On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3

by Yolanda Sfetsos

  “I mean that my dog died and so did I, but I came back…and he didn’t. Dad said I died for a few minutes and he knew because I didn’t have a heartbeat, wasn’t breathing, and my lips were turning blue. But I came back and brought Stitches’ spirit with me, though I don’t know how I did it.”

  Papan squirmed in his chair beside me.

  “So you died at the exact moment your dog did, but you returned?” Oren asked.

  She nodded.

  “You said you confirmed something your father secretly wanted. What was that?” Oren was really firing the questions.

  Her blue eyes took on that freaky shine again, but she shut them and answered the question. “He was hoping I could bring back the dead. He said it was something his family had been doing for hundreds of years, but because he was male he missed out. His grandmother could do it and he always wished he could too.” She opened her eyes and stared at me. “It was awful, because he wanted to test the theory and used me to bring a few spirits back. But it wouldn’t work the same. I don’t know why—it’s just something I can’t control.”

  “What did your father make you do?” I asked, a lump forming inside my throat.

  “He wanted me to learn how to bring back the spirits of the dead so I could control them.” She lowered her eyes. “He knew a woman who could teach me.”

  “Did you ever do this successfully?” Oren asked.

  Willow shook her head. “I couldn’t and the woman said there was something wrong with me. That’s when my father told her Mum had spook catcher in her, and the woman started acting all creepy. She’d drop in when Dad wasn’t home and eventually got with my father. She somehow convinced him to let her move in. I hated her—she made me feel dirty and sometimes I’d find her standing over me in the middle of the night.”

  “What’s this woman’s name?”

  She squinted. “I don’t remember. I knew it, but when I left home I just forgot.”

  “What happened to your boyfriend?”

  Tears shone in her eyes. “Jamie knew about what was happening at home and he helped me escape.”

  “Were you being held prisoner?” Papan asked this question.

  “Sorta. I couldn’t go anywhere and sometimes the windows and doors wouldn’t even open, but Jamie helped me by breaking in through the back door and getting me out of there. We jumped into his car and drove off, but he lost control and we crashed. I died at the same time he did, but of course came back.” Tears rolled down her cheeks again. “I ran away then, and stayed with Ronnie for about a month. She hid me in her bedroom and then in the garage, but when her mother found out and threatened to call my father, I ran off again.”

  “So you’ve been out on your own for a month now?” Papan asked. “Has anyone been following you?”

  She nodded. “I noticed some shady people watching me sometimes, and kept running and hiding. It was a lot easier to do in the city than in the suburbs. That’s when I remembered Sierra…” She looked at me. “And thought I could come to you for help.”

  “I’m glad you did, but it would’ve made everything a lot easier if you’d just told me what was going on from the beginning.”

  “I know, I’m sorry…”

  I turned to look at Oren. “Well, which one is it?”

  “Definitely necromancer,” he said with a sigh.

  “What’s that?” Willow asked.

  Oren turned his attention to her. “It looks like you’re a necromancer—a person who can communicate and summon the spirits of the dead. In the wrong hands, you can become a very powerful weapon.” He gave me a dark stare and I knew exactly what he meant. If the Obscurus found out about her they’d have two weapons from the same bloodline. “It’s why you’ve got your dog and boyfriend attached to you.”

  Her eyes widened. “You can see them?”

  “I’ve seen them,” I cut in. “Whenever I mention your father, a young boy and a dog appear around you. I’m pretty sure they’re poltergeists.”

  “You said that before, back at your office. How did it happen?”

  “It looks like every time someone you love dearly passes away, you die with them. And when you return, you bring back a piece of them with you,” Oren explained.

  “It doesn’t make sense why they’re poltergeists, though,” I added.

  “Actually, it makes a lot of sense.” Oren was in professor mode and I didn’t want to interrupt him. The more we knew about this situation, the better. “Willow’s a young girl and the young people she loses return to her in the form of poltergeists because that’s what happens with a lot of juvenile spirits. The fact she’s a necromancer and her skill obviously works with her emotions makes her a magnet. Don’t forget she’s also got a bit of spook catching and witch blood in the mix. Just as you’re not an average spook catcher, she’s not just one thing or another. You two are a cocktail mix. Your main source of power isn’t going to be the same as anyone else’s. You’re both more than the average catcher or necromancer.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “You sure know how to deliver freaky news to a girl.”

  Willow laughed. “I’m just glad someone knows what’s wrong with me, but I’m pretty sure my father isn’t a witch.”

  I avoided her eyes, not keen to get stuck into the whole family thing.

  “There’s nothing wrong with either of you,” Papan said with a shake of his head. “You’re both special in your own way. Sure, you have to admit that it’s freaky because one of you can see, interact, and control the dead. While the other dies with the ones she cares about and then carries them around with her. Strange, but beautiful strange…”

  I pressed my hand against his thigh. “You’re a sweetheart, you know that?”

  “All jokes and sensitivity aside, I think it’s very important that you don’t tell anyone what you are. The fewer people who know, the better,” Oren said, looking serious.

  Willow nodded.

  “You also have to stay here until we speak to the police about this,” he added.

