 
# Death Cursed

### Death Touched, Book 1

## Mac Flynn
Copyright © 2018 by Mac Flynn

All rights reserved.

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### Contents

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

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."

The video played again, but this time they could see the bullets approach the target. At a hair short of the paper the bullets froze for a moment before they dropped harmlessly to the floor.

Archimedes stopped the video and turned to them with his arms folded across his chest and a grin on his lips. "Fascinating, isn't it?"

"Only if you've got an explanation," Jack returned.

Archimedes leaned his back against the desk and shook his head. "I've never seen anything remotely like this, at least not without an invisible wall or mind shield. Even then the bullets would still be damaged before they dropped to the ground."

"Have you tried it on anything else?" Jack asked him.

Archimedes nodded. "Everything I could think of. Wood, metal, plants, even a couple of rabbits. The rabbits were frightened by the noise and were in motion when I shot, but they remained unscathed."

Jack picked up the gun and turned it over in his hands before his eyes flickered to Nena. "Did you see Death do anything to this?"

She shook her head. "No. He just picked it up and put it in my hand."

"It was just lying there?" Jack wondered.

Nena shuddered and turned her face away. "No. The. . .the man you found, the one D-that guy killed, it was his gun."

Jack looked down at the weapon and pursed his lips. "So this is what should have killed you."

Archimedes arched an eyebrow and glanced between the pair. "I feel like I'm missing something."

Jack lifted his eyes to Nena but spoke to Archimedes. "Have you tried this gun on a human, living or dead?"

Archimedes frowned. "There may not be many ethics in the Agency, but I have my own that I try to maintain, and one of them is not to use humans for any of my experiments."

"What about Death Touched?" Jack asked him.

"What about-" Archimedes's eyes widened and his eyes flickered to Nena. "Don't tell me-"

"Nena," Jack called out. She raised her eyes to meet his steady gaze. He held up the gun. "I'd like to see if this works on you." Her mouth dropped open.

Archimedes pushed off the desk and glared at Jack. "Death Touched or not, I won't allow it. To use anyone-" Jack held up his hand.

"Easy there. We're not putting her in front of a firing squad. A little blood on a target should work. That is, if the lady won't object," he added as he returned his attention to Nena. "Would you?"

Nena bit her lower lip, but nodded her head. "I'll do it."

Jack grinned. "That's my girl. Now let's see if this gun has any kick left in it."

# 6

Archimedes led them over to the same berth from before and clicked on a button on the left wall. The target was pulled along its cord until it reached them. Archimedes turned to Nena with pursed lips and held out his hand. "If you would give me your hand."

Nena set her hand in his and he drew out a small knife from his pocket. With a flick of the blade and a wince from Nena a dot of blood appeared on the end of one finger. Archimedes used the blade of the knife like a painter's tool and swiped the blood onto the broad edge of the weapon. He held the back of the target and smeared the center thinly with her blood.

"Now we'll see if this works," he commented as he pressed the button.

The target moved back to the rear of the range. Archimedes took the gun from Jack and loaded four rounds from the previous exercise. He aimed at the target and fired two shots. The target fluttered a little.

Archimedes lowered the gun and turned to the onlookers behind him with a tense expression. He pressed the button and drew the target to them. Nena's blood was still smeared in the middle, but small round indents were visible in their pool.

Archimedes grabbed the paper target and slightly turned it to study the back. "The bullets didn't penetrate the paper."

Jack frowned. "So the gun can only hit Death Touched?"

Archimedes nodded. "So it would appear."

Nena shuddered. A gun that couldn't even tap a paper target had just pierced her blood.

Archimedes looked down at the weapon in his palm and pursed his lips. "Scratch is going to be very interested in this-" Jack took the gun from and pocketed it inside his overcoat. Archimedes lifted his head and frowned at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'll tell Scratch about it," Jack offered.

Archimedes crossed his arms over his chest and arched an eyebrow. "This century or the next one?"

"Whenever he asks about it," Jack replied as he turned his attention to Nena. Her eyes were cast to the floor and her expression was sorrowful. His face fell for a moment before a sly grin slid onto his lips. "How about it, Nena?" She lifted her gaze and blinked at him. He nodded at the nine other targets at the end of the range. "Think you could shoot one of those?"

She shook her head. "I-I don't know. I've never shot a gun."

Jack drew a pistol from a holster hidden underneath his overcoat and held out the grip toward her. "There's a first time for everything, even when you're dead."

Nena pursed her lips, but took the weapon and reluctantly walked over to the center stall. She gripped the weapon between both hands and raised her stiff arms.

Jack laughed and shook his head. "You're stiffer than a salmon in winter. Let me show you how it's done." He stepped up beside her and tapped her legs so she had a wider stance. Then he lifted her arms so they pointed straight out in front of her. "Now grip the gun a littler lower in your left hand and don't set your finger near the trigger until you're ready to fire."

Nena blushed at how close he was to her. Their cheeks nearly touched as he aimed the tiny scope at the end of the barrel. "Now look through both lines of sight when you aim."

Nena nodded, but her hands were shaking. She shut her eyes shut and squeezed the trigger. A shot rang out. It made her jump and her twitchy trigger finger shot off the gun a couple more times. The echoes were just fading away as she peeked open her eyes. The target stood unscathed as though mocking her efforts. Her face fell as Jack walked up to her and plucked the gun from her hands. He clasped her another gun in her hand. "Take this one."

Nena glanced down at her hand and frowned. It was the gun that had shot her. She looked up at him and frowned. "But it doesn't work on anything except me."

"Exactly. I'll be safe around you and you'll be safest behind the gun."

She frowned. "I wasn't that bad."

Jack nodded at the target that hung in the first berth. "That fellow begs to differ." The paper was riddled with a half dozen bullet holes.

Nena winced. "Oh. . ."

There came a knock on the range door. Archimedes smiled as he walked over to the entrance. "That would be Peter. Only he is polite enough to knock before entering my experiment rooms." He opened the door and revealed Jack's pale partner.

Jack furrowed his brow as he left Nena and strode over to Peter. "You have something?"

"A lead," Peter replied as he held out a slip of paper.

Jack took the slip and studied the contents. He frowned and his eyes flickered up to those of his partner. "This isn't much to go on."

"Our foe is very good at hiding his tracks," Peter returned.

Nena walked up to the m and glanced from Peter to Jack. "Is it about me?"

Jack shook his head as he tucked the paper into his overcoat pocket. "No. We've been trying to find out where Death keeps himself between troubles and we might have a lead." He glanced over his shoulder at Archimedes. "Could you take to her room? We've got a job to do-"

"Going on an outing?" a voice spoke up. Everyone spun around to face the shooting range. Scratch stood in the stall Nena had formerly occupied. Jack's gun still lay on the tray. He looked down at the weapon and brushed his long fingernails down the barrel. "Surely you haven't forgotten my command, Jack." He raised his red-hued eyes to Nena and smiled. "My new employee is to go on your next outing."

Jack glared at him. "I took her on an outing to the range. Besides, she'd only get in the way."

Scratch's eyes flickered Jack and narrowed. "Perhaps, but that isn't for you to decide, is it?"

Jack frowned. "No, I guess not."

A wide smile with a hint of a sharp tooth slipped onto Scratch's lips. "Excellent." He turned to Nena who shrank beneath his red eyes. "You have nothing to worry about, my dear. Jack and Peter are two of my finest employees, and I'm sure they'll take good care of you. Now if you will excuse us, Archimedes and I have some things to discuss."

Jack grasped Nena's elbow and led her from the room with Peter behind them. Once past Archimedes's workshop she shuddered. "He almost seems normal, but then he smiles. . ."

"That's how he gets his kicks," Jack told her.

She looked at the men who flanked her as Peter moved to walk by her side. "So what's this 'outing' stuff about?"

Jack released her arm and pursed his lips as he strode down the hall. "It's a mission, like what we were on when we found you."

She furrowed her brow. "What were you doing when you found me?"

"Looking for Corrupted, but our scanner picked up on a large portal only Death could have made, and that's where we found you," he revealed.

Nena arched an eyebrow. "'Corrupted?'"

"Our biggest problem thanks to Death," he explained as they reached the elevator and stepped inside. He pressed the top button that had the number 'one' stamped on it and glanced at her. "They're souls taken over by Death Shadows and transformed into monsters."

"And Death Shadows are-?"

"Death can't handle everyone who dies, or at least he didn't before he started breaking the rules. Death Shadows helped him collect the souls of the dead so they could go where they needed to," he told her.

Her shoulders slumped and she shook her head. "Death. The Devil. Death Shadows. This has _got_ to be a bad dream."

Jack lit a cigarette and took a puff. "If it is I'd like a pinch to wake me up, too." He sighed and stuck the cigarette between his pursed lips. "But until that happens we'll just have to deal with it."

A thought struck Nena and she swallowed a lump in her throat before she looked up at Jack. "So are we going to go fight monsters now?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Pete here found a lead on a bunch of Corrupted we've been dealing with. They might have more of a connection than just turning into monsters."

She breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator came to a stop. "Good. . ."

A sly grin slid onto his lips as he glanced down at her. "Don't get too comfortable. We get to meet with some zombies."

Nena whipped her head up and stared at him with wide eyes. "With _what_?"

The doors opened to reveal a long, rectangular parking garage. Dim inset lights revealed concrete columns and walls. A hundred cars young and old, expensive and cheap were lined up in their berths ready for action.

He tossed his cigarette onto the pavement and shrugged. "Just a couple of zombies," he told her as he took a step out.

Nena grabbed his arm and dug her heels into the floor of the elevator. "Zombies? How many zombies?"

He chuckled. "Just one. He's a chief."

She shrank back and released his arm. "Um, can't I stay here? Just this once?" she pleaded.

Jack set his hand atop hers and smiled down at her. "Not this time, but let's see if we can't make your first outing something to remember."

# 7

They walked onward past rows and rows of concrete columns and fancy vehicles. Jack stopped them at a particular black sedan. He guided her to the front passenger seat and opened the door. Jack swept his arm toward the interior. "Ladies first."

Nena couldn't hide a smile as she slipped into the leather seat. Jack shut the door and walked around to the driver's side where Peter and he faced off. Peter had his hand on the door handle and an arched brow above his eyes. "You wish to drive?"

Jack shrugged. "Why not?"

"You do not know how to drive."

Jack shrugged. "There's a first time for everything." Peter's face fell. Jack slid up beside him and lowered his voice. "Come on, Pete, just this once." Peter sighed, but stepped back away from the door. Jack grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "You won't regret it."

Peter watched him slip behind the driver's seat and pursed his lips. "I hope not."

Peter took a spot in the back seat and Jack started the car. The engine roared to life and Jack backed them out in spurts and jumps. Nena grasped the handle above the door and her wide eyes flickered to the driver.

Jack smiled at her as he drove forward with only a few hiccups. "I've been a little spoiled with Pete driving me around, but I'll-" he stepped a little too hard on the brakes and the car came to a jerky halt. He sheepishly grinned. "It's been a long partnership."

Jack navigated the car around one corner and to the entrance with its two drop-down gates and small booth. He gave a wave to a shadowy figure in the dark booth. The right-hand gate rose and they drove out into a dark night.

The garage and a tall manufacturing building attached to it were surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. They drove down a paved driveway, but either side of them was covered with gray gravel. There was another booth with a gate, but they also were allowed through that exit without a fuss.

A large sign stood to their right as they left the compound. Nena turned in her seat and looked back at the large neon sign. There was an image of a red pepper with the words 'Devil's Delight' in flashy text.

She arched an eyebrow and glanced at Jack. "The agency is a pepper factory?"

"Yeah. They're advertised as hotter than hell," he told her.

She rolled her eyes and sat properly in her seat. "That's just awful."

"Not in the advertising business?" he wondered.

She shook her head. "Not even close."

"So what did you do before you were lucky enough to fall in with me?" Jack asked her.

Nena rolled her eyes. "I was around people with almost as much ego as you."

He flashed her a grin. "I doubt that. I'm an original."

"You're something. . ." she muttered.

"But all kidding aside, what did you do?" he persisted.

She sank down in her chair and shrugged. "Not much. Cleaned a hospital for a living and hung out with my only friend and my dad."

"A normal life. . ." he mused as he turned onto one of the city's busier streets. The roads were lit with streetlights and crowded with vehicles.

Nena glanced out the window. The flashing lights of the city and the noise, once nuisances, were now welcomed to her. She pressed her palm against the window. The glass should have been cold, but she hardly felt any temperature.

She glanced at her driving companion. "What's it mean to be Death Touched?"

Jack pursed his lips and kept his eyes on the road as he replied. "You mean all the little catches Scratch didn't tell you? You remember how he told you Death was who we're up against?" She nodded. "Well, he's generally a loner type of guy. Probably too grim to be much fun, if you'll pardon the pun. Anyway, in the past we've found people who he's touched, or in other words given a little bit of himself to them."

"To keep them alive?" she guessed.

He pursed his lips and his grip on the steering wheel tightened. "No. When he touches someone it's only a matter of time before they die."

The color drained from her face. "Then. . .Then that means-?"

Jack's eyes flickered to her. "To be honest, I don't know. He's never saved anyone from himself before, at least not that we know of. It kind of goes against his nature, if you see what I mean."

She looked at her lap in which lay her pale hands. Her voice was barely a whisper. "This will hurt but for a short time. . ."

Jack arched an eyebrow. "Come again?"

She shook herself and raised her gaze to him. "That's something he said to me right before he touched my forehead. There was a lot of pain and then-and then-" she turned her gaze downward again and shook her head, "-then I don't remember anything else until Doc was leaning over me."

"So that's how the bastard does it. . ." Jack mumbled as he clenched his teeth.

"But what did he do to me?" Nena questioned him as she held up her ghostly hands. "What's going to happen to me now? What am I supposed to do?"

"You're supposed to keep on living."

Nena looked to him and frowned. "How am I supposed to do that when I'm dead?"

A crooked smile slipped onto his lips as he kept his eyes on the road. "You're still you, right? Keep on being you. Nobody'll know the difference and nobody around the Agency will care." Jack glanced through the rear view mirror and noticed Peter arch an eyebrow. "Well, almost nobody."

Nena stared down at her lap and bit her lower lip. "Could I. . .could I go see my dad? Just to tell him I'm-" Jack's shaking head held her answer.

"Can't do that. You'd get tempted to stay there and eventually there'd be some real awkward questions about why you don't have a pulse or a heartbeat," he pointed out.

Nena crossed her arms over her chest and slumped down in her seat. She turned her face away and toward her window. "So it's because I'm dead."

"Death Touched," Peter spoke up.

Jack glared at him through the mirror. "You decide to speak up, and that's the best you can do to console the young lady?"

"It is the truth."

"Don't mind him," Jack assured her as he returned his gaze to the road. "He's got such a dark personality that sometimes I think he was born during an eclipse." A snort escaped Nena's pursed lips. Jack's eyes flickered to her and he grinned. "That's what I want to hear. A little more life in this car and we might be able to throw a party."

Nena gathered herself and cleared her throat before she swept her eyes over the plain interior. "Why are we driving in a car?"

"It gets great gas-mileage," he told her.

She shook her head. "Not _this_ car, _a_ car. Don't you guys have magical portals or something you can use?"

"We like to keep it simple," he explained as he turned into a dark alley and parked the car. He opened his door, paused with one foot out of the vehicle, and glanced over his shoulder at her. "You're not afraid of mice, are you?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Rats?"

Nina frowned. "No, but-"

"Mold?"

"Would you please tell me-"

"What about witches?"

She blinked at him. "Witches?"

He flashed her a grin. "I'll take that as a 'no.'" He stepped outside.

Nina leaned over the divider between the seats and glanced through the door at him. "What about-" he slammed the door shut, "-witches." Her eyes flickered to the pale man in the back seat. She gave him a shaky smile. "You wouldn't happen to know what he's talking about, would you?"

"I do."

"And was he serious?"

"He was."

Nina winced. "I was afraid you'd say-" A slam on the hood made her jump and whip her head toward the front.

Jack stood facing them with his hand on the hood and a frown on his lips. "Are you two coming?"

Nina's face drooped and she looked back at Peter. "Is he always this pushy?"

"Often," he replied as he slipped out.

Nina sighed and joined the two men in front of the car. Jack knelt down and lifted a manhole cover, revealing a ladder that led into foul-smelling darkness. She looked at him but pointed at the darkness. "We're not going down there, are we?"

Jack was halfway in the hole as he grinned up at her. "Yep."

"But-" Jack was gone, hidden by the blackness of the sewers. Nina bit her lower lip as she watched Peter climb down after him. "You can't be serious!"

"We are, now come down here!" Jack's echoing voice called to her.

Nina took a deep breath of mildly fresh air and reluctantly eased herself down the ladder. The slip rungs meant she hugged the ladder and the dampness soaked into the front of her clothes. "This has to be a nightmare. This has to be a nightmare," she chanted as she sank into the darkness. "This has to be a-" She stretched her leg down for another rung yelped as her foot slipped. In her panic she lost her grip and fell backward into a pair of strong arms.

Jack grinned down at her. "I hope we don't stop meeting like this."

She frowned and pushed against his chest. "Let me go!"

Jack sighed. "As you wish." He opened his arms and dropped her the few short feet to the damp ground.

Nina landed with a soft 'oomph' and a slight splash. She climbed to her feet and glared at Jack as he climbed up the ladder. "That's not what I-" her eyes widened as he drew the manhole over the hole, blocking their main source of light. "What are you doing?"

"We wouldn't want an ordinary person to follow us," he told her as he hopped off the ladder and landed with a splash beside her. He gestured down the wide tunnel where Nina noticed a slight glow around a bend some fifty yards off. "Besides, we're not too far from the Terminal."

"The Terminal?" she asked him.

He offered her his arm and a grin. "You'll see."

She pursed her lips, but accepted his arm and let him lead her down the tunnel. Nina glanced at a passing intersecting tunnel and glimpsed floating sewage. She recoiled against Jack's side and looked up at him. "Are all your outings this glamorous?"

He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at their quiet companion. "No, sometimes we go to some really filthy places, ones so bad Pete's hair would stand on end." Peter frowned, but said nothing.

"And zombies and witches are in this Terminal?' she guessed.

He nodded. "Yep, and a couple other ghoulish kinds of people."

She cringed. "So why are we going there again?"

The humor dropped from Jack's face as he looked ahead. "The ones who keep the peace down here have had the same problems we have with the Death Shadows. There's a rumor they caught a Corrupted and are keeping it hidden."

Nena danced around a small puddle of questionable makeup. "Why would anyone want to hang around down-" They rounded the corner and into another world.

# 8

The sewer was now illuminated by long rows of tall incandescent light bulbs that-from their rough filaments-showed their great age. They sat in small metal bowls and sourced their energy from a long wire that trailed just below their bowls. Both sides of the sewer tunnel had the same row of illumination.

Not only was the darkness gone, but so were the puddles and filth. The metallic walls of the culverts changed to ancient, crumbling bricks, filtering the filth between their porous surfaces to create a dry walkway.

Jack looked down at Nena's gaping mouth and smiled. "You were saying?"

She shook herself and looked up at him with wide eyes. "This is. . .people made this?"

"I wouldn't say people," he told her as he tugged her along down the tunnel.

The sewer pipe led on for another fifty yards before it came to a stop and the world opened. Before them arose a huge area the size of four football fields that resembled an old-fashioned subway station. The walls and high ceilings had scraps of paint and graffiti, but no natural light flowed down from above. Large electric chandeliers two hundred feet above the ground lit up the space.

