Raise the Dead

by C. C. Wood

  "I'm coming with you," she repeated.

  "Jonelle, this could be dangerous."

  "We're a team and I'm going with you. And don't think we won't be talking about the fact that you weren't going to tell me about this."

  I shoved my suitcase out of the way, flopped down on the end of my bed, and stared at Jonelle. "This isn't for the show. And if you'll recall, the last time we went into a situation like this, you nearly died."

  "So did you!" she yelled, waving her arms. "I know you worry about me, but I worry about you too. You're the only friend I have!"

  "And you're the only friend I have, too. And the only child Audrey has. I couldn't put you at risk."

  "Bullshit. You have Mal and Blaine and..." She swallowed hard. "Stony." She stopped waving her arms and planted her hands on her hips. "You're an only child as well. And why do you think it's going to be so dangerous, anyway?"

  "Well, the girl we're trying to help says she's in trouble. We think it's possible that she was taken against her will. That's why I think it might be dangerous. Unless you've heard of friendly neighborhood kidnappers."

  "Then I'm definitely going. I can at least use magic to fight back."

  Oh, so could I. I was probably even more dangerous than Jonelle could imagine.

  "We're going to need her," Teri said.

  "She's right. You'll need me." The moment the words left Jonelle's mouth, it sank in. She looked right and left then at me. "Was that Teri? Did I just hear Teri?"

  I nodded, gaping at her.

  "But I can't see her."

  Teri laughed and Jonelle looked around wildly.

  "She's over there," I said, gesturing toward the dresser where Teri was perched. "And why do we need her, Teri?"

  "Just a feeling I have," Teri replied.

  "Feeling? Like in your gut?" I asked. When she nodded, I shook my head. "Great, my pet ghost is turning into Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

  "Ha, ha, very funny." Teri sneered at me. "Don't look down on my hunches. They're golden."

  "Good. It's settled. I'm going." Jonelle's hands moved from her hips to cross over her chest. It was a classic sign that she was done talking about it and she wasn't going to budge from whatever her decision was.

  I sighed. "Fine. We're leaving tomorrow morning."

  "Who's we?" Jonelle asked.

  "Well, Mal, Stony, and Blaine are going with me."

  Jonelle paled. If I hadn't been staring straight at her when I answered, I would have missed it.

  "Does that change your mind?" I asked.

  She clenched her teeth. "No. I'm still coming. Stony and I are adults. We can handle this."

  "How are you going to handle him living next door?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

  "Next door?" I didn't think it was possible, but Jonelle's face grew even whiter.

  "He, Mal, and Blaine bought Preston's old house and moved in earlier this week."

  She didn't say anything, just stared at me in silence.

  "Jonelle, what's going on?" I lowered my hands to my lap.

  "Things just didn't work out between us, that's all."

  I shook my head. "If Stony was like any of the other men you've dated, you wouldn't be so upset."

  She sighed and flopped down on the bed next to me, lying back on the mattress. "He's not like any other man I've dated," she admitted.

  "Then why did you end things?"

  Her eyes shifted to me. "Because nothing good could come of it. I found myself acting just like my mother when she was besotted with her latest flavor of the month. I knew it was only a matter of time before he broke my heart. I can't go through that again."

  Suddenly, I realized that Audrey, her mother, wasn't the only one who'd had her heart broken over and over during Jonelle's childhood.

  "He cares about you," I said.

  "But does he care enough about me to not break me? He'll leave. Eventually. They all do."

  I didn't know what to say to that. I laid down next to her and hugged her. "You'll have to give someone a chance sometime. I did. And even if Mal left me tomorrow and I was miserable, I wouldn't regret it."

  "I'll think about it," Jonelle said, her voice soft. "But I'm still coming with you to Austin."

  I sighed. "Fine, but if you get hurt, I'm kicking your ass."

  "I wouldn't expect anything less," she replied.

  "If you're going with us, you should get your stuff together," Teri said.

  Jonelle glared in her direction and sat up. "I'll be back later, Zoe. And you'd better be here."

