Gator Baitin' (The Grateful Undead series Book 2)

by Susan Stec

  "Was she in human form?" Dorius blurted, hair wild and falling in his face over hopeful eyes. He had on a pair of dirty jeans and a rumpled black shirt. He looked like he'd slept in his clothes.

  "No, in a mirror in a cabin off the St. Johns River," Christopher said.

  Dorius looked from Christopher to me and then settled on Marcus. "Did you talk with her?"

  Marcus tossed his weight from one foot to the other. "Yes, and she toyed with us. I don't think she's being controlled by the demon any longer. I believe the old man has found a way to capture her in the mirror, and she's clearly out for revenge. I'm sure the sorcerer has no idea what she is capable of."

  "I'm not ready to accept that, brother. I think she's bargained for her time out in the world, using the old man to harvest souls for the demon."

  The only way to answer that question is through the demon and I will not let Susan summon him. Marcus' guarded thoughts popped into my head without warning.

  "I could summon the demon," I suggested.

  "Why are you late, Dorius?" Marcus asked, his eyes jerking in my direction.

  I smiled at him. Turnabout is fair play, sweetie. I was getting into this mate thing.

  "Eval's escaped and I've been hunting him all night." Dorius sat down in the recliner, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.

  "Well, maybe you should've let Resi and me stay in Miami," Zaire tried.

  "Do you want us to do some searching?" Resi joined in her enthusiasm.

  "Not for the moment," Dorius sighed.

  "So how did he get away?" JoAnn asked, feeding Tootles pieces of raw meat from a china bowl on the coffee table.

  "While three of my Rogue Hunters were transporting him to the plane, he froze them in a binding spell." Dorius rubbed his chin, trying to contain his anger.

  "Do we have any idea what he's up to?" Resi asked.

  "No. My men are still searching for him. Where are the others?" Dorius asked, changing the subject.

  Mom reported, "Paul and Jake went back to Gatorland to talk to the curator. Mort is hunting for the gator in the river between Lake Harris and Eustis. They all just left. Gibbie is still at the police station."

  "Not anymore, and you'll never guess who I talked to," Gibbie screeched, zipping in the back door at lightning speed.

  "Don't make me hit you," Christopher said. "Just get it out. None of us are in the mood for your twenty questions crap."

  "Eval is at the police station. He told the Sergeant he knows where Julie is," Gibbie squeaked, bursting with delight.

  Dorius jumped up, shouting, "Shit, that complicates matters. What did you hear? Start from the beginning—make it fast—and don't leave anything out!"

  "Alright, don't get your shorts in a wad. I was hanging around the Sergeant because he was giving his men orders over a communication device. He has twelve men out searching the crime scenes to see if they can come up with anything that might lead them to where Julie is and then in—"

  "I don't give a rat's ass where his men are. Start with Eval showing up!" Dorius growled.

  "Dorius, when did you feed last?" Marcus asked. He's losing it. He's too close to this one.

  Marcus' personal thoughts jumped into my head again. His concern for his brother bombarded my senses. And he was right. Dorius was clearly not handling this like one of his rouge hunting missions.

  "Don't start with me, Marcus. I cannot tolerate it at the moment," Dorius snapped, pacing the floor. He glared at Gibbie. "Continue!"

  I jumped in with what I hoped was a neutral voice. "Dorius, I know Erzsebet is a possible mate and this has to be hard on you. Let's hear what Gibbie has to say and then develop a plan, because if Eval is going to lead the police to Julie and the old man, we need to get there first. Please, answer Marcus. Do you need to feed?"

  "Yes, I do, and I'm sorry. You're right. I'm not thinking clearly. Gibbie, relay exactly what you heard, and then Chick and I will go feed. The rest of you can discuss our alternatives and we'll address them when we get back." Dorius looked defeated as he turned to Gibbie.

  "Sorry. The information is just so important, and I rushed to get back here," Gibbie said, hovering erratically in front of Dorius.

  "Fairy, if you don't cough it up, I'm gonna start swinging," Christopher hissed, getting a stern look from Dorius.

