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- Herausgeber: Crescent Moon Studios, Inc.
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
The complete Death Touched box set featuring all four ebooks!
The Death comes for everyone. For Nena, Death comes for her, but doesn't collect. She's instead picked up by a mysterious group led by a man named Scratch, and they won't let her go now that she's Death Touched. Now she must pick up the pieces of her life and navigate the world of the undead even as it comes under attack from the lord of them all, Death himself.
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Death Touched Box Set
Urban Fantasy Romance
Mac Flynn
Copyright © 2019 by Mac Flynn
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Death Cursed
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Death Incorporated
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Death Descent
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Death Embraced
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Continue the adventure
Other series by Mac Flynn
1
She didn’t understand life until she died.
It was that night when everything changed. That fateful evening when Nena Tacita found herself at her friend’s crowded apartment. The occupants of his hovel weren’t other people, they were computer parts. Large and small, broken or awaiting a chance at a new life in another tower. He already had six of them set in an old server box in his bedroom.
Nena sat on the short bed with its wrinkled sheets and dirty clothes. She was a young woman of twenty-five with a heart-shaped face ringed by long brown hair that flowed over her shoulders. Her jean-clad legs were crossed and a large t-shirt covered her well-rounded bosom. In her lap was her large purse, and on her lips was a frown.
“There’s got to be something else you want to do besides type on that thing,” she scolded the pale figure who sat before three computer screens on the wall opposite where she sat.
He was a young man of twenty with a round face and short black hair. Thick, black-framed glasses covered his unblinking eyes as they switched between two of the screens. His fingers moved faster than his eyes as he typed away and occasionally clicked on the nearby black mouse. “Nope.”
Nena groaned and fell back onto the sheets. She checked her watch. “Come on, Matt, it’s almost seven. How about we go get something to eat and see a movie?”
“Can’t. Too busy saving the world.”
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Out of all the excuses you could give me, you choose that one?”
Matt paused and spun around in his chair to face her. He pushed the bridge of his glasses up against his nose and pursed his lips. “I am being serious. What I’m working on is going to save the world. And with this-” He leaned back and tapped a square pin that was attached to his shirt with a picture of thick, black-rimmed glasses on the front, “-I know we can do it. My lucky pin hasn’t failed me yet.”
Nena sighed and sat up so she could swing her legs over the side of the bed. “Yeah, but who’s going to save you and your lucky pin? I told you I was going to come here tonight to drag you out of your cave, and now you’re giving me excuses about saving the universe.”
“The world, but it might branch out into that, too,” he corrected her.
Nena pursed her lips as she stood and shouldered her bag. “You know I only get these nights off once every few weeks from the hospital, and you’re still going to stiff me a hamburger and a movie.”
He pushed his lips out in a pout. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
She grasped the strap of her bag and sighed. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, Matt, it’s just a little hard to believe.”
“That’s the same thing.”
She frowned and marched up to his side. “Fine, show me.”
Matt grinned and spun around to face the screens. A couple of taps and a dozen windows opened on two of the screens. He tapped the left-hand screen with its black box of primitive commands. “I spent half the day trying to decipher this code. It’s something to do with a Project Endzeit. That means ‘end time’ in German. Corny name, huh? A few more days and I think I’ll have it.”
She pursed her lips and her eyes flickered down to him. “Is this paying your rent?”
He grinned up at her. “And then some. Whoever this guy is he’s loaded.”
Her eyebrows crashed down. “Did you take another job from one of those creepy message boards?”
He frowned. “It’s an online job site for professional hackers, but yeah. So what?”
“So the last time you did that the guy turned out to be stalking his ex-girlfriend, and you were helping him hack into the security cameras around her apartment,” she reminded him.
He winced. “That was just an oversight. This new guy came recommended by the Merry Men.”
Nena pursed her lips. “That group of hackers? They’d steal a penny from their grandmother and hand it to a stripper and call it a good deed.”
Matt’s face fell. “I’m a hacker, too, ya know.”
She sighed and set her hand on his shoulder. “Listen, Matt, I know this is exciting for you and all, but don’t you think you’re being a little too cocky? I mean, you’re going to get caught some day and I don’t want to see my oldest friend go to jail for the rest of his life.”
He looked up and flashed her a grin. “Maybe, but at least I’ll have you to see me on visitor’s day.”
She snorted. “I’m not bringing you any escape tools in a cake.” Her eyes flickered to the unused screen. It showed a black screen saver. “What’s going on there?”
Matt blushed and cleared his throat. “Nothing-” Nena reached over and grabbed the mouse. He tried to wrestle it from her. “No! Don’t!”
She flung the clicker over to the far screen and awakened it. On the screen was a browser window with a picture of a mostly naked woman in a compromising pose. The name of the site was Wanton Women. There were two dozen tabs at the top with equally salacious titles.
Nena looked down at her blushing friend and gestured to the window. “That’s why you need to get out more.”
“I-it’s for research purposes,” he argued as he snatched the mouse from her and minimized the browser window.
She stood straight and snorted. “Uh-huh. And I’m the Queen of Sheba.”
He spun around to face her and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Queenie.”
She swatted his hand away and half-turned toward the door to the bedroom. “If you’re not going to go out with me tonight than I’m just going to go home. Sleep is better than sticking around here listening to you tap away at that thing.”
“Wait.” He grabbed her arm and looked up into her eyes. “How about tomorrow night? My treat?”
She pursed her lips. “You promise?”
He crossed his finger over his heart. “Cross my heart and hope to die.” Nena’s expression faltered a little and she turned her face away. Matt winced. “Sorry. I forgot your mom taught me that one.”
She shook herself and gave him a hollow smile. “No, it’s fine. I mean, it’s been two years now. You’d think I’d get over it.”
