I grumbled in my bed as I heard someone at the door to my room, and chances are I knew who it was. Mentally I swore as I prepared for the not so rude awakening from my roommate.
	“Wake up.” said the person who walked into my room right before I attacked him. Ok, so shooting someone with a foam dart gun that I keep under my pillow isn’t an attack, but I wanted my sleep. My roommate sighed, and grabbed the blanket to pull it off of me. “It’s eight A.M.” he said calmly.
	I blinked as I opened my eyes. “Eight A.M.? Why didn’t my alarm go off?” I asked as I grabbed my phone and noticed it was dead. Great I thought to my self as I plugged my phone in after asking my roommate to make me some coffee.
	My roommate was a simple squirrel who by government record was an admitted pyromaniac, but in truth he as more of a pedophiliac seeing as he liked to light himself on fire. Luckily for me and my thriving collections of nightshades he agreed not to ignite in my house. Ok So I did lie… he wasn’t simple.
	“Kalderra, anything important I missed on?” I asked once I got dressed, and walked into the kitchen where the squirrel was making coffee. It actually wasn’t tea, but it tasted as bitter as coffee. “You did get a call from the police again. This time they want your help.”
	With a sigh I nodded. “Another autopsy?” I asked rolling my eyes. I didn’t like talking to the police for three reasons. One: They arrested me for a ‘wrong place, wrong time’ type of thing. The good thing about being in the forty-ninth state in the united states was low racism against animal-kin such as my self -I’m a gray fox by the way-, but still it happens occasion. Luckily they found the real culprit of the crime -which was actually a grey furred wolf-. 2: they don’t let me rough up the people who steal from me. One example: The small store I was luck enough to buy had an attempted robbery, but being observant as I was I caught him. The next five minutes before the cops came were filled with intense screams of agony from the failed thief.
	Kalderra nodded. “From what they said it’s not a normal corpse.” he said drinking some of the tea. “The skin on its body melted, and then solidified apparently.” No I was intrigued and this brings us to reason three as to why I don’t like working with the police. They make fun of my profession. Now before you assume a mortician let me say it I’m a necromancer, yes I’m one of those madmen who reanimate dead people. We don’t do that, especially me, and my master. She taught me that there are strict laws on magic especially the dark arts -she even told me the punishment for a violation. Not worth it-
	After finishing my coffee I got dressed in a grey shirt and a pair of pants, and walked out of my house. Once in my car I began to drive to the coroner’s office. The car I drive is a simple Volkswagen model that I forgot the name of after driving it for ten years.  Anyways the drive to the coroner’s office was relaxing, and went quickly since I knew the way by heart.
	“You’re late Kalitas.” said the cop that greeted me. He was a human about an inch taller than me, and much more muscled. “Sorry Taylor.” I said walking into the police station. Strapped to my hip, but a belt- were the tools I used which consisted of cotton swabs, vials of acid, needles, knives, and a long sword. It never hurts to be prepared.
	After I was lead to the coroner’s office I looked at the corpse and sighed. I was lied to again. “This body didn’t melt.” I said looking at the body a bit more which belonged to a ferret who looked like he lived well. “No known cause of death?”
	And so Taylor explained what they were able to figure out which wasn’t much -seeing as there were no incision on the corpse- the ferret’s name was Cliff Faw, and he apparently civilian informant for Taylor. Now comes the interesting bit, they tried to cut him open, but couldn’t make a scratch with a diamond tipped scalpel. “So you really need me to cut him open.” I said pulling out a small ivory white knife, and stabbed it into the ferret’s body. Once the knife was in I cut open the ferret’s abdomen, and blinked as I saw that the corpse’s organs were covered in stringy mass of different cords. “Nerve cords covering organs.” I said as I pulled one sighing. This wasn’t a natural death.
	Almost as soon as I let go of the cord Cliff grabbed at my neck, and screamed. “What the hell happened to me?” he asked as he held me by the neck. “Let go… and I’ll explain.” I croaked out as I was being strangled, and then fell as I was released.
	Gasping for air I explained what happened -I recognized this entire scenario- “You died of a heart attack, and are going to die again.” I said which made Cliff tilt his head before he vomited.
	Zombies have no digestive system, so they don’t need or have regular body functions thanks to their death. Although they can eat brains for two reasons: first they all have a hunger for the memories of life (scents, sights, emotions) so they eat brains which will release those memories into them. The second reason they o after living ones. The electrical impulses in the brain give the slightest sensation of life -which is more addictive than crack- it degrades their undead mind leaving them as those moaning mind hunting things.
