Spirit [New Crescent 2] (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Mary Lou George

  Gillian had warned her not to play games. She’d intended to heed the advice, but instead, she’d acted without thought. He was furious with her now, and she didn’t blame him. She’d taken advantage of their growing attraction to each other and ended up hurting them both. The disappointment in his eyes had shamed her, and she had no idea how to make it right again. She wanted to cry.

  * * * *

  The rest of the day was a nightmare for her. Nothing seemed to go right as she found fault with everything in the house. Finally realizing that she’d been terrorizing everyone all day, she offered her victims an apology and called it quits.

  Soaking in the huge tub in the master bedroom suite, Reggie heard the front door slam. She’d taken Chase at his word and made sure she was scarce when he got back to Bennett House. She felt sick when she remembered the look on his face. She crossed her arms over her breasts and slipped under the warm water. Unfortunately, she knew she couldn’t stay there forever and finally came up for air. The hot bath had not served its purpose. Relaxation wasn’t possible when guilt was eating at her. Her heart pounded, and she knew that sleep would be particularly elusive if she didn’t do something. She couldn’t leave it this way. Flumbling her way out of the tub, she grabbed a towel and began to dry off., Giving up with a sigh, she pulled on her terry robe and fluffy slippers. She opened the bathroom door and prepared to face the music.

  He was just starting a fire in the grate as she walked into the living room. He didn’t look her way when he said in a clipped voice, “Go away, Reggie.”

  “I can’t. Please, Chase, you have to look at me.”

  She stood before him, still dripping from the tub, with her robe tightly tied and her feet swallowed by the ridiculous slippers. She knew this was not a stellar moment for her in the glamour department, but she hoped her genuine regret would show through.

  Reggie sat on the couch and patted the spot beside her. “Please sit down. I can’t do this with you way over there.” With a sigh, he joined her on the couch, skepticism written all over his face. He wasn’t going to make it easy.

  “I am sorry Chase, more sorry than I can say. It was wrong to use you that way. I wish I had a better explanation, but all I can say is that I wasn’t thinking.” She looked down at her hands. Chase was silent.

  Playing awkwardly with the belt of her robe she tried again. “This thing between us is making me crazy. You were right the other night. I do want you.” She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “But I’m scared. It’s all happening so fast. The kidnapping last summer, Europe, Constance, that thing in the library, those children…you, I’m overwhelmed. Please be patient with me. I haven’t come to terms with it all.” She smiled tentatively through her tears.

  “I can understand that,” Chase said in a soft voice.

  She smiled again, a little more confident now that he’d stopped frowning at her so fiercely.

  “I appreciate it. I also want you to think about what sex would mean for us. We’ve been almost like family to each other our whole lives. Family is precious to us both. I can’t risk it all without considering the consequences.”

  “I don’t see it that way at all, Reggie.” He took her hand. “We have some kind of chemical reaction here. I don’t want to waste it. I like it too much.” He smiled at her.

  “Me, too.” She blushed and smiled back at him.

  “Good. So can we not worry about what happens next and just enjoy what’s happening now? No one would blame us. Just give it a chance.”

  She shook her head with uncertainty. “There’s a lot of potential for hurt here. I know we feel drawn to each other. That’s physical. I can handle that, but who’s to say we’re not being manipulated by other forces. We spend all day here at Bennett House. We already know that there are two entities at work manipulating us. We can’t trust our feelings.” She hated the weakness in her voice, hated her vulnerability to him.

  Nodding, he said, “You make a good point. Yes, we could be under some sort of spell.” He threw up his hands. “But I don’t care! We have to work together. I don’t want to fight my attraction to you along with whatever is in that library. I choose to trust the feeling. It’s perfectly natural. Will you try to trust me?”

  Tired of fighting it, she gave in. “Okay, but don’t rush me.”

  He nodded. “I deserve that. The other night, I’m sorry. I came on too strong.” He laughed self-deprecatingly. “I am a little sexually frustrated. Nothing is going to happen between us until you want it to. Something tells me it will be worth the wait.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  Chapter 13

  The next morning, in the diner packed with people and a table full of food between her and Chase, Reggie felt optimistic. They were making progress…sort of.

