Ascension

By Louis Corsair

Life after death has been a curious experience for Private Investigator Raymond Adams. He was murdered in 1947, was sent to the Abstract Realm (aka Limbo), and then was brought back to life in 2011 to investigate a murder in present-day Hollywood. With the help of his great-granddaughter, Jenn Adams (who was a bit of a saucy wench), he solved the case. Thanks to his success as a dead detective, his dead wife, Karen Adams was pulled out of Hell and reincarnated.

Unfortunately, when the case was over, Raymond Adams was sent back to the Abstract Realm. And there he stayed until...

A Lady of the Realms approaches Detective Adams with a job: Her 12-year-old daughter, Ashima, was kidnapped in Los Angeles; the Lady doesn’t feel that the human policemen are up to the task of finding a Divine lordling. If Adams helps the Lady and finds Ashima, she promises to let him spend time with his daughter, Samantha. Though Adams feels the Lady isn’t telling him everything about the job, the temptation to see his daughter and be with her and explain that he should have been a better father... It’s too great.

He agrees and is brought back to life for 24 hours again. The date is November 2nd, 2020--the Day of the Dead. And very quickly, a kidnapping case becomes a duel with Death itself. Adams has faced Death once, like all mortals do, and lost. This time, to see Samantha again, he must find a way to save Ashima and beat Death.

It’s a daunting task, but like before, the dead detective has help: Jenn Adams joins him; and so does Officer Maeve Flanagan, who the world knows as the Wizard of Hollywood--she might be his most powerful ally. But Maeve has her own secrets. Troubling secrets. And she could become a bigger problem than Death.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Louis Corsair
• Release date: Nov 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005973681

Louis Corsair

Louis Corsair is an eight year veteran of the United States Army. Currently, he lives in Los Angeles, CA. In the year 2020 he hopes to publish several more works.

Book preview

Ascension is the second book in the Elohim Trilogy. It follows Absolution Redux, not the original Absolution. There are just too many differences between the old novel and the new one.

Aside from that, Ascension has three point of view characters, who take turns telling their bits of the story. Sometimes, the events described in one point of view chapter take place at the same time as the events in another point of view chapter. This is the case in Part 3, aptly named Just the three of us.

As always, I did take some liberties with the amount of events that happen per chapter.

LC

2020

PROLOGUE:

1946

I was in a Sears Department Store, the one in Boyle Heights, doing some last-minute shopping with my wife before the holidays. Christmas music filled the ground floor and everyone moved to and fro in a hurry. Children were everywhere too, running to see the toys that Santa might bring them or peeking into the bags their parents held. The line to Jolly Old Saint Nick was as long and wild as the Los Angeles River.

But not everyone was excited or jolly...

Karen, my wife, held my hand as we searched for Samantha, who had been with us, but disappeared.

Ray, she’s only four years old, said Karen as if I had forgotten my daughter’s age. She looked here and there, checking each child to make sure they weren’t our Samantha. You’re a detective, aren’t you?

She always threw that in my face. I smiled, but she didn’t smile back. Not that I could blame her. Losing your only child has a way of dampening your sense of humor. But I was confident Samantha was just playing hide-and-seek with me. I was our daughter’s pal, the fun parent. Mommie meant business.

I bet she’s by those Christmas trees, I said and tried to steer us that way, but Karen wouldn’t budge. Sure, she is, doll. The kid’s just playing with us.

She’s four years old!

I hadn’t forgotten.

Karen growled when I didn’t show signs of being as frustrated as she was.

She needs her father right now, not her friend, she said.

I knew this, of course, but when she said it like that it angered me. In the distance, I heard the yelp of a newborn puppy. And the detective in me knew that puppies attracted children. Out in the parking lot, an old woman had a box full of the mutts. Samantha was there with a collection of boys and girls and their parents. We rushed to them.

Can we get a dog, Papa? was the first thing Samantha said. She had these hazel eyes that were a mix of my dark ones and her mother’s green ones.

