Whiskey Witches, F.J. Blooding [ap literature book list .TXT] 📗

Dexx sank into the chair beside Paige’s hospital bed.

Paige was coherent enough to mutter, “Gone,” before she passed out. The EMT’s had tried reviving her at the scene, and again in the ambulance on the way to the clinic, but no luck.

They’d just brought her in, and they weren’t sure what else to do with her. Another emergency had just shown up. Someone who had been shot. That trumped a comatose woman who could simply be sleeping.

Sleeping. Dexx didn’t know what to do. She looked like she’d lost thirteen rounds in a match with a heavy-weight. Her wet and straggly hair had a thick aroma that left a bad taste in his mouth. Had something been dumped on her? It had to have happened when she’d been alone in the cellar. Maybe that was why they couldn’t wake her.

A dark dread grew like a fast-moving storm in his chest. He needed help. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled through the recent contacts.

“Mmm?” Leslie mumbled.

“I need your help.”

“Hello to you too. Do you have any idea what time—Jesus, Dexx. It’s three o’clock in the morning. Don’t you have anything else better to do? Sleep is a precious thing.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Paige was coated in an oil of some kind and now she won’t wake up.”

Leslie rustled around. “I’m lost. What happened?”

He ran his fingertip over Paige’s forehead, then rubbed the oily substance between his thumb and forefinger. “Looks like she was doused in something. She was attacked by a ghost before that and then something strange happened in the cellar. Could be possible possession? Though, nothing like I’ve ever heard of before.”

“What?” Leslie demanded. Her alarmingly alert voice blared through the phone. “I need information. Now.”

Dexx wiped his fingers on his pants. Whiskey women. They scared the crap out of him. “We were investigating the haunting of the Metley Plantation—”

“Nothing out of the ordinary, there. We cleared it.. Paige went with you?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s out of the ordinary.”

“We hit a wall in the case, so I figured this would be a good, safe distraction for her. It should have been a clean investigation.”

“But it wasn’t?”

He ran his hand over his head. “Things were active, Les, and it was centered on Paige, and then when we went down to the cellar, things got fucking weird as shit.”

“Define ‘fucking weird as shit’,” she said in a hard tone that sent gooseflesh down Dexx’s spine.

He swallowed hard. “We saw an anomaly on the thermal. The EMF had a really strong spike. Then, Paige started acting weird. And then there was the thing with the cop.”

“What thing with the cop?”

“He—well, he, um—hmm.” How to say it out loud while remaining alive. Could mediums kill people over the phone? “I think he was possessed. I talked to him afterward and he didn’t remember a thing.”

The line was silent.

Dead silent.

Dexx began to sweat. Maybe he should have called the other scary one, Alma. “Look, we had no idea a demon would show up on a ghost haunt. Okay? Could you not kill me?”

Leslie didn’t answer.

His eyes flickered around the pale blue painted room. “Please?”

She didn’t breathe, didn’t make a sound.

“Pretty please?”

“Was she okay before she was doused?”

“Yes.” Relief swept over him. “She was a bit freaked over what happened in the attic, but—”

“What happened in the attic?”

“She was attacked by a ghost.”

Her voice rose in considerable decibels. “She was attacked by a ghost? Are you freaking kidding me?”

“No. You’ll wake the kids.”

“Don’t worry about my kids, Dexx. So you have a ghost attacking a demon summoner in a place with no ghosts. Are you two boneheads fine? Were you attacked?”

“Nope. The thing completely ignored us boneheads.”

“And you’re telling me you went in teams, or did you decide to go in like lone wolves.”

“I was up there with her.”

“Before or after?”

“Um.”

“Uh-huh. And after she was doused with the whatever, how’d she act?”

“Confused and drugged.”

“How’s her gift? You’ve been with her a couple days.”

“It’s back. It’s back, Les, and it’s working well. And her memories are too.”

Leslie paused, her tone hedged and deep. “What do you mean?”

“I mean she’s handling things emotionally well, I guess, except for not talking to Alma. She’s refusing to do that. But she summoned Balnore quite easily, and then there’s that globe thing. Did you know she can see all creatures of magickal ability?”

“Yeah. It was actually the one thing I’d hoped she’d be able to keep.”

“Oh.” He frowned, staring at the blue blanket under Paige’s jean-clad legs. “Well, she’s good, not good. Her gift’s under control, when she has control.”

“Okay,” Leslie said. She made a clucking sound with her tongue. “Sounds like someone set up a trap for her.”

“No shit.”

“Shut it. Could be a lot of things, though. Grandma’s best with the herbs, so make sure she gets her hands on whatever they threw at Pea. How’s she now?”

“Uh.” He puffed his cheeks out.

A nurse bustled into the room. “Let’s see if we can wake her. If not, the doctor will want to run some tests.”

Dexx shot her a grim smile. “She’s comatose. I need help, Les.”

“So, it hit her hard, whatever it was.” Leslie growled low in her throat. Her phone picked up the sound really well. “It had to be primed for her. That’s not good, Dexx. We should have never blocked her. I should be out there.”

“You’re like ten months pregnant.”

“It only feels that way. I’ll call Grandma and have her meet you there.”

The nurse shined her pocket light in Paige’s eyes.

Dexx rose from the edge of the bed, unwilling to leave the room. “Les, what do I need to do in the meantime?”

“Where are you?”

“At the local clinic.”

“Do they have showers?”

Dexx lowered the phone to his chest. “Do you have showers here?”

The nurse looked up. “No. We usually don’t have people stay that long.”

“That’s a big no,” Dexx said into the phone.