Waking the Dead (The Second Rising Series Book 1)

by Amber Garr

  “It’s okay. You can curse in front of her,” Rome said, ignoring the fierce look I tossed in his direction. “So let’s get this show started.” He slapped his hands together and rolled up his sleeves like he was the one who would be doing the actual necromancy.

  “I’m Detective Koen Ward,” the man said and nodded slightly. He didn’t make any attempt to shake my hand and I felt a little put off by that. “So you’re going to…”

  “Raise him from the dead? Yes.”

  “And we’ll be able to talk to him?” The detective reached in his jacket and pulled out a small notepad.

  “Yes, but only through me. He won’t answer you directly,” I added when Koen looked at me funny. “So I will need to be here with you.”

  “Oh. Okay. I got it.”

  I felt like I should start making handouts that the clients could read ahead of time and save me from saying the same spiel over and over. “This is him?” I asked, jerking my chin to the body on the table. It was covered with a sheet, but something about the form seemed a little off.

  “Yep,” Rome said quickly. Koen glanced at his partner and then rapidly averted his eyes. Both Noah and I noticed this strange interaction. I suspected we weren’t getting the full story…

  “Okay,” I said reaching forward to grab the sheet. “Let’s do this—”

  “Cressa!” Rome tried to stop me from revealing the corpse, but it was too late. When the shock of the horror took hold, Rome sighed. “I wanted to give you fair warning first.”

  “Fair warning of what?” I spat. “He hardly even has a head left!” The mangled body of their suspect never had a chance. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if it would be able to talk with my magic in him.

  “What did you do? Squeeze him to death?” Noah asked, a bit of accusation creeping into his tone.

  Koen turned his back to the body and covered his mouth. His shoulders bobbed as he tried to control the dry heaves. Rome just stood there with an innocent look on his face. “He tried to run and I stopped him. I just didn’t realize he was so…brittle.”

  Trying not to listening to the queasy detective and instead focusing on Rome, I put my hands on my hips. “I don’t even know if this is going to work.”

  “Well, it has to,” Rome said. He lifted his wrist and glanced down at his watch. “And it has to happen within the next ten minutes or someone is going to see you.”

  “Rome, does he even have any teeth left?” I asked in exasperation.

  He bent forward, nose almost touching the bloody, pulpy mess that once was the dead man’s face. It nearly made me hurl right along with the human detective. “I see some.”

  “Noah?” I whispered. He rested his hand against my lower back and took a deep breath. “If you can get anything out of him, it could help a lot of families that simply want to know what happened to their kids.”

  Putting the real need in the forefront, I rolled back my shoulders and decided to proceed. “You definitely owe me for this,” I said to Rome through gritted teeth.

  “You do,” Noah agreed.

  I lowered my bag to the empty table beside the body and got to work. Rome’s interest in my ritual went well beyond curiosity, while Koen did everything he could to avoid looking at my actions. By the time my knife was sticking out of the man’s chest and he was making a funny hissing sound out of the remnants of his mouth, Koen had turned totally green. He didn’t ask anything.

  But Rome hammered him. Spitting out questions left and right, I tried to keep up. And I also tried to tell him that a corpse, even a newly dead one, had a hard time putting coherent thoughts together. The stories about mindless zombies came to be because that’s exactly what the walking dead acted like.

  As our ten minutes came to an end, Rome seemed frustrated but Koen thought they had some good leads. Working with these kinds of cases must be tough, and I wondered if Koen was actually younger than he really looked.

  “Thank you, Cressa,” he said to me on our way out. “I think he gave us someone really important. And we wouldn’t have gotten that without you.” He reached out for my hand and I happily shook his. What a difference a few minutes, a talking corpse, and a stronger lead can make.

  Once we reached the parking lot, Rome grabbed me and kissed me full on the lips. “I do owe you. Thanks.” Then he looked over at Noah and gave him a small wave. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” I asked once Rome sped away from the hospital.

  “He’s working tonight.”