Matt squeezed her arm a little. “But seriously, anywhere you want to eat, and then any movie you want to watch.”
Her eyebrows raised and her lips curled up into a sly smile. “Any movie?”
He cringed. “Within reason. To protect my sanity.”
“You mean insanity, but I’ll think of something we both want to watch,” she assured him as she gave him a wave and left the room.
Matt’s living room was so small that Nena only needed to take a couple of steps before she was at the front door and out into the dingy hallway. Wallpaper peeled in large strips and settled onto the stained and browned carpet on the floor. Doors with patches, and some bearing their holes, lined both sides of the narrow hall. A few flickering bulbs lit the passage as Nena made her way to the rickety staircase and down the creaking steps to the lobby. Once beautifully tiled, there were now large patches of only dark plaster.
Nena stepped outside and was greeted by a chilling breeze. She shivered and wrapped her coat closer around herself. The streets were deserted as she walked down the stoop and onto the cracked sidewalk. A few ancient cars of dubious paint jobs sat along the curb as her shoes clacked with each lonely step.
Nena’s eyes flickered to all the dark spots along the street. There were many thanks to the broken streetlights and dark, abandoned apartment buildings.
“Couldn’t you have picked a better place to live, Matt?” she mumbled to herself as she tightened her grip on her bag strap. She tensed as a newspaper shifted in a nearby alley. “Like maybe a prison?”
Nena jumped as the funeral march began to play. The sound came from her bag. She rolled her eyes as she stopped and rummaged in her bag. “Great timing, Dad. . .” She found the cell phone and pressed it against her cheek. “Dad, I’m kind of busy.”
“I just wanted to ask you out on a date this weekend, Cauliflower,” came the teasing voice on the other end.
Nena rolled her eyes. “Not that name, Dad, and I’ve got to work all weekend.”
“What about next week?”
“Probably that, too.”
“How about next year?”
She snorted. “Do you ever give up?”
“Nope, so what about a lunch date? My treat.”
Nena sighed. “You know you don’t have to do that. Feed me, I mean. I’m not getting along that badly that I’m starving to death.”
Her father chuckled. “He’d have his hands full with you, but I’m not trying to feed you all the time. I just want to see how you’re doing.”
“It’s called email, Dad. You have my-”
“Hey, there.”
Nena spun around. Her loose grip on her phone meant the machine went flying. It crashed onto the pavement and the glass front shattered into a million pieces. The screen went black.
A pair of black boots stepped up to the broken phone. They belonged to one of two young men in their early twenties. One was dark-skinned and dressed in over-sized pants and a loose coat. The other was lighter and wore a bandanna around his head.
It was the darker baggy pants who spoke to her. He had a crooked grin on his lips as he picked up the broken phone and turned it over in his hands. “Damn. That was a nice phone, too.” He glanced at his friend. “How much do you think we could’ve got for it?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. Fifty bucks.”
“Fifty bucks. That’s a lot of dough.” He returned his attention to Nena and held up the phone. “So who’s gonna pay for this, huh?”
Nena frowned and took a step back. “That was my phone.”
The man laughed. “It wasn’t gonna be for much longer, and that’s why you gotta pay for it.” He tossed the phone away and held out his hand to her. “That means hand over the bag.”
Nena wrapped her hands around the strap of her bag. Her heart thumped in her chest as her eyes flickered over the area. The mouth of an alley lay on her left. Lit streetlights lay at the far end of the shadowed route with another alley crossing over hers halfway in-between.
The thug noticed where her gaze lay and frowned. “You’re staying fucking here-” Nena turned to her left and shot off down the alley.
The pounding of her heart matched her feet as she sprinted through the puddle-riddled alley. She heard shouting behind her, but didn’t look back.
Nena heard a gunshot and felt something hot rip through her chest. Her feet stumbled and she fell to the cold ground, landing on her back. Out of the corner of her eyes she glimpsed a red pool of liquid slip out from beneath her.
Her eyes widened. Is that. . .my blood?
2
The men marched up to her with the bandanna-attired holding back a few feet from the bleeding woman. His eyes were wide as his friend stooped and rifled through Nena’s pockets. The gunman lifted her up and yanked her bag off her shoulder.
“Jesus, Darryl, you didn’t have to shoot her. . .” he whimpered.
Darryl whipped his head up and glared at his trembling friend as he tossed the bag to his partner. The other man caught the bag in his trembling arms. “Shut up, Willie, and search her bag before the cops come.”
Willie swallowed the lump in his throat and knelt down to sift through the large bag. He had just pulled out her purse when something made him look up. The man froze when he caught sight of a shadowed figure at the intersection of the two alleys.
The stranger was about forty and stood as still as a gravestone. He was six-feet tall and wore a black overcoat that reached to the ground. The front was open to reveal black suit pants and a black vest that covered a black blouse. The coat had a high collar that wrapped around his neck and contrasted sharply with his pale skin. Black gloves adorned his hands, and in one he grasped the top of a black cane. Unlike his short messy black hair, the man’s face was thin and deathly white. A skull mask covered much of his features, but it couldn’t hide the person’s sunken eyes that glowed like cooling coals in a once-blazing fire. Those eyes fell on Willie and made his chilling blood freeze.
“D-Darryl!” he yelped.
Darryl raised his head and noticed the stranger. He stood and walked around Nena to face the stranger in a showdown. The punk raised the gun and pointed it at the interloper. “Get the fuck out of here. Now.”
The man shook his head. “I don’t wish to interfere. It’s too late, at any rate. I would ask as a small favor that your toy-” his eyes settled on the weapon pointed at him, “-be given to me.”
Darryl sneered at him. “Over your dead body.”
Their dark foe chuckled. “That is not an option. However-” he strode toward them with his cane clacking against the hard ground, “-I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist.”
