Bone Dry: A Soul Shamans Novel (Volume 1)

by Cady Vance

  “I don’t know why he didn’t just stop me from doing anything in the first place,” I said. “But I think he’s here now. And he's not the greatest guy in the world.”

  My ringtone blasted. The display read my house. I flipped the cell open and listened, not saying a word.

  “Hey, Holly.” Anthony’s smooth voice came over the line. “Come on inside. I heard the car pull in and can see you sitting there. We need to chat.”

  Click.

  “Arg!” I fought the urge to throw my phone and slammed my hands against my knees.

  “Okay, so no Shadow spell, I’m guessing.” Laura grabbed my backpack. A moment later, she pulled both mine and Anthony’s knife out. “This is all we've got.” She gave me and Nathan a grim smile, acting like she didn’t notice her wobbly voice. “If he tries to hurt us, at least we have something?”

  I gave her my own grim smile. “Okay, let’s go in.”

  As I got out of the truck, I slid the sheathed knife into the back of my jeans and pulled my t-shirt over it, hoping it wasn’t sticking out. I didn’t want to use it, but it was like a safety blanket. At least I wasn’t going in empty-handed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Laura do the same. Nathan clenched his fists together, apparently his current weapon of choice. Then, we slammed the car doors and headed to the front stoop.

  Before we got there, the front door opened. Anthony smiled lazily and leaned against the red frame. Anger poked up its ugly head. Anthony Lombardi should not be inside my house looking calm and comfortable. Like he owned the place.

  “Good to see you again, Holly. With your human friend again. And, oh, I see your friend Laura is all in one piece.” He winked as I stepped inside.

  My mouth fell open and I whirled to face him, even though I wasn’t all that shocked. “You did that. You killed those shamans.”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “But why?” I took a step away from him, backing into the table that held the Witch’s Drum.

  “That’s part of what I need to talk to you about,” he said, waving me through the kitchen. “Just take a seat in the living room, and we’ll cover everything.”

  I bit back a retort. As much as I wanted to tell this guy where he could shove his little chat, I was curious about what he had to say. Plus, I had a feeling I didn’t want to make him mad, especially if what had happened to those shamans was evidence of Anthony’s anger.

  I moved down the hall, Laura two steps behind. A second later, I heard a thump, and I whirled around to see Nathan sprawled unconscious on the floor. My heart lurched inside me, and I rushed to his side. I fell down, fingers moving up and down his arms and back.

  “What did you do to him?” I yelled up at Anthony while I felt Nathan’s pulse. Tha-thump. Tha-thump. It was still beating. Maybe he was okay.

  “Oh, that?” Anthony waved his hands dismissively. “I put a little spell around the house causing any human who crosses the threshold to lose consciousness. He’ll be fine once he sleeps it off.”

  I glared up at Anthony, relieved it was nothing worse but pissed off he’d done this to Nathan. “Why? Why would you do that?”

  A sly smile lit his lips. “Can’t have the human authorities barging in if you decide to make a 9-1-1 call. Plus, there was a human snooping around earlier.” He cocked his head toward Laura. “I believe the adopted relation of this one? He’s in the living room now with your mother, Holly.”

  Laura’s eyes went wide, and she threw herself down the hall. “Dad!”

  “He won’t hear you,” Anthony called out with a chuckle. “After you, Holly.”

  I stared at Nathan, hating to leave him, but I didn’t have much of a choice. So, I made my way down the hall and into the living room. I sat across from Mom, relieved to see she was the same as when I’d left her. Laura crouched by her dad where he was passed out on the floor only inches away.

  Anthony eased onto the couch and crossed his legs at his knees, smile nothing but patronizing. It made me want to punch him in the nose.

  Astral raced up to me hissing in anger. I jumped back, shocked, but quickly realized it wasn’t me he hissed at. He put his back to me and started pacing back and forth, staring intently at Anthony like he was about to launch an attack right then and there. Astral’s paw shot into the air to maul something I couldn’t see. And then I felt something else in the room. Something I hadn’t noticed because I’d been too focused on Anthony. A chilling sensation prickled every hair on my arms. There was a spirit in here.

