Death Says Hello

By Isabelle Arocho

Holly was born and raised in Celestin City but that doesn’t mean she knows about the supernatural or likes to face danger head on like some of the other city heroines. She’s a shy girl terrified of even her own shadow and spends her days in a lab processing crime scenes and her nights hidden at home...until someone tries to kill her. This begins her spiral into the unknown world of death, vampires, angels, demons, and the complicated question of where exactly she fits in.

Thrown off a roof wasn’t the way Holly thought she was going to die, and if it hadn’t been for the beautiful man named Michael she’d be spatter on the street. Michael (first seen in Sin of Hope) introduces her to the world of angles and demons, good and evil. He explains she’s not as ordinary as she would like, she’s actually has a direct connection to Death himself.

Adding to the mix of newfound drama is Officer Hunter Shay, he dies on duty in Holly’s hands and now he’s a ghost who never leaves her side, even during the most embarrassing moments of her life.

This self described lab geek has no idea what’s she’s in for.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Isabelle Arocho
• Release date: Feb 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301573578

Isabelle Arocho

Hello everyone, as a self-published author I like to talk to you in my own words so here we go, here's my story:I used to avoid everything pertaining to reading and writing in school because it was never my strong suit. But then something happened when I was fourteen years old, and I found I had a deep passion for telling stories. As far back as I can remember, I would always create stories in my head and call them my made up movies. These are the movies I make into books today.I shied away from telling anyone about my passion for telling stories and kept it to myself for a long time. I learned from reading book after book how to write a proper novel and found the confidence to share my work, first on online communities and now with the world.In 2012 I have decided to take the leap into self-publishing. I write and edit all my work myself, no excuses, but if you see any mistakes I apologize.A little bit more about me...My name is Isabelle Arocho, I’m of Hispanic descent. I grew up in Perth Amboy NJ and now live somewhere in the sticks of FL. I am a woman, sister, daughter. I have a passion for rock music, tons of TV shows, and of course reading when I’m not trying to create my own masterpiece.I write all types of genres including mystery, fantasy, suspense, romance, paranormal, and cop procedurals. I'm always striving to get better and I hope you enjoy my work enough to stick with me on this journey. I have hundreds of characters in my head always in a scene crawling to get free onto paper. I'm grateful for writing because without it I'd just be a crazy nut who talks to herself.I have a few books out now in both Ebook and paperback format. I’m working on several different of ideas to be released soon in all those genres I mentioned above. Visit my personal website, isabellearocho.com, for more information.PS: Don't forget to review and let me know what you thought about the book you read. I love hearing from you and it helps to know what you think.

Book preview

DEATH SAYS HELLO

By

Isabelle Arocho

www.isabellearocho.com

Copyright 2012 Isabelle Arocho

Smashwords Edition

Thank you for downloading this free eBook. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s mind and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organization, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

License Notes

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or edited in anyway. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

PROLOGUE

Her body shook as she stared into the lifeless black eyes coming near her and unable to look away. He moved with ease, his stare locked on her with his intent clear. He was going to kill her and there was nothing she could do about it.

For a split second, she thought about begging for her life but even terrified, she knew logically it wouldn’t make a difference. He was going to get what he wanted, no matter how far she stepped back and hugged the wall.

Silent tears ran down her face, giving away her helplessness. It couldn’t end like this; she was only twenty-five and hadn’t experienced the greater things of life. She didn’t know true love, she didn’t have the big family she always dreamt of. Nothing.

Shh. The monster whispered. The monster that looked like the everyday men walking the street. She knew monsters like him existed with every crime scene she processed, the ones that looked like good guys to lure you in. That’s probably how he got into the office, someone fell for his charms and broke a few rules. Or maybe he killed the security guard named Randy, who only started working at the crime lab last week.

Her life didn’t flash before her eyes as his cold hands wrapped around her throat. An image of her funeral instead came to mind, and she wondered what people would say about her, if there would be anyone there to mourn the loss of the young weird forensic analyst, who shouldn’t have stayed late at work this Friday evening. Her friend Nina always said having no social life was going to kill her, how ironically true that statement was right now.

No, it couldn’t end like this. It was all too soon.

Her eyes tear and burned, her chest felt hollow from the lack of oxygen, and death was looming close with a dark cloud in front of her eyes. With the last of her strength, she struggled to pry his hands off. She balled her fists and slammed them down on his wrist for a last survival attempt. It worked.

He cursed and let her drop to the floor. Wasting no time, she scrambled away on her hands and knees to the elevator. Inside, she hit an array of buttons, anything for the doors to close and protect her from that creep.

The attacker didn’t make it in time, banging on the doors he promised he was going to find her, he was going to kill her, and this time he was going to make it hurt.

