Split at the Seams

by Yolanda Sfetsos

  “By the way, I used lead,” Vixen said.

  Great, then that thing could come back for me at any moment. “I thought big hotshot werewolf hunters used silver bullets.”

  “You can’t believe everything you see in the movies.”

  I rolled my eyes, feeling like an idiot. I was arguing with the person who’d saved my life. “Never mind, thanks for saving me.”

  She snorted. “I wasn’t trying to save you. I was trying to kill that bloody wolf. I’ve never had one evade me for so long. It’s starting to get on my nerves.” She stuck the gun into the waistband at the small of her back.

  “Is that safe?”

  “What?”

  “Putting your gun down your pants,” I said.

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t tell you how to do your job, do I? You need to tell the wolf that time is running out for him.”

  I limped over to my chair and collapsed into it. My ankle hurt a little, but the pain was starting to fade. If anything, the biggest loss in this latest attack was my sneaker. The fabric was torn to shreds, and I could see my sock beneath it.

  “Either way, thanks.” I wasn’t in the mood for an argument.

  “Yeah,” Vixen said with a nod. “Why was he trying to kill you, anyway?”

  “Beats me,” I answered. The last thing I wanted to do was get someone else involved by providing answers I didn’t have.

  “I don’t understand how you can protect someone who’s willing to do this to you.” She took Ebony’s seat.

  What was the point of responding? Her accusations might not be pointed in the right direction, but she wasn’t entirely wrong. I’d taken Jonathan’s crap for too long, before making the decision to break things off. I’d never let something like that happen again.

  “Whether you like it or not, Papan’s going to die.”

  I worried about him being out there tonight at the same time as this woman, who was chasing a dog but remained fixated on Papan.

  “That wasn’t Jason Papan,” someone else said.

  I didn’t need to look up to know who was standing behind Vixen.

  She automatically yanked her gun out and pointed it straight at Oren’s chest as she swiveled around to face him. When she saw who it was, her hand relaxed but she didn’t drop the gun. “Of course you’d say that, old man. You’d say anything to backup Sierra, right?” Vixen got to her feet, shaking her head in disgust. “I don’t understand what’s going on between you two, but I’ll eventually find out why you seem to have this tight bond.”

  “Are you jealous?” I said with a smile.

  “I don’t need a sugar daddy. Into girls, remember?”

  Of course, how could I forget? She reminded me every chance she got.

  “With all due respect, Anna, I’ve seen young Jason’s wolf and that wasn’t it.”

  She strode toward Oren and paused in front of him, stepping into his personal space. “I know what I saw.”

  “You’re chasing the wrong man,” he said with a shrug. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Whatever, I’m outta here.” With those words and a snap of her fingers, she left the office.

  I released a breath, glad she was gone. “She might’ve saved my life, but she’s still an annoying and very stubborn bitch.” I just hoped she didn’t find Papan.

  Oren nodded. He looked thoughtful as he stared after her. “Anna’s got a chip on her shoulder. Something must have happened to her in the past—something serious enough to mentally scar her. I’d say it’s why she actually enjoys killing werewolves. I don’t see the mark of a hunter on her, so this is obviously her idea of recreation.”

  “Really, there are marks?” This was the first I’d heard of it. Did I have one too?

  “Subtle, but it’s in our auras. I can see them, and she doesn’t have one.”

  “That’s strange.” This was the second conversation I’d had about auras recently. I’d never thought they were special, or could tell so much about someone. “Do I have this mark?”

  He nodded. “Everyone who attends the meetings has one. Well, except for Vixen and Jonathan.”

  I wasn’t surprised to hear Jonathan didn’t have one. It only solidified the fact he’d used me to get this healing power of his.

  “So you got a look at that thing?” I asked.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Do you know what it is?”

  He was thoughtful for a few silent moments. “He looks suspiciously like a black dog to me,” Oren answered. When he noticed my confused expression, he continued. “There are myths all around the world about the black dog, a spectral canine. He’s a bringer of bad news, and is considered an omen of death.”

