Freaky Reapers (A Mystic Caravan Mystery Book 8)

by Amanda M. Lee

  “Where were they before?” Kade asked. He was a big sports fan, so of course this was the topic that piqued his interest.

  “The Pistons were in Auburn Hills, and the Lions in Pontiac. Only the Red Wings and Tigers were always in the city. They both have bigger stadiums and arenas now. When you add in the casinos, which are a big draw, and Greektown and Mexican Town, things are starting to look up.”

  My mind went back to when I was younger. “They used to have this weekend market thing. It was one of those places where a lot of vendors visited.”

  “Eastern Market.” Griffin bobbed his head. “It’s bigger than ever. There are, like, forty-five thousand visitors on Saturdays if the weather is good. They have great food and crafts. If you guys are still here then, you should check it out.”

  “I would like to, but we have work.” I sucked in a breath when we escaped from the cemetery and landed on the sidewalk in front of the facility. “Why don’t they lock this place at night? It seems like that would be the safest bet in this neighborhood.”

  “It usually is locked. Someone must’ve fallen down on the job. I’ll place a call.” His eyes traveled to where we’d set up our operation. “How many of you are over there?”

  “Fifty or so. We’re divided into performers, midway workers, manual labor peeps and clowns.”

  A visible shudder worked its way through Griffin’s body. “Ugh. Clowns?”

  “Nobody likes them,” I offered. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

  He chuckled hollowly. “Good to know.” He fell silent again, but I could tell it was fatigue weighing him down rather than worry. “Just be careful. You’re a big group and you seem to understand what’s happening. You should be fine.”

  That was an interesting way to phrase things. “Do you have reason to believe we have something to worry about?”

  “Not particularly. But I’ve learned that nothing in life is what it seems.” He checked his watch and then shook his head. “I need to get going. I have to return to the station and fill out some paperwork.”

  “And then home to your wife?”

  A small smile played at the corners of his lips. “And daughter … and brothers-in-law … and father-in-law. We’re essentially one big clan.”

  “That’s good.”

  “In this case, it really is.” He offered us a half-wave and then started moving down the street. “Like I said, be careful of the cemetery at night. You should be fine otherwise.”

  Kade remained silent until Griffin was out of sight. “What do you think?” he asked finally.

  “I don’t know.” I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead and rubbed. “Banshees aren’t usually found in this part of the country. They’re drawn to mist and a lack of sunshine. Redmond mentioned this one had killed someone. They must have been tracking it.”

  “So … that’s it?” He was new to the paranormal world, so Kade often needed things spelled out. “We just pretend that creature never existed and go on with our lives?”

  “Pretty much. Can you live with that?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Not really.”

  “Then I can live with that.” He gave my hand a squeeze and tugged me toward the road. “Come on. It’s getting late. We have a long day ahead of us. We should get some sleep.”

  “Sleep?” I was dubious. “I was certain when we were heading to bed earlier that you had a few other things on your mind. Sleep makes you sound old.”

  “Is that a fact?” His eyes lit with mirth, the previous horror seemingly forgotten. He released my hand and gave me a playful shove. “You should start running.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s more fun when I have to catch you.”

  I understood exactly what he was talking about. “Okay, but I’m going to make you work for it.”

  “That’s what I want to hear.”

  KADE WAS STILL ASLEEP when I woke the next morning, his breath steady and even in my ear. We’d played well into the night, both of us slipping into dreamland after midnight.

  Generally I was the one who had to be dragged out of bed kicking and screaming. I was something of a slow-starter. I was awake long before I had to be this morning, though, and there was no going back to sleep.

  So as not to disturb Kade, I slid from beneath the covers and showered quietly. I checked on him long enough to make sure he was still sleeping before leaving a note on the pillow next to him and slipping outside.

  I was unsettled.

  There was no other way to describe it. I’d slept well for the time I was out, but my dreams were muddled messes, the past colliding with the present and creating a hodgepodge of insanity.

