The afternoon sun on my black sweater had me sweating, which was made worse by the unnatural heat wafting down the staircase. It almost knocked the breath out of me. Heat didn’t accompany hauntings, but I knew what did—demons.
Roe and Ebony knew this as well as I did, so why hadn’t they gotten the hell out before attempting anything? I continued past the narrow entryway and into the vast foyer.
The last time I’d stepped into this house, it had been neglected, falling apart and contained a spirit intent on haunting the place. A real estate agent hired me to remove the pesky ghost, which turned out to be a former neighborhood man desperate to immortalize himself in the bad history of this address. He’d been easy to remove, which was why I’d thought this location would be a perfect place for training. Especially since it was now someone’s home, and judging by the impressive furnishings, that someone had good taste.
Crying filled my ears, and for a second I thought it was a ghost. My hand automatically went to my gun, until I spotted Jana and Claire huddled together, sobbing uncontrollably. They’d both acted the same way last week when we’d lost Juliet to phantasms. Roe stood to the side, watching a masculine shape kneel on the glossy wooden floor. It took me a few seconds to register it was Conrad Hicks, the vampire hunter. What was he doing here?
“Roe…” I closed the distance between us, not taking my eyes off Conrad. He was cradling Ebony’s frail body in his arms like a pale, deflated balloon. It reminded me of the way he’d held Ebony when she was attacked by vampires. I hated to compare the similarities, but why else would there be a puddle of blood on the floor? Narelle was hunched over on the other side, holding one of Ebony’s skinny wrists.
“I’m so sorry,” Roe said, stepping in front of me to block my path.
“What happened to Eb?” I asked, feeling my knees buckle. “And what are they doing here?”
“I called them after I called you,” Roe answered. “I thought a vampire hunter could figure out who did this, while the vampire might be able to help with insight.”
His words took a while to sink in. In broad daylight inside a haunted house, my best friend was dead in the arms of the man she couldn’t remember. While his vampire lover attempted to help. This is surreal.
“How did the vamp get here?” While heavy burgundy drapes hung in front of the parlor windows blocking out the sun, that didn’t explain how Narelle could navigate during the day.
Roe shrugged. The vampire grinned awkwardly, but watched the hunter. Conrad ignored all of us. He was too focused on Ebony’s motionless body.
“How did this happen?” I asked again. “It was supposed to be a routine haunting. It’s the only reason I passed it onto you guys.” I should’ve come with them.
“We’re not sure how it happened,” Roe answered. His straight hair framed his thin face, and he was dressed like a man intent on spending the day in front of a fireplace with a sherry and pipe. Some of the wrinkles caused by being the Collector for the Spook Catcher Council had smoothed away since he’d escaped. “But you can’t blame yourself.”
“Didn’t you guys feel the heat?” I was caught in the middle of a spool, trying to find answers in a hopeless situation. “There’s some pretty heavy demonic activity within these walls. I can feel it.” My skin crawled as a result.
“The temperature changed only moments ago.”
“Roe, just tell me exactly what happened.”
“Everything seemed normal when we arrived. Well, as normal as any site with a disturbance can be,” he said, motioning to our darkened surroundings. “Ebony was handlin’ everythin’ just fine, so I went to scout the rest of the house. When I heard Jana and Claire scream, I raced back downstairs. But it was already too late.”
“She’s not dead.” Even after seeing her, saying the three words scraped my throat.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Roe said, squeezing my shoulder. “We did everything we could.”
“Sierra,” Conrad called.
I looked down and my heart ached. Thick tears were streaming down his unshaven face and his hair was an unfashionable mess. The T-shirt he wore was white, devoid of the usual humorous cartoon characters, but stained with Ebony’s blood. He looked shattered—a shadow of the smart-ass jerk who’d jumped me at the beginning of the year. “I know who did this.” The silver crucifix he usually wore around his neck was missing, probably because he was still banging Narelle.
“Who?” My own voice sounded like someone else’s and my movements felt sluggish.
I glanced at Narelle. The vampire didn’t look affected either way. Her blue hair was spiked in its usual meticulous style, her skin-tight jeans were white and I couldn’t help but notice the drops of blood on them too. Her tattooed chest was barely covered by a denim vest, which made the ink on her arms stand out. When she met my eyes, she shook her head.
“Sierra.” Jana touched my arm and I jumped. “Ebony’s waiting for you.”
“What?” For a moment I had no idea what the girl was saying, so I looked at Ebony’s prone frame, pale as death in Conrad’s arms.
“She said she wouldn’t leave until you got here,” Jana said. “She’s in the kitchen.”
“Oh.” She was talking about Ebony’s spirit. The air rushed out of me and I had to take a moment to let the effects pass, which left me dizzy.
“Are you okay?” Jana asked, stepping forward.
I nodded, meeting Conrad’s watery gaze. “Who did this to her?” I already knew. I’d been trying to avoid the savage fang marks that had ripped the side of Ebony’s neck, but the closer I got, the clearer they became.
“The Lamia,” he replied.
