Haunted

chapter 49


“DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT WOULD HAVE WORKED?” he asked, looking from the ribbon to me.

“With a binding spell, it would have,” I said as I hopped down. “Let me guess. Our Nix is showing no signs of impending murderous rage.”

“She came down to ask me to take a look at Paige’s car.”

“Huh?”

“She said it was making a noise when she drove it this afternoon.”

I slumped into the chair. “I don’t believe this.”

“She insisted on giving me a demonstration, even when Savannah ‘reminded’ her that I know nothing about repairing automobiles, that my mechanical expertise is limited to motorcycles.”

“Oh? Oh. I get it. She wants you outside. Away from me, and away from Savannah.”

“Precisely. Either she is uncomfortable taking on you with me in the house, or she wants to begin with me, preferably outside, where”—he waved at the window—“it is fast growing dark.”

“Ah-ha. Maybe we’re making progress after all. But if you go outside, I’m going with you, which is going to cause a problem if I’m the target—”

A scream ripped through the house.

“Oh, my God,” I said. “Savannah!”

As I jumped from the chair, Lucas raced across the room, toward the window.

“They’re in the living room,” he said as he yanked open the window. “Take the stairs. I’ll come in the front door. Whoever is first, distract. Whoever is second, attack from the rear.”

I was in the hall as his last words floated out to me, muffled as he climbed through the window. I hit the top of the steps running so fast I nearly flew down them face-first.

Another shriek. Then, “You little bitch!”

A blur raced around the corner from the living room and plowed into me as I galloped down the last few steps.

“Get down!” Savannah hissed, pushing me down on the stairs.

“Sav—”

She clamped a hand over my mouth and, holding me down, cast a cover spell over both of us. The Nix strode into the doorway, knife in hand. Blood poured from her nose. She swiped a hand across it.

“Where’d you go, bitch?” She looked from side to side. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

She smiled, voice taking on a high-pitched singsong that I knew didn’t come from the Nix. A ghost had indeed crashed the Nix’s party—but it wasn’t Jaime.

The woman turned and strode into the living room. I moved, breaking the spell. Still pinning me to the stairs, Savannah cast a privacy spell.

“It’s not Jaime,” she whispered. “She’s possessed, some kind of ghost got into her. We were sitting there talking, and all of a sudden she—”

As the footsteps returned, Savannah cast another cover spell. She held me down. Protecting me. I knew it was Paige she was really protecting, but still, the thought of my little girl taking charge like this, escaping from a killer, protecting me…Kris was right. Savannah didn’t need my help anymore. She hadn’t needed it for a long time.

The woman walked into the hall, and took another look around, snuffling blood.

“Can’t hide, sweetie-pie,” she said. “Cheri knows all your tricks. Yes, indeed. All the tricks. No one escapes from her.”

Cheri MacKenzie. Shit! So that’s what happened. The parasitic Nix was getting a taste of her own medicine, having her body invaded by a past partner. Ironic, and I’m sure I’d appreciate it a whole lot more if it didn’t complicate matters so much. Was the Nix still in there? What if I risked Jaime’s life and found no one inside except Cheri MacKenzie?

MacKenzie took one last look up and down the hall, then strode into the living room. Savannah broke the cover spell. As she did, I noticed blood seeping through her sleeve. I grabbed her arm and tried to push up the sleeve.

“It’s nothing, Paige,” she said, pulling away. “Where’s Lucas?”

The front doorknob turned. Seeing it, Savannah started to leap up.

“We have to warn—” she began.

I tugged her down. “He knows. Let him come in and distract her, then we’ll attack from behind.”

The door slid open a few inches. But there was no one there. I was about to move when I realized Lucas was hidden under a cover spell. I pointed to the living room and motioned for him to go in, then I cast a cover spell over Savannah and me.

Lucas broke his cover spell and banged the door open. MacKenzie bolted from the living room, saw Lucas, and stopped in the middle of the hall, her back to us.

“Where is she?” Lucas said, striding into the hall.

“Your wife or your pretty young ward?” Cheri purred. “Which one interests you more?”

“Where are they?” Lucas’s gaze flew to the knife in Cheri’s hand. “If you’ve hurt them—”

“You’ll do what? Tell me I’m a very naughty girl and send me to bed? Then come up and climb in with me? Bet you’ve thought of doing that with her, haven’t you? Your naughty ward?”

I don’t know who looked more disgusted, Lucas or Savannah. I motioned for Savannah to approach from the left while I slid across the hall to the other side.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Cheri said, sliding over to Lucas. “Help me catch her, and I’ll let you have her. How old is she, fifteen, sixteen? And still a virgin. I can tell. Would you like—”

Lucas coldcocked her.