The first button to take hold, was the one for the roof and that’s where the doors opened. She ran out and decided to get lost in the staircase. With the attacker chasing the elevator, she’d have enough time to get to a phone and called for help. It was a solid plan and she sobbed when it didn’t work.

The monster was waiting when the doors opened, this time he was quick enough not to let them close until he had her. By the hair, he dragged the screaming girl onto the roof.

Say goodbye, brat. He hauled her up by the arms and pushed her off the roof.

She screamed because it was the first reaction to hit her, an impulse she couldn’t control. He pushed her off the roof and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Her body would hit the street and whatever was left, the cops would collect and send to the very lab she worked at. She would’ve laughed if she wasn’t so damn terrified waiting for the impact.

An impact that should’ve happened by now, she noted. Instead of falling straight down, she felt like she was flying. It was a beautiful feeling even as a contradiction.

She didn’t want the feeling of peace to stop but she also had to know that was happening, so she opened her eyes. There was nothing but a cocoon of white all around her. Could this be heaven? Flying in a cloud of white was certainly better than hitting the dirty street outside the lab.

The cloud of white stopped and next thing she knew she was on another roof. The very same dark sky she had looked at earlier, was the very one around them now. I don’t understand. Looking around, she took note the cloud of white was attached to a man and the cloud was actually a pair of wings on his back.

She probably was dead on the street right now, holding onto her lasts breaths dreaming up this crazy scenario. The thought made her laugh until she passed out.

CHAPTER 1

3 months later

My name is Holly Garrett and I’m a contradiction, or at least that’s what I’m told. Judging from my outer appearance I was a girl with an edge. There was a piercing in my eyebrow, an array of rings in my left ear, eyes lined heavy with purple eyeliner to match the same shade of lipstick I carried everywhere. It didn’t matter the situation or event, I always wore my black biker boots and worn out leather jacket. The contradiction came in because of the fact I had no edge, I was scared a lot of the time and liked to be alone because it was safer.

Only my glasses hinted at my inner geek, they took away from the perfect mask I created with my edgy appearance. I was everything a person thought of when you used the word geek. I wasn’t embarrassed by it though, I just happened to like heavy make up and leather. It was easy being a geek when you had perfect recall and a mad passion for forensics. After college I had no doubts that I wanted to follow my passion into crime scenes and that’s where I was today; a forensic evidence technician. We didn’t go around labeled as CSI’s in my city, even though that’d be cool as hell.

I looked around the fresh crime scene trying not to cringe. A woman fell to her death last night. The scene reminded me too much of the way I almost ended up three months ago had it not been for my saving grace named Michael. No, he wasn’t an angel, but he was named after one, or so he told me with a beautiful smile standing on that rooftop.

I stepped closer to the body of the woman, my right hand gripping my kit tight enough I worried for the handle snapping. The crime scene made me nervous; the memories were trying to suffocate me. Dealing with death was never easy by any means, the sadness over the loss and curiosity for the loved ones behind always got the best of my emotions. When I first started the job I’d go to bed every night crying for the victims. It slowly got easier after I made a personal promise to do everything in my power to avenge the dead and help catch the bad guys.

The uniformed officers speculated the woman jumped but I didn’t believe it. There was a sixth sense somewhere deep in my soul that knew this woman was killed. I kept walking closer to examine the body for any trace evidence. I stopped midway when my eyes caught an image in the shadows around the woman’s body.

On both sides of the woman there was a shadow of black wings spanning the width of two cars. I gasped at the eerie beauty of it and questioned what the hell I was seeing. None of the cops or other personnel seemed to notice the macabre image. I hastily looked around to see we weren’t alone at the scene. There was a man peering from behind a concrete pillar looking at the dead woman. His hair was dark and long to his shoulders, the strands moved to the soft breeze across his face, something he seemed not to notice or care for. His intense gaze was on the woman and nothing else. He looked angry at the brutal loss.

I wanted to grab Officer Perry’s arm and ask him if he saw what the hell I was seeing, except I couldn’t move. I was transfixed by the man and his outer world presence. It didn’t take him long to notice someone was watching him. In the blink of an eye, he snapped his commanding gaze onto me. Crap. His head cocked off to the side with suspicion as he asked, Do you see me? his tone was a bare whisper, something he barely moved his lips for.

And yet, I heard him clear as day. I don’t know what I see. Who are you? I whispered back with fear over my sanity. What was happening, who were these people?

With a small smile, the man disappeared before my eyes. If I had any doubt he wasn’t human, it was gone now.

Hey Garrett. Detective Martine arrived on the scene and clasped my shoulder. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.

