by Rose Pressey
“You tell him, Larue,” Seth said, gesturing at Anthony. “Come on, young whippersnapper. Before you get us all in trouble.”
I stomped off toward the building, still fuming as I walked through the door. Women were everywhere. Mindy stood at the front of the class; she didn’t look up to see me. I took the only available spot; of course, it was right up front. There was only one other pole available right beside the one I was using. The class was almost full. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but Mindy had a full house—that had never happened before. Had Cooper used magic to fill up Mindy’s class? Had she advertised? She’d done so in the past with pitiful results.
Mindy gave a half-smile as the music started, barely acknowledging me. Christina Aguilera singing Lady Marmalade flooded the room. Mindy started instructing the class on what to do and the women followed with ease. Maybe if Mindy saw me making an attempt at the fitness thing, it would snap her out of the spell. I began my usual attempt at twirling around. My coordination wasn’t meant for activities such as this. I made a half twirl, then fell off, landing right on my rear. I jumped up and positioned myself next to the pole again. Everyone was probably fighting back laughter as they watched me.
When I glanced to my right side, Mae West was doing an upside-down slide on the pole. The “itchy gitchi yaya dada” chorus of the song was on loop in my head. If someone ripped the pole from the ceiling and beat me with it, it would have been less painful. Mae twirled around the pole as if she had been doing it for years. Figured, even a ghost was more coordinated than I was.
I felt sorry for the women in class who were unlucky enough to be behind me. The sight of my posterior, as it spun around, couldn’t possibly be appealing for all to see. No matter how hard I tried, my body wouldn’t twirl around that pole. I was missing the twirling trait or something. Every single time I attempted Mindy’s class, I came out bruised and embarrassed. Yet, I came back for more punishment.
The pole made this horrible squeaking noise every time my skin made contact. Flesh on metal didn’t sound great…and the feeling as it pinched wasn’t so hot either. I tried to cover my exposed skin with sweats, but that just made the aforementioned twirling even worse.
“Hold on to the pole like this.” Mae demonstrated her hand position.
I placed my hands in the location, but still couldn’t pull myself up like Mae had shown me. She shook her head, then continued her crazy stunts. If only the women could see Mae West working that pole.
After what seemed like an eternity, the class came to an end.
“Whew, that was wonderful,” Mae said breathlessly. “But don’t worry, you’ll get better at it.” She winked.
No comment.
“Mindy, can I talk with you?” I waved when she switched off the music.
“Larue, I’d love to, but I’m just swamped. We’ll talk later, okay? Thanks for coming.” The phone rang and she dashed off, leaving me standing there like a confused little puppy. I missed my best friend. Should I leave? Or continue to try and talk with her about her condition? I was surprised she’s spoken to me at all after the way she stormed out yesterday. Obviously, this plan was going to work. One pole fitness class wouldn’t break a spell or a demon’s hold on her. I needed something more drastic.
Mae trailed on my heels as I marched out the door and hurried to my car. So much for impressing Mindy with my pole fitness skills.
Anthony had a devilish grin on his face when I reached the car. “You are not cut out for that. You’re gorgeous, but please promise me you’ll never attempt that again. You owe it to humanity.”
Heat gathered in my head. Steam would probably roll from my ears at any second. “I’ll picture the bright, white light to the other side for you, Anthony, I swear I will. Poof, you’ll be gone.”
He held his hands up in surrender, stifling a laugh.
Wiseass.
At least the class hadn’t been a complete loss, because now I knew what I needed to do next.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I burst through the door of High Fashion on a mission and it wasn’t for a new dress. Cooper Garret had messed with the wrong girl. Black magic or no black magic, I was going to tell him what I thought of him. Heck, he’d probably already put a curse on me anyway. How much worse could it get? Okay, a lot worse, but I had to try something. I wouldn’t let him get away with this. Don’t mess with Larue Donavan, or her friends. And especially, don’t come between me and a date. As long as it took me to get one, I didn’t need some jerk coming into town and messing it up. He was interfering with my life and the people I loved. Wait. Was I falling in love with Callahan? I couldn’t think about it until I settled my beef with Cooper.
