Dedication
For my writing buddy, because he always keeps me company when I’m busy writing and editing.
I’d also like to thank my lovely new editor, Holly. Your belief and enthusiasm in Sierra’s world makes me very happy, and what you’ve done to help me strengthen the story is awesome! To Kanaxa, for making another perfect and atmospheric cover, which turned out much better than anything I imagined. And to Sgt. John Weiling, for answering my NSW police questions enough to fuel my imagination further.
A special shout out to 30 Seconds to Mars, because I couldn’t have written this book without the wonderful tunes of A Beautiful Lie.
And last, but certainly not least, thank you Eugene and Cassandra for your never-ending support and love.
Chapter One
As soon as I stepped off the sidewalk, I knew something was wrong.
My skin prickled and the ominous air of danger I’d become so accustomed to during the last few months lent me pause. Even after checking both sides of the road and being so close to my destination, I was still blindsided by the glare of twin lights headed right for me. Headlights during an overcast day weren’t an anomaly, but these high-beams served another purpose. And if I didn’t get out of their path, I was going to end up splat on the pavement.
The vehicle didn’t seem to be slowing down—actually sped up.
I was temporarily stunned, so it took me a moment too long to get my legs going.
The noise from the traffic I carefully avoided faded into the background, but I pumped my suddenly rigid limbs.
With every step, I chanted the protection incantation I’d learned by heart as easily as others might a prayer. The invisible shield cocooned me instantly but I didn’t slow, not now that I was so close to safety. The barrier might keep a person from getting to me, but being hit by a car would surely disrupt my chanting. And the spell was only good for as long as I kept whispering it.
The bumper nudged my protective wall, rebounding off it and causing me to miss a step. As expected, I lost concentration and my whispers abruptly stopped. If it wasn’t for the parked cars on this side of the street—spell or no spell—I would’ve ended up plastered on the road.
All sound rushed back when the car I leaned against started shrilling, making my ears pop. Screeching tires echoed in the distance.
“Sierra, are you okay?”
I managed a quick nod before taking several shallow breaths, hoping they would help calm my racing heart.
Lavie Grye, my friend and demon hunter, was running toward me with both arms outstretched. “Are you sure you’re okay? That car nearly ran you over!”
I nodded, glancing down the road even though I knew it was too late to catch the culprit. Whoever just tried to run me over had come and gone, which confirmed this hadn’t been an accident. Someone’s blatant attempt to take me down had failed. I was sure of it. Having a certain group of freaks after me made me more than a little paranoid.
“Sierra—”
“I’m fine, just a little shaken. That’s all.” I turned back to her, noticing her denim overalls and the long-sleeved T-shirt underneath. She always covered up, leaving only her hands exposed. Lavie had a demonic seed living inside her, which manifested as snake-shaped lumps roaming under her scarred skin.
“You didn’t catch a look at the car, did you?”
Her hazel eyes were wide and bright, but she shook her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t. I was looking out the window and spotted you crossing, so I thought I’d greet you at the door. It happened so fast I didn’t bother looking at the car.”
“Don’t worry about it.” One way or another, I was pretty sure I’d eventually find out who was responsible.
“Let’s get inside.” Lavie wrapped an arm around my shoulder and led me into her aunt’s store, which had been my destination all along.
I let her, very aware of how much Lavie avoided physical contact with others to spare them the discomfort of accidentally brushing up against one of the moving lumps beneath her skin. The more our friendship strengthened, the more her guard seemed to drop. It made me feel a certain level of camaraderie towards her.
As soon as we’d stepped inside and the door closed behind us, I felt a lot better. Of course, that could be because the ambience inside the store was so comforting.
“Sierra, what a nice surprise.” Sally Grye made her way around the counter and wrapped her bony hands around mine. “How are you feeling today?”
“I’m okay.” Well, I had been until someone tried to run me down.
“Aunty, you didn’t see the car that almost hit Sierra, did you?”
Sally’s smile faded from her thin, wrinkled lips. Her frizzy hair was held away from her face with matching combs, and she radiated a relaxing vibe. She looked casual but smart in a pair of olive-green slacks with a cream-colored shirt tucked into the hem.
“I didn’t see anything—I was behind the counter. Actually, I was talking to you and didn’t realize you’d left the store until I looked up and you were gone.”
Lavie’s choppy red hair framed her moon-shaped face as she bit down on her lip. “I didn’t mean to run out on you, but that car was heading right for Sierra and neither one of us had the chance to notice any important details about it.”
“I wish you’d told me what was going on…”
“There was no time,” Lavie said.
With the Obscurus behind the wheel, who knew what to expect?
Sally sighed. “Either way, I’m glad you’re here, Sierra. Lavie’s wanted to call you for a few days, but we weren’t sure if you needed more time to yourself.”
“Aunty!”
I couldn’t stifle a laugh. “It’s okay. I think I’ve had plenty of alone time.” The truth was I needed to get back into the swing of things. Hiding out at home and ignoring my responsibilities certainly wasn’t going to pay the bills, or make my problems go away.
