Art of Death, page 6
part #1 of Curse Breakers Series
I stepped into Bam’s. Per usual for the diner, it was filled with families eating together and rowdy kids running up and down the aisle to the bathroom and back to their booths. Even the counter area, the seats bolted down in front of it, was mostly full.
Sabrina, one of the regular waitresses, buzzed behind the counter from one person to the next, getting their orders. I glanced around for Amber, but she was nowhere to be seen. The diner owner knew pretty much everyone’s business; she ran the hive of the town, and she heard everything. So maybe she’d know Abel’s whereabouts.
My gaze caught on a man sitting a couple of stools down from me. Normally, my eyes would’ve slipped right past, except his wine-red stare followed my every move.
Vampires were rarely seen in our small town, mostly because werewolves and vampires did not see eye to eye. Squirming uncomfortably beneath his gaze, I tried to ignore him and continued my visual search for Amber.
A body moved gracefully next to me, slipping onto the free barstool. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge. I tried to ignore the vampire who’d decided to sit next to me. Not all vampires had red eyes, but the ones who were higher ranked in their coven did. It made me want to leave because I’d just drawn his attention. Necromancers kept their tattooed symbols hidden for a reason. We didn’t announce to certain Mystics what we were, vampires being one of them.
“Hello, dear.” His voice came out smooth as silk with a repressed accent. Paired with his aristocratic features and light blonde hair, I assumed he was from England. The haunting way he presented himself also told me that he was probably pretty old.
Lifting the corner of my lips, I gave him a strained smile. Amber came out of the back and glanced between the newcomer and me before walking toward us.
“Can I get you anything to go, Rowan?”
The vampire next to me stiffened a little, and he tilted his head toward me.
“No food. Just looking for one of my brothers. Have you seen Abel?”
Rule number 106: don’t let outsiders know how many brothers you have, nor that you have a twin. Same went for Abel, and my other brothers made it a thing never to say “sister,” just “sibling.” My stomach twisted with unease since the outsider stood nearby.
“I haven’t seen him since you two were in the other day with Indigo. Maybe he’s at home?”
“Thanks, Amber. I’ll see you around.”
She left with one last glance at the newcomer, who kept his gaze on me. It wasn’t unusual for Mystics to stare, thinking if they looked long enough, they could figure out what you were. By looks alone, some Mystics were easy to distinguish. For some of us, like necros, it was hard to tell what we could be—mage, witch, or something else entirely and simply good at glamours?
Spinning on my seat, I stood up to leave. An arm shot out, moving quicker than I could follow, and grasped my wrist in a delicate hold. Bringing my wrist to his nose, the vampire brushed his lips against my skin. A shiver shot through me, and I couldn’t even begin to decipher the feelings behind it.
“Your scent is unique. Tell me what you are.” He glanced up at me, those red eyes refusing to release me from their hold. I had heard some vampires could compel Mystics, but it took me off guard, considering how quickly I wanted to bend to his will.
“I’m in a hurry.” I tugged my wrist, attempting to free it from his hold, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. Like a melting candle, reality dripped back into focus, slow and sluggish but clear as day once it did. A couple of people in the diner watched us. I took a step backward, but he still had a hold of my wrist.
“You will not tell me, Rowan?”
I gritted my teeth, hating how he said my name. Giving my arm another subtle tug, I dropped my gaze to his cheek. I didn’t trust myself to look into his eyes.
“I don’t know you, and I probably won’t ever see you again. I’m leaving.” It was best to be direct.
“Perhaps I could help you find this brother you have misplaced.” The vampire rubbed his thumb over the vein on my wrist, teasing it to the surface.
“No.”
That time I pulled harder. He released me but not without a satisfied smirk. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him, I walked out of the diner. Every part of my mind told me not to look back, but my curiosity got the better of me. Tucking my chin into my shoulder, I glanced back into the diner where the vampire sat at the bar, watching me leave. Amber stood behind him, looking between us again.
