Page 17 of Grave Humor

“You like me because I make an excellent guardian of your lady, and I proved her worth.”

Eoghan grunted.

“Sorry to interrupt your posturing, but I’m no lady. I attend to corpses for a living, and I keep records when I’m not making sure the bodies are in their caskets where they belong. For all I know, Old Man McGregor’s out and about causing someone problems.”

“Ah. The restless dead that was in the upstairs parlor?” Relaxing, Eoghan smiled and leaned back in his seat. “He’s quite an interesting gentleman. He didn’t scream despite being helped to his grave.”

My eyes widened. “Are you saying someone killed that old man?”

“That is precisely what I’m saying.”

Well, shit. Murders were few and far between in Sunset, but they did happen—but I couldn’t see anyone having a real reason to kill Old Man McGregor despite some of his more annoying tendencies. “Is that why he was restless?”

“Oh, no. He’s restless because there’s a node here, and it awakens all manner of things, myself included. I can’t tell you where it is precisely, but I can sense its power. It’s a strong one, too—and as neutral as death itself.”

“Death is neutral?”

“Of course. Death welcomes all into its embrace. All are the same when life leaves the body, and all face death one day. Well, mostly.”

“Mostly?” Well, mostly made sense considering there were a few immortals who stuck around, including the devil.

“Mostly. There are a few souls who never truly die.”

“Do I want to know?” On second thought, I didn’t want to know, but it was too late to take back my foolish question.

“Probably not yet.”

“Yet? I mean, the devil is supposedly one of the immortals that can’t be killed, but I don’t know if I want to know about his problems.” I recognized a bad omen when I heard one, and yet it implied Eoghan meant to tell me in detail at some point in the future.

“Yet. I’d rather not overwhelm you with old magic right now. The world was a much different place the last time I fully awakened.”

“You thrive on being secretive, don’t you?”

“It is a joy in life. Human curiosity is so entertaining.”

Ah-ha! “Does that mean you’re not human?”

“I started life as a human, but magic changed me long ago.”

“Bummer. Now you’re a freak.”

My unwanted albeit sexy houseguest scowled. “Hardly.”

“What are you then, if you’re not a human or a freak?”

“If you want to know, you’ll need to investigate me yourself.”

Hmm. Hello, temptation. I could do a lot of personal investigation in my bed. I had no experience, but I wouldn’t mind learning how to seduce answers out of him.

Damn it. I couldn’t afford to indulge in lustful thoughts involving him. I’d go crazy that way. Crazier, even. Maybe I could send him over to the pervy ghost granny at the hospital.

Oh, right. The pervy ghost granny. “This is going to sound a little weird, but there was a dead granny at the hospital, and she really did try to keep me there, but after hearing about how she’d tire you out in bed, I needed to go home before I got checked into the psych ward.”

Eoghan stared at me as though I’d lost my mind. “You saw her? Yes, I did ask her to watch over you.”

“She was doing that. I’m just not the best at doing what I’m told. And, also, you couldn’t have been serious about me investigating you.”

He snickered, and I wasn’t sure which part of my statement he found amusing. “I want you to investigate me and learn my secrets.”