by D. G. Swank
“Did he answer your text?”
“No. I didn’t hear from him until I saw him the next day. He was normal at first, just a little off. It took a few days until he turned violent. I’m not sure there’s a connection…I didn’t even think about it until I heard about Gwen.”
“You need to tell the police,” I said gently.
“My mother will kill me.”
“How about I go check it out myself? Then we can go from there.”
“Would you?”
“Yeah.” I planned to go anyway, and I didn’t want Olivia tagging along. At least not yet.
“It starts at nine and you have to know the code word to get in. Tonight’s word is ‘albatross,’” she said, her voice breaking. “I hope you find out what happened to them.” Then she hung up.
My plans for the evening had suddenly changed.
Chapter 17
The crystal shop closed at seven so I had to hurry to get ready for the night. I sent Jack the address of my first appointment the next day, and he responded that he was still in the ER waiting for his CAT scan. They’d refused to discharge him until he had it. I’d considered asking him to go to the party with me, but if people were really having sex in the open, it had the potential to make things even more awkward between us. The CAT scan delay made the decision for me, and I couldn’t help wondering if this was fate intervening again.
After a quick shower, I checked on Tommy and told him I had to go out for a little bit. He was busy playing with the Lincoln Logs at the table and didn’t seem concerned in the least. As a precaution, I poured salt across the window sills.
Before I left, I made a quick turkey sandwich and sent Abel a text.
Something came up so I can’t meet you tonight. Rain check?
The week before, I’d bought two knife sheaths and attached them to a wide leather thigh strap. I’d predicted I would need it at some point, and it looked like the time had come. I strapped it on, slipped the daggers into the sheaths, then put on a long sweater to hide the fact I was wearing them.
Since it was Friday evening, parking downtown was a nightmare, but I walked up to the New Age shop just as a young woman was locking the door.
“Please,” I shouted through the window. “I’ll only be a moment.” That was likely a lie, but once I got through the door, we’d sort that out later.
The woman shook her head, her full, crimped hair brushing her shoulders as she mouthed sorry, then backed away.
I told myself it was only one night. It would likely take the demons a few days to find Tommy. I’d head straight here tomorrow morning after training. Odds were Tommy would be just fine, but I was still worried. I knew in my gut that any delay was dangerous.
I started to walk away when I heard a woman call after me with a deep Southern accent. “How come you’re so easily turned away?”
I stopped and looked over my shoulder, surprised to see a different woman standing in the now-open doorway. She looked older than the young woman who had turned me away, but she wasn’t very old either, probably early forties. Her black hair was twisted into hundreds of braids gathered together in a pony tail at the nape of her neck, and she wore a pair of jeans and a flowing blue shirt.
“I’ve been waitin’ for you,” she said.
I sucked in a breath. “You’ve been waiting for me?”
“You’re Piper Lancaster, aren’t you?” she asked as though she was irritated to have to explain herself.
“Yes.”
“Then come in.” She motioned for me to follow her. “There’s much to see.”
Much to see? What did that mean? Even though I was slightly unnerved, I followed her in, telling myself it wasn’t all that surprising a woman in a New Age store would recognize me. Word was getting around about me, and she probably thought my showing up would be good for business.
“Lock the door behind you,” she said as she walked through a beaded curtain concealing the back of the shop.
I hesitated, suddenly uneasy, but I needed those crystals, so I turned back to the door. It had a single lock—a deadbolt with a key still in it. I locked the door but left the key in it in case I needed to make a quick getaway.
A quick survey of the shop told me it was everything I’d expected it to be and more. Crystals, dream catchers, books on meditation and auras, and tons of candles. The kinds of pretty junk tourists would pick up on a whim.
With my left hand on St. Michael’s hilt, I went through the beaded curtain and down a long, dark hall. The smell of incense hit me about halfway down, and I followed the scent up a staircase in the back to the second floor. I ended up in the living room and kitchen of an apartment.
“I haven’t got all night,” the woman called out, “and neither do you.”
The words sent a shiver down my spine. I followed her voice—and the strong, pungent odor of incense—through the living room and down a short hall to an open door. The dark room was lit with multiple candles arranged on the floor. The woman sat behind a round table in the center of the room. A small animal skin and a small wooden cup were laid out in front of her.
“Have a seat, slayer.”
I paused just inside the doorway, my heart skipping a beat. My hand tightened on St. Michael. Did she work with the Guardians? Something told me she didn’t, and yet…
“What did you call me?”
“Slayer.”
I took a step back. “I work with ghosts.”
“This is true, but you also slay demons.”
I started to ask her how she knew, then stopped. It wasn’t worth arguing. “You said you’ve been waiting for me?”
She dramatically swept a hand toward the chair across from her. “Please, sit.”
“For heaven’s sake, Mama,” said a voice from my right. “She’s not a client.”
I cast a glance at the speaker, the woman who’d tried to lock me out. She stood with her feet apart and her hands behind her back like she was on guard duty…and maybe she was. The glare she shot me suggested she resented my presence.
