by May Dawson
"Now!" Mr. Joseph yelled. I turned to see the ghost-web, lit up with bright white lights.
The ghost flickered in and out of existence. She snarled at him. "Let me go."
"You're the one who haunted me," he said.
"You murdered me," she said. "You murdered our child. I'll never leave you, darling."
"That's why I'm stopping you." He gestured to Stephen, who stood behind him. The light of the web seemed to shoot out toward our ghost, who screamed.
"Now!" she screamed again.
I didn't like Mr. Joseph, and I didn't like the sound of that much, either.
The ghost held her arms out to Mr. Joseph, almost imploringly. Then her arms began to twist and stretch toward the light as it wrapped around her, drawing her into the web.
But then other ghosts rose from the fallen trees that had come with us, rushing to Mr. Joseph and Stephen.
"Run!" Ryker shouted over his shoulder, never one to miss an opportunity. He grabbed my hand and together we dashed for the door.
Cindy stepped out from the shadows near the elevator. The semi-automatic rifle in her shoulder drew my attention.
"You're not going anywhere," she said. "Forget those fools. You're still mine."
"Why?" I demanded. "What do you want with us?"
"There's great power in the Far," she told me. "We won't need these demons anymore if we can connect to the power in the Far."
Behind her, the elevator rattled to life. Called by someone on another floor.
"But for now," she said, smiling as if she had expected that, "I certainly do appreciate them."
43
The elevator doors opened. Behind Dani's mother stood a hulking man, most of his head shaved except for a ponytail.
Nimshi grinned. "Beliel. I never thought you'd come."
"Shit," Jacob said.
I turned, trying to understand what Nimshi was saying, but he was already stepping forward, his hand held placatingly toward his mother who still held the gun.
"Shall I save them? What's left?" Beliel asked. His eyes were intent behind us.
We all turned, following his gaze.
The office had been destroyed. The priceless artifacts and art that had hung on the walls had been shattered on the floor during the struggle. As we watched, the ghosts piled on Mr. Joseph and Stephen, a writhing gray mess. Their legs kicked under the mound of poltergeists as they were devoured alive.
Beleil said. "I did want to keep the one with the funny technology."
"Be my guest," Cindy said.
Beliel strode past us and reached out to grab a leg. He hauled out Stephen, or what was left of him: the skin off one side of his face had been torn away, and his arm was in shreds. Stephen gibbered frantically, a wet sound that was loud and incomprehensible.
Beliel picked him up by the shoulders. "Does anyone need this one?"
"I don't," Cindy said.
Beliel shrugged with one shoulder and tossed him back to the snarling ghosts. He grabbed an ankle, the bare skin between the hem of expensive suit pants and a fancy leather shoe, and hauled out Mr. Joseph. Beliel threw him over his shoulder as if he didn't weigh anything and then returned to his place beside Cindy. He turned and faced us, his face cool and indifferent to the man sobbing aloud over his shoulders.
"So that was a trick," Nimshi said. "The ghost wanted to come back with us all along. She just didn't trust us."
Ryker looked back at him, his jaw working angrily. "Wonder why."
"Don't worry. My mother and I weren't working together." Nimshi's eyes were cold and dark. "She's always been a bitch."
"Says the boy who just watched his father die without a trace of emotion," she said.
"Dad would have been proud," Nim agreed. "Anyway, I already watched one father die before. And that's the one I intend to bring back. Right, Beliel?"
"Right," Beliel said.
"He works for me," Cindy warned Nimshi.
"Sure," Nim said easily. He nodded to Beliel.
Cindy turned on Beliel with the gun, but it was too late. As she turned, Beliel suddenly punched upward, driving a dagger through the bottom of her jaw. She hung for a second on the blade, her expression surprised, and then she fell off. Blood sprayed across the room.
Beliel shifted slightly, since Mr. Joseph's shattered leg had flopped across his chest. He looked at the bloody blade and then walked past us, to the display of swords. Ryker and Levi glanced at each other wide-eyed.
