“None that I know of. We fought a lidérc that was trying to use Charlotte and Lydia as vessels to suck the power from Erik and Iain. In recent years, from what I know about, Niall has been hunting leprechauns, a chupacabra, a lizard man of the swamp claiming to be a dragon-shifter from another planet, Bigfoot who turned out to be a hairy human, a vampire, some tree spirit… would the vampire count?”
“No, vampires are vampires, not demons,” Dar dismissed. “What else?”
“Jane’s mom was a bean nighe,” she offered, “a banshee.”
“Do you think Jane’s mom is crawling out of your bathroom floor?” Dar asked a little sarcastically.
“No.” Malina grabbed the sweatpants from where they’d landed on the bed and pulled them over her legs.
“What else?”
“I don’t know,” she said in exasperation. “How far back do you want me to go? I don’t remember any other exorcisms beyond yours.” She pulled the borrowed t-shirt over her head, feeling frumpy in the baggy clothes. “Do I look like a demon hunter to you?”
“You look like you’re about to go for a run,” he said, eyeing her attire. “Which is probably a good thing since we need to leave. I feel like our luck is running out here.”
Malina rolled the sweats at her waist to make them fit better. She missed her designer shoes and dresses. It was one of the perks of being able to materialize whatever she wanted from a picture—she was always able to look nice. Now, when she stood before the one man whose opinion of her felt the most important, she looked like she’d crawled out of a lost-and-found bin.
“Something feels off.” He went to pull back the curtain to peer out the window. “There is a lady in a blue car watching our hotel room.”
“Friend of yours?” Malina joined him to see who was there. She frowned. “Dammit. That’s Mrs. Callister, the local busybody. She’s probably here to see which locals are using the hotel rooms to cheat on their spouses. We can’t let her see us.”
“What? Ashamed to be seen with your demi-demon husband?”
“No. She’ll just turn this into something seedy,” Malina whispered, wondering if the woman could somehow hear them from across the parking lot. Mrs. Callister undoubtedly had a parabolic microphone strapped to the passenger seat of her car. “Some idiot introduced her to blogging, and she’s taken her social reports digital. She’s a pest. Her new favorite pastime is writing her weekly Green Vallis gossip column featuring my family. Euann keeps sending her viruses to keep her posts from going viral. The last thing I need is a picture coming out of a hotel room like a call girl.”
“Ah, so you’re just scared everyone on the Internet will see you in sweatpants coming out of a cheap hotel,” he whispered back.
Mrs. Callister lifted a pair of binoculars from her passenger seat and began searching the hotel.
Malina jerked the curtain closed to hide. “Oh, shit. I just thought of something. What if she has been up to the house and saw what happened there? Who knows what’s going on with all the protection spells right now.”
“I don’t think she has,” Dar reasoned.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because if she saw a haunted house, I doubt she’d be on sleaze patrol at the local hotel.” He pulled the curtain aside and pointed. “See, she only seems interested in that one room.”
“Huh, I wonder which townsperson is having an affair?” Malina craned her neck to see.
“Probably a good thing she has her column,” he teased. “You’ll be able to find that out the next time she posts.”
“You’re being nice to me,” Malina observed. “Does this mean you forgive me?”
“It means I recognize that you tried to make a grand gesture by telling me what you did and taking off the djinn ring. It would have been nicer if it actually worked, but I’m choosing not to blame that on you.”
Suddenly a bright blue light illuminated the surrounding area. A shadow was cast by the hotel building over the parking lot. Mrs. Callister stepped out of her car, her mouth slightly ajar as she gazed into the distance. Several people came out of the hotel. Dar reached the door before Malina could decide whether or not it was a good idea to investigate.
He motioned her to follow. “We can’t stay here.”
They crossed the parking lot, joining the gathering crowd to look toward the sky. Behind the hotel, miles away, the blue light shone like a spotlight to draw attention.
“What is that?” a woman questioned.
“Aliens?” one man offered in confusion.
