One Grave at a Time
Page 7

"All right, let's try for the main event." Tyler sounded enthused. "Keep touching the planchette, Cat."
I put my fingertips on the device again, feeling the pulsating throb that came from it. Maybe that was why it was shaped like a heart. Symbolism for what it felt like when it was properly activated.
"What's the witch hunter's name again?" Tyler asked.
"Heinrich Kramer."
"Heinriiich Kraaaaaaaaamer," Tyler drew out in dramatic fashion. He even lolled his head back and closed his eyes. "We summon you into our presence. Heed our call, Heinrich Kramer. Come to us now. We summon through the veil the spirit of Heinrich Kramer-"
Dexter let out a sharp noise that was part whine, part bark. Tyler quit speaking. I tensed, feeling the grate of invisible icicles across my skin again. Bones's gaze narrowed at a point over my right shoulder. Slowly, I turned my head in that direction.
All I saw was a swirl of darkness before the Ouija board flew across the room-and the point of the little wooden planchette buried in Tyler's throat.
Chapter Seven
I sprang up and tried to grab Tyler, only to be knocked backward like I'd been hit with a sledgehammer. Stunned, it took me a second to register that I was pinned to the wall by the desk, that dark cloud on the other side of it.
The ghost had successfully managed to use the desk as a weapon against me. If it hadn't been still jabbed in my stomach, I wouldn't even have believed it.
Bones threw the desk aside before I could, flinging it so hard that it split down the center when it hit the other wall. Dexter barked and jumped around, trying to bite the charcoal-colored cloud that was forming into the shape of a tall man. Tyler made a horrible gurgling noise, clutching his throat. Blood leaked out between his fingers.
"Bones, fix him. I'll deal with this asshole."
Dexter's barks drowned out the sounds Tyler made as Bones slashed his palm with his fangs, then slapped it over Tyler's mouth, ripping out the planchette at the same time.
Pieces of the desk suddenly became missiles that pelted the three of us. Bones spun around to take their brunt, shielding Tyler, while I jumped to cover the dog. A pained yelp let me know at least one had nailed Dexter before I got to him. Tyler's gurgles became wrenching coughs.
"Boy, did you make a colossal f**king mistake," I snarled, grabbing a piece of the ruined desk. Then I stood up, still blocking the dog from any more objects the ghost could lob at him. He'd materialized enough for me to see white hair swirling around a craggy, wrinkled face. The ghost hadn't been young when he died, but the shoulders underneath his dark tunic weren't bowed from age. They were squared in arrogance, and the green eyes boring into mine held nothing but contempt.
"Hure," the ghost muttered before thrusting his hand into my neck and squeezing like he was about to choke me. I felt a stronger than normal pins-and-needles sensation but didn't flinch. If this schmuck thought to terrify me with a cheap parlor trick like that, wait until he saw my first abracadabra.
"Heinrich Kramer?" I asked almost as an afterthought. Didn't matter if it wasn't him, he would regret what he did, but I wanted to know whose ass I was about to kick.
"Address me as Inquisitor," the ghost replied in a heavy accent. At least he spoke English; I didn't know a word of German.
I smiled nastily. "You know that witchcraft you pretended to try and stamp out when you were alive? I've got it running all through my veins." Then I sliced open my wrist with the ragged edge of a piece of desk, blood dripping in slow plops before the wound healed.
If I wanted to summon a legion of regular ghosts to my side, I'd shed tears, but blood, combined with my inner roar of come and get him, boys! was shed to summon a different kind of spectre, all courtesy of my borrowed abilities from New Orleans' most famous voodoo queen. Cold, seething power streaked through my body, electrifying my nerves and filling the room with an abundance of supernatural energy. The ghost could feel it, too, I could tell. A frown replaced the sneer on his face. Dexter squeaked and limped out of the room.