  “At least Constance is taking this thing a little more seriously.” She said.

  Chase swallowed a mouthful of scrambled egg and said, “I think she’s always taken it seriously, but pretended otherwise.”

  “Do you think she’s been tied to Bennett House for all these years, in a constant battle with Vincent?” Reggie scooped up a forkful of his eggs and ignored his irritated look.

  “Maybe not a battle as such, more like a stalemate. I think she’s been keeping Vincent at bay for decades. She’s maintained a delicate balance, her powers versus his.” Chase popped a piece of sausage in his mouth and talked around it. “He’s been feeding off the people around the place. He’s grown in strength. As a former Guardian, she’d never take strength from anyone without their consent, so Constance needs our help to defeat him.”

  “Without kids available to him, maybe we can restore the balance of power. I say we capitalize on our success and face him today. The two of us should start to clean out what’s left inside that room. Find his source of power and destroy it.” Reggie looked at him fiercely.

  It didn’t surprise her much when Chase shook his head. “One step at a time, Reggie. I’m up for exploring that room together, but let’s be very careful. Neither of us have been near that room and walked out completely unscathed. We’ve cut off one of his sources, but that doesn’t mean we’re stronger than him yet.”

  “Go on,” she said reluctantly.

  “Research. We need more information about Vincent Bennett. Knowledge is power. The more we have on the man he was, the more we’ll understand what it takes to defeat the entity he’s become.”

  Reggie bestowed upon him one of her most brilliant smiles. She was not without powers of her own. She speared a sausage from his plate with her fork, took a tiny bite, chewed, and swallowed. “Not bad, Sherlock.”

  He ignored her. “No one seems to know much about him. I doubt Constance will be forthcoming, besides there’s no guarantee that she can give us anything. No, let’s use our own resources this time.”

  “I can tell you right now, there’s nothing about him in this town’s records beyond what we already know. I’ve checked.”

  “I know, but he had to come from somewhere, and there’s a record of him. I just love the Internet, you know. So much information is available at your fingertips if you know what you’re looking for.”

  With her elbows on the table, her head resting in her palms, Reggie smiled. “And you know what you’re looking for. Damn, it’s nice to have a geek around when you need one. Take it away, Poindexter.”

  He rolled his eyes at her. “I’ll get it started, but you’re going to help me if there’s a lot of digging to be done. I’ll use my computer at home and let you know what I find.”

  “I was joking, Chase, I’m not a complete airhead. Despite my absolutely drop-dead gorgeous looks.” They shared a smile. “I know how to use a computer, but I’ll find the same stuff you will, in the beginning, so there’s no sense us both spending the day researching.”

  He looked at her suspiciously. “Ooookaaay.”

  Before she could assuage his doubts, Todd’s father, John Marks approached their table. “Hi, Chase, Reggie, thanks agai
n for helping Todd the other night.”

  “Don’t mention it. How is he?” Reggie asked. She moved so he could sit at the booth with them.

  “He snapped right back in a matter of hours. Feel free to have that chat with him you talked about.”

  “Thanks, I’ll call. Maybe take him out for ice cream,” she said.

  John smiled and shook his head. “That’s more than he deserves after his recent behavior.”

  Chase said, “Don’t be too hard on him. Peer pressure can be hell. You might be grateful he learned his lesson at such an early age.”

  “True. Todd gave me the names of all the other kids involved. I’ve spoken to their parents. There were mixed reactions, of course. Some people didn’t seem too concerned.” He reached into a pocket and handed Chase a piece of folded paper. “Here’s the list of names Todd gave me. My wife put their phone numbers down so you can call them yourself.”

  “Thank you, but I doubt that will be necessary. We just want them to know that until further notice, Bennett House is off limits. It’s dangerous,” Chase said.

  He nodded. “They know. I spoke to Tom Weatherby, the principal, and he’s promised to add the information to his latest newsletter to parents.”