  “You destroyed my barriers.” I took my attention off my crazed cat for a moment. There were worse things to worry about. “You destroyed my bones.”

  I wasn’t sure why that insulted me more than him sneaking into my house or sending me off on some pointless mission, but I felt like I could tear his eyes out. He’d left my house vulnerable. My home. The only place I considered totally safe.

  His patronizing smile only widened, but his eyes looked pained. “Precautions. Just precautions.”

  Precautions against what? My bone shields were precautions. Taking them down meant a spirit could come in whenever it pleased. But, I didn’t argue. Instead, I sat there watching him while Astral weaved through my tense legs. I was afraid if I opened my mouth, everything I was thinking and feeling would bubble out like word vomit.

  “I need to explain to you about the shaman world, Holly, because I believe you have very little knowledge of how it really is out there.”

  He paused, waiting for me to answer, but I continued to stare at him, hoping my eyes looked as hard as my heart felt.

  “In the shaman consulting business, we have two groups. One has members like your mother.” He smiled a little when he mentioned her. “That group banishes spirits whenever someone calls them in. Then, there’s another group, and that’s the one I belong to. We believe that banishing spirits isn’t enough. We believe in pre-emptive strike and doing whatever is necessary to keep humans from being attacked.”

  Something crawled under my skin when he said that. Doing whatever is necessary. Like sticking my mom in the Borderland and murdering shamans.

  “Part of this involves binding spirits to ourselves. I told you about that. These spirits can’t feed unless I let them. This also gives us some leeway if we need something from the spirit world. We give them food for information or knowledge or power. Like how Anannan followed my instructions to show you my old building.” He gave a little sigh. “This is also how our lives get extended.”

  Lives extended. Like what Laura overheard.

  He smiled like it wasn’t the craziest thing I'd ever heard. “When we bind ourselves to a spirit and then let him feed, we get part of the life he inhales.”

  So, it was true. It explained how I’d felt the life blending with mine, revitalizing me. It made me lightheaded just thinking about it, and it all made perfect sense.

  “I understand how crazy this sounds, and I promise you I’m not doing this for myself. If I ever die, the spirits will be released to feed on their own will whenever they want to. Or whenever some other shaman tries to summon them. Extending my life is the only way to keep humans safe.”

  Wow, this guy was delusional. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Plus, he totally believed every word he said. He really thought this was the best way to help people, that he was doing what he had to in order to save the world.

  “But you're still hurting people when you extend your life,” I said. “How does that make it any different?”

  “I only let the spirit feed for a little bit. I take just a small slice of life from various sources to keep mine going. It’s the only way to keep the spirits bound.”

  I shook my head and wondered how that explained all the other stuff I'd seen. The hospital, the bodies in the abandoned building, even the dead shamans.

  “Why did you kill those two shamans?” I asked, deciding not to bring up the other stuff yet. He might know I’d gone to the hospital, but if he didn’t, I wasn’t about to give him a
heads up.

  He frowned, but his boyish face stayed as smooth as a baby’s butt. “They used to be part of my team until they decided they didn’t want to live by my rules. And now, they were binding spirits and releasing them onto humans to kill them. They were making a mess and bringing way too much attention to the spirit world. Sloppy is the best word to describe those two. If you hadn’t come to me, I would have found out anyway. The buzz has been building. They had to be stopped.”

  By killing them? When I’d met him, I’d thought he was a little creepy, but still maybe an okay guy. I was seriously rethinking that assessment. I had to bite my lip because I was dying to ask him what he was doing with a photo of my mom on his office desk.

  I was also too scared to ask.

