When the Dead Come Home

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “You’re sure?” she asked, her voice shaky.

  I shook my head. “You now know as much as I do about this.”

  She cursed under her breath before turning her attention to her twin. “I’m okay. But I miss Asher. Can you let Asher come back?”

  Asher huffed like a dog.

  “I’m guessing that’s a no,” I muttered as I racked my brain again.

  “I want my brother.” Her voice cracked. “Please.”

  My heart ached as the wolf began pulling against the chains trying to reach her.

  It wasn’t working.

  While I was trying to think of a different tack, Jessica moved. Before I could blink, Jessica moved forward into Asher’s arm length. My heart leapt into my throat as Asher reached for her.

  Zeke started to move toward them. I reached up and snagged his wrist, stopping him. It was too dangerous right now. We were lucky not to have Jess hurt.

  Everyone held their breath as Asher sniffed her hair and face. No one moved a muscle.

  Several heartbeats later, the claws slipped back into his fingers leaving them bloody. Asher’s fingers shook as he held his twin sister’s face. “Jess?”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. “I’m okay.”

  He clutched her to him as he closed his eyes. The tension in the room disappeared as he exhaled.

  Asher lifted his head, his gaze meeting mine. “What did I do?”

  “You trashed your kitchen,” Ethan chimed in.

  Asher sighed. “Fuck it.”

  I smiled as he pulled back from Jess. His shoulders sagged as he barely held himself off the ground. “I’m going to pass out.”

  “You safe?” Zeke asked.

  Asher nodded, his eyes closing.

  Jess tried to catch him before his unconscious body hit the floor, but she only softened his fall.

  Zeke rushed over to help. “Lexie, the key is on the banister.”

  Zeke hefted Asher into his arms while I found the key. Jess moved to the side as I unlocked each of the shackles on his wrists and ankles, revealing torn up skin and bloody gashes. I looked at the shackle. There was a band of sharp metal that would bite into a wrist. What the fuck?

  Jess took a breath at the sight.

  I dropped the shackle before turning to Asher. He was covered in blood spatter from his hands pounding his fists into the floor.

  Ethan led Zeke up the stairs and held the door for him.

  Jessica was pale as we followed Zeke through the foyer and upstairs.

  “He’s okay,” I rushed to explain. “I think he just wore himself out.” At least I hoped that was what happened.

  She nodded. I went to grab a few wet washcloths and went to the bedroom. Zeke was examining his fingertips, which looked raw and pink, when I came in. I didn’t say a word. I simply started to clean his hands and face.

  A hand took one of the wet cloths from my pile. Jess began cleaning his ankles quietly.

  We worked together in silence. When we were done, I covered him in his comforter.

  There was a knock on the front door.

  I sat down on the side of Asher’s bed and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to leave him. I just wanted to curl up in bed with him and breath him in. But Zeke and Jess were in here, so I sat. Jess sat in his desk chair, watching him breathe.

  Footsteps came up the stairs.

  Rory stepped into the room, his face a hard mask. “I just came from a talk with the vice principal.” He eyed Asher. “I take it there’s a reason that all of you ditched school?”

  I nodded. “Let’s go downstairs.”

  Rory led Zeke and I downstairs and into the living room, leaving Tara alone.

  “Am I suspended?” I asked as I turned to him.

  “Not yet,” Rory bit out as the other’s sat down. “They’re waiting until Monday to make a decision about your punishment.” His eyes met mine. “Now, what the fuck happened?”

  “First, Mrs. Weaver started searching lockers and she found that loose leaf tea I have,” I began. “She thought it was pot, I left because I was too tired to even deal with it. Then when I came back, she called me in to the office and mentioned that Tara was missing from school.”

  “Everyone started looking for her,” Isaac added.

  “We found her and Jessica here, upset,” I finished.

  Rory nodded. “And how did Asher end up unconscious?”

  “Jessica’s boyfriend hurt her. Asher was losing his control and all hell broke loose.” I got it all out at once.

