Killer

by Gillian Zane

  I held up my little vial and he did the same. I clinked mine against his.

  “To our future,” he said.

  “Who knew being dead would be this much of an adventure.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” We both tilted back the vials and drank deep with no regrets as we cemented our future together.

  The End

  Epilogue

  Sand, even in Afterlife got everywhere. It was in the crack of my ass, and how it had gotten there, I wasn’t certain, but most likely because Drake had been rolling all over me while the surf battered my naked ass and forced sand into every crack and crevice known to this particular demigoddess.

  Beach sex wasn’t as appealing as they made it out to be in the movies. I let Drake know this as I was paddling about in the surf attempting to clean out all of my crevices. He wasn’t complaining, laying in the sand like he was king of the deserted island we now inhabited.

  It wasn’t that bad for a deserted island. There were coconuts, but they weren’t that sweet. And there was a pretty cool waterfall if you ventured far enough inland. There were even a few strange birds that liked to fly to the lowest branches and chirp at us as we passed.

  We had been here for three days and I think I was ready to leave. There were only so many times I could exfoliate my back in the sand of the beach.

  “Sir, sorry to disturb. Oh, you guys are naked, so sorry,” A door banged open and something crashed. A man crouched in the sand, his eyes covered like a little kid.

  “Oh thank the gods,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “I heard that,” Drake shot back. “Bored already, wife?”

  “It wasn’t my idea to choose a deserted island for our honeymoon,” I grumped.

  “What? What better place to explore our commitment to each other than all alone on a deserted beach?”

  “I love you, Drake, and it’s wonderful frolicking around with you for days on end, but I was getting kind of bored. And I really wouldn’t mind a bed to explore our commitment to each other,” I said and he smiled like this was the best idea ever.

  “Okay, maybe we can go find a bed somewhere.” He began tugging me out of the surf. Forgetting that our assistant still stood in the doorway he had manifested. It looked awfully strange having a door embedded in the middle of the sandy beach.

  “Um, but sirs, um…” He stumbled over what to call us, which was usually the case. We had only had this assistant for the last month. Drake was kind of hard on them and they usually asked to be reassigned.

  “What is it?” Drake turned, making the assistant blush bright red since of course, Drake didn’t manifest any clothes on himself.

  “Put some clothes on, honey, it’s not very professional. Bernie is going to have a heart attack.”

  “Fine.” Drake barked and manifested a pair of bright teal swim trunks and it was my turn to snicker.

  “What is it, Bertrand?” I gave myself a mental pat on the back for remembering the man’s name.

  “There’s a case, sir, out of one of the Karma divisions. It’s within one of the parameters you asked me to flag. You told me to tell you right away, no matter what you were doing.” He handed a tablet to Drake, and now my curiosity was piqued. Special parameters? What did that mean?

  “Ready to go back to Karma?” Drake turned to me with a questioning look.

  “What for?” We hadn’t had direct connection with any of the Karma departments since Drake and I had taken control of the entire division. We made spot checks every now and again, but it was usually through one of our emissaries. We didn’t really believe in a hands-on management style.

  “Guess who’s been flagged for a dose of karma?” He handed me the tablet.

  “It’s about time.” Lauren’s picture glared at me from a mug shot taken right after she was arrested for my murder. She had been tried, but with only Beverly’s testimony, and no body to be found, it was a hung jury. They had yet to tie her to Pete or Drake’s murder. The DA had jumped the gun in my opinion.

  This time Oversight wasn’t going to let it slip. They had opened a Karma case; she was going to be served. Hopefully.

  “Want to handle the case yourself?” Drake asked. I knew he would let me. I knew he would be right by my side if I chose to enact my own form of justice on the woman who had killed the both of us.

  “Nah,” I said and handed the tablet to Bertrand.

  “Nah?” Drake repeated.

  “Yeah, I think one of the regular karma operatives will do a fine job dishing up the karma she deserves. She’s a murderer…it’s going to take a lot of energy to balance that one out.”

  “You don’t want to face her?” Drake asked, searching my face.

  “No, Drake, because I really don’t hold it against her anymore. I would probably thank her if I finally did confront her.”

  “Thank her?” Drake said and it was obvious he was completely thrown off by my statement.

  “Well, of course. Because if I wouldn’t have died…well, I’d never have met you, isn’t that right?”

  Drake moved across the sand. He pushed Bertrand back through the portal he had come through and closed the door behind him, then his hands were lifting me up and bringing our mouths together in a passionate kiss that made my toes curls in the infuriating sand.

  Then I was losing my balance, and he was on top of me…and there we were again. Right where we were supposed to be. Together. This time I wouldn’t complain about the sand, even though it was getting everywhere.

  Thank you for taking the time to read KILLER.

  All reviews are appreciated and will be rewarded with good Karma.

  This is the end of the Karma series, but expect a new series from Gillian Zane very soon.