“I’m putting you on speaker with Sedge,” Saskia said.
There were a few quiet words exchanged on the other end, and then Sedge’s rumbling voice was added to the conversation. “A domovoi. And he tried to kill you?”
He did get right to the point. Ametta nodded even though he couldn’t see her. “Yes.”
“Did you try to harm Lucky?”
“No.” Ametta gasped, appalled at his question.
“Grandfather doesn’t think Mett is good enough for me,” Lucky put in.
“This is not how domovoi act. They are protective house spirits,” Sedge stated. “Are you certain that’s what this Grandfather is?”
“Yes, they’re certain. I knew exactly what it was when Mett told me.” Saskia’s tone cut sharp.
Their back-and-forth continued.
“It could be a demonic entity—”
“It’s been with Lucky’s family for generations protecting them.”
“Still it could be—”
“It’s a fucking domovoi! Now think of a way to get rid of it.”
Ametta and Lucky exchanged an amused look at the vehemence of the argument happening on the other end of the line. It was like Saskia had been married to Sedge for years.
Sedge cleared his throat. “So if the domovoi is acting this way, what is the kikimora doing?”
“The what?” Ametta frowned at her phone.
“The domovoi’s wife. Saskia didn’t tell you about that?”
Saskia huffed. “I didn’t remember that he had a mate. It’s not like I ever had to deal with one. Azarius mentioned domovoi once in my training.”
“So you’re saying there are two ghosts? My family only ever talked about one.” Lucky scratched his chin as his lips thinned in a hard line.
“Ghost isn’t the right term. They were never human. They’re spirits, attaching themselves to a house and protecting the family that lives there. They are free to come and go, but they mostly stay in the house.” Sedge explained. “The domovoi might look human—”
“He didn’t look at all like a human to me.” Ametta shivered with the memory of the hideous creature.
“You saw it? When?” Saskia jumped in.
“When he tried to choke me. I shifted and tried to fight, but he was stronger.” And Ametta had wanted to go back to the house? She must have lost some brain cells when he strangled her. “He looked more like an animal.”
“That was the kikimora. It makes sense that the female is the one attacking—”
“Hey!” Saskia cut off Sedge.
“The domovoi and kikimora balance each other out. Both protective, but one good and one mischievous. In Lucky’s case, the domovoi would take on his traits since he is the head of the house. The kikimora must act as the mother, and since there is no female in the house, she is in her primal state.”
Two spirits. Great. Ametta listened to Sedge talk. It was the most she had ever heard him say. It made sense the kikimora was in a primal state. The bitch was feral!
“But I have never heard of a domovoi or kikimora trying to kill someone.” Sedge finished.
“I feel so special.” Ametta groaned and ran her hands through her hair, resting her head forward on them.
“Could it be because of the impending reno?” Lucky rubbed Ametta’s back.
“No.” Sedge and Saskia replied at the same time. Ametta could imagine them glaring at each other for it.
“Could it be that the kikimora has the hots for Lucky?” Ametta dropped her hands and shrugged her shoulders when Lucky gave her a skeptical look. It was possible that even house spirits could appreciate the beauty of the man.
“No. You are the only new thing in the house. It must be something you did.” Sedge didn’t say it harshly, but Ametta gnashed her teeth.
“I didn’t do anything.” Ametta wracked her head for something, anything that might have triggered the kikimora’s ire. “I haven’t even officially started the reno. I praised the house. I love that place. Sure, I pointed out that it needed a new layout and paint and a new backyard fence. An elk got in and was eating the plants. Maybe that pissed off the spirit.”
“An elk?” Sedge’s tone tensed.
“Could it be?” Saskia mused.
Be what? A wild animal in the backyard. Nothing uncommon about that in Alaska.
“When did you first see the elk?” Sedge’s voice seemed closer to the phone.
“It was Mett who first saw it and pointed it out to me.” Lucky looked to Ametta, and she nodded.
