Without a second thought, he pulled out from underneath her and she plopped back down on the sofa, leaving her a tad embarrassed and a little slighted. His actions were similar to those of, Oh my God, poison, get away.
It wasn’t that bad.
“Um… um,” he staggered a little.
Melinda got herself sitting upright and smoothed out her hair and clothes. “It’s no big,” she insisted while clearing her throat. “Maybe we could um, you know, never tell anyone though, especially Riley.” She didn’t need a new reason for him to be jealous and dang it, she really liked Lucas and now everything was going to get weird.
“My lips are sealed. But honestly, Melinda, if Riley was in his right mind, he’d know better anyway.”
She gawked at him, not quite getting his point. “Because you are brothers, you mean? You’d never try to steal each other’s girlfriends, or not quite girlfriends, as the case may be if your brother decides not to come back.” And even if he does, there’s no guarantee we’ll still be dating.
Lucas shook his head. “This is wicked awkward, but just, I don’t,” he groaned, for whatever reason, unable to say the words he wanted to.
She watched a storm of shame whip across his face.
“I really like you, Melinda. I have not been able to say that about a lot of people in my life.”
Her face got hot. Oh, crap, this really is doomed. It was nice to have a friend who was not a brother, or related, or someone she was romantically interested in.
He saw the look on her face and quickly clarified what he meant. “When I say I like you, I don’t mean that in any sort of romantic way. I, um, I hope that’s okay.” She got the impression he was afraid he’d hurt her feelings by not actually wanting to be romantically involved. “It’s not that you’re not pretty or, I mean, you are, it’s just,” Lucas was unsure where he was going with this. He knew where he was trying to go, he just wasn’t getting there anytime soon. “You’re just not my type.” It came out more like a question. “And I don’t mean that in a bad way, either,” he sighed out.
Melinda grinned, and laughed lightly, relieved. Because she actually believed him. She plunked backwards into the couch cushions. “Lucas, I enjoy spending time with you. But I think a lot of that is because I don’t see you like that either. I find you easy to be around, too. And friends are definitely hard to come by these days. So you know, we can just forget about it, try not to fall asleep on the sofa again, and um,” she waved her hands around, not sure what else to say.
“I need coffee,” Lucas pushed out. “I really suck at making coffee.” He plunked broodingly into a nearby chair.
For some reason, Melinda laughed. Hard.
Something about the gaze on his face was just too funny not too.
Lucas shook his head and let a smile grow. He imagined he looked pretty pathetic right then.
Melinda got up and stretched her arms over her head.
“How about we get ourselves freshened up a bit, and stop by the Wicked Muddy on our way to the mansion. I’ve got to check in with my brothers. Thank God, I was smart enough to text Michael last night that I’d be late.”
“Yeah, he actually texted me when you didn’t show up, and I told him you’d fallen asleep. He said Finn was pacing your room unhappily because you were not home. And how on earth I ended up…” he rolled his eyes at the sofa.
“C’mon now! It wasn’t that bad, was it?”
Lucas lightened up a little. “No. I guess it wasn’t. Actually, it was the best night’s sleep I’ve gotten in days. Maybe weeks.”
“Well then, here’s to platonic friends and getting some sleep. Although Finn’s been keeping me company every night lately. I found him sleeping outside my window a few nights ago and now he just comes inside and lays next to my bed.”
“Really? I didn’t think gargoyles were supposed to form attachments like that.”
“Yeah, me either. But it’s kind of nice. Like I have a really big guard dog.”
They got themselves ready to leave, collected all the Levi files, and headed out of the manor toward the Wicked Muddy Café, and Grace’s wonder coffee.
A bit later, they were inside, and Grace was greeting them with her usual gruff, but lovely to see you, smile. It took all of about three seconds to see the stack of files they were carrying along.
“Workin’ on a case, I take it?”
“You know us, never stops.”
“And we need a lot of coffee to get through it,” added Lucas.
