A Rose by Any Other Name (Haunted Series Book 18)

by Alexie Aaron

  “So you want to be awake?”

  “Yes.”

  Mike stood up, poured her a cup, then sat down next to her and fed her sips of coffee until Mia could hold the cup on her own. “Thanks, Mikey.”

  “Don’t call me Mikey,” he snapped.

  Audrey looked at the two investigators. She had always been a team Ted person. Mike’s attitude towards women rankled the feminist in Audrey. She didn’t understand the chemistry between Mike and Mia. In short bursts, the two got along wonderfully. Mia watched out for the elder ghost hunter, and Mike babied her. But after a few hours, they were ready to punch the other’s lights out. Could friendships be bipolar?

  “Whoa, sorry about that,” Mia said, rising. “Thank you for the coffee.”

  “Mia, you had another hour you could have slept,” Audrey said.

  “I wanted to wake up to tell you my dream. Is Burt filming the kitchen?” she asked.

  “Tell her I am,” Burt instructed.

  “He is,” Audrey repeated.

  “K. I just want to tell this once. I had a dream that we had continued down that hall following the three stooges. We entered another house. An old house. Rickety steps, and it smelled smoky. There were sounds of many people. They were having sex. Maybe a bordello? But we are awfully far from the docks. When I woke up, I thought about the Hellfire Club. Burt, maybe of all the houses in Chicago, Glenda bought the old Hellfire Club.”

  “I sure hope not,” Mike said, worried.

  “Ask Mia to come into the command center,” Burt instructed.

  “Burt wants to talk to you in the pantry,” Mike said.

  “K.” Mia refilled her cup, opened the door, and stepped over the thick line of salt. She closed the door after her and used the lights from the consoles to navigate her way to Burt.

  He had pulled up the files from the original Cold Creek Hollow haunt and displayed them on the left monitor. Mia sat down and started to scan them for the information she sought. She turned to Burt and told him what she had learned, “Dennis McCrae PhD cited that there was a Chicago Hellfire Club but didn’t say where. I think the fire in 1871 destroyed a lot of history. I could ask Ralph. I think he was the originator of the theory that Cold Creek Hollow was indeed the summer home for the group.”

  “I can’t think of that place without thinking about how Rose Malloy ended up. How she ended up with that name. Poison Ivy would have better suited her. Roses represent ardor. You like roses, if memory serves me.”

  Mia turned and looked at Burt. “You and I need to have some time alone.”

  “Mia…” Burt said nervously.

  “You’re still holding onto fictional memories. If we are by any chance on the grounds of the Hellfire Club, then you are the most vulnerable. Let me help you, Burt. Don’t fight me. Murphy is gone, so I need you to be 100%.”

  Burt turned to the console and connected with Mike’s com. “Mike, I need you or Audrey to watch the feeds. Mia and I need to get some air.”

  Mike opened the door and walked in. He didn’t ask why. He simply sat down and waited for the headset of power to be handed over. Mia kissed the top of his head before she left with Burt.

  “Why do you do that?” Burt asked, closing the pantry door. “You only encourage him.”

  “I was rewarding him for not being his normally difficult self,” Mia explained.

  “Mia, have you been training all of us?” Burt asked, pulling on his heavy coat and boots.

  “Yes. Audrey and I have almost all of you men trained.”

  Audrey spoke up, “It’s part of our evil plan to take over PEEPs.”

  “Only Jake is immune,” Mia said.

  “Not to Audrey. That ghost falls over himself when she walks in the room,” Burt reported.

  “I would too. If I were a lesbian, I’d do her,” Mia said as she led the way to the front door.

  Ted walked out of the parlor in time to see Mia and Burt heading out the door.

  “Where are you going, pumpkin?”

  “I’m going to take a walk with Burt. We’re going to be discussing how hot Audrey is and my future as a lesbian.”

  “Okay, put up your hood, the snow is still coming down,” Ted said and headed for the kitchen.

  “Mia, don’t take this the wrong way, but you and Ted deserve each other,” Burt said, helping her off the porch into the deep snow.

