How to Rattle an Undead Couple (The Beginner's Guide to Necromancy Book 9)

by Hailey Edwards

  As if she picked up on the drift of his thoughts, she flicked a glance his way then blew him a kiss.

  The simple truth was plain for him to see.

  He didn’t deserve her.

  But he was smart enough not to say so out loud twice in one night.

  Three

  Poor Linus.

  Without his mask concealing his thoughts, I read them clearly, and I accepted that my work here was not yet done. He still thought life without him was possible for me, when he had spoiled me to being loved, cherished, and respected. A combination more addictive than brownie batter ice cream with peanut butter cookie dough pieces. And ribbons of caramel and fudge.

  Mmm.

  “You’re not hungry.” Lethe made it a statement. “Why is your stomach growling?”

  “You’re not the boss of me or my son.” Mature as always, I stuck out my tongue. “We can growl if we want to, and also does anyone have more of that Fudgy Cookie Dreams ice cream because whoa does that sound fabulous right now.”

  The grim expectation in the room cut through the snackish haze long enough for me to remember I was supposed to be truth-testing the driver before we included him in any more of our plans, not daydreaming about frozen delights.

  Pregnancy brain was a thing, and I had it bad.

  The sigil was a familiar one, thanks to frequent use in my new line of work, and it took seconds to swipe it on and begin the interrogation. The man was squeaky clean, his loyalty to the Grande Dame absolute. I didn’t get any new details from him, proving his recall was excellent, and he was cooperating fully.

  “Return to the Lawson manor,” I told him. “We’ll be right behind you.”

  “Stay in the car until we arrive,” Linus added. “We need to search the area before it’s disturbed more than it already has been.”

  Chastised, the driver tucked his chin. “I apologize, sir.”

  “You did what you thought was right,” I assured him. “What any of us would have done in the moment.”

  The relief that washed through Linus splashed onto me. Usually, he was the considerate one, but this had left him frazzled. It was nice to step in and smooth his rough edges for once. Nicer still that he was allowing himself to show his nerves rather than tucking them away where not even his friends could see.

  “She’s right.” Linus exhaled. “I meant no disrespect, Marco.”

  “Of course not, sir.”

  Based on the brief interview process, I got the feeling any Lawson could kick Marco in the mouth, and he would thank them while he collected his teeth off the ground. I had no clue what about the Grande Dame could have inspired such loyalty, but it was commendable.

  “Neely and Cruz.” I scooched to the edge of my seat. “Check the local hospitals for anyone matching the Grande Dame’s description.”

  For Linus’s sake, I would handle the morgues, para and human, personally.

  “I’ll drop Eva and Kaleigh at home with a sitter,” Hood volunteered. “Back in a minute.”

  He collected his kids, allowed us all quick goodbye hugs, and then he was gone.

  Or so I thought, until Eva stuck her head back in the door.

  “Forgot to mention Oscar drained his battery,” she said. “I took him to his room and put him to bed.”

  The energy required for him to touch or hold items, even tiny game pieces or cards, took its toll on him. Exhaustion always sent him back wherever it was ghost boys went to recharge. Maybe he would return in a better mood.

  “Thanks for letting me know.” I waved, and she ducked out again. “That’s one less worry.”

  The patience required to deal with a miffed poltergeist would cost us time we didn’t have just now.

  “I’m your huckleberry while we’re in the field,” Lethe informed me, getting back down to business. “Fight me on this, and I will drink all the milk and force you to choke down any leftover cake dry.”

  “I was going to ask you to stick close.” I scowled at her. “But then you had to go and threaten me.”

  “I’ll stay with Grier.” Linus eased me onto my feet. “Lethe, if you and Hood could secure the grounds once we arrive, I would appreciate it. You’re not overly familiar with the property, but perhaps you can pick out scents that don’t belong.”

  “That I can do.” She winked at me. “I was teasing about the milk anyway. The girls already drank it all.”

