Deadly Rising

by Jeri Westerson

  I hadn’t realized I was shaking until Seraphina wrapped her arm around my shoulders.

  Erasmus seemed torn between giving chase and comforting me. He braced himself forlornly against the jamb, unable to come through. His eyes were too intense, too full of raw emotion. I had to turn away.

  “You do realize,” said Nick, “that the nearest motel is in Hansen Mills.”

  “And how do you know that?” asked Jolene.

  “Shut up, is how,” he said, turning red.

  I shook my head. “Doug won’t know who he is. And with any luck, he’ll leave in the morning.” But knowing Jeff, how likely was that?

  Doc patted my hand. “I can see why you left California.”

  “It wasn’t just him. It was a combination of things. My mom, a new start. I wanted my inheritance to count for something.”

  “We understand, Kylie,” he said. “You don’t have to explain. And with Mr. Dark out there, I doubt he’ll come around harassing you again.”

  “You’ve got your very own watchdog,” said Jolene with a weak smile.

  Lovely. Just what I wanted. An ex-lover to guard me from another ex-lover. How had this become my life?

  “Look, everyone, I think I want to call it a night.”

  They said nothing and gathered their things. I watched them depart, each giving me their own version of an encouraging smile. I locked the door after them and then began shutting the drapes. I saw Erasmus out there standing in the middle of the street. His eyes were on me as I pulled the curtains together.

  I flicked off lights as I trudged upstairs. The Booke had been below before, but I scarcely needed to cast a glance to see that it had suddenly appeared on my bedroom desk. I was exhausted in heart and soul. A bath really did sound good.

  My bathroom was cheerful. It had been built sometime in the Victorian era, with more modern additions over the years. It had plenty of tile and charming light fixtures. The sink was a pedestal, the toilet and shower were modern, but the bathtub was a clawfoot. I turned on the water, dumped in some aromatic bath salts, and started shedding my clothes.

  The sound of the water was mesmerizing and I seemed to fall into slow motion as I slipped out of my shoes and peeled off the socks. Sweater, jeans. I was down to bra and panties when I went to check on the water level. The aromatics had filled the bathroom with forest-scented steam. I inhaled, gazing into the deepening water, swirling and bubbling. The salts made it a darker blue-green, like the ocean. The water churned, more so than seemed logical for the faucet’s stream. Was there something wrong with the drain? I leaned forward to look…

  Without warning, something burst forth from the tub in a great blast of water. I screamed. The horsehead of the kelpie snarled and howled at me, clacking its teeth, trying to get a chunk of me. The head lunged and I slipped on the wet tiles, landing hard on my backside. The kelpie shrieked and thrashed impossibly in the tub; there was no way it could fit, and yet it snarled and bared its sharp teeth, red eyes narrowed to slits.

  I scrambled on my back away from the tub. One hoof, then another, came up over the side.

  Something clattered against the closed bathroom door. The crossbow! I rolled over and stretched toward the door, but a wave from the tub scooped under me and tossed me back, and I was facing the beast again. Its shriek was like fingernails on a chalkboard. I wanted to cover my ears, but I was reaching for anything to get away from it.

  The door burst open. I expected the crossbow. But it was Erasmus, his face darkening in fury. He raised his arms toward the beast and howled back at it. He was more beast than man, the demon showing his true self at last. His body stretched and twisted like some giant vicious snake, his duster dark, slick, and unnaturally elongating right along with his suddenly elastic body. He lunged and his whole body curled weirdly around the kelpie’s neck, doubling on himself like a python. The monster thrashed, trying to dislodge him, but Erasmus seemed stuck on there, good and tight. The kelpie slammed against the walls, sending a large chunk of plaster shattering to the floor. When it happened again, Erasmus couldn’t seem to hold on, so he turned his head and clamped his mouth to the kelpie’s neck, biting down, until a hoof came up and knocked him free.

  Snarling, eyes blazing red, Erasmus shrieked a horrific sound that sent me scrambling away from him across the wet tiles. He wasn’t a man at all anymore, but a monster, just as fearsome as the creature trying to climb out of my bathtub.

