Now and Forever Read online

  “Some people can be weird and morbid.”

  “You can repeat that a billion times.”

  Harley was silently amused. “Regardless, I’ve promised my customer that I’ll do my best to locate the blade.”

  “I’ll accompany you.”

  “Why? I’ve been doing fine on my own over the past two weeks on some of my other assignments.”

  Connor’s expression changed into a familiar stubborn one, and Harley was both exasperated and touched. “Because this one may be dangerous. That antique blade, if it has been used as a weapon to take someone’s life, may contain the malevolent spirit of the victim.”

  Harley shrugged. “Okay. Fine. You can come with me. I’ll be meeting the police detective in charge of the case after lunch.”

  “Great.”

  Connor had a satisfied expression, which tickled Harley. The angel was very easy to please so far, so Harley made good on his words. The moment lunch was over, they headed to the police station.

  One of the officers who greeted them led them to the detective’s table, where a handsome, muscular man sat hunched over, but he got up and shook hands with them as soon as they approached.

  “Mr. Green?” The detective inquired while darting his eyes back and forth between them.

  “Call me Harley, please, and this is my colleague and boyfriend, Connor Bowman.”

  The detective smiled. “Lance McGuire. Let me grab you a couple of chairs.”

  Once seated, Harley launched into another explanation as to why he had requested the meeting. Lance listened attentively while Connor had an unreadable expression on his face. For a second or two, Harley thought the angel disliked Lance at first sight, but that didn’t make sense to him. There was no reason why Connor had to abhor the detective.

  “That’s everything in a nutshell. Gina, my client, is interested in adding the blade to her possession.”

  “I know her. We used to date, but that was almost ten years ago.”

  “Oh, so you’re a straight guy?”

  Connor’s question astonished Harley. Lance was obviously just as surprised, but the detective still answered.

  “Actually, I’m bisexual.”

  Connor’s expression darkened, which bewildered Harley for a few seconds before he almost burst out laughing. Now, he understood. His boyfriend was feeling insecure because of Lance. That was so adorable, and Harley was highly entertained by it. Then again, if anyone should be apprehensive in the relationship, it should be him. Connor was a sexy, gorgeous, and muscular hunk. In comparison, Harley was average, at best. At least he felt that way. Regardless, he had no idea why Connor would feel jealous, but that somehow made Harley feel better.

  He gently squeezed Connor’s hand. The angel’s stiff posture relaxed almost immediately. Then Harley focused on Lance once again.

  “You know Gina. No wonder you’re willing to meet up with me.”

  Lance grinned. “She called me personally and asked for a favor.”

  “Cool. I appreciate that. Has it been confirmed that the murder weapon is indeed that antique blade that has been missing from the dead couple’s collection?”

  Lance shrugged. “We can’t say for sure until we have that blade with us, but based on the wounds inflicted on the victims, along with what we know about the blade, it’s highly likely. Although both victims were killed by different assailants, according to the coroner—one was a lefty, the other a righty—we’re pretty certain, due to the depth and width of the wounds, the same knife was most likely used for both killings. But again, we can’t be certain it’s the particular knife you’re seeking until we have it in evidence.”

  “Will it be possible for Harley and me to visit the apartment of the dead wife?”

  Lance hesitated before responding to Connor. “This is totally against protocols, but I’ll allow it just this once. Make sure you touch nothing, and stay by my side every single second we’re inside the apartment.”

  Harley smiled at Lance. “Promise.”

  Lance cocked his head toward the exit. “Let’s go. I’m driving.”

  Harley and Connor trailed after the detective. As they made their way outside, Harley couldn’t resist teasing Connor.

  “You look really cute when you’re possessed by the green-eyed monster.”

  Connor’s cheeks flushed redder than a tomato. “Shut up.”

  Harley snickered, but he didn’t utter another word. Instead, he grabbed Connor’s hand. The angel looked so boyishly pleased, Harley had to bite his lower lip to keep from chortling out loud. Connor’s insecurity was too adorable for words. Harley vowed to pay more attention to him from that day onward.

