The Men of Otherworld: Collection One (3 page)

He slid into a long duster—the autumn had finally hit—into which he had crammed every weapon he could think of. Placing a hat over his long curls, he inhaled sharply, then let out a long sigh. As he opened the door, he wondered if he would ever see his beloved Fraale again. Probably not. She’d probably forget him, and eventually, he’d probably let her memory go. But he’d come back in a year to see if she remembered their bargain.

Rozurial stepped into the evening air. Reports put Dredge still in Ceredream. That seemed the most likely place to catch the vampire who had destroyed his childhood. Because since he couldn’t kill the monster who had destroyed his marriage, he was damned well going to track down the one who had murdered his parents and siblings. And this time, using the new powers that had come with transforming into an incubus, Rozurial swore he would cross every world necessary to find the vampire and stake him.
 

Chasing Sharah

The first date is always awkward—and it seemed to me that Chase and Sharah would feel even more uncomfortable, given their circumstances. So I decided to explore what that date was like.

Chase had always been extremely good about keeping his private affairs separated from work, until now. And at this moment, he was unsure just what the hell he was doing. Should he? Shouldn’t he? He’d vacillated so much on this decision that, even standing on Sharah’s doorstep, he wasn’t sure if he could actually force himself to go through with this. But then again, if he didn’t, if he walked away and stood up the elfin medic, work would be a nightmare of embarrassments. No, he had asked her out on a date and now he was obligated to go through with it. Chase drew a sharp breath, reached out, and rang the bell.

A faint tone sounded from inside, and the door opened with a swish. There she was. Slight, with pale blonde hair pulled back in an intricate braid, Sharah was decked out in a pair of blue jeans and a pretty peasant top.
 

Chase blinked. He was so used to seeing her in her scrubs, that he’d half been expecting her to be wearing them at home. But then she smiled and invited him in, and Chase suddenly found himself inside her apartment. The flowers were in her hands, and she was showing him to the sofa.

“Have a seat. Would you like something to drink? Some wine or coffee or…I don’t know. What do you want?” Sharah paused, blushing but then the words poured out of her mouth like money out of a slot machine. “I just realized, I have no idea what you like to do after work. Other than hang out with Delilah and her family.” She bit her lip, blushing. “I’m sorry—you probably don’t want to talk about her—about them—maybe…” Dropping to the sofa, she let out a sigh. “I blew it, didn’t I? This date was probably a bad idea. I don’t even know what to call you.”

He stood there, staring down at her. The pale rose of her cheeks made her seem so delicate, yet she always struck him as steady and confident. She sounded so forlorn that Chase wanted to wipe away the worry lines on her forehead. He wanted to put her at ease.
 

“How about you just call me Chase? And I don’t think this was such a bad idea. It’s terribly awkward, yes, but if we’re honest with ourselves, I think we both knew it was going to be. Let’s face it. This is new territory for us both. I guess we take it one step at a time and see where it goes?”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Starting over, now. I’m going to put these flowers in water. Do you want something to drink?” She paused by the door leading into the kitchen.

Chase started to offer his help, but then realized she might want a moment to compose herself. “Yeah, a cup of coffee would be nice. Black, with one sugar, please.”
 

As she disappeared, he looked around. The living room had a Victorian feel to it, with delicate bric-a-brac scattered around: Porcelain figurines of dancing women, of frogs and raccoons and lizards, of all things. Over the fireplace, a heavy wooden frame held a copy of J.W. Waterhouse’s
Boreas
. The girl in the painting could have passed for one of the Fae, or an elf, caught in a blustery wind as her shawl billowed around her.
 

He glanced around the rest of the apartment. Plants grew everywhere, from aloe to potted herbs to unusual flowers that must have come from Otherworld.

Try to relax. Sharah’s your friend.
She was also a damned good worker—the head medic. Technically, she didn’t work for Chase. The medical division of the Faerie-Human Crime Scenes Investigation unit was mostly autonomous, though they worked in synch with the law enforcement division. Sharah had been assigned Earthside, but she worked for Queen Asteria, her aunt, back in Otherworld. Chase couldn’t send her home unless she did something horrendous.