My eyes went wide. That was it! A ghost made perfect sense. The man had been pale and disappeared like a puff of fog. Only ghosts did that. I’m fine, sir. Just spooked I guess.

Death has a way of doing that. What are we looking at here? Detective Martine was a nice guy in his late forties with a fun French accent.

It was time to get the ball rolling and find justice for the fallen woman. It’s not a suicide. There are strangulation marks around her neck.

Officer Perry joined in. What? How did we miss that?

They’re faint. I tried to explain with a nervous smile. I very well couldn’t tell them I knew to look for any signs of homicide because I already ruled out suicide at the first look of the scene. I bent next to the body and saw the defensive wounds on the woman’s hands, another sign to further prove murder.

I was going to grab the woman’s hand and swab for any DNA left under her nails, but that wasn’t what happened. Following that same sixth sense, I touched the shadow of the wings still arched around the lifeless body.

The cops and cop cars faded away. I started to see our surroundings from another point of view and another time. The woman was heartbreakingly beautiful standing on the roof, her long blonde hair whipped around with the harsh winds. She was arguing with someone, someone she didn’t see and that meant I couldn’t them either from her point of view. A fight broke out that would later explain the marks left on her hands and neck. The attacker moved in the shadows and when the woman least expected it; a large silver blade pierced her back. The force of the blow sent her off the roof. The blade killed her before the fall ever could.

I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders, someone was calling out my last name over and over. Garrett, Garrett! it was Officer Perry and he was looking at me like I was a nut case.

Well that made two of us because I sure felt insane. But there was a job to be done, I couldn’t freak out and run away, I had to keep focus on my first priority. I’m sorry. My sugar must be low and I spaced out. Shrugging out of the man’s hold, I went back to the woman’s body and gently turned her over. Sure enough, there was a stab wound right between her shoulders.

What the— Detective Martine shook his head. This is an official homicide. Garrett, call in some help because every shred of evidence needs to be bagged no matter how trivial. Perry, you’re with me. He pointed toward the roof. Let’s find out what happened up there.

CHAPTER 2

I knew what a panic attack felt like. I sat with my hands clammy and my heart racing, and knew I was having one now. The woman was being called Jane Doe because there wasn’t any ID to be found, and running her prints proved worthless. No one knew who the woman was, except maybe for that ghost but he hadn’t popped back up.

What I wanted was to find Michael and ask him a few questions, except I hadn’t seen him either since that night on the roof. I had a lot of questions that night too he didn’t answer. I got the feeling he didn’t want to, like there was something bigger and I had no business being involved. If that were true, why was I seeing things?

Unable to focus on work, I grabbed my leather jacket and left the lab. I helped out around the office when there were no field calls to answer. Not all of us did both field and lab work, and not all of us had no lives and needed the double duty like me.

I found my boss and told her I wasn’t feeling too good, it was better that I go home before it got too serious. Jenna Casey was too engrossed in the blood slides to look up. Feel better, I’m going to need you to help cover Saturday for Dave.

Yes ma’am. Giving up the weekend didn’t mean much to me anyway, if I didn’t spend it working, I’d catch up with my cleaning around the apartment. Women like Jenna, and Melanie in ballistics, had night lives to worry about. After hearing the drama of it the next morning around the office, I wasn’t too envious. Boring was good.

I got into my two door sports car—hey a girl did need some form of excitement in her life—and speed out of the parking lot. It would be sensible to go home and collect my thoughts, or maybe even get some of that cleaning done, but I turned off Main Street and continued past the exit.

Tammy Fabrics was an out of production textile plant, and it was the same building Jane Doe was killed on. The crime scene was cleaned up, all the yellow tape was gone, and any blood spatter was washed away. There was nothing to suggest a woman was killed hours ago in that very spot, except that those wings were still burned on the black top.

I bent to touch my finger tips to the feathered edges of the wings. No memories jumped out at me that time. There was nothing.

Who are you?

I jumped back onto my feet and a few inches into the air. I never heard him coming, then again if he was a ghost he didn’t make footsteps. I laid my hand over my racing heart, staring at him all while trying not to die from shock. I should be asking you that. His hair was as dark as the night and his eyes as yellow as the sun. I was awe struck and couldn’t snap out of it long enough to look away or run back to my car. Besides unearthly beauty, the man or thing exuded danger.

I asked first and I’m willing to bet out of the two of us, I have the less patience.

I thought that was a pretty safe bet and not ready to face death again so soon after my last encounter, I answered the guy, My name is Holly.

And how can you see me, Holly?

I have no idea. My voice shook and that was all it took for Michael to appear at my side. I could’ve cursed but I was pretty frozen from all the insanity developing right in front of my eyes.

The other man grinned. "Now this is getting interesting. What importance does