Cryptic Blend

by Kennedy Layne

  Liam Drake was a good man. Of that, there was no doubt.

  A warmth spread over me at the thought of the man I was currently seeing and slowly assimilating to my life. Liam had no idea that I was a witch, and that was probably a good thing considering that he was the sheriff of Paramour Bay.

  Don’t get me wrong.

  I’d gone back and forth over the decision to tell him the truth, but he had more of a rather no-nonsense attitude toward the natural laws governing life. In his world, magic didn’t exit. I’d decided he might have a bit of trouble accepting that the supernatural realm not only existed, but that it existed all around him. I really didn’t want to destroy his entire belief system. And then there was the glaring fact that I wasn’t ready for our relationship to end.

  I feel a hairball coming up. Are we ready to die yet?

  Don’t mind Leo.

  He had trouble accepting that I was dating the sheriff of Paramour Bay in the first place. Technically, Leo would feel that way about any human being. He thought I was putting my life and that of the supernatural realm in jeopardy by exposing my secret life in such an intimate way.

  I should get a plaque made that reads “Leo is always right” and hang it on the wall next to the door. That way you’ll be reminded of that reality every time you walk out of this cottage. Better yet, I can just point at it during discussions.

  “Not happening, Leo,” I quipped, feeling better and better about this evening. Liam and the town council would be busy having a business dinner at the mayor’s house, which put the odds in our favor that no one would see us sneaking into the cemetery. We’d be in and out in under ten minutes, hopefully with the discovery that Catherine Abigail Whitley’s tomb hadn’t been disturbed within her family’s crypt. It would prove Leo wrong and that this particular ring was just another copy of the original design. “Heidi, put this amaranth underneath your shirt. Rub it on the fabric so that the fragments touch your skin.”

  I’d taken a pinch of amaranth out of the satchel and sprinkled some of it into the palm of Heidi’s hand. Ted had informed me that he’d pulled the entire plant from its soil during a full moon this past summer, following the age-old practice that involved witches warding off evil spirits who lurk in the darkness. I had no idea where Ted was able to obtain some of the material components I needed for my various enchantments, hexes, and wards that I cast when needed, but I’d decided it was better to be kept in the dark rather than be drawn into his world.

  Wise choice. Hey, rub some of that amaranth on my fur, would you? What am I? Chopped liver?

  “I’m coming, I’m coming,” I said, finally making my way over to Leo after I’d confirmed that Heidi had followed my instructions. She was human, and she didn’t have the ability to protect herself that way Leo and I did under strenuous supernatural situations. “Here. Let’s get you rubbed down, Leo. I’m still hoping that we’re taking these extra precautions for naught.”

  How would you explain Caroline Abigail Whitley’s sapphire ring being left in a fifty-cent bin at some garage sale if someone didn’t steal it off the woman’s cold skeletal phalange or if the woman herself hadn’t risen from the dead as a ghoul?

  “I wouldn’t explain it that way,” I replied, having given this some thought. I’m pretty sure I was on to something. “I think it’s more likely that her ring was more of a common design than she was willing to admit or that the jeweler made more than one copy and sold them off as one of a kind. Karen somehow ended up with it in her stash of costume jewelry through a perfectly ordinary set of circumstances.”

  “I’m with Raven,” Heidi chimed in, joining us at the door. She’d turned her hat back around and definitely looked like a proper grave robber. Speaking of graves, I had tucked the ring into the front pocket of my black jeans. Neither one of us were taking our purses. This was a quick excursion that shouldn’t take long…twenty minutes tops. “I never thought I’d say this, but are we ready to go sneak into the graveyard and go ghoul hunting?”

  Does Heidi seem a bit too excited for this type of excursion into the cemetery or is it just me?

  Leo and I both watched in dismay as Heidi opened the door with a whistle and not a care in the world that we might be about to confront a monstrously evil supernatural being.

  It did concern me a bit that Heidi thought it would be fun to go ghoul hunting, but she worked with numbers all day. That alone would have anyone wanting to deal with floating phantoms, so I’d cut her a break.

