by Jessi Gage
He coiled with bitter humor as he pulled strength from Draonius, strength that, if his luck held, the demon would never miss. Perhaps Almighty God had not truly forsaken him. He still had his wits left to him. He could move about in the physical plane while Draonius slept each day away in a stupor of power after glutting himself on the dreams of the woman who lived in Mercy’s old house. He could show himself to the woman, Jade, who for some reason had always been able to see him, even when she’d been too young to appeal to the demon. Mercy could do none of those things. He suspected not even Draonius could, though with this new abundance of power, who knew what he might be capable of.
He shuddered. A few days ago, the demon’s highest aspiration was to merely enjoy a decent meal. Now, Joshua feared he planned something even more nefarious, for he was hording power, so much power the air was charged with it.
Perhaps Almighty God had a purpose in Joshua’s captivity. Perhaps, if he could warn Jade away from the house, away from Draonius, God might see fit to save him, after all.
The prickly tingle of daylight still warmed his essence, and he had regained his strength without waking the demon. He should try again. Perhaps, if he concentrated hard enough, he could make himself more than a shadow.
* * * *
It was close to 11 AM by the time Jade made it to the hospital. Once she’d started researching ways to evict the livingly challenged, she’d lost track of time. Then she’d gone to the strip mall in Wilmington for a little something she hoped would cheer up Grandma Nina.
When she walked into her grandmother’s room and found her lying in bed with her eyes closed, panic made a fist around her heart. Until she noticed the white cords winding from her ears down to her tablet and heard her grandmother’s soft humming. From the tune, she guessed Grandma Nina was listening to Lady Gaga.
“Hi Grandma,” she said, loud enough, hopefully, to be heard over the music.
Grandma Nina’s eyes popped open, and she pulled the earbuds out. “Oh, honey, hi!” Her cheek-wrinkling smile made Jade feel warm all over.
“How are you feeling?”
Her smile fell. “Tired, honey. Real tired. How’s the house?”
She sank into the visitor’s chair, setting her shopping bag on the floor. Haunted as a graveyard on Halloween. Empty and lonely. “Fine. The lawn looks good. I brought you something.” She handed over the distinctive white shopping bag with the gold logo of the candy shop that made her grandmother’s favorite caramels.
“Oh, Jade, how sweet.” She lifted the white box with its gold ribbon from the bag. A tear rolled down her cheek.
Her throat felt tight. “Stop it, Grandma. You’re going to make me cry.”
Grandma Nina sniffed once then composed her face into a determined carefree mask.
It didn’t convince Jade. Her grandmother was shaken. She’d had a scare yesterday.
“Thank you, honey. I love these, and haven’t had them in a while.” Her hand rested on the box like it was a treasure.
“You’re welcome. Is there anything else you’ve been hankering for that I can bring you?”
“You know, I’ve been thinking about my photo albums. They’re probably in the sitting room. Or I might have moved them up to your grandfather’s study. If you come across them, you could bring one or two. The one with the red cover and the black spine, that one would be wonderful.”
That one held the pictures from Grandma Nina and Grandpa Earl’s wedding from way back when. Back then, they didn’t march the whole family and wedding party in front of the camera. There were just two pictures of her and Grandpa Earl. One where their fresh, happy faces beamed at each other and one where they looked at the camera and managed to wrangle their smiles into decorum. The red album also had pictures of Jade’s mom as a baby and a little girl. There were some department-store shots of her and Jilly with a stuffed panda bear between them and of Jade covered in pink icing in a high-chair in Grandma Nina’s dining room. It was the album for remembering happier times.
Grandma Nina was smiling, but her eyes were sad as they stared out the window. Her hand still rested on the box of caramels. The only movement was the slight rise and fall of her thin chest beneath the hospital gown. She looked so old and frail without her tracksuit and without any lipstick on or her eyebrows penciled in.
“So many ghosts in that house,” she said.
Jade’s fingers clenched the arms of the chair. “What?”
