for the loss of the freak Breaker. The same one they had rejected.

  Fascinating.

  Tears, sobs, and so much guilt, were almost a treat to be tasted in the air as she wove her way through to the woman’s bedroom where the Breaker’s body was. Appearing through the wall, still unseen, Yin tilted her head to stare at the woman who sat with her dead lover’s head in her lap and she spoke to him as she brushed her fingers through his hair.

  That made no sense to the goddess. He couldn’t hear or feel the woman’s attentions; what exactly was the point? More wasted time and energy was all it seemed to the goddess.

  Looking up as the door opened, her senses ticked up as the cowboy Breaker stepped in. Now this, she could understand for she had been enthralled by the man for over a century now, and the Breaker didn’t even know it.

  “Emma?”

  Emma looked up in a daze to force herself to focus on Jess as he stood in the doorway. His eyes were red as if he had been crying and he stood with his precious hat clenched tight in his hands.

  She kissed Reno’s forehead before laying his head back on the pillow and got off the bed. “Jess...” but before she could say anything more, she was swept up in his arms and blinked more tears away as she listened to him sob. His body quaked as each one seemed to be ripped from somewhere deep inside of him.

  Shushing him softly, she ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his head and let him cry. She knew how he felt. So helpless and so guilty at how they had a hand in the outcome. After her sobs had joined his, he pulled back when they both calmed and used one hand to wipe his tears as the other came up to wipe hers.

  His eyes drifted towards Reno’s body on the bed and he said with a voice hoarse with mourning. “I came as soon as I heard. I was looking everywhere. I even thought maybe he went back to Reno. That’s what took me so long. Ah Emma. I am so damn sorry.”

  The sincerity and desolation in his voice made Emma start crying all over again, this time holding nothing back as she finally let the painful dam break when Jess pulled her back into his arms.

  It was just too much to even try to handle, and she didn’t think her heart would ever recover.

  Yin Yang’s disgust of the woman’s emotions was enough to send her out of this house, fascination with the cowboy Breaker or not.

  Right before she went to blur she halted and went stiff, her head swiveling over to stare at the body of the freak Breaker. The man was clearly dead; with his skin as white as the silk he was adorned in with the scent of death starting to defeat the oils and herbs. But that was not what caused her to pause.

  Dead beings put out no energy, as their sparks were no longer lit by a spark of life illuminated by a soul. Their energy had merged into the flow of the Source to feed it as part of the cycle of existence. It was how it was and ever should be, regardless of immortal, god, goddess, demon or lowly creature. None were excluded as all things can die and did die.

  Then why did the freak Breaker have a miniscule spark of something? Not only that, but why was that spark growing stronger?

  It was tiny, and even she in all her power had almost not registered it. Ignoring all else going on in the room now, Yin Yang walked over to the bed to scowl down at the body there.

  Impossible.

  No, she was never wrong. It was supposed to be...

  Her eyes as well as her head twisted fast to stare at the cowboy Breaker and in that moment she realized how very wrong she had been. All this time, she had thought the hero had been the lost only to now learn by tragic twists, that the split was what she had been looking for all this time.

  She started laughing at that, so rare to her that she thought for sure some of the beings in the home would have heard her, for she was not used to covering such a thing as amusement. As she lowered her gaze back to the body on the bed, she smiled.

  Perhaps her plan had worked better than even she had known. But there was only one way to find out.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  A Body From Where?

  Emma had no idea how she could have possibly fallen asleep. She remembered lying down and placing her head on Reno shoulder, her hand on his ravaged chest achingly hoping he would laugh and say he got them all and she would feel his heartbeat under her palm. She did not remember however, falling asleep. She had just wanted one last night with him.

  Blinking her eyes in the late morning light, she heard the sounds of the house as its occupants tried to keep the noise down so she could rest. Reaching to her sid
e, she felt the cool linen of the bed and frowned. Twisting at her waist, she looked behind her and found the same on the other side.

  “Reno?”

  Her mind didn’t register how ridiculous that was due to the fact that he had been killed, but rather that it seemed a normal thing to ask as he wasn’t in their bed. Emma sat up and looked on the side of the bed on the floor, her mind still not calculating the impossibility of that either. Getting up, she felt a flare of hope like a small bright flicker in a world of dark as she ran to the bathroom and threw open the door -only to find it empty.

