Gavin shook his head. “I can’t take that chance. Blood alone might not be a permanent solution to my situation.”
Two more steps brought him so close she could feel the chill emanating from him. He reached out and stroked a hand through her hair, let it slide down her neck to her chest, where it cupped one breast. He squeezed just hard enough to be uncomfortable but not painful.
The look in his eyes said the pain would come soon enough.
“Besides, my way will be much more enjoyable. At least for me and my men.”
Rough laughter and a couple of rude comments came from the men behind her, but Maya ignored them. It was Gavin she had to convince. She couldn’t afford to focus on anything except him.
Fighting the urge to pull away from his groping fingers, she said, “What happens if you kill me, and it doesn’t work?”
His fingers stopped moving. “What?”
“You killed Fiona, but you stayed a ghost. What if the same thing happens again?”
His black eyes narrowed. “It won’t. ‘Tis your blood that makes the difference. Your friend wasn’t a witch.”
Maya heard the slightest hint of uncertainty in his voice and tried not to show her growing excitement. “How do you know? Maybe it would’ve worked if you hadn’t killed her. Do the tales say you have to sacrifice a virgin or just take the blood of a virgin?”
Gavin stepped back and his gaze moved up and past her. “Childs? What say you to that?”
A man spoke behind her. Maya recognized the voice as belonging to one of the men who’d attacked her earlier in the week, the older of the two.
“There be nothing specific about killing, in actuality. The way I always heard it was ‘it takes the virgin witch’s blood to bring back what’s been lost.’”
Tiny sparks crackled in the air around Gavin’s head and his mouth grew tight. When he finally spoke, his words carried the same chill as his body. “So, in fact, you don’t know a damned thing about what to do?”
He didn’t let the other man answer, just kept talking. “You can’t even tell me if I’m supposed to take her virginity, her blood, her life, or some damned combination of the three?”
When the sailor called Childs answered, Maya heard more than a little fear in his voice. “Aye, sir. That be the problem with magik and spells. Too often they be murky as a foggy sea.”
Gavin’s voice didn’t change, but when he next spoke, an involuntary shiver ran through Maya.
“Don’t lecture me on spells, Mister Childs. I’ve plenty of knowledge in that area.” The other man wisely stayed silent.
Though her body still trembled, Maya kept her voice steady as she continued her cajoling. “Gavin, listen to me. You have nothing to lose doing it my way. I’ll still be your prisoner. And a virgin. If my blood doesn’t work, then you can...you know. But if you try it your way first, and it fails, then what? I’m dead and useless.”
Gavin stared at her for a long moment. She imagined his dark gaze digging through her brain, trying to find any trace of trickery. Finally, he nodded. “’T’would be faster, I’ll give you that. And, if it doesn’t work, rest assured you’ll be begging for a quick death.”
Before Maya could respond, he grabbed her arm in a grip that was strong as steel. Using a shard of glass from a nearby table, he dug the point deep into the meaty part of her hand below the thumb, opening a two-inch gash. Although she tried her best, Maya couldn’t help but give voice to her pain as fire blossomed in her palm.
Ignoring her shout, Gavin clamped his hand over hers. The effects of the blood on him were immediate. He gasped and stepped back, his eyes wide and his mouth open in surprise.
“I feel it!” As he spoke, a white glow surrounded him, so bright it forced Maya to squint her eyes and tilt her head away. Through her tears she saw Lucy kneeling on the floor, covering her face with her arms.
In the time it took Maya to inhale and exhale, the glow faded and Gavin let out a bellow of laughter.
“It worked! I’m whole again!” He slapped his hands against his chest, sending multi-colored sparks in all directions. Thunder rumbled outside the museum, so loud and close the floor vibrated under Maya’s feet.
“Hurry.” Gavin motioned to his men and all five of them ran forward, pushing and shoving at each other in their haste to reach Maya. The room turned spotlight bright as one after another touched her blood and changed. One of them drew a knife and Maya cried out.
