Her face grew pale. My golden ribbon of will snapped out and wrapped around her arms holding her in place. Her eyes grew wide as she realized her mistake. I moved to stand in front of her, pulled the vial out, and opened it. She tried to dodge me but I held her face in my other hand, forcing her to open her mouth. I poured the holy water down her throat. The woman fell unconscious. The ghost was thrown out of the poor woman. I let the living woman go and grabbed the bitch in a thick ribbon. She struggled as running footsteps came into the alley.
"We're going for a ride." I dropped down to the Veil, dragging her with me. This time it didn't hurt. No cuts, no scratches, no resistance. It wasn’t bad. I landed in the Veil and let go of the soul quickly. I didn't need to hold onto her anymore. The vines of the Veil were already wrapping around her and draining her of all the extra energy. She screamed long and loud. When it was over, she looked like a normal person. Except that hint of madness was still in her eyes. She took a step toward me. I dropped my barriers a little and conjured a blade in my hand. She stopped.
"This is the Veil," I told her. "You have a choice. Go jump into the abyss and be unmade, or move on."
She spat at me. "I'm not going anywhere."
I grinned. "You will. Or when I come back, I'll make the choice for you." A complete bluff, but it got the desired effect. Her eyes grew wide as she took a step back. I raised my barriers, the sword in my hand dissipated. When I started to pull myself out of the Veil a ball of gold light was already coming down from the Way.
I opened my eyes to two worried faces and one pissed off face. Isaac and Miles relaxed when they saw I was back. Zeke on the other hand...
"What the fuck did you guys think you were doing?" he bellowed, his eyes burning. "Are you fucking trying to get yourself killed?"
“Zeke...” I was getting tired of this argument.
“You just took off,” he snapped.
I was about to answer when the woman on the ground groaned. Ignoring Zeke and his question, I went to her and helped her to her feet.
"What happened?" she asked, holding her head.
"You were mugged but we scared him off," I lied. It's not like I could tell her she was possessed by a ghost.
She looked around the alley, her eyes grew wide. "Where's Sebastian?"
Miles stepped forward. "A couple of our friends took him somewhere to cheer him up." He reached down and held out his hands. "Let’s get you back to him."
She seemed to trust Miles as she let him pull her to her feet. She half leaned on him as he helped her start out of the alley. We fell into step behind them. I could feel the rage radiating from Zeke like heat off the desert sand. Though he stayed silent all the way back to the street where we left the kid.
We found Sebastian on Isaac's shoulders playing a game with Asher. It was cute. The woman ran to the boys. Sebastian spotted his mother and started crying. Isaac brought him down to her. She clutched him to her, tears streaming down her face as she kissed his cheeks over and over.
We were about to leave when she turned to us. "Thank you. Thank you for taking care of him, thank you."
"No problem." Asher rubbed the back of his neck. Isaac's face turned pink.
"I don't remember what happened but... thank you," she said again before turning and disappearing into the crowd.
"Should we have warned her to wear salt?" I asked absently.
"I don't know," Miles sighed.
Everyone started walking back to the hotel. Zeke was eerily quiet the entire way.
I didn't bother to even try to go to sleep. When we reached the hotel suite I expected Zeke to yell at me for going after the woman. But he didn't. Instead, he quietly went to his room and didn't come out the rest of the night. I flipped the channel and tried to find something to watch for the fiftieth time. Nothing. I missed Hades. The bed felt big and empty without him. I threw my remote down on the bed and dropped to my side.
What was I doing? I needed to figure my shit out. How was I going to fix this mess without everyone hating me? I needed to tell all of them about each other. Or I needed to tell all of them that I wasn't interested. My chest ached deeply. Maybe that was what was best? Make them all think I wasn't into anyone?
“What’s wrong?” Claire asked as she popped through the door.
“Nothing.” I grumbled.
Claire hopped onto the bed and sat next to me with her legs crossed under her. “Baloney.”
