Freaky Deaky Tiki

by Amanda M. Lee

  Aisling either wouldn’t or couldn’t hear him. She was lost in fury, and she had no intention of backing down. “I haven’t shot him yet. Put me down!”

  “Shut your mouth,” Cormack barked, keeping a firm hold of her as Booker freed Griffin.

  Even though they were clearly exhausted and bruised, Galen and Griffin ran to us. Griffin stopped long enough to collect his wife — although it took considerable effort from both Cormack and himself to wrest the gun from her grip.

  “Knock it off,” Griffin ordered, swinging Aisling into his arms. “Which way?”

  Cormack pointed. “We’re a half mile down the road.”

  “Where is your truck?” I asked Galen when he appeared at my side. He was sweating and the bruising around his eye seemed to be darkening by the second.

  “We’ll worry about that later.” He grabbed my hand and tugged me behind him. “Come on, Hadley. We have to get out of here.”

  “But we haven’t won the battle yet.”

  “And we’re not going to on their property. We have to move the battle. Come on.”

  His tone told me that arguing was a fruitless endeavor so I fell into step with him, the sounds of Taurus’s angry bellows giving chase. I didn’t look back to see if anyone else followed. Instead, I gave in to my instincts and focused on Galen. He was strong despite whatever horrors he’d suffered through, and his muscles worked relentlessly as we burned the distance between the camp and Booker’s van. By the time we made it to our destination, everyone was sweating and gasping, but no one had caught up to us.

  “In,” Galen barked, pushing me into the back seat. We had limited space, so he pulled me onto his lap so Cormack’s men would have somewhere to sit. Griffin did the same with Aisling, who was still putting up a struggle, and Booker had the vehicle in gear and on the road within seconds.

  “Whew!” Lilac enthused after a full minute of everyone sucking oxygen. “That was fun! You guys didn’t even need me.”

  “The fight isn’t over,” Booker reminded her. “That was just round one.”

  “What happened with the chicks in the water?” Aisling asked as she gave up wriggling and let Griffin hug her close. “What were they doing? What’s the deal with the song?”

  “They’re sirens,” Galen explained, his hand moving over my back as he caught his breath. “They can lure unfaithful men into the water.”

  “Like the woman we met at the restaurant the other night?”

  “Exactly.”

  “But ... most of the men headed in their direction. You said only unfaithful men were drawn to sirens,” I pointed out.

  “And the type of men who would join a cult are probably prone to being unfaithful.” Galen exhaled heavily and rested his forehead against my temple. “Don’t worry about Aurora and the others. They won’t kill them. They can’t. They’re bound by rules. They’ll disappear in the water and head back to the main part of the island. They’ll be fine.”

  “Are you okay?” I asked, the terror slowly subsiding. “I was really worried about you.”

  “I guess that’s why you amassed an army to come get me.” He flashed a smile. “I’m fine. They ambushed us when we arrived. I think they were expecting us.”

  “What were you guys thinking coming after us?” Griffin groused. “You should’ve stayed at the hotel, Aisling. You would’ve been safer there.”

  “Hey, she helped by finding some friends,” Galen countered, his eyes moving to Cormack. “Where did you guys come from, by the way?”

  “I’m Aisling’s father.” Cormack introduced himself. “I came because I was worried about her.”

  “I guess that makes you the father-in-law who keeps threatening Griffin with great bodily harm for knocking up your daughter,” Galen said.

  “I still have plans on that front.”

  “I think you should give him a pass.” Galen’s voice was clear and strong. “He tried to save me. He had a chance to run, but he refused to abandon me. If you ask me, that deserves a reward ... not punishment.”

  Cormack twisted in his seat and met Galen’s gaze head-on. “And if he knocked up your daughter before marriage?”

  Galen balked. “I don’t have a daughter.”

  “Talk to me when you do.” Even though he was clearly in papa bear mode, Cormack briefly flicked his eyes to Griffin and Aisling, his expression softening. “Besides, I won’t do anything that will wound him permanently. We definitely need to have a talk, though.”

