by Lori Sjoberg
He flashed the woman an “aw shucks” look, and Ruby bit back a grin. “I wanted to talk to someone about the young woman who died last night.”
The nurse frowned, her forehead wrinkling. “I’m sorry, but in order to protect the privacy of our passengers, I’m not at liberty to discuss what happened last night at the Nautical Mile.”
“Oh, no, we’re here about the other woman,” Ruby said.
Now the poor nurse looked downright confused. “What other woman?”
“Brunette, mid-twenties, about three inches shorter than me?” Ruby replied, filling in the blanks.
The nurse shook her head slowly. Judging by her expression, she thought they’d just escaped from the funny farm. Her hand inched toward the phone on her desk. “I don’t know where you got that information, but there haven’t been any other deaths on board.”
“Are you sure?” Dmitri asked.
“Positive.”
Dmitri stepped closer to the desk, meeting the woman’s wary gaze. “I’m sorry to have bothered you, ma’am. We won’t waste any more of your time.” His eyes locked with hers for nearly thirty seconds, and when he turned away, she went back to typing as if she was the only person in the room.
“I take it you altered her memory?” Ruby asked as the infirmary door swooshed shut behind them.
He smirked. “She’ll remember a young couple asking for condoms, nothing more.”
“Great. Now what?”
“Now we check the room.”
About ten minutes later, they stood inside the cabin where Ruby had harvested the soul of the dead woman. The housekeeping crew had come in and spruced the place up since her last visit; the bed was freshly made and every surface was spotless. An origami towel sat on top of the comforter, folded to resemble a little white elephant.
Ruby checked the closets, behind the shower curtain, and under the bed. Nothing. Not a trace of the woman whose soul she’d reaped less than twenty-four hours before. “Don’t look at me like that, Dmitri. This is the right cabin.”
Dmitri didn’t respond. Instead, he strode across the room and opened the sliding glass door. The sound of the ocean flooded the cabin as he stepped onto the balcony and peered over the rail. “It wouldn’t take much effort to pitch the body over the side.” He walked back inside and pulled the door shut, muffling the outside noise. “Do it late enough in the evening, and no one would be awake to notice.”
“Yeah, but it looks like she’s not the only person staying here. There’s more than one toothbrush in the bathroom. Wouldn’t the other person notice she’s missing?”
He shrugged. “Eventually. Right now, the roommate probably thinks her friend’s out somewhere getting lucky.”
“Good point.” Ruby slid open one of the dresser drawers and began rooting through the stacks of clothes.
“What are you looking for?”
“A picture of the victim. I thought it might help you to know the killer’s taste in women. She’s got to have ID in here somewhere.” Finding nothing, she turned her attention to the walk-in closet.
Dmitri stepped in behind her and began searching the clothes hanging on the opposite side. Two people in such a small space left little room to maneuver. This close, she felt the heat of his body, smelled the spicy scent of his cologne. She caught the faint whiff of gun oil, confirming her suspicion that he’d somehow smuggled a firearm on the ship. Since the man rarely went anywhere without at least one weapon, she would have been more surprised if he’d come aboard unarmed. Where he had it hidden, though, was anybody’s guess.
His hands moved a lot faster than hers, probably because he’d had a lot more experience at this sort of thing. “So who’s the fresh meat?” He asked the question without looking up, his deep voice filling the tiny closet.
“I already told you his name,” Ruby replied, annoyed because she wasn’t finding a damn thing as she searched through the clothes, pocket by pocket.
“So you said. But I have never seen you look at a man like that before.”
She cast a sideways glance in his direction. “Like what?” “You know what I’m talking about.” He didn’t elaborate. Didn’t really need to. She knew exactly what he meant, but refused to touch that particular topic with a ten-foot pole.
Finished with his side of the closet, Dmitri concentrated his focus on the tiny safe in the rear corner.
“It’s locked.”
“Not for much longer.” He studied the safe for a few seconds, then pulled a small, slender gadget from his back pocket and began fiddling with the electronic keypad. A minute or two later, he turned the lever and the safe swung open. Reaching inside, he took out a small manila envelope and rifled through its contents.
“Is this your girl?” he asked as he handed Ruby a passport.
She flipped it open and studied the photo. The woman in the picture sported shorter hair that was two or three shades darker, and she looked to be about fifteen pounds heavier. But the facial structure matched the dead woman’s perfectly. Same short, button nose, same prominent forehead. Same rounded cheekbones and heart-shaped face.
Damn it, now she knew the woman’s name. Shannon K. Perkins. Age twenty-six. Knowing the particulars changed the dynamics, a personal investment she couldn’t afford in this line of work. It was bad enough to know she’d left a child behind, but putting a name to her face made the loss more tangible. Now she couldn’t help but wonder about Shannon. What did she do for a living? Did she have a boyfriend, a sister, a dog? Who would miss her now that she was gone?
“Yep, that’s her.” She slapped the passport shut and handed it back to Dmitri. “You still haven’t told me what you think happened to her.”
He placed the passport back inside the envelope, the envelope inside the safe, and locked the safe back up. He motioned for Ruby to follow as he stepped out of the closet.