Karen inspected every inch of the kid. When satisfied that everything was where it should be, she said, Don’t you ever walk away from us again!

My daughter came to me with her thumb in her mouth and tears in her eyes.

Give her a break, I said. You won’t do it again, will you? I asked her.

She shook her little head, but Karen’s frown didn’t disappear.

A dog won’t fit in our apartment, said Karen. Maybe Santa can bring you something in the store.

This disappointed the kid and she skipped along, just in front of us.

Maybe Santa will look into it, I said and my daughter brightened up.

My wife pinched me and I yelped.

Say, what was that for? I said.

We can’t keep a dog where we live or we’ll get thrown out, she said and bore into me with her eyes. Under the artificial light, those emerald things glowed.

Isn’t that why we’re looking at houses now? I said.

That’s not the point, Ray, she said. She needs boundaries or she’ll grow spoiled.

That’s a swell thought! I said, cynically. One thing won’t spoil her, Karen.

She stopped us and crossed her arms. Look into my eyes and tell me that. Tell me you’re right.

I did look into her eyes, but I looked away quickly. She was right and I kissed her to let her know this. While Karen walked to the ladies’ room, I pulled our daughter aside. I picked her up and kissed her cheek.

I want the brown one, Papa, she said with a grin.

I gave her my best tough-guy smile--boy, let me tell you, Bogey would have been proud.

Listen to me, kid, I said, Mom’s right. We can’t get a dog right now.

Why?

Our apartment’s too small and it won’t do.

Why?

A dog needs space to run around in.

Why?

That’s just how dogs are, I said. She started to ask why again, but I put my finger on her lips.

Her eyes began to tear. Santa’ll bring me a dog if I’ve been good, right Papa? I been good all year.

I tipped my hat back. Sometimes, Santa can’t bring the things we want ‘cause so many others want them. I was no good at being stern with her. I tried to kiss her cheek, but she turned away. I turned her face back to me. There was a void of disillusionment in her eyes.

Santa isn’t real, huh? Her lips trembled when she said this.

That bothered me so much, I didn’t know what to say or do. I think this was the moment when she realized what we all realize in time. Our fathers are just men, not immortals. And I hadn’t helped this. Come to think of it, I had never really risen to fatherhood.

Maybe that’s why I told her, Santa’s real alright, as real as the sun. That made her smile. I cleaned the tears away. Don’t cry, love. Papa’s real too. And he’s always going to be here for you. Promise...

She hugged me and I squeezed her. I loved her so much. I really did mean to keep that promise. Too bad a few weeks later I would be dead. Shot down in the middle of the night by a gangster. And if that wasn’t enough for the kid, Karen followed me not long after: She gunned down the people responsible for my murder and was shot dead in the process.

Neither of us got the chance to raise our daughter because of death. But I knew better than to blame death. I had failed Samantha. The afterlife taught me that well.

Part I: The Abstract Realm

DETECTIVE ADAMS

Thanatopsis

A swanky restaurant. People everywhere in their best outfits. Picture me in a white suit, letting out white smoke into the White atmosphere. In front of me, a White doll with red, red lips, and red, red hair, dared me to make this the most memorable night of her life.

Producing a smile that quickened my heart, the redhead whispered, Order me a drink, tough guy. She batted her feline eyes at me and for a second, I thought she would purr.

I called the boy at once and he ran to us.

A bottle of brandy, I said. Make it two. One for me and one for her.

The colored boy nodded and ran off.

She laughed. You’re something, Ray... Her smile became a moist hole of lust and I knew the night would go in my favor.

It only gets better, baby, I said. Listen, kid, I say we drown our troubles in drink before hightailing it to Ciro’s for a little music.

Her gloved hand slapped mine playfully. And my smile grew and grew. Her touch ignited a fire, a deep hunger of my flesh, that wanted to consume, to use. And she was all for it; I was tempted to grab her right there, to see what she really thought of old Ray.

But I lost my train of thought when I made out movement in the shadows by the window. There was a...a man there...made of shadows.