  “So, now that you understand a little more about the shaman world, I can tell you why I’m here.” The patronizing smile reappeared. “Your mother and I were once very close. But in the past few years, we found ourselves on opposite sides of a little political shaman war. I’ve been looking for her. Funny she was hiding so close. I should have known she’d do that.”

  Political shaman war. So that was what Mom had been talking about.

  He held up his hands, and for the first time, I noticed he was holding my mom’s knitting needles. For some reason, it made me tremble, and the spirit started stirring in the room. “You recognize these, right? I’m guessing she’s been using them as an anchor. Clever. When you told me she was still alive, I was surprised. She should be lost to the Borderland by now, but she’s been able to hold on longer because of these. Of course, if I break them now, we could end it quickly. Not that she has very much longer as it is.”

  I gasped and stood so fast all the blood rushed out of my head and left me reeling. He placed the knitting needles on the coffee table and held up his hands.

  “I’m not going to do that,” he said. “Calm down.”

  I obeyed, but only by sitting on the very edge of the chair, leaning forward, ready to jump up if he so much as flicked his eyes toward those needles again.

  “When you stopped by my building in Boston, I knew you’d never tell me where she was. I’m sorry I lied to you, but I needed you out of the house so I could come by and pick up a little something she took away from me. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. When I got here, her trunk, where I know she hides things, was unlocked and empty.” He narrowed his eyes, all amusement falling off his face. “Where’s the book?”

  I involuntarily gripped the strap of my backpack tighter. “What book?”

  “You’re lying.” He whipped up the knitting needles so fast I barely had the chance to flinch. “Tell me where it is or I will break these bones in two. I might have been fond of your mother at one time in my life, but that won’t stop me now.”

  I heard Laura’s ragged breathing, and my vision blurred as tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. Without even thinking, I lifted my backpack onto my lap and pulled out the book. I held it up, like a waving white flag, eyes trained on the bone needles in his hands.

  In two strides, he had the book out of my fingers. A triumphant smile lit his face, and his eyes lifted with greed. It made him look diabolical. Evil. I hated him at that moment more than I ever had before, the full realization of who this person was finally smacking me upside the head. He was the guy responsible for my mom’s failed health, her shaking hands, her empty expression. And now he was trespassing in my home, taking precious items out of my hands after threatening me with my mom’s death.

  If I could see by color, everything would have been shades of vicious red. The rage I felt scared me a little, but the demon on my left shoulder was cheering me on so loudly I could barely hear anything else in my head.

  Anthony walked away from me, and his back turned long enough for me to do something. Anything. Some part of me, somewhere deep inside, wanted to jump up right then and hurt him so bad he’d never walk again. But I couldn’t. I just kept sitting there and watching his every move. I was ready to do something, but only if I had to.

  He shoved the book into his own bag—a generic, leather one—and started pulling out shaman supplies I recognized all too well.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer until he’d set a bunch of stuff on the coffee table. When he turned to look at me, his eyes held that glint of madness I’d seen in the other shamans’ eyes. I shivered from fear and hated myself for it.

  “Since you are so clearly your mother’s daughter,” he said, “I’m giving you a chance to join my group. My faction in the shaman world. You have it inside you. We need others right now, and I think you’d be perfect. I’d teach you any and every spell you want to know. Teach you how to be powerful. You and that one may join,” he said, pointing at Laura.

  I tried to keep my face blank, but I knew I was failing miserably.

  “But these two humans of yours….” He shifted on the couch. “They both know far more about the shaman world than is safe. We should take care of this problem now before it becomes more dangerous than it is.”

  What?

  I stood. My entire body trembled. “How can you even say something like that? You want to save people, but you’re going to kill two innocent humans because they know you can do a few cheap tricks?”

  He shook his head at me, like he was sad I didn’t get it. “These two don’t get the same privileges from me as most humans do. They know too much. I…respected your mother, which is why I let her live even though she was trying to stop me from doing what I needed to do. Because you’re her daughter, I respect you, too. I have a good feeling about you. Intuition.” He tapped two fingers to his forehead.

