literal leigh 05.6 - karma inc

by Melanie James

  “Good idea, Gabe. Any information we get might help. And Gertie, get together with Millie soon and find out where Gisele is hanging out before she shows up here again. If you do locate her, don’t contact her yourself. Just get her location. We don’t want to spook her or tip her off that we suspect she’s up to no good.” Ezzy made a note about Gertie’s assignment. “Barney, Morgan, and I are going to be staying here at the mill until we figure this out. Morgan and I can keep our ears open while we’re hanging out in the area. I’m sure we’ll have a lot of time together.” I noticed Morgan smile, and she even blushed a little when Ezzy said that. “Listen, everyone. We need to solve this, but you all don’t have to stay here. Randy and Gertie, I know you both need to get back home to the Plantation. Keep in mind that if we become wanted by the authorities, we can easily slip away, but…we will have to answer to the Supreme Council of Witches, and there is no escaping them. We have to prove our innocence, just like the old days. What are your plans, Kelly? Are you going to stay in Chicago or come back here?”

  “I like it here. The dogs love it and so does Gemma. It’s a huge place. Might as well hang out here for the summer. I’ll have to go home now and again, but someone still needs to take me swimming.” Gabe put his arm around me. “I couldn’t bear being in Chicago now.” Yes, I actually said that.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Back to the City

  “Hey Kelly? I’m going back to my place to change. I know Randy can’t wait to get these fancy clothes back.”

  “Randy, Gertie, and I are going to Chicago for a quick visit with my Uncle Carmine and our friends Max and Millie. Would you like to come along? Fair warning, we’ll be traveling by magic. And no, we don’t ride around with brooms between our legs.”

  Gabe laughed at the thought of it. “Good to know! Because it sounds dangerous. Thanks, but I need to take care of a few things at the cabin. I have no idea how bad the storm tore things up. I want to check in with my sister, too.”

  A little tinge of worry came out of nowhere, surprising me. I wondered if all of the business at the meeting was too much for Gabe. Maybe he figured he shouldn’t get involved with me any further. “Uh…okay. You should do that. I’ll be back before too long.”

  Gabe smiled. “Later today? I figured you’d be gone a day or two. I need to wrap my head around the travel time via magic as opposed to the AAA recommended route,” Gabe joked. “Call me as soon as you get back. We never got that dinner last night and I want to make it up to you. Us bears can whip up one hell of a fish fry. My sister and her family were planning to come by this evening. I assume that’s still the plan. It would be nice to have you there.” The relief I felt at hearing those words was instant.

  “Then, whether we’re done in Chicago or not, I’ll be back. I wouldn’t miss it.” Gabe kissed me once again and we said our goodbyes.

  I refocused my attention and went over all of the points brought up in the meeting. As I showered, I wondered if I should have mentioned my ghost encounters. But mostly, I thought about Gabe. My body ached from Gabe’s skilled lovemaking, but I had no complaints. I would happily do it all over again.

  When Gertie and Randy were ready to leave, I met them out on the stone porch. Ezzy and Barney caught our attention just before we whisked off. “I want to let you all know that Barney and I will be taking care of one more thing. We’re going into the machinery room. I want to know what Henry was up to in there.”

  “We’re going to find out what’s making that noise and put a stop to it. You can count on that,” Barney said with conviction.

  “I’d rather you wait until I’m back at least. But I know asking either of you to change your minds is like asking the wind to stop blowing. All I can say is please be careful. And keep the dogs inside while I’m gone. I’ll be back before dark.”

  I had already called Max and my uncle. They would be there, expecting us. When we arrived, we found ourselves in a dark corner of the shop.

  “Kelly? Is that you back there?” Hamster Dick called out as he flipped the lights on.

  “It’s me! Gertie and Randy are with me, too.”

  “Come on upstairs, Carmine’s waiting with the hippies.”

