by Angie Sandro
“Better get Judd to the hospital while you have the chance, Pepper,” I yell. “I don’t plan on holding your son indefinitely. Maybe you should arrange to have this conversation later. And leave Judd at the motel the next time.”
Chapter 9
Mala
Destination Crazytown
George overhears my end of the conversation. He follows silently when I sprint for the main road and his patrol car, not that I give him the opportunity to protest. He only pauses after unlocking the door to pick up the radio and advise Chief Keyes and Bessie of an emergency situation in progress, then slides into the car beside me and asks, “Where are we going?”
“Something is going down at the Ackers’.” My voice trembles as I say, “I heard yelling in the background. Sophia said ‘only minor injuries,’ but I don’t know what the hell that means. The woman can bring the dead back to life. A broken bone is like a paper cut to her.”
George turns on the engine and pulls slowly out onto the dirt road. The drizzle from earlier changes into a heavy downpour, and water runs down the windshield with each swipe of the wipers. “Who is this Sophia person?”
“She’s an apprentice to my Aunt Magnolia.”
“Oh? Is she the woman who drugged Landry in New Orleans?”
I gulp. “I told you about that?”
“You were in the hospital and highly medicated from the shock of what happened with Red and Dena. You told me a lot of things you probably wish you never spilled.”
“Did I tell you about my Dena dilemma? No.” I shake my head, muttering, “I never told you about that.” Even delusional I wouldn’t be idiotic enough to tell George that I could bring Dena back from the dead if I murdered someone. As a peace officer, he’d be against the idea for obvious reasons. I should be against it for the same principles, but it’s basically less about my ideals than what type of guilt I can live with.
George flips on the siren as soon as we exit Old Lick and drive onto the main road through town. I try to get through to Landry’s phone but there’s no answer. I give up, staring out the window as the scenery flies past. A white car captures my attention for a brief second. The woman driving looks so much like Dena that my heart tries to leap out of my chest and chase after her.
I blow out a heavy breath. “This is killing me. I hate not knowing what’s going on.”
George reaches over to rumple my curls. Kind of annoying in my present agitated state, but the expression of emotion inspiring the gesture also brings comfort. “I’m sure everything is fine,” he says. “If it weren’t, Dixie would’ve gotten a call to send out an ambulance.”
“True.” The image of Landry in the chicken coop pops into my head. I pinch my eyes shut, knowing I shouldn’t say anything, but the words spill out. “Landry’s been sleepwalking.”
“Seriously?” He frowns. “No wonder you’re freaking out. Is it a side effect of the whole possession thing?”
“Yeah. When he’s asleep, his defenses lower, allowing the demon to take over. It comes out to play, then returns to wherever it hides inside him. Landry wakes up with no memory of what happened.” I turn sideways so I can study his expression. “You know I don’t scare easily, right? I don’t want to lose Landry, Georgie. You almost shot him the last time. But you also hesitated when the demon attacked. You both could’ve been killed.”
He meets my eyes in the rearview mirror. “Why are you telling me this?”
“If you’re in danger, take him down. Don’t wait. I’m not saying to shoot him in the head, but use your Taser. Knock him out with your baton, if you have to. Don’t let him get close enough to injure you. Otherwise, you won’t have any choice but to use your gun. Like I said, I don’t want to lose either of you.”
George remains silent. After a while, I face forward again. My mind races through possible scenarios about what I might find once we reach the Ackers’. And I’m glad I warned George in case the demon has broken free again. Forewarned is forearmed.
We pull down the Ackers’ driveway. Sophia and Ferdinand stand by Landry’s truck. I jump out of the car as soon as it stops moving. “Where is he? Is he in the house? You said he’s hurt.” I veer around them, running for the steps.
Landry strides out the front door, followed by Carl. He lifts his hand, and I almost keel over in relief. He meets me at the base of the stairs with arms stretched, and I throw myself into the hug, squeezing tight. A puff of air releases from his lungs with a little “Oof” and a wince.