The station had two tiers with the second accessed via stairs on either end of the ground level. The entire second level of the terminal was a towering block of businesses with several double-door entrances and a glass dome atop them that reached to the curved ceiling. The buildings were held up with spare strips of metal roofing, planks of wood, and a lot of faith.

Dozens of shops with their interiors sunken into the bottom of the upper tier lined the long wall on the ground floor. Twice that many homes made of strips of metal and old wood stuck out from the walls to the left and right of where they stood. The shop windows were filled with everything a person could want, from clothing to food.

Throngs of people walked the wide streets on the upper tier and ground level. They were young and old, man and woman, and many were dressed in shabby attire of patch pants and coats. A few men in ragged police uniforms stood at the corners watching the hustle and bustle. Their attentions were most especially on the numerous people hidden beneath black robes as they hurried on their way to the dark corners of the small city.

A few vendors with handcarts strolled the impromptu city square between the residences and the tiered shops. Their ringing voices shouted their wares.

"Hamburgers! Hamburgers for sale! Get them while they're hot!"

"Newts! Fresh newts for a fresh poison-er, potion!"

"Cauldrons on sale! Two for the price of one! Can't make a good spell without one!"

"Fresh fish! Two eyes or three!"

"What do you think of the Terminal?" Jack asked her.

She gawked at a pair of cackling old women as they shuffled past with their white hair wrapped around their extra-long fingers. "It's-um, interesting."

His eyes flashed with a wicked light as he stepped down out of the tunnel and onto the cobblestones that made up the floor. "Let's see how interesting it can get."

A small plastic ball bounced out of the crowds and toward them. It rolled to a stop at the base of the sewer culvert. A boy of eight rushed after the toy, but he stopped ten feet away when he noticed the strangers. His bright blue eyes flickered between the ball and the group.

Nena smiled and bent down. She plucked the ball off the ground and bounced it back to him. The boy's face brightened and he met the toy halfway. He gave them a grin and a wave, and disappeared into the crowd.

"Still terrified of it?" Jack asked her.

She glared at him. "I wasn't afraid of it."

He smiled and stepped down from the culvert. "Of course you weren't, now let's go."

Nena swallowed the lump in her throat and followed him with Peter behind them. She stuck close to Jack as they waded into the mass of humanity, or so she thought. Her shoulder bumped into a middle-aged man in a dusty old browned robe. Jack kept her from falling, but the other victim in the collision dropped back onto his rump.

He glared up at her with his thinning hair flopped to one side and partially covering one eye. "What do you mean by pushing around the Great Zolius, the astounding wizard extraordinaire!"

Jack stepped between them and leaned down to offer his hand. "No harm done-" The man slapped his offered hand away and struggled to stand as his feet kept tripping over his long robes.

"No harm done? _No harm done?_ " He grabbed one corner of his robe and lifted it up so they could see a spot of dirt. "What do you think this is? My last meal?"

Jack smiled, but there was no warmth in his expression. "It might be if you keep being rude to the lady, friend."

Zolius sneered at him. "I'm no friend of yours, you filthy-" Jack drew his gun and pressed the barrel against the tip of the man's nose. The Astounding gentleman crossed his wide eyes to stare down the long barrel. He shook in his robes as sweat trailed down his brow. "Y-you can't do that. I-it's against t-the rules."

"What's going on here?" a voice called out.

Nena glanced in the direction of the shout and paled. One of the uniformed men shuffled toward them. His skin was the color of paste and pieces of flesh were missing. The color of his eyes was hard to discern through the glaze over them, but she could see an unearthly glow in their depths. This, then, was one of the zombies of which Jack had spoke, and he was the law in these parts.

The officer stopped between the men and looked from one to the other before his gaze fell on Jack. "You think the rules don't apply to you, Jack?"

Jack pocketed his gun and grinned. "I was just trying to teach this guy how to treat a lady."

Zolius scoffed. "If she's with you, she's no lady." Jack's narrowed eyes fell on him and a faint blue fire illuminated them. Zolius stumbled back a few steps and pointed at him. "Y-you can't use that here! It's n-not allowed!" He whipped his head to the zombie. "O-officer, I demand you arrest this-this thing!"

The officer pursed his lips as he studied Jack. "You've had your fun, Jack. I'll have to ask you to get your business over with and leave, or just leave now. It's your choice."

Jack closed his eyes and a crooked smile slipped onto his lips as he shrugged. "No harm done, but I wouldn't mind a trip to the precinct."

The officer arched a rotten eyebrow. One end hung by a thread. Literally. "What are you wanting there?" Jack opened his mouth, but the officer held up his hand. "On second thought, never mind. You're either going to lie to me or tell me a half truth. I'll let the chief deal with you before you attract any more attention." The entire ground floor of the Terminal had stopped to watch the confrontation.

The officer guided the companions down past the ground-level shops to a pair of doors with thick glass. Nena glanced over her shoulder and saw Zolius glare at them before he marched off. She looked up at Jack and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Was he really a wizard?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, but I doubt he could entertain a kid's party."

The officer led them inside where they found themselves in a typical police precinct complete with a bullet-proof glass front desk and two dozen desks behind that one filled with zombies booking witch-attired women and filing reports on ancient typewriters one pecked letter at a time.

Their guide nodded at his coworker who sat behind the glass. The other zombie returned the gesture and slipped his hand beneath the desk to press a button. A door on the left unlocked and the group walked into the desk area. They meandered their way among the rotten wood and officers to a door at the rear left wall. The name 'Chief Romero' was written on the thick, foggy glass.

The officer rapped his knuckles on the glass. "Chief?"

"Come in," came a cultured voice.

The officer opened the door and led the group inside. It was a small office with a worn wooden desk at the back and a few filing cabinets on the left. Two chairs sat in front of the desk, and behind the office furniture was a larger wood chair, the occupant of which was a burly rotting corpse that wore a police uniform. A gold bar on the front denoted his rank.

He looked up from his paperwork as they entered and frowned. "I see. I will deal with them from here, sergeant."

The officer saluted. "Yes, sir, and good luck." He shut the door behind them.

The chief set his pen on his desk and leaned back to study the group. "Took you guys long enough. I thought you would be here days ago." His gaze fell on Nena and he arched an eyebrow. "I do not recognize you, Miss-?"

"It's Nena," she told him.

"Are you new to our world?" he asked her. She bit her lower lip and nodded. His eyes flickered to Jack. "Has she been informed of the rules?"

Jack leaned his hip against the desk and shook his head. "Nope."

Chief Romero sighed. "Then I will take up the task. In the Terminal and the Underground you don't kill, murder, bump off, destroy, or poof anyone out of existence."

Nena blinked at him. "'Poof someone out of existence?'"

He nodded as he stood and walked around the desk. "Yes. It's for the witches. They're always trying to skirt the rules, so we designated a phrase specifically for their abilities." He paused beside Jack and frowned at him. "I was thinking of implementing a few rules for you, as well."

Jack shrugged. "The Agency tries to-"

"No, not the Agency, just for you," Romero corrected him.

Jack grinned. "I'm flattered, Chief."

"Don't be." The chief walked over to the door and grabbed the handle before he turned to the group. "Now come on. I would rather not deal with this thing any longer than I have to."

Romero led them outside where they took a hard left down a hall that ran deeper into the station. He stopped at a door marked 'Lockup' and opened the entrance. They were greeted with a roughly-hewn stone staircase that wound its way in a tight circle downward. Electric lights along the damp walls led the way.

The group proceeded down the steps. Jack tilted his head back and swept his eyes over the stairwell. "This brings back memories."

Nena averted the wet walls and glanced down at him. "You were arrested?"

"Only last month," Romero spoke up. He glanced over his shoulder at looked at her with a glassy eye. "I hope you will not be the same."

Jack chuckled. "Not this one, chief. She's cleaner than a Rockwell scene."

Chief Romero pursed his lips and turned his face away to stare ahead. They reached the bottom of the stairs and found themselves at a junction of two halls. One traveled to their left and right, the other lay straight ahead. Thick metal cell doors with tiny slots at the bottom lined either side of all the walls. Growls and groans emanated from some of the dark cells.

They took the forward path. "So how long have you had this thing?" Jack asked their guide.

"Three days," Romero told him.

Jack arched an eyebrow. "You ever think about getting rid of it? These things aren't exactly Terminal-friendly."

They reached the end of the hall where the path opened to a small circular room. On the opposite side was a thick metal door without a slot. On the left of the door was a pad with a small angled cup half embedded into the pad.

Romero stopped beside the pad and turned to them with a frown. "I requested rune bullets for my men, but your boss won't hand any over. We can only scrape together what your people leave behind, which isn't much."

Jack's humor vanished as he turned his attention to the door. "If I've got any left after this remind me to give you some."

"That would be much appreciated," Romero replied as he faced the pad.

The chief knocked the bony part of his palm against the back of his head. His right eye popped out and into the palm of his other hand. Nina cringed while Jack arched an eyebrow. "You might want to get that looked at, chief."

"This is the key to get into the maximum security cell," Romero explained as he set his eye into the small cup.

The eyeball rolled a couple of times before it came to a stop at the bottom. The pad let out a small beeping noise and hidden metal parts clanked and groaned. The door creaked open and revealed a small darkened rectangular room with a one-way mirror on the opposite wall. On the left was a door that led into the circular room beyond the glass.

Romero plucked the eye from the ball and pushed it back into his eye socket.

"Do you use super-glue to keep that thing in?" Jack wondered.

"Magic," the zombie told him as he stepped inside the room.

The others followed and the door slowly closed behind them, shutting off their main source of light. The greatest illumination came from the other room.

Romero gestured to the space beyond the glass. "There's your Death Shadow."

# 9

The three comrades stepped up to the glass and looked in. The room was round with a domed ceiling and walls made of whitewashed brick. There were no windows and the single door stood to their left. On the white walls were painted hexagrams, dozens of them of various sizes and paint colors.

In the center of the circular room stood a man of thirty. He faced the wall to their right with a blank expression and empty eyes. The man was a little below average height with oily long hair that hung to his shoulders. His pudgy stomach was covered by a t-shirt with the hash tag symbol followed by the word 'nerd.' Baggy sweatpants denoted a closeted lifestyle. His feet were covered by muddy socks and worn sneakers.

Nena leaned back and furrowed her brow. "This is a Death Shadow?"

At her question the young man turned his full face toward them. She gasped as she beheld the other side of his face, the side of bone and shadow. His flesh was gone, revealing his eternally-grinning skull. The eye socket held only a burning ember of light in its depths. His hair was a tangled mass of writhing shadows that wriggled down to his shoulder.

The creature turned its body to completely face them and revealed that his clothes twisted into a robe as black as the blackest night. His hand that peeked out from the end of the sleeve was only bones joined together by the shadows.

He was a contradiction, half alive and half dead.

"Oh my god. . ." she whispered.

"Not a pleasant sight, is it?" Romero commented as he joined them at the glass.

Jack leaned forward to catch his attention. "Where did you find it?"

"Wandering the sewers near the downtown district. At that time he had most of his body, but you can see what four days will do to someone that's been corrupted by one of those things," Romero told him. He reached into his pocket and drew out a wallet. "We found this on him."

Jack took the wallet and opened the flap. Inside was an ID card that revealed his name to be William Opfer. He glanced at the police captain. "Did you find out anything else about him?"

"His sister and mom are looking for him, but other than that, no," Romero revealed.

Jack returned his attention to the solitary creature that watched them. He sighed as he drew off his coat. "I guess we'd better get in there and get this over with."

Romero arched an eyebrow. "I admit that thing's strong, it ripped the arms off several of my men, but does it need both of you to destroy it?"

Jack shook his head. "We're not going to destroy it just yet. Something with that much human flesh left might have some clues to figuring out how this happened."

The chief narrowed his eyes. "Prying into others is illegal."

A crooked, empty smile slipped onto Jack's lips. "I don't like doing this any more than you like the idea, but we don't have any choice. Besides-" he half-turned toward the glass and studied the pentagrams, "-once that thing finishes its transformation those spells won't keep it contained, and then you'll have Kinder on your hands." Romero frowned, but moved over to the door to use his eye to unlock the knob.

Jack turned his attention to Nena. "You might want to leave. This isn't going to be pretty."

Nena wrapped her arms around her shivering body, but shook her head. The creature's eyes seemed to be watching _her_. "I'd rather stay, but what's 'Kinder?'"

"Kinder are the children of the corrupted Death Shadows, those it touches," Jack explained. He tossed the coat to Romero who caught it. "Take care of that for me."

The chief frowned, but draped the overcoat over one arm as Jack and Peter stepped through the door. The creature turned its head toward them and watched as the pair stopped side-by-side some ten feet from it.

Romero sidled up to Nena who looked up into his tense face. "What are they going to do that's illegal?"

"He's going to look into its memories by invading its mind," he explained

Her eyes widened and she returned her attention to the room. Peter used one hand to pry open the top of the bag around his neck. He dumped the contents on the floor in front of him. Nena leaned forward and furrowed her brow. There were thirteen small pieces of a gray metal object lying at his feet.

"What are those?" she wondered.

"Parts of a broken silver cross, though why he uses something that's dangerous to him as well as others is beyond me," Romero told her.

Nena frowned. "Dangerous to-"

Her words were cut short when a sweet melody struck her ears. The sound came from Peter's pursed lips and were as gentle as the song of a cheerful bird. Nena's eyes widened as the bits of silver cross floated above the floor and stopped at chest height in front of him.

The creature backed up and hissed at him. Peter gave a sharp, commanding whistle and the pieces short forward. They slammed into the creature's hands, feet, legs, arms and torso, with the last being in the middle of its forehead. The creature gave a great cry as the embedded objects dragged it across the room and pinned it to the far right wall. It writhed and thrashed as small plumes of smoke rose from the small penetration holes.

"Good god. . ." Nena whispered.

Romero pursed his lips. "God has nothing to do with either of these guys."

Jack strode across the room and stopped before the writhing creature. He lifted one gloved hand and paused. Nena swore she saw his eyes flicker over to the glass before he returned his full attention to the monster.

He removed his glove and revealed a completely transparent hand. The outline of a human hand was there and a faint bluish tinge in the interior, but Nena could see through it. Jack's brown eyes changed to a glowing blue as he tucked the glow into his pocket and raised his arm. He clenched his teeth as his hand slipped into the creature's forehead.

The creature's eyes widened and its body stiffened. The thing's mouth opened and a horrible scream of agony erupted from its throat. The sound reverberated around the room and penetrated through the glass. Nena clapped her hands over her ears, but she felt the thing's cry sink into her bones as it thrashed against Jack's penetrating hold.

The creature turned its face so she could see the remains of its human features. Tears streamed down his normal eye as he looked straight at her. She felt a tug inside her as he turned away and let out another terrible cry.

Nena took a step forward and shook her head. "No. You have to stop," she whispered.

Romero set a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?"

The creature writhed and thrashed. Cracks began to appear in the wall behind it. Its cries grew louder and more terrible.

Nena shook off Romero's hand and slammed her fists against the glass. "Stop it! Can't you see you're hurting him?"

The creature's gaze returned to her, but this time it was the eye of the Death Shadow that stared at her. Nena froze and her eyes widened as the thing's remaining lips curled back in a hideous grin. The cracks behind it widened until pieces of the wall broke loose. Jack jumped back to avoid being struck.

The creature whipped its head to and fro. It worked loose the piece of silver from its forehead. It reared back and let loose a hideous roar. A deep shadow exploded behind it, creating a halo of writhing shadows. The human side was swallowed by the black halo, but soon released. Its human form was gone and now the thing was completely bones and robes.

Jack whipped his head to the glass. "Get her out of here, Romero!"

Romero slammed on a button on the wall to the left of the glass. "What's going on?"

Jack glared at the glass. "Just get-"

"Jack!" Peter yelled.

The creature drew backward into the darkness and disappeared. The silver pieces clattered to the ground. Jack hurried over to Peter as he whistled. The silver floated over to him and hovered at his side.

Jack frowned as he swept his eyes over the room. "What happened, Pete?"

Peter turned his head to the left. "It is making use of the shadows between the bricks to travel around the room."

Nena heard something and looked to her right. She let out a shriek as a dark portal appeared in the wall and the creature emerged. Romero pulled her behind him and drew his gun. He fired off several shots, but they went through the creature and struck the wall.

"Nena!" Jack shouted as he rushed past Peter and slammed the door open. He pulled out his own gun with his gloved hand and fired off a shot. The thing tilted to one side so that the bullet struck its temple. It let out a terrible hissing cry before it drew back into the shadows.

Jack grabbed Nena's arm and whipped his head to Romero. "Evacuate the Terminal!"

Romero frowned. "Are you insane?"

"Evacuate this place or you're going to have a lot more trouble!" he snapped. The chief pursed his lips, but rushed out of the room. Jack turned his attention to Nena. "Are you-" He noticed her eyes were cast downward at his transparent hand. Jack hurriedly drew out his glove and yanked it. "Nena, we have to-"

There was a sharp whistle and bits of silver flew over their heads and lodged themselves into the burgeoning blackness above them. Jack shoved Nena down to the floor and looked up. The Death Shadow pushed against the silver and stretched out one of its skeletal hands toward them. Its red eyes were ever on Nena. Peter whistled again and more of his cross embedded themselves into its shadowed body. The creature screeched and shrank back into itself before the shadowy portal disappeared.

The bits of silver clattered to the floor. Peter thrust one hand toward them and opened his fingers. The silver pieces flew off the floor and into the bag that hung from his neck.

Jack pulled Nena to her feet and whipped his head to his partner. "We have to get Nena out of here."

Peter frowned. "The creature is a danger to everyone within-"

"It's after her!" Jack snapped as he pulled her toward the door. "If we get her out of here it might follow us!"

Nena jerked her head up to Jack's tense face. "Me? Why?"

He shook his head as they hurried down the hall. "I don't know, but we need to-" a scream erupted from a cell to their right. Jack didn't slow their pace, but he did look over his shoulder at Peter. "Infection rate?"

Peter glanced at the right-hand wall and furrowed his brow. "Every other cell, perhaps more."

"Infection?" Nena repeated.

"Just run!"

They sprinted down the dank corridor as the cries crew louder. The group climbed the winding stairs and were met at the top by Romero and a half dozen of his zombie officers. Draped over the chief's arm was Jack's overcoat. He looked past them down the steps and frowned. "What the hell is going on down there?"

"Trouble," Jack told him as he released Nena and dug into his overcoat pocket. He drew out a small bullet box that he slammed into Romero's free hand. "Here's an early Christmas gift. Don't waste them."

"But what is going on?" Romero growled.

"The infection rate is increasing," Peter announced.

Romero's eyes widened as he looked from Peter to Jack. "Infection? You mean-" Jack nodded.

"Yeah. Your cells are about to be a lot emptier after your men shoot your 'guests' in the center of their foreheads, and they'll be a lot more than that if you don't let us through."

He grabbed Nena and shoved his way through the crowds. They reached the main room of the precinct when one of the female officers let out a shriek and pointed at the left-hand wall. A dark oozing portal opened and the hooded Death Shadow emerged. It raised its head and its red eyes fell on Nena. Her blood ran cold beneath the hatred of that gaze.

"Get out of here!" Jack shouted as shots erupted behind them.

"They've broken out of the cells!" someone yelled.

"Then shoot them!" Romero snapped.

A firefight erupted at their rear as the Death Shadow lunged across the room. Its wide robe brushed against one of the slower officers and all the gray skin it touched changed to black. He screamed as he tried to rip his arm off, but the darkness spread too quickly and soon enveloped all his flesh. The officer's glassy eyes changed to a bright red color. When they fell on Nena the former zombie growled at her and shuffled toward them.

