“I’m not sure. There were sounds in the house.”
“You can’t convince me a ghost was scared.”
“I drift,” she said. “Often, I’m not sure of how much time has passed.”
I groaned. One might think the ghost avoided giving me a straight answer, but I knew what she meant. During my time outside my body, if I relaxed too much and let my mind wander, I would drift into nothingness. That’s the best way I know to describe it. The world around me ceased to exist, and I ended up in a void, but I didn’t see this void. I was a part of it. I was nothing. The world was nothing. Long periods of time passed while there, and truly the only way I think I returned or evaded this place was that Ian used to call me. I heard his voice straight into the void, and he never failed to bring me back.
“Lily, do you think you lost your memory going into the void?”
She stared at me and then dipped closer. Her misty gaze met mine. “You know about the void, don’t you? You’ve been a part of it?”
I hesitated and then said, “Yes, many times.”
“I knew it! But how? You’re vampire.”
“I’m vampire now. I wasn’t born this way—the first time. I died, sort of. Long ago.”
“Tell me all about it,” she squealed with excitement.
I stood and headed for the bathroom. “I don’t have time. I have to interview some people.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.” I shut the door in her face and turned on the shower. She appeared in the bathroom with me. “Lily! Can I have some privacy?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” She flattened her hands on her cheeks and then laughed. “Guess I can’t blush anymore.”
Still chattering, she whisked through the door, and I moaned. In case she forgot herself again, I undressed at top speed and zipped into the shower. I wasn’t ashamed of this body or the last one, but really a woman didn’t need to flaunt it all over the place—especially not for other women—if she didn’t swing that way. I smirked at my thoughts and finished cleaning up, brushed my teeth, and dressed. When I left the bathroom, Lily met me at the door to the street.
“I said you’re not going.”
“I’m bored.”
“You’ve had”—I eyeballed her clothing—“decades to get used to it.”
Still, she followed me down the steps and to the street. I could have used my speed, but from experience, I knew a ghost was faster. She could be wherever she wanted at will. Then again, if she didn’t know where I was going, she couldn’t will to be there. I think.
I pondered the idea and remembered Ian calling me a very ignorant ghost when I first became one. Lily wasn’t so ignorant. She knew about the vampire’s chant and probably a great many other things. Perhaps when one is fully dead, as I wasn’t at that time, one instantly knows.
I stopped walking and faced her. “Lily, can all nonhumans see you?”
“Not all. There are some that don’t have good sense of smell. There are some that can’t see what’s not physically in front of them. There are—”
“Can shifters of any kind see you?”
“Most. Yes.”
“If you’re invisible?”
She nodded. “They can smell me.”
I rubbed a hand over my eyes.
“You’ll always know where I am, Rue,” she said as if it was a special gift. “I can’t think of anything vampires aren’t able to detect.”
I opened my eyes. “Except other vampires.”
She tilted her head and looked at me in confusion. “Ohh, of course, but that gets better with age, doesn’t it?”
“Tell me this,” I demanded. “Are all ghosts founts of knowledge?”
She beamed. “Thank you.”
Then a wonderful idea popped into my own ignorant head. My friend, Bill, would make everything better—I hoped.
Chapter Four
On my way to the library for the nonhuman population, I wondered if ghosts could enter freely just as any other nonhuman. Humans were barred from the library run by my friend, Bill, but any other creature that didn’t have malice in their hearts against another visitor of the library were welcome. As often happened, I got notions. Like the notion of whether ghosts could hold malice, and if they did, would they cross Bill’s barrier? After all, Lily could be angry at any random being enough to want him or her dead, but what could she do about it? With that in mind, could she visit the library?
I put the question to Lily but got back a huff in answer, indicating her offense.
“That’s rude, Rue,” she complained as she continued to follow me. “Why would I want to kill anyone? I know this lonely existence, and I wouldn’t wish it on another soul.”
“Well, that answers the question as to if you have dark intent,” I said, without feeling.
She pouted at me, and I ignored her. Not even insulting her could change her mind about clinging to me. When I reached the area where the abandoned building lay, I passed the wrought iron gate onto the property. As before, light illuminated the darkness. Where there had been boarded up windows, there was now a warm, welcoming glow. Holes where one could see straight through to the dilapidated roof were filled in.
I glanced over my shoulder to find Lily still dogging my heels, but rather than focusing on me, she stared at the library in wonder. This didn’t prove anything yet. We had to cross the doorway into the library itself.
I led the way and opened the door. Sometimes when I visited the library, Bill was nowhere to be seen. Calling out to him produced nothing. My suspicion ran the gamut that Bill enjoyed hiding and watching his visitors to see what they would do, or he didn’t want anyone to know just how often he forsook his duties to buy tacos, his favorite—and as far as I knew, only—food. On other occasions, Bill was right there in the lobby to welcome me.
Today was a day of greeting, not for me but for Lily. “Welcome to the library,” Bill said, staring at Lily. “How may I be of assistance?”
I smirked, hands on my hips. “Hello, Bill.”
He dragged his gaze away from the will-o’-the-wisp to smile at me. “Hello, Rue. It’s always good to see you.”
