When Evil Comes to Play

by B. L. Brunnemer

  “Yeah, it’s packed with ghosts,” I admitted. The others cursed. I was about to tell all the souls to get out when Father Andrew made his way through the mass of souls.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Andrew demanded as he finished buttoning his shirt. It wasn’t even tucked in. He must have just woken up.

  I raised my hand. “Yeah... this is my fault. I kinda look like a light to the dead.”

  “They follow her,” Asher added.

  Father Andrew ran his hand over the stubble on his jaw. “We can’t have this many souls hanging around. We can’t even get down the corridor.”

  I grumbled to myself as I stepped out into the hallway and cupped my hands. “Hey, dead people!” I shouted, my voice straining. “Get your asses upstairs and out to the courtyard or no one is crossing over!”

  Father Andrew eyed me, as if I had done something truly offensive, but the dead didn’t think so as they started making their way up the stairs and out of the hallway. My beads continued to burn my skin until they were gone. I let out a deep breath and turned to the guys.

  Ethan’s eyes ran over me as he moved towards me. I hugged him, careful of his bruises.

  “You okay?” he whispered into my hair.

  I squeezed. “Yeah, I’ll live.” I pulled back. “Look, it’s gonna talk and it won’t shut up. The beautiful part is you can sing songs in your head and not pay attention because you’ll be wired, and someone will be listening so you don’t have to.”

  “What did you sing?” Ethan asked.

  I grinned. “Everything from Pink to DeBarge.”

  The guys grinned.

  “The point is, don’t listen. And don’t say a word. It irritates the fuck out of it,” I offered.

  Ethan smirked. “I’m all for that.”

  My grin faded. “Isaac… he’s paler, clammy. It’s like he’s got a fever. So, just be prepared for it.”

  He nodded and leaned down to kiss my cheek. “Thank you for being here,” he whispered against my skin.

  “Always,” I answered before he walked around me and inside. I rubbed my temples; my head was pounding again and I just wanted quiet. But that wasn’t going to happen yet. “Off to ghost land,” I muttered as I started down the hallway.

  “Asher, will you stay with Ethan for now?” Zeke asked. I didn’t hear his answer.

  When I reached the stairs, I cursed before starting to climb. I was exhausted and the last fucking thing I wanted was to deal with the dead. But I didn’t really get a choice anymore. At least it felt that way.

  Father Andrew walked beside me. “What exactly are you doing with the dead?”

  “I’m crossing them over,” I stated. “I’m sure you’ve noticed the dead aren’t crossing on their own anymore.”

  “We have noticed an increase in souls, as well as… disfigured ones,” the priest admitted.

  I sighed. “Yeah, here’s the Cliff Notes version: the Veil is closed and souls can’t cross. I have to cross them myself.” It wasn’t nearly the whole story, but it was enough to get him to understand what he was going to see. We reached the first floor and headed for the courtyard.

  The courtyard was packed with the living and the dead. Templars were everywhere, scattered amongst the souls. They seemed to be waiting just as much as the dead were.

  “Why are they here?” I turned to Father Andrew.

  “Well, this is a rare opportunity to observe what you do,” Father Andrew explained. “Word probably spread you were doing something in the courtyard.”

  “And as the resident witch, I thought it best if I make sure you aren’t doing more harm than good.” A woman walked forward wearing the Templar uniform. Her brown eyes watched me carefully. “I know all about Necromancers and their perverse powers.”

  I raised an eyebrow. It was all I had the energy to do. Normally I’d say something, fire back. Right now, I didn’t give a fuck.

  I turned to the courtyard. “Templars, get your asses to the edges of the courtyard. Dead, get into the center of the courtyard and start deciding which twenty-five are going. Start with those who have the most rot damage. Then come back the same time tomorrow and we’ll do it again.” My voice cracked. I winced. No yelling. Damn it.

  “Why only twenty-five?” witch-woman asked.

  “Because I like living,” I bit out and I rubbed my eyes with one hand.