“No! Gavin, there’s plenty of blood here for all of them. You still don’t know if the magik is permanent.”
Gavin snapped his fingers and tiny balls lightning crackled and spat against the ceiling. “She’s right. We might need her yet again. And if we don’t, she’ll be more fun alive than dead.”
The sailors burst into laughter. One of them grabbed her, his hands running up and down her body, leaving bloody streaks on the front of her dress. Another yanked her hair, forcing her head back so he could mash his lips against hers. She tried turning away, but another bearded, filthy face waited on that side, as well. Hands pawed at her from all directions.
“Enough!” said Gavin. “Plenty of time for that later. First, find the book. Then, you can play all you want.”
A few of the sailors grumbled, and one muttered, “Aye, Mister Hamlin,” but they all let go of her and spread out across the room, angrily scattering objects off tables and tossing things to the floor.
God, that was too close. Her plan - which wasn’t much of a plan to being with - centered on staying alive a little longer. Hopefully a lot longer. As in seventy years or so.
She looked around, saw that none of the men were guarding her anymore. Her first thought was the doors, but she quickly saw she’d never get past the sailors on that side of the room. Instead, she knelt down next to Lucy and gave her friend a hard shake.
“Lucy! C’mon, snap out of it. I need your help.”
It took a few more shakes, but eventually Lucy lifted her head, exposing tracks of black mascara running down her cheeks like bad Halloween makeup. “We’re all gonna die, aren’t we?”
“Hopefully, no.” Maya pointed at Curtis and Gary, who still lay unconscious on the floor. “Go see if you can wake them up. Now’s our only chance, while they’re all busy.”
“You have a plan?”
“Maybe. Just hurry.”
To her credit, Lucy didn’t ask any more questions, just crawled across the broken glass and wood to where the boys lay. Maya was glad for that. Saying she had a plan - even a ”maybe” plan - was stretching things to the limit. ”Desperate fantasy” might be more appropriate.
Still, it was their best hope.
It all went back to something Grandma Elsa had said.
“Your blood is powerful. Not only can it bring ghosts back to life, but you can control them, too.”
And she’d said something else, as well. The power is inside me. My heart and my head.
The memory of that conversation had returned when Gavin touched his hand against her blood. He hadn’t been the only one who’d felt the power. For a brief moment, every inch of her body, every individual cell it seemed, tingled and itched like there’d been electricity running through her. She’d felt it again each time one of the other ghosts touched her.
Can I really do it?
That was where the ”maybe” came in. Not alone, that’s for sure. She’d need help. So, while Lucy attempted to wake Gary and Curtis, Maya went to Blake, making sure she only touched him with the hand that wasn’t bleeding.
If her plan worked, she didn’t want it affecting him, as well.
“Blake. Blake, wake up. C’mon, you’re a freakin’ ghost, you shouldn’t even be unconscious.” She kept her voice to a whisper while keeping her eyes on the room to watch Gavin and his men. All had their attention focused on what they were doing, which seemed to be randomly breaking things and knocking things over.
After a minute or so - which seemed like hours to Maya - Blake moaned and opened his eyes. “Maya
? Are you all right? You didn’t...?”
She patted his arm. “I’m fine, and whether I did or didn’t depends on what you mean. I didn’t get gang raped or killed, which I consider a good thing. But I did let them have some blood. The jury’s still out on whether that was a good or bad idea.” She held out her hand and showed him the cut, which still oozed blood.
His hazel eyes went wide. “Oh, Maya. You mean they’re...?”
“Solid, yeah.” She nodded. “I had to do it, to keep us all alive. I have a plan. Or, at least I think I do. Remember what my Grandma Elsa said?”
Blake stared at her, his face blank.
“The power is in me. She said that, remember?”
He frowned. Maya wanted to shake him again, much harder this time.
“She said I can control ghosts with my blood.”
Blake’s eyes narrowed and the confused look disappeared. “Yes, she did say that.” His growing excitement changed to concern. “She also said it was dangerous. For you.”
