Death eBook 9.8.16 Read Free Page A

saw nothing.
    How was this possible?
    “Dean?” Warren called, concern showing in his voice. Once he was beside me, he asked, “What is it?”
    “Nothing… there’s fucking nothing here, Warren. No ghosts, no bound spirits, nothing.”
    His brows bunched. “There should be at least a few. Their deaths were traumatic.”
    “How?” I asked.
    “Out loud, brother,” Warren warned. He only liked to use our mind link in desperate situations. He went on, “They’re not 100 percent sure, but they suspect a toxin was aboard and leaked throughout the train. Most bodies look decomposed. All have looks of horror upon their faces.”
    “Warren,” I ground out his name, but I could see it on his pinched, worried face; he already suspected a certain someone, like I did, but he was still doubtful or hoping it wasn’t him.
    He looked at me and saw I’d also caught on to his train of thought. “No, it couldn’t be. No.” He shook his head, tightly gripping the notepad in his hand.
    “Look at all the evidence.” I pointed out the obvious.
    “I may have thought it, but how? He’s been locked up for centuries . He couldn’t have escaped.”
    “We need to know for certain,” I said.
    “Fuck,” he cursed. “Fuck!” he yelled, catching strange looks from people around us.
    Though, fuck definitely did fit. If it was who we both suspected, the world would not be the same. It would be turned upside down like it had centuries earlier. Because no one had expected our last and final brother to follow us.
    The Navah made us. However, they also made a mistake. Our fifth brother, Kayne, aka Decay, had turned crazed. Even though it had pained us deeply, we’d had to lock him away so he could no longer harm himself or others; he had been sadly inflicted by his own gift of balance. It deteriorated both his mind and body. His gift could destroy so easily; all it took was a touch of his hand. From there, a person’s body would decay from within, and they’d die the most painful of deaths. His story, existence, had been wiped from any written word, and as the last of our civilization died, they took the only knowledge of Kayne with them. Well, almost. There was still the Order to contend with, but they had been silent for fifty years or so.
    If our fifth brother had somehow been released, we would have to find him and entomb him once more, before he had a chance to play. Plus, we needed to figure out if there were Order members who had helped him.
    Looking back to Warren, I said, “I’m going to take a look around, see if I can find anything. If I find nothing, you know for certain it is him.” Because he would have taken their souls within himself to gain more power, to heal himself enough to survive this world.
    “Do that. I’ll continue with the interviews from the first to the scene.” Warren turned and started off until I called out to him.
    “Who was the survivor?”
    He glanced down at his notepad. “A Julie Michaels.”
    “How did she survive him, brother?”
    He shook his head. “I’m uncertain, but we need to find out. Hopefully Falcone and Connor will have some answers.”

Chapter Two
     
     
    JULIE
     
    BEEP… WOSH
    BEEP… WOSH
    BEEP… WOSH
    I woke slowly to what I assumed, from the sounds of machines, was a hospital. Cracking my left eye open to be sure, I looked around.
    And survey says… YES! Hospital for the win!
    “Why in the H-E-double hockey sticks am I in the hospital?” I croaked softly as I cleared my throat a few times and opened my right eye to join my left.
    To one side of my bed was a drawn curtain for privacy. To the left was a door, which was just opening. In walked an older-looking nurse in Scooby Doo scrubs.
    “Oh, good, you’re awake. They were worried if you didn’t wake soon, you’d slip into a coma,” she announced distractedly.
    “What happened?” I asked as she busied herself getting my blood pressure, temperature, and changing my empty IV fluid bags.
    “Saline and