  “But surely—”

  “I’m not about to explain shit to you right now,” I snapped, dropping my hand to turn and meet her eyes. “You said you know Necromancers and their perverse powers, which I call ‘bullshit’ to since we’re so rare.” She opened her mouth again but I steamrolled right over her. “I’ve been up for almost twenty-four hours, sitting in a room with a demon who enjoyed throwing painful parts of my life in my face for over seven of those hours. Do you really think I’m going to stand here and give a flying fuck about what you think or want?”

  Her eyes grew wide, her mouth gaped. The Templars around her actually put hands on their weapons. Seriously?

  I turned back around to find the courtyard was sorted out. Finally. I strode into the courtyard and straight to the dead. “Alright, line up and hold hands. Do not let go of the soul next to you or you will not make it over.” They began to make a line. I slipped off my beads as I went to the first person in the line. Their energy hit me hard; my nose started bleeding immediately. Fuck! Got to do this fast. My barriers were shit right now. I didn’t ask for names, I didn’t even say hi. I just grabbed the twenty-five of them and dropped.

  * * *

  I didn’t even open my eyes, I just crumbled to the ground. My head was pounding with my pulse, my face felt like I’d been punched, and my energy was gone. Large arms sat me up to lean against a wide, heavy chest. A big hand lifted my chin to tilt my head back, his fingers hot on my skin. Cloth moved to my nose.

  “This… this is a lot of blood,” Miles observed. I blinked up at Zeke, trying to get my eyes to focus.

  “Damn it, Lexie,” Zeke bit out before turning to the priests. “You want to clear the fucking courtyard?”

  Father Andrew ordered everyone back to their posts. I closed my eyes again, feeling miserable.

  “Can we get some tissues over here?” Miles demanded, his voice cold.

  “She’s never dropped like this before,” Zeke pointed out.

  “She’s exhausted,” Miles covered for me. “What the…? Her ears are bleeding this time too.”

  Zeke cursed. “Just from crossing? That’s new.”

  Miles didn’t say anything about it. “Thank you.” Plastic was torn. Soft tissues began cleaning my ears and neck while the large hand kept the cloth on my still-pouring nose.

  Footsteps moved toward us. The witch made an odd sound. “So, she uses her own body as a gateway—”

  “Does it look like she’s in any condition to speak to you?” Miles snapped, his voice glacial. “Back off.”

  “Is she alright?” Father Andrew’s voice asked.

  There was a heavy silence.

  “This is new,” Miles explained. “She doesn’t usually drop like this, and there usually isn’t this much blood.”

  Everything fucking hurt… but my energy was coming back. Well, what there was of it. I cracked open my eyes to find worried emerald eyes watching me.

  “Hey,” Miles said softly.

  I reached up and held the handkerchief so Zeke didn’t have to. “I owe you so many hankies.”

  Zeke gave an exasperated grumble that vibrated through his chest and into me. It made me smile a little.

  “How are you feeling?” Miles asked in that silky-smooth voice that seemed to soothe some of the ragged parts of my brain.

  “Like watered down shit,” I muttered as I pulled the hankie away. My nosebleed had finally stopped. I forced myself to pull away from Zeke and sat up. The world spun. I braced myself with my hands on the grass. Big hands went to my shoulders.

  It took a little while longer, but eventually I got to my feet.
Zeke steadied me.

  I looked up at the guys. “I... I just need some sleep.”

  Miles moved to me and took my arm. “Come on, we’ll take you to your room.” His voice was soothing to my heart.

  I nodded.

  “Zeke, can you grab her something to eat?”

  “Can you keep her awake for fifteen minutes?” Zeke muttered as Miles led me back into the building.

  I didn’t really notice what was happening as we walked down the stairs. I wasn’t paying attention to which door was mine in the hallway. All I knew was that we were stepping into a room. It was large. There was a queen-sized bed, a desk, a bookcase, a dresser, and a door. And lots of space.

  “There’s a bathroom through that door,” Miles offered. I nodded and headed for it. “Lexie.”

  I turned back.

  Miles’ ears were turning pink as he gestured to several shopping bags on the bed. “I picked you up some clothes. I had to guess the size of… Um, I had the saleswoman get several sizes.” He was tapping on his leg again.

  “Thanks, Miles,” I said quietly. “I appreciate it. I wasn’t even thinking of clothes.”

