Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations) by Dawn Ibanez

know.” With ease Casper jumped up to her window and
climbed onto the seat with her. “But God I wish it could.” He caressed her face
and fought tears as she lowered her head. “Tell your Wolf that if he hurts you,
he’ll answer to me.”
    A weak smile crossed her face. “You’ll have to race Father,
Dylan and Crispin.” She laughed when he rolled his eyes. After a moment she
looked at him with serious eyes. “I don’t need you to fight me on this Cas . I really want to give this
one a chance.”
    A pained sigh escaped him. He hated knowing that the woman
he wanted was going to be the woman he couldn’t have, and to make things worse
she wanted a Wolf. “Alright. No more fighting you,” he
said. He then rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll play nice from now on. Promise.”
    Madison snorted. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
    Casper grinned as he looked into her smirking face. “I never
said we’d be BFFs or anything. Just that I’d be nice.”
    Madison laughed as she did the only thing she would think of
to put their friendship back on track.
    She pushed Casper out of the window.

Chapter 7-

 
    Barry frowned as he looked at the bodies in front of him.
The photos did not prepare him for the actual sight of the dead, dehydrated
people lying on the slabs. He took a slow breath and rubbed his nose as he was
trying to clear the stench of the room from his nose.
    Another man stood to the side wearing a frown. “This is just
nasty man,” he said shaking his head.
    Barry turned and looked at his partner, Thorne Thornton.
“It’s gotta be done.” Years ago Barry explained the
existence of magic and various other paranormal entities. For a Norm, Thorne
had taken it all very well. After about a week of hiding in his house, and an
almost attack by a rabid fairy, he was more than willing to believe. “ Madi can’t come here. So that leaves it all to me.”
    Thorne frowned. He still didn’t know the inner workings of
the weirdness that surrounded the Maxwell family. “So you’re going to try to
raise the dead?” he asked.
    Barry slowly nodded. “That is the game plan.” He reached
into his pocket and pulled out a small knife. “And once they’re conscious, then
we can ask them what happened.”
    Thorne shook his head. While part of him was amazed by what
his friend could do, there was a larger part of him that understood the need
for secrecy. If word about bringing murder witnesses back from the dead got
out, the number of body mutilation cases would go on the rise. For the ones
that could actually bring the bodies
back, they would instantly paint a target on their backs. Thorne leaned against
the wall behind him as Barry cut into the palm of his own hand and allowed the
blood to well up.
    Barry silently prayed that he got the words right. “Of my
body, be revived. Of my flesh, breathe once again,” he said as he poured the
blood welling in his hand into the mouth of one of the carcasses.
    Thorne stood silent as Barry repeated the simple process
with the other two slabs in the room. He frowned as the room slowly seemed to
darken. Thorne could feel the heavy presence of Magic surrounding them both. Something
was going to happen, and he was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to be good.
    Barry slowly inhaled as he held his hand over the last
victim’s mouth. Nothing was happening so far. He didn’t know if he hadn’t given
them enough blood, or if there was something else he was missing. Just as he was about to turn away, a pair of gnarled hands grabbed
at his wrist and brought his hand down to cutting teeth.
    When Barry screamed out, Thorne instantly drew his gun.
“Tell me this isn’t normal,” he ordered. Over the years, he and Barry had a
system. If this was out of Barry’s realm, then Thorne was going to do whatever
he could to get his partner out of trouble.
    Brown eyes were beginning to glaze over as Barry looked at
one of the few men he would ever trust. “This is definitely not