Where are you, Ray? said Jenn.

I whipped around. It sounded like she was behind me.

Jenn was my great-granddaughter, young and beautiful like the dame in front of me... Dame? I was still using that silly language. Like calling that kid colored. He was Black or African American. That was what Roderigo Anderson had said.

I was not Humphrey Bogart. My name was Raymond Adams. I had died in the 1940s and gone to the Abstract Realm--a place where people became spiritual ideas to be molded into better ones.

Limbo. They could call it whatever they wanted to, but it was Limbo. They were the beings who lorded over my life after dying: The Divine...

But who was Raymond Adams? I had copied Bogey so closely that I was like his shadow. Raymond Adams was the shadow of a celluloid hero, who had starred in films inspired by the dime-store novels of his day. I was a simple man pretending to be hardboiled, a cliché, who had shunned his duties as husband and father and been killed for it.

That’s right! I remembered! The real Raymond Adams had been a bum.

Yet...I wasn’t a make-believe gumshoe. I did have detective instincts. Maybe...with enough time I could...I could become the Raymond Adams who was a good husband and father...

That’s it! I could become a better father by raising my daughter the right way, a better husband by spending more time with my wife. And then, and then, and then...

A flash of understanding ignited infinite sadness. I was dead and would never have that chance...

Everything around me began to glisten and glow. It took me a moment to understand why. The entire restaurant... the White patrons... the redhead with the bright-red lipstick... the sexuality she gave off... and my body’s carnal hunger... even the trail of smoke coming out of my cigarette...

They were all fake...

That was the Abstract Realm for you; recreating the delights of the living to torture you. These illusory situations were supposed to test me and help me go...go where? Heaven? Oh, no. There was only the Collective Whole. And who knew what that was like...

Another shadow stirred under the table; this time I saw arms and legs on it.

Harry? I said.

Who’s Harry, love? said the redhead with the red, red lipstick.

I never got a chance to answer. Like a vacuum sucking up dirt, they pulled my soul out of there.

***

I sat down on a rock and jumped right back up. The sun had warmed it too much. Around me spanned a desert without beginning or end, an infinite thing. And it was hot, miserably hot. I took off my suit jacket and loosened my necktie. My shirt was a sponge soaked with sweat.

It was a version of the Mojave Desert I had known, but here there was a gloss that gave things a gilded edge. Normally, a scenario would have started. And it would have terminated when I learned something or gave up something about my former life. From what I heard, those scenarios sometimes lasted entire lifetimes.

Death wasn’t the release I had hoped for. The Process sent me to a place that was more a prison than an afterlife. This was the Abstract Realm and here I would stay until I was ready to move up to better things. Limbo. A place like Limbo.

Did I explain this to you already? Don’t mind me, then. Failing the scenarios resulted in wiping out some of your memories. Fail enough and what’s left was a blank soul, raw material that’s then combined with the stuff that made up the Abstract Realm and its scenarios.

Why I was in this particular desert was beyond me until I heard a familiar voice that came from the heavens.

Ray? said Jenn. The kid was my great-granddaughter, who--conveniently enough--could communicate with the dead. I may or may not have mentioned that too...

Can you hear me? I said, but my throat was so dry, I was surprised anything came out.

Louder, she said, Did you make it?

I’m fine. The Committee and the Executor took care of the bad guys.

And Cairenn?

It hurt to hear my wife’s name.

The Executor Reincarnated her! She’s in the Realm of the Living now, I said. How much time has passed?

It’s been... ye...ar...sss...

It unsettled me that so much time had passed. But what was time here?

Why did you wait so long to contact me?

I’ve... she said and her voice came in and out. Be...en...trying...to... The sky became orange and red and then yellow before it went back to being blue. Ray?

You need to find her! I said. A violent gust of wind tore across the desert and sand blinded me. Find my wife! She would have been born the day I left!

