“You’re not going anywhere, bitch.” Chavvah, who was in Babe’s arms, pointed at Sheila. “She’s responsible for Judah dying.”
Sheila began to back up, but I pointed the dart gun at her. “Don’t even think about it.”
Babel growled. “The sheriff’s up at the big house,” he told Chav then focused on me. “We took out the men on the road and cabin, and I didn’t wait for the sheriff to find you.”
“How?”
“I followed your scent from the house.” He leaned over, a feat with Chav in his arms, and nuzzled my neck. “I’d know it anywhere.”
“No, I mean, how did you find me? And where the hell are we?”
“The sheriff figured it out. Those names you gave him, he cross-referenced names in the hunting license database and found out that this place was owned by three businessmen who vacation down here, almost always in July. A John Weatherly, Carl Perkins, and Samuel Wheeldon. They’d been in trouble with the Department of Conservation in the past, and we took a chance.” His expression grew fierce. “I’d have torn up the entire state to find you if that’s what it took. When you didn’t come back to the party…God,
Sunny. Don’t do that ever again.”
I melted, inside and out. “Never again. I swear.”
“Uh, what the hell?” Chav asked. “Am I missing something here?”
Yikes. Best friend’s baby bro. I forgot about that hurdle. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“Damn skippy.” She leaned her hand on Babel’s shoulder. “Sheila isn’t the mastermind, by the way.”
“I know,” I said. I’d remembered the nails clicking. “It’s Neville Lutjen.”
“How’d you know?” Chav ignored the look of surprise on her brother’s face.
“When he attacked me in his shifted form, he clicked his claws together in a distinct beat. He had drummed the same staccato beat with his fingernails on his desk when I’d gone to his office. I’ve noticed it at other times, but it didn’t click until right before he shot me with the dart. Add in that his wife needed expensive treatments, and the man became the number one suspect on my list.” I looked at Babe and Chav. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner.” I really was a bad psychic.
The sound of barking averted my attention, and I saw Judah up on the road. His body seemed to glow as he paced back and forth. I patted Babel’s back “Judah’s trying to get our attention. I think he wants to lead us somewhere.”
“Wait, what?” Sheila asked. “Judah’s dead. How’s he going to lead you anywhere?” Chav buried her head in Babel’s chest.
“I know,” Babe said, patting her gently. “But in a way, he’s still here. Sunny can see him.”
“Sunny,” Chav said. She turned her bruised and swollen face to look at me. Her red-eyed gaze gutted me.
“It’s true. Billy Bob told me what you suspected about me, and you were right.” She nodded and put her head back on Babe’s chest.
His gaze met mine. “Where?”
“I don’t know.” I pointed up the road with my free hand and jabbed Sheila in the ribs with the gun to keep her from getting any funny ideas about escaping. One thing I didn’t understand—well, more than one thing, but this one was bothering me. “Why did Neville put you in the cage? If you were his partner? I don’t get it.”
Sheila barked a sharp, high noise. “The fucker killed Judah. That wasn’t part of our deal. It was never part of the deal!”
Lordy. She really was cray-cray. What the hell had she thought happened to Judah? He’d gone off to the live in the land of lollipops and fairy dust? I’d never thought of Sheila as dumb, but she had me reevaluating my assessment.
I prodded her along while we followed the ghost coyote and headed up the road as it unfolded to the large house. It looked like a freaking country club. Backwoods chic, if I had to give it a name. The place was completely cedar-sided, three stories with party decks and full-on landscaping.
The distraction of its grandeur was all Sheila needed. She pushed me backward. I shouted, “No, stop her!” But it was too late; she was already shifting into coyote form as she bounded into the nearby woods.
“Let her go, Sunny.” Babel said. “She won’t get far. I promise.” He squeezed my hand.
I nodded and reluctantly focused my attention back to the house. The sheriff’s vehicle, Babel’s truck, and two other patrol cars were parked out front, along with two dark Suburban SUVs. Like the one that had run Jo Jo and me off the road. Tyler Thompson stood beside one of the patrol cars. The front door was open, and the dome light illuminated the interior. Three men, I assumed the other “keepers” were handcuffed in the backseat. Billy Bob, his dreads pulled back from his face, ran down to meet us and took Chav from Babel.