  “Oh, that’s a great idea.” Reggie said.

  “Tom said it’s the best way to inform everyone. Well, my wife is probably finished grocery shopping so I’d better go help with the bags.” He left them with a wave.

  Chase asked, “Are you going to talk to Todd?”

  Reggie nodded. “Yeah, as soon as possible. Not because I think he has any more to tell us, but rather, I want to hear from him how he’d felt that night. I’ll ask him about the other boys as well…Maybe talk to a few of them, too. I’d like to know if they experienced the same feeling of despair and hopelessness that I did, when I came into contact with the Big Bad.”

  “Good idea. Are you finished eating my breakfast? Want my coffee?”

  “You could have had some of mine!” she said defensively.

  He held up his hands, wiggling his fingers at her. “I don’t come between your fork and food. I have a finely tuned sense of self-preservation, I value my digits.”

  She looked at him seriously and used her fork to harpoon a potato from his plate and dip it into ketchup, “You are a wise man, Chase McCann.” Delicately, she took the home fry off her fork and bit down decisively.

  * * * *

  Since yesterday had been such a bust, Reggie planned to make up for it today and focused tirelessly on her work restoring Bennett House. The owner, Pat Somers was still incommunicado. Reggie submitted all her ideas to the writer’s agent, Jackie Blake. To a large extent, Reggie was given free rein to do what she determined was necessary. Every day, she’d received a delivery of furniture, though; some of it, she’d ordered herself, but many pieces had come from the owner or the agent. Someone must have informed Jackie Blake that they’d not started on the library because nothing came for that room.

  The rest of the work was going well. The results so far made Regina proud. She wondered if Pat Somers had a family. She hoped so. It was time to shake loose the shadowy echoes of the past and fill the house with laughter, that is, if she and Chase were successful in vanquishing Vincent. Reggie mused. Would Constance stick around once he was gone? Reggie doubted it. She’d done penance. Maybe she’d finally find some peace.

  Without realizing it, thoughts of Constance drew Reggie into the garden. She sat on the bench near the iron gate that Constance seemed to haunt. Prudence stayed close and sat at Reggie’s feet.

  Constance came without being summoned. The air changed as it always did when she put in an appearance. Prudence looked up at the apparition without concern.

  “I had a cat. I left her behind when I went to Vincent.” She looked infinitely sad. “Picket, that was her name, Picket didn’t like Vincent. There was a part of me that understood why, but I ignored it. His spell was too strong.”

  Reggie’s face softened with sympathy. “I’m sorry.”

  “Kind of you to say, Regina, but I’ve come to terms with that part of my past. My sister took good care of little Picket. I could never have put an innocent creature under Vincent’s influence.” Her face expressed such excruciating loss, Reggie wanted to reach out and comfort her. “At least not intentionally…” Constance disappeared.

  The air cleared, but the profound sadness lingered, and Reggie shed tears for all that Constance had endured and all she’d lost. Her suffering made Reggie even more determined to defeat Vincent. An evil like his, if loosed, could infect the entire town, and from there, who knows what it could do. The Guardians of New Crescent had protected the world from evils such as this in the past. The Old Families’ history, with its tales of epic battles of good and evil, had always fascinated Reggie. Sometimes, the battles weren’t so epic, but even those had been important because if not checked, evil always grows. Every single struggle against it was important.

  With irritation, Reggie said, “If I’m supposed to take this on, why the hell didn’t I get some help from my ancestors? You know? Some sort of gift? Like I was supposed to inherit? Duh!” She spoke to no one in particular. For years, she’d lamented that the gift had passed her over and had even accepted a measure of guilt because of it. The very thought of the injustice made her mad. She looked up, unsure of whom she was addressing exactly, but she did it anyway.

  Raising her hand pointing her index finger at the sky, she said, “If I get through this, some way, some how, you’re going to have to make this up to me! Do you hear me?” She was met with silence. She stalked off.