  “Well, you can just go to hell,” I said, just as Laura laid a hand on my arm. I threw my arm around her and glared at him, reaching one hand behind me to wrap my fingers around the knife. If he took even one step closer to my best friend, her father or Nathan sprawled out in the hall, I would stop him the only way I knew how.

  Cool air blew into my face. My fear mixed with Laura’s, a strong enticing scent, but the spirit didn’t attack. I didn’t know why it wasn’t.

  “I should have known you’d respond just like your mother,” Anthony said. “It’s such a shame.”

  I gripped the knife in my hand and slid it out of my jeans. I fiddled with the sheath, fingers pushing and pulling to get the knife free with only one hand. The black leather fell to the floor, but Anthony was too busy with his shaman supplies to notice. Astral started hissing again, pacing back and forth.

  I jumped when Anthony lit the candle.

  He leapt off the couch and sprinted toward Laura’s dad. I screamed when he grabbed his unconscious form and started dragging him across the floor to the couch. When Laura jumped out to stop him, Anthony dug his fingernails into her arm. She writhed and bucked to get away from him. I couldn’t tell what was happening. It was all such a blur. The room seemed to tip under my feet.

  “Attack!” Anthony’s voice boomed.

  My stomach dropped, my heart hammered. I moved instinctively, my body going through the motions I was too scared to do.

  Save Laura. Save Laura. Do anything to save Laura.

  I lurched forward and whipped the knife out from behind my back. Anthony’s eyes flew wide, and his grip loosened on Laura just long enough she was able to pull free. I stopped the blade only inches from his chest. His hands flew up in surrender.

  “You’re going to leave us alone.” My ears buzzed as if a million bees were swarming inside my ear canal.

  Anthony shook his head with a laugh.

  “You surprise me, Holly.” He gave me that patronizing smile.

  He stumbled forward as if he’d been pushed. He fell onto the knife. My heart stopped. I choked out a cry. His eyes flew wide. The slurping, crunching sound under the blade made me gag, and I let go like it was a rattlesnake.

  Anthony fell to the floor, blood pouring from his chest and soaking his shirt, breath ragged, fingers twitching. />
  The world lost sound. Everything fell away.

  I did this.

  I fell to my knees, hugging myself. The world shook as I leaned over Anthony’s body. Blood was on the floor now. Everywhere. It painted the room.

  I closed my eyes to block out the red, and when I opened them, Anthony was gone.

  CHAPTER 33

  Where did he go?” I rubbed my hands on the floor. “He was just here.”

  I whirled, half-expecting him to grab me from behind. But only Laura was there, shaking her head and sliding to the floor beside me.

  She sniffed. “He disappeared. I saw him…It’s like he blinked out or something.”

  I had to make sure he was gone. I ran through the house, looked in every room, but he was nowhere to be found. I peeked through the blinds on the front window, remembering I hadn't seen a strange car when we’d pulled up. I checked on Nathan and tried to move him into a more comfortable position. He smiled as I propped him up against the wall. It was like he was in a deep sleep, nothing worse. When I got back into the living room, I noticed Anthony’s supplies were still scattered across the coffee table, but his bag—with the book—was gone.

  If it weren’t for the big red stain on the floor, it’d be like he was never here in the first place.

  I knelt next to Laura and hugged her while she cried over her dad’s shallow breathing, until her sobs turned to silent shakes. When I leaned away, she laughed and wiped the back of her hand against the snot pooling under her nostrils. “Oh god, I’m a wreck. I’ve never been so scared in my life. Ever.” She looked around, eyes darting. “What happened to the spirit?”

  I frowned, looked around, and felt no cold breath of air or any sign of a spirit. “I don’t know. I think it’s gone, too.”

  “I am so done with people trying to kill us,” she said. “I can’t take it anymore.”

  I didn’t know how she’d handled everything so far. “I don’t know what happened, but I think it’s over. At least for a little while.”

  “Intuition?” she asked.