  In the meantime, they had a job to complete.

  * * * *

  Connor narrowed his eyes the moment Lance drove the car into the basement parking lot of the luxurious building. He felt the malevolent energy from somewhere within the building, and he was itching to get his hands on whoever that evil spirit was. Harley was important to him, but that didn’t mean he had forgotten who he was and his sacred duty.

  After getting out from the car, they headed toward the elevator. With the detective leading the way, the building’s security personnel permitted them to pass without any problem.

  “There’s one thing I don’t understand,” Harley said while they stepped into the elevator.

  Lance pressed the button to the correct floor before he glanced at Harley. “What’s that?”

  “Why did Rose live inside her private apartment? I mean, why did she own one in the first place? Married couples generally live together.”

  Lance smiled. “Well, Gina’s parents are married, but they live in separate houses. Do you know that?”

  Harley looked surprised. “No.”

  “I’m not going to stereotype every wealthy person in the world, but I’ll use the ones I know as examples. Many have arranged marriages. When they get married, there’s usually zero love and affection between them. Having said that, I’m not saying feelings won’t grow between them over the years, but there’s definitely none at the beginning. Their marriages result from the need to expand their business empires. Such was the case between Gary and Rose.”

  “I see, but if that’s the case, it doesn’t make sense for Rose to murder Gary and Cynthia out of jealousy.”

  Lance shrugged. “The police can’t be sure if Rose actually killed Gary and Cynthia. There’s no evidence that supports that theory.”

  Harley went quiet for a second or two. “Is it possible for Rose to feel humiliated over Gary’s indiscretion?”

  Lance chuckled. “Maybe.”

  Connor clenched his fists. He was tempted to punch Lance in the face. The damn detective was staring at Harley as if his boyfriend was a piece of meat. He knew Harley was intelligent and intuitive. He also knew some of Harley’s customers admired those two things in his boyfriend. However, none of them had ever ogled Harley the way Lance did at the moment.

  Connor gritted his teeth in fury and did his best to suppress his anger. He was starting to feel claustrophobic, being trapped inside the damn elevator. Fortunately, they reached their destination floor a few seconds later, and the doors slid open. Connor stepped out in a hurry. He grew even more irritated when Harley gave him an amused grin, but his rage subsided partially the second his boyfriend reached for his hand and intertwined their fingers.

  “I’m not attracted to Lance,” Harley whispered into his ear, and that helped quell his anger even further. “I’m not the cheating type. I swear.”

  Connor was embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I trust you. I guess I’m acting like an insecure asshole.”

  Harley chuckled. “Maybe a little. Are we okay now?”

  Connor nodded. “Absolutely.”

  After that, Connor felt overwhelming negative energy coming from one of the apartments. He could also see the dark energy leaking through the wall and into the hallway. He tightened his fists. He hated all these damn evil spirits. They should never have e
xisted in the first place.

  He instinctively walked a couple of steps in front of Harley. He was itching to get his hands on the spirits inside the apartment, but Harley was his man and his top priority. He wasn’t going to risk anything bad happening to him.

  Lance seemed taken aback when Connor stopped in front of one apartment door.

  “How did you know this is Rose’s—”

  “I can feel them inside.”

  Lance looked thoroughly confused. “Them?”

  Harley smiled. “Connor is a psychic.”

  “Huh?”

  “There are three spirits inside,” Connor explained before Harley could utter another word.

  Lance glanced in Harley’s direction, appearing totally bewildered and incredulous by the abrupt announcement. “Is he serious?”

  Harley grinned. “He is.”

  Lance gaped. “This is so surreal and crazy. Is he an exorcist, too?”

  “Sort of,” Harley confirmed before pointing at the door. “Can you please unlock the door? You also may want to step back.”

  The detective looked suspicious. “Why?”

  “Just in case one of the spirits decides to possess you,” Connor replied, slightly annoyed by the endless questions.

