by Viola Grace
“It is very cute how you have your ghosts trained. I might teach them to serve me once you are gone.”
She whispered. “You can’t do that.”
He leaned in, his handsome features twisted. “What?”
“You can’t touch my guests.”
She watched him come closer, and she grabbed his hair, yanking him off balance and pinning him to the table. She held her blade to his neck. “I said you can’t do that. You can’t touch my guests. You are also not allowed on my property. That is going to cost you.”
She drew the blade across his neck, and black energy seeped free.
He squawked. “Your barriers were down. I had a right to enter.”
“I don’t have barriers asshat. This land is mine, these people are my guests. You are trespassing, and out here in the country, trespassers get shot.”
She fired up her blade and pulled it up his jawline and across his left eye. He screamed.
She lifted herself off his body and backed away, holding her whip and blade at the ready. “I think you have done enough damage for one day.”
He clutched his face and growled. “Why did you have to scar me?”
“Because you don’t seem to listen. No means no, and I am not dying on your schedule. Get out.” She nodded. “When you look in the mirror, you will know to keep your clever ideas to yourself. Don’t ever bring them to my house again, or I will find out if your body still moves after your head is gone.”
“That would be murder.”
“You are a demon. That would be commuting.” She growled. “Go.”
He scrambled to one side, and then, he disappeared. No puff of smoke or anything, he simply vanished.
To make sure he was gone, she extended her whip to its full length and passed it through the place he had been standing. It returned to her with no resistance, and she sighed and coiled it up.
She grunted and gave a sharp whistle, signalling the all-clear.
She looked to Arthur and Winifred, cuddled together and looking content. “I am so sorry that I pulled you into that.”
Winifred smiled. “I understand things a little better now. We pulled you in. I never thought she would come back so far after she passed. She’s been gone twenty years, and today was the first time she haunted me.”
Hecate thought a thousand curses but smiled. “At least you are at peace now.”
Arthur smiled. “We are. We will be leaving, but we wanted to thank you for giving both of us peace.”
“You are welcome.” Hecate bowed, and when she straightened, they were nothing but small glittery pieces of joy lingering on the wind.
Hecate sighed and went to get her chainsaw. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but she was going to get that tree off the road.
She was an hour into her work on the road when one of her neighbors pulled up. “Hey, Mr. Thanat.”
“I have told you to call me Maury. What’s going on here, Hecate?” He got out of his truck and frowned at the tree.
“This fell across the road from somewhere. I am just tidying it up so I can go for groceries tomorrow.”
“Mind if I give you a hand?”
“Please. I have managed to save some apples from the deer, so there could be some tarts in it for you.”
He chuckled and went to the back of his truck, bringing out a huge chainsaw. “Not a pie?”
“Life is to short for a whole pie. Better to eat the tarts and then look for the next ones.”
He laughed, put his ear protection on, pulled his face shield down, and got to work slicing the wide trunk into even disks.
They worked for another half hour, pinpointed by stops for gas for him, and to put on a new battery pack for her. After the tree was in pieces, they loaded them into his truck and brought them up to the wood storage near her house.
Maury looked at her. “I think after we unload the tree, I am going to take you to the café for dinner. You look exhausted.”
She looked at him with what she knew were dark circled eyes. “That would be really nice, Maury. Thank you.”
The continued unloading the truck, went inside to wash up, and then, he was driving her to the café ten minutes away.
After a solid dinner of poutine, a hamburger, and a slice of pie, Hecate was feeling better than she had in three or four days. She just needed a good night’s sleep, and she would be nearly human. Hah.
Chapter Eleven
The next week went by in a steady rhythm. Three calls for ghost extractions were smooth, and she was enjoying thumbing through her grimoire and seeing so many of the pages full. That stupid stunt of Demler’s had got her nearly halfway through her grimoire.
She wanted to ask her grandfather how far he had gotten through his book, but there was no way of getting in touch with him. He had returned to England, promising to come back and visit with some of the specialist items that she would need for her journey.
When her phone rang, she picked it up and said, “Hecate Wakeman.”
The voice on the other end said, “My name is Domerik, and I am calling to notify you that your grandfather has passed on.”
“Oh.” Hecate turned and looked at a soft grey ghost that was standing in her living room. “I see.”