“I saw it the first night I was there.”
“It’s a totem.” When Sedge said it, everything suddenly made sense. The kikimora went batty because of the totem.
And that meant there was a token nearby. Ametta could finally help. Her family wouldn’t think her useless in the hunt when she acquired the first totem.
“Great!” Ametta grinned at Lucky. “We’ll just go back to the house and get the token then.”
“Don’t you dare go back to that house, Mett!” Saskia growled. “You wait. Sedge and I will fly in tomorrow.”
Ametta lifted her chin. “The elk is right there in the backyard. It’ll be easy—”
“Nothing is easy when it comes to the totems. Wait for us.” Sedge ended the call.
A hundred foul words bubbled up her throat, but Ametta swallowed them. They didn’t think she could handle this. She wouldn’t be treated as inept.
“I see those wheels spinning. Don’t even think about it, babe.” Lucky pinned her with his intense eyes. “Both of us need to rest and recover. We might be shifters, but smoke inhalation—”
“You don’t think we could get the token?” She folded her arms and dared him to tell her that they were not capable of doing this one thing.
Lucky sighed. “If not for the spirits, yes. But right now we need to rest.”
Stupid kikimora. Ametta would find some way to deal with the feral spirit if she got in her way. She was not useless.
“Fine.” She lay down, scooting as much as she could under the blankets, and turned her back to him. “I’m going to sleep.”
“Mett.” Lucky placed a hand on her leg. Maybe if she let him hold her, kiss her, it would chase away all the warring emotions inside of her. But he agreed with Saskia and Sedge.
“Good night.” Ametta closed her eyes. There would be no more conversation tonight. And tomorrow, she would get the totem herself.
Ametta slept longer than she anticipated, but it was the first solid sleep she’d had since coming to the island. She could take in a deep breath without the burning edge inside her lungs and throat, and with the fact there was a totem in Lucky’s backyard, her energy zinged through the roof.
“I’m going to walk over to the store and pick up food for breakfast. You want to come?” Lucky sat on the bed beside hers and pulled on his boots.
She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I want to shower. I don’t think I’m ever going to get the smell of smoke out of my hair.”
He smiled and stood, leaning over to place a kiss on the top of her head. “A little smoky, but it will come out.” As he fetched his coat, he paused and peered at her over his shoulder. “You sure you’re all right?”
“Look, I slept in a creaky bed and you snore. I was almost killed in a fire, and there’s a crazy spirit trying to murder me. Plus, I smell. All right isn’t the right term, but I think I will be. And a shower will be a good first step because I’m not going out in public looking or smelling like this.” She flashed him a grin. If only she could shoo away his intuition. He knew her too well. Hopefully he banked on her vanity this morning.
His lips curled up as he leaned against the doorframe. “You need a hand in the shower?”
Ametta almost laughed. He believed her. She made a shooing gesture. “Go on. Give a lady her privacy. Goodness knows there’s very little of it in here.”
Lucky left with a chuckle. She listened to him tromp down the stairs and exit the building before she sprang up
and hurried to put on her borrowed boots. She didn’t like to lie to him. In fact, she prided herself on being honest with people. Something that was easy except when it came to him.
Why couldn’t she tell him she never wanted to see him again? It would simplify her life to close the door on him for good. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. It wasn’t the truth. She liked when he brought her lunch and made her laugh with a story about his wild years or one of his firefighting buddies. The flowers, the sweet notes, and the way he looked at her. Such hunger and admiration.
He was going to hate her for doing this.
She paused. Maybe she should wait for Saskia and Sedge. Have breakfast with Lucky and let him make her laugh, make her feel safe and wanted.
Damn it all. She was leaving Alaska soon. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. She would not stop going after her dreams. She would not fail.
And she wouldn’t let anyone stop her from getting that totem. She could do this.
Ametta scrambled to find the keys to Lucky’s truck. Once she did, she pulled on Lucky’s fireman coat and ran down the stairs to burst out the door. She hopped in to the driver’s seat and jammed the key into the ignition.
