When the Dead Come Home

by B. L. Brunnemer

  I turned back to the man standing so close to me, eyeing me. “What did you do to Lexie?”

  His gaze jumped to mine. “Lexie? Oh, Lexie. Your friend. We delivered her as we were hired to do.” He grinned. “And took you as payment.” His fingers took my jaw, his steel-like grip holding me still. “You, my dear, may have what it takes.”

  “Go to hell, you freak!” I hissed.

  He smiled. “You’ll kill when I tell you to, or you’ll suffer.” His fingers tightened, forcing my mouth open. He brought his other wrist to his mouth and bit into it. Red stained his lips. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 18

  Lexie

  The front door opened. Jake walked in frowning. “Okay, what is so important that I had to come down tonight?”

  “It’s about Riley,” I said in a quiet voice.

  He dropped into the armchair closest to the door. “Did you two finally make up?”

  My throat tightened. I turned to Asher beside me on the couch. The others were out back sparring with Zeke as he tried to deal with Riley being taken. It had taken a bit, but it finally sunk in that his ex was taken by vampires. After that, well, he needed to move.

  Asher reached over and squeezed my hand.

  I wrapped my fingers through his before turning back to Jake. “No. She’s… she’s not going to come home tonight.”

  Jake scowled at me. “What do you mean she’s not going home?” His eyes grew wide. “Is she running off to Vegas to marry Ryan?”

  I shook my head as my stomach knotted.

  His smile faded as he eyed my grip on Asher’s hand before turning back to me. “What happened at your meet up, Lexie?”

  I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

  His brow drew down as he leaned forward. “You didn’t kill her and bury her in the woods… did you?”

  I scowled at him. “Do you really think I could do that?”

  He eyed me playfully. “If you got mad enough.”

  I shot him a look then took a deep breath. “No. I didn’t kill her.”

  “Then where is she?” Jake asked.

  “New York.” Asher answered for me.

  Jake frowned. “What’s she doing there?”

  “We were attacked tonight in the parking lot.” I squeezed Asher a little tighter. “They took both of us and delivered me to… someone who isn’t a good person.”

  Jake eyed me as if I was crazy. “Uh-huh.”

  I met his gaze. “I’m not joking, Jake.”

  His grin faded a little, then it was back again. “Yeah, sure you are.”

  “There’s something you should know about me.” My heart pounded a little harder as I took a breath for courage. “I can see the dead.”

  I explained everything to him, including the Veil. It was freeing. As if I was throwing off a heavy cloak that just kept getting heavier. He asked a question here or there, but otherwise he kept grinning.

  “That’s quite the story, Lexie,” Jake teased. “But I’m not buying it. Where’s Riley?”

  My heart sank. He didn’t believe me. I shook my head, not knowing what else to say.

  “She’s telling the truth, Jake.” Asher leaned forward, drawing Jake’s attention. “She can see the dead.”

  Jake chuckled. “And I shit rainbows.”

  “Jake.” I shook my head, not knowing how to get through to him. “The people that came after us, they were after me, but they took Riley as a payment instead of cash.”

  He was still grinning. “Okay…”

  “I don’t know why, but from what I understand, they’ll turn her into a vampire and she’ll disappear from human life.”

  “She’ll be a hot vampire,” Jake quipped.

  “This is serious, Jake,” Asher stated firmly.

  Jake was still grinning as he shook his head. “I’m trying man, but this is such an obvious joke…”

  “It’s not a joke,” I snapped. “Riley won’t be going home tonight or any other night.”

  “Sure, she won’t,” he humored me.

  I turned to Asher and shrugged.

  Asher squeezed my fingers and turned back to Jake. “Look, we need your help.”

  Jake tried to hide his grin but failed. “Anything I can do to help the joke—I mean, situation.”

  “We think Dylan is behind this entire thing.” Asher said it as gently as he could.

  He started chuckling. “Dylan? Seriously? Into magic?”

