Ghost of a Summoning

by J E McDonald

  Aubrey breathed out slowly and focused on the computer screen in front of her, diligently filling out all the information she needed to send to the IRS and the Social Security Administration before Roman became an official employee. Next to the tab for the government website was the one for her online store, then beside that the tab for Simmer. She’d opened it up because the service had encouraged her to add more information for those not using the mobile app. But Stella had kept making suggestions over her shoulder, and Aubrey decided to do it alone later.

  Typing Roman’s information into the tax form, she took a deep breath. The novelty of actually having an employee hadn’t fully settled in yet. She’d been on her own for so long, but it was time. With business somewhat stable, a part-time position was doable, even if she wasn’t rolling in the dough.

  Why had she hired him anyway? She’d kind of expected a teenager would apply, someone who’d come after school and stay until closing. But someone who could work the mornings and cover her lunch was much more practical. And she could trust an adult with retail experience to handle the store on their own for a weekend here and there. Then she could have some time off. Maybe she and Stella would go camping like they used to before she opened Relics.

  Instead, she’d hired Roman, a guy who looked more suited to ripping out trees with his bare hands than working in an antique store.

  Maybe he won’t show.

  Maybe he’d applied to play a joke on her after she’d dropped a drill on his head. He didn’t seem like the sort of guy to play practical jokes, but who knew? Sometimes she wasn’t the best judge of character.

  At nine twenty-five, Roman strode through the door, the bell tinkling above him. He stood straight and tall, the same brown coat hugging his frame, the same gloves on his hands, a black shirt and dark-wash jeans underneath. The sight of him had her heart rate accelerating all over again, but this time it was for a completely different reason than a panic attack.

  Instead of coming in, he stopped just inside the door, his eyes landing on Stella. Tension stilled his body, new caution that hadn’t been there when he first entered.

  “Roman,” Stella said quietly, her face going pale.

  Aubrey’s gaze bounced between the two of them. “You two know each other?”

  Stella shot her a look. “He consults for the Lillers sometimes too,” she said, referring to the paranormal investigation company she worked for on occasion. “We’ve only met once,” she added, swallowing.

  Something was going on here. Aubrey could tell Stella was uncomfortable. Usually when she got like this, it was because of someone’s energy. Did Roman have negative energy? The thought made her stomach turn. She didn’t want the guy she’d been obsessing about for the past day and a half to have bad energy.

  They all stared at each other while Aubrey’s mind raced. When she’d first met him, her description had been “scary,” but that had mellowed out some. He still seemed intimidating, but seeing him in the pet store buying a new bed for his dog and not suing her for dropping a drill on his head had kind of turned things around for her. That, and the fact that he’d searched her out after the dog food incident to see if she was okay, when it should have been the other way around.

  “I can go,” he said after the silence stretched through the room, the clicking of the clocks on the back wall the only thing breaking the tension.

  “No, no,” Stella said, closing her Book of Shadows and holding it to her chest. “I’ll go. You’re the one who works here. I don’t.”

  They couldn’t stand being in the same room? Her best friend and the first guy she’d been attracted to in a long time couldn’t tolerate each other? Pressing a hand to the tightness in her chest, she took a deep breath. What did Stella know that she didn’t? What was wrong with him?

  Right before Stella got to the door, she shot her one last look. It said, We need to talk. And soon. Aubrey nodded once.

  With a frown aimed at Roman, Stella left, the bell tinkling as the door closed behind her.

  “What was that all about?” Aubrey asked him, on edge because of Stella’s reaction. But her friend wouldn’t have left her alone with Roman if she believed him dangerous.

  He walked farther into the store. “I make her uncomfortable,” he said after a moment, his expression guarded. He paused halfway to the front counter.

  “Why?” she asked, appreciating his honesty.

  Hesitating, he tucked his hands into the pockets of his jacket, then shrugged. “The work I do for the Lillers…it’s not pleasant.”

  Aubrey knew sometimes Stella would come back from a job with the Lillers and stay in the bath for hours, trying to cleanse herself of bad energy. She knew sometimes the ghosts she was in contact with would drain her to the point of exhaustion.

  If Roman made Stella uncomfortable, then what did he do for the Lillers? It didn’t look like he wanted to expand his explanation, and Aubrey knew Stella would tell her more later, so she let that part of the matter drop.

  But that didn’t explain the other part worrying her. “If you work for the Lillers, why do you need a job here?” She knew they paid well, and from all the recent contracts Stella had been getting from them, business was booming.

  Roman shrugged again. “A change of pace?”

  He almost said it like he wanted her approval of the explanation. She frowned, trying to figure it out. In a way, it kind of made sense. Stella had her website development business to keep her grounded when the jobs for the Lillers took a toll on her mental health. If Roman didn’t have anything like that, if he only dealt with unpleasant things all the time, then maybe she could understand wanting a job at an antique store where the paranormal was nowhere to be found.

  Except, that wasn’t the case here. Finn was somewhere in the store, possibly devising his next plan of attack. If Roman had taken this job to be “normal,” then she had some bad news for him.