In the next instant, shadows sprang up from the floor, flinging themselves upon the ghost with all of the hunger that the grave held within it. It wasn't her expertise with spells or potions that made vampires and ghouls alike fear Marie Laveau. It was her ability to call forth Remnants and bend them to her will, just like I was doing now. As one, the Remnants began to rip through the ghost's body, eliciting a howl from Kramer that I savored like candy. Remnants fed on pain, and it sounded like the Inquisitor was serving up a banquet. I didn't know if they could kill the ghost, Kramer lacking the flesh that they could eventually explode, but I was willing to let them do their best to find out.
My wishful thinking was short-lived, however. Just as abruptly as Kramer appeared, he vanished, leaving the Remnants twining their diaphanous, deadly forms through nothing more substantial than air.
"Come back here!" I yelled.
Nothing stirred except the dozens of Remnants who turned toward me with hazy expressions that all seemed to be asking the same question.
Now what?
Damned if I knew. "Go get him!" I tried, but they only swayed like reeds in a strong wind while their bodies stayed anchored in the demolished room.
Great. I shivered, fighting off the combination of hunger and cold that raising Remnants always brought about. My most lethal, secret weapon couldn't follow Kramer, and I'd neglected to order him to stay put before I unleashed them on him.
"Wait," I told the Remnants. Maybe Kramer would spoof back for another assault. I doubted it, but I could hope he'd be that stupid.
"How's he doing?" I asked Bones, kicking pieces of the desk out of my way to reach the opposite corner of the room.
Bones stood and moved aside, revealing Tyler crouched in a ball on the floor. He clutched his neck, but blood no longer streamed out between his fingers, and his breathing was ragged but unhampered.
"He'll be fine," Bones replied. "Just a bit traumatized."
"I was dead." Tyler's voice was no more than a croak. "I saw a bright light, felt myself floating away-"
"You did nothing of the sort," Bones interrupted. "Your heart didn't stop once though your larynx was crushed, and you were choking on your own blood."
"Oh, God," Tyler moaned.
"Maybe you shouldn't attempt to reassure him," I said dryly, fighting a shiver for a different reason. The Remnants tugged on my emotions, the chill and hunger of the grave permeating my defenses.
Bones cast a glance at the Remnants, his mouth curling down. He'd experienced firsthand what they could do when Marie unleashed them on him in order to blackmail me into drinking her blood. To say it hadn't endeared them to him was putting it mildly, but they couldn't help themselves. They were like supernatural missiles drawn to whatever target they were pointed at-or whatever target was the closest.
"Pity they didn't do the trick."
I lifted my shoulder in an apologetic shrug. "Not their fault. I jumped the gun."
He gave me a level look. "All of us underestimated what Kramer could do, but we won't make that mistake again. At least now, we have confirmation of Elisabeth's claims."
Oh yeah. I'd say Tyler's near-death experience, the wreckage of this office, his injured dog, and my being bulldozed by a desk were all very definitive forms of confirmation.
I sighed, brushing some wood shards off Bones's shirt. "How long do you want to wait here to see if he comes back?"
"Wait here?" That alarmed Tyler into standing. "Hell no, we're not waiting here. We're leaving, and I'm not coming back until that thing is taken care of. Mama didn't raise no damn fool."
"He's not interested in you, Tyler, so there's no reason he'd come back once we're gone-"
"You see that Ouija board?" he interrupted me, pointing at pieces littered among the ruins of the desk. "I didn't get a chance to turn it off before he broke it. That means the gateway's still open, so no way am I gonna work here while a ghost who's obviously pissed that I summoned him has a ticket straight to my door. I'll have my assistant run things for a while. Ghost's got no issue with him."
"Okay, you want us to give you a ride home?" He looked too wound up for me to trust him to drive.
"That's not safe, either. I've opened gateways there before. That ghost could sneak in through one-and I don't have any vampires in my apartment who can heal me if he tries to kill me again."
"So where do you want to go? A friend's house?" Hunger and a bone-deep inner chill sharpened my tone. Only being a vampire kept my teeth from chattering. I couldn't wait to cut my connection with the Remnants by sending them back, so I could feel normal again.
Tyler looked at me, then Bones. And smiled.
"No way," I said, not needing to read his mind to figure out what he intended. "No. Way."
"Forget it, mate," Bones replied sternly. "We have enough unwanted guests already without adding one more."