  I sighed as he continued to laugh. “Yeah, and we need your help.”

  When he calmed down, he shook his head. “You guys are dedicated to this, I’ll give you that.”

  “Because it’s not a joke,” I stated wearily. It was late, and it had been a long day. I didn’t really have the patience to convince him.

  Jake turned to me. “You guys think Dylan did this thing? That’s freaking ridiculous.”

  “If we can’t find proof, then we’ll move on to another suspect that fits, but we have to at least investigate if he’s involved first.”

  “You’re closer to Dylan than anyone else,” Asher said carefully. “We need information.”

  Jake’s humor faded away, his brows drew together as he eyed us. “You want me to spy on Dylan?”

  “We don’t want you to,” I said, drawing his attention. “I need you to. If he’s innocent, no harm, no foul.”

  Jake shook his head. “Spy on Dylan?”

  “Yeah,” Asher stated.

  Jake scowled at me. “I thought you were over him?”

  Huh? “Um, I am.”

  He eyed me. “Then why do you care what he’s doing? You’ve got five hotties keeping you company, why spy on your ex?”

  I sighed. “Fuck, Jake. Have you even heard a word we’ve said?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I heard a lot of bullshit that somehow leads to you asking me to spy on one of my best friends.”

  I growled in frustration as I dropped my head back against the couch. “I can’t believe I thought you’d believe me.”

  “That you see the dead? Yeah, that’s a stretch even for a joke, Lexie,” Jake scoffed.

  I lifted my head and met his gaze. “How many times have you caught me talking to thin air? Four, five times?”

  His face relaxed a little. “About.”

  “What did you think I was doing?” I leaned forward, bracing my elbows on my legs. “What about the time I got sick dress shopping? Did that look like a seizure to you?”

  The doubt on his face faded a little. “That’s what everyone said.”

  “Yeah.” My eyebrows shot up. “’Cause we were lying.”

  Jake rolled his eyes and got to his feet. “Whatever. Tell Riley to call me when you guys give up on your little joke.” Jake walked out the door and closed it behind him.

  I made a growly scream of frustration before dropping back against the sofa and looking up at the ceiling. “Why did I think that would go differently?”

  Asher turned to me. “Jake’s a good friend of ours.”

  “Yeah, that never stopped this from happening before.” I rolled my head to the left to meet his gaze. “It never mattered how good of friends I was with people. They never believed me.”

  Asher sighed and reached out to push the hair off my forehead. “He’ll believe you tomorrow when Riley hasn’t come home.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered as I shifted into him, cuddling up to his chest.

  His arms wrapped around me as he moved so I could lay against his chest.

  Weariness washed over me as his heart pounded under my ear. A comforting rhythm. “I just wish he believed me tonight.”

  He pressed his cheek against my hair. “I know, Ally girl.”

  His warmth wrapped around me paired with exhaustion from the day finally caught up to me. “You’re comfy…” The last thing I remember was lips pressing against my head.

  Chapter 19

  Sunday

  After parking around the corner and down the block, I walked up the sidewalk with Ha
des to meet Jake at Dylan’s front door.

  He had called a couple hours ago, telling me that Riley hadn’t come home. Asher had been right, he suddenly believed me.

  Jake’s face was pale and heavily bagged as I walked up to him. “Hey.”

  He swallowed hard. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

  I shrugged. “I’m used to it.” I held up the cookie platter covered in cellophane. “I brought his dad’s cookies.”

  Jake nodded as he started to unlock the front door. “It’ll be a great ‘I’m sorry I searched your house and thought you were a killer of souls’ gift.”

  “I don’t want it to be him,” I reminded him as we stepped into the foyer. “It’s just that his situation fits.”

  Jake huffed as he led me into the large great room with aspen windows. “What situation is that?”

  I set the cookies down on the coffee table and turned to him. “His mom is gone. And his dad is sick. What would you be willing to do in that situation?”

  Jake pressed his lips together and looked vaguely like he was going to be ill. “Where do you want to start?”

