The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

"A bit of the woman was flung over the side of the building. It hit a kitchen hand from the restaurant next door as he was dumping bags into the trash."

"Anyone talked to him yet?"

"I think he's been sedated." Cole grimaced. "He'll probably have nightmares for weeks, poor kid."

"He's not the only one." I rubbed my arms lightly, then stopped as power began to caress the air and an odd tingle raced across my skin.

Excitement surged. It wasn't just the escalation of the violence that was different with this crime scene.

"What?" Cole said softly.

"There's a soul here." My gaze darted around the parking lot, but I couldn't see anything that resembled the wispy smoke of a soul. Of course, the wind might be tearing any manifestation apart before it was fully formed.

"Whose soul?"

"I don't know." I spun around and took several steps toward the rear wall. The wind was less frantic here, and just for an instant, a wisp of smoke stirred in the shadows holding court in the corner.

Who are you? I asked. I'd learned not so long ago that my ability to sense and hear souls had stretched into being able to converse with them telepathically, as well. Not that there was ever anything resembling whole conversations between us. The ability to talk from beyond the grave seemed to take a lot of strength, and many souls did little more than speak a word or two before their presence disintegrated and they moved on.

But maybe this time, one word might be all we needed to stop other innocents getting mauled by the bakeneko.

I took another step forward, and the chill in the air suddenly increased. Whoever it was, they were close by. Had to be. The presence of a soul in this world always seemed to drag me too close to the fierce cold of the underworld.

Again, smoke stirred in the shadows. Just a wisp, a bare outline - nothing that would even be defined as ghostlike. But it was there. The power of it spun all around me.

Who are you? I asked again.

For a moment, there was no response, but the energy in the air increased, until it felt like fireflies dancing across my skin.

Why? came the reply. So soft. So confused. And very definitely female.

No one knows why this creature is so destructive, I said, hating that I had to talk to her, hating that I had to feel her pain like this. Yet in some odd way, it was probably helping her. She'd have no answers at all if I wasn't here. You weren't its intended victim. You were just in the way.

The chill in the air increased, and with it came a sense of anger. It was not my time.

She mightn't have thought so, but fate always had other ideas on such things. Can you tell me anything about the creature?

She was fast. The sense of energy increased, until the tingling on my skin felt like fire. Very briefly, a wispy face formed in the shadows - a thin pretty face with wide lost eyes. She took my bag. My phone. My car keys.

She took your life, too, but I kept that thought to myself. I had no idea if souls could feel shock, but this one showed every sign of going through that right now. I didn't need to make it any worse for her.

What is your name?

Maria. Maria Kennedy-Smith.

Is there anything you can tell me about the person who did this to you?

I knew her. But it didn't seem like her.

The chill in the air was beginning to fade, and the shadows once again swallowed her wispy features.

What was her name?

Jenny Franklin.

One of the missing women. So if her body wasn't in her apartment, where the hell had the bakeneko killed her?

Why would she do this?