Of Ash and Spirit: Piper Lancaster Series

by D. G. Swank

  I’ll send you the address tomorrow morning.

  Thanks.

  I hoped it was the right decision.

  After I got a glass of ice water, I started to head back into the dining room. The kitchen door opened before I got very far, and Rhys walked in with her backpack and a duffel bag.

  “Okay,” she said. “Spill it. All of it.”

  “Hello to you too.”

  She waved her hand in dismissal. “We’re past that. I could hardly concentrate in class and almost left early to hear what you found out.” She looked me up and down. “You look nice.”

  “Come into the dining room so I can tell the two of you together.”

  “You made Hudson wait? What kind of monster are you?” She cringed. “Oh God, Piper. Sorry. With all that’s going on right now . . . I wasn’t thinking.”

  “She just got home,” Hudson said as he wrote something on his notepad. “And she’s not that touchy.”

  I sat down at the head of the table, to Hudson’s right, and took a big gulp of my water. I suspected I’d be talking for a while.

  Rhys slid into the chair opposite Hudson and dropped her bags on the floor. “You dressed up for Jack, I see. I hope he noticed.”

  I blushed, which only made her grin from ear to ear.

  “I’m not going to tell you anything if you keep that up,” I grumbled.

  “What? I didn’t say anything.”

  I shot her a mock glare. “I have much bigger concerns than my love life. Like the fact there are now at least two demons.”

  “What?” they both shouted.

  I held up my hands. “I’m going to start from the beginning.”

  I considered keeping parts of my evening with Jack to myself, but I really needed their opinion—on just about everything—and secrets wouldn’t help me at this point. “First of all, Othello’s is owned by Jack’s brother and sister, which is how he could get a private room on such short notice. So it wasn’t a date . . . although Becca wanted it to be.”

  “Becca?”

  “His sister. His brother Max cooked a new dish for us to try, but that’s beside the point.” I paused. “This is between us, but Jack has extensively studied demons. A parishioner thought her house was possessed, so he went to check it out. He performed an exorcism and the demon left, but it went outside and attacked him.” I cast a glance at Rhys. “That’s where he got those scars on his back.”

  She cringed.

  “He had some theories about the mark on my hand, but I found out a lot more from Abel.”

  Rhys blinked in surprise. “You saw Abel?”

  “He was outside, watching the restaurant. I saw him on the street corner and ran down to catch him.”

  “You ran out on Jack?” Rhys asked.

  “Tell me you at least tried the chicken,” Hudson said. “I hear their food is to die for.”

  I pursed my lips, then said, “You didn’t hear wrong.” I swung my head around to include Rhys. “Yes, I ran Abel down and blocked his car until he let me inside.”

  “You what?” Hudson asked.

  “Look,” I said, staving off a lecture. “I needed answers and the asshole was holding out.”

  “What happened?” Rhys asked.

  “He let me inside. Then he took me up to Helen’s Bridge.”

  They both looked too shocked to speak.

  “I spoke to Helen. She knows Abel. I guess he goes up there and talks to her. Apparently Helen is the reason the demons are there. She’s a powerful spirit and they feed off her when they emerge from the underworld.”

  They continued to stare at me, so I continued.

  “Apparently there are curse keepers who were supposed to guard the gates to hell, only they must have screwed up and opened them instead. That’s why the Lost Colony reappeared.”

  “Wait,” Rhys said, still looking stunned. “The curse from your dad’s codicil?”

  “Yeah.”

  She grabbed her backpack and pulled out a notebook and pen, then wrote something down. “Starting a list of things to look into. Continue.”

  So I did. I told them all about Helen and Valvad and Thargos and the curse . . . or what little I knew about it.

  “What is Abel?” Rhys finally asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said, “and neither did Thargos. It knew I was the demon hunter that Valvad wanted, but it said I was more—

  “Oh, and it said that something called Okee would be interested in me. That’s when Abel got pissed and used his power to control it.”

  “Who’s Okee?” Hudson asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s going on the list,” Rhys said, tilting her head down and writing.

  “By then, Valvad could sense my power.”

  “You could tell?” Rhys asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “The mark on my hand tingled and burned.” I placed my hand on the table. “Abel told me to bind the lesser demon, but I didn’t know how. Then he said some words I didn’t understand, and a flash of light came from his hand. The demon disappeared.”

  “He killed it?”

  “No,” I said. “I think he just sent it away for a while. We hurried down the hill to meet his driver and headed back downtown.”

  “So you played chicken with the demon that killed Gill,” Hudson said.

  “No,” I said, feeling indignant. “Abel was there.”

  “And what’s to say Abel wouldn’t have served you as a tasty snack to Val?” Rhys asked.

  “He has a purpose for me, and he says I’m not ready yet. He seems concerned about my safety.”

  “Until you’ve fulfilled your purpose,” Rhys said.

  There was that.

  “I know he doesn’t like Jack, although he seems to know his life story. He says he keeps track of everyone who dabbles in demons.”

  “That’s an interesting way to put it,” Hudson said.

