my eyes.
Kellen unbuckles and leans across the seats, cupping my cheeks as he plants a spark filled kiss on my lips. “Feeling better?”
I nod. “Yeah. Thank you. Still mad, but better.”
“I’ll talk to them and point out the error of their ways.” He rubs his nose against mine. “Now, are you ready to go see dead people?”
The blood drains from my face, finally realizing where we are, despite having driven us myself. “We’re not really going to see more dead people, are we?”
I saw a lot of death when we dealt with the Dreamer, but that had felt different. They were people who fell in a battle they didn’t know was being waged, the bodies fallen when their souls were consumed. But they were in their homes, their lives barely gone.
Here, the bodies are stored in refrigerators.
“You’re so squeamish for a demon.” Kellen pinches my cheeks. “No, we won’t be seeing any bodies. At least, I don’t think so.”
He pops his door open and slides out of the van.
I stare from him to the mortuary. “I think I’ll just stay here.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself.”
As he slams the door shut, I glance at the darkened windows of the house next door. Was that the flare of a cigarette inside? Is Victor Hesse once more here, watching me from the shadows?
Shuddering, I clamber out and chase after Kellen. “I changed my mind.”
He loops an arm around my waist. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you from the big bad dead people.”
I elbow him in the gut. “Stop it.”
He hooks his fingers into claws. “Rar!”
I snicker, then elbow him again. “I’m serious.”
“And here I thought you were a badass.” He leans down to nuzzle my cheek. “You had no problem cutting down those drones.”
I give him a dry look. “They were squishy floating eyeballs. Completely different.”
He nods, expression serious. “Completely different.”
“Cold bodies creep me out, okay? Being stripped down and stuffed into a refrigerator just so people can stare at your corpse later.” I shudder. “I’m so glad we disintegrate before that happens.”
“Certainly makes cleanup easier.” Then he frowns. “Except when we don’t disintegrate. Then it’s a huge pain in the ass.” He squeezes me before his arm drops away. “We’ll fix this situation with Domnall. Don’t worry.”
Silent, I follow him up the ramp to the front door. Domnall not dissolving is a huge issue. While his disappearance wouldn’t have gone unnoticed forever, at least there wouldn’t have been something tangible to hold onto mine and Julian’s energy signatures, linking us to Domnall’s death.
Kellen opens the mortuary’s front door without knocking, which feels weird because the place looks like a house, even though it was converted to a business. I step into the entryway behind him, surprised to find it large enough to hold padded chairs and a coffee table with magazines and brochures spread out on them. A sign on the wall next to the interior door that leads to the service room displays Service Not In Session.
Kellen opens that door as well, and we walk into the viewing room. It looks the same as it did last night, with rows of chairs facing the wall with the crematory. The low pile carpet softens our footsteps as we walk toward the doors that lead to the mortuary.
“Stephen?” Kellen calls out as we near.
“In the back,” a voice yells.
We enter the brightly lit preparation room and find a man in his thirties standing at the stainless steel rolling table.
Sweat coats his brow, and his eyes jump to me nervously. “You brought company?”
“She’s one of my people.” Kellen studies the pale man. “What was so urgent that you needed me to come right away?”
Stephen wipes sweaty palms on his rubber apron, leaving moist streaks behind. “Easier to show you.”
He lurches to the refrigeration wall and grasps the handle on one of the storage lockers. “I was getting ready to prep Mrs. Cho while I waited for Mr. Aubrey to arrive, and I found this.”
I steal my spine as he pulls open the door. While the bodies creep me out, I don’t want Kellen to tease me anymore about my stupid fear.
Stephen grips a metal bar and pulls. A bed slides out, with a woman laid out on it. Or actually, two women. The body on the bottom is clearly unclothed, but the one on top wears a flannel red nightgown. She stares at nothing, her clouded eyes wide, and her mouth frozen in a scream. A long gash across her throat shows meat and the stark