But Ferrets Can Never Hurt Me

by Nhys Glover

  “There are wards you can put up to protect your home from ghosts,” Jason suggested.

  Jake’s tense expression eased as he realized the detective wasn’t looking at him like he was crazy.

  “But that would be a problem for Daphne. We can’t keep one out and not the other. And Daphne is tied to the house as Squib is tied to Jake. Though he can get several hundred yards from him.”

  Jason nodded, seeing my problem.

  “Come on, I’ll show you the chamber,” Jake offered, far more welcoming now.

  I let the two of them go without me. If they were cousins, as I was starting to believe, then I wanted them to establish a relationship independently of me.

  What was troubling me, though, was the fact that nobody had heard from Jason’s uncle since he left town. He’d disappeared as surely as Bryce’s father had done. Yes, people got lost on the streets of big cities all the time. But two men from pagan families? That had to be unusual, surely.

  Was I just trying to find more connections where there weren’t any? Would I be looking for Commies under the bed next?

  Could I get Jake to tell me about his past? He’d told me he was ten when he first started sleeping rough. Did his mother die then? If no father was listed on his birth certificate, maybe he wasn’t on the scene for more than a one-night-stand.

  Did witches throw their DNA around so freely? It seemed to go against the community-orientated culture I was starting to learn about. Not that I knew for sure. It was just a sense I had about them.

  I took the books back to their hiding place before sitting down with the notes, to do my ‘homework’. Luckily, Mason’s handwriting was neat and easy to read, and he was succinct, using bullet points. He was writing about the night sky, which covered the ceiling of the chamber. But instead of being a picture of just one particular night sky, it turned out that each direction reflected the position of the stars at four different times of the year, on the two equinoxes and the two solstices. It was important to harness the energies of the stars at those potent times, to work magic.

  But the summer solstice was already on us. It would be another three months for the next equinox. As I read, I realised there were also other points of power, and the next would be Lammas at the beginning of August, six weeks away. Six weeks seemed too long. The monster could have done an immense amount of harm by then.

  The next section focused on Venus, which was always visible on the four quadrants of the ceiling. There were points of power there too. When Venus was prominent and in alignment with other powerful planets for instance. This was astrology, I guessed. Could I do a Google search and see what planets aligned with Venus in the next weeks? That might have to do the job, rather than wait until August.

  I tried to digest what I could of the different times of potency in the year. They all started to blur in my mind by the time Jake and Jason came up from the chamber to find me.

  “I’ll keep you abreast of what’s happening with the escaped beastie, and I’ll start tracking down what I can find on this white-haired older man. If I can place him at Andrews’ house around the time of the murder I have a legitimate cause to seek him out as a person of interest,” Jason told me.

  I rose from the desk and came to see him out. “Good. I’m glad you’re on our side, Jason. It’s a relief, actually. I’d started to think I would be blamed for Mr Andrews’ death.”

  “No murder weapon was found on the premises and as you were seen entering and exiting the house, there was no way you could have disposed of it. Also, there was no DNA evidence of your presence in the room. You were both wise to remain at the door.”

  I sighed in relief. “That’s good to know. Thanks for telling me. As I wasn’t completely honest when we were interviewed, I couldn’t help feeling guilty.”

  “Honest people react like that around the police. We expect it. But Watkins will soon be out on bail, so you’ll need to watch out. Of course, if his associate is the murderer, I assume you need to be careful now. Good thing you have Jake. For a crim, he’s a decent bloke.”

  He threw a teasing glance Jake’s way. My bodyguard gave a disgusted grunt of amusement. I could see the ‘decent bloke’ opinion was also Jake’s new attitude to the detective as well.

  It felt good to have at least one member of the police on our side.

  Chapter Eight

  Blood coated my face and hands, bright red and smelling of copper. I tried to wipe it away, wondering where it had come from. It seemed to be dripping down from above. Big dollops fell like the heavy raindrops before a deluge.

