The Dead Come Calling

by C. C. Wood

  Jonelle stopped arguing then.

  Fifteen minutes later, Stony, Jonelle, and Audrey were piled in Audrey’s white Camaro and headed off to Jonelle’s little house as Mal and I waved from the parking lot.

  “Think Stony will be all right?” I asked Mal as we climbed into my car.

  “Yeah. The doctor said he’s back to normal.”

  “I meant at Jonelle’s,” I explained.

  Mal smiled. “Definitely. He told me he’s staying with her until all this is over.”

  I stared at him with wide eyes. “Really? Jonelle agreed to this?”

  Giving me a side-long look, Mal said, “Not exactly. But I know I would feel the same way if you had just been drugged. I wouldn’t want you to leave my sight.”

  I didn’t point out that he had already decided I wasn’t supposed to be alone until the situation with the dark entity was resolved.

  “Carissa will be here soon, we should probably get back to the house,” Mal suggested.

  I realized I knew nothing about the woman who was flying in from Atlanta to help me. “Have you known her long?” I asked him.

  “She’s been a close friend of my family for almost ten years,” he answered. “She’s worked with us a few times when we’ve filmed in Georgia and other nearby areas.”

  His explanation did nothing to assuage my curiosity. “What’s she like?”

  He shrugged. “Smart, reserved, and very talented. She’s the only medium I’ve met who can even come close to matching your abilities.”

  “How old is she?” I wondered aloud.

  “Two or three years older than you, I’d say.”

  “That’s younger than I would have expected,” I replied. I wondered if Mal had dated her.

  As if he read my mind, he stated, “We’ve never dated. In fact, I think Blaine might have a thing for her, even though he won’t admit it.”

  I felt my brows lift. While Stony tended to flirt with every woman he met, Blaine lived like a monk. I’d never seen him with a woman or heard him call one. Other than his mother and sister, he’d never mentioned any women that he knew. “Really?”

  Mal glanced at me and winced. “Please tell me you’re not thinking of setting them up.”

  I sighed heavily at his words. “I want to but I have a feeling it would be a bad idea.”

  It was Mal’s turn to be surprised. “Why do you say that?”

  “Blaine strikes me as the type of man who wouldn’t hesitate to make the first move with a woman. If they haven’t dated, it’s likely because he’s already asked and she turned him down.”

  Mal studied me for a moment before turning back to the road. “It’s eerie how well you understand Blaine and Stony after so little time with us.”

  I laughed. “Little time? We’ve practically been living in each other’s pockets for the last three months! I’ve spent more time with the three of you than I have with all my past boyfriends combined.”

  That got Mal’s attention. “All your past boyfriends? How many would that be exactly?”

  I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. “No way am I answering that.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “I’ll tell you what, you tell me how many ex-girlfriends you have and I’ll answer your question.”

  “You know, we should probably grab lunch for everyone since Blaine will be bringing Carissa from the airport a little after noon,” he stated.

  I laughed at his abrupt change of subject and let it go.

  Chapter

  I wanted to smack Mal when Blaine led Carissa through the front door of my house.

  He was correct in guessing her to be around my age, maybe a couple of years older. But what he neglected to mention was that she was drop dead gorgeous. While Jonelle’s mother, Audrey Watson, might be the sexiest woman I’d ever seen, Carissa Greene was the most stunning.

  Her deep auburn hair was long, brushing the middle of her back, and it swayed as she walked, as if it had a life of its own. Her skin was pale but smooth and unblemished. I understood then what the saying “peaches and cream complexion” truly looked like. She was tall and voluptuous, her hourglass shape emphasized by the snug blue dress she wore.

  However, her most striking feature was her eyes. They were large and beautifully shaped, framed by thick, dark lashes. Against the paleness of her skin and fire of her hair, her eyes stood out, shimmering, mysterious pools of deep grey.

  I could certainly understand why Blaine would be taken with her.