  I waited until she left the room before I stared at Teri. "Why in the heck did you text her, Teri? How many times do I have to tell you not to use my phone to contact people anyway?"

  "We're gonna need her, Zoe."

  "How do you know?" I asked.

  "I just do."

  I collapsed backward on the bed. "What am I gonna do?"

  Teri's face appeared above me. "Tell Mal about what happened the other night. He needs to know."

  "Not yet."

  She frowned at me. "You know that the longer you wait, the more upset he'll be when you finally tell him."

  "I know."

  I hoped he loved me enough to forgive me.

  Chapter Ten

  The sun was just breaking over the horizon when my doorbell rang for the first time.

  Man, when Mal said we were leaving at dawn, he wasn't kidding.

  I went to the front door, a cup of coffee in my hand, and peeked out the small window on the side.

  Mal stood on my porch, a big white box in his hands. A smaller white bag sat on top of it. I recognized the logo on the box immediately. It was a donut shop on the outskirts of Weatherford and one of my favorites. I could almost smell the sugar and dough already.

  I opened the door and snatched the bag off the top of the box. "Are these what I think they are?"

  I didn't wait for him to answer. I opened the bag and inhaled deeply. Donut holes. Of all different kinds. Glazed. Chocolate dipped with sprinkles. Cinnamon sugar. Blueberry.

  Yum.

  "I guess I can forgive you for getting me up so early when you come bearing gifts," I said, stepping back to let him into the house.

  There were dark circles beneath his eyes and a vicious twinge of worry pierced me.

  "Did you get any sleep last night?" I asked.

  He shook his head. "Not a lot."

  "Come in and sit down on the couch. I'll make you a huge cup of coffee and you can relax for a bit before everyone else shows up."

  "They should be here any minute," Mal said as he trudged to the couch and collapsed on it.

  I took the donut box from him. "If you think any of them are going to show up any time in the next half hour, you're hallucinating from lack of sleep."

  Mal dropped his head onto the back of the couch. "I told them we needed to leave early."

  "Lay down. Relax. I'll call everyone in thirty minutes and light a fire under their butts. We'll leave in an hour."

  Mal leaned over to the side until his head hit the pillow propped against the arm of the sofa. Then he slowly lifted his legs onto the cushions. "An hour's too long. Thirty minutes is fine."

  I shook my head as his breathing grew deep and even. He was already asleep and unable to argue with me. An hour nap wouldn't fix his fatigue, but it would help.

  I carried the donuts into the kitchen and dug into the bag of donut holes.

  "What are you doing?"

  I gasped and whirled around, clutching one hand to my chest. The other hand held a chocolate-dipped, sprinkle-covered donut hole.

  Selene stared at me from the other side of the kitchen, her face drawn and sad.

  "I'm having breakfast," I answered.

  "You're not coming, are you?" she asked, sounding as if she was seconds away from crying.

  "We're leaving soon. I'm waiting on everyone to get here." I moved a little closer to her. "You're up early."

  "There's no one here yet." She
glanced around as if double-checking that she was alone. "I need to tell you something."

  I took another step closer.

  Selene stared up at me, her chin quivering. "The woman who has me is—"

  "Holy shit!"

  I jumped and whirled around. Stony stood in the arched entry from the living room to the kitchen, staring at Selene with wide eyes.

  "Is she a ghost?" he asked, his voice a little softer.

  Selene whimpered but, in the two seconds it took me to twist toward her, she disappeared.

  Shit.

  I turned back toward Stony. "Really? You couldn't just sit there and be quiet for a few seconds while she told me about the woman who probably kidnapped her?"

  I hissed the words even though I really wanted to yell. A quick glance at the couch told me that Mal was still asleep. I didn't want to wake him up.

  When Stony opened his mouth, I lifted my hand and glared at him. "Don't say anything right now. Mal is taking a power nap. He was up half the night."

  Stony shot Mal a look then moved around the dining table to where I stood. "Was that a ghost?"