A sick smile slipped onto Darryl’s lips. “You want the gun? Too fucking bad. But I’ll give you a bullet.”
Darryl fired off six successive shots. The partners heard the bullets meet their target as metal buried itself into cloth. They could even see the man’s clothes indent with each hit, but the stranger himself didn’t notice any of the hits as he continued to walk toward them.
Darryl’s mouth dropped open as the man stopped four feet away from them. “What the fuck?”
The stranger stopped and smiled as he drew off one of his gloves. Beneath the cloth was only a hand of bones connected by some invisible method. “You have very precise aim, my young murderer, but I’m afraid you were shooting the wrong target.”
The stranger lunged forward and wrapped his bony fingers around Darryl’s throat. The thug screamed and dropped the gun to grab the other man’s arm as he was lifted off the ground. Willie scrambled back as Darryl’s body began to shake. Black smoke rose from his flesh as his skin melted away to reveal his bones. In a few short moments the stranger held a baggy-pants wearing skeleton.
Willie screamed and turned to flee, dropping the bag. His cries echoed through the night as he ran down the alley and disappeared around the corner.
The man sneered at the body in his grasp and tossed the skeleton to the side. He stooped and picked up the gun before turning his attention to the woman.
Nena was still alive, but each labored breath was slowly ticking down to her last. Her vision was blurry, but not so bad that she didn’t see what had happened. That’s why she cringed when the man stepped up to her and knelt by her side. His dark eyes studied the bloody hole in her chest over her heart before his gaze moved up to her pale face.
A soft smile graced his lips as he grasped her left hand and slipped the gun into her cold fingers. “This will hurt but for a short time, and then you will feel nothing.”
Nena’s lips moved, but no sound came out as he raised his bone hand and lay his fingers over her forehead. Her eyes widened and she let out a strangled gasp as a deep cold seeped into her body. He lay his gloved hand on her chest as her body twitched and jerked against the chill that invaded her form. Every prick of cold was like a dagger buried deep into her flesh. Her breathing quickened. Each short breath was a fight against death.
Then she stopped. Nena’s body fell back against the ground as her breathing ceased. Her eyes were open, but they no longer saw anything.
The stranger removed his hand from her forehead and closed her eyes. He brushed away a strand of her hair from her face and cupped her cheek. His voice was soft and low as he studied her pale face with that peculiar smile of his. “Wherever your adventures lead you, hold tight to the gun.”
The man stood and once again covered his hand with the glove. He cast his gaze one last time over Nena’s still form before he turned and walked toward the wall opposite where she lay. A dark swirling portal twenty feet tall and as wide opened in the wall. He paused in its mouth and half-turned to glance at the still body.
A noise down the alley made him look in that direction. He chuckled and returned his attention to Nena. “They’re coming. Be brave, Nena, and farewell.” He stepped into the portal and disappeared. The swirling darkness closed behind him.
The alley was quiet for all of a half minute before a black car with red license plates skidded to a stop at the mouth. The front passenger door opened and out stepped a young man. He wore a tan overcoat over a pair of jeans and a plain white shirt. His hands were hidden by a pair of black gloves like those worn by the previous stranger. Between his lips was a short cigarette. He took a long puff and tossed away the remains before he looked over the area.
“He would be hiding out in a dump like this,” he commented with a shake of his head. He glanced at the opposite side of the car and banged on the roof. “Are you coming out or do I get to play with him alone?”
The driver door opened and a pale man of thirty exited the vehicle. He was tall and thin, and dressed in a formal black suit with a pair of shades over his eyes. A string hung around his neck and at the end hung a small white bag with a slight bulge at the bottom. His lips were tightly pursed as he studied the mouth of the alley. “The sensors indicate he is no longer in the area.”
“Typical,” the other guy replied as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and helped himself to another. He lit the end and tucked the lighter into his overcoat pocket. “How big was this portal supposed to be?”
“Large enough to drive a truck through its mouth,” the other man replied. He watched as his companion took another long puff and frowned. “That is not healthy for you humans.”
The other man chuckled, but tossed the half-finished cigarette away. “I don’t think that’s what’s going to get me. Anyway, let’s see if he left anything behind.” He took a step forward, but paused and glanced over his shoulder at his companion who didn’t move. “He is gone, isn’t he?”
The pale man swept his gaze over the area and nodded. “Yes, but-” he looked down the alley and frowned, “-there is something down there.”
The other man arched an eyebrow. “What’s that mean?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know myself.”
The smoker sighed and tucked his hands in his jeans pockets. “All right, let’s see what he left us.”
The pair walked side-by-side into the alley and stopped five feet from where Nena and the skeleton lay. Her blood was spread across half the alley. The thug’s body still smoldered. The whole place wreaked of death.
The man in the overcoat shook his head. “Jesus Christ. What’d he do to them?”
The pale man strode over to the skeleton and knelt down beside the body. He turned the neck over and brushed his pale fingers across the throat. “He burned away the flesh and organs.”
The other stranger knelt beside Nena and looked over her blood-stained body. He pressed two fingers against her neck for a moment before he shook his head. The gun in her hand caught his attention. He pried the gun loose and popped out the cartridge. “Still hot. This must’ve been what did her in. Funny, I didn’t think human weapons were his style.” He returned his attention to Nena and studied her face before he shook his head. “Too bad. She was a real looker.”
“Death does not care for beauty or age,” his partner commented as he joined him. His brow furrowed as he looked over Nena. “This is strange.”
The smoker frowned at his partner. “Come on, Pete, you know I hate it when you do that.”
The pale man pressed his palm against her forehead for a brief moment before he drew back. “She is not dead.”
The other man arched an eyebrow. “I felt her pulse. There’s nothing there.” Pete tapped her eyelid. Nena flinched, but her eyes remained closed. The other man’s eyes widened and he looked back to his partner. “A vampire?”