  Evil cackles followed her out the door, and I considered asking Woolly to zap her furry butt with the wards when she shifted out there to get a head start on us.

  “I’ll put in a grocery order.” Neely chuckled. “I’ll add some chocolate milk too, so you won’t get cleaned out next time.”

  “Thanks.” I shuffled toward the bathroom. “Give me a second, and I’ll be ready to go.”

  “These days,” he teased, “you’re always ready to go.”

  Narrowing my eyes on him, I noticed Cruz watching with bemusement, and my curiosity bubbled over without consulting my brain.

  “Why are you in such a good mood?” I rubbed the small of my back. “You’re being…” I rolled my hand, “…nice.” No, that wasn’t it exactly. “To me.”

  Neely chortled at his husband’s rapid descent into his grumpy with Grier default setting.

  “What?” I glanced between them. “It’s weird. I can’t tell if I like it.”

  The story he shared with me earlier, about his mother, must have come up his throat like broken glass.

  “We have news,” Neely confessed. “We didn’t want to share it yet. This is your day. Not ours.”

  “Are you serious right now?” I beamed at him. “Your happiness is my happiness.”

  Plus, the way this day was going, I could take all the good news I could get.

  Teeth sawing his bottom lip, he wavered. “Are you sure?”

  “Tell her.” Cruz slid his arm around Neely. “You’ve been dying to for weeks.”

  Ready for him to spill, I urged, “Listen to the man.”

  “We’re having a baby,” Neely squealed. “We’re going to be fathers.”

  “Are you serious?” I swayed on my feet. “When? How? When?”

  “Three months.” He hopped up and down. “We’re adopting a little girl.”

  “She’s two years old,” Cruz added, “and potty trained.”

  I starched my spine to keep from melting over his obvious pride. “That’s amazing.”

  “I wanted a baby,” Neely confessed, “but this girl…” He placed a hand over his heart. “She invited me to play Barbies with her, and she didn’t care that they were second- or third- or fourth-hand donations, but she was insulted the other kids had mismatched their clothes.” He squeezed Cruz. “She’s a brilliant fashionista at two. Can you imagine when she gets older? Our baby girl will rule the school.”

  “I’m so happy for you guys.” I toddled over and wrapped Neely in a hug. “You’ve mentioned adoption, but I didn’t realize you were ready for that step.” Cruz being Cruz shook my hand and considered it done. “Really, this is fantastic. Do you have pictures?”

  “Not yet.” Neely sighed. “We’re not allowed to share until it’s finalized.”

  “They won’t let us take pictures with her or of her in case…” Cruz didn’t finish when Neely deflated. “We can visit her every week until then. That helps.”

  “They won’t let us bring her a new doll or doll clothes.” Neely leaned against Cruz. “I get why, but I hate it. She has the most beautiful natural hair, just this halo around her head, and her skin is a few shades darker than Cruz’s. All the dolls are white with blonde hair, which I understand. They can’t be picky about donations, but I just want to—”

  “—give her the world,” Cruz finished for him. “That’s why you’re going to be great at this.”

  “You’re my husband. It’s in the husband handbook that you have to say that.” He glanced from Cruz to Linus and then to me. “You guys inspired us. Lethe and Hood have just adopted Kaleigh, and you’re
about to pop. There will never be a better time in our lives to have a kid.” He smiled at Cruz. “Or two.”

  I fought off tears, but for good reason this time. “They’ll all grow up together.”

  Footsteps pounded across the porch as Hood returned from the quick trip next door. “Ready to go?”

  “Yep.” I hooked my arm through Linus’s, and he led me out and then down the front steps. “Phew.” I swear there didn’t used to be that many steps between the porch and the ground. “That’s a workout.”

  The others, wisely, didn’t say a word as I caught my breath, aided by the warm rush of energy swirling through my soles and up my legs as Savannah greeted me.

  The wards around Woolworth House dampened my bond with the city, but her presence rushed through me in startling clarity now that I was in direct contact with her.

