Deadly Rising

by Jeri Westerson

  “Kylie,” he purred. “You’re so beautiful. I know we haven’t known each other long, but…”

  I took his face in my hands and tilted it up to mine. “Yes. The answer is yes, Ed.”

  He blinked. “Oh. Good. Shall we…?”

  I gently extricated myself and stood, holding his hand. He seemed a little thrown by my poise, but he snapped out of it quick enough to stand, kiss my hand, and lead me down the hall to his bedroom.

  The bed was a big, heavy four-poster with a chenille bedspread over a down comforter. He turned one corner of it before facing me again. Large hands cupped my face and he leaned in to kiss again. His soft lips molded over mine, even as his breathing sped up.

  Trying to be sly about it, he opened a drawer to his nightstand, took out a condom packet, and dropped it to the bed. A gentleman indeed.

  I smiled. His face softened, and he leaned over and bought his mouth to mine again. I opened my lips and welcomed his deep and urgent kiss as I grasped his shoulders and pulled him closer. His hands climbed under my sweater and reached higher until he cupped both breasts, gently kneading them. I moaned, and the sound seemed to encourage him to push the sweater up. He broke his lips away from mine to plant them on a breast. I arched into him, giving him full access. He tore at his own shirt, ripping the buttons, and managed to slip it over his shoulders.

  His eyes were still on me when I grabbed the hem of my sweater and dragged it up over my head.

  Staring at my lacy bra, he quickly kicked off his shoes and unzipped his fly. We each shed more clothes, but he stopped now and then to bend down to kiss and caress my breasts, especially once I unhooked my bra.

  I stared at his hairy, muscled legs and defined torso.

  The sheriff’s department seemed to have an excellent exercise program.

  “As a matter of fact, it does.”

  Oh damn. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud!

  He licked his smiling lips, took the condom from the bed, and quickly sheathed himself. Moving toward me, he took my shoulders and pulled me in. Flesh to flesh at last, Ed’s fingers eased up and down my waist, mouth caressing my skin at my neck, chin, mouth, eyes. “You’re beautiful. Do you know that?”

  He pressed against me, hips moving against mine. I swallowed and gazed at him with half-lidded eyes. And then he lowered himself to his knees.

  Warm hands covered my backside, squeezing, as equally warm lips moved their way across my belly, the curve of my hip, nuzzling lower…

  My hands went to his shoulders for support as I rose up on my toes. His lips, tongue, and fingers worked in concert, and he hummed his satisfaction, sending vibrations through me to all the right places. Ed was good at this. Very good.

  The white-hot sensations took me by surprise, and even as I cried out, he gathered me in his arms, shoved me against the wall, and lifted. Impaled on his hardness, we moved together. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist and dragged my nails over his back. I don’t think he minded that, judging by the moan he made. Ed dug his face into the space between my neck and shoulder and sucked. I felt the wall shake as he thrust.

  A few more deep thrusts and he groaned his release, a shudder from the last of his arousal coursing up his body.

  He expelled harsh breaths in my ear and I held on, feeling both our heartbeats drum until they began to slow. Together, we slid down the wall and sat messily on his floor, side by side.

  Ed rolled his head along the wall to look at me. “You are one amazing woman.”

  I scraped my hair away from my face and smiled.

  He rose first and lifted me, carrying me to the bed. We got under the blanket, since it had been a little cold on the floor, and snuggled in. Resting my head on his chest, I was still floating a bit when I suddenly thought of Erasmus and it all came crashing down. What might he be thinking? He knew where I was, after all. And for all I knew, he might be here…invisible…

  I sat up, yanking the sheets to cover myself, dislodging Ed, who tumbled away with a yelp. “Hey, warn a guy!” He smiled sleepily, eyes gentle and warm. They tracked over my face before dropping lower in appraisal. “Are you okay? There’s nothing to worry about. Just come back down. We’re just gonna sleep a little. Spend the night, even. If you want to, that is.”

  Don’t spoil it, Kylie.