  When we entered the Kovacs’ living room, Millie greeted us with a flurry of hugs and kisses. “I’m so glad you’re back!” Millie took some time to address us individually, like she always does. It’s her little way of making sure we all feel special. “Randy, I feel some excited and playful vibes. You’re looking forward to getting back home.” She moved on to me. “Kelly.” She paused while she held my face and looked in my eyes, “I sense…you seem to be at a crossroads, a spiritual intersection. A large…powerful…force has made its way inside of you.”

  Randy quietly snickered.

  Millie continued, “Yes. This force has managed to slip in and create warm vibrations, which have shaken you to your very core.”

  Gertie and Randy could barely contain themselves.

  Millie’s head recoiled back with surprise. “Oh! I think I just picked up on what that force is!” Her mouth opened into a wide grinning smile. “And to think you’ve only been up there a week, maybe a little less. And you found something so great! Your heart is quietly resisting, though. You may not even realize it, but it’s frantically trying to keep the defenses up—putting the bricks back on the wall.”

  “You’re absolutely right, Millie. Don’t worry, I can handle it.”

  “It’s because it all happened so fast and unexpectedly. It’s the best way. Go with it.” She patted my cheeks and just as quickly as she picked up on the realization of my romantic time with Gabe, she became very somber. “Something else is hanging around you. Something…it’s foggy, fuzzy…and it needs your help.”

  “What? What do you mean by it?” Millie’s words made my skin crawl.

  Millie straightened up and patted my shoulders. “It’s a spirit. A ghost,” she said, straightforwardly. “Don’t you worry one bit. You’re in the right place.”

  Gertie was next in line to receive the Millie treatment. “Gertie. You are just such a constant beam of sunshine. I’m so happy we can finally work our magic together to find your friend’s dress. I just can’t imagine the fright she had when a giant bird swooped down and pulled it right off of her.” Millie’s tongue clucked against the roof of her mouth. “So, let’s get to work.” With tiny excited steps, Millie hurried to uncover her crystal ball.

  “A giant bird stole your friend’s dress? That’s the best you could come up with? Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Randy whispered to Gertie.

  “Shush. I’m not an experienced liar like you. It was the first thing that came to mind when she asked how it got lost.”

  “Come on, kids, we don’t have all day.” Millie patted the little Japanese style table. Instead of chairs, we sat on pillows. Millie carefully unrolled a pink scroll, the kind in which Gertie normally uses to write down everything from recipes to magic spells. Gertie snuck a small magic wand from her tote bag, covertly pointing it at the crystal ball. I knew what she was doing. She had promised Millie this was one spell she’d be able to work on her own. Gertie was determined to provide Millie with that illusion.

  Millie read slowly and clearly. “Find you we will, dress. Turquoise sarong, us back you will call through this crystal ball. Where you are, show us.”

  “Jesus Christ, who wrote that? Yoda?” Randy whined.

  “There’s more on the back.” Millie turned the paper over. “Vanilla, pecans, Oreos for Randy, coffee, flour, KY brand lubricant if you want to try that thing again. Huh? There’s a smiley face and three little hearts.”

  “Oops! Sorry. That was a little shopping list I wrote for Brad when he was running into town.”

  “I’m curious to know what that thing is. You better explain or we’re going to start guessing, Gertie!” I teased.

  “No! I can’t say it here!” Gertie leaned over and whispered, “You remember when I told you what Brad wanted to do one time? You were
the one to suggest the lubricant?”

  “Ahh…that’s what I thought. How’d that go?”

  “Meh…” Gertie frowned.

  Max and Uncle Carmine walked in, Gertie immediately stopped talking.

  “Hey Millie, anything showing up in the crystal ball yet?” Max asked.

  “Yes! I see it! I see it! The turquoise sarong. Take a look,” Millie urged. We crowded around the glowing sphere. “It’s in a dark room. I wonder why a giant bird would put it in there.” The dress was flattened out in a long rectangular box.

  Randy stood straight up with his finger pointing at the ball accusingly. “Wait just one flipping second! That’s no room. Look at the walls. You see what that place is? It looks like a fucking crypt. I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that much.”