  It was too early to start breakfast. Even the earliest risers would sleep another hour. The sun was rising, casting a warm pall in the air, and I felt safe even though I was on my own. I couldn’t stop myself from staring at the cemetery. It drew my attention at every turn.

  I thought about seeing Tawny there the night before. Had she been real? I’d certainly thought so at the time, but the notion was so easy to push aside when I lost sight of her that I thought there was a chance I’d imagined her. I was worried about seeing faces from my past.

  Maybe it was only a woman who looked like Tawny. Heck, maybe she didn’t even look like Tawny at all. Maybe it was the banshee I saw.

  I knew that was wrong. Tawny had brown hair, not black. Also, the woman I snagged gazes with wasn’t wearing a white dress. She was dressed in leggings and a low-cut top. It was the top, I realized, that really convinced me I was dealing with Tawny. It was so risqué that it immediately made me think of her.

  I shifted from one foot to the other as I stared at the cemetery wall. It looked quiet. Most people weren’t awake yet, even though the sun was bright enough to chase away the haze of night. That meant paranormals were likely not hanging out. If I wanted to visit the cemetery alone and get a feel for it, now was the time.

  I wasn’t doing anything wrong and yet I felt guilty, enough so that I stared at the trailer for a long time, debating whether I should wake Kade and tell him my plans. He would be crabby upon waking, but insist on going with me. He was good that way.

  I didn’t need him, though. I didn’t sense danger from the cemetery. I simply wanted to look around.

  I’m not sure when I decided to make my move. I only know I was halfway across the street before it registered that I was acting on a plan. The gate was still open from the night before – obviously no one had come to fix the problem with the lock – and I easily slipped through it.

  The terrain appeared different during the daytime, but it wasn’t hard to retrace my steps. Within two minutes, I’d cut through the cemetery and was back among the mausoleums. I wasn’t, however, alone.

  The first face I saw belonged to a handsome man with hair that brushed the top of his shoulders. If I hadn’t spent several minutes talking to him the night before, I would’ve assumed this was Redmond wearing a wig. The new man looked just that similar … and he boasted the same set of lavender eyes, the color remarkable in the sun.

  Next to him was a woman. She boasted black hair as well, although it was streaked through with deliberate hanks of white. She shared the same lilac eyes. She stood next to Griffin, who didn’t look any more rested than he had the previous evening, and was in the middle of a tirade.

  “I told you to stay home and get some sleep,” the woman barked. “You look like death warmed over.”

  “Thank you, baby,” Griffin drawled. “You know exactly how to make me feel like a loved husband.”

  “Oh, whatever.” The woman rolled her eyes until they landed on me. She didn’t jump or scream when she saw me. She also didn’t start babbling to cover her actions. Instead, she simply eyed me with overt curiosity. “You’re the chick from last night. The one with the weird name.”

  “That’s rich coming from you, Aisling,” the other dark-haired man chuckled, shaking his head. His eyes were curio
us when they met mine. “You are exactly as Redmond described you.”

  “She is not.” Aisling made a face. “He said she was panting after him and wanted him bad. This woman clearly doesn’t need to lower herself to that. Redmond is full of crap.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “You must be the sister he mentioned last night,” I said finally. “He said he was due home to help you with a baby.”

  “Yes, my daughter.” Aisling folded her arms across her chest and regarded me with an unreadable expression. “I’m Aisling Grimlock-Taylor. I’m still getting used to the Taylor part. I think it makes me sound like a banker.”

  That was a bit of an overshare but amusing all the same. “I figured. I’ve heard your name twice now. I’m Poet Parker.”

  Aisling stilled. “Wait … your name is really Poet? I thought for sure Redmond was making that up. He said your words were poetry to his ears.”

  I’d heard variations on that from horny men for the better part of my life. “Your brother is … interesting.”

