She wanted to pound her fists into pillows, then later on the cold, hard floor. She wanted to throw things. And she had even more destructive means of channeling her anger.
She gave into the urge to use that power.
A flash of red light erupted from her right hand and smashed one of the dirty glasses that rested on her countertop. It was a clean shot, with just enough power to send shards flying without scorching the wall behind or granite below. She fired again, sending a serving platter careening to the floor with an ear-splitting crash.
Another shot and pans crashed to the floor. Another took out a second glass.
“Vivian,” a quiet voice spoke from behind her.
She spun around ready to attack the bearer of the voice, but managed to stop the light. Her fingers burned with the searing heat of unreleased energy and she hissed. A mixture of pain and comfort filled her through the burn, as if the damage to her flesh could ease the damage to her heart and soul.
Father Montgomery stood before her, his calm demeanor almost concealing his fear of her. He stood still, not daring to step closer, not even after she dropped her hands. He spoke again in the same quiet tone, “I was going to wash those for you.”
“Is that why you’re still here?” she asked, matching his quiet tone. “Or did you plan on gloating as well?”
“You know me better than that,” he said.
“Do I, padre?” she asked, turning away from him.
“Perhaps no better than I know you.”
That got her attention. She spun back around and faced him, waiting for an explanation.
“I’ve always been honest in my dealings with you. Always. You, on the other hand…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked as another wave of rage began to build within her.
“All this time? You’ve been associating with Darkmore all this time?”
“Yes, I have,” she spat. “What are you going to do, Father? Curse me to Hell? I can do without the judgment.”
“You really don’t get it, do you?”
“Apparently I don’t, so why don’t you explain—”
“Damn it, Vivian, you lied to me!” he yelled.
She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. “How could you keep something like this from me?” he snapped. She’d never heard the priest lose his cool before. Not until now. “After all we’ve been through and seen together, how could you turn to that…that demon?”
“I was protecting you,” she shouted. “And I was protecting myself.”
“But with that creature?” Father Montgomery rose and crossed himself. “Has he spread his sin to you, then, as well as his lies? Have you been sleeping with him as well?”
She rose and crossed the space between them. He stood his ground, though the slight recoil in his posture and features betrayed his preparation for a deadly strike. Vivian held onto her self-control, but only by the barest thread. She didn’t cast her light at him.
Instead, she slapped him across the face.
Stunned, perhaps even more so than the priest, she turned and took slow, measured steps toward her couch. She tried to control her breathing, which came in rapid gasps. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking, but she’d be damned if she’d shed another tear. She sat on her sofa and stared at her hands, hands she kept clasped together in a tight knot on her lap.
“Vivian,” came the uneven voice of the priest. “I’m sorry, I…”
“Please,” she whispered. “Just go.”
She heard him sigh but refused to look up, part in stubbornness and part in shame. She’d hit him hard enough to leave an angry red mark on his left cheek. After long moments passed, she listened to his heavy footfalls moving to her front door. Closing her eyes, she focused her energy and exhaled, willing her healing light in the direction of the priest as he retreated. She could at least heal his flesh, if not the gap between them.
“Ezra will be here tomorrow night,” Lloyd Montgomery said, just before he closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER 24
After a restless night and too-quiet morning, Vivian needed a distraction to calm her nerves. She started with the mess she’d made in her kitchen, picking up the larger shards of broken glass and double-bagging them in heavy-duty trash bags. The smaller shards were tougher to spot. She did a thorough sweep-and-mop job after cleaning the splattered remains of food and beverage from her countertops and wall.
At least I didn’t scorch anything this time.
While she was at it, she decided the whole house could use a scrub down. She dusted every nook, cranny, and smooth wooden surface, including her baseboards and the nastiness that rested atop her ceiling fan blades. Both Vivian and the vacuum got a workout. Her floor and upholstery had never looked better.