“Paranormal mumbo jumbo,” Mrs. Callister dismissed.
“I saw something like this in the city once. It’s a spotlight that stores use to get people to come to their sale,” a woman explained.
“That’s not like any spotlight I’ve ever seen,” a man with a cigar put forth. “Come on, Starla, let’s go check it out.”
Others apparently thought that was a great idea because they disappeared into their rooms only to return with car keys.
“I think that’s my house.” Malina grabbed Dar’s arm and led him toward the cars. “This isn’t good. We need to get there first.”
“Don’t look now, but your friend’s got you in her sights.” Dar nodded to Mrs. Callister who was blindly reaching into her passenger window as she stared at Malina. She fumbled a moment before pulling put a camera. Dar tried to wave at the busybody, grinning wildly. Malina slapped his hand and pointed across the parking lot behind the woman. Mrs. Callister turned to see what had gotten Malina’s attention and Malina used the distraction to jerk Dar around side a parked van to hide before the woman could take a shot. “Where’s your car?”
Dar stood to peek inside the van’s window before kneeling next to her. He pointed his thumb at the vehicle. “Right here.”
Malina glanced at the faded logo on the side. “Harrison’s Plumbing, Cooling, and Heating? You’re an air conditioner repair man?”
“Didn’t you once tell me gambling wasn’t a real job?” He grinned.
“I did,” she agreed, “but that didn’t mean I thought you should add car thief to your résumé.”
“Listen, do you want a ride to the house or not? I’m more than happy to walk it. Or we can hitch a ride with Mrs. Callister. I’m sure she’d love to hear all about how we met and—”
“Fine, we take the van,” Malina consented, “but remind me to hire Harrison to fix all the plumbing your gremians destroy in the house.”
Chapter 13
The driveway of the MacGregor home was filled with cars. Dar had to park the stolen van toward the bottom of the drive, and they walked their way up the hill. People had come from all over town to see what was happening. Malina even saw Sheriff Johnson’s telltale cowboy hat as he stood near a squad car, scratching his head as if wondering what to do about the gathering. She pulled Dar into the trees to avoid speaking to the man. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the displaced Southerner, but he tended to ask a lot of questions in a roundabout manner that made conversations last a long time. And they would be questions she didn’t have answers to.
The light had not faded and as they approached the front lawn. The beacon came from the roof, lighting up the night sky, as well as every window. Malina stared up at the house. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s tried to go inside yet. They must be waiting for a show to start. I suppose I have you to thank for that. Whatever luck you gave me must be holding up. Okay, so what do you need to get started?”
“Started doing what?” Dar frowned.
“Cleaning up your mess.” Malina gestured to the home. “Reverse their luck and force the ghosts to leave. Cross them over into the great beyond. Evict their asses. I don’t care. Just get them to stop.”
Dar gestured helplessly. “Maybe I can? If I can get inside and touch those two little brats who tried to take all my energy while I was sleeping, I might be able to siphon it back. Catching ghosts isn’t easy though. I have a feeling they won’t want to get too close to me. They
sure as hell won’t want to get too close to you.”
“You’re not going in there alone, so don’t even bother saying it. Do you think any of them will try to follow us if we go in the front door?” She motioned to where the gathering crowd had stopped to form a semi circle starting at the old oak tree and crossing over the drive to the other side of the lawn. They talked lowly amongst themselves while watching the house like they expected fireworks to go off at any moment.
Unexpectedly, someone jerked her elbow to force her from Dar’s side. She gasped in surprise, tensing to fight as she turned. It was Euann.
“I don’t think we can hide this,” Euann said, unconcerned by her fighting stance. “The entire town is on our lawn.”
“Out-of-towners from the hotel too,” Malina added. She dropped her fists. “Where’s the rest of the family?”
“Cait is watching over Charlotte. Niall is pissed about your new friend, but I think he’s circling the gardens out back. Rory is taking a leak in the woods. Raibeart is crazy drunk insisting ya actually got married to a dandy.” Euann laughed. “Can ya imagine? Ya? Married? I think we’re going to have to commit him to a mental hospital soon.”