  The kelpie lunged with its head, snapping its oversized mouth and sharp teeth. Erasmus dodged it. I feared he’d slip and the monster would get him for sure, but quick as any serpent, Erasmus grabbed the kelpie’s muzzle.

  It arched its neck and wailed, and Erasmus had no choice but to hold on or be shredded. The kelpie whipped him from side to side and a flailing hoof finally smacked him away.

  Erasmus skidded across the wet floor, slammed against the wall, and cracked the plaster on that side too.

  I heard the sound, and I instinctively lifted my hand. The crossbow slapped into my palm and I took no time to think, just jammed the butt into my hip and fired. The bolt hit the tiles behind the beast, and the kelpie suddenly sank beneath the waves and plunged down the drain with a loud sucking sound.

  Erasmus hunched over the tub, searching, but found nothing.

  I collapsed onto my back on the wet floor and breathed my relief. My fingers curled tightly around the crossbow’s hilt.

  Footsteps. When I looked up, he was looking down at me. He couldn’t seem to help a smoldering perusal. Lacy magenta bra-and-panty sets did that to men, I guess.

  “How did you get in?” I rasped breathlessly.

  “Your Wiccans are less than thorough. They have yet to learn how literal the gods and demons are. I’ll wager they asked their gods to ward the windows and the doors. But they neglected to mention the chimney.”

  Even as jacked as I felt from the fight, I couldn’t help but smile at the image. “You came down the chimney? I wonder if Santa Claus is just a demon in a red suit.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. But yes. I was able to access the chimney. And I daresay the kelpie was able to come in through your pipes.”

  I sat up onto my elbows. “Erasmus, I’ve got to get rid of that thing. And soon!”

  “Agreed.”

  I put out a hand for him to help me up. He reached down and clasped my hand with his warm one. He yanked me up and I fell against him. We were nose to nose. His mouth, those shapely lips, so close to mine…

  His duster began to smolder again.

  “Erasmus,” I whispered. “Don’t…catch my house on fire.”

  The smoke wisped away. But he still held me. He neither moved in to take the kiss we both seemed so desperate for, nor did he pull away.

  It was my shiver that finally seemed to snap him out of it. His eyes shifted away at last. “Go put something on. You must be cold.”

  I ran from the bathroom. My face was flushed and hot as I snatched the bathrobe from the bed and slipped it on. He strode out of the bathroom, looking grim as always.

  “Can we ward the house again?” I asked. “Make sure the drains are covered this time?”

  “And the chimney.”

  “I…never mentioned the chimney.” When he looked at me, I raised my chin defiantly.

  I saw the lopsided grin before he turned away. “Yes. I suggest you do it sooner rather than later.”

  “I can call the coven back. Tonight.”

  His eyes roved over me. It didn’t seem to matter that I was now covered with a robe. Did demons have X-ray vision? “As you will.”

  I grabbed my cell and called Doc. And as I talked, I walked to the bed and took the enchanted stone out from under the mattress.

  It was a long night. The Wiccans reassembled. Nick had to pick up Jolene, whose parents had inquired but still let her go. The coven threw suspicious glares at Erasmus, but he held firm…and so did I. I wanted him to be able to come in
to the house for my own protection. That’s what I told myself, anyway. Just for my protection. Nothing else. And yet there was something thrumming in the back of my mind, something that thrilled at his presence.

  Though all the while, I kept hearing Seraphina’s voice intoning, “Demons lie.”

  Jolene had her tablet and Doc had his book. Seraphina and Nick argued over their shoulders about what spell to tackle while I sat by myself, watching them. A warm hand closed over my shoulder and squeezed. I didn’t look up, but keeping an eye on my Wiccans, I slowly drew my hand up and laid it over his.

  His touch disappeared suddenly when Doc looked up. “I think we’ve got one.”

