Death Cursed (Death Touched, Book One)

Chapter 18

The pair followed Quill down the hall and to the front of the house where the living room was located. He drew the curtains, shutting out any prying eyes before he gestured to the furniture. "Have a seat."

Jack and Nena took the couch while Quill stood on the other side of the coffee table with his arms folded over his chest. "I hope you didn't just come here to harass Pipsqueak and ruin my fence."

Jack leaned back and took a puff on his cigarette. "You know a lot of Underground information for a human. We want to know why."

Quill shrugged. "I might not be welcomed in the Underground but I've got a good pair of eyes to act as my ghostwriter, and let's just say William Fox owes me a big favor."

Nena's eyes widened. "William Fox? The billionaire?"

"The same, but I doubt I have as many contacts as someone from the Agency of Celestial Episodes," Quill mused as he looked them over.

Jack arched an eyebrow. "How do you know about that?"

"It doesn't take a good reporter to recognize the Silver Vampire, or-" Quill smiled as his eyes fell on the cigarette that hung from Jack's mouth, "-a ghost capable of becoming transparent while still being able to smoke."

Jack grinned. "No nickname for me? I'm disappointed."

Quill shrugged. "It's hard to describe an abnormal ghost, but you still haven't told me what you want."

"We wanted to know about your last couple of stories," Jack told him.

Quill smiled. "Don't tell me a few missing hackers are causing the Agency to lose sleep and call out its biggest dogs."

"I doubt you're the type of reporter who writes stuff that isn't interesting to most everyone in the Underground," Jack countered.

The reporter chuckled as he took a seat in a chair opposite them. "Flattery will only get you so far without an explanation for why you broke into my backyard and home."

"Their disappearances might be connected to a Corrupted the zombies found in the Underground four days ago," Jack told him.

Quill's eyes flickered to Nena. "I heard about that. I also heard it went completely Corrupted when it saw a young woman."

Jack smiled and shook his head. "That's not a fair trade. I gave you some information, now it's your turn."

Quill leaned back and shrugged. "Fair enough. You're right that they're connected. One of their friends approached me, a fellow hacker by the name of Omar Dahia. He saw my column on other missing people and wanted my help looking for his friends."

"And?" Jack asked him.

Their host smiled and nodded at Nena. "First, introduce me to your beautiful-and less temperamental-partner."

"I'm Nena Tacita," she told him.

Quill bowed his head. "A pleasure, Nena, and might I add that you have very pale and lovely skin. How'd that happen?"

"Our turn," Jack reminded him.

Quill sighed. "You're worse than my editor, but I'll tell you that I started digging around into a list of names he gave me of friends who'd up and disappeared, just to verify what he was saying was true. Turns out it was. They'd all gone missing within a few months of taking on assignments on their shared message board." His attention returned to Nena. "You're not a vampire or Pipsqueak would've gone after you just as bad, and you're not a ghost-or a normal one, at least-because you're gripping the cushion beneath you like it was a life vest." Nena looked down and saw her fingers dug into the soft cushion. She winced and removed her hands. Quill arched an eyebrow. "So what are you?"