Rima, Ronnie, Sam… My hands drifted to my own throat, which had almost been torn out by the bitch of a creature.
“Are you sure?” I heard myself ask.
He nodded and I turned away. As I did, Narelle said, “I tried, but couldn’t do anything to save her.” I pretended not to hear and kept moving.
I didn’t need directions to the kitchen. So I stepped into the corridor, and felt like a patch of darkness had fallen around me. The bitter cold gripped me so savagely I doubled over. Ice crawled up my limbs, causing a coughing fit until I managed to regulate my breathing. Entering a spirit’s zone was always a cold shock to the system, but with the grief already grabbing hold of me, it was much worse. I sucked in slow, shallow breaths. I didn’t need to add hypothermia to my growing list of problems.
“Hey,” a familiar voice said. “You took your time.”
Did she have to sound so cheerful? Even though her throat had been virtually ripped out, Ebony’s spirit didn’t appear like other trauma ghosts. She was wearing a black T-shirt with a cute white ghost printed on the front. A pair of blue skinny jeans and thick boots completed the outfit. Her long, stringy hair framed her face and hung to her waist with all of the multi-hued dye grown out to the tips. She projected her usual image, but the truth still hit me hard. Her radiance wasn’t natural because it was the ethereal shine of the dead illuminating the corridor.
“I thought you were in the kitchen,” I said, my voice strained.
Ebony shrugged. “Yeah, well, I got tired of waiting.”
“This isn’t happening,” I whispered shaking my head. The face I thought I’d seen in Willow’s necromantic lightshow was Ebony’s. There was no denying it now, no way to pretend. My sister’s reaction had been in response to Ebony’s death.
“I’m sorry, Sierra. I didn’t want to add to your crazy plate, but here we are.”
“You shouldn’t be…” The words stuck in my throat. What I’d wanted to say was, “You shouldn’t be dead. It should be me. I’m the one they want.” The Obscurus was hurting everyone I loved, and now Ebony was gone.
This was the story of my miserable life and the target placed on my back. Ebony shouldn’t be dead, but she was. Sure, spook-catching was dangero
us and filled with life-threatening hazards, but Maya the Lamia had killed her…because of me. I’m Sierra Fox, spook catcher and recipient of some bullshit so-called ultimate power all the crazies wanted, but so far hadn’t done much to improve my life. Papan was still in a coma, Willow still died along with anyone she cared about, and now my best friend was a spook.
I glanced at the Hecate’s Wheel tattoo, the Strophalos symbol that had magically appeared on the back of my left hand. For a stupid gullible moment, I’d thought being marked by a Goddess might actually help me keep those I cared about safe. Who was I kidding?
“Hey, Boss, don’t lose it, okay?”
I met her gaze, trying to keep the sadness from consuming me even as tears slid down my face.
Ebony’s blue-gray eyes were wide and staring into mine. “I’m dead, but we both know it’s not really the end. Not unless I want it to be. So don’t be sad or blame yourself, okay?”
I opened my mouth to tell her she was wrong—this was my fault, and her soul wasn’t free to stay or move on. It was only a matter of time before Maya Anwar claimed her and stripped all the possibilities away. But nothing came out. Not a single word.
“I’m serious. Promise me you won’t be sad, because I’ve still got time on this rock.”
Tears blurred my vision. “I can’t—”
“Promise me.”
I’ll try. To her I said, “How did this happen?”
“Strange that you’re asking how it happened, and not who did it,” she said, frowning.
“Just tell me,” I whispered.
Ebony stared at me for several silent seconds. “The girls and I had everything under control. It was just an angry spirit who wanted vengeance, so I served as bait and the girls captured him. I even managed to send the spook to wherever bad spirits go, when the front door slammed shut, the blinds closed and the lights shorted out.” She rolled her eyes. “You’ll have to tell Willow because it was very horror movie.”
“Ebony, don’t joke about this.” At least she’d taken care of the spook.
“I’m positive I saw Mace materialize out of the only light left inside the house, but before I could do anything, something yanked me out of the circle and bit me. I’m not sure what happened, but both my attacker and Mace were gone by the time I realized I was dead.”
My heart stopped for just a second. Not just Maya, but Mace also had a hand in my friend’s death. He’d already come close to destroying Ebony before, so he’d gotten Maya to finish what he’d started. But what did they gain from killing Eb? Why not kill the other girls and Roe while they were at it?
“Don’t be sad,” she repeated. “There are a few good things that have come out of this.”
I tried not to laugh. Even in death, she was trying to find the bright side. “Oh yeah, what’s that?”
“Well, for one, I managed to banish a spook all by myself.”
“That is great news.”
“And I finally remember Conrad.”
The fog of grief temporarily cleared. “You do?” She’d tried so hard to remember him, without success. Was it possible that in death she’d regained her stolen memories?
“Yeah, as soon as that thing bit me, it was like something snapped inside my brain and everything tumbled out.” Her eyes were glistening. “I had it real bad for him. And he really cared about me too, didn’t he?”
“He still loves you. All you have to do is look at him to see that.”
