by Lori Drake
“Wouldn’t the cops have figured that out?” Amber asked.
I pushed my fingers through my hair and rubbed the back of my head briefly. “Who knows? Maybe they still haven’t ruled it out, they just don’t have the evidence they need to hold the guy. What were you going to suggest before Mindi interrupted?”
“Oh, I was just thinking what if we could talk to Kim?”
“If she’s still around, I haven’t come across her.”
“We could hold a séance. Maybe she’d come talk if we asked her to.”
I’d only participated in a handful of séances in my life, but I knew how they worked. Or didn’t work, more often. You couldn’t summon a spirit via séance that wasn’t already lingering. Once they crossed over, they were out of reach. I had my doubts about being able to reach Kim Lee, but Amber was right. It was worth a shot.
“Yeah, I guess we can try,” I said. “Let me see if I can find a spot that’s in range of both where she was killed and the cemetery where she’s buried. She could be tethered to either location.”
“How long will that take?”
“Not long, but we can’t do the séance until after dark, anyway.” A thought occurred to me, and I eyed her suddenly. “Why aren’t you still trying to talk me out of investigating?”
She smiled, one corner of her mouth slightly higher than the other. “Seems to me like it wouldn’t do me any good, so I may as well keep tabs on you and report back to the coven.”
I grinned and chuckled at her candor. “Well, at least you’re up front about it. I appreciate that. Does the information flow both ways? What is the coven doing to try and find the guy?”
Amber hesitated, then said, “They’re trying to find him magically.”
“How so?”
She leaned against her car and tucked her hands under her arms. “We’ve cast a magic detection spell on a map of the city to keep an eye out for suspicious activity.”
My brows inched upward. “You can do that? Just blanket the city with a detection spell via map and watch for magic flare-ups? How do they know what is and isn’t suspicious?”
“I can’t, no. But the High Priest can. It’s complicated, but by infusing the magical resonances of every witch in the coven into the spell, he can attune it to the coven so that any magical signatures that pop up in the city that aren’t ours will show up on the map.”
“That’s… wow.” My mind could barely grasp the notion of magic that powerful. “So, he’s got the whole city covered.”
“The Seattle Metropolitan area, yes.”
“If he had a map of the whole state, could he do that?”
Amber’s head wobbled back and forth. “Eh, I’m not sure. The county, maybe. But the state… that would take some serious mojo. Catherine might be able to do it.”
I blinked. “My Catherine? Catherine Boyd?” I’d known Cat was a heavyweight when it came to magic, but I hadn’t realized quite how much of one until then.
She nodded, then smiled with a spark of amusement in her eyes. “Your Catherine, is it?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Do I?” She grinned.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Come on, she’s old enough to be my grandmother. We’re friends.”
Amber straightened and let her hands drop to her sides, a smile lingering in her eyes. “Okay, okay.”
“What about that meeting I asked for?” I asked, more than ready to change the subject. “Did the High Priest agree to one?”
I didn’t need to see her head shake to know the answer. I could see it in her eyes the moment I’d broached the subject.
“If we do find the killer before their magic map does, can we count on the coven for backup?”
Amber answered without hesitation. “Absolutely. We want this guy as much as you do.”
I shook my head, that ever-present anger and disgust weighing like a stone in my belly. “I sincerely doubt that.”
16
When it comes down to it, there’s really not much to a séance. Over the course of human history, mediums—real and fake—have made them into quite the production to make sure their clients felt like they got their money’s worth.
All you really need to conduct a séance is some means to talk to the dead, the spirit’s true name, and a location within range of whatever, wherever, or whomever they’re tethered to. The first part is easy, if you have an actual medium. If not, well, that’s where things like Ouija boards come in. Not all spirits are strong enough—or cooperative enough—to use the board. Offering yourself up for possession is another option, letting the dead speak directly through you. I don’t recommend it. The possessed has no memory of what happened during possession, and once you give a ghost access to your meat suit, they start thinking they can make themselves at home whenever they want. It’s a bad precedent to set.
The veil between the living and the dead is weaker at night, so it’s also a good idea to hold off until after sunset.
I met Amber at a motel just shy of halfway between Kim Lee’s apartment and the cemetery where she was buried.
“Classy, real classy,” Amber said as she entered the room, more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. The air smelled like stale cigarette smoke and bleach, and the decor was severely outdated. It looked like something out of a true crime documentary, so I couldn’t begrudge Amber her misgivings.
I shrugged. “It was cheap, and X marks the spot. Let’s get started. I don’t want to hang around too long. This isn’t a great neighborhood to be out in after dark.” It wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want to linger. I’d seen several ghosts in the neighborhood, and while they hadn’t noticed me, I figured it was only a matter of time before they showed up.
Amber wandered over to the bed. She glanced at it, then seemed to think better of sitting on it and tucked her gloved hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “Okay, how does this work? Did you bring candles or something?”
I couldn’t not smile at that. “Please, I’m a professional.” I flashed her a wink, then popped my neck and rolled my shoulders. “Kim Jasmine Lee! If you can hear my voice, please come talk to us. We seek justice on your behalf.”
I waited a minute or so and tried again, but there was still no answer.