Cooper sat behind the counter, looking up at me when I marched up.
I pointed at him. “I don’t know exactly what you’ve done, but I’m not going to let you get away with it. If you take your black-magic-practicing butt out of here right now, I won’t have you carted out on your rear.”
“You tell him, honey,” Mae said.
“I love it when she’s feisty like that, it’s so adorable.” Anthony stood beside me.
“Stop talking,” I said.
“Do you want me to punch him, Larue? I’ll knock him out with one punch. I used to do some boxing back in my day.” Anthony straightened and puffed out his chest.
“No, I don’t want you to punch him,” I said.
As the words left my lips, I realized what I’d done. I’d always been so good at not talking to the ghosts around people. The stress really was getting to me. Cooper would think I was nuts.
Cooper stared at me, then looked in the exact direction of where Anthony stood.
“Punching me won’t be necessary,” he said directly at Anthony.
“He can see us. Damn it, this guy is bad news,” Mae said.
My mouth hung open. Finally someone else who I could share my misery with, and he was low down and rotten. Figured.
“And I must say, Ms. West, I am a huge fan.” Cooper gave a little bow.
“Thank you, darlin’.” Her hips swayed as she talked.
“You can see them? Why didn’t you mention before now that you could see them?” I asked.
“There was really no reason to. You seemed to have everything under control. Well, I take that back, I guess if you had everything under control, you’d help them find the light.”
“Hey, I do just fine with helping them find the light. I’ve been doing this for years.” I pointed my finger at him. “Some just take longer than others. And why don’t you help them find the light, if you’re so good?” I smirked, proud of my snappy comeback.
He held his hands up in surrender. “Whatever you say, my dear.”
“Don’t you patronize me, you black magic jerk.”
“Way to tell him, Larue.” Seth stood beside like my senior citizen bodyguard.
“Thank you, Seth.” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Okay, just calm down, Larue.” Cooper stepped around the counter and moved toward me.
I backed away. “Don’t come any closer to me, buddy.”
“I’m not practicing black magic. I’m not like Brianna, if that’s what you think.”
“Oh, and I’m supposed to believe you? Just take your evil word for it?”
“Okay, stop adding words like evil and black magic on to other words to describe me.” He smiled.
I glared.
“You’re feisty.” He grinned that sparkling white smile at me. “I thought Mindy was feisty, but so are you. No wonder you’re friends.”
“I can be a lot more than feisty. But how would you know about my friendship with Mindy, huh?” I placed my hands on my hips. I wasn’t backing down.
“Why don’t you tell me what the problem is? Would you like to have a seat? I added some really comfortable chairs back by the dressing rooms.” He gestured toward the back of the store with a tilt of his head.
“Oh, no. I’m not staying around. I just came to tell y
ou I know what you’re doing and I plan on putting a stop to it.” I whirled around. “Come on, guys. Let’s get out of here before he does something evil again.”
“Larue, please, don’t go,” Cooper called out.
I pushed through the door, not giving him the satisfaction of a glance back. Plus, if I looked back, he might see the terror in my eyes. I couldn’t believe I’d just confronted someone who had the ability to cast bad spells against me, my family, and my friends. What had I been thinking?
I hurried to my car before Cooper had a chance to catch up with me. As I pulled away from the curb, Anthony said, “Now can I show you where I know Cooper from?”
“Fine, but this better be legal, whatever it is.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
I pulled the car up to the main entrance and shoved it into park.
“I can’t believe I let you all talk me into this.”
“What in the world is there to be afraid of, Larue? You think the scary boogie man is going to come up out of the ground and get you? You already have ghosts with you, remember?”
“Funny, very funny. And yes, as a matter of fact, the boogie man might get me.”