  “Oh, that’s right.” I climbed into Noah’s car and sat there for a minute. “So I guess you’re taking me home?”

  “Home?” he asked with a smile. “How about dinner at my place again. Rome won’t be there.”

  I ducked my head so he wouldn’t see how excited I was. After three days of not hearing too much from him, I didn’t want to sound eager. But I also didn’t want to go home by myself. And boy did he smell particularly delicious tonight.

  “Okay, sounds good,” I said, settling in for the ride and trying to contain my anxiousness.

  We grabbed two pizzas and some beer. Such a typical college student thing to do and Noah had laughed when I reminded him of that.

  “This is so ridiculously good,” I said through a large bite of spinach alfredo pizza. The cheese dripped over my chin slowly, but I didn’t care. I hadn’t really eaten much all day.

  Through his smile, Noah stuffed his face just as quickly as I had. “You know, I didn’t think this would taste as good as it does.”

  “Wait,” I stopped him. “You’ve never had pizza before?” He shook his head. “Wow. We have a lot of catching up to do.” The way Noah stared back at me caused my cheeks to blush. I could feel it, but I tried not to be embarrassed.

  As we sat at the kitchen bar stools, eating pizza and drinking beer, I thought about how much I wanted to do this every night of my life. I didn’t get nauseous this time after raising the suspect…and that made two instances where Noah’s presence had lessoned the after effects of using my magic. The scar had appeared on our drive home, but again, the intensity of the mark was far less than normal. When I stole a moment to use the bathroom, I took a quick peek at it. Located just below my right shoulder blade, the distinct outline of a noose had graced me with its presence. If my memory was correct, the Dan River killer had strangled his victims in various ways…

  Noah was washing the plates and I was cleaning up the mess when a pile of money suddenly appeared on the kitchen island. “Um…Noah?”

  He turned and saw where I was looking. With a raised brow and somewhat suspicious gait, he walked closer. “Where did this come from?” he asked.

  “Don’t know. It just appeared out of thin air.”

  “When?”

  “Right now!”

  Noah leaned in closer, I stayed next to the trash can. “There’s a note on it.” He grabbed the envelope and then looked up at me, smiling. “It’s for you.”

  “Me?” When he nodded, I reached for the letter. “Okay…” I said as I looked at the perfect calligraphy written with bright red ink on thick white parchment. “Should I open it?” I asked Noah.

  “Of course.”

  At his encouragement, I did. “It’s from Rome. He said he just wanted to thank me again and hoped this would help.”

  Noah was counting the money, laying it out in piles. “There’s two thousand dollars here.”

  “What?” I jumped to his side and grabbed one of the clumps of hundred dollar bills. “How did he…? Where did this come from?”

  Noah lifted my hand clenched around the money and kissed it. “Rome is very good with money. And he has a lot of it,” Noah added.

  “Well, this is too much. I can’t take it.” I set the money back down and stacked it in a nice, organized mound.

  “Have you ever been around an Imp before?” Noah had turned, still drying a dish but now focusing on me.

  I tilted my head in thought. “I’m not sure. I think my childhood neighbor was
one, but my father had insisted I was making up stories.” To this day I swear I saw him blink in and out of our house on a regular basis.

  “Well, you never give back a gift that you received from an Imp.” He set the dish down and picked up another. “That’s like…like capturing a Conjurer’s spirit.”

  “Meaning it could kill Rome?” Losing a spirit without purpose could sometimes cause a Conjurer to go insane until they died.

  “No. But meaning that Rome would be within his right to kill you.”

  I tried to see if Noah was joking, but the way his brow creased and the speed at which he dried the dish led me to believe otherwise. “Well.” I cleared my throat and shook the thoughts of the smashed man in the morgue out of my mind. “I guess I have two thousand more dollars then.”

  “I guess you do,” Noah mused.