  They jumped and slid their way down the drive and connected with someone’s snowmobile track. They followed it to the park. Burt lifted Mia up on a retaining wall before he joined her.

  “Here we are, alone,” Burt said.

  Mia turned sideways, straddled the wall and looked at Burt. “Tell me about your family in New York.”

  “My wife is kind of overbearing, but she needs to be tough to keep our six kids in line.”

  “Do you think she’ll like Chicago?”

  “Mrs. Roustan… Shit. Mia, I see what you are talking about. What do I do?”

  “We are going to replace your memories with real ones. I really enjoyed when the two of us visited your sister and her kids.”

  “She’s always been a parent. Carmen is ten years older than I. I think she parented me more than my mother did. I was a menopause baby.”

  “So how did you enjoy living in New York?”

  “Mia, I never lived in New York. I’m from Kansas.”

  Mia nodded. “What’s my name?”

  “Mia Roustan… No, it’s not.”

  “Remember when you and Mike were talking to April about her haunted house?”

  “Yes. I couldn’t get you out of my mind. I watched you talk to yourself through the window.”

  “I was talking to Murph,” Mia admitted. “The Bluetooth headset was just a prop.”

  “I didn’t know in the beginning. All I saw was this cute girl with a giant chip on her shoulder.”

  “Not a shapely calf?”

  “Mia, I was looking at the way your cargos fit your ass,” Burt said. “I’m not a leg man.”

  “Burt, who am I?”

  “I told you, Mia Martin, but I still think of you as Mia Cooper. I can’t get it into my fat head that you have sex with, let alone are married to, Ted.”

  Mia nodded. “But like you said, we do deserve each other. Burt, I think we have worked out the fictional memories.”

  “How did we do that?” he asked, confused.

  “We brought up real memories, good memories.”

  “I sometimes forget all the good memories we have in common,” Burt said.

  “Me too.” Mia turned around and scooted closer to Burt. “I’m having trouble figuring out the house, Burt. I’m ashamed to say that, until it acts up, I’m not sure how effective I will be.”

  “We’ll figure it out, or we’ll blow the fucker up.”

  Mia squealed in delight. “That’s my modus operandi.”

  “I know.”

  “How’s it going with Jane?” Mia asked.

  “Slow. She’s very direct about what she expects and wants, so it’s kind of easy to stay out of the doghouse, with the exception that she is also very literal. For example, if I say, come on over for coffee, she expects coffee.”

  Mia laughed. “You make some good coffee.”

  Burt laughed.

  “Mind if I ask your advice?” Mia asked.

  “Sure, fire away.”

  “In order to heal me, Judy said I needed a blood transfusion. Ed was handy, and well, long story short, his blood combined with my dormant genes has started another transformation.”

  “You haven’t told Ted yet?”

  “No, it just happened, and I didn’t want to say anything in the house. Burt, I’m a circus freak. I have wings, my uncle is a Nephilim, and because of the transfusion, I suddenly have a brother. He-who-walks-through-time and I are blood relations now. He sliced my arm and sucked my blood. You should have seen Murphy’s face.”

  “My face is probably no different. You sure have a knack for getting yourself into bizarre
situations. Ted has been very understanding so far. Trust him, Mia. He’ll just set another two places at the dining table for your new family members. He doesn’t see you as a freak. He’s proud of you.”

  “The coming children will probably be different. Ted’s children but superhuman.”

  Burt started to speak, but he could tell that there was more.

  “I’m going to outlive him if PEEPs doesn’t kill me. I’ll outlive Brian.” Mia started crying.

  Burt put his arm around her and drew her closer to him.

  “I don’t want to outlive my husband or child.”

  “Mia, I don’t know what advice to give you except to just take it one day at a time. There are no guarantees in life or in death. I think it’s good to know that Brian will have your love and counsel when he’s older. Remember, Mia, you used to have demon genes in you, and now they’re gone. Maybe when you no longer need them, the wings too will disappear. Odds are, you could eventually have that normal life you’ve wanted so badly.”

  “I no longer want it. I’ve accepted that I have a role to play. What that role is has yet to be explained, but I can no longer sit back and let others battle evil when I can lend a hand and perhaps help both sides to find a balance.”

