FIVE HOURS LATER, Wraith still hadn’t shut up, and aside from me and Denise, no one else seemed to want him to. I’d found exciting activities like starting the dishwasher or doing a load of laundry to avoid Wraith’s droning on, but aside from that and Denise’s occasional trips to the bathroom, no one else moved except to relocate from the kitchen to the family room. Denise caught my eye a few times and raised her brows as if to ask, what’s the deal?
Damned if I knew. It was one thing for Bones to lull Wraith into revealing information by pretending to be interested in his background. Not his usual interrogation technique—that normally involved knives and lots of screaming—but with their probable family ties, I’d buy the gentler approach. I’d even buy that the others were onto this strategy and backing Bones’s play by also pretending to be engrossed by Wraith’s tales.
But it was one thing to feign attentiveness and another to look almost spellbound. Hell, details of life as an eighteenth-century aristocrat should be boring to Spade and Annette. They’d both been wealthy members of Britain’s peerage, too, so Wraith wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t know from experience.
Right after night fell, Denise came over, her smile too stiff to be genuine. “You mind going for a walk, Cat?”
“Sure. Be back, everyone, we’ll round up some firewood while we’re out,” I said, raising my voice though that shouldn’t have been necessary.
No one even glanced up. Okay, the chair thing could’ve been overlooked, but three normally gallant men not commenting about two chicks gathering firewood in the dark? That was downright uncharacteristic, even if I could see at night.
Fabian gave me a helpless look, swishing around the ceiling in nervous circles. I jerked my head toward the door and he zoomed outside without further prompting. Again, no one seemed to notice. They all kept staring at Wraith like he’d hung the moon, and here he was talking about the most boring-sounding ball ever.
“Guess the honeymoon’s over,” Denise muttered once we were outside. “Next I suppose I’ll be sleeping in the wet spot.”
I walked past the stacked logs on the side of the house and kept heading into the woods. Fabian followed behind us, flitting through the trees instead of around them. No one from the house appeared to be paying attention to us, but just in case, I wanted to be far enough away that we wouldn’t be overheard.
“I mean, I get that it’s a huge deal that Bones’s long-lost brother showed up,” Denise went on. “I’m happy for him, and I’m not trying to steal Wraith’s thunder. But Spade could give me a grunt every couple hours, you know?”
I kept walking at a brisk pace. With Denise’s demonically-altered stamina, she was able to keep up with ease. When we were halfway down the hill, I finally spoke.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but . . . Ian was right. Something strange is going on.”
Denise stopped, her hazel eyes widening. “Ian said that? Thank God I’m not the only one thinking it!”
“Keep your voice down,” I reminded her, adding, “It’s got to be Wraith. Everyone is acting, well, kinda mesmerized by him, except vampires can’t mesmerize other vampires.”
“True. Besides, we’re not affected,” Denise pointed out.
“Neither is Ian.”
Fabian and his girlfriend, Elisabeth, also weren’t, but ghosts were normally immune to anything that affected the living or the undead. I suppose I still could have some of that same immunity in my system due to my recently absorbing a voodoo queen’s powers over the other side; my unprecedented status as a vampire who fed off of and absorbed powers from undead blood had thrown a monkey wrench into things before. But if Wraith had some sort of unknown snake-charmer mojo, then Denise and Ian should also be gathered around him in rapt attention. Not wondering, like me, about what was going on.
I waved the ghost over. “Fabian, what do you think?”
“I suspect magic,” he replied. “I searched Wraith’s room and found a bloody symbol drawn on the floor under a rug. Why would he do that and hide it, unless he had ill intentions?”
We were in agreement about that, but I wanted to be absolutely sure we weren’t overreacting before I started conspiring with Ian. Maybe Wraith was just superstitious.
“I’m going back there and pulling Bones aside. Find out right now if this is all an act or not.”
Denise touched my arm. “Be careful, Cat. If Wraith has . . . I don’t know, bewitched everyone, then you’ll tip your hand that you’re onto him.”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll be subtle. After I talk to Bones, if I say that I can’t find my boots, you’ll know it’s not an act, so you’ll need to play Stepford Wives along with everyone else.”
“And what will you do then?” Fabian asked.
I smiled with a touch of grimness. “I’ll meet Ian in Asheville, and we’ll find a way to stop Wraith.”
Seven
THE SIX OF them were still in their same spots in the family room when we came back inside. Denise went straight upstairs, but I pasted on my best hostess smile as I walked over to Bones, laying my hand on his shoulder.
“Pardon me, but I need to steal my husband away for a few minutes.”
It took two tugs on his shoulder, but he finally glanced up. “Why?”