A far too obvious idea hit Melinda. Why hadn’t she thought of it before?
Grace was like The Demon Isle’s own personal version of google.
“Grace, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot away.”
“What can you tell me about an islander who jumped off a ferry back in the fifties, named Levi Johnston?”
Grace’s mouth widened into a perceptive grin. “Now I can’t even begin to imagine why you need to know about Levi, but I can tell you what I heard.” There was an excited gleam in her eye.
“So you’re familiar with the story?” Lucas confirmed, eager to hear what she had to say.
“Who isn’t?” Melinda and Lucas turned to see old Freddy Collier sitting not far away. “Well, us folks that are gettin’ along in years, anyway.”
“C’mon,” said Grace with a wink. She had one of her employees take over the counter and brought the coffees to Freddy’s table where they each sat down and greeted each other.
“So what’s going on about Levi?” Grace asked first.
Melinda almost blurted out, I’m surprised you don’t already know, but bit her tongue, amused by the whole thing. But also responded cautiously as she didn’t want to give away secrets that were not hers to reveal.
“It’s hard to say exactly as we’re still trying to piece a lot of things together. But, well, you guys are familiar with how I get my dreams and all?” she inquired mutedly.
“Right, of course. You had a dream?” Grace assumed.
“Something like that.” She didn’t want to give up the new gift Lucas was struggling with. Not yet at least.
“Anyway, this guy, Levi, keeps showing up, so we’re looking into his old case files to learn more about him. See if we can figure out why he keeps showing up.”
“Nice fellow he was, that Levi,” recalled Freddy.
“You knew him?” Melinda asked.
“I delivered newspapers to his house when I was a lad.”
“So a really long time ago,” Melinda said with an instant gasp at her lips. “Oh, I don’t mean that you’re old, or um...”
Grace snickered.
“Well, if I ain’t old I don’t know what I am!” Freddy retorted with a grin. “Anyway, nice man. Nice family, too. Was a shame really, he died young, just like his mother.”
“Didn’t they find out they both had the same illness?” Grace aimed at Freddy.
“Yup. Couldn’t pronounce it if’n I tried,” he admitted, “but one of those nasty ones where it passes down through the bloodlines, or what have you.”
“So Levi did kill himself,” Lucas surmised.
“Yup. Found out he was sick with just weeks to live. It wasn’t one of those diseases where you get sick and have a slow decline. One of those ones that just takes ya!”
“Hell on earth, who wants to get stuck with one of those,” hammered Grace.
“Guess he decided he wanted to be the one to do the takin’,” Freddy added.
“How sad though,” said Melinda. “To have the knowledge of how it’s going to end, that’s it will be so fast and brutal. I can only imagine what that would do to a person.”
“He probably didn’t want his loved ones countin’ down to the dread hour. I can’t say as I disagree,” stated Grace.
“Not many would. But some would choose to live whatever time they had left to its fullest,” wagered Freddy. “Anyway, whatever disease he had, it was something to do with the heart, I remember that much.�
�
“Yeah, I remember that too,” acknowledged Grace. “Had a bad heart and at the time, well, medicine’s come a long way since that time. I’m sure if it happened today they’d cure it easy enough if caught in time.”
“You’re probably right about that,” agreed Melinda.
“Levi did leave a suicide note.”
Melinda and Lucas popped their gazes to Grace.
“Really? And who found the note?” asked Lucas.
Grace got a wicked sort of smile. “This is where the scandal lies in this story. You see, it was discovered after Levi killed himself that he’d been havin’ a secret relationship with a young woman who was then engaged to be married to a young man who was not Levi Johnston.”
“Ah. I see.” Melinda imagined back then it would be quite the scandal. And on the Isle, no way to escape the aftermath.
“The young woman broke off her engagement after Levi’s death, admitting he was the love of her life. Poor thing was so heartbroken she left the Isle a couple months after,” Grace explained. “Ended up marryin’ a man she met on the mainland within the year though. She got over the love of her life pretty quick I guess,” she finished with a wink.