  I shook my hair out of my face. “Yeah. There’s just a lot on my mind…” Slipping down, I scooted toward him and let him enclose me in his arms again.

  “Don’t think about all that now.” He kissed me lazily and twirled a lock of my hair with a finger. “Man, I’ve been wanting to do that with you since we met. I hope that’s okay to say.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be? I was pretty much drooling over you too.”

  He laughed. “I never met a woman like you. You sure speak your mind, don’t you?”

  “A Strange family trait, I’m afraid.”

  “Well, Ms. Strange, suffice it to say, I’m very glad you moved here to Moody Bog.”

  “You know…” I snuggled down and got my head comfortable on the down pillow. “My family is actually from Moody Bog. As a matter of fact, a Strange is one of the founders.”

  “You still on about that? Ruth Russell was pretty adamant that you weren’t related to her.”

  “No, seriously. The Stranges were a founding family.”

  He shook his head and frowned. “No, I don’t think so.”

  I looked at him carefully, but he didn’t appear to be kidding. I scooted out from under him and sat up, holding the sheets to my chest. “Now that’s the weird thing. Because I just looked it up; even found my grandpa’s house. Turns out I used to spend summers here.”

  Now it was his turn to frown. “You spent summers here? Where?”

  “In Moody Bog. Up Alderbrook Lane.” I was fairly certain I’d told him all this before, and Ed seemed like a pretty good listener. But looking at his face now, I could tell this was news to him.

  “No kidding? Wow. Alderbrook? Where’s that?”

  “His old house looks abandoned. I’m going to check on it and see if I shouldn’t be inheriting the thing.”

  “That’s weird.” He lay back, head on his laced hands.

  You don’t know the half of it. “But seriously. I’m a descendent of a founder. Hosea Strange married a Howland. How about that! My biggest fan is a cousin, several hundred times removed.”

  “Really? She won’t like that.”

  “She already doesn’t. Came to my shop and, well, threatened me, for want of a better word. Told me I’d better stop spreading those rumors.”

  “She did?”

  “Yeah. I think the woman’s got a screw loose.”

  “Naw, she’s just protective of her own personal fame. No one likes being knocked off their pedestal by an upstart. Not that I’m saying you’re an…I’m gonna stop talking right now.” He tugged on my arm. “Come on back here. It was pretty nice, you snuggling against me.”

  “You’re a snuggler. I knew it.” I complied, sighing at the good feeling.

  Out in the living room, a cell phone rang. I thought it might be mine. “I should probably get that.”

  Ed’s slow smile reminded me I didn’t have a robe. “Go right ahead. I won’t mind.”

  “You dirty man.” I grabbed his shirt and whipped it over my shoulders. The man actually pouted as I padded out to the living room, searching for my coat. I found it in the closet, grabbing the phone just in time.

  “Doc?” I whispered. “What is it? This isn’t exactly a good time.”

  “Kylie, there’s something going on at your grandpa’s house. I think you need to meet us there.”

  “Now? Are you crazy?”

  “These things that are happening now in Moody Bog because of the book make it somewhat more urgent than usual. Especially if Mr. Dark’s assessment about Halloween is true.”

  “Well…what exactly is happening?”

  “Jolene got an interesti
ng message on her Ouija board.”

  “Sorry. Say again?”

  “Her Ouija board. We met tonight at my place and decided to explore the possibility of a presence at your grandfather’s house. There was a message.”

  “Well…what was it?”

  “The message read: ‘Kylie, I need you.’”

  CHAPTER TEN

  I gathered my clothes, slipping on a shirt at the same time I tried to get a leg into my jeans. I hopped a bit but fell back to the bed.

  “What was the emergency again?” Ed asked, scrubbing at his hair.

  “A leak. A major leak. Water everywhere.”

  He got up from the bed and began searching for his underwear. I had to admit, it slowed me down watching him. “I’ll help you clean it up.”

  “No, no. That’s okay. Erasmus is doing it.”

