Tempting the Light: Legends and Myths Police Squad (L.A.M.P.S. Book 1)

by Bonnie Gill

  She pulled out her salt, opened the box, and walked around in a circle leaving an unbroken white line behind her. Just to be sure, she walked around twice, reinforcing the circle. The salt barrier measured just over two inches thick. She trembled as she double-checked to make sure there were no breaks.

  “You guys ready? My watch says midnight.” She looked at River and Pepper. They both nodded at her to proceed. “Here it goes.”

  Next, she lit the candles in the correct order. First white, then red, and finally the black one. The flames flickered in the cool, light breeze.

  She used the black marker to scrawl Aperite portas, qui maledixit mihi domun ad genie, which said open the portal to the genie who cursed my family.

  “I call the Green Jinn of Arabia. I summon you regardless of your will.” She bent and picked up the knife and held it tight with white knuckled shaking hands.

  The flames grew taller and flared followed by the green swirl of smoke.

  The huge green genie popped out of the mirror and scowled before her. He seemed bigger and a heck of a lot madder than when she met him in the rest room.

  “You dare to summon me?” The green genie’s uni-brow formed a perfect V on his wrinkled forehead.

  Her legs and knees shook. She locked them so she wouldn’t fall. Digging deep inside she found enough courage to continue. With the knife, she sliced across her palm and let a few drops of blood drip into the red plastic container.

  “With my blood I bind you.”

  “You can do no such thing.” His anger resonated through his words, and his face twisted and changed into the mime, but his green bulky body stayed the same.

  “You’re the mime?”

  “Yes. A clever disguise, no?” The genie’s booming voice rushed out of the mime’s mouth, complete with the painted heart. “Tormenting you has fulfilled my purpose. You should have seen the look on your face when you walked in on me and your boyfriend.”

  “I can’t believe you made Burt fall in love with you just to torture me.” For some odd reason the urge to feel sorry for Burt actually occurred.

  “Oh, believe me, wooing him was easy. I probably did you a favor.”

  She furrowed her brows. Maybe not sorry for Burt after all.

  “You are my slave now, and I command you to remove the curse on me, and my future family.” She added the last part with hope that he could do such a thing.

  His lip curved upward into a snarl. “Silly girl. I cannot remove the curse the old gypsy placed on your kin. I can however remove your curse. So be it.” He waved his hand in front of him in a jerking motion. “Now let me go.”

  “I command you to remain dormant in this container until I let you free.” She pointed to the Tupperware container and continued on. Abby hid her disappointment that her grandchildren would have to face this fate.

  “No,” he replied, and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Yes, I command you.” Why wasn’t this working? She had followed the directions perfectly. “In the Tupperware. Now.” She pointed at the container with her knife.

  “Know this child. You will be sorry when you let me out.” His body turned into a pillar of smoke, and twisted like a tornado down into the bowl.

  She tossed in a tampon and snapped the lid closed. Then duct taped around the top of the container several times.

  “Abby. Look out. Something else is coming through that portal.” River’s voice snapped her to attention. Abby leaped up. The mirror’s glass bulged upward with silver liquid pushing out.

  She rubbed furiously on the mirror with the paper towels but before she could finish an enormous green scaly snout with large sharp teeth poked out.

  Dragon.

  Startled, she fell back on her rear and turned her head to check the salt line. She missed breaking the barrier by a fraction of an inch. She crawled to the mirror with the paper towel in her hand. Abby looked over at River and Pepper. They jumped and shouted at her but she couldn’t hear anything they were saying.

  Her mouth went dry.

  Run! What she wanted to do—was run. Run away as far and as fast as her legs could move. But if she bolted, she’d lose River and Pepper to the snarling jaws of the dragon. As long as she stayed in the circle they were safe.

  Steam and smoke blew out of the beast’s huge nostrils. Only its head had pushed up through the mirror doorway. If this leviathan escaped through the portal it would be her fault.

  On instinct, she uncapped the spring water jug and emptied it onto the mirror. “Claude ostia prohibere dracones.” The Latin words for “I close the portal. Stop the dragon,” fired out of her mouth. The beast howled, pulled back, and disappeared. The spell written on the mirror, dissolved.

  Abby sat back on the ground and stared at the Tupperware container. The tension in her neck released and she let out a long breath.

  “Oh. My. God. That was freaking awesome.” Pepper ran over but stopped short before entering the circle.

  “I’m so proud of you, Abby.” River strode next to Pepper. “Now let us in there.”

  “I think you can cross. I closed the portal and the genie is sealed up.” She scratched the back of her head. How the heck did she know the water would work?

