Red House (17 page)

“What are you going to do?”

“The same thing.”

I took a deep breath and let myself relax further. This had become almost second nature to me, reaching down into myself, reaching through all the layers of the manmade world to tap into the natural energy of the earth below and the sky above. Tapping into the natural current was the best way for a witch to keep from depleting her own energy. It was something Rozella taught me when I was still a teenager. “You always find ways to say thank you,” she admonished. “Even if it’s after the fact and miles away.”

The only time I’d ever blended my own energy with that of another person was with Blake. Chased by hellhounds, we’d used a talisman he’d charged as a means to defend ourselves. Clasping hands as I aimed it at a hellhound, we’d somehow created a powerful connection. But that time was an accident. Now we’d try to do it by design. Despite the time I’d spent being mentored by Rozella and taking Daniel with me on some jobs, I wasn’t really much for working magic with another person. It had always been a solitary act for me, deeply personal. Magic comes from a part of the soul usually best left hidden.

A wave of energy surrounded me, steady and rhythmic. All me at first, but quickly joined by the spark and crackle of what could only be Blake wrapping around our hands. His smile shone through the swirl of etheric color around us. With a glance he indicated one of the unlit candles and I knew what he wanted us to do.

The candle lit within moments. A nice controlled flame too, I was relieved to see. We worked our way around the room, directing our combined will to light the rest of the candles. For a long moment I enjoyed the warm glow of the amber light, then he surprised me with a deliberate look at my glasses, folded on the nightstand. Moving an object was not something I’d tried to do.

In a strange way it felt like he lent me a guiding hand. All I could manage was floating the glasses a few inches off the table, but I was able to hold them there for well over a minute. A precipitous drop in blood sugar called a halt to the experiment. I couldn’t keep going. Blake caught my hands as I slumped, pulling me into his lap.

“How long did it take you to be good at this?”

“Years,” he said. “More because of a lack of belief than talent, I think.”

“What do you mean?”

He pulled away from me and fetched his backpack from the floor. “I wanted to work magic, spells and things like this, but for a long time I think there was a part of me that didn’t believe I could really do it. I witnessed others perform spells and magical acts so I did believe it was possible.” He produced a candy bar from his backpack, handing it to me. I took it gratefully. “I knew it was possible. I just didn’t know if it was possible for me to do these things.”

“What changed?”

Candlelight glinted in his eyes as a wicked grin spread across his handsome face. “Let’s just say, it was a matter of necessity.”

That had to be a juicy story and I wanted every detail. “Tell me.”

“Oh no. I’m not telling that one any time soon.”

I tossed the rest of the candy bar aside and climbed back into his lap, planting kisses on his chest as a bribe. “Please?” I grazed my teeth across his collar bone. “With sugar on top.”

“Sugar, you can be on top any time you want.” He worked to distract me with his lips and hands and after a while, other parts too. I decided to let him.

Dozing in his arms later, I realized I’d been wrong. Every time we made love our energies entwined as surely as our bodies. I’d seen elements of his aura show up in my own, and vice versa. We were becoming connected in a deep and elemental way. I just wasn’t sure I knew how to be that close to someone.

Chapter 13

The file sent to me by Julia’s granddaughter lay spread out on the kitchen table. I had a fresh notebook open for jotting down ideas for the spell work I’d need. “I’ll probably have to do this in stages. Bind Haschall first, see what happens. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to just deal with him.”

Daniel said, “So we do that first. You tell your client to stay out of the house while we wait and see. What, you think give it a week at least? We keep going back and checking things out?”

I tossed the pen down and stretched, stifling a yawn. “Sounds good. You want to go with me?”

He stood on the other side of the kitchen drinking his first cup of microwaved blood of the day. It was late afternoon, still light out, but he’d gotten up early and joined me as I went through the file. “Of course I’m going with you.” He sounded peeved. “Unless you slip off during the daytime without me again.”

I really needed more women friends. All these men in my life were getting to be a pain in the ass. “This’ll be a nighttime gig but we may need more than just the two of us.”

“Why?” he snapped. “We do just fine. Just because your boy toy wants to tag along–’’

“Boy toy? Get out of the eighties, Bubba. I may need his help. Haschall is a lot more powerful than the ghosts I’m used to dealing with.” I packed up the file and closed the notebook.

Daniel came to sit across from me. “What are you doing? With Blake, I mean. Is this an ill-advised fling or a disastrous relationship? Do you even know?”

“I have no idea. And the worst part is, I don’t even know what I want. Sometimes I think I want to be with him, other times I can feel myself pushing him away. I don’t know what he wants either.”

“Well, hell, I can tell you that. He thinks you can save him from himself. I think he’s a little obsessed and I’m afraid you’re going to have a stalker on your hands when you finally come to your senses and break up with him.”

I grimaced, trying not to agree with any of what Daniel said. I had to be honest, though. “I think he does have the potential to be a little obsessive but I can’t hold that against him.”

“Sure you can.”

“Need I remind you I did a love spell? If he’s the pot, I’m the kettle. But I don’t think he’s stalker material. There’s a lot more to him than you know. You should give him a chance.”

Daniel curled his lip in a sneer, the tip of one fang showing. “Oh my God. You’re gonna want me and Blake to get to know each other. Get along. Be friends even.”

“Also braid each other’s hair and have mani-pedi parties. You don’t have to be a big baby about it.” I stood, putting all the folders and notebook in a neat stack with the pen on top. “I need a nap. Will you wake me up at dark?”

“Sure. We doing this tonight?” He indicated the research.

“Maybe a visit but I’m not ready to do the spell yet. If Blake calls I want you to be nice to him.”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t approve.”

“Your disapproval has been noted. Several times.” I left the kitchen.