  Above me I could see a room, as if there was a glass floor between it and this one. From this odd angle I could see Mr Andrews’ body lying on the floor, his ghastly wounded head turned in my direction. Blood from his body was raining down on me.

  Above him stood a white-haired man with a collapsible nightstick dripping blood. The man looked from his handiwork to me. His expression of satisfaction suddenly turned to fury as he realised I’d seen him commit his crime. I knew he was coming for me, to silence me.

  I turned to run, only to realise the floor beneath me was stone and a huge fissure had opened up, revealing thousands of ubervamps looking up at me, just as they’d looked up at Buffy in the TV series.

  I couldn’t jump over the fissure. It was too wide. But if I stayed where I was Mr Andrews’ killer would get me. Desperately, I looked around for another way out. I saw Mason in a doorway to my left and Jake in another to my right. When I started in Jake’s direction, he started walking away. Frantically, I turned in Mason’s direction. He didn’t seem to see me at all. As if I were a ghost.

  Was I a ghost? Was I dead? Had the blood covering me been mine all along? No, no, I couldn’t be dead! I began to scream and scream for someone to hear me. But only the ubervamps seemed to notice. And my screams only drove them into a greater frenzy.

  I woke to find Jake shaking me. The relief that he hadn’t left me had me flopping like a rag doll against his bare chest.

  “I thought you’d gone. I thought you’d gone,” I whimpered against hot, clean-smelling skin.

  “I’m not gone, Alfie. I’m still here. You’ve got nothing to fear. I’m here.”

  “He knows I know... He knows I know what he did and he’s coming for me,” I croaked out, the panic of the dream still with me. But Jake was here and that made it better.

  “It was a dream, Alfie. A nightmare. Was it Andrews’ death you saw?”

  I nodded, feeling my cheek running up and down his smooth hot skin. The sensual delight of it had me wanting to keep doing it, like a cat rubbing its head against a surface.

  “I expected you to have nightmares about it. But that’s all it was, just a nightmare. Do you want to talk about it?”

  I shook my head this time. The sensation wasn’t quite as good, because my nose bumped into his hard flesh.

  “Then lie down and try to get some more rest. You had the light on until late. Were you reading?” he asked, his voice a ribbon of black velvet in the shadowy room.

  “The notes Mason made. It was my homework,” I joked as he lay me down.

  Suddenly the thought of him leaving me alone in the dark filled me with terror. Brave Wonder Woman Me was gone and in her place was a pathetically terrified mouse.

  Clinging to his arm, I pleaded with him not to go.

  “I’ll sit with you until you drift off,” he offered, though I could tell by the tired slump in his shoulders that he was exhausted.

  “Lie next to me,” I said. “I’ll never be able to sleep if I’m anxious about you sitting uncomfortably there.”

  For a moment I thought he was going to refuse. Then, with a deep sigh, he walked around to the other side of the bed and climbed onto it, staying above the sheet. Without consciously thinking about what I did, I turned into him and rested my head on his shoulder, curling up like one of my pets against him.

  Where were they? Still hiding from me? All I knew was that I’d shut my bedroom door
so they couldn’t come in during the night.

  I could hear Jake’s heartbeat thumping steadily under my ear. When he began brushing my hair with his fingertips, the soothing strokes lulled me back to sleep once more. I was safe. While ever Jake was close, I was safe.

  In some part of my mind I sensed Jake’s warmth disappear. I thought I heard him say, “I can’t do this.” And I felt fear coming off him. But I was too deeply under to be able to struggle back to the surface.

  The morning brought with it a pair of wet noses pressed in on either cheek. Grumbling, I pushed the furry bodies away and sought the smooth hard one I needed so desperately. It wasn’t there.

  Memory of Jake’s words returned to me, and I knew he was gone. Had sleep been impossible with me attached to his side like a limpet? Maybe his arm had gone to sleep because I was lying on it. Maybe I snored. There were a dozen possible reasons for him having left last night. But the end result was the same. I was alone in my bed with only two furry companions to keep me from feeling my loneliness.

