Keeper

VII. Some Explaining

Velez sighed a little bit as she looked around the dark cemetery, police-issue flashlight in hand. "The hell does an aura even look like? The only thing I'm seeing is wet grass. Next you'll say we're looking for ghosts."

"Hey, if a ghost was around here and willing to talk, I'd give it a listen," Morgan said, wiping off her jacket as best she could. She'd taken the worst of the sprinklers out of the three of them.

Katsuo chuckled a little. "True spirits lingering are hard to come by. A good reason and a strong will alone are not enough." He inhaled sharply and then frowned. "We are not the first ones to come through here in the last hour, Morgan. I smell human."

Velez spun around, dark eyes wide with concern. "Human? What the hell are you?" she asked.

The Japanese demon gave Morgan a look. "You didn't tell her?" Velez's fear made sense. To an untrained seer, he would look like a seven-foot-tall muscular Japanese man with a blur around him. No doubt she'd assumed he was human even with the visible oddity that was his glamor and the large club resting against his shoulder. He was clothed, so the fabric protected him from the iron studs, but Morgan imagined he could still feel the heat in his flesh at its proximity.

The female keeper had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm an airhead." She turned to face Velez. "Katsuo is an oni. They're Japanese demons. He's not wearing his true form right now. Which, really, is for the best. He's not a looker."

Katsuo looked offended. "Hey!"

The female keeper grinned. "To a human. I'm sure to oni you're a magnificent bastard."

"The most magnificent," the oni said with a chuckle. "Now, can we refocus on the task at hand?"

Velez seemed to be struggling to process. "Demon? Like that thing that busted up the cab?"

Morgan sighed. "I would love to explain the difference between him and the barghest, but let's not split hairs over the names of categories of Unseen right now. Suffice to say, Katsuo is powerful and a lot friendlier than the critter that wrecked the cab. He's another keeper, like me." She looked up at the oni. "You got anything for me other than the fact they were human?"

Katsuo inhaled deeply, a growl rumbling in his chest. "Fear." He started to walk, head bowed towards the wet earth as he sniffed. "Anger. Hate."

Velez's hand tightened on her flashlight. "That isn't reassuring," the detective said warily.

"Don't worry about it," Morgan said. She paused for a moment. "Well, worry about it, but only a little. Remember, we've got a keeper with us who could carry a linebacker around like a baby. Not to mention Daisuke." When she saw Velez's confusion, she explained. "That's the name of the club."

"I...don't even know where to start," Velez muttered as she walked after Katsuo.

"You got anything, buddy?" the female keeper asked.

"The sprinklers have washed most of it away." He stopped in his tracks and adjusted his grip on his weapon. "Something is wrong here."

"Story of my life," Morgan muttered. She looked around using the Sight granted to her by iron. There were faint, graveyard grey glimmers around them, barely perceptible remnants of departed souls that faded slowly in the wake of a burial. "I'm not seeing anything to write home about."

The oni was tense. "Someone was here, doing something they should not have been."

Morgan turned her head to look behind herself and cursed, staggering back away from it. The aura was a lot stronger and closer than she had been expecting. Her brain struggled to sort out what she'd seen for a moment— blackness and putrefaction and wrongness. The rotten taste lingered in her mouth as the aura brushed against her own soul. "God damn it!" She shook her head a little and stepped away. "I think I just got an eyeful of Satan."