During the last five days, I’d neglected the office, and kept ignoring any calls that weren’t from Jason Papan. Papan was busy wrapping up a case at the moment—someone was cheating on someone and he’d been investigating and gathering evidence.
At least he was back to working his private investigator gig, which scrambled our schedules enough to ensure we’d been away from each other all week. I’d convinced him to get back to it on Monday so I could take some personal time to evaluate what happened at the Council without his sexy distraction. Now it was Friday and I was missing him like crazy, actually felt twitchy because I wanted to be near him.
Some distraction of the Papan kind is just what I need right now.
I sighed, pushing away my wayward thoughts because both Sally and Lavie were watching me. Besides, Sally was squeezing my fingers, as if she was encouraging me to say more. “It’s time to get back into the real world, and I need to start by asking for your help.”
Lavie nodded and her choppy red hair shook wildly. “Of course. What can we do for you?”
“Girls, before we get stuck into anything, how about I get us some herbal tea?” Sally dropped my hands and took a step away from us, the smile returning to her face. “The weather’s changing out there and today’s cooler than usual. I think a cup of tea would be nice, yeah?”
“I don’t want to be any trouble…Mrs. Grye.” I glanced out the large plate-glass window. She was right about the weather. Dark clouds swarmed the sky, and it was probably just a matter of time before they opened up to rain. Autumn might be in its beginnings in Sydney, but it was already changing the early mornings and nights. Although the temperature still climbed during the day and daylight savings would still go on for another month, the seasonal change was u
ndeniable.
“Nonsense, it’s no trouble.” She dismissed the notion with a wave of her left hand. “And please, call me Sally or Sal. Mrs. Grye was my mother, bless her soul.” A sad look crossed over her wrinkled face, but it disappeared only seconds later when a beaming smile brightened her features again, making her hazel eyes sparkle like Lavie’s did. “Besides, I’m not married. And certainly not to my brother, may he rest in peace.”
“Aunty, that’s gross,” Lavie said, rolling her eyes.
I felt like an idiot for the blunder, but how was I to know? “Sorry.”
“It’s not a big deal. Everyone assumes I’m married because I’m so old.”
I managed a weak smile.
Sally winked at me before she strolled away and stepped past a beaded curtain situated behind the service counter.
Lavie shuffled closer. “She likes to joke about the marriage thing, but I know it’s just her way of hiding how upset she still is about losing Samson,” she whispered.
Where had I heard that name before? “Samson?”
“Yeah, he was a healer. A damn good one, too, but he passed away recently.” Her eyes narrowed. “Remember I told you about it?”
My heart fell. Yeah, now I remembered. I’d never met the old man, but both Sally and Lavie mentioned him during the Hocking ordeal, when Samson helped Lavie recover from a demonic possession. He’d supposedly died in his sleep shortly after, which was why my ex-boyfriend miraculously awakened as a healer. Now that I knew some of the truth about Jonathan Wells, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d had a hand in the old man’s death.
“Were they…”
“He was her partner. They weren’t interested in the convention of marriage, but were spiritually bonded.” She lowered her gaze. “They were together for years, and his death affected her a lot more than she likes to admit. I know she’s still grieving him but she doesn’t open up about it.”
“Do you think Jonathan had something to do with it?”
Lavie met my eyes. “I know he did.” She peered over her shoulder to make sure her aunt wasn’t nearby. “I didn’t tell her, but I found a harmful charm under Samson’s side of the bed. I have no idea how long it had been there or who put it there, but I’m pretty sure it made his heart stop while he slept.”
“Why didn’t you tell her?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t want to hurt her any more than she already was. Samson’s gone and there’s nothing we can do about it. Telling her I suspected foul play from that demonic-possessed jerk won’t bring him back.”
“Do you think he’s still here?” So far, I hadn’t felt anything ghostly inside the small store. But then again, I hadn’t come here with the intention of running into any spook. Not that I could help it if one decided to make an appearance.
“I don’t know,” she said, frowning. “Do you feel anything?”
I shook my head. I’m a spook catcher by trade, which means I can see and interact with ghosts, spirits, poltergeists, orbs, and a variety of other ghouls that fall under the spook banner. In essence, most spooks consist of energy that isn’t ready to move on to the next patch, but there are other inhuman exceptions. Spooks have certain rights within our society, but when they mess up and break the rules, it’s my job to step in and capture them. The ability to see dead people is something only certain females are born with, and it skips a generation.
If there was a spirit around, I would have felt it right away. Right now, I couldn’t feel any of the telltale signs. And it wasn’t because I was still a little muddled after the car incident, either.
Besides, after the Spook Catcher Council’s greedy manipulation of all the spooks in Sydney, the majority of ghosts had been forcibly pushed into the ghostly patch so I hadn’t encountered too many during the last week. Samson could have easily become another victim of circumstance, or he might have moved on as soon as he died.
Lavie took my hand, forcing me out of my reverie. “Don’t worry about it. It’s probably best that he didn’t linger.”