“Oh Mother Mary, you’re hurt?” I pull back, lifting the bottom of his T-shirt. My fingertips trace the slight redness on his tight abs. “How did this happen?” I step toward Ferdinand. My voice rises an octave, and I wince at the shrillness of my tone, but I’m too angry to turn it down. “Did you hit him?”
Landry wraps his arm around my shoulder and tucks me against his side. I try to shrug him off but he won’t let me go. “Retract your claws. It wasn’t Ferdinand.”
“It was me,” Carl says. He slides the toe of his tennis shoe across the red dirt. “It was an accident. Sorry.”
I point my finger at him. “Sorry doesn’t cut it, buddy. You’re in so much trouble. If George wasn’t here to witness your death, I’d wring your scrawny neck. What were you thinking? Ditching school, fighting with Landry—do you want to get taken away from me so badly?”
“Mala, I—”
“When Mrs. Huxton said you didn’t arrive at school, I almost lost my mind with worry! I thought someone kidnapped you. That you’d been—” I inhale and hold in the word that’s tap dancing on the roof of my mouth, but it flashes through my mind anyway—murdered.
George meets my gaze and nods. He’d been thinking along the same lines. Good to know I’m not just being freakishly overprotective. The boys need to be warned about the threat. They’re far too independent to be running around town without being aware of the danger.
While I try to find the words to express my fear in a way that won’t give him nightmares, Carl cuts in. “Will you stop yelling long enough for me to explain, please?”
Tears pop in his red-rimmed eyes. Snot runs from a Rudolph the Reindeer red nose to mix with the tears. He wipes his face with the bottom of his brand-new T-shirt, avoiding the mud stains and…I squint, leaning closer. “Is that blood?”
He drops his shirt. “Yeah, but it’s not mine,” he says quickly, and upon seeing my panicked glance up at Landry, says even faster, “I’m not crazy. Landry would kill me if I ever punched him.”
Landry rubs his stomach. “Right, but elbowing me is just fine? A little lower and I wouldn’t be able to conceive children.”
Carl grins. “Good thing Mala’s already pregnant.”
All the air in my lungs releases in a strangled rush. “W-w-what?” Heat floods my cheeks as five pairs of eyes turn in my direction. Surprise flickers in George’s gaze, but everyone else smiles as if the announcement’s no big deal. Like they’ve already heard…What the hell? “That’s bull. Who says I’m pregnant?”
“I found the pregnancy test this morning.” Landry pulls the test stick from his pocket and holds it out to me. “See, two lines equals: ‘Surprise! You’re my baby momma.’”
My eyes cross as I try to focus on the squiggly, blurry lines. The urge to run gets my feet moving, but the fuzziness in my head causes them to cross and tangle together. I stumble, and Landry’s grip on my shoulder tightens. He twists me around until I’m facing him.
I can’t even look him in the eye. “Let me go!”
“Why? I’m not mad. Just hurt that you didn’t tell me.”
“How could I when I didn’t even know myself? The twins came to tell me that you were missing before the result came in. Then everything went to hell. Maybe it’s a false positive. That can happen if you wait too long to read the test. The box says so,” I say, voice rising with false hope. ’Cause yeah, dream on, baby!
Landry’s jaw hardens. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Now I’ve gone and
hurt his feelings. I want to crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and bawl my eyes out, but I can’t. I’ve got to suck it up and try not to explode into a gooey mess in front of my friends…and the witch Sophia. I bury my face in Landry’s chest, wishing I could disappear.
Footsteps shuffle forward and a throat clears. I peek over my shoulder. George stands a few paces behind me, looking as green about the gills as I feel. “If there’s no danger here, then I’d better head back to the crime scene.”
“Sure.” Please go before I die of humiliation. “Bessie will have a bunch of questions. I hope you don’t get disciplined because of me.”
He ruffles my curls, ignoring Landry’s grunt. “Hang in there, little sis.”
Warmth fills my chest at his words. I always wanted an older brother. Guess hearing confirmation that Landry and I are expecting has kicked his fraternal instincts into high gear. Before he can leave, I say, “If they let me, I would love to work this case. I know I can help. You’ll vouch for me, right?”