  Gibbie panted, buzzed in circles, one hand on his chest, the other on the handle of his sword. He sucked in a long cleansing breath and landed on Resi's shoulder. "Just take your time and tell us what happened," she coaxed with a smile.

  "Eval told the Sergeant he would lead them to Julie at four PM. They slapped him around a little. You know how he talks. No one can understand the man… Anyway, when he wouldn't give them anything else, they locked him in a cell. I followed him. He did something with his fingers, chanted a short spell, and I was putty in his hands. It scared the hell out of me," Gibbie squeezed out in one long breath. He shook his red hair and flitted up to the ceiling fan.

  "He could see you, even in fairy form?" JoAnn asked.

  "Yes, and he knew I was there the whole time," Gibbie screeched, all out of breath. "Can you turn on the fan, Susan? I need to relax."

  Dorius rumbled as I pounded the switch and then turned it on low.

  Gibbie made me dizzy as my eyes followed him around in a circle, trying to catch every word he said as he continued.

  "Eval is trying to help you guys, but he's also forcing your hand, because he isn't powerful enough to go up against his dad alone. If we don't get to the cabin, that's where they are, before four o'clock, the cops will get there first. He told me the only way to get Erzsebet was to talk to the demon, and he gave me the incantation we would need to summon Rafael. It's the same demon Eval has been working with to get him to stop Erzsebet."

  Damn it all to Hell! Surely there is another way. Marcus was pissed.

  "Dorius, maybe you should go feed," I suggested. "We only have twelve hours to come up with a plan. We can hash it over while you're gone, and when you get back we can discuss it before the summoning."

  "I think we should come up with two plans," Jeni suggested.

  Dorius turned to her with a smile as he got up. "Not a bad idea," he said, then addressed Mom. "Let's get this over with, Chick."

  "Okay, so as I see it, we only have two choices," I enlightened, sitting at the picnic table with Marcus and Christopher. "We can try to get Erzsebet out of the mirror with a summoning spell, or we can summon the demon and talk to it. Both choices scare the hell out of me, but I think the lesser evil would be the demon. Maybe it can help us."

  "Summoning a demon is never a lesser evil, love," Marcus said. "And I strongly suggest you have an arrangement in mind when it gets here."

  "Well, calling Erzsebet wouldn't be a party either. We'd have to summon her into a mirror. You saw how well that went when Christopher tried to touch it," I argued my point.

  Marcus looked at me and frowned. "For the demon to take her, she would have to be in her true physical form."

  "Are you crazy? I'm not summoning her here as a vampire!" I shouted.

  "You couldn't do that while the sorcerer has control of her," Marcus answered.

  "So we go with the demon," Resi said, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace with Zaire.

  "The question is whether he's the one behind all of this, or is it the sorcerer? We need two plans: How to deal with Rafael if he's the one in command of her, and how to deal with him if he's not." I tried not to dwell on the fact that I was about to summon up a real demon.

  I looked over at Tootles. Her tongue was hanging out the side of her mouth as she panted, giving me her full attention. She didn't look like much of a threat, but she wasn't a demon either.

  "A demon does not give anything unless it has something to gain," Marcus said, pulling me back into the conversation.

  "Well if Erzsebet has escaped his servitude, we could capture the sorcerer, and then Rafael would be able to take her back," Jeni suggested, sitting n
ext to JoAnn and Tootles on the couch.

  "That would do it," Christopher said.

  Marcus' sigh caressed my mind.

  Jeni had her pen poised over her daily planner, taking notes. "Let's stick to one plan at a time. The first question would be a query to find out if the demon is still in control of her. If not, the second will be if it wants her back. If the demon does, we can offer him our assistance by capturing the sorcerer and giving back his control of Erzsebet. Now if the demon asks how we plan to do that, what do you suggest we tell it?"

  "What will you do if Rafael is behind all of this?" Marcus asked.

  "One plan at a time, dear." I knew Jeni had just hammered the last nail into the coffin. I was definitely going to summon Rafael. "We can tell Rafael the old man has Julie hostage, and we think Kim is helping him. We can offer to get rid of the old man because he's the one holding all the cards. Then it would just be a matter of asking the demon what he needs us to do so he can capture her."

  "And how do we get rid of the old man?" Christopher asked.