  Griffin sighed. “You saved me. I guess you get whatever you want out of the deal.”

  “I didn’t save you. I stupidly brought Aisling along for the ride and she almost ruined everything.”

  “I did not.” Aisling straightened. “You weren’t doing anything, so I handled the situation. And, look, everyone is safe and accounted for.”

  “No thanks to you.” Cormack was firm. “You’re lucky he didn’t grab you as a hostage.”

  “He wouldn’t have gotten the chance. I wasn’t bluffing about shooting him.”

  “I’m starting to believe that.”

  “Nobody kidnaps my husband and ties him to a tree.” She was vehement, causing Griffin to smile.

  “How did I get so lucky?” he chortled, kissing her cheek. “My brave and foolish girl.”

  “I was smart. Everyone got out safely.”

  “You were a moron,” Booker countered. “Everything worked out despite that. Thankfully you told me the Genevieve Toth story. That was actually our greatest weapon.”

  “Yes, I would like to hear more about that,” Cormack said. “How does your friend Barry know Genevieve?”

  “I’ll tell you when we get back to Wesley’s place. Galen and Griffin need to hydrate. We need to pick up your vehicle, and then we need to come up with another plan ... because they’re going to come after us. There’s no way Barry will let what happened slide.”

  “He can’t,” Galen agreed. “He’ll lose face with his followers.”

  “Then we need to go to Wesley’s house,” Cormack said. “I have a feeling that is a story I want to hear.”

  “HERE’S MORE WATER.”

  Wesley delivered a third pitcher of ice water to the table, taking extra care to check on Galen and Griffin before moving to the wall and leaning against it. He was as eager to hear Booker’s story as everybody else.

  “I can’t go into the whole history of Genevieve Toth because we don’t have time,” Booker started. “I’m going to give you the Cliff’s Notes version, and if things work out we can delve deeper when a crazy cult isn’t trying to kill us.

  “Genevieve was a witch who found she could defy death by stealing souls,” he continued. “She basically consumed the souls of those around her to prolong her life. She’s hardly the first being who figured out souls could extend life, but she was the first — at least to my knowledge — to discover a way to do it without losing her own soul in the process.”

  “That’s what wraiths are,” Cormack volunteered. “They eat souls to prolong their lives, but it erodes who and what they are, their sense of self. It’s a half-life. Genevieve found a way to circumvent that, but there was a price. Her soul wasn’t exactly intact.”

  “And Genevieve came to Moonstone Bay?” I asked, confused.

  “For ten years,” Booker confirmed. “She arrived in the fifties and left in the sixties.”

  “No one realized what was happening when she was here,” Galen volunteered. “No one understood that she was consuming souls to survive. Back then, the tourist business was barely starting and people were more trusting.

  “When the town elders of the era figured out what was happening, they went after her,” he continued. “They were going to burn her at the stake, but she had other plans. She’d amassed a group of about ten wraiths, and she sent them out to fight while she made her escape.”

  Aisling widened her eyes. “Booker mentioned before that wraiths aren’t really a thing on the island. I never thought to ask why. I’m guessing that
had something to do with Genevieve.”

  “You guess right,” Galen said. “The wraiths were eradicated within days, and a local coven erected wards to keep them out. It was important to make sure what happened never happened again ... especially after someone noticed something odd about Genevieve’s basement and they unearthed fifteen bodies.”

  I was officially horrified. “What?”

  “The people she killed to prolong her life,” Booker explained. “She buried them in her basement.”

  “That is ... .” Words failed me.

  “I don’t understand why your buddy Barry is so infatuated with Genevieve,” Aisling pressed. “When you brought her up, he seemed to be in awe. He was actually angry that she was dead ... and how did he know Fontaine?”

  “Genevieve took on mythical proportions around here,” Galen explained “The witch who wouldn’t die. That’s how a lot of people referred to her. She’d lived for centuries by the time she landed on Moonstone Bay. And while we have some long-lived paranormals, most of the population has a normal lifespan, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want to live forever.”

