“Good enough.” Landon stuck out his lips in exaggerated fashion for a kiss.
I gave him what he wanted. “We’re closer,” I whispered before pulling back. “I feel as if we have all the pieces but they’re not arranged properly.”
“All the pieces?”
“Okay, maybe we’re missing one.”
“It’s a big piece.”
“Yeah, but once we have it the rest will slide into place.”
“Just as soon as my boss is out of town we’ll start looking again.”
“I’ll dig in with Viola and wait it out.”
“I’ll call as soon as I can and tell you what Steve really wants. We’re still good here, Bay. There’s no reason to freak out.”
“I’m a Winchester. Sometimes the only thing I can do is freak out.”
“I don’t think this meeting will be anywhere near as terrifying as you believe.”
I desperately hoped he was right.
26
Twenty-Six
Landon sent me back to the newspaper office with a box of food, including some maple-bacon flavored hard candy he found at a kiosk and demanded I hide it from Aunt Tillie.
“She’ll hex it to make me act like a fool.”
I wanted to point out he already acted like a fool when bacon was involved, but it seemed unnecessarily combative at this point. “I’ll guard it with my life,” I promised.
He caught my chin before I could walk away. “The thing I want guarded most is you.”
“Are you telling me to leave the candy behind if something bad happens?” I asked with a laugh.
“Of course not. You have two hands. You can throw magic around with one and protect my candy with the other.” He grinned as he leaned in to give me a kiss and then sobered. “Don’t run off without me.”
“I won’t.” I meant it – mostly. “As long as you stop hovering and focus on your job.”
“Fine.” He gave me another kiss. “Do me a favor and don’t obsess about this,” he ordered as he headed for the police station. “It’ll be fine.”
“I’ll do my best.” I remained rooted to my spot and watched as he crossed the lawn, not missing the fact that he looked at least three times to where Amelia had been standing before he reached the door. Hannah joined him there. She looked dressed for success, but even from this distance she was pale. I hoped Steve’s visit wouldn’t add to what I was certain was a monster of a headache.
With nothing left to do but fret, I carried Landon’s box of goodies to The Whistler. The security system he’d insisted on installing seemed like a goddess-send now, what with a killer lurking and Brian’s determination to make my life miserable.
I dropped the box of candy on my desk, smirking when I realized there was rope licorice at the very bottom. That was my favorite. Landon could take it or leave it. Even in the middle of a crisis, he went out of his way to make sure I had comfort food.
I left the licorice on my desk — it would be a treat for later — and went looking for Viola. I found her in the kitchenette watching television, as was her way. She didn’t bother looking up when she heard me.
“You tell him, Judy,” she snapped at the television. “He stole that woman’s scooter and her hat. People saw him wearing the hat and nothing else in the neighborhood, which means he’s a pervert. Nail him.”
I drew my eyebrows together and tried to figure out what was happening on the screen. “What are you watching?”
Viola finally dragged her eyes to me. “Judge Judy. Do you know who that is?”
I nodded. “Aunt Tillie rails weekly about her having a show in which she gets to punish people.”
Viola snorted. “Sounds like Tillie. Although ... .” She trailed off. Viola was never what could be considered sharp. Sometimes watching the gears in her mind work was painful.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I was just thinking how a television show where a witch gets to dole out hexes to jerky people would get a million viewers. I might find Tillie impossible to get along with — don’t ever tell her I said that — but other people would eat her up.”
“Yes ... and then likely spit her out,” I agreed. “She has a certain presence that can’t be denied. I think giving her a television show would be a mistake, though. She would get off on the power and punish the innocent as well as the guilty.”
“That might be even funnier.”
“Yeah, I’m not keen on giving her too much power.” I went to the Keurig and flipped it on to make some coffee. “I need your help.” I felt awkward broaching the subject when she was watching Judge Judy, but getting the formalities out of the way was best.
Viola’s eyes filled with suspicion. “What sort of help?”
“It’s difficult to explain.”
That obviously wasn’t good enough for Viola. “Is it the sort of help where I can’t say no and you force me to do your bidding?”
Guilt rolled into a ball in my stomach and started churning. “I would really rather not go that route.”
“You’ve done it before.” Her tone wasn’t accusatory as much as matter-of-fact. That didn’t make me feel any better.
“I have, and I regret it ... kind of.”
Viola hiked a ghostly eyebrow. “Kind of?”
“I needed help to save my family,” I reminded her. “I called you guys because I felt I had no other choice.”
“You could’ve asked. I would’ve helped even though I despise Tillie.”
“I didn’t feel I had time to ask. On top of that, I didn’t think you would say yes. You hate Aunt Tillie.”
“I like you.”
The simple statement caught me off guard. “Thank you. I really am sorry. I just ... panicked.”
Viola’s expression softened. “I guess that’s allowed. Even I’ve panicked a time or two.”
“I remember the time at that one festival when the bee flew into your bra and stung you. You were so surprised you started flapping your arms and knocked Mrs. Little into the punch bowl.”