  "Maybe we can offer to give Rafael the sorcerer if he puts Erzsebet somewhere she can never escape," Resi said.

  Marcus let out a long sigh. "Ladies, this all sounds good on paper, but we certainly do not know what we will be up against until we arrive at the cabin. You sound like a bunch of children playing with a new video game. This is not a game. It will be very physical."

  I looked at him with a smile. "We can capture us a sorcerer. Come on, we just bitch-slap him a little."

  "Oh, hell yes, I say we kick some sorcerer ass," Zaire suggested.

  "Erzsebet will be unable to do anything if we can just get the old man under control. That's the key," I smiled, back on track.

  Marcus tapped his fingers on the table. "And if the demon is still in charge of Erzsebet?"

  "Well then, we can still bargain for the servitude of the old man," Christopher suggested again.

  "We can offer the sorcerer in trade, but I can assure you, the old man will not walk into servitude without one hell of a fight," Marcus warned. "The demon would sentence him to years of teaching it his skills and spells, making Rafael much more powerful indeed. I believe destroying the old man and offering Rafael his soul is in the best interests of the mortal world as well as ours."

  Gibbie, evidently a bit more relaxed, added another little bit of information. "Eval said the old man is going to kill Julie right in front of us."

  "How the hell does he know that?" I asked.

  "Don't know, but that's what he said," Gibbie chirped.

  "Are you willing to kill either of these women if Erzsebet is in possession of one of their bodies?" Marcus asked.

  Jeni lifted her head from her pad, studying me. "Mommy Dearest, there are way too many ifs. We need a concrete plan, and we really can't make one without knowing what you'll find when you get to the cabin. I think what Marcus is trying to tell you is that if Erzsebet is in possession of the pastor, you will need to kill her to get Erzsebet to leave, and she will only flee to the mirror. Then you still have to dislodge her from the mirror to offer her to the demon, and you were clearly unable to do that at the cabin." She smiled at Marcus. He smiled back.

  I sucked in a long breath and looked at both of them. "It's a given we won't know what we'll be faced with when we get there, but I think it's clear the sorcerer has to be taken out of the picture, and we need to call the demon. It's a good place to start."

  "Yes it is," Christopher said.

  Marcus and Jeni exchanged an apprehensive look.

  I got up while everyone chewed on the fact that we were about to bring a demon into our home and walked to the refrigerator, plucking out several bags of blood. I passed them around and we all sat drinking, waiting for the others to get home.

  Paul and Jake arrived, telling us they bombed-out at Gatorland. I listened to Jeni filling them in as Gibbie, with Christopher's help, wrote down the incantation.

  Fifteen minutes later, I walked over to Jake and Paul, who were frying up hamburgers in the kitchen. "Does anyone know where Mort is? Have either of you heard from him?" I asked tossing the empty blood bags into the trash.

  "We stopped by to talk to him," Paul said. "He told us one of Dorius' men gave him orders to stay on the gator thing. He's happily swimming the chain of lakes, feeding off the algae. I think he's found his calling." Paul laughed.

  "Let's hope he stays there. He's a pain in my ass," Zaire snapped.

  Shaking his head at Zaire, Marcus addressed the dragon. "Jake, I'm going to suggest to Dorius that you shift when we get to the cabin. We may need the dragon, and since the area is isolated we won't run the risk of you being seen by mortals. Can you behave yourself?"

  "Sure, it's easier for me to heal several of you at one time in dragon form," Jake answered happily from the stove.

  "I was thinking more on the lines of using you in battle," Marcus gently suggested.

  Jake belched loudly. "I'm a healer, not a killer!"

  "But you did a great job with the gator," I mused, my mind tossing around another idea.

  "I thought it was going to kill me! I lost control! Don't ask me to do this!"

  "I have an idea that might aid us in capturing the sorcerer." I smiled at Jake.

  "I'm not fighting a sorcerer!" Jake squawked.

  "Not you, sweetie, I was thinking I could draw up a circle on a piece of carpet or something and we could roll it up and take it with us… and cast Tootles into the sorcerer to keep him from trying to attack us."

  "That's an excellent idea, Susan." Paul carried a plate full of ground beef to the table.