  His cheeks were pink when he met my eyes. “The Templars want to post one of their people in your room.”

  “Fuck no,” I said before I even thought about it.

  “That’s what Zeke told them,” Miles admitted, “but they want someone with you today. So…” He couldn’t seem to say whatever it was. It finally clicked.

  “Miles, are you trying to say you’re sleeping in here?” I asked, confused.

  He looked over my shoulder. “I can sleep on the floor, or go get Asher, or even Zeke if you’d prefer…”

  I gave him a small smile. “Miles, you were just in a car wreck and you have a broken arm. You’re not sleeping on the floor.”

  His ears and cheeks started to turn back to normal, but he still wasn’t looking at me. “Then I’ll go change.”

  "While you do that, I'll take a shower," I muttered as I started going through the bags.

  Miles stopped, then turned back around. "Lexie, you lost a lot of blood. You might get dizzy. I'm worried about you taking a shower."

  I gave him a small smile. "I'll take a bath. Okay?"

  He thought about it for several heartbeats. "That should be alright." His shoulders were tense as he hurried out of the room.

  After the door closed behind him, I smiled to myself. Poor Miles. He never quite knew how to talk to me, though most of the time he did just fine.

  Putting it out of my mind, I went into the bathroom, started the water and looked at what was in there. The bathroom was stocked, from aspirin to the shampoo and conditioner I used at Miles’ house. I smiled to myself. He was sweet. Needing to wash the feel of that room off, I stripped down and slid into the water.

  When I stepped out, I felt better. I wrapped a towel around me and went into the bedroom. I started going through the bags, looking at what Miles had bought, when I found the underwear. I raised an eyebrow. Lace. Black lace cheeky panties. Oh, yeah. Miles must have asked the saleswoman to pick out what I would need. I shook my head as I put those back in the bag and found a pair of simple, dark-blue, cotton hipster panties. I set them aside and kept looking for something to wear to bed.

  The door opened. I looked up in time to watch Zeke come in carrying a plate. He lifted his gaze and stopped cold. His eyes ran over me a second before he cursed and turned around. “Damn it, Lexie,” he practically bellowed.

  I looked down at my towel; I was covered. “Zeke, you’ve seen me in less,” I reminded him. “Hell, my swimsuit covers less.”

  He continued cursing under his breath. “Not the same.”

  I bit back a grin as I found pajamas. “I’ll be out in a second.” I headed for the bathroom.

  “Dressed this time,” he grumbled.

  I shook my head as I closed the door. Miles had picked out a cotton cami and shorts set. I slipped them on and felt the urge to pull the shorts down further. They were a little too short for me - they didn’t even reach mid-thigh. Oh, well. At least the cami covered everything, mostly. I did like the pjs though, they were a wine color and surprisingly comfy. I ran a comb through my hair before I came out with my dirty clothes in my arms. I tossed them into a corner before I moved to the bed and started putting the bags of clothes onto the dresser.

  Zeke cursed as he came over and put a plate into my hands. “Sit, eat,” he growled. I didn’t even argue, I just sat down with my legs crossed under me and looked down. I smiled. Chicken noodle soup and what looked like a turkey sandwich.

  “Mmm... soup.” It was exactly what I needed for my knotted stomach. He started moving the shopping bags to the dresser for me.

  "I raided the cafeteria kitchen,” he grumbled. “I figured something hot would be good.”

  I looked back down at the food and smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Eat,” he ordered again. I started with the soup. My stomach was still knotted from dealing with that thing and crossing the dead. I ate slowly, seeing how my stomach was doing. When I felt surer, I started on the sandwich. He even remembered that I liked sourdough and tomato.

  Zeke sat down on the bed facing me. Those sky-blue eyes watched me carefully. His entire body was tense as he ran his hand through his hair. He was on edge, the bags under his eyes were dark. I looked up at him.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked softly.

  His eyes ran over me before looking at the nightstand. “Are you sure Miles picked those pajamas out?” His voice was strained.

  I looked down at what I was wearing again. Okay, yeah, the bottoms were showing more leg than usual, but Miles was a gentleman. It wasn’t like Zeke to say anything about what I was wearing… usually.