She’d scrubbed the bathrooms and cleaned the windows by late morning and still couldn’t turn off her mind. Had she not made a deal with her spirit tenants to help out with the yard work at night in exchange for food and lodging, she probably could have killed at least another two hours in the yard.
Damn, damn, damn.
She considered calling Jeanne, but figured Ghost Barbie would lose her shit when she found out about Vivian’s extracurricular spirit world activities. She didn’t want to drag Kay any further into this mess, especially with her troubles and the potential danger to the kids. At least Junior could offer some measure of protection. He’d promised Vivian to keep an eye on the Clemmens family while the rogue guardian remained at large.
She couldn’t think about the padre. Not after last night.
She ached for Zeke.
But she didn’t want to have the inevitable confrontation yet. She had bigger fish to fry. First and foremost, she needed to find out what the grand high inquisitors at the guardian council might want with her. Plus the elusive rogue guardian remained at large.
And, thanks to Kay and the padre, she worried that the rogue guardian might be Zeke.
She fired up her laptop and was relieved to find Waylon online. He might know something. If not, at least he could keep her from going stir crazy with the wait.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Hello again. Still in trouble?
HauntedVivTN1975: Up to my neck in it. What do you know about the guardian council?
BriggsonfireMS2010: Jesus, you really are in trouble!
HauntedVivTN1975: Thanks. I feel so much better now.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Sorry. I don’t bullshit. Especially about this stuff. You shouldn’t either. What can I do?
HauntedVivTN1975: Fine. No bullshit. I’ve been summoned before the council. I don’t know why, but I can think of at least three reasons.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Hit me.
HauntedVivTN1975: I blew my cover with the reaper. They know I’ve been working with him. And the rogue guardian is still after me.
Vivian paused. She waited for him to tell her she was royally screwed. She also needed to wipe the tears from her eyes and stop her hands from shaking.
BriggsonfireMS2010: What’s the third, Vivian?
BriggsonfireMS2010: You still there?
HauntedVivTN1975: Yeah, I’m here. It’s bad.
BriggsonfireMS2010: I’ve seen bad and probably done worse. If you don’t want to share, that’s fine, but there’s not a lot I can do if I don’t know what you got yourself into.
BriggsonfireMS2010: If you tell me, I won’t judge. I’ll try to help.
With a deep breath and a swallow to clear the ball of anxiety and guilt from her throat, Viv started typing.
HauntedVivTN1975: I fell in love with one of the guardians I met last year. He was the kind they force to work for them because he did some bad stuff in life. Understand?
BriggsonfireMS2010: I get it.
HauntedVivTN1975: Long story, but because I loved him I made a deal with his keeper to set him free and let him cross over. Only he didn’t go. He came back.
BriggsonfireMS2010: So what’s the problem?
HauntedVivTN1975
: For starters, he’s been hanging out at his wife’s house.
A full minute passed. She fidgeted in her seat and worried that she’d lost her only lifeline. She placed her fingers on the keyboard and typed the rest before she had the chance to lose her courage.
HauntedVivTN1975: He was mad when he came back. Some of my friends think he might be dangerous.
BriggsonfireMS2010: What do you think?
HauntedVivTN1975: I don’t know what to think, what to feel, or who to trust. It’s pretty sad when the most reliable spirit you know is the grim reaper.
BriggsonfireMS2010: You got some firepower?
HauntedVivTN1975: Yes.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Use it when the time comes. Don’t think. Just fire. Can you do that?
HauntedVivTN1975: I think so.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Don’t think. Know so.
HauntedVivTN1975: Okay, Okay, I know so!
BriggsonfireMS2010: When’s your summons?
HauntedVivTN1975: Tomorrow night.
Briggsonfire2010: Can you get some more energy?
HauntedVivTN1975: I don’t know. Why?
BriggsonfireMS2010: Look, there are only two things the guardian higher-ups care about—energy and order. Don’t swallow the Kool-Aid about duty, purpose, helping lost souls, and the living. The ones in the trenches may believe in the cause, but those in charge just want to stay in charge.