	Anyway this zombie was dieing. I recognized it perfectly, and grew disgusted looking at it. When a zombie dies, their insides liquefy instantly causing them basically ‘coughing up a lung’ literally. As I watched Cliff die, I noticed Taylor had been heaving into a trashcan.
	Within five minutes the ferret was now permanently dead. “Judging by how fast this happened the person who did this wasn’t very skilled or our friend here would have lasted longer.” I said sighing as I cleaned my knife’s smooth surface. (The blade of the knife is made from the finger bone of a demon)
Taylor looked at me oddly. “What am I suppose to do about this?” he asked looking away from the corpse while trying not to hurl.
	I shrugged. “Clean this mess, and prepare him for a funeral.” I said as I walked towards him, and held out my hand. “My pay.” and at that Taylor pulled out a twenty, which I pocketed before I left to make true on a promise.
	It was Ten A.M. by the time I made it to my store. I was given the lot completely for free after I gave a letter to the landlord’s deceased family. Fun place the afterlife, it’s always changing for the individual. Anyway I walked in and set up for a small little ritual since I won’t expect any one to come in. -I’m closed on Thursdays so what?- I walked into the backroom of my store, and stripped naked before I sat down on the floor. A loud popping sound came as I pulled the cork off of a bottle of absinthe I grabbed, and with a light wag of my tail and a small muttering of words I took a big drink of the greenish gold liquid. Once I swallowed the liquor I passed out.
	With a yawn I awoke to a slight sandalwood smell, but the surrounding trees weren’t cut down or in full bloom. Just as I remembered, this was my first stop on my little trip through the afterlife, and I was a bit over due on visiting my ex-wife. After a bit of walking through the trees I arrived at a small clearing that had a large stump, who a female fox sat on. “You’re late.” she said with a smile. I smiled and sat next to her. “I know I’m late Jasmine, but I made it.” I said as I looked at her, she still looked the same as when I saw her before her death.
	It was ten years ago and ten months ago; we were walking near a small park when it happened.  No one (but me) understood what happened in the incident, but it was tied with a long chain of murders that happened around the state. We were ambushed by him out of no where, and dragged off somewhere I barely remember. I won’t tell the whole story of what happened to us -another story for another day- all in all Jasmine was butchered, and I lost my ring finger and gained a long scar along my muzzle.
	After what seemed like a half hour I bid farewell to Jasmine, and went to visit my mother before I regained consciousness, but I won’t bore you with details about her. I awoke to the sight of a female wolf laying down on me. “Hi Sorrow.” I said as I kissed her.
	“When can I live with you?” she asked looking into my eyes. Sorrow was a hellhound, and appeared (quite violently) into our realm a little over a year and a half ago. “Just as soon as I can make sure a certain pyromaniac won’t react to your presence.” I said as I rubbed her belly a bit, the hell hound was currently pregnant with me and her second child. -Just because I visit my ex once a month doesn’t mean I’m not over her death. I was over it the first time I talked to her.-
	She smiled a bit and nuzzled me softly. “Talk to him soon. This store isn’t fun.” Sorrow said as her ears flicked a bit with good reason. Someone opened the locked door. I quickly got dressed and walked to the front. “You do realize we’re…” My sentence ended as I saw the intruder had a key.
	I recognized her as my younger sister, and she was crying. “What’s wrong Amy?” I asked hugging her and running my hand through her soft and dyed green fur. She looked at me; her eyes were very red from crying. “Mmm-boy friend…” Amy couldn’t help but kept crying. “What happened to him?” I asked as I kept trying to comfort her.
	“Hhh-he was murdered by him…” Amy said as she sobbed harder. My heart nearly stopped at what she said. That man, no… that demon killed another, and this time it was personal again. “Did they try to save him?” She nodded. “Yeah… you’re going to try?” Amy knew I was a necromancer, as did my father (despite his complaints) I nodded. “Mhm”
 	With in a half hour we made it to the hospital. Sorrow was in the driver seat, and Amy was holding Sorrow’s and my child who was a sleep at the moment. Meanwhile I was heading inside to get our friend. After twenty minutes, I come running out with two things: my sister’s boyfriend and a security guard on my ass.
	“Drive!” I shouted as I got in with the body. Amy’s boyfriend was a tiger around my height (making him three inches shorter than he should have been.) “Where are we going?” Sorrow asked as she began to drive out of the parking lot. “Amy’s place.” I said looking at my sister, and got a nod from her as she continued to pet the little child in her arms. Nice thing about my son, he sleeps like a rock.
	Once we made it to the apartment building we ran inside. Amy lived near the top floor, which I never liked. After we made it to the apartment I went to work on bringing the tiger back to life which at first is simple, fix the body.
