Split at the Seams (13 page)

“Wait, what? Did you say kill every night?” My heart pumped harder. “Have there been more deaths?”

“He hasn’t stopped,” she said with a sneer. When she turned on her heel and left me in the shadows, I didn’t call her back.

Papan hadn’t been out of my house at night in weeks. Not that I believed he was capable of killing randomly, anyway. I might not know where he went during full moons, but he wouldn’t kill innocent, random humans.

“It looks like your plan is working, then.”

“Shit!” I actually jumped this time. “Jonathan, what the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” His eyes were darker than usual and his shadow on the wall behind him was much bigger than it should be. What the hell was up with his shadow, anyway?

“Why are you sneaking around, then?”

“Guess you didn’t want me to overhear her call Papan your boyfriend, huh?” He clenched his jaw and leaned closer. “I can smell him on you,” he whispered.

I trembled at his proximity. He was really starting to freak me out. “He’s staying in my house,” I hissed back, making sure Vixen wasn’t within earshot. “Of course I’m carrying his scent.” Why hadn’t Vixen detected it too?

“I don’t want him anywhere near you.” Jonathan snaked a hand around my wrist, squeezing. “You belong to me.”

I winced because my skin burned. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I don’t belong to anyone.” The itching beneath my bandage became almost unbearable and it took all of my willpower not to scratch it.

His top lip curled into a leer and his good looks distorted into a grayish-skinned, gaunt creature with hollowed black eyes. “You are mine, and no one else is going to have you but me.” When he leaned down to kiss me, I turned my face away.

The Jonathan I knew had vacated the premises, leaving behind a demented doppelganger. I’d seen this face once before, but thought I’d imagined it.

“Didn’t you get the message the other day?” I spat, trying desperately to keep my cool and ignore my itchy skin. “It’s over.”

“It’s not over until I say it is.”

“Hey, get away from her!” Lavie appeared at the top of the stairs behind Jonathan, a stern look on her face. She looked pissed. “I won’t say it again, leave her alone.”

The mask dropped away from Jonathan’s face when he turned to look at Lavie. “Hey there, what’s wrong?”

She narrowed her eyes and glared at the hand he still had wrapped around my wrist. “Let her go, I need to speak to her.”

“Sure, be my guest.” Jonathan released my wrist, gave me a quick peck on the cheek and stepped away to join the others.

I caught Oren’s gaze from across the room and he seemed concerned. Had he seen the exchange as well? I was starting to feel like a fool—a battered fool. This charade had to end. Tomorrow, I was going to make sure Jonathan accepted we were over.

“Thanks,” I said to Lavie. The throbbing slowly receded from my collarbone, but my wrist ached.

“You’re welcome.” She hadn’t taken her eyes off Jonathan. “I don’t think you should be hanging around that guy.”

“Oh yeah, why?” Since the first night Burr Okell had introduced Jonathan as the hunters’ new healer, she’d kept her distance from him.

“He’s obviously a possessive jerk.” Lavie leaned closer and lowered her voice. “And he’s also some kind of demon.”

What the hell? “Did you just say
demon
?”

“Uh-huh. And not the good kind, either.”

I opened my mouth to ask more, but Burr appeared out of nowhere.

He wasn’t there one minute, and the next was struggling up the last step to the landing. “Ah, we’re all here before midnight…excellent.” He was an unusual-looking man, obese with a sickly sheen to his skin that made him appear almost waxy. He was always sweating too. And loved riddles more than direct answers. “Good night to you all!”

A chorus of greetings sounded around me. I couldn’t bring myself to answer either way. I was secretly hoping this meeting would be over quickly. After Lavie’s revelation, I couldn’t wait to ask her more.

I also wanted to corner Burr afterward. If anyone could answer my questions about Mara’s condition, I had a feeling he could. After all, he belonged to the Tailor Watchdogs, an organization responsible for making sure all the patches stayed where they were supposed to, tightly stitched in place. It was how I’d met all of these people in the first place.

Last month, Burr had anonymously rounded us up and wanted the group to meet on the last Friday of every month—to stay on top of things.

“I was hoping this would be a quick meet and greet,” Burr said with a cough. “But it seems like we can’t catch a break. Pardon the pun!”

“Is there another one of those shirt holes?” Vixen asked, rolling her eyes. She thought this was all one big pain in the ass yet had decided to stick around. Personally, I thought she was just nosy and wanted to stay in the loop to better her own werewolf hunting.

“No, no, thank the Patch Gods we don’t have to deal with another one of
those
problems.” He laughed, the resonance echoing up and down the stairs. “If we had another tear so close together, we’d be at risk of total collapse. Even
we
can’t keep everything safe if something that dire strikes.”

“What’s the problem then?” Conrad said, eyeing Vixen’s ass. Ebony whacked him in the chest. “Ow.”

“I’m afraid this is caused by what you people refer to as science.”

“Care to elaborate?” Oren encouraged, turning his hands over in what had now become a familiar hand motion for
get to the point
.

“Of course,” Burr answered, nodding madly. His multiple chins wobbled. Was it just me, or had he put on a little more weight? “What I mean is that someone’s trying to pierce a pathway to a specific patch.”

“Isn’t that the same as tearing it?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, no, it isn’t. See, this is very specific.” Burr’s beady eyes were on mine. “Someone is interfering with the natural order of things by trying to affect the energy flow into a particular patch. By doing this, they can eventually affect it both ways.”

“I don’t get it,” Ebony said, wrapping an arm around Conrad’s waist.

“Of course, I’ll explain.” Burr flashed a fake, impatient smile. “If someone tries to control the input
into
a particular patch, one which is meant to receive this input naturally, they can use that control and turn it into energy. Eventually, the energy will cause the pathway to travel both ways, giving access to this patch without causing any tears or punctures anywhere else, just the natural flow of everything around it.”