Water greeted me as soon as my head hit the pillow. Like every dream I’d had of the flood it started the moment I fell in the water. The surge carried me along, twisting and turning me as debris battered my body. The moments right before I launched myself out of the water with an enormous effort of magical will replayed over and over in my dreams. Drawing my own energy and that of my land into a vortex of power strong enough to get me out of danger, feeling the moment clang like a rung bell that echoed through every part of me.

I woke gasping. “Ground, ground, ground,” I whispered urgently. I brought all my focus to bear on grounding the scattered energy called up by the dream. It took longer than usual, much longer. My hands were curled into tight painful fists and I had to concentrate to force them to unclench.

Several minutes later I climbed out of bed. I flipped the light on in the bathroom, shutting my eyes against the sudden brightness. Fireworks danced behind my eyelids, a wisp of smoky gray teasing my peripheral vision as I opened my eyes. Ignoring it, I splashed cold water on my face. The flood dreams should have begun to fade but they seemed to be getting more intense.

I reached for the hand towel and buried my face in its fluffiness. One thing I’d miss about staying with Daniel was all the nice amenities. He had a weird thing for skin care products, said it was because he was afraid of looking dead. I teased him for being the world’s oldest metrosexual but took full advantage of the overflow of creams and masks and moisturizers. There was a basket of the stuff in the cabinet under the sink. I knelt to go through it, not sure of the difference between one frou-frou face wash and another. After looking at several I finally picked one, put the rest back, and stood.

Reflected in the mirror over my shoulder was the charcoal gray suggestion of a face. Smudged lines formed bone structure. Dark pits served as eyes. An impression of hair curled around barely-there ears. The smell of stale smoke and cheap whiskey filled the room along with a hint of music. I knew that rhythm but the name of the song eluded me. A deep low chuckle issued from the shadowy form as an ice cold hand settled on the back of my neck. At that touch I employed one of the oldest methods of dispersing an unwelcome haint–an ear-splitting shriek born of absolute terror.

Within seconds Daniel burst into the bedroom, fangs out, ready to kill. He called my name. The only response I could give was a whimper. The little bottle of face wash fell from my grasp. My knees gave out. He caught me, moving so fast from the doorway all the way into the bathroom I didn’t even see him. “Honey, you’re shaking so bad. What is it?”

Teeth chattering, my whole body convulsed. Ground, ground, ground. He tried to hold me up but somehow I managed to convey I’d be better off on the floor. He guided me down. I sat with my legs tucked under me, leaning over to rest my forehead on the carpet, palms flat on either side. Humming and singing had always taken the place of chanting for me but this time I couldn’t bring my thoughts anywhere near music. Instead I whispered the ingredients of one of the first things Rozella taught me, a protection spell. I spoke the words over and over, a verbal talisman to ward off whatever it was that followed me home from a cemetery a hundred miles away.

“What happened, Roxie?”

I halted my herbal chant but couldn’t answer. Sitting up, I looked around the room for any signs of the spirit, so very relieved to find none.

“Blake just got here. You want me to go get him?” Concern was etched across Daniel’s face. It must have taken a lot for him to offer to get Blake but I was still too shaken to think much of it. “I’m surprised he’s not up here already.”

The man in question entered the room. I didn’t like the look on his face. Blake handed me my phone. “Your client’s been calling. She has a problem.”

I shook my head. “I can’t handle that right now.” I barely got the words out, disturbed at how weak I sounded even to my own ears.

“This is bad, Roxie.”

Reluctant, I took the phone. “Julia?”

She answered with a frantic shout. “I can’t get in the house and they can’t get out. You have to help them.”

“I don’t understand, what happened? Who’s in the house?”

She half-sobbed, half-screamed. “Shelby and Tyler. My grandkids, they snuck off and went in the house. It won’t let them out and I can’t get in. I could hear them screaming. Please help my grandbabies, please, please, please.” Julia dissolved in tears.

Everything stopped, as if doors had been slammed over every problem, every doubt, every single thing I’d been dealing with. Ice-cold blood pumped from my heart, freezing my body and filling me with steel. “Are you there now?”

She barely managed to answer.

“Get in your car and lock the doors. We’re on our way.” I closed the phone and took the hand Blake offered to help me up.

Daniel stood. His vampire hearing meant I didn’t need to repeat anything.

“Cowboy up, Bubba. Everything you got that might help us.”

Without a word his supernatural speed made him disappear. I scoured the room and started throwing everything I had that might help in the backpack.

Blake followed. “I’m going with you.”

The look on his face said everything. He had no idea what just happened but he could tell I was no shape for this. He was right but I couldn’t let myself think about that. Somehow, some way, I was going to have to reach deep inside and find what I needed to get those kids out of that house.

Because I knew what was in there, and it scared me to death.

Chapter 14

The last bit of indigo sky bled into the black of night as we traveled to Maple Hill. I sat sideways in the passenger seat and gave Blake, in the backseat, a detailed rundown of the case. Daniel drove in silence, his aura spiking with excess energy as it sometimes did at nightfall. I pushed away all thoughts of the uninvited guest who had so rudely announced himself. There would be time to deal with that later.

Julia Epps was sitting in her car in the driveway in front of the house when we arrived. Daniel barely had the vehicle stopped when I opened the door and raced to meet her.

“They snuck out right after their momma left. Shelby called and said they couldn’t get out of the house. She was saying something about a ghost in black, I don’t know, it didn’t really make sense. The phone cut off.” I grabbed her arms to steady her. “I got here as fast as I could. I can’t get in and they can’t get out. Whatever’s in there, it’s keeping me out and them in. Can you get them out? Please tell me you can get them out. I heard screaming.”