Haunted by the Holidays

by Kathryn Blanche

  Ali’s phone buzzed and she glanced at the screen—it was Darien, her Vampire supervisor from the agency. Resisting the urge to sigh, she answered the call.

  “What’s up?”

  “Hey, sorry to call on your night off, but something’s come up. I need your help in the Old City.”

  Darien never called her in on nights off unless something big was going down. If he needed her help, then it must be serious.

  “Alright, send me the address. I’ll be there soon.”

  Part 2 - Duty Calls

  Ali and Lyn pulled up along the curb of a worn apartment building. They were on the edge of the Old City where things were a little less sketchy. After a bad fire displaced much of Culver City, most of the people had relocated here where rent was still low.

  Darien was waiting for them dressed in his usual leather jacket and distressed denim. Even though he’d been temporarily promoted to the role of supervisor, he still insisted on retaining his edgy appearance. Beside him was Jerrik, the newest addition to the team. He was a Svartálfr or Dark Elf, with long dark hair and pale silver skin. Since their team was terribly short-staffed, and D.C. wasn’t sending them additional agents any time soon, he’d been promoted and was now a full agent.

  Both agents stood on the curb in front of the building with a distraught woman in a bathrobe. Balanced on her hip was a baby wrapped in a blanket.

  “What do we have here?” Ali asked as Darien joined them.

  “She awoke to find someone lurking around the house. As far as we can tell they are still in there. According to the woman, the person looked female but had shadows for eyes. We suspect the intruder is an SNP.”

  SNP was their team’s acronym for a Supernatural Person.

  “Any idea how the SNP got in?” Ali asked.

  “No, and the woman said the doors and windows were locked.”

  Lyn grabbed her bag from the car and slung it over her shoulder. She never went anywhere without it. “Sounds like it could be a haunting of some sort.”

  Lyn was the pro when it came to hauntings. A part of her business involved ridding clients of pesky Ghosts.

  Darien motioned for them to follow him into the building. “Exactly my thoughts. Let’s get a closer look.”

  Jerrik stayed behind with the mother and child while the others climbed the stairs to the apartment. Ali removed her gun from its holster while Darien pounded on the door.

  “This is the Inter-Realm Security Agency. We are coming in.”

  There was no response, so the Vampire eased the door open. They followed him cautiously into the apartment. Ali tried the light switch, but nothing happened. She wondered if this was the work of the SNP or something else.

  They searched for any sign of movement in the gloom, but it seemed eerily quiet. A small plastic tree rested on the kitchen table with its battery-operated lights flickering on and off sporadically. There was a chill in the air that had nothing to do with winter, and Ali was glad that she’d happened to bring Lyn along. The Witch was already rummaging through her bag for some enchanted object.

  Darien paused. “Something’s in one of the bedrooms. I can hear it moving around, but it doesn’t have a pulse.”

  His undead ears were far more perceptive than the other SNPs. It was useful in instances like this.

  The women followed him down the hall, pausing in the doorway of the nursery.

  “It’s in there,” whispered Darien.

  Ali didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so she cautiously stepped past the Vampire and into the nursery. Her breath came in puffs of condensation. It was certainly cooler in here than in the hallway. She couldn’t see anything unusual, but the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Ali knew she was not alone.

  Creek-creek-creek.

  Something was moving behind her. Ali spun around and aimed her gun towards the source of the noise. It was the rocking chair in the corner. Someone must have bumped it, although no one was anywhere near the chair. She didn’t like this. Something was definitely wrong.

  Lyn joined her, padding along the carpet silently, like a cat. The Witch nodded towards the crib, and Ali nearly gasped when she saw the dark shadow hovering beside it. Gradually, it started to take a corporal form. She was young with skin so pale it might have been blue. Her face was obscured by a curtain of dark hair. Ali’s gut warned her this was a Ghost, but this creature looked far more solid than any Ghost she’d ever seen. If the deceased woman was aware of their presence, she gave no indication—or perhaps she didn’t care.

