by E. A. Copen
And with an anniversary came the obligation to do some gift giving. Maybe I could pick something up at the pawn shop where Nate had dropped off his stuff while I was at it. Kill two birds with one stone.
“Hey, Nate. If you were going to hit up a pawn shop looking for a nice gift for a classy lady, which one would you go to?”
Leah bristled. “Nate wouldn’t go to a pawn shop first of all. Second, if your lady is really as classy as you say, she deserves better than second-hand hocked junk.”
Nate gave me a pleading look in the mirror. “There is a nicer one off Pirate Alley I’ve heard of. Maybe try there.”
Leah shot him a look, but quickly took her eyes back to the road.
A short while later, the Frieder’s car pulled up in front of a run-down, rickety bar of two stories. The burnt-out neon on the sign announced the place was simply called Paula’s, named for my surly fae landlady. Some wooden stairs stacked up the side of the building, leading to a private entrance on the upper floor. My apartment.
I thanked Leah, got out, and collected my stuff from the trunk before running up the stairs. It was unseasonably warm out—even for the south in May—but I was still chilled to the bone without several layers of clothing on. Hazard of being the Pale Horseman, I guess, the low body temperature. By the time I juggled my clothes, the urn, and my key to get the door open, I was half-frozen.
My apartment on the other side wasn’t as much of a wreck as usual. I hadn’t been home to wreck it other than to shower, eat, and pass out asleep. But not being home also meant I didn’t have any food in the fridge, or any clean laundry. After a frantic search for clean-ish clothes, a hot shower, and a handful of peanuts of questionable age I’d stolen from the bar some time ago, I grabbed my phone and called Mrs. Lawrence to arrange a time to wrap things up that evening.
I’d just hung up when my cell vibrated, and The Clash told me about how they’d fought the law and the law won. Detective Emma Knight’s work phone ring tone. There was only one reason why she’d be calling me from that number. I occasionally worked as a consultant for the police. The pay wasn’t that great, and I usually got shot at or stabbed in the course of the work, but Emma and I were friends. I felt like I owed her.
I answered. “Ghostbusters. Whaddaya want?”
“A day off,” Emma replied without hesitation. “But that’s not going to happen. Got a couple of stiffs here you might like to see.”
“Why Emma, I didn’t know you felt that way.”
I could feel her roll her eyes from miles away. “Ha. Very funny. Remember that body we found in the shallow grave in Jackson Square last month?”
Boy, did I. The ghouls had told me about it, saying it was too wrong to eat. For a ghoul not to be interested in a free meal, it had to be something really bad. When the cops found the body, it’d been an eleven-year-old boy with no obvious cause of death. According to the autopsy, it just looked like he’d given up. They couldn’t find any one reason for him to be dead. While the coroner called it a medical mystery, I knew the kid wasn’t the first to die like that. A decade ago, I’d lost my kid sister to the same strange wasting disease.
Except it wasn’t a wasting disease. I had it on good authority that something called an Archon was responsible, though I hadn’t been able to find much on Archons since then.
“Uh-huh,” I said into the phone and popped open the fridge. Empty. Dammit.
“Well, we found some remains in the same place last week.” She paused to take a breath, as if the next thing she was about to say unnerved her enough to warrant it. Emma was a tough cop, one of the best. If it unnerved her… “There was nothing left but bones. Child bones. Lots of them. I just got the coroner’s report back. Turns out there are remains from six different children, some of which date back a few years. The most recent one could’ve just been days ago. The only thing we’ve got are bite marks, and the bite patterns don’t match anything human or animal on record. Do you know what that means?”
I shivered. “You’ve got a supernatural serial killer.”
“When can you get here?”
I closed the fridge and grabbed my keys from the dish on the edge of the counter. “I’m on my way.”
Acknowledgements
Shout out to all the usual suspects: my awesome editor, Aaron, my cover artist, Les, my ARC team and patrons on Patreon. Thank you to my husband, sister, and children who put up with my insane schedule and ate too much take out while this one was being written and edited.
As always, any mistakes that remain are mine.
About the Author
E.A. Copen is the author of the Judah Black novels and the space opera, Broken Empire. She’s an avid reader of science fiction, fantasy and other genre fiction. When she’s not chained to her keyboard, she may be found time traveling on the weekends with her SCA friends. She lives in beautiful southeast Ohio with her husband and two kids, at least until she saves up enough to leave the shire and become a Jedi.
Connect with E.A. online:
www.eacopen.com
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No one is Above the law.
At least, that’s what federal agent Judah Black believes. Her job is to police supernaturals—werewolves, vampires, and fae—who have come out of hiding to live alongside humans.
The rest of the cops in her precinct are all too eager to dismiss her latest case, an apparent werewolf suicide. But the suicide note lays the blame on a cold case swept under the rug by the very department Judah works for.
When Judah decides to dig deeper, she uncovers evidence that could bring down one of the most powerful up and coming politicians in the country. Her superiors tell her to leave it alone, that everyone who’s ever crossed this senator was fired or worse—dead. Pursuing this case will place Judah in the center of a growing struggle between humans and the supernatural, and change her life forever.
Join my e-mail list and read Judah Black’s story from the beginning with this exclusive short for subscribers only.
An ancient evil lurks in the waters of the Concho River.
After a massive storm, flood waters threaten Paint Rock, Texas, home to over three hundred supernaturals. In the water lurks a new predator, a giant, venomous snake shifter with origins in Native American myth. When one of her own is bitten, Judah Black must find a way to hunt down the monster and a cure before the venom kills her friend and more people get hurt.
But nothing's ever simple.
To find and catch her prey, she'll have to work with a bounty hunter named Logan Creed whose decades long hunt for the mythical snake borders on obsession. He'll sacrifice everything to complete his hunt, including her family and friends.
Read it for free as a subscriber or buy it for $2.99 on Amazon.
Books by E.A. Copen
The Judah Black Novels
Fortunate Son
Guilty by Association
Perfect Storm
Blood Debt
Chasing Ghosts
Playing with Fire
Other stories in the Judah Black Universe:
Kiss of Vengeance
Broken Empire:
Aftermath
Renegades (Coming fall 2018)
The Lazarus Codex:
Death Rites
Organ Grind
Shallow Grave (Coming June 2018)
Other Works:
Beasts of Babylon
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