  “Mia Cooper Martin, I thought you bonded yourself to the archangels.”

  “But I didn’t enslave my mind. Father Santos’s balance seems the best course for this planet.”

  “I agree with you, but right now evil, is winning.”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re worried that you’ll be called into battle soon,” Burt said.

  “Yes.”

  “Prepare, and if you go, I’ll watch over your family for you.”

  “If it happens, I’ll be taking all of you to my grandfather Émile in France.”

  “Why?”

  “Orion said you’ll be safest there. It’s where the Neyers have survived for centuries.”

  “No, why me?”

  “You’re my family as much as the others are.”

  “Mia, we aren’t family, friends maybe.”

  “You have been fathering me and Mike for two years,” Mia pointed out.

  “Speaking of which, why have you told me all of this and not your partner in crime?”

  “I trust you.”

  “You don’t trust Mike?”

  “Not after he forced my hand by bringing up the Dark Web situation.”

  “He only did what he thought was right… No, wait. Mike sometimes likes to maneuver people into situations and watch them squirm.”

  “No kidding,” Mia said.

  “Thank you, Mia, for trusting me again.”

  “I love, trust and value you, Burt. I’m glad you came into my life.”

  “As much as I’d love to sit here and talk longer, we better head back while we still can. How much snow do you think has dropped?”

  “Too damn much,” Mia replied.

  ~

  Sariel stood beside Ed and watched as Murphy brushed off the top of his coffin. He read the inscription that was burned into the top. ‘Remember, my friend. Death is never the end.’ Excellent. Stephen, is this true?”

  “I have had a better existence after I died than before.”

  “Tell Ed and me about your death.”

  “I don’t remember…”

  “Yes you do,” Sariel challenged.

  Not really sure what the angel wanted, Murphy thought backwards. “I was chopping down a large elm. I had it ready to fall when I heard Chastity. She called to me. I saw her standing in the path of the tree. I ran over and escorted her away where she would be safe. I walked back to finish the tree when I heard the sound of another axe echoing through the woods. I heard the most evil of laughs. I turned, and Chastity was being pawed at by Morris Steel. I went to save her when the tree came down.”

  “And…” Sariel prodded.

  “That’s all I remember besides waking up on the hillside years later.”

  “No, Stephen, think. If you want to find power, you must remember your death. Look,” Sariel said as he waved his hand and Murphy’s coffin lid lifted. Inside was a canvas sack. Sariel separated his hands and the bag was torn in two. There, lying in the coffin, was a crushed skeleton. “Look,” Sariel repeated. “Tell me about your death.”

  Murphy looked into the coffin and saw his crushed body lying there. “The tree hit me first in the head, then back. It cracked my skull and flattened my spine. My right arm was not crushed by the tree. I held on to my axe as the pain left me. My head was turned, and I saw my wife’s pleased face. She kissed her lover, my murderer, and left me there.”

  “And…”

  “I died,” Murphy snapped. “What else do you need to know?”

  “Didn’t the light come for you?” Sariel asked.

  “Yes, it did. I moved out of my body. I didn’t know I was dead at first, and I tried to pry my axe out of the grip of the man under the tree. But it was me. My blood had soaked into the ground, and I thought about how, in death, my blood would nurture the forest. Maybe I deserved my death, because I had taken too many trees to build my house and barn. I turned away from the light, deciding to care for my farm and the forest instead.”

  “Can you find the spot the tree crushed you?” Sariel asked.

  “I think, no, I know so.”

  Sariel flicked his fingers and the coffin closed.

  “Ed, carry the coffin. Murphy, bring the spade. It’s time to seek your power.”

  ~

  Mia and Burt had just made the porch when Mia heard Sariel’s voice in her head, “Mia, come to the farm.”

  “Burt, I have to leave,” she said, taking off her coat, hoodie and tee, bundling them, and holding them tight to her chest. “Tell Ted I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She opened her wings. She wrapped them around herself and disappeared.

  Burt walked into the house.