  “You said spectral, but he’s not a spirit,” I said, shaking my head. Though, I could certainly associate the dog trying to kill me with this myth.

  “No, the Perro Negro has many guises.”

  “Anyway, don’t take this the wrong way, but why are you here? I thought we were meeting at my place later on.”

  “Ebony called to tell me you were in some sort of trouble,” Oren replied. “I didn’t get a chance to ask her where you were, so I popped into your house and talked to Jason. He told me you were at work.” He was quiet for a moment. “How are things going there? Did you sort out your feelings and decide where your heart really wants to be?”

  I nodded. “I did.”

  A small grin curved his lips. “So you and Jonathan aren’t together anymore then?”

  “No, we’re not together. I think he’s got his own problems to deal with right now.” I suddenly felt a little embarrassed. It seemed like everyone had known how I felt before I admitted it to myself. What a fool I’d been, rushing into things with someone else when I wasn’t done sorting through my feelings for Papan.

  “I’m glad you got it all sorted out.”

  “Yeah. Anyway, Ebony’s the one who might be headed into trouble. She probably called you before I got a chance to.”

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “She’s going to the Spook Catcher Council to drop off some canisters. I tried to talk her out of it but she didn’t listen. I’m worried they’ll hurt her.”

  “After what we saw the other day, it is possible.” He shrugged. “Still, Ebony’s got her ways of being stealthy. She’ll probably be okay. I think that girl can talk herself out of anything.”

  “I hope so.” Something told me she wouldn’t be able to talk herself out of this. At the moment, it felt like anything that could go wrong, would. So I wasn’t feeling too confident about anything. “So you saw the dog?”

  “I saw it run out onto the street.” Oren looked uncomfortable. I’d never seen him look uneasy, but there it was. He moved from one polished-shoed foot to the other, as if he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure if he should. “I don’t want to scare you, but remember how I mentioned I noticed something different about Jonathan the day I saw him leave your house in a huff?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, I felt something similar on the black dog.”

  There’s all the confirmation I need. I opened my mouth to finally confide in Oren, and tell him about what I’d only been able to mention to Lavie so far, when he interrupted my flow of thoughts.

  “How did it get inside?”

  “It’s a he. The doors downstairs stay open all day, until six. Benita’s usually the one who locks it, since her office is right across from it…” My stomach flipped. “Oh shit, Benita!” I stood up and ran out the door, descending the stairs as fast as I could even though my ankle protested every step.

  “Sierra, what’s going on?” Oren was right behind me, but I couldn’t stop.

  I held on to the wooden banister to help keep me steady. The beast, her ghost in my office, it only meant one thing. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might push out of my chest at any moment.

  As soon as I stepped inside the open office, I knew I was right. Benita had died and appeared inside my office because the b
lack dog had gotten to her before it reached me. Still, I had to see it for myself, to make sure I was right. Even though the real reason I wanted to look was for the tiniest hope that she might still be alive.

  Maybe he’d attacked her and she was holding on.

  “Benita,” I whispered, nearing her desk. Her office was smaller than ours, similar to Papan’s in the way that there was only enough room for one desk, filing cabinets, and a few other small pieces of furniture.

  “Sierra, I don’t think you should—”

  I shrugged Oren off. “I have to.”

  The lump inside my throat swelled, taking my breath away as much as the scent of blood in the air. There she was, broken and bleeding on the floor between her desk and the back window. Her body lay motionless, with arms and legs sprawled out at weird angles.

  “No, no, no,” I whimpered. “I’m so sorry…” She was just a human. An accountant with a modest business, one who’d helped me with my finances when I paid back the Spook Catcher Council only weeks ago. She didn’t belong in this world of monsters and ghosts. She was a newlywed and often spoke about how much she wanted to start a big family of her own. Now, all that was left was a battered and torn body, leaving a swelling pool of blood beneath her. Some of her flesh was missing, and so was her spirit. “This happened because of me.”