Pete shook his head. “No, but she is between worlds.”
He returned his attention to Nena and pursed his lips. “Death Touched.”
Pete nodded. “I believe so.”
The other man pocketed the gun and lifted Nena into his arms. “Let’s take her with us. Doc’ll want to take a look at her.”
Pete stepped in front of him, blocking him from the mouth of the alley. “That is not the protocol. Those who are Death Touched must be-”
“I know the protocol, but we can’t just leave a lovely young woman out in the cold,” the other man argued.
“Even one he has touched?” Pete countered.
His partner pursed his lips. “Yeah, even one he’s touched. Besides, we’ll have Doc confirm what you said.”
“And Scratch?” Pete reminded him.
The other man frowned. “If I know him then he’ll have a plan for her, but at least she won’t be out here wandering the streets alone, and you and I know that would be a worse idea than taking her with us.”
He pushed past Pete and strode toward the car. Pete frowned and glanced over at the skeleton. He drew out a black plastic bag and stuffed the bones inside. A short stop to grab Nena’s purse, and he followed his partner to the car. Nena was set gently in the back seat and the bag was deposited in the trunk before they drove off, leaving only her blood as evidence anything had ever happened.
3
Nena groaned. Her chest felt like someone had stabbed her with a sharp knife. The rest of her body was cold and numb. Her eyes fluttered open. She blinked against a harsh bright light that hovered over her. Her arm felt heavy as she raised her limb to block the light.
“Welcome back to the land of the living.” The voice was shaky with age, but the words came out in a firm, soothing clip.
Nena turned her head to her right where the voice had come from. A man of seventy stood beside where she lay on a hard table. He wore thick spectacles and the light reflected off his nearly-bald scalp. A white lab coat discolored with a rainbow variety of splotches covered most of his short form. His feet were covered with black shiny shoes, and a pair of black pants and white blouse finished off his attire. The corners of his eyes wrinkled as he smiled down at her.
Nena shifted. A thin cloth lay beneath her and moved atop the metal table. A chill swept up her legs to her stomach. She glanced down at herself and saw she wore only a white hospital gown.
Nena started back and tried to cover herself, but her arms flopped over her body. The man pinned her hands to her chest. “Don’t try to move too quickly. You may do more harm than good,” he warned her.
“My clothes,” she croaked. Her throat was parched. “Where are they? Where am I?”
“You’re safe at the Agency,” he revealed.
Her eyes widened. “Where?”
His smile widened. “You are new, aren’t you? We’re in the morgue of the Agency of Celestial Episodes. ACE for short so we can swallow it. And speaking of swallowing-” he rummaged around in his pocket before he pulled out a small vial filled with orange pills, “-you might want to take one of these.”
Nena watched him pop open the cap and tap one of the pills onto his palm. Her eyes widened and she struggled to sit up.
The mad doctor dropped the bottle to press her arms down on the table on either side of her. “Miss! Miss, please calm down!”
The bottle rolled across the floor to the door where a foot pinned it to the ground. “Easy there, Doc. She’s not a slab of meat.”
The foot belonged to the man with the cigarettes. One was between his lips as he stooped and picked up the container. He turned it over in his hand to read the label and smiled. “You could’ve just told her it was ibuprofen.”
The doctor frowned as the stranger approached the table. “I would think an innocent would know what one looks like, Mr. O’Kent.”
The man swept his eyes over the white, sterilized room. “Yeah, of course someone’s going to recognize a pill of ibuprofen when they wake up in this steel trap.”
Doc snatched the pill from the man and rolled two pills into his palm. “It’s a clean area, and if she doesn’t want to cramp up then she needs to take these.”
The man sighed and turned to Nena who had managed to sit up. “You heard Doc, and for once he’s not just acting like a quack.”
Doc wagged the bottle at the chain-smoking man. “I am not a quack, and her body is in dire need of these pills. Dying and coming back causes unforeseen consequences, and one of them is cramping of some of the major arm and leg muscles.”
Nena’s eyes widened. “Dying?” She looked down at herself and pressed her hands against her body. “I died?”
Doc lowered the pill and looked to Jack. “She doesn’t know?”
O’Kent pursed his lips. “Apparently not.”
Nena whipped her head up and glanced from one to the other. “Know what? What’s going on? What happened to me?”
The handsome stranger sat on the edge of the metal slab and draped one knee over the top so he half-faced Nena. “Can you tell us the last thing you remember?”
Nena furrowed her brow and stared hard at her lap. Her hands gripped the thin cloth of the gown. “I. . .I was talking to my dad on my phone, and these two guys came up. They wanted my phone and purse. I-” she tightened her grip and cringed, “-I ran into the alley and heard a shot. Something. . .something-” She pressed her hand against her chest. “Something hit me right here, something hot. I fell. I was in so much pain all I could do was lay there. One of the guys picked up my purse, but they stopped. I heard them talk to someone, and then-” She shut her eyes and shuddered.
He lay his hand across one of hers. “You can talk about this later.”
She shook her head and opened her eyes to meet his soft gaze. “But. . .it can’t be true, right? I’m. . .I’m not-”
“Dead?” he finished for her. She nodded. He leaned back and sighed. “I’m afraid so.”
The young woman swallowed the lump in her throat as tears sprang to her eyes. She looked down at her hands as they lay in her lap. “But I don’t feel dead. I-” The man grabbed one of her hands and set her palm against her chest.
He leaned forward and caught her gaze in his own. “What do you feel?”
She pursed her lips and focused on her palm. Her lips parted as her face fell. “I. . .I don’t feel anything.”
“That’s because your heart stopped beating,” he released her hand and leaned back to take a long drag on his cigarette. “Nothing in this world or the next can get it started again.”