  Carissa moved toward me, holding out her hand. “Hello, Zoe. Mal has told me so much about you.” She grinned at me conspiratorially. “And I’ve watched you on the show. I think you’re exactly what these guys needed.”

  In the face of such friendliness, my initial insecurity faded. “Thank you so much for coming to help,” I replied, shaking her hand.

  Before she could answer, Teri appeared to my left at the base of the stairs. “Oh, Jesus, not another scam artist,” she groaned. “Didn’t they learn their lesson the last time?”

  Carissa went still, her hand still clasped in mine, and her eyes seemed to stare through the wall right behind Teri.

  “What happened last time?” she asked. She was looking toward Teri, but her eyes were still unfocused.

  Teri gaped at me in shock. “Holy shit, did she hear me?”

  Carissa laughed. “Of course I can hear you,” she answered. “You’re by the stairs, aren’t you?”

  “You can’t see me?” Teri asked, moving closer to us.

  Nodding, Carissa finally noticed she was still holding my hand and released me.

  “But you can’t see me?” Teri repeated.

  “I’m afraid not,” Carissa replied.

  Reaching out, Teri brushed a hand down her arm and Carissa shivered. “Hey, now. It’s not polite to touch people like that,” she admonished.

  Teri jerked her hand back. “She’s freaking me out,” she said to me.

  I shrugged. “She’s right. We’ve had that conversation about touching people before.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about!” Teri cried. “She can freakin’ hear me! And I wasn’t trying that hard to touch her. She shouldn’t have been able to feel anything more than a cold spot.”

  “You know there are people out there like me, Teri,” I pointed out. “You just haven’t met anyone else yet.”

  Teri stepped back. “Yeah, well, if she can get rid of that shadowy bastard who keeps coming after you, I’ll get over it.”

  I rolled my eyes at her, though I wasn’t as annoyed as I was acting. She hadn’t been speaking much lately. I always felt her presence near me, but she’d rarely manifested except at night when I was getting ready for bed. All night, she would stand sentry while I slept.

  As much as I appreciated her protection, I worried about her. She wasn’t playing pranks on the guys and she wasn’t behaving as her usual perverted self. I wondered what was wrong, because in the years I’d been living in this house Teri had never been this quiet, but I hadn’t had a chance to ask her. I was never without Mal or one of the other guys in the room with me. I had a feeling that whatever Teri was dealing with would require privacy.

  “Yes, well, Teri does have a point,” Carissa stated. “We should get started. From what Mal has told me, you’ve been attacked twice in the last week. For a spirit to manifest to that degree, it would require a tremendous amount of energy, which means it’s strong.”

  I nodded because she was absolutely right. Whatever the dark entity was, it was the strongest I’d ever encountered.

  “Why don’t we sit down and you and Teri can tell me exactly what happened, in your own words?” she requested. “Mal shared your story with me, but it’s always best to get information first-hand. Sometimes the words you choose or your expression can tell me more about what happened than the story itself.”

  “Do you want to sit at the kitchen table so you can take notes?” I asked.

  Carissa shook he
r head, pulling a digital recorder out of her bag. “I prefer to record sessions.”

  I led her into the living room before I remembered my manners. “Would you like something to drink or eat?”

  “A glass of water would be lovely,” she replied.

  “I’ll get it,” Blaine offered, leaving the room.

  After he returned with the glass, Carissa thanked him and I noticed how her cheeks turned a light shade of pink when their fingers brushed. Mal might think that Carissa was indifferent to Blaine but he was wrong.

  Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time to play matchmaker, so I didn’t act on my observation. Maybe later, I decided.

  “Tell me about the first time you encountered the entity, Zoe,” Carissa invited.

  “The very first time or the night I woke up with it in my bedroom?”

  Her head cocked to one side. “The very first time.”