“She died a couple years back,” informed Freddy.
“Oh, really? That’s a shame,” Melinda noted. Lucas could only agree.
“But you know what?” Grace chimed with gusto. “The woman started comin’ back to the Isle a few years after she got married. I guess she got over the pain of losin’ Levi. Summered here every year until she died. Her daughter still comes every summer now with her children. And oh my, don’t they start young in that family. Her nineteen-year-old daughter went and got knocked up. Due in a couple months I think.”
“Do you think she’d mind a couple of unexpected visitors?” inquired Lucas.
“We won’t give them a choice,” Melinda decided. “Who needs police reports when we can go right to the source. Or I guess the source once removed. Too bad the woman Levi left the note for, died. But I’m sure we can find out a lot talking to her daughter. Worth a shot anyway.”
“I’ll get you some refills for the road,” said Grace, hopping to it.
“Thanks, Freddy. Appreciate the info.”
“Anytime. Anytime at all, young lady. You can find me right here.”
Melinda and Lucas picked up their refills and headed off to check in at the hospital and fill in Charlie on their progress since they had to pass by before going to visit the family of Levi’s lost love. They found Charlie sitting next to Lizzy’s bed staring at her so hard, it was like he was willing her with his mind to wake up.
“Any change?” asked Lucas.
“Same as yesterday. No worse. No better.” Another seemingly endless night. “The doctor seems to think that’s actually a good thing, that her body is working on healing itself.” Clearly, Charlie didn’t believe a word of it. “Getting any closer to finding out what’s going on with your gift?” he aimed at Lucas.
“Possibly. We just found out some info, a good lead at least.”
“Grace…” Melinda piped in, wearing a smirk.
“Right.”
“Charlie, I say this with all the love possible from a sister, but you look like shit. You really need to rest. Did you sleep at all last night?”
“Nope. Head nodded a few times but I woke myself up.”
“Please tell me you’re shutting the hell up long enough for Lizzy to sleep,” Melinda chided gently.
“Yup. I did.”
His sister nodded. “I guess we’ll leave you to it. But seriously, even though Lucas and I are dealing with this case, if you need a break, holler. We’ll be here fast as we can. Remember that whole thing we promised each other, about everyone doing their part and you not taking on more than you should?”
“Noted,” said Charlie. “The thing is, unless it’s some life or death emergency, I just can’t bring myself to leave. And at some point, my brain is finally going to come up with a solution to waking Lizzy.”
“Not if you get so tired you crash,” Lucas pointed out.
Hard to argue that point.
“I won’t let it go that far. Promise,” he aimed at Melinda.
She and Lucas bade their farewells to Lizzy and left to head out across the Isle to see if they could solve the mystery that was Levi Johnston.
CHAPTER 10
Michael grabbed his cell phone to inform Melinda they needed more werewolf blood from Charlie. They were already running low, having just one more dose to feed Grayson that evening. He was burning through the blood faster and faster, and Michael was starting to worry that soon, it might stop working completely.
His sister replied back right away.
“Sorry. We just left the hospital. But I’ll stop back in when we’re done with the Lucas thing. Should be mid-afternoon, is that soon enough?”
“Yeah. We won’t need it until later tonight,” he sent back. “Just don’t want to get there and not have it.”
“No worries. I’m on it.”
“Thanks, Sis. Be safe out there.” He had a funny thought as he hit send, and let out a chuckle over his sister crashing at the Deane’s last night.
“What?” demanded Courtney.
“I was just thinking that hanging out with only vampires the last twenty-four hours has been kind of nice.”
“I won’t take that the wrong way or anything.” She grinned.
“Please don’t. It’s just that without any humans around, I can actually think straight.”
“Honestly, how do you deal with that whole empathy thing?”
“Not easily. Hard enough to be around my own damn thoughts at the moment. I never thought hanging out with vampires would be such a relief.”