Her grandmother startled. “Did I say that out loud? I’m sorry, sweetheart. I suppose yesterday just got me thinking about the past a bit. I wouldn’t mind seeing the house again when I get out of here. Your grandfather did so much work on the place when we were younger.” She launched into a recounting of Grandpa Earl’s many projects, some of which had ended in emergency phone calls to the handyman.
Jade leaned back in her chair and listened, liking the ghosts Grandma Nina was thinking about much better than the one she was dealing with. An hour into their visit, Grandma Nina fell asleep, and Jade tiptoed out of the room, letting the door quietly snick shut behind her.
Sadness blanketed her. She’d never seen her grandmother so down in the dumps. The smile the caramels had put on her face had lasted less than a minute. It was going to take more than candy to cheer her up. She just wished she knew what.
She pulled out of the hospital parking lot and pointed her Jetta toward Wilmington, but this time, her destination was off the beaten path of high-traffic strip malls. The shopping list she’d made while researching ghosts that morning demanded a trip to a district marked by tobacco shops and seedy video rental stores.
An hour later, she laid out her booty on the dining room table and powered up her laptop so she could follow the steps one website listed to “bless her dwelling.” She didn’t normally believe in spiritual stuff, but burning incense and placing bundles of herbs around the house couldn’t hurt. It probably wouldn’t help either, but she couldn’t see calling a priest before trying something on her own, and of the do-it-yourself remedies for ghosts, the herbal blessing seemed the least invasive. Some of the suggestions sounded creepier than putting up with a ghost. Anointing your walls with goat’s blood? Seriously? Ew.
By the time dark started to fall, she’d placed fragrant bundles of rosemary, frankincense, lavender, sage, and vervain on every windowsill and tacked up sachets of the protective herbs over the front door and the sliding door in the kitchen. As she was making a sandwich for dinner, she realized she’d forgotten about the basement storm door. While she munched, she threw together one more herb bundle and walked around the house to set it on the outside of the doors. She could have put it on the stairs to the storm door in the basement, but that would have required making a trip down there. No, thank you.
Finally, it was time to take a shower and get ready for her date with Emmett. As soon as she popped the top on her cut-grass-and-fresh-cucumber shower soap, her thoughts turned to her flirty church boy. He would be there in an hour to pick her up, and, judging by the horde of butterflies storming her stomach, she couldn’t wait to see him.
Ever since that unexpected hug on the sun porch last night, she’d been craving his arms around her again. She shouldn’t want anything to do with a guy who was likely to either judge her or see her as a project, but her hormones hadn’t gotten the memo. When he’d gathered her to his chest after she’d had such a long day hanging around the hospital and worrying about Grandma Nina, he’d given her something she’d been so long without. Acceptance and security. It was like a comforting drug being near Emmett. She’d clung to him like a life preserver. Letting go after a minute had taken all her strength.
Only after stepping away from him did she remember he’d sent Theo to do her lawn. She’d busted his balls for it, and he’d taken it like a man and joked with her about it. Charming bastard.
And then there were the dreams she’d had about him last night.
Finally, her subconscious had given Emmett the starring role he deserved in
these crazy sex dreams. And it had been Uh-Maz-Ing. She would never forget the tender way Dream Emmett gazed into her eyes as he made love to her, how he held her so possessively, like he didn’t just want sex with her, but needed her for who she was, like he saw something…worthy in her.
One encounter had been in the lawn chair on the back deck. Another had been in the bed. The last time had been in this very shower. She let her fingers wander south through the soap to bring the dream back to sharp focus, and her quick shower turned into a decadent, steamy affair.
Afterward, she slipped into her favorite teal clubbing dress. Her breasts were on the big side, but perky enough that in dresses with a little support, she didn’t need to wear a bra. This dress was perfect. The spaghetti straps and swishy, short skirt made it seem flimsy, but the bodice was lined with a sturdy layer of spandex that held everything in place. She could dance her ass off in this dress. Finishing the ensemble, she slipped on a pair of strappy heels.
