The Lurkers Within: (A Havenwood Falls Novella)

by Danielle Bannister

  Eduardo gave me a weird look when I turned around from the doll. I tried to communicate with just my eyes to use extreme caution in this house, but Adam and Eduardo were already on the defensive. While still trying to keep up the cover of a happy-go-lucky family on a ski vacation, they clutched their bags tightly, ready to take out their traps the moment I gave the order.

  “Cool digs,” Eduardo said in his best teenybopper voice. “I’m going to go check out the bedrooms.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Adam said. “No way are you claiming the biggest room, kid.”

  I nodded, understanding they were really doing some surveillance. Not that it would help. Eduardo and Adam wouldn’t be able to see anything out of the ordinary. Not like I did. Sometimes they could feel a temperature shift, though, if a spirit was old enough. My guess was they’d be covered in gooseflesh by the time they came back, if the upstairs was anything like the downstairs view.

  My mouth fought to stay closed and conceal my true horror while I looked at what appeared to be an empty living room to human eyes. In reality, I was in a living room that was filled with no less than six spirits, each one circling around me. They weren’t attacking or trying to latch on to me. They seemed to be patiently observing. I had no doubt there would be more in the bedrooms.

  Poltergeist was my first thought. We must have been on an ancient burial ground, or some shit like that. Why else would there be so many spirits in one spot? Then another thought struck me. Had there been a mass murder here? That was a high possibility, too. My contact hadn’t mentioned anything about what we were up against, but I was racking my brain for logical reasons so many spirits would be in the same house. Spirits weren’t as mobile as movies made them out to be. They couldn’t just travel around from house to house. They were tied to the space where they died. So what the hell happened here?

  I thought back, trying to remember all the case files I’d read from other spirit agents about mass spirit gatherings, while I placed my bag on the floor. The only one that came even close was one from Sweden about ten years ago, when a spirit agent discovered four souls in the same house who had somehow merged themselves into one spirit. The case was dismissed by other spirit agents as unsolved. Other than that, I couldn’t think of any other case file that had this many spirits in one place.

  Keeping up my disguise, I plopped down on the couch and scanned the room, appearing to appreciate the view from the bay window, but I was instead assessing the color of the auras in the room.

  Spirits gave off different colors based on their mood. Yellow meant they were at peace and content. Those were, by far, the easiest ones to capture. The blue auras were confused spirits. They didn’t understand why they were in between worlds and often didn’t believe they were dead in the first place.

  A confused spirit was what most people came across. They caused minimal damage in that they mostly only scared the shit out of their owners with their moaning and floor creaking. They were more annoying than harmful, but even spirit pests needed an exterminator.

  Red auras were the worst. They were the pissed off baddies. The most demonic ones. They hated the human realm and the fact they were stuck in it. They would hurt anyone they could. It took massive amounts of energy and years as a spirit to be able to leave any sort of physical mark on a human, but it still fucking hurt. That said, red auras were rare. In my years as a spirit agent, I’d only come across a handful of them. This room alone held six of them.

  How the hell was I supposed to trap this many demonic spirits with only five traps? We couldn’t. We literally couldn’t. In fact, it was extremely dangerous for any of us to be here. I had to get my team out, now.

  “Hey, Mom?” Eduardo asked suddenly from upstairs. There was a thread of panic in his voice. Adrenaline rushed through me as I wondered if I was too late.

  I ran up the stairs to find Eduardo standing over Adam’s limp body. Adam was sprawled out on one of the beds, his eyes closed. There was no blood, no sign of foul play; it simply looked as though Adam had decided to take a nap, which we both knew was not what was happening.

  “What’s wrong, peanut?” I asked, highly aware we were being watched. I didn’t want to spook them into doing anything else rash. I rubbed Eduardo’s shoulder hard, trying to hide my panic.

  “Um . . . I think Dad passed out,” he said, clearly as freaked out as I was but trying hard to maintain the cover. “I went to check out the other room, and when I came back, he was like that.”