  She shrugged. “I don’t mind staying hidden, especially in this house. It’s awesome down there. I’ve never seen a house built like this.”

  “I’m glad you like it.” I was about to reach for her hand, when she toppled over and the chair hit the floor. “Willow!” I jumped and kneeled beside her.

  “What the hell just happened?” Papan asked, confused.

  Oren was already on the other side, pressing a hand to the side of her neck before lowering his ear near her mouth. “She’s not breathing,” he said.

  “I know first aid.” Papan joined us on the floor. “I can try CPR while you call an ambulance—”

  “No!” Oren raised a hand out in front of him. “Don’t forget what we were just talking about. This girl dies when someone close to her dies.”

  “You think that’s what happened?” He was probably right but I couldn’t just sit here and wait, doing nothing while her skin paled and her lips turned blue. I extended a hand over her chest, ready to press my palm against it hoping her heart was at least beating, when a bright ray cut through the kitchen, blinding me. I raised my forearm in front of my eyes, trying to subdue the shine.

  “She’s breathing again,” Oren called.

  Willow’s body shot upright. Her eyes snapped open and her hair tore out of the ponytail to whirl and shift around her like a storm. Her feet hovered off the tiled floor, the boy and dog writhing around her.

  “What the hell’s with the lightshow?” Papan asked.

  I looked at him and at Oren. They both seemed to be mesmerized. “You two can see the lights and the poltergeists?”

  They both nodded and I realized that Willow had to be a lot more powerful than any of us had first assumed. Poltergeists, like most other ghostly activity, couldn’t be seen by the average human eye—not that Oren and Papan were average. Sure, some spooks used a lot of energy to reveal themselves in order to haunt a place and keep others away but when poltergeists manif
ested, most rarely showed themselves. Not even to catchers.

  If we could all see them now, she had to be projecting them. And I’d never heard of poltergeists being controlled by the living, which was probably the necromancer side of her at work.

  I had turned my attention back to Willow when a girl appeared—one with straight red hair that reached past her waist, very similar to Willow’s.

  “No, Ronnie,” she whispered.

  She’d mentioned that name the night before. This was her best friend, the one smiling so vibrantly in one of her photos. But if she was here now it meant she was dead.

  “I’m so sorry, Ronnie.” The light suddenly faded and Willow’s feet touched the floor again, her eyes lost their freaky shine. “Did you see her? I didn’t imagine her, did I?”

  “No, you didn’t,” I said, licking my lips. “You saw her, but you can’t see the others?”

  Willow nodded. “When I die with them and come back, that’s the only time I see them. It’s the only reason I know I can bring them back with me. It’s why I feel so heavy inside.”

  The Ghostbusters tune cut through my response but I was too weak to get up and answer. Not when I’d just seen my sister dead on the kitchen floor for several minutes. When it rang again, I sighed and used Papan’s steady body to get to my feet.

  I somehow made it down the corridor to my phone.

  “Hello?” I answered. I hadn’t bothered to check who was calling, which made my stomach twist because it could be Jonathan.

  I could hear traffic zooming by. “Hi Sierra. It’s Gareth.”

  “Oh, hey,” I said, relieved.

  “Sorry to bother you on a Sunday morning, but I’ve just found another body.”

  Dread washed over me as I looked back towards the kitchen, where I could hear the murmur of conversation. I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You found another girl?”

  “Yes, someone just called it in.” Gareth sighed and lowered his voice. “It looks like a fresh kill, which might toss the vampire theory out the window. They don’t walk around in the daytime, do they?”

  “Who knows?” I sighed. “Did you want me to come take a look?”

  “If you could, that would be great. I’ll try to put off calling the detectives for as long as I can—an hour tops. Do you think you can be here before then?”

  “I should be able to. What’s the address?” I wrote it down on a scrap piece of paper. “Listen, do you mind if I bring someone else with me? He’s what you might call a vampire expert.” It was time to call Conrad.

  “Sure, will you be bringing your boyfriend too?”

  “Probably, is that a problem?”

  He sighed and said, “No, that’s fine. The more eyes we get on this, the better chance we have of solving the case. I’m starting to think this could turn out to be a serial killer targeting teenage girls.”

  “Can you tell me one thing?”

  “Sure…”

  “Is this victim a redhead?”

  “Yes, she is. How did you know?”

  “Call it a hunch.” Or a really bad coincidence, I added to myself. “I’ll see you soon.”

  I hung up and headed for the kitchen, almost crashing into Papan as he stepped into the hallway.

  “By the looks of it, that wasn’t a good call?”

  I shook my head and lowered my voice. “It was Gareth. Another body’s been found.”

  “Another kid was dumped in an alley?”

  “Yeah…it sounds like it.”

  “Same as the one from yesterday?” he asked, uncertain.

  “And this one is a redhead.” I waited a moment, to see if he knew what I was getting at.

  His eyes widened. “No. You don’t think it’s related to what we just witnessed?”

  “It seems like too much of a coincidence—”

  “What’s a coincidence?” Willow asked from the doorway.

  “Nothing,” Papan answered.

  “Willow, did you or your friends hang out in city clubs on the weekends?” I had to at least ask.