  Aisling snorted and handed a baggie to her husband. I couldn’t make out what it contained, but it looked like dust. Very interesting.

  “My brother is full of himself,” Aisling corrected. “He must have seen you as a challenge. That would appeal to him.”

  “Especially because she was with her boyfriend,” Griffin added, displeasure written all over his face when he held my gaze. “I thought I told you to stay out of the cemetery.”

  “No, you told me to stay out of the cemetery at night,” I corrected. “You didn’t say anything about during the day.”

  “I guess that’s fair.” He placed the baggie in his pocket when he realized I was trying to get a better look at the contents. “Is there a reason you came back? Do you have unfinished business?”

  “Was the banshee a friend of yours?” Aisling added.

  “The banshee definitely wasn’t a friend of mine,” I replied, shaking my head. “We only ran over here because we heard the screams. We wanted to make sure an innocent wasn’t in danger.”

  “So … you’re brave. Did you hear that, Cillian? They ran over to save someone. She didn’t run over because she was hot to trot for Redmond’s body, which is what he told us.”

  My mouth dropped open. “You can’t be serious. He really said that?”

  “He’s a complete and total putz,” Aisling volunteered. “He feels the need to act out because he’s the only one in the family who’s still single. He says it doesn’t bother him, but he’s full of crap. As the oldest, he fears life is passing him by while the rest of us move on to greener pastures.”

  Cillian – the name fit him because he had an oddly sexy and smart allure – pinched his sister’s flank. “Where did you learn that nonsense?” he complained. “You sound like a television psychologist. Like Dr. Phil, or one of those Kardashians pretending to be smarter than they really are.”

  Aisling’s gaze turned dark. “Don’t ever compare me to a Kardashian. I’ll beat the crap out of you if you do.”

  As entertaining as I found the sarcastic woman, I had other things on my mind. “You warned me not to come into this cemetery at night,” I reminded Griffin again. “I want to know why. Is something bad here? Are you hunting for something specific? Is that why you hid evidence in your pocket when you thought nobody was looking?”

  I had to give him credit; Griffin’s expression never changed. Even though I’d purposely baited him he was calm in the face of my pointed questions.

  “We’re here to make sure that Redmond didn’t leave any evidence behind last night,” Griffin replied without missing a beat. “It wouldn’t go over well for anyone if somehow things get tracked back to Redmond.”

  I could see that, but I sensed more was going on. Because I felt that she was the most likely to run her mouth, I focused on Aisling. “Would you hang around this cemetery at night?”

  She shrugged, blasé. “I’ve been in this cemetery so many times after dark that I’ve lost count.”

  “And nothing bad ever happened?”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. There have been fires … and sword fights … and a zombie infestation that only I understood and everyone else doubted.”

  “Way to bring that up again, Ais,” Cillian muttered.

  “Yes, we don’t hear about how you were right and we were wrong nearly enough,” Griffin added.

  Their interaction made me like them. Aisling’s relationship with Cillian reminded me of the one I shared with Luke. And Griffin, well, he was apparently unflappable. They looked good together.

  They were still lying. I could feel it in my very marrow. There was no way to force them to tell the truth without revealing my magic. And, while I got a basic reading on Redmond the night before, I knew it was entirely possible that his sister was more powerful. In fact, the more she talked, the more I started drifting toward that likelihood. If I revealed myself, I would make myself vulnerable to them.

  I wasn’t ready to do that.

  “Well, okay.” I cleared my throat and forced a smile. “I don’t want to take up much of your time. I just stopped by because I wanted to take a look around in the daylight. I’ll leave you to your activities.”

  “I think that’s for the best.” Griffin lobbed a smile at me, but it didn’t make it all the way to his eyes. The three of them were desperate for me to leave. “Be careful crossing the street … and have a nice day.”

  “Don’t worry; I’ve been crossing streets for as long as I can remember. I’ll be perfectly fine.”

