Dying to Meet You Read online

  Dying to Meet You

  S.C. Stokes

  Dying to Meet You Copyright © 2018 by S.C. Stokes

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

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  About the Author

  Introduction

  Welcome to Dying to Meet You, the first title in my new Urban Fantasy series, Conjuring a Coroner.

  For a while now I have had this exciting idea bouncing around my brain. My past books have all been Epic Fantasy adventures (which I love), but it has been an exciting new experience to write in this new world.

  Dying to Meet You is set in New York in the year 2017. The key difference between this world and the one we live in, is the presence of magic. Where and how these worlds intersect…well you’ll have to turn the page to find out.

  Enter the world of magic with Kasey Chase, she’ll suck you into a realm of magic, murder and mayhem.

  Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride!

  Sincerely,

  S.C. Stokes

  Chapter One

  In a city that never sleeps, death is a full-time job. Kasey tried not to complain, after all it paid the bills and kept the coffee flowing.

  She gingerly balanced the cup carrier in one hand as she pulled open the Coffee Shack’s door. As she stepped out onto the New York street, her ears were assailed with the symphony of chaos that was New York City traffic at a standstill. Horns blared as frustrated commuters came to a complete stop. A glance at her watch reminded her that she too was running late for work.

  She struggled to pull her earphones from her pocket with one hand.

  An explosion erupted around her.

  Kasey froze, her mind slowing to a halt as oily smoke filled the sky. Her heart pounded in her chest as the realization set in. That was a bomb.

  Another blast rang out. This time it was closer than the first. Kasey’s headphones slipped through her fingers. Her left hand shook as she tightened her grasp on the cup carrier. People milled around, darting into nearby stores or pounding on the windows of drivers still stuck in traffic. The cacophonous blasts continued shaking the cityscape, residents flooded onto the streets as their homes and offices shuddered.

  Kasey’s mind was drawn to Manhattan, only a few miles away.

  Kasey stopped, mid stride, her heart pounding in her chest. Sarah!

  Her older sister lived downtown with her family. Kasey could only imagine how Simeon and Matt would be coping with the chaos. Simeon was only three, and Matt had just celebrated his first birthday.

  Kasey rummaged through her purse. Another blast reverberated down the street. In her purse, her hand struck something hard. Pulling out her phone, her fingers trembled as she called her sister. No signal.

  The ground rumbled beneath her feet, as the largest explosion she had witnessed yet reverberated through the street. Manholes exploded into the air. Plumes of smoke streamed out of the portals into the air. The pillars of smoke glowed an otherworldly green as they rose into the air.

  Pedestrians screamed as chaos reigned on the street. Drivers abandoned their grid-locked vehicles and attempted to flee on foot. A few of the lucky ones made it to the sidewalk. Others were overcome by the smoke surging up from beneath the road.

  A thunderous peal split the air. Kasey spun to see the building she had only just left begin to split. Large cracks opened in the masonry as the tortured structure collapsed under the stress. Brick and steel rained down around her. Those on the street beside her ran for their lives.

  Kasey simply stood and watched as the devastation unfurled. After all, she had seen it before, many times. This particular vision had plagued her since she was a child. The first time she had experienced it, she had been asleep at the Academy of Magic. She had woken up screaming, her body drenched in cold sweat. Later that month when the vision had repeated itself, Kasey had approached her instructors.

  While clairvoyance was not unheard of in the magical community, it was a rare gift. The instructors had been puzzled. In modern history there had never been an event of the magnitude Kasey witnessed in her vision. The destruction had laid waste to a city. If it’s not an event from the past, then it must be one from the future, Kasey had realized with dread. Its frequent repetition only reinforced her fear that it would come to fruition.

  She shook her head, and the vision parted like fog lifting. The street came back into focus, and she found herself standing back outside the Coffee Shack. Car horns blared, dragging her attention back to the present.

  “I said, are you alright?” a man behind her asked.

  Kasey startled.

  “Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” she said, turning.

  The man wore jeans and an orange vest, and held a hardhat in one hand.

  “Then would you mind moving, so I can get my cup of morning Joe?” he said, gesturing for her to move from where she stood in front of the Coffee Shack.

  “I’m sorry,” she answered as she ducked out of the way.

  “Thanks,” the man replied. “You dropped these, by the way.” He held out her headphones, studying her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yep. Fine.” She snatched the headphones and forced a smile. “Thanks.”

  Her phone began ringing. She pulled it out, thankful to end the awkward exchange, and glanced at the screen. Work was calling.

  Juggling the cup carrier and her headphones, she put the cell to her ear.

  “Hey,” she began.

  “It’s Bishop here.”

  “Hi, detective. What can I do for you this morning?”

  “You on the way to the station?”