“Hi.” Dar leaned forward and held out his hand. “I’m Darragh Lahey, Malina’s husband. You can call me Dar. Nice to meet you.”
Malina winced. Euann shook the man’s hand but arched a brow at his sister. Weakly, she exclaimed, “Surprise!”
Euann made a strange noise of disbelief before dismissing, “Aye, nice try. Ya almost had me there for a moment.”
“How is Charlotte?” Malina asked before the conversation became any more uncomfortable.
“It’s odd, but I think she’s better. She seems more… I don’t know how to explain it. She’s more like the Charlotte we first met.”
“That’s not saying a lot. If I remember correctly, you guys petrified the poor girl the first night you met her,” Malina reminded him. “She woke up thinking she had a horrible nightmare and a monster of a hangover.”
“There is that,” Euann agreed. “And to be fair, I’m pretty sure that hangover was all her doing. Fun times.”
“Not that I don’t respect the laid back approach you all are taking to this situation, but isn’t anyone worried about the giant blue light coming out of your house?” Dar interrupted. “Or the fact that the locals are starting to inch their way closer to look inside?”
“Oh, it’s bad, but we’ve seen much worse.” Euann studied the glowing mansion.
“We’ve caused worse,” Malina said. The sound of the crowd grew louder as their numbers increased. “But he’s right. We need to act.”
“Too many of them to petrify.” Euann glanced around at the crowd. “What about a zombie walk? Do ya think there are enough of us here to mesmerize them all?”
“Probably not.” Malina bit her lip thoughtfully. “That’s a lot of zombies to control.”
“At least it’s only ghosts and not a bean nighe,” Euann said.
“Or a lidérc,” Malina added. “What about a power surge? We can’t very well go with the mass shared hallucination angle again so soon. We’ll have the authorities here building a contamination dome over the entire town.”
“Northern lights?” Euann said, tilting his head to look at the sky.
“Not with the windows glowing like that,” Malina dismissed.
“We could say we were testing a new security system, and it went awry,” Rory offered coming from the nearby trees. He slapped Euann on the shoulder. “Anyone who knows ya will believe it.”
“I hope ya washed your hands,” Euann ducked away from Rory. “Where’s Raibeart?”
“He insisted he knew the way here, so my guess is he’s up in a tree somewhere five miles south thinking it’s his bedroom. The lunatic kept going on and on about how Malina finally managed to snag a man, but it was no surprise that the guy is a foppish dandy lizard or something.” Rory gave Malina a sheepish look. “No offense, cousin. Raibeart’s words, not mine.”
“None taken,” she said.
“Well, some taken,” Dar mumbled.
“So, we’re not killing this one?” Rory nodded at Dar. “Niall didn’t seem to happy about that. What about ya, Malina?”
“No. Don’t kill him,” she said.
“I agree, no killing,” Euann inserted. “I kind of like him. He’s funny. Dar, tell him what ya told me when I said what Raibeart was going on about.”
“That I’m Malina’s husband?” Dar asked.
Rory and Euann began laughing, hard.
“See!” Euann slapped Rory hard on the back. “I told ya he’s funny.”
“What about telling the townspeople the truth?” Dar suggested, drawing their attention to the problem at hand. “It has to be easier than all these elaborate lies.”
Rory and Euann laughed harder.
“Can ya imagine?” Euann asked.
“Ladies and gentleman of Green Vallis,” Rory announced to their small group with mock pageantry. “We invited ya all here tonight to witness an unearthly laser light show. Behold, the wonders of the afterlife. Proof that ghosts exist and the dead are never really gone. Please don’t stampede and trample your neighbors to death as ya panic and run away. Medical professionals are on standby for anyone suffering a mental breakdown from having the safety of your world completely shattered.”
“We have to do something.” Dar frowned.
“Hey, ya got red on your shirt.” Rory pointed to where the blood stained the front of Dar’s shirt.