  Mia appeared by Sariel’s side. She looked around her and recognized the small clearing in the forest not far from the house. She retracted her wings and put on her clothing. Ed approached bearing a cedar coffin on his shoulder. Mia looked around for Murphy. She found him six feet down, removing the frozen earth.

  “I see a coffin bearer and a gravedigger. What is my role here?” she asked Sariel.

  “You’re the mourner,” he said simply. “Stephen Murphy has unearthed his own grave. He faced his own death. Now he will return his body to where he died. There is a reason that nothing grows here. The forest has been waiting for Stephen Murphy’s remains.”

  Mia bowed her head as the casket passed her. Ed laid it beside the grave.

  Murphy moved upward and planted the spade blade side down in the pile of loose dirt. Sariel once again opened the coffin.

  “Stephen, your remains need to be returned to the earth. You promised the forest, and it has waited all this time.”

  Mia stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

  “No,” Murphy said. “It’s my chore to complete.”

  Mia nodded and stepped back and watched her friend once more confront his remains. He picked up the open coffin and poured the contents into the grave. He then set it to the side.

  Sariel turned to Mia. “Burn it.”

  Mia doubted she could still bring forth fire since the demon had left her. She closed her eyes and thought about fire. She thought about fire consuming the coffin. Mia open her eyes and nodded her head. The coffin burst into flames. In minutes, it was nothing but hot embers smoldering in the deep snow.

  “Misfit, your hand,” Sariel ordered.

  Mia held out her hand. Sariel drew his sword and sliced her palm. He didn’t need to tell her what to do next. Mia walked to the grave’s edge and squeezed her blood into the grave.

  “She has given you her heart, her allegiance, and now she gives you her blood,” Sariel told Murphy.

  Mia stepped back. Ed wrapped her cut hand in a leather band.

  Sariel spoke a strange language that Mia had heard Michael speak
before. Ed looked at the archangel and knelt. He pulled Mia down beside him.

  Murphy began to fill his grave with dirt. With each shovelful, he relived his death and that promise he had made. When he had finished, Sariel stop speaking.

  “I leave it to the forest, now. Come, Ed, Misfit, let’s retire to the aerie. Murphy will wait for a sign.”

  Mia wanted to stay but knew that Sariel would not put up with any nonsense. She followed the archangel to the aerie in silence. Judy had a roaring fire going. Mia took off her wet outer garments. Judy offered her a blanket, and Mia accepted. Judy offered a blanket to Sariel, but he declined.

  “I need a drink,” Mia said. She looked at Sariel sideways. “Can I get you one?” He smiled.

  “Ed?”

  “No firewater for me.”

  Mia poured a measure of whiskey for her and Sariel. She sat by the fire. Judy took a look at Mia’s hand and tsk tsked. “Angel steel. I’m surprised you survived.”

  Mia looked over at Sariel, and he shrugged.

  “May I ask a question?” Mia asked Sariel.

  “Go ahead.”

  “I’m certain that was a ceremony of some kind, and I imagine that we now have a large hole in our basement. What was all of this for?”

  “Ed, do you want to answer her?”

  “I would. Sister, Stephen requested for Sariel to find him a way to become more powerful so he wouldn’t fall prey to stronger entities. He specified that he did not want dark power. He wanted the power in order to protect you.”

  “You made him face his own death,” Mia said. “A man who can confront his death is a powerful man indeed.”

  Sariel looked over at his shield maiden and nodded his approval.

  “Murphy’s power comes from the land. You made him one with the land. Sariel, you are a genius. What is he waiting for? What is this sign?”

  Murphy stood watching the snow fall on the freshly-packed earth. He saw a small disturbance in the center of his grave. He fell to his stomach and watched as a shoot moved out of the soil and the seedling curled upward. The plant was fertilized by his bones and Mia’s blood. Soon the small tree grew thick and tall. An elm had ended his life. His remains gave another elm new life. This circle of life pleased the land. Murphy stood up, and he felt the power of the land move upwards from his feet into his body. It felt like a thousand energon cubes had exploded inside him. His steely gray eyes glowed. Gone was the blue mist of the ghost. Instead, Murphy glowed with the deep green of the forest. He took a moment to thank the earth before he sped to the aerie to tell them what had happened.