  Rory took several deep breaths. “And at what point did you beat the shit out of Jessica’s boyfriend?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “I… didn’t.”

  He scowled at me. “Come clean.”

  I shook my head with my hands up. “I swear, I’ve been here the whole time.”

  “She hasn’t left.” Miles leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his thighs. “Someone attacked Jason?”

  “Yeah, and he’s not saying who.” Rory kept watching me.

  “If I did it, I’d admit it,” I reminded him.

  Rory shook his head. “I might believe you, but Mrs. Weaver doesn’t.”

  “What?” I dropped my hands.

  “She thinks it was you.” Rory dragged his hand through his hair.

  I growled in frustration. This was getting ridiculous. “That woman!”

  “Alright, you didn’t attack Jason.” Rory sighed. “Fine, we’ll deal with that on Monday. But did it even occur to you to call me?”

  I looked back at him. “Jess didn’t want to press charges, she’s too scared.”

  “My daughter was missing,” Rory snapped. “And you didn’t call me.”

  Oh fuck. “Honestly, I was kinda focused on finding her.”

  “I’m a cop, Lexie.” Rory’s voice shook with his rage. “I could have had everyone on the force looking for her.”

  The silence was thundering.

  Fuck. I hung my head. “That would have been better.”

  “Yeah, it would have. But now you’ve violated your probation at school,” he pointed out. “And you’re the one facing expulsion for something you say you didn’t do. And no one believes you.”

  I cursed. Expulsion? “Fuck.”

  “You need to stop and think of other responses besides breaking rules,” he stated. “It turns you into the bad guy.”

  I nodded. He was right. “From now on, I will.” I needed to do better than this. Be better than this. I couldn’t use violence. I couldn’t break the rules all the time.

  Satisfied that I understood the consequences of what I had done today, Rory said, “I’m going to see how Jessica is doing and if she’ll talk to me.” He stopped just outside the pass-through. “Where’s their father?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think he’s in town, but I’m not a hundred percent about it.”

  “He left today,” Zeke announced. “Jess said when he realized that Asher really wasn’t going to come home, he left.”

  Rory cursed before heading upstairs.

  Miles’ chair creaked as he got to his feet. “I’ve got a lesson with Lucy,” he said, looking directly at me.

  I looked up at him, stunned. I didn’t know what to say. “You’re leaving?”

  He licked his lips and nodded. “There’s something important I need to talk to her about.”

  And this wasn’t? I shook my head. “Fine. Go.”

  He headed straight for the door. He didn’t even hesitate. I growled wordlessly and fell back against the couch cushions. Secrets, secrets, and more secrets. Maybe this was just karma for all the things I kept from the guys before? If so, this sucked hard.

  I turned to Zeke, more than a little lost.

  He got out of his chair. “Come on, Baby. Let’s get out of here.” He reached down to pull me to my feet.

  We left the guys with Jessica, a quiet Tara, and a worried Rory.

  * * *

  My Luigi missed the ledge a
nd dropped to his death. Again. Game over flashed on the screen. I grumbled wordlessly as I dropped the old Nintendo controller.

  Zeke set his on his knee and looked down at me. “That’s the second time you’ve killed off all your lives before we even got through world two.”

  I sighed deeply, watching Mario start a new level only to stay in one place. That familiar music played through the quiet room.

  “Talk to me.”

  I smiled. I never noticed how much all of us actually use that phrase. I looked up at him and met those sky-blue eyes. “Why do I always go to violence? Why is it my first reaction?”

  The corner of his lips lifted. “You’re asking the right person at least.”

  I snorted. He had that right. “Today, I wanted to go beat the shit out of Jason so Asher would calm down. Why did I go there first?”

  He eyed me then met my gaze again. “You tell me.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You can’t just tell me? I mean, you’re the one who’s had all the anger management.”

