by Celeste Hall
Chapter Five
By Wednesday, the electrician had come and gone again, leaving her yard lit up like a Christmas tree lot whenever the motion detectors were triggered. He’d also installed lights on each of the corners of her house, scaring away all of the dark shadows where intruders might have hidden.
Rachel’s brother, Matt, had sent over a consultant from an alarm company that he’d worked with in the past and trusted.
The man had gone through the entire house looking at windows, stairways, hallways using a variety of angles. He’d jotted down dozens of notes, while explaining that it was sometimes tricky setting up alarm systems for old homes that still had their original rope and pulley designed window panes.
“Tricky, but certainly not impossible,” he assured her. “I’ll need to work out some figures for you and double check all of these angles to make sure that we have every entrance covered, but it shouldn’t take me very long. We do have to work around the holiday this weekend. It’s hard to get anyone out on Halloween. My guys are all family men, so they’ll be out with their kids trick-or-treating. But I could schedule your installation for Monday, if that works for you.”
“Monday would be great, thank you.” Morgan was still reeling from the cost of both the system and the monthly monitoring, but she knew it was a necessary expense. There was no telling what Craig might do when he got tired of merely sending her dead animals.
As the consultant left the house, Morgan closed the door and leaned back against it with a heavy sigh. It was hard enough knowing that there was a crazy man out there somewhere plotting his next move against her. Now she was forced to spend valuable time and money in an effort to defend herself.
What she needed right now was a little peace and happiness, which reminded her of the ritual supplies still boxed up in her closet. She’d certainly felt a little better after her first attempt at magic. Maybe she’d have better luck if she tried it again now that she’d made so many other changes in her life.
Leo seemed to sense that something was brewing and followed her into the bathroom as she went in for her ritual cleansing.
She recalled his first night in the house, when he’d scared her half to death by sneaking into the room while she was bathing. It was strange how greatly her feelings had changed in less than a week of sleeping with him beside her.
Rather than being afraid, she was now glad to have his company. No matter what happened, she knew that the big black cat was there for her.
She could understand now why so many people kept pets. It might not be the same as having a human shoulder to cry on, but she no longer had to face the darkness and the fear alone.
She set up the altar and tools that she was might need before lighting the candles and turning off the electric lighting. Leo crouched on the bed and watched, yet as she began to cast the circle he leaped down and stepped inside the area, seating himself near the altar with a determined flick of his tail.
Morgan had heard of witches keeping familiars in the form of animals. Her grandmother even had a brief note about them in her journals.
Apparently a gifted witch could add the strength of the familiar’s energy to her spells, channeling a little extra ‘oomph’ into her rituals. Well, Morgan could use all the help she could get.
It did sort of fit the mood to have an enormous black cat sitting opposite from her. It made her feel like the Hollywood version of a witch, rather than a witchy wannabe. All she really needed now was a broom stick and she’d fit right in with the pointy hat club.
“I don’t suppose you’ve had any experience in this line of work?” She remarked drolly, sitting in a cross-legged position across from the cat.
Leo only offered one of his penetrative stares and a slight flick of his tail.
“Well, we’re going to try casting a protection spell, and for a house this large I’d appreciate any extra energy you might have to spare.”
After placing a clean sheet of paper on the altar, Morgan began to fill the small cauldron with ingredients from the book.
She added a mixture of powdered herbs that were listed as having a natural protective energy. Three drops from an oil blend that her grandmother had labeled for protection. And three drops of thick black ink.
Dipping the old quill pen into the potion she stirred it three times while chanting the words her grandmother had written, and then drew a series of protection symbols on the paper using the magically infused ink.
Closing her eyes she began to chant again, but she was finding it difficult to visualize the great amount of energy she needed to completely surround and protect the entire house.
“You should really have your coven help with a spell of this magnitude,” a deep male voice instructed her calmly.
Morgan was too shocked to scream.
In fact, it was just like a moment stolen from one of her worst nightmares. Her body froze up as if her limbs were trapped in solid stone, and her shrieks were locked up in a throat that was suddenly so constricted she could hardly breathe.
Her eyes flashed open to see a man sitting beside her and all she could do was offer a thin, high pitched whine of pure horror in response.
She was naked and helpless. If he were planning to rape and kill her, there was really nothing she could do to stop him.
Although maybe it was a nightmare after all, because this was definitely the same man from her dreams, sitting beside her just as naked and as gorgeous as the first time that he’d appeared.
Hooded green eyes watched her from beneath elegantly arched eyebrows, but he made no attempt to grab her. Instead, he tilted his head slightly to one side.
“You’re not really a witch, are you?” It wasn’t a question. His lips were already curling up into a self-depreciating smile. “That does make this a little awkward.”
His smile helped Morgan break free from the paralyzing fear and she scrambled backwards across the floor before crashing into the far bedroom wall. Using it as a crutch for her jelly-like legs, she pushed herself upright and faced the unwelcome intruder from a much safer distance.
