The Vengeful Dead by J. N. Duncan

confidence, Nick.”
    “We can deal with whatever may show up. Don’t worry.”
    “Yeah, this is me not worrying here.” She stared down at the faint traces of outline from the pool of blood that must have been four feet across. “Remind me never to give Laurel shit about getting spooked again.”
    Shelby stepped by them, chuckling. “I’m going to check the rest of the house. Be right back.”
    “Feeling anything beyond the spiritual residue?” Nick asked.
    Jackie looked up from the bloodstained floor. “The what?”
    “That sense of Deadworld you feel now is basically the leftovers of the ghost’s presence here. It’s residue of the dead, you might say.”
    “Lovely.” Jackie closed her eyes. Nick watched her trying to take deep breaths, but there was a slight, nervous stutter in her chest. Her hands thrust deep into her pockets. “I’m getting nothing.” Nick simply nodded once. It would be some time before her nerves were out of the way. She stared at the dried droplets of blood against the door leading down to the basement. If she was willing, blood might do the trick again.
    “This generally works better if the victim is here. It’s a more direct connection. Whatever was here had very negative energy though, but I’m not getting much beyond that,” he said.
    Jackie stepped over to the basement door and squatted down on the balls of her feet. Nick smiled down at the finger that hovered in the space between with the slightest tremble. She glanced back at him with a worried little furrow between her eyes. “I touched blood the last time, but I could hear the baby before that.”
    “Likely because it still lingered at the scene. The blood allowed you to turn up the volume, so to speak.”
    “Does it always work like that?”
    “I find there are no absolutes,” Nick replied, “with the living or the dead. All you can do is try and see. We’ll go from there.”
    Jackie laid her hand down flat on the door, covering some of the blood spatter. A moment later her body went rigid, frozen in place, eyes wide, staring at nothing. Nick could feel the surge coming through from the other side, a wash of energy flooding back through the doorway that had been closed for several hours now, but at the touch of her finger had sprung open. No effort at all. Astonishing. She cried out, stumbling away from the door.
    Nick stepped forward, using his leg to block her backward motion and scooped his arms down around her waist. Something not remotely close to surprise or fear boiled up out of her throat.
    “Jackie!”
    “I . . . will... kill you!”
    She turned in his grasp, and Nick was so startled by the twisted snarl that warped her mouth and pulled the lines of her face into something he could have scarcely imagined, that he did little more than take a stunned half-step backward. Consequently, his reactions were all too humanly slow and the swinging roundhouse from her small, but effective fist caught him square in the mouth.
    Nick immediately tasted blood. She had got him good, and she was getting ready to come after him with more.
    “Nick? What’s going on?” Shelby stopped before him, having run back from the front of the house at Jackie’s screaming proclamation.
    “Jackie!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a firm shake, but she reached over to clamp down on his hand with her mouth and forced him to let go. The force of whomever had been here was still quite strong and Jackie had soaked it up like a sponge. He had little choice now but to either bind her up until it faded or snap her out of it. Nick, having always found that directness paid off in the long run, brought his hand around and slapped Jackie across the side of the face.
    She yelled in pain and Nick pulled her small body against him, wrapping her up in a big, bear hug. “Jackie? You with me?”
    The tension washed out of her in a rush. She sagged against his chest, legs barely able to hold her upright. “Nick? Holy shit! What