Bone Cold: A Soul Shamans Novel (Volume 2) (21 page)

“I’m not sure what’s going on right now, but I’m afraid there may be more to this than meets the eye. Thirteen more victims of heart attack have shown up here in the last twenty minutes.”

“Thirteen?” My mouth dropped open as my brain tried to process this information.

“I’m afraid so,” he said. “The police have declared there may be foul play involved, and they’ve informed us that all Seaport residents need to go home until morning. They’re initiating a curfew for everyone.”

“Who are the others?” I asked, my hands gripping each other. “Who else is hurt?”

“I”m afraid I can’t share that information at this time.” He gestured toward the hallway. “I’m sorry, Holly. I’ll call you if Jason’s condition changes.”

When I stepped back into the waiting room, the hospital had transformed into a battlefield. Laura huddled in the corner, her eyes darting around her as she watched nurses trotting down the hallways and doctors barking commands into walky-talkies. People screamed as loved ones were rushed by, faces covered by stark sheets.

“Holly, you aren’t going to believe this.” Laura jumped out of her seat and darted toward me.

“I heard.” My throat felt tight as another crying family rushed by. “Thirteen more heart attacks.”

“Thirteen more spirit attacks, you mean,” she said in a whisper. “How is this happening? I thought your dad and his team got rid of them all.”

“So did I,” I said, grabbing Laura’s elbow and heading toward the exit. “But I have a feeling our little trip to George’s cabin shook things up again.”

Laura stopped short. “You don’t think
we
caused this?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But if George was behind the first round of attacks, then what set her off again? The only logical answer is us.”

“Shit.” Laura frowned and gave a frantic glance to a sheet-covered body as it passed us by. Another spirit attack. Another death. “What are we going to do?”

“You’re both going to come with me,” a deep voice said from behind us. I twirled to see Constantine hovering in the hospital hallway, the bright lights illuminating the shadows on his face. My whole body almost collapsed from the relief of seeing his familiar scowl again. Though I couldn’t tell him that, of course.

“I thought you refused to help,” I said, the only response my brain was capable of making.

“Things have escalated if you haven’t noticed.” He pointed toward the revolving door that would lead us outside into the chilly evening air. “Bennett’s radars picked up a massive swarm of spirit activity in the area, and he’s on his way with the team now to take control of the situation.”

“On his way?” I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes. “How are you already here then?”

His mouth quirked. “I’m here to make sure you two are safe.”

“What can I do to help?” I asked, mind lingering on Jason’s words. I’d made a promise, one I intended to keep. “One of my oldest friends is in critical condition because of this.”

Constantine’s usually hard eyes softened at my words. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I promised him I would do whatever it takes to destroy the spirits and keep the rest of his family safe. I still have the weapon you left behind. I know how to use it.”

“Holly.” Laura’s voice was sharp. “I still don’t think the solution to this is to kill spirits.”

“There’s no other way,” Constantine said to Laura before giving me a nod. “Despite my better judgement, I’ll let you join me as long as you agree to follow my orders no matter what.”

“Fine,” I said with a nod, determination and purpose swelling inside my chest. “Laura?”

“I’m going to sit out on the fighting,” she said. “I’ll go back to the house and try to find that
thing
we were after.”

Frowning, I gave her a quick hug. I’d rather have Laura with me tonight, but sometimes she could be as stubborn as I could. She still didn’t agree with me on the destruction of spirits, and nothing I could say would change her mind. She’d have to come to that conclusion on her own. Besides, the sooner she could find a witch, the sooner we could break George’s invisible wall spell and get Nathan back safe.

“Be careful,” we said as one.

CHAPTER 19

T
he rifle was slick in my hands when I climbed inside Constantine’s SUV. He gave me a long lingering look as I strapped the seatbelt over my body, my hands shaking as the clasp clicked tight.

“You don’t have to do this, you know?” he said. “You can go home right now and wait it out. Your friend wouldn’t think less of you.”

“I promised him,” I said, tightening my grip around the metal. “He’s going to
die
, Constantine. It’s the least I can do since I wasn’t able to stop this from happening to him.”

“So, that’s what this is about.” He sighed and stared out the front windshield. “I should have known.”

“Can we just get going?” I asked.

“You know it’s not your fault,” he said. “I’ve told you over and over again there’s nothing you can do against this type of spirit. They’re immune to us. Stop beating yourself up about it.”

“Whatever,” I said, frowning out the window.

“What’s going on with you?” he asked, hand hovering over the keys he had jammed into the ignition. “You’re even more prickly than usual.”

“Laura and I took a field trip to George’s cabin today after I called you,” I said. “I thought confronting her might work, but now I’m starting to think it backfired. Why else would she choose tonight to attack?”

“You went to see that girl you think is behind all this?” A note of disbelief tinged his words. “The ‘witch’?”

“I know you don’t think it’s her.” I shifted on the leather seat to face him. “But we went to Salem and talked to some of the people there. George has attacked people, burned down buildings, and I’m not making up this whole sorceress thing. A woman there said George must be working with a shaman in order to accomplish all this. And now, there’s another mass spirit attack hours after I confronted her. It can’t be a coincidence.”

Constantine frowned out the window and gripped the steering wheel between calloused palms. His face went through a myriad of emotions far too quickly for me to put my finger on any one of them. Eventually, he turned to meet my gaze.

“I’ll admit, it’s suspicious,” he said.

“Don’t forget, she was there when Wanda got killed.” I started ticking things off on my fingers. “She was at Jason’s house that night, so she knows I’m friends with him. She was at the bonfire the night Megan died. She might not be able to contact spirits, but she’s at least working with someone who can.”

“You might not be completely wrong about this,” he finally said. “When I made some calls, it seems the Congress has definitely heard of her before. She’s been known to stage protests in order to prevent shamans from banishing spirits back to Lower World.”