Landry’s muscles flex beneath my hands. “Hold on—”
George ignores Landry as if he didn’t speak. “The situation’s more complicated than I initially thought.” His eyes drop to my belly, and I cover what I now know for sure is a baby bump with my hand. “You’ll probably have Bessie on your doorstep tonight. Run it by her then.”
Landry tries to step forward, but this time I hold him back from going after my brother. “Look, I held off on kicking your ass because Mala came back safely, but there’s no way in hell I’m letting you drag her deeper into this case, George. She almost died.”
“What are you talking about?” A frown furrows George’s brow.
“Nothing. He’s just being overprotective.” I swallow hard, squeezing Landry’s bicep in warning. “I’ll fill him in on what happened after you’re gone.”
Landry’s mouth opens then shuts when he catches my pleading expression. He blows out a heavy breath. “She’s right. Just ignore me. Obviously Mala can take care of herself.” He pulls his arm free to rub a finger along the underside of his eye patch, like it itches. A telltale sign of his discomfort that shouts even louder than the tension in his rock-hard body. He runs the same hand through his hair, dragging his fingers through the ebony locks until they hang like a curtain over his face.
My stomach twists at the movement. It took forever to convince him to wear his hair back, so I could stare at his face whenever I want like a lovesick fool. He uses his hair to hide his feelings. Like I can’t tell how upset he is right now. But despite his discomfort, I still don’t want George to know about the danger I put myself in. Knowing I’m pregnant is bad enough. He doesn’t need another reason to bar me from this case. I’m being selfish. I know it, but I don’t want my dream to get snatched away again. Especially since I’m closer to reaching it than I’ve been in months.
“Deputy Dubois, can you drop me and Sophia off at my car? It’s parked at the crossroads,” Ferdinand says, drawing George’s attention from the silent argument Landry and I are having. When he notices his words have captured our interest as well, he explains. “I need to get back to New Orleans and update Magnolia on what has happened.”
“No problem. Let’s go.”
“Oh no,” Sophia says, waving them off. “I think it’s best if I stay.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Ferdinand says, waiting until George walks over to get into his car, then turns to Sophia. “What now?”
She rolls her eyes. “What do you think? The magic used to break that spell was powerful, and it’s left a path directly to Mala’s door. I don’t think she’s at all safe on her own.”
Ferdinand frowns. “Do you think he’ll come for her?”
“Wouldn’t you in his situation? He would’ve looked for her out of curiosity alone, but not only did she break his circle but she stole his totems. He’d been amassing energy from those sacrifices for a long time. He won’t be pleased to learn they’ve been stolen.”
“Stolen?” I swallow hard. “I didn’t take anything.”
“Never said you did,” Sophia says, glancing over at Landry. He flushes but remains silent, only tipping his chin up in a good-bye to Ferdinand. I study Landry with narrowed eyes, wishing I’d learned her handy skill of reading minds. What’s going on in that head stuffed with demon fluff? And why do I suddenly feel so frightened?
Not up to an argument, I decide to take a page from Carl’s distractionary playbook and shift the focus off myself. “So what exactly happened here?”
Sophia twines her fingers through the ends of her long dark hair and studies the tips with a slight frown. “Do you want the long, exciting version, which includes your timely rescue from dark magic, or the shorter, equally thrilling bit, where the boys’ mother returned?”
It takes a minute for her words to sink in. “Sophia!”
She blinks and drops her hair. “What?”
“Carl, why don’t you go into the house? I need to speak with the adults alone.”
“You’re a little late, Mala. I’m not deaf. I know all about how you talk to ghosts,” he snaps. “I even met your uncle Gaston and helped drag your sorry ass out of the dark-magic circle. So don’t treat me like a stupid kid.”
“And how exactly did you get dragged into this mess?”
My boyfriend shrugs. “Sorry.”
“Don’t blame Landry. I overheard him talking about bringing Dee back from the dead. You’re going to save her right? Red shot her and tried to kill us.” He steps closer, and I realize he’s almost as tall as Landry. He looms over my head, a dark cloud filling his blue eyes. “He doesn’t deserve to live after what he’s done. And you know it!”