HauntedVivTN1975: The guardians and reapers tried to take my sister last year. She was special. Trapped. You know what that means?
BriggsonfireMS2010: Yeah, I know. Big generator for Casa del Dead. What happened?
HauntedVivTN1975: I made a deal to free her, too.
BriggsonfireMS2010: And they just let her go?
HauntedVivTN1975: When she died, she passed through the reaper’s realm and let go of a lot of light energy. Took a bunch of souls with her. That squared all of us with the reapers and the guardians.
BriggsonfireMS2010: No. If she got away, you ain’t square.
Vivian froze. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think, save for a single plea reverberating through her fractured mind.
No!
HauntedVivTN1975: No. That’s not right. I kept my end of the bargain and I work for the guardians.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Oh, I see. The guardians in your neck of the woods are good for their word, huh? Real honest types.
Vivian stared at the screen. Long seconds passed. Minutes. She lost track.
BriggsonfireMS2010: That’s what I thought.
BriggsonfireMS2010: I promised you no bullshit.
BriggsonfireMS2010: You still there, or you running away with your little white bobtail tucked between your legs?
HauntedVivTN1975: Fuck you.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Please, Miss Scarlett, that all you got?
HauntedVivTN1975: FUCK YOU!
HauntedVivTN1975: Jalodiasnkldfafsdnklafkn;kadfbjkadfsbjknadsbjkladfsbjkldfabkjbjkbjkbjkvbvvzcxbmzvn,.cmxvzmn,.fkndjjkafddhjksadfs;hkdhkl;fs
BriggsonfireMS2010: Well you can swear like a soldier. When you’re done smashing the keyboard, how about fighting like one?
HauntedVivTN1975: What do I have to do?
BriggsonfireMS2010: You need energy. Lots of it.
HauntedVivTN1975: That’s a problem.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Guardians sucked you dry?
HauntedVivTN1975: Nope. I suck in burdens from the living and they leave me stuck with them. So I feed them to the reaper.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Then the guardian in charge of you has some serious explaining to do.
HauntedVivTN1975: What do you mean? Guardians are supposed to live off light and goodness. Reapers take in burdens. How do you know so much about this stuff anyhow?
BriggsonfireMS2010: I’ll answer the last question later. First, energy is energy. Guardians can run off the dark stuff when they need to. Reapers aren’t so choosy, either. You said you trust your reaper pal?
HauntedVivTN1975: As much as I trust any of the sorry bunch.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Get to him double quick and gather as much energy as you can.
HauntedVivTN1975: For what? So I can just give it to the council?
BriggsonfireMS2010: I told you to use your firepower when the time comes.
HauntedVivTN1975: You want me to take on the guardian council? Are you nuts?
BriggsonfireMS2010: I want you to get yourself out of there alive. If they take your life they’ll own your soul. I want you to get out, lie low, and get to Mississippi as quick as you can after. We can help you then.
HauntedVivTN1975: Who’s we?
BriggsonfireMS2010: Get here. We’ll talk then.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Get up, Vivian. Clear your chat log, lock and load, then get the hell out.
HauntedVivTN1975: How do I know I can trust you?
BriggsonfireMS2010: You don’t, but what other choice you got?
BriggsonfireMS2010: You still there?
HauntedVivTN1975: How will I find you?
BriggsonfireMS2010: I got to go work on that now.
HauntedVivTN1975: In case I forget later, thank you.
BriggsonfireMS2010: Thank me by staying alive. GO!
Vivian cleared her chat log as instructed and kept panic at bay by getting to work. She grabbed the suitcase packed with clothing, cash, and other essentials she’d been keeping since shortly after beginning her work with the spirits. Once loaded in her car, along with enough nonperishable food and bottled water to last a week or two, she drove it to a secluded spot near home and parked, traveling back spirit-style. After a moment’s hesitation, she summoned Junior and asked him to look after the Clemmens clan, and asked him to seek out Jeanne and Wallace to take care of the padre and the Longhollows. The eager spirit was happy to oblige, no questions asked.