  And with that, I was dismissed … and I had even more questions than when I’d started.

  5

  Five

  Kade was up when I returned to the fairgrounds. I told him about my adventure. He wasn’t happy to hear I took off on my own given what went down the previous evening, but he didn’t appear angry.

  “So, what do you think their deal is?” he asked as he watched me pull out a variety of breakfast foods and prepare to start cooking. “Do you think they’re monsters?”

  The question seemed ludicrous on its face, but I’d seen my fair share of monsters hide behind snark and sarcasm. Most weren’t quite as adept as the Grimlocks. “I don’t know,” I replied finally, handing him a loaf of bread. “They don’t feel evil. In fact, they sound like a normal family. They tease one another, make jokes at each other’s expense. There’s talk of a baby at home.”

  “For all you know it could be the kid from Rosemary’s Baby.”

  I had to laugh. “This is true. But that doesn’t feel right. Griffin looks tired, has circles under his eyes. He mentioned he had to work a night shift, which is probably difficult for a new father. Aisling talked smack about her brother, but I’m betting she would race to his rescue in a heartbeat. They seem like a normal family.”

  “Except they’re hanging around a cemetery and collecting evidence they’re trying to keep on the down low.”

  There was that. “I don’t know.” I made up my mind on the spot. “It doesn’t really matter. We probably won’t see them again. They might’ve been there to make sure there was no evidence to track back to Redmond. That’s smart in this particular situation, especially because those uniformed officers showed up.”

  “I guess.” Kade rubbed his chin, his eyes thoughtful as they scanned my features. “How did you sleep?”

  The swift topic shift threw me. “Fine. I slept fine. Why do you ask?”

  “You were up with the sun. You usually like to hide from it until I yank the comforter off the bed and you mainline coffee for an hour before facing the world. You were up early today. I figured that was because you couldn’t sleep.”

  He knew me too well. “I didn’t sleep great,” I admitted. Even white lies were frowned upon in our relationship, so I opted for the truth. “Actually, I slept okay. I fell out quickly. I had weird dreams, though. They woke me and I knew there was no drifting under again, so I headed out for a bit.

  “You don’t have to
worry about me,” I added with a laugh. “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. Besides, things turned out fine. If danger was lurking in that cemetery, I’m sure I would’ve sensed it.”

  “I would like to believe that. Still, I can’t help but worry. You seem on edge. I think most of that has to do with returning to your old stomping grounds. What happened last night didn’t help.”

  “I’m fine.” I meant it. “I don’t want you sitting around worrying about me. I’m not going to fly off the handle and do something stupid. That’s not who I am.”

  “I know.” He reached over and grabbed my hand, his fingers warm as they wrapped around mine. “It’s just that … well … I love you.”

  I smirked. “I love you, too, but I thought we were done with that competition. Luke swears he’ll rip out our tongues if we keep saying ‘I love you’ ten times a day.”

  “You let me worry about Luke.” He leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. “I thought we could spend the morning working around here and then head out for lunch before picking up groceries. How does that sound?”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  CIRCUS WORK IS LABOR-INTENSIVE and physically draining. Four hours spent arranging tents, cleaning interior and exterior bleachers and checking on the big top to make sure it was being erected properly was tiresome. By the time noon rolled around, I was ready to make my escape.

  “Ready?” I asked Kade when I found him securing the animal tent. Mystic Caravan didn’t really work with animals. We had shifters in disguise. That saved us in some ways … and put us in danger in others. We had to pretend we were taking care of animals even if they were out of the public eye, so we were always careful when positioning the tent. We didn’t need trouble catching an outsider should one attempt to sneak in.

  “I’m ready.” Kade leaned over and gave me a kiss as he watched Seth and Luke argue about where to place the pegs used to tie off the flaps. They were shifters, both alpha in their own right, and they got off on torturing each other. It was a dance of sorts. “You don’t think they’re going to get into it, do you?”