  I shook my head. "No, that was the little girl that we told you about. Selene."

  "She looked sick. Or malnourished."

  My chest tightened. "I know."

  "I'll go call Blaine and Jonelle. Tell them we need to get moving," he murmured.

  "Wait, when did Blaine get here?"

  "He came in late last night. That's part of the reason why Mal was up so late. I was planning on letting him crash until the last possible minute, but he can sleep in the back of the van."

  "Van?"

  Stony grinned at me. "Yeah. We bought a huge van this summer. We're planning on using it for road trips. It'll hold all of us, our equipment, and our luggage with room to spare. I'm thinking of having it painted like the Mystery Machine."

  "You're kidding?"

  "No, the van is awesome."

  "I mean about having it painted," I said.

  "No way. It would look so cool."

  I sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Go get everyone moving. I'll make another pot of coffee. I have some disposable coffee cups and we can eat the donuts on the road."

  Stony nodded and headed toward the front door, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket as he walked away.

  "God, he has a nice ass," Teri murmured next to me.

  I rolled my eyes. "It's a taken ass."

  "Doesn't mean I can't admire it," she muttered.

  "As long as Jonelle doesn't find out. Don't forget she's learning a lot about magic and witchcraft. She's memorizing spells, reading books. You could be in a lot of trouble."

  "Like she's ever gonna know unless you tell her?"

  "I won't tell her," I said. "But how about you take a break today on the way to Austin? Get some rest. I have a feeling I'm going to need you this week."

  "I'm dead. I don't need rest," she said.

  "I'm going to need you to spy for me, Teri. You said it was getting more and more difficult to remain hidden and that it took more power, right?"

  She nodded.

  "Then you're going to need every bit of energy you can muster to sneak around for me."

  "Good point. All right. Give me a ring when you need me." She started to ripple, growing more transparent. "Oh, and maybe take a couple of pictures of Stony's ass for me. I'll check'em out later."

  I didn't deign to answer her, only shook my head.

  "Prude," she said as she vanished from sight.

  Pervert. I hoped that one day she ran into another ghost that she could actually interact with. She told me often that I needed to get laid. I was pretty sure that was her problem. Maybe then she'd leave me alone about my sex life.

  Stony came back into the house a few minutes later as I was pouring freshly brewed coffee into a thermos I'd dug out of my pantry. It used to belong to my father until his doctor told him to back off of caffeine. He'd had to buy a smaller thermos and switched to decaf coffee.

  That had been a rough month.

  Stony made exaggerated sniffing noises. "That smells like heaven."

  "It is. Especially with the donuts Mal brought. When will everyone else be here?"

  "Jonelle said she was about to leave, which means she'll leave in ten minutes. Blaine was getting into the shower as soon as he got off the phone. I heard the water running. We'll be ready to roll in twenty minutes or so."

  "Perfect. I'll wake Mal up in ten."

  "You're good for him," Stony said, taking the cup of coffee I held out to him. "I think you're the first woman Mal has dated that wasn't a perpetual victim."

  I frowned at him. "Perpetual victim?"

  "I don't know how he finds them, but every woman he dated in college and the few he dated after were always, I don't know, weak. They needed someone to take care of them. Someone to reassure them." Stony saw the expression on my face and raised his hand. "Don't look like that. I'm not talking about you. These women always took. They never gave. They never made Mal coffee. Or breakfast. Or made sure he got an extra hour of sleep. It was always about what he could do for them. They never seemed to give a thought about what they could do for him."

  I frowned. "That's horrible."

  Stony reached out and took my hand. "You are nothing like them. You're perfect for him. Do not ever think that Blaine or I see you that way."

  "Okay," I murmured.

  "Right. I'm going to start loading up the car. Your suitcase ready?"

  I nodded and pointed by the front door. "It's right there."

  "Great. Mal's is by our front door as well. I'll be back in a few."

