Page 5 of Death and Divination
“The police were keeping everyone back. It was a terrible accident—no one needed to be gawking at that. Besides, he was inside the police line.”
“Maybe he managed to get past the police? Maybe it was a relative of the injured gargoyle, or another first responder?”
“At every serious call in the last two years?” I shook my head. “He’s definitely not a first responder. And no one would have allowed a relative that close while we were working on someone. And if they had, why would a family member suddenly vanish?”
“He ran off to puke because the sight of blood freaked him out?” Cassie shrugged. “I doubt it was a ghost, Ophelia. You were focused, running on adrenaline, and trying to keep that gargoyle alive. Maybe you imagined it, or maybe itwasa friend or family member and you just didn’t notice him afterward.”
“The same friend of different victims for two years?”
“You were probably mistaken. Those humans, they all look alike,” she joked.
“You don’t believe in ghosts,” I accused her. “Seriously. You’re a witch with six witch sisters, all of us performing magic and living in a town with goblins, and vampires, and werewolves, and mermaids but you don’t believe in ghosts? You’re knocking boots with a demon, but you don’t believe in ghosts?”
She threw up her hands. “I’m sorry, Idon’tbelieve in ghosts. I’ve seen all of us do magic. I’ve seen goblins, vampires, werewolves, mermaids and more. I’ve seen what Lucien can do. I’ve never seen a ghost.”
Death. He’d said he was Death, but I refused to believe that. Death freaked me out enough without the thought of one of death’s minions basically stalking my work calls. Not Death. Nope.
I sighed, picking up one of the spell books. “Maybe he wasn’t a ghost, but he wassomething. I see him all the time, Cassie. He was at a drowning a few days ago, standing off to the side and watching me. Then I swear I saw him when I was responding to a cardiac call. Then there was the griffin with pneumonia.”
“But he wasn’t at Silas Crabtree’s tail emergency?” Casssie grinned.
“It’s not funny,” I protested. “No, he wasn’t there when I was helping Silas. He’s only there when it’s critical, when it’s a life-or-death kind of call.”
“You’re right, it’s not funny. Sounds like some creepy guy who gets off on emergencies. He probably has a police scanner, listens for the call, then goes out to watch.”
I frowned in thought. “Maybe, but the guy seems more focused on me then on the victim.”
“So, he’s got a first responder fetish? You’ve got yourself a stalker?”
Weirdo that I was, I kind of dug that idea. “No one else has seen him hanging around. No one else remembers seeing him at my calls, either.”
“So, he’s an invisible man? Only visible to you? And he’s going to all the critical calls, but no one else realizes it because only you can see him.”
This was getting ridiculous. “You don’t believe in ghosts, but you believe in invisibility?”
Cassie shrugged. “Magical illusions. It’s not a stretch.”
“Except this is aguy, and men aren’t witches,” I countered. Only women inherited the ability to do magic. There were some instances where the son of a witch had some very minor skills, but not the sort of ability that significant illusions or invisibility would require. “Plus, if he did somehow manage to pull off an illusion that rendered him invisible, why wasIable to see him?”
Cassie nodded. “Okay. I’m voting for creepy perv that only you somehow notice, but if you say ghost, then I’ll believe you.”
Death. I shook my head at the notion. Ghost seemed more acceptable.
“I don’t know if it’s a ghost or not,” I told her. “I was hoping you’d have some idea on this. Well, an idea beyond creepy perv or the invisible man that only I can see.”
“I could ask Lucien later tonight when he’s back, but I think your best bet is to check with Babylon,” Cassie told me.
“Where’s Lucien that he won’t be home until tonight?” That was a shocker. It was noon on a Saturday. I couldn’t imagine what could tear the demon from Cassie’s side for five or six hours.
“Work.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s got some business in the fifth circle of hell. I don’t really want to know about it, so I didn’t ask for details. Ever since Bronwyn took up with Hadur, Lucien’s been trying to spend some time in hell once or twice a week. Seems being called a spoiled, entitled, privileged brat by a warmonger stung a bit and he’s trying to prove that he takes his infernal duties seriously.”
Men. Made me glad I was single. Actually, it made me glad that when I did date, I tended toward nice normal human guys and not ones with horns or tails, or hellfire shooting from their eyeballs or something.
Suddenly my thoughts drifted to the man at the accident scenes. He was… well, he was damned hot, I’ll admit that. What I’d seen lately was pretty drool-worthy. Thin, but in an elegant way with an easy stride that signaled a wiry strength. Angular features. Dark brown hair. Dark eyes. It was his eyes that really drew me in. They were intense. Not brooding, not emo, but intense. It was as if this man calmly watched the worst, remained steadfast in the face of a million crises. Here I was forcing back my panic at the thought of losing a patient, and he seemed to regard it all as if he held the very keys to life and death in his hands.
It was sexy—so very sexy. Cassie’s demon boyfriend was hot, as in looked-like-he-stepped-out-of-a-magazine-spread hot. Bronwyn’s demon boyfriend looked mountain-man-who-can-bench-press-a-Jeep hot. But this guy wasmykind of hot. Unflappable. Calm. Collected. Confident.
I was a total weirdo in that I sort of wanted him to be a stalker, like Cassie said. Not because I particularly liked stalkers, but because that would mean he was coming to these calls to see me.
Would it be creepy for me to ask a man out on a date as I was loading a patient into the ambulance? Probably.