Doc glared at him. “You’re as tactful as ever, Mr. O’Kent.”
O’Kent shrugged as he hopped off the table. “I’m just telling it like it is, Doc.”
“Since we’re telling it ‘like it is,’ do you mind telling me the reason you came here to bother my patient and me?” Doc asked him.
The man’s eyes flickered to Nena. “Scratch wants to see her.”
Doc arched an eyebrow. “Why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but you know how he doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” He turned to Nena and looked her over with a sly smile on his lips. “You might want to slip into something more comfortable.”
Nena glanced from the Doc to the other man. “What’s going on?”
“The leader of the Agency wants to speak to you,” O’Kent explained.
She shrank back and curled her legs against her body. “I-I can’t. I need to get home and-”
“You’re not going home,” he told her. His firm tone made her freeze. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m no good at dealing with this stuff. . .”
Doc put his hands against O’Kent’s back and pushed him toward the door. “Then perhaps you should wait outside while our new friend changes.”
O’Kent looked over his shoulder at Nena. “Now that I could help with.”
“I doubt it,” Doc quipped as he pushed him out and slammed the door shut. He turned to face Nena and clasped his hands together. “I’m afraid I only have your old clothes, but they will do better than your-ahem-current attire.”
“B-but I can’t-I mean, I’m. . .I’m not-” she looked down at herself and shook her head, “-alive. . .”
A small smile slipped onto the old man’s face as he walked over to her. “Have you changed?”
She looked down at her chest and laid her palm over her heart. “I can’t-” He set a hand on her shoulder and caught her eyes in his own.
“Have you changed?” he repeated.
“Me?” she whispered. She pursed her lips and turned her face away. “I. . .I don’t know.”
He patted her on the shoulder and walked around the table to a cabinet. “Never forget who you were and you’ll always know who you are,” he told her as he pulled out one of the drawers and drew out Nena’s clothes before he turned to her. He walked over and set them on the table beside her. “Take it from an old man who’s lived long enough to know.”
Nena looked down at the pile of clothes. Her shirt lay on top. She brushed her fingers over the blood stains. They were cold, like how she felt.
Doc held out his palm in which was nestled among the wrinkles an ibuprofen. “Take this and let’s get that gown off before that young scamp comes back.”
Nena grasped the front of the gown and clasped it against herself. He chuckled. “I have already seen you disrobed, Miss-” he paused and furrowed his brow. “In all the excitement I’m afraid I haven’t learned your name.”
“It’s Nena,” she told him.
His smile widened. “Nena. That’s a very pretty name, and you wouldn’t deprive an old man of being helpful to a pretty young lady?” Nena pursed her lips, but loosened her grip on the gown so he could slip it off.
Out in the hall O’Kent leaned against the wall near the door. A fresh cigarette was pressed between his tight lips. The cloud of smoke from the end of the cigarette was the only sign of life along that white-walled passage with its stainless metal doors. Long florescent tube lights behind cheap plastic lit up the area.
O’Kent had heard everything in the infirmary. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes before he sighed. “Just had to be as blunt as always, didn’t you, Jack?” he muttered to himself.
“Jack.”
The voice came from a foot to Jack’s right. He jumped a foot in the air and whipped his head in that direction. Pete stood beside him with a hint of bemusement on his otherwise stoic face.
Jack frowned and leaned back against the wall. “Damn it, Pete, do you have to be so quiet?”
“I can be nothing else,” Pete returned.
Jack took a drag on his cigarette and blew out a long cloud of smoke. “Then I’m going to have to attach some squeaky toys to the bottom of your shoes while you’re sleeping.”
Pete looked past him at the door to the infirmary. “Has it been confirmed she is Death Touched?”
Jack’s face fell, but he nodded. “Yeah. Doc confirmed it.”
“Then she is to be Purified?” Pete wondered.
Jack shook his head. “Nope. Scratch wants to see her.”
Pete arched an eyebrow. “That is unusual.”
Jack turned his head to glance at the closed door. “Not as unusual as what Doc found. He said the bullet that hit her should have sent her to the other side, but the Death Touch stopped it.” A smile slipped onto his lips as he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Ironic, isn’t it? Death saving someone.”
“Death saves no one.”
Jack opened his eyes and sighed before he pushed off the wall. “Yeah, well, if he was just doing that we wouldn’t be here chasing down-” The door to the infirmary opened.
Doc stepped out and led Nena out by the hand. Jack winced as he looked over the dried blood and the small hole that denoted her death knell.
Doc turned to the partners as Nena stared hard at the floor. “I have much work to do, so which one of you ‘gentlemen’ would like to take Miss Nena to his office?”
“I’ll do it,” Jack offered.
Doc nodded and turned to Nena. “You’re in capable hands, Miss Nena, so long as you don’t let this silver-tongued young man sweet-talk you into a kiss.”
Nena managed a small smile and nodded. “I won’t, and thank you.”
Doc bowed his head. “My pleasure. Now off with you.”
Jack jerked his head down the hall where closed elevator doors stood. “Come on. It’s this way.”
4
Jack walked down the hall with his ward in tow. Her eyes flickered to the left and right as she took in her sterile surroundings. They reached the elevator and stepped inside where Jack pressed the lowest floor on the pad of elevator buttons. The doors shut and the floor shifted as the elevator took off.
Nena took a spot at the back of the elevator. Jack stepped back and joined her by her side as he leaned against the rear wall.
His eyes flickered to his companion. Her arms were wrapped around herself and she shivered. “You cold?” She nodded without looking up. He slipped off his overcoat and gently laid it over her shoulders. “Not the best smelling, but it’s all I’ve got.”
Nena grasped the front of the coat and drew it closer around herself. “I appreciate it.” She lifted her eyes to the stranger and studied his handsome visage. “Um, Doc said your name was Kent?”