Jack pulled Nena behind him as she shook her head. "What happened to him?"

Jack raised his gun and fired a single shot. The bullet hit the infected zombie in the forehead. It had enough time to cry out before its body turned to ashes. Jack grabbed Nena's hand and tugged her toward the front doors. "It's not just the living that can become Kinder. Now let's get out of here before we join him."

# 10

Jack pulled her through the maze of desks with Peter behind them and led the group to the door leading to the foyer. The Corrupted flew in front of them and landed on the tiles before the door. The three skidded to a stop before it as the creature rose from the floor and lifted its red eyes to glare at the pair. Its temple where Jack had shot it oozed with a black thick muck the consistency of tar and the smell of sulfur.

The thing shoved its hand toward them and the tips of its fingers lengthened into sharp blades. The blades stretched outward and flew at them. Jack shoved Nena behind him and lifted his gun, deflecting the sharp blades with his weapon. Sparks flew from the contact before Jack pushed them away and fired off a shot. It struck the creature's shoulder and more tar oozed from the wound.

The Shadow tilted its head back and let loose a terrible screech. The noise echoed across the large processing room. Nena gasped as the floor beneath them shook and cracks opened and widened. Dozens of blackened hands reached out of the holes and sank their claws into the tiled floor. The hands dragged the rest of the body out of the holes and revealed themselves to be dark shadows like the zombie officer Jack had destroyed. Among them were wolf creatures, hags, robed wizards and pointed hat witches.

Peter stretched his arms out in front of him and opened his fingers. The bits of silver flew out of the bag and struck the creatures in the heart. They collapsed into piles of dust, but many more replaced them. The front line lunged at the group. Jack lifted his gun and pointed at the leader, a hulking werewolf figure.

Shots resounded through the room, but they didn't come from Jack's gun. Dozens of bullets tore into the dark Kinder, shredding their bodies until the remnants of the creatures fled back into the hole. Nena and Jack looked past the creatures and found a line of the uniformed zombie officers with Romero at the front.

Romero swung his gun up, a massive magnum, and pointed the barrel at the group. "Duck!"

Jack pulled Nena against him and the bullets flew past them. They struck the Death Shadow in the chest and shoved it backwards against the wall. Peter swung around and his silver bits flew past him to slam into the hands and feet of the Shadow. The Shadow opened its mouth beyond the capabilities of the human body and revealed an endless black hole at the back of its throat with a hint of a red glow at the bottom.

Nena's eyes widened as she gazed down into that bright glow. She felt herself pulled by a silent calling that made her take a step toward the creature.

Jack grabbed her upper arms and whipped his head to Peter. "Hold it still!"

Peter slammed six of the silver pieces into the creature's chest. The thing whipped its head back and screeched, breaking its hold on Nena. She stumbled back into Jack's chest as he raised his gun and fired. The Shadow sank back into the darkness and the bullet was embedded into the wall.

"Damn it!" Jack snapped before he turned to Peter. "Where'd it go?"

Peter shook his head. "I do not know."

Romero lowered his gun and studied at the piles of dust. "That is one way to clear the cells." He glanced at the three as they stood near the door. "Is it gone or not?"

Jack shook his head. 'Not by a long shot."

Romero nodded at Nena. "Then get her far away from here. I don't need any more Corrupted popping up."

"Way ahead of you," Jack agreed as he grabbed Nena's hand and pulled her through the door.

The companions rushed through the foyer and out into the open space of the Terminal. They were rushing along the shop fronts when the screaming started. Shoppers rushed out of a clothing store just ahead of them. One of the last ones, a young man in a robe, stumbled out and dropped to his hands and knees in front of the group which forced them to stop. He looked up at them with wide eyes and revealed the growing darkness that traveled out from beneath his shirt collar and up his neck. The young man leaned his head back and let out a terrible scream as he was consumed by the darkness.

The next moment he looked back at them with red eyes. He curled his lips back and lunged at them. Jack whipped his gun up, but the creature knocked it out of his hand and wrapped his black hands around his throat. It slammed Jack onto his back on the ground and shoved its face into his, hissing at him with sharp teeth.

Jack ripped his glove off and thrust his transparent hand into its chest. The Kinder whipped its head up and its eyes widened a moment before it exploded into a cloud of dust. Jack grabbed his gun and climbed to his feet, leaving the glove on the ground.

More shops were evacuated by their screaming shoppers. Several of them were affected by the Corruption as their skin blackened and their eyes changed to the glowing red.

Jack turned to Peter. "Slow them down while I get Nena out of here."

Peter nodded and summoned the silver parts from their bag. The bits flew forward and embedded themselves into the Kinder. The creatures screamed and lunged at him. He lifted his hands and slammed them into the chests of the Kinder. A quick draw backward and he held their hearts in his hands. The hearts, and their former occupants, turned to dust.

Jack set his gun-occupied hand against Nena's back and shoved her toward the tunnel through which they'd entered. "Get going!"

# 11

Nena stumbled forward, but caught herself and sprinted ahead with Jack at her side. They raced across the plaza, but a shadow followed along the ground like a plague as it touched anyone within its grasp. Zombie and witch, young and undead transformed into Kinder. Nena looked to her left and watched in horror as the young boy from before was touched by the creature, changing him into a monster. He dropped his ball and snarled at her with his long teeth.

They reached the tunnel and climbed inside, but so did their foe. The pair were thirty feet into the sewer when the Death Shadow rose from the brick floor, blocking their path with its darkness.

Jack narrowed his eyes and shoved his gun into her hands. "Stay here." Her mouth flopped open as he walked forward to face their foe. He removed his other glove and revealed that his dominant hand was also transparent before he shoved them both into his pockets. "I thought you were ugly as a human, but you're really ugly now." The Death Shadow hissed at him. He grinned. "You want to play, huh? Then come on."

The Corrupted lunged at him and stretched out its long claws to decapitate him. Jack drew his hands through the front of his pants. His palms were smoking from the loose bullets captured in his fingers. The momentum of his push threw them at the creature where they flew into its open mouth.

The Corrupted stumbled and grabbed its throat as the bullets slid down into its body. Glowing white circles appeared on its skin. It clapped its hands over the lights, but the glow sank through its hands and shot out like a beam that illuminated the walls. The Corrupted screamed as its body erupted in a ball of light, breaking itself into thousands of thin pieces of scorching flesh that burned away within seconds.

Jack turned around and grinned at Nena. "Not bad, huh?" Her mouth was agape as she gazed at the remains of the creature and the bright glowing lights that were Jack's hands. His good humor fled and he quickly slipped on his single glove before he walked up and took the gun from her. "Not the cleanest way to get rid of a Death Shadow, but it worked." He looked past her at the way they came and frowned. "Mostly."

She glanced over his shoulder at where he looked and her eyes widened. Two dozen Kinder stood at the opening to the tunnel. Their red eyes glared at their pair and they curled their lips back to reveal their long white teeth.

"Looks like we're not quite done here," Jack commented as Nena and he slowly backed up. The Kinder followed them step-for-step.

"The Death Shadow's dead, so why aren't they?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "It doesn't quite work that way. There won't be any new Kinder, but you have to deal with what it created."

Her eyes widened as the color drained from her face. "So what do we do?"

He grabbed her hand and turned her around. "Now we run."

The pair rushed down the tunnel and the Kinder gave chase like panthers after prey. They leapt onto the walls and ceiling and crawled their way after the companions. Some of them slipped into side passages and disappeared.

Jack glanced at Nena and the gun that stuck out from her coat pocket. "Use your gun!" he shouted at her as he slipped on his glove and reloaded a cartridge.

"But this doesn't do anything!" she reminded him.

Jack clapped the cartridge into his gun and shrugged. "You know that and I know that, but they don't know that. If one starts shuffling toward you just point the gun at it and shout 'bang.'"

"Seriously?"

They slid to a stop as shadows arose in front of them. Some of the Kinder had taken shortcuts and now blocked their path.

Jack looked to Nena. "You got a better idea?"

"Yeah, how about we get the hell out of-" A loud groan to her left made her look in that direction.

Nena gasped and started back out of the reach of a blackened zombie that stood two feet away. Its arms were outstretched and its rotten fingernails brushed against her shirt. Nena shrieked and whipped her gun out. She slammed the butt of the weapon down on the zombie's head. It crashed to the floor and she gawked as it struggled at her feet to stand.

"When I said use the gun I meant the trigger!" he scolded her.

The other Kinder closed in on them. Nena lifted her gun as Jack did the same. She clenched her teeth and pressed the trigger. There were too many for her not to hit one. The unlucky Kinder stumbled and stopped. It looked down at its chest and reached its rotting hand up to brush its fingers against a small hole in its already-holy shirt. A small glow erupted from the hole and illuminated the darkness of the sewers.

The Kinder whipped its head back and stared at them with wide, plain brown eyes and a faint glimmer of a smile as hundreds of white glow spots appeared on its body, clearing away the darkness. The next moment light burst outward and consumed its person. The sewer was awash in the brilliance for a brief second before the light faded and revealed an empty spot where the Kinder had once stood.

The other Kinder gawked at the bare area before they turned their attention back to their prey. Many of them curled their lips back and snarled at the pair as they strode toward them.

"Gimme that gun," Jack commanded her as he swiped the weapon from her hands. He fired off a couple of rounds at the Kinder nearest them. The creatures paused and looked down at their feet. The bullets rolled uselessly along the ground in front of them. "Or maybe not," he added as he pressed the gun back into her hands. "You try firing again."

She blinked at him. "But it didn't work-"

"For me, but it might just be more partial to pretty women than handsome men," he pointed out.

Nena rolled her eyes before she turned to face their foes. She raised the gun like Jack had shown her and fired. The bullet struck the lead Kinder and the familiar glow erupted from the strike point. The creature had enough time to close its eyes before it, too, erupted into a ball of heavenly light and disappeared.

The remaining Kinder howled in rage and lunged at them. Together Nena and Jack fired their guns, illuminating the sewer with bright lights and glitter. The way before them was the first area cleared.

"Time to go!" Jack shouted before they hurried forward.

A Kinder leapt onto Jack's back. Nena spun around and fired, hitting the creature squarely in the forehead and lodging the bullet in the crumbling ceiling.

Jack grinned at her. "Good job, partner."

She grinned back. "No problem, part-"

"Look out!" Jack shouted as he shoved her out of the way.

Nena was thrown onto her rear to the ground two yards further down the tunnel and was given a clear view of the disaster as the part of the ceiling she'd shot gave way. Tons of cement and bricks crashed down on Jack, burying him in a tomb of rubble.

The cave-in also knocked out the electricity, plunging the sewers into darkness. A cloud of dust blew over her and made her choked and cough. After a few moments the thick air settled and gave Nena a chance to see the damage in the dim light provided by a few errant drain holes.

The tunnel was completely shut off.

Nena struggled to her feet and gaped at the wreckage. All was quiet but for a few clinking noises as loose brick shifted and groaned.

Something caught her eye. She forced her shaky feet forward a few steps and stopped at the edge of the rubble. There, crushed beneath the bricks, was a piece of Jack's overcoat.

Nena raised a shaking hand to her gaping mouth and shook her head. Tears streamed down her cheek as she backed away. "No. Please God, no. . ."

Nena started back when a few broken bricks dropped off the pile near her foot. She glanced down and yelped as a blackened, rotting hand climbed out of the ruins. Nena raised her gun and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked. Empty.

Nena threw the gun at the oncoming creature. The Kinder hand easily dodged her weak throw. She stumbled back and tripped over a jumble of rocks, falling backwards onto her rear. The hand got a running start on its fingers and lunged at her. She turned her face away and shut her eyes as she threw her hands up in front of her.

A bright light sank past her eyelids and into her eyes. Nena peeked open one eye. The hand was gone. All was quiet.

Nena climbed to her feet and lifted her eyes to the rubble. She pursed her lips and turned her back on the grave. There was nothing more she could do but save herself.

Before her lay the vast tapestry of sewers that dwelt below the city. Without electricity every shadow made her jump. She wrapped her arms around herself and strode through the worsening conditions as her path led back into the dank, wreaking mess of used sewer drains.

Nena staggered her way through the culverts until she found a ladder that led up to a manhole. She climbed the slippery rungs and, with a heft of her shoulder, opened the cover. A quick peek told her the opening led into an alley. She climbed out and replaced the cover before she stepped out into the streets.

The area was one of the slummier parts of town with broken streetlights and cars on cinder blocks. The hideous sight, however, gave her hope. She knew where she was, so she quickly fled along the streets to her familiar destination.

# 12

Matt sat at his desk typing away at the myriad of computer screens. The hour was late, but his eyes were alert as they ran through the information.

"This Project Endzeit is whack. . ." he murmured as his eyes flickered from one screen to the other.

A knock on the door returned his attention to the world outside his computers. He frowned and rolled out his chair. "Always when I'm working. . ." he grumbled as he strode out of his room and to the front door.

He unlocked the deadbolt, but not the chain so he was able to open the door only a few inches. "Yeah?"

On the other side of the door stood a slim, middle-aged man with black hair and dark eyes. His face was pale and he wore a weathered brown overcoat over an old gray suit. A brown fedora with a stained band sat atop his head.

He gave Matt a weak smile. "Hi, Matt. I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by."

Matt's face fell. "Hey, Mr. Tacita. Any news about Nena?"

Nena's dad shook his head. "Nothing. I've alerted the police and they're looking for her now, but-well, you know."

Matt pursed his lips. "Yeah, I know. This isn't a good place for her to go missing."

Tacita closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them and cleared his throat. "Well, I'm sure wherever she is she's fine. You know how stubborn my daughter can be. Not even death could keep her down."

Matt smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

Tacita half-turned away from him and tipped his hat to the young man. "Well, I'll be seeing you."

"Later," Matt returned.

Nena's dad turned and stuck his hands in his overcoat pockets as he shuffled away. Matt shut the door and leaned his back against the entrance as he bowed his head and sighed. "Damn it, Nena. Why didn't I just go to the stupid movie with you?"

A rap made him look up. His eyes widened as he beheld the ragged, muddy face of Nena at the window to the fire escape. She beckoned to him with both hands.

Matt rushed to the window and, after a bit of a struggle, threw it open. "Holy shit, Nena! Where the hell have you been?"

She struggled through the window and embraced him in a tight hug. "You don't know how happy I am to see you!"

Matt pulled them apart and looked her over. Her skin was pale and her clothes were stained with muddy water. "You look like you've been through hell."

Nena shook her head. "No, but I met the guy who runs that place."

He blinked at her. "Say what?"

She glanced past him at his couch. "Just let me sit down and I'll tell you everything."

Matt helped her over to the couch where she collapsed onto one of the cushions. "You want some tea? Coffee?"

She leaned her head back and shook her head. "I'm fine. I just ran here from sixty-fourth street."

His eyes widened. "Damn, Nena, that's over a dozen blocks away!"

She clutched her aching side and winced. "Yeah, I know."

"So where the hell have you been these last three days?" he asked her.

Her eyes flew open and she whipped her head to him. "How long?"

"You've been missing for three days," he told her.

She stared ahead with wide eyes. "Three days. . ." she whispered.

"So what happened?" he persisted.

Nena ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. "You're not going to believe it."

He grinned. "Try me."

So she did. At the end of her hour-long explanation Matt sat beside her with an arched eyebrow and pursed lips.

"You're right, I don't believe you," he told her.

"It's the truth," she insisted.

He leaned away from her and wrinkled his nose. "You sure you just weren't drugged and that was all just a-" Nena grabbed his wrist and pressed his hand over her heart. His eyes widened before he tried to tear his hand away. "Hey! Hey! We're just friends!"

She caught his gaze in hers. "What do you feel?"

He cringed. "Seriously? Is this some sort of trick question about the size of your boobs or something?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, what don't you feel?"

"I'm a computer nerd, not a doctor."

"My heart!" she snapped.

Matt looked downward and furrowed his brow as he searched for her heartbeat. His eyes widened as he found nothing. He lifted his eyes to her and his mouth flopped open and shut.

"Believe me now?" she asked him.

Matt yelped and leapt off the couch. He staggered backward into the wall and lifted his hands to cross two fingers together. "B-back! Back, I say!"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm dead, not undead."

"What's the difference?" he argued.

Nena ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. "To tell you the truth I don't know, but I don't think I need blood to survive."

He pursed his lips and studied her hard. "Not even virgin blood?"

She snorted. "Not even virgin blood."

Matt lowered his hands and took a step toward her. "You're not just fooling me, are you? This isn't just some sort of a joke, is it?"

Nena pursed her lips as she looked at her sewer-mucked shoes. "I wish. . ."

Matt slipped over and eased himself back onto the couch cushion beside hers, his eyes ever on his companion. "So what are you going to do? Call your dad?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. I don't want to get him involved in this, at least not yet."

Matt's face fell and he frowned. "But you got me into this."

She shrank back and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry?"

He sighed and shrugged. "At least I've found you. Well, what's left of you."

Nena straightened and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He held up his hands. "Nothing. It's just-well, you being dead, but at least you're here, right?" He turned his head and glanced out the window with a furtive expression. "Now all I need to do is figure out where Joe went."

Nena furrowed her brow. "Who's Joe?"

He stood and shook his head. "Just a guy who was helping me out on some code for that Group-That-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Nena ran a hand through her disheveled hair and shook her head. "Believe me, after what I've been through hearing you talk about that Merry Men group is nothing."

Matt sheepishly grinned and side-stepped toward his bedroom door. "Then you won't mind if I go chat with them right now, right? There's a board meeting in about five minutes and I gotta tell them I'm close to getting that code done."

She leaned back and closed her eyes. "I'm so tired I wouldn't care if you told me you were taking over the world."

He grinned and skipped over to his bedroom door where he paused in the doorway with one hand on the knob. "Great! This shouldn't take too long, but feel free to help yourself to some cereal. Well, if dead people eat. Anyway, be right back." He shut the door and in a moment she heard the familiar roll of his chair along its plastic pad.

Nena opened her eyes and furrowed her brow. Food. She hadn't given it a thought since she woke up in that sterile infirmary. Nena set a hand on her stomach. There was no familiar gurgling. No growling. Nothing.

"May as well give it a try. . ." she whispered to herself as she stood. "What could it hurt?"

Nena strode over to the tiny kitchen and opened a cupboard. The shelves were bare of everything but dust. She rolled her eyes and tried the next one. That had a box of macaroni and a pot.

"Essentials. . ." she murmured as she looked behind cupboard door number three.

The third time was the charm and she found herself staring at a box of cereal and some paper bowls. She drew them out and poured a few spoonfuls into one of the bowls. Her eyes flickered to the ancient rumbling, lime-green colored fridge. She shuddered.

"I don't want to die from milk poisoning," she muttered as she pinched a round chocolate ball between her fingers.

_You're already dead_.

Nena frowned. The voice sounded like Jack. "Get out of my head," she growled.

There was no impertinent reply so she tossed the ball into her mouth and bit down. The rough, dry texture was just like she remembered, but there was something different about the taste. It was bland. She plucked another from the bowl and tossed it into her mouth. The cereal dragged along her tongue and left her with a flavor of cardboard.

Nena swallowed the lot of two and stuck out her tongue and wrinkled her nose. She pushed the bowl away and turned back to the cupboards. She'd taken one step toward them when her stomach was hit by a wave of nausea. Nena rushed to the sink and leaned over just as the few bits of cereal pushed its way up her throat and out her mouth. The undigested food emptied into the sink and sat there on the bottom mocking her.