  “Reno?”

  She ran to the bedroom door and ran down the hall, calling out his name. Jess was sitting up on the couch, wiping sleep out of his eyes, as her sister Lily came out of the kitchen with Bella following.

  “Where is he? Reno!”

  Lily looked at Jess and then back to her sister as if this was some idea of a really bad joke. Or her older sister had lost her mind. “Emma. Sweetie. Don’t you remember? Reno’s gone.”

  Emma nodded her head, frantically running her fingers through her messed up hair to knot it into a twist at the back of her neck.

  “I know. I woke up and he was gone.”

  Jess walked over slowly to cup her face and lift it to meet his eyes. “Yeah darlin, he was killed remember?” His eyes drifted over to Lily’s unsure how to handle this as he feared Emma was in shock.

  Emma could have screamed in aggravation as she shoved him away. She threw a hand behind her to point in the direction of the master bedroom. “You’re not listening! I mean he’s gone. Like, his body is gone.”

  That got them in motion as all four of them rushed to the bedroom to stare at the empty bed. Lily walked over to the bed in disbelief. “How is that possible? We’ve all been right here!”

  Jess frowned and just like Emma he checked the bathroom, then the closet and then even the windows like Reno was some bird. He refused to look like a total fool and check under the bed, though the urge to do so was almost giving him the scratch. “How the Hell? I’m calling Bounce. Maybe he knows something.” Pulling out his phone he walked out into the hall to make a call to the god.

  Emma was truly losing her mind as she sat on the side of the bed where Reno’s body had been just last night. The pillow was still indented from his head lying on it, so she knew it was fact and not just her cracking up. She could even smell the scent of the oils and herbs that they had prepared his body with.

  “Why?” She put her hands over her face and started crying. Was she going to be denied at least doing right by what was left of the man she loved? “Why can’t he have any fucking peace?”

  Bounce appeared with no warning and it didn’t take long to summarize the scene. “Because someone is playing a sick game.”

  At that very moment, something snapped inside of Emma for she was on her feet in a flash and slapped Bounce so hard that his head snapped to the left. “Where is he? You’re a mighty god and shit! Tell me where Reno is! Only you could do this. Haven’t you done enough?”

  Bounce recovered fast, and just as Jess was about to step forward to pull Emma before she got bounced. He simply stepped away from her as if she had picked a hair from his Teenage Mutant Turtle t-shirt, not even fazed.

  He passed to put a consoling hand on Emma’s shoulder and after catching a locked look with Jess, he moved to stand by the bed with a strange look on his face.

  Letting Lily calm Emma down, Jess joined him and grumbled out for only the god to hear. “Why would someone take Reno’s body, Bounce?” He glanced over at the god and wished the son-of-a-bitch was easier to read. Jess had always prided himself on judging what brain gears were grinding in a person’s melon just by the facial expressions.

  But that was not something he could ever do with his Boss. At times like this, it was frustrating as Hell. “What aren’t you telling me? I think I have a right to know and all.”

  Bounce’s jaw tightened and a small tick started there as he gritted his teeth. What neither Jess nor the others could feel was the energy signature that had been so strong that even now traces of it existed in the room hours later. Blowing out a long angry breath he turned away from the bed with a scowl on his face to mutter, “I’ll be back.” And then he was gone.

  Yin smiled slowly as she felt Bounce appear behind her in his own office. She was sitting with her long legs crossed in his plush chair, seeming as if fixated on her blood red painted nails. “I thought I would make it easy for you to find me.” She turned around and gave him the now fully formed smile that was more deadly than friendly. “I thought you might be looking for me.”

  Furious emotions like thunder crossed Bounce’s features as his eyes became a dark stormy blue. “Where is he?”

  The goddess’ eyes went back to inspecting her nails, legs uncrossing in her perfect black slacks worn under a perfect white blouse with matching white heels with black soles. Her brow arched and she said flatly. “Where is who, Bounce?” Her eyes flicked up to meet his. “And why does it matter? You were going to turn the freak into dust anyway.” She reached out to pick up the Rubik’s cube and did the one thing that she undoubtedly knew would piss him off. She gave it a twist and the colors were changed.