“Doc,” she said, her voice weak and tired.
“Shh,” he told her. “I’m going to get you fixed up. Don’t you worry.”
I felt a rush of relief. I knew Billy Bob wasn’t Babe’s favorite person, but I was glad to have him here. Chav needed more help than we could give her, and we couldn’t keep her safe if something happened.
At the front steps of the big house, Judah ran up them and through the door. I took Babel’s hand, a sense of dread taking hold of me. “We have to go inside.”
Oh man, I didn’t want to go inside. I had a feeling whatever was inside would not be pleasant.
Babel put both his hands around mine. “We cleared the place. It’s safe.”
I wasn’t worried about the bad guys. There was something else in here. Something I knew—because I could feel it—would change the way everyone who entered looked at the world for the rest of their lives.
Judah waited in the foyer for Babel and me. There was a large staircase leading to the upstairs, like what you’d see in a fancy plantation house in Georgia. Judah’s green eyes stared up at me before he turned and loped behind the stairs.
Completely nerve-wracked, I began to shake. My legs were like puddles of warm Jell-O, refusing to cooperate. Babel slid his arm across my shoulder, and his strength firmed my resolve.
We walked around the stairs to a set of French doors with wildlife scenes etched into the glass. I turned the knob and pulled the left side open.
The trophy room.
I dropped to my knees retching.
Near the doorway, a mountain lion had been stuffed and mounted on a rock, as if lying in wait for its prey. I put my hand over my mouth. Rose Ann.
And not just her. Animal heads lined the walls above a high cedar wainscoting. Moose, elk, lion, rhinoceros, then coyote, coyote, deer, coyote, bear, coyote, and…
Oh, God. Tears fell from my eyes as I held my breath. I saw each of the therians as they were hunted. Images of slaughter after slaughter flooded my mind. My chest tightened. Too much. It was too much.
“No!” I heard Babel’s hoarse cry.
Helplessly, I watched as he stumbled forward to the trophy on the end.
Judah.
Not only had these therians been caged and hunted like animals, but they'd also been decapitated for decorations. Their murderers had sat in large leather chairs, admiring their kills while they’d sipped whiskey and smoked cigars.
Sheriff Sid Taylor came around the corner at that moment. He dropped the notebook he carried and turned deathly pale. “How could this happen?” he asked, staggering back.
“This can’t happen.”
“Sheriff?” I heard Connelly’s voice from out in the foyer.
I let go of the breath I’d been holding. “Don’t let him see this, Sheriff. No one should have to see this.”
“I have to get some air,” Sheriff Taylor whispered, his voice barely audible.
Babel was methodically unhooking the heads and placing them on the floor, his grief finding purpose. If I had been a stronger woman, I’d have stayed to help. But I wasn’t. I needed to get out of the claustrophobic room before I hyperventilated.
I ran from the house, falling once again to my knees as my feet touched the
soil in the yard. Every nerve ending in my body was alight with sensation. Eldin Farraday put his hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t touch me!” I screamed. His palm alone made my skin feel like a thousand needles were puncturing my flesh. “Just stay back.” I heaved a breath, trying to gain some control, but my body wasn’t so obliging.
Farraday walked away, leaving me to my choking grief.
While I was still on my knees, Judah started whining and pacing around me. I glanced up too late as a blur of a shape sailed through the air at me and landed on my chest. The brown eyes of the beast glared down at me as it snarled and snapped.
Fucking Sheila!
I threw my left hand up, and she latched on with her teeth. Sheila jumped sideways, then tried to twist over me to get a better hold. She wanted control, but she was out of luck. I kicked her vulnerable midsection as she jumped over me again, and with my right hand, I grabbed out for anything close. My fingers closed around a rock.
I cracked her in the head with all the strength I could muster, stunning her for a second. She roared back and brought both her hands together into a collective fist to pummel me. I braced myself for the blow, but before she could strike, a loud blast shook the night air. Sheila looked down at me, shock and disbelief written on her face. Blood trickled from her nose. I shoved her, and she fell over, her hand clutching her chest.