  “Well, Leo,” I replied, setting the satchel on the entry table with resignation before grabbing my keys, “let’s go and make sure I didn’t flub up another spell.”

  Sure. That’s what we’re doing…making sure you didn’t incorrectly cast a spell. I give you credit, Raven. You have the ability to make even the direst of situations sound like a ride on a carousel. This is not going to be a snipe hunt. I just want to go on record that if we find out you conjured up a soul-eating ghoul from the depths of the ninth pit of Hades…I’m not beneath throwing Skippy or his friends at it to buy us a little time. Now, as Heidi said—let’s go ghoul hunting. Sushi sounds good right about now.

  Chapter Three

  I should’ve eaten a little of the catnip I smoked before this ghoul hunting excursion. I heard the minty sanity-saver actually helps prevent heartburn. Did you know that? Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have a ball of fire stuck in my throat. This acid reflux is hotter than Hades.

  “This is really freaking cool,” Heidi whispered in complete awe, gradually skimming the white beam spilling from her flashlight over the various-sized tombstones just inside the wrought iron fence surrounding the graveyard. Some were square, some were in the shape of crosses, and there were even a few moss-covered black stones that had cracked and chipped with age. Leo had mentioned that the larger family crypts were located toward the back of this foggy parcel of land that the city had set aside long ago to give the dead their final resting place. “The last time I broke into a graveyard this late at night was back in high school. What was his name? Oh, yeah. Tommy Poplar, and he was so—”

  I used the back of my hand to smack Heidi on the arm, the small rebuke receiving an audible ouch in reply.

  Wow.

  I just realized that I was becoming more and more like my mother every day.

  Dear Sweet Angel of Mercy—don’t talk such blasphemy in a graveyard.

  Leo’s love/hate relationship with my mother’s renewed interest in Paramour Bay continued to be rather rocky for Leo and me.

  That would be the second time tonight that you’ve sugarcoated the truth, Raven. It didn’t work earlier, and it’s not going to work now. The readers should know that your mother’s demeanor is on par with a soul-eating ghoul. Possibly worse. I need to give that some thought.

  Now wasn’t the time to get into an argument about my mother or her motives for spending more time in town. We were currently still standing outside the crooked wrought-iron gate of the cemetery, and we’d yet to step on consecrated ground.

  Technically, the ground wasn’t truly consecrated in every sense of the word.

  This cemetery allowed people of all faiths or lack thereof to be buried here. A true consecrated burial ground contained only members of a certain faith. That wasn’t quite what the town’s forefathers had in mind when they’d established this plot of land for the burial of their families due to the various religions of the local residents.

  I’d only ever been to this cemetery once, and that was the day we’d buried Nan. The graveyard looked completely different in the obscure shadows of the night with the patches of fog low to the ground, and it didn’t help that the drifting clouds above kept most of the moonlight tucked in tight behind its patchwork blanket.

  You know, maybe this soul-eating ghoul doesn’t much care for the taste of charred fur. Having severe heartburn might come in handy for once. Caroline Abigail Whitley always struck me as a woman with very particular tastes when it came to her evening meal.

  �
�Tell us more about Mrs. Whitley,” I suggested with a cautious scan of the headstones, thinking that maybe having Leo talk while we walked through the cemetery might make this graveyard tour a little less intimidating. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to know more about the woman we were going to visit tonight. “If she was the wife of a founder of this town, she obviously came from old family money.”

  Caroline Abigail Whitley had married into a family of wealth, but she had been born into a very affluent family herself. She married a man by the name of Warren Lawrence Whitley, whose family had been heavily invested in the various marinas and seaports around the area. They were both used to the finer things in life, but it was said that Mrs. Whitley was somewhat difficult to please. Some said she and the husband had a rather distant marriage due to his constant wandering eye. Others say it was an arranged marriage between the families, and that the Missus wanted nothing to do with Mr. Whitley from the start. One thing was for certain…Warren Lawrence Whitley certainly kept his wife in the finest clothes and jewelry to which a woman of her stature was accustomed.