  He lifted his arm and settled it over the end of his bed. I scooted over on instinct and pressed against him. His arm settled around me. That feeling of safety wrapped around me as I took a deep breath of engine grease and leather.

  “If I tell you, then you’ll never really understand it for yourself.” He brushed his chin over my hair. “My therapist said it’s better to work through it to figure out your own answers. It’s good practice.”

  I muttered curses under my breath as I racked my brain. First thing that came to mind was my mother. She used to smack me once in a while before the whole belt event happened. Then I remembered grade school. Getting picked on for my red hair. Nothing would shut them up but a punch or a kick to the shin. It always surprised them. Maybe that was it. “When I was little, it was the only way to get the other kids to stop picking on me. Teachers wouldn’t do anything, or they’d just say to ignore it and it’ll stop. But it never did. Hitting them at least made it stop for a while.”

  He squeezed me carefully and shifted to press his cheek against my hair. “Was there any time it was worse than normal?”

  I followed that thought. “Sixth grade. Three boys were picking on me all year. The teachers kept saying ignore them, and I’d tell them it wasn’t working. They’d just say to keep ignoring them. And mom was forcing me to wear what she wanted. She was on my ass about being ladylike worse than ever.”

  “So, your mom wasn’t listening to you. The teachers weren’t listening to you and the bullies weren’t listening to you,” he summed up.

  I mulled his words over. “Yeah.” That’s when the light went on. “Then one time, this guy hit me. I gave him a bloody nose and I was sent to the principal’s office.”

  His hand moved up and down my arm. “What happened?”

  “I got in trouble. They called Dad this time to come in to talk.” I grinned up at him. “Bad move. He asked why, if the other kid hit me first, I was the only one in the office.”

  The corner of his lips rose. “What’d they say?”

  My smile turned to a grin as I remembered Dad tearing the principal a new one. “The principal said it was because I gave the kid a bloody nose. Dad tore into him, just yelling that I had the right to defend myself and he’d never tell me not to. Demanding to know why the boy six inches taller than me wasn’t in the office.”

  Zeke smiled a real smile. “I think I would have liked your dad.”

  My throat tightened. “I think he would have liked you, too.”

  “What happened next?” he asked softly.

  “After that, they started actually sending the other kids to the office too. It started to stop.” The reason dawned on me. I looked up at him. “Punching someone finally got it to stop.”

  He nodded. “Now, what do you think would have happened if your mom had made it stop by calmly saying the same thing?”

  I thought it out. If mom had actually cared that I was the one getting picked on? If she had refused to let the school blame me? “Fuck. I’d probably go to being calm and rational.”

  Zeke nodded. “My therapist would probably agree with you. Being calm and rational didn’t make it stop. Giving a guy a bloody nose did.”

  “And having my dad come to school instead,” I added thoughtfully.

  He kissed the top of my hair. “Yeah.”

  “Huh.” It was weird when something made sense about why you are the way you are.

  Rory

  I had still been at Asher and Jessica’s house when I got a text from one of the guys on the force. There was a weird scene that he wanted me to secure.

  Weird was an understatement. It was ritualistic. The man was at the center of a pentagram. Eviscerated. I wrinkled my nose. The shithouse stench? The bowels had been perforated. Not everyone could handle this sort of thing. The other officer I passed puking up his guts in the parking lot was evidence enough that it was bad. Sadly, I had seen worse. I examined the scene from a distance.

  Forensics were in the middle of a small grove of trees set back from the rest stop. The foliage was thick enough that no one would have seen any lights from the rest stop area. But sound? Someone might have heard something.

  At the corners of the pentagram were burned out candles. They must have been going all night. They had to have been large and thick. Much more than they’d need for a simple killing. But why? Why burn them all the way? That took patience and time, pouring out the wax so the flame would keep burning. Hmm. I turned my attention back to the circle. It was actually two; an inner circle and an outer. In between were symbols written in white paint on the grass. I pulled out my phone and began taking pictures carefully as I walked around the circle. According to Lexie, symbols had to have a power, will and intent behind them to work. What was the intent for these? I tucked my phone away as I reached the lead detective in these cases.

