Page 108 of Grave Beginnings

“Sure. Zombies to raise or whatever.”

“This is part of you,” he said. “Your power is just as much apart of you as your blond hair and blue eyes. Are you afraid to look in the mirror in the morning?”

“You’ve not seen me with wild bed hair yet.”

He huffed. “Deflection is a trauma response.”

I sighed. “I’m trying.”

“I know, and that’s why I’m giving you time. In the same vein, I want to protect you from everything. Smother you in bubble wrap and snarl at anyone who has hurt you.”

“That’s sweet, but I’m a little old for the coddling.”

“Never,” Angel said. He turned off the car and slid out. I followed, feeling like every eye suddenly turned my way, but it was Hanna who approached first.

“Sorry for the delay,” I said out of habit.

“I’d like you to walk the field with our forensics team. Tell them if you sense anything else,” she said without preamble.

“I don’t really know what I’m looking for, but sure.” Maybe if I pretended it was like a video game, sparkling bits would show up for me toinvestigate.

“Once we wrap up this case, I want you to spend some time with Lilith, practicing and honing your power.”

“Lilith?” I asked.

“I’ve been told you met,” Hanna said.

“At the bakery,” Angel offered.

“The woman who looked like a grown-up Wednesday Addams?”

Angel groaned.

Hanna smiled. “Exactly.”

“She’s an SV?”

“She’s a goddess of the dead,” Hanna corrected.

I blinked at her for a few seconds as the words processed. “A goddess?” I glared at Angel. Why hadn’t he said something? “Wouldn’t she be more help here?”

“Most of the higher deities rarely cross the Veil,” Hanna said. She waved a small group over. Their vests read SED, but I didn’trecognize any of them, nor did they have glowing bands. Not variant? Or the non-human type? “If you could walk the lot with them and point out anything you notice?” She glanced at Angel. “Angel will remain here.”

He looked like he wanted to protest, but I rushed after the team.

“You’ve done crime scenes before?” one asked. His badge said Knight.

“Yep. Former homicide detective.”

“That will make this easy then. We’ve got markers up. Don’t step on them. Move slowly. Tell us if you find something we missed.” He sounded doubtful I would, but since I agreed, I got to it.

There was a lot of trash in the lot since it was one of those empty spaces between a slew of office spaces, not big enough to build on, and yet not zoned for housing. These sorts of places often went ignored and occasionally turned into dump sites. Sometimes, the unhoused would find their way to a morbid end. Other times, a crime would go unnoticed for a long time. Joe and I had a handful of places in our zone that we checked regularly. This had not been one of them, but we hadn’t worked this side of town either.

The mess of clothes and other camp supplies meant, at some point, there had been squatters. This close to downtown, they often got run off to keep the businesses happy. I slowly wove around a handful of markers, not examining what they found as much as avoiding them. Working in the field like this meant trusting your team to do their part.

“It’s like an Easter egg hunt,” I muttered to myself. “Except the eggs are all full of existential dread and possible zombie dust.” Finding, tagging, and bagging always went to forensics as they caught stuff most beat cops didn’t know to look for, like cigarette butts, threads, or even wrappers. My job often began afterward with the body, and reviewing the evidence.

We walked a few lines, up and down the lot, giving me a few feet to examine as we moved, and I sensed nothing other than that it looked eerie in the early morning hours and reminded me of getting the shit beaten out of me just hours earlier.