  “Yeah.” Then something else struck me. “Jack knew about the Guardians. He said a woman named Miriam Peabody invited him to look at a collection of fourteenth-century weapons. He said he got a bad feeling about her over the phone, so he declined. Later he looked up the name on the website, and he said they were some kind of a doomsday cult.”

  “He’s right,” Hudson said. “I can’t find out much, but everything I did find is doomsday stuff with demons. They’re on a couple of conspiracy theorist websites.”

  “Abel says they aren’t a concern right now.”

  “The conspiracy theorists agree. They say the group is regrouping after being hit by a devastating blow.”

  “Do those sites say anything about them having weapons to kill demons?”

  “That was their goal. To form a collection of them.”

  I stared into his eyes. “We need that collection.”

  Hudson burst out laughing. “Do you think they’ll let you borrow a demon-killing sword if you ask nicely?”

  “No, but if they have what we need . . .”

  Anger filled his eyes. “Out of the question. Your parents’ murderer said that group hired him to kill them—to kill you, Piper. You’re going to stay as far away from those people as possible.”

  “He’s right,” Rhys said. “And you know it. It’s too dangerous. Abel keeps telling you the daggers are somehow connected to the codicil. We should focus on that.”

  I knew they were right, but I couldn’t help thinking the Guardians had information and weapons that could help me. Why had they tried to have me killed? Did they consider me some kind of threat?

  “Piper,” Rhys said sharply. “Promise me you’ll stay away from those people.”

  I hesitated.

  “Piper,” Hudson barked. “Are you serious?”

  I pushed out a breath. “You’re right about the daggers. I need to focus on those until things settle down, so I’ll leave it alone. For now. That’s the most I can promise.”

  Neither one of them looked happy, but they didn’t protest.

  “There are
at least two demons on the loose, but there might be more. Jack said the authorities believed he was attacked by a bear. Hudson, you look into any other possible bear attacks or cases of animals dying for no reason. Sounds like Valvad has been consuming animals’ souls to regain strength. See if you can find more reports of that happening in other places.”

  Hudson’s face paled.

  “Rhys, you look into the Manteo component like we discussed.”

  “Okay. What are you planning to do?”

  “I’m going to search the attic.”

  Chapter Twenty

  After my parents died, Nana sent people to pack up the things in my bedroom and bring them to her house. I had left that restaurant parking lot with my grandparents that night, not to return to my own home for another six long years, and only then because I stole the keys out of my grandmother’s desk drawers.

  Hudson had joined my expedition because I’d been too afraid to face it alone. Everything looked exactly as it had been the day we’d gone out for dinner, only it was cleaner than it had any right to be. Turned out Nana had someone come over to dust it once a month. It was like a time capsule, complete with mail on the kitchen counter, so it was no surprise that my parents’ personal items were still all over the house.

  Between that first visit and the day I turned eighteen and officially inherited the house, I would sneak back home several times using the spare key I’d had made. At first it helped me feel closer to my parents, but as time went on, seeing their things only made me realize how badly I’d been cheated. I shut my parents’ bedroom door and left it shut. Before my visit to the McNamara house, I hadn’t been up there for at least four years.

  The hour I’d spent searching their room before my dinner with Jack had been completely unproductive. I’d gotten caught up in reliving the past, something I didn’t have time for at the moment. But while I got the sense that I wouldn’t find any answers in the bedroom, I figured my odds were better in the attic. I remembered from my childhood that my father had stored a bunch of files up there.

  The house was old enough to have a staircase to the attic and not a pull-down ladder, and thankfully the lights still worked. After seeing Helen and the two demons, I was more than a little freaked out to go up there alone, but I told myself I had to suck it up. My life and the lives of the people I cared about depended on me finding the daggers.

  I didn’t want to think about what I was supposed to do with the daggers. One step at a time.

  The door to the attic was kept locked, so I dug the key out of the kitchen drawer before I headed upstairs. The attic was warm and musty. Multiple rows of file cabinets lined one side, across from an old oak desk and leather desk chair. I stared at that desk, suddenly remembering how Dad had spent a lot of time working on a “special project” the year before he and Mom had been killed. This used to be his makeshift home office.

  Was that when he’d written the codicil? What had happened to elicit it?

  I sat down in my father’s chair and set the keys on top of the desk, wondering why I hadn’t considered any of this after reading the codicil six months ago. Except of course I knew why. I’d been so certain that it was nonsense. I hadn’t thought anything of use could be up here.

  I opened the desk drawers and started to look through the contents, surprised by the messiness. My father had been notoriously neat and organized—Mom had always made fun of him for it—but this looked like it had been ransacked.

  Had my grandparents hired someone to go through Dad’s desk?

  I pulled out my phone and called my grandparents’ landline, relieved when my grandfather answered.

  “Hey, Granddad,” I said. “You’re just the person I want to talk to.”

  “Well, if it isn’t my favorite granddaughter,” he said.

  I grinned to myself even if it was his oldest joke. “I’m your only granddaughter. Sorry if I’m calling too late.”

  “It’s not quite ten o’clock. I’m still up in my library. What can I do for you, Piper?”

