Nothing quite crawled under Gwyneira’s skin like being locked up in the mortuary.  A conglomerate of chemical odors and lemon-scented cleaning solution suffocated her with each breath.  Perhaps there was such a thing as being too clean. The windowless room with its pristine white walls did little to ease that festering anxiety either.

It was standard procedure to lock the doors and avoid windows when summoning the dead, especially after they were brutally murdered. No one could predict what their spirit might do when brought back. Nonetheless, it still gave her goosebumps just looking at the poor vampire on the metal table, thankfully covered with a white sheet.  She tried not to imagine herself in such a horrific state, yet the morbid thoughts refused to vacate her mind.

“Gwyneira.” The sound of Emrys’ voice grounded her, and as he gently rested an arm around her back, tension eased from her body.  “You okay?” he whispered, his lips nearly brushing against her earlobe from how close they stood.

“Yes, I’m good.” Gwyneira tucked her arms around herself to fend off the chills, keeping her gaze anywhere but on her brother-in-law and his scrutinizing glare.  His eyes had only slanted and darkened the moment Emrys put his arm around her, and while that probably wasn’t a good idea, she couldn’t deny how it comforted her.

When the door’s lock unclicked with a soft pop, Gwyneira stiffened beside Emrys. Cool air nipped her skin when the door walloped open and Camilla Oakheart stepped inside with another bat cop trailing close behind her. She wore a black wool cloak and protective lace choker around her neck that pulsed with protective magic unseen by the naked eye.  Gwyneira’s own scarf was woven with similar magic to fend off any wicked bloodsuckers who got the wrong idea and couldn’t keep their fangs to themselves.

“Terribly cold tonight, isn’t it?” Camilla asked, and she smiled warmly at Gwyneira.  “Not used to you down here.”

“I told her she didn’t need to see this,” Percy murmured.

“Yes, and I told you it’s important that I did,” Gwyneira snapped. “As Emrys’ attorney, I have every right to see valuable evidence that could connect to his case. And this vampire was killed in the same manner as Iron Fang, correct?”

Percy nodded, albeit begrudgingly.  “That’s right.  Still, I could have given you the report instead of bringing you down to see a dead body, Gwyn.”

“Gwyneira is resilient enough to handle this, detective.”  Camilla winked in her direction.  “You should never underestimate a witch’s connection to the dead.  It was our heads they hung centuries ago for our wicked blood magic, was it not?”

“You’re here to summon the victim, Ms. Oakheart.  Not give us a history lesson on witches.” The bat cop who’d escorted her inside rolled his dark crimson eyes, and Gwyneira had the most sickening desire to wish they’d pop right out of his thick skull.  

She knew a spell that could make it happen. However, she knew that would do neither her or her client any favors.  Gwyneira couldn’t defend Emrys if she were arrested for mutilating a vampire’s precious peepers. While her brother would be madder than a wet dragon for entangling his husband in such gruesome manners, she knew her sister, Vespera, would be so proud of her.

“Shall we get started then?” With the wave of her wand, Camilla floated her summoning supplies out of her shoulder bag.  

Black embers swept up in the air like an army of bats, her potent energy making her skin tingle just in the mere presence of it.  Gwyneira watched with bated breath as Camilla centered her tealight candles on the floor around the victim’s metal table, connecting each one with a line of salt.  Her magic never wavered.  Not even when she dribbled the required blood sacrifice from her index finger.

“There is no guarantee that the victim’s spirit will come to us tonight,” Camilla warned, and something sinister swam in the dark depths of her eyes.  Her words sent shivers down Gwyneira’s spine and her hands instinctively reached out to squeeze Emrys’ own.  “I want everyone to take a step back, just in case things do take a turn for the worst. Jasmine Lark may panic and lash out. Or we could receive nothing but a hollow ghost of her soul. I can never predict which will come upon first summoning.”

That did little to comfort Gwyneira, and she took a couple steps back until she braced a white wall behind her.  She’d never considered how the dead spirits could return with vengeance in their soul.  The mere thought of being possessed made her stomach twist in painful knots, and she hated to think that maybe Percy had been right.  She should not have come down to the mortuary. 

Camilla commenced with the incantation, her words blurring over the thunderous pounding of Gwyneira’s heart in her ears.  It was too late to turn back.  Beside her, Emrys held tightly to her arm like an anchor steadying her.  