“There are items that he selected to be sent to you, and I need to confirm your address for the shipping details.”
“Sure.” She rattled off the address and waved her grandfather away from the grimoire.
He shrugged and used his ghostly cane to prod items around her home.
The voice on the other end suddenly had a smile in it. “He is there, isn’t he?”
“How did you guess?”
“He said he had a lot of unfinished business. I am guessing that it is you.”
“Good guess. Excuse me. He is exploring, and I have to stop him before he gets to my underwear drawer, or he will keel over all over again.”
Domerik chuckled. “Very good, Miss Wakeman.”
There was something about the way he said her last name that made her want to look around to confirm his expression. She had never heard a voice that sounded hot before, but if she could get him in her vicinity, she would definitely want to do a temperature test.
She hung up and went to stop her grandfather from his little journey to find out as much about her as possible.
“Ulysses. Stop. Just come here and let me make you a little more visible.”
She grabbed and caught his hand, darkening his soft grey into a darker shadow. His eyes glowed at her, and he nodded. “Hello again, Hecate.”
“Why are you here instead of at home, Grandfather?”
“You are here. I need to train you.”
She cocked her head. “Train me?”
“Yes. You have been doing well on your own, but there are techniques that can make your work more efficient.”
She groaned. “I am sure there are, but I am not going for efficiency. I work locally.”
“Why restrict yourself to the local area, when you can help people across the entire continent or even around the world?”
She gave him a bland look. “I don’t have the money to get me around the world once, let alone popping in and out.”
He had a smile in his tone. “I have an amulet that can let you go to the scene of a haunting in seconds.”
“Good for you. I don’t.”
“It will be here soon. Domerik will bring it in the next few days.”
“It will take longer than that to get anything through customs.”
“Who said that they are being shipped through the human channels?”
“Ah. Wait. Isn’t Domerik human?”
“No. He is... something else.”
Hecate figured that she could ask Domerik when he arrived.
She got a cup of coffee and went to sit on the deck. Ulysses came with her, and he sat, looking over her property.
“This place is quite small.”
“It is still quite small. You will need more space if you keep inviting guests home.”
“I will deal with that when it becomes an issue.”
Amber came up and looked at him. “Weren’t you alive last week?”
Ulysses stood and leaned on his cane. “I was.”
“Well, would you like a tour of all the charging stations and the best views?” Amber smiled. “Hecate has made me the defacto greeter.”
Hecate smiled and sipped her coffee. “Amber is in charge here. I just bring in the new and farewell the old.”
Amber nodded. “We are down to thirty-two this week. It is the lowest it has been in a while. Come on, Ulysses. You have some space to explore.”
Hecate watched as Amber linked her arm with Ulysses, and she dragged him off for a slow tour of the property. She sat back and closed her eyes. She may have been sitting there for minutes or hours, but when she heard a vehicle coming down the drive, she stood to greet the arrivals.
She smiled as Esmy and Leo emerged from the vehicle, and she walked up to her sister and hugged her. “We just met him, and now, he is gone.”
Esmy nodded and sniffled. “I wish we had had more time.”
Hecate looked at Leo and winced, then she asked Esmy, “Did you have questions for him?”
“A thousand that I didn’t get to ask. I wanted to know more about Dad growing up and everything.”
Hecate inhaled and exhaled. “If you don’t mind me translating, you can ask what you like.”
Esmy leaned back, and she sniffled. “He’s here?”
Hecate held her while she looked around.
“He is off getting a tour. I can call him back if you want. He just arrived.”
A ghost cleared their throat behind her, and she glanced back. “Oh, never mind, he’s here.”
“I can speak to her myself. She is my granddaughter, after all.” He worked himself up to visible, and Esmy saw him. “Come, child. Ask your questions.”
Esmy walked up to him and glanced at Hecate. “Is this what they look like?”
“Normally, they are blue. I guess what we are makes our ghosts a little different.”
Esmy extended her hand to Ulysses and took his hand. “Tell me about him, please.”
They wandered off, and Hecate kept a close eye on Esmy’s energy pattern. Whether Ulysses knew it or not, he was pulling some of his power from his relatives. All ghosts did.
Hecate turned to Leo. “Want a cup of coffee?”
He grinned. “Yes, thank you.”
She went inside, made a fresh pot, and got some of the pound cake out of the fridge. Esmy would need it when she got back.
