by A. J. Locke
“Shit,” he said, taking in my blood splattered appearance. “I knew you should have taken it easy today, you stubborn ass.” He helped me walk back to Maison. The beastie hadn’t been able to get close to the restaurant so I was sure that Ethan, Ilyse, and Renton were OK.
“Nothing to be done about it now except get me home,” I said. He sat me down in a chair. Moments later, Renton, Ilyse, and Ethan came out. Ethan and Ilyse’s faces blanched when they saw the condition I was in and came to fuss over me. The sound of sirens that signaled the arrival of fire trucks and ambulances didn’t help my headache.
“Sure wish that beastie had waited until after desert to show up,” I muttered, holding my head in my hands. Micah came out of the restaurant with a glass of water which I drank almost in one gulp. He knelt at my side and pushed my sweat matted hair off my forehead.
“Let’s get you home.” He and Ethan helped me up.
“I will stay here to help deal with the aftermath,” Renton said. “Take good care of her, Micah.” He jogged off and the four of us made our way to Micah’s car.
“Give me your keys, Selene,” Ilyse said. “I’ll drive your car home.”
“Thanks.” I handed the keys over. I then slumped into the backseat and lay my head on Ethan’s shoulder. Micah was soon driving off, trying to safely maneuver us out of the area.
“Two ghost beastie fights within one week,” I said wearily. “What more could a dying girl want?”
“See, this is why I stay inside,” Ethan said.
“And here I thought it was because you’re allergic to sunlight. Nerd.”
CHAPTER NINE
After the ghost beastie attack, from which there were no deaths but numerous serious injuries, I spent a couple days at home resting and being fussed over by Micah, Ethan, and Ilyse. While it was nice to be taken care of, and I knew I needed to take it easy, I hated feeling like an invalid. Seeing the pain in Micah’s eyes, the guilt and sorrow in Ethan’s, and the worry in Ilyse’s was too much. I was determined not to keep lying around being waited on hand and foot and having someone trail me to the bathroom to make sure I wasn’t going to cough up blood. Where had all my dignity gone?
By the third day I was ready to leave the house despite whatever those three thought. I came out of the bathroom dressed for work. Micah was still sprawled in bed. I didn’t think it was possible for anyone to be more worn out than me, but these past couple days Micah had seemed extremely tired. I knew he was also dealing with a lot. I sat on the bed next to him and ran my fingers through his rumpled hair. He cracked one eye open and gave me a sleepy smile.
“Hey, you,” I said. “I don’t think I’ve said thank you lately for taking such good care of me. I know this is not easy for you.”
“You never have to thank me,” Micah said, moving his hand slowly up and down my arm. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”
I smiled. “How’d you learn to be such a good caretaker?”
“My mom…” Micah’s smile faltered and mine did too. I knew his mother, Lauren, had passed away around twelve years ago, but he never talked about her much so I did not know a lot of details about her passing.
“It was left to me to take care of her when she got sick. My parents got divorced when I was about four, and my dad died in a car accident a few years after that. I was an only child, so my mother only had me to rely on. There were a few relatives around, but no one who could commit to being there for her full time.”
“It was complications from multiple sclerosis, right?”
“Yeah.” He stared up at the ceiling, and I could tell he was sinking into his memories. “She was doing okay, then it suddenly became a downward spiral when she got pneumonia. I dropped out of school to help take care of her, and she could never bear how much she had to rely on me. She would always say she was supposed to be the one taking care of me. I never minded though. I just wanted her to be OK. I wanted her to live…”
“Micah…”
“Renton was away training troops, but he would call any time he could. I could tell how much he wanted to be there for his sister. They were very close. It almost broke my mother’s heart when he joined the military because she was afraid he would get killed. She worried about him all the time. She died just a few days before he was dispatched to Iraq, so I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to not be able to mourn his sister properly. Or attend her funeral. As for me, I was pretty damn lost myself. At sixteen I suddenly found myself utterly alone. One of my friend’s parents took me in until I was eighteen then I had to find my own way.”
“I didn’t realize how rough those years were for you,” I said. “I’ve always wondered but you never talk about it and I never wanted to seem too nosy.”
“Guess we’ve both walked similar paths in our teens,” he said. I had already told him my life’s story some time ago when the Rot had me feeling reflective.
“Yeah,” I said with a sad smile. “Well, we both turned out OK I think. And Renton too.”
“It took Renton longer actually. Iraq was where he suffered the injuries that caused him to have to leave the army. While he was being treated, his wife and daughter died in a house fire.”
I released a small gasp. “Oh, shit.”
“Aunt Angela and my cousin Mia. She was only eight years old. Renton had been doing an overnight stay at the hospital when it happened.”
“I can’t imagine how devastating that must have been.”
“It set him back a lot. It was hard for him to focus on his recovery when he was dealing with so much loss. But slowly he got better, and once he was done with physical therapy he refocused on his study of runes and it eventually led to his job in the Paranormal Sector. At that point I had finished high school but I was still struggling to find my way so I lost touch with him for a few years. I spent a lot of time chasing girls. They were a distraction, and I didn’t have to get too close. After losing the only woman I was ever close to, I didn’t want it to happen again, which is part of the reason I wasn’t so nice to you. All I wanted was to be close to you, and I told myself I would never let that happen.”