She’d been shot. She collapsed on top of me, and I was too exhausted to do anything about it. Someone pulled her off me. When I looked up, Tyler Thompson stood over us, one hand holding a pistol, the other he held out to me. I took it, and he pulled me up.
Seeing Sheila’s dead body made a part of me feel sick and disgusted, but the bigger part of me wanted to dance on her grave. Tyler gave me a nod. I returned it. We wouldn’t be best friends, but in that moment, we’d come to an understanding. He’d saved my life, and I would be grateful enough to forgive him for being a jerk.
Once again, the air became thick and heavy with energy. Judah began pacing. Soon he was joined by other ghosts, those of the other fallen therians. All of them, except the mountain lion. There was pressure in my chest and head. I felt surrounded. Suffocated.
A soft breeze fluttered against my cheek. “Excuse me, do you know where I’m supposed to be?” a gentle voice breathed into my ear.
Looking up through hot tears, I saw an apparition of grace. For a moment I thought she was an angel, until I recognized the pretty blonde ghost as Rose Ann Corman. “Rose Ann,” I said.
“Who?” She dipped her hand against the black bear’s face when he stopped in front of her. “It’s okay,” she said to him.
I reached out and touched Rose Ann’s arm. The woman’s eyes widened and there was an electric snap in my finger.
“Oh, my. Oh, no.” The serene quality of the spirit disappeared. “My son, my husband.”
“They’re safe,” I told her. Though they weren’t well. I left that part out.
She looked around at the other ghosts. “You have to help them,” she said with a new kind of determination.
“What can I do? It’s too late. I’m too late.” Like nine years too late.
Judah rubbed against me. There was a slight pressure, not exactly solid, more like the sensation of a warm breath on my skin. How was that possible? Something had changed in me, something tangible. I didn’t understand it, but I knew it had purpose. “Tell me what to do.”
Rose Ann beckoned me to my feet. All three deputies, the sheriff, and Babel were outside now, staring at me. “I have to help them,” I said, sounding absent even to myself.
The ghost of Jo Jo’s mother led me out into the woods. We walked along, passing wildflowers like the ones I’d seen in my vision of Judah’s death. I don’t know how long it took us, but I didn’t even feel tired as we stepped into a small open patch of land.
Before I could think about what I was doing, I was down on the ground digging in the dirt and grass with my bare hands. Babel dropped beside me and began tearing at the ground with partially formed claws. Then the sheriff and the deputies were there as well. All of us, even Tyler Thompson, dug at the hard dirt, pulling at clumps of weeds and grass, our hands sheering on sharp flint rock as we dug below the surface.
“I found a bone,” Farraday called out.
This place, this serene patch of land—it was a graveyard.
The spirit coyotes began to howl, the bears roared, the deer even joined in with cries of anger. “What do they need?” I asked Rose Ann.
Then it hit me—her body and head had been kept intact. It’s why she appeared in human form.
“Their heads,” I said to the men who were working even harder at unearthing their fallen from the ground. “They need to be with their bodies.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
MILLIONS OF ANTS crawled along my skin, swarming my entire flesh. At least it felt that way. The pressure inside mounted and built until I felt like the energy the spirits were passing to me would rip my body apart.
It needed an outlet. It had to go somewhere—somewhere other than me. Connelly and Thompson had brought the heads from the house. Babel whispered soothing words and kept his hand on my back. His touch helped me stay calm and focused. The energy had weight. A burden I had to carry, but with Babel next to me, I didn’t have to carry it alone.
I picked up the bear’s head first. His ghost directed me to the right bones. When I sat it on the ground where he’d indicated, his ghost transformed into that of a man.
Kind eyes lit his face. He smoothed a hand up his arm. “Robert Nance,” he said before his spirit turned to light then faded. He was gone, finally at peace.
My burden eased.
Next, a coyote head. The spirit led me again. When he transformed, he was a redheaded, fair-skinned man. “Joshua Landon.” Again, the spirit faded.
