Gator Baitin' (The Grateful Undead series Book 2)

by Susan Stec

  "If you'd shut up for two minutes we might hear them, Mother," Resi whispered, a knife in one hand and a spear in the other, her suede skirt flapping between her legs.

  "Screw that! I want them to hear us." I played my eyes over the area.

  Dorius has just separated his team, Mommy Dearest. Jeni's voice filled our earpieces. Christopher and Paul are heading toward the lake by the cove where Mort is. Dorius and Jake are behind you about a hundred yards. He looks like he's going to try to push you in their direction.

  "What's JoAnn doing?" Mom asked.

  She's working for Dorius tonight, Jeni answered.

  "Oh, thank you, Jesus," I said, getting a laugh from Jeni.

  "Where's Marcus?" Zaire asked.

  He's by the house. He has a communication device and can hear all conversation. Dorius instructed him to drop his mind-meld with Mom, so he can't communicate with you privately. Everyone will hear him if he talks to anyone. But the good news is, all of you can get in Mom's head. I'd turn around and head Dorius off. I'm worried about the troll.

  "Is Aunt JoAnn hearing all this?" Zaire asked.

  No, and I can't hear what she's telling them, either. We have special headsets on and we're separated. I've got to tell you, I love her, but boy is this a blessed relief. Jeni let out a contented sigh.

  "No kidding," I said.

  "Alright, let's go grab the bull by the horns," Mom ordered, turning circles with her hand and pointing at the woods behind us.

  Mom led us stealthily through the woods, stopping every few minutes to cup her ear with her palm.

  "Can you see them, Jeni?" Resi whispered into her mouthpiece.

  "Right behind you ladies," Dorius said in a smart-alecky voice.

  We whipped around and he dove for Mom. She lifted her arm, using those telekinetic skills, and shot him fifty feet into the air as Jake started ripping off his clothes.

  "Jake! Jake! He's shifting! Do something," I yelled, heading for Dorius with my bow drawn.

  Resi ran for Jake as he pulled off his pants. She threw the spear. It landed by his feet.

  His eyes jerked to hers as Dorius shouted, "Shift quickly! Don't make eye contact with her!" But it was too late. Jake became very still and I knew Resi was pushing his mind in our favor.

  I pulled up my bow, Dorius in the crosshairs as he ran towards me, his hand to his ear as he listened to JoAnn. I fingered the release, sending an arrow right through his chest just under his left shoulder. He staggered, pushed the arrow further onto his chest, and reached behind him, trying to pull it out his back.

  I heard pounding as the ground rumbled under our feet. Several large rocks landed around us, kicking up grass and dirt.

  "Ohhh hell yes!" Zaire pumped her arm. "It's the friggin' troll! I am so on his mortared ass!" She ran for the shoreline.

  "Just get him to head towards those trees, sweetie," Resi yelled after her. "Jake will take care of him."

  Zaire did a little jig to the right and ducked behind a cluster of pines. Mort plodded straight for her.

  I heard a loud swoosh as fire rained down from the sky, igniting the pines. Mort stomped right through the flames and came out swinging a huge fiery tree limb. Jake shot three more trails of fire over the troll, and then he was holding a nub of charred wood in his soot-covered hand. Resi's mentalist skills had clearly beat Jakes dragon shift.

  "Shit!" Dorius said.

  Zaire came running out of the trees screaming like a banshee, patting her head as she hit the dirt rolling.

  Mommy, Marcus is laughing, Jeni sang.

  Susan, do you see Paul? Mom pushed in my head.

  It felt weird and a sudden vertigo-like feeling gave me pause. I shook my head, looking around for her as Dorius slammed me to the ground and his teeth dug into my throat.

  I kicked and slapped but it did little good as he started to draw blood from me.

  Zaire ran up laughing even though she had flame singed split-ends. "The troll hit the lake. Jake's frying him. I bet the water is going to be nice and warm."

  Resi leapt on Dorius and Mom shot a ray of light that had all three of us flying in the air.

  Go Nanna! Jeni yelled.

  Dorius lost his grip, fangs fell from my neck and another bolt from Mom shot him twenty feet away from me. Resi and I were holding each other when we landed with a thump.