“And now here I am with the Rot. Micah…”
“No,” he said, holding my hand tightly. “I will not lose you, Selene. I will do absolutely anything to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
I knew he meant it, but I also knew we were yet to find the miracle solution that saved my life.
“I know,” was all I said. It was useless to try and provide a reality check, that wasn’t what this moment called for. I leaned over and kissed him. Micah’s story weighed heavily on my heart. I did not want him to lose the first woman he decided to get close to after losing his mother, and I felt utterly useless because I could not fix this.
“I think now’s a good time for a change of topic,” I said. Tears brimmed in my eyes, and I didn’t want to fall apart over all this sadness. “The twelfth floor has been fixed and we’ve moved back to the building, so I’m gonna head to the office today and don’t you try to stop me.” I already saw that he was getting ready to argue. “I feel stronger, and as much as I appreciate you, Ilyse, and Ethan taking care of me I need to get out of this house. I think even Luna is tired of me.” Luna was curled up next to Micah, having claimed my spot when I got out of bed. She was not ashamed of how much she loved to cuddle Micah.
“If I stay home I’m just going to keep thinking about Isabelle and the fact that we are still out to sea when it comes to finding out where her parents fled with her,” I added. “Plus, I hear Tielle wishes to speak to me and even though she’d be willing to come here I think you can agree that’s not the best case scenario. I guess using the phone is beneath her or she just wants to see my pretty face. So you will be driving us both to work today.”
“Actually, I took the morning off because I have a lot of errands to take care of,” Micah said, getting off the bed and stretching. I took a moment to appreciate his ripple of tight muscles and the amazing view
I had of them since he was just wearing boxer briefs. “I hadn’t anticipated that you’d be going in today. Although I probably should have.”
“It’s OK, I’ll drive in. I can’t begrudge you taking some time for yourself; you’ve been glued to my side twenty-four-seven these past few days.”
“Trust me, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” He kissed my temple then headed to the bathroom, and I went to see how edible Ethan’s breakfast was this morning.
“I didn’t burn anything!” Ethan announced when he saw me.
“Gotta love progress.”
“The cinnamon rolls are from a can but the potato hash is all me. And the bacon.”
“I think we have an unfortunate piggy to thank for the bacon, actually,” I said. I was looking for my cell phone in my purse and came across the DVD of the hospital footage Carlos had burned for me.
“Whoa, I’d completely forgotten about this.”
“What’s that?” Ethan asked.
“A copy of the hospital footage. I’d wanted to watch it again with Micah to see if we could pick up on any leads. We can do it after breakfast.”
“Good, because you have to eat these buns while they’re warm.”
“That sounded wrong, or maybe I just have a dirty mind.”
“Definitely the latter,” Ethan said. After Micah came out, we had breakfast, which was delicious, Ethan was definitely improving. We then moved to the living room to watch the DVD.
“Ready?” I asked. Micah and Ethan nodded, and I started the DVD. The three of us leaned forward as though that would make a difference, and were quiet as we concentrated on the footage. I had studied it pretty closely the first time around, but I remembered how crappy I had felt, so I knew there was a chance I missed something. I really hoped I had missed something.
“Pause it.” We’d been so quiet that Micah’s voice jolted me, but I paused the DVD. It was frozen on the image of the man and Isabelle in the elevator.
“There’s no shot of his face here,” Ethan said.
“I know,” Micah said. “But look at his ear.” We all looked, and I noticed something I hadn’t picked up on before. The man had a row of earrings on his right ear from the cartilage to the tip. The light in the elevator glinted off it. I remembered thinking it was Isabelle’s bed rail.
“Hmm,” I said. “That’s a strong identifying characteristic, but there are a lot of people with piercings like that.”
“I know, but it’s something,” Micah said. “It means you can start paying attention to the people around you in case this guy comes back around.”
“True. It’s definitely more than the nothing we had a few minutes ago. And I also know he’s tall and on the lanky side.”
“And likes to wear hats,” Ethan added.
“That may have just been for the purposes of going incognito, Ethan dear.”
“Which he probably will still be doing,” Ethan said pointedly.
“Ah, you make a good point,” I said. “Smart boy.”
“I try,” he muttered.
We watched the video a few more times but didn’t pick up anything more promising than the piercings so I finally turned it off.
“OK, let’s round up all the lanky guys with ear piercings and question them until we have our man!”
Micah and Ethan just gave me a look.
“Yeah, I know, no dice.”
“We can at least be alert,” Micah said. “We can pay close attention to people in the neighborhood since it’s likely that he will attempt to bury another body here again.”
“Yeah.” I was still disappointed that the lead was so lean but kept telling myself it was better than having no lead at all. I checked my watch and saw that I was running late. As usual. Tielle probably expected me in her office promptly at nine.
I took Luna for a nice long walk then headed out.
