Affairs of the Dead Read Free Page B

Two students had seizures as a result of their fright, and a dozen others went into shock.” He closed the file. “I could continue, but I think you get the point.”
    “So what?” I said dully.
    “Selene…”
    I threw up my hands. “I was just doing my job—helping ghosts! Is it my fault I get stuck with clients who want to commit crimes, jump out of planes, and get laid?”
    “You know as well as anyone else that there’s a solution for ghosts whose issues can’t be resolved.”
    “But they could be resolved!” I said. “And I resolved them. They all faded!”
    “And you only broke the law, spent an exorbitant amount of the company’s money, and caused teenagers trauma to do it?”
    I opened my mouth, closed it, then slumped back against the chair. “Well excuse me if I thought my methods were less extreme than the alternative. I thought we tried to avoid doing a necromancer circle at all costs.”
    “When the choices are things like necrophilia versus doing a circle, doing the circle wins,” Andrew said. “And you know that.”
    I dropped my head back and made a sound of exasperation. Andrew was right, and damn it, I hated when anyone except me was right.
    It was normal to expect that, sometimes, a ghost’s unresolved business was too bizarre or illegal for us to help them with, so in those cases, a necromancer circle was performed to force the ghost into the afterlife. The thing about a circle though, was that it needed at least half a dozen necromancers to perform and required us to use our own energy, not rune stones.
    Because we used our own energy, and we needed to use a lot since we were forcing a ghost to cross over, it was dangerous to everyone involved. Many necromancers died as a result of a circle. And there was also the chance that the ghost could be strong enough to resist being forced into the afterlife, turn into a beastie, escape our hold, and unleash a massacre.
    So were the things I did to help my clients costly, wrong, and/or illegal? Yes, but I still said my methods were better than having to endure a necromancer circle.
    “I just can’t agree that a circle would have been the better choice,” I said. “Nowadays, no one even volunteers to be part of a circle, so for all those ghosts, you’d have had to force me and a half dozen other necromancers to endure the thing and hope we came out of it alive.”
    “Between you and me, I’m likely to agree with you, but the government has their hawk eye on businesses like ours, and the last thing we want them to get wind of is activities like yours. Here, we may be able to get away with gray areas, but the government is black and white only. So in those terms, sex with ghosts is a no, and a life-threatening circle that could result in a ghost monster or half a dozen dead necromancers is a yes.”
    “Democracy is a wonderful thing,” I muttered.
    “Your reckless behavior is the reason I had you followed,” he said. “That way, I could see what you were doing and compare it to what you were putting in your reports. You have quite the knack for lying.” Again, there was an amused smile on his face.
    I bowed my head. “Thank you, I work hard at that talent.”
    Andrew sighed and shook his head. “I don’t like playing the bad guy, Selene, especially with you, but you’re giving me no choice here. I can’t let your actions go unchecked.”
    “I wasn’t going out of my way to misbehave,” I said. “It’s not like I was trying to stick my middle finger up at you and whatever hawk eyes are watching.”
    “I know,” he said. “You were just getting the job done, and trust me, I applaud your avant-garde methods even though they were costly, but I can’t let you continue to do whatever you want. I’m not the only one who’s noticed, and you don't want everyone thinking you’re getting special treatment, am I right?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Fine, I’ve been bad, but track and retrieval? Seriously? Can’t you just suspend me