  I rung my fingers together. “His room.”

  He nodded and started for the stairs. “We don’t have much time.”

  I followed him upstairs and into Dylan’s room. Clothes were strewn here and there. A pile of books sat on the nightstand. Otherwise, it was just as clean as the last time I saw it.

  Jake put his arm over the doorway, blocking me.

  “If we are going to do this, it’s together,” he warned me. “I see what you see and so on. Got it?”

  Seemed fair to me. “Got it.”

  He dropped his arm.

  I stepped into the bedroom. “Hades, search for weird.”

  Hades began to sniff along the side of the bed while I went to his bookcase.

  Dylan had put away an old book here once before Riley and I came into his room. I went to my tiptoes and felt along the top of the cabinet. “Gotcha.”

  “What do you have?” Jake asked, coming to my side.

  “He hid this when I was over once.” I pulled it down and smiled. Then stopped. It wasn’t an old book like I was expecting. It was a box that just looked like a book. I opened the lid. It was full of pictures. Of his mom. He must have been looking at them around that time. Feeling awful, I closed the box and put it back.

  “Not what you were expecting?” Jake teased.

  “No.” I began searching his bookcase. “And believe it or not, I’m glad.” I didn’t want it to be Dylan. We weren’t a thing, but I still remembered the good guy I fell for.

  “What’s going to happen to Riley?” Jake asked in a strained voice.

  I stopped looking at the books and moved to his dresser. “My contacts say she’s going to be converted into a vampire.” I glanced over my shoulder to find his face stricken. “I don’t know if we can stop that, but I did send someone to help her get away from them.”

  He swallowed hard and nodded, even though he had grown paler. “So, she’ll be back soon?”

  I stopped looking to turn to him. “Not unless they get to her in time. If she’s converted, she can’t come back.”

  His eyes filled. “She loves Ryan.”

  My heart ached. “I know, but it’s for everyone’s sake. If she’s a vampire, she’ll have a completely different life.”

  Jake sniffed and wiped his face with his good arm. He looked around the room. “Are you done in here?”

  I shook my head.

  We got to business.

  I rolled my eyes before I started going through his drawers again, then his desk. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. All I found was school stuff and sports gear. Fuck. I even had Jake check the air vents and still found nothing.

  We went downstairs and started searching the rest of the house. Meds, socks, junk drawers. We found all of them. But we didn’t find anything that might link him to the setups.

  I was about to start cursing in the kitchen when the front door opened.

  “—I told you to use the wheelchair.” Dylan’s voice rang from the front of the house, sending my heart into overdrive. “Now you’re going to sleep all day.”

  “I sleep all day anyway,” Dylan’s dad countered.

  “No, you lay down all day,” Dylan snapped. “There’s a difference.”

  Jake and I shared a look. Then Jake grabbed my arm and dragged me into the pantry.

  “Hades,” I hissed.

  He nodded a heartbeat before he closed the door, plunging me into darkness.

  “Hey, Jake?” Dylan called.

  “Yeah?” Jake’s voice moved away from the door.

  “Can you get the wheelchair off the back porch?” Dylan’s voice was matter of fact, as if his father needed it all the time.

  Doors opened and closed. Footsteps and low cursing grew louder on the other side of the flimsy pantry door. Hide, Hades, hide. Please. There was no logical reason for me to still be in the house. I was going to get caught! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

  “Why are we in the kitchen?” Dylan’s dad asked.

  “Let me get you some juice and you can lay down,” Dylan said. “Or milk… Lexie dropped off Ma’s cookies. Jake said he was going to let her in.”

  “Oh? Is that what you’re carrying?” Dylan’s dad’s voice warmed. “That was nice of her. But… no thanks.”

  The fridge door closed. “You need to eat something, Dad.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  Metal clanked and rattled. “Here’s the chair.”

  “Thanks, Jake.” Dylan’s dad groaned. Metal squeaked. “How is Lexie doing?”