* * *
By eleven-thirty I was sitting in Tielle’s office once again basking in her sunny personality. She sat with her hands clasped in front of her and spent a few moments scrutinizing me as though she was trying to figure something out that she wouldn’t be able to if she just asked.
“Two ghost monster attacks within one week,” she finally said. “Very unusual, isn’t it?”
“What? No questions about my failing health? You’re a cold one, Tielle.”
“You’re still alive, I can see that.”
“Ouch, were you hoping to be talking to my corpse instead?”
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “I do not wish to see you dead, Selene. But I am very much tied up by the black and white picture my job paints for me. You’re a known reanimator so the open and closed case is that you are supposed to have your reanimation power stripped. Yet your case is far more involved than anyone would care for it to be. There are too many complications.”
“You’re telling me,” I muttered, leaning back in the chair. “I guess what you’re saying is you don’t have the luxury of liking me because you’re not supposed to. Even though I’m just a dying girl who was born with a power I didn’t ask for that you get paid to take away from me, which will either kill me or make me go insane.”
Tielle’s eyes widened, and I flashed her a big smile. “But anyway, yes, there were two ghost monster attacks in a short span of time, what does that have to do with me?”
“You were present at the scene of both incidents.”
“So? You think I’m some common denominator as to why they happened? Are you serious? How could I have possibly done that?”
“I never said you made it happen. But your presence at both scenes makes me wonder exactly what is going on. The media is having a field day making their own connections to you and the ghost beasties. The call to have you detained is stronger than ever. It’s a small blessing that there were no deaths between both incidents, although there are probably going to be several people who will never walk again.”
“You call no deaths only a small blessing? Wow. But anyway, it seems pretty clear that what happened is that two hideout ghosts manifested into beasties, and I happened to be nearby. And if you were thinking as thoroughly as a woman in your position should be, you’d realize that Ilyse and Renton were also present both times. Did you call them in here to talk to them too?” The look on her face clearly said that she had not thought about anyone other than me. Because of course only I could be the criminal. I rolled my eyes.
“I had nothing to do with those beasties, are we done now?” I started to get up.
“You have not been staying close to Andrew.”
I sighed and sat back down.
“Do I need to reiterate how important it is that you not let him turn into a ghost monster? Unlike the two you just encountered, we will not be able to get rid of Andrew’s beastie!”
“I know, I know,” I said. “Look, I completely get how serious it is, but I have had a lot going on and haven’t found time to fit Andrew onto my plate.”
“Andrew should be one of the most important things on your plate,” Tielle said. Her severe expression made me feel like I was a poorly behaved child she had little patience to deal with.
“It could only be a matter of time before he manifests,” Tielle said. “You need to stay close to him, Selene. Please do not make this situation even worse.”
“Fine.” I stood up. “I’ll go get cozy with my anchored ghost. Hope it puts a smile on your face, would be an unexpected, but welcome change for your lips I’m sure.” I walked out without waiting to hear if she had anything more to say and headed to Andrew’s office. His smile seemed like it had been waiting for me to walk through the door. He came and slid his hands over mine.
“Selene, it feels like I have not seen you in quite a long time, I’ve missed you.” One of his hands moved up to cup my cheek, and I had to fight not to flinch away and put a smile on my face.
“I’ve had a lot going on,” I said. Andrew led me over to one of the plush chairs in front of his desk, and I sat down while he perched on
the edge of his desk. A mental image of one of the many times he and I had sex on that desk flashed through my mind. Those memories just made me feel unsettled now that I knew what it was like to be with an amazing man like Micah. I hated that I wasted so much of myself on Andrew.
“I feel better when you’re around,” Andrew said. “I’ve been driving by your house every day just to feel your presence closer to mine but you have not always been there.”
I frowned. He said that so casually it was disturbing. I squirmed a little.
“You’ve been driving by my house?”
“I want to be close to you.” He still held one of my hands and rubbed his thumb in slow circles over my palm. “I feel very drawn to you but have been trying to let you have space given all that you are dealing with. But oh Selene, I would be around you all the time if I could.”
I was about to be repulsed by his words when I remembered something Micah said a while back when he first explained that I could anchor ghosts. He said the ghosts would be drawn to me because of the stability I could give them to remain in the living world. So maybe that, plus Andrews existing feelings toward me was what made him act like this. I swallowed the repulse down. His obsession was only partially of his doing. Fantastic.
“Well…um, along the same vein as being close to me, I wanted to know if you would like to have dinner me sometime.” If possible, his smile became even wider.
“I would love that,” he said warmly. “It was my intention to ask you to dinner, you just beat me to it. I know you and Micah are…whatever you are…but I love that you are willing to give me another chance. I know I was awful to you, but this time I will be better.”
“Andrew, you’re aware that you’re a ghost, right?” I couldn’t help but say. “You’re anchored, yes, and you wear energy runes to remain tangible, but you are in fact…dead. How much of a relationship do you think we could ever have?” I wasn’t saying the right things, but the fact that I was even in this situation was so ludicrous I couldn’t help it.