"Messy," Nimshi said. "This is my inheritance, Beliel. Try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum."
"Sorry," Beliel said. "At least it's not carpet."
"At least it's not carpet." Nim stepped over his father's body to clap Beliel on the shoulder. "I love this guy."
"You betrayed us," Ryker said.
"You always saw this coming." Nimshi leveled a finger-gun at him. "You should be happy. You get to tell Ellis you were right all along."
"Do you want me to kill them?" Beliel asked.
"No." Nimshi's voice was muffled as he searched across the room, looking for god-knew what.
Nimshi’s back was to us, and I felt Ryker shift. But Ryker hesitated; the hulking demon with a sword in his hand, while we were unarmed, made for bad odds.
"Not now. We need them." Nimshi stepped into the door of the demon's case, glanced around, and turned back to us.
"That one?" Beliel looked hard at Jacob.
"No! You may not eat him!" Nimshi said. "Come on, keep up. We have plans for them."
He waved his arm, gesturing us back to the demon's case. "Back in you go."
Reluctantly, the four of us retreated through the wreckage of the room, past the terrible feasting ghosts, who ignored us except to look up and hiss, warning us off their food.
Nimshi stopped with his hand on the door when we were all in the demon's case. "Please don't feel too badly that I was always a step or six ahead of you." He winked. "I never actually had a soul."
"What?" I demanded.
He blew me an air kiss just before the doors closed between us.
44
I stared at the sleek gray wall in front of my eyes. My mind was a blur as I tried to make sense of what had just happened.
"Mr. Joseph was always trying to bring his wife back just to capture her," Levi mused out loud. "Because she was haunting him."
"All those resources, all that time they kept us imprisoned, just because he's a psychopath," Ryker said. He slapped the gray wall in frustration. "So. Our little brother. Speaking of psychopaths."
"We always knew it was a possibility," Jacob said. "We took the gamble on him."
"No." My voice came out strong, no matter how I felt. The adrenaline was flooding out of my body now, leaving my legs weak and aching. I leaned against the wall, and then slid down it. "I did. I took the gamble for all of us."
I thought of everything I'd said in Nim's defense. I felt so stupid now. I put my hands over my face, afraid that I was going to cry.
Except I couldn't cry. I was supposed to get back on my feet, help the boys come up with a plan, beat the odds yet again.
I could feel the warmth of one of the guys, standing over me, and then he knelt in front of me.
Jacob pulled my hands away from my face. His golden eyes were intent on mine.
I expected him to be angry. After all, Jacob had intense feelings about being trapped in a demon's case. I had seen the tic beginning in his cheekbone, the one that gave him away when his was face impassive, the way his chest expanded with quick breaths.
"Don't," he told me. "You took a chance on every one of us. You stuck with Ryker and Levi through, oh my God, that embarrassing ring exchange—"
"Thanks," Levi said. "Let's definitely relive that during what could be our last moments."
"And me." Jacob tucked a strand of hair back behind my ear, his touch gentle on my cheek. "Even though I'm a grumpy asshole. You keep taking chances on me."
I tried to smile at him, although his face was blurry through the haze of
my tears. "You're all good guys."
"Let's not go too far," Jacob said. "We're all a little off. We're addicted to killing the things that go bump in the night."
"You're all desperately in need of therapy." That time I really did smile for real.
Levi sank to the floor beside me, his broad shoulder against mine. "He's right. Sometimes you take a gamble and you lose. It doesn't mean you were wrong to roll the dice."
Levi's warmth against my shoulder made me feel better, and so did Jacob's knuckles resting against my cheek, his eyes still serious on mine.
"This isn't your fault," Ryker said gruffly. He held his hand out to me. "Get up. We'll figure it out together."
I ran my hands through my hair, pushing it back from my face. He was right, but it was still hard to get up off the floor. I should have listened to him. I should have listened to the grumpy assholes instead of being so damn naive. I'd believed I knew these boys better than Heaven and Hell and earth knew them.
Jacob stood and offered his hand to me, too. I took one of their hands in each of mine. They hauled me back up easily to my feet.