  I told her about the night Hank Murphy crossed over to the other side and the sensations I felt when it pushed through the portal. As I spoke, her body became so still I wondered if she was breathing. She didn’t even blink as her eyes focused on the far wall.

  “Continue,” she prompted me when I fell silent because I wasn’t sure if she was still listening.

  I jumped at her word, but began talking again, telling her about the night that I’d woken up because I couldn’t breathe and finished with the story of what had happened on Thursday night.

  When I completed my account of the events, her eyes suddenly refocused and she blinked rapidly several times. Her face was paler than before but, other than that, she seemed fine. She drank deeply from the glass of water Blaine had brought for her.

  “Thank you, Zoe,” she said finally, replacing the glass. “Teri, I need you to tell me what happened the first time you saw the cloud.”

  Carissa’s gaze was moving around the room, as though she was searching for Teri despite the fact that she wouldn’t be able to see her.

  “I felt him come into the house,” Teri began.

  Before she could continue, Carissa’s faced turned toward Teri and she was looking almost exactly where she hovered. It was eerie because Carissa couldn’t focus on Teri’s body or face, but she was looking in her direction anyway. I was unused to people reacting like that when Teri was around.

  “You felt him come into the house?” Carissa asked. “Do you know how he entered?”

  Teri shook her head before she remembered that Carissa couldn’t see her. “No, I don’t know how he got in, I just…felt it when he came in. It was like the house grew heavy,” she explained. “I’m not sure how else to put it. He felt dark and huge, like a sky of black clouds covering the sun.”

  Carissa nodded as though she understood. “How do you know the entity is male?’ she asked.

  Teri shrugged. “I just know. I couldn’t really see any of his features since he was inside that oily cloud, but it was just clear to me that whatever it was, it was male.”

  Carissa asked Teri to continue and that hazy, dreamy look returned to her features. When Teri completed her story, Carissa drained the rest of her water, her hands shaking slightly.

  I wondered if she was able to do more than speak to ghosts, but didn’t ask because she seemed fragile, as if listening to the events of the last couple of weeks had drained away her energy.

  Carissa looked toward Mal and took a deep breath. “You’re right, this isn’t a ghost.” Her generous mouth thinned into a tight line. “I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I believe that it used the open portal meant for Hank Murphy to move on to the next plane as a means to come here.” Her grey eyes moved to me and I could feel the heavy weight of her stare, as though she saw things a normal woman would not. “I will need help from a friend of mine, Zoe. I merely speak to the dead, but I cannot control or banish them. In order to do that, we will need a witch. Preferably one with considerable power.”

  I nodded, but didn’t speak.

  Carissa rose to her feet. “I would like to get to the hotel room, if you don’t mind,” she stated to Mal. “There is a…well, I guess you’d call it a residue in this house from the evil that’s been done here. I’m afraid that I can’t handle it for more than a few hours at a time.”

  That explained the paleness of her skin and the way her hands trembled lightly.

  She reached out and took my hand. “I will help you rid yourself of this evil, Zoe. It may take a little time, but you’ll be safe.”

  “Thank you, Carissa.”

  She nodded and released me, moving toward the door, her steps slow. She looked frail as though she were in pain.

  “I’ll take her to the hotel and stay with her for a bit,” Blaine murmured to Mal. “Will you be okay here?”

  Mal nodded. “Get her some tea if you can. It seems to help.”

  Once again, Mal’s seeming familiarity with Carissa made me wince inwardly. My earlier thoughts about what sort of relationship they might have had returned with a vengeance, despite Mal’s earlier statement that they hadn’t dated. That didn’t necessarily mean he hadn’t wanted to.

  I tried to shake them off because it would be stupid for me to assume that Mal didn’t have a past. He clearly wasn’t a virgin and neither was I, for that matter.

  As much as I hated to admit it, even to myself, Carissa’s external beauty was a major hurdle for me to get over. I doubted Mal would silently compare me to her when we were together, but my own insecurities reared up and I wondered how in the hell he couldn’t find me lacking.