  And suddenly feeling braver than ever before, I stepped around the kitchen island and leaned back against the counter. I made a small noise so that Noah would turn and look at me, and when he did, I started my seduction. With one pile of the money spread out in my hand, I began running it down my neck, across my collar bone, and along the side of my breasts.

  “So…” I teased. “What should we do to celebrate?”

  Noah cleared his throat and tore his eyes from my body. “Celebrate?”

  I took a step closer, biting my bottom lip and caressing his chest with the money. “Yes, celebrate,” I whispered.

  His hands slid behind my waist, settling nicely on my cheeks and sending a magical surge of energy through every part of me. “Cressa, I don’t know if—”

  I silenced him with my tongue. Pushing myself onto him in a way I wasn’t sure truly represented me, I didn’t let him finish his negative thought. All I knew at that moment is that I wanted him, needed him to be as close to me as possible. Without Noah, my life would not be as good as it was now. Without Noah, I wouldn’t be holding onto the money that I desperately needed. I wouldn’t have crossed that line and used my gifts to get what I wanted. And despite the dangers hidden within all of that, I knew that Noah had actually made me a stronger person.

  “Cressa,” he tried to say in between my kisses. But when I lowered my hand to find the most sensitive part of him, he stopped saying cohesive words. A few seconds later, I found myself up on that kitchen island surrounded by money and covered in Noah’s sensual kisses.

  Wrapping my legs tightly around his waist, I rubbed myself against him, making my intentions clear. He quickly pulled off my sweater, breaking our kisses for just brief moments in time. His lips trailed from my neck, down to my cleavage enhanced by the bra I’d chosen tonight. He didn’t say anything when he gently nipped the top of my breast, but I called out in pleasure. In an instant, my bra fell to the ground and his mouth sucked on me in a way I couldn’t even comprehend. It all felt too good to be true. Whether it was the insurgence of his magic or just the guttural need of my own, Noah had me fully under his control.

  When I tried to lift up his shirt, he skirted backward and pulled away from me. “Not yet,” he breathed, the huskiness in his voice giving me shivers of anticipation. His hands slowly squeezed my breasts, each finger shooting currents of electricity through them and into my soul. I watched his eyes shift from purple to a fiery golden yellow and back again. And then I noticed where he’d moved his hands to.

  With a smile I asked, “What are you doing?”

  “I think you know,” he said, smothering me once again with a hungry kiss.

  His fingers worked at the button of my jeans and moments later, he was sliding them off my legs. The second they hit the floor, I pulled him closer to me. Inching toward the edge of the counter, I made sure that I could touch as much of him as possible. Although he was still fully clothed, I could feel his excitement that now rubbed against me hard enough I wouldn’t be able to take much longer. His tongued darted around mine, locked in a dance I hoped would never end. Warm, large hands cupped my breasts, my hips, my butt—grasping for anything within their reach.

  And I felt for him too. While he hadn’t let me undress him, I raked my fingers over his bare skin underneath and let my hips slide against his in a rhythmic motion. Despite the cool temperature of the counter, my body radiated the heat that pulsated between us. I trailed my touches down his back and around to the front of his jeans. When I brushed my hand gently between his legs, he sucked in some air and pushed back slightly.

  “Cressa, I don’t think we should…” his voice drifted off in a series of quick breaths.

  “We should.” I stated and then squeezed him hard enough to get my point across. His lips found me once again and his tongue traced the perimeter of both breasts. I leaned forward and found his earlobe, where I let my hot breath caress it with promises I hoped to deliver on. After several minutes of intense foreplay, Noah’s lips trailed back up my neck and met my nose. He stared at me, for what seemed like minutes, his eyes blazing brighter than I’d ever seen them before. Flecks of purple sparkled within the gold, his lighter hair complementing the coloration nicely.

  When I thought he wasn’t going to move any more, I pushed myself into the front of his pants and made a small noise of content. That seemed to snap him out of whatever was going through his mind and he suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.

  “Fuck it,” he mumbled into my mouth as he kissed me harder than before.