Levi got up and went to the fallen tree. He took a branch in his hand and kicked at the base of the stick, wrenching it away from the trunk. "That camera's annoying me."
Then he froze. "Take a look at this."
I took a step forward as he bent and picked up a bag.
Our duffel bag.
"Someone," he said, "Hid our tools in here for us. Jake, can we burn our way out of here?"
"It'll take some time." Jacob was already jumping over the downed tree, reaching for the bag. "But where magic fails us, blow torches might just work."
I paced anxiously while Jacob went to work. Sparks flew, and I could tell his hands were shaking even from here—Jacob and blow torches did not have a good record in a demon's case—but he still worked steadily.
Levi joined Ryker in searching through the bag. Someone had thrown our swords and handguns into the bag, too, and I cocked my head to one side. I wondered if it could have been Nimshi. I wracked my brain for a minute when we'd all been distracted—after all, he had hung back before he finally stepped out and betrayed us to Beliel—but I didn't want to speak the thought out loud. It felt so naive and hopeful to think he might have tried to plan our escape at the same time as he double-crossed us.
"You think he was just trying to save Dani?" Ryker asked Levi, his voice low.
"I don't know," Levi said. His voice was grim. "Why did he make up all that shit about needing to steal back his soul? He talked us into coming into this house. We could've just taken Dani from school."
"True," Ryker said. "Maybe our charming personalities won him over once he was already headed down this road."
"There are some definite holes in that theory," Jacob said. "Like the fact that none of us are particularly charming."
"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "You're all adorable."
I was glad I was managing to be quippy, despite the ache in my heart. I felt so torn. I wanted to believe Nimshi had tried not to hurt us. And I didn't want to be fooled again.
"We'll have to ask him," Levi said. "There are too many ways this all could have happened. If he was coerced. If he did this for fun. I wouldn't put either past him."
Ryker nodded and stood, throwing his sword harness over his shoulders. "Let's just do our best not to kill him."
I cocked my head at him.
"What? Until we get some answers." Ryker said. "I'm curious."
Jacob's hand suddenly slipped, and the blowtorch slammed into the floor. He jumped back, cursing, avoiding the steady blue spray of flame. He picked up the torch carefully and flicked it off. Then he slammed his shoulder hard into the door.
The door clicked open, and he almost stumbled into the next room.
Jacob checked that it was clear outside and then held a hand out to all of us, beckoning us out first. "Let's move."
The four of us headed out of the room. Levi handed Jacob his 9mm; Jacob checked the magazine and safety, and then tucked it into the small of his back, in the waistband of his jeans. Then he took his sword, drawing it out of the sheath.
I drew my sword smoothly.
"Let's go find our little brother," Ryker said, his voice grim.
45
We made our way cautiously toward the elevator. The ghosts were swarming over the walls, half a dozen shifting stains crossing the ceiling and walls like drifting stingrays.
Levi held a finger to his lips. Together, we tried to make our way carefully across the room, without drawing their attention. We didn't need another fight, not right now.
Levi began to step over Stephen's body, and then stopped. Watching the ghosts shifting above him, he slowly knelt. His hands searched blindly over Stephen's jacket, his shirt. He must be looking for the glass box that held Nimshi's soul.
Even though it was supposed to be nothing.
Then he pulled the box out. It was small, barely bigger than a ring box, made of crystal. It glowed faintly, as if it was lit from within. When I looked at it, it was hard to believe it wasn't something supernatural. But maybe it was some dark magic that Nimshi had wanted for his own reasons. There was a lot of magic in the world, and a lot of it was unpleasant.
Or maybe Nimshi had wanted his soul all along. Maybe Beliel didn't know his soul had been taken.
Levi slipped the box into the inside pocket of his jacket and jerked his head to the door. The four of us continued picking our way across the wreckage of the floor, trying to be soundless. I lifted my foot high to step over the twisted metal that had once been a suit of armor.