“Anything?” Amber asked.
“Radio silence.”
“Maybe we’re not close enough. Should we try closer to one or the other?”
“We’re close enough. The weakest spirit I’ve ever encountered had a good ten-mile radius. I’m pretty sure she crossed over.”
“Well, that’s good, right? I mean, she’s not suffering like Mindi is.” Amber bit her lip, uncertain but obviously concerned.
“Right. On the up side, I won’t have to pay for more than an hour in this dive. Let’s go.”
Amber took a step forward, then stopped. “Wait. Ten miles, you said?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ve still got fifty-five minutes, and we’re within ten miles of my place. Why don’t we try contacting the drowned ghost?”
I blinked. “Why in the ever loving fuck would we do that? You remember what happened the last time, right?”
“Maybe we can find out what she wants. Help her cross over. That’s what you do, isn’t it?”
“Uh, yeah… but she’s so far gone, I don’t know if I can get through to her.” I rubbed the back of my neck, not at all pleased with the prospect, especially with Trish still gone. I hadn’t seen her since our fight that morning—long enough for regret to truly sink in. I shouldn’t have threatened to banish her.
“If we can do it, then you won’t have to worry about getting randomly attacked whenever you come over to my place.” She tilted her head, studying me. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I’m just wary of aggressive spirits that can reach out and strangle me.”
Amber’s brows drew together and she shook her head. “There’s something else. What is it?”
“I thought you weren’t tha
t kind of psychic.”
She smirked. “I’m not, but I have good old-fashioned human intuition.”
I sighed and sank onto the edge of the bed. “It’s Trish.”
“Your ghost friend?”
“Yeah, we had a fight and… Let’s just say I said something I regret. I haven’t seen her since, and I’d feel better about doing this if she were here.” A voice in the back of my head reminded me that I’d been doing this long before I had Trish around as backup, but I’d gotten pretty damn accustomed to having her around, and I had to admit… she’d become a valuable asset.
“What was the fight about?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, come on. Just tell me. I don’t know you well enough to judge.”
I rubbed my temples. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay, then let’s séance the fuck out of this ghost.”
“I don’t even know her name. I can’t summon her without her—”
“Sandra Ellen Watkins,” Amber said, without missing a beat.
I’m sure I blinked. “How do you know her name?”
Amber shrugged. “Like I said, I knew someone drowned in my tub. Sue me, I was curious. She died in 1995. The death was ruled an accident involving sleeping pills and a bath, but that’s not what happened.”
“Dare I ask?” As angry as Sandra’s ghost was, suicide did seem illogical.
“Someone put her in the tub. A man. She was already unconscious.”
“Christ,” I muttered and ran a hand across my face. When I looked at Amber again, her eyes were haunted. I recognized that look easily; I’d been seeing it in the mirror for years. Amber didn’t just want to prevent Sandra from attacking me again. She genuinely wanted to help the woman, and that was something else I was familiar with. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Amber smiled, and I closed my eyes and took a deep, centering breath. If things went sideways, I could just banish her again, and one or two at a time seemed to take less out of me than greater numbers at once.
But as I stood there, I felt a tingle of awareness, an increasingly familiar sensation that I’d come to associate with a certain meddling spirit.
“Trish?” I opened my eyes and looked around, but she wasn’t there. The tingle lingered, and after a moment I was able to associate a direction with it. I walked to the window and pushed back the curtains. Sure enough, there was a ghost outside, milling around the parking lot, but it wasn’t Trish.
“What’s going on?” Amber asked.
I let the curtain fall back in place. “There’s a ghost in the parking lot. But it’s okay. I don’t think he’s quite found me yet.” Closing my eyes again, I focused on that tingle of awareness and was pretty sure I was able to track the shade’s movements, like I’d developed some kind of spirit radar. It was unsettling as hell, but at the same time, kind of cool.
“Dean?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” I turned to face her again. “Let’s do this. What was her full name again?”
“Sandra Ellen Watkins.”
Amber had said her name twice, now. I’ll admit, I was kind of hoping the fact that the spirit hadn’t shown up yet meant she wouldn’t for me either. Still, I had to try. “Sandra Ellen Watkins… I summon you.”
It’s hard to describe what happened next. Once again, I felt that telltale tingle, but it was omnidirectional, seeming to be all around me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.
“Sandra, is that you?” I turned in a slow circle, surveying the room. “Please, show yourself. I just want to talk.”
The energy—I don’t know how else to describe it—coalesced into one corner of the room, and Sandra flickered into existence. She looked exactly the same, from her white nightgown to her long wet hair hanging in her face like she belonged in a Japanese horror movie. At least she hadn’t climbed out of the television.
“She’s here, isn’t she?” Amber said, no doubt noticing me staring.
“Yes,” I answered absently, heartened that Sandra hadn’t attacked me on sight. I kept my eye on her, though. Just in case. “Hi again, remember me?”
She bared her teeth and hissed but kept her distance. Yeah, she remembered me.
“Okay, great. We got off on the wrong foot. I’m Dean, and this is Amber. We want to help you.”
“Yes,” Amber added and stepped up beside me. “We do.”