  “Erasmus,” he grumbled. “What’s he doing there?”

  “He kind of stays there sometimes. Downstairs. Look, Ed, I’ve got to take care of this. I really, really hate to leave.” I was mostly dressed (having just stuffed my bra into my jeans pocket). I leaned in and kissed him. “I really do hate to leave. I had a really good time tonight. Your spaghetti was delicious. And this was…even better. I’ll stay the night next time. Promise.”

  He looked frustrated, like a big, scruffy disappointed puppy. “One thing I’ll say for you. It’s never dull.”

  “I’m sorry. I truly am.”

  “It’s not your fault your pipes are old.” He winced. “I didn’t mean it to come out that way.”

  Chuckling, I kissed him one last time and dashed toward the living room. “Good night, Ed! Call me!”

  The cold hit me hard, even wrapped in my jacket. I longed to go back to Ed’s bed and hunker down with him. The man was ridiculously perfect. Handsome, sexy, a dynamo in bed. He had a good job and truly looked the hero. I couldn’t say I was enamored of his family, at least the one member that I’d met, but those things could be overcome.

  Yet, as I made my way up the icy road toward Alderbrook Lane, I wondered how long I could keep all this Booke stuff from him. And once he knew, how would he ever look at me the same way again? I was becoming addicted to those shy looks, the glittering of his eyes, that slow smile. He’d see me as just another crazy Wiccan. And I didn’t know that I could bear that. Not when I was warming up to him and getting over…

  A whoosh in the passenger seat. Speak of the devil.

  “Erasmus…what are you doing here?”

  “Your warlock friend left a message on one of your devices at the shop.”

  I couldn’t help but picture him brooding alone in the dark. “You were waiting for me?”

  “You told me not to follow. But when I heard the message…”

  “You came running to the rescue.”

  We sat in silence for a time until he said quietly, “You smell like rutting.”

  I felt my face redden. “That’s none of your business.”

  He folded his arms and pressed his lips tightly together.

  “And furthermore,” I said, tossing my hair back, “women can do what they darned well want to in this century and no one has the right to shame them for it. Got it?”

  He mumbled something in the affirmative but kept silent the rest of the way.

  I’d be damned if some demon told me what I could or could not do.

  I followed the route I had taken earlier today, sans my trip into Hansen Mills, and drove up the gravel road to the other smaller lane, Alderbrook. If it had been a bit depressing during the day with its clouds and foggy memories, it was downright spooky at night. The brush and woods that enticed when I was a child were now a tangle of spindly fingers, reaching for me in black silhouette against a darker background of hills and sky.

  The Jeep’s headlights swept over the coven as I reached the front of the house. Their eyes shined in the headlamp’s light before I switched it all off.

  I got out of the car, but Erasmus simply appeared near Nick, who jumped about ten feet.

  The house was dark, the shadows from the surrounding trees only casting darker and darker shades. “Why do people always do this at night?” I asked them. “Can’t we ghost hunt during the day?”

  “There’s always more activity at night,” said Nick, watching Erasmus suspiciously. He returned to his phone. His thumbs moved across his screen in a blur.

  “That’s what I was afraid of,” I muttered. This bothered me more than any other creature I had encountered. It wasn’t so much ghosts I was worried about. But I knew this one. What if Grandpa was dangerous? I didn’t want my memory of him tainted. Or worse. I didn’t want him attacking me or my friends. I was wishing Ed was with us, and then my thoughts drifted toward our spectacular date…until it was interrupted. All I wanted was something normal in my life. Ed certainly represented that, though his relation to Doug put a minor crack in the “normal” spectrum.

  Nick stuffed his phone away long enough to muscle the door open. “Is this trespassing?” I asked anyone.

  “Well,” said Doc, “if no one has occupied this house since your grandpa died, then technically, this belongs to you.”

  “You’d think someone would have come calling asking for back taxes.”

  “And you think a haunting is scary.”

  He didn’t see my withering look in the dark.

