Kissed by Smoke (5 page)

“I don’t know how to explain it.” He tucked
his hands into his pockets. “I’ve seen a few crime scene photos in
my time and it just … it looked staged.”

“And he hadn’t been depressed? Acting
funny?”

“Of course he was acting funny. He took off
for Nowhereville without a word. But depressed? Definitely not.”
Trevor ran a hand over his closely cropped curls. “In fact, he
seemed really excited. He wouldn’t tell me anything, but it was
like he was on the scent of something big.”

I knew that feeling well. I got the same way
when I was on a hunt.

Inigo was pacing the room, frowning.

“You get anything?” I asked.

“No,” his tone was filled with frustration.
“There are too many imprints here. Too many lives have passed
through. I can’t get a fix on anything.”

“Not even a violent death?”

He gave me a look. “There’s been more than
one violent death in this room. And we’re not even sure Agent
Vega’s death was violent.”

“Craptastic.”

“Tell me about it.” Inigo went back to
pacing the room.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a
flicker. A wisp of something white like smoke or fog. I turned my
head but whatever it was vanished. A puff of air caressed my cheek,
stirred my hair ever so slightly.

I frowned and touched my cheek. Must have
been imagining things.

“When did they find his body?”

Trevor spoke up, face grim. “Two days ago.
The maid turned up around ten in the morning to do her cleaning.
When no one answered the door, she went in. Found him in the
bathroom in a pool of blood.”

“And before that? When was the last time
anyone saw him?” I kept scanning the room, taking in the faded
bedspread and the stained carpet, but I was coming up blank.

“Not sure. The desk clerk says she saw him
about lunchtime the day before. He was in his car, headed out. She
didn’t see which way he turned. I can’t find anyone who saw him
after that.”

“Okay.” I gave the room a last once-over. I
could feel it, something tugging at me. I just couldn’t put my
finger on it.

“Uh, Morgan.”

I turned to Inigo. He had the oddest
expression on his face. “What?”

“Your amulet is glowing again.”

I glanced down. Sure enough, the sapphire
was giving off a soft blue glow. Honestly. Did I not have enough
crazy in my life without throwing more magical weirdness into the
mix?

“Not important.” I tucked the amulet inside
my shirt to hide the glow. “What is important is focusing on the
task at hand. I don’t think we’re going to get any more information
here. Do you know where they’re holding the body?”

Trevor nodded. “The local funeral home.”

“The funeral home?”

“Yeah. There’s no morgue in Madras. The
County Medical Examiner does the initial examination at the funeral
home. If he’d ruled it suspicious they’d have transported the body
to Portland for an autopsy. Since it was ruled suicide, there’s no
investigation. The body stays here until his family claims it.”

We headed outside and I waited while Trevor
locked up the room. “Can you get me into the funeral home?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Security around
here is a joke.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. Both of them
since I can’t do the whole Spock thing. “A government agent
breaking and entering? I am shocked. Truly.”

“Watch it, sis, or I’ll dunk you in a snow
bank.”

I stuck out my tongue at him. “You were
ordered not to make waves, Trev. I don’t want you getting into
trouble.” I was a free agent. I could pretty much do what I wanted.
He couldn’t. Not if he wanted to keep his job.

“I’ll be fine.” The look of determination on
his face reminded me of someone I knew. Quite possibly me.

“Trev … ”

“I’m going with you, Morgan.” The tone of
his voice told me that was the end of the discussion as far as he
was concerned. I barely resisted the urge to growl.

“Fine. Let’s go visit the mortuary.”

It’s not every day you get to say something
like that.

***

The funeral home was out toward the airport
on the outskirts of town. It was a chunky, red brick building with
cheap wooden columns painted white to give it that “Colonial” look.
I swear every other funeral home in the state had the exact same
facade.

“It’s broad daylight and you want to break
into a funeral home?” Inigo gave me a look usually reserved for
crazy people. “Why don’t we wait until tonight?”

“Because we’re not going to break in.
Besides, I need to get back to Portland tonight.”

“Why?” He gave me a suspicious look.