  The apparition sobbed. Slowly, she reached into the crib and picked up a stuffed bear, longingly. Emotions rolled off her like waves. Perhaps it was because Fae were more closely attuned to emotion, but somehow Ali could feel the woman’s grief. It was crippling and seemed to seep deep into her core, overwhelming the Fae. She’d died and left behind a child; she’d searched and searched, but it was nowhere to be found. That’s why she’d been drawn here.

  “Is that a Ghost?” Ali’s words were little more than a breath.

  “It’s a Wraith.”

  The Wraith’s head shot up and she glared at them—only there were no eyes in her empty sockets, just darkness.

  “Shit!” Ali stumbled back, tripping over a pile of toys. “W-what do we do.”

  It approached them slowly as Lyn hastily rummaged through her pack.

  “Lyn?” Ali called, backing away. The Wraith was horrifically close now, just an arm’s length away. Every instinct she possessed willed her to turn and run, but she was frozen. Try as she might, Ali’s limbs refused to obey.

  A blur shot through the door as Darien collided with the Wraith. It seemed all too solid as it slammed into the changing table. It shrieked at Darien—a noise that made Ali’s blood run cold. For a moment, Darien wrestled with the Wraith. Then it dematerialized into a black shadow with two eyes that glowed like coals. It slipped through his grasp before floating through the window. Down on the street, the Wraith rematerialized, causing the owner of the apartment to scream in terror.

  “Don’t lose it!” shouted Lyn as she headed out the door and down the stairs.

  Ali followed the Witch as Darien leapt through the window. Jerrik was already in pursuit. By the time Ali and Lyn made it down to the street, Darien and Jerrik were rounding the corner a block away. As they followed, Ali started to hear an odd rhythmic sound. Someone was blasting music nearby.

  “Why is it running? Can’t it just vanish like a Ghost?” panted Ali as they rushed after the others.

  “No. Wraiths are cursed spirits whose souls are bound to this world. Because of the curse, they have a stronger physical presence and can’t become completely invisible. That’s why it’s running.”

  “How do we stop it?”

  “By breaking the spell.”

  Ali hoped Lyn had a plan for that. How was she supposed to detain an SNP that shifted between solid and mist-like states?

  Near the end of the next block, Jerrik and Daren came to a halt in front of a large warehouse. There was no sign of the Wraith. Ali swore as she searched the street and attempted to catch her breath. By the Morrigan, she’d have to start going to the gym as her New Year’s resolution. As much as she hated the gym, she needed to get into better shape.

  “It’s in there.” Jerrik nodded at the warehouse—the source of the loud music.

  Lyn glanced down the side alley. “I can set a trap for it down here.”

  Darien nodded. “Jerrik, you help her. Ali and I will flush it out the back.”

  The others hurried down the alley as Lyn pulled out a book of spells. Ali hoped they had enough time to set this trap. If they didn’t catch this Wraith now, it would continue to haunt the city. Not only that, but the spirit would remain trapped until its curse was broken. Now was their chance to free this woman.

  Ali and Darien stepped into
the building, and she recognized a familiar towering figure in a greatcoat.

  “Frej?” Ali called over the music.

  The Dragon spun around, surprised to see them. “What’s going on?”

  “A Wraith snuck in here. We’re going to chase it out the back door and trap it,” Ali explained hastily.

  Darien scanned the crowd. “That might be more difficult than we thought.”

  Ali groaned as she looked at the crowd. Most of the people were obscured in the darkness. It would be hard to find the wraith no matter what form it took. She gave Frej a quick explanation of the Wraith’s appearance before the three of them waded into the crowd.

  Darien chuckled. “This is the concert your sister’s at? Well, at least she has good taste in music.”

  She glared at him.

  “Next time you can chaperone her,” grumbled Frej.

  As Ali suspected, he hadn’t been prepared for this level of chaos. In a green hand-stitched greatcoat from the Dragon Kingdom, he stuck out like a sore thumb. She also noticed he was wearing earplugs.