Tyler's smile vanished, and he sank to the floor as if our rebuffs had sapped his strength.
"I'm sorry, but you can't stay with us," I said, making my voice a lot kinder because Tyler hadn't done anything to warrant my snippiness.
"He's going to find me and kill me," Tyler said again.
I shifted uncomfortably. Maybe it was too dangerous to leave him on his own. Besides, even though he'd dealt with ghosts long before meeting us, we were the reason one had almost put him in the grave just now.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dexter limp over, whining even though he also wagged his stubby tail. Tyler pulled him onto his lap, wincing when the dog let out a sharp cry as his injured leg was jostled.
That was all I could take. I turned to Bones, who was already shaking his head with a distantly jaded expression.
"It'll just be until we take care of Kramer, and he did say that he knew some people who might be able to off a ghost . . ." I began.
Tyler's mournful expression vanished as if by magic. He sprang up, still holding the dog.
"Wait right here. It'll just take me a minute to get my and Dexter's things."
Chapter Eight
Several hours later, we pulled into our driveway with two more passengers than we'd left with. Dexter's left hind leg was secured in a cast, and his eyes were distinctly glassy because of the painkillers the vet had administered.
"This is where you live?" Tyler cast a look around at the steep, forested terrain surrounding our Blue Ridge cabin. "I'm amazed I don't hear banjo music."
I ignored the quip, reminding myself that near-death experiences were very traumatic for people who weren't used to them. Besides, it wasn't news to me that our home was in the middle of picturesque nowhere. That had been the intention, so Bones and I would have more privacy. Little did we know that having privacy would prove to be wishful thinking. At least our lack of close neighbors meant Tyler's thoughts were the only ones inside my head aside from my own.
Dexter let out a low whine, picking his head up. "Are you sure it's safe?" Tyler asked. "Dexter's telling me there are ghosts nearby."
Bones let out a sardonic snort as he got out of the car. "Too right."
Tyler had mentioned that he could see ghosts, just not right away. I'd better prepare him for life at Casa Russell. My cat had gotten so used to the ghosts here that he almost never hissed at them anymore.
"There are a lot of ghosts here. All friendly," I hastened to add. "They just, um, like to hang out around our house."
Liar, Tyler thought, his gaze narrowing. Dexter chuffed like he didn't believe me, either. Too bad. Only a select handful of people knew why I was so popular with ghosts, and it wasn't information I was about to share.
"Maybe we built on a former burial ground, and that's why this place is such a hot spot," I improvised as I got out. "You know. Like in Poltergeist."
Lying her pasty white ass off, Tyler thought, but smiled blandly. "Could be, sugar."
I debated telling Tyler that Bones wasn't the only one who could read minds, but decided not to. For all that we'd brought Tyler home with us, we still didn't know him. Getting a peek into his thoughts would go miles toward determining if he was someone we could trust. I didn't perceive him as a threat, but we still had to be careful. We'd already taken a risk by showing him where we lived, but that information could be erased from his memory if need be.
Who was I kidding? With how vigilant Bones was about my safety, he would probably insist on doing that regardless of how trustworthy Tyler proved to be.
"Go on inside, I'll be there in a minute," I said, heaving a mental sigh as I spread out my hands and waited for the barrage of transparent greeters. I still felt off kilter from summoning the Remnants, but it wouldn't be fair to march into the house without saying hello in the manner that my ghostly acquaintances preferred.
Tyler gave me a strange look but hefted Dexter and went into the house. Five minutes later, my hands tingling, I did as well. Bones wasn't in sight, but I could hear him upstairs on the phone with Spade, and his tone was less than pleased. That's right, honey, give him hell, I thought wryly.
I found Tyler in the kitchen, checking out my refrigerator's contents with dismay.
"I know you're both vampires, but a few packets of cheese and some tonic water can't be all you have."
"I'll go shopping tomorrow, but you'll have to make do with some canned soups and crackers from the pantry in the meantime." It was not like we'd been expecting company, and I didn't feel like driving forty minutes to get to the grocery store tonight. It would probably close before I arrived, anyway.