I heaved a sigh. “Mom made me promise to
come to dinner.”

“We’re driving all the way back through the
snow so you can have dinner with your mom?” The incredulity in his
voice was understandable.

“It’s my birthday dinner. And breaking a
promise to my mother is out of the question.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m sure
she’d understand.”

“You’ve met my mother. What do you
think?”

He froze for a split second. “Oh, yeah. Good
point.”

We joined Trevor beside his car, his breath
making little white clouds in the chill air. “How do you want to
play this?” He glanced toward the front door.

The place looked closed up tight, but I knew
better. This was small town America. I smiled. “We walk right in
like we own this place.”

The door swung open easily and we paraded
into the front room. “If anyone asks,” I told them, “we’re here to
pay our respects to our aunt Emily.”

“And if they don’t have an aunt Emily?”
Inigo asked.

“Oopsie, we’ve got the wrong funeral home.
So sorry.” I turned to Trevor. “Where would they be keeping Agent
Vega’s body?”

“In the back where the coolers are.”

I nodded and headed toward the back of the
building. No one appeared to challenge us. The place was as silent
as the proverbial tomb.

The hall was lined with viewing rooms on
either side. Some contained caskets and flowers. Others were empty.
So far as I could tell, no one was home. No one alive, anyway.

“I can’t believe they’d just leave the place
unlocked in the middle of the day.” Trevor kept his voice
hushed.

“It’s a small town. They’re probably having
a late lunch or something. It wouldn’t be entirely unusual to leave
the place unlocked in case of visitors. Who’s going to steal from a
funeral home?”

“Actually, they’re one of the best places to
steal from,” Trevor’s voice took on an almost professorial
tone.

Great. We were in for a lecture.

“The deceased are often buried with small
valuables. No one would notice if a ring or watch went
missing.”

I repressed a groan. “This isn’t New York,
Trev. It’s Madras. Nobody is going to steal from the dead unless
they want the entire town on their ass. This must be it.”

The door was half hidden by a wall hanging
and marked “private” with a small, neat plaque. All very subtle and
tasteful.

Inigo tried the door. Locked. “Great,” he
hissed, “the one place we need to get into is the place they decide
to lock.”

It made sense, actually. It was one thing to
leave the viewing rooms open to the public, but quite another thing
to leave the rest of the place open. “You can pick the lock,
though, right?”

“Sure, easy enough.”

Trevor groaned. “I’m a government agent. I
do not want to know about this.”

“You can go wait in the parking lot if you
want, brother mine,” I said sweetly.

He just shook his head.

I grinned and turned back to Inigo. “Well,
what’s the verdict?”

“Easy enough to pick, but if we get caught
back there, we aren’t going to be able to explain ourselves
away.”

I shrugged. “Needs must. Do it.”

Daniel Vega’s body lay inside one of the
mortuary refrigerators, neatly tucked inside a body bag. I frowned.
Totally not like what they showed on CSI.

“You getting anything?” I turned toward
Inigo. Sometimes he could sense the souls of the departed. Feel how
they died. Apparently this was not one of those times.

“No, still nothing. It’s like something is
blocking me.”

“We should hurry up,” Trevor said, keeping
his voice low. “The mortician could be back any minute.”

“So flash your badge at him.” I swear,
sometimes men are so thick.

“Remember, we’re on the down low,
Morgan.”

“Like he’s going to care. All he’s going to
see is the badge of a government agent and bend over backward
trying to cover his ass.”

“Why don’t you try, Morgan,” Inigo
interrupted our little sibling spat.

I blinked. “What?”

Trevor looked equally baffled, but Inigo
just shrugged. “Your abilities have been doing the freaky lately.
Maybe you can sense something where I can’t.”

He wasn’t wrong about my abilities. It
seemed like every other day something new and weird popped up. I
guessed it didn’t hurt to try. As long as I didn’t start raising
the dead.

I had no idea what I was doing, so I just
sort of held my hands a few inches from the body, palms facing
down. I’d seen Cordelia Nightwing do something similar when working
with the Tarot. I figured it couldn’t hurt.