  Bounce was usually a cool and calm being. Rarely did he do flashy shows of force or even let anyone get under his skin. But the smug shit-eating smile on the goddess’ face told him all he need to know and his composure knew it was time to go with her touching that cube.

  With a violent bellow, he grabbed his heavy wooden desk and it went sliding across the room as if made of cardboard, hitting the wall so hard it made a dent. Yin’s smile only spread as she gave the cube another twist right before he grabbed her by the throat and threw her on the same path as the desk.

  Yin hit the desk, grabbing it with her hands to stop from falling on the top of it. With a hiss, she turned and threw the cube at Bounce, which the god caught and set on a shelf, as if still treasured.

  “Why don’t you let go? Of her. And now of him. Why are you unable to realize when things are done? You cannot change what has happened. You cannot stop what is to come.”

  Bounce heaved, his hands fisted at his sides, as he leveled a glare at her that would have set any other being on fire if it was in his powers. “Riddles, Yin? What are you? A fucking Greek now?”

  He was on her fast, but she spun out of his way with a purring laugh, kicking her high heel in his side to send him flying into the wall with just a minor bit of her powers. “No. Even I don’t sleep with my brothers and sisters. If I had any. But you’re welcome to grace my bed after this wonderful foreplay.”

  Bounce hit the wall and with his palms braced on it, he looked back over his shoulder. “I’d rather be a never-ending smear in Lucifer’s jockeys than your lover, Yin. That would get more respect anyway.”

  Yin let out a loud purr like a feral cat as they faced each other. “Come on lover, can’t we play nice? You know how much I like to play.” She grabbed a framed picture off his wall and threw it at him like a Frisbee, missing as it shattered on the wall behind him.

  Bounce snorted. “Lover. Never. Not now, not in the future. I may not have made love in over three-decades, but my balls would have to fall off for you to get the chance to touch them. Because while they’re attached? Ain’t happening.”

  He ducked another thrown object and used her rage to rush her and pin her against the wall, one arm across her throat, the other twisting one of her arms behind her back painfully.

  “Now. Why did you take Reno’s body? He could do nothing to you. His body was all Emma had left. She’s been through enough. Don’t you have a heart you cold bitch?”

  Yin let out a loud purr and he felt his stomach sicken as she pressed her hips against his to grind. “I do have a heart. Want to feel it?”

  She arched her shoulders back despite the hold he had on her arm to push her breasts against him. More sickening as Bounce felt like he was going to hurl. He snarled and bared his fangs,
growing longer by the second, as his enraged emotions were losing their controlled check. “Why? Tell me why you took him? You into necrophilia now? Is that the only man who could handle having sex with you? One that’s cold, stiff and can’t tell you that was the worst lay he ever had?”

  Yin screamed out in indignation and brought a knee up hard to land solid in his jewels. All his air rushed out and he stumbled back, letting her go as she brought that same knee up to clip him in the chin as he came down, sending him bowing back and falling on top of the desk.

  Wasting no time, Yin flew up and landed hard to straddle his waist, knees on either side of him. Leaning down to lay across his chest, she slid her hand up his neck to then grasp his chin. “I’m not the one still in love with a dead woman, Bounce. A woman you can’t touch, yet you won’t touch another. Who’s the sicker of the two of us? Why don’t you go ask the goddess of fate you fucked? Maybe she’ll tell you.” She let out a laugh and dug her nails in until she drew blood as she captured his mouth, open to roar in rage, with her own to brutally kiss, thrusting her tongue in to tackle his.

  If Bounce had been nauseated before, it was nothing compared to this. Yin was being bolder than she had ever been before and he’d figure out where that came from later. Right now he needed this crazy bitch off of him and this kiss stopped before she drained him. Grabbing her wrists, he used every bit of tapped and untapped power he had and threw her up off him and across the room.

  The lights grew bright and then dimmed to a brown out in not only the club, but four blocks surrounding it. Flipping to his feet and stalking towards her before she could even hit the floor, he grabbed her by the throat as a vicious wind starting to spin and flutter in the room, picking up papers and sliding things off the shelves. Yin’s eyes went wide in a rare show of fear and she kicked and clawed at his arm, but he did not give one inch.

  “Now. Where is he?”

  Yin shrieked like a trapped animal and spit out each word. “Gone. I gave the body to you. I took the body away. It was my right.”