I cowered on the ground, trying to protect my eyes from the sandstorm. The wind gripped me and spun me so fast that I had no sense of place or time. Sand particles became tiny meteors that drilled into my skin. It hurt worse than hell.

Raise her right! I cried out.

Sand went into my mouth, down my throat, chocking me. A hole opened in the sky and sucked me into it.

DETECTIVE ADAMS

The Case

The suit I wore was a tasteful blend of cream and sky blue. The hat was like a cloud and the shoes...it was like walking on pillows. I was in a café in Paris somewhere; the Eifel Tower was part of the view. The other thing that gave it away was that everyone spoke French.

That was the Abstract Realm for you. It created the world of the living and its delights, right down to the smell of European sweat on some of these drips, all of it so gilded and glossy that the detective in me couldn’t be fooled by it.

I coughed, remembering the desert and expected sand to come out, but a part of me knew that an enormous amount of time had passed since I had been there. The clarity of the recollection unsettled me. It was as if I had been allowed to remember things right...

It occurred to me that I had no idea why I was here. This was nice, though boring. But I still had ways to amuse myself. The table in front of me had a nice shadow, one that had just stirred. I kicked it and it let out a yelp.

The shadow separated from the table and stood up. It was a Shadow Monger. He was so shy, he kept the shape of the table.

Cigarette? I said. I pulled out two cigarettes from a tasteful, silver cigarette box.

He half-smiled and declined the offer. I lit up and took a long drag off the illusory cigarette. Trails of smoke exited my nose and I was a genuine dragon for a second.

I kept talking about anything that came to mind until I touched the subject of my death and what happened afterwards. About the murdered lordling and his missing soul. And the other Shadow Monger, Harry. And my great-granddaughter, Jenn. And my wife and the Absolution the world needed and would never get.

Just remembering the details strained my soul. It had strained my audience too. The Shadow Monger had by then taken the shape of a human being. But he was clumsy and nervous. Shadow Mongers weren’t supposed to be discovered by human souls in the Abstract Realm.

He fiddled with his fingers and thumbs, looking here and there and smiling.

Maybe self-forgiveness is all the absolution a person can honestly strive for in a hardboiled world ripe with broken dreams, I said. That was it. That was the end of the story.

Amen to that, brother, said the Shadow Monger.

What do you think, chum? I said.

He harrumphed. I know about you. You’re Ray Adams, the private investigator, he said. He scratched his shadowy head. I’m not really supposed to get involved with you.

I understand, I said. But do you know what happened to the Shadow Monger I mentioned in the story? The one I nicknamed ‘Harry’?

He shook his head and then spotted something behind me. In a rush, he became the table’s shadow again. I turned around and saw a teenage girl walking towards me. She wore a snow-white dress and matching shoes. Her pretty gold hair was in pink ribbons. Adorable.

If she had been a real girl she would have been all of 16 or 17, a senior in high school. But this wasn’t a child and my parental instincts didn’t kick in. She was one of the Divine and a member of the Committee--the Assiah girl, remember? From the previous case.

I remembered her. And I also remembered begging her to give my wife’s soul Absolution. How long ago had that been? It didn’t matter. Time was irrelevant in the Abstract Realm. Hadn’t I said that already? Blah, blah, blah, in the Abstract Realm?

As she stood there, some silly part of me made me stand up and take off my hat, as I would for any other dame.

Hello, Detective Adams, she said.

It’s nice to see you again...uh, I said.

Without knowing her name, it was difficult to address her. She noticed and smiled. She spoke her true name to me, but I won’t say it here. Aside from the fact that the mystic syllables in her name can summon her, they were glorious in a way that cowed me. Instead, I’ll call her the Magdalene or just Magdalene for short. Odd choice. But I promise, the name will make sense later.

Shall we sit? she said.

I nodded and we sat. A waiter appeared and she asked for a glass of milk. She was such a darling! I wanted to sing lullaby songs to her. Except it was all an act...

Why do you pretend? I said. I never understood that. Why do you pretend to be a child at all?