How I’d managed to catch the eye of a vampire, I didn’t know, and it bothered me. As I kept my sights on him, I knocked into a wall. Only that wall had arms and caught me around the waist before I could fall on my ass. Acting on instincts, I gripped the shirt covering the body that caught me then peeked up at my savior.
“Fuck, of course it’s you,” I grumbled.
Indigo smiled at me with that shit-eating grin that sparked my anger into an inferno.
“What?”
“Nothing. You are, after all, the one who ran into me,” I said.
“Always with the blame game. What was holding your interest in Bam’s?”
“Nothing. I gotta go.”
I released his shirt and a blush crept up my neck. Why didn’t I let go earlier? Ignoring that, I refocused on my mission.
Stepping back, Indigo didn’t immediately release me. Instead, he brushed his fingers under my hoodie where my tank top rode up. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere.”
“Obviously somewhere.”
“Indigo. Let me go. I have to…”
“What?”
“I have to find Abel.”
“Rowan.” Before Indigo said anything else, something caught his attention, and I broke free from his hold. I didn’t savor the idea of him coming along to help me, but he might have a better chance than I did. I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
“Rowan,” Indigo called out from behind me. I heard his footfalls draw closer, and before he could try to grab me again, I swung around.
“What?”
“Let me help. You know I’ll be able to find him before you could. And it’s getting late.”
To prove his point, the sun dipped a little further, the ripe orange sky turning a seductive purple of the royals. The twilight felt like home to me; the spirits rose, suddenly a little more alive, and death seemed to strive in the nighttime. It was when my people thrived. The same could be said about the werewolf standing next to me.
I glanced up at the sky, wondering when the full moon would be coming around.
“You’re safe from me, don’t worry.”
Indigo never scared me, never once made me worry about my wellbeing. Even in his beast’s form, he didn’t worry me. Sometimes in our youth, I had actually preferred him in his other form.
“You sure because I haven’t seen or talked to you in what was it?” I asked sarcastically.
“Five years, and you promised you would let me explain. Would you allow me to do that while we look for Abel?”
“Nope.”
“Hello, my favorite little necromancer. Time’s up, night has fallen, and you were going to take me to my body.” My ghost friend flickered in front of me before solidifying.
Glancing around, I saw people walking through the town streets, most headed toward either Bam’s or the bar. Gritting my teeth, I grabbed Indigo’s arm, knowing he wouldn’t leave me be, and I couldn’t have this conversation in the middle of the street.
The ghost followed dutifully after, and he kept eying Indigo.
“What’s with the muscle? I’m dead, remember? I can’t harm you without a body, right?”
“Shush.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Indigo said.
I walked us farther into the only park our town had. Most parents took their kids home for the evening, well before the moon made its way to the sky. It didn’t stop the teenagers from using this area as a hangout though. Abel, Indigo, and I preferred the lake, but it wasn’t unusual for small parties to happen at the park too.
“You be quiet too,” I said.
“Rowan, whose ghost are you talking to?”
A common question since he would want to know who’d recently passed away. Or who had decided to stick around for a while longer. He had been gone long enough that some of the older people here could’ve passed.
Looking around, I made sure the coast was clear. “Could you lower your voice a little bit?”
A lot of Mystics had enhanced senses, including werewolves. Ibrahim was close friends with my parents and acted as if the entire town had been part of his pack. He would do what he thought best for the town. My breaking any rules would be reported back to my parents so they could do cleanup. But I needed to clean this mess up on my own.
“What have you gotten yourself into, Rowan?”
“Nothing I can’t handle, Indigo.”
“Is this guy coming with us to find my body?” the ghost asked.
Indigo crossed his arms. “Rowan, where’s Abel?”
“Quiet!” I said. My head pounded. My nap still wasn’t enough to get rid of my headache.
“Have you been following my brother around today?” I asked the ghost.