  “Most people would change their minds when they learned the price,” Aisling countered, resting her head on Griffin’s shoulder as he sucked down water and continuously rubbed her back. He seemed as worried about her as she was about him. “You don’t live forever without giving part of yourself up in return.”

  Something occurred to me. “There’s always a price. Isn’t that what Casey said? She wanted a baby, and in return Taurus took Jacob’s life. What if he didn’t care about the ritual of the death as much as the soul?

  “I mean, you said he was infatuated with this Genevieve Toth because he thought she was immortal,” I continued. “Maybe he wanted to follow in her footsteps, and that’s why he wanted the souls.”

  “And he killed the reaper,” Cormack mused, rubbing the back of his neck. “That actually makes sense. He wants to live forever. He’s got an overinflated sense of ego. He might not have realized that word would spread to the reaper office if Grimport suddenly stopped transferring souls.”

  “Or maybe he thought he had time,” Booker said. “Maybe he didn’t need to get away with it forever, but just for a short time.”

  “I’m not familiar with Genevieve’s method,” Cormack noted. “Our only source on that matter is gone.” His eyes briefly linked with Aisling’s. “Wanting to live forever is a motive for madness as old as time. If your tin god cult leader really believes he’s something special, I can see him trying to carry out her plan ... and taking lives is part of the process.”

  “I don’t understand about Fontaine, though,” Aisling pressed. “What does he have to do with this?”

  “He showed up here looking for information on Genevieve about five years ago,” Galen replied. “I wasn’t sheriff yet, but I was with the department. He came swaggering in, all bravado and ridiculous posturing. He thought we were a small-town department and he could simply bulldoze us.”

  “That must have been before he hooked up with Genevieve and Lily,” Cormack noted. “He aligned himself with both of them for a time, which was ultimately his downfall.”

  “Probably because he wanted to live forever, too,” Aisling supplied. “I talked to him right before he passed. He tipped me off that Mom was alive. He almost acted as though, at least in that moment, he was sorry for all the wrong he did.”

  “I don’t know about sorry, but he did us a service when he warned you,” Cormack said. “I very much doubt any rogues are on this island helping. Last time I checked, they were all following Xavier Fontaine — Duke’s brother — and most of them were in Michigan trying to regroup from the fallout of Lily’s death.”

  “And Lily is your mother?” I asked Aisling, my heart rolling because it felt like a stupid question. I had to be sure.

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  “So ... what happens now?” Wesley asked, his eyes shrewd. “I don’t mind waging the battle here if you think it’s best — fewer innocent bystanders would be hurt in the process — but this place is going to be almost impossible to defend.”

  “That’s why you’re coming with us to town,” Galen said. “Cut your workers loose now. Get them out of here. We have to leave this place. I doubt Barry will head out until after dark — he’ll consider the darkness a weapon — but we need to give ourselves time to prepare back in town.”

  “Where are we going to hide?” I asked, my stomach unsettled. I pressed my hands against it and made a face. “He’ll find us no matter where we go. We can’t hide from him forever.”

  “We’re not going to hide.” Galen rested his hand on top of mine and met my searching gaze. “We have to fight tonight. I’m not the running type, and I’d wager most of the people here feel the same way. We need a location that’s easy to defend, one where people can’t sneak up on us.”

  “So ... where?”

  Things clicked into place a second before he spoke.

  “The lighthouse,” he said simply. “We can see in every direction. Water covers three sides. There’s only one way they can come in if they don’t want to risk tangling with the sirens in the water.”

  “Do you really think he’ll come after us?”

  “He has no choice,” Cormack said, standing. “He’ll lose face with his followers if he does nothing. Without his followers, he won’t be able to finish what he started.”

  “And what’s that?” I asked.

  “He’s killing his male followers,” Aisling volunteered, taking everyone by surprise. “What? I’m smarter than I look. It simply makes sense. He keeps the women, helps them get pregnant — probably by some ancient pagan spell — and then kills the husbands. He keeps a few men around because he needs the muscle, but only the true believers because they’re less of a risk.”