Would her flirty church boy dance dirty, grinding like a porn star, or would he dance tender, holding her close and making her feel like the only important person in the room? Somehow, she could believe him capable of either, which was one of the reasons she was giving him the time of day in spite of his religious beliefs. Whichever kind of dancer he turned out to be, she was determined to blow off some steam and have fun with him.
She did her makeup standing in front of the bathroom mirror. The last traces of her bruise disappeared beneath a thin layer of concealer. By tomorrow, she might not need makeup to cover it anymore. While selecting eye shadow, she considered her audience. This wasn’t Boston, and Emmett wasn’t a third-generation Italian-Bostonian in a wife-beater and baggy pants. She kept the eye makeup natural and skipped the eyeliner altogether. Instead of her favorite True-Red Revlon lipstick, she chose a shimmery rose to match the demure pink she’d painted her toenails for the occasion. A dab of blush and little bronzer across her cheeks and collarbones completed the deceptively wholesome look.
Smacking her lips, she winked at her reflection. Feeling pretty and playful, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on the mirror. When she pulled back, the face in the reflection wasn’t hers.
Her heart stuttered while she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. A boyishly handsome man with startled brown eyes looked back at her as if through a window. He wore a high-collared shirt and a brown top hat that matched his tweed coat. Laces at his throat might have been the ties for a cloak. His lips moved with urgent speech, but he made no sound.
She didn’t stick around to try and lip-read. Instead, she screamed and ran from the bathroom.
Chapter 8
A muffled voice came through the front door as she ran down the stairs. “Jade! Jade, are you okay?” Emmett appeared in the door-frame window. He was rattling the handle. “It’s me, Emmett. Let me in.”
They made eye contact through the glass. Lungs locked with panic, she reached the bottom of the stairs and threw the bolt.
He shoved the door open.
She would have thrown herself into his arms if he hadn’t charged past her to glare up the stairs.
“Are you all right? What happened?” His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. The sight of him ready to fight for her gave her a measure of comfort despite the impossible image she’d just seen in her bathroom mirror.
Had that been Mr. Shadow? Had he figured out how to be more than a black shape on her wall? He’d looked so young, so...worried.
“Spider,” she lied. What else could she say? She didn’t want to scare her date off before she had a chance to take her teal dress out for a spin. Besides, the thought of spending the evening at home made her shiver. She hugged herself and said with honest conviction, “I hate spiders.”
Emmett relaxed and turned a concerned gaze on her.
She forced herself to stop shaking.
His eyes softened as he looked her up and down. He said, “Wow. Wow.”
He bit his lower lip in an appreciative expression that had her preening and flushing with pleasure. Until she processed the discrepancy between his ensemble and hers.
He had on a snug, western-style shirt with screen-printed, tattoo-style flames across the shoulders. The rolled-up sleeves showed off his muscular forearms. Faded jeans with a big oval belt buckle and perfectly broken-in boots completed the urban cowboy outfit.
“I’m overdressed,” she surmised.
“You look amazing.” He kept a second head-to-toe scan quick and respectful.
She resisted the urge to spin around and reward him with a 360-degree view.
“You want me to get it?” he said.
“Get what?”
“The spider?”
“Oh, no.” Duh. Emmett looked so yummy, her attention span had become dangerously short. “That’s okay. Should I change? Where are we going? You said dancing.”
“Don’t you dare change. We are going dancing. At Billy Bob’s. It’s a country western bar and billiards place.”
“I should change.” She stepped toward the stairs, but he caught her with an arm around her waist and pulled her into an impromptu two-step. His warm hand on her back melted away her wardrobe concerns.
“No. This works,” he said as they danced. His boots brought him to six-foot two. In her heels she was five inches taller than her usual five-foot-six, which put her nose level with his neck. He’d splashed on just the right amount of aftershave. His shoulders rolled under her hands as he gyrated just enough to confirm he danced at least a little dirty. He pushed her out for a spin then brought her back in close. “This works just fine.”