“News flash. Look around. How much more dangerous can things get?”
As if to answer her question, Gavin gave a triumphant shout from across the room.
“I have it!” He raised his hand, and the men cheered. In the dim glow of the few remaining lights, Maya couldn’t see what he held, but a nasty feeling in her stomach told her it had to be the key. Gavin confirmed her assumption a moment later when one of the sailors - the old man he’d called Childs - brought over a small trunk, and Gavin opened it.
“The book!”
Chapter 23
At Gavin’s exultant cry, the sailors all stopped what they were doing and rushed across the room, laughing and shouting, ignoring Maya and the others in their haste.
“There’s not much time,” Childs said, as Gavin removed the book from its resting place. “’Tis near midnight. I can feel it in me bones. Aye, and ‘tis, indeed, wondrous to say that again.”
“That’s my cue,” Maya whispered to Blake. “I’m going to stall him until you and Lucy and the others are back on your feet.”
“What should we do?”
Maya shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t know. Just be ready to help. Or to run like hell.”
She stood up and called out Gavin’s name. “You have the book. Now, let us go.”
Everyone turned and stared at her. Gavin pointed. “Bring her to me. She will be the first sacrifice after I open the gates. Then, her friends can follow.”
“Wait!” Maya held up her hands. “You’ve got your book of spells or whatever, and you’ve got me. Why do you still need them?”
“Maya? What the hell are you doing?” Lucy’s voice.
Without looking at her friend, Maya answered in a soft voice. “Take the boys and get out of here as soon as you have a chance. Get the police.”
Two of Gavin’s men reached her and took her by the arms. She let them drag her closer to Gavin. She still had no idea how to use the power that was supposedly inside her, but she figured the closer to her target, the better.
“’Tis true I no longer need you to regain my flesh,” Gavin said. In one hand he held a dictionary-sized book, its black leather cover cracked and peeling. “But that was only necessary so I could perform the real ceremony. And, for that I need blood, as well. A lot of it. And,” he added, looking at the students behind Maya, “it doesn’t have to be a virgin’s blood.”
Turning to his men, Gavin said, “Hold them while I perform the rites.”
“What rites?” It was hard not going to her friends’ aid as she heard them captured once more, but the important thing was that Blake remained free.
Gavin didn’t look up from the book, his fingers carefully turning each brittle, stained page. “The ones I must perform in order to call forth the Daimones Proseoous.”
“The dammy-prosoo-whats?” A quick peek back showed Blake getting to his feet. He looked pale and weak, but his face was hard and determined. Neither of the two sailors standing near him took any notice, which was as she’d hoped. Once they’d regained their human forms, they’d lost the ability to see other ghosts. She hoped he’d figure it out, as well, and stay far enough away from her to remain invisible.
“Ancient sea daemons, known well to the Greeks. With them under my command, I’ll control the oceans and have access to unlimited wealth.”
Maya laughed out loud. She couldn’t help it. One of the sailors gripped her arm tighter, but she ignored it. “Control the oceans? Dude, I hate to tell you this, but things have changed a little bit over the last couple of centuries. We have these things called airplanes now. They carry stuff from one country to the next through the sky. Controlling the seas would hurt the economy, but only until they like, sent some warships or subs to nuke your demon thingies back to wherever they came from.”
A flicker of uncertainty passed across Gavin’s face, and then his arrogant confidence returned. “If what you say is true, it is no matter. There are many other daemons, creatures of the sky, earth, and fire, and this book gives me power over them all. You’ll not sway me with your words.”
His fingers stopped moving, and he held the book higher. Without any pause, he started reciting words from the book. Maya cringed inside. She’d hoped he’d be like the bad guys in the movies or on TV, who took their time bragging about their plans, thus allowing the good guys to fight back.
Except now there wasn’t any time. The funky book of spells was already glowing a weird greenish-yellow, which grew stronger as Gavin continued speaking.