“Who are you? How’d you get in here? What do you want?”
To her relief, he remained seated near the altar. It would probably take him a few seconds to get up and come after her if she ran. But where would she go? He was seated directly between her and the bedroom door.
“I’ve gone by many names during my life,” he admitted, matching her gaze with an eerily calm intensity. “Most recently, I was given the name Leo. I’m your familiar, Morgan. Or at least, I had hoped to be. You seemed a little uncomfortable with me at first, but I thought you were finally coming around. It looks like I was mistaken.”
Leo? As in… the cat?
Her mouth fell open, then shut again with an audible click.
He was insane. Why must she always attract the crazy ones? Her relationship with Craig had nearly ended in death for both her and Heidi. But the former drug addict wasn’t nearly as unhinged as this man appeared to be.
“Get out of my house!”
He shrugged. “Where would you have me go? My family are gone. I’m just as alone in this world as you are, Morgan. We need each other, especially if you intend to continue practicing magic. You obviously still have a lot to learn and I can teach you.”
“You said it yourself, I’m not a witch. I don’t know the first thing about being a witch either. I was just trying to find some peace and comfort using the rituals my grandmother had in her journal, because I feel closer to her when I do. I’m not really trying to adopt a religion I know nothing about.”
His green eyes narrowed.
“So you’re going to pretend like you’re not absolutely terrified about what your ex-boyfriend is going to do next? You’re going to tell me that all this…” he gestured at the ritual items that still surrounded him in the circle, “Is just a practice of nostalgia, and that you don’t really want to protect yourself and your home using whatever means necessary?”<
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Morgan scowled at him bleakly, suddenly feeling tears threatening.
“It’s not real. Magic isn’t real. It just makes me feel better to have that connection with my grandmother.”
“Oh, magic is real,” he assured her with a wry smile. “I’m living proof of that.”
Morgan began to slide along the wall towards the bathroom door. If she could get inside the bathroom she might be able to keep him out long enough for someone to come looking for her.
“I don’t think magic is the word I’d used to describe you,” she mumbled under her breath, looking over to check the time. After having two dead animals dropped on her porch, Heidi and Rachel had promised to come by every night after work. She only had to fend off her attacker for an hour or so and someone was sure to show up.
Yet as she glanced back to where the naked man had been sitting, she found the spot uncomfortably vacant.
The bedroom door was still closed and the windows were shut.
A gravelly meow drew her attention to the bed. Leo had leaped up onto the mattress and was stalking towards the bedroom window.
She was preparing a dash for the bathroom, but a new sound drew her attention straight back to the window. It was a loud thump, followed by a slow sliding scratching sound.
All she could imagine, was that the naked man had somehow opened the window and climbed outside. But how could he have done it so quickly?
She’d only looked away for a brief minute, it was impossible, wasn’t it? And why wasn’t the yard lit up like a Christmas tree lot? The window was as dark as pitch.
A low harsh growling sound echoed up from deep in Leo’s chest as he hunkered down to glower through the glass pane. So now he wanted to be a hero? Where was he a minute ago when she’d had a naked intruder sitting right beside her?
Morgan slapped a shocked hand over her mouth as she added up the possibilities and what her naked dream man had said.
She’d been chanting with her eyes closed just before Leo had vanished and the man had appeared. Was it possible that they’d switched back the moment she’d broken eye contact?
It must be the dark night and the energy radiating off the magic tools scattered throughout her room, because she was actually beginning to believe. Yet, if it was true, then who was out on the roof?
Morgan raced over to the bed table for her phone and dialed the police. It didn’t matter who was out there, naked ritual crasher or ex-boyfriend psychopath, she wanted them gone.
She thought of the dead animals in the boxes and felt a spike of fear for the cat perched so dangerously near the threat. If someone really wanted to hurt her, they wouldn’t think twice about hurting her pet.
“Leo, come away from the window.”
He only growled louder, the hair along his spine and tail rising to make him look twice as large and fierce.
“Leo! If you want me to believe that crap about you being a familiar, you could start by listening to me now. Get away from that window!”
Emerald green eyes flashed from her to the darkness outside. Then he leaped onto the bed and turned to keep his bristly body between her and the window.
Was it a coincidence? She decided it wasn’t really proof either way, but he was at least safely away from danger, should someone decide to break the glass and attempt to enter.
“We have an officer on his way,” a voice was saying into Morgan’s ear, reminding her that she still had the police department on the other end of the line. “Can you see the intruder now?”
“No, he was on the roof outside my bedroom window, but it’s dark and I don’t want to go near the glass. Someone has been putting dead animals on my porch. It might be the same person. I think he might want to hurt me.”
“Do you have a child in the house?”
Morgan frowned down at the phone.
“What? No. I don’t have children.”
“Who’s there with you right now? I heard you talking to someone else.”
“I was talking to my cat.”