  As Linus helped me climb onto Moby’s spacious backseat, I was reminded of the days when Hood had played chauffeur to babysit me. I was grateful to have outgrown the need. Well, for the most part.

  Linus and I held hands on the drive to his mother’s house. Had I not known the Grande Dame was missing, I wouldn’t have guessed it from the serene portrait made by her sprawling estate.

  The Lawson family manor had always reminded me a little of Woolworth House, if Woolly had gone on a rampage through downtown, eaten all the other historical homes, then vomited them in a heap at the end of a rolling lawn. The architectural styles clashed so loudly, my ears rang each time I beheld it.

  Federal. Georgian. Italianate. Regency.

  For all its faults, the Lawson manor cut an imposing figure, and the extravagant landscaping went a long way toward drawing the eye, well, away from said figure.

  “The front door is still open,” I noted as Hood parked as close to the steps as possible. “The driver is a quick thinker.”

  Marco might have disturbed the scene during his panicked search for the Grande Dame, but he left once he grasped the scope of the problem and kept everything as he found it.

  Linus and I exited the vehicle and began combing the driveway, hoping for dropped earrings or other clues, but the pristine gravel made it impossible to notice anything amiss. A pity Savannah had no sense of individuals, or I could ask her. But as a city only recently woken and given voice, through me, she was still learning to communicate as much as I was learning to comprehend her. We would have to leave it to the gwyllgi’s heightened senses of smell to determine if there was any cause for alarm.

  Hood must have come to the same conclusion. Crimson magic splashed up his legs, and he shifted as Lethe trotted around the side of the house and bayed to him in welcome.

  The pair began working the property together, and Linus and I muddled up the steps to the grand entrance.

  The driver’s voice carried to us. “Shall I wait out here?”

  “Yes, please.” I trusted my magic when it cleared him, but I didn’t always know the right questions to ask upfront, and I wanted to speak to the maid alone to get her impressions without him present. “We’ll call for you shortly.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  A slight woman frozen in the prime of her life hovered in the doorway, and her presence sent a shiver up my spine. She was dressed in formal maid attire. Not the French maid look, but a simple black dress that hit her knees with a plain white apron and sensible black leather shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun that gave me a sympathy headache, and a white headpiece that reminded me of a neatly folded napkin topped off the look.

  “I’m Josephine, miss.” The vampire curtsied beautifully. “How can I be of service?”

  “Can you answer a few questions for us?” I kept her occupied while Linus slipped away to begin searching the house room by room. He was intimately familiar with its layout and its contents. Plus, it saved me from all that unnecessary walking. “Marco tells me the Grande Dame was preparing for the baby shower, but that she disappeared between asking him to load the car and him pulling around to pick her up out front.”

  That gave her assailants a narrow window of opportunity to snatch her and run without being seen, and how they managed it without tripping the wards remained a puzzle with the simplest solution being it was an inside job.

  “Yes, miss.” She smoothed her palms down her tidy apron. “Mr. Bartoli was quite agitated when he asked me to search her rooms.” She caught me noticing her fidgeting and fell still in the way only vampires can achieve. “There was no trace of her. Everything was as it had been when I helped her dress for the party at sunset.” She folded her hands at her navel, the picture of tranquility. “I wasn’t aware she was missing until Mr. Bartoli informed me.”

  Curious about her twitchiness, I toed the line of rudeness. “Can I ask an impolite question?”

  “Of course, miss.”

  “Do you smell anything that doesn’t belong? Can you tell if anyone who shouldn’t be was in the house?”

  The Grande Dame wore grapefruit essential oil in lieu of perfume, a scent I had associated with her since childhood. To this day, I couldn’t eat them. No matter how much sugar Linus heaped on them.

  “I can try, miss.” She ducked her head. “I don’t mind.”

  “Thank you.” I stepped aside to give her room. “There are gwyllgi on the grounds, but they don’t know the house or its mistress as well as you.”

  The maid started, and her bottom lip trembled. “G-g-gwyllgi?”