  Lance remained motionless for a short moment before eventually using the key. “Fuck! Maybe I’m losing my mind or something.”

  Connor didn’t get a chance to concern himself with Lance because he immediately came face to face with three spirits inside the living room. He wasn’t astonished by their horrifying states. They were malevolent spirits after all. Another way for spirits to turn bad was for them to meet their untimely death in some of the most violent ways possible. Their empty eye sockets, their deathly pale skin color, the blue veins running through their exposed skin, their dark, blackish lips, and their sharp claws were things he had seen over and over again for more than six thousand years. In all honesty, he was bored of these damn spirits.

  He was more startled by Harley screaming. The three spirits must have been visible to Harley, but that didn’t make any sense. The lingering magical effect of the eclipse had lasted for only twenty-four hours, and there would be no more eclipse until the following year. Halloween, the only other time when the barriers between the worlds would be thin enough, was still weeks away. He stood in front of Harley and glared at the spirits while trying to ignore Lance, darting his eyes around like a lost little boy and rubbing his arms and neck over and over again.

  “Shit, man! Why is it so fucking cold in here? Did one of my men turn on the air-conditioning by mistake or something?” Lance took a step forward, but Connor gripped his collar and pulled him back.

  Lance glared at him, obviously annoyed. “Connor, what’s going on?”

  “Shut up!” Connor exclaimed, but he wasn’t looking at Lance.

  “What is it? Is there something in this room?”

  “Shut up,” Connor repeated. “Stand behind me next to Harley.”

  Lance eventually did as he was told.

  Connor refocused on the three malevolent spirits. “The light at the end of the tunnel has been waiting for all three of you for a while now. Are you willing to go into it obediently? Or do I have to kick your asses all the way into the underworld? A word of warning, though. I’m not in the best mood.”

  Rose’s spirit hissed at him. “I’ll leave as soon as I get my revenge on this bastard.”

  Connor scoffed. “All three of you are already dead. The only way for you to injure Cynthia is by—”

  “Not Cynthia, you stupid fool. I’ll never hurt her. I mean him!” Rose screeched while pointing at Gary.

  “Why do you want to—oh!” Connor looked back and forth between the souls. If he wasn’t in such a hurry to send all three malevolent spirits into the underworld, he would have burst out laughing at everyone’s misunderstanding.

  Gary gave Connor a sinister smile. “I got them good, though. I killed both of these bitches. My unfaithful wife should have never cheated on me with that cheap whore. I might not love her, but she had no right humiliating me like that, having sex with that bitch behind—”

  “I’ll fuck you up!” Rose screamed as she leaped into the air, her left hand stretched out in front of her.

  Before she could pounce on Gary, who lifted his right hand to defend himself, Connor froze all three of the spirits with his power. He could feel Harley, clutching his waist with both hands, trembling behind him. Meanwhile, Lance appeared to be even more confused. Connor didn’t have time to explain anything, though.

  “All three of you have enough shit on your karma,” Connor said. “Where’s the blade?”

  Rose’s expression hardened while Gary simply sneered. Connor focused on Cynthia next. He noticed her eyeballs glancing upward. That was the moment he realized that all three spirits were underneath the chandelier. He turned toward Lance.

  “The small blade may be inside the chandelier.”

  “That can’t be. We checked the chandelier after we took Rose’s body away—”

  “Inside the chandelier.” Connor pointed at it. “The tubing is slightly thicker than most chandeliers. You need to open it somehow. There must be a way to do that.”

  Lance appeared stunned for a brief moment before he dashed away and brought back a dining room chair. Then he climbed onto it. With his impressive height, it wasn’t difficult for him to reach the chandelier.

  Connor was amused when Rose had a dirty look on her face.

  Meanwhile, Lance was tapping on and running his hands all over the tubing. Connor wasn’t surprised when one side of it finally slid open and a blade fell out and landed on the floor. Lance hurriedly got down and carefully wrapped it with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket.