“Okay, just try to stay calm ma’am,” the voice abruptly took on a patronizing tone, which made the hackles rise on the back of Morgan’s neck.
The time seemed to stand still as she waited. Then the woman’s irritating voice returned. “The officers are at your front door, can you go let them in?”
Morgan hung up the line and headed for the door, pausing for only a minute as Leo flashed by her feet. He was down the stairs before she had even reached the landing, disappearing around the corner towards the front door.
When she reached ground level, the cat was peering suspiciously out the front window. Beyond, she could see the police cruiser parked on the street.
As she opened the door to let the officer in, Leo abruptly raced outside. She was so shocked by his escape she was slow to react and the cat vanished into the darkness beneath the hedges that lined the front yard.
“Leo!”
There were two officers standing on the porch. One of them had his flashlight out and was searching the shadows created by eves and gables on her roof. When the cat ran by he flicked the beam of light after him, but Leo was gone, so he returned his attention to Morgan.
“Did you call in an intruder?”
“Yes.” It hurt to realize that Leo had abandoned her, but she needed to face the trouble at hand. “He was outside my bedroom window, on the roof at the back of the house. Do you want to come through to the back yard?”
“Can I get to the back yard by walking around the side here?”
“Yes, there’s a gate with a latch, but it’s not locked. If you go the other way there’s not even a fence.”
The two men split up and walked around the house in opposite directions, flashlights searching both the roof and the surrounding yard and gardens.
Morgan followed the first man, but kept a watchful eye out for Leo.
As they came around the corner, the other officer motioned for his partner to keep Morgan back.
“There’s something on the roof alright, but it’s not a person. It may be a deer. It’s hard to tell from here.”
“How did a deer get on my roof? Oh my god!” She finally saw what the officer was pointing at and realized why identification might be difficult. From the ground it looked like a pile of bloody bones with patches of fur still attached.
Her stomach roiled and she was forced to quickly look away or be sick. “Why is he doing this to me? Doesn’t he realize that he’s already ruined my life? Why can’t he just leave me alone?”
The officer cut sharp eyes in her direction.
“Are you saying that you know who did this?”
Morgan nodded.
“He’s been putting dead animals in boxes on my porch. I guess that this one was too big for a box.”
The officer flicked his light over the floodlight at the corner of the house, revealing just the ragged edges of a broken light bulb.
“You should have that replaced. People who frequently commit crimes of vandalism are like cockroaches. They prefer the dark. If you turn on the lights, they’ll scurry away to hide.”
Morgan frowned.
“The system was just installed this week. The bulbs were all brand new and worked just fine last night.”
The officer searched beneath the bulb and kicked at a few rocks among the glass shards in the grass.
“Did you notice the lights working this evening?”
“They’re set to go off if something moves within their range. I don’t remember seeing them light up at all.”
“Whoever it was may have been scared away by the lights last night and then came back to break them out during the day. That way he could get close to the house without you seeing him tonight.” He flashed his light up from the carcass and the roof to her bedroom window just above it. “My guess is that he’s been watching you for a while. He knew exactly where to put this mess so you’d find it quickly.”
“Do you live alone?” The second officer asked. He
was a bit older and looked the most upset by the situation.
“Yes.”
“Do you have someone that might stay with you tonight, just in case he comes back?”
“I don’t think I want to stay here at all.”
“That might be best. Let’s get you back inside. I’m going to need you to fill out a few reports and I don’t like the idea of him watching you from those woods when you’re not wearing much to begin with. There’s no need to tempt guys like that.”
It was spoken as a father might chastise a daughter and it made Morgan’s heart ache a little for the parents that she’d lost.
Several hours later, the police finally left. They’d had to bring in a fish and game employee to remove the carcass and carry it away, but not before they did a quick examination to determine that it had probably been road killed a few days ago. It was apparently more convenient than killing another rabbit or squirrel.
Heidi was ashen faced as she showed up with Rachel. Neither of them were happy to see that the pranks were escalating into full sized animals. Or that the creep was now leaving them directly outside of the bedroom window.
Heidi was determined to have Morgan stay at her house because her work schedule was a little more flexible than Rachel’s, and neither of the girls wanted to leave her alone any longer than necessary.
While Morgan talked to the police and filled out reports, Heidi and Rachel searched for Leo. But there was no sign of the cat and Morgan was forced to face the truth, her temporary housemate might be gone for good.
She thought of what had happened in her bedroom and wondered if she were having a psychotic break.
When Craig had suffered his break he’d seen all sorts of things that weren’t really there. Was it possible that all the stress she was under had overloaded her mind and culminated in a bizarre hallucination?
That night as she curled up to sleep on the couch in Heidi’s apartment, she thought of another possible solution for Leo’s escape. Hallucination or not, the human version of Leo had appeared disappointed when he realized that she wasn’t really a witch.
Maybe the cat had simply left her to search for someone more worthy of his loyalty.