  “Sometimes,” she said with a shrug. “But we didn’t go much because we preferred the movies.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Listen, I need to duck out for a bit. You don’t mind staying with Oren, do you?”

  “No, that’s fine. I don’t want to get in the way of your work.” She turned on her heel, still talking. “Besides, I need to text Ronnie to let her know I’ve finally found someone who totally understands me.”

  “Willow, wait.”

  She peered over her shoulder. “Yeah?”

  “Don’t you remember what happened in the kitchen?”

  “I just zoned out for a bit,” she said with a frown. “I told you it happens sometimes, remember?”

  I nodded slowly, wondering how to approach this without stating the obvious. “And you don’t remember anything at all?”

  She shrugged. “I never do.”

  “But—”

  “I really need to do this right now, we can talk later.”

  “Willow…” She was already gone. I wasn’t sure if she was in denial or had simply forgotten what we’d all seen in the kitchen, but what would happen when she didn’t get a response from her dead friend? A wave of sadness swept over me because I wasn’t sure if it was better to address this, or assume the trauma of losing Ronnie had temporarily caused memory loss.

  Papan grabbed my hand and squeezed my fingers. “Let her go. She needs time to process what happened. Maybe she doesn’t even remember.”

  “I thought of that,” I whispered, stepping into the kitchen to find Oren by the sink. “We’ll deal with it later.”

  “It seemed a shame to waste the sandwiches, so I told Willow to take them to her room with her.” He turned to look at us. “What’s got you looking so grim?”

  “That was the constable. They’ve found another girl’s body,” I said.

  “Oh no.”

  “This time it’s a redhead.”

  His face lost most of its color and he sat heavily on the chair closest to him. “You two have already connected what we saw and what the policeman told you?”

  “I hope we’re wrong, but she’s obviously dead.”

  Oren sighed. “You go ahead and see what you can glean from the latest victim. I’m going to do a little research on these kinds of deaths, see if this has been going on for longer than the police know, or if it’s just started recently. I’ll also see if I can finish the last of the translation.”

  “Thanks, Oren,” I said. “I really appreciate how much you’ve been helping with Willow.”

  “Don’t thank me—it’s the least I can do for my granddaughters.” He looked away. “If there’s some creature killing teenage girls, they might be searching for one in particular.”

  The words and their implication made the blood freeze inside my veins.

  “I know you’re in there, so answer the damn door!” I pounded a little harder, not caring about my knuckles turning red.

  The door swung open and Conrad appeared, once again bare-chested and with jeans that weren’t buttoned all the way up. He looked a little pissed, and from the way his hair stood out at odd angles, I’d probably awoken him too.

  “Oh, it’s you again! What the hell do you want this time? If you’re looking for Ebony, she’s not here.”

  “Where is she?” I might not have a choice in trusting him to look after her since he seemed to be the only one she wanted to be around, but I liked the thought of her being on her own even less. If she wasn’t with him, who the hell knew what she’d do?

  “Relax. She just wanted to go back to her place for the night.” Conrad rubbed a hand over his stomach before raising it above his head and leaning into the doorframe. “Y’know, if you keep popping by unannounced, I’m going to have to tell your wolf about these early morning visits.”

  “Tell him yourself,” I snapped.

  “Hey, Hicks, how’s it going?” Papan stepped into view and flashed him a smile.
/>   Conrad didn’t seem to mind getting caught being a smart ass. Actually, his grin made it seem as if this just added to his amusement. “Just so you know—I’m not into threesomes if there’s another dude involved.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Just shut the hell up long enough for me to tell you why I’m here, okay?” Time was ticking. It had taken us ten minutes to get to his apartment block and I’d spent at least another two waiting for him to answer.

  “Jesus. Just relax, okay?” He readjusted his position, crossing his arms under his firm chest. The cross sitting on the hollow of his throat gleamed under the overcast sky.

  I sighed. “We need your help.”

  “With what?” His eyes narrowed—obviously he still didn’t trust me.

  “Papan and I are on our way to a murder scene and need your expertise.”

  “Hold on,” Conrad said with a shake of his head. “Does this involve cops?”

  I nodded. “Of course it does.”

  “Then I can’t help you.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not exactly a law abiding citizen.” He made a move to close the door but I stuck my foot in between. “Sierra, I don’t even know how I can help with a murder investigation. I’m not a detective or a PI…but will you look at that, he is!”

  “I think a vampire is draining young girls then dumping them in backstreets.” I dared him to close the door on something this important, something he might have a deeper know-how about than the rest of us. “Do you really want to ignore something you could probably help us with?”

  Conrad looked past me to Papan.

  “Conrad, they’re just girls—teenagers who are falling victim to some asshole vampire who steals their life. Surely you give a shit about that. I’m sure the cops aren’t going to care about whatever it is you think is bad enough to grab their attention.” I paused for a moment to catch my breath. “Besides, the policeman who needs our help isn’t exactly playing by the rule book at the moment. If you hurry the hell up, we might be able to get there before all the other cops make an appearance.”

  Conrad was quiet for so long I started to wonder if he cared about anything but himself. “Cops don’t like vigilantes.”