  Thirty minutes later, Mal was awake, drinking a cup of coffee, and eating a blueberry cake donut. Jonelle and Stony were keeping as much distance between them as possible without one of them leaving the house. Blaine sat at the kitchen table with a hat pulled down low over his forehead, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes, and some seriously hot scruff on his jaw. Thank God Teri wasn't around because there was no way she would have behaved herself.

  Blaine looked rough and even a little dangerous, which was strange because he was usually as laidback as Stony.

  I finished pouring coffee into the last three disposable to-go cups I'd bought at the store a few days ago and passed them out to Stony and Jonelle. I kept one for myself.

  "Are we ready?" I asked.

  "Everyone have chargers, phones, laptops, tablets, Kindles, and any other electronic devices they may need on the trip?" Mal asked.

  He looked a lot better after his power nap. His eyelids were still puffy and had dark circles under them, but his posture wasn't as slumped, and his eyes had their usual sparkle.

  "Yes," we all chorused.

  "Is all the equipment in the van?" he asked Stony.

  "Yes, Mal. I triple checked."

  "What about—"

  "We've all gone to the bathroom, all our suitcases are in the van, and I've already called ahead to the hotel to make sure they have rooms available," Stony stated. "Let's go."

  He turned around and headed toward the front door, almost bumping into Jonelle in the process. She darted out of his way as if she feared a single brush of his clothing carried a deadly disease. Stony paused in his march outside, taking a stutter step, and I sighed.

  This three and half-hour drive wasn't going to be tense at all. Nice and relaxing.

  And Teri was a sweet, innocent virgin.

  Chapter Eleven

  A shiver of unease ran down my spine.

  After we arrived in Austin and checked into the hotel, Mal called Beatrix Fury. She invited us to meet with her later that night. It seemed innocuous enough at first, but now that we'd arrived, something about the house struck me as threatening.

  It was a ridiculous thought considering it was a beautiful Victorian home with a wraparound porch and a turret on each side of the house. In fact, it was the sort of home I dreamed about owning one day.

  Yet the pristine white paint and decorative scroll
ing somehow emanated menace. The shadows seemed larger and darker than they should have been.

  "I don't like this at all," Teri mumbled.

  "I don't either," Jonelle said.

  "What was that?" Blaine asked from the backseat of the van.

  "Teri," Jonelle and I answered at the same time.

  "Okay then." He leaned back in the seat and shut his mouth. I guess I wasn't the only one affected by the huge amount of tension in the van all day.

  "I can't believe the cock hopper can hear me now," Teri said.

  "You might not want to call her that," I said to Teri. "You know, since she can hear you and all."

  "Oh, yeah. Good point."

  Jonelle didn't dignify that with a response.

  "What are we waiting for?" Stony asked.

  Mal glanced at me. "What are we waiting for, Zoe?"

  "I don't know. Something about the house just feels...off." I sighed. "But we need to go inside anyway."

  We all climbed out of the van and made our way up to the front door.

  "Best behavior, Teri," I said.

  "Always, Zoe. And what am I? Five?"

  I ignored her and stepped up next to Mal as he knocked on the door. The shadows deepened around us and I could almost swear that I heard something breathing right next to me. I glanced to my right, peering into the darkness that shouldn't have been so deep. The sun had just vanished behind the horizon, leaving streaks of vibrant orange and fuchsia across the sky. Yet the darkness beneath the porch was nearly absolute.

  The hair rose on the back of my neck as air blew across my face. It smelled old and musty. I vaguely recognized the scent but couldn't place how. The sound of breathing grew louder and I nearly turned around to grab Mal and run for my life.

  Until the door opened on silent hinges, revealing a tall, lean man in a black shirt and slacks.

  The sounds suddenly stopped, as though the creature in the shadows was holding its breath.

  The man didn't seem to notice anything strange as he stared at us without speaking. There was a lamp on a table behind him, throwing his face in shadow, but I could make out the gleam of his black hair and goatee.

  After a few moments of awkward silence, Mal offered his hand in greeting. "I'm Malachi Flemming. We have an appointment to see Ms. Fury tonight."