  “Sure am. Just had to grab my morning pick-me-up.”

  “Don’t bother heading in. We have a body and it’s in your neck of the woods. I’d rather you came straight over.”

  “Can do. Where are you?” she asked, as she headed for the subway station.

  “Corner of Palmetto and Fairview. We’re out back.”

  “Palmetto and Fairview, not a problem. I’ll see you in ten.”

  “That close huh? You wouldn’t happen to be at the Coffee Shack, now would you?” Bishop asked.

  “Got it in one. Glad to see that detective’s badge is well earned,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Good to see you have decent taste in coffee. I don’t suppose I could prevail on you to grab me a double shot survivor while you’re in the neighborhood. Heck of a lot better than the swill they serve at the station.”

  “Already got you one.”

  “Well played, Chase. Keep this up and we might have to keep you…even after Evans comes back,” Bishop replied.

  “Careful, Bishop, he’s your second one this year. People are starting to talk.”

  “Like who? I’ve not heard a thing.”

  “Of course not,” she replied.
“Far too many stairs at the station. After what happened to Evans, they just aren’t game enough to risk it.”

  Bishop sighed audibly. “I suppose I walked right into that one.”

  “Or tumbled down it, I guess. It depends on your point of view.” Kasey laughed.

  “Watch yourself, Chase. You better bring me that coffee or you’ll be spending some quality time with Evans down at General.”

  “See you soon, Bishop,” Kasey said, smiling, and cut the call.

  She waved down a cab. The turn signal on the canary yellow cab flickered as it pulled over.

  “Corner of Palmetto and Fairview, thanks,” Kasey said as she popped the door and slid into the back seat.

  Closing the door, Kasey reflected on the circumstances that had led to her current assignment. Fleeing from her peers at the Academy of Magic, she had pursued a normal education. That road led to NYU and a degree in forensic pathology. Her hard work paid off when she earned a position working for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York.

  The OCME in New York was one of the busiest on the East Coast, a fact Kasey had been well-aware of when she had applied. What she had not planned on was the closing of the Medical Examiner’s offices in Staten Island and the Bronx, resulting in longer hours and an increasingly stressful workplace. She had doubled down, throwing herself at her work, and burning off her stress training for her second love, Mixed Martial Arts.

  Unfortunately, two months earlier she had snapped.

  Even worse she was at work when it happened.

  She had been rummaging around in the fridge as she searched for her yogurt.

  “Looking good, Chase. When are you going to let me buy you a drink?” The voice belonged to John Ainsley, a fellow forensic pathologist and resident pain in the ass at the OCME.

  “Three weeks from never, Ainsley,” she answered as she continued rummaging about in the fridge. “Same answer as last time you asked, which was this morning. Now get out of here. I’m not in the mood for your crap today.”

  Kasey had expected a witty response. John Ainsley was used to getting his way. Family money had seen to that.

  Instead, his footsteps crossed the small kitchen. Kasey tried to extricate herself from the fridge but couldn’t free herself before John spanked her. Her head hit the shelf. For the first time in years, she saw red.

  Kasey’s blood boiled as she flew out of the fridge, condiments and containers spilling everywhere as she did so.

  “What the hell?” Kasey started as she spun around, only to come face-to face with Ainsley as he downed another spoonful of yogurt.

  Her yogurt.

  Before the entitled brat could respond, she drove her fist into his ribs.

  The yogurt hit the floor as John doubled over, winded. Grabbing a fistful of his hair, she slammed the fridge door into his head. The door’s contents scattered. John tore free of her hold, but she took two swift steps and kicked him in the chest.

  The blow knocked John off his feet and into the flimsy lunch table which buckled under the weight. Kasey picked up what was left of her yogurt and crossed the room.

  Without mercy, she slowly emptied the contents onto John’s now cowering form. “Don’t ever touch me, or my yogurt again. Do you understand?”

  John whimpered, and Kasey took that as a sign of his understanding.

  Unfortunately, John’s family had felt differently. Kasey’s beating had left John with three broken ribs and a chipped tooth. The Ainsleys had tried to press charges but Dr. Sampson, Kasey’s boss and the New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner, had countered with dismissing John for sexual harassment.

  The two parties reached an armistice. In exchange for dropping the charges, Kasey would be seconded to the NYPD to consult until things died down in the office.

  Kasey had been furious, at least until she discovered how much she preferred working in the field. Fieldwork with Bishop certainly beat the over-scheduling in the M. E’s office.

  Looking over the driver’s shoulder, Kasey could see the police cordon ahead.

  “Here is fine, thanks.”

  The driver pulled over. Kasey paywaved the fare and stepped out of the cab. Squad cars lined the edge of the corner of Palmetto and Fairview. A few officers were speaking to locals gathered on the street, others canvassed the nearby stores and buildings, likely searching for witnesses.