Nena leaned on the counter and stumbled over to a roll of paper towels. She tore one off and wiped her mouth as a mocking mantra echoed through her head.

_You're dead. You're dead. You're dead._

# 13

Matt had a big grin on his face as he stepped out of his room fifteen minutes later. In his hand was his lucky pin which he rubbed against the front of his shirt. "Guess who just got a big bonus from the boss?" he chirped.

His good humor fled when he saw his friend curled up on her side on the couch with her face in her hands. Her body shook and small sobs escaped her mouth.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he walked up and sat on the edge of the coffee table in front of her.

"I. . .I couldn't eat the cereal," she sobbed.

He shrugged. "Maybe you just need some time."

She drew her hands away to reveal her red, tear-stained face and shook her head. "That won't fix anything. You can't fix dead with time."

His shoulders fell and he pursed his lips. "Listen, Nena, I' not going to pretend to know what you're going through because-well, let's be honest, a lot of people don't know what you're going through, but I just want you to know I'm here for you, okay? You don't have to go through this alone."

A smile teased the corners of her lips as she looked up at him. "I didn't know you were that good at making speeches."

He sheepishly grinned at her. "Actually, I kind of lifted most of that from an online self-help chat board."

She rolled her eyes and sat up to wipe away her tear stains. "I wondered why you didn't throw in any memes."

Matt snorted. "It's not easy fitting cats in _every_ conversation." There came a knock on the door. He glanced at the entrance and furrowed his brow. "Another one?"

An echo of her pulse quickening ran through Nena's body as she sat straight. "Are you expecting anybody?"

He shook his head as he stood. "No, but just stay there." He tiptoed over to the door and peeped through the tiny hole. There was a pause before he glanced over his shoulder at Nena. His face was a little pale and his voice was a trembling whisper. "What kind of coat did that Jack guy wear again?"

She frowned. "I told you he's dead."

Matt stepped away from the door and stared at her as he jerked his thumb at the entrance. "You might want to see this."

Nena stood and strode over to the door. She peeked through the peephole. Her eyes widened as she beheld the disheveled figure of Jack, complete with overcoat and messy short hair, standing on the other side. She stumbled back and shook her head. Every word she spoke was louder than the last. "I-it can't be! I saw him die! I saw him-" Matt leapt over to her and clapped a hand on her mouth.

There was another rap on the door. Matt looked from the entrance to his friend's terrified face. "You have to get out of here," he whispered to her.

She tore his hand off her mouth and glared at him. "I'm not running away-"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the window that led to the fire escape. "You can come back when things cool down-" he told her as he opened the window and turned to her, "-but I bet if he finds you he'll take you back to that Itchy-"

"Scratch," she corrected him.

"He'll take you back to _him_ , and I've seen enough movies to know the devil doesn't like to be crossed," he pointed out.

Nena pursed her lips as she studied her friend. "Just don't get yourself killed, okay?"

He grinned. "Think how much I'd save on cereal costs, now get."

Nena climbed out onto the fire escape as a harder knock came from the entrance. Matt shut the window behind her and gave her a thumbs-up on the other side of the glass. She nodded and raced down the metal stairs to the dark alley below. The last ten feet were managed by a metal ladder. She climbed down and skipped the final two rungs by hopping down.

Nena spun around to face the rear of the alley away from the street and froze. A shadow stood in her path. For a moment she thought it was Death returned to finish the job. The figure took a step forward and revealed themselves to be Peter.

"You must return with us," he told her.

Nena narrowed her eyes and shook her head as she took a step back. "No way. I'm not going back there."

"You have no choice."

"Then catch me."

Nena turned toward the street, but another shadow presented itself. "I'm glad to see you're okay," Jack commented as he revealed himself.

She took a step away from him and shook her head. "You can't be here. I saw the ceiling crush you!"

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his overcoat and shrugged. "Let's just say the ceiling missed. Now we really should go before your friend tries to get himself deeper into this mess than he already is."

Nena's eyes widened and she whipped her head up to look at the window. "Matt!" The window remained shut and empty.

Jack took a few steps closer to her. "Don't worry about him. He's taking a little nap."

She looked back at him and glared at the man as she balled her hands into fists at her side. "What'd you do to him?"

He held up his gloved hands. "Easy there. All I did was give him a little love-tap. He should wake up in an hour or two."

"You bastard!" she yelled as she lunged at him.

Nena swung a punch at Jack's face. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as her hand flew through his head and out the other side. He caught her swing with his gloved hand as it came out the other side of his head and drew her hand in front of his face.

His eyes were soft as he looked into her wide ones. "Sorry about this."

He shed the glove off his free hand and cupped the side of her face in his transparent grasp. Nena's eyes rolled back and her legs bucked. He caught her and lifted her into his arms.

Peter came up to his side as Jack looked down at Nena's scrunched face. "She's not too bad looking when she's sleeping, is she?"

Peter looked up at his partner and studied him. "Did you know that would work on a Death Touched?"

Jack shrugged. "I didn't, but I figured it was worth a try. Now let's get going before that guy wakes up and makes our jobs a little harder."

They strode down the alley to their black car that was parked along the curb. Jack gently set Nena in the back seat and took his position in the co-pilot seat while Peter took the helm. They sped off down the road, leaving the apartment far behind them.

Jack glanced over his shoulder at the unconscious woman draped across the back seat. He pursed his lips before he stared ahead and shook his head. "That could have gone better."

"How so?" Peter asked him.

Jack shrugged. "I _was_ hoping me at the door would get her out."

"She watched you use your abilities to interrogate a partially Corrupted individual, and then be crushed by tons of rocks. To find you unharmed would prove traumatizing to many humans," he pointed out.

Jack frowned at his partner. "You're a real help, you know that? It's bad enough we're having to take her back at all."

Peter's eyes flickered to him and he arched an eyebrow. "You seem to be taking a special interest in her."

Jack slid down in his seat and folded his arms over his chest before he shrugged. "I took an interest in you when you first came. This one's no different."

"Is it? I distinctly remember you informing Scratch I was not needed," he reminded him.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I was just trying to get you out of this business before you got in. It's the same for her."

"You tried to show Scratch I was useless by staking me."

A grin slipped onto Jack's face as he tilted his face toward Peter. "Yeah, but you were faster than you looked."

Peter glanced through the rear view mirror at their sleeping passenger. "Yes, but this woman is not, and she is Death Touched. Yet only at Scratch's insistence did you recapture her."

The humor fled from Jack's face as he looked to his right and out the window. The dark world passed by them in shades of gray and black. "That's not who she is."

His partner pursed his lips. "You and I both know what must be done with her. That eventually she must be-"

"No!" Jack shouted. He whipped his head to glare at Peter and narrowed his eyes. "Not this time. Not this one."

Peter arched an eyebrow. "Why not this one?"

Jack clenched his teeth and turned his face away. "Just not her. Besides, we have time to get Death, then maybe we won't even have to do anything."

A soft smile spread across Peter's usually stoic face as he studied his friend's expression. "I see," he commented as he looked ahead.

Jack glanced at him and frowned. "See what?"

Peter shook his head. "Nothing."

Jack sat up and glared at him. "Damn it, Pete, tell me what you're seeing or I'll stake you in your sleep."

Peter nodded at the road ahead of them. "I see the compound."

Jack followed his gaze and frowned. The dark outline of the Agency headquarters loomed up in front of them. "Damn it. . ." he muttered as he reached into his overcoat and pulled out a cigarette. He lit up the end before his eyes flickered to Peter. "Don't think you'll get off that easy."

Peter shook his head. "The idea never entered my mind."

# 14

Nena groaned. Her head felt like somebody had rubbed her brain with sandpaper. She forced her eyes open and winced against a bright light above her. A soft rustling sound came from beneath her.

Nena sat up and clutched her head as she looked around. She was stretched out on a narrow bed with white sheets and a single pillow. The walls were as white as fresh snow, but a camera with a red eye was a blemish on the perfect picture. There were no windows, but a door stood in the middle of the wall opposite the bed.

A rap on the door made her gasp and scuttle into the corner. The entrance swung inward and Jack peeked his head around the door. He grinned at her and gave a small wave. "Hey." Nena drew her legs against her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she glared at him. His face fell. "Still angry, huh?" he mused as he slipped inside and shut the door behind him.

Nena winced as a half dozen locks locking echoed around the tiny room. She returned her attention to Jack and narrowed her eyes. "Get out," she growled.

He held up his gloved hands. "I just want to talk."

"You've talked, now get out," she hissed.

A sly, crooked grin slipped onto his lips as he put his hands behind his back and took a few steps closer to the bed. "I want a real talk, and it's about a woman's favorite subject, herself."

"Not interested," she snapped.

He stopped and his eyebrows shot up. The smile remained in place. "Really? You _are_ a strange one, aren't you?" Nena frowned and turned her face away. Jack took a step closer and leaned to one side to catch her eyes. "Then we won't talk about you. We'll talk about what you _want_ to know." She didn't move her head, but her eyes flickered back to him. He wagged his eyebrows. "You're just dying to know about me, aren't you?"

Nena rolled her eyes and looked away. "Not on your life."

He laughed and slipped over to her to take a seat on the end of the bed. Nena's eyes widened and she pressed herself as deep into the corner as she could manage. Jack leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes. All was quiet between them.

Nena studied his calm, young face. He was devilishly handsome, but that pallor of his was-well, too pale. She leaned forward and squinted as she stared at his chest. It didn't move. Not an inch.

"You can ask me anything," he spoke up. She gasped and slammed backward into her corner. He peeked open one brown eye and studied her. "Anything at all." Nena bit her lower lip. Her eyes inadvertently traveled down to his hands that lay in his lap. His gaze followed hers and he sighed. "Ah. Those." He lifted one hand to eye-level and turned it left and right. "My dirty little secret all wrapped up in gloves. His idea of a joke, I suspect."

She arched an eyebrow. "Whose?"

Jack lifted his other hand and pulled each finger of the glove one-by-one upward. "Scratch. It was his idea to 'recruit' me, as he said." He gave a tug and the glove slid off his hand. Nena's eyes widened as she beheld the transparent hand. Jack frowned at his ghostly digits. "He brought back only most of me, but I suppose it's a little useful having these."

She furrowed her brow as her gaze fell on his hard expression. "Brought you back? From where?"

He dropped his hands into his lap and turned his head toward her with a smile. "The dead."

Nena blinked at him. "So you're dead? Like me?"

He shook his head. "No, we're a little different. When I died Death did his duty and took me. Well, mostly. I was a bit of a restless spirit. That's another reason Scratch decided I was a good candidate for his little war on Death."

She shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

Jack drew one leg up onto the bed and grinned at her. "You really want to know?"

She frowned. "And if I don't?"

He shrugged and turned his face away before he closed his eyes. "Then we sit here for a very, very long time." Nena kicked one leg out and knocked his foot off the bed. He dropped forward and whipped his head to her. "What was that for?"

"For what you did to Matt," she snapped.

"It really was for his own good," he insisted as he sat up straight. "That idiot was trying to stop me from getting you."

"He was trying to protect me from you," she pointed out.

He leaned the back of his head against the wall and pursed his lips as he stared ahead. "I guess I can't blame him for that, but I think you need a better protector. I mean, you've got a better right punch than he does."

"Much good it did me. . ." she muttered as her eyes flickered up to his face.

Jack reached up with his transparent hand and rubbed his face. "One of the advantages of a person in my situation."

"And what is your situation?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Just another wandering spirit trapped in a hollow display of my old form until I've helped the Devil destroy Death."

She leaned back and arched an eyebrow. "That sounds insane."

He chuckled and turned his head to her with a smile on his face. "Don't I know it."

"So you're a ghost?"

"In the flesh."

Nena leaned forward so she sat on her knees and reached out with one hand. Jack held perfectly still as she set her hand atop his uncovered one, or tried to. Her fingers went right through to his pants.

She drew back and touched her cold fingers with her other hand before her eyes flickered up to his soft face. "How come I can touch your leg, but not your face?"

He patted his pant leg with his gloved hand. "I can touch and wear clothing, and go through them, as you saw in the tunnel. Except for these-" he lifted his uncovered hand and studied the transparent fingers, "-these are a little too special for ordinary clothes, so they're made in-house by Archimedes."

She nodded at his troubled hand. "Scratch did that to you?"

He pursed his lips. "Yeah. His way of leashing me to him. Without those gloves-" he tried patting his pants leg, but the fingers sank below the surface to his real leg, "-I'm a man without a sense and ability to touch anything, even myself. Well, other than a few brief seconds like you saw me with those bullets."

Nena furrowed her brow. "So what happened when the ceiling fell in on you?"

He turned to her and grinned. "You want to see?" She nodded. He leapt to his feet and stood before her with his arms spread apart. "Throw the bed sheet over me."

"So you want to look like a ghost?" she teased as she got up and tore the top bed sheet off the bed.

"You'll see. Now toss it over my head."

"All right. Here goes."

Nena grabbed two of the corners and bundled the cloth in her hand. With a quick flick she tossed the free ends over his head. Her held the other ends made sure the cloth didn't float any farther, and they stretched out the sheet to its full length above him. A quick float downward and the cloth dropped on top of his head.

The cloth floated through his head, down his body, and ended up in a pile around his feet. Nena gaped at the mess of sheets and lifted her eyes to Jack's face. There was no triumph in his eyes, just a soft look as he studied her reaction.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and managed a shaky smile. "That's really-um, sort of-"

"Terrifying?" he finished for her.

Nena winced, but gave a nod. "A little."

Jack snatched his glove from the bed and slipped it on. His side was turned to Nena and his head was bent down. He didn't look at her as he spoke. "I can't blame you. Knowing about death is bad enough, but seeing what's on the other side is far worse. It makes everyone a little nervous-" He froze as a small hand settled on his gloved one. Jack looked up and found himself staring into the smiling face of Nena. This time the smile was firm as she looked into his eyes.

"People learn to face death," she told him in a hushed voice. "It's just a part of living."

He studied her with his soft brown eyes. "You've lost someone."

Nena's face fell and she turned her head away. "My mom. Cancer."

"I'm sorry."

She shut her eyes and squeezed out a few loose tears. "It's fine. It was a couple years ago."

He cupped her chin in his hand and turned her gaze back to his. There was a small smile on his lips. "You're a terrible liar."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not lying."

Jack released her and dug into his pocket until he retrieved a packet of cigarettes. "Being a bad liar isn't bad, though it won't get you far around here," he commented as he tapped one out and set it between his lips before he rummaged for his lighter.

She frowned and nodded at the cigarette. "How come you can smoke, but I can't hit you?"

He lit the cigarette and grinned as he put away the lighter. "You really think the Devil would bring somebody back who couldn't take the heat?" His humor fled him as he glanced to his left at the door. "Speaking of that, he wants to talk to you."

Nena stiffened and her eyes widened. "Me? Why?"

His eyes flickered back to her and he pressed the cigarette tightly between his lips. "He wants to know if you're going to keep running off."

She frowned. "What choice did I have?"

"Plenty of them, and he doesn't like the choice you made," he told her.

"So what's he going to do to me?" she asked him.

Jack took out his cigarette and looked her in the eyes. "Do you want to stay here?"

She swept her eyes over the room. "You mean here? It doesn't really have a great view."

He shook his head. "What I'm asking you is serious. Deadly serious. Do you understand?" Nena winced, but nodded. "Do you want to stay or not?"

Nena looked down at her chest and pressed her hand over her heart. She closed her eyes and listened. Nothing. Only silence. She opened her eyes and met Jack's steady gaze. "I'm staying."

He grinned. "Good, then you've got nothing to worry about with Scratch. He might be the Prince of Darkness, but he's the court jester when it comes to wits. Just keep yours about you and you'll be able to deal him into give you his tail."

She arched an eyebrow. "Does he really have a tail?"

Jack led her to the door and opened it. "Let's just say he can scratch his back really well."

Nena stepped outside with Jack behind her. She ran a hand through her wild hair and winced when her fingers caught on a tangle of threads. "So I can still get sleep hair?" she asked him as he turned to her.

He nodded. "Yeah. Even a restless soul has to get some rest." He looked her over with a wily expression. "Except when there's something more fun to be had, that is."

"Ahem."

The pair turned around. Doc stood a few feet behind them with his arms folded over his chest. His bespectacled eyes flickered between the couple. "I thought to comfort Miss Nena, but it appears that the duty has been taken by another."

Jack grinned and gave him a wink. "Maybe next time, Doc."

Nena glared at him while Doc cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I may be of some use to our new friend. While you no doubt have noticed her body, you have failed to pay attention to her attire." Nena and Jack glanced down at her clothing. They were still the mud-and-blood stained, torn and dusted clothes she'd worn for three days. After her brush with cereal they now had a faint odor of puke, as well.

Jack shrugged. "Not a problem. We'll just stop by one of stores downtown and I'll help her pick out some."

Doc glared at him. "If Miss Nena is going to be running about on these 'outings' than might I suggest sturdier clothes than lingerie?"

Nena looked to Jack but pointed at Doc. "I'll choose door number two."

Jack put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "All right, but it would've been fun."

# 15

Nena looked herself up and down in the full-length mirror. She was attired in a black turtleneck sweater with black jeans and shoes. Behind her and draped over the back of a chair was a black overcoat similar to the one worn by Jack.

She glanced at the door to the infirmary. "Jack?"

The door opened and he peeked his devilish face inside. "You called?"

She glared at him. "What if I wasn't done dressing?"

"Then I would have helped you finish," he quipped as he slipped inside.

"I highly doubt that," Doc commented as he followed him into the room. The elderly man paused to study her for a moment before he nodded approvingly. "You look wonderful, Miss Nena."

Jack stopped at the overcoat and rubbed the fabric between his gloved fingers. "Not bad material."

Nena tilted to one side and studied the frayed tail of his own worn overcoat. "Your coat went right through that sheet, so how come I saw some of your coat in the bricks?"

"I was so busy saving a certain beautiful young woman that I didn't have time to materialize all my clothes," he explained.

"Your flattering lines are nearly as old as you," Doc quipped as he drew the coat off the chair and walked it over to Nena. He smiled as he handed the clothing to her. "The special leather should keep some of your chill from getting worse."

She took the coat and slung an arm through as she arched an eyebrow. "How?"

"It's made from the flesh of demons tortured in the bowels of hell until their hides fell off," he told her.

Nena paused and slid the coat off her to drape it over her arm. "Um, thanks."

"That stuff will keep you warm until Armageddon," Jack spoke up.

Doc glared at him. "Must you be so uncouth?"

Jack drew a cigarette from his pocket and lit it in the corner of his mouth before he nodded. "Yep," he commented as he stuffed the lighter back into his coat and looked past Doc at Nena. "Time to go see him."

Nena pursed her lips, but nodded. She gave a smile at Doc before the pair left the infirmary and went to the office of the big man. Jack used the back of his knuckle to rap on the door.

"Come in," came the velvety voice of Scratch.

Jack opened the door for Nena and she reluctantly stepped inside first. The office was dark, darker than she remembered, and there was a scent of sulfur in the air. The back of the chair was turned toward the door and a puff of smoke rose from the seat. Jack took a position against the wall beside the door while Nena stopped five feet away from the front of the desk.

The chair swiveled around to reveal Scratch. He held a thick cigar in one hand and a sly smile on his lips as he stood. "Miss Tacitas, what a pleasure to see you again."

Nena swallowed the lump in her throat and stood straight. "It's all yours," she quipped.

Scratch chuckled as he sauntered around the side of the desk. His eyes flickered to Jack. "I think you've been in with bad company, Miss Tacitas."

"You put me with him," she pointed out.