At first there was nothing. I reached down
to that place where the Darkness lived. I could feel it there like
a tight little ball of blackness and next to it, a tiny flame.
Neither seemed interested in the body on the slab.

Strands of violet red hair danced in the
breeze, tickling my face. Nothing. I was getting nothing. Wait.
What? Breeze?

“Did one of you leave the outside door
open?”

“No, babe.” Inigo was a warm presence beside
me. “Trevor shut it.”

“And the door to the room?”

“Shut,” Trevor confirmed.

“And you don’t feel anything weird?” I
didn’t open my eyes to look at them, but I could almost feel them
giving me dubious looks.

“Weird like what kind of weird?” Inigo
again.

“Weird like the fact there’s wind inside
this room.”

“Uh, Morgan?” Trevor cleared his throat.
“There’s no wind.”

Freaking fantastic. So, only I could feel
this mysterious wind. Just fabulous. “So neither of you felt any
sort of breeze?”

They both assured me they hadn’t, which
didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it was freaking me out
just a little. I would have liked to have brushed it off as an
overactive imagination, but with all the bizarreness in my life
lately, brushing things off wasn’t an option.

I reached down again. Down into that place
where the Fire and the Darkness lived. Still they didn’t respond,
which was weird because they did like to get out and cause a
fuss.

So, I went a little deeper. There.
Underneath the Darkness and the Fire was something else. Something
new. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating.

It looked like smoke, swirling in ribbons of
pure white, pale gray, and shimmering silver. It wound itself up
and over and around the Darkness and the Fire like strands of
glitter, making itself at home.

But it didn’t feel like smoke. It felt like
…

Without warning it rushed up and out of me,
whipping my hair around like I was standing in a hurricane. Inigo
staggered back a couple steps, clothes plastered to his body while
Trevor very nearly went ass over teakettle, unprepared for the
blast. Sheets whipped wildly as though lashed by … wind.

Holy crap. The new power inside me was
freaking Wind!

The Wind was a visible thing, swirling
around the room as it had swirled inside me. It circled around
until it hovered over the body of agent Vega, creating a tiny wind
funnel that sparkled in the dim light.

I felt heat on my chest and glanced down.
The sapphire in the center of my amulet was glowing again, bright
light turning the smoke-like wisps of wind into rich, blue
clouds.

Then out of the curls of smoke a figure
began to form. It was shaped vaguely like a man, but I got the
impression it was bigger, meatier.

The image grew sharper. Reddish skin drawn
tight over bulging muscles. Inky hair spilling over broad
shoulders. The image turned toward me, almost as if it were alive
and could see me. Its eyes were twin pinpoints of sapphire:
Reflections of my amulet.

It definitely looked human. Well, other than
the coloring. Not a lot of people with skin the color of a tomato
running around.

I watched as the man, for lack of a better
word, leaned over the body of Daniel Vega. Only it wasn’t the body
lying on the table I was seeing, it was a superimposed image. The
background looked like the hotel room, and living Daniel Vega was
being held down on the bed by a meaty red hand. The strange man
opened his mouth inches away from Vega’s, as though about to kiss
him. Then he inhaled, his red-hued chest expanding.

Shimmers danced along Vega’s body before
being swept into the large man’s maw and disappearing down his
throat. Like an incubus inhaling a person’s soul. I stared in
horror as the life in Vega’s eyes flickered, then died. Then the
strange red man turned to me, teeth bared in a frightening
sneer.

I took an involuntary step back, forgetting
for a moment that what I was seeing was in the past. The image of
the red man dissipated in front of my eyes. The smoke and wind
stopped swirling madly around Vega’s body and began a lazy dance
toward me. It pushed its way through my chest and down into my
center to wrap itself around the Fire and the Darkness that already
lived inside me. Only then did it let me go.

I staggered backward and nearly fell over
Inigo. “Whoa, Morgan.” He caught me and held me tightly to his
chest. “What is it? What happened? What did you see?”

I swallowed hard. “I saw how Daniel Vega
died.”

“You did? How?” Trevor glanced from the body
back to me, confusion written all over his face. Couldn’t say I
blamed him.