I drag myself up and stand, shaking with rage, in the center of the room. The shadows are moving all around me. “Look!” I yell. “I’m not here to disturb you… whoever you are. I don’t want any trouble. I’m looking for a little girl named Rachel. I’m friends with Lucy. She comes here off and on to meet other spirits. She told me that. I can’t find her lately either, and I’m worried. If you know anything that can help me, I’ll thank you and be on my way.”
The shadows start to close in like the lights in the room were a dying fire. There’s a chill in the air around them and I can feel the temperature dropping drastically the nearer they get. Hopefully they don’t want to keep beating on me.
My hope is quickly dashed on the casket to my right, along with my now cracked pelvis. I struggle against the force of their battery, but I’m as effective as a trailer park against a tornado.
One by one they crash into me. The world spins, and I know that some of it is actually the result of my body being batted about in the air.
Kicking and swinging in a vain attempt to fight back, it becomes apparent that nothing, even escape, is a viable option now.
My body is hurled to the floor repeatedly, cracking and splintering as much wood as bone.
I can’t keep up with the damage they’re doing to me. I’m healing as fast as I can, but not quickly enough to stay fully conscious. The world begins to flicker in and out and I feel there’s a risk of my head floating away.
I’m pounded into the floor again and I begin to panic, afraid this will be the last time I’ll be able to remain aware. Then something makes an awful high pitched noise. I know it’s in the room with me; somewhere off behind me to the right. There is a blinding flash of light and I‘m wishing I hadn’t landed face down.
With all the strength I have left in me, I roll over and try to convince my eyes to focus through the pain.
I can see the shadows have fled, but I’m not alone. There he is, standing in the center of the room, outlined in red from the light of the emergency exit signs. How did he get here so fast? Why didn’t I sense his presence? How did he even know I was in trouble? Nothing is making any sense. I stare, trying to wrap my mind around what I’m seeing, and then I gasp audibly, drawing attention to myself.
His head snaps in my direction, and he takes a defensive posture. His head cocks slightly to the side and I know his face, and the motion of what he’s doing. I’ve been through it before, he’s reading me.
“Jules?” So small, my voice is hardly more than a squeak.
“Who?” His reply shakes me and leaves me ill prepared for what follows. “Look, I don’t know who you are, but there are going to be a lot more of them, and unless you really want to wait around for that, I suggest we get out of here.” He’s looking deeper into me than I’m comfortable with, but I’m powerless to stop him.
“I can see you’re weak. Here, drink.” He offers his arm outstretched. I am at once intrigued, afraid, and repulsed. Unfortunately, I am also too hungry to really ask any questions.
His flavor is unquestioningly delicious. I’m surprised and intoxicated by him. I’ve only ever tasted Jules, no other of my own kind. It’s hard to take in, feeling a bit drunk, and my head is swimming.
The sensation is like no other in the world. I can feel the warmth spreading out from my mouth, down my throat. The heat begins to engulf what was once the center for human stimulation.
I am aware of my body and am now aware of my lack of control over it. I do not have to breathe, nor does my heart beat unless I make it do so, but he’s commanded both involuntary human responses in me.
I can hear the blood rushing in my ears as my pulse quickens. I’m breathing heavily, almost panting for breath. I know this sensation, but it’s been so long since I’ve felt it.
My muscles are reacting to it of their own accord. His fluid is filling me, and my body seems more under its command than my own. I can’t help but to continue to drink as the tension in me builds.
He’s saying something but I can only hear my own heart racing. I can only feel the long absent contraction of muscles, as the tension in me grows. I am only aware of him now by the masculine odor of him. Not sweat, but an overpowering aroma of cologne, leather, and earth.
I’m fighting just to keep my eyes open, and I can’t stop the guttural moan from escaping my throat as he pours down into me, thick and searing.
He looks so much like Jules. The similarity is more than uncanny. I’ve been in his presence for less than five minutes and now I have his essence flowing through me. It’s good that I have very little time to really consider the depth of my actions. I shake slightly as my body begins to release tension, and then a deep shudder flows through me.
It’s been so long that I’d almost completely forgotten I could feel these things; that my body could still be that responsive.
He has to force his arm back from me, and even that comes as a shock. He’s incredibly strong and yet extremely delicate. His desire not to harm me does not escape my notice. I look up into the deep jade reflecting pools staring into me. His gaze is unsettling, but doesn’t last long. He turns and scans the horizon, his eyes darting from place to place. His face is familiar, but his manner is so different.
“They’re spirits,” I finally say softly to break the awkward tension. “Those things…and incredibly potent ones too.”
I stand as swiftly as my legs will allow, and we move toward the door.
“I know what they are; I’m just not used to seeing more than a couple in one place. It’s not normal. Were they after you?” He opens the door and holds it for me without a thought. Nothing is lost on me now that I’ve managed to regain my focus.
“There’s one I’m kinda close to, and I know she comes here. I was just looking for… help?” I allow myself one long last look around the room before turning into the soft glow of the street lights.
“Evidently you picked the wrong spot for that.” His reassuring and mocking tone is concerned, but more parental than I’m accustomed to, and it sticks in me like thorns.