“You had William.”
“Yeah, but always with humans around too, and,” breath trapped in his lungs. The cell phone in his hand dropping to the kitchen countertop.
Courtney sensed the change in his demeanor and her eyes landed on what had caused the change. “Son of a bitch.”
“Please tell me I’m not actually seeing this.” Michael took a clipped breath, staring at the crystal alarm system; the one that alerted them that a supernatural being was close to the entrance of the power source in White Pines.
“Sorry,” replied Courtney. “You’re definitely seeing this. The damn thing’s lit up.”
“Fuck me.” He’d set up the alarm in a midst of fury and angst and the need to do something. He hadn’t for a minute actually thought it would go off. At least, not this soon. And not while they were spread this thin. Why should they expect anything less at this point?
“What do we do?” The vampire wasn’t sure where she belonged in this job, so she’d defer to Michael.
“Um.” His first thought, call Charlie and let him decide. But he refused to bother him, he needed to be at the hospital, and they’d promised to pick up the slack we when he wasn’t able. Melinda was helping Lucas, which was also important, seeing as his new gift had put Lizzy in the hospital. And Grayson was locked in the basement reaching new levels of discontent by the hour.
What it all came down to: he wasn’t used to being the one who made these calls.
He’d agreed to do it. So had Melinda.
But agreeing to, and actually doing so, was not so easy.
“Okay, um, smart choice is, I go check this out. It’s probably nothing. You’re the only one of us remotely strong enough to stop Grayson if the need came.”
“I can handle the vamp. He won’t get out on my watch.”
Michael didn’t doubt this, but he did doubt his own judgement.
“On the other hand, he’s secure in the basement, and I have no idea what’s in White Pines and if it’s Feyk, or Stricker…” Courtney hissed, taking in a feral battle stance. “You’d be the better choice to handle that one,” finished Michael knowingly.
The more he thought about it, it made sense to let the vampire go. She was faster and stronger. If William was her
e, he’d have gone in a flash without a word of discussion. That made up his mind right there. Although, she was not William. She didn’t have his knowledge of the Isle… it was still the better option.
“You go to White Pines, Courtney. Don’t do anything to get yourself killed. Call us if you need backup. We’ll get there!” He raced to the cupboard and grabbed a few vials. She wasn’t a witch, but she could still use the potions. Even the non-human safe ones would not hurt her.
She nodded, grabbed, and stashed the vials.
“One hour. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll come looking,” advised Michael.
“Should be a piece of cake. Like you said, probably nothing.” She disappeared without any words of doubt, a flash of flesh racing her way to White Pines.
Michael hoped he’d made the right call. Doubting almost instantly he did.
Courtney, a new vampire with no more witch powers and a personal vendetta against the Feyk, mainly Stricker, which might make her do foolish and rash things. At least they’d given her William’s daylight potion. He’d guessed it would come in handy and that was already proving a smart choice.
How did Charlie do this all the time? Make choices that might get people hurt, or killed? How had his father done it?
Michael didn’t like it. At all. No wonder he’d always deferred to Charlie, or William. No wonder his brother was wound up tighter than a reel of fishing line.
This would be the perfect time for an attack. If the Feyk had been spying on them, or keeping watch, they’d have noted things were dire. The witches spread thin.
The gargoyles wouldn’t wake for a couple hours yet. Too bad they were not twenty-four-seven creatures. He reminded himself the mansion was also safeguarded with magic, by both he and Charlie. Except he was the only one here, with a crazed vampire locked in the basement, and somehow, it just didn’t feel as safe.
Not wanting to cause a panic, he texted Melinda and Mack to make them aware of what was up and to keep alert. He insisted it was probably nothing and not to go into panic mode, just yet.
Dead Witch Walking (Demon Isle Witches Uncut): Hi-Ho Black Magic-O, A Cursing We Will Go (A Wicked Good Witches Paranormal Romance Book 10) Page 8