Page 213 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

Creed offers to stop and get me food, but I’m too giddy to focus on food. I can eat later.

By the time we pull up into the driveway, I’m practically half out of my seat before the car even stops. Creed follows behind me into the side entrance to the morgue, where Olly is perchedon the cold bench watching us walk in. The dead body The Order sent over is already on the metal table in the centre of the room, ready for us.

I walk over and take him in. Just looking at his face makes me wonder what secrets his brain holds. Especially if he is involved in The Order. I don’t know much about them, but they are a secret organisation and it’s better to be on their good side.

Creed walks over to the computer and taps away at the keyboard. A dial tone fills the room, and I turn to see Amelie’s face fill the screen. This time she doesn’t have Kalen with her. Instead, she has a man with an insidious smile. A chill radiates up my spine at the vibe he’s got going on. The man is decent looking, and while not quite as scary as Laughn, I still wouldn’t want to cross him.

“Hi,” Amelie says, rubbing her eyes. It must be early in the UK. “This is Onyx. Don’t mind his resting bitch face, the wind changed, and he’s stuck like that forever,” she jokes.

He rolls his eyes, but I don’t miss the small smile tilting his lips as he looks over at her.

“We have your guy. Is there anything I should know?” Creed asks as I wave to Amelie.

Onyx moves forward. “We sent him to Australia on an assignment, but we lost contact with him six days ago. Our Australian chapter was looking for him, but he vanished, then turned up last night on Amelie’s grandmother’s doorstep. We have a feeling it’s an inside job and wanted to keep it quiet. Amelie suggested you.”

His tone suggests he isn’t exactly happy about it, but he doesn’t say that outright.

“We had the body brought straight to you,” Amelie adds. “No one knows besides my grandmother and siblings. Once you finish whatever it is you do, please call us back on this secure lineto go through your findings. We appreciate your discretion on this matter.”

“What do you want done with the body after?” Creed asks.

“Dispose of it,” Onyx replies. “We don’t need any evidence left behind.”

“Please box up his remains. I will get Sawyer to email you with a forwarding address. Once we find out what happened, I’m sure his family would like his ashes.”

“We will call you back as soon as all of his results come are in,” Creed says in a business voice.

I smile and Amelie smiles back—she gets it. I’m sure the dark and broody Onyx gets her all hot and bothered.

Onyx nods at Creed and ends the call. I turn my attention back to the dead body.

“I already examined the body and started my report, so I was ready for you.”

“Goody,” I exclaim, bouncing on my toes, half in excitement and half from the cold.

Standing next to him, I observe intently as he picks up a scalpel and explains that he has to cut away the skin. He arcs the cut around the back of the cadaver’s head and moves to the front. Admittedly, I get slightly queasy as he peels away the man’s scalp to slowly reveal the actual skull. Leaving the hair flap pulled forward over the man’s face, Creed tucks the bottom part down near his neck. This is a little more gruesome than I initially thought.

Honestly, I figured once the skin was off, he would get out a saw and just start hacking away. Instead, he removes the muscles by swiping the scalpel around the temple area.

“Now it’s time to open the skullcap,” he instructs, placing the scalpel down on a tray on wheels. He picks up something that looks like a bread knife.

“We have to make an outline with this blade.”

I nod and watch as he works. “Can you hold his head still?” he asks me.

I snap on some gloves and step away from Creed a little to stabilise the man’s head, while trying really hard to ignore the skin flap.

Once he is done, he looks up at me. “Just to recap, we retracted the anterior flap forward and posterior flap backwards. Then we made the outline. You will learn all the technical jargon in class.” I nod along with what he is explaining. “Now we need this beauty,” he says, holding up a small circular saw, but it’s smaller than I imagined. Creed passes it to me, and I move behind the now exposed skull as he explains carefully what I need to do. Stepping behind me, he continues to whisper instructions into my ear.

I squeal once the saw goes through the last section of the skull, stepping back as Creed pops the skull off to reveal the brain. He picks up his scalpel again and removes another flap that looks like thick plastic. I lean right over as his finger pops under the man’s brain, and he gets the scalpel in behind it and cuts the brain right out of his head and places it into a metal dish.

“What do you need to test his brain for?” I ask, eyeing the mushy mass.

“This guy, I don’t. I just figured you would like to do it.” He smirks.

I gasp. “Creed Taylor, you did not just make me cut a poor dead man’s skull open for our own entertainment!”

Creed removes his gloves and throws them in a bin, then stalks over to me. His eyes lock with mine, a dark, twisted grin on his face. “Tenshi, that man isn’t a good person. He has done things to people you wouldn’t even imagine. The least he can do in death is help my girl with a fantasy about cutting a skull open.”

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