I sighed. “It’s the guys.”
She smiled. “You’ve got a crush on one!”
“Shhh,” I began to whisper. “They can hear you now.”
She covered her mouth. “Oops.”
“Asher wants to date me. So does Isaac. And, well, I don’t know what Zeke wants but… we’ve kissed,” I explained as quietly as possible.
Her eyes grew wide. “Whoa. Okay, as soon as you said Isaac I was in over my head.”
I snorted. “That’s how I feel most days.”
“Don’t you have any other friends?” she asked, cringing.
I nodded. “I could call Jake.”
“You might want to try that,” she suggested. “’Cause, I never even hit puberty.”
I met her eyes. “Does it bother you?”
“Not really.” She shrugged. “But, I’ve been dead a long time, I moved on. I’m okay now.”
Guilt knotted my stomach. “Do you ever get angry that you’re here? That I pulled you back?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. It’s not great but I’ve gotten to prank a bunch of people while I’ve been here. It’s been fun.” Her eyes met mine. “Though, one day, I’ll have to go back.”
My eyes burned at only the thought of it. “I know. Is there anything you want to do before that happens?”
She nodded. “I want to talk to Rory.”
I smiled. “I’ll see if I can make that happen.”
She grinned. “Not any time soon. I’ve got more people to scare the pants off of.” She tilted her head to the side. “Lexie, I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?”
“Well, you shine like a light to the dead but that light only reaches so far...” She started to fidget with her fingers.
“Claire, spill it,” I said with a gentle smile.
“I was thinking that maybe I should travel and let other ghosts know that if they want to cross, they should go to Spring Mountain,” she suggested. “I’ll be heading back but, it’d take a while.”
I hesitated. She only just got back.
“Lexie, there’s a lot of kids that want to move on out there,” she reminded me. “We can’t leave them to rot.”
I sighed. She was right. “When are you leaving?”
She shrugged and gave me a hesitant smile. “Now?”
I thought so. “Okay. Be safe.”
She smiled a bright smile. “Of course, I won’t be gone too long.” She got to her feet and walked out through my balcony doors. I watched her go, my heart heavy.
My bedroom door opened. Surprised, I sat up. Isaac walked in with his arms crossed over his bare chest, sweat ran down his skin. His amber eyes were desperate as they met mine. “Red...”
“Isaac?” He didn’t look good. “Are you okay?”
He shook his head as he came to the end of my bed and crawled up the length to drop to the mattress. He snuggled up to me, slid his arm around my waist and rested his head on my upper chest.
I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my cheek against the top of his hair. “Cookie Monster?”
“Bad dream,” he said, shaking in my arms.
“How bad?” I stroked his hair gently.
He squeezed me tighter.
“Are they getting worse?” I dropped my voice to a whisper.
He took deep breaths and let them out slowly. “Not really, they’re still...”
“They haven’t eased up?”
He shook his head then buried his face in the crook of my neck.
“I’m here, Cookie Monster.” I promised.
Chapter 9
July 14th, Saturday Morning, Zeke’s Birthday
Isaac
I slowly woke up with a soft strand of rosemary scented hair on my nose. I kissed Lexie’s neck then rubbed my cheek against the skin of her back. She felt so good in my arms. I didn’t want to get up. Couldn’t I just stay here? It sounded like a good idea. At least until my bladder told me it wasn’t going to happen.
Cursing myself, I kissed the bare skin of her shoulder before letting her go and climbing out of the other side of the bed. At least I finally got some sleep. I walked to the bathroom still waking up. Maybe I should just crash with her every night until we go home. I did like the idea but that might make the guys think something was up. And she wasn’t ready for that.