The ghost twitched her head to one side like a lizard, eyes flicking between me and Amber. “Help?” she gurgled, water spilling from between her blue lips to drip down her chin.
I did my best to keep my eyes on hers through the waterlogged curtain of hair. “Yeah. You don’t belong here anymore. You know that, right?”
She screeched, features contorting in rage.
I put my hands up in a placating gesture. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.”
“Sandra, do you know who killed you?” Amber asked.
The spirit’s head twitched aside, eyes zeroing in on Amber. She screeched again, the sound grating on my nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
“Come on, Sandy. Use your words.” I regretted the glib statement when the ghost’s attention swiveled back to me, and she gave me a testicle-shriveling glare. “…or not.”
She vanished, and the air around me once again felt charged, like she was all around me. I spun when it coalesced behind me and managed to dodge out of the way as she made a grab for my neck. When her clawed fingers caught nothing but air, she screeched again and turned on Amber.
“Look out!” My cry was instinctive, but whatever it was that allowed Sandra to touch me didn’t extend to Amber. The spirit’s hands went right through her, and Sandra let loose a frustrated howl that made me wish covering my ears would make it go away.
Amber stared at me like a deer in headlights, her feet rooted to the crusty old carpet. It was a good thing the ghost hadn’t been able to reach out and touch her, because she hadn’t moved despite my warning. Combat paralysis, yup.
“What’s going on?” Her voice trembled.
“Um, you know what happens when a cat falls in the bathtub? Basically that.” I dodged Sandra’s clawed fingers again, this time catching her slender wrist in my grip. “Hey! Knock it off, or I’ll put you back in time out.”
Sandra screeched again and vanished, breaking my hold.
“Okay, now that’s cheating!” I shouted into the empty air, waiting for that sensation of her energy coalescing again. When it did, it was right on top of Amber. I threw myself at her reflexively, knocking her away. She stumbled backward into the nightstand, and the bedside lamp tumbled to the floor with a noisy thud.
It wasn’t until Amber righted herself, her features twisted in a spiteful rictus of hate, that I realized that Sandra’s energy was still with her. It wasn’t Amber giving me a glare that could curdle milk. It was Sandra, possessing Amber.
“Oh hell no,” I said, frowning at her. “That’s a human being, not a timeshare. Get out.”
Sandra smirked at me, then looked down at her borrowed body. She lifted Amber’s gloved hands and turned them over, studying them with something akin to wonder on her face. “But I just got here,” she said and—I kid you not—pouted. The damn spirit stuck out Amber’s lower lip like a toddler.
“I’m not kidding. Leave Amber out of this. If you want to take your anger out on someone, take it out on me.” Even as I said the words, my stomach knotted with anxiety. But I meant every word. If I could just get her out of Amber’s body, I could banish her and be done with her. For now.
Sandra’s pout turned into a mocking smile. “Make me.”
Now that she mentioned it… could I?
“Okay. You asked for it.” I held a hand up, palm facing her. Her eyes widened. I opened myself up to my newfound power, and it spread through my body, cold as the grave. “Get out!”
I lashed out with that power and felt it surge toward Sandra. Her eyes remained wide, and she cringed away but couldn’t stop it. It ro
lled over her, and I swear I saw Amber’s ponytail ruffle as if a phantom breeze had blown past her.
Nothing happened. I could still sense Sandra’s energy in Amber, and disappointment hit me like a Mack truck. It hadn’t worked.
When the spirit realized she was still there, her fear melted away. She threw back her head and laughed. “Nice try.” She smoothed her hands down her hips, then headed for the door.
I intercepted her along the way, grabbing her arm. “You’re not going anywhere.” My body was still full of that chilly power, like a charge begging to be released.
She reacted faster than I expected. A gloved hand flew at my face, striking hard. I grabbed for that arm too, but missed, probably on account of the stars dancing in my vision. I held on tightly to her other arm, though, despite her efforts to pull away. She fought like a hellcat, but I managed to get her backed up against the door, pinned by a combination of my body and a firm grip on her wrists.
“No more mister nice guy, eh?” Her eyes taunted me along with her words. “You’re all the same.”
I didn’t know what else to do. I had to try again. Gritting my teeth, I let loose another wave of power. “Out!”
Something different happened this time. She stiffened, eyes going wide, and emitted a wail that stopped almost as soon as it began. The wave of power I flung at her washed her energy away. There one moment, gone the next.
Amber gasped as she came back to herself and looked up at me in alarm. “Dean?”
I released her immediately and stepped back, focused on putting the genie back in the bottle—so to speak—and scanning the area for any lingering trace of spectral energy. The spirit in the parking lot was still out there, but I didn’t sense anything else. Either I’d successfully banished Sandra, or she’d fucked off after I forced her out of Amber’s body. Either way, I was satisfied.
“What happened?” Amber rubbed her wrist and winced, but at least she didn’t seem pissed at me for touching her.
“Sandra possessed you. But she’s gone now.”
“Permanently?”
“I don’t think so. But I’m going to have to do something long-term about her. Now that she’s had a taste of possession, she’ll probably try it again.” And it was all my fault. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.