Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) (11 page)

Chapter Five

When the phone rang, Beau rolled over his fiancée’s body to reach for it. Immediately, he began worrying. His sister was en route to the East Coast to handle a case, and a part of him always worried when she went away.

He couldn’t help himself.

After all, he’d lost her once in his life, and he just got her back.

When he focused on the number on the screen, he noticed it wasn’t hers or Julian’s cell.

It was Roman.

Why was he calling Nyx?

“Hello?”

“I have a big problem, and I need Nyx’s help,” he said, whispering into the phone so Mattie wouldn’t hear his conversation. She was packing up some snacks for them to have as they waited for night to end.

“Baby, wake up,” Beau said, shaking Nyx’s arm.

“What’s wrong?” she mumbled.

“Roman needs help. If he’s calling you, it’s got to be woo-woo shit.”

She laughed and sat up. “I’m glad that’s all you think I can possibly help someone with, Beau. Put him on speaker.”

He did.

“Roman, what’s wrong?”

The dam broke.

He told her everything. He told her about the piano lid slamming shut. He told her about the gouges to Matilda’s neck. Then he told her about the messages in the bathroom glass.

“That’s bad. The spirit is angry and strong.”

He was well aware.

“I need to get somewhere safe on this hellish campus. What can I do, other than leave, that will keep the spooks off of us?”

“You can’t leave. They’ll follow. What’s happening there has to be stopped. It’ll just follow Matilda home until its message comes true. You can’t run from the dead. It’s focused on her, and until you find out why, and how to stop it, she’s in danger.”

He thought about it. “Is it me?” he whispered.

“What were you doing at the time?”

“When the piano went nuts, I was about to kiss her.”

“That could be.”

“In the bathroom, I was cleaning her wounds.”

“Oh boy.”

“I don’t like the way that sounds.”

Yeah, he shouldn’t.

“Frankly, you seem to be the catalyst. “You need to consider that this ghost sees you either as a threat, or her as one. Since it’s directed at Matilda, one of the dead might be attached to you.”

“Her sister?” Roman whispered. “Could she do this from the beyond?”

“When people die, they aren’t the same, Roman. They keep their memories, but in the case of a violent death, they become angry.”

“Trey.”

Beau interrupted him. “He was violent, but in his own way. He nearly killed Nyx. Now he’s calm, because he’s acclimating to the situation, but he was a soldier killed in an explosion. If you have her sister, who was likely murdered, saw her killer, and suffered…”

Yeah, he got it.

Shit!

Shit!

Shit!

Why couldn’t this be easy?

“Okay, so, it came after her in the conservatory—the place we met. It tried to kill her in my sister’s bedroom. Lastly, in the bathroom my family shared.”

“Are you sure it’s not someone in your family, Roman? Your sister was killed too, and both of your parents took their lives. That’s violence too.”

He tried not to think about it.

“When Tori gets here, will she be able to find out who it is?”

“Yes, she will. Trey is there, and he’s pretty strong. He’ll be able to keep them off her, and Bethany is super protective. If you need me, I can be on the next plane.”

“Thank you. One last thing…”

“What?”

“What keeps ghosts away? Silver bullets? Garlic? Holy water? What?”

She laughed. “Salt. Make a giant circle and stand in it. That will keep you safe. That’s witchcraft one-oh-one. With what goes on in this office, you’d think that would be in the handbook.”

It lightened the mood.

They definitely had salt.

“Thank you, Nyx. I’m sorry I woke you.”

She reassured him that it was perfectly fine. “I don’t mind. We’re a team, and if you need one of us, all you have to do is call. Keep me updated. I’ll do what I can from here. Be safe.”

He hung up the phone.

Now, he needed to find salt, get them to the library, and not have Mattie think he was bat shit insane.

Yeah, this was a losing battle.

If they weren’t in danger, he’d be laughing his ass off all the way there.

He heard her moving around behind him.

“Okay, that was Nyx. Let’s get moving,” he said, digging through the cabinets until he found some salt.

“What are you doing with those?” she asked, watching as he threw the two large containers in their bag.

“Precautionary measures to make sure we see the light of day when the rest of the team gets here. Let’s go.”

As he led her to the library, he hoped they’d be safe there. He’d already sent a text to Julian for when he got off the flight. The key codes were in it, and their location. He wasn’t getting out of that circle for anything.

Inside, he threw on the light.

Mattie immediately relaxed. This was her turf. “I already feel better.”

He was glad, only now he hoped he could keep her safe in there.

“Stay right there,” he said, pulling out the salt. Around the one couch, he laid down the salt circle.

She watched him.

It was quick.

It was efficient.

“Why do I get the feeling that this kind of hinky stuff doesn’t faze you?”

He laughed. “Oh, it bothers me, but it’s kind of my job. You have to roll with it.”

Roman knew she was staring at him.

He wasn’t shocked.

If she wasn’t asking questions, he’d be amazed. When he was finished with the circle, he walked toward her and took her by the hand. “We’ll be safe inside it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Nyx promised, and this is really her area of expertise. When it comes these situations, she’s the go to girl.”

“Oh, the one pretty investigator? That’s odd that this was in her bag of tricks.”

Yeah, not really.

