I’m a lucky, lucky lady.
She glanced at Will again and caught his smile. Dang, she’d thought that louder than she meant to. He’d heard her thought.
“I’m a lucky, lucky guy,” he thought back to her.
Her turn to smile and she suddenly stumbled over her words. He was usually very careful not to distract her during meetings.
When she adjourned the meeting he waited until everyone else left the conference room. Then he leaned in and kissed Kal’s neck, behind her ear. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
“What?”
“For distracting you.” He smiled, which on his handsome face looked amazing. As usual, it melted her insides faster than butter on the sun. What a change from The Great Brooding One, her nickname for him when she first met him.
She kissed him. “Totally forgiven.” She glanced at her BlackBerry to check the time. “Oh, crud. Aidan and I need to get going.” She hurried back to her office where Aidan and Jeff were talking. “You ready?”
“Yeah. Mind if Jeff tags along? I’d like him to start learning this end of the operation.” Today Aidan was wearing one of his atrocious outfits, a turquoise and yellow tropical shirt over an orange and green striped tank top and denim shorts. Completing his ensemble was a pair of black dress socks with white sneakers.
“Not at all.” When Jeff tried to let her have the front seat in Aidan’s car, Kal firmly stood her ground. “It’s a short ride. You sit up front with him.”
Aidan rolled his eyes. “I know that stubborn look, buddy. Give her what she wants.”
Jeff blushed. “Thanks, Kal.”
She smiled as she climbed into the back seat. During the fifteen minute drive, Aidan filled Jeff in about the building and purported supernatural activity. Kal, from her vantage point, loved watching how Aidan would turn and give Jeff his full attention at stop lights. She also loved how much happier Aidan seemed since Jeff’s arrival in Tampa. Even though she’d promised Aidan she wouldn’t play matchmaker and try to speed things along, she didn’t mind shoving Aidan and Jeff together any chance she could.
They had to don hard hats for part of their tour. The fifteen-story building was built in 1938 and had been several things in its long history, from hotel to apartments to offices. It was still going to be an office building, but the current owners wanted to co-op it and modernize the interior while preserving the historical exterior facade. The interiors of the top three floors had already been completely demolished with the next four in various stages of teardown. The bottom floors still housed a few tenants, some who were planning to move into new offices in the upper floors when construction was complete. Most of the reported activity was located in the unoccupied sections of the structure.
The building manager spent an hour with them, pointing out the different hot spots, explaining the building’s history and folklore. Kal would have a researcher attempt to verify as much as they could. Then the manager left them alone to explore on their own for a while.
After he’d left, Kal and Aidan could openly discuss things. Jeff shut off the small video camera he’d used to film the tour. “Well?” she asked, consulting her copious notes.
Aidan shook his head. “I wish we’d brought Purs with us. This place is huge. I’m getting a few things, there were definitely some residual hits in a couple of the places he mentioned, but there’s something else here.”
A chill washed through Kal, even in the warm building. Sometimes she could sense things if there was strong activity, but usually only if Will was in close proximity for her to draw strength from. “What’s here?” she asked.
That got Jeff’s full attention. “Something else?”
Aidan walked around the empty space. This floor had practically no divider walls, had been completely stripped and was awaiting construction. “Don’t freak out, sweet cheeks,” Aidan reassured Kal. “No bad nasties like wraiths or anything.”
She blew out a relieved breath. “Okay.” Her one and only experience with a wraith was more than enough to last her a lifetime.
And because of what that wraith did to Kal, her lifetime would hopefully be an eternity spent with Will Hellenboek.
Aidan closed his eyes and slowly turned around. “Let’s go down a floor. It feels like it’s down there.”
They took the elevator and followed Aidan around. This floor wasn’t completely emptied yet. Kal and Jeff watched as Aidan fingered his tiger’s eye amulet and slowly worked his way around.
When he suddenly stopped, Kal knew he felt something.
“What is it?” Jeff asked. Kal gently touched his arm to silence him.
Aidan stood still, his body rigid, eyes closed. He muttered something under his breath, a long, unintelligible series of words. Then Kal realized they were in another language.
Fifteen minutes later, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “Wow,” he breathed.
“What?”
He looked around as if seeing the place for the first time. “Boys and girls, we’ve got us an intelligent entity.”
“Is that good or bad?” Jeff nervously asked.
Aidan shrugged. “It just is, in this case. It’s not something that can hurt anyone regardless of its intentions. It doesn’t have the ability to take a form strong enough to commit a physical action.”
The hair stood up on the back of Kal’s neck. “So what are its intentions?”
“It doesn’t have any. It’s just existing. I don’t even know if it’s something we’ll be able to get evidence of. We definitely want a lot of coverage on this floor, just in case. EMF and EVPs for sure. Might not catch it on the FLIR.” The thermal imaging camera was great for picking up entities that could show up as pockets of different temperature from the rest of the room.
Another shiver raced through Kal as she made notes. They might have to film over two nights since the place was so large; the building manager had already cleared that if necessary. Frankly, she got the opinion he was looking at their show as free advertising and a way to charge a little extra for renting a space in a “haunted” building featured on TV. Kal would have extra crew and investigators on hand, but Will and Aidan, being the hosts, couldn’t be everywhere at once.