Viola grinned. “That was a fun day. Margaret melted down and blamed the bee incident on Tillie.”
“She blames everything on Aunt Tillie.”
“In Margaret’s defense, Tillie has gone out of her way to torture her for years,” Viola said. “Margaret is a real pill — one of those horse tranquilizers that makes you gag — but Tillie has made Margaret’s life miserable. I don’t know anybody who would come out the other side of that mess sane.”
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, she had a point. That didn’t mean I would take up for Mrs. Little. The woman was horrible. She’d earned everything Aunt Tillie had thrown at her.
“You said you had something you wanted me to do,” Viola prodded, drawing me back into the conversation.
“Are you familiar with shades?” I asked.
“You have blinds on the windows,” she said.
I kept my smile in place. “I’m talking about ghost shades.”
Viola’s expression remained blank. “I don’t know what that is.”
I broke it down in simple terms. “Evil ghosts. That’s essentially what we’re talking about.”
“I’ve seen a lot of ghosts who could’ve been considered evil during their lives.”
“You’re a good person,” I said. “In life, you might’ve been a little scattered — and your association with Mrs. Little always annoyed me — but you were a good person. There are certain ghosts who can’t make that claim. They’re rotten to their core. They’re also sometimes controlled by people.
“They can take over human beings,” I continued. “They can wedge their dark souls into another person and take over, live that individual’s life.”
Viola looked fascinated. “That’s like living another life, a second one.”
“True, but it’s not a real life. It’s more of a half-life. You have to drink the blood of others to survive in this form.”
“Why is that?”
“Because
the human body wasn’t designed to house two souls ... and blood is essentially power. It’s always comes back to the blood.”
Viola cocked her head in a manner that told me she was thinking hard. “I’m not one of those souls?”
“Definitely not.”
“But they’re in town?”
“At least a few. I’m guessing we’re dealing with about ten of them.”
“What do they want?”
That was the question of the day. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. They attacked me yesterday in the middle of town. They’ve moved on me at the inn, too.”
“It sounds like they’re fixated on you.”
“I think they are. That’s likely by design.”
“Because of what you can do? The ghost thing, I mean.”
“It’s possible. It’s also possible this is payback for something else.”
“Okay. What do you want me to do?”
“See if you can find them.”
“And then what?”
“Then come back and tell me what you find.”
“That’s it? No fights or anything?”
I shook my head. “No fights.” At least not right now, I silently added. If a fight was necessary, I would broach that subject later. “I only need to know where they are ... and maybe how many of them are running around.”
“I think I can do that.” Viola flashed me a smile. “It’s like we’re partners in a television show. I’m the smart one and you’re the ... um ... sidekick.”
She was the smart one? That stung on about three different levels. “You’re the smart one,” I agreed.
“Then I shall find these shades and report back to you with due haste.” She saluted, which felt unnecessary, but I saluted back.
“Good luck.”
“I don’t need luck. I’ve watched every episode of Alias. Twice. I’ve got this.” With those words she was gone, leaving me alone in the office with only Judge Judy for company.
“Aunt Tillie really would be better at this job than you,” I mused as I turned off the television. Hexes as punishment? It sounded mildly amusing. Aunt Tillie would jump at the chance. She also would abuse her power ... and drive my mother batty.
I hummed to myself as I cut through the building on the way back to my office. Viola might’ve been a ditz of the highest order, but she was diligent when it came to assignments. She might find the shades. What would happen after that was anybody’s guess. It was also possible that the shades could stay hidden from Viola. I had no idea the extent of their powers. Still, it was worth a shot.
I was so lost in thought that I almost didn’t notice the figure standing in front of the desk in the lobby as I passed. I’d locked the door behind me — another thing Landon insisted on before separating — so nobody should’ve been capable of getting inside the building. Unfortunately, once I recognized the figure glaring holes into me, I wasn’t all that surprised.
“What are you doing here?” I stood on the other side of the desk and fixed Brian with a furious look. “You’re not supposed to be here.”
Brian snorted. “I can’t believe you just said that with a straight face.”
He wanted me to be afraid. Well, he was messing with the wrong witch. “This is my building.”
“Only because your boyfriend stole it from me.”
“Landon didn’t steal anything from you.” I was beyond furious. “You moved on me. Either you didn’t realize the town would stand with me or you didn’t care.”
Brian’s eyes narrowed. “You set me up. You had me fire you because you knew it would work out in your favor.”
That was the most ludicrous thing I’d ever heard. “I didn’t set you up. You did it to yourself. William stipulated in his will that you had to keep me on. You tried to oust me the first chance you got.”
“You wouldn’t get with the program,” Brian seethed, clenching and unclenching his hands. “I told you what we needed to do to save the newspaper. You refused to get on board with my plan ... and now I’ve lost my family’s legacy.”
