by Viola Grace
“Great. Grab my big bag, get the glass pellets, and follow me. I am going to show you what I consider to be a very effective ghost trap.”
To her amazement. He picked up her stuff and got ready to follow. She had just gotten herself a Sherpa.
Chapter Nine
She put a rock in the center with a narrow string around it, and she paced out a space that would be able to hold five people comfortably. After that, she marked out another one that would hold the happy couple.
Once the roughout was done, she took the blue glass and stepped each one into the grass. This was the binder. It would run off ghost energy. The more that they struggled, the stronger the binding.
Each circle got a summoning stone for each of the ghosts it was going to receive. They were stepped into the grass as well.
Now, the outer layer that would defend and punish at the same time. If they got past the binding layer, they would hit the degradation layer. That would be attention-getting.
She stood back with her hands on her hips, and she nodded. “Right. Time to get the pink ones placed in the hotel. This is the last bit of it, and we still have an hour before they rise.”
Domerik was paying such close attention that it was like he was taking notes.
“What do you do when you are not being a librarian?” She asked him as they entered the hotel.
“This and that.” He shrugged.
“Oh, I have to warn you, there may be poltergeist activity while we are in here.”
As she spoke, she saw a portrait vibrating on the wall. It parted from the plaster and sailed toward her.
To her surprise, Domerik stepped in front of her and deflected the portrait. She was about to thank him when four of Leo’s family came down the staircase.
“Miss Wakeman? Is that you?”
She waved at them. “Yes. I am back to finish the job.”
One of the ladies said, “You didn’t die?”
“Not quite. Sorry about the blood.”
She shrugged, and the others chuckled. “You haven’t been to our werewolf celebrations. We keep a quick clot on hand at all times.”
“Well, I am going to be dropping a few glass pebbles. If you leave them alone today, you can just chuck them out tomorrow.”
One of the men said, “Is this about the ghosts?”
“Yeah. Still about the ghosts. I hope to have them taken care of by dawn tomorrow.” She nodded and smiled. “Just a warning, they are going to be really pissed in about an hour. I would recommend not being in a standard haunt area.”
“A what?” The woman blinked.
“An area where crap has come flying at you or where you have been shoved around. That is where they hang out, and that is where they manifest.”
“Got it. One weirdness, and we leave for the day.” The woman smiled. “Thanks for helping with this. The mages are going to come in for the final overhaul. We were just here for pest reduction and working on the restrooms.”
Hecate nodded and turned to Domerik. “Now that they know we are here, we had best get to work. We are heading upstairs, so just remember, don’t touch the glass.”
One of the guys asked. “What will happen if we do?”
“It will try to pull your soul out of your body and put it into holding. So, it won’t be comfortable, and your body might die. Got it? They will be discharged at dawn.”
The werewolves stepped aside and gave them plenty of space as she climbed the elegant stairway with Domerik at her back. Her baggie of glowing pink stones was the last one to go.
“So, how are you doing this?” He asked her from behind her.
“Well, I am not telegraphing more than I already have to the collective here. You can watch, and once I activate them, you can ask all the questions you like, though you might not have any by then.” She headed up to the room where the bride and groom had their fight every night.
She took a handful of the glass beads and closed her eyes, looking for the hot spot.
The whole room lit up with bright dots, confirming what she had sensed the night before. They were more than bound by the location, they were bound by the bride’s curse on them. All of them.
“What are you seeing?”
“Dots. I am seeing dots.”
“With your eyes closed?”
“That is the best way to see them.” She put the glass out, one piece at a time, back toward the door. Domerik caught a few pieces of flying furniture for her, but he didn’t interrupt her as she baited the room.
When they got to the door, she opened her eyes, backed into the hallway and sighed. “One done, five to go.”
“Where to next?”
“Ballroom. That is where two of them were initially killed.”
“Initially?”
“The murders have been occurring every night for decades.”
“Ah. That is rather horrible.” He spoke quietly as they walked the halls and descended to the main floor.
She paused and put a stone on the stairs. “Just in case.”
He chuckled and waited for her to lead again.
Hecate found the ballroom and smiled. It was lovely. The main floor of the house was for entertaining; the upper was for comfort.
She closed her eyes and walked toward the bright spots on the floor, putting six stones down in a wide pattern around the dots of energy in her mind.
The other three were easy. She had actually been in place when they manifested. The glass was put in place, and it was time to spring her trap.
Hecate and Domerik left the building half an hour before sunset. She tossed one pink bead into the center of her circles and nodded. Time to get back to the car.
She paused for a break and offered Domerik a pie. “Would you care for one?”
He shook his head. “I would take one of the fruit pies if you have them. I try and avoid red meat unless I can go and work it off immediately.”
Hecate munched and shrugged. “Well, we have to wait now anyway. Eat what you like.” She reached in and grabbed him an apple pie. It was still hot, and she handed it over to him.