“Incubus,” he said as he closed the closet door behind them. He gave the cabin one final cursory inspection before turning to leave.
“Are you kidding me?” The idea never crossed her mind. She thought of Jack, of what he’d told her about the curse, and felt a little hollow inside. It couldn’t be him. She refused to even consider it. “You think some sort of sex demon killed her?”
Dmitri scowled. “I never kid about such things. From what you told me, the body showed no signs of physical trauma. No pills or suicide note. And since she required your services, she obviously did not die from natural causes.” He peered through the peephole before cracking open the door. “That limits the field of possibilities.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean a demon stopped by and sucked the life out of her.”
“Why not?” He checked the hallway, signaled the all clear for Ruby to follow. A young woman emerged from one of the cabins and walked in the opposite direction, so he didn’t speak again until they’d rounded the corner and the elevators came into sight. “Cruise ships are prime hunting grounds for creatures that prey on humanity. The atmosphere lends itself to lowered inhibitions, making it easy for the incubus to feed.”
“Do they always kill?”
“No. Killing attracts too much attention. They prefer to keep a low profile. Usually, they drain just enough of the victim’s life force to suit their needs. It leaves the person feeling exhausted for the next day or two without causing any permanent damage. But every so often they get reckless or greedy, and you get what we have here.”
The elevator dinged a few seconds before the doors opened. They waited for an elderly couple to exit, then stepped inside and pressed the button for deck nine.
Uncertainty mixed with suspicion, chipping away at Ruby’s belief in Jack’s innocence. She couldn’t bring herself to believe he was responsible, but the splinter of doubt still festered in the back of her mind.
Eyes facing the stainless-steel doors, she asked, “How do we find it?”
A smile tugged at the corners of Dmitri’s mouth. “The old-fashioned way. We hunt.”
Before t
hey began, Dmitri gave Ruby a crash course in how to hunt for beings fitting the general description of “Other.” He taught her to ignore her external senses, to rely solely on the reaper’s innate ability to tap in to the constant pulse of mortality, to sift through the clutter in search of “different” instead of “dying.” It was an exercise that reapers rarely performed, but it didn’t take long before she got the gist of it.
From stem to stern, they searched the bars, the nightclubs, the casino, the comedy club, and every other nightspot the ship offered as entertainment, until Ruby’s feet throbbed with exhaustion. They even checked the video arcade and the gym for the sake of being thorough. Then they went back to square one and started all over again.
Nothing.
“Maybe it jumped ship at St. Angelique,” Ruby said as they claimed two seats at the bar inside the casino. The late hour had done little to lessen the crowds. All of the slots but two were taken, the tables surrounded by gamblers. Players dressed in a wide variety of styles, from wedding reception formal to Walmart casual, and everything in between. No matter the outfit, they all shared the dream of hitting it big in a place where the odds were stacked hopelessly against them.
“It’s possible, but I doubt it. Creatures like this are too opportunistic to pass up the chance for an easy meal.” Dmitri caught the bartender’s attention and ordered vodka on the rocks. “What would you like to drink?”
She stopped rubbing her foot long enough to glance up at the waiter. Normally, she would have flirted with the hunky Latino, but she felt too tired and cranky to do anything more than say, “Sweet tea, please.”
One of the nearby slots lit up like a Christmas tree, bells clanging as a handful of coins dropped into the shiny metal pan on the bottom. The man sitting in front of the machine let out an excited whoop, his lady friend squealing like they’d just won the lottery.
“We’ll make one more round before calling it a night,” Dmitri said once the bartender left to make their drinks.
Wonderful. At this rate, she’d be hobbled by the end of the evening. She shot him a look that would have sent lesser men packing. Dmitri simply ignored it.
If she had to be honest, she still wasn’t a hundred percent sure of what they were searching for. From what he’d told her, the incubus could change its appearance to suit its needs, which was why it was so important to hunt with her mind instead of her eyes. But since she’d yet to find anything outside the norm of humanity, she didn’t know if it was because there weren’t any on board, or if she simply sucked as a hunter.
“Tell me again how we’re going to find it?”
“You’ll know it when you sense it.” His eyes never left the basketball game on the television over the bar.
“You mean like porn?”
He didn’t answer, just shot her a level stare. The bartender came back with their drinks, forcing her to hold her tongue until Dmitri settled the tab.
“I’m serious,” she said as soon as the bartender moved to the next customer. “I’d like to have some idea of what the hell I’m looking for.”
Dmitri’s shirt pulled tight against his muscular chest as he twisted around in his seat. One hand held his vodka while his dark eyes roamed the crowded casino. A haze of cigarette smoke blanketed the room, thick enough to obscure the pool tables on the opposite end.
“There.” He nodded toward the roulette table in the middle of the room. “See the older woman in the green and blue dress?”
Following his line of vision, she spotted the woman standing beside an elderly bald man wearing a tuxedo. Slender build. Immaculate hair. Elegant dress. She exuded a class and confidence that came only from inherited wealth. A mountain of blue and red chips filled the space on the table in front of her, growing larger when the ball landed on twenty-nine black. “Yeah, what about her?”