  I looked up to find his eyes shadowed, his jaw clenched. “What’s wrong, Tough Guy?” He turned back to me.

  He sighed deeply. “What happened in the courtyard?”

  My pulse picked up. “I got really dizzy and I’m exhausted,” I offered. I wasn’t exactly lying, but right now… right now we couldn’t talk about this.

  His eyes ran over me. “How was it in there?”

  I set my plate aside, pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. “Not fun,” I offered, hoping he’d let it go.

  His eyes were warm when they met mine. “Baby.”

  I sighed. “It was okay at first, it was just poking at me.” I looked down at my knees. “Then later, it started making hits.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said in that gentle voice he used with me sometimes.

  “Not your fault,” I told him. “If I had been paying attention, I might have seen what was happening sooner.”

  “That is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard you say,” he snapped at me.

  My eyes shot to his. “What?”

  He scowled down at me. “It’s not your fucking fault,” he growled. “There are five of us. And no one noticed.”

  “The only reason he was at that house was—”

  “Because he chose to be,” he pointed out, his eyes hard. “This isn’t your fault. You hear me?”

  I let out a deep breath and looked up into his eyes. “I hear ya,” I answered softly.

  “Now, finish eating so you can go to sleep,” he ordered. I picked up my soup and started eating again.

  Miles

  I walked down the hall, tapping the fingers of my good hand against the book cover. That crossing was different than usual. And bleeding from her ears? That was entirely new when it came to crossing souls. Lexie had just dropped. She’d never done that before… at least not in front of us. It must be one of the symptoms that she said were getting worse. My tapping increased. At least I’d managed to hire more graduate students to do more research before we had to leave. Hopefully, there would be some information waiting for us when we got back.

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as my heart burned in my chest. The signs had all been there. She’d been exhausted lately, fri
ghteningly so. When was the last time anyone went with her to the cemetery?

  My stomach dropped. It had been months. God damn it! My body grew tense as I didn’t move a muscle. How the hell could we be so careless? We all knew she was tired! Everyone knew she was running herself ragged. And we did nothing!

  I cursed myself and the others. We should have seen the signs. I should have seen the signs.

  My lungs were tight as it finally hit me. She was getting worse.

  I took a deep breath and tried to find a calm center in the chaos that erupted in my mind. Now that I had seen it with my own eyes, there was no way I could deny it. Maybe she just needed a break from the dead? She had been wearing her beads again; she might just need to strengthen her barriers, buy us time…

  Even I knew I was full of it. But I didn’t want to be. I stared at the door and thought about the girl beyond it. Right now, she was exhausted. She’d spent hours with that demon. She’s been crossing the dead left and right. Isaac was possessed by a demon. Ethan was slowly falling apart. Zeke was going to lose his mind. And Asher seemed to be avoiding her. She didn’t need me going in there and grilling her while I tried to find answers. It wouldn’t be helpful. What would be?

  Sleep. Angel needed to sleep to get back to where she was okay. She needed to eat right, too. Okay, that we could do, and Zeke wouldn’t question it too much right now.

  Zeke. Shit. I took another deep breath and let it out slowly. When he found out… it wouldn’t be good.

  Stop it, Miles. You can’t deal with the future, you can only work with what’s in front of you. And right now, she needed to sleep.

  Having control of myself, I tucked my book in my sling, raised my good hand, and knocked on her door.

  “Come in, Miles,” Lexie called. I stepped inside and went still. Zeke was sitting on the side of the bed in front of her.

  He took a plate from her and got to his feet. “Get some sleep,” he muttered before turning and coming toward the door. I moved out of his way. Zeke didn’t look at me as he left. Did he suspect something was wrong with her? He did see her drop in the courtyard… I’d have to find out later today. Worried, I turned back. My heart stopped. The pajamas I had picked out were… damn. The shorts were… the top was… everything… She was showing a lot of skin as she scooted over to the left side of the bed. Thankfully, she didn’t notice my stunned expression. Why did I get the shorts? She usually wore pants to bed. I couldn’t find it in me to be sorry about her pajamas.