  “Sierra, don’t be silly—”

  I rounded on Oren, glaring at him. His white braid fell over his chest when he made a move to reach for me but I pushed him away.

  “Don’t you dare try to make me feel better, I saw her ghost in my office.” I had to stop long enough to swallow my sob. “She died because that thing wanted to kill me. She probably saw it when it slipped inside.” She’d told me she was working at her desk, looked up and couldn’t remember what happened until she appeared upstairs. As soon as she’d looked up from the paperwork still strewn on her desk, she must have met the horrid eyes of the dog and he attacked her.

  She didn’t have a chance.

  Spooks were attracted to me like a moth to a flame and I’d seen many people’s ghosts appear shortly after death, but this one stung a lot.

  “You didn’t kill her,” Oren said, shaking his head.

  I closed the distance between us and punched my fists against his chest. “Yes, I did.” I hit him again, couldn’t stop because I needed to hurt myself to make sure I paid penance for what had happened to an innocent woman.

  “Hush, now.” Oren didn’t stop my fists, but he did pull me into a tight embrace so my hands fell away to my sides and all the fight slid out of me. My fists uncurled, the angry tears fell from my eyes and I wished I hadn’t left Papan’s side.

  It wouldn’t have changed anything. The monster still would’ve come here, and he might have killed Ebony instead.

  I needed to call Ebony, try to stop her from making a huge mistake.

  Oren rubbed my back like he would a child. This was the closest I’d ever felt to him. Being hugged by Oren actually felt like the comfort of a grandfather. If nothing else came out of this horrible situation, I would never forget this as being the final straw in knocking down every barrier I’d set up around myself to keep Oren at a distance. His helpful nature and kindness had been slowly bumping the wall down, but I’d still resisted because I was the one who had to knock it all down before I could fully accept him.

  I’m finally there.

  From this day forth, I would trust Oren with my life. He’d earned my trust, and more. I would never forget.

  “Let’s get back to your office and call this in. We have no choice but to call the police. She’s a human who was attacked by a rabid dog.” He already seemed to have a credible cover story.

  Humans weren’t stupid. They knew things resided in the dark—aside from the proven fact of ghosts. It was just easier to pretend every other monster was a human psychopath with deadly urges. It was simpler to label sexual predators preying on children, women and men to satisfy their obscene urges as assaults, or homicides. Who wanted to accept a demonic being feasting on someone’s soul, or a vampire craving blood, while some witches killed for ritual sacrifice?

  The human authorities and judicial system liked things to be neatly solved and filed away, even if so much in this world wasn’t.

  Ghosts had been around for centuries, but it wasn’t until 1972 that a parapsychologist surprised everyone in his field by actually announcing he’d discovered that the energy living beings possessed in their bodies—the spirit, or soul—didn’t fade after death. He discovered that although most people’s shells and spirits separated at the time of death and moved on to the afterlife, some didn’t.

  Professor Claude Spooker was able to prove this theory because he claimed his daughter happened to feel and see the dead. It was how he realized we could actually interact with them. The naked eye might not be able to see the departed, but there were a select few—all females—who could.

  He wasn’t able to showcase the physicality of it, but he spent his life researching it. His daughter, Rochelle Spooker, later founded the Spook Catcher Council and wanted desperately to carry on his legacy. It was her groundbreaking efforts that managed to help integrate ghosts into society and developed a way to deal with mischievous or vengeful spooks. She also never lost her father’s dream—of actually showing the energy we all call ghosts, spooks, spirits, to the world.

  I’d never met her, and didn’t even know if she was still alive, but knew information about her was scarce.

  It couldn’t be… Surely this couldn’t be the answer to what was going on at the Council right now. It couldn’t be why they were taking innocent spook catchers and forcibly separating their souls from their bodies, in hopes of opening the ghostly patch.