Scratch leaned his rear against the front of the desk and took a big drag of his cigar. The end lit up like a burning coal before he drew it away and blew out a thick ring of gray smoke. The smoke ring floated over to Nena and hovered above her head like a dying halo. Scratch gripped his cigar hard and stared at her without blinking. "You forget your place, little girl."

The rough tone in his voice made Nena want to turn around and run from the room, but she had business with this prince of deals. "Jack said you wanted to see me about something."

Scratch nodded. "Yes. I know how dreadfully miserable you are here so I wanted to give you a choice." He held out his empty hand with the palm turned upward. Tendrils of red flickering flame floated up from his palm and morphed themselves into the familiar silhouette of her apartment building. "I could let you go home, or-" the picture changed as the tendrils shifted. They drew up and rearranged themselves into a figure that rose from Scratch's dark palm. The person lifted their head and revealed themselves as the masked man from the alley. Death. Scratch grinned as he saw her eyes widen. "-or I could let you stay. Which will it be?"

Nena took a step back before she stopped herself. She took a deep breath and steadied herself before she drew herself to her full height. "I'll stay."

"Are you sure?" Scratch wondered as he blew another smoke ring. The gray halo floated over to her, but this time she blew it out with a puff of air.

Nena shrugged. "Why not? Since I'm unemployed I could use something to do, at least for a little while."

Scratch's gaze flickered past her and fell on Jack. He narrowed his eyes as he pursed his lips. "That is quite a proclamation, Miss Tacitas. One would almost think you weren't being guided by your own will."

Nena stepped into the path of his gaze and crossed her arms over her chest. "This is my choice. Are you willing to accept me or not?"

A sly smile slipped onto his lips as Scratch shut his hand, dispelling the red tendrils before he pushed off from the desk. "Of course, Miss Tacitas. You're a valuable asset to this enterprise, and I would hate to lose you. I'm sure Jack feels the same way."

Jack smiled and bowed his head to Scratch. "I'm as thrilled with it as you are."

The corner's of Scratch's lips twitched downward, but he merely waved his hand at the door. "You may both go."

Nena turned around and marched out the doors. Jack grinned and pushed off from the wall. "I'm a little curious, Scratch. Is she here to bait Death, or your temper?"

Scratch frowned. "You're forgetting your place, O'Kent."

The threat didn't cause the grin on his face to fade as Jack turned and strode from the room. He found Nena by the elevator doors. She glanced from him to the closed door of Scratch's office. "You took a while."

He pressed the elevator button and smiled at her. "If I was still alive your long pause before your answer would've taken more than a while off my life."

She grinned and shrugged. "For dramatic effect. So what do we do now?"

The elevator doors swooshed open and they both stepped in. Jack pressed the button with the number '2' on it. "Now we go see if Pete's found anything out with the information I gave him."

She furrowed her brow. "What information?" He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit up inside the cramped space. She waved her hand in front of her face and glared at him. "Do you have to do that here?"

He grinned at her. "There's no time like the present, but he's using the info I got from that Corrupted to try to find out what it was doing down there."

Nena wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered. "Is it always like that? The way they change?"

His eyes flickered down to her and he shook his head. "No."

She looked up at him and furrowed her brow. "How does it usually work?"

"Do you remember what it looked like when we first saw it?" She nodded. He took a puff of his cigarette and blew smoke out of the side of his mouth. "After three days it was only half-transformed. It should've taken at least another three to finish the job."

"So how long does it usually take?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Nobody knows. We usually find them too far gone to do anything but destroy it."

"So what made him change so quickly?" she wondered. Jack stared at her without blinking. She leaned back and frowned. "What? You're not saying we had anything to do with it, are you?"

He shook his head. "No, not 'we.'" He nodded at her. "You."

Nena blinked at him before she pressed a finger against her chest. "Me? Why me?"

"Pete and I have dealt with dozens of Corrupted, but none of them changed like that," he told her.

"But why would I make it different?" she questioned him.

"You're the first Death Touched we've seen near a Corrupted. That could be the difference," he explained.

She frowned at him. "But that just means I'm dead, doesn't it? Like you?"

He shook his head. "No. At that time Death was still doing his job so my life ended naturally. For you he gave your life back to you."

"So what does that mean?" she snapped.

Jack pressed the cigarette between his lips as he studied her. "It means that Death left a little bit of himself in you, so when that Corrupted saw you it might have thought you were its master and finished its transformation."

Nena froze and her eyes widened. "He. . .Death did what to me?"

He nodded at her chest. "Death isn't like Scratch or the other guy. He can't put souls back where they came from, so the only way he could bring you back is by putting a little bit of himself in you."

She looked at the floor and shook her head. "A little-I mean, a little bit of himself? What does that mean?" Nena lifted her head and her eyes flickered over Jack's tense face. "What's going to happen to me?"

"He always comes back to collect what's his." He caught her eyes in his steady gaze. "Always."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Jack side-stepped the white hallway and jerked his head in that direction. "Come on. We've gotta go find-" Nena grabbed his arm and yanked him back into the elevator. She slammed her palm against the myriad of buttons and the elevator doors shut, sending them to a random floor.

She stood before him to her full, short height and tilted her head up to glare at him. "What happens to me when he comes for me?"

Jack sighed and his shoulders sank a little. "Then you die again."

Nena winced. "For good?"

"For good."

Nena turned her face away and bit her lower lip. "So I'm really not like you, or anyone else."

"I wouldn't say that."

She looked back to him and frowned. "Why?"

"When my job for Scratch is done then he'll toss me back where he found me. That is, if I'm lucky."

"And then you get to rest again?" she guessed.

He took a puff on his cigarette and shrugged. "That depends on if I've been a good little boy."

Her eyebrows crashed down and she shook her head. "I don't understand."

He plucked his cigarette from his mouth and used it to point upward. "If the guy upstairs decides I haven't been good during my second trip then I'm stuck with Scratch forever."

Nena's face paled. "You mean-?"

He pointed downward at the floor and nodded. "Yep. I get to go someplace hot. For the rest of eternity."

Nena frowned. "But that's not fair!"

He slipped his cigarette back into his mouth and shrugged. "Life-and death-aren't fair." The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Jack pressed the button for the correct floor and the elevator traveled onward before he returned his attention to her. "You just gotta deal with it."

Nena folded her arms over her chest and glared at the floor. "All this because Death isn't doing his job." She furrowed her brow and looked up at Jack. "What does that mean, anyway? Him not doing his job?"

"It means that for the last fifty years Death's been wandering the earth causing the trouble you saw in the Terminal," he told her.

"But people are still dying," she pointed out.

"His Shadows-the ones not Corrupted-still do his work, but have you ever heard about miracles over the last fifty years where people who are about to die suddenly get better?" he wondered. She nodded. "Those are usually ones he should've taken, but because he wasn't on the job they slipped through the cracks. That leads to a lot of souls staying here when they shouldn't be and that leads to a big mess of fate."

She bit her lower lip as she stared hard at the floor. "Like me?"

He nodded. "Like you."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Jack's eyes flickered to Nena. "As I see things you have two choices." He stepped out of the elevator and turned to face her. "You can stay in there and wait for him to come for you, or you can find him and learn why he brought you back." He held out his hand to her. "What will you choose?"

Nena's eyes flickered between Jack's hand and his face. She bit her lip, but stretched out her and lay her palm against his.

Jack grinned and tugged her out. Nena yelped as she stumbled forward and against his chest. She pressed her hands flat against his chest and looked up into his devilish face. "That's my girl. Now let's go find Pete."

# 16

They were now on the second floor of the Agency, or the second basement according to ground level. The people in black reappeared with their clipboards and folders tucked under their arms. Their dark eyes flickered over the pair as they passed in the white halls.

Nena leaned toward Jack and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Why are there so many people upstairs, and no one but Doc downstairs?"

"The offices are near the ground floor and the holding cells, and our rooms, are downstairs," he told her.

She furrowed her brow. "But what do they do?"

"They cover for the company and all the messes we have to clean up," he explained as several people with loads of papers hurried toward them. The pair paused and pressed themselves against the wall to let them pass. "Something happens that might get in the paper and they make sure it doesn't."

"How do they do that?" she persisted.

He looked down at her and shrugged. "Whatever way they can. Payoffs. A touch of magic for amnesia. UFO excuses."

"I'm surprised he trusts this many humans," she commented.

Jack glanced over his shoulder. "Who said they were human?"

She frowned. "Are they dead?"

He grabbed the shoulder of a passing worker, a young man of twenty in a white button shirt and black pants. The man turned his head up at Jack and frowned. "What do you want?"

Jack reached into his pocket and drew out his balled hand. "I want you to hold this." He grabbed the man's arm and clapped his hand into that of the man.

The man let out a shriek and leapt back, dropping what Jack had slapped into his hand. Nena looked down and frowned when she saw a simple silver cross on the floor. Smoke rose from the man's palm where the cross had left its imprint in his flesh as a terrible burn.

The man grasped his wrist and glared up at Jack. "You idiot! You fool!"

Jack smiled and bowed his head. "Thank you for your participation. If you have any complaints write them down and send them straight to-well-" he pointed at the floor, "-you know." The man sneered at him, plucked his folder off the floor and marched off.

"What is he?" Nena asked her companion.

Jack picked up the cross and stuffed it into his pocket before he looked to Nena. "A devil, one of Scratch's minions who use their skills to persuade humans that the Agency doesn't exist."

The pair strode down the hall and Jack stopped them before an innocuous white door. He opened it and they stepped inside. The room turned out to be a computer lab with a couple dozen new personal computers arrange on tables against the walls. In the middle was a large table surrounded by chairs.

Beside the table stood Peter. In front of him was an open laptop and a pile of papers. He leaned over the laptop and typed away at the board faster than Nena had ever seen anyone tap before.

"What luck?" Jack asked him as he strode up to his partner with Nena behind him.

Peter didn't look up nor stop typing as he replied. "Very little."

Jack tapped the remains of his cigarette into a tray and arched an eyebrow. "Even after a day?"

"A day?" Nena repeated.

He glanced at her and nodded. "Yeah. I touched you a little harder than I thought."

"The information you provided me was rather vague," Peter countered.

Jack lit another cigarette and shrugged. "There wasn't much left of his memories."

"Did you read his mind?" Nena asked him.

"More like see his thoughts and memories," he told her. He raised one gloved hand and frowned. "It's a little 'gift' these things can do." He dropped his hand to his side and returned his attention to Peter. "So what did you find?"

Peter picked up one of the papers and slapped it down in front of Jack. Jack's cigarette hung low as he glanced from the paper to his partner. "Something sneak through or are these the comics?"

Peter nodded at the paper. "The former. Look at the right-hand column on the second page."

Jack flipped through the pages while Nena slipped up beside him. He stopped at the aforementioned page and browsed the column. It stood out from the rest with its blaring column title: _Monsters Among Us_.

Jack arched an eyebrow as his eyes scanned the article. Nena leaned in and her eyes widened as she read the lede paragraph:

* * *

_Police are baffled by a string of missing-person reports over the last six months. They have failed to find a connection to the reports other than the similarity in unemployment, age, and that all the persons are men. A recent investigation by this reporter has found a new angle to the disappearances: all of them were well-known among the hacking community and possibly knew one another through a related project advertised on the message board Burn Proxy._

* * *

Jack picked up the paper and glanced at Peter. "How long has he been writing about this?"

"He started the column a year ago after a short leave of absence from the paper and his last three weekly articles have been about the missing persons," Peter told him.

"Are the missing people the Corrupted?" Nena guessed.

Peter nodded. "Yes."

Jack tossed the paper onto the table and looked up with the cigarette pressed hard between his lips. "So is this guy a human or a renegade from the Terminal?"

Peter turned the laptop screen toward the pair and showed them an identification picture of a thirty-year old man with short brown hair and auburn eyes. He had a hint of a smile on his lips and wore a simple pair of jeans and a plain white shirt.

Jack's eyes flickered up to Peter. "Human?"

"Everything I have found out about him points to his being a human," Peter told him.

"What about those months he had off?" Jack wondered.

Peter shook his head. "I can find nothing of what happened during that period."

Jack returned his attention to the picture and sighed. "Well, I guess we'll have to pay Mr.-" he leaned forward and squinted at the name before the picture, "-Devin Quill a surprise visit."

"Can we do that?" Nena asked him.

He grinned at her. "Pete and I are the best at it. You're not too bad yourself in a pinch, but I think you'd be better with this." He reached into his overcoat pocket and drew out Nena's gun which he held out to her.

Nena bit her lower lip as her eyes flickered between the weapon and Jack's face. "Are you sure? I mean, Death gave it to me. . ."

"From what I saw in the Terminal I'd say that was a mistake on his part," Jack pointed out. Nena pursed her lips, but accepted the weapon. "I've already filled the cartridge, and if you want any more-" he patted his coat pocket, "-I've got plenty."

"Will we be visiting Mr. Quill at his place of work or home?" Peter spoke up.

"Home. Now let's get going."

# 17

A half hour later found the trio in the sleepy suburbs of the big city. Well-lit streets shone on the look-alike houses with their two floors and grassed yards. Dogs barked and a few couples strolled down the sidewalks. Some of the houses had fenced backyards, others didn't. The one they were looking for, a plain white house with two floors, had an eight-foot tall fence with an intimidating gate. The houses on either side of them were each only a single story. Lights in the front two rooms revealed a living room and dining room. No one was in either of them.

They drove past the house. Nena, who sat in the back seat, leaned between the two front ones. "I think we missed it."

"We just scout the front. It's the back that's our entrance," Jack told her.

Peter turned the corner and they drove down the side of the block until they reached the halfway point. A dirt alley divided the block, and it was down that trash-can lined way onto which they turned. Peter shut off the car headlights and they bumped along until they found the rear gate of the house. It was made from a single piece of thick wood held onto the fence by heavy metal hinges.

The trio stepped out of the car and gently shut the doors. Nena crept up to the upright boards of the fence and tried to look through, but there was no gap between them. Jack and Peter went straight for the gate, and she joined them. The gate's handle was as imperious as the hinges, but it was the padlock that made her look twice.

The mechanism was as black as coal and was dotted with small cuts that formed themselves into similar-looking runes like those in the cells of the Terminal police station. Including its shackle the padlock was nearly as big as her extended hand. Its thick shackle made cutting an impossibility, and the large hook on which it was clamped as just as hefty.

Jack lifted the lock and his eyebrow as he studied the runes on the front. "This is some serious security. I doubt Romero could find a better hex than this."

"So can we get through?" Nena asked him.

He grinned and deftly removed his glove with his occupied hand. "Of course."

He stuck his transparent hand into the internals of the mechanism and turned and twisted his wrist. After a few motions there was a short click and the lock popped open. He pocketed the lock and noiselessly opened the gate.

The three crept into the backyard. The space was plain with only grass and a small brick patio. The rear door was solid wood with a thick square of frosted glass that covered the upper half. Its position lay in the center of the house so that only the weak light of a hall spilled out onto the bricks.

Nena was in the middle of the ground as she took a few steps into the yard. Her foot stepped on something hard in the dark. A short squeaking noise echoed across the lawn. The whole group froze and looked down. Beneath her foot in the grass lay a bone-shaped dog squeaky toy.

Nena lifted her eyes to the bemused face of Jack. "Beautiful footwork," he teased.

She frowned and stuck out her tongue while Peter shut the gate behind them. He swept his eyes over the grassy area and furrowed his brow. "I see no signs of dog droppings," he whispered.

Jack turned his attention back to the quiet house as he drew out a cigarette. "Maybe it belongs to one of the neighbors. Either way we at least know how loud we can be." He stuck his cigarette against one side of his lips and lit the smoke before his eyes flickered to Peter. "See who's home, will ya, Pete?"

Peter nodded and strode past his two companions. He stopped twenty feet from the house and floated off the ground.

Nena's mouth dropped open as she watched Peter float up to the height of the second floor. She whipped her head to Jack and pointed a finger at Peter. "How's he able to do that?"

Jack kept his eyes on his floating companion as Peter sailed within five feet of the house. "Where I come from they used to be called the likes of him a dampir. Now he's called a vampire."

Nena's eyes widened. "Vampire?" she squeaked out.

Jack glanced at her and grinned. "Don't worry. He doesn't bite. Much."

She winced and returned her attention to their companion. Peter floated between the upstairs windows and peeked inside for a second before he turned and drifted back down to them. He alighted on the ground as gently as a sparrow.

"There are two bedrooms, one of which appears to be that of a young boy, but no one is in either of them," he reported. "However, there is one peculiarity." He half-turned and nodded at the back door. "I viewed the neighboring houses and saw none designed with such a door placement, nor even such a door."

Jack pursed his lips as he returned his attention to the house. "Not surprising considering that lock, but we don't have much of a choice." He tossed the cigarette into the grass and rubbed it out with the toe of his shoe before he flashed them a grin. "Wish me luck."

Jack strode toward the house. Nena took a step forward and stretched out her hand. "Wait a-" A heavy hand grasped her shoulder. Jack traveled through the door and disappeared inside the house as she looked back to see it was Peter who held her.

"He is juvenile, but he knows his business," Peter assured her.

Nena's gaze flickered down to Peter's pale hand. She cringed and, noticing her discomfort, he removed his hand. Her eyes traveled up to his wane face, and for the first time she noticed his eyes had a slight reddish tinge in their depths. "So you're a vampire."

He nodded. "I am."

"And you're a vegetarian, right?"

A sliver of light from the rear door reflected off his face and revealed two long, pointed eye teeth. "No." Nena gulped. A hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his lips. "You have no need to worry. As an undead you have no blood on which I can feed."

Nena's shoulders slumped and she gave him a shaky smile. "Oh good."

The back door opened and Jack peeked his head out. He gestured to them, and the pair hurried across the lawn.

They were only halfway to Jack when a small shadow flew down the hall behind him and latched onto his back. Jack let out a cry and stumbled forward before he clenched his teeth and glared at the ground ahead of him. For a brief moment his entire body-clothes, head, and all-became transparent, causing the creature to drop through him and onto the brick patio. Jack stepped out of the doorway and to the left, meaning we surrounded the figure as it hurriedly stood.

The figure turned out to be a young boy of eleven with sandy hair and alert eyes. He was dressed in a simple jeans and a plain t-shirt with a moon logo on the front. Normal white socks covered his feet, or had before his feet had stretched out into narrow, elongated feet with sharp toenails. His hands were long claws and his hair draped down over his back like a brown mane. Pointed ears peeked out of the top of the wild hair. The boy's eyes were yellow and he snarled at them with sharp, pointed teeth.

Jack strode around the young boy and joined his companions to stare at the furry guard. A sly grin slid onto his lips as he lit up a new cigarette. "I guess we found out who the dog toy belongs to."

The strange boy narrowed his eyes. "Get the hell out of here."

Jack shook his head. "We can't do that, wolf boy."

Nena whipped her head to Jack and stared at her with wide eyes. " _Wolf_?"

"Well, a werewolf, the fleabags of the Underworld," Jack told her.

The werewolf's patience evaporated and he lunged at them with a loud growl. Nena yelped and hurried backward, stumbling over her own feet and falling onto her rear. Peter leapt backward and opened the bag around his neck. Jack pulled out his pack of smokes and slipped one between his lips.

The werewolf boy landed in the spot Nena just vacated and lunged at Peter. The vampire flew off the ground and summoned his silver cross from its bag. The thirteen pieces flew out of the leather bag and circled the werewolf as he hunkered down beneath the levitating vampire.

The werewolf leapt into the air and swiped at Peter. He flew back, but his silver pieces were flung forward. His opponent twisted in midair and dodged some of the pieces. Others he whacked aside with the tips of his long fingernails. He dropped back to earth with those same fingernails smoking.

