Sacrifice Read Online Free

unheard of. When the call came in only twenty minutes ago, the victim had still been alive. His screams could be heard in the background as the 911 operator took the witness’s frantic phone call.
    “Oh my God! They’re all over him! They’re tearing him apart! Send someone now! They’re killing him!”
    Malloy scratched his head. He’d never seen maggots on a fresh corpse. There were scavengers on the body that shouldn’t have been there for another two or three days.
    The detective ground his teeth and shook his head. His nostrils flared and his hands squeezed into tight fists, anticipating a long, drawn-out investigation that would get weirder and weirder every step of the way. He’d been doing this long enough that he could anticipate the really bad ones. He liked to think he had a sixth sense about these things. Of course any moron could’ve walked up to this scene and recognized that this would not be your normal forty-eight-hour case. This wasn’t some drunken idiot standing over the corpse with the gun still in his hand or some guy murdering his wife and trying to blame it on some generic black assailant.
    From the moment they had to chase away the first rat trying to run off with the victim’s foot or the crows fighting over his intestines, anyone would’ve gotten the clue that this case was not going to be easy.
    “Fuck me.”
    After that mess last year, John had no stomach for another weird case. He still didn’t know what the hell he had walked in on back then. Detective Torres was just now beginning to reveal bits and pieces of what he and his partner had gone through at the hands of that little prick Dale McCarthy, and John wasn’t sure he even believed the few vague details Torres had told him. Except he couldn’t deny what he’d seen. That little geek had brought the detectives back to life, and Malloy had helped Torres cover it up and keep it a secret from Detective Lassiter and Harry, Malloy’s long-time friend and mentor on the force. He hardly believed any of it. He wished he could convince himself none of it had happened.
    Malloy stood over the mangled remains, fighting off flashbacks of standing over Trina Lassiter’s body less than a year ago after Dale McCarthy tortured and mutilated her and somehow brought her back to life. This was much worse than what had been done to her.
    I’d like to see that twisted fuck bring this one back to life, John thought with a grim smirk. He covered his nose and leaned over the corpse. Muscle and fat had been torn away, and the white bone beneath was covered in teeth marks. In some spots the bone had been cracked open and the marrow sucked out. Bile rose in Malloy’s throat and he sucked it down. His stomach felt queasy. He closed his eyes and stood, turning away from the corpse.
    What the fuck is going on?
    Malloy looked across the street at the neighbor who witnessed the attack. She was leaning against a patrol car being interviewed by none other than Detective Lassiter. Malloy watched Trina Lassiter in amazement. It was still hard for him to believe she was alive. He wondered how much she remembered. He wondered if Torres would ever tell her the truth - how she was murdered and resurrected by that psychotic piece of shit - and if he should tell her. He wondered how long he would be able to keep it a secret from her and Harry.
    He tried to put it out of his head and focus, but something about this case was dredging up the horrible memories.
    He walked up behind Detective Lassiter as she interviewed the witness. She stiffened and quickly turned toward him. The pen she’d been writing with was now gripped tightly in her fist, and Malloy was almost certain she would have stabbed him in the throat with it if she hadn’t recognized him. She smiled at him, but her eyes looked haunted and tired. She may not remember what happened to her, but she still had signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. He wondered what her dreams were like.
    “When did you