“She’s a psychic and deals with all things woo woo.”

She stared at him, but said nothing.

Well, here went his one shot. He was going to try to give her the heads up before Tori and Julian arrived. Maybe, by then, she’d be prepared for this nightmare.

“She’s used to this kind of thing?”

Where to begin?

This was one hell of a minefield, and he knew it.

“I’m going to be honest with you. Chances are, you’re going to think I’m completely insane, and you’re going to want to get as far from me as possible. Please don’t run.”

“Uh, okay.”

“I’m going to share some heavy duty secrets with you. The Littlemoon Investigation Agency doesn’t just handle divorce cases, and cheating spouses. Those are becoming few and far between.”

She stared at him.

“What do they handle?”

“You know all the cases you researched, bringing you to them? Well, others do the same thing.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“Ghosts.”

She stared at him. Then, she reached inside the bag and pulled out a very old bottle of whiskey. After uncorking it, she chugged from the bottle.

It had to burn.

Shit!

His throat was on fire watching her.

After she lowered it, she closed her eyes. “Are you telling me that we’re being chased by ghosts? That they’re real and one of them wants to hurt me?”

Yeah, this was tricky.

He took the bottle from her and followed suit. He took a huge swig to help buy him some time to come up with an answer for her.

“Shit! That burns,” he muttered.

She started laughing. “Yeah, it does, but because it did, I must be alive and awake.”

He handed the bottle back.

“We’re going to either get sick, or drunk, if we continue drinking.”

She took another sip. “We have dead people after us. When would be a better time to get drunk? I’m pretty sure that this is at the top of the list, followed by a zombie apocalypse.”

“You have a point,” he said, laughing. He loved her sense of humor.

“Okay, so we have ghosts here, one who apparently wants to kill me, and the Littlemoons are accustomed to this insanity.”

“Pretty much.”

“What else?”

He stared at her.

“I deserve to know, Roman. I’m part of this now, and you should just say it.”

“You’re going to meet Trey and Bethany. Well, you won’t see them, but you’ll know they’re here.”

She stared at him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I think you had better explain.”

How did one do that?

They weren’t exactly like some crazy relatives that you kept in a locked room. They were…dead.

“They are Nyx and Tori’s ghosts. Nyx channels the dead, and Tori is a medium. She’s getting more and more powerful each day.”

She started laughing. “Ghosts don’t exist.”

A whole shelf of books fell over, crashing to the ground. Then, the lights began flickering.

They both jumped at the crashing sound.

“They don’t, right?”

“Then who put those marks on you?” he asked. “It wasn’t you, and it wasn’t me…”

She took another sip of whiskey. This time, she didn’t flinch. “Good point. I’m glad one of us is calm here, because I feel an epic freak out coming.”

When the lights went out, they were only sitting in the small amount of moonlight.

“No, now it’s coming.”

Roman took her hand in his.

“Can I move closer? I’m scared,” she whispered.

He dropped the bag onto the floor in front of the couch. “You can come over here,” he said, opening his arms.

Mattie crawled across the couch to sit between his legs, as she rested against him, she felt safe. “This is nice.”

No, it was anything but nice. It was hell.

He was trying to think about anything but the woman pressed to his body. She was right up against him. As in, her body was touching his lower anatomy.

Crap.

Crap.

Crap
.

He tried to remind himself that she was his dead girlfriend’s sister, but then he started thinking about how she should have been his.

Mattie should have been his girl.

As she cuddled closer, he took the bottle from her hand and took another sip.

“Are you drinking to forget or to get drunk?” she asked, glancing up.

“Oh, I’m drinking for so many reasons. In fact, the list is getting longer every day.”

“Like?”

“Coming back here is at the top of the list. I really hate this place. My life ended here. I’ve never been the same since.”

“Yeah, you lost the love of your life.”

He stared down at her. “You think that’s why I really hate it here? Devora?”

“She told me all the things you two had planned. You were going to travel the world. You two were going to get married and start a family. She made sure I knew it all.”

That hurt him.

Devora hadn’t been kind to her sister.

Roman wished he’d known.

“I thought it was you,” he said. “I fell for your wit, the way you told those assholes off when they were picking on you, and your smile. You have a dimple in your cheek. Devora didn’t have that. Now that I think back, I see how I should have noticed.”

“It’s okay.”

He exploded.

“It’s not! Stop pretending it is. I screwed up. I hurt you, and I hate it here. It’s not because of you. I lost my whole family here. My sister was killed too. My mother was driven to take her life. My damn father hung himself in the citadel. I want to be sick when I think of this place.”

“I’m sorry.” She went to move away, but he stopped her.

“I lost you here too. Yes, I had a year with Devora, but I didn’t fall in love with her. I fell in love with you, Mattie. It was love at first sight, and I feel cheated. I wanted you, not someone who looked like you. Had I known what she did, I would have broken it off with her. I hate that you think I would have stayed with her simply because you were both beautiful. I’m not shallow. I do have morals.”

She stared at him as he held her wrist in his fingers.

Immediately, he let her go. “I’m sorry I put my hands on you.”

She didn’t move.

Funny.

She wished he were touching her again. When he did, Mattie felt safe.