Jack slipped over to Nena and helped her to her feet as her gaze remained on the battling duo. "Why's he attacking only Pete?" she asked her companion.

Jack lit a new cigarette and pressed it tightly between his lips as he shook his head. "Vampires and werewolves don't get along at the best of times, but Peter's got his own reasons for hating them."

The pair were locked in combat, but the advantage was Peter's from the very beginning. The werewolf could only dodge and deflect the silver pieces for so long as he sped along the green lawn with the silver in close pursuit. The boy turned a sharp left and leapt onto the fence boards, rattling them as he used the planks as a springboard to launch himself high in the air where Peter resided. The silver pieces flew after him and one of them struck his ankle. The werewolf yelped and dropped to the ground in a clumsy tumble. He drew his injured leg up against him and whipped his head up to snarl at Peter as the vampire floated closer to him so his shadow lay over the werewolf.

Peter's red eyes were like hellfire in the gloom of night as the silver pieces gathered around him. He stretched out his hand so his palm faced the defiant, wounded werewolf. A twitch of his fingers and the silver pieces flew directly at the young boy.

"Plogojowitz!" Jack shouted.

Peter's eyes widened and some of the light went out. His silver pieces veered off course and slammed into the ground around the young werewolf. The vampire floated to the ground and opened wide his bag with one hand. The silver pieces flew out of the ground and into the bag where he sealed them inside. His cool eyes remained ever on the werewolf that glared up at him.

Nena turned her head to Jack and furrowed her brow. "What does that word mean?"

"It's his last name," Jack told her before he strode up to stand between the pair and looked at his partner with a frown. "We didn't come here to kill anybody, even a werewolf."

"But I'm going to kill you," the werewolf spoke up as he struggled to his feet.

His gaze settled on the young werewolf. "Settle down, wolfy. We just want to talk."

The werewolf's nostrils flared as he snarled at Jack. "Then you'd better say what you want to say because they're going to be your last words."

"That's no way to speak to guests," a voice piped up. They all turned their attention to the door. A man of thirty leaned against the frame with his arms folded over his chest and a smile on his lips. It was the same man from the photograph. He swept his eyes over the group until he stopped on Nena and a smile slipped onto his lips. "And that's definitely no way to treat a pretty woman."

Jack looked the man over before he met his calm, steady gaze. "We wanted to talk to you, Quill."

"That depends on who wants to know," the man returned as he studied Jack. "And I also like to know the name of someone before they interview me."

"What the hell are you doing?" snapped the young werewolf as he limped over to him and snarled up at the taller man. "They just tried to kill me!"

Quill pushed off the frame and winked at him. "Trust me, Pipsqueak, I've got this. You get inside and get that wound cleaned before it leaves a scar."

"But-"

"Don't argue with the guy who's putting meat on your plate, now get in there." He grabbed the boy's shoulder and tugged him past him and into the hall. The werewolf paused and glanced over his shoulder to glare at Peter one last time before he limped down the passage.

Quill returned his attention to the company and nodded at the interior of the house. "Come on in."

Quill disappeared inside. Jack led Nena and Peter to the door, but Jack paused and half-turned to Peter. "You'd better stay out here. I don't want to be trapped playing referee to you and that werewolf."

Peter pursed his lips, but nodded. They left him outside, shutting the door behind them.

# 18

The pair followed Quill down the hall and to the front of the house where the living room was located. He drew the curtains, shutting out any prying eyes before he gestured to the furniture. "Have a seat."

Jack and Nena took the couch while Quill stood on the other side of the coffee table with his arms folded over his chest. "I hope you didn't just come here to harass Pipsqueak and ruin my fence."

Jack leaned back and took a puff on his cigarette. "You know a lot of Underground information for a human. We want to know why."

Quill shrugged. "I might not be welcomed in the Underground but I've got a good pair of eyes to act as my ghostwriter, and let's just say William Fox owes me a big favor."

Nena's eyes widened. "William Fox? The billionaire?"

"The same, but I doubt I have as many contacts as someone from the Agency of Celestial Episodes," Quill mused as he looked them over.

Jack arched an eyebrow. "How do you know about that?"

"It doesn't take a good reporter to recognize the Silver Vampire, or-" Quill smiled as his eyes fell on the cigarette that hung from Jack's mouth, "-a ghost capable of becoming transparent while still being able to smoke."

Jack grinned. "No nickname for me? I'm disappointed."

Quill shrugged. "It's hard to describe an abnormal ghost, but you still haven't told me what you want."

"We wanted to know about your last couple of stories," Jack told him.

Quill smiled. "Don't tell me a few missing hackers are causing the Agency to lose sleep and call out its biggest dogs."

"I doubt you're the type of reporter who writes stuff that isn't interesting to most everyone in the Underground," Jack countered.

The reporter chuckled as he took a seat in a chair opposite them. "Flattery will only get you so far without an explanation for why you broke into my backyard and home."

"Their disappearances might be connected to a Corrupted the zombies found in the Underground four days ago," Jack told him.

Quill's eyes flickered to Nena. "I heard about that. I also heard it went completely Corrupted when it saw a young woman."

Jack smiled and shook his head. "That's not a fair trade. I gave you some information, now it's your turn."

Quill leaned back and shrugged. "Fair enough. You're right that they're connected. One of their friends approached me, a fellow hacker by the name of Omar Dahia. He saw my column on other missing people and wanted my help looking for his friends."

"And?" Jack asked him.

Their host smiled and nodded at Nena. "First, introduce me to your beautiful-and less temperamental-partner."

"I'm Nena Tacita," she told him.

Quill bowed his head. "A pleasure, Nena, and might I add that you have very pale and lovely skin. How'd that happen?"

"Our turn," Jack reminded him.

Quill sighed. "You're worse than my editor, but I'll tell you that I started digging around into a list of names he gave me of friends who'd up and disappeared, just to verify what he was saying was true. Turns out it was. They'd all gone missing within a few months of taking on assignments on their shared message board." His attention returned to Nena. "You're not a vampire or Pipsqueak would've gone after you just as bad, and you're not a ghost-or a normal one, at least-because you're gripping the cushion beneath you like it was a life vest." Nena looked down and saw her fingers dug into the soft cushion. She winced and removed her hands. Quill arched an eyebrow. "So what are you?"

Jack stood. "Where does this Omar live?"

Quill grinned and shook his head. "No way. I know this-" he lazily pointed at Nena, "-is the woman who made that Corrupted go nuts, and my inquiring mind wants to know why."

Jack pinched the cigarette between his lips and frowned. "You're inquiring mind will-" At that moment Pipsqueak limped into sight in the hall. He was still a werewolf, but his injured foot was human and wrapped in bandages.

He paused in the doorway of the room and snarled at the pair. Jack turned to face him and put a hand on the butt of his gun. "I wouldn't, wolfy."

A sly grin slid onto Quill's lips as he stood and held up his hands. "Easy there. I can't afford to rebuild my house on my salary," he told them as he walked up to stand beside Pipsqueak.

Jack's eyebrows crashed down and he tensed. "What's the address of-"

Quill held up a finger. "One sec." He set a hand on the young boy's shoulder and leaned down to whisper a few words.

Jack drew his gun and pointed the barrel at the pair. "I picked up a little trick over the last fifty years called 'lip reading.'"

Quill straightened and smiled at Jack as he held up both hands. "This might be a first. A stick-up for information."

While he talked Pipsqueak lifted his fuzzy nose to the air and sniffed. There was a report and a bullet flew past the end of his nose, missing his skin by a fraction of an inch. He jerked back and snarled at Jack who held the smoking gun in his hand.

Peter appeared in the hall behind their two hosts with his silver pieces at the ready around him. Pipsqueak whipped his head around and leapt at him. Quill grabbed the back of the boy's shirt collar and yanked him back to his side.

"Easy there, Pipsqueak. We're a little outnumbered and outgunned," he pointed out.

"The address," Jack demanded.

Quill sighed. "It's downtown, the Destiny Apartments room fifteen."

Jack lowered the gun as Nena stood. "Thanks. We'll show ourselves out, if you don't mind."

"Not a bit," Quill replied as he grabbed Pipsqueak's shoulders and drew him out of the doorway.

Jack grasped Nena's hand and pulled her past the pair. Quill smiled at her and gave a wink. "See you in the papers, Nena."

She glanced at him and furrowed her brow, but Jack pulled her down the hall with Peter at her back. They strode across the lawn and were soon in the car. Jack slumped down in his seat and slammed the remains of his cigarette into the ash tray as Peter started the vehicle.

"Damn reporters. . ." he grumbled as he lit a new one.

"I didn't think he was so bad," Nena spoke up.

Jack scoffed and glanced over his shoulder at her. "They always have an angle. Always."

Nena leaned back and pursed her lips. "So was I the angle?"

Jack stuck the cigarette in his mouth and stared ahead. "I'd say 'yes,' and for that I wish you would've given him a fake name."

Nena frowned at him. "I don't lie."

"Not even to save your own skin from an expose?" he countered.

"Why does it matter that he knows who I am?" she argued.

Jack sighed and glanced out his window. "Because it's just not safe."

Peter's eyes flickered to him. "You should tell her the full truth."

Jack sat up and whipped his head to glare at his partner as he tore the cigarette out of his mouth. "Listen, I don't need advice from a silver-happy vampire who almost made us call the Erinnerung." Peter's eyebrows crashed down and he returned his attention to the road without reply.

"The what?" Nena spoke up.

Jack snorted. "It's 'memory' in German. Scratch is fond of that language because it always sounds like someone's swearing and sinning."

"So what do they do?" she asked him.

"Remember that guy in the hall? The one who didn't like my present?"

"Yeah."

"He's on that team. It's made up of demon who clean up the dirty mess of the Agency by wiping the memories of any normal humans who see what happens," he explained.

"So shouldn't we be calling them for that Quill guy?" she pointed out.

His expression darkened as he slumped down in his seat and put his cigarette back in his mouth. "Not that guy. He knows enough about the Underground that they'd have to wipe his memory back to grade school to make him forget, and that's if he survived the spell."

Nena cringed. "That's bad."

"That's Scratch," he reminded her as they drove through the suburbs.

Nena glanced out her window and tilted her head to one side. "I wonder how he found that werewolf boy. . ."

# 19

The address took them to the apartment section of the city where the towering masses of bricks and steel contained cramped humans. Nena rolled down her window and breathed deeply the familiar scent of trash cans and car exhaust.

She glanced up at the tall buildings and sighed. "My apartment's near here."

"No."

She lifted her eyes and frowned at Jack. He had his head turned so she could see one side of his face. "No what?"

"You can't go back. That life is over."

Nena frowned. "I just want to grab a few things."

"Take a nap there? Maybe call a few friends? Maybe your dad?" he suggested.

Nena narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you know about him?"

A sly smile slipped onto his lips. "Not so much that I deserve that look. Scratch wanted to see who might look for you, so I volunteered to do the digging.' He gave her a wink. "Not too deep, of course. We wouldn't want Scratch to know you have a criminal record."

Nena slouched down and wrapped her arms around herself as she frowned at the empty seat beside her. "I was fifteen, okay? Besides, it was only a stupid Twinkie."

He chuckled. "You're as bad a thief as you are a liar. The shopkeeper caught you because-"

"That was a long time ago!" she insisted.

Jack shrugged and looked ahead. "I suppose, but if I'd tried to hide that large a desert in my cheek's I wouldn't want-ooph." Nena had given the back of his seat a good kick and shoved him forward to the end of his seatbelt. Jack whipped his head around and glared at her. She sat behind him with both legs up and prepared for another swift delivery of justice.. "Will you quit that?"

"You're a ghost, go through your seatbelt," she dared him.

"It doesn't work on a sneak-attack," he reminded her.

"Then I'm giving you practice, or do you want to call a truce?" she asked him.

A snort came from the seat beside Jack. He lifted his narrowed eyes to his partner. The corners of Peter's lips twitched upward as he stared straight ahead. Jack frowned. "Don't say a word."

Peter straightened and shook his head. "I do not know what you mean."

Jack took out his cigarette and wagged it at the vampire. "You know what I mean, Pete."

Peter shook his head. "I do not know of what you speak, but I do recall a certain incident involving a stuffed bear and-"

"Pete!" Jack shouted.

Nena's eyebrows shot up. She lowered her feet and leaned between the seats to look at Peter. "What stuffed bear?"

A true smile appeared on Peter's lips. "During a rather hectic assignment Jack and I were chasing a suspect through a toy shop and-"

"Come on, Pete!" Jack pleaded.

"-he stumbled into a stack of stuffed bears and dematerialized his upper body, but neglected his lower half. The result was that one of the stuffed bears attached itself to his shoulders and its head took the place of his own."

Nena barked out a laugh and fell back on the seat clutching her sides. Jack slid down in his own and glared at his partner. "Thanks, Pete. . ."

Peter bowed his head. "It was my pleasure."

"I bet. . ."

Nena managed to gather herself and grinned at Jack. "You were saying something about my squirrel cheeks, Teddy?"

Jack sat up and the perturbed expression gave way to a serious one as he looked out on the street in front of them. "That's it. The Destiny Apartments."

Nena grasped the backs of the seats and leaned between them for a better view. Before them stood a normal brick apartment house with four floors. The dirty, single-pane windows and chipped bricks bespoke a lower-rung clientele. A few air conditioners hung out windows with the upper halves boarded with plywood. The front door was a lesson in rot.

"May as well park in front. We're not expected," Jack advised. Peter pulled the car over and shut off the engine. Jack glanced over his shoulder at Nena. "You can stay in the car if you want."

She pulled her gun out of her pocket and shook her head. "No way. I want to find out what's going on, too." Jack pursed his lips, but nodded.

The trio stepped out of the car and walked up to the stoop of the apartment building with Jack in the lead. They had just reached the entrance when the door flew open and the trio were greeted by a screaming woman. She flew into Jack, nearly knocking him down as she grabbed the front of his coat and whipped her head up to look at him with wide eyes. Her mouth flopped like a fish on land, but she finally managed to get one stuttering word out.

"M-m-monster!" she shrieked as she shook Jack so hard he nearly lost his footing. "There's a monster in there!"

He grabbed her shoulders just to keep himself steady and caught her gaze with his own. "Where?"

"The second floor! H-he tried to grab me! There was something wrong with his face!" she shrieked, punctuating each proclamation with a good shake of Jack.

He pulled her out of his way and rushed past her through the open door. His companions followed and found themselves in a small lobby. Stairs presented themselves and they rushed up them to the second floor.

The companions reached the landing and were able to see the entirety of the hall that ran to their left and right. Most of the lights were long fluorescent tubes whose illumination didn't reach the baseboards. Grimy wooden doors stood as pathetic sentinels against thieves.

One of the apartment doors was torn off its hinges and crashed into the opposite wall and a dark figure shuffled out. Nena's hand flew to her mouth as she recognized the finished form of a Corrupted. Its shadowy body of bones was covered by the remains of a t-shirt and jeans. The creature lifted its skull head and its ember eyes glared at them.

Jack whipped out his gun and pointed it at the Corrupted. The creature screeched and lunged at him with its bony fingers. He fired off several shots, but the Corrupted dodged all but one. That hit it in the shoulder. It let out a screech before it slid down into the sliver of darkness between the baseboard and the floor.

Nena whipped her head to Jack. "I thought you said you fought these things before!"

He pursed his lips as he looked up and down the hall. "I have."

"Then why do you keep missing?"

"Because they're getting faster," he snapped.

While they talked Peter freed his silver pieces from the bag. They flew down both sides of the hall and lined themselves up like soldiers. Peter kept his hands raised as he closed his eyes.

Jack looked to their pale companion. "Come on, Pete, where is it?"

Peter furrowed his brow. "There is a great deal of shadow in this old building. I am having trouble-wait." His eyes flew open and he turned to face the leftward half of the wall. "There!"

The third to last of his floating guards slammed itself into the wall that ran beside them. There was the familiar screech and the wall burst open. The creature was dragged out by the eyeball in which lay the sliver of silver. It clawed at its amber orb, unaware of the other twelve pieces as they descended upon it. The thing screamed as the bits embedded themselves into its feet, pinning it to the floor.

Jack stepped forward and stretched out his arm, taking careful aim with his gun. The creature thrashed and hissed at him as he narrowed his eyes at it. The report of the gun echoed down the hall as he fired. The bullet flew down the passage and embedded itself into the thing's chest, striking the place where its heart should be. It let out one last screech before its body erupted in a ball of light and thin, fleshy pieces of itself floated down to the floor.

Peter recalled his silver bits as the doors began to open. People peeked their heads out and gawked at the damage and floating flakes of flesh.

Jack frowned and pulled out his cell phone. "We need an Erinnerung team at the Destiny Apartments, second floor." He hung up and looked to his companions as Nena tucked her gun into her waistband. "Come on. Let's see what it left us."

They strode down the hall, scattering the curious dwellers back to their holes. Jack led them through the open doorway and into the apartment, of what was left of it. The furniture was torn open and tossed into the walls. A bookcase lay broken on the floor, its contents torn to shreds. The faded wallpaper hung in strips from the walls and the windows were broken.

In the far right corner of the small living room were the remains of computer towers and monitors. The screens were smashed to pieces and the towers were torn open and their guts strewn about the floor.

Jack strode over to one tower and kicked at the ruins of a motherboard. "I wish these guys weren't so thorough."

Nena came up behind him and furrowed her brow. "Thorough with what?"

He nodded at the mess of computer. "Every time we get a lead on a Corrupted by the time we've reached them they've turned and torn everything apart so we can't trace where they've been or who they've been in contact with." He glanced at their other companion. "Is there anything we can use?"

Peter pursed his lips as he bent down and studied the computer remains. "I am not sure. The internal hard drives were destroyed but perhaps-" He brushed aside a case wall and revealed a small box with an external power supply and cord. "This may be useful," he commented as he picked it up and turned it over in his hands.

Jack arched an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Nena turned her head and blinked at him. "You seriously don't know what an external hard drive is?"

He shrugged. "Nope, but that's why Pete's here."

"Is he a young vampire?" she guessed.

Jack snorted. "Hell, no. He's not as old as I am, but let's just say he makes this country look young."

Nena turned to Peter with wide eyes as he stood and wrapped the cords around the hard drive. "Wow. So how come you know so much about computers?"

Peter pursed his lips as he stared down at her. His eyes were hard and held a small glimmer of red in their depths. "I have survived so long because I am adaptable." He turned his attention to Jack and held out the hard drive. "This may still contain information, but we will need a working computer to view them."

Nena cringed. "Back to the pepper factory?"

Jack shook his head as he took the hard drive and stuffed it into his coat pocket. "Nope, too far. I might not know about the parts of these computers, but I do know where the public ones are."

"The Erinnerung would have the equipment to view the contents," Peter pointed out.

Jack frowned. "Yeah, but I'd rather keep this to ourselves for a little while. Besides, they're so slow some of these witnesses might have died of old age by the time they get here, so let's go."

They walked downstairs to where the frantic apartment manager woman stood in the lobby. Her eyes were still wide as she stared at the stairs. "W-what happened to the monster?" she asked the group as they passed by her.

"Let's just say you might want to look for a new tenant," Jack quipped as they strode out of the apartment building.

# 20

They reached the bottom of the steps when three black sedans and a black heavy van drove up and parked at angles according to the sidewalk. Men and women in dark suits and shades leapt out and rushed past the group and into the apartment.

Peter's eyes flickered to Jack. "You were saying?" Jack frowned and narrowed his eyes, but didn't reply.