  “You watch too much TV. Don’t jump to conclusions, Randy.” I rolled my eyes at Randy’s theatrics.

  “The only light is coming from the night vision of this magic.” She waved her hands over the ball. “I have no idea how to get this magic to work,” Millie complained. “And I’m normally pretty good with balls. Can you try to crank it up, Gertie?” Millie asked. Gertie lifted her wand, gently placing it against the crystal ball. She closed her eyes and surprisingly, it worked.

  “Holy crystal balls! I was right! It is a crypt. Now you can see the dress is on a body, in an open coffin, and in a crypt.” Randy ran his fingers back and forth through his hair, turning his well-groomed dark hair into a shaggy mess. He was both excited and frightened. “You…you know what this means.”

  “Gisele’s dead?” Gertie shrugged.

  “Yeah and alive! She’s a vampire. We’ve been tricked by a goddamned vampire!” Randy performed another round of hair shredding. “Holy shit!”

  Max and Uncle Carmine both looked at the crystal ball. Uncle Carmine looked more surprised than I’d ever seen him. “No shit. Millie is a real Strega?” Using the Italian word for witch. “And you’ve found a vampire?”

  “Uncle Carmine, I have a confession. Gertie, Randy, Ezzy, me…we’re all witches. Millie is a psychic. I’ll explain it all later. Please, just trust me. We might need your help.”

  My uncle nodded his head. “You know you can count on me. I’ve seen all the movies. I know one thing, we gotta whack that vampire bitch through the heart.”

  Millie and Gertie massaged and tapped the ball until it zoomed in. Max let out a deep breath. The unique aroma of his hand-rolled cigar swirled past us. “Oh man! Check it out. Just like Randy said, man. The lady is a vampire. Awww Maaaan. Zoom out, Millie baby. Where is this place?”

  Gisele’s corpse was wearing the turquoise sarong. Her skin was smooth and pale. Her lips were parted slightly and two fangs rested on her bottom lip. Our view zoomed away to the outside of the crypt. It was a large marble structure with ornate bronze gates. “Look! The name is above the gate.” Gertie noticed. “It says Cat, Cata…Catan? It’s impossible. We’ll never know.”

  My eyebrows arched in complete disbelief. She never ceases to amaze me, “Catania. As in Jimmy freaking Catania.”

  “Ooooh. I see now. Wow! I sure didn’t see that one coming. It’s almost as surprisin’ as when that iceberg hit the Titanic.”

  Carmine moaned. “No! Did you say Jimmy Catania? What do you know about Jimmy Catania?” He was obviously distressed with this latest development. “Twenty years now I quit smokin’. Today, I need a stogie.” He took the rubber cigar case from Max’s shirt pocket and pulled out one of Max’s very special blends of tobacco and other smoking material. “Tell me everything, Kelly.” He lit the cigar and sat down next to Gertie. “Everything.”

  That’s exactly what I did. The entire story from start to finish. He stared at me with eyes that looked like those clear plastic ones sewn onto stuffed animals. “All right, so what was that again about the thing with the thing, you know about that thing?”

  Gertie had been breathing in Carmine’s second hand smoke the entire time. Her head bounced back and forth to some music playing in her head. Without notice, she started slapping the little Japanese table like she was playing a conga drum. “Papa-oom-mow-mow, papa-oom-mow-mow,” she sang out. I took the wand from her lap before she started to conduct some imaginary orchestra with it and blowing up Chicago in the process.

  Randy watched her for a minute. “She’s going to be useless for a while.”

  “I think she’s at the same concert as Uncle Carmine and Max,” I replied.

  I took Gertie’s wand and touched the crystal ball. “Come on, Millie, we need to find out what cemetery this is.”

  “All ready did, Kelly. It’s Woodlawn.”

  “Great job, Millie. Stay here and keep an eye on the stoned ones. Randy, you and I are going vampire hunting.”

  “Yes!” Randy pumped his fist. He grabbed a pack of chopsticks from a nearby end table. “Wooden stakes.”