He took it and bowed. “What are we waiting for?”
“The beads are set to summon. They are going to go off when the ghosts manifest.” She put her pie down on the hood and held her hands far apart. “When the ghosts show up, they are huge but malformed. A mist of consciousness that has to pull itself into a column resembling the body. They also manifest in the same spot every time. Well, they do if they are linked to a place and not a living person. This group doesn’t have a person to cling to, so this is it. If the building was torn down, they would go with it.”
“You are talking about them like they are alive.”
“They are. They are living as much as I am. Well, half of me. I am half my mother and half my father after my father died, remember? There is only part of me that identifies with the living world.”
Her car rumbled under her hand, and she patted it softly. “I know you are my friends. I keep you in my thoughts wherever I go.”
“Who are you talking to?”
She snickered, “The thirty-two ghosts, including Ulysses, that packed into my car before we left. They were worried about my damage when I came home. There was no way I was leaving today without them.”
“There are ghosts in your car.”
“Yeah, can’t you tell?”
He looked over the surface of the metal and shook his head. “No.”
“Excellent. That is why they are so very effective. They are on a temporary tether to the SUV, and from there, they can follow me wherever I am. That is what happened last night. I passed out right about there.”
She pointed to the grand entryway of Carman House.
“They picked me up, put me in the car and drove home with me. Without them, I would have bled out to a far more dangerous level, or the ghosts inside could have gotten together to haul me back in and kill me there.”
Domerik frowned. “Is that possible?”
“I don’t think they know how to work together, or it could have been much worse for them or me. I would have had to really fight back, and I wasn’t quite in the mood for it. Today, all bets are off.”
The car hummed happily in anticipation.
She quickly got another pie down, and then, she followed that with hot coffee. When she was ready, she looked at the cage made of tiny, cheap bits of glass, and she smiled. The ghosts were beginning to manifest in the house, so her first arrival should be here in seconds.
“What is happening?” Domerik brushed the crumbs from his shirt.
“You can feel that?”
“Yes. The house is... humming. Is that the right word?”
“That is how you would feel it. How most people would feel it, but you can see a manifested ghost, so that is something.”
“I can?”
“You have been seeing Ulysses and Amber.”
“Oh, I thought that was something you did.”
“It sort of was, but you had to be able to see them before I powered them up.”
“Ah, well, that is a first.”
She grinned and tidied up, another swig of coffee, and she was ready. “It’s showtime.”
She pulled her knife calmly with her left hand and settled her whip in her right.
“What are you doing now?”
“Waiting for them to step into the traps.” She smiled and was pretty sure it was not a good smile.
“You are sure they will?”
She was about to answer when Daniel flared into being in the crimson light.
Domerik backed away and faded into the shadows. “Never mind. You have this.”
She smiled and looked at the befuddled Daniel. “Good evening, Daniel. We have a few minutes until the others join you. Do you have any questions?”
Daniel looked around and pressed his palm against the barrier. “I am a prisoner?”
“More or less. I intend to set you free tonight, but the method is up to you.”
“You. From last night. They said you were dead.”
She smiled. “I am, and yet I am here anyway. So, will you leave willingly?”
He frowned. “I am trapped here.”
“Yes, but the bride carries the curse. Not you. You can choose to leave; you need only agree to leave her behind.”
Daniel stiffened. “No, she needs me.”
Hecate nodded. “That is what I thought. So, now we wait.”
They waited. Daniel asked her questions, and when Mike arrived, his questions were hurled at her, Josh came into bright solidity with surprise, and she smiled.
“Hello, Josh.”
He stared at her. “Hecate. They said you were dead and you would be joining us.”
“They were only partially right. I am giving you an opportunity to join me. Out in the free world. Your choice of final destinies.”
Mike and Daniel shook their heads. “No, we are all staying for Helena.”
Josh looked wistfully at the house, but then, he shook his head. “Can you get me out?”
She smiled. “Stay very still.”
She lashed out with her whip and pulled him gently through the barriers made out of her will.
She took his hand. “You are out, you are anchored. What do you want?”
He smiled sadly. “Sophia.”
“It is a good thing that I brought her with me.”
She turned back toward her car, and she pulled out Sophia. The woman who had aged on her own with her soul promised to a man long dead.
Sophia came out as the semi-elderly woman, and with a little help from Hecate, she was the young woman from the wedding again in a few steps.
Josh stood and stared. A shriek came from the hotel, but he ignored it. He took a few steps toward Sophia, and Hecate kept contact with him until he was holding her friend’s hands.
“I believe you two have a lot to discuss.” She poured more of her energy through Sophia, and the contact point spread to Josh. He was now officially out of the grasp of the bride.
Hecate smiled. “One down, six to go.”
Daniel shrieked, and it wasn’t his voice. “Where did he go? Where is Josh?”