“You think?” It takes actual effort to keep the acid out of my tone. “How’d you make them leave; what did you do?”
I stop on the sidewalk, and wait for the answer it’s clear he didn’t plan to give.
“We’ll call it magic.” He says it with a smirk that is at the same time endearing and annoying. It’s nice to see, but I’d like to slap it off his face.
He looks up and down the block impatiently and then back into my eyes. “Do you have a car here? We need to be somewhere else when they come back.”
***
I can see his headlights come on in my rearview. I watch them as they pull out onto the road behind me, make the turn onto Water Street and then onto Kentucky Avenue, still behind me. I didn’t want this guy following me home just yet, but it was exciting to know that he was still this close.
He turns left at Seventh Street and I make a note of it in my mind. I’ll have to see if I can find where he lives. And, bang, it hits me; I’m planning to stalk this guy. Wow.
I pull into the garage behind the house. I think about telling Julie to send someone out here to shop vac the interior tomorrow, get all the chunks of drywall and dust out of the car. Anything I can think about to stop seeing his eyes in my mind.
His name is Garrett. He told me he knows about the unquiet souls and that he has been following spirit activity in Pekin for some time now. He also knows about Paco, and trusts him less than I do. There’s a really good chance I’ve finally found the ally I’ve needed to finally get Rachel back. We’re supposed to get together later and work out a plan of some kind. I just want to see him again already.
I’m still dwelling on that when I close the back door and see Julie and Frank sharing a pizza in the kitchen.
“What happened to you? You look like you had a fight with a home improvement store…and lost.” Frank chuckles. He’s putting on the funny face for Julie but I can see he’s as concerned as
she is at my ragged appearance.
“I was down at Sikes Funeral Home. Turns out they don’t like my kind there. I think they just don’t like dead things that don’t get buried there. Bad for business.” I smirk at Julie and get a smile. Good. I don’t want her more worried than she already is. Not with the fire, and Piper, and all.
Sitting down I look at the pizza. If there weren’t olives on it I’d have a piece. I’m glad Frank has cheered her up tonight though. I guess I can tell them about Garrett, though I’ll bet money that Frank is going to be over protective and won’t like him.
CHAPTER 11
“YOU HAVE SOMEONE HERE TO see you, ma’am.” Julie is almost giggling through the intercom, and I already know who it is. I fumble myself together and take a quick look in the bathroom mirror for minor maintenance before walking a bit too briskly to the stairs and down to the main parlor.
I am not prepared for what he looks like tonight. Seeing him in decent lighting and under better conditions, I’m in awe. In a room full of women I’ve trained and dressed to be as seductive as possible, he stands out as the most deliciously attractive thing.
Every inch of his six-foot three frame seems to be lightly tanned and perfectly toned; not overly muscled, but enough to show slightly though his clothes.
He’s wearing a stylish button down shirt with a pair of slightly faded jeans that fit him in a way that words do no justice to. His shoes are expensive black Italian leather, polished to a shine. I know those are nice shoes because I know how much I paid for Frank’s pair of the same ones.
There’s even a messy elegance to his short brown hair, like a sexy ‘just got out of bed’ appeal. I’d say he was devastatingly handsome, if I didn’t think it would be a disservice.
Then he looks at me and gives me the most amazing smile I could imagine. I’m in no way prepared for this. He looks like he just stepped out of a magazine, and his smile could sell me anything.
I walk over to him, ringed in the center of my fawning professionals, and before I can even say anything he lays a big rugged hand lightly on my shoulder and I’m suddenly a mute.
I’m used to going through men like Kleenex, so it’s very rare that I ever find myself taken by one. But this one could take me anywhere. He still reminds me a little of Jules, but somehow more devilish, more mysterious.
Thankfully, Julie sees that I’ve frozen and scurries over quickly with ‘urgent matters’ that require my immediate attention.
She pulls me across the room promising to have me right back, while holding up her tablet in front of me to ‘show me a few appointments and scheduling issues’ as she whispers under her breath, “There may be a lot of men in the world, many fish in the sea and all, but there’s not a single one I’ve ever seen that looks like that one does. Wow.”
I can tell by his face, even from across the room, that he heard her. She sometimes forgets that the dead can usually hear very well. Surprisingly, he seems a little embarrassed by the comment though. I like that.
“Julie, why don’t you have Leslie take over for you here. I’d appreciate it if you’d give Frank a call and tell him I’d like to see him, then grab a couple fresh bottles and meet me in my office in the basement.” She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind, but nods and heads to the back to get Leslie.
As I walk back over to Garret, I’m overcome with feelings of infatuation. It takes actual effort to force myself out of the ‘high school girl with a crush’ mentality; after all, I don’t have to hold back when I like something anymore.
“Why don’t we go downstairs to my office? We can speak a bit more freely there.” See, I can talk to the pretty man like a real grown up if I try hard enough.
“Lead the way, Ms. Fischer.” Even the way he says my name is sexy. What is with this guy?
“Call me V. It’s this way.” I lead him to the basement door off the kitchen hallway. He follows closely but I can tell he’s taking in his surroundings very closely. Either he’s out to screw me over, or he’s afraid I’m going to screw him over. Either way, we need to get past that.