  Active crime scenes still made Kasey a little nervous. She took a deep breath. When that failed to stop her quickening pulse, she sipped on her coffee.

  “Blech. Luke warm coffee, it’s just not the same,” she said to no one in particular. Sneaking a glance around, she decided to risk it.

  “Berwi,” Kasey whispered as her mind crystallized on her desire. The arcane energy flowed gently to her hand, warming the coffee cup. She raised the cup to her lips. “Mmm. Much better.”

  The world of magic, Kasey thought as she took another sip of coffee, history’s greatest secret, hiding in plain sight. People were prone to believe what they wanted to believe, and people just didn’t want to believe a witch or wizard lived next door. In an age of information and technology, myth and magic were conveniently explained away or attributed to scientific advancement.

  Wizards had tried to bring their world of magic into the open centuries ago, magic and the mundane living side by side in harmony. A great vision that was never realized, witch hunts burned their way through Europe. The centuries that followed were a dark time for humanity.

  In the years that followed, the world of magic faded from the minds of men and the magical community was only too willing to let it happen. There was safety in secrecy. For those outside the ancient bloodlines, words are merely a method for communication. For those of magical descent, the tongues of old allowed them to manipulate and control the arcane energy coursing beneath the fabric of the world.

  For Kasey, this had meant relearning the language of her ancestors. Most considered the Stonemoore’s to be of English stock, but Kasey knew better. Their true roots lay in hills of Caerdydd, or Cardiff as it was known today. Taught by her parents and the instructors at the Academy, Kasey had learned the difficult language and begun to access the power that came with it.

  Berwi means to boil in Welsh. Had Kasey been focused on a person rather than the coffee she was carrying; its effects would have been terminal as every liquid in the target’s body superheated in an instant. The use of magic required control, which was why children from gifted families were sent to the Academy of Magic. There they could hone their gifts before they would be allowed to practice them in the wider world.

  Kasey had fled the Academy, and changed her name for good measure. Elizabeth Stonemoore had been considered a crazy girl who saw visions, Kasey Chase was a successful forensic pathologist.

  A forensic pathologist flew nicely under the radar of the Arcane Council, the body that governed the actions of all magic users, registered and unregistered, in the United States of America. A simple boiling spell in the middle of New York would not be noticed. There were close to a million registered magic-users in the Tri-state area. It was one of the many reasons she had chosen New York. Here, she was a small needle in a very large haystack.

  “Chase!” Bishop’s voice cut through the crisp morning air. “Stop dawdling and get over here.”

  Kasey spotted Detective Diane Bishop waving at her from in front of an alleyway that ran beside the block of apartments. In her early thirties, Diane Bishop was at the top of her game. She had spent most of her career on the streets of New York. Now as a detective, she was dressed head-to-foot in a black pantsuit that cut a sharp figure. Her blonde hair fell neatly to her shoulders, and her piercing brown eyes could read a perp at a glance. Her no-nonsense attitude had quickly won Kasey over.

  “Is that for me?” Bishop asked, pointing at the second coffee.

  “Of course, double shot survivor. Just like you like it.”

  Bishop accepted the offered cup and took a long sip. “Yeah, that’s the o
ne, Chase. Exactly what I needed today. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. I don’t want to dampen the mood, but you seemed out of sorts on the phone? What’s up?”

  Bishop’s eyes darted back to the coffee cup. “It’s the crime scene, Chase. It’s not what I was expecting this morning.”

  “What do you mean?” Kasey asked, a little taken aback by Bishop’s skittishness.

  Bishop just shook her head as she rested her cup on the hood of a squad car. She pulled her pen from inside her jacket pocket and held it up with two hands. With a flick of her wrists, the pen snapped in half, spraying plastic all over the pavement.

  Kasey gulped to prevent the coffee she had just sipped from bursting out of her mouth. “What the hell, Bishop? What was that?”

  “Come with me,” Bishop said, leading Kasey into the alley.

  Chapter Two

  Kasey hesitantly followed Bishop, a little concerned at the veteran detective’s demeanor. With nerves of steel and enough grit to fill a sandbox, in Kasey’s experience Diane Bishop was unflappable.

  Kasey drained the last of her coffee to calm her nerves and threw the cup into one of the open dumpsters lining the alley. Spotting the aluminum case containing her kit she bent down and undid the latches. Flipping the lid open she slid on a pair of latex gloves before picking up the case and following Bishop deeper into the alley.

  “The building super found her this morning,” Bishop started, pointing to a middle age man standing in front of another officer. “Came down to empty his trash and found her slumped behind the dumpster. Called it in immediately.”