This? she said and motioned towards her body. It is part of the identity of the Assiah, as much as cruelty is part of the Pit Lord. I assure you, most of the Assiah do not die young...

She gave me a petite smile.

But... I said, smiling too. You don’t die at all, right? You sort of float off to...uh...Heaven...

This made her giggle. Sharp as always... she said. You are correct. Lordlings Ascend to their respective Realms once the Committee approves it...

Good enough. Are you so bored in the Realm Above that you thought to pay a friend a visit? I said and smiled. Why do they call it the Realm Above anyway? What’s it above?

My smoking didn’t bother her and when I looked closer, she never took a breath. And then I almost spat out my cigarette, laughing. I never took a breath either except to inhale the smoke.

The Realm Above is so named because of Elohim... she said. She glanced off into space. Her doe eyes and innocent face hardened and it broke my heart. The name is Elohim’s promise to your world. We were--are--above humanity’s destructive impulses, those...corruptive...desires of the flesh, to allow us to protect it, guide it--

I let off half-cocked laughter. Maybe it should have been called the Parental Realm...

Her lips formed a tight smile. She turned those baby blues back at me.

Are you comfortable? Do they treat you well? she added and glanced at the table’s shadow and the Shadow Monger hiding in it.

Well enough, I said. What happened to my scenarios? I get bored just lying around, even in Paris. I took a long drag. I have you to thank for that?

She grinned and nodded.

The waiter brought a glass of milk and she took a sip from it. She wiped her lips neatly too and I wondered if she had been a human at some point in the recent Past.

I continued to smoke and she watched me. This unnerved me, as did everything about the pleasant things she had arranged for me. She wanted something. They wanted something from me again and I wasn’t sure I was ready for more of their nonsense, not after the way they had used me before. But I had to be fair. Truth be told, this tiny dame had been kind to me.

If you want something, I suggest you ask for it now, I said, but she didn’t speak.

My daughter, she said at last and didn’t add anything else. There was a sort of sorrow on her child face that was unnatural, as if sadness was a relative that rarely visited.

More trails of smoke left my nostrils. Let me guess. Your daughter was murdered in the Realm of the Living and you want me to figure out who did it. As a gift you’ll throw Absolution at me again. Oh, and maybe her soul went missing too, so I better be on the lookout for it.

Her mouth was wide open. Do not say such terrible things!

There was a thunderous quality to her voice. Her glowing eyes glistened with tears. It made me feel terrible and I apologized. Magdalene said it was alright and composed her face.

Tell me slowly, I said. What happened to your daughter?

She buried her face in her small hands. Her name is Ashima...she was abducted. It happened two days ago in her foster home in Los Angeles.

I had never worked a missing person’s case before. And you saw how well I did when my own daughter went missing in that department store.

When adults go missing, the human authorities look into it, I said and tried to smile; it was hard to. I knew that those investigations rarely had happy endings.

I understand that, Adams, she said and wiped her nose with a napkin. My Ashima is only twelve years old. And the humans have yet to find her after two days of searching!

I paused and then said, She’s a lordling. I’m sure you’ve taught her how to use her abilities by now...

Magdalene broke down in tears. She’s just a baby... She has the vaguest understanding of herself. And who knows what sort of deviant took her.

At this point it began to bother me that a child was sobbing over losing a daughter. Call me old fashioned, but this was disturbing in a way I can’t explain. I told her this and she did the darnest thing. She aged before me until she became a woman in midlife. She was a looker. The blonde hair and blue eyes and eerie skin glow didn’t change, but it settled my sensibilities.

Is this better? she said, hints of anger in her now mature voice. Will you help me?

I thought some more. There was something not said, but implied. She thought there were supernatural forces involved.

Why aren’t the Enforcers looking into it? This involves a lordling, so it should be right up their alley, I said.

She looked away. They are preoccupied with another matter at the moment and will not spare a single Enforcer to help me. She was so icy that it made me shiver.

But you’re a member of the Committee! I said. Can’t you pull some strings?