  I shook my head.

  Oren patted my hair gently. “It’ll be okay, we’ll make sure she gets the proper treatment she deserves.”

  As much as I wanted to look at Benita again, I focused on the photo frame on her desk instead. She was wearing an ivory wedding dress and a veil covered her thick, dark hair while she stood in front of a large cake, smiling and feeding a piece of it to her new husband. Their lives were ruined now. This incident would separate them forever.

  And because she’d faded, Benita wouldn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

  I pressed my face against Oren’s soft shirt and smelled licorice. His strong presence was making a difference. If he wasn’t with me, I would probably have collapsed into the fetal position beside Benita’s body. I was getting pretty close to breaking point and still hadn’t come anywhere near trying to figure out how to help Mara and stop the Council.

  With Oren’s help, I climbed up the stairs and made it back to my office and into my chair. When he picked up Ebony’s phone and made the call to the police, I picked up my own and dialed.

  “Hey, I’m still angry with you, what do you want?” Ebony said into the phone.

  Thank the heavens. I felt some of the distraught energy wisp away. “Where…?” I cleared my throat. “Where are you, Eb?”

  “Just got to the Council. Why, are you still going to try and change my mind?”

  I sighed. “I wish you would just listen to me. This is serious, Ebony. If they get their hands on you…” I didn’t want to think about what they’d do, because I already knew. “Turn away before it’s too late.”

  “I already told you I’ll be okay. No one will even know I’m there. Besides, we have to get these in before six, or we’ll get fined.”

  Procedure wasn’t high on my priority list at the moment. “If something feels out of whack or someone approaches you, just turn around and walk away, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure,” she replied.

  “Be careful and call me as soon as you’re done.” My heart was hammering inside my chest.

  “I’ll even say hi to Roe for you.”

  “Please, just be careful and listen to your instincts.”

  “I promise, I will.” She disconnected.

  I dropped the phone with
shaky hands and leaned back into the chair, staring at Oren as he finally hung up.

  “The police will be here soon.” He headed for the coffee machine.

  “Did you tell them what we found downstairs?”

  He nodded as he prepared a cup of coffee.

  “What are we going to tell them? How are we going to explain the window?”

  “Relax.” He turned to face me and carried over one of our mugs. “Here, drink this. It’ll help calm your nerves. I know how much you like coffee.” He offered me a weak smile.

  “Thanks, Oren.” I took the mug and breathed in the lovely scent of it. I had no qualms about drinking a hot cup of coffee in summer. I loved it, and usually couldn’t start my day without a cup. As soon as I took a sip, I had to smile. Not as perfect as Ebony’s, but close enough. “This is good!”

  He sat across from me, his eyes shiny. “We’re going to tell them we were up here discussing business when some sort of rabid dog appeared at the door. We slammed the door shut before it had a chance to enter the office, and then heard the window shatter. The less we claim to have seen, the better.” He looked serious. “We didn’t hear or see anything that happened downstairs, anyway, so we’re not completely lying. The less we say, the better and easier it’ll be for us. Can you do that?”

  I didn’t like lying, but since I did it to myself so often, this shouldn’t be too hard. Besides, everything I would say to the police was true. I just had to remember not to mention the attack in my front yard, or in my office. Telling the cops everything would get me a one-way ticket to the nuthouse.

  “Sure.”

  “So, do you want me to teach you a few protective spells while we wait?”

  I nodded, gulping down the rest of my coffee. At least it helped soothe away some of the cold settling into the pit of my stomach. “That dog tried to kill me twice. I know he’ll be back, and I’d like to be better prepared next time.”

  “Who do you think sent him?”

  I licked my lips, not wanting to get into another conversation that would throw us off course. I did want to share all of my theories and have Oren help me sort through everything, but right now I preferred to concentrate on spells. As strange as that seemed.