Behind me, there was the crunch of priceless pottery being ground into the teak floor. I looked back. Ryker froze with his teeth gritted. His eyes flickered to the ghosts, who hung from the ceiling.
The ghosts screamed.
Ryker cursed as the ghosts dove at us.
"Fine, you want a fight, we're always up for a fight." Levi pushed me behind him as a ghost plunged toward us. Its face was frozen in a scream, the thing gray and evil. As it grabbed at Levi instead, I realized that its hands had formed into twisted, gray claws. Levi slashed at it, rending a gash through its gray mist, but the first half of the thing tumbled over his shoulder.
I stabbed it and flung it away, off my sword blade. The last half of the ghost was sucked up to the ceiling, its scream trailing off as it fell away to gray smoke.
"That's another thing that worries me about you boys." I said. "As long as we're on the subject."
"We're not." Levi nodded behind me just before he spun to face another ghost. A gray thing ran at me, and I dropped low to avoid it. As it passed over me, its leathery gray skin just brushed against mine, and I felt a shiver of acute disgust. I drove the blade up into its belly, and the gray mist burst out of it, covering me in a faint slime.
"Oh my God." I shook it off my sword, and the mist finally drifted to the ceiling, where it seemed to burn through, leaving ashy gray marks behind it. "I just got slimed. Oh my God."
"What were you saying about not being a badass?" Jacob asked me.
A ghost slammed into him just then. Jacob sat down on the ground hard as the ghost turned and whipped up to the ceiling, preparing for another run at him. He threw his sword, catching the ghost in the chest. The ghost fell to pieces around the metal. Jacob was up on his feet and grabbing for the hilt as soon as the sword rang out against the teak floor. I hid a smile as he tried to look nonchalant, sword in hand, as if he hadn't just been knocked on his ass by a ghost.
"Remember the time you screamed like a little girl because that mummy kissed you?" Levi said. "Because I do."
Ryker slammed his sword through the last ghost, and it fell apart, too.
"It wasn't a kiss," Jacob said with dignity. "It was trying to suck out my soul."
"It looked like a kiss." Levi's laughing eyes met mine, and he mimed around his lips. "That mummy slipped him some tongue."
"It was a literal mummy," Jacob said.
"You don't see those every day. You try keeping your cool when the mummy tries to suction your soul through its gaping maw."
"Do you guys ever stop talking?"
We all looked toward the new voice. Dani stood in the doorway, swaying as if she were weak on her feet.
She started to fall into the room, and Levi, who was closest, leaped to catch her. He caught her easily, sweeping her off her feet and holding her against his chest.
"I have to tell you," she said.
And then she passed out.
Levi looked down at her head hanging back, her long hair dangling, and said, "This is less helpful than we might have hoped for."
"Good thing you've got all those muscles," Ryker patted his shoulder as he walked past. "The one thing Nimshi didn't lie about was when he said you're built like a moose."
"Thanks," Levi said dryly.
We made our way into the foyer. There was nothing beyond the metal grate that blocked the elevator shaft; we'd have to recall the elevator to go up, potentially alerting our enemies that we were free.
"There has to be another way up," Jacob said. He pulled open the gate and looked up at the elevator shaft.
"I don't think they got this place approved by the fire marshal," Ryker said.
As the guys worked on our way out, I heard a faint keening sound in the corner, and I found myself drawn to the ghost web. Silver strands of magic ran through the center of the web, and the shreds of the ghost of Elaine Joseph hung from it. So he had captured her.
I stopped in front of the web, trying to get her eyes to meet mine, but that skeletal face was distorted in a mask of agony. Her teeth were gritted, her lips pulled back in a grimace. Her eyes moved rapidly as if she were trapped in a nightmare.
"I never worked for your husband," I told her. "He hunted us, too."
But I didn't think she could hear me through her pain. I gave up. The most important thing was to help her, because she had been innocent.
"That a good idea?" Jacob asked me as I followed the cord to the outlet to shut down the web.
"Yep," I said.
He shrugged with one shoulder and flipped his sword to the ready, held easily in one hand. "All right."