My pulse quickened. I had a feeling this was once again connected to me.

“Where’s it coming from?” Jonathan asked.

I glanced at him, but he didn’t even notice me. He seemed intent on getting his answer from Burr.

“Whoever is doing this is trying to access the ghostly patch,” Burr finally answered.

I didn’t turn to look at anyone else but him. Still, I could feel the other hunters’ eyes on me. Maybe I could get some answers from Burr without having to stay behind any longer than was necessary.

I cleared my throat. “I’ll take care of it.”

Burr raised a pudgy hand in front of him. “Oh, goodness, I didn’t mean for you to assume I was putting the blame on you, or was here to cause you any more problems than you already have on your plate. I simply wanted to discuss this with everyone, because like before, it affects all of us.”

“You said this is taking place in the ghostly patch. That’s got nothing to do with me,” Conrad was quick to say. Ebony whacked his arm a second time. “What was that for, babe?”

“I deal with the ghostly patch, you idiot!”

“Oh yeah, you do.” He smiled at her, and then quickly glared my way. Vamp Boy and I didn’t like each other. Not even his involvement with Ebony was enough to make us friends, though I knew she wanted us to at least try to get along.

I met Ebony’s eyes from across the room and noticed she was already freaked out. She might not know about Mara, but she’d been in the office when Mrs. Wicker flickered and faded.

“What do you want us to do?” Oren asked. He stood between Vixen and Jonathan. Like me, he had some idea of what was stirring at the Spook Catcher Council—as well as in the hospital—so any information we could get a hold of might help us get closer to a solution.

“I need all of you to be on alert,” Burr answered. He pulled out a handkerchief from the inside of his black jacket and dabbed at his forehead. “We’ve tried pinpointing the exact location, but it disappears every time we get near it. We do, however, believe it’s happening somewhere in this city.”

As much as I wanted to learn more about what we were up against, I didn’t want anyone else involved. Especially Jonathan.

“Oren, Ebony and I will look into it,” I said with a nod. “Was there anything else we needed to discuss?” I could feel everyone looking my way again, and like before turned my focus away from them.

“Yes, yes, good idea…” For the next hour, Burr Okell updated the group about what the Patch Watchdogs were up to at the moment—ensuring all the patches stayed within their designated spots, making sure any small tears were dealt with instantly, that no stitches were left undone—and encouraged us to be vigilant about any subtle changes.

I listened to most of what he had to say, but was mentally sorting what I’d been through during the last few days. The Council was definitely up to something, and if the Patch Watchdogs had noticed an unnatural and forceful flow of energy
into
the ghostly patch, the Council had to be packing some heavy arsenal. Coupled with what was happening to Mara, what Roe had told us and the dowsing leading right to the top of their Tower, I was convinced spook catchers were being used as conduits to control this energy flow. But I wasn’t sure how or why.

In Mara’s vision, she’d been strapped to some sort of chair contraption before her body completely separated from her spirit. And now she attracted spirits like a magnet, without having any control over it.

When Mrs. Wicker mentioned a constant presence following her just before she disappeared, I’d assumed shadows were responsible. But then the ghost girl in the hospital couldn’t ignore the call from Mara’s room.

How did the attack on me fit into all of this? Was it an isolated incident, or did it bring everything together?

I had to speak to Oren about this, to see what he thought.

“Good, then we can wrap up our third successful meeting,” Burr said so loudly he pulled me out of my deep and very dark thoughts. “You all need to be extra careful and aware of what’s going on around you, and let me know if you feel or see something odd. Okay?” He didn’t wait for anyone’s response. Instead, he turned his bulky body around and made his way down the stairs, his small feet thumping beneath him. “Until next month!”

He disappeared into thin air before any of us could respond.

“It’s so freaky when he does that, isn’t it?” Lavie said as she stepped up beside me.

I looked at her and nodded. Her big eyes looked innocent in her freckled face. It was sometimes hard to believe she was an actual demon hunter because she looked like an aloof, uncoordinated woman who also seemed a lot younger than she was. I’d worked with her on the Hocking case and had kept in touch with her since. We were fast becoming good friends, and Ebony liked her too.

It’s why her behavior around Jonathan set off so many alarm bells.

Speak of the devil—he appeared on my other side. “Can I speak to you for a sec?”

Lavie looped her arm around mine and yanked me away from him. “Sorry, we’ve got something we need to do right now.”

Jonathan looked confused but I didn’t mind. I was actually grateful because it meant I didn’t have to deal with him right now.
Tomorrow, I’ll deal with him then.

“I’ll pop by the bookstore tomorrow morning, okay?”

He nodded but the look he gave me was hard and dark. His shadow expanded behind him and I turned to see if Lavie had noticed. By the expression on her face and the shine in her eyes, I was sure she had.

“You don’t mind getting a cup of coffee, do you?” Lavie asked after we’d said our goodbyes to everyone and descended the stairs together. She still had her arm hooked around mine.

“I never say no to coffee.” I made sure Ebony was leaving with Conrad, who said he was taking her to a new club in town, and told Oren he could drop in the next day whenever he had a chance. I also exchanged the usual and very mutual, distrustful looks Vixen and I had adopted as way of communication.

“Good, because we need to talk more about what I told you before,” Lavie said with a somber smile. “I’ve been dying to mention it to you for a few weeks now.”

We were settled inside what had now become our late-night hangout, Monster Coffee Break. It might be close to two in the morning, but this diner seemed to appeal to the odd-hours crowd.

Lavie and I had come there the first time we met, when I’d quizzed her about the possibility of demons disguising themselves as poltergeists. Back then, I’d had no idea about anything. There was still a lot I needed to learn, but compared to last month, I now knew a lot more about the undercurrents in our world.