by Renee George
“He’s not my brother.” I wiggled my eyes at Babe when he met my gaze.
Babe put his hand on Billy Bob’s shoulder. “I think she’s feeling better, Doc.”
“I heard,” he said. His grin made me blush. Damn shifters and their damn bionic hearing. “Sunny, your BP is a little high. I think you better take it easy for a couple more days. The excitement today was too much. I told you to take it easy.”
“If I take it any easier, I’m going to be comatose,” I grumbled.
“I’ll make sure she stays in bed,” Babe said.
“None of that, either.” Billy Bob raised his brow at me. “I mean it. You’ve already had one premature delivery. Unless you want another, you’ll follow doctor’s orders.”
“Yes, sir.” I gave him a three finger salute. I really wanted to give him a one finger salute, but I didn’t.
I heard Chav say, “You are sexy as hell when you’re bossy.”
“Hey!” I turned in time to see her kissing him like she was going to eat him. “Take it to your own place. This home is for monks and celibates. If I can’t get any here, than neither can you.” Traitor.
Chav disengaged from her man, walked across the room to me, kissed my forehead. “Love you, babe. But I got my own bed rest to tend to.”
Billy Bob laughed. “Doctor’s orders.”
I stuck my tongue out at both of them.
After they left, Babe scooped me up from the couch. I felt like a giddy school girl as he carried me as if I weighed a couple of ounces, not one-hundred and eight-five pounds. “You are the man,” I said breathlessly against his neck. Pleasure filled me as goosebumps arose on his skin.
“Now, Sunny.” He set me down on the bed and smoothed my hair away from my face. “If I had the green light…the things I would do to you.”
“Tell me about it.” This could be our very own version of phone sex. Yay!
“Nope.”
Bummer.
“I don’t know if I could keep my hands off you. Why don’t you tell me why you tried to get in the middle of a fight on the courthouse lawn today?”
Uh oh. Here came the lecture. Crap. “Technically, I went over there after the fight was over.”
“Well, Roger is lucky he didn’t get more than a broken leg. Horsing around a work site could’ve ended with him having a broken neck..”
“Next thing you know, you’ll be calling them pesky kids and telling them to turn their music down.”
Babe grimaced. “I’m not becoming that guy.”
I put my index and my thumb an inch apart and said, “Pretty close.”
He snarled, and man, it just made him sexier.
“Stop that. You know I like it when you go all growly.”
He smiled then. “Okay. I forgive you.”
Babe kissed me, and I melted into his arms. The baby inside me moved. Babe made a pleased noise, almost like a purr. There was nothing quite so proud as a procreating therian.
I sighed, thinking about my daydream and how similar it had been to what happened to Roger Parks. “Someone pushed him into that hole, Babe.”
“Did you see it happen?”
“Sorta. It matched my vision.”
“You mean the one where The Mummy fights the villagers for his bride?” He gave me a sympathetic look. “You’re pregnant, Sunny. You know that messes with your gift.”
“The fight played out just like it saw it, words and all. Only it happened between Kyle and Roger.”
“There were a half dozen or more witnesses. No one saw anyone else push Roger into that hole. He’s an arrogant ass who was too angry to watch where he was walking.”
Put out with my husband for at least not making even a slight effort to, believe me, I snuggled against a large pillow. “Hand me Jude.”
Babel brought me our son. I cuddled him close and kissed his tiny fingers. “It was a psychic vision, Babe.”
“You’ve been watching a lot of horror flicks this past week,” he said. “It’s no wonder you’re having daymares about mummies and irate villagers.”
Baby Jude stuck his chubby little fingers up my nose, and I pulled my head back. “Maybe.” Though I knew in my bones, it was more than just hormones.
“Ruth sent me home with a peach pie. Do you want a piece?”
I glared at Babe. “You’re just telling me now?”
“Is that a yes?”
“You bet your sweet bippy.” I sat up in bed.
Jude said, “Mamamamamamama.”
I kissed his cherubic little face. “You are sweeter than any pie,” I told him. But when Babe brought me a plate with a generous portion of peach pie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, my mouth began to water. It wasn’t gravy. No, it way better.