  He looked tired. I had gotten him up from bed, no doubt, but I was grateful that they all came without complaint. It must have been the most exciting thing to ever happen to Moody Bog since Constance Howland’s day…but that wasn’t fair. I knew they weren’t in it for the excitement, but to keep their village safe from an unspeakable evil. Their generosity humbled me.

  “Let’s do it,” I said, summoning energy from somewhere.

  They used the pentagram and the other star for their preparation. “We’ll hold hands,” said Doc. I looked back at Erasmus with his arms folded and a closed expression. “He won’t be joining us,” Doc stage-whispered.

  “Indeed not,” Erasmus snorted. But his eyes took it all in curiously anyway.

  This time, Doc’s pleas and admonitions were more specific, including windows, doors, drains, vents, faucets, and pipes. I listened carefully to make sure he couldn’t sneak in anything that might be interpreted as a chimney flue and joined in the “energy circle” with as much power as I could summon.

  The Booke made an appearance, but before it could threaten me, Erasmus grabbed it out of the air and held it fast to his chest, obviously struggling with it.

  The chanting was over. The glow throbbed for a moment in the pentagram, and all was still again.

  Doc shuffled to his book, snapped it shut, and tucked it under his arm. “I hope that does it.” He laid a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll be all right. Call us if you need anything.”

  They offered their weary farewells and left the shop. Once the slam of car doors and the sounds of engines carried away down the road, the shop fell silent again, except for the natural creak and settling of a three-hundred-year-old house.

  I glanced at Erasmus. He seemed to be staring at the Booke, which he still clutched in his hands. He seemed puzzled. No. More than puzzled. Confused. And he finally set the Booke down on a side table with a decided thump. “What mischief are you up to now?”

  “What’s wrong?”

  His eyes found mine for a second before he returned his gaze to the Booke. “I’m not certain.” He strode toward the window and pushed the curtains aside, glaring into the night.

  My heart started pounding. “Do you see the kelpie?”

  “No. But…”

  Very faintly, I heard a dog howl. It was off in the distance. Usually, a dog barking somewhere in the night was one of those comforting sounds of neighbors and humanity nearby. But this time—maybe it was because of Erasmus’s worried expression or maybe just the current circumstances of Moody Bog—I shivered at the sound. There was nothing friendly or homey about it. In fact, it was a bit…terrifying. I hugged myself.

  “What…is that?”

  Erasmus cocked his head, listening. “I don’t know.” He opened the sash and sniffed. When the cold air reached me, I shivered harder.

  “That’s just a dog, right?” But even as I said it, a sense of foreboding stole over me. It could very well have been just a dog. Except for the look on Erasmus’s face.

  “Kylie, I don’t want you to panic.”

  “I’m not panicked. Who’s panicking? I’m not panicking.”

  He was suddenly in front of me, holding my forearms. “I said ‘don’t panic.’ But…I think…” He looked back with condemnation at the Booke. “I think that the book may have released…another creature.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  That was not good news. That wasn’t anywhere in the neighborhood of good news.

  “Another…thing is out there? Wait. That’s not fair. The Booke isn’t supposed to do that. Is it supposed to do that?”

  He shook his head. “I…I don’t know. This has never happened before.”

  “Oh great! Just peachy! Now the Booke is acting out and we don’t know what it’s doing?” I turned to glare at it. “Talk to it! Tell it to stop that.”

  “I beg your pardon, but it is simply not done that way.”

  “I don’t care. If it’s changing the rules midstream, then it needs a stern talking to.”

  “It may not be changing the rules. It might simply be…er…”

  “You don’t know. You’re the freaking guardian of the Booke and you don’t know, do you?”

  He frowned. “It opens every few hundred years. How can I be expected to know everything?”

  “Great. Just great. So…any idea what it might be?”

  He leaned toward the open window and sniffed again. His eyes searched, a hopeful look on his face, but he soon sagged. “No.”

  “So now we have to look for two creatures. And we don’t know what this one is. What a great night this is turning out to be.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  His contrition took me completely off guard. “It’s not your fault…Is it?”

  “No. But I am sorry nonetheless. Your burden is already heavy enough.”

