Payback for a Post-Mortem: A Short Story from the Messenger World

By Eileen Rendahl

Forensic veterinarian Dawn Bianchi knew that the animal on her necropsy table wasn't ordinary from the second it was brought in. She just didn't know how far it was from ordinary. She found out damn quickly, though. Between the leather-clad man and woman who stole the wolf from her lab and the mysterious man stalking her, she starts to get an inkling. It turns out there is far more out there than she ever dreamt. And speaking of dreams, did that leather clad man walk right out of one of hers?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eileen Rendahl
• Release date: May 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476248714

Eileen Rendahl

Eileen Rendahl was born in Dayton, Ohio. She moved when she was four and only remembers that she was born across the street from Baskin-Robbins. Eileen remembers anything that has to do with ice cream. Or chocolate. Or champagne. In addition to the Messenger series, Eileen Rendahl is the award-winning author of four Chick Lit novels. Her alter ego, Eileen Carr, released her first romantic suspense, Hold Back The Dark, in 2009. Both Eileens will be releasing books in 2011 and live in Davis, California. She has had many jobs and lived in many cities and feels unbelievably lucky to be where she is now and doing what she's doing.

Book preview

PRAISE FOR

DON’T KILL THE MESSENGER

In the currently crowded paranormal subgenre. Rendahl’s first book stands out with its wonderfully original protagonist, wildly original plot and wickedly witty writing.

Chicago Tribune

A strong and sassy heroine shines in this exciting, sexy and hilarious debut. Melina’s charisma and wit, interesting side characters and dashes of hot romance will keep readers wanting more.

Publishers Weekly(Starred Review)

PRAISE FOR

DEAD ON DELIVERY

Spunky Melina is back and fiercer than ever...

– Romantic Times (Top Pick)

Rendahl excels at expertly balancing a unique and very cool paranormal concept and world with just the right amount of humor and heart. ... This excellent series belongs in the collection of all urban fantasy fans ...

– Bitten by Books

Eileen Rendahl's distinctive voice rings gleefully throughout this second in the Messenger series. Melina's sarcastic attitude and her bewilderment at the affection her friends offer her are a delight to read. ...

– Fresh Fiction

PAYBACK

FOR A POST-MORTEM

A Short Story from the Messenger World

By Eileen Rendahl

© Copyright 2012 Eileen Rendahl

Smashwords Edition

Cover Design by On Your Covers

Graphics by Teresa Sprecklemeyer

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Dawn Bianchi knew before she even began to make her first cut into the animal on her table that it wasn’t going to be a typical necropsy. Who beheads an animal after running over it with a car? Someone had totally sliced the noggin off the poor creature. Dawn had seen the aftermath of a hell of a lot of vehicle versus animal collisions, but she had never seen a head severed so cleanly. No way. That cut was made with a very sharp object. Something damn near as sharp – or maybe even sharper – than the scalpel that she was about to wield. The running over had definitely come first, too. There would have been way more blood if it had happened the other way around.

And what was with the flowers in the animal’s fur? She carefully combed through it as best she could to remove all of the little purple blossoms. He must have rolled in it before being hit by the car to get it so embedded in his fur. Either that or someone had literally rubbed the flowers into the fur. Most of the flowers were mashed which was going to make identifying it difficult. Ah, there was one that was intact in the crest of fur around his shoulders. Dawn used a pair of tweezers to pluck it out and set it aside. The rest that she was able to remove she swept into an evidence bag. There was still some in the fur, but she’d collected most of it.

Dawn turned away from the table to mark the evidence bag. She was nothing, if not meticulous, in her note taking and labeling. It was a point of pride. Something rustled behind her and she whirled back to the animal on the table. Had its fur changed? Gotten shorter somehow?

She rubbed her eyes. It was probably fatigue making her eyes play tricks on her. It was late. She probably should have waited until tomorrow to start this, but she hadn’t wanted to wait another second to figure out what was going on with this animal.

She wanted to know what the deal was with the silver chains knotted around the metacarpal area, binding the front paws and the back paws together, too. And she did mean knotted. Someone had chained this animal up. She photographed the knots and chains and then started untying them, her gloved hands clumsy with the chain. Underneath the chain the fur looked like it had been burned away and the flesh beneath it looked charred as well, nearly to the bone. She held a chain up to the light.