Another moment and Sharah returned, tray in hand with coffee and cookies on it. She slid it onto the table and handed him one of the coffee mugs. As their fingers touched, a brief spark flared. Chase pulled away so fast he almost spilled the steaming coffee all over him.

“So…” All of a sudden, every thought in his head vanished and he had no clue what he was going to say.
 

“It was a slow day today—only four injuries.” Sharah stopped herself, biting her lip. She glanced over at him. “Your turn.”

Chase fingered his collar, pulling on it. He felt on trial. “Same here…except…” He was about to say something about Delilah and one of the demons, but decided that wasn’t the wisest move. Delilah was out of the picture now, only in his life as a friend. But that didn’t mean her name didn’t come with a buttload of baggage for both himself and Sharah.

They sat there in silence, sipping their coffee.
Worst date ever
, Chase thought. But at that moment, his cell phone rang. Relieved, he answered. It was Yugi.

“Boss, we have a problem. Something’s going down in the morgue—a fight of some sort—and we need you back here—Sharah too.” Yugi was the only one at the station who knew what Chase and Sharah were up to that evening.

“We’re on our way.” Chase punched the End Talk button. “Yugi said there’s…” He stopped. “A
fight
in the morgue? What the hell?” He jumped up. “We’re both needed at the station. Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”

Sharah looked as relieved as he felt. She grabbed her purse and coat. “I’m ready. Let me turn off the coffeemaker first.”
 

As she ducked into the kitchen, Chase stared morosely at the sofa. Well, so much for this idea. There was no way in hell that he and Sharah could make anything work between them. Of that, he was sure.

Yugi was frantic, and Yugi was hardly ever frantic. When Chase and Sharah rushed through the door, he let out a mumbled, “Thank heavens” and motioned for them to follow him to the elevator.

“What happened?” Chase checked his service weapon, making sure it was firm in his holster. He held the elevator door for Sharah, then entered the car. As the doors swished shut, Yugi leaned against the railing, looking exhausted.

“I don’t know what practical joker decided to pull this stunt, but we brought in three bodies tonight—bad car crash. Supes involved, we were told. I was wrapping up the reports for the day when I get a summons from the morgue. Nasty problem, Clyde says—the bodies aren’t dead.”

“What do you mean?” Sharah asked. “Should I get up to the ER?”

Yugi shook his head. “No, they weren’t injured either.”

“Crap. New vamps?”
Please, oh please, don’t let it be vamps
, Chase thought. The last thing he felt like doing tonight was taking on a pack of newly minted vampires.

Once again, Yugi shook his head. “Nope. We were had the whole way through. A couple of local teens—Earthside Fae—apparently thought it would be funny to stage a car crash and…long story short, the
victims
are actually zombies. Somehow the teens devised a stasis spell that kept the zombies from moving. They’re fresh enough that it fooled the medic.”

“You
have
to be kidding.” Chase stared at him. Teenaged humans were bad enough, but he had discovered that teen Supes could be far, far worse.

“I wish I was. Once the bodies were here, Clyde and his assistant were opening the body bags as the spell wore off and the zombies started moving. The two managed to get out of the morgue without being hurt, but by then, the zombies were causing havoc. I was going to put them down but it occurred to me that since we’re not sure who they were, or when they were killed, I’d better call you. We don’t know if they were murdered or if the teens just dug up a few fresh graves or what.”

Sharah let out a disgusted grumble. “If we catch the idiots, I’d like to have ten minutes alone with them.”
 

Chase glanced at her. “Take ‘em down a peg, huh?”

She snorted. “You have not seen how elfin children are disciplined. Oh, no abuse, but a stupid stunt like this would warrant six months of community service and an ass whipping.”

“You know this for a fact, do you?” Chase let out a grin as the doors opened and they stepped out of the elevator.

“I’ll have you know, I was a hell raiser when I was younger. And yes, that is standard punishment. I still have the memories to prove it.” Sharah laughed. “I wasn’t always the upstanding healer I am now.” She winked at him and Chase’s stomach fluttered at the coy gleam in her eye.
Maybe…maybe…

Yugi stopped in front of the doors leading into the morgue. “I’m not sure what to do. How do we subdue them so we can identify the bodies before we…um…”

“Destroy them?” Chase frowned. “Good question. We could drive them into a cell and lock them up.”