“Are you serious?” I threw up my hands. “And you’re just now telling me this.”

“I didn’t want you to do something stupid.” He gave me a hard look. “But if she is indeed involved in all of this, we may need to take some measures to ensure this stops tonight.”

“You seriously don’t mean what I think you mean.”

Constantine raised his eyebrows. “Kill her? Of course not. But the Congress has a prison for situations like this. She may not be a shaman, but that shouldn’t matter much if she’s involved in these attacks.”

“I notice you keep using the word
if
.”

“Like you said, she isn’t a shaman,” he said. “She can only be involved if she’s working with someone else. We’ll need to prove all of this or the Congress will simply let her go. I’m pretty sure you don’t want that to happen.”

“She’s keeping my boyfriend hostage in her house,” I said. “That proof enough for you?”

He gave a slow nod. “If we can get him to testify on her involvement, that may be exactly what they need, especially if he can name the shaman she’s been working with.”

“Then, you’ll help me get him out of there?” I asked.

“I’ll help you get him out of there, Holly,” he said. “Once we’ve taken care of the spirits. There’ll be more than thirteen casualties tonight if we don’t. The longer we leave them out in the world, the higher the body count.”

A heaviness settled on my shoulders. “How many are there this time?”

“The readings showed seventeen spirits. Most of them are in the heart of downtown. Luckily, most of the shops are closed by now, school is out, people have gone home.”

“But there are plenty of people who live on those streets,” I said.

“Exactly.”

“So, what’s our assignment?” I asked, nodding to the radio that was currently silent.

Constantine cranked the engine as he flipped on the radio, peeling the car away from the hospital. He turned the nose straight to town, grabbing the receiver as it crackled with static.

“Ready for first target. John speaking. Over.” He held the receiver out to me as he spun the steering wheel, dodging an abandoned bicycle in the middle of the road. So, Constantine really hadn’t told my dad his real name. That or it was some kind of code the team members used.

I opened my mouth to ask, but the bark of my dad’s familiar voice made me snap my mouth shut. I still hadn’t forgiven him for abandoning me the way he had. Both two years ago and now.

“A target in the cove on the northern beach. Over.”

Constantine grabbed the receiver from my hand. “Acknowledged. Over.”

He dropped the radio onto the console and made a U-turn in the direction of the northern beach. It was a strange location for a spirit to be lurking, a small secluded area carved into the rocks, hidden on either side by hulking cliffs. At certain times of the day, the cove could be easily reached, but when tides were high, it was cut off from the rest of Seaport by the churning waves.

“Shouldn’t we be heading into the main action?” I asked, pressing my nose to the cool glass to peer at a car that had crashed into a telephone pole. “A spirit can’t do much on the beach.”

“There could be kids out there,” he said, eyeing me sidelong. “Teenagers, I mean. You guys like to go out there at night for parties. Or don’t you remember?”

“Not that beach during this time of year,” I said. “There’s nowhere to build a bonfire, and you definitely need the heat if you’re going to have a beach party in the winter.”

“Well, that’s our assignment.” His grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Don’t forget our arrangement.”

“So,” I said, kicking my feet up onto the dash. “When did you get a chance to tell my dad I was joining you?”

Constantine didn’t reply. I laughed and shook my head, fighting the urge to grab his steering wheel to force us back into town. I should have known. Sure, he was letting me join him, but only on the easiest of tasks that would take us far away from the real crossfire. Constantine must have given my dad a quick alert while I was grabbing the rifle from my truck. He’d acted like he understood why I wanted to do this, but instead, he was keeping me on the sidelines.

“This is really shitty of you,” I finally said.

“It isn’t my call,” he said. “Bennett wants to keep you safe. You aren’t a trained shaman.”

“
You
trained me.”

“One day of training is far from enough to do something like this,” he said. “Besides, he’s letting you get involved. Just not the way you want to be.”

“Going after one spirit in the middle of nowhere doesn’t count for much.”

“That spirit could be the very one that attacked your friend,” he said. “And killing it could end up saving a dozen lives. How does that not count for much?”

I fell silent. There wasn’t much to say to that, and even if what he said was true, I still didn’t like it. Jason had asked me to destroy the spirits for him. It was the one request he’d made during what might end up being the last moments of his life. But instead of doing what he’d asked, I was taking a trip to a beach.

“One day, Bennett will let you become more involved,” Constantine said. “Take this opportunity to prove to him you’re capable of being a part of his team.”

“He’d probably have to look me in the eyes to figure that out.” It hadn’t escaped my notice that my dad had once again returned to Seaport without making direct contact with me. He was speaking through Constantine and hiding behind his two-way radio, even though over a dozen spirits had descended upon my home. What would it take for him to actually check on my safety personally?

“You know he cares about you,” Constantine said, as if reading my mind. “You should be glad you have him in your life. Not everyone gets to grow up with a father.”

“I don’t have him in my life.” My voice came out flat. “He left over two years ago, and I haven’t heard from him until now.”

Constantine glanced at me, frowned. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that.”

“Well, now you know,” I said. “He hasn’t earned the right to be so protective over me.”

“You asked me how I ended up in this line of work,” Constantine said, swinging the car into the small parking lot at the edge of the northern beach’s boardwalk. He cut the engine and relaxed against the seat. “The truth is, I didn’t have anywhere else to go. My parents both died fighting spirits when I was young, and I almost ended up in the foster care system. Thankfully, someone from the Congress took pity on me and took me in. It never really felt like a family though. Instead of love, I got training. Instead of comfort, I found fighting. Before that, when I was just a kid, I had plans to leave shamanism behind and train to be an astronaut. Those dreams faded when I realized I could make a much bigger difference on the ground than in the sky.”