“She’s wrong. I am a customer,” I said. “I’m here for some protective crystals.”
“You need more than that, my child. Sit.”
I cast a glance back to the woman at my right, wondering if I had cause to worry about her.
“No harm will come to you here,” the older woman said. “This place is warded against demons.”
My eyes widened. So she could help me.
She laughed. “That caught your attention.” A knowing look filled her eyes. “I’m Deidre, and this is my daughter, Luna.”
“I guess you know I’m Piper. Are you with the Guardians?”
The older woman chuckled. “I have no idea who the Guardians are, but I can be like a guardian of sorts.”
I wasn’t sure I could trust her, but I was intrigued enough to stay. Besides, I’d come here for a purpose. “I want to know how to ward against demons.”
“We’ll work our way up to that,” Deidre said. “Sit.”
I did as she asked, positioning myself so that I could keep an eye on Luna, who looked like she wanted to grab me by my hair and drag me out the door.
Deidre beamed at me, ignoring the bad vibes coming from her daughter. “We’ll start by reading your fortune.”
Was that what she’d meant when she said there was much to see? I snorted. “No, thank you. I know my fortune. I don’t need you to fill in the details.”
Deidre picked up the wooden cup and shook it, the contents making a hollow sound against the container. Her dark brown eyes held mine as though she was trying to look into my very soul. I met her gaze in challenge, refusing to back down. Her brow lifted.
“Let the fates decide that,” she finally said. She broke eye contact and upended the cup onto the table, scattering what looked like small bones and tiny clam shells across the animal hide. Her face drew down into a frown. “You’re in a battle of good versus evil.”
I held my face in a scoff.
She didn’t notice since she was still peering at the bones. “Soon you will meet a relative you didn’t know existed until recently.”
That caught my attention. Could she be talking about my cousin Elinor?
She was quiet for a moment, her fingertips hovering over the bones. “Someone close to you—someone you trust—will betray you.”
My chest constricted, but I told myself this woman was full of crap. A peddler of false fortunes. “Isn’t there supposed to be something about me falling into money?”
Her face turned up to face me, her eyes narrowing. “If you can see ghosts and demons, why is it so hard to believe that I can predict the future? Demons and ghosts are reasonable, but not a seer?” When I didn’t say anything, she said, “You perked up when I told you my home is warded. You believe that’s possible, so why not the fortune tellin’?”
“Fine,” I said with a huff. “It’s possible.” If that’s what she needed from me to get my wards, so be it.
She held the cup sideways and scooped the bones and shells back into it with her hand. “You can’t be on the offensive all the time. You need protections.” She gestured to my neck. “That was a good start.”
I reached up and fingered the obsidian pendant, trying not to look like her words had affected me. “You seem to know a lot about me already. Do you know who gave it to me?”
She shook the bowl and dumped the bones and shells again, then leaned over to read them. “Someone mysterious. The two of you have strong, unbreakable ties.”
“Unbreakable?” I didn’t like the sound of that.
She examined the bones, then gave me a sideways glance. “Maybe not entirely unbreakable. But very, very strong.”
“Can I trust this mysterious someone?”
She studied the bones again. “They don’t give me an answer.”
“So this someone could be the person who betrays me?”
Her face lifted with a sly look. “Is he close to you?”
That was a very good question. “Can we get back to the pendant? Do you know what it does?”
She scooped the bones back into the cup. “Do you?”
“It helped develop my powers, which sounds ridiculous, but I started seeing ghosts very soon after I put it on.”
A secretive grin lit up her eyes. “Is that what he told you?”
I blinked, sure I’d heard her wrong. “Then how did it happen?”
“Oh, sweet summer child. You developed your powers because of him. Not the pendant.”
What did that mean? Because of our blood oath? I’d started seeing ghosts and demons before that. “He tricked me?”
“Did he tell you that the necklace would enhance your abilities?”
Had he? At most, Abel had said he’d hoped the necklace would spark my true potential. And I’d just assumed that it had.
“No, he said it would hide me from the demons,” I said.
Had Abel really been the one to unlock my abilities? There was no denying they’d exploded exponentially after we met. There was also no denying there was a supernatural link between us. Something that predated the blood oath. What did it mean? Obviously he needed me to kill him, but why did my power hunger for his?
I didn’t have time to think about him right now. I didn’t want to think about him right now.
Deidre continued, oblivious to my internal debate. “And it should have protected you in the beginnin’. But your powers have grown too strong for it to hide you now. It’s like tryin’ to throw a dish towel over a lamp to hide the light.”
“Did your bones tell you that?” I asked defensively.
“No,” the woman in the corner said in a snotty tone. “Your aura did.”
I shifted my attention to her. “My aura?”
“It glows at least three times brighter than anyone else’s,” Luna said. “Maybe more.”
“We think it’ll grow even stronger,” Deidre said. “And that’s why you’re here.”