  Connor nodded. “Now, step away from there.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it,” Connor answered without bothering to conceal his exasperation. He was also worried about Harley, so he turned and cupped his palms over his boyfriend’s cheeks. “Harley, baby, listen to me. I’ll send them on their way. Everything is going to be fine.”

  Harley still didn’t open his eyes, but he bobbed his head frantically. “Okay.”

  After that, Connor faced the three spirits. “I don’t care what unresolved issues you have in the mortal realm. You’re all dead. Get lost!”

  Then he waved his left arm and used his power to shove all three spirits into the light, which disappeared the second they had gone into it.

  Connor planned to console Harley again, but Lance spoke to him first.

  “Is everything okay? Why is it so warm and stuffy now? Care to clue me in?”

  “First things first, you need to know that the presence of the spirits in the apartment earlier caused the drop in temperature. Now that they’re gone, it’s back to normal. There’s something else you need to know, though. The police had wrongly assumed Gary was the one with the mistress. It was actually Rose.”

  Lance’s eyes widened as the understanding quickly dawned upon him. “Oh!”

  “Can’t really blame the police for making that mistake. Based on the circumstances of Gary’s and Cynthia’s deaths, anyone would have guessed the same thing. To correct that, you now have to ask the right questions. I suggest you start from the security people who work in this building. I’m sure Rose and Cynthia must have had plenty of clandestine meetings inside this apartment. Gary must have found out about it.”

  “Was he jealous or something?”

  Connor shrugged. “I guess. Does it matter? All three of them are dead. Even if I had dug up the information for you from the spirits, how would you have explained that to your colleagues?”

  Lance blushed. “You’re right. It would be difficult to explain.”

  Connor cocked his head at the small blade wrapped inside the handkerchief in Lance’s hands. “I’m sure you’ll find both Rose’s and Gary’s fingerprints on that murder weapon. It should be easy to determine Gary was Cynthia’s murderer. Then Rose
somehow got hold of the weapon, killed Gary, then hid the knife. I saw them moving about earlier, and I noted how Gary was right-handed while Rose was left-handed, so that would explain why two assailants used the same knife, and their fingerprints should verify that. Unfortunately, you will never be able to solve Rose’s murder case.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because she had been killed by Gary’s evil spirit.”

  Lance gaped. “Uh, okay. That’s rather far-fetched and out of this world.”

  Connor didn’t give Lance any opportunity to ask further questions. He slipped one arm around Harley’s waist and gently led his boyfriend out the apartment.

  * * * *

  A few minutes later, they were inside Lance’s car, on their way to the police station. Connor had chosen to sit in the back with Harley.

  “Baby, what’s wrong? You were okay when you saw Mr. Street’s great-grandfather and the man’s best friend.”

  Harley had a haunted look when he raised his head and gazed straight into Connor’s eyes. “I wasn’t terrified of them. Some horrifying feelings abruptly came into my mind. It was as if I was personally experiencing something horrendous.”

  “Like past memories?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Connor didn’t know how he was supposed to respond. This was getting weirder. He wished he could talk to Haziel, but he couldn’t summon her. She was his superior and would come and go as she pleased. She would communicate with him only when the mood struck her. Moreover, she was the angel of death and had things to do. He had no choice but to wait patiently for their next meeting. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take another one hundred years.

  In the meantime, he could only console Harley as best as he could. He tightened his embrace on Harley as they made their way back to the station, all the while wondering what strange events would occur next.

  Chapter 8

  Harley honestly felt bad for Connor. Ever since that encounter with those spirits the previous week, Harley had been plagued by strange memories. They weren’t clear to him. They didn’t appear inside his head in high-definition, but the feelings associated with those memories were loud. It felt as if those memories were screaming at him. He was certain there were a few unknown men inside those memories, fragmented and blurry, but the one thing he couldn’t erase from his head was the view of something sharp and gleaming coming at him. Then that excruciating pain in his chest. He also recalled the blood. In addition, he felt a niggling sensation somewhere deep within him. He had no doubt there was someone important to him inside those memories, and based on the feelings he got from them, that person was someone he loved deeply.