Page 44 of Soul Sucker

“It’s possible.”

She slowed down and searched for a parking spot along the side of the tall apartment building Laney lived in downtown.

“Do you want a space close to here?” Vadim asked. She nodded and made a left turn to circle around again. The next moment, a car started to reverse out of a spot right in front of them. Ella braked and stuck on her indicator. She glanced at Vadim but he wasn’t even looking her way.

“She’s on the third floor.”

He got out, locked his door before she even reminded him, and followed her into the lobby of the apartment building. The bank of elevators was protected behind a set of glass doors with keypads. He touched her arm.

“You have the code?”

“Somewhere.” She looked for her phone.

“I’ve got it.” He brushed his hand over the keypad and then pushed the first door. It opened immediately. She studied the elevator lights. “Let’s use the stairs.”

He found the door and held it open for her. “You don’t like elevators do you?”

“No.” She kept it short. She’d need all her breath to climb. As she went up, her sense of urgency increased as she caught a scent of something…unpleasant.

“Hurry.”

As she ran along the hallway, she dove into the bottom of her purse for Laney’s spare key, but it was hard to find it amongst all the junk.

“What number is it?”

“3221.”

Vadim went ahead and was already pressing the buzzer when she reached him. She finally found the key and pushed it into the lock. As the door swung open, the sickening all-too-familiar stench of Otherworld magic and death engulfed her.

“Laney,” she whispered.

Vadim was already moving ahead of her into the apartment, his gun out, his magical senses on high alert. He stopped so suddenly that she cannoned into the back of him. He held her back, one arm outstretched.

“Ella—”

She pushed past him and took another two steps before coming to a halt again. Laney was on her back on the floor, one hand still grasping her cell phone, her eyes open but seeing nothing, her expression frozen in a scream of anguish.

“Oh my God!” Ella dropped to her knees. “Laney.” Vadim crouched between them and took hold of Ella’s shoulders. “Don’t touch her. Don’t touch anything.”

She struggled to free herself but he held firm. “Morosov, what’s fuckingwrongwith you? Let me go! She needs help, she?—”

“Ella.” He gave her a sharp shake. “She’s dead. Now think! Is the killer still around?”

“She’s not, she’s…” Ella took another look at Laney and started to shiver uncontrollably. “There’s so much psychic shit swirling around in here, I can’t get it straight.”

Vadim shook her again. “Yes, you can. Do it for Laney.” Still holding on to her he punched in a number on his cell phone. “Alexei? Are you getting this? Call Feehan and get him to call the police.”

She took a deep breath and then another and Vadim nodded. “That’s it. Get a grip. Help her in the only way you can.”

“Let me go.” He hesitated. “I swear I won’t touch her.”

He released her arm and moved out of her line of vision exposing her to the full horror of Laney’s body. Her friend lay on the floor, her hair spread around her as if she’d fallen back into a pool.

“I can’t see any obvious injuries, can you?” Vadim asked.

His calmness helped steady Ella. She tried to pretend it was just another body, just another weird day at the office, just another dead empath…

“No, just a trickle of blood from her ear and her nose. Like Christa Morehouse.” She closed her eyes and focused on what her normal human senses couldn’t see. “Same malevolent psychic scent too.” She took another breath. “No sense of Laney.”

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