  She rolled off me and we stood. "Sorry," she giggled, pushing her skirt over her naked butt cheeks.

  "Are you having fun?" I asked.

  "Hell yes! You?"

  "Holy shit," Zaire said about the same time the wolf slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. They rolled around for a minute, both growling.

  He stood on her stomach and showed a lot of teeth.

  "Stop drooling in my face, flea bag." Zaire gripped his neck with both hands, fangs extended.

  Resi sprinted toward them, singing, "Gotta go help my girl."

  Mom whooped, and I turned to watch her dance a few circles with Christopher wrapped around her neck, her hands shooting gold light in every direction, kicking up fallen debris, shooting it around like a maelstrom.

  "Mom, turn off your frigging hands!" I pulled the knife from my jeans and ran in her direction. But Dorius knocked me to the ground again.

  "You been waiting for this, haven't you?" I said as he jerked my left arm behind my back, pulling me to my feet with ease.

  He put his lips on my cheek. "Yesss, I want to dance, Susan. Will you dance with me?" he breathed into my ear.

  I whipped around and stomped on his foot. My arm cracked as he pulled me to face him. It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch and had me grinding my teeth. He still had my hand, a cocky smile on his face when I pushed the knife into his chest, jerking it upward. He backed up, let my hand go, and grabbed the knife.

  "Was it good for you?" I panted, rubbing my elbow.

  Smiling, he pulled the knife out. "Can you get your damn arrow out of my back?" he grunted.

  "Yeah, sure, hold your breath, sweetie." I turned a circle, assessing the situation and wondered where the hell Gibbie was.

  A large atrocity, I mean large, almost as large as the dragon, burst through the woods, flailing trees in his wake, pounding the dirt with huge feet. He was bald, had only one large green eye, big as a football, set in the center of his forehead. It blinked as he ran.

  Wearing only a loin cloth, the Cyclops headed right for Paul. A big bushy brow over his ghastly eyeball bobbed and his lips spread in a smile as he plucked the wolf from Zaire's chest with two fingers and plopped him on the ground by his side. He grinned at Paul, green eye sparkling.

  The apparition wavered. As we stood with our chins inches from our chests, the Cyclops melted into the fairy, decked out in leather chaps, a muscle shirt and a red sash tied around his waist with a long sword shoved through it. Gibbie laughed, red curls bouncing, his hand on the hilt of his weapon.

  "Holy crap," I mumbled. At that moment the fairy jumped rank in my mind—about ten notches.

  Are you guys done yet? Jeni's voice came from the earbud.

  "Yep, and we all have the war wounds to prove it." I held my broken arm against my chest and shot a look at Dorius. He was still trying to grab the arrow protruding from his back.

  Good job, my love. You made a fine stand. Marcus was back in my head and damn it felt good.

  Thank you, dear. You're gonna have to lick your brother's wounds later, I pushed back.

  I can think of better…

  Sorry bubby, I've got a headache.

  Marcus laughed his retort.

  "Jesus Christ, did you see Gibbie the Cyclops?" Resi laughed, addressing her sister through her microphone. "I felt like I was in a Sinbad the Sailor movie."

  No. Darn it. Could he show us later? JoAnn interrupted, evidently on the same wavelength again.

  "Nobody's playing with the Cyclops," Mom snapped. "Let's not have another Puff the fornicating Dragon fiasco."

  The wolf growled, kicked dirt with his hind legs and tried to a
ct all mean and nasty.

  Resi looked like Midna the Twilight Princess in The Legend of Zelda with two hair horns sticking straight up, one eye swollen shut, spear in hand and poised for attack. "Damn, man, you really scared the shit out of me, Gibbie."

  Zaire was bleeding from her shoulder and neck, sporting the wounds proudly as her eyes shot daggers at Gibbie. "I didn't need your friggin' help."

  "Just showing you what I'm made of, little black woman," Gibbie squeaked.

  I filed his new abilities in the back of my mind for future use. Marcus wasn't happy about that and I felt a warning.

  Mom checked her neck. Staring at the blood on her hand, she laid into Christopher. "You bit me you little shit! I should send you into the frigging lake!" She pointed her bloody fingers at Christopher.

  "Can you old ladies get the word right?" Christopher asked. "It's friggin'! Not frigging. You look twenty-five. Get with the program!"