  Wrapping my arms tightly over his shoulders, I giggled when he lifted me from the counter and carried my down the hallway toward his bedroom. Our kisses never stopped, only intensified as we approached the bed. Without missing a beat, Noah lowered me on top of his mattress more gently than I would have thought he was capable of at the moment. When he stepped back, my lips pulsed with need. Each beat of my heart sent blood to the areas that longed for his touch. The space between us had grown too much, so I lifted my hands out to him.

  “Come back,” I whispered.

  Noah smiled and pressed his lips together. He ran a hand through his hair and dropped his gaze to the floor. I didn’t know what decision he was struggling with so much, but I had no intention of letting him off the hook.

  Slowly and methodically, I tucked my fingers underneath the sides of my panties. He watched me like a falcon as every inch the material slipped a little lower. The pinched brow of his disappeared the moment I let him see what was underneath and waiting for him. Bolder than I’d ever been before, I dropped my underwear and lay naked on his bed in invitation. He stayed silent for quite some time, eyes taking in every ounce of skin.

  “It’s your turn now,” I teased.

  His chuckle brought a smile to my face when I noticed the moment his decision was made. “No. Not yet,” he purred.

  Moving with intent, he stepped closer to the bed. I felt my legs spread a little wider, waiting for his body to press against mine again. Placing one knee on the top of the bed, he reached forward and grabbed both of my thighs. But instead of lying on top of me, he quickly pulled my hips closer to the edge. Fingers dug into my skin in need, and I tilted my head back to look up at the ceiling. If only he would just—

  His tongue suddenly brushed against my bare skin and I let out a moan that I was sure the neighbors could hear. And when his lips cupped over my most sensitive spot, I saw stars spinning around the room. Fingertips grazed my inner thighs as his eager mouth explored me. At one point, his hand squeezed tightly over my breast, a move I encouraged him to continue doing by grinding my hips closer and closer against him.

  I grabbed his hair and pushed his mouth deeper into me. I knew I couldn’t last much longer but I decided that I was ready for it now. Understanding my moves in a way no stranger should, Noah used his tongue to take me over the proverbial edge. My back arched in pleasure, my body pulsating in time with my rapid heart. Noah continued to suck and caress until every last quiver subsided.

  As I lay motionless and beautifully exhausted on the bed, I barely noticed him crawling in beside me. His fingers traced a line from the bottom of my breast
s and down to my navel. Back and forth, back and forth he gently rubbed. It felt so good that I closed my eyes and savored every second of it.

  “Tired?” he asked, a sexiness creeping into his voice that made me want to jump all over him again.

  I slowly turned my head to the side so that I could see his beautiful eyes. Dark lashes that I’d barely noticed before, surrounded a look of satisfaction that I knew must be on my face as well.

  “Mmm,” I said, unable to form any full words just yet. The sensations of my orgasm were still jumping through my skin, the calmness that settles in afterward not quite claiming its space yet.

  Noah’s laugh shook the bed, and when he leaned over to give me a small kiss, I lay there like a lump of clay. “You should rest,” he said, hands brushing through my hair and soothing me even more.

  “Okay,” I said absentmindedly.

  The last thing I remember before being pulled into a deep, comfortable sleep, was Noah whispering something in another language into my ear. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew it must have been important to him. And as I drifted off into a peaceful sleep, I wrapped his arm tightly around me, vowing to never let him go.

  Noah had dropped me off at my apartment early the next morning so that I had time to get ready for my Friday classes. I didn’t want to leave. School suddenly seemed less important than enjoying more time with Noah. But eventually common sense won out and I reluctantly left him in his car with the promise of more time together soon.

  Brit and I saw each other only briefly, so I now found myself in the library at school where she does her work study job. It was probably for the better since winter finals were coming up and my attention had been anywhere but on classes lately.

  As I was sitting at a table by myself trying to memorize economics terminology but only seeing visions of Noah’s body, the chair screeched across from me. When I glanced up to see who was intruding, I outwardly groaned.