One of the agents, a woman an inch taller than Nena with long, flowing blond hair and a curvaceous body walked up to them. She wore black high-heeled shoes and a short black skirt that hugged her hips. Her black business coat and white blouse strained against the pressure from her large breasts. In her hand was a tablet.

The woman put her free hand on her hip and smiled at Jack. "Well, well, if it isn't my favorite agent."

"It must be a slow night in hell for you to be out here ordering your guys about yourself, Azazel," Jack mused.

"When I heard you were involved I couldn't resist, but you weren't leaving already, were you?" she wondered.

"And miss your boys sinking their claws into the heads of humans? You know me better than that," Jack returned.

She stepped up to him and pressed her ample bosom against his chest. Nena found herself glaring at their close interaction. "I'd like to know you even better, but for now-" her eyes flickered down to his coat pocket, "-I'd like to know what you have in your pocket."

A sly grin slipped onto Jack's lips. "Wouldn't you rather like to know what's in my pants?"

Azazel chuckled as she tapped the end of his nose with one long fingernail. "You're so cute when you flirt, but you're even cuter when you lie." She snatched the hard drive from his pocket and took a step back. "What's this?"

"Family pictures," he quipped.

Azazel turned away from him and raised the hard drive to her face as she took a couple of steps. "This wreaks of Corrupted." She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Jack. "You weren't being naughty and taking evidence away from the scene without giving us a look, were you, Jack?"

He shrugged. "I thought I'd take it back to the Agency, but you and your boys were quicker than usual."

She grinned. "Only for you, Jack, and this special case, but since we're here let's take a look at this together, shall we?"

Azazel strode over to the van. Jack pursed his lips, but followed with his two companions behind him.

Nena sidled up beside Peter and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Who's she?"

"Azazel is second only to Scratch in the Agency, and is charged with leading the Erinnerung," he told her.

Azazel glanced over her shoulder and winked at the pair. "And I also make a mean Red Devil."

Nena narrowed her eyes at the other woman. "So you're a demon?"

Azazel laughed. "You humans never stop amusing me with your attitude toward us, even when you know we're the god guys."

"That's an oxymoron. . ." Nena mumbled as they reached the van.

One of the other agents stood at the rear and opened one of the doors. The left-hand wall was covered in computer screens, knobs, and dials. On the right was a workstation with a long desk, a few books and a laptop. In the middle sat two chairs on wheels that could roll to either side.

Azazel hopped in and took a seat on the chair in front of the laptop. She opened the lid and set the hard drive beside it, plugging the external into an outlet and the USB port of the laptop. Peter stepped up into the van and stood behind her, looking over her shoulder as she navigated to the recognized hard drive.

Azazel paused and glanced over her shoulder to glare at him. "Do you mind? It's cramped in here enough as it is."

"I do not mind," Peter replied.

She pursed her lips, but returned her attention to the screen. "It looks like part of the hard drive was damaged. I'm running a program to wade through the errors, but I doubt we can retrieve anything-"

"There," Peter spoke up as he pointed out something on the screen.

Azazel's eyes flickered to him, but leaned forward and squinted her eyes at what he pointed. "It's a folder." She clicked on the little icon, but nothing happened. The woman leaned back and shook her head. "Corrupted. Whatever was in there isn't going to be retrieved now."

"What about the name of the folder?" Jack asked the pair who had easy sight to the screen.

"The name is 'Project Endzeit,'" Peter told them.

Nena's eyebrows crashed down. That name sounded familiar.

Jack folded his arms over his chest and frowned at the hard road beneath him. "Damn it. Looks like our luck ran out."

Nena's eyes widened. _Luck_. She whipped her head up to Jack. "We have to get to Matt!"

He furrowed his brow. "Matt? The boy you know? Why?"

She pointed at the screen. "Because he's working on that code!"

Everyone perked up at that pronouncement. "You are certain?" Peter asked her.

She glanced around at the others. "Endzeit means 'end times,' right?"

Jack shrugged, but Peter nodded. "The German does translate to that."

"That's what Matt said his project translated to, and that it was German," she told them. She grabbed Jack's hand and gave a tug toward their car. "So we've got to go and warn him before something bad happens!"

Azazel stood and smiled at Jack. "My men and I can provide backup."

Jack grinned and shook his head as Peter hopped out of the van. "Sorry. This is a private party."

"We can help!" she insisted as the group reached their car.

"You're so cute when you lie!" he shouted before he slipped into the vehicle.

Peter stepped on the gas and burned rubber as they flew down the road. Azazel stepped down from the van and glared at their retreating tail lights.

The agent who stood near the van moved to stand behind her. "Shall we follow them?"

A sly smile slipped onto her lips as she shook her head. "No. We'd only get in _his_ way."

# 21

They reached Matt's apartment in record time. Nena was the first to leap out, and she led her sprinting companions up the stairs to Matt's door. She was out of breath as she slammed the bottom of her fist against the wood.

"Matt? It's me, Nena, you there?" she called. Silence was her only reply. She tried the knob. Locked. "Matt!"

"Move!" Jack yelled as he pulled her aside.

He pulled off his glove and thrust his hand into the lock. There was a clicking sound and he shoved his shoulder against the door. The entrance opened and they rushed inside.

Nena slipped past Jack, but he grabbed her arm and drew out his gun. "Wait."

She thrashed in his hold. "Let go of me! Matt! Matt, where are you!"

The door to the bathroom that separated the bedroom from the kitchen flew open and slammed against the wall. Matt stumbled out with one hand clutching the left half of his face.

"Matt!" Nena yelled.

He looked up and inadvertently lowered his hand to reveal his bare skull. An amber-colored eye glared at them.

Nena gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. Her body trembled as she slowly shook her head. "Matt. . ." Matt took a step toward them and curled his lips back in a snarl that revealed teeth that were growing sharper.

Jack stepped forward and stretched out his arm in front of Nena as he drew his weapon. "Stay back!" he commanded her.

Nena whipped her head up and looked from the gun to Jack's tense face. "You can't shoot him! He's my friend!"

Jack pursed his lips as a few wispy tendrils of darkness replaced Matt's hair. "Not anymore."

Nena returned her attention to Matt as he took another unsteady step toward them. Shadows covered his left hand, and when they drew back the flesh was gone.

Nena pursed her lips and leaned against Jack's arm. "Matt, it's me! You know me!"

Matt's human eye fell on her and widened. He clutched the sides of his hand and shut his eyes as he stumbled backward away from them. When he spoke his voice was a mixture of his human self and the echoing shriek of the Corrupted. "Get out of here! I can't control it!"

Jack pointed his gun at Matt's chest. Nena wrapped herself around his arm and looked into his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"We have to destroy him before he creates Kinder!" Jack told her.

Matt whipped his head back and stared with wide eyes at the ceiling as he let out a shrieking scream. The building shook, causing dust to fall from the stained popcorn ceiling. Cracks climbed the walls and raced across the floors.

Nena's eyes widened as a dark void appeared behind Matt. Tendrils stretched out and started to wrap around him. "Matt!" she screamed.

A bell tolled. It wasn't the tinny sound of a hand bell, but the deep gong of an ancient church chime. The strange noise echoed through the small apartment.

The void vanished. Matt's eyes widened as he stared at the ceiling. His human eye turned to amber and narrowed. He turned away from the group and rushed into his bedroom, disappearing from their view. A moment later they heard the sound of glass breaking.

"Matt!" Nena yelled as she sprinted forward. The other two followed and together they reached Matt's room.

The computers were intact, and on the primary screen was a black-and-white logo. It looked like an upload arrow, but the bottom curved into itself like the shell of a snail.

A few bits of broken glass littered the bed beneath the shattered window. Jack hurried over to the window and crawled across the bed to stick his head out. Claw marks led up the bricks and a shadow disappeared over the edge of the roof.

Jack drew himself inside and looked back at his friends. Peter was at the keyboard typing away. "Well?"

Peter's eyes flickered across the flashing screen. "Everything is undamaged. We should be able to figure out what he was working-" He whipped his head up and narrowed his eyes as he stared hard at the ceiling. "Death is here."

"Where?" Jack questioned him.

"On the roof."

Jack reloaded his pistol and glanced at Nena. "You stay here."

She climbed to her feet and tucked Matt's pin into her pocket. "Hell no. I'm going to see this through to the end."

Jack pursed his lips, but looked to Peter. "Get what you can off that computer before the police come and get up to the roof." Peter nodded and returned his attention to the computer. Jack turned his attention to Nena and started loading his gun. "I'd ask you if you wanted to come, but I think I already know the answer." Nena pursed her lips and nodded.

The pair hurried out the room and over to the living room window. They crawled out and onto the fire escape. Jack paused and glanced upward at the roof two stories above them. Nothing stirred. He looked to Nena and nodded at the gun in her waistband. "You ready to use that?"

She frowned. "I'm not going to use any of them on Matt."

"What about Death?" he asked her.

She lay her hand on the grip of the weapon and narrowed her eyes. "I have no problem there."

He nodded. "All right, then let's go." Nena grabbed his sleeve so that he was forced to glance over his shoulder at her.

Her voice was low as she nodded at the many metal rungs above them. "This won't work if we're trying to sneak up on Death. Can't you just fly us up there?"

Jack shook his head. "I'm a ghost, not a bird, and even if I could float up there I don't know if I could take you with me. Just step quietly and move as fast as you can."

With Jack in the lead they climbed the metal steps with hardly a clank from beneath Nena's feet, and Jack was completely silent. They reached the second-to-last landing with one flight of stairs and the short wall of the roof as their last obstacles.

Jack put his foot on the first step, but Nena grabbed his sleeve. He looked back and met her unwavering eyes. "Please let me go first."

He pursed his lips. "You sure?"

She nodded. "I. . .I need to do this."

Jack studied her for a moment before he stepped aside. "All right, but I'll be right behind you."

She gave him a small smile and nodded. "I'm counting on that."

Nena climbed the ten steps and stepped onto the border wall. Before her was spread the old roof with its crumbling tar paper and a roof access that leaned to one side. The stars of the clear night sky illuminated the space and showed the dark figure of her friend. Matt stood ten feet away with his back turned to her. Her eyes widened, but it wasn't because of him.

At the opposite side of the roof stood the man in black, Death. The moonlight reflected off his white mask and illuminated his face. His pale lips were tightly pursed as he stared off with Matt. The latter snarled at him.

"Pugna ad imperium!" Death shouted at Matt.

The void reappeared behind Matt and the tendrils reached out for him. Nena leapt off the wall and ran toward him. "Matt!" The void shrank to near nothing and Matt fell to his knees with his arms wrapped around himself.

Jack caught her arm and stopped her halfway. "If you let those tendrils touch you then you could end up like him!" he warned her.

She whipped around and glared at him with dark eyes that glowed like the pale moon. "Let go!"

Jack's eyes widened as that same pulsing from before hit him. He clutched at his chest and dropped to his knees as a weight dropped onto him. Jack clenched his teeth against the pain and lifted his eyes to catch Nena's dark ones. "You're not like this, Nena. You're different than the others." He cried out and doubled over as the pain worsened.

Nena started back and blinked. Her eyes changed to their usual brown and fell on Jack just as he fell forward. "Jack!" she yelled as she stooped and caught him in her arms. Tears streamed down her face as she wrapped her arms around his trembling body. "Jack? Jack!"

He lifted his head and managed a shaky grin. "Hey."

She choked out a laugh mixed with a sob. "You idiot. Why do you always have to act so cool?"

He shrugged, but winced at the effort. "I've got a lot of spirit."

She looked over his tense body and bit her lower lip. "I did this, didn't I? I hurt you."

"Nena."

Nena lifted her head and glanced over her shoulder. The voice was that of Death. His eyes met hers and a sly smile slipped onto his lips. "I must admit your bravery has surprised me."

Nena rose to her feet and stared down Death with her glare. "I don't care. All I care about is Matt."

Death's eyes flickered to the young man. A frown crossed his lips. "His tragedy is nearly at an end."

She whipped her gun out and pointed the barrel at Death. "Not if you change him back! Now!"

He shook his head. "Now is not the time for that."

"It's the perfect time," Jack spoke up as he stood on his wobbly legs. He, too, raised his gun to Death. "Actually, I'd say it's a little late."

Death raised his eyes to the sky as there came the sound of another bell. He chuckled as he returned his attention to them and gave the group a wink. "I think you can handle this."

Death leapt backward and cleared the short wall that surrounded the roof. Jack fired off a shot, but not before Death's dark form melted into the night sky.

# 22

"Damn it. . ." Jack growled.

Peter flew up behind them and landed softly beside the pair. "Frustration must be saved for another time. We have more pressing matters to handle," he commented as he nodded at the huddled figure before them.

Matt still knelt on the ground, but the void was not so immovable. It swelled behind him and the tendrils shot out. They wrapped their lithe bodies around his and dragged him into its darkness.

"Matt!" Nena screamed.

For a brief moment her friend disappeared into the writhing shadows. Then the darkness parted, and her friend was revealed to them. A pulsing glow surrounded his body as Matt climbed to his feet and turned toward them. His flesh was gone, replaced by bone and shadows, and his eyes were a cold amber. All that was familiar were his clothes.

Nena shook her head as her strangled voice whispered his name. "Matt. . ."

The Corrupted whipped its head in her direction and its bright eyes zeroed in on her. Jack drew her behind him and fired. The Corrupted raised its hand in front of it so that the bullet embedded itself into the palm bone. The white cartilage that surrounded the bullet melted so that the slug clattered to the ground.

Jack looked at Peter and jerked his head at the Corrupted. "Pin it!"

Peter nodded and floated up ten feet off the ground. He loosened his silver pieces and they flew at the Corrupted. The creature himself leapt back and the void opened behind it. The pieces followed, but the tendrils slipped out of the darkness and engulfed the silver in their shadow bodies. The pieces tried to escape, but they only succeeded in stretching the tendrils like black rubber.

"Pete, what's going on?" Jack called up to his partner.

Peter clenched his teeth and shook his head. "I cannot free them!"

"Damn it. . ." Jack swore as he aimed at the thing's heart again.

The eternally grinning Corrupted started to walk toward them. Jack fired a half dozen shots in quick succession. Every bullet was deflected by the void tendrils. Peter swiped his hands across his chest and his captured silver pieces mimicked the movement, stretching the tendrils in front of the Corrupted and blocking its path with its own creations.

Jack whipped his head to Nena who stood beside him with wide eyes that lay on her friend. "Nena!" She shook herself and turned her face to him. He nodded down at the gun in her hand. "You have to do it."

Nena's eyes widened. "What?"

"It's a long shot, but maybe your gun can pierce the shadows protecting that thing," he suggested.

The echo of her formerly beating heart pulsed inside of her as she shook her head. "I-I can't shoot him! It's Matt, for god's-"

"Not anymore!" Jack snapped. She shrank away from him. He sighed and grasped her shoulders and turned to so they faced each other. "The only thing you can do now for Matt is to free him from this curse. That's all you can do."

Nena glanced to her right. The Corrupted glared back at her across the mess of tendrils. Nena pursed her lips and, without averting her eyes from it, drew her gun. The amber eyes of the creature burst like revived flames and it let out a hiss as it took a step backward away from her.

In its moment of distraction Peter was able to free his silver pieces and recall them to his side. He tensed in preparation to renew his attack, but Jack raised his hand. "Hold off, Pete."

Peter frowned. "But-" Jack shook his head.

"This is something she has to do alone."

Nena strode forward and stopped a yard from the edge of the tendrils. The slick shadows recoiled and curled themselves around the Corrupted. She raised her gun and pointed the barrel at the heart.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Matt, you there?" The tendrils froze. A flicker of recognition passed through its bright eyes. A faint, sad smile slipped onto her lips. "Of course you're there. That's why you're not attacking me, right? Or anybody else?" The Corrupted stiffened and wrapped its arms around itself. Nena lowered her gun as it doubled over, and for brief moment flickering moments, like an old movie screen, flesh returned to its face. "Matt!"

The Corrupted raised its head. Matt's features flickered in and out of view, but she could see a smile on his lips. "Do it, Nena."

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. "I can't do it. I can't kill you."

He winced and clenched his teeth. "I'm already dead, but you can save me." He raised his eyes to her and met her gaze. "Please. Do it. I can't. . . I can't-" He cried out as he dropped to his knees.

Matt's flickering face disappeared and the Corrupted resumed complete control. It lifted its head and hissed at her. Nena took a step back and shook her head. "No. . .Matt. . ."

The Corrupted set its palms against the roof and pushed off from the ground. It flew high into the air and arched downward toward her. Nena raised her gun just as the shadow of the thing stretched across her. She grasped the grip in both hands. Her finger pulled the trigger.

A single report echoed across the roof. The Corrupted yelped and was shot from the sky, landing two feet short of Nena. It grabbed its chest over its heart as light burst from its body. Nena shut her eyes and threw her arm up to cover them as she was engulfed by the warm brilliance.

When she lowered her arm the world had changed. Gone was the rooftop and her two companions, and in their places was a space of endless light. There was no end to the horizons that surrounded her, nor was there any ceiling. The floor beneath her feet was white marble that sparkled like gems.

"Nena."

Nena turned her head. Her eyes widened as she beheld her friend standing ten feet in front of her, normal and smiling.

"Matt? Is it really you?" she whispered.

He stretched out his arms. "In the flesh. Well, sort of."

Nena's legs shook so hard that she slipped to the ground. A small smile slipped onto her lips. "Thank goodness you're all right."

Matt's smile faltered as he pursed his lips. "Yeah, about that. I just wanted to say thank-you before-well, before it was too late."

Nena's eyes widened. "Too late? For what? Didn't I save you?"

He nodded. "You saved me, but-well, not from death." Nena froze. A coldness swept over her. Matt tilted his head to one side and grinned at her. "Come on, not the long face. You know I never liked it when you were sad. Wait-" he plucked the pin from his shirt and walked over to kneel in front of her. He took her hand in his and lay the pin in her palm. "Hold onto my lucky pin for me while I'm gone, okay?

Nena shut her eyes and shook her head. "No! I don't want you to leave! You can't-" she stretched out her hand to grab his shoulder, but her fingers went right through him.

Matt stood and took a step backward. "Funny, isn't it, how we always think we have all the time in the world and then it stops."

Golden tears shone in her eyes as she clutched the pin to her chest and looked up into his smiling face. "Please. . .please don't go."

"You'll be fine. You're stronger than you think," he told her.

A third bell struck, shaking the air with its deep tones. The vibrations caused ripples over Matt's body and his form began to fade.

He raised his eyes to the endless sky and sighed. "Sorry, Nena, but I think my time's up. Looks like it's up to you to save the world."

Nena stretched out her hand to him. "Matt! Don't leave me!"

He gave a little wave and a smile. "Later, Nena, and know that I'll be watching you."

"Matt!"

"Nena!"

Nena's eyes flew open. Above her was the concerned faces of Peter and Jack. She lay stretched out on the cold roof with Jack's arms propping the side of her upper body against his chest.

Nena pushed him away and scrambled to her feet. She swept her eyes over the area. There was no one else. Matt was gone.

It was then she noticed her balled fist. She lifted her arm and opened her fingers. In her palm lay Matt's lucky pin.

Nena's legs buckled and she dropped to her knees. She stared at the memento as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Matt. . ."

Jack came up and knelt beside her. He set a hand on her shoulder and swept his gaze over her face. "Nena, I'm-" Nena spun around grabbed the front of his coat as she buried her face into his shirt.

Jack blinked down at the sobbing woman for a moment before his face softened. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

Peter glanced at the eastern horizon. A faint glow warned of impending dawn. He returned his attention to the couple. "We cannot remain here any longer."