With each ghost crossing, my flesh felt better, like the force inside me eased out with every soul set to peace. I’d saved Judah for last. I wanted to give him peace, but I’d grown accustomed to him. I would miss him.
When Babe picked up Judah’s head, my knees almost collapsed beneath me. I reached my shaking hand out to take it, but I couldn’t.
The ghost coyote tilted his chin to meet my watery eyes. He trotted to a spot nearly twenty feet away and sat on his haunches, waiting.
I took a deep breath and held it for a second. I didn’t have a right to act like such a baby. I nodded and held my hands out. “Okay,” I said. “Give him to me.”
Babel shuffled his feet. “I’ll carry him. Just show me where.”
When the coyote’s head was laid over his bones, Judah transformed. He was so handsome—so much like his brother.
Judah leaned forward and touched his ghostly forehead to mine. “Now that we can speak, I need to tell you, Sheila was blackmailing Neville,” he said. “I found things at her house, and she confessed to having some sort of scheme going on with him. She even tried to get me in on it.” He scratched his chin. Could a ghost itch? “I turned her down. I guess that’s why I ended up here.”
Judah took my hand then and kissed my cheek. “Thank you, Sunny. Thank you.” He sadly turned to his brother and sister. “Tell Babe…Tell him to live, really live. It doesn’t matter where he is, only that he’s happy.” He stared at me. “I think we both know where he’s happiest. Tell him to tell Mom and Dad that I forgive them for being angry with me, but I don’t regret leaving. It was the right thing to do, even considering the circumstances. Also, tell Chavvah that I love her. She’s really turned into a wonderful woman.” He looked back at me. “And she has great taste in friends.”
I blushed. “I’ll tell her.”
“Oh.” He grinned sheepishly. “Tell Tyler I’m sorry about kissing his mom. But, come on now, Ruth is hot. I’d have had to be blind and stupid not to try.”
I stifled a laugh. Sooo not the occasion. But Judah really had been a man-whore. “I’ll tell him the sorry part.”
“Fair enough.” He put his hand under my c
hin. “Take care of yourself, Sunny Haddock. Take care of Peculiar. And take care of Babe and Chavvie. I think you are exactly what they need, and vice versa.”
He stepped back, his body turning to light. “Bye.” He flared brightly for a moment, then faded.
All the ghosts were gone now. I wiped at a tear trickling down my cheek as Babel put his arms around me. He and Chavvah had both lost Judah two years ago, but now, he was really gone. I wept for both of them, for the loss, I couldn’t share but understood. I loved them both, and their pain was mine. I wrapped my arms around Babe and squeezed him tight.
He pursed his lips as tears spilled down his cheeks. “Thank you,” he mouthed.
I nodded and wiped my fingers across my face. The sheriff wanted my attention next, and for good reason. The men I’d crossed over needed their loved ones notified. As I gave the sheriff the names of the unknown men, I heard a low whistle. “Wow,” Deputy Connelly stammered. “That was freaky-deeky.”
No doubt. But how did Connelly know? “Uh, did you see the ghosts?”
“I saw a light each time you did the thingy with their body parts. There it was, then gone.”
“Me too,” Babel said.
“Same here.” Farraday.
“Yep,” agreed Tyler.
The sheriff simply nodded.
We had a consensus. They’d all seen the light.
“Sunny,” Rose Ann said.
Her voice startled me because she’d disappeared as soon as I’d started crossing the others over to wherever therians go in the great beyond. I thought she’d gone as well.
“Why are you still here? You have your whole body in one piece.”
“I have some unfinished business I’d like you to help me with.”
What was I? The ghost whisperer? Well, more like the were-animal whisperer.
“I’ll help you if I can,” I said.
But first, there was Neville to deal with. We would not let this man get away with what he’d done to all of the shifters he’d betrayed. He’d managed to fool an entire town of therianthropes for nearly a decade until a bad psychic from Southern California moved into town. Now he’d never fool anyone ever again if I had my way. I wanted his payment in full for what he’d done to the people I cared about.
My Paranormal Valentine: A Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 80