“Look, you know what happens. We’re ghosts. Nothing to be afraid of.”
“I beg to differ. There’s plenty to be afraid of. I’m not afraid of ghosts, you should know that by now.” I turned off the ignition. “But demons? Now, that’s a different story.”
“What about demons?” Anthony asked.
“Have you ever dealt with one of those suckers? Huh? Have you?”
He shook his head.
“I didn’t think so. Let me tell you, they hang out in places like this just waiting for fools like me who come for a cheap thrill. And let me tell you, they’ll give me a cheap thrill, all right.”
“I prefer my thrills to not be cheap,” Mae said.
I rolled my eyes. No comment. In the distance, an owl hooted.
“Are you serious? Did someone stage that sound?” What was next, a wolf howling at the moon?
Anthony shook his head.
“Come on,” I said. “If we’re going to do this, we might as well get it over with.”
As I closed the car door and walked toward the big gates, the ghosts popped up next to it.
“This is nuts. I bet I’m the only person on the planet who brings ghosts to graveyards. I’ve heard of bringing ghosts home from graveyards, but never bringing them to a graveyard. And, speaking of which, do you have any idea how dangerous it is for me to come to this place? I don’t have room for any more ghosts in my car. Where would they sit? What am I going to do, stuff them in the trunk?”
“Oh, now you’re just being silly,” Anthony said.
I quirked a brow and let Anthony have my best stinging glare.
“Right, well, anyway, thanks for doing this, doll. But I don’t know what you’re so worried about.”
“I attract ghosts, remember?”
“Look, if any ghosts want to come with us, just let me take care of it.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” I frowned.
“Do you want to get an answer about this Cooper clown or not?”
“I do, I do. But the real question is do you have an answer? I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but…”
“Come on.” He motioned as he floated through the iron bars on the entryway.
The big iron gate let out a huge moan when I pushed it open. Tall trees ringed the grounds. Statues and headstones greeted us through swirling mist. The scene was something straight out of a gothic novel, complete with moon, clouds, and a foggy mist.
“I can’t believe they don’t keep this locked.” Once I’d walked through the gates, I pushed it back to its original position.
“They don’t care about the people in here. They’re dead to them.” Anthony let out a cackle at his joke.
“That was a very lame attempt at humor,” Mae said.
He cleared his throat. “Whatever. Follow me. I think I know where we’re going.”
“Oh, you think? Well, how reassuring. Follow the ghost who thinks he knows where he’s going. Perfect.” I held the flashlight in front of me. It didn’t add much illumination to the spooky scene.
“I don’t usually come at night. It’s too scary.” He cackled again.
Seth rolled his eyes.
“Do not, I repeat, do not drain the batteries in this flashlight because I didn’t bring any more with me. And the last thing I need is to be in a graveyard in the dark.”
“Who knew you were such a chicken?” Anthony said over his shoulder.
“I am not a chicken. I just don’t want to trip over a tombstone.”
“Right, right, right.” He snorted.
“How do you know where you’re going in this place?” I asked.
“Just trust me.”
“Yeah, I’ll be sure to trust you.” I rolled my eyes. “Some of the graves are really grown over. It’s a shame someone doesn’t take care of them. Look, this person passed away in 1796.” I pointed at the old stone to my left.
“Wow, that’s really old,” Mae said.
“Almost as old as you, Mae,” Anthony quipped.
“Hey, that was very nice,” I said.
I pointed the light in front of me and followed Anthony as he weaved through graves and around a couple trees toward the back of the cemetery.
“Are you going to tell me how you know your way around here so well, or not?”
Anthony stopped abruptly and I almost walked right through him.
“I’m buried here, okay,” he said with a slight edge to his voice. “I come here sometimes just to check up on the old bones.” He turned away from us and stared down at the ground.
I frowned. “I’m sorry. I should have guessed.”