“You used to look at me like that,” Babe teased.
“Maybe you should start wearing ice cream to bed,” I said.
“Is that a request?”
I dragged my gaze away from dessert and up to my man. “Hell yes. As soon as the doc give the A-Okay. But first…” I turned my attention back to the pie. I used my fork to scoop a little pie, making sure I got both crust and fruit on there, then added a little ice cream. I put the perfect bite into my mouth and mmmm mmm.
Oh no. Babe’s vibrant blue eyes turned to a dull gray.
I must have had a strange look on my face because I heard Babe say, “Sunny. Sunny, are you all right?”
The world around me, once again, became grainy and black and white.
The swamp creature rose up from the murky depths of his oily home. It was actually super disgusting. It smelled like sulfur and poop. I watched him, so arrogant, the way he lauded his power over everyone. The way he looked at me was like I was a flea on a dog. I couldn’t take it anymore. I wouldn’t let another single creature walk all over me. I wasn’t a doormat. I was a person. Flesh and blood. I would show them. Show them all.
I set a trap for the swamp man. I put a snake into his cesspit. When he screamed, I threw in a torch.
Kaboom!
That’ll teach him. I’m not invisible. Not to him. Not anymore.
I blinked. Babe stared at me. “What did you see?”
“The swamp man catches on fire.” I shook my head, trying to dam the tears. “It’s the invisible man again. I can’t see him, Babe. I can’t.”
Chapter Four
Two Days until Halloween…
Ruth Thompson came over at noon with lunch and Wilhelmina “Willy” Boden. Both were a welcome surprise. She relieved her oldest daughter Michele, who had just put Jude down for a nap.
“Bedrest sucks,” I lamented.
“Are you kidding me?” Willy pulled a chair from the kitchen into the living room. “I’d give my eye-teeth for a couple of days off my feet. The Tri-State Council is a pain in my ass. The entire infrastructure has been reorganized, and they expect me to keep everyone safe, as long as I do it their way. That’s not how I work. I’m about to tell them to take their job and--”
“Shove it,” I finished for her.
“More like shove it up their ass,” she said.
I smiled. I liked Willy. She was shorter than me, with more curves, unless I am super preggers, of course, grass green eyes, and had a thick head of wavy, almost carrot-orange hair. To top it off, she was sassy and honest, two things I admired in my friends.
Ruth, who did not have a potty mouth, was about to go apoplectic. I once heard her say GD, not the actual words, just the initials, and I thought the world was going to stop revolving on its axis. “I believe we need to get something in that mouth of yours,” she said diplomatically. “Both of you.”
Ruth, who was a deer shifter, had the beautiful features of a Disney princess. Turned up small nose, high, wide cheeks, pointed chin, full but narrow lips. Pretty much the human version of a deer. Or what I imagined elves and fairies might look like if they existed. She and her husband Ed own Doe Run automotive, and she was my second best friend ever. And it wasn’t just because she always brought me pie.<
br />
Speaking of which… I spied a pie tin in her stack of food platters. “Is that pumpkin pie?”
“You know it,” Ruth said.
“I really missed your cooking, Ruth,” Willy said. She rubbed her fingers together. “So tell me all the gossip.”
Ruth shook her head. “Well, as you can see, Sunny’s pregnant.”
“I knew that before I left,” Willy said. “How’s Chavvah and that big old hunka doctor? Have they tied the knot yet?”
“Not yet,” I said. “They haven’t even set a date.” I had no idea what was preventing them from speaking vows, but I figured Chav and Billy Bob would get there in their own time. They were slow movers as evidenced by how long it took them to get together in the first place. “What about you? You seeing anyone?”
“Nope, not a soul,” Willy said. “I have the worst taste in men. They either turn out to be undercover FBI agents or dead.”
Ruth gasped. I snarfed. I mean, it was terrible that her ex-boyfriend ended up a victim of the skin peeling serial killers. I mean really awful. I don’t know why I laughed.
I pointed to my belly when Ruth gave me an appalled look. “Hormones,” I said. I circled my finger by my ear. “They’re making me crazy.”