“I wasn’t sure you had.” I gestured to the ghost. “Bill, this is Lily. Please tell me how to get rid of her.”
His eyes widened. “Get rid of her? Why would you want to do that?”
Before I could answer, Lily floated closer to Bill and circled him at her leisure, taking in every detail of his outfit. Apparently, Bill hadn’t moved on from his fascination with all things Justice League. I thought she might laugh or at most snicker, but it seemed the confusion in her expression lay not in Bill’s clothes but in the man himself. “What are you?”
Her query answered my question of whether she knew everything. I drew myself up importantly and said, “Everyone knows Bill is De—”
“I’m a librarian,” he interrupted. “This building is my domain, where I share all kinds of knowledge with the visitors who come here. My sole purpose is to serve you.”
Lily blinked, too cute for words. “Serve me?”
Bill had the grace to blush. “The general you, the nonhuman public.”
“Oh.” Lily nodded, a little daunted but not dimmed.
“Would you like something to drink?” he offered.
“Bill, really?” I scolded him, but he disregarded me. As he had done the first time I visited, he led the way to his special place, the kitchen. I was curious, so I followed. The one thing I was sure of was that Bill knew Lily was a ghost, and ghosts draw energy from humans. I hoped he didn’t happen to have one or two stuffed in the freezer for the occasion of a visiting ghost.
Bill opened the refrigerator and withdrew two bottles, shaped like the old-fashioned jugs that milk came in in the former days. He popped the caps off both and handed the one with blood in it to me. I took it with my thanks, but my gaze remained on the bottle he held out to Lily. The liquid, if I could call it that, sparkled like Bill had filled a jug with tiny flecks of
glitter.
Lily’s transparent feet touched the floor, and then she became solid. She took the offering and raised it to her lips. Her eyes widened with one sip, and she almost cooed with delight. “Energy! It’s human energy! But how can you get it in here, Bill?”
He grinned, pleased with himself. “I do everything within my power to make sure my patrons are satisfied. The library is a place of refuge and tranquility.”
Lily took another sip of the drink and scanned the kitchen with an expression of wonder. “It is. I love it so far.”
“I’m glad.” He turned to me. “Can I have a quick word with you, Rue?”
“Sure.”
He touched the end of the bottle as Lily raised it to her lips, and I swear the amount inside increased. Of course, it could have been my imagination because I was so curious about his power.
“Excuse us just a moment, Lily,” Bill told her. “We won’t be long.”
The ghost mumbled something around guzzling her drink, and Bill led me back to the front room of the library. I faced him as soon as we were out of Lily’s earshot and pointed to the closed kitchen door. “Tell me you didn’t kill some human to get that energy, Bill.”
“You better than anyone know it’s possible to draw energy from humans without killing them, Rue.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
He stood there looking so serene, so similar to the annoying ghost that I wanted to throttle him. When his eyebrows rose, I grumbled under my breath. Bill had a habit of reading my thoughts. I didn’t control them except when I thought it might anger him. After all, you go digging through a person’s head, you get what you get. My tightened lips and glare said as much.
“I don’t want you to tell Lily I’m Death.”
That surprised me. Bill had never hidden his origins from me. He’d been a death dealer, a grim reaper, for many centuries, and one day he just decided to quit. Come to think of it, he didn’t hide that background from me, but did he let it be known to others? Bill made a point of showing impartiality to one and all, but I liked to call him a friend.
“Why not? Besides, you’re not actually Death anymore, right? You quit?”
“My abilities haven’t been stripped from me.”
I thought of Death who I had seen at the hospital, surrounded by darkness, cool, powerful, and scarcely raising a finger to draw the old man’s soul from his body. Then I recalled how that being had also drawn some of Georgia’s energy from her so that she would pass out. The whole experience was very scary.
“You can still do that?” I asked, knowing he had reviewed my memories with me.
“Yes.”
I couldn’t tell by his reaction how he felt about seeing his fellow death person perform his old duties from my head. That is, if he did see it in pictures and not just hear it retold with my inner commentary. “How do you know? Is it because you drained that person for Lily’s drink?”
“No,” he said. “My power is a part of me. I assume it is similar to how you know when the sun will rise without seeing it.”
“That’s self-preservation.”
He shrugged. “I also assume it can be taken away and that I will know when it is.”
“When? You expect someone to come looking for you at some point? Maybe you’ve fallen through the cracks or been put way down on the to-do list?”
“Perhaps.”
“Well, don’t worry. I won’t give away your secret, but she can tell you’re different.”
“We’re all different.”
I snorted. “Okay, will you tell me how to get rid of her?” I started looking around the stacks, running my hands over the books. Up to now, I hadn’t explored any of them. I asked Bill whatever I wanted to know, and he told me. One would think after having been a teacher in my previous life, I would jump at the chance to read books. I don’t know why I avoided it now. Maybe I expected to have a bout of melancholy and long for what I could no longer have.
“There are so many books here. I want to read them all!”