Rubbing my eyes, I walked into the bathroom. I get she’s worried but– my foot landed on something squishy. I jumped back, my heart in my throat. A black snake was on the floor of the bathroom. I almost slammed the door shut only it hadn't moved an inch after I stepped on it. I eyed it. About six inches long with black scales and several yellow lines running down its back. It was a fucking garter snake and it was dead. I cursed. Muttering under my breath, I crept back into her room and grabbed one of the bags for the ice bucket in her room. I went back into the bathroom, picked up one of Lexie's unused wash cloths and picked the dead snake up. I put the snake in the bag then knotted the top. I tossed it into the garbage can before going into the bathroom.
When I came back out, Lexie was still asleep which wasn't surprising. The light from sunrise was just coming in the balcony doors splashing orange and gold across her face. I moved back over to her side and squatted down to her level, reaching out I brushed the hair from her face.
Her eyes opened half way, she gave me a sleepy smile. “Hey...”
"Hey." I kept my voice soft. She didn't need to get up for a couple of hours.
"How'd ya sleep?" she mumbled as her small hand slid out from under the blankets to find mine.
"Great. The best sleep I’ve had since we came home." I squeezed her fingers. “Can I crash in here with you tonight?”
“Hmm?” Her eyes were still more than half asleep.
I was asking her to think too much this early in the morning. “Go back to sleep, Red.”
She smiled as her eyes closed. I leaned down kissed her cheek before heading out her door.
When I stepped into the living room, Asher was watching me from the kitchen with a coffee mug in his hand. His gaze went from me to Lexie's closed bedroom door, then back to me. Questions were thick in the air. I didn't bother to explain. It wasn’t anything new that one of us crashed with her. I headed for my room to change into my gym clothes.
"Is Ally getting up?" Asher asked, his voice almost angry. Something was up his ass this morning.
"She's still asleep," I answered then went into my room. What was with him?
Zeke
Cursing under my breath, I left the gym on the first floor of the hotel. Another night without sleeping, another night full of coffee and bad infomercials. I ran my hand down my face. Coffee, I needed coffee.
Isaac, in his own gym clothes, stepped out of the stairwell and almost ran into me. “How's the gym?"
"Not enough free weights but it'll still work." I turned to head back to the suite.
"Zeke, um, can I talk to you?" he asked, his voice uncertain.
I turned back to him. His face was pale and he was practically bouncing on his toes. Fuck. Miles had warned me. I was too tired for this shit... I nodded and gestured to the door that led out to the pool courtyard. This early it should be empty.
We sat in a couple of patio chairs in a corner as far from the door as we could be.
Isaac swallowed hard and forced himself to look me in the eye. "What did I say in Boulder?"
My gut knotted. My hands clenched and a wave of exhaustion rolled over me. I didn't want to talk about this and Miles had fucking known it too. "You didn't say anything. The demon did."
His shoulders relaxed a little. "What did the demon say?"
Shit. I took a breath and told him the highlights verbatim. He grew paler. Then slightly green. By the time I was done, he was puking in the bushes. I waited until he was done, there was nothing else I could do.
When he straightened, tears ran down his face. His fingers dug into his scalp as he turned back to me. "I'm sorry, man. I’m so fucking sorry."
I sighed. Be patient, he needs understanding not a smack upside the head. "Isaac. It wasn't you."
His fingers dug in even more as he shook his head. “That is so fucked up.” He couldn't even look at me.
I heaved myself to my feet and walked toward him.
He took a step back, still shaking his head. "You... how the fuck can you talk to me at all? How can you fucking even stand here?" Tears continued streaming down his face. I hated this. I would rather never have told him but Miles said he needed to know.
"If it had been you, yeah, I would have beat the shit out of you," I said without a qualm. “But it wasn't.”
His arms crossed over his stomach as if to stop himself from being sick again. “How can you fucking say that?” His face was full of disgust and it was all aimed at himself.
I growled. I hated this emotional shit. “’Cause you're my fucking brother,” I snapped. “I've known you since we were ankle biters. I know when I'm talking to you and you weren't in there!” I took a breath and let it out slowly. The tears were less, that was good. Right? Shit, I was fucking useless at this crap. Where was Lexie when we needed her?
I grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him close enough that I could lower my voice. "Is there anything it could have said to Ethan that was worse than that?"
He wiped his face and thought about it. It was almost a minute before he shook his head.
“If me, an asshole with massive rage issues, can get past that shit... then why wouldn't your brother?” I managed through clenched teeth. “You are closer to him than anyone. And he needs you just as much as you need him.”
“He's being such a dick,” he muttered.
“By not talking to him, so are you.” I let go of the back of his neck and stepped back. There, that was all I had. Isaac took deep breaths and let them out slowly. When he was calm again, he didn't seem to know what to say.
I started for the door to the hotel. "Come on, shithead. Your breath reeks."
Lexie
I was eating breakfast with Asher, Miles and Ethan when the morning news came on. Over eighty people were hospitalized overnight, every one of them with the same symptoms and no cause. The only connection being each of them visited a public area in the last twenty-four hours. Rioting had broken out on the west side of town, though those arrested had no recollection of the events. The Center for Disease Control was warning residents to avoid restaurants and bars until the source of the illness was discovered.
"That's them, isn't it?" Ethan asked as we all gaped at the screen.
"It has to be the council, they did something," I told them, still stunned by it. These were people, normal people who were just living their everyday lives. And the council didn't give a damn.
"That is fucked up," Ethan bit out.
Miles left the kitchen and stood beside me. "Do you think Evelyn and her group could do something?"
"I can call but she's getting close to having her babies," I muttered. "And it's the Witch’s Council, they're supposed to unite the magic users but I don't think they meant like this."
"A call might be a good idea," Asher pointed out.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket as I headed out onto the balcony to make the call.
"What?" Atticus barked into my ear.
"Hey, it's Lexie. Where's Evie?" I asked, not beating around the bush.
"She's in labor at the moment," he announced, his voice strained. "What do you need?"
"Who is it?" Evelyn's voice was breathless.
"The Necro." He brought the phone back to him
. "Now's not a good time."
"I'm sorry but the Witch’s Council is starting a fight with non-council magic users in New Orleans. And now normals are getting hit by it," I announced.
There was a long silence where only another man's voice could be heard.
"Evie, your vitals are excellent," a deep voice said. "Just keep up your breathing exercises. Do you want anything?"
"No, no, I'm alright, Zahur," Evie answered, her voice strained but calm. "But if you could give Atticus a sedative, I'd appreciate it."
"What do you mean, a fight? And how are normals getting involved?" Atticus growled, his voice becoming more and more strained. "Look, Evelyn's in labor, I don't have time for Witch’s Council bullshit!"
"Give me the phone, Atty." Evelyn's voice was firm.
"This can wait until after-"
"Obviously it can't, otherwise Lexie would already have hung up the phone," she countered.
Atticus was cursing as he handed the phone over.
"Lexie, how are you?" Evelyn asked in a calm voice.
"Forget me, you're in labor." I smiled. "How are you?"
She chuckled. "I'm watching Atticus quickly lose his mind, it's rather entertaining."
I snorted. "Can you take video?"
"Hmm, I’ll get Ranulf on it. Now, what's happening with the Witch’s Council?"
I explained quickly what I knew. It didn't take long and Evelyn only had to do her breathing exercises twice.
"Those wretches," she said, her voice sharp. "They know darn well they aren't following the spirit of the treaty." She sighed. "Lexie, under the last treaty we can't interfere."
"Shit," I bit out. "What about them attacking normals?"
"Have any of them died yet?" she asked, her voice strained.
"Not yet."
"Dang it, we can intervene if a normal dies. I know it's ridiculous but they insisted on the addition two treaties ago. I didn’t think much of it then but now… Listen, we can help the local magic users if they call and ask for sanctuary. Then we can protect them without violating the treaty." She started another breathing exercise.
Secrets From the Grave (The Veil Diaries Book 6) Page 14