“Yeah, but that entails getting them upstairs to the holding tanks.” Yugi shrugged. “I really don’t feel like acting bait or being caught in an elevator with them.”

Sharah let out a sigh. “There are a few drugs that will sedate a zombified body.”

Yugi’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“You’re in luck.” She stopped by one of the hall phones. “Let me call upstairs and have Arralyn bring it down.”

Yugi motioned Chase aside. “I’m so sorry for interrupting your evening. I just wasn’t sure what to do and—”

“No worries, man. I think we both welcomed the interruption.” Chase hadn’t intended on spilling the beans, but he was so disappointed that he couldn’t keep it out of his voice. “I don’t think the date was a good idea.”

Yugi cocked his head. “But you guys are
great
together. You get along, you have a similar sense of humor, and I know Sharah’s attracted to you.”

“That’s all well and good but we had nothing to talk about—
shush
. Here she comes.” Chase stopped talking as Sharah returned to their conclave. “Arralyn on the way?”

“Yes, he’s bringing down several doses. Be very careful—if even a drop of this stuff gets in the blood stream of someone who’s still alive, it can paralyze the lungs. Which translates to: deader than a doornail.” She suddenly stopped and turned toward the door of the morgue. “Guys, we have company.”

At that point, the door burst open and three zombies shambled out. They were definitely dead, that much was obvious, and it had happened not all that long ago. Chase started to reach for his gun but then remembered that zombies didn’t respond to being shot. They were already dead, for one thing. At that point, Chase also realized that the hallway wasn’t all that big and there were only two exits—through the other side of the morgue to the stairwell, or back up the elevator. The former would require going
through
the zombies.

“Unless one of you has an axe, I suggest retreat!” He grabbed Sharah’s arm and turned to race toward the elevator. Yugi was right on their heels. But the zombies were too fast and the elevator seemed to be hung up on one of the upper floors.
 

Chase swore. Damned zombies seemed to be getting faster every year. He glanced around. There were two doors in the hallway—one to a restroom, the other to the janitor’s closet. Yugi was already hightailing it for the janitor’s closet, but one of the zombies was too close. If Chase and Sharah tried to join him, they’d be within striking range. Sharah grabbed Chase’s hand and made a mad dash for the restroom. As soon as they were inside, she hit the lights on and locked the door, leaning against it as one of the zombies began to beat against it.

“Thank gods this is a one-person bathroom,” she said, looking around. “Otherwise it wouldn’t have a lock on it and we’d be hip-deep in trouble.”

Chase looked around. Usually bathrooms in medical facilities had phones, but this was the morgue level, where the patients usually didn’t need help. He looked around for someplace to sit, but the only choice was the toilet and somehow, that seemed so indecorous.

Sharah seemed to notice his predicament. “Oh go ahead. Sit down. I don’t care.”

Grateful, he lowered the seat and sat on the john. “Thanks. I guess I’d better call upstairs for some help.” He pulled out his cell phone and punched in the front desk’s number. A few minutes later, he glanced back at Sharah, who was studiously ignoring the grunts on the other side of the door. “They’ll be down as soon as they get the manpower back in the building. Right now, nobody upstairs has ever fought a zombie and Arralyn isn’t about to come down here without an escort. So we’re stuck for awhile.”

Sharah let out snicker. “Well, you have to admit, this is turning out to be one of the worst dates on record.”

Chase winced. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened at your place. I choked, I guess. Everything seemed so strange and awkward.”

Sharah laughed. “You felt that way too? I thought it was just me. All I could think about was,
oh my gods
,
I’m dating the man who hired me and how the hell can I compare to his last girlfriend?
”

Chase blinked. It never occurred to him that she would compare herself to Delilah. “You’ve got to be kidding. You’re worried about me comparing you to Delilah?”

Sharah glanced down at the floor and her smile vanished, replaced by a nervous twitch of the lip. “Well…she’s…look at her. She’s incredibly athletic, she can turn into a cat and a panther, and...she fights demons. I’m just an elfin medic. I can’t help but wonder why you guys broke up? Why did you ask me out?” And right there, her voice cracked and she covered her face. “I can’t believe I just said that. You must think I’m horrible—but…”