Jack pulled them apart and caught Nena's blurry gaze in his. "You ready?"

She shook her head and when she spoke her voice was hoarse. "No, but we need to leave."

He smiled. "That's my girl, now let's go."

# 23

"I read your report."

Scratch set the paper in his hand down on his desk and looked up. Jack stood before him with his ever-present cigarette in his mouth.

"And?" Jack asked him.

Scratch tapped the single page. "It's a little brusque, especially the last part. You chased the Corrupted onto the roof and destroyed it."

Jack nodded. "Yep."

He arched an eyebrow as he met Jack's unwavering and uninterested gaze. "Without any of the other residents noticing your fight?"

Jack shrugged. "I guess they're heavy sleepers."

Scratch leaned forward and set his elbow on the desk so he could lay his chin on the back of one hand. "Why did it go to the roof?"

"I guess it wanted some fresh air," Jack quipped.

Scratch frowned and a hint of burning coals flashed through his eyes. "I know your ways, O'Kent. What are you hiding from me?"

Jack grinned. "Would you believe me if I told you he was chasing his fate?"

"No."

"Then we're done here." Jack flicked his cigarette. The burning stub bounced onto the desk and stopped in inch short of sliding into Scratch's arm. He turned and waved to him over his shoulder as he left the room. "Later."

Jack shut the door behind him. Scratch narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth. The cigarette in front of him burst into flames and burnt to dust in a matter of seconds without leaving a blemish on the surface.

Jack aimed his footsteps for Nena's white-clad room in the higher floor. He arrived at the door and knocked. "Nena?" There was no reply. He opened the door and leaned inside. "Nena?" The room was empty.

Jack frowned and pulled himself back out, shutting the door. He furrowed his brow for a moment before an idea struck him and he hurried down the hall.

* * *

Nena sat cross-legged on the hard ground. Her hands lay in her lap, and in one palm lay Matt's pin. The early morning sunlight shimmered off the metallic surface and gave it a slight warmth in her cold hand.

"Matt. . ." she whispered.

A noise caught her attention and forced her to look up. Ten feet in front of her stood the top of a metal ladder. A crop of hair appeared, followed by the curious face of Jack.

He stopped climbing and smiled at her. "Hey." She pursed her lips and turned her face away. "Mind if I come up?" Nena shrugged.

Jack climbed up and stepped onto the concrete surface. He looked around at the view garnered by the roof of the Agency. Gravel surrounded the building and cast an uncharacteristically warm glow over the roof. In the distance was the neon pepper sign, now retired for the day.

He folded his arms across his chest and swept his eyes over the roof. "I've never been up here before. How'd you find this place?"

Nena shrugged. "In all the movies factories have roof accesses, so I just looked around until I found one. Anyway-" she studied him as he walked over and sat down beside her, "-how'd you know where I was?"

Jack stretched his legs out in front of him and smiled at her. "A lucky guess, and a little help from Pete."

She furrowed her brow. "He's not asleep?"

A sly grin slipped onto Jack's lips. "Well, he was, but I woke him up." He leaned close to her and lowered his voice. "A word to the wise, don't wake up a sleeping vampire. They're _really_ grumpy when you do that."

"He wouldn't have hurt you, would he?" she wondered.

Jack rubbed his neck and stared ahead as he winced. "Well, let's just say if I wasn't already dead then _he_ would have been the pain in the neck."

She tilted her head to one side. "Have you known Pete a long time?"

Jack dropped his hand and nodded. "Yeah, almost fifty years."

Nena winced and looked back at her hands in her lap. "So. . .so that means you've been doing this stuff for that long?"

Jack studied her downcast face as he nodded. "Yeah." His eyes flickered to the pin in her palm. "You know, your friend didn't die in vain. Pete managed to get a good look at what he was working on."

Nena lifted her head and frowned at him. "Project Endzeit?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Matt found out it was a virus program that used runes to control it. The program activates the Corruption in the Death Shadow and they possess a human. That's probably what happened to Matt."

She raised an eyebrow. "But how can a computer virus do that?"

Jack pulled out a cigarette and lit it up as he shook his head. "No idea, but Pete's trying to trace the source code right now, whatever that means."

Nena looked at the ground and bit her lower lip. "I. . .I didn't get a chance to thank you."

He glanced at her and arched an eyebrow. "For what?"

She lifted her eyes and smiled at him. "For everything you've done for me. Helping me learn about all this stuff and-well, being there when I needed you."

He grinned. "Believe me, it was my pleasure."

Nena pursed her lips and turned her face away from him. "And. . .and I'm sorry. You know, for hurting you. I didn't mean to."

"I know."

She looked down at her hands and shook her head. "I don't even know what I did. I. . .I was just so angry and scared." She lifted her eyes to him. "Do. . .do you think it'll happen again?"

Jack drew his cigarette from his mouth and studied the glowing end. "I'm not sure."

"Is this something all Death Touched can do? Use a special gun and-well, hurt ghosts?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "To be honest, the Agency hasn't had too much experience with what you are, so I guess anything's possible."

Nena sighed and looked up. The bright sun warmed her face. She tilted her head to one side and softly smiled at the glistening orb in the clear sky. "You know, I can't stop thinking about those bells. Even though they were so deep and loud, I still can't help but be reminded of when I was little and my dad used to take on walks through the park. There was this little church that had a bell, and I always loved to listen to it as we passed by."

Jack looked to her and arched an eyebrow. "What bells?"

She met his gaze and blinked at him. "You know, the three bells we heard in Matt's apartment and on the roof."

He shook his head. "I didn't hear anything."

Her jaw dropped open. "But you must have! They were loud enough to wake. . .the. . .dead." She pressed her hand against her chest over her heart and bit her lower lip. "It's. . .it's because I'm Death Touched, isn't it? That's why I heard them."

Jack pursed his lips and nodded. "Probably."

"So what were they?"

He leaned back and looked up at the dark night sky. "You ever hear about bells tolling for someone about to die, or a big black dog heralding someone's death?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, why?" His eyes flickered to her and her own widened. "You think these bells I heard signaled that Matt was going to die?"

He shifted and pursed his lips. "That's the way I see it."

A shimmer of metal on Jack's person caught her attention and her eyes traveled down to his waist. Nena spotted his gun as it peeked out from beneath his open overcoat. She nodded at the weapon "Could you really kill Death with that?"

Jack took out the weapon and held it in his lap across both of his palms. "Yeah. Archimedes made these according to Scratch's specifications, so it should work."

"And what would happen if you did kill him?" she wondered.

He tucked the gun back into its holster and shook his head. "I don't know. I don't even know if Scratch knows for sure, but for once sticking with the devil you know isn't such a great idea."

"But what if people stop dying?" she asked him.

Jack raised his eyes to the heavens. "I think the world would find a way to adjust, or maybe the guy upstairs would finally decide to come down and help us."

Nena's eyes widened as she stared at Jack's contemplative expression. "Then. . .then there really is a God?"

He shrugged. "Well, I haven't met the guy myself, but since we've both met Death and the Devil, why not?"

She looked down at her pale hands and the pin that lay in her palm. Her eyes hardened as she curled her fingers up to grasp the memento. "If he really exists than why's he letting all this happen? Wasn't he part of the deal, too?"

He chuckled. "That's a question humans have been asking themselves ever since they started believing in benevolent gods."

"Has anyone ever gotten an answer from him?" she wondered.

Jack turned his head and met her eyes. "I think that's a question everybody needs to find their own answer to."

Nena returned her attention to her balled hand. Her eyebrows crashed down as she pursed her lips. "No matter what happens to me, I want Death to pay for what he did to Matt, and everyone else." She looked up to Jack who watched her with soft eyes. "And I don't want anyone else to suffer."

Jack studied her face before he nodded. "We'll get him together."

Her eyes flickered to his glove-covered right hand that lay in his lap. She reached out and took his hand in hers so that his was cradled in her palm. He arched an eyebrow, but didn't stop her as she tugged on the ends of the fingers. One-by-one they slipped off, and soon the whole glove came with them. His transparent hand was revealed to her curious eyes.

Jack stiffened as Nena scooted her side against his and wrapped his arm around her so his ghostly hand settled on her hip, or would have if it hadn't gone through. Her hand never left his wrist as she leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

A soft smile danced across her lips. "I know you can't feel me, but I hope this'll do."

Jack chuckled. "It'll do just fine."
**A note from Mac**

> Thanks for downloading my book! Your support means a lot to me, and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to entertain you with my stories.
> 
> If you'd like to continue reading the series, or wonder what else I might have up my writer's sleeve, feel free to check out my website, or contact me at mac@macflynn.com.

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# Continue the adventure

Now that you've finished the book, feel free to check out my website for the rest of the exciting series. Here's also a little sneak-peek at the next book:

* * *

**Death Incorporated:**

> White doors. White halls. White floors. Rinse and repeat.
> 
> Those were the thoughts that wandered through Nena's mind as she herself wandered the blistering-white halls of the Agency.
> 
> "This place is a maze. . ." Nena muttered as she turned a corner to another long white hall. She stopped and brushed her hand over the pin she now wore at all times. It was Matt's lucky square pin with a pair of black glasses on the front. "Maybe I should've dropped some bread crumbs behind me."
> 
> "The demons would have eaten them."
> 
> The voice came from directly behind her. Nena spun around and found herself face-to-face with the smiling, and handsome, Jack O'Kent.
> 
> She clutched her chest over her still heart and glared at him. "Do you really have to float up on me like that? Maybe you could rattle some chains or something."
> 
> He pulled out the pockets of his tan overcoat to reveal their emptiness. "I left my chains in my other coat, but-" he tucked his pockets back into their places and swept his eyes over the area, "- it wouldn't be a bad idea. It might liven this dead place up."
> 
> She followed his gaze and wrinkled her nose. "For this place beings owned by the Devil it sure is white."
> 
> Jack nodded. "Yes. His nickname of the Prince of Darkness is a little overstated."
> 
> "Maybe they should've called him the Prince of Blindness," she suggested.
> 
> He chuckled. "I'll have to tell him that when we meet. That is, if he hasn't seen it already."
> 
> Nena furrowed her brow as she looked up at him. "What do you mean?"
> 
> He pointed up at the ceiling tiles. "See those dimples near the lights?"
> 
> Nena squinted against the harsh light and noticed a small round bump about four inches in diameter and two inches out from the ceiling. "Yeah, why?"
> 
> "Cameras," he told her. He smiled and waved at the bump. "They see everything we're doing."
> 
> Nena paled and whipped her head to Jack. "Even in our rooms?"
> 
> He nodded. "Even in our rooms."
> 
> She cringed. "That's sick."
> 
> "That's the way Scratch plays," he told her.
> 
> Nena's eyes flickered up to him and she arched an eyebrow. "You really like to tempt fate, don't you? By bothering him, I mean."
> 
> He shook his head. "Scratch isn't my fate, at least that's my plan, and speaking of plans, Scratch has one that he wants to talk to us about. I've got a couple of things to do, so you think you could go get Pete for me?"
> 
> She blinked at him. "Me? But I don't even know where he is."
> 
> He glanced at his watch. "It's a little before sunset, so he should still be in his room."
> 
> Nena jabbed a finger at the white walls. "And I don't know my way around here. Heck, I don't even know where we are right now."
> 
> Jack smiled as he stepped backward beside a door and turned the knob. The door swung open to reveal Nena's own room. "Right where you started."
> 
> She face fell and she dropped her hand to her side. "See? Totally useless."
> 
> "Then it'll be good practice for finding your way around here. Besides, he's just two intersections beyond here and in the room with the scratch on the door," he told her.
> 
> Nena folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. "You know, I wasn't born yesterday."
> 
> A sly smile flashed across his lips. "That depends on if we're comparing birth dates."
> 
> Her eyebrows sank lower. "I may not be a good liar, but I know when somebody's hiding something, and you're hiding something from me."
> 
> "Why would I hide something from such a lovely woman?" he countered.
> 
> "Then why don't you go wake him up?" she returned.
> 
> He sheepishly grinned. "To be honest, he's a little sore at everyone. Azazel took Matt's data from him before he was finished with it, and he really hates to be interrupted."
> 
> She shook her head. "Then I'm definitely not-" Jack grabbed her shoulders and spun her in a one-eighty to face the opposite direction. She teetered and would have tottered into the wall if he didn't have a good grip on her.
> 
> "I knew you could do it!" he exclaimed as he gave her a good hard push down the hall. She stumbled a few feet before she turned to frown at him. He was already ten yards down the hall with his back turned to her and fast disappearing. Jack gave a wave over his shoulder. "When you find him tell him to take you both to the conference room. He'll know what that means. Later."
> 
> Nena balled her hands into fists at her sides and stomped her foot on the floor. "You. . .you. . .you dead idiot!"
> 
> "Undead," he called out before he disappeared around a corner.
> 
> "You're still an idiot!" she shouted.
> 
> Her voice echoed down the hall, but didn't receive a response. Nena growled, spun on her heels, and nearly fell over. She caught herself and marched down the hall.
> 
> "Damn him. . ." Nena grumbled as she made her way down the hall with its endless, unmarked doors on either side of her.
> 
> "That would be a long list around here," a voice quipped.
> 
> Nena spun around to find Azazel behind her. The woman was dressed to perfection in her business attire. A cold smile lay on her lips as she walked up to stand before Nena. She put a hand on her hip as her hard eyes looked Nena over. "You look like a little lost lamb. Can I be your shepherd?"
> 
> Nena took a step back and shook her head. "I think I'd rather find my own way back to the barn, if that's okay with you."
> 
> Azazel dropped her arms to her sides and shrugged. "If that is what you want." She strode past Nena, but paused when they stood shoulder-to-shoulder. Azazel leaned toward her and her cool breath wafted over Nena's skin, chilling her to her bones. "You know, your streak of independence is admirable, but to follow a great leader into hell itself-" she winked at Nena, "-that is true courage. Just think about it." She strolled away.
> 
> Nena's heart didn't stop racing until the clack of Azazel's heels faded into the distance. She gathered herself and hurried forward past the two intersections. Her eyes swept over the doors until she froze before one of them. The white door looked like everyone else's except for five long claw marks down the front.
> 
> Nena furrowed her brow as she raised her hand to the marks. She stretched out her fingers and pressed them against the deep cuts. They fit perfectly into the jagged grooves.
> 
> Nena leaned toward it, took a deep breath, and knocked. "Peter? Pete? Mr.-um, Pete?"
> 
> There was no answer. She tried the door. The knob proved to be unlocked. She opened the door and peeked inside. The room was as plain as her own with its bland asylum-esque style of white walls and floors. A few spots on the ceiling were spotted with small, jagged holes. They coincided with the locations of two cameras that, from their glossy surfaces, showed they were new.
> 
> There was a small black end table on the right, and between that and the wall sat a long, low oblong box. The color faded from Nena's face when she recognized the box for what it was, a coffin.
> 
> Nena swallowed the lump in her throat and stepped inside. She reluctantly shut the door behind herself and eased herself over to the coffin. The young woman was a foot away from the death box when she noticed a narrow table against the far left wall. She furrowed her brow and walked over to it.
> 
> The contents were sparse. A black laptop sat to the left, its lid shut to her prying eyes. There was a black wooden box with a lid on the right side of the table top. She opened the lid and peeked inside. The small white bag that typically hung around Peter's neck lay on black felt. She tipped the mouth open and viewed the bits of silver Peter used as a weapon. They were stacked haphazardly one atop the other. She shut the bag and box, and swept her eyes over the object in the center of the table.
> 
> It was a large picture frame kept upright by a stiff back leg. The wooden frame was aged by countless years, and only the copious amounts of varnish kept the wood from falling to dust. In the frame was placed a hand-drawn sketch of a small cottage with a thatched roof. In front of the cottage was a wooden bench, and upon that bench sat a beautiful woman of twenty. She had a half-finished reed basket in her lap, but the woman looked straight at the viewer. There was a soft smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes that made Nena smile.
> 
> "What are you doing?"
> 
> Nena gasped and spun around. A foot behind her stood Peter in all his black glory. His eyes were narrowed and lit with a color as red as hellfire.
> 
> She clutched the picture to her chest as shrank from his fury. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
> 
> He held out his hand to her. "Give it to me." Nena handed the picture to him. Peter didn't so much as glance at the image before he pushed her aside and set the frame back on the table. He turned to her and his look had cooled some. "What are you doing in my room?"
> 
> She took a step back and nervously smiled at him. "Jack told me to come get you." His expression darkened. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I-it's in the conference room."
> 
> Peter pursed his lips, but grabbed the small white bag from inside the black box and strode past her to the door. He paused in the doorway and glanced up at the ceiling. His bright eyes narrowed and two of his pieces of silver shot out of the bag and slammed into the cameras, shattering them into tiny bits of glass that fell to the floor. The pieces flew back into the bag.
> 
> Peter hung it around his neck and lifted his gaze to the startled woman. "Are you coming?" he snapped from the open doorway. She nodded and took a step toward him, but the picture caught her attention. The woman's smile seemed a little sadder than before. "Miss Tacitas," he called out.
> 
> "Coming!" she yelped as she hurried after him.
> 
> Peter shut the door behind them and led the way down the hall. Nena struggled to keep up with his fast pace, but she had enough energy to speak. "Weren't those cameras?"
> 
> He answered without looking at her. "Yes."
> 
> "They looked kind of new."
> 
> "They were installed while I slept."
> 
> "Ah. So-um, that picture was nice. Where'd you get it?"
> 
> "Nowhere."
> 
> She arched an eyebrow. "So it was a gift?"
> 
> "No."
> 
> "Did you steal it?"
> 
> Peter's expression tensed. "No. I drew that picture."
> 
> Nena's eyes widened. "You can draw?" His eyes flickered over his shoulder at her. She held up her hands in front of her. "I didn't mean anything. I mean, it's cool that you can draw, I just didn't-well, you didn't tell me-"
> 
> "You failed to ask," he countered.
> 
> She snorted. "I don't think that's high on my list of things to ask you."
> 
> He arched an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder at her. "You have a list?"
> 
> She shrugged. "Well, yeah. I mean, you're a vampire. Who wouldn't have a list?"
> 
> Peter returned his attention forward and pursed his lips. "I would rather not answer them."
> 
> Nena's face fell. "Why not?"
> 
> He stopped at a pair of white double doors and turned to her. "Because we have arrived."
> 
> She blinked at him as he opened one of the doors. "Oh. Right. I knew that."

# Other series by Mac Flynn

**Contemporary Romance**

Being Me

Billionaire Seeking Bride

The Family Business

Loving Places

PALE Series

Trapped In Temptation

* * *

**Demon Romance**

Ensnare: The Librarian's Lover

Ensnare: The Passenger's Pleasure

Incubus Among Us

Lovers of Legend

Office Duties

Sensual Sweets

Unnatural Lover

**Dragon Romance**

Blood Dragon

Dragon Bound

Dragon Detective

Maiden to the Dragon

* * *

**Ghost Romance**

Phantom Touch

* * *

**Vampire Romance**

Blood Thief

Blood Treasure

Vampire Dead-tective

Vampire Soul

* * *

**Urban Fantasy**

Death Touched

Oracle of Spirits

**Werewolf Romance**

Alpha Blood

Alpha Mated

Beast Billionaire

By My Light

Desired By the Wolf

Falling For A Wolf

Garden of the Wolf

Highland Moon

In the Loup

Luna Proxy

Marked By the Wolf

Moon Chosen

Moon Lovers

Scent of Scotland: Lord of Moray

Shadow of the Moon

Sweet & Sour

Wolf Lake