“So much for distract and attack,” I muttered.

As MacKenzie flew back from the blow, I grabbed her and slammed her into the wall. Or that was what I intended to do. But I was in Paige’s unathletic body, and Jaime was four or five inches taller. So the slam became more of a shove, and MacKenzie bounced off the wall and rebounded my way, knife raised. Lucas knocked me out of her path.

I hit the floor and cast a binding spell. MacKenzie stabbed Lucas in the thigh. I cast again.

“Binding doesn’t work!” Savannah said as she raced toward them. “I already tried. Use something else!”

I cast a shock bolt and flung my hand at MacKenzie. Nothing happened. Shit! Paige must not know it. What does she know? Think, think…Fireball!

I cast the spell just as Lucas threw MacKenzie into the wall. The ball hit the empty space between them, and nearly singed Lucas’s face. He shot me a “be careful” look, grabbed MacKenzie by the right elbow, and squeezed hard enough to make her yelp…and drop the knife. As MacKenzie dove for the knife, Savannah cast a sorcerer pull-spell, and yanked it out of the way. I ran forward and kicked it into the dining room. Paige’s body might not be equipped for lightning-fast roundhouse kicks, but it could manage that.

“Oh, Lord, why hast thou forsaken me?”

We all turned to MacKenzie…or what had been MacKenzie. She stood in the middle of the hall, arms raised to the ceiling, tears streaming down her face.

“Have I not served you well, Lord?” she cried. “Did I not do it all for you? Your faithful servant on earth? And for that you punish me?”

“What the hell?” Savannah muttered.

“She’s changed,” I said. “It’s someone else.”

The newcomer turned on me, red-rimmed eyes blazing. “It was you, wasn’t it? You betrayed me.”

She dove at me. Lucas kicked her legs out from under her and she crumpled to the floor. As I ran for her, Lucas started to cast a spell, and I stopped short, before I got in the line of fire.

Jaime—or whoever was in Jaime—looked up at Lucas, and her eyes filled with genuine terror.

“D-don’t hurt me,” she whimpered. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do it. It was all her fault. Victoria’s. Please don’t hurt me anymore.”

Lucas hesitated. I started to cast a spell, but he stepped in front of the woman on the floor, who’d begun to sob.

“Wait,” he said. “This isn’t your Nix.”

“And it’s not an innocent bystander, either. It’s one of her partners. That hurt she’s talking about—it ain’t from heaven.”

He hesitated, then started to step away. The woman leapt up. I lifted my hands in a knock-back spell, and Lucas wheeled to grab her, but she lunged out of our paths and raced into the dining room, heading for the knife. Savannah was closest. She turned and ran after the woman.

“No!” I shouted.

As Lucas ran for the dining room, I cast a knock-back spell, aiming it at Savannah, to knock her away from the woman. But Savannah moved too fast, and the spell missed her by a good six inches, hitting Lucas instead and sending him flying across the room. The woman grabbed Savannah from behind. Savannah let out an oath and twisted. Then her eyes went wide as the woman pressed the knifepoint to the base of her skull. Lucas and I both stopped.

“What a pretty child,” the woman crooned. She reached up to stroke Savannah’s hair.

“Let her go, Suzanne,” I said.

Simmons turned toward me, frowning. “You know me? How strange. Is this pretty child yours?”

She looked me—Paige—up and down, then glanced at Lucas. “No, she’s much too old to be yours. A niece perhaps?”

Simmons paused, eyes rolling back in her head. Then she smiled. “Oh, how interesting. So this child belongs to her, the one who tricked me.”

She traced the knifepoint around to Savannah’s throat. A paper-thin trail of blood welled up on Savannah’s neck.

I snarled and started to lunge at her, but a motion from Lucas stopped me. Behind Simmons’s back, he shook his head. He was right, of course. I was a dozen feet away. She could slit my daughter’s throat before I got to her.

“Oh, I will enjoy this,” Simmons said, eyes glimmering with the same hunger I’d seen in the visions and in the cemetery. “Now, where to begin…?”

Lucas motioned again, signaling an idea. I gave the barest nod. Lucas counted down on his fingers as his lips moved in a cast.

Three, two, one.

He launched a fireball, hitting Simmons in the back of the head. The moment she stumbled forward, I slammed Savannah with a knock-back spell, throwing her backward, out of Simmons’s grip. Lucas grabbed Savannah and shoved her behind him, then went after the knife.

I raced across the room and snatched Simmons’s arm as she spun back toward Lucas and Savannah. I yanked, and kicked at her feet, and she went down. While I fought to hold Simmons, Lucas said something to Savannah. They both cast binding spells. Simmons’s arm lashed out at me. Her hand bounced off my shoulder. She growled and kicked, but could barely move her legs.