“She’s a witch.”
Ruby shot him an incredulous look. “You mean like riding a broomstick, turning people into frogs kind of witch?”
“They don’t ride broomsticks,” Dmitri replied without missing a beat. “Don’t know anything about the frogs. But they are very real. Focus on her vitality.”
“You better not be pulling my leg,” she grumbled as she concentrated her focus on the roulette table. One by one she blocked out the mortal signatures of the other gamblers, until only the woman’s life force registered in her mind.
“Well, bless her heart.”
The woman’s vitality held a slightly higher pitch than what Ruby considered normal, but not so out of the ordinary that she’d notice it under normal circumstances. Human, but with a little extra something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
It reminded her of Jack’s vitality, only his felt richer and more vibrant.
“Will the demon feel the same way?”
“Not quite. The witch is human. The demon is not. Its signature will carry a stronger resonance.”
Just like Jack. Well, ain’t that just a kick in the pants. Every time she angled for exoneration, the hole kept getting deeper and deeper.
The pulse of fresh death yanked her from her thoughts. So much for the demon jumping ship at St. Angelique.
“Did you feel that?”
Ruby nodded. “It’s pretty weak.”
“That’s because it’s just getting started.” Dmitri’s eyes lit with excitement. “We still have time to track it to the source.” He slammed back his drink and set the empty glass on the table. Gesturing with a nod toward the exit, he said, “Let’s move.”
Chapter 11
Like hounds after a fox, they tracked their quarry.
Out of the casino. Across the hall. A shortcut through the Nautical Mile. It took some effort to keep pace with Dmitri’s long strides as he stalked across the length of the ship. The pulse of mortality strengthened with each passing second, the sensation growing louder and more insistent as they drew closer to their prey.
Up two flights of stairs, and the call of death spiked to a roar, blazing through Ruby’s veins like a bolt of electricity. She kicked off her shoes so she could move faster, holding them by the straps as she followed Dmitri down a long corridor leading to their final destination.
Suddenly, he came to a halt in front of cabin 748. He jiggled the handle and found the door locked.
“The last time I had to get a member of the crew to—”
Before she had the chance to finish her sentence, he’d pulled a master key from inside his wallet.
“How did you—” The question died in her throat. “Never mind. I don’t think I want to know.”
“Probably best that way.” When the light blinked green, he pushed the door open and they both slipped inside the darkened cabin. A flick of the switch and the room flooded with soft light.
The cabin was vacant, save for the woman’s body lying on the bed, her legs spread wide in a vulgar display. It was a blonde this time. Naked as a jaybird, just like the other. Mid-thirties, by Ruby’s best estimate, with a curvy build and large breasts. Face frozen in a look of pure pleasure. No visible scars or tattoos marked her body, although she sported enough piercings to set off the metal detectors at Orlando International Airport.
Dmitri made quick work of checking the room for signs of life, gave a curt nod to confirm that they were truly alone. The cabin had no balcony, which meant the killer must have slipped out the front door seconds before their arrival. Since they were so focused on the call of death, they may have walked right past him in the hallway.
Might as well get this over with, Ruby thought as she inched closer to the foot of the bed.
“No, I’ll take this one.” Dmitri stopped her advance with a hand to her shoulder.
“You sure?”
He nodded, his grim expression steeled with resolve. “It’ll help me get a feel for our prey.”
With the fatality so fresh, the soul had yet to abandon its ties to the physical form. Dmitri crouched at the side of the bed, his gaze trained on the dead woman. His eyes dulled, cold
and flat as he probed with his mind for the delicate seam binding body and spirit. At last he found it, exerting just enough pressure to sever the connection and nudge the soul free. Securing his grasp, he drew it toward him with a mastery that came from years of experience.
He sucked in a breath when the soul merged with his body. Judging by the look on his face, he sensed no evil in the woman’s essence, just a solid blanket of benevolent warmth. His eyes drifted shut, and when they opened again the whites were covered with a milky gray. A few seconds ticked by, and the haze gradually cleared, returning his eyes to their usual piercing clarity.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. I just …” He blinked a few times, coughed into his fist to clear his throat. Brows lowered, he appeared genuinely perplexed. “In all my years, I have never encountered a soul so enthralled it failed to recognize its own death.”
She’d never seen him unhinged before, and the sight set her own nerves on edge. “The one I reaped knew she was dead, but she’d been gone a while by the time I arrived.”
He nodded, still looking off kilter. He stared at the wall and blinked a few times before his normal air of confidence returned. “It won’t feed again tonight, so we might as well get some rest.”
A quick check of the peephole, and they were on their way. The late hour was drawing passengers back to their cabins, and the corridors were more crowded than just a few minutes before. A trio of young women walked past them in the hall, sizing Dmitri up like a big, juicy steak they wanted to devour. Not that she really blamed them. Tall, dark, and dangerous had that kind of effect on a lot of women.
“Where are you staying?” Ruby asked him as they headed toward the stairwell.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Cabin 318. I dropped my gear off before looking for you.”