  “I have a question about the house. I know that Nana sent people to pack up my bedroom after I moved in with you, but I’m guessing that someone also came and collected the bills and paperwork to deal with my parents’ estate. Do you know who did that?”

  “I did,” he said, sounding solemn.

  “Oh.” I wasn’t sure why his answer caught me off guard. It made sense that he’d deal with it himself rather than hire someone. “Do you know where he kept all his paperwork? Did you find it in his attic office?”

  “He had an attic office?”

  I waited a second, expecting him to say he was joking, but it soon became apparent he hadn’t known. “He kept file cabinets and a desk up here.”

  “You’re working on the requirements of the codicil,” he said, sounding surprised.

  “Don’t tell Nana, okay? She’ll get her hopes up, and you and I both know this is hopeless.”

  “You know she’s torn up over it, Piper.”

  “I know, which is why I don’t want you to mention it. Let’s just see if I can pull off a last-minute Hail Mary. But I’m sorting through Dad’s attic desk, and it looks like someone’s gone through the drawers. Dad could never stand disorganization. I thought you might have an idea of who could have done it.”

  “The only people who’ve been in the house were the people your grandmother hired to pack up your room, me, and the monthly cleaners, but none of them would have known where to find a key.” He paused. “You think someone broke in and went through your father’s things?”

  I stood and opened a file cabinet drawer. It was completely empty. Another drawer, also empty. I knew for a fact Dad had kept files in all of them. But if I told my grandfather, he’d freak out and probably call the police. I wasn’t eager to deal with Asheville’s finest, and if someone had broken in, I suspected it had happened years ago. Fifteen to be precise. “No, Granddad. I was a kid. My memories are faulty.”

  “Are you sure, Piper?” He sounded worried.

  If he only knew what was really going on in my life. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

  “I haven’t seen you in weeks. I know you and your grandmother don’t always see eye to eye, but don’t cut me out too.”

  “Sorry. I’ll try to come to Sunday dinner soon.”

  “I know your grandmother can be hard to live with, but she really does love you.”

  “I know. And I love you both too.”

  I hung up and started going through all the cabinet drawers. Every single file was gone. Somebody had cleaned them out. I wasn’t sure what my dad had kept in there, but there was a chance someone from the law firm had come by and picked up all the files. They could have left behind the mess in the drawers too. Linda, my dad’s assistant, still worked at the firm, so I could go by in the morning and find out what she knew.

  Defeated, I headed back downstairs, finding Hudson and Rhys at the dining room table.

  “The fact that you’re back so soon—and empty-handed to boot—must mean you struck out,” Hudson said.

  “Someone cleaned out all of Dad’s files. I called Granddad and asked him if he knew anything about it, but he didn’t even know Dad used to keep things up there. I’m going to the law firm tomorrow to ask his old assistant if she knows anything about it. How are you two doing?”

  Rhys looked pale as she patted the table next to her. “I think you should sit down.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Why. What happened?” When she didn’t answer, I pulled out the chair and sat, turning toward her. Hudson moved his laptop to the side, obviously interested in this too.

  “Piper, what do you know about your extended family on your dad’s side?”

  “Nothing really. I know he came from the Outer Banks area. I think his dad had a falling-out with his father and moved to Asheville. Why? What did you find?”

  She took a deep breath, then said, “I looked up news in Manteo, North Carolina, fifteen years ago. It took a little
digging, but I found something.” She paused. “A month before your parents were murdered, a woman was murdered in Manteo.”

  “Okay . . . ,” I said, trying to stay calm.

  “Her name was Amanda Lancaster.”

  My blood turned to ice. “Lancaster?”

  “Her husband was on the city council, and the authorities thought she was killed by a man who was disgruntled over a zoning issue. But her murderer disappeared and they never found him.”

  “It could be a coincidence,” I said, feeling light-headed. But I knew it wasn’t.

  “They just never caught the guy in Manteo to get his confession,” Hudson said. “And the guy who killed your parents mentioned the incident in Manteo.”

  “The guy was looking for her daughter,” Rhys said quietly.

  My peripheral vision began to fade. “What?”

  “The police said he broke in asking for the Lancasters’ eight-year-old daughter. But the mother stopped him, and he killed her instead before he took off.”

  “And how did they find out any of this if they didn’t catch the guy and the mother died?”

  Rhys held my gaze. “The little girl was in the house.”

  I felt a sudden kinship with this girl who shared my last name. “How did Amanda Lancaster die?” I asked. “Did he shoot her?”

  “She was stabbed.”

  Stabbing someone seemed so much more personal than pulling a trigger. There were cleaner ways to execute someone. Less emotional.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any more, and yet the questions came tumbling out. “Why? Why would the Guardians do this? What’s the point? Why destroy so many people’s lives?”

  “I don’t know,” Rhys said, “but we’ll keep digging until we find out.”

  “We don’t even know for sure that she’s part of my family tree,” I said.

  “Except you said your father’s family is from the Outer Banks, and the curse is clearly tied to the Lost Colony. Roanoke Island isn’t very big, Piper.”