Smoke rose from the body beneath the white sheet, and Gwyneira shivered at the potent magic that tinged her skin. She faintly smelled sweet apple pie mixed with sulfur as the vampire’s spirit slowly materialized before them all. 

Jasmine Lark hovered over her own body with a soulless look on her face that had Gwyneira tempted to hide behind Emrys. She had no intention of letting the vampire possess her. However, Camilla’s containment circle held strong and her spirit remained where it should with her body. 

“We call upon you this cold night in hopes you can help us catch your killer and bring you closure.” That was something Camilla had mentioned to her before, how many unrest spirits spent decades haunting places of people because they needed closure to move on. “Can you tell us what happened to you?”

One could have heard a pin drop in that silent room.  Gwyneira did not think she would answer, until the vampire rasped, “A monster killed me.”

“A monster?” Camilla echoed her own thoughts.  “What kind of monster? Like a wolf walker or-”

“No.  A devil killed me.” Her monotone voice made it all the more chilling, knowing how someone had literally clawed her heart from her chest.  

“Do you know why this devil wanted you dead?” Camilla asked.

Those soulless eyes bore right through Gwyneira as she shrunk back, fingers desperately clutching her wand in her robe’s pocket.  “I don’t think he wanted me.”

Camilla frowned.  “What do you mean?”

“He kept chanting, mumbling really, Gwyneira must die. Gwyneira must die.”

“What?” Gwyneira choked out, her voice betraying her as she clasped a shaky hand over her mouth.  She slowly uncovered it, allowing herself a few deep breaths.  

She remembered how Bloodworth had originally mistaken the victim as her. Was it possible whoever killed Iron Fang was trying to silence her for defending Emrys? For getting too close to the truth?  They asked the victim a few more questions, but the voices blurred into the background as her haunting words kept ringing in her mind. Gwyneira must die.

Even after Camilla cast the spell to send the vampire back to the underworld, Gwyneira could not get her voice out of her head.  Not even escaping the suffocating mortuary helped.  She plastered on her most stoic expression as her brother-in-law led them upstairs to a slightly more comfortable interview room. 

It smelled of fresh wintermint and undertones of copper from the styrofoam cops of blood the vampires poured for themselves.  Percy offered her and Camilla a coffee, but she politely declined.  Her stomach certainly couldn’t handle that.  

Gwyneira had received her fair share of death threats over the years.  A witch lawyer in a country ruled by vampires was prone to receive them, of course. Defending a wolf walker hadn’t earned her any respect from the locals or vampire officials, but none had ever come so close to harming her. She doubted Percy was the only one who wished she’d drop Emrys like a hot plate either.  

“I want a vampire keeping watch on Gwyneira’s firm until we catch this beast,” Percy said, and nobody argued against it. 

“I’ll stay with her until my case is settled as well.” Emrys had chosen to sit beside her, scooting his chair as close to hers as possible. Although, she suspected that it also had to do with him not wanting to be that close to Percy perched on the opposite side of him.

“The Sanguine police department is more than capable of keeping your lawyer safe, Emrys.” Percy sneered, his crimson eyes darkening.

“I have no doubt in your abilities.” Emrys rolled his eyes.  “But this also keeps me protected as well. This monster or devil or whatever it wants to be has been in the same room as me. While I slept. I have no doubt it could come crawling back to finish me off, seeing how it has a palate for vampires.”

“He makes a good point, Percy,” Gwyneira murmured.

Honestly, she had no intention of staying alone until they caught the culprit. She did not care what her brother-in-law or any other bat cop thought of Emrys staying at her firm. He slept in a chair and spent the night reading his precious romance novels, as far as she knew. And she could always order his blood through a blood delivery service if necessary. She’d just charge him an extra dining fee, of course.

Underneath the oval table, Emrys had slipped his hand over hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze.  It was a simple gesture, one meant to offer comfort, but sent warm tingles through her body that was a reprieve from the icy chills she’d felt back in the mortuary. 

The thought of bat cops watching her every moment was unnerving, but not enough for her to turn them away. Not when someone else lurked in the shadows with every intent of ripping her heart from her chest. She would be cautious.  She wouldn’t let someone scare her away from her job, not when Emrys needed her. Not when she was the only one who still had faith in him.