I whirled, finding Lily had joined us. She was still solid and standing next to Bill. Just as before he stared at her, completely lost. Bill had once told me he left his former job because he was tired of taking life. He wanted to live it and see what was out in the world. I had thought how funny it was he trapped himself in a new job that meant he couldn’t go anywhere to see this life he was so interested in.
Then again, as a grim reaper, Bill must have traveled all over the world. One night in New York, the next in Tokyo, all to drag people unwilling to go with him. Maybe some were ready, but I know when my time came, I sacrificed everything to stick around for my son Jake. Things never work as we plan.
In a way, Bill did get to see and experience more. He wore any wacky clothes he liked and he must meet characters of all kinds at the library. If he did venture into the streets of New Orleans, then he got to interact with humans within ordinary circumstances. Even tied to the library, Bill’s life was radically different.
“Would you like to spend some time here?” he asked Lily. I realized he hadn’t answered my question about the procedure to drive her away.
Lily’s mouth formed an O. “Really?”
Bill turned red with embarrassment, and he lowered his gaze to the floor. “If you want. I mean you don’t need sleep, and you’re no longer tethered to your house.”
“How did you know?” she asked in wonder.
“He read it in my mind,” I blurted. “Bill is very nosy, Lily, so guard your thoughts.”
Now she blushed. Her color didn’t actually change, but it was obvious from the hands to her cheeks.
I wandered over to her. “Are you thinking about Bill right now, Lily?”
The ghost let out a shout that bordered on a ghostly wail. She went completely invisible, yetI knew where she was at all times. In fact, she gave off such energy I saw her outline without any problems.
Bill scowled at me. “Don’t you have business to take care of, Rue? A wolf in trouble?”
“Lily—”
“Can stay here with me,” he finished. “For the time being.”
I knew then he wouldn’t tell me how to get rid of her. There were many books inside the library, from what he had shared, that offered the information of how to kill a vampire, a werewolf, or any other nonhuman. There had to be one for ridding oneself of a ghost.
Bill offered himself as a servant to visitors to share all the knowledge in the library. His rules were such that you couldn’t come onto the grounds if you wanted to kill another of the patrons present. Since I wasn’t repelled, he knew I didn’t want to “kill” Lily, so he was already violating his own policies. Impartial my pattootie, not when it came to Death having a crush.
I left the library and Lily in Bill’s capable hands. My intent was to go straight to talk to the cat shifters, but before I could get far my cell phone rang. When New Orleans Police Department flashed on the screen, I grew worried and answered.
“Rue.”
“Violet, why are you calling me on this line? The last time you called, your name came up. I saved it in my phone.”
She coughed. “I sort of broke mine.”
“You sort of broke it?”
“That’s not important. Where are you?”
“I was on my way to do your job, talk to the cats.”
“That can wait. I need you to come with me.”
“Where?”
This time I heard the fear in her voice. “It’s Nathan. I don’t think he’s going to make it through the day.”
I hissed, feeling my eyes burn. “Explain!”
“He’s so out of control, crashing into the walls, punching them. The humans can’t get in to stop him. He’s injured a few. Rue, they’re going to notice pretty soon his strength is beyond anything they’ve seen, and even if they get drugs in him, they’ll just wear off within an hour.”
I shook my head, but this wasn’t anything foreign to me as I was the same. The di
fference was, I came in a tiny package. Nathan was massive in height and build. He could fling a human aside using only his baby finger.
“Violet, if he were completely out of his mind he would have shifted by now. I’ve seen him blank and go after demons without a thought to whether any humans were around.”
“That’s demons. Everyone knows Nathan can’t abide demons. He’ll never be rational when it comes to them, but he wants to protect the humans. I know it’s killing him inside seeing himself hurt them. Help me.”
How was I supposed to help? I recalled how hard it was for me to hold onto Nathan when he was determined to go after a demon. We had never fought head on. We never needed to because we were friends. Did she expect me to go in there and hold his hand? I bet the humans would just love that.
“All right, get me in, and I’ll do what I can. Although I warn you, Violet. I don’t know if he’ll listen to me any more than he’ll listen to anyone else.”
“He will,” she said. “He has to.”
She put so much faith in me I had to give it a try. When she picked me up, we drove out to the facility. The high, ugly walls, the gates, and doors with electronic locks bothered me. They said what comes in wasn’t coming out without someone at the top saying so, perhaps a judge. If that were so, I couldn’t imagine him giving the okay for Nathan if my friend was behaving the way Violet said. How had they even gotten him transferred from the jail in the first place?
Just inside the entrance, Violet and I had to stop by a guard’s cage. A heavyset man perhaps in his fifties, sat behind a window at least two inches thick. Violet handed him a form, and the guard skimmed it then looked at me. “You’re his attorney?”
“I…” My eyes widened, and I glanced at Violet. She gave an imperceptible nod. The darn woman should have told me in the car I was impersonating Nathan’s lawyer. I drew myself up and raised my chin, meeting the guard’s gaze. “Do you have a problem with that?”
His nostrils curled, and he drew his lips back from his teeth. “Don’t get an attitude me, missy. I’m concerned for your safety. I know he has rights, but I can’t let anyone back there. He’s too violent. Once he calms down…”
Wolf Ties (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 2) Page 4