  All around people headbanged and writhed with the music. In the center of the crowd was a whirling mass of bodies shoving each other. On stage, a woman was growling into a microphone as a band played behind her. Shaking her head Ali wondered what her sister was thinking. Then again, Erin had much the same reaction to Ali’s favorite pop artists.

  The group spread out on the fringes of the crowd and searched for the Wraith. Ali spotted it edging towards the stage and took off, motioning to the others.

  “Down in front!” she shouted.

  Ali skidded to a halt as she recognized a pair of boots floating above her head.

  “Erin!?!” Ali howled.

  Above Ali’s head was her sister, surfing the crowd with an expression of pure exhilaration.

  Erin frowned, recognizing the voice. “Ali?”

  “Get down, NOW!” Ali snapped.

  The people around them were starting to stare. Erin was mortified as the crowd placed her on the floor.

  “What the hell are you doing here!” hissed the Dragon as she pulled Ali aside.

  While she was inclined to lecture her sister, Ali saw the Wraith transform into a dark shadow. It floated past the security guards and drifted across the stage. None of the band members seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.

  “Out of the way!” Ali ordered, shoving her way through the crowd.

  “Hold it right there!” ordered a large security guard. He was human but looked large enough to be mistaken for an Ogre.

  “Out of my way!” Ali flashed him her badge.

  The man didn’t budge.

  “Okay, seriously? You are aiding in the escape of a dangerous SNP,” she snapped.

  He smirked. “Nice try lady. No one gets past me.”

  Ali rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm. She doused him with charm magic, and immediately he was like putty in her hands. Thankfully, charm magic worked much better on humans than Goblins. He grinned at her and giggled.

  “Hey, you’re pretty, you know that?” The words were slurred from the effects of the charm magic.

  Ignoring the magically incapacitated guard, Ali leapt onto the stage, startling the singer of the band. She dodged out of the way as a second guard lunged for her, and took off after the Wraith. Somewhere behind she could hear Darien arguing with the security guards to let them pass.

  Up ahead she caught a shadow ducking into a hallway and rushed after it. Plunging into a dark hallway, Ali paused, fumbling for the light on her phone. Her ears strained to pick up any sound that could be the Wraith, but the music from the other room made that all but impossible.

  Wham! Stars danced in Ali’s vision as her head slammed against the wall. The wraith pinned her there. It’s face inches from her own.

  “Where is he? Where is my baby!?!” hissed the Wraith.

  “I don’t know, but it’s time for you to move on.”

  Ali hit her with a wave of calming charm magic, but the Wraith hissed and recoiled. Here in the dark, alone, this creature seemed far more intimidating.

  It lunged again, its clawed hands reaching for Ali’s face. She used her arms to trap the Wraith’s limbs.

  “We’re trying to help you!” insisted Ali.

  The Wraith dematerialized into the dark mist again. Ali lost it for a split second. Before she could open her mouth to swear, a cold, pale arm wrapped itself around her throat. Clearly, the Wraith wasn’t interested in their help. That or it was too far gone, consumed by blinding grief.

  “Let her go!” snarled Darien as he appeared in the doorway.

  The Wraith shrieked at him as it released Ali and bolted down the hall with the others on its heels.

  Bang! The Wraith flung the door open. It rushed into the night air but found itself trapped in a circle of salt. It screeched at them before transforming back into the shadow figure. It flung itself down towards the entrance of the alley but slammed into an invisible wall above the circle of salt.

  The rest of the group watched silently as the Witch scanned though the book in her hands. Chanting in a language Ali didn’t recognize, Lyn drew a series of runes in the ground with a piece of chalk. When she stepped back, the runes and circle started glowing orange. Lyn reached the end of her chant, and in a flash of orange light, the Wraith vanished.

  They all stood there for a moment watching the circle.

  “Is it gone?” asked Jerrik as he stepped out of the shadows.