“It’s okay, doll.” His voice cracked, but he tried to maintain his devil-may-care attitude. He didn’t look my way, but instead stared into the darkness.
“Why are you bringing us to a cemetery, anyway? What does this place have to do with Cooper?”
“You’ll see. Now, shall we continue?” Anthony turned to face us again.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Lead the way.”
“Don’t go so fast,” Seth said from somewhere behind us.
“Come on, gramps. Keep the pace up,” Anthony said over his shoulder.
“Don’t listen to him, Seth, you take your time. How much further is it to where you’re taking us? I refuse to go much further.” The smell of soil and crisp leaves swirled around me. The crackling of the foliage as I walked was slightly unnerving; everything else was dead quiet. Appropriate for a cemetery, I guess.
“It’s over here somewhere, so quit complaining. Why are you so slow? Those fitness classes are doing nothing for your stamina.”
“I’ll let that comment slide. I’ll assume you’re under a lot of stress right now.” I glared at him. “Can’t you give me a hint?”
“There’s something over here I want to show you.” He gestured for us to follow. “It’s a grave, okay?”
“How do you know where it is? I mean, there are hundreds of graves here. Why did you bring us out here to show us a grave?” I moved the flashlight across a few stones.
He stopped again. “You sure are full of questions tonight.”
“Well, when you drag me to a spooky graveyard in the middle of the night, I kind of have a few questions.”
“First, it’s not the middle of the night, it’s a little after nine o’ clock. That’s far from the middle of the night.”
“Don’t argue with the lovely lady, you big dummy,” Seth snapped.
I rolled my eyes. Bickering in the middle of the cemetery. Most women were home with their families, having dinner, maybe movie night and reading bedtime stories to their kids. Not me. I was in a scene right out of a Scooby Doo episode.
“Anyway, middle of the night…I say po-tay-toe, you say po-tah-toe. The time is irrelevant right now. Just answer my questions, Anthony, or I’m
not going a step further.”
“My grave site is right over there, okay? I know all the names around here. That’s how I recognized the name Cooper Garret. That guy is an impostor, I’m telling you. The real Cooper Garret is dead.”
“What?” I stopped on the spot.
“The real Cooper Garret is buried here.” Anthony seemed adamant that he was on to something. I wasn’t so sure.
“You’re dead serious aren’t you?” I covered my mouth with my hand. “Oops. Sorry about that.”
Anthony scowled. “Very funny.”
“Did you ever think that maybe the current Cooper Garret happens to have the same name as someone else? I’m sure there’s another Larue Donavan out there in the world. Maybe Cooper was named after his father. He’s not from around here, anyway.”
“Yeah, that’s what makes it scarier. He probably came out here and just picked a random name off a grave when he got to town.” He continued walking. “It’s the next aisle over. We’re almost there. Shine the flashlight that way.” He pointed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The sound of leaves crunching underfoot rang out. I knew it wasn’t me because I was standing still. I whipped around with the flashlight. The small circle of glowing light revealed nothing in front of me. I moved the light around, but didn’t see anyone or anything. Thank goodness for small favors.
There were a lot of tall grave markers, someone could easily hide behind one. I wasn’t worried about ghosts, but I was worried about some crazy living person who might be lingering around the graveyard. That was a much creepier scenario. Ghosts, I could handle. A chill ran down my spine. Plus, there was that whole demon thing. What if the dark shadow was back?
“Did you hear that?” Mae asked. Her voice wasn’t as boisterous as usual.
I nodded and let out an audible gulp. “I did. Let’s just get this little escapade over with before I get killed.”
“Yeah, let’s not waste any more time standing around. You’re putting Larue’s life at risk, you big dummy.” Seth glared at Anthony.
After moving over to the next aisle, Anthony moved to a site next to a line of trees. The area was full of older graves. A few of the stones had fallen over and others were crumbling from age. I could tell it had been there for some time. A few steps away, a smaller area was surrounded by a small vine-covered, black iron fence.