Hecate walked closer to the cage as the other two groomsmen arrived. “Josh is free of this situation. He isn’t fawning over you or waiting to be murdered by your husband. He is finally free.”
Daniel’s eyes were a brilliant red. “How?” Helena’s voice was screaming through him.
She looked over her shoulder at the couple who were standing with their heads close, hands touching, and whispers were flowing between them.
“Love. True, honest love. This is what it looks like, and this is what you took from all the men around you. You took away their chance for love, but Josh had only just met you, hadn’t fallen under your spell, and had just met what would become the love of his all-too-short life.”
The ground trembled, and the bridal couple made their way into the cage.
“Well, now that you are here, we can begin.” Hecate locked the summoning stones, and she smiled brightly while she moved her whip so it cascaded freely. “Who wants to go first?”
She didn’t have any takers, so she made the choice for them.
Chapter Ten
She didn’t announce her attack, she simply lashed out, and the whip wrapped around Helena, pulling her out of the primary cage. The small alcove that she had created suited the bride and her wide skirt very well.
“How did you do this?” The horrified whisper came out of Helena’s lips.
“Practice. Now, Helena, you are going to have the opportunity to release the other men in your thrall, and if you can do that, I can keep your soul for burning for eternity. If not, you will go to your final destination tonight.” She flicked her wrist and the whip coiled and uncoiled.
“Why are you doing this to me?” She sobbed with large crystal tears in her eyes.
“Helena, you made a deal to have men love you. They did. Tony proposed to you, and you accepted, causing Tony to make a deal to keep you with him exclusively, but that isn’t what you wanted. You wanted more and more attention, more men to love you. It was the intoxication of the curse. You would have continued to wreck the men around you, destroying their lives.”
Helena’s tears dried up, and she tossed her head. “How can you say that. They love me. That is hardly destruction.”
Astonished, Hecate looked over at the four blue ghosts and one crimson in the other holding area. “You don’t see that they wouldn’t be dead if not for you.”
Helena looked at them and frowned. “It isn’t my fault.”
Hecate sighed. “It actually is. On the night of your wedding, Josh met his true love. They danced and were going to begin their courtship. They would have had children and grandchildren by now. You destroyed that with your clingy curse. Tony went mad, and it didn’t matter that Josh had begun to break free of you, he died.”
Helena raised her voice. “Josh loved me, and he still loves me.”
Hecate gestured over her shoulder. “Josh is back with Sophia now. She lived her life with the memory of their meeting, and when she died, she asked me to hold onto her until her love was free. I didn’t put it together until I met him last night, and then, it all made sense.” She smiled. “Now, they are together, and whether they stay for a while or progress on to the afterlife, he is out of your grasp.”
Helena reached for Josh, and she wailed. There was magic in her voice, so Hecate simply cut off the sound from her cell.
While Helena was trying to get Josh back, Hecate looked at the ghosts in the other cage with an eye toward their disposition in love. There. There it was. Michael was Helena’s proper match.
“Helena, why didn’t you marry Michael?” She opened the sound again, and Helena stopped short.
“Michael doesn’t have money. I wanted to be comfortable.” Helena lifted her chin. “I deserve the best.”
Hecate winced. “Of course. That sounds just like Demler. He
gets you so wrapped up in your own insecurities and promises anything you want as long as you sign. Did he sleep with you, too? That seems to be his standard procedure. He seduces to get what he wants.”
Helena’s eyes went wide, and Tony had been listening. His fire flared wide and high. “What?”
Helena cringed and looked to the other captives. “Save me.”
Daniel scowled. “You really slept with a demon to get your way? That is low.”
Brandon and Thomas stood close together, and a second look at them explained why they had been killed in the same place. They were bound together, even if they hadn’t had a chance to act on it yet. That really sucked.
All of her thralls were furious except for Michael. He was just sad.
With the shock to their connection, Hecate was able to reach in between the bride and her collection, freeing each one of the men, including her husband. The moment the link was severed with Tony, he calmed to a dark purple.
“Now, who just wants to be done with this?”
Daniel, Brandon, and Thomas raised their hands. Tony was still looking as if he was processing.
She flipped her whip out and pulled Daniel through the cage.
“Well, Daniel, what do you want? Shall I tether you out here, or would you prefer to simply see what happens next?”
He smiled, his formal wear still pristine. “I want to see what happens next. I didn’t have a wife or children, but I wouldn’t mind trying to see if I can get another try.”
She took his hand and smiled. “Excellent choice. I wish you well in your next life or the entire world in this one.”
She scraped all demonic traces off him, and he stood straight with a bright smile.
“That feels great.”
She nodded. “You are unlinked from anyone. Free of the earth itself. When you are ready, let go of my hands.”
He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”
He took a deep breath that he didn’t actually need, and he let go of her hands.
His skin grew bright blue and then white as he became an upward cascade of energy that flew up, gathered, and shot off like a comet.
Brandon and Thomas walked toward the front of the cage.