We walk into my office and I offer him a seat at my small conference table, while I get a map of the county down off my bookcase.
I join him at the table as Julie comes in with the bottles I asked her to and glasses as well.
“Frank is on his way. He said about ten minutes,” she reports, as she sets the glasses in front of Garrett and I like she were our waitress. Tipping up a bottle she fills our glasses, trying not to make eye contact out of respect.
When she’s finished she sets it down and turns to leave. I take her arm and point to the chair to my right. Her eyes widen in shock. She looks to Garret and then back to me, before asking curiously, “V?”
Smiling at her, I lock her gaze and mentally walk her to her seat. “Julie, I think it’s about time you became better acquainted with what goes on behind the scenes around here. You and I both know that you could run the house without me, and you manage enough of my other concerns that I’d just feel better if you understood a bit more about the world you live and work in.”
Her only reaction at first is to blink in stunned disbelief. She looks at the table in front of her and then back to me. “Do you mind if I take notes?”
“Not at all. So long as the notes you keep can’t be read by anyone but you.”
She looks at me wide-eyed, like a hooker caught in headlights, for a moment then gets up and gets her tablet and sits back down. “I’ll accept that responsibility.”
I expect some protest from Garrett. We’re all taught early on not to share too much of what we are with our slaves. But my employees are friends, not slaves. I’m ready to defend that point fervently, but his objection never comes.
It isn’t long before Frank shows up and as predicted he walks in and gives one look at Garrett and asks to speak with me in private.
We step out of the office, walk to the other end of the basement, and step into the wine storage closet. I can see it in his eyes, but knowing how my kind can hear he waits for the door to close before he starts in on me.
“So now we’re just inviting stray bloodsuckers home? How do you know we can trust him?”
I might get offended if I didn’t know that he genuinely has the best interest of my girls and I at heart. He sees himself as security and bodyguard to all of us.
“He saved my life last night, Frank. That goes a long way to building trust in my world. Besides, there’s just something about him I like. I can’t put my finger on it.”
“That’s because you’d probably rather put your mouth on it.”
I put my hand on him and cock my head to the side with one eyebrow raised. He knows he’s dangerously close to crossing a line. The question now is if he thinks he needs to cross it just to show me he’s not afraid to piss me off to try to keep me safe.
“Frank, back off. He looks good, yes. But he’s like me and he risked himself to save me. He has knowledge of spirits and a way to handle them that, while I don’t understand, I’ve seen in action and have to respect. He may be my best hope of finding Lucy or getting Rachel home. What are you doing to help me there?”
“How is that’s a fair question? I’m doing everything I can, like I always do. How long will this guy’s interests line up with yours? Just think about it V.” And with that, he turns and walks out. Since when does Frank walk out on a conversation with me? The world really is going nuts.
Frank is grilling Garrett when I walk back in and impressively, he’s putting up with it. I have to stop it though. Frank and Julie just don’t understand how to deal with creatures like Garrett. They’ve been spoiled by the way I treat them. I have employees, while my peers and betters have slaves.
This must be what a single mother feels like bringing a date home to the Spanish Inquisition at the hands of her kids.
A simple redirect for the conversation and we’re discussing the spirits and the fact that Garrett has studied them in Europe, Africa, and now North America.
He’s especially interested in the level of activity Pekin has. Evidently, it’s in the top ten most active places for the disembodied on the continent.
It does strike me as a little odd that Garrett is so willing to answer a grilling from my P.I. on payroll, but odder still is all the information he has, and no clear agenda for what he’s planning to do with it.
Knowledge is power to the breathers; it’s so much more once you are dead. Not just power but control, and he doesn’t seem to have a focus or direction for all that he’s amassed. I read into him, and I sense no maliciousness in him. He really is a puzzle.
As I’m listening to him talk I let my mind drift further into his feelings, his aura, and he doesn’t seem to have any barriers up to keep me from doing it. Either he trusts me, which makes no sense, or he doesn’t have a way to defend himself, in which case how has he managed to live this long?
He leans back, listing to Julie ramble on about Lucy’s last appearance to her, and rests his hand on my leg. I lay mine on top of it, as though it were simply the natural thing to do. Frank is right about one thing, I certainly wouldn’t mind him in my mouth, or anywhere else in me for that matter.
Garrett mentions that Sunny, his ‘little girl’, has been helping him investigate the activities here in Pekin, but does not elaborate. I get an image of a girls face in his mind’s eye, but no real information.
Digging a little deeper, a few key facts about her start to become clear. He made her, but he is not her family. Like Jules, he has a family, and yet he chose to make her outside of it. She’s an orphan like me, but he’s lied to everyone convincing them she is his cousin. The way he’s protecting her is possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve discovered about him so far.
I know that I can’t afford a romantic entanglement, especially with someone from a pure line, but that doesn’t stop me from continuing to fall for this mysterious stranger.
I have to know more about him, but I have to find an innocent way to ask, see what he’s willing to give up in open conversation. After all, I’ll know if he’s lying.