  Lyn nodded.

  For a moment, no one moved. Then a familiar figure appeared at the entrance of the alley—it was Erin.

  “What the hell are you doing!?!” she fumed as she stomped towards Ali. “Seriously, I’ve been looking forward to this concert for months. You just had to show up and make a scene!”

  Ali gestured to the empty circle of salt in frustration. “I was chasing a Wraith! And why didn’t you tell me this concert was in the Old City?”

  Erin threw her hands in the air. “It’s barely in the Old City, and Frej was with me!”

  Only because Ali had insisted he go with her. Ali shook her head. Even after her sister had been abducted several months ago, Erin still struggled to see the danger they were in. The Demons only stayed away from the house thanks to a long list of protection enchantments Lyn had cast. Out here it would be all too easy for one of them to target Erin.

  “No judo classes until the new year,” Ali snapped. She feared they were giving her sister a false sense of security anyway. Erin was just a kid, and Ali had vowed on her parents’ graves to keep her sister safe.

  Erin froze, shocked. “What?”

  Ali’s expression was cold as ice. “You heard me. I’m not joking around about this. You need to think before you go running off into the Old City, especially without telling me!”

  The Dragon opened and closed her mouth, but she was at a loss for words. Instead, she spun around and stormed off towards the concert. She blasted the brick wall with fire as she went.

  Ali turned to Frej. “We’ll talk about this later.”

  For a second she thought he’d try to defend his actions, but then he just nodded and hurried after Erin. That was one thing about Frej, he didn’t try to place blame elsewhere, but Ali was still pissed he hadn’t informed her of the concert’s location.

  Massaging her temples, Ali turned back to the others. “Are we done here?”

  Darien nodded. “I’ll go inform the renter that the Wraith has been dealt with. We’ve got it from here.”

  That was good; Ali still had a lot of decorating to do this evening. The four of them headed back to the apartment building as Lyn checked her phone. By the troubled look on her face, the voicemail she was listening to was probably from one of her clients.

  She glanced at Ali uncertainly. “We’ve got another situation.
A haunting in Santa Monica this time. Sounds pretty routine, but the homeowner asked if I could come ASAP.”

  Ali stifled a groan.

  “Will you need our help?” Darien glanced at Jerrik.

  Lyn shook her head. “Ali and I should be able to handle it. Another quick banishing spell should do the trick.”

  At least it wasn’t too far out of their way. They bid Darien and Jerrik goodbye before heading to Santa Monica.

  Part 3 - A Holiday Haunting

  Ali loved Santa Monica. Usually, it was the nightlife that drew her to the city, but during the holiday shopping season, one of her favorite things to do in her spare time was to watch the shoppers on the Third Street Promenade as they wandered in and out of shops. The Promenade would be decorated for the season with cheerful music playing through the speakers of the cafes. Unfortunately, there was no time to linger and enjoy the atmosphere—not that Ali was in the mood anyway.

  “What’s with all these Ghosts? Two hauntings of any kind seem like an odd coincidence. Do you think the Demons have started summoning rituals again?”

  That happened a few months back. Her team had spent months chasing down a variety of otherworldly SNPs that were running rogue in the city.

  Lyn thought for a moment. “No. Even though Wraiths are far more powerful than your run-of-the-mill Ghost, they still occur naturally in this realm. I think it has to do with the holidays.”

  Ali quirked an eyebrow. She wasn’t sure what the holidays had to do with any of this.

  Lyn sensed her confusion. “Emotions run rampant during the holidays. I suspect it attracts the Ghosts, who feed off the energy. The festivities could also trigger memories of their loved ones. Remember how that Wraith was haunting the nursery?”

  Ali nodded and turned down a street. “I felt her grief. She was searching for her child.”

  “Death is disorienting for Ghosts, and they often have trouble accepting what’s happened or how much time has passed. They have this crippling sense of loss, but they often can’t comprehend what has happened to them—or that they’ve unwittingly trapped themselves here.”