“We had some great times together. I’m so glad I didn’t die without getting those memories back. I was in love with him. Did you know that?” Ebony flashed a cheeky grin. “Though I don’t regret the sexy times I had with Oren. He’s a good man. I know I told you to chill because the sex between him and me was part of a ritual, but I need to confess something.”
“Do I really want to hear this?”
“Probably not, but I’m going to tell you anyway.” She paused, looked down at the floor between us. “Oren and I started the ritual sex to help me remember, to unlock what Cam did to me. Yeah, I remember that prick too…but anyway, somewhere along the way, we started connecting on a deeper level. The sex turned into something more. He made me happy, makes me feel special. Neither one of us admitted what was really going on even after we stopped doing it inside a magic circle.” She looked me in the eye. “I really care about Oren. I think what I feel for him is love too.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn’t know what to say. The shock of catching my grandfather and best friend in the act had made me ill at the time, but I’d dealt with it by staying out of their business. Now that Ebony was dead, I could at least be grateful Oren had offered her something real after all the shit she’d been through.
I cleared my throat. “I’m glad you found each other.”
“Thanks, that means a lot.” She grinned. “You never did give me the explanation.”
“About what?”
“About Oren being your grandfather.”
“I’m sorry.” I sighed. “It’s a long and boring tale of jealousy, betrayal and love.”
“It usually is.” She chuckled. “Do you think it’s possible to be in love with two people at the same time?”
“It’s possible,” I said, because my grandmother had been in love with my grandfather as well as Oren. Oren seemed to have that effect on women.
“Good, because I’m pretty sure I love them both.”
“Can you see the light?” My voice broke as soon as the question was out in the open. I had to check, even if I knew the Lamia wouldn’t let one of her victims slip away. It was just a matter of time before she returned to claim her prize.
Ebony shook her head. “Not right now. Don’t worry. I’ll eventually go to it. Just not yet, I’ve got a few things I want to do first.”
“Are you sure you don’t feel the warmth rising behind you?” I had to get her out of here before Maya arrived. I wasn’t sure if it was possible to beat the Lamia at her own game, but it was worth a try.
She shrugged. “Nope, no light or warmth. Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“It’s not that. Eb, if you don’t go to the light soon, you’re going to be—”
“I won’t become some pesky chaos spirit that you need to banish, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“Ebony, listen to me…” My voice trailed off when her image jolted.
A frown appeared on her pretty face.
“Ebony, seek out the light,” I said, raising my voice.
“Sierra, something’s wrong, I can’t move.”
It’s too late. She’s already here to claim her.
“Give me your hand, don’t let her take—” I reached for my friend but she shambled backwards like a marionette. Maya was laying claim to her soul, just like she’d done to the others.
“What’s going on?” Ebony yelled, already halfway down the corridor leading to the back of the house.
“The Lamia’s going to take you,” I said, and it broke my heart to tell her. “There’s nothing I can do to stop her. I tried to get you to find the light…”
“What?” She flashed out completely.
“Maya’s going to take your soul, Ebony.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She’d become a disembodied voice.
“I’ll save you, I promise!” I sucked in one last freezing breath as I exited the spirit’s zone. I stumbled but regained my balance long enough to race down the dark corridor until I reached the spacious kitchen. Ebony wasn’t there and the cold spot had completely faded, but not the heat.
From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of the blue, slick tail slithering out the back door. Feminine laughter rang in my ears. This wasn’t over. I was going after her.
When I reached the doorway, I spotted a man standing in the backyard. He was dressed in black and wea
ring a bowler hat over white hair. He stared right at me as he tipped his hat. But when I made a move to step outside, there was no one there.
“Where are you going?” Narelle asked, appearing beside me.
I jumped. “Shit.” I should be used to her speedy movements by now, but the blue-haired vampire continually surprised me with her sneaky ways.
She raised an eyebrow, as if waiting for a response. “Well, what did you see?”
“The Lamia that killed Ebony just left,” I said, pointing at the door. “I have to follow—”
“No, I’ll check it out.”
“It’s daylight…” My voice trailed off when she blinked out again.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach and turned away from the open door. The vampire would find nothing. Maya and I had played this game before. The last time we’d done this, she’d killed three girls and stolen two souls. I never did find out what the creature did with their essence after she devoured them, but was now determined to get the answer. She had Ebony’s soul and I wouldn’t let her keep it.
If Mace had been here with her earlier, did it mean Maya had patched things up with the Obscurus after her failed ritual attempt?
I glanced overhead at the light fixtures to make sure Mace wasn’t still in the house. My skin crawled at the thought of him popping in.
“She didn’t move on, did she?”
I looked up and found Roe. I shook my head. “Her soul was stolen by a Lamia.”
“Is there any way of getting it back?”
“Yes, and I’m going to find it,” I said with a sigh. “How did this go so wrong?”
“I didn’t expect any trouble.”
I pressed a hand to Roe’s arm. “This wasn’t your fault. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. The Lamia killed Ebony because she wanted to send me a message.”
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