Aidan studied her. “What’s wrong, honey?”
She shivered again. The building felt warm in the humid Tampa summer. “I don’t know.” She finally met his gaze. She recognized that look.
Worry.
That worried her. “Why?” she asked.
He slowly shook his head. “No, don’t panic.” He closed his eyes again and touched his amulet. “It knows we’re here.”
“It?” Kal asked.
Aidan frowned in concentration. “He.”
Jeff’s eyes widened. “He?”
“Shh,” Aidan softly said.
Kal and Jeff instinctively huddled closer to each other as they watched Aidan. After a few moments, Aidan smiled.
“He likes you.”
“Who?” Jeff and Kal asked together.
“Kal.” Aidan opened his eyes and released his amulet. “He really likes you.”
“Okay, seriously creeped out now.” She hadn’t been creeped out on a location since her wraith possession in Gainesville.
Aidan laughed. “Don’t be. He’s just a kid.”
“What?” Jeff and Kal parroted again.
“You two keep that up, you’re getting nicknamed Frick and Frack. Don’t be upset, Kal. He’s a little boy, maybe nine or ten.”
Kal went from creeped out to wanting to cry. “A little boy? That means he died young, right?”
Aidan sadly nodded. “Yep. He’s sort of unclear about that point. I have a feeling it was probably something like the flu. He remembers being really sick. You remind him of his mom. He misses her.”
A sudden wave of sadness swept through her. “Oh, that poor kid! You were talking to him?”
“Sort of. I didn’t want to freak him out since he’s aware. It’s hard to explain. I was feeling him out. He do
esn’t realize he’s dead. He probably died here and the construction stirred him up. That happens sometimes. It feels like he hasn’t been active for very long. Entities don’t always show up as soon as they die. Sometimes it takes a precipitating event to jog them out of their little supernatural hidey-hole.”
Kal surveyed the construction debris. “Well, looks like it’s usually loud enough here to wake the dead.”
Aidan laughed. “Got that right. Come on, let’s finish going through this place so we can get out of here.”
* * * *
Will noticed Kal’s continuing unease later that afternoon. While Aidan was talking with a client, Will slipped inside Kal’s office and closed the door behind him.
“Spill it, babe. What’s wrong?”
Kal shrugged. “Just a little bothered, that’s all. Nothing you did.”
He rubbed her shoulders. “Then tell me what’s wrong.”
She told him about the entity at the building. Will’s hands slowed on her shoulders and when she tipped her head back to look at him, she saw he was deep in thought.
“What?”
“Maybe I should stick close to the base for this shoot.”
“No. You can’t. I don’t want to have to take two days to film if we don’t need to. Aidan said it’s nothing that can hurt me.”
“Yeah, but you’re freaked out about it.”
“Freaked out and scared are two different things. It doesn’t scare me. If Aidan says it won’t hurt me, I believe him.” She knew from Will’s hesitation he wasn’t convinced. “Go talk to him yourself. Aidan, I mean. Not the ghost. Duh.”
Will silently stared at her in his “I’ll just wait you out” tone of look. She finally gave in.
“If you don’t want me working alone, why doesn’t Jeff sit with me and I can teach him the back end of things?” Will’s hesitation was all the answer she needed. “You want an archdemon with me.”
“Honey, Purs is good at what he does. Aidan’s stronger than him in a lot of ways, but Purson’s sensitive to stuff like that.”
“Grr. Fine. If it’ll make you feel better. At some point you’ll have to take a break so I can get him on camera.”
“That’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that.”
“I could always call Ryan in to help out, you know.”
Will’s face darkened. “Yes,” he said in a neutral tone. “You could.”
“I thought you two were on speaking terms again.”
“We are.” Same chilly neutrality.
“You big baby. All right, fine. Purson it is.”
His mood immediately lifted. “Thanks, babe.” He kissed her. “Besides, you know the other guys aren’t fond of Ryan either, so it’ll be easier on everyone if we leave him out of the equation unless absolutely necessary.”
The next evening, Kal was seated at base with Purson Gibraltar by her side. Gery would work with Will while Jeff worked with Aidan. Kal didn’t like having one less experienced investigator in front of the camera, but it wasn’t a huge sacrifice. If it made Will happy, she’d do it. It’s not like the show would suffer.
Purson sat with his chair precariously tipped back on two legs while he fiddled with a rubber band, twiddling it around his index fingers.
“I’m sorry I’m boring you, Purs,” Kal playfully snarked.
He snorted with amusement. “Will’s just being cautious, kiddo. You know that. Frankly, if Aidan wasn’t worried about it, neither am I.” He leaned forward and the front two legs of his chair safely touched down, much to Kal’s relief. “I don’t blame Will though.” His face darkened. “I guess in his shoes I’d do the same thing after what you went through.”
Purson and Gery had babysat Kal during her wraith possession. While under its control she’d said some pretty horrible, nasty things. That was in addition to nearly killing three men with her bare hands. Purs had never wanted to discuss the incident, obviously not willing to revisit the events.