Leo came in after her. “This isn’t quite what I pictured for you. I thought of a ramshackle Victorian or an abandoned castle.”
“That would be for Seesee and Miklos, respectively.”
He laughed.
She got her carafe warmed up and poured the coffee into the container, putting everything onto a tray and carrying it out to the bistro table.
“That is an amazing collection of DVDs.” Leo gestured to her wall.
“The ghosts tamper with the signal from the satellite. It is hard to stream videos without a solid signal.”
She poured him a cup of coffee and handed him a slice of cake on a napkin.
“Thank you.”
She nodded and took her seat, stretching her legs out.
“Are you okay? I mean, with your grandfather’s death.”
“I am fine with it. Well, not fine. But I literally have all the time in the world, or at least all the time in my life. He needs to stay around and train me. That is his tether to the world.”
“So, he will be around for a while?”
“He will. I plan on being a slow learner.” She lifted her coffee cup to his, and they toasted her decision.
“Why do you drink so much coffee?”
“Body heat. Coffee is ready fast, is accessible nearly everywhere, and the caffeine gives me hot flashes that are a pleasant relief from my regular body temperature.”
Leo smiled. “Tea doesn’t do it for you?”
“Not fast-acting enough.”
He nodded. “Will Esmy be drained at all by the contact?”
“Nothing that some sex and a good night’s rest won’t repair.”
He had been going for his coffee, and he paused. “What?”
“Life cancels death, well mostly. It will help her recover, but she probably has some innate resistance.”
“Do you think she could ever develop your talent?”
“It isn’t a talent, it’s a condition. And no, not as long as I have my grimoire to complete. And I am going to complete that fucker. Let me tell you.”
“What is the grimoire?”
She had time to kill, so she told him about the grimoire and the part it was about to play in the life of her family line.
“Mind you, I have no idea if I can even have kids, so the Wakeman’s might end with me.”
“You don’t think that Esmy and I will have kids?”
“I definitely hope you do, but I also know that there is a contract in place to stop any of the female Wakemans from inheriting this particular situation.”
“How did you end up with it?”
She chuckled and watched the ghost of her grandfather return with her sister. “I was born half dead. I never was and never could be a living heir. Hence, my doubt about having kids.”
Leo blinked, but he couldn’t say anything else. Esmy was back, a little wobbly but very happy with what she had learned.
Ulysses looked quite pleased with himself, and he bowed to Hecate as he faded into the dimming light.
It was a good night for family.
Hecate put a wrap around her shoulders and went to talk to Sister Abigail Agnes.
“So, Sister. There is no longer a ghost hunter on the prowl. He has passed.”
The nun nodded. “I am sorry for your loss.”
“I did not have him long enough to mourn him, but perhaps we can become better acquainted now. How are you doing?”
“I am well. I am surprised that you have brought him here. I did not think you were acquainted.”
Hecate frowned and looked around. She didn’t see anyone.
“I believe she is referring to me.” A face that was familiar, timeless, and very handsome was on a tall and strong body, dressed in a loose black robe.
“Who are you?”
He smiled. “When you go back to the beginning of time, I knew your grandmother, and she brought my children into the world.”
She blinked. She checked her pulse and blinked again. “You... how can you be real?”
“I was brought into being to walk next to man. I had two sets of children. One was the reapers who severed the soul from the body. The other was the ghost extractors, who searched for those who had regrets, loss, and attachments to those still living. They helped give them freedom. You have given the position a whole new twist.”
He extended his hand. “Daughter, walk with me. We have much to discuss.”
Hecate took the hand of Death, and they went for a walk in the graveyard. It wasn’t the weirdest night that she had ever had, but it did give her a lot more insight into what was about to begin. She would be lying if she didn’t admit to a tiny trill of terror lodging in her spine and making itself at home.
She was going to have to get busy and travel. She really hated travelling, but work was work.
Author’s Note
My thanks to Cindy Wakeman for the use of her last name.
In the next installment—as yet untitled—Hecate is going to have to face travel, monsters, demons, and her sister’s wedding. Oh, the terror.
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal
romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around, and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
In real life, she now is engaged in beekeeping, and her adventures can be found on the YouTube channel, Mystery Bees Apiary. Just look for the cartoon kittens.