  My blood began to race as I walked over to Adam. I pressed my hand against his forehead, like a wife would do for a potentially sick husband, and watched closely for signs of life.

  “Oh, honey, Daddy’s fine,” I said in a whisper. He was still breathing, but his skin was colder than it should have been. Shit. “I think he’s just exhausted from the trip. Jet lag is a real thing. It can knock you right out.” I took one last look at Adam then turned my attention back to Eduardo. “Why don’t you and I go for a walk, check out the town while your dad sleeps? There looked like some great lunch options to try out.”

  Eduardo was tense, but he nodded, looking back one last time at Adam. I knew he wasn’t okay with leaving Adam in this condition, but he would listen to my orders. I’d fill him in as soon as we got clear of the house.

  “Yeah, okay. We should come back later. Let him rest.”

  “Good idea, kid,” I said tousling his hair.

  I looped my arm through his and led him as casually down the stairs as I humanly could. We needed to get out of this house stat and contact headquarters. Someone needed to tell us what the hell was going on here.

  For a half a second, I thought we weren’t going to be able to leave as I noticed all the red auras following us to the exit, but when I put my hand on the knob, it opened, bringing with it the freedom of the cool afternoon air.

  When we had walked several blocks, to be far enough that I couldn’t feel the spirits watching us anymore, I dug out my cell phone. Agent Duncan was going to get an earful from me. I wanted to know who the hell called me and why. I didn’t trust my contact as far as I could throw him. When I tried the line, however, the call never went through.

  “Damn it!” I held up the phone and tried again. Still nothing.

  “What just happened back there?” Eduardo asked, rushing to keep up with my stride. While he couldn’t see what I had, I was sure he knew that whatever went down wasn’t good.

  “They took Adam, that’s what’s happened,” I shouted. I was pissed.

  Eduardo stopped walking. None of our team had ever been taken into the spirit world. In fact, it had only ever happened once in my time as a spirit agent. Only a Recoverer, like myself, could bring back a taken soul, but only within twelve hours of the attack. After that, they were stuck in purgatory while their body lay in a coma. Brain dead, doctors called it. More like soul-sucked.

  “Someone has some serious explaining to do,” I said as I tried my contact’s number instead. At first, I didn’t think it was going to go through, then the line finally connected.

  “Agent Young. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Done already, are you?” my contact said on the end of the line. He seemed amused. I was about to wipe that smile off his smug face.

  “Cut the shit. I need to know what the fuck my team is up against.”

  There was a silence and some shuffling noises, like he was trying to find a private place to have this conversation.

  “What happened?” he whispered.

  “They’ve taken one of my agents, that’s what’s happened! There are at least a dozen demonic spirits in that house. Now we’re up against a clock to get Adam’s soul back, which means I have to drag my ass back in there, so I need you to tell me what the hell is going on!” I yelled, garnering some stares from the joggers on the other side of the road. Fuck them. I couldn’t care less about my cover right now. Adam’s life was hanging in the balance.

  “Meet me in town square. There’s a coffee shop called Coffe
e Haven. I’ll explain what I can.”

  It was my turn to stop walking.

  “Wait. You’re here? In Havenwood Falls?” We didn’t have any spirit agent FBI branches in Colorado. Who the hell was this guy?

  “Ten minutes, Agent Young.”

  The call ended, and I stared at my cell for a moment.

  “Something is seriously messed up here,” I said to Eduardo as he approached me.

  “Ya think? Why didn’t you recover Adam back there? You said he was taken. Why didn’t you just pull him back into this plane? Why did you make us leave? What aren’t you telling me, Tasha?’

  “There wasn’t time to recover him. Not without one, or both of us, being taken next. We’re not up against one spirit, Eduardo. It’s a fucking legion.”

  Eduardo stopped walking as he let that sink in. He’d never taken down a legion before. None of us had. It wasn’t what we were trained for, so our contact had better have a damn good plan and explanation for all of this, because I was officially out of ideas.