“Why would I do that?” he replied.
“No,” Indigo said.
“Okay, you quiet down for a minute. I’ll get to you in a second,” I said to Indigo then faced the ghost again. “Have you seen him around? I don’t trust that you haven’t been trying to get him to take you to your body.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you said you’d take me.”
Abel had been so careful around the ghost, never letting on that he saw him even though we were obviously related. Even those who didn’t know us could at least tell that much. Pacing, I tried to think of where Abel would’ve gone.
“Indigo, have you seen Abel’s truck today?”
“No.”
“Have you seen him lately, period?”
“No. You asked me about him before too. Is he missing?”
I kept up my pacing, uncertain how to answer him. He hadn’t been gone for that long. Most TV shows always went on about how you couldn’t declare someone missing until after forty-eight hours. But Abel didn’t just go missing. There hadn’t been a day since a sleepover back in fifth grade when I didn’t see or hear from him within twenty-four hours.
Indigo gripped my shoulders, forcing me to pay attention to his question. Oh so gently in a move that felt all too familiar, he brushed his knuckle against my cheek.
“Talk to me, Ro.”
When we were younger, there were things I didn’t feel comfortable disclosing to Abel even though he’d been my best friend and twin. The kids in our grade thought I was weird because of my ghost friends. Abel had learned early on how to ignore the ghosts. Indigo hadn’t been wrong; my curiosity got the best of me. Indigo would look me in the eyes and demand I tell him exactly what plagued my mind. In the past, I’d done just that, uncensored and open.
“I’m worried because I haven’t heard from Abel. He had been trying to help me get rid of this ghost.”
“You said you were going to take him to his body. You shouldn’t.”
“You don’t have the right to scold me. What I need is for you to be helping me. Abel’s been researching ways…” I paused, looking over at the ghost, who continued to listen to our conversation. How would he take it if he found out I was hoping to perform an exorcism on him? “To get rid of the bugs in our apartment, without drawing our parents’ attention. He didn’t want them to have to pay the cost,” I finished lamely. It had been the best I could come up with on the spot, but Indigo seemed to follow me well enough.
“Are your parents worried about him missing?”
“I’m not sure the last time they saw him. I’d been staying at the apartment.”
Indigo grunted, knowledge shining in his gaze as if he came to some sort of realization.
“Maybe you should go back to the apartment. I’ll take a run around town and try to pick up his scent. Abel wouldn’t have left town, and my father would’ve notified me if someone new crossed the town limits.”
I held in my snort at his clean version of “town limits.” Werewolves took territorial to a whole new level. They noticed when new people came into town and had a witch cast a small spell that allowed them to know when someone crossed the town line. They also had their own form of marking the town lines. It served as a warning to other werewolf packs and shifter packs as well.
“I’m not going to go hide while you search for him.”
“Well I can’t shift around you. I don’t know how my beast will react, considering it’s some time since you last met with him.”
I gave him my best stink eye. “Really? I trust your beast more than I trust you.”
“You’d be too slow.”
“Then you search one part of town, and I’ll search the other. You can overlap me, but know this: I am looking for my brother.”
“Stubborn.”
“Dick,” I countered.
“Hey.”
“Either you’re with me or you aren’t.” I walked away from him, the ghost following me, already asking when we’d be going to search for his body.
Chapter 8
“Did you know that Pluto has been a planet, then not a planet, and then a planet again all in my lifespan? Do you ever wonder if I’ve been dead for, like, years? I guess we’ll never know since you won’t take me to my body. That’s okay though. I can keep annoying you until you try to help me find it. Gods, what if I smell? I hope it’s not to that point yet. You’ll let my family know, right?”
“I promised I would try to find your body for you. And we’ll look. Just not right this minute.”
He had a good point with his ramblings. Ghosts didn’t have the most stable idea of time. Maybe he’d been wandering for months now. If that had been the case, then his body might’ve been devoured by an animal. My most pressing concern was that we had started searching for Abel in the early evening, and midnight was slowly creeping up on us.