  It certainly was. And I should tell the Wiccans. But I just couldn’t face calling them right now. It could wait. Bad news could always wait. Instead, wearily, I closed the window and trudged toward the stairs. Silence engulfed the house again.

  Erasmus stood off in the shadows. I supposed he was used to that. I wondered briefly what it would be like always being apart, staying in the shadows. I couldn’t tell if he minded.

  “What are you going to do now?” I asked. My quiet voice almost seemed too loud for the time of night.

  His voice was equally quiet, though it had a gravelly edge to it. “I’m going to stay here. Keep you safe.”

  I nodded. I didn’t give him a backward glance as I shuffled up to my room.

  I slept fitfully, dreaming of water, ponds, brooks, and a distant menacing howl. My shower the next morning was the fastest on record. I kept staring warily at the showerhead, but even that wasn’t enough to keep me fully awake. And now there was this other thing out there. I had to call Doc and explain it.

  I was groggy all morning. Lack of sleep and disturbing dreams could do that. But I was more determined than ever that I was going to make a go of it. I had a shop to decorate for Halloween, after all. And I had a kelpie to hunt and this other thing out there too. Maybe they’d both be easier than the succubus. Maybe I could lure them to me. Open the pipes again for the kelpie by nulling the spell and waiting for it. But what about this other creature? We didn’t know what it was. I’d have to consult Erasmus…and even as that thought passed through my mind, there was Jeff, banging on my door.

  “I do not need this.” With a cleansing breath, I strode up to the door and threw it open. “What do you want, Jeff?”

  “Look, Kylie. Can I just come in and talk to you? I came an awfully long way.”

  My gaze darted, looking for that dark shape in a duster, but since I didn’t see him, I gave Jeff a jerk of my head in assent and retreated to the kitchen and to coffee.

  He followed me and I actually offered him a cup, because I guess my mother hadn’t raised a rude child. But I put myself on the other side of my huge farmhouse table. We stared at each other across the expanse of nicked wood.

  Clenching his hands, he shook his head. “I don’t understand why you felt you had to run away…”

  “I didn’t run away.”

  He gestured to the shop, to Maine. “What do you call this? I mean, okay. You wanted to put some distance between us. I get i
t. But California is a big state. Why go to the other side of the freakin’ country?”

  “My grandfather lived in Maine.” It just came out. It was in the back of my mind anyway. “And it seemed a good fit. And I could afford it. I’d never find anything that I could possibly afford like this with living accommodations in Southern California, and you know it.”

  “I didn’t know your grandfather lived here. Is he…is he…”

  “He died a long time ago.”

  There was a pause and he lowered his head. “I’m sorry about your mom, Kylie. You didn’t tell me.”

  “It didn’t matter. We were done by then.”

  “But I still care.”

  I studied his face. He wasn’t trying to put it on. He had a sorrowful and sincere expression, and I took it in the spirit in which it was given. “Thanks, Jeff. I…I know you do.”

  “And I’m…sorry for…the other stuff. I really am. You know the kind of guy I am.”

  “I thought I did.”

  “I was going to pay you back. It was a loan. I brought a check.” He set down the mug and reached into his back pocket. He pulled out a worn leather wallet and fished out a wrinkled check. Slapping it on the table between us, he slid it forward until I could reach it.

  It was for a big amount.

  “There’s a little more in there for, uh, punitive damages, I guess. See? I’m not an entirely bad guy.”

  “Believe me, I’ve seen worse,” I muttered.

  “So Old Jeff isn’t the worst of the bunch, huh?”

  I chuckled a little. “If you only knew.”

  “That creepy guy last night? With the long coat? Is he one of the worst?”

  I sipped my coffee and thought about it. “I really can’t say.”

  “And what about all those people last night? What the heck was that?”

  “That’s my coven. Local Wiccans. And they’re my friends. I allow them to meet at my shop.”

  “Maybe it’s good for business to have a pentagram on your floor. Makes tourists think they’re in Salem or something.”