Dealing With the Dead

Published by Silver Publishing

Publisher of Erotic Romance

Dealing with the Dead

Copyright © 2012 by Toni Griffin

E-book ISBN: 9781614955979

First E-book Publication: October 2012

Cover design by Reese Dante

Editor: Verushka Lyttle

All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Silver Publishing

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This book is written in Australian English.

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Jayden Thompson felt exhausted when he finally made it into the office. After spending nearly the entire night at the cemetery all he wanted to do was crawl back into bed, but instead he had to come to work. His night started out badly and hadn't gotten any better as it went along. It began with the snob from an insurance agency who thought it was reasonable to show up forty-five minutes late for her appointment without letting him know.

This made him late for his next client, a very irate and upset Italian woman who wanted to say goodbye to her dead husband. Jayden had apologised profusely even though he did try to call. It wasn't his fault her phone battery had died. He hated it even more when she lapsed into Italian in her anger at him. He didn't know any Italian, but he had been pretty sure there were several swear words mixed in with her yelling.

After his last two clients, insurance agents again, Jayden had needed some time to decompress. So he went to visit his grandad. Those were the times Jayden loved being a necromancer; it allowed him to talk to his grandad whenever he needed. On the other hand he had to deal with the business side of things. As much as he might hate it,
necromancy was a business.

His family's business; Jayden had been born into a family of Necromancers. Yes, they could raise and converse with the dead for short periods of time and no, they were not evil. It was just another form of magic.

Witches' magic dealt with the living, Shifter magic came from within, and Necromancers' magic dealt with the dead.

It was as simple as that.

Jayden sat down at his desk, turned his computer on, and opened the newspaper he had brought with him into the office that morning. Giving it a quick scan he rolled his eyes as he noticed yet another crocodile on the front page.

He skimmed through the rest of the paper quickly, but found nothing else interesting. He threw it away and got to work.

Not many people could work with their entire family six days a week, but it seemed to work for his lot.

Jayden was thankful they all didn't still live together. He thought that would have sent him over the edge and caused him to commit mass homicide. He could probably convince the police to let him off with a warning as no one can live and work with their large—and he meant large—family twenty-four hours a day.

He pulled out the new files that had been placed in
his in-tray; the damn thing was empty when he left yesterday afternoon. Skimming through the files he found it was all basic stuff: insurance companies wanting clarification on a cause of death so they hopefully didn't have to pay out millions or families wanting one last chance to say goodbye to a loved one who was taken from them suddenly.

Jayden placed the files to the side and opened his email. He looked through the calendar first to see how many appointments had been added to his day since he last checked it. Jayden groaned as he noticed he was nearly booked solid for the entire day.

As the youngest, he seemed to get stuck with all the less interesting jobs, as evidenced by the files in his in-tray.

His dad and his eldest brothers, Jackson and Jessie, always seemed to get the good ones. His family had still not realised that Jayden was the most powerful of them all. He was the seventh son of a seventh son, but his father had never known about the older brother he had lost. That was a secret his grandad had only shared with him, and Jayden felt a pang of guilt at keeping it from his father. Jayden had felt his magic bubbling under the surface of his skin from the tender age of thirteen.

He shuddered as he remembered walking home past
the pet cemetery and seeing the forms of not just one, but nearly every pet in the place. He was only fourteen at the time so he had screamed and run away.

Raising the dead was not an easy task. It took an amazing amount of energy and concentration. Normally a necromancer was able to raise two or three people in a night and each of those for maybe fifteen minutes. Jayden, however, could raise someone and talk to them for hours without feeling drained. He often went and spoke with his granddad whenever he was feeling particularly lonely. He hadn't tested how many people he could raise in one night, but he figured it was a lot considering the pet cemetery incident.

Necromancy was one of the more rare forms of magic. There were only half a dozen agencies scattered all over Australia. The Thompson Agency was located in Darwin in the Northern Territory, and they were the largest and the best in the country. Their services did not come cheaply, and their jobs usually involved a great deal of travel. It probably would have been better if they were located in one of the larger cities like Sydney or Melbourne, but Darwin was where his parents had met when James, his father, was on a job up here and his mother, Jessica, had been waitressing at a café.
So his dad had moved and his parents had settled down. All seven of the brothers had been born here and he couldn't imagine living in any other city.

Jayden pushed away from his desk and headed to the kitchen. If he was going to be forced to sit in his office all day and attend meetings, he was going to make himself a coffee to help him along. His entire family were caffeine addicts and his parents had installed one hell of a coffee machine.

Ten minutes later Jayden stepped out of the kitchen with his freshly-made caramel macciato to head back to his desk. The first sip was always the best. The rich, smooth caramel coffee liquid slid down his throat and he groaned with pleasure at the taste.

"If you sound like that over a coffee, I wonder what you sound like in bed?" Jayden jumped, careful not to spill his precious coffee before he smiled and turned. Frannie was the company receptionist and Jayden got along great with her.

"You'll just have to keep wondering 'cause you'll never know." Jayden teased her as he took another sip of his coffee.

Frannie's smile was positively wicked. "I'm too much woman for you anyway," she said as she winked at
him.

Jayden threw his head back and laughed. "Oh hell yeah, you are. Never doubt that. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I like men or the fact that you're nearly old enough to be my mother." This time it was Frannie's turn to laugh.

Jayden decided to take advantage of Frannie's good mood. "Hey what's the deal with my schedule?"

"Sorry, doll, you know how it is," she said, shrugging. Jayden thought she looked a little sympathetic as she turned and headed back to the front of the office and settled in at her desk. Jayden knew it wasn't her fault but he didn't have to like it.