  “What’s Leo saying?” Heidi whispered, the first one to go through the semi-open rusted gate. “I hate that I can’t hear him in situations like these. I’m just saying that he better meow at the top of his lungs if he spots some ghost floating off in the distance. The fun is beginning to wear off, especially since the blonde is usually the first to die off in horror flicks that start out just like this.”

  I quickly caught Heidi up on the interesting tidbits of the Whitley family history as we fell into step beside one another. She had been gung-ho at the start of this adventure, but being in the immersive eerie setting of a dark foggy graveyard deep in the night had a way of changing one’s outlook. It had certainly changed mine.

  Where were the crickets?

  Where was the light coastal breeze we’d been breathing just outside the wrought-iron fence of the cemetery?

  Where was the occasional night owl that liked to ask everyone its favorite question—who?

  It was unnervingly silent as we continued to weave our way through the individual tombstones, mindful of stepping on top of someone’s grave. The drifting clouds parted every now and then to allow the radiant moonlight to brush over a granite headstone here and there, but the lingering effect was an unsettling collage.

  You can let Heidi know that the first indicator to run is when all she sees are my orange and black strands of fur floating in the beam of her flashlight. It’s an affliction, suddenly vanishing in response to terror. I can’t help it, really. Upon further thought, I’d say it’s a rather magnificent instinctive reaction in keeping with the innate desire to live. I can fix my own sushi right here in Paramour Bay.

  The slightest scraping sound could be heard directly ahead of us, causing all three of us to stop in our tracks. Heidi quickly swung the flashlight a couple of inches to the right and left, but there didn’t seem to be anything out of place. Leo had blipped in and out so fast, he reminded me of an old-time black and white movie that constantly flickered. He had left a few floating strands of fur in the white beam of the flashlight as he’d completely disappeared altogether.

  As I said, it’s an affliction. I don’t see anything yet. Do you? It could be Skippy or one of his ninja minions playing games, taking advantage of our situation. I should have rigged a few squirrel traps. We could offer him up as a sacrificial offering. Do ghouls eat squirrels?

  Something scurried across the path in front of us, immediately garnering panic in me and Heidi. We stepped back as fast as we could, Heidi barely keeping hold of her flashlight. I wasn’t so fortunate in the grace department, and I ended up flailing my arms in mini-circles when I realized I’d lost my balance. My effort was fruitless, though, and I eventually ended up on my backside in the grass.

  Ah, my nemesis! See, Raven? I knew Skippy would take advantage of the situation and attempt to rile my anger. Come back here, you rapscallion!

  “For goodness sake, stand up before a hand pops out of the ground and grabs ahold of you,” Heidi muttered a bit breathlessly after we’d both somewhat recovered. Sure enough, Leo had taken off after Skippy in more of a headlong wobble than a flat-out run. His weight issue tended to prevent him from being faster than his prey, but it wasn’t like he would ever hurt another animal, anyway. He was all talk and no follow-through. “I should have asked you if there were such things as zombies. The fun has been totally zapped out of this ghost tour, and now it’s just downright creepy around here.”

  I took ahold of Heidi’s outstretched hand, quickly getting to my feet and brushing off the old grass clippings. Whoever maintained the grounds of the cemetery must have mowed recently.

  “I don’t think you really want to know the real answer to that zombie question,” I replied quietly, pondering over what Heidi’s version of a zombie would look like. Nan had used a necromancy spell to keep Leo from crossing over into the afterlife, so it was a safe bet that the same could be done with a human. Talk about upsetting the balance of things. “Let’s just keep walking back toward the crypts. They shouldn’t be too far away, and Leo knows where we’ll be. He’ll catch up once Skippy gives him a run for his money.”

  We both started forward ever so slowly, but we finally picked up speed and began crossing the cemetery at a brisk pace. Neither one of us wanted to be in the graveyard any longer than necessary.