I don’t have time to discuss the inner workings of the Committee with you.

You’re gonna have to if you want my help.

She fumed for a moment before she said, The wellbeing of the entire universe is my charge, not the woes of any single member. The Enforcers must resolve the current problem they face before they can investigate other matters. I voted to dispatch them immediately. It was the right thing to do, even if...my daughter...you understand?

I nodded. She was a typical politician and certain things like civic duty overrode personal needs. I glared at her. I was willing to bet she had done one more thing before coming to me. Members of the Committee had access to their all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful leader: The Executor.

So, I took a breath and said, Did you ask the Executor where she was?

Her brow knitted together. She nodded.

Did he answer?

She nodded again. I was anxious suddenly. The Executor usually ignored them and the entire universe for that matter.

What did he say? I asked slowly.

She took a breath. He spoke your name and nothing more.

A nasty ripple ran through me. I don’t like this. I put out the cigarette and got up. It stinks the way the last case did. He gave my name to the culprits too. Did you know that?

Wait! she said. His words held no ill meaning! She went to me and added, He knows how amazing you are and likely knew the outcome of the last case too. She gripped my forearm. You can help my Ashima...

Her pleading eyes remained on me and I wanted to give in. That was what Humphrey Bogart did in the movies. But I was just a walking cliché. And when a god-like being spoke my name, twice, it scared me...

I’m sorry... I said.

Think of your daughter!

I froze while the memory of my daughter and wife at the Sears played in my head.

She continued: Do you want to see her again, hold her, tell her that you love her? I can arrange that!

She had done her homework. She knew that Samantha was still alive, an old lady, but alive. It was such a dirty trick the Magdalene played on me that I couldn’t say no. How could I? I had a chance to explain to Samantha...to explain that I had been a dirty bum, a walking cliché, who preferred to play shamus instead of raising her.

The real Raymond Adams had been a bad father. Now, I could change that if I played along.

Fine... I got greedy and wanted more. Will I get Absolution after?

Her face became a blank sheet of paper. Detective Adams, she said and tensed. Only the Committee can grant a soul Absolution. I’m asking for your help as a favor to me.

That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Who are you to me?

I began to walk away. It was a bluff that I called on myself at once. The temptation to see Samantha was too great. Returning to the Magdalene, I considered her.

You said you can arrange some...time with my daughter, I said.

She nodded quickly. "It must be after you help my daughter."

I want a whole day, even if you have to bring me back to life another day. Can you manage that? I said.

Magdalene seemed confused at first and then nodded.

Thank you, she said.

That was it? She had agreed too soon. If Absolution had to be approved by the Committee, why not this? Her smile and eager assurance made me more suspicious.

I’m gonna need more than that, I said. A contract or something, to guarantee you’ll pay up...

Adams!

Look at it from where I’m at. What guarantees do I have?

She fumed over this, her eyes bulging with rage. I will swear it on my name, she said and the words echoed.

What does that mean?

Swearing on my name is as potent a guarantee as you shall get from any of the Divine, she said. There was no friendship in her face, which scared me.

And if you renege...

I forfeit my existence, detective, she said and held her thunderous eyes on me.

I also want you to answer any question I have...truthfully, I said.

Her mouth opened and she glared at me. I gave her my best poker face. The last case had taught me that the Divine were mighty tricksters, users, who vaguely remembered being human. I had to be careful, even if it insulted the Magdalene.

Very well, she said. Anything else?

No, ma’am. That’ll do, I said.

She became translucent as she spoke in a strange tongue; her fingers went nuts drawing runes in the air that became glowing spheres that struck her chest. I wanted to cover my ears. The world became dark with uncertainty.

And then, she said, It is done, and the effect ended.

I took a cigarette and smoked half of it in a rush. How will this work without the Committee? I said with a shaky voice.

Her face softened. The Executor has already given permission. You will have twenty-four hours at your disposal, like before, and I can furnish the equipment you need.

I needed more time, but I still remembered what would happen if