Kal got the impression he and Gery were still pretty pissed at Ryan over the whole thing.
Purs was a likeable man, albeit the ultimate horndog. Handsome too, with thick brown hair and piercing blue eyes that seemed to look through the very depths of a person’s soul when he stared at them. Kal wasn’t nearly as close to him and Gery as she was to Aidan. Not that she didn’t like them and get along well with them, because she did. While she was comfortable working with them, her bond with them wasn’t as deep.
She didn’t often get a chance to talk alone with Purs. “Can I ask you something?”
He nodded, tipping his chair back again. “Shoot.”
This wasn’t an avenue she’d pursued with him before. Kal felt she could deal with it now. “The thing with the wraith. I heard you and the guys talking. It was like they thought you could see what was going on inside me. Is that true?”
His face darkened as he frowned. “Sort of. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was that had you. It was too deeply embedded.” The rubber band shot out of his hand and disappeared somewhere in the shadows of the room. “I mean, I’m really good at stuff like that, it’s my forte. It’s my strength, seeing things, finding secrets, reading souls. Because of the situation it was neither practical nor comfortable for me to do what I needed to do to figure your situation out.”
“Why?”
“Wraiths are bad news. Usually they’re easy to sense and dislodge.” He reddened, embarrassed, uncomfortable discussing the details. “You know why it latched onto you. That was the shit weasel’s plan.”
The wraith had embedded itself in her soul because she was still a virgin at that point. Kal thought it odd that Purson of all people was even remotely uncomfortable discussing anything sexual, considering his extracurricular habits. “You don’t need to hate Ryan on my account,” Kal said. She didn’t want any of the guys hating Ryan. Not when she understood him a lot better than they did.
“Yeah, I do.” He met her gaze. “All his bullshit all these years about not harming innocents, then he goes and puts you in jeopardy like that. Fucking son of a bitch.”
Kal wanted to distract him from his anger. “So what else can you do? What do you mean by reading souls?”
He stretched his arms over his head and Kal heard his back pop. “Just that. I can burrow in when needed and look at a soul. Even see past lives, communicate with them sometimes. I can influence people, change their minds about stuff. Not everyone, not someone like Ryan, of course. I’m talking humans, some lesser beings, a few weaker archdemons.”
“Past lives?”
“Souls go on and on, babe. They never die. Didn’t you know that?”
“I think there was a chapter in the new archdemon soul mate handbook about that, but I only skimmed it.”
He laughed. “You’re a freaking ballbuster. Just like…” He didn’t finish the statement, but the sudden sadness in his face told her what he’d planned on saying.
Just like Abby.
Purs suddenly became very interested in fine tuning the equipment and refused to revisit the conversation.
An hour after they went dark and officially started the investigation, Kal was nearly ready to toss Purson out of the room. He grew fidgety and kept playing with equipment, throwing off her whole routine. She liked to observe the teams on the monitors during filming and keep an eye on the fixed cameras as well.
After two hours, she’d reached her limit for his distractions. “You. Out.”
Another rubber band he’d been playing with shot out of his hands. “What?”
She pointed at the door. “You’re worse than a five year old strung out on M&Ms. Go send Will down and take his place before I bop you one.”
He looked a little sheepish. “I’m sorry, Kal. You know I don’t like sitting still for too long.”
“I know, and I love you for caring enough to try, but go.”
“Maybe I should wait for Will—”
“Now! I’ll be safe for the ten minutes it takes Will to get down here. In fact,
I need a break to stretch my legs. Go.” She also had to empty her bladder and she didn’t need him babysitting her while she took a leak.
He reluctantly left. Kal breathed in a deep sigh of relief and stretched, her muscles groaning in protest as she did. She thought the world of Purs, but if she didn’t want to bean him she needed him out of her base camp.
Kal grabbed her two-way radio and headed down the hall toward the bathrooms, in the opposite direction Purson went. Between the coffee and water she’d been drinking, she couldn’t hold it. They were set up on the third floor, in an empty corner where tenants had already vacated but no construction had yet occurred because it would disturb the remaining occupants. It was perfect for what they needed, including air conditioned.
The ladies room on this end of the floor only had one working florescent light at the far end, away from the door. That cast the rest of the room in a creepy, dim, flickering glow. She’d be better off with the small flashlight clipped to her belt.
After using the facilities she set her two-way on a little shelf over the sink and washed her hands. A sudden chill swept through her and she looked up when a flash of movement in the mirror caught her eye.
Behind her in the bathroom stood a young boy.
She whirled around and found herself alone.
Kal glanced in the mirror again. He was clearly visible. Red hair, freckles, dressed in what appeared to be white pajamas. Maybe nine or ten years old.
Kal looked behind her. No boy.
In the mirror.
He hesitantly smiled.
With shaky fingers, she grabbed her two-way without taking her eyes off the boy. “Aidan.” She hoped her voice didn’t tremble too much.
After a moment, Aidan’s chipper reply. “Go for Aidan.”
“Where are you?” she whispered.
Now a slight hesitation. This was an open frequency and she knew she had to be careful. If she had her druthers, she’d summon him demon-style, but she couldn’t do that with the film crew around and he knew it. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
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