“Yeah, thanks,” Dar dismissed. “Nothing you’ve come up with has been that believable. How about we just call it a natural wonder and go with the less is more approach? Leave it a mystery.”
“Feeling guilty that you’re the one who caused this?” Niall appeared out of the darkened tree line to join them. “No one is in the gardens yet, which is a good thing because there’s a goblin den made out of what looks to be broken pieces of our dining table in the shrubbery. Also, I think he was wearing one of Malina’s shirts. Some gold striped number with—”
“No, not my—” Malina began to protest.
“Materialize another one later,” Niall interrupted.
Malina’s lips tightened in annoyance at her brother’s superior look. What did boys know about feeling pretty and being a lady? Men could throw on a kilt, trek through mud, show up at a MacGregor corporate business meeting without showering, and everyone would call him rugged and adventurous. If she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and decided not to bother with makeup, they’d think she was sick and try to send her home.
“All right. Here’s what’s going to happen,” Malina decided. “Rory, you’re on crowd control. Find Sheriff Johnson. He was halfway down the drive by his squad car. Mesmerize him and get him to order all his deputies to get these people off our private property and have him put blockades at the end of the drive to keep people from trying to sneak back up. Let them be the ones to spread the story about the power surge in the reserve generators.”
“On it,” Rory headed down the hill to find the sheriff.
“Euann, you have publicity control,” Malina said.
“Ya want me to cause cellphones to glitch?” Euann offered.
“Aye,” Malina agreed. “And I’m going to need you to find Mrs. Callister and charm her. I guarantee she is around her somewhere taking pictures. Tell her the house had old wiring and five generators malfunctioned all at once and caused the lights to—make something believable and techy up. Do whatever you have to, but get her onboard before she posts anything online. We don’t need our home becoming a paranormal pilgrimage. And see if you can’t get her to calm everyone’s future fears by saying it’s nothing dangerous and the family is going to great lengths to fly in a foremost electrical engineer to look at it. We can make a public apology for any town disturbance later to downplay the issue.”
“Why do I have to deal with that gossip mongering busybody?” Euann whined.
“Because Ro
ry wouldn’t be able to help himself around Callister. His explanation would involve aliens and sea monsters in an epic battle over humanity. And, before you ask, Niall would probably just stare at her sternly until she was confident he planned on hiding her body in the woods.” Malina motioned that he should get moving. “Plus, I think she has a thing for you. Now go.”
Euann grumbled but did as she suggested.
“I’ll go inside and—” Dar began.
“I don’t trust him, Malina,” Niall interrupted. “He’s the reason this is happening. Order him to stay behind. We don’t need his help. This is a family matter.”
“He has the power to make them leave,” Malina countered. “We need him in there.”
“So do I. I can exorcise ghosts. I’ve done it plenty of times.” Niall crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell him to stay out of our way.”
“He is right here,” Dar gritted through clenched teeth. “He can hear you.”
“Order him to be quiet,” Niall warned, turning his full attention on Dar. “I don’t want to hear anything he has to say.”
“Tell your brother to take his pompous orders and shove them up his—” Dar threatened.
“Both of you shut up!” Malina commanded. Several people turned to look at them in curiosity. “Help me or get out of my way.”
Malina marched along the edge of the crowd toward the front door. A redheaded woman motioned for her attention. “Is it radioactive?”
“Radiation,” someone corrected. “Ask her if it’s radiation.”
“Is it radia—” the redhead began only to stop and bawk like a chicken. Her arms lifted and began to flap like wings. “Bawk, bawk, baa-awk!”
“What the…” Malina rushed away from the confused woman. Other barnyard sounds came from the crowd.
“Are you making fun of me? Because it sounds like you’re making fun of me.” The shout was followed by a loud screech. Malina glanced back in time to see the redhead get punched in the face.
“Get off my wife!” a man yelled.
“Hey, she came on to me,” another shouted.
Cauldrons and Confessions (Warlocks MacGregor Book 4) Page 12