A jaw-cracking yawn swept over me.
“Nothing quite as sexy as a sleepy woman,” Indigo said. I glared at the smile on his face as he stepped closer. “We need to stop for the night, Rowan.”
“No.” I walked past him determined to find my twin.
“You’re exhausted.”
“Not going to change anything. Not with chatterbox over here.” I waved in the last direction I saw my ghostly friend. Indigo scowled at the air as if he could scare the ghost away for me. If only.
“You’re no good to anyone in your condition, Ro.”
“Doesn’t matter, Indie. I’m going to keep looking until I find him.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to be found quite yet. Maybe he has something in the works for the… bugs in your house.”
I tried to think of a valid argument, but my mind was muddled. My lack of sleep and the stress had taken their toll on me, my feet dragging for the past couple of miles. My eyelids dropped heavily, but even though my eyes felt grainy, I kept lifting them back up. The ghost had constantly been talking, and I wished for my earplugs, but it also served to keep me awake for the time being.
“At this point, Ro, Abel would’ve turned in for the night. We aren’t going to find him wandering around town, and I haven’t been able to pick up a trail. And you need to sleep.”
I held back my whimper of defeat. Indigo was right, which I was too exhausted to be mad about. Abel wouldn’t be wandering around town at that point. If Indigo couldn’t find a trail, then what hope would I have? We’d need to regroup in the morning and start our search anew. Of course, then that brought up the problem of where I would sleep.
Going home would be out of the question; I had managed this long to keep the ghost a secret, and I had to see it through. The image of my parents’ disappointed faces flashed through my head, and a pang of guilt stabbed at me.
Wilson’s was out of the question since he would report back to my parents. He might be able to rid me of the ghost though. But the promise I’d made tugged at me like an actual tie around my body. No, that wouldn’t do either.
I tucked my hands into the sleeves of my sweatshirt, regretting not wearing something warmer. I might be able to sneak into Bam’s for a bit and take a nap in one of the booths, at least.
“Rowan,” Indigo said as if it hadn’t been the first time he said my name.
“Hmm?”
“Do you want to stay at my apartment for the night?”
“All right.”
“Really, just like that?” he asked, surprise in his voice.
“Yup, just like that.”
Indigo raised his brows, obviously doubtful of my quick agreement. Sleeping in the diner didn’t appeal to me, and it also meant word would get to my parents. They would then question why I’d been sleeping in the diner, and that wouldn’t bode well for me.
“Let’s go,” I urged, ready to get some sleep. I mourned the loss of the earplugs Abel had gotten me, having left them in my haste to get out of Wilson’s apartment. One of many things I’d forgotten. Would it be weird to ask Indigo to get them for me?
“So, you want to sleep without even trying to look for my body? Did you hear me earlier? What if it’s been months since I passed? What if my body’s been carried away by wild animals?”
“You need to shut up for the night. I refuse to look for your dead body while my brother’s alive out there somewhere, missing.”
“Maybe I would’ve helped you search if you hadn’t pushed me aside. What was your favorite song of mine? Beer bottles or the Jacob song?”
“I’d prefer you go away for the night so I can sleep,” I muttered.
Indigo walked next to me, patient as ever. He grew up with two necromancer best friends, so I supposed that even with all the time passed between us, he was still used to the one-sided conversations he would never get to be part of. Many Mystics hated being around a necromancer when they carried on conversations with ghosts, mostly because they didn’t know what the ghost might say.
Indigo directed us back to the road, and I assumed we’d be walking back to the apartment complex. Instead, he led us to a truck. The big black beast looked newer, with very little dirt on it, which meant it hadn’t been driven around here for very long. Indigo swung around to the passenger side and opened the door for me. I stepped up using the running bar as leverage and sat down, shifting in my seat to sneak a peek. The interior looked almost spotless.