  "I think the bitch wants to be called Babe, remember?" Zaire said.

  "Sorry, Babe." I shot the dog an apologetic smile.

  Babe barked in agreement and licked at my toes. It was kind of gross after having talked to her.

  JoAnn jumped to her feet. "I am not letting you put my dog, TOOTLES, inside that vile man!" Her eyebrows smashed together on her forehead.

  Babe growled and snorted.

  "It seems BABE is willing." I gave the dog a pat on the head.

  JoAnn whimpered. We both stared at the dog.

  "Dorius and Mom are back. They're crossing the yard," Resi said from the front window.

  Fifteen minutes later, I stood in the middle of the pentagram, candles lit, blood spilled, reciting the incantation I held in my hands.

  From the Otherworld, I call you here

  Blood protects; harm brings no fear

  An exchange of words is all I seek

  Rafael, I summon you to speak

  The room turned cold, the atmosphere crackled outside the circle, and the smell of burnt amber filled the air. I drew up my shield, encompassing all of us, and the demon appeared outside of the shield.

  "I've been summoned by an earth witch. How heavenly. And you are an immortal as well. I'm delighted." The aberration in front of me smiled, turning to Dorius. "It's nice to see you again, Dorius. I hope I find you in good health."

  "We sealed a pact, demon, and you have broken it," Dorius said.

  "I did nothing of the sort. I have not killed or maimed one human in Cachtice since the sealing of our contract." The demon smiled, playing with its shirtsleeve.

  "You promised to keep her in the Otherworld," Dorius hissed.

  The demon dismissed him. "What do you want of me, vampire witch?" Rafael tested the shield around us, running his long fingernails along the edge as he smiled at me.

  I shivered. "I, um, have a question regarding the Countess Bathory." I felt a shit coming on.

  His eyes danced around the room and then locked on mine. "What is your question?" He gave me a smile under eyes that sparkled violet. A big red cowboy hat held his long white hair captive and looked ridiculous atop his head given the rest of his attire.

  My eyes jerked around his body as I answered him. "Are you still in control of her?"

  I was at the point of horror-struck amusement as I spoke to him. Marcus walked u
p behind me, putting his arms around my shoulders, and it quelled the terrified hysterics about to burst from my mouth. I felt my fangs extend and quickly retracted them. The Demon didn't miss them and smiled.

  "And if I answer, what will you offer me in return?" He strutted in front of the shield, poking it with a long fingernail.

  I tried to concentrate as I ogled the purple, billowy pantaloons matching his fingernails. His spindly legs, encased in yellow tights, protruded from his pants. A bright orange silk shirt with big gold buttons down the front hung loosely over the pantaloons. A tapestry scarf, bringing all the colors together, wrapped around his neck, hanging almost to his bejeweled, slippered feet.

  "Um, well, that depends on the answer, I guess. If she is no longer in your servitude, and you wish her to be, we offer to give her back to you. If she is still under your command, we wish to…bargain with you to put a stop to the murders she is committing. She's getting an awful lot of attention from the local police."

  "We may be able to work something out." Rafael put his scarf in his mouth and held back a laugh. "Do my clothes amuse you, vampire witch?"

  I looked him up and down as Marcus tightened his grip. "Is she in your servitude?" I asked again, ignoring his question.

  "Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced her for the moment," Rafael muttered.

  "We know where she is, demon. If you don't want her back, we're going to kill her," Dorius said as if he had no use for Rafael.

  "That would be quite a task, Dorius. She is only a reflection at the moment," Rafael mused.

  "We can kill her if the old man summons her into a human again," Christopher piped up, getting a couple of warring eyebrows from Dorius.

  "That will only return her to a reflection somewhere…waiting for her next opportunity," the demon sang.

  "Crap," I said, getting another squeeze from Marcus.

  "Hey demon-guy, can ya work with us here?" Mom blurted out.

  Rafael grinned at Mom, his hat bouncing on his head as he laughed. "As much as I hate to admit it, it seems you need me as much as I need you. I've been waiting years for someone to summon me."

  "Demons are not notorious for admitting a lack of strength. What is your purpose for doing so?" Marcus asked all stern like.