“It’s working,” I called to them. “Well enough, at least.”

I pinned Simmons easily. As my hands went to her throat, Simmons’s eyes blazed. Then her gaze went dull, empty. I squeezed, and her eyes closed. I hesitated. Shit! What if the binding spell killed her? It obviously wasn’t working the way it should. Maybe—

Jaime’s body leapt up, nearly throwing me off. I held on tight and put my full weight on her. I looked back into her eyes, and knew Simmons was gone.

“Welcome back,” I said. “You’re a little late, though.”

The Nix’s lips curled and she bucked beneath me. I squeezed harder. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lucas jump to his feet.

“Keep binding her!” I said. “It’s still working. Start a fresh cast.”

They did. It didn’t bind the Nix, but it kept her demonic strength in check. I bent over her, looking into her bulging eyes as I continued to squeeze her neck.

“Wanna count down with me?” I said. “I figure you have about thirty seconds left.”

“Paige!” Savannah yelled. “Stop it! That’s still Jaime. You can’t kill her.”

I tightened my grip. “Lucas, take her out of here. Please.”

Savannah had broken her cast, but the Nix had almost stopped struggling, eyelids flagging as she faded from consciousness.

“Paige! No!”

Savannah grabbed my shoulder to wrench me off Jaime’s body. I looked up into her eyes.

“It’s not Paige, baby,” I said. “It’s me.”

She blinked. “M-Mom?”

And here was my long-dreamed reunion. At last, looking into my daughter’s eyes and having her looking back, knowing it was me…and I had my hands wrapped around the throat of her friend, choking the life from her.

“You have to go, baby,” I whispered. “Please. I know what I’m doing. Lucas will explain. I’ll take care of Jaime. I promise.”

She just stared at me, eyes wide. “Mom?”

I tore my gaze away from hers and looked at Lucas, standing behind her. He nodded and put his hands on her shoulders.

“I’ll be right outside,” Lucas murmured to me. “Call me when you need to bring her back.”

He whispered something to Savannah, and she let him lead her from the room. I could feel her stunned gaze on my back until they turned the corner. Then I looked down at the Nix and squeezed. When her body went limp, I held her down and waited for Trsiel to do his job.

Would I know when Trsiel had captured the Nix’s spirit? How? I looked down at Jaime’s face. Her lips had turned blue and her eyes were glassy, pupils dilated. Shit! I needed to start CPR soon. But if I started it too soon, she might resuscitate before Trsiel had the Nix.

“Lucas!”

By the time he got here, Trsiel was bound to have the Nix. Then he could start CPR and maybe, just maybe, the Fates would give me a few moments with my daughter before they whisked me back.

The back door clicked. Jaime’s body began to pulse with a dull glow. As Lucas’s running steps tapped up the rear steps, that glow began to separate from Jaime’s body, just as it had in the community center.

The Nix’s spirit condensed, taking on the features of her true form. Lucas rounded the corner, limping from his wounded leg. I held up a hand.

“Just give it a sec. It’s almost over. Is Savannah—?”

“Outside,” he said, dropping beside Jaime. He checked her pulse, then turned to me. “She’s fading. I need to start—”

“Wait. Just a few more seconds.” I cast a quick look around. “Damn it, Trsiel. Where are you?”

“So that’s the Nix?” Lucas said, one hand still monitoring Jaime’s pulse, the other gesturing at the Nix’s spirit.

I started to nod, then stopped. “You can see her? Oh, shit! We shouldn’t be able to see her. She should be on the other side. That means Trsiel can’t—”

“Eve! We’re losing—”

His lips parted in a silent oath, and his head whipped down to Jaime’s and started CPR. The Nix’s spirit writhed and twisted. For a second, I saw her face clearly in the fog. I grabbed at her, but my hands went right through her form. She threw back her head and laughed. Then, with one last twist, she tore herself free, shot up to the ceiling, and disappeared.

“Goddamn it!”

I drove my fist into the wall. Then I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath. Okay, so it hadn’t worked. The kids were still safe. As for the Nix, I’d catch her again, this time in the ghost world, where she couldn’t escape so easily.

I knelt beside Jaime.

“Is she okay?” I asked. “What can I do?”

He pulled back and began chest compressions. “We lost her for a second, but I think she’s coming back. Can you take over the—?”

“Lucas?”

Savannah’s voice drifted out from the back of the house. Her footsteps clomped across the kitchen floor.

“Mom?”

“In here, baby. Come—”

A bone-chilling scream cut me short. I sprang to my feet and raced for the kitchen.