  Resolutely, I climbed out of bed. Jake had been there when I needed him. He didn’t have to be there every moment of my day and night. If I grew too used to his presence, it would be all the more devastating when he left. Because he would leave. He’d made that abundantly clear. This was for a brief time only.

  The memory of him walking away from me in the dream hit me squarely in the chest again. But having Mason not see me was almost as bad. I understood that part of the dream, at least. Because Mason refused to acknowledge my ability to see ghosts, it was as if he refused to see me. Couldn’t see me.

  After a quick shower, I went in search of a good cup of tea to drive the last of the dreams from my mind. Today was a new day. I had a great deal I needed to face. I couldn’t do any of it if I wasn’t at the top of my game.

  In the kitchen I found Jake cooking breakfast, Daphne leaning over him, micro-managing his preparation. Squib sat at the kitchen table staring at the other two, as if trying to understand the pleasant little domestic scene he was witnessing. In that instant I hated my aunt. I hated that she was beautiful and confident and that Jake flirted with her.

  What had he said? A beautiful woman whispering sweet nothings in his ear could drive him insane? Something like that. Did Daphne enjoy getting him aroused? Had he left my bed last night so he could be lulled to sleep with Daphne’s sexy words in his ear, instead of my snores?

  “At least he’s showing more taste,” Squib told me, noticing my presence in the doorway.

  Both my aunt and my body-guard/friend looked up at Squib’s words. Daphne backed away guiltily, and Jake acted as if nothing was wrong. He smiled at me and showed me the omelette cooking in the frying pan.

  “You up for this?” he asked.

  I nodded, swallowing down the bitchy jealous comments that came to mind. But Daphne could see them on my face, and her chagrin didn’t make me feel any better.

  “I was just helping,” she told me.

  “Helping?” Jake said into the ether.

  “With the breakfast. I had a Cordon Bleu chef as a lover for a while, and he showed me how to turn omelettes into soufflés. Mouth-watering!”

  “But you weren’t—” Jake began, confused.

  Squib spoke over her. “Caught in a lie there, pretty lady? Maybe you’ll have to be satisfied with one of your own kind.”

  “Oh, shut up, Squib. What do you know about it? Nothing that comes out of your mouth is ever nice,” Daphne fired back in annoyance.

  “There’s a lot of very nice things I could do with this mouth,” he boasted, a smug grin on his face, now he had my aunt’s attention.

  “You can keep that mouth away from me,” was the snippety come-back.

  “Oh, sweetness, and we were gettin’ on so well,” he crooned sarcastically.

  “We were working together toward what I thought was a common goal. Now I know you were just trying to find a new way to get at Jake. And I won’t help you with that!” she huffed.

  While the two ghosts argued, I sat at the table and let Jake put a hot cuppa and an omelette in front of me.

  “Sleep all right?” he asked, with a sympathetic smile.

  “Fine. Just fine,” I lied.

  I didn’t want him to know I missed him after he left, even if I wasn’t fully awake to do so consciously.

  “Training after breakfast?” he asked, going back to the stove to cook up an omelette for himself.

  My nose twitched as the spices in the vegetable omelette hit my senses. The man could cook, with or without my aunt’s assistance. After a sip of tea, made just how I liked it, I dug in. If yesterday and the day before were any indications, I would need all the sustenance I could get.

  “If Mason arrives soon, I’ll need to debrief with him before I train. Who knows what state I’ll be in after being knocked down a few more times. I might be punch drunk.”

  Jake grunted in amusement. “Imagining you any kind of drunk is a stretch, Princess. You take control to a whole new level.”

  I stared at him in confusion. Was he insulting me? Was he calling me a control freak? Did he think I had a stick up my butt most of the time and couldn’t unwind?

  Jake must have registered my expression because he bit back a curse and suddenly became busy with his cooking. There was no explanation, just that mean-edged observation.

  Instead of arguing with him over it, I finished my meal and took my hurt feelings off with me to the library to get out the books.