  Chapter 6

  We didn’t need ten minutes to reach the center of town. I would have been there faster if Eduardo hadn’t been slowing me down by asking me a million questions I didn’t have the answers to. No, I didn’t know how they took Adam. No, I didn’t know why there were so many in the house. No, I wasn’t sure how we were going to save Adam. All of my answers started with “No.” I had no fucking clue what was going on. Add to that the fact that walking in heels, in the winter, with just my thin leather jacket meant not only was I pissed at being lied to, I was also cold. I was in a foul mood. I almost felt bad for our contact. The hellstorm he was about to endure wouldn’t be pretty.

  “I hate snow,” Eduardo said beside me, trying to stomp out the snow from the treads of his sneakers once we made it to the center of town. Eduardo hated any temperature below eighty degrees, so this place wasn’t rubbing off well on either of us.

  “Says the guy who wanted to ski earlier.” I snorted.

  “Skiing and walking around in sneakers in four inches of snow are two very different things, chica.”

  “Yeah, well nothing about this mission is making me warm and fuzzy either,” I said, pulling my jacket around me tighter.

  Our meeting spot was easy enough to find once we made it to the center of town. The smell of caffeine permeated onto the sidewalk. Coffee Haven was on Main Street, wedged in between a massive book store called Shelf Indulgence and a consignment store of some kind. Two types of stores I never frequented. I hadn’t read a book since high school, and I never bought anything used.

  Eduardo was still peppering me with questions as I yanked open the door of the coffee shop harder than I needed to. The small bell above the door chimed, making me roll my eyes. Of course there was a damn bell on the door. This town was too perfect. I didn’t trust it. My eyes darted around the room, looking for my contact, or someone who looked like they might be, but found that it was deserted, save for an older couple in the corner sipping their drinks. I glanced at my phone to check the time. We were early.

  “Should we get a coffee?” Eduardo asked. Finally, a question of his I could answer.

  “I’d rather have a shot of whiskey, but I suppose caffeine will have to do.”

  He nodded. We were both caffeine addicts, and with Adam taken, I knew this was going to be one long-ass day, so I’d need to keep my eyes and brain alert, which meant strong coffee. And lots of it. The air here was messing me up and giving me a wicked headache. The caffeine would need to do double duty today.

  “I’ll get it.” I gestured toward a table near the window for him to sit at. I shrugged out of my coat and handed it to Eduardo, who took it and moved to the table I indicated without saying anything else. Good boy.

  As I walked up to order, I was taken aback by the massive marble counter. I highly doubted it was the real thing, given the size and the budget a shop like this might have, but nevertheless, it was still impressive for a joint like this.

  I checked out the rest of the shop while I waited for the barista, who had his back turned while he was on the phone. The ambiance here was bizarre. There were plants everywhere, as well as artwork, and random crystals placed in every nook and cranny. It was a hippy-lover’s dream.

  While I waited, I placed my elbows down, being sure to squeeze my breasts together to give the guy working the counter the best view. I had a nice rack. Seemed a pity not to show it off whenever I could. Plus, I loved how it messed with guys’ brains. Flirting was something that came naturally to me. Even in times of high stress like this. It was a coping mechanism to be sure, but what a fun one to have.

  The barista finally hung up and then turned around. When he saw me, his eyes became unavoidably glued to the show I was offering. I smirked. He cleared his throat as he approached me and pushed up his dark rimmed glasses. I couldn’t help but notice him play with his wedding band. Guilty conscience much?

  “What can I get ya?” he asked. His voice shook a little, letting me know how nervous I made him. Good.

  “How about a name, for starters?”

  “Um, I’m. Um. Davis. My name is Davis. I’m the manager here. How can I help you?”

  I loved his obvious discomfort.

  “What’s good here, Davis?” I batted my eyes for good measure, ’cause why not?

  “We make a mean latte.”

  “I’m sure you do.” I licked my lips nice and slow. “Two coffees. Black. I like my drinks dark and strong. Just like my men.”

  His eyes widened again, but he quickly came back to reality.

  “Right away,” he said, turning to grab two mugs, seemingly grateful to get away from me.