Ghost schmost. She had a date! Beaming stupidly, she grabbed her purse and let Emmett lead her by the hand to his shiny black Chevy truck.
“I thought I’d get to ride in the street sweeper,” she joked as he opened the door for her.
“On the first date? What kind of guy do you think I am?”
They laughed together as he shut her door. The midsize truck was neat inside. When he got in, he said, “How’s your grandma?”
She shrugged. “Okay. She’s reminiscing.”
“Is that a bad thing?” He started up and pulled away from the curb. The radio was already turned down low, showing he’d put some thought into this date.
“She’s not usually so mopey. She’s usually a firecracker. I think she’s scared.” It was too easy to talk to Emmett. “They’ll transfer her back to the assisted living place in a day or two. Hopefully by then, she’ll be back to her old self.” Pretty please.
“Broken hips and blood clots happen a lot. She’ll be okay.” He gave her a half-smile with gentle eyes before changing the subject. “I saw your Boston College bumper sticker. Do you go there?”
“Did, yeah. Graduated last summer with a B.A. in Classics.”
“Classics?” he asked like he didn’t know what it was but had already decided he didn’t like it. “Like studying Shakespeare and stuff?”
“No.” She was used to having to explain her degree, but miffed at his tone of disapproval. “A bachelors in Classics gets you a foundation in Latin and Greek so you know how to read and study classical works of Old-World literature. The program’s really demanding.”
He held up one hand in a defensive gesture. “It’s not the program I have a problem with. That sounds really interesting. I just think too many kids are going to college these days.”
“What?” That was a new one for her. Most people, even in her clubbing circle, seemed to accept that college was just something you did after high school if you were fortunate enough to have the means or determined enough to work your way through.
“Yeah, like, everyone’s getting these degrees so they can move to the cities and work as stock brokers and computer programmers, and meanwhile, there’s fewer and fewer young folks making their way in the small towns. And the government is encouraging this by offering all these scholarships and requiring all high school seniors to take SATs. The media is in on it too. There
’s nothing out there to make you feel good about choosing to work construction or taking a good, steady civil job like street sweeping.” He gestured with one hand while keeping the other on the wheel.
“Tell me how you really feel.” Emmett’s rant was both ridiculous and endearing. It also took her mind off Grandma Nina. Sneaky dog. She was more than happy to let him lead her to lighter topics of conversation. “I take it you didn’t go to college.”
“No way, no how.” He looked at her pointedly, but a twinkle in his eye told her he wasn’t taking this too seriously. “While most guys my age owe their souls to Sallie Mae, I’ve got a house, a truck, a business, and money in the bank.”
“Hey, this girl doesn’t owe Sallie Mae or the government or anyone else for her degree. I worked my way through fair and square.”
“Oh yeah, what’d you do for work? I’ll bet you ran yourself ragged trying to balance work, school, and your social life.”
Crap. She’d been hoping to avoid that question. “It wasn’t too hard,” she hedged. “I managed with a few hours of sleep a night.”
“See,” he gestured with his non-steering hand. “I knew it. You managed, but your body probably paid the toll.” His gaze drifted toward her chest, but he caught himself and returned his eyes to the road. “Anyway, now you know my dirty secret. I’m anti-college.”
Relieved he hadn’t pressed for details, she asked, “What else are you against?” She braced herself, realizing too late that might be a dangerous question with a church guy.
“Don’t get me started on PBS.”
She snorted and relaxed into their banter. “So, this business—is that Herald and Son Lawn Service?”
He did one of those masculine nods, a single, sharp lift of his strong chin. “Started it when I was twenty. Been building it ever since. I’ve got a team now that covers three counties. We’re not as busy right now as when the grass gets its second wind in September, but from March to mid-July, we do real good. I’m thinking of expanding to snow removal so I can keep my employees on December through February, when we do practically zero lawn business. Most of us do it on our own anyway. If we pool our resources, we could make more money.”