“No, like I said, I’m here to figure out how to ward my house against demons.”
“And like I said, we can teach you that and much more,” Deidre said.
“What’s the price?” I asked with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Deidre’s fingertips glided along the rim of the cup. “Have you always been so cynical?”
“Why don’t you ask your bones?” As soon as I said it, I knew I’d gone too far. I needed her help, but she made me nervous and uneasy. My natural response to those feelings was to lash out, something that obviously wasn’t going to help me here. “I apologize,” I said. “That was rude.”
Deidre grinned, but it wasn’t friendly. “Always tell me the truth, Piper. We’ll get so much more done if we’re honest with each other.” She reached across the table, her palm up. “Give me your left hand.”
I balled my hand into a fist on my lap, self-conscious of the marks on my palm.
“Let me see your hand,” she repeated more forcefully.
I realized she might have answers, so I gave it to her.
She spread out my fingers and studied the markings. “I’ve never seen this on someone’s skin before. Did you have it tattooed?”
I was reluctant to tell her the marks had just appeared. Jack had given me a vague explanation of what the symbols meant, but it occurred to me that she might know more. “Do you know what they mean?”
“The circle intersecting the square means you can bridge the spiritual and earthly planes.”
“Ghosts?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
The tip of her nail slid along the marking on the upper right of my hand—a half-inch straight line attached to four perpendicular lines of varying lengths. “And demons.”
So that symbol stood for demons? It made sense since it had appeared after I killed the demons at Helen’s Bridge.
She muttered several words in a language I didn’t understand. “You must protect your heart and your mind, summer child. As your power grows, they will look for your weaknesses.”
“How do I protect my heart and mind?”
“With marks of your own, but you’re not prepared for that yet. For now, we’ll protect your home and your friends.”
I sat up straighter. “You can protect my friends?”
“Not entirely, but we can help them hide.”
“What about ghosts?”
“You’ll need to take your usual precautions when it comes to ghosts.”
“No, I mean do you have anything that will help me hide a ghost from a demon?”
She looked surprised. “You want to hide a ghost from a demon? Why?”
“Because demons have been finding powerful ghosts and using them to get to me. I have a ghost in my house and I’m worried a demon will find it.”
“Why not send the ghost on its way to the next plane?”
“Not all ghosts are ready to go,” I said. “I don’t force them.”
Holding my gaze, she wrapped her long fingers around the small cup and shook it again. When she emptied it onto the animal skin, she lowered her open palm over the bones and closed her eyes. She whispered something I couldn’t understand, then opened her eyes and stared at the bones and shells beneath her palm. “You said you don’t force the ghosts to go, but you forced one this very afternoon.”
My mouth parted in shock. I tried to hide my reaction, but it was too late. “There are exceptions.”
“Either you do or you don’t,” Deidre said cryptically, still studying the bones. “You are making yourself judge and jury.”
“Edna was dangerous. I couldn’t leave her there. She was hurting people, and she’d been infused with power from a demon. She could have killed the homeowner and others.”
Deidre’s face tilted up slightly, just enough for me to see her eyes. “You don’t need to justify yourself. I’m only reportin’ what the bones tell me.”
I wanted to call bullshit, but I couldn’t argue that she knew things. She was right. If I believed in ghosts and demons and other
supernatural creatures, why was it so hard to believe she could read things from chicken bones?
She bent back over the bones. “The ghost you wish to protect is special to you.”
I held my breath, unsure of what to say.
“You are right to protect it,” she continued. “The Great One is seekin’ him out.”
“The Great One?” The words sounded strangled.
“You know of it?” she asked.
“Do you?”
A dark look filled her eyes. “It seeks you as well.”
“Why?”
She studied the bones. “The answer isn’t clear, which means it’s complicated. You may only be one part of its plan.”
“It has a plan?”
Her eyes bored into mine. “A demon with this much power always has a plan.”
She was right, but it was disconcerting that she knew so much. “You said someone close to me would betray me. Can you give me more clues as to who it is?”
Deidre scooped up the bones and shells and threw them again. She held her hand over them, as though she felt the energy rolling off them. “There are no more answers about your hidden enemy.”
“None?”
“A power of protection has been placed over this person to hide their intent.”
I swallowed, feeling nauseated.
“You believe my mother,” Luna said from the corner, sounding surprised.
I glanced back at her. “She’s right. I believed in the power of the pendant on my neck even if it doesn’t work the way I thought. I believe in ghosts and demons, and heaven and hell. Why shouldn’t I believe that a woman with chicken bones and shells can read my future?”
My sincere tone was somewhat at odds with my words, but the woman in the corner relaxed, her shoulders slouching slightly. She’d held her hand behind her back, but now it fell to her side, revealing a knife that resembled a machete. She’d been armed the entire time. I should have been alarmed, but it was clear that any threat she might have posed had passed.
“You’ve been standing guard,” I said. “What did you think I would do?”