  She should tell him about Finn right now, warn him about her ghost’s dislike of him. If he worked for the Lillers, then he knew about the paranormal.

  As soon as she opened her mouth to tell him, she closed it again. What would he think of her if he knew she had a ghost attached to her? She hated telling people about it. It sounded so…strange. She’d only just told Lucas, the police officer dating Stella, a while ago, and that had been bad enough. Thankfully, he hadn’t looked at her like she was a freak or treated her differently.

  But she hadn’t known Roman long enough to trust him with that sort of information. Instead, she cleared her throat. “What did you do with your dog?”

  He rocked back on his heels like he hadn’t expected that question. “He’s at home.”

  “You shouldn’t leave him by himself.”

  “It’s only the morning. He’s the independent sort.”

  “You could bring him here. I like dogs.”

  The corner of his mouth curled upward, making her heart rate accelerate. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “He’d either break most of the stuff in here or eat it.”

  She snorted, but when she realized he wasn’t joking, she swallowed. “A big guy, then?” She should have realized from the bed he bought yesterday.

  “Big appetite.”

  “Dangerous?”

  His brow furrowed. “He might look it, but he’s a softy inside.”

  When he didn’t say any more, she cleared her throat. “Okay, well, why don’t I show you how the till works, and we’ll go from there?”

  After hesitating a moment, he nodded, then joined her on the other side of the counter. It had never felt so small. Stella stayed on this side of the counter all the time, but with Roman taking half of the space, it shrank around them.

  She was entirely too aware of him as he leaned over her shoulder, watching how she clicked on the inventory list and found the items with their images attached. How each had its own barcode and price. The more she showed him, the more he leaned forward, unti
l she could feel his warm breath on her cheek, feel the heat of him behind her.

  “And mostly,” she went on, trying to dismiss her body’s response to his nearness and ignore the inappropriate temptation to lean back to see what he would do. “The store stays afloat because of online orders.” She clicked on another tab on the computer. “This is connected to my website. Stella designed it of course. And the computer will ding with a notification when an order comes in.”

  She looked over her shoulder and was once again startled by the color of his eyes. Clearing her throat, she said, “I used to say it would be shipped out next day, but with you here I can probably do more same-day shipping. You know, because one of us can go to the post office down the street.”

  He nodded his understanding, then leaned over, his shoulder brushing hers. “What’s this?” he asked, pointing at another tab on her web browser.

  Aubrey blinked, her face heating. It was the web page for Simmer. “Uh…” She didn’t know what to say until he leaned over and grabbed the mouse with his gloved hand and clicked on it. “Oh, don’t do that.”

  He did it anyway, making her face heat even more. An image of the last guy she and Stella had been looking at popped up on the screen, compete with his full bio.

  Aubrey held her breath.

  “Seems a bit hairy to me,” Roman said, tilting his head to the side.

  The comment made her relax some. “I think beards are in right now.”

  “Really?” A genuine note of surprise entered his voice.

  “He’s an EMT. That’s a pretty stable job.”

  “But he likes ballroom dancing.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing, I guess. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who liked ballroom dancing.”

  “Hmmmm.” She clicked on the next match they’d sent her. “What about this guy?”

  After a beat, he said, “Seems a bit old.”

  Aubrey squinted at the screen. “It says he’s thirty-five. Aren’t you thirty-five?” She’d seen his age on the tax forms.

  “I’m too old for you too.”

  His voice came from right beside her ear, making her shiver. Aubrey turned until she faced him, effectively caging herself between him and the computer. “I don’t agree,” she said quietly, even as she wondered what the hell she was doing. First the flirting in the pet store, now she was hitting on him here when she should be working.

  Blue and amber eyes scanned her face, twinkling with mischief. “Aren’t you my boss or something?”

  Right. She was. But she didn’t feel like she was his boss. She felt like a woman standing really close to a guy she was interested in. A guy whose eyes had captured hers and whose lips were so very close. She swallowed around the dryness in her throat.

  Crash. She jumped a foot in the air at the noise that came from the stockroom. Roman straightened, his body taut and alert, his hand moving under his jacket and his eyes focused on the curtain separating the store front from the back.

  It sounded like a box had been pushed off one of the stockroom shelves. Aubrey held her breath and waited, knowing who caused the commotion and preparing herself to tell him about Finn.

  Bang. Another crash. This one sounded like something broke. Dammit Finn. Why was he doing this? At least he hadn’t gone straight for the swords.

  “Is there someone else here?” Roman asked, the twinkle gone from his eyes as he moved toward the stockroom with such speed and stealth, she was momentarily mesmerized.

  He pushed the curtain aside, disappearing, only to return a minute later. It was then she realized he had a knife in his hand. A wicked looking one with a curved blade.

  Her heart pounded so hard, she could feel it between her ears.

  “Is there someone else here?” he asked again, his voice hard.

  Speechless, her throat dry, all she could do was shake her head.

  Roman knew she was lying. He could tell by the way she held herself tense, the way she’d fisted her hands at her sides. There was someone else here, she just didn’t want to admit it.