I didn’t resist when she pulled me farther into the cozy shop. Time alone might be helping me clear my conscience, but it was doing a number on my rampant, endless thoughts. And the fact someone tried to blatantly run me over when I’d planned to come here made the incident too much of a coincidence to ignore.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lavie asked. “It’s not every day someone almost runs you over.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Her eyes darkened. “How’s Ebony doing?”
“I don’t know. She’s still avoiding me.” My assistant, Ebony Aikan, wasn’t taking any of my calls, and certainly wasn’t making any.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“She’ll get over this eventually. She just needs some time to process everything.”
I nodded. It was the same thing I kept telling myself, but Ebony had nearly died after being taken hostage and she blamed me.
“Do you think one of them was driving the car?”
I shrugged, recalling the Slevani brothers trying to dominate me into submission, and then Mauricio the black dog’s attack. They’d all seemed to be trying to kill me but that wasn’t what they wanted. Not yet. These sick bastards actually needed my power for some ancient ritual that would summon a demonic entity into this world. Yet the way they’d acted while trying to get their hands on me made me wonder if they actually had the intention of keeping me alive that long.
“Well, I want to help in any way that I can.”
I let her drag me over to a plush green couch pressed against the far wall. Three low bookshelves sat beside it, all stacked with an array of slim books, figurines of fairies, dragons, gargoyles, candles of every color, and several other items I didn’t recognize. It reminded me of looking over Roger Hocking’s office and discovering a bunch of occult relics I couldn’t even begin to name.
Sitting on the couch beside Lavie, I took a deep breath and let the comfortable warm air calm my nerves. This store seemed to radiate positive energy.
“So, what’s wrong? Well, aside from the obvious.” Lavie raised an eyebrow. “It’s not your ex, is it?”
Her unasked question—“Do you think he was driving that car?”—hung between us. “No, it’s not about him.” Actually, I hadn’t seen Jonathan since the night I escaped the Spook Catcher Council Tower. He’d left me countless messages, but I deleted every one of them.
“What is it then?”
“It’s about the USB drive you gave me.” Even now, after scouring through all the information, I didn’t feel comfortable saying the word out loud. Yet, having read actual historical and mythical accounts about the Obscurus actually made them real. Not that they hadn’t been real before, since they’d tried to kill me several times already.
Her eyes widened. “Ah, so you checked it out?”
“I’ve read everything about ten times.” I sighed. “Well, the bits I could read.”
“Did it help?”
“It helped me understand more about what I’m dealing with, but it didn’t answer all of my questions.” Obscurus was Latin for obscure, unknown, shadowy—all relevant words to describe the maniacal group I’d had the displeasure of discovering were after me. Just the name sounded ominous. Knowing this group had been around for over a thousand years in one incarnation or another didn’t make me feel like I could outrun or defeat them. So far, I’d overcome three of its members and knew of two more, but according to the texts Lavie had given me, the organization consisted of six members—one for each tip of an inverted pentagram, with the leading member positioned in the middle. If I had to hazard a guess, I would bet that Mace Clamber, the unscrupulous scout for the Spook Catcher Council, was this cycle’s leader.
“What did you need to know?” Lavie asked.
“Ah, here we are.” Sally stepped past the beaded curtain behind the counter, with a wooden tray in her arms. She breezed over and placed the tray on the coffee table. Three white por
celain teacups sat on saucers, steaming liquid inside. A small jug filled with milk, an intricate sugar bowl, and a plate of choc-chip cookies finished off the goodies. “Dress it up as you like. I prefer mine unsweetened and without milk.” She grabbed her cup and saucer before lowering herself into the armchair beside the couch.
This store was set up like a comfy coffee shop or bookstore rather than an occult hub, as the plate-glass window advertised. The word IMPRESSIONS was painted inside a pentagram on the pane, with Tarot, Tea & More in smaller font directly beneath it.
“What are you two discussing?”
“Sierra needs some help with the info I gave her about the Obscurus,” Lavie said.
“Lavie, keep it down.” Sally turned her head towards the door. “That’s not the kind of name you want to shout out into the wind. You never know who is listening, especially not after what just happened.”
“There’s no one here but us, Aunty.”
Sally cocked an eyebrow. “I think I’ve taught you better than that, have I not?”
I had to agree with Sally. You never know who was around the corner or watching from afar. I wasn’t a paranoid person by nature but after being hunted down by the Slevani brothers and a crazed black shifter dog, I’d become especially cautious.
“Whenever the demonic is involved, we must be extra careful,” Sally whispered.
“Sorry.” Lavie sighed and looked away like a little girl who’d been caught out and didn’t know how to respond. The demon hunter had been raised by this woman, so I wasn’t surprised to see them interacting more like a mother-daughter.
“No need to be sorry if you do the right thing in the first place,” Sally said with a small grin. She turned to focus on me. “Now, are you here to discuss the encrypted file?”
“Yes.” It hadn’t made sense to have so many texts and pictures available to read freely, and just one file that needed a password. “How did you know?”
Sally shrugged before taking a sip from her cup. “Did you read everything else?”
I nodded.
“Saul translated a few things for you,” Lavie added.
On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3 Page 1