  “I hate to say it — for more reasons than one — but Aisling is right,” Galen said. “There should’ve been a lot more men out there. It was ninety percent women. He’s obviously killing the men.”

  “And now we have to kill him,” I mused. “Is that what you’re saying?”

  Galen hesitated before responding. “We’ll try to take him alive. I don’t think he’ll give us many options, though. I won’t hesitate to kill him to keep you safe.”

  “He needs to go down,” Booker agreed. “We’ve let him run free for too long. He thinks he’s omnipotent.”

  “We should get going,” Cormack suggested. “It’s only a few hours before nightfall. We have plans to put into action.”

  Galen slowly got to his feet, dragging me with him. “It’s time for battle, honey. I hope you have more of those nifty fireballs at your disposal, because I think we’re going to need them.”

  26

  Twenty-Six

  The ride back to the lighthouse was tense. Lilac and Cormack’s men rode back with Booker, which left Galen, Griffin, Aisling and me with a blustery Cormack and Wesley. I had a feeling that lineup was on purpose.

  “What were you thinking pulling that gun, Aisling?” Cormack demanded once we were on the road. He let Galen drive so he could bellow to his heart’s content without worrying about traffic.

  “I was thinking that I wanted my husband back,” Aisling replied. She was situated next to Griffin, his hands wrapped around hers. “I’m not sorry I did it, so if you’re expecting an apology ... .”

  “You don’t have to apologize,” Griffin said, refusing to back down despite the dirty look Cormack shot him. “Give her some breathing room, Cormack. She’s supposed to be on her honeymoon and almost nothing has gone right. She deserves a little leeway.”

  “And you guys claim I spoil her,” Cormack groused. “You spoil her worse than I do.”

  “Yes, well ... she’s carrying my baby.” He flashed an adoring grin at Aisling. “Besides, she hasn’t been able to do any of the things she envisioned for the honeymoon. No drinking, no boat rides.”

  Cormack stilled. “Why no boat rides?”

 
; “They had a rule. No pregnant women.”

  “Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” he growled, his face flushed. “I’ll fix that ... and you can have a few more days for your honeymoon when this is over. Don’t worry about that.”

  “And you don’t spoil her,” Griffin snickered, shaking his head. “Not that I’m not thankful, but how did you know where to look for us?”

  “Booker,” I replied simply. “You told him where you were heading.”

  “I did it on purpose in case there was trouble,” Galen admitted. “I wish I would’ve thought to talk to Casey again before I headed out there. I have no idea what they did with my vehicle. They’d better not destroy it. It’s hell to get a replacement through the DDA.”

  “I’m dying to meet these DDA people,” Cormack noted. “They sound like real pieces of work.”

  “You don’t want to meet them. Trust me.”

  GALEN DROPPED US in front of the lighthouse and then moved Cormack’s vehicle. Booker did the same. They didn’t say it, but I think they wanted time to confer with one another, come up with a plan. It was obvious Cormack fancied himself in charge, and he was obviously a frequent participant in combat, but this was their home turf.

  May was waiting on the other side of the door when we entered, wringing her hands as she glanced between faces. “I’ve been so worried. The island is buzzing that something terrible is about to happen.”

  “We ticked off a cult,” I explained. “Apparently they’re coming here to teach us a lesson.”

  “Barry?” May made a face as she caught Wesley’s gaze, her frown deepening when he nodded. “Well, we all knew it was only a matter of time before he lost his head and did something stupid.”

  Cormack, his eyes busy as they glanced around the room, said, “I never considered living in a lighthouse, but it has its merits. What a lovely space.”

  May beamed. “Thank you.”

  “This is my grandmother,” I said by way of introduction. “This is Aisling’s father. He’s here to help us.”

  “I definitely am,” Cormack agreed, turning serious as he drew a tablet from the bag he’d carried from the vehicle. “Aisling, call your brothers. Tell them to get bodies on this island as soon as possible.”