“I wish I had such a good excuse,” Willy lamented. “Chav dodged a bullet with Dom.” Dom was the undercover FBI agent. He and Chav had gone out on a few dates before Billy Bob made his move. “He’s a typical bear. All sweet and cuddly one minute and all roar the next.”
“I don’t know about you, but I always like a little roar with my cuddles.”
Ruth laughed now. She dished me up a scoop of chickpea salad and put it on a plate with a black bean burger Chav made for me at Sunny’s Outlook.
“Oh.” Willy made a cringy face. “What is that smell?”
“Sorry.” I waved my hand over my lap. It had been a silent but deadly. Tears crested my eyes. “I’m a farty-mcfartster. I can’t control it.”
“Damn, my eyes are watering,” Willy said.
Tough audience. I laughed. “I missed you, chick.”
“Back at you, girlfriend.” She got up and moved her chair closer to the window. “I think I’ll miss you from over here, though. No offense.”
“Lots taken.”
Ruth said, “Oh, did you hear about Smart Funeral home?”
A change of subject. Yay. “Tell us.”
“Someone glued all the display coffin lids shut.” She shook her head.
“You’re kidding.” It was just like my first nightmare. Holy crap. And poor Mark. Why would anyone have a vendetta against him? He was a decent man. He doubled as the coroner in town, though it was more a token position. Billy Bob, as the only medical doctor around, had the last say when it came to how someone died in Peculiar.
“No,” Ruth said earnestly. “The glue ruined the finishes. He reported it to the sheriff.” She grimaced. “I had just been there the day before for a funeral.”
“I’m sorry. Did you lose someone close?”
She shook her head. “No. It was an elderly man from Silver Fox Senior Center. He didn’t have any kin left. Mark called me and asked if I could get some mourners out for him.” Her brown eyes swiveled up at me. “Don’t be hurt. If you hadn’t been on bedrest, you would have been my first call.”
A knot eased in me. “I’m glad.” I leaned in toward her. “I’ve seen these incidents.”
“What do you mean?” Willy said. “How did you see them?”
“I was there when Roger fell,” I said quickly. I forgot that Willy didn’t know I was psychic. Even worse, she didn’t know I was human. The town had voted and decided to keep that information from the Tri-Council. When in human form, you couldn’t tell a human from a shifter, and since I spent all my time around therians, I certainly smelled like one.
Willy gave me a curious look, but Jude woke up from his noon nap and started fussing before she could ask any questions. “I’ll get him.” Willy followed the sounds to the baby’s room.
When she left the room, Ruth's eyes widened, and she said in a quick whisper, “I like Willy, too, but you have to be careful. She still answers to the Tri-Council.”
“I know,” I whined. I couldn’t believe I almost blew it. “Hormones.” I was blaming a lot on this pregnancy. I hoped my baby girl had broad shoulders. “But I dreamed all of this, Ruth. From the coffins, to Evelyn’s car, and Roger falling in the hole.”
Willy came in swinging Jude in her arms. He laughed every time he flew in the air. He was such a happy baby. Easy too.
“Mamamamama,” Jude said. He kept his eye on me, but he contented himself to letting Willy toss him around, especially since I couldn’t. “So what did you see?” Willy asked.
I was saved by the bell, literally, because Ruth’s phone rang.
“It’s the sheriff’s office,” she said. “Must be Tyler.”
Her son, Tyler Thompson was a deputy sheriff, the same as his identical twin Taylor who’d had been at the courthouse when Roger got hurt. I really like Taylor. I did not like Tyler. That young man had been coarse to me when I arrived in town. He had a beef with Babe’s deceased brother Judah, and somehow, that animosity got displaced my way. He’d apologized, but I still didn’t like him.
Ruth answered. “Hello.” She looked mildly surprised. “What can I do for you, Eldin?”
Eldin Farraday was also a deputy. I immediately went on alert, especially as I watched Ruth’s face drained of color. I sat up straight. “What is it?”
“I’ll be right there,” Ruth said. Her hands were shaking now. “Tyler’s been rushed to Doctor Smith. He’s got second degree burns, and they think maybe a concussion. They’ve called Darla. She and the girls are on their way out to the clinic now.”
