Witch {Book One} [UNEDITED]

***BONUS*** Sneak preview of Book Two, Ghost

Doctor Johnson had two problems: his gloves and his his name tag. First off, he ran out of latex gloves in his size. The only other option was to wear pink breast cancer awareness ones in a size too small. He settled for that instead of going without a glove. Then, his name tag was on backwards and he hadn't noticed until he wasn't allowed in his lab. When he turned it around, his younger brother had colored all over it and he wasn't allowed in his lab until the lady at the reception table came and let him in. After going into his lab, Doctor Johnson had three problems: his gloves, his name tag, and the body on the metal table. 

The body belonged to a male in his late twenties. He bore no injury on his face or neck or chest. Doctor Johnson pulled the sheet back and cut open the body to find out what had killed him. What was inside was more disturbing to Doctor Johnson than the fact that there was a naked male inside his lab. Usually, there are colored organs and white bones. Everything is white or red or pink or orange or some other color. But, inside this body, there was nothing but black goo. It was as if all his bones and organs liquified into some thick, black ooze. Doctor Johnson set down his tools and stuck his hand into the body. He reached all the way down until he found something solid. Without hesitation, he pulled it out. It looked to be a part of a horn or a bone. It was thick and about the size of half a baseball and rock solid. Doctor Johnson set it down and quickly but sufficiently sewed up the body. He turned it over and stumbled back when he saw the backside of the body. 

There, carved into the body's skin, were the words HE HAS RISEN. Under it was a detailed carving of two eyes, horns, and an upside down cross between them. Doctor Johnson carefully touched the letters. They were old. Approximately as old as the body was fresh. They had been put there before the poor soul was killed. But that wasn't what killed him. The liquified insides weren't what killed him, either. 

Doctor Johnson looked at the weird object he found inside the body. 

That was what killed the body. 

He wiped it off with a towel and changed his mismatched gloves for two new too-small pink breast cancer awareness ones. Doctor Johnson picked it up and closely examined it. It was neither bone or horn. Instead, it looked like a blackish-reddish rock--like a piece of lava rock. It wasn't very heavy but wasn't porous like lava rock. Doctor Johnson didn't specialize in geology, but he could easily tell where it came from and how old it was. 

If it were a real rock, that is. 

The rock started oozing the same black goo inside the body and Doctor Johnson let it fall to the ground. It cracked open and the black goo spilled out. Doctor Johnson watched as it ate away the linoleum tiles and cement like acid. The floor instantly healed itself and there was no trace of the rock or the black goo. 

Someone knocked at the door and Doctor Johnson jumped, startled. He calmed down when he saw his little brother come in. Doctor Johnson immediately covered up the body and pulled off his pink gloves. 

"Phone for you," his little brother said, handing Doctor Johnson the front desk phone. The doctor took it and ushered his brother out of his lab.

"Hello?" He asked in his professional voice. 

"Doctor Johnson, I presume?" A masculine voice said on the other end. 

"The one and only. How may I help you?" Doctor Johnson tucked the phone between his shoulder and chin and went back to the body. He pulled back the sheet and read and reread the words carved into its back. 

"I'm Officer Digani from the New Orleans PD. We have another body, just like the last one." Doctor Johnson raised an eyebrow. 

"A body like the last one?" He asked, intrigued. "Tell me where I can pick it up." 

"You know the area of town the thugs call Eldorado?" Digani asked. 

"'Course I do. This is New Orleans." 

"Body's outside of the Synergy club. We're gatherin' a crowd, so if you could hurry . . ." Doctor Johnson didn't let Digani finish. He hung up, took off his lab coat, and left the lab. He locked the door behind him and returned the phone to the front desk. His brother followed him out and into his car, not questioning anything. 

"Synergy?" His bother finally asked. 

"You know it," Johnson replied. 

They stayed silent for the rest of the car ride. 

When they got to Synergy, Johnson saw the body before he saw the crowd. He stopped the car but didn't turn it off. He told his brother to stay in the car while he retrieved the body. His brother didn't protest but pouted when Johnson got out of the car and ran towards the body.

"Doctor Johnson?" An officer asked, stopping him. 

"Digani." Johnson grinned. "May I see the body?" All his senses were tingling. He was anxious to see the body. Anxious to find out every little detail about the victim. His brother often called him the Real Life Sherlock Holmes, as Johnson was incredibly good at deducing everything. 

Digani let him pass and Johnson tried to look professional as he walked over and knelt down next to the body. It was a seventeen year old female. She was going to attend Synergy, but never got the chance. She wasn't alone as she was with her boyfriend when he attacked. There was no trace of blood, so her boyfriend got away. The body was an hour old--still fresh--so he couldn't have gotten too terribly far. Johnson pulled on some latex gloves Digani handed him (they were blue and they fit perfectly) and reached into all of the girl's pockets. He pulled out a wallet that belonged to an eighteen year old male. He flipped it open and found an ID. Andy Gray. 

Johnson showed Digani the ID. "Get an APB out on him. He didn't have anything to do with the murder, but he might be important." Johnson gave Digani the wallet and returned his focus to the body. He turned it over and pulled back its shirt. Just as suspected, the words HE HAS RISEN along with the demonic carving of the eyes, horns, and cross were drawn onto its back. 

Johnson stood up. 

"Well, boys," he said, stripping off his gloves. "Looks like we have a satanic serial killer on our hands."