Her hand shook. Once she drove away, there was no turning back. She’d hurt his feelings by not trusting him and calling Saskia for help, but this time, she’d truly be breaking his trust.
She leaned her head forward until her forehead touched the steering wheel. Go. Drive. Get the token. Prove to everyone she was valuable.
And completely lose Lucky.
Why was this so hard? Her dreams had always come first. Look at the success she had at just twenty-five years of age. That was because she let nothing stand in her way.
Her heart thumped as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. Lucky had been in her life for not quite three months. How was the thought of him hating her making her so unsure?
Start the truck. Drive.
Ametta opened the door and slid out. She sat on the edge of the frame and stared down at the road. Kicking at a dirty clump of snow, she leaned against the door.
Wind blew against the front of the truck and carried Lucky’s footsteps to her. They picked up pace as he drew nearer. Bags rattled in his hands.
“What are you doing?” He stood in front of her. The weight of his gaze rested heavily on her.
Letting out a long breath, Ametta rose, took the bags from him, and stuffed them into the front. “I’m waiting for you. Get in and drive.”
She hopped up and scooted to the passenger’s side. Fastening her seatbelt, she peeked at him as he sat in the driver’s seat. His lips thinned as he stared at the steering wheel for way too many seconds. Then he closed his door and started up the truck.
She let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding.
“I almost thought you’d be gone by the time I got back.” Lucky ran a hand through his hair and turned his head so that their eyes met. “Thank you for waiting for me.”
Mush. Absolute mush. How a few words from that man could make her stomach do flips. Biting her bottom lip, she didn’t trust herself to speak at the moment. She nodded and looked in the direction of his house.
Lucky put the truck into drive. His grip tightened on the wheel. “You know just how dangerous this is, right?”
“I know. But I’m just going for the totem. I won’t bother the kikimora if she doesn’t bother me.” She waited for a lecture or for him to state she was not to leave his side for one second, but anxiety ate at her when he didn’t say anything until they neared the driveway to his home.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if something happened to you.” His voice rolled quietly over the sound of the engine. “If…” He swallowed. “If the spirits hurt you, I will tear down that house, the island, the world for you.”
“I’ll be careful.” Ametta laid a hand on his arm and gave it a small squeeze. “But if you tear down a Cremaschi house, I will kick your ass.”
Lucky snatched her hand and kissed it, holding it in his own. “I bet you would. And it kinda turns me on.”
“Pervert.” She smirked. It turned her on too.
All naughty thoughts fled when the truck suddenly died. Not splutter or jolt. All signs of life gone.
“Fuck.” Lucky tried the ignition a few times and sighed. “I guess someone doesn’t want us to come back to the house.”
Ametta opened her door. “We walk then.”
There would be no turning back. But no matter what happened, at least Lucky would be by her side.
With the oversized boots and clothes, Ametta found moving through the snow proved much more difficult than she intended. It wasn’t even deep snow. Nothing but a few inches. If she’d been in her polar bear form, she’d been there and back already.
Her skin didn’t feel right either. Having slept in a strange bed and the smell of the fire still clinging to her, she felt like she’d shifted into someone else’s body.
“Let’s go around to the backyard. Avoid the house completely,” Lucky suggested and led them to the right off the driveway and into the trees.
“Already planning on doing just that.” And then maybe after they’d retrieved the totem, the kikimora would have calmed down and Ametta could change into her own clothes. There was a big soaker tub upstairs too. Oh, that sounded so wonderful at the moment.
“So what do we do when we get there? I don’t expect the elk will just hand the token over to us.” Lucky marched through the snow, leaving big footprints behind him. Easier for her to step in and follow.