  After that, I went to the solar to access an on-line astrology site, to see what planets aligned with Venus in the coming weeks. The glass solar was chilly in the early morning, but it was the best place to access the net. So, I grabbed a jersey from the downstairs cupboard to keep me warm.

  Fred skittered around my feet, but he made no other effort to attract my attention by bad behaviour. Maybe he sensed I wasn’t in the mood to deal with his high-jinx.

  I quickly learned that Venus never strayed very far from the sun in the heavens and so right now with the sun in Cancer, Venus was in Leo and opposing Mars, whatever that meant. I couldn’t seem to find any conjunctions, which meant Venus and the other planets shared the same space in the sky. Of course, once a day the moon would be in the same place in the sky as Venus, but that was not a powerful enough connection, given the brevity of it. But there was a Full Moon at the end of the month, a few days away, and Venus would be rising in the night sky at the time, adding to its potency. Did we have enough time between now and then to arrange the gathering to catch the beastie?

  I just didn’t know enough about it to be planning a monster-catching event so fast. Then there was Watkins to contend with.

  “What is it?” Jake demanded softly, coming into the solar to find me pulling my hair out, quite literally.

  “Nothing. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine...” I mumbled, refusing to look at him.

  He strode over to where I sat at the small table and hauled me to my feet. With one gentle hand he lifted my face up so I couldn’t avoid looking at him.

  “What is it?” he demanded again.

  “I’m trying to work out when the best time for casting this capturing spell might be. We missed the Summer Solstice, which was on Friday, and the next major point of power is in six weeks. But there’s the full moon on Thursday, but I’m not sure there’ll be enough alignments to go with it. Venus needs to be involved. And I just can’t... I just can’t...”

  He gave me a little shake. “Stop it. You’re working yourself into a state. Is this because of that dream last night? I told you, I won’t let Watkins get you. I promise.”

  “You went away. In the dream and in the night. You went away. And you will go away soon. You said so. And I don’t think I can do this without... without you,” I choked out, sobs surging up to wrack me to the core.

  He pulled me into his warm arms, holding me there, even though I struggled to get away. Getting used to his hugs was a mistake. I had to get used to dealing with st
uff alone. No, not alone. I had lots of help. Just not his.

  “Stop it, Alfie. Stop struggling. I’m here. I’m here. And I’m sorry I left you last night, but I got too comfortable. Being with you is too comfortable. I can’t do what I have to do if I’m too comfortable.”

  I relaxed against him, like a bird trapped in a man’s hands. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would break free of my chest.

  “You flirt with Daphne,” I muttered on a sniff, trying to wipe at my tear-stained face.

  I must look a sight. Jake must see me as a watering can, the way I was always crying.

  I heard the laugh as a deep resonating boom under my ear. What was so funny? I felt instantly indignant.

  “You’re jealous of a ghostly voice? Really?” Jake said, between gales of laughter.

  I punched him in the side. It didn’t even register. “Stop laughing at me. Daphne is your type. And you should see how she fawns all over you. And she knew exactly what she was doing. All that talk about helping with breakfast.”

  Jake eased me away from him, still grinning broadly. “I shouldn’t like it that you’re jealous. I hate clingy women. But this... this is just so ridiculously funny.”

  I pouted and tried to pull away from him completely. It was like trying to get out of the grip of an octopus.

  “Stop it, Alfie. You can’t get away. Just calm down, for shite’s sake. This is stupid.”

  I knew I was being stupid. I could see it with that part of myself that stood back and watched the dramas. But I couldn’t stop myself. I’d gone and done it. In a few short days and because of a few kind gestures, I’d fallen in love with this criminal. This bad boy who broke hearts as a matter of course.

  He was laughing at me the way he’d laughed at the tattoo artist. But I wasn’t going to laugh it off like she did. That level of self-respect was beyond me.

  “I’m sorry,” I sniffled. “It was the dream. Seeing Mr Andrews’ blood everywhere and thinking it was mine. And the white-haired man looking at me like he hated me... and you walking away and Mason not seeing me... It was just too awful.”