Darla was Tyler’s wife. She and Tyler had twin girls, April and Mia.
“How did it happen?” I asked, worry lacing my tone.
“Something about an outhouse and a snake. A prank gone wrong, Eldin says.”
A chill swept through me. “You said it got burned. So, there was a fire?”
Ruth gaped at me. “Did you…?”
I nodded. Willy glared at us suspiciously. “What are you two hiding?”
“Sunny needs to talk to the sheriff,” Ruth said.
“I’m on bedrest,” I told her. “I’m allowed to lounge, that’s about it.”
“I’ve got to get to the doc’s. Willy, could you stay and help Sunny?”
“Sure, of course.” She bounced Jude on her knee. “But I expect an explanation when this is over.”
“You bet.” Ruth grabbed her purse. “I’m calling Sheriff Taylor on the way. He can decide if he wants to come talk to you. But if you know anything about what happened to Tyler, you need to tell him.”
“He’ll think I’m crazy.”
“He already thinks you’re insane.” She took my hand. “I know you and Tyler don’t get along, but this is my boy. I love him, Sunny. Like you love Jude. Please help.”
“Okay.” What else could I say? Not much in front of Willy. Even if I could, though, the vision had been like the others. The invisible man did it. Of course, Tyler played the swamp man in my little creature feature. I was getting sick of my gift, which had always been unpredictable, being completely useless—and couching real events within the fictional confines of monster movies.
Ruth left, Willy went to change Jude’s diaper, and I was left alone to think about my whacky classic horror visions.
Were all these incidents perpetrated by the same person? Or was my pregnancy visions just giving me a generic invisible bad guy each time? What if there were multiple pranksters? The incidents had definitely escalated from harmless and annoying to dangerous and injurious. I felt sure it had to be one person. But who?
I rubbed my hands together, held my breath and concentrated on the invisible man. Psychic vision power activate!
Nothing happened, of course. I let out the breath.
“Are you constipated?” Willy
asked. I hadn’t realized she’d come back in the room.
“Yes,” I told her because a) I really was, and b) it was an easier justification for my weird behavior. My phone rang. Saved by the bell again. “Hello.”
“Sunny, this is Sheriff Taylor. Ruth told me to call you.”
“She told you, huh?” I got a vision of Ruth ordering the sheriff around. “I can’t come in. Not unless Billy Bob says it’s okay.”
“I know. I called Babe first. He told me a little bit about what’s been going on with you. Can you talk?”
“Uhm, Willy Boden is in town visiting me.” I tried to put a cheery note in my voice.
“Understand. I’m on my way to you so we can talk in private.”
“Thanks.” We hung up.
Willy stared at me suspiciously. “What the hell is going on?”
Willy was too smart for her own good. Or rather, my own good. I grimaced. “Ugh.” I clutched my belly.
“Are you all right?”
I felt slightly guilty for using my pregnancy to misdirect Willy’s attention. “Nausea,” I said.
“Look, you rest. I’ll take care of Jude.”
“Thank you,” I said. I made my smile tremble. God, I was so going to hell. Willy picked up my son and left.
I just wanted to get to the end of my pregnancy without a big shake up. Getting involved in crime fighting is how Baby Jude ended up premature. I didn’t want to the same thing to happen to our princess.
Chapter Five
Babe and Willy took a walk with Jude while Sheriff Taylor sat with me in the living room. I told him about Dracula, Frankenstein’s Bride, The Mummy, and the Swamp Monster. He agreed that it all seemed a little too coincidental.
“This invisible man,” he said. “Can you tell me anything specific about him? Maybe something that might give us a clue?”
“Uhm, I’m pretty sure the world invisible implies a lack of details.”
Sheriff Taylor narrowed his dark eyes at me and gave me a sour look.
“Fine. Sorry.” I rolled my eyes. “He considers himself a loner. He’s lonely. He’s jealous. And he feels like he’s been bullied by all the people getting hurt. These pranks, dangerous or not, are his way of getting revenge. He feels like they will see him now.”