  He’d searched the stockroom. Two boxes lay open on the floor, one full of knickknacks, the other of old clothes, but the room was empty. Every other box and item on the shelves was set back a secure distance from the edge. The shelves themselves were solid, not even wobbling when he jiggled them with his hand. The back door was locked. So were the windows set high in the wall, and those were too small for most people to get through. Moe would be able to, or a small child. It wasn’t Moe because his scar hadn’t itched.

  But someone had pushed those boxes off the shelves.

  Aware of Aubrey’s eyes on him, he scanned the whole store, noticed another door and opened it to find a ladder and cleaning supplies. Shutting the door, he turned to her. “Is this place haunted?” It was the only explanation he could come up with. His scar wasn’t burning. It wasn’t the work of an air demon.

  She seemed frozen, her eyes glued to him. He wondered if she was going into another panic attack. He recognized the symptoms that had assaulted her yesterday at the pet store, but by the time he’d gotten to her car, she’d had it under control. This time it seemed more like shock than panic, her face pale and her body rigid.

  Finally, she nodded once.

  He let out a breath. Ghosts. Now he had to factor them into everything. Great. “Why don’t you get the Lillers to clear them out? Why doesn’t Stella help you with it?”

  “It’s complicated,” she replied, her voice as thready as it had been yesterday when the bag of dog food had fallen.

  He tensed, realization hitting him. This was more than a run-of-the-mill haunting.

  Before he could ask more questions, her eyes went to his hand. “Why do you have a knife?” she asked, the words stiff.

  He looked down at his hand. One of his knives was held tight in his grip, an extension of himself. It was second nature to pull it when there was danger. He didn’t go anywhere without his knives. Not anymore. A demon hunter without a partner always had to be prepared for anything. In the beginning, the number of times he’d been caught without a knife when a demon was nearby had made him paranoid. And since his talk with Gusion, fire demons had taken pot shots at him with unusual frequency.

  Moving slowly so as to not startle her, Roman sheathed the knife in the holster nestled against his ribs. “I’m sorry,” he said, taking a step toward her, his hands up in front of him surrender style. “I thought there was danger.”

  She walked backward, away from him.

  He stopped and dropped his hands. He’d fucked up. He was supposed to get her to trust him so he could get to the bottom of the prophecy, and instead she was afraid of him.

  She probably should be.

  Seeing Stella in the store had already put a hiccup in his plans. But it hadn’t halted them altogether. He knew he put the witch on edge. Her gift of reading energy had confirmed what he’d always known. She hadn’t outright said it, but he was pretty sure the state of his soul disturbed her. He’d always assumed it had been leached of any brightness long ago, maybe even the day his father died and Aym had grabbed his wrist. The first time Roman met Stella, her reaction confirmed it. She hadn’t wanted to spend more than a minute in his company.

  He could have worked around the witch, but Aubrey being scared of him? That was a completely different story.

  She swallowed and took another step back. “I don’t think things are going to work out after all. It’s better if you leave.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she nodded toward the door.

  The set of her jaw had his objection halting in his throat. His first day at a normal job and he’d been fired before noon. He should have known better than to pretend he could mingle with the general population. He didn’t deserve to be around someone like Aubrey Karle.

  He nodded, then headed toward the door, making sure he gave her wide berth—didn’t want to spook her even more. The bell tinkled above him as he left, the cheerful sound grating
on his nerves.

  9

  He’d walked to the store that morning and was glad he could march off the shit he felt right now.

  How the fuck was he supposed to get to the bottom of the prophecy if she wouldn’t let him close? How was he supposed to figure out how she was tied to it? As far as he knew from his research, Aubrey was the only Karle in the state.

  He needed a new plan, a new angle. But every way he conceived to remain close to her, every scenario he envisioned, he rejected a second later. It seemed impossible he could regain Aubrey’s trust when he’d been waving a knife around her store.

  His feet took him toward the river, the tall buildings of new downtown towering in the distance, including the condemned Langport Financial building. Needing some purpose to take his mind off the catastrophe he’d created, he crossed the street, heading to the foot bridge.

  It wasn’t long before he realized he was being followed. Again.

  His hand went to the knife under his jacket instinctively. When he realized it wasn’t a demon, he released the hilt of his knife and turned around. “Don’t you have better things to do with your time, Agent Martinez?”

  The lanky FBI agent swaggered toward him. With self-directed contempt rolling through him for messing up with Aubrey, Roman had the sudden urge to punch the smirk off Martinez’s face.

  “With your interest in Jude,” Roman said when the agent stopped in front of him, “I would have assumed he’d be the more interesting target to follow.”

  “Oh, he’s covered.” Martinez sent him a tight smile. “We flipped a coin and I got you.”

  “Fun.” Roman turned around and headed toward the river, the next sign on the pathway pointing to the footbridge.

  Martinez jogged to catch up.

  “And who was the one who got the short end of the stick?” Roman asked without looking at him. “The giant, the professor, or Lara Croft.”