  I tucked Gertie’s wand in my back pocket and pulled out my miniature broom. I could just imagine the comments from the others when we vanished in a cloud of blue smoke.

  Chapter Thirty Three

  The Vampire and The Ghost

  My broom travel spell couldn’t have worked more perfectly. More than ever, I was determined to stop Gisele the Vampire and whatever evil conspiracy she had dragged us into. Randy looked forward to being the hero he had played in countless video games and dreamed of being after watching his fictional fantasies on TV.

  The crypt doors were latched but unlocked. Randy carefully opened the doors in an attempt to not disturb our target. I used Gertie’s wand as a magic torch. I was confident in my ability to blast Gisele with a fireball if it came down to it. I went in first, holding the flame high above my head. Gisele was gone. Our magic peeping tom act must have woken her. Discouraged, we left the crypt.

  “I don’t get it. She was just here. Just minutes ago.” Randy kicked some dried up flowers through the grass.

  “I don’t understand it either. On the bright side, at least we now know the secret of Gisele. Two other things we know, she can disguise her shape…at least temporarily.” I remembered how she had disguised herself as the old wino in the alley. “And she can come out into the light. I think.” I tried to remember if I had seen Gisele in direct sunlight. “Maybe that’s temporary, too, everybody knows vampires can’t come out in the daytime.”

  I was preparing to transport us back to Max and Millie’s when Randy screamed. I turned around just in time to see what had frightened him. Hunched down on her hands and knees, Gisele was on the roof of the crypt in the shade of a huge oak tree that conveniently reached a heavy branch over the tomb. She snarled at us like a rabid dog. I had an idea. “Chase her into the sun!”

  “How the hell am I supposed to do that? You think I’m going after that bitch, with a disposable chop stick?”

  “I suppose not.” It was time to give Gisele a fireball. “Take this!” I pointed my wand at her. “Ignis impetum!” The fireball hit the edge of the roof and Gisele scrambled away from the sparks that scattered across the crypt’s roof. Over and over I tried to hit her, yet she managed to avoid my fire.

  I had been so busy trying to hit her that I didn’t notice Randy had climbed up the big oak. He made his way onto the branch that shaded Gisele and was flattened against the bark like a frightened squirrel. Still, he kept moving, inching his way over the crypt. I was more frightened for him than he was for himself. With one hand, he held the chopstick like a dagger and pounced right onto Gisele’s back.

  “Take that, bitch!” The little chopstick splintered when he struck her between the shoulder blades. “No!”

  “Jump!” I shouted. There was no need because Gisele batted him away like a tiny insect. Thankfully, he landed at my feet. I was about to help him up, but he swatted away my hand.

  “I’m okay, Kel. Just get her!”

  Gisele literally growled at me, crouching the same way a cat would before it pounced. That’s when I noticed the way the branch hung over her like a caveman’s club. I
must have had a smile on my face because I knew exactly what to do. “I’ve got it!” I aimed my next fireball right at the base of the branch, scoring a direct hit. The limb crashed down, pinning Gisele under it. We could clearly see that one of the smaller branches impaled her. It entered between her shoulder blades and exited through her chest. Gisele thrashed violently, like a speared fish. She tried with all her might to work her way off of the branch, but it was no use.

  “What? Come on! Where’s the kabaoom? There’s supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom!” When Randy quoted Marvin Martian at such a critical moment as staking a murderous vampire, anyone else would have thought he was the biggest boob in Chicago. As for me, I was quite used to his odd choice of quotes.

  “I know, right? I thought vampires exploded when staked. Seems lame…”

  A thunderous clap and a blinding flash stunned us briefly before Randy erupted into cheers.

  “Yeah! There’s the kaboom, motha’ fucka’! Take that, Vampiress! I know you felt that shit!” Randy was at the zenith of his vampire hunting fantasy. “We disintegrated her!” Randy stretched his arms out and wrapped them around me.

  I hugged my brother. “We’ve taken down Gisele, but we’re far from done. We still have to find out what’s going on in Caldron Falls. Jimmy Catania obviously has something to do with this.”