  Unable to concentrate, Reggie decided that she’d spent enough of her day working on the house. She dialed the number John Marks had given her and talked to Todd. She could use some ice cream.

  * * * *

  Sitting beside the eleven-year-old at the ice cream parlor counter, Reggie scanned the menu on the board.

  “I can’t decide whether to go for the untried but tempting, or the tried but true. Oh, I’m feeling adventurous today. I’ll have a double scoop of Bahama Mama in a waffle cone.” She turned to her companion. “What’ll you have?”

  Todd looked at the young server and said, “I’ll have one scoop of bubble gum and one chocolate fudge in a waffle cone, please.”

  “Ah, the ever-popular split decision…a safe choice.” Reggie said. “I swear if I like the Bahama Mama, I’m getting a carton to take home for emergencies.”

  Todd nodded. In fact, his order had been the first thing he’d said since she’d picked him up. Reggie spun around on her stool twice. Todd looked at her in surprise.

  “What? Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I don’t have fun anymore.”

  She got her first smile from him. He had a couple of crooked teeth and she wondered if he’d be sporting braces some time in the future.

  He finally said, “I’m really sorry about what I did, Miss Stanton.”

  “It’s Reggie, and I know, Todd. I accept your apology. It’s not so easy being a kid.”

  He nodded.

  She accepted her cone with thanks, and Todd did the same. For a few moments, they were silent as they gave the ice cream the attention it deserved.

  “How’s yours?” He ventured.

  “Not bad, but I think I’ll bring Rocky Road home tonight. How’s yours?”

  He closed his eyes with reverence. “Mmmm, perfect. Thank you.”

  Fleetingly, Reggie wondered if she’d just found the man of her dreams. They had so much in common.

  “I’m glad you’re feeling better. Todd, can you tell me about that night? I know what happened, but I need to know how you felt.”

  He took another lick of ice cream and then finally responded. “Mostly I was scared. I didn’t want to do it.” He applied himself to the cone once again.

  Reggie did the same. She had long ago mastered the art of talking and eating ice cream at the same time. Deciding to demonstrate those skills, she continued to ask questi
ons.

  “In the hospital, you said you’d decided not to go through with it. Can you tell me what happened to change your mind?”

  Unaware of the ice cream on his chin, Todd said, “I was gonna turn around and go home. It got real cold. I just wanted to go home. I felt real sad. I think I started to cry.” Embarrassed, he ignored his cone for the moment. “I don’t cry much anymore, but I wanted to curl up like a baby and cry. I wanted my parents.”

  “You don’t remember taking anything or running away?”

  “Nope. My mom says I pulled a knife.”

  “Yes, but you were clearly not yourself. Where did you get it?”

  “It’s my dad’s from when he was a kid. I’m not supposed to ever play with it. I got in big trouble for taking it.” His ice cream cone started to drip onto his fist but he didn’t notice.

  Reggie handed him a napkin and said, “It’s okay now, Todd. It’s over, and no one got hurt. You’re never going to do something like that again, are you?”

  He shook his head. “No way. I don’t care what the guys say.”

  “Good.” Reggie smiled. “What have the guys said to you so far?”

  “Well, Jeremy, he’s my best friend, he was cool. His dad was real mad at him, but Jer was okay with me tellin’ and all, seeing as how I got so sick.”

  Reggie smiled at Jeremy’s juvenile justice system…it made a certain amount of sense to her. “Did Jeremy get sick too?”

  “Nah, but Aidan did., He got the flu, but was okay the next day. He probably gave it to me.”

  Reggie nodded, “It happens.”

  “The whole thing was Aidan’s idea. He’s the toughest guy in school. He’s cool.”

  She continued to talk with Todd, gently questioning him about the other boys and Bennett House. From what she understood, Todd and his friends had felt the same kind of thing from the Big Bad. They just weren’t aware of it, and the aftereffects were blamed on the flu.

  When she dropped Todd back at his house, she warned his mother that the ice cream she’d bought him might have ruined his supper. Tammy Marks smiled. “Don’t worry, nothing spoils his appetite.”