She did not permit herself to grieve over the potential loss of her home, her friends, or her life as she’d known it. There would be time for that later.
She hoped.
Locking her back door, she stood on her deck and looked out over the expanse of her backyard. Her eyes lingered on the line of trees where Ezra had first appeared, when it all began. She breathed in the familiar and comforting scents, listened to the din of cicada calls, and soaked in the waning light of the afternoon sun.
Then, steeling herself against the tears, she summoned the reaper.
CHAPTER 25
She kept her eyes closed and focused on her breathing as they moved through the swirling vortex. She also clung to Darkmore’s arm, though she felt a little uncomfortable with the implied intimacy of such contact, especially after Zeke. Guilt waged war with fear of the reaper, which led to an even fiercer battle with the guilt lodged deep in her heart. After their last encounter, Vivian felt obliged to trust Darkmore.
She owed him that, didn’t she?
Besides, he was the only being she could trust right now. She remembered his tenderness and her response, but these memories were making her mind feel as though it were swirling through the vortex rather than her body as thoughts of Zeke’s return and her response to him kept flashing through her mind as well. Darkmore shuddered, which probably meant that he was enjoying the turmoil raging through her.
Would he be flattered, jealous, or amused if he knew the cause of her turmoil? Perhaps he would be angry. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Vivian,” he whispered, his lips close to her ear. “We’re here.” She must have been so lost in thought that she failed to register their exit from the vortex.
“Oh, excuse me,” she muttered as she removed herself from his arms. It seemed she’d been clinging to his entire body rather than his arm.
“I don’t mind,” he replied with a small smile. Aside from the smile, his expression was unreadable. After a moment, he asked, “Why so glum, my dear? Does the thought of returning the favors I granted you make you uncomfortable?”
“It’s not that,” she muttered.
“Still at war with yourself, I see,” he sai
d, gazing at her with unnerving intensity. “And even more so than before. Care to share?”
“Maybe later.”
“Definitely later,” he whispered, giving her shivers that had nothing to do with his cold reaper energy. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
He placed his hand on the small of her back and urged her forward with gentle pressure, speaking in a soft, low tone as they walked through what appeared to be a hospital corridor. “We will be working with an associate of mine tonight, and one of her human assistants. I would have told you sooner, but I only just found out. This particular case has some rather…interesting possibilities.”
God, she wasn’t sure how much more she could handle.
“As far as your role, I believe we will require your healing powers for this assignment. It may be a bit taxing for you, but I will be there to provide relief should you need it.”
“Healing? Really? I thought you and yours were more of the hurting kind,” Vivian said, half-joking, but only half.
He didn’t smile, which did nothing to alleviate her worry. Instead, he stopped and turned to face her before saying, “I will provide relief and support, as well as protection, but this is no laughing matter, Vivian. We come for the reaping, ever watchful of the darkly sweet and deadly harvest.”
She started to protest, but he held up a hand, palm open, to silence her. “We also come for justice. Many from whom we reap, and those whom we reap, call to us with their evil. Be on your guard and do exactly as I tell you.”
He raised his other hand to stop her burgeoning protest. “I tell you this for your safety and the integrity of this task, not as an order. Your involvement is your choice. I doubt you’ve ever received a similar offer from your guardian friends.”
“No, I haven’t. But I am in your debt, so this is a bit of an obligation.”
“True, but you’ll have the choice to withdraw your assistance should you find yourself unable to complete it.”
“Wait a minute,” Vivian began, just a bit belittled by his last comment. “You think I’m not strong enough to handle this? After all I’ve been through the past year, with you and on account of you and your kind?”
Raising the Dead Page 24