“You didn’t want to save the newspaper,” I argued. “It brings in good business, especially considering how other newspapers run so close to the margins these days. The Whistler has a built-in advertising pool that brings in steady income. You wanted more.”
“Is that so terrible?”
I shrugged. “It’s unrealistic. This newspaper can’t deliver what you want it to. Your grandfather realized that. I think that’s why he demanded you keep me on. He knew you wouldn’t be able to wrap your head around the businesses in this town.”
“Is that what you think?” Brian’s tone was cold, to the point I reassessed my situation. He’d effectively cut me off from the exit. That felt deliberate. This felt more dangerous than I initially grasped.
“Obviously you feel differently,” I said. “I don’t know what to tell you, Brian. I don’t know what it is you want to hear.”
“I want my business back.”
“No.”
“No?” His eyes went wide, and for a moment I thought his pupils were much larger. I wrote it off as a trick of the shadows, but a small flame of doubt niggled at the back of my brain.
“It’s my newspaper.” On this one point I would never back down. “I put the stories together. I deal with the advertisers. I schedule profiles ... and business stories ... and I lay out the front page. You never did any of that.”
“I was the brains. You were the labor.”
“And yet now I’m both.”
The growl that gurgled up in his throat had my blood running cold.
“You stole my business,” he seethed. “You stole my birthright. You and that second-rate FBI agent. You cast a spell on him. That’s how you got him to steal my newspaper. At first, I thought it was him. Now I realize it’s you. You made him do what he did.”
I worked my jaw, uncertain. “I don’t know what you mean,” I said.
“Don’t lie to me!” Brian exploded and took a menacing step toward the desk. My heart rate picked up. “You’re a witch,” he insisted. “I knew the truth before I left. Your aunt cursed me a few times.”
“I ... think you should probably lay off the drinking before five o’clock,” I offered softly. “You’re talking nonsense.”
“And you’re lying. I get it.” He shifted his head so I could get a better view of his eyes in the limited lobby light and my heart shuddered when I saw they were black. “I didn’t understand when I was here before. I couldn’t figure it out.”
My throat was dry. “You couldn’t figure what out?”
“All of it. I didn’t understand why my grandfather included you in my inheritance. I didn’t understand why everybody in this town seemed so enamored with you. Even I was enamored with you for a few minutes ... and then you brought in the fed.
“What do you see in him?” he continued. “I’ve been over this in my head a million times. I figured if I couldn’t beat you, I could join with you and take control of the newspaper that way. But he was always in the way.”
“You’ve been taken over by a shade,” I said. “Did you make a deal with him? Did you call him to you?” A horrible thought occurred to me. “Did you do this just to get back at me?”
Brian exhaled heavily and looked to the ceiling. “Everything always comes back to you, doesn’t it, Bay? This entire town is your playground and the rest of us are supposed to bow as you lord it over us.”
“That’s not true.”
“No?” Brian brought his eyes back to mine. “Things are about to change, Bay.”
My stomach rumbled. “How do you figure?”
“Because I no longer have to wonder how you stole my life. I’ve given up trying to figure it out.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To take it back.”
I stretched out my fingers, aching to use my magic. “You’re not taking anything from me,” I said. “You should just leave now.”
“No.”
<
br /> “No?”
“No,” he confirmed with a snake-like hiss. “I’m here to take back what’s mine. You’ll no longer be part of the equation when I’m finished.”
“Then I guess this was inevitable.” I flung a cloud of blue magic at his face. “Obscuro,” I muttered before bolting to the right.
He viciously swore as he tried to peer through the murk I’d created. I was already in the hallway, lying in wait and prepared to strike.
If he thought he was going to attack me on my turf, he had another thing coming. He was done taking things from me.
27
Twenty-Seven
Landon would’ve wanted me to run.
Instead, I slipped into the hallway and erected a magical barrier to pen Brian in the lobby while I remained safe on the other side.
I had questions, and only he could answer them.
“What was that?” Brian called out when he’d recovered from the confusion spell I threw at him. A normal human wouldn’t have been able to throw it off so easily. The shade inside him had an easier time ... and yet it had confounded him for at least fifteen seconds. I could likely use it again if necessary.
“What was what?” I asked, knowing full well he was only talking to me in an effort to ascertain where I’d gone. I couldn’t make out his features under the limited light in the lobby, but I saw his head snap in my direction.
“That ... spell,” Brian seethed as he stomped in my direction. “What was it?”
“Oh, a little of this.” I remained still in the darkness and watched in satisfaction when he slammed into the invisible wall I’d erected.
“Son of a ... !” He swore when colliding with the magic, his body doing a little dance as the energy zapped him. “What is that?” He almost sounded shrill.
“You’re in my world now,” I said. I knew he wouldn’t be able to see me in the dark hallway. Landon had once hidden in the same alcove that I now stood in, jumping out to terrify me. He’d been trying to teach me a lesson about safety. Of course, because he was Landon, it had turned into a sexy game of hide-and-seek that ended on my office couch.
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