  Mom glared at him. "It's slang, you frigging idiot."

  A loud flapping noise had everyone lifting their eyes to the sky about the same time the purple dragon shot a stream of fire from his maw, directly at us.

  With a wave of my hand, I blanketed all of us with my shield. Flames licked the wavering surface, setting it ablaze. It fizzled out and Jake fired another round. The fire encompassed the shield for about five heartbeats then fizzled out again. It was awesome.

  "Somebody want to tell the dragon we're done?" Zaire asked, glaring at Resi.

  Good eye squinting, Resi watched him circle above us. "He doesn't respond in dragon form."

  Dorius stood inside the shimmering barrier, smiling at me. "I have to admit, you women did well."

  "Ya know, we really didn't give you all we got," Christopher said as he held his chest. The wolf shook its head and snorted a couple of times showing his agreement.

  "Yeah, right," Mom said as another blast of fire danced around the shield.

  * * * *

  While we assessed our wounds in the living room, JoAnn drew symbols on the pentagram etched in the oak floor. Every few minutes she picked up a glass filled with blood, noisily sucking from a bendy straw as she studied the printout of the diagram. Then she'd draw another line or circle, only to sit back and study it again.

  "JoAnn, at the pace you're going it'll be next Tuesday before we can use the damn thing," Christopher said while Mom wrapped an ace bandage around his chest.

  Dorius was sitting on the couch and Jake, in human form, was bent at the waste straddling him. Jake, eyes closed, made soft mewing noises as his long wet tongue lapped Dorius' chest wound.

  "You look like you're enjoying that way too much." Mom grimaced.

  Jake sucked his tongue back into his mouth, opened his eyes, and gave Mom a wet smile. "You're next."

  "I'm healing fine, buddy," Mom said. "Nothing a little blood won't cure. You offering?"

  Jake squirmed. Dorius stood up and pulled his dark hair back into a knot. "Let's take a walk, Chick."

  Mom looked up at the fan. "And where were you during the rest of the fight, fairy?"

  "I was riding the dragon, who do you think got him to stop frying your asses?" Gibbie answered, kicking his feet as the fan twirled him in circles.

  I grinned up at him. "Where's Paul?"

  "He's out howling in the moonlight," Gibbie answered, hanging from the blade as he hand-walked to the end.

  "Are you coming, Chick?" Dorius grumbled by the front door. "For the love of blood, I wish I could drink the processed bags."

  Mom looked directly at me. "Do not try to use that until we get back," she said pointing at the pentagram.

  "I'm going to rest, Susan. Will you be up soon?" Marcus asked.

  "I think I'll hang with the girls."

  "Me too," Christopher said.

  "I'm going out for a swim then a nap in the hammock on the dock," Jake told us as he walked through the kitchen in swimming trunks.

  "Going to apologize to the troll, are ya?" JoAnn snickered.

  "I said I was sorry five times. It's not my fault. Resi made me do it." Jake looked at us with pleading eyes.

  "Hey, you're the one that started undressing. I had to do something," Resi yawned from the couch.

  "I was going to fly up and watch from overhead. Then I would have known who to heal. In dragon form, I can shoot my healing powers. It's like getting a steam bath. I thought Dorius was going to hurt you, Susan."

  "Well, you could have mentioned that earlier, sweetie." Jeni hugged Jake and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  Jake froze and covered his ears with his hands. "I don't like hugging or kissing. NO touching."

  "I just wanted to make you feel better, Jake." Jeni backed away from him, smiling.

  "Then you just say that," Jake said. "So what would you say? You'd say, 'It's alright Jake. Feel better.' That's all. No kissing. No touching!"

  "God, it would have sucked to be you at our family gatherings," I said. "A whole room of Greeks, Pollock's and Italians. My lips got chapped every time we visited or left someone's house." I licked my lips just thinking about it.

  Jake walked out the sliding glass doors without further comment.

  JoAnn grimaced. "Every time Uncle Carl kissed me, his wet lips covered my mouth and nose."

  "I wonder if that's where the phrase 'sucking face' came from?" Christopher mused, walking around the pentagram.

  "I think it's done." JoAnn looked up at me. "What do you think?"

  "Looks good to me. Let's try to summon something."

