Read Online The Secret Dead (London Bones Book 1) by SW Fairbrother - Free Book Online
Authors: SW Fairbrother
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the whole point. Soul stuck in dead flesh.’ He rubbed at the moles under his nose.
‘You can’t normally smell souls,’ I said. Little nodded vigorously beside me. ‘Not in the living. Not in zombies. This body’s soul is leaking. It’s a bit like how you would normally only smell blood if someone’s bleeding. The soul’s been damaged.’
‘What does that mean?’ Haddad asked.
Realisation dawned on Slender’s face. ‘Soul magic.’ His hands clenched into fists. His nose wrinkled as if he’d smelled something a lot more disgusting than two corpses.
‘Yes, I think so,’ I said.
Haddad turned away suddenly and walked off. A few seconds later, I heard the sound of her being sick.
Soul magic was incredibly rare. Magic or any kind of thauromancy requires power from somewhere. Most spells are drawn from the elements—earth, air, fire, water—but there is a fifth option: the soul.
It’s impossible to use magic to harness the power of the soul without destroying at least part of it, and it’s one of the few crimes to carry an automatic life sentence.
I reached out again and touched the thing’s index finger. This time Slender didn’t stop me. He turned away.
At my touch, the thing that looked like a corpse stopped moving. Its eye sockets turned to mine. I shivered.
Haddad returned, wiping her mouth. She still looked a little green. ‘Why does it look dead if it’s alive?’
‘I don’t know.’
Haddad bent down to the thing in the boot and touched it with a gloved finger. The skull opened its jaw and closed it as if it were trying to tell us something. She blinked slowly, trying to gain composure. ‘If it’s still alive, is it aware?’
‘I don’t know that either. I’d guess the soul of whoever this is, is being used as a power source to maintain some sort of spell, but this is far outside my area of expertise.’
Slender’s eyes shot to mine. ‘I should hope so.’
Haddad shuddered. I’d never seen her so rattled. ‘And when the body stops leaking, when there’s no soul left? What happens to the spell?’
I considered my words carefully. ‘I don’t know. I guess it would depend on the spell’s function. If the spell has served its purpose, then that would be it. If the practitioner wanted to keep it going, he’d have to find a new victim. Kind of like putting in a new battery.’
‘What about the other body?’
‘That one’s just dead.’
Haddad straightened. She gave me a weak smile. ‘Autopsy’s going to be a bitch. The coroner hates corpses that move.’
Slender threw up his hands. ‘Fine. If it’s not a rotter, that’s your department, not mine. I’ve still got one on the loose. At least one, and if he’s bitten that flying aberration then I’ve got a flying zombie on my hands. I’ve got enough to do.’
Aberration . I ignored it, but I didn’t miss the look the cat shifter and the werebee gave him.
10
The tube was in lockdown and I didn’t have a car, so I asked Haddad if I could get a lift to the office so I could check on Obe.
‘Fine, I’ll get DS Little to take you, but there’s a condition. Brannick must have gone to someone, and chances are that’s going to be someone dumb enough to think talking to the police is worse than risking the zompocalypse. I know what the metanatural community are like. No one wants to talk to us.’ She grimaced. ‘They won’t even talk to me. You’re Lipscombe. They’ll trust you, and I know you’ve got the contacts. All I want you to do is put the word out.’
That sounded fair to me. The cat seemed less than impressed at being offered out as a taxi service, but he took the car keys and walked out to the street without a backwards look.
I left Haddad hissing something into Dunne’s ear, and because they both kept looking in my direction, I assumed it was about me. Light drizzle settled on my hair and face. My stomach was still turning over, half post-death and half from the stench
‘You can’t normally smell souls,’ I said. Little nodded vigorously beside me. ‘Not in the living. Not in zombies. This body’s soul is leaking. It’s a bit like how you would normally only smell blood if someone’s bleeding. The soul’s been damaged.’
‘What does that mean?’ Haddad asked.
Realisation dawned on Slender’s face. ‘Soul magic.’ His hands clenched into fists. His nose wrinkled as if he’d smelled something a lot more disgusting than two corpses.
‘Yes, I think so,’ I said.
Haddad turned away suddenly and walked off. A few seconds later, I heard the sound of her being sick.
Soul magic was incredibly rare. Magic or any kind of thauromancy requires power from somewhere. Most spells are drawn from the elements—earth, air, fire, water—but there is a fifth option: the soul.
It’s impossible to use magic to harness the power of the soul without destroying at least part of it, and it’s one of the few crimes to carry an automatic life sentence.
I reached out again and touched the thing’s index finger. This time Slender didn’t stop me. He turned away.
At my touch, the thing that looked like a corpse stopped moving. Its eye sockets turned to mine. I shivered.
Haddad returned, wiping her mouth. She still looked a little green. ‘Why does it look dead if it’s alive?’
‘I don’t know.’
Haddad bent down to the thing in the boot and touched it with a gloved finger. The skull opened its jaw and closed it as if it were trying to tell us something. She blinked slowly, trying to gain composure. ‘If it’s still alive, is it aware?’
‘I don’t know that either. I’d guess the soul of whoever this is, is being used as a power source to maintain some sort of spell, but this is far outside my area of expertise.’
Slender’s eyes shot to mine. ‘I should hope so.’
Haddad shuddered. I’d never seen her so rattled. ‘And when the body stops leaking, when there’s no soul left? What happens to the spell?’
I considered my words carefully. ‘I don’t know. I guess it would depend on the spell’s function. If the spell has served its purpose, then that would be it. If the practitioner wanted to keep it going, he’d have to find a new victim. Kind of like putting in a new battery.’
‘What about the other body?’
‘That one’s just dead.’
Haddad straightened. She gave me a weak smile. ‘Autopsy’s going to be a bitch. The coroner hates corpses that move.’
Slender threw up his hands. ‘Fine. If it’s not a rotter, that’s your department, not mine. I’ve still got one on the loose. At least one, and if he’s bitten that flying aberration then I’ve got a flying zombie on my hands. I’ve got enough to do.’
Aberration . I ignored it, but I didn’t miss the look the cat shifter and the werebee gave him.
10
The tube was in lockdown and I didn’t have a car, so I asked Haddad if I could get a lift to the office so I could check on Obe.
‘Fine, I’ll get DS Little to take you, but there’s a condition. Brannick must have gone to someone, and chances are that’s going to be someone dumb enough to think talking to the police is worse than risking the zompocalypse. I know what the metanatural community are like. No one wants to talk to us.’ She grimaced. ‘They won’t even talk to me. You’re Lipscombe. They’ll trust you, and I know you’ve got the contacts. All I want you to do is put the word out.’
That sounded fair to me. The cat seemed less than impressed at being offered out as a taxi service, but he took the car keys and walked out to the street without a backwards look.
I left Haddad hissing something into Dunne’s ear, and because they both kept looking in my direction, I assumed it was about me. Light drizzle settled on my hair and face. My stomach was still turning over, half post-death and half from the stench
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