“O’Kent, but you can call me Jack,” he told her.
“I’m Nena.”
He smiled and held out his hand to her. “A pleasure to meet you, Nena.”
A ghost of a smile appeared at the corners of her lips as she shook his hand. His gloved touch was cold. “Um, thanks,” Nena returned as she drew her hand away. She looked at the floor and bit her lower lip. “Could. . .could you tell me who I’m going to see again?”
Jack’s face fell and he folded his arms across his chest as he stared hard at the elevator doors in front of them. “He calls himself Scratch, and he’s the leader of the Agency.”
Nena lifted her eyes to his tense face and frowned. “But why does he want to see me? I don’t know anything.”
He pursed his lips. “I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know, either. I can tell you to watch your step around him. He’s not somebody you should make a deal with.” Nena shrank into herself and stared at the floor. Jack sighed and set his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry. I may not look like much, but I’ll have your back.”
Nena bit her lower lip. “After I see Scratch, can I go home?”
His face fell. “It’s not that easy. Death-” The doors to the elevator opened. Jack stepped out and turned to Nena. “Come on. We’re almost there.”
Nena swallowed the lump in her throat and followed Jack forward down a carpeted hall. The floor was crisscrossed by two halls in the shape of a lowercase ‘t’ that cut the entire area into four neat squares. The walls were still white, but paintings broke the monotony. The scenes were a tapestry of nightmares. There was fire and destruction. People screamed and writhed in pain. Nena shrank from the horrible imagery and stuck close to Jack’s back.
Jack stopped at the end of the hall where stood a pair of tall, wide wooden doors. He stepped to one side and held his hand out to her. “I’m going to need my coat back.”
She blinked at him. “Wha-oh.” She slid the coat off her shoulders and handed it to him.
“Don’t take it personally. We’ll just say I wouldn’t want him to have one up on me,” he replied as he draped the coat over one of his arms.
He rapped the back of his knuckles on the entrance. Each knock sounded hollow, like the other side was an endless cavern.
The door on the other side opened. Nena distinctly missed the quick beating of her heart as she leaned to one side to catch a glimpse of the interior. Much of the room lay in darkness, but she could make out a small office. A filing cabinet and half of a wooden desk with a tall black leather chair behind it stood in her view. In the opposite wall was a large window that looked out on a dark night and lit office buildings.
“Come in,” a melodious male voice called to her.
Nena glanced up at Jack. He pursed his lips, but nodded. She took a deep breath and stepped into the room. The door slammed shut behind her, causing her to jump and spin around to face the closed entrance.
“You needn’t be so nervous.”
Nena whipped her head to her left and her eyes widened as a tall figure stepped out of the darkness of the far corner. He was a man of forty with coal-black hair and a tanned complexion. The stranger wore a white business suit with a red tie, and his shoes were as dark as his hair. A wide smile parted his face, but she felt no warmth from it.
He gestured to a small chair that stood in front of the desk. “Please take a seat, Miss Tacita.”
She frowned. “How do you know my name?”
He smile broadened. “The Agency is very good at gathering information, and your fingerprints and purse helped us a great deal.”
Nena slipped into the seat and grasped the ends of the arms as he walked behind her. She had the distinct feeling of being hunted. “You’re Mr. Scratch?”
He set one hand on the back of her chair and chuckled. “You needn’t be so formal with me, Miss Tacita-or may I call you Nena?” She shrank from his hand. He arched an eyebrow and removed his hand before he moved to stand by her side. “I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here at my Agency of Celestial Episodes.”
“And the name. . .” she murmured.
“The name is unusual, but so is our mission. You see, my agency ensures balance between the three major forces of the world: Death, the Devil, and God.”
Nena raised her head and blinked at him. “You’re joking, right? I mean, the Devil? God?”
He chuckled. “I know it’s difficult to believe, but you can trust me when I say I have intimate knowledge of the deal they made. The Devil and God would try to win the hearts of man while Death would be the referee, as it were, who would bring the souls into the void of eternity and to whomever had won them.”
Nena gave him a side glance with a raised eyebrow and she stood. “I think I need to-” He slammed his hands on the arm of the chair and stuck his face in hers. She gasped and dropped back into the seat.
His unwavering gaze met hers, and the smile never slipped from his ruby-red lips. Her eyes widened as his own took on a red hue like hot coals. “You could even say I was present when the balance was arranged.”
A shiver ran down her spine. She shrank away from the man who was something else. “W-what are you?” she whispered.
He chuckled as he drew back and walked to the side of the desk. His back faced her as he clasped his hands behind him. “Unfortunately, Death is no longer the referee, but an active player. He is seeking souls to collect for himself, to what end we have yet to figure out.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?” she asked him.
His fingers on one hand danced across the knuckles of his other one. “You are a prime example of his breaking the balance. You, Miss Tacita, were supposed to die in that alley, and yet here you are among the living. Not a ghost nor a vampire, but something quite different.” He turned to face her. She gasped when she noticed the red stubs of horns that protruded from either side of his forehead. “You are Death Touched.”
Nena scrambled out of the chair and rushed over to the doors. They opened and she stumbled into another person who grabbed her upper arms. She thrashed in their hold. “Let me go! He’s not human!”
“That’d be an insult to humans.” The familiar voice made her look up. It was Jack who held her and now smiled down at her. “The Devil doesn’t scare you, does he?”
Her eyes widened as she slowly looked over her shoulder. “The Devil?”
Scratch stood beside his desk with the horns still protruding from his forehead and a sly grin on his lips. Sharp teeth poked out from his upper lip. “I hope you’re not too religious, otherwise your employment with my agency will be rather awkward.”
“Employment?” she repeated.
