Dangerous Diabolical: Book 1 (Iridescent) ✔️

Chapter 3 - Things which go bump in the night | Edited

My shift at work was almost more unbearable than usual. The coping mechanism for passing the hours on this particular day involved exiting any aisle a human entered and savouring each task for double the time it would take anyone else.

Despite possessing an award-winning personality, my boss eventually relented to hiring me after the SPCC pitched an uncanny ability to lift the heavy stuff. It was an even better fit when he discovered that keeping to myself was one of my leading soft skills.

Not for the first time, my thumb ran over the magicked gems in my pocket, magic thrumming warmly from them. With a clear mind, it felt like I could almost tell them apart, but after curiosity would get the better of me, pulling them out revealed that there was only a 70 per cent chance of being right.

The dead man last night, combined with the SPCC visitor Leofstan Ortwin, and his 'checking-in', had put me on edge, observing out the corner of my eye at every new stranger I saw in the store. Any person could be the cause of what they were inspecting, or worse, another council member who had decided to visit.

A jolt of magic, unbidden, shot down my arm as I forgot to pay attention. "Ow," I cursed, the sting jerking my hand open as my magic brushed over the gems. Sure enough, a few angry red patches threatened blisters on my fingertips. That was a cause to sigh. The lack of grasp I held on magic was infuriating.

I wasn't left long to dwell on it. A shiver proceeded a cold draft that crept down the aisle. Glancing upwards, David approached with both a look of despair and sheer pleasure.

Literally.

The original body belonged to a man once known as David, and he seemed committed to his management role, clinging to life in a desperate attempt to make sure this singular grocery store would eternally have stocked shelves.

Thanks to the attached personal ghost, David could always be felt by the chill in the air before he was seen or heard. They seemed to have manifested the ability to suck the joy of living out of the normal day, so when a shift was already dragging, it was akin to just going outside and flopping into the first dug grave you could find.

The resident Dybbuk, who I glimpsed like a blurred shadow when squinting, hovered over his shoulder, claws raked into the host's scalp. Unlike much of their kind who forced their hosts to finish their final wishes as soon as possible, this one seemed determined to draw out Davids's possession in obvious delight. Something about David's life seemed to feed the Dybbuk's passion for misery. Normally I would avoid any creature with a foothold in death, but the impossibility of telling which one was pulling strings to keep me in employment and by default, a roof over my head, there was no need to call the priest just yet.

The downside was the difficulty deciding if David was always angry or the supernatural Dybbuk latching onto his life force excelled at catapulting him to permanently being downright irritable.

There was a cough clearing in his throat, which I ignored. He grumbled something under his breath before splurging out whatever he'd bothered me for; "Andy, this is Joanne."

Surprised I'd missed somebody else, I peered around him to glimpse a young human girl behind him, who was warily glancing between us both, with a forced smiling grimace.

"Joanne is starting with us today part-time. Could you do some work today for once and run her through the processes?"

She wore the standard uniform, her long brown hair tied back into a neat ponytail, sporting a bright blue streak, and she moved her wary smile uneasily from David to beam at me. She had a curvaceous frame, her cheeks rosy and ears adorned with piercings which seemed to contrast her 'natural' makeup. I'd place her as a student who recently arrived in the area to study as she still smelt of saltwater. No one who worked here had the spare money to holiday anywhere by the sea.