  River bent to pick up the Tupperware containers. He put the smaller one inside the larger one and duct taped it again. Then he pulled out several plastic bags and wrapped them around the Tupperware, pulled out a cloth bag, and lastly pulled out a titanium safe and locked the bowl inside.

  “I’m not taking any chances. I’m going to bury this where no one will find it.”

  “You’re going up against your bosses for me? I thought you had to turn it over to your agency.”

  He shook his head. “No. This is too important. I can’t trust them to resist the temptation to open the container and let the genie out.”

  Abby agreed with River. She ran to him, and placed her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy right now. For the first time in years I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me.” No more turning into a monster. She’d finally found a way to end her streak of bad luck.

  “So you think it worked?” River fought his grin.

  “I know it worked.” She laughed and let loose a smile that would put a toothpaste model to shame. The joy in her voice was something he had never heard from her before, making her even more beautiful. Abby was the one for him.

  He pulled her over to him and kissed her upper lip, then her lower one. After kissing both her lips, her cheeks, and her forehead, he decided never to let her go. To protect her from any other curses, he would convince her to marry him.

  “Hey, guys, can we go now?” Pepper tapped him on his shoulder.

  He waved her off without pulling away from Abby. “Yeah, yeah.” He didn’t want this moment to end.

  River sat at his desk in the police station and battled over the phone with Ottar about the genie held hostage.

  “Okay. I get your point.” Ottar finally gave up. “If the tables were turned, I wouldn’t hand over the container. Those scientist lab geeks and their twisted curiosity will have that container opened within minutes.”

  “Thanks. Oh . . . You still need to repair Pepper’s dinosaur,” he reminded him.

  “Crikey! Damn that stupid dinosaur. I forgot. I just took on another assignment,” Ottar growled over the phone.

  “Well, give it to someone else. You promised, and you know Pepper will call you daily until that statue is repaired.” He winked at Abby.

  “She will? How would she get my phone number?”

  River laughed.

  “No. Don’t give it to her. If I give you the money, will you repair it for me?” Panic hit his voice.

  “Ha ha, bro. You broke it, you fix it.” He hung up.

  A
bby sat on his desk with her legs on either side of River in his chair. Kazoo lay curled up in her lap and Hercules panted next to her with his tongue dripping drool on the floor. It had been a long time since he could say he had a family, but now he had living proof.

  “It’s official. I resigned my position from L.A.M.P.S. I’m going to stay here with you and work as a small town sheriff.”

  “That’s great.” She bounced up and down on the desk.

  “I want you and Kazoo to move in with me.” His words came out unsteady but it wasn’t because he was unsure about her moving in. He was afraid of how she would answer.

  Abby tilted her head and stared at him. “Okay. I’m sure Pepper can get along without me. I’ll just be down the road anyway. Are you sure?”

  He leaned in and kissed her cherry scented lips. “Of course.”

  She’d just made him the happiest man in the world.

  The next week Abby packed all her belongings including her grandmother’s journal.

  “I’m going to miss you.” Pepper sat on her bed next to her.

  “I’ll miss you too.” She gave a giant grizzly bear hug to her best friend. “I’ll still see you all the time in the pet store.”

  Pepper stuck out her bottom lip. “Yeah, but it won’t be the same.”

  “I know what you mean.” She folded a shirt and laid it in a box. “I’m really happy, and I haven’t had any bad luck since we got rid of the genie. I also got my period yesterday. I didn’t turn into the Jersey Devil last night.”

  “Oh my gosh. That’s awesome, girlfriend.” Pepper patted Abby’s knee and bounced up from the bed. “Oh, by the way, your video from the collar has over two hundred thousand views on line.”

  “You put my Jersey Devil video on that video web site?”

  Pepper grinned. Wide. “Yep. I have companies that want to pay for advertising on it. I haven’t decided who to accept yet.” Her finger tapped her face like she was in deep thought.

  “You did not.”

  She laughed and carried a box to the door. Abby followed with her hands full. River hovering on the other side.

  “You’re going to come and visit.” He locked eyes with Pepper.

  “Until you get tired of me and throw me out.” Pepper joked back.

  “You sure you won’t get too lonely?” It saddened her that Pepper would be alone again.

  “Na, I have Bob, remember?” She gestured to her blow up doll sitting in the passenger seat of her truck.

  They put the boxes inside River’s car. Kazoo jumped into the front seat, wagging his tail with joy. Abby wrapped her arms around Pepper and squeezed her in a big hug.

  “I’ll see you at work tomorrow. Stay out of trouble.” Pepper pointed her finger at her.

  They pulled away in River’s car. She looked over at her handsome sheriff. Somehow she knew she wouldn’t find a better guy anywhere in the world. A tickle of desire to snuggle in his strong protective arms fluttered in her chest.

  He was definitely a keeper.