	I sighed as I finished fixing him up. “I hate this.” I said as I began the ritual. Revivals are very dangerous since there is the fact I could die while pulling the soul out of Judgment, nonetheless I got his soul back. “Kevin…” I said to the tiger as he began to come back to life.
	He groaned as he awoke. “I’m dead?” he asked looking around and sighed. “I’m not dead.” I nodded. “Yeah…” I said as I saw Sorrow growling towards the door.
	It grew cold in the room, the same as it was ten years when he came. “I’m back.” He said ripping the door off and walking in. “Raxyn…” I said as I looked at the demon. ‘Don’t tell me you’re still sore over that vixen.’ Raxyn said grinning as he looked at me with those blood red eyes of his which were accented by the oily blackness of his fur and metal.
	Raxyn was Jasmine’s murderer, and had killed countless others. His body mostly resembled a large wolf -more akin to dire wolf- except that large portions of his body were mechanical. I would have said cybernetic, but that would imply that science was involved, and with his kind of demon flesh acted as circuitry. He licked his teeth as he looked at me, but widened his eyes as he saw Sorrow, but mainly at the fact his kill, Kevin, was alive again. “You should not have done that.” the demon said in a growl as his claws extended while he walked closer.
	By the time Raxyn started moving I noticed what was hanging around the metal cords that made up his neck, a memento of the first person to escape him. With a flick of my fingers the medallion ripped off of Raxyn’s neck and came to me. “I wanted my finger back.”
	The demon growled and charged at me, but the sat thing was by the time I unsheathed my Raxyn tackled me, and bother of us were falling out of the window. I just had to stand in front of it… I managed t push him away by slashing at his chest which got a monstrous yelp form Raxyn. Fun thing about my sword, it’s a living weapon that communicates by singing… in a female German voice that would perfect for indie rock. Anyway ‘she’ tried to eat what I cut with her. -the blade is serrated like shark’s teeth, but smaller and closer together, and an unknown acid drops from the blade after ‘she’ has had a taste.- Back to the matter at hand. “I’m falling well I’ve fallen from a third story window with someone who weighs a whole lot more then me right next to me.
	I landed onto the soft wet mud that was right out in the back of the building, and with a long groan I got up. “Must have broken a rib,” I said clutching my side when I noticed something was wrong. My sword was stuck in a rock. “Damn!” I yelled -mainly from pain- as I caused my bones to knit quickly. (Manipulation of bones is what a necromancer does best.)
	Raxyn growled as he got up. “You’re dead.” he said standing up as he stood up dark yellow blood seeped through the chest wound I made. With a grunt he charged at me.
	With a sigh I pulled out my removed digit, and crafted a spell. The finger grew long and thinned out into a short blade. I tossed the bone dagger at Raxyn, and struck him in the eye. I ran to get my sword out of the rock, which it came easily since it was salivating over the rock. I looked at Raxyn and noticed he dislodged my finger from his eye, and growled as he charged at me again. “I was enjoying that rock…” my sword said as the pupil like inclusion on the amethyst pommel looked at me. “Well how about something meatier.” I said rubbing backwards while showing the sword Raxyn.
	“He’ll do.” the word said excitedly as she drooled more acid onto the ground and my foot -good thing I wear shoes- I grinned, and ran towards Raxyn. As I ran I ducked down and slid on the mud towards the demon, and stabbed the sword as deep as I could. He nearly fell on top of me as he collapsed from the pain of having his hear and the rest of him dissolve, but that wasn’t the end of it.
	Raxyn tried to remove the sword (I forgot to mention… she never told me her name) from his chest, but the serrated edges kept her in place. Soon the word began to eat, which was mainly sucking out the dissolved bits of flesh.
	“Ironic isn’t it!” I said getting up slowly. “You, The murderer of my ex-wide, you butchered her and ate her!” I said looking at his face. “And here you are being eaten alive.” All he did was smirk at me. “She tasted good soaked in soy sauce.” Raxyn said coughing up blood right before I kicked him in the face.
	Right after that Sorrow came rushing over. “They wouldn’t let us out.” she said walking over, and catching me as I fell. I awoke in the hospital where we took Kevin’s body from. I looked down and noticed I had a cast on me. “He really beat me up.” I said yawning. “Actually your ribs broke form the fall you had.” Sorrow said as she looked at me. The hellhound was sitting on a chair, and standing next to her was Taylor, he looked annoyed. “By the way…” He said walking over to me. “You’re going to be prosecuted for stealing a body, but for ‘solving’ my case I think I’ll be able to work things out.”
	I’d have cursed aloud, but I was too exhausted to do anything by lay back down. It took me a week to be released from the hospital, just to spend three weeks in jail. Fun times…