  “She’s doing okay,” Jake hedged.

  “Dad.” Dylan’s voice was full of exaggerated patience. “Have one cookie and a glass of milk. Please?”

  “There, happy?” Dylan’s dad muttered with his mouth full.

  “And the milk,” Dylan pushed.

  “Pushy kid,” his dad muttered.

  “You’re not eating, yeah he’s going to be pushy,” Jake chimed in.

  “Ugh, it’s gone bad.” His dad groaned.

  “I bought it yesterday, Dad,” Dylan countered, then he began to plead. “Please, for my sake, finish the glass?”

  His dad muttered but eventually something was set down with a clink. “There. Slave driver.”

  Dylan gave a sad laugh.

  “Don’t be surprised if it comes back up,” he muttered.

  “Come on, we’ll get you back to bed,” Dylan said.

  I waited, hoping, as footsteps left the pantry.

  Jake opened the door, grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the pantry. My search was over, I had to go now! He led me out of the kitchen, through the back door and into the yard.

  “That was close,” he whispered as he carefully closed the door behind us.

  “Yeah, I’m going to get the hell out of here. Did you see Hades?” I had started around the house when something drew my attention. A greenhouse. I slowed to a stop.

  Jake shook my arm. “Come on, you got to go. And I still have to go find Hades, if he hasn’t been found already.”

  “What’s with the greenhouse?” I asked in a low voice.

  “It’s Dylan’s project for that full ride scholarship. Get moving.” He gave me a small shove, but I dug my feet in. Project… I remembered his project. Something about plants. I started toward the greenhouse without thinking.

  “Lexie, you have to go,” he hissed.

  “One minute.” I opened the door and slipped inside. Moist heat swamped me. The greenhouse wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. But there was only one type of plant. In different shades of orange and yellow, but still the same plant several times over. A giant flower, some three feet tall. Horizontal rows hung against the right wall. Dylan’s photography gear was set up across from it. On the same table I found his research notes. But that wasn’t what interested me, it was the flowers. I moved down the line to the end where there were several that had withered away. I pick
ed up a long petal. “I’ve seen this before.”

  “Where?” Jake whispered looking out the door, keeping watch for Dylan.

  “At every single site of the ghost traps.” I picked up several more dried flower petals. “What flower is this?”

  “Um, I don’t know. Some marigold, if I remember right,” he said absently. “Come on, I have to get Hades out of the house.”

  That jolted me back to the present. I quickly took a picture of one of the flowers and joined him at the door.

  “Head to the car and I’ll bring Hades out,” he whispered. “I hope.”

  “What are you going to tell them about Hades?” I asked.

  “You left him for a cuddle with Dylan’s dad. What else?” he said, as if it were obvious. “Now go.”

  I ducked out the door and hustled through the woods around the house to the street. My pulse had finally stopped racing when I reached the Blazer.

  Woof.

  Hades ran to me from the driver’s side. I bent down and scratched his ears. “How did you get out of the house?” He simply licked my chin in response. Jake must have let him out while I was going through the woods. More thankful than I could say, I loaded up into the truck and got us both the hell out of there.

  * * *

  Mind spinning, I looked at the picture on my phone then back to the image on my laptop. It was the same. I sat back against the chair and tried to grasp this. Dylan closed the Veil. There was actual proof.

  “Beautiful?” Ethan sat down beside me. “You trailed off mid-sentence.”

  I read the description of the flower again and shook my head. “It’s Dylan.”

  Fingers turned me to Ethan. His gentle chocolate eyes met mine. “How do you know?”

  “It’s the same flower that has been at every site we’ve found.” I picked up my phone and held it out to him. “It’s the Mexican marigold. Targetes erecta.”

  He took the phone from me and looked at the info on the laptop. “Son of a bitch. How the hell didn’t we notice that?”

  “They were just there,” Issac leaned over my shoulder. “They’re used during Dia de los Muertos. They’re supposed to attract the dead.”