  “Look,” Heidi finally whispered, not even needing the use of her flashlight anymore. The clouds had parted by the time we reached the back of the huge parcel the cemetery sat on. Sure enough, numerous family crypts were lined up near a chest-high cobblestone wall with wrought iron spikes not as straight as they should have been sticking out of the top of the surrounding structure. I’m sure in the olden days it prevented grave robbers from looting the tombs of those more affluent in society. “I didn’t know that Paramour Bay had so many families who owned these types of burial tombs.”

  I took the flashlight out of Heidi’s hand and focused the white beam onto the plaque of the crypt in front of us to make the names easier to read. Go figure. This particular inscription read Barnes.

  I knew the family quite well.

  We weren’t on the best of terms, but that was because Cora Barnes detested my mother with a passion. Cora was married to Desmond Barnes, and they both owned the malt shop next door to my tea shop. They were definitely well off in the bank account area, if you know what I mean. Desmond’s family owned a lot of the buildings along River Bay, as well as quite a bit of real estate in the surrounding area.

  “It makes sense,” I whispered in response before beginning our cautious stroll parallel to the crypts. The blackness of the cement seemed almost like a damp coat of paint. “Barnes, Sanders, and the Bends all probably have crypts with their ancestors buried here. I don’t recall any Whitleys living in the immediate area, but I’m still meeting a few of the town’s residents every other day. I’ll ask Leo if any descendants remain in town, if he ever tires of chasing wind.”

  Paramour Bay’s population was currently at three hundred and fifty-six now that Heidi had moved here last month. There could be a Whitley or two still in the more prominent neighborhoods that consisted mostly of the waterfront properties. Those residents weren’t known to do their own tea shopping, if you get my drift.

  It was something we could check out tomorrow, if need be. The ring in my pocket could still simply be a replica made by a long distant relative of Mrs. Whitley or there might have been copies made and sold as originals by an unscrupulous jeweler.

  There was a really good chance that Leo had been overreacting to the accidental discovery of the ring.

  Right?

  “There,” Heidi said quietly, pointing her finger toward a crypt that was practically in the middle of the back row. It was somewhat larger than the others, but it was what one would expect of the Whitleys whom Leo had described. After all, they were basically the founders of the small town and had garnered the respect of the newly arrived reside
nts who’d followed to plant their own family roots. “You’re the witch. You should do the honors on opening the doors. That is, if they don’t fall apart. Look at the state of that wood.”

  What Heidi was trying to say was that I was the one who had the ability to fend off a physical attack with the energy I harnessed in the palm of my right hand. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite sure a strong surge of power from the earth would do a thing to something as ethereal as a ghost. That was the main reason why we’d rubbed amaranth underneath our shirts, and I could only hope that the material component did its reputed job.

  My palm was a bit sweaty, but the reason had nothing to do with an innate sense of danger and more to do with the level of humidity. It was still eerily quiet, but that would help in detecting the slightest of noises that could potentially signal we weren’t alone in this graveyard. I wiped my hands down my thighs before reaching forward and gently lifting the latch that held the two old and weathered wooden doors together covering the entrance to the crypt.

  Raven!

  I screamed.

  I’ll admit that it wasn’t my best moment, but Leo’s voice had sliced through the deafening silence with a lethal swipe. I will hand it to Heidi, though. She didn’t leave me hanging. In the belief that I’d actually encountered the ghost of Caroline Abigail Whitley, my best friend had wrapped a death grip around my arm and yanked me back from the partially opened entry to the crypt.

  Where is she? Is she coming after us? Run for your lives!

  Leo disappeared in the blink of an eye while Heidi was still trying to pull me away from the crypt. My adrenaline was pumping, and my heart was beating hard against my chest, but there had been no soul-eating ghoul inside the tomb.

  “Heidi, it’s okay. We’re safe,” I said in reassurance, purposefully shining the flashlight on the cracked opening between the two doors. “See? There’s nothing there. Leo just scared me when he suddenly called out my name like some lunatic.”