  Morris sighed and straightened to his full height before carefully stepping back out of the circle. “Hey, Rory. I thought you’d like to see this. Is the scene secure?”

  “Yeah, I did what I could until the feds get here.” I eyed the body. Male, early teens. “Don’t tell me they changed their ritual.”

  He shook his head. “As far as I can see, same weapon, same setup, which means the same person. No hesitation marks. Not since the first victim. They’re getting a taste for it.”

  I nodded in agreement. “It changes the motive, too.”

  “Maybe. This person is either bi or these aren’t sexually motivated murders staged to look like rituals as we thought.” Morris sighed. “The candles…”

  “He spent time at this one,” I surmised. “Burning the candles down was important for some reason.”

  Morris shook his head. “We may need to get a consultant on these symbols.” He turned to me. “Do you know how many different meanings a single symbol could have? Dozens.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, my niece does a lot of research into this stuff.” I eyed the circle again. “It frustrates the hell out of her.”

  “Think Susan would know a good professor at the university?” he asked.

  I thought about it. No names came up. Well… one name did. “No. But I know of someone in Bridgeport who is rather in the know.” Lexie had said Serena was a bitch but didn’t elaborate. “She’s the only resource I can think of.”

  “Well, there’s our first suspect.” Morris turned to me. “This is our last chance to find anything before turning it over to the FBI. What do you see?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing you haven’t.”

  Morris nodded. “Thanks, Rory.”

  “No problem.” I sighed. “So, you’re going to occult killing motive?”

  Morris nodded. “Yeah, if it was just women it wouldn’t be my main focus, but statistics alone… Yeah. We’re going to keep it quiet though.”

  “Otherwise you’d have a witch hunt,” I muttered.

  He turned back to me. “What do you call a male witch?”

  I thought about it. �
��Man witch?”

  Morris snorted. I bit back a laugh before turning back to the body. Sometimes dark humor was the only thing that kept me sane when this stuff happened.

  I turned my attention back to the body. Things were going to get worse in town. Much worse.

  Miles

  * * *

  Looking out the car window at Jason’s house, it was just like any other house on the block. But inside, Jason was recovering. The ice inside of me wasn’t holding anymore. Rage coursed through me with heat instead of ice for the first time. And I didn’t care. That bastard hurt Jess.

  I took off my seatbelt and got out. Knocking on the door, I put on a friendly face. It wasn’t easy.

  Jason’s mother opened the door. “Yes?”

  “Hi, I’m a friend of Jason’s. I heard about what happened at school and I’d like to see how he’s doing. If that’s alright?” I asked carefully.

  She smiled. “Oh, good, I’m glad someone stopped by.” She opened the door further and gestured for me to come in. “His room is down the hall.” She left me to find my way.

  Good, she didn’t need to hear this. It wasn’t hard to find Jason’s room. It was full of football memorabilia and equipment. He was propped up in bed. Black wings were under his bandaged nose. Whoever it was must have broken it. With all the other bruises on his face, he looked like shit. He finally looked away from the tv on the dresser.

  His eyes grew wide. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  I gave him a cruel grin as I closed the door behind me. “I’m here to warn you.”

  “That fucker already did that,” he spat.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Who?”

  His mouth snapped shut.

  “Who attacked you?” I asked again.

  He eyed me, disgust filling his face. “Maybe it was your bitch.”

  My hand was around his neck before he could finish the sentence. “Never call her that again. Not if you want to live,” I hissed in a raging whisper. “Understand?”

  He nodded as the skin that wasn’t covered in bruises grew pale.

  I didn’t let him go. “Now, let me make something extraordinarily clear.” I squeezed my fingers a little more. “I don’t care who did this to you, but if you go near Jessica again, I’ll make it seem like a love tap.”