“Hear me, foul Lords of the Deep!
In the name of Triton and Poseidon, I call you!
See the death and blackness in my heart and rejoice!
For I call to you now to give you place on Earth again!”
Enthralled by their master’s words, the sailors holding Maya allowed their grips to loosen. It was the moment she’d been waiting for, the time to test her powers. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as hard as she could on the hands holding her.
Let me go. Let me go. Let me go. Let me...
The rough fingers fell away. She opened her eyes, unable to believe it had worked, afraid she’d see it was just a trick.
The two men stood like statues, eyes facing forward, arms hanging limply at their sides.
OhmyGod! It did work!
She risked a glance at Blake. He’d made it to his knees and his eyes looked more alert. He nodded to her, and she hoped he was up to his part of the plan. Then, she almost forgot what she had to do when she looked back at Gavin.
A large, ink-black oval shape was growing behind him, a floating hole in the world outlined in a sickly yellow color.
His spell! It’s already taking effect.
That meant there wasn’t much time. Focusing all her attention on Gavin, she repeated one command over and over, putting every ounce of strength she had left into her effort.
Look away. Look away. Look away. Look--
Gavin turned his head to the left, but didn’t stop speaking.
It’s now or never. C’mon, Blake!
Next to her, Blake saw the movement and extended his hands outward. The tiny hairs on Maya’s arms jumped to attention as the air crackled with static electricity. Blake grunted as he loosed twin bolts of lightning from his hands right into Gavin’s chest.
Where they disappeared.
Without pausing, Gavin pointed at Blake and a ruby-red line of energy lashed out. It roped itself around Blake before the stunned ghost could react, and lifted him into the air like a crazed boa constrictor choking a rat. Then, it snapped forward in whip-like fashion and sent Blake flying through the air, his body burnt and smoking even as it faded into semi-transparency. He hit the ground and didn’t move.
Gavin’s eyes mocked Maya with cruel amusement as he continued the spell. A stiff breeze sprang up out of nowhere and quickly turned into a heavy wind that tossed papers and small objects around the room. Maya found herself squinting against the dust and debris hitting her face.
Then she forgot all about her own discomfort as the glowing oval shape grew. Smaller than a car tire at first, it rapidly expanded until it was taller than Gavin and easily four feet wide.
Oh, God. It’s growing stronger.
Seeing their last chance at defeating Gavin, Maya cursed out loud. What else could she try? Her plan had failed. She wasn’t strong enough to defeat Gavin alone, and...
Wait. What if I had help? If ghosts can channel energy and turn it into lightning, maybe they can transfer some of that energy to me. It was worth a try, but how? Blake was out cold again, and even if she woke him, she doubted he had any strength left to share.
Grandma Elsa!
Not caring if Gavin heard her, she called out for her grandmother. “Grandma Elsa! Please, if you can hear me, I need your help!”
The ground rumbled beneath her feet, and she grabbed a table to keep from falling down. The few artifacts left on the remaining shelves joined their companions on the floor.
Not the response I was hoping for, Maya thought, recognizing the tremors as an effect of Gavin’s continuing spell - strange, shadowy forms, indistinct, but somehow unpleasant to the eye, were taking shape inside the black circle.
Please, Grandma, there’s not much time...
“Not much time for what - good heavens, what is that?”
Maya let out a startled squeal at the sound of her grandmother’s voice behind her.
“Grandma! Thank God! There’s no time to explain. I need your strength. Can you pass it on to me the way Blake and the others can make lightning?”
Without batting an eye, Elsa Crompton took Maya’s hand in hers. “I think maybe it’s possible. But there has to be physical contact.”
“We’re only gonna have one shot.” Gripping her dead grandmother’s ice-cold fingers, Maya turned her attention to Gavin. No time for tricks or subtlety.
“Drop the book. Your time is done. Drop the book, your time is done...”
Next to her, Elsa repeated Maya’s words.
Ghosts of Coronado Bay Page 15