  I bit back a groan. My train of thought was stupid, immature, and a waste of valuable time. I didn’t even know if Mal had once felt something for her, even if she didn’t return it. Right now, he seemed to be more than happy to be with me rather than her.

  I glanced up to find Mal studying me.

  “Whatever you’re thinking, please stop,” he requested. “You look like someone punched you in the stomach.”

  I smiled, laughing a little. “Really?”

  He reached out and pulled my front into his side so that I was tucked beneath his arm. It felt natural for me to wrap my arms around his waist.

  “Do you think Carissa will be okay?” I asked. “She seemed…shaky.”

  “Yeah, that’s normal for her. She’s not like you, Zoe. Speaking to ghosts isn’t easy for her. It takes a toll after a time. Though she calls herself a medium, I think it’s more likely she’s a psychic with the additional talent of communicating with the dead.”

  I had no idea how those might be different but nodded anyway. It was clear I needed to start learning more about the paranormal now that I’d joined Mal and the guys filming the show. Though I had natural talent, I hadn’t done anything in an effort to learn more about it or develop it.

  Now that I felt accepted, it seemed like a natural progression to begin learning more about myself and more about the things I came into contact with.

  “How long have you known her?” I asked.

  Mal’s face seemed to shut down and I felt my heart sink. “A long time.”

  Something about his expression struck me and I tried to pull back and put space between us.

  He frowned down at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” I replied with a shake of my head. I wasn’t about to reveal my own twisted thoughts and insecurities to him. Not yet. Those sort of things were better left for…never. No one liked a whiny, insecure wimp.

  “Hey,” he said, tilting my chin back with the side of his curved finger. “Talk to me.”

  I huffed out a nearly silent laugh. No way in hell was I going to talk to him about this.

  “Zoe,” he stated firmly. “Talk to me.”

  His arm tightened around me when I tried to step back and I realized that I wasn’t going anywhere. It seemed we were going to have this conversation whether I wanted to or not.

  “Let me go, Mal,” I mumbled. “I just need a little space.”

  He studied me closely for a few moments but didn’t release me. �
�Did Carissa say something to upset you?”

  I shook my head, my eyes focusing on his throat where the collar of his t-shirt rested against his skin. I could see the steady throb of his pulse and smell the subtle scent of the soap I kept in the guest bathroom for my visitors to use. For some reason, it smelled so much better on Mal than it ever did on me.

  He hesitated and I knew, I knew, that he understood what was bothering me. Somehow, he saw right through me. I was hard to read, my ass.

  “Carissa and I have never been more than friends. I told you we didn’t date and I never wanted to,” he explained softly. “She married one of my cousins ten years ago. She’s more like a distant relation to me than anything else.”

  “She’s married?” I asked, lifting my eyes to his.

  That same tight expression reappeared on Mal’s face before he answered, “He’s dead. He’s been gone for nearly six years now.”

  I lifted my hand to his cheek. “I’m sorry, Mal.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. We were never that close, at least not while he was alive.”

  I sensed there was more to the story, but I felt horrible for letting my own juvenile worries bring up bad memories for Mal, so I didn’t ask anything else.

  Instead, I tightened my grip around his waist and hugged him, tucking my face against his chest. “I feel ridiculous,” I muttered against his pectoral.

  I felt the vibration of his chuckle against my forehead. “Don’t. I wouldn’t be happy if I thought you brought an ex-boyfriend of yours into my house.” He paused and squeezed me tighter. “Though I would believe you if you told me you’d never gone out with him.”

  I smiled at his words even as heat spread across my cheeks. “I believed you. I mean, I believed you’d never dated, but I worried that maybe you’d wanted to and she hadn’t.”

  He sighed but didn’t tell me I was an idiot, which I appreciated. I wanted to kiss him for being so tolerant of my ridiculousness, so I lifted my head, rolling up on my toes.