He nodded. “Yes. You see, as a Death Touched we can’t just let you walk back into the normal world. Your very existence upsets the balance of the world, but fortunately there is a place for you here at the Agency as one of my agents.” His grin widened as he gestured to Jack. “Much like Jack here, a willing and able member of my organization.” Jack’s eyebrows crashed down, but he remained silent.
Nena turned around and pressed her back against Jack’s chest as she shook her head. “I don’t want to be your employee or any part of whatever’s going on. I’m just a normal human. I’m not Death Touched. I’m-”
“Dead,” Scratch interrupted. The devil walked around the desk and took a seat in the chair. He crossed his legs and clasped his fingers together as he studied the pair before him. “Perhaps you need some time to think over my proposal. Jack, would you please show our new employee around the agency?”
Jack’s frown deepened, but his expression softened when he looked down at Nena. “Come on, Nena.”
Her face fell and she shook her head. “But-”
“Trust me,” he insisted.
She balled her hands into fists at her sides and glared at him. Tears sprang to her eyes and her body trembled. “Trust you? I don’t know you! I don’t know any of you and I don’t want to!” She pushed past Jack and rushed down the hall.
“What a charming girl,” Scratch commented as he turned his seat around so he faced the night. His glowing eyes lit up his shadowed face and wide grin.
Jack watched Nena disappear around a corner before he turned back to Scratch. “Why are you keeping this one and not the others?”
Scratch stiffened and his smile faltered. He half-turned so he glanced at Jack. “What I do is none of your concern except to jump at my commands. Do I make myself clear?”
Jack’s shoulders slumped. “Perfectly.” He turned away and grabbed the handle of the door.
“Oh, and Jack.” Jack paused in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder at the chair. “See that she goes on your next outing.”
Jack frowned and his normally brown eyes flashed a bright shade of blue. “So you’re using her as bait, is that it?”
Scratch chuckled. “You always were a difficult man to fool, but yes. You and I both know he’s never far from his children.”
Jack took a step toward him. “She doesn’t even know what’s going on.”
“Does that matter to me? Now do as you’re told and this will be as painless as possible for everyone.” His eyes flickered to the door and a sly smile slipped across his pale lips. “Well, except for our new little friend.”
Jack clenched his teeth, but turned away and slammed the door shut behind him. Scratch leaned back in his chair and smiled at the dark night. “Soon, old friend. Soon.”
5
Jack glanced down the empty hall and ran a hand through his short hair. “Damn it. . .”
He sighed and dropped his hand into his pocket for the pack of cigarettes. A quick light and a puff, and he strode down the hall to the intersection of the two halls where he leaned against the wall a foot away from the corner. He folded his arms over his chest and listened to the soft sniffling from around the corner.
“You okay?” he asked her.
“How can I-hiccup-be okay?” Nena replied with a nose full of tears and wet cheeks.
A sly grin slipped onto his lips. “Because you’re with me.”
Nena wiped her tears from her face and glared at the corner. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”
He took a puff on his cigarette and shrugged. “It’s the truth.” She peeked around the corner and narrowed her eyes as she studied him. He arched an eyebrow. “What?”
“Are you something else, too?” she questioned him.
A small smile slipped onto his lips. “You mean whether I’m going to grow a tail and horns? No.”
Nena took a step out of her hallway and into his. “Then why are you here? Are you. . .are you like me?”
Jack plucked the cigarette from his mouth and looked down at its lit red end. “Scratch and I go back a long ways. You could say he dug me up to help with this little pet project of his and now I’m working my way to retirement.”
“And what exactly do you do?” she wondered.
Jack opened his mouth, but a ringing from his coat pocket stopped him. He drew out a cell phone and answered it. “Yeah?”
“I’m done analyzing the gun you found with the girl,” a deep voice replied.
Jack arched an eyebrow as Nena moved closer. “And?”
“You’ll have to come down here and see for yourself, otherwise you won’t believe it.”
Jack’s eyes flickered to Nena who was staring at her tear-soaked hand. “All right. We’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone and studied her intense expression with a raised eyebrow. “You feeling okay?”
She pressed her finger against her wet palm and frowned. “If I’m-well, you know-than how come I can cry?”
Jack smiled down at her. “That’s something even Scratch can’t figure out. Me? I think it’s God’s way of reminding you you’re still human, even when you’re dead.”
“Still human. . .” she whispered.
He pushed off the wall and jerked his head toward the elevator. “Anyway, you want to see what I do? We could call it your first outing in the agency.”
Nena lifted her eyes to him and nodded. “Yeah. I. . .I want to know more about what’s going on here-and with me.”
Jack flicked his cigarette away and grinned at her. “Good girl. Now let’s go.”
They re-entered the elevator and Jack pressed one of the middle floors.
“Where exactly are we going?” she asked him.
“The shooting range. It’s near the ground level of the Agency compound,” he told her.
Nena furrowed her brow as she watched the light move away from the lowest button. “Were we below ground?”
“Yep. Old Scratch hates to be cold, and he isn’t too fond of the sun, either.”
“Then how come he had that window that looked out on the city?” she wondered.
He drew out another cigarette and lit it up between his lips as he frowned. “He can do a lot of things we can’t.” Nena cringed. He smiled down at her. “You know, you didn’t do too bad back there. A lot of people would’ve wet themselves with one look at those corks on top of his head.”
She raised her hands and studied the pale palms with a downcast expression. “Maybe it’s because I’m-well, you know-”
“Dead.”
She whipped her head up and glared at him. “You don’t have to keep rubbing it in!”
“And you don’t have to keep dancing around what happened to you. It’s better to face things up front than to make things worse by dodging them,” he advised her.
Nena opened her mouth, but the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her out into another white hall that ran perpendicular to the elevator. “Come on. You’re going to love Archimedes.”
Nena’s eyes widened. “The-” He laughed and shook his head.