  I turned around and leaned my back on the counter, waiting for our drinks. Eduardo had his cell out, probably trying to get a signal. It didn’t seem to work outside of local calls, since my contact was the only one I had been able to reach. It made absolutely no sense. Or, more likely, something was seriously messed up about this town. There had to be a reason I couldn’t contact the outside world, and I was betting it had nothing to do with faulty cell towers.

  “Here ya go,” Davis said from behind me.

  I turned back around and noticed the start of a tattooed compass on his hand. The bulk of it disappeared up the sleeve of his shirt. How cute. He was a tat-tease.

  “Nice ink,” I said, ready to do a little toying of my own.

  He glanced down at his hand. “Thanks. I got it at Tragic Ink right there on Eighth Street, if you’re interested in getting one yourself.” He pointed out the window to a building on the square, but I didn’t turn to look.

  “Oh, I think I’ve got enough ink, don’t you?” I asked, lifting the bottom of my shirt to expose the massive snake coils wrapped around my waist. Davis’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. “I’d show you where the head is, but I’d get arrested for indecent exposure.”

  I bit my bottom lip. Playing with men was just too much fun.

  “Thanks for the coffee,” Eduardo said, suddenly at my side. He pulled my shirt down for me.

  “Oh, are you jealous?” I snickered as we walked back to the table.

  “I’m not the jealous type, but overt flirting like that is going to get you in trouble one of these days,” he said.

  “I’m counting on it.”

  As soon as we sat down, our contact walked in. It had to be him; otherwise, I would be very disappointed. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome himself walked into the shop, sticking out like a sore thumb against the granola decor. There was no way he was FBI. People that good-looking didn’t work for the feds.

  I tried not to drool as I took him in. He wore a dark gray overcoat, which he removed and slid over his arm with a practiced ease. The dark silk suit and crisp white undershirt he wore, paired with gorgeous stubble across his jaw and no wedding ring, had me drooling. Lickable. So very lickable. Maybe this mission wasn’t such a bust after all.

  “Special Agent Young. Agent Lopez.” He nodded to each of us as he sa
t down across from us without revealing his own name.

  “Davis,” he said, not taking his eyes off me, “I need a witch’s brew.”

  “Sure thing, Mr. Bishop.”

  I clasped my hands and put them on the table.

  “Bishop? So that’s your name. Funny. I’m not familiar with any Bishops in the Bureau,” Eduardo snapped. He was jealous. They needn’t fight over me. I’d gladly share.

  That observation garnered a glare to my partner.

  “Tell your lapdog to go fetch something outside. Then we’ll talk,” Bishop said, turning his deep blue eyes back on me. Damn. He was sexy.

  “Whatever you need to say to Tasha, you can say to me,” Eduardo said, putting his arm around me, effectively marking his territory.

  Agent Bishop leaned back in his chair and looked at me, clearly indicating this conversation was going nowhere until Eduardo left. He knew he held all the cards. I had no choice. I had to play his game. For now. Adam couldn’t wait for this pissing match to play out.

  “Why don’t you go take a walk?” I asked, turning to Eduardo, trying to placate him with my eyes. I’d make this up to him when this nightmare was over.

  His displeasure was written all over his face.

  “Oh, is that how it is, is it?” His tone spoke volumes about how pissed he was at me, but there was little I could do, given our current situation.

  “I don’t have time to play games with this guy, Eduardo. Adam needs our help, and this dipshit may hold the key.” That seemed to soften the blow a bit, because he nodded once.

  “Fine.” He stood up fast, grabbing his coat and coffee. “I’ll be right outside.” Eduardo and Bishop had a mini staring contest, but Eduardo eventually backed down and huffed his way outside.

  “Threatened by a little boy, are we, Mr. Bishop?”

  He leaned across the table. “I don’t share. Anything.”

  I matched his inward lean with one of my own, being sure to showcase the girls.

  “Well, you’ve got it. Now, would you mind telling me what the fuck is going on in that house, or do I have to whip it out of you, Mr. Bishop?”