that.
The webbing was thick. I wrapped my sleeve around my hand and beat at it, tearing the largest supports free. It was tough, like sturdy strands of woven silk, and sticky to boot; once the web cleaved to my sleeve, I couldn’t peel it off again. If I kept trying to tear it away by hand, I was going to end up in a cocoon myself.
“Help would be fantastic,” I said.
Suzy whipped out a serrated hunting knife. It made short work of the tendons holding the cocoons to the rest of the web.
The two big masses fell to the ground. Thump, thump .
“Gimme that knife,” I said, holding my hand up.
She did.
I hacked through one pod, and then the other. I realized what they were about halfway through the first one. Tried not to think about it too much. Just kept cutting away, revealing white t-shirts, jeans, and colorless faces.
The daimarachnid had wrapped up bodies. Human bodies. One male, one female. The female was blond and mostly intact. The male looked to be of Hispanic descent, from what I could see of his remains. His face had been chewed on.
Well, at least they weren’t demon babies.
I covered my nose with my web-free sleeve as I patted them down, searching for injuries. They weren’t old enough to be rotting yet—looked like they’d just been killed a few hours earlier, in fact. But the smell of blood was strong. The coppery stench was a slap to the face and I had to swallow back bile.
Whatever the spiders had been keeping the victims for, it hadn’t been to drink their blood.
“You know, I signed up for Magical Violations so I wouldn’t have to deal with dead people,” I told Suzy without lowering my arm, voice muffled by the sleeve. “After my last case, I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to work with this shit again for at least—oh, I don’t know, is a month too much to ask for? One month without dead people and blood?”
“If hopes were unicorns, we’d be galloping across a magical fairytale land of roses instead of shooting spiders,” she said flatly. Sensitive woman, Suzume Takeuchi. I could just bask in the sympathy. “What killed them?”
I wasn’t exactly equipped for an autopsy, but even though the male looked pretty thoroughly masticated, the only major injury I found on the female body were a pair of large punctures. I was going to bet both had fallen victim to daimarachnid venom. The scuffs and bleeding on the female weren’t significant enough to kill a person.
“Death by arachnophobia,” I intoned in my best fifties monster movie voice. “They came from the deep!”
“Uh huh. Any ideas what this means?” Suzy was actually touching the mangled male body, lifting what remained of his collar to reveal a tattoo. It was about as big around as her dainty palm and half-eaten. The half that I could still see looked like a bleeding red apple.
“It’s not any gang tattoo I recognize,” I said. “Hey! Maybe he’s a Snow White fan.”
“Guess loving Disney movies runs in the family. The other body has one, too.”
She was right about the woman being inked—probably not the Disney part, though. The dead woman had the bleeding apple tattooed on the side of her neck. It was even bigger than the man’s tattoo. Or maybe it just looked bigger because she hadn’t had her flesh chewed off by a man-eating spider.
I sat back on my heels. “The neck tattoo definitely has meaning.”
“And what would that be?” Suzy asked.
In a high-pitched, feminine voice, I said, “I’m totally unemployable.” My partner smacked me on the shoulder. “Hey!”
“Wait,” she said, suddenly focusing on the webbed wall behind me. “That’s not all rock and web in there. There’s something else.”
She had aimed the beam of the flashlight on something white and shiny. Suzy gave me an expectant look.
Guess that was my cue to dig it out.
With Suzy’s hunting knife, I sawed away more of the web. It was moister near the middle. I cringed as I peeled it back, trying to touch as
The webbing was thick. I wrapped my sleeve around my hand and beat at it, tearing the largest supports free. It was tough, like sturdy strands of woven silk, and sticky to boot; once the web cleaved to my sleeve, I couldn’t peel it off again. If I kept trying to tear it away by hand, I was going to end up in a cocoon myself.
“Help would be fantastic,” I said.
Suzy whipped out a serrated hunting knife. It made short work of the tendons holding the cocoons to the rest of the web.
The two big masses fell to the ground. Thump, thump .
“Gimme that knife,” I said, holding my hand up.
She did.
I hacked through one pod, and then the other. I realized what they were about halfway through the first one. Tried not to think about it too much. Just kept cutting away, revealing white t-shirts, jeans, and colorless faces.
The daimarachnid had wrapped up bodies. Human bodies. One male, one female. The female was blond and mostly intact. The male looked to be of Hispanic descent, from what I could see of his remains. His face had been chewed on.
Well, at least they weren’t demon babies.
I covered my nose with my web-free sleeve as I patted them down, searching for injuries. They weren’t old enough to be rotting yet—looked like they’d just been killed a few hours earlier, in fact. But the smell of blood was strong. The coppery stench was a slap to the face and I had to swallow back bile.
Whatever the spiders had been keeping the victims for, it hadn’t been to drink their blood.
“You know, I signed up for Magical Violations so I wouldn’t have to deal with dead people,” I told Suzy without lowering my arm, voice muffled by the sleeve. “After my last case, I was really hoping that I wouldn’t have to work with this shit again for at least—oh, I don’t know, is a month too much to ask for? One month without dead people and blood?”
“If hopes were unicorns, we’d be galloping across a magical fairytale land of roses instead of shooting spiders,” she said flatly. Sensitive woman, Suzume Takeuchi. I could just bask in the sympathy. “What killed them?”
I wasn’t exactly equipped for an autopsy, but even though the male looked pretty thoroughly masticated, the only major injury I found on the female body were a pair of large punctures. I was going to bet both had fallen victim to daimarachnid venom. The scuffs and bleeding on the female weren’t significant enough to kill a person.
“Death by arachnophobia,” I intoned in my best fifties monster movie voice. “They came from the deep!”
“Uh huh. Any ideas what this means?” Suzy was actually touching the mangled male body, lifting what remained of his collar to reveal a tattoo. It was about as big around as her dainty palm and half-eaten. The half that I could still see looked like a bleeding red apple.
“It’s not any gang tattoo I recognize,” I said. “Hey! Maybe he’s a Snow White fan.”
“Guess loving Disney movies runs in the family. The other body has one, too.”
She was right about the woman being inked—probably not the Disney part, though. The dead woman had the bleeding apple tattooed on the side of her neck. It was even bigger than the man’s tattoo. Or maybe it just looked bigger because she hadn’t had her flesh chewed off by a man-eating spider.
I sat back on my heels. “The neck tattoo definitely has meaning.”
“And what would that be?” Suzy asked.
In a high-pitched, feminine voice, I said, “I’m totally unemployable.” My partner smacked me on the shoulder. “Hey!”
“Wait,” she said, suddenly focusing on the webbed wall behind me. “That’s not all rock and web in there. There’s something else.”
She had aimed the beam of the flashlight on something white and shiny. Suzy gave me an expectant look.
Guess that was my cue to dig it out.
With Suzy’s hunting knife, I sawed away more of the web. It was moister near the middle. I cringed as I peeled it back, trying to touch as
Similar Books