“Don’t worry, he’s not the original. That’s just a nickname we gave him because he’s the guy we go to for any new toys. Besides, the name ‘Mike’ doesn’t sound quite as impressive.”
He hurried her along through the hall. Nena’s eyes flickered down to their joined hands. Though he wore the dark gloves she could still feel a strong coldness come from his touch.
The hall was crisscrossed by others. Nena glanced left and right down the white-washed passages. A few people walked up and down the halls dressed in black attire like the pale man with whom Jack had been talking outside the infirmary.
“Is black required around here?” she asked her guide.
“It makes Scratch feel at home,” Jack told her.
She looked him up and down his tan overcoat. “So how come you’re not wearing it?”
“I like to remind Scratch that he isn’t at home.”
Her eyes widened. “You’d do that to him?”
He glanced over his shoulder and flashed her a wicked grin. “That and then some.”
Nena gaped at this strange man who would defy the devil. They reached the end of the hall and arrived at a metal door. The pair stepped inside and into a large room. Shelves covered the walls, and on them was stacked a wide assortment of naked blades, gun parts, and a few round objects that looked like grenades. Long tables stood in rows and were piled with the same variety of death machines. On the wall opposite where they stood was another doorway.
In the far left corner of the room stood a long wooden desk. Seated on an old stool and hunched over the desk was a dark-skinned gentleman about Nena’s age. In one hand was the gun Death had given Nena with its interior bared to the world. His other hand prodded the internal mechanisms until he looked up at their entrance.
A smile spread across his face as he set his tool down and slid off the stool. “When you said ‘we’ I thought you meant Peter and you. I didn’t expect for you to bring such a lovely young woman,” he commented as he walked up to them and bowed to Nena. He looked up at Jack. “Will you introduce me to your friend?”
Jack looked to Nena and jerked his head at the gentleman. “Nena, this is Archimedes, our resident weapons expert.”
“And inventor of the paranormal mechanisms this interesting institution uses,” Archimedes added as he grasped her hand and lifted it to his lips. “You are a sight for tired eyes, my lady,” he told her as he pressed a kiss on the back of her hand. Jack cleared his throat. The gentleman straightened and released Nena with a smile. “I’m glad you caught me so quickly. I was about ready to go through the mechanics of the weapon again, but now that you’re here I can show you it’s unique ability.”
“And that’s what?” Jack asked him.
“The gun doesn’t hit anything.”
Jack’s cigarette drooped along with his face. “What’s the big deal about that? Maybe your aim’s off.”
He smiled and shook his head. “I thought you’d say that, so that’s why I invited you down here. The mechanisms inside the gun are all in working order and it shoots bullets, but the bullets still prove ineffective.”
Jack arched an eyebrow. “They don’t fire?”
The eyes of their new companion twinkled as he jerked his head toward the rear door. “Follow me and I’ll show you.”
Archimedes led them over to the desk where he pieced together the piece. His nimble fingers remade the weapon with an expertise that made Nena gape. The next moment he grabbed the clip of the gun along with a dozen bullets, stuffed them into his pocket and guide them to the other door.
They stepped inside and the room was revealed to be a wide, long, indoor firing range. There were ten firing stations lined up in front of the fifty-yard long range. At the end each station was hung a white paper on which was drawn a black target in the shape of a human. Against the left-hand wall sat a tall computer desk with two monitors and a heavy tower with a keyboard.
Archimedes walked over to a table on the right and picked up three pairs of ear muffs. He tossed two of them to Jack. “If you would both be so kind as to put those on. The range is quite loud due to its being enclosed.”
“Why’s it inside?” Nena asked him as Jack handed her pair to her.
“I test quite a few experimental weapons and therefore need my privacy,” Archimedes explained as he loaded the cartridge with the dozen bullets and shoved it into the gun.
He moved over to one of the middle stations and took careful aim at the target. The firing range echoed with the shots as he fired off all the rounds. He lowered the gun and turned to his audience. “Now let’s see the results.”
Archimedes ducked under the tray that separated the shooter from the range. The others followed and together they arrived at his target. Archimedes grabbed one side of the long paper and nodded at the surface. “Notice anything?”
Jack nodded at the unscathed paper. “Yeah, your aim’s off.”
Archimedes smiled and shook his head. “My aim was true, it was the bullets that proved false.”
Nena’s gaze wandered down to the ground and her eyes widened. She looked up at the men and pointed at the ground. “Are those it?”
They followed her finger and beheld a dozen bullets laying at the base of the target. Their points were silver-colored while their bodies were the usual dull gold. A strange symbol made up of a straight line with a three-branched head was engraved into the tip.
Jack furrowed his brow and stooped to pick one up. He turned it over between his fingers and studied the perfect shape of the bullet before his eyes flickered to Archimedes. “It doesn’t hit? Even with runes?”
Archimedes shook his head as Jack stood with the twelve intact bullets in his hand. “No, not even with runes. A half a second prior to impact they simply stop and drop to the ground. Let me show you.” He took the bullets from Jack and led them back to the shooting stalls and over to the computer. There was no chair so he remained standing as he set the gun on the desk and typed away at the keyboard.
Nena brushed her fingers across the surface as she thought about her computer-minded friend. She wondered if her dad and friend had noticed her missing yet.
“For Miss Nena’s benefit I’ll tell you there are dozens of cameras placed to catch all angles of any shot from the booths,” Archimedes spoke up as he tapped away. “This is what it shot when I-ahem, shot.” He stepped back to reveal a video player on one screen and pressed the play button.
The camera was angled to take in the impact of a bullet from the side of the paper target. The twelve shots rang out, but the target didn’t so much as flutter. Archimedes leaned over and clicked a few buttons. “Now let’s slow it down to a fraction of the speed.”
