Second Chance by Heather Brewer

Author:Heather Brewer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Social Issues, Action & Adventure, Juvenile Fiction, General, Bullying, Monsters
ISBN: 9781101591338
Publisher: Dial
Published: 2012-10-15T18:30:00+00:00

13

RETURN TO DEATH CITY

In comparison, Paty was much better at making light of the fact that they were going to examine a dead body than Morgan had been. Once they’d entered the cooler room and slipped on their gloves, Paty started humming a semi-happy tune. Then she rubbed some kind of balm on her upper lip, to which Joss raised a questioning eyebrow.

She held out the small container. “Want some? It helps combat the stench. I honestly couldn’t handle being in here without it. That, and the humming. Humming relaxes me.”

After a brief pause, Joss dabbed his fingers in the container and smeared the contents on his upper lip. It smelled like mint with a hint of rosemary.

Unlike Morgan, Paty didn’t even ask Joss to help in the examination. Not to touch anyway. But she did roll the body’s left wrist over, so that Joss could see a strange tattoo. When he questioned its meaning, Paty said, “Vampires mark themselves with their name in the vampire language. We’re not really sure why.”

“And you can read it?”

Paty nodded. “Much of it, yes. About fifty years ago the Society learned quite a bit from a vampire who’d seemingly defected to our side. He taught us quite a bit of the language, how vampires hunt, what to look for in identifying them.”

Joss mulled this over for a second. He wasn’t certain why he was at all surprised that the beasts had no sense of loyalty. “Why didn’t he teach you the entire language?”

“Because vampires killed him before he could.” Paty clucked her tongue and shook her head. “A shame, really. He was quite useful to our cause. His efforts advanced the Society by leaps and bounds. Funny, isn’t it? It took a vampire to teach us how to really kill vampires.”

On the right biceps, Joss spied another grouping of symbols, which looked similar to those on his wrist. Together, the symbols formed a square. “What’s that, then? If this is his name . . . what is that?”

Paty bent down, turning her head this way and that. “It says something about brothers in arms. Something about four sides joined. I can’t really read the rest.”

Paty’s cell phone rang and she put it to her ear. After a series of yeahs and mmhmms, she hung up and looked at Joss. “There’s been another death. They think it’s the same killer. This can’t be our guy, Joss.”

Joss cursed under his breath. He’d been so close. So close to being free of this task, and moving on to finding Cecile’s murderer. He couldn’t be wrong about Boris. He just couldn’t. “Who found the body? Are they sure it’s a vampire-caused death?”

As she returned her phone to her pocket, she said, “Morgan found it. And being that the head has been ripped clean off, and very little blood remained on the scene . . . yeah. It’s a vampire. But you can judge for yourself in a few minutes.”

Joss raised an eyebrow at her. “I can?”

“They’re bringing the body here.

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