  Nick clicked on a big flashlight that lit up almost the whole room.

  “Oh my God. I remember this.” There was the parlor, with the ornate mantel around the tiled fireplace. Small windows peeked above the built-in bookshelves, but the parlor’s main window faced the yard. An archway with carved corbels in the upper corners opened to the large dining room, with a swinging door to the kitchen beyond. The stairs clung to the wall on the left and led up to two bedrooms, and another flight led to the dormer room, mine.

  My mom had always gotten along with her father-in-law. He’d been good to her when Dad died and didn’t leave us with much to survive on. I always begged for us to go live with Grandpa in Maine, and then I’d beg Grandpa to come back to California with us to live when Mom turned down my proposal. But Grandpa was adamant about staying. Just how adamant…well, we were going to find out.

  “I’m still not comfortable with this.”

  Doc’s hand eased over my shoulders. “I know, Kylie. But we’re here for you. Don’t you worry.”

  I had left the crossbow at home. There wasn’t likely anything here that I could kill with it anyway. I hoped.

  “So…how do we go about seeing if anyone’s home? That scrying stick?”

  Nick held up his phone.

  “There’s an app for that?” I said. “Are you kidding me?”

  “No,” he said excitedly. “It’s a ghost detecting app and it’s totally sick. I’ve been dying to try it…no pun intended.”

  Jolene giggled as she pulled something from my pocket and dangled it in the air. “Looks like we interrupted something.”

  It was my bra that I had stashed in my jeans pocket. I snatched it out of her hand.

  Seraphina chuckled. “I guess your date with Sheriff Ed went all right.”

  I was glad for the darkness. My face felt as if it were on fire. “It was…pretty darned good. Until it was interrupted.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” said Doc, watching Nick carefully. “I didn’t think we could proceed without you. The message was pretty clear.”

  “Yes, the message was clear,” said Erasmus in an acerbic tone all his own.

  I moved away from the demon to look over Nick’s shoulder at the phone app. Lots of digital dials and gauges. He glanced at me with a smile. “So. Sheriff Ed.”

  “I’m not the only one interested in Moody Bog’s sheriff’s department,” I whispered.

  He snapped his head to stare at me, worry in his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

  I got in close and spoke quietly and concisely. “I was escorting Jeff out of town. A
nd he was staying at Aunt Emma’s Motor Court.” I gave him a wink. “So. You and Deputy Must—uh, George, huh?”

  “Listen. He is so not out. He’d kill me if anyone found out.”

  “I’m not going to say anything. But, uh, he always seemed a little uptight and not necessarily a friend of your coven. Surely you can do better.”

  “He’s not like that in private. But…he does have a lot of issues. Look, I like him and he seems to like me, so…”

  “So get him to take you out proper.”

  He fiddled nervously with the phone. “It’s complicated.”

  “No kidding. I told Ed my pipes burst at the shop just to be able to get out of there. I do not like lying to him.”

  “Yeah.” His shoulders sagged. “Sometimes I wonder if he’s worth it.”

  I laid a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe it will just take some time. If you really like him…”

  He offered a weak smile but then focused back on his phone when it emitted squeals and beeps. “Whoa.”

  The hands on the gauges moved wildly, ticking all the way from one end of the dial to the other. “What’s happening?” I asked.

  The others gathered closer. Seraphina closed her eyes and crossed her wrists over her heart. “I feel a presence.”

  Nick shook his head at her and muttered something under his breath. He fiddled with the phone. “I’m switching to EVP mode, see if we can get anything.”

  “EVP?” I asked.

  “Electronic Voice Phenomenon. Sometimes you can pick up the voices of the dead.”

  Feeling a sudden chill, I hugged myself. I kept my eyes glued to Nick’s app. The screen showed something like an oscilloscope with a grid and a green line that seemed to be vibrating. Nick held the phone forward, moving it about the room—trying to capture ghost voices, I presumed. The line jumped. He stopped, raising and lowering the phone. The line jumped again.