“Why wouldn’t it? If I’d known that it was a totem before, I would’ve gone into the backyard. The elk looked at me every time. I think it wants to give me the token.” She’d dismissed it when the animal had stared at her because she was a bear, but the elk hadn’t run. It was just waiting for her. “Like the owl left the totem for Kinley, and the fox, well, Sedge would’ve caught it eventually.”
Both times it should’ve been easy for the others to obtain the tokens, but Kinley had a giant to deal with, and Sedge and Saskia were attacked by evil gnomes. All of which sounded ridiculous in her head. Then, to add to the fact, she’d been choked by a house spirit’s furious wife.
Ametta spotted the backyard fence, and her heart sped up. This was it. She’d get the first token.
She picked up her pace and paused only when Lucky stopped to open the gate. He gave her a small smile, but tension radiated from him.
Stepping into the backyard was like entering a new realm. No birds chirped, and the cold breeze didn’t swirl away from the fence. No prints marked the snow. It was pristine.
Too loudly the snow crunched under her boots. Ametta scanned the back of the yard, but the elk wasn’t there. Did it leave? No. They couldn’t be too late.
Oh God, what if Sedge and Saskia were wrong? They’d come out there to find a totem that didn’t exist and risked the wrath of the kikimora because she left the safety of the salted firehall. Panic rippled through her and made her want to scream.
“Ametta,” Lucky whispered her name.
She twisted to look at him, and he pointed toward the house. She swallowed as she slowly turned. Oh no. No, this couldn’t be happening.
The elk huffed out a big breath, which misted thickly around his snout. His nostrils rippled and tail flicked. He stared at Ametta with an unblinking gaze.
He stood in front of the open French doors.
The stately animal turned and walked into the house. The doors shut behind him.
“Fuck.” Lucky rumbled and rubbed a hand over his face.
“Clearly we can’t avoid the house.” And the spirits. Ametta took in a deep breath and lifted her head.
“You are not going in there.” Lucky shook his head. “I’ll go get it myself.”
She put her hands on her hips and, feeling like a petulant child in the oversized coat, crossed her arms. “We are going in. We can’t let the token get away. He wants us to go in there.”
“No—”
“Stop arguing right now. Each time the totem appeared, it was a test. It’s testing us right now. More particularly, I’m guessing it’s testing me since you aren’t afraid of going in the house and I am.”
He huffed, his jaw tightening and twitching. “Dammit. All right. But you stay with me the entire time.”
No way was she going to let them get separated. She nodded and hooked her arm through his. “Fine by me.”
Her stomach clenched as they approached the house. And even though she’d seen the elk standing right at the doors, no evidence of it marked the snow. She wondered if it even needed an open door to get inside. And why it truly wanted her to go in.
To prove herself. Not just to the elk, but to her family and to Lucky. To herself.
She gripped his arm a little tighter when he reached out with his free hand to open the double doors. She couldn’t see within because of the misty windows. Cold air rushed out over them.
That wasn’t right. It was damn freezing outside. Inside was…
“What the hell?” Lucky cursed as he stepped over the threshold.
Inside was transformed. A trio of dark corridors stretched out before them. It shouldn’t even be possible with the layout of the house. The décor no longer had those horrid 1970s patterns, but the rich colors suggested they might be the original ones. Cremaschi did like his bold reds, greens, and blues. Except the brightness of the color was dulled by a layer of frost.
Had the elk done this? Or the spirits?
Ametta pressed against him as she entered. Would the kikimora lash out at her? Or was she luring her deeper into the house so her prey could not get away?
When nothing happened, Ametta waited nearly thirty seconds before taking another step. “Let’s go right. The kitchen.” Or at least, it should be. With all the sharp knives. She nudged Lucky in the opposite direction. “Left first.”
“Doesn’t matter which way. We’ll go through the house methodically.” Lucky led the way into the left corridor and ran his hand along the wall to find the light switch. He flicked it on and several lamps lit with dim lights along the wall several dozen feet until the hall curved out of sight. “This isn’t possible.”
Shattered Spirit (Totem Book 4) Page 6