  "We're not supposed to call anyone until Dorius gets back," JoAnn whined.

  "I'll go get Nanna's old spell book." Resi got up, running for the stairs.

  "What spell book?" JoAnn and I asked in unison.

  A few minutes later, Zaire and Resi sat on the couch and looked at the index in a large gold book, its cover etched with a pentagram in black. It looked very old and the leather cover smelled old. The pages were yellowed parchment.

  "Here's one to summon up a dead relative. Let's try it," Zaire suggested.

  "Does it tell you how to do it?" I asked all excited.

  Gibbie flew down to the coffee table. "How hard can it be?"

  "Yep," Resi answered, "what candles to light and everything. You do have to seal each symbol with your blood, Mom."

  "I really think this is a bad idea. We should wait for Mom and Dorius," JoAnn whimpered.

  "Mother, do we really need another fantasy creature wandering about the house?" Jeni asked.

  "Let's just try it. I think a trial run is a good idea. What do I have to do?" I turned to the girls.

  "You light three candles, one purple, one yellow, and one white," Resi said, studying the page, "adding a drop of blood as you place them around the pentagram, reciting a section of the summoning incantation at each symbol. At the last candle you use the name of the spirit you want to appear."

  "Where do we put the candles?" I asked.

  Jeni studied the book over Resi's shoulder and answered for her. "The white one is the symbol of purity, sincerity and truth, and it goes at the top. The purple is ambition, power and tension; it says it's placed on your right. The yellow one is for protection, persuasion, attraction and confidence. It goes opposite the purple one."

  "Okay, Christopher, go get the colored candles from the kitchen drawer. I'll just bite my wrist for the blood. Read the incantation Resi," I ordered, getting all hopped up.

  "Ohhh, this is not a good idea," JoAnn moaned.

  Resi looked at her. "It's not a big deal, Aunt JoAnn. We'll just pick a relative we like. Any ideas?"

  "No, and I don't like all this death stuff," JoAnn answered.

  "Honey, you're dead," Jeni reminded her.

  Gibbie flew up to her, hovering in front of her face. "You could just go up to bed, ya know."

  Before I could agree, Marcus mind-pushed me. Susan, I agree with your sister. I don't think you should attempt this.

  We're just practicing, Marcus. How bad could it be if we
call one of our relatives?

  I heard him laugh. We can only hope they're as obliging as the rest of the women in your family.

  "What?" Christopher asked.

  "Nothing, Marcus is being a smart ass," I said. "He says we should wait."

  "It's no big deal. It's not like we're calling a demon or anything," Gibbie said, landing by the pentagram on the floor as Christopher walked over with the candles.

  "Okay Resi, read the summoning incantation to me." My palms began to sweat.

  Marcus sighed, but made no attempt to stop me.

  Resi read the summon,

  A wandering soul I seek

  One for which I wish to speak

  Blood spilled, sealing our pact

  When finished I send you back

  Beckoned from slumber

  Appear to me encumbered

  "Then you say the name," Resi finished.

  Christopher handed me a Bic lighter, and then placed the candles in the proper places as I knelt before the first one, going over the words in my head.

  "I'm never going to remember the whole thing. And Lord knows, I don't want to summon God knows what out of the depths of who the hell knows where."

  JoAnn sucked in a breath.

  "Chill, Mommy Dearest. I'll read each section to you. Ready?"

  I took a deep breath. "Yep, lay it on me."

  JoAnn mumbled, "This feels like the night I found you in the bathroom, all… It's really scaring me."

  I ignored her, nodding at Resi as I held the lighter to the first candle.

  "Okay, for the white you say, 'A wandering soul I seek, one for which I wish to speak,' and put a drop of blood in front of the candle."

  I bit my wrist, lit the candle, recited the phrase, and squeezed a drop of blood from my arm, moving on to the purple one.

  "Oh, this isn't happening," JoAnn moaned. "I'm as horrified as when you killed—"

  "Blood spilled, sealing our pact, when finished I send you back," Resi loudly blurted.

  I lit the candle while speaking the phrase, shaking another drop of blood from my wrist and moved to the last one.

  Jeni rubbed her hands together. "Time for the last incantation, and we get to see a relative. Who are you going to call?"