My breath comes out in rapid bursts. “Stop, Carl. Don’t…”
“Leave her alone,” Landry says. “It’s Mala’s decision. She’ll have to live with the consequences, not you.”
He turns to Sophia. “Then you teach me.”
“It’s not so easy.” She smiles, looking him over. “You’d have to die first. Are you willing to do what it takes to earn the power?”
“No, he’s not!” I grab Sophia’s arm. Her skin burns my fingers, and I pull my hand away with a hiss. “It’s my job. I’ll do whatever needs to be done. Leave him out of it.”
“As you wish.”
Saints, what a mess. Carl throws a glare in my direction. Obviously he won’t be happy unless I save Dena. Landry grabs his arm and drags him up the porch stairs. He’s jabbering the whole time. Hopefully he’ll talk the kid off the ledge.
“Is this why you called me away from the crime scene?” I ask Sophia. “You made it sound like someone was about to die. Was it to talk some sense into Carl?”
“Well, at the time it seemed like a close call from my point of view. As I mentioned earlier, the boys’ mother returned. Said she planned on selling this place and taking the kids with her to New Orleans. Needless to say, your boy was not pleased at the news. Or with her new man trying to assert his authority. The blood is all the other guy’s.”
A rush of panic flows through me, and I fight off the urge to run to the school, pack up the kids, and hide them in the bayou where Pepper Acker can’t find them. I promised I’d protect them, but maybe I’m being selfish.
Dena loved her mom, a lot. Hell, I loved her too. She acted like a surrogate mom to me when I visited as a kid. She didn’t view me with the same disdain as her husband. When she took off, it devastated her family, but especially Dena. She ended up taking on her mother’s role in the home. At least her dad didn’t beat her like he did his wife and the twins. “Oh, I think I saw her. Was she driving a white car?”
“Yes.”
A white car. Like the one the murderer drove to pick up the kids. Nah, it can’t be that easy. The guy didn’t seem stupid. Why would he drive the car all over town? It has to be a coincidence. “Where did she say she was going?”
“Probably to the hospital. Carl broke her boyfriend’s nose.”
I need
to find out what’s really going on from the horse’s mouth. I can’t give the boys up without learning her intentions. They’ve suffered enough loss without having their mom come into their life only to abandon them again.
Chapter 10
Landry
Parasitic Pest
We pile into my truck. I hold the steering wheel in a death grip as I drive down the road leading off the Acker property. It’s twisty with muddy potholes big enough to eat my tires. Over the last few months, I’ve adjusted to having only one working eye. I rarely get nauseous anymore from vertigo, due to compensating for my lack of depth perception. And I added extra-wide mirrors to the truck to cover my blind spots. As long as I don’t lose focus or get distracted by shiny things, I do okay behind the wheel.
Mala sits in the passenger seat, leaving Carl stuck in the back next to Sophia, not that he complains. I catch him in the rearview mirror peeking down her blouse. To point it out would be a dick move—bringing embarrassment to all parties. Well, probably not to Sophia. I doubt she’d care. Plus, she egged him on earlier.
I clear my throat, hoping to catch his attention. But his eyes don’t lift. Oh well, I did my best. If he gets caught, the consequences are on his head. A soft snore comes from my girl. She sits with her chin resting on her chest, her eyes closed. Her cheeks are flushed bright pink, and her luscious lips are slightly parted. She looks pretty, but clearly exhausted, although she’d never admit it. She acts like she’s got to be the Energizer bunny at all times.
“Fetuses suck the life out of their hosts far faster than I do.”
I blink at the pitted road, shaking my head. Maybe if I shake it harder the parasite will fall out of my ear like a blob of earwax. “Are you talking to me?” I think to the muttering voice.
“Yes. You seem discomfited by my presence. I merely point out that a prenatal human is far more invasive, or parasitic, per your insult to me. They suck their nutrients from the host. I, however, have found an alternate food source. Chicken. Plus, I provide an invaluable service. If not for me, you would have perished at least a handful of times, and that number only includes those instances when I bothered to wake.” Smugness radiates through my body.