  “They’re harmless.” I flipped my hand at her. “Don’t worry about them.”

  Only the guilty, or anyone holding food, needed to fear them.

  “I—I—I was turned after a dog…” Her pupils enlarged, turning her eyes black and fathomless, and her fangs popped down. “Oh.” She clamped a hand over her mouth. “I apologize, miss.”

  “It’s no problem.” I shut the door to encourage Hood and Lethe to remain on the other side of it. “I’ll ask them to shift before they join us. Will that be okay?”

  A shudder rocked her, but she bobbed her head. “Where would you like me to start?”

  “Let’s go to the last place you saw her and work back from there.”

  “All right.” She lowered her hand after her canines returned to dull points. “Can you climb the stairs?”

  “I’ll go with you,” Linus said as he emerged from the nearby library, one of three on this floor. “I’m more familiar with Mother’s rooms and the family wing.”

  As much as I wanted to grump at him about being overprotective to make myself feel better, I couldn’t have made it up the staircase. It was one of those elaborate, winding creations you expected to see in a Southern manor. On the movie set version of one anyway. Tara come to life.

  Plus, he hadn’t said I couldn’t go. He only volunteered himself to spare the ding to my pride.

  “I’ll check with the gwyllgi,” I said magnanimously. “See what they’ve discovered.”

  A hitch in his stride betrayed his wish for me to stay put until he returned, or at least wait to explore until one of the gwyllgi could escort me.

  “I won’t go far,” I promised. “I’ll stay in sight of Marco.”

  The stiffness in his gait loosened, and he smiled at me before gesturing for the maid to lead him on.

  For the sake of his poor nerves, I waited until he disappeared from view to step onto the porch.

  Marco had exited the vehicle, but he stood by his door, facing the house. He saw me and lifted one hand in greeting. I returned the wave but indicated he should stay put for now.

  Within minutes, Lethe spotted me and ran up the steps, shifting as she climbed until she stood on two feet beside me.

  “Well?” I scanned the yard. “Find anything?”

  “She has a team of gwyllgi gardeners. I recognize their scent from Mom’s pack.”

  “Why bring in gardeners from three hours away? There’s a pack right here.”

  “Ah.” She lifted a finger. “But my pack is too young to specialize in anything but causing me headaches. Hers h
as an entire agricultural subset. Farmers, gardeners, landscapers, kids who mow lawns during the summer, the whole shebang.”

  “Now that you mention it, I do remember hearing that.”

  The Atlanta pack had a high percentage of Auburn University College of Agriculture graduates among its members.

  “I’m hoping to branch out in the same directions, but we’re just not there yet.”

  “Branch out.” I snorted. “Good one.”

  Lethe just stared at me.

  “Unless that wasn’t a joke.” I cleared my throat. “In which case, please continue.”

  “The scents are embedded in the area, but they aren’t fresh. I would peg her last lawn service at five or six days ago.”

  Chances were good the Grande Dame wanted to keep tabs on the Atlanta pack, given their relationship to the gwyllgi in Savannah, and figured she could worm her way into their confidences given time—or enough bonuses.

  “Anything else?”

  “A necromancer and a vampire, both male, have walked the edge of the property. Several times. Enough to establish a scent trail. It leads right up to the back door.”

  “That is interesting.” I pulled on my lower lip. “Linus would know how much land the Grande Dame owns, but it’s extensive. Unless the trespassers in question work for her, they shouldn’t be within sight of the house, let alone approaching it.”

  “That was my thought.” She hesitated. “But the scents were…familiar.”

  “You say that like a bad thing.” I waited, but she didn’t elaborate. “Well, out with it.”

  “Boaz has been here.”

  “That’s not surprising.” The Grande Dame had taken a special interest in him. “He has a working relationship with her.” Originally, she meant to keep him away from me until I locked down Linus. But, as most women regardless of age eventually do, she developed a soft spot for him. “What else?”

  “It’s a who else,” she confessed. “Corbin was here.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Hours, is my guess.”