Whiskey Witches, F.J. Blooding [ap literature book list .TXT] 📗
- Author: F.J. Blooding
- Performer: -
Book online «Whiskey Witches, F.J. Blooding [ap literature book list .TXT] 📗». Author F.J. Blooding
She sank in the chair next to her as her heart twisted with grief that refused to drown. She put her elbows on her knees, burying her face in her hands.
“Pea,” Dexx said softly, sitting in the chair opposite of her. “Leah?”
She scrubbed her face hard and sat up. She had a case to solve. She had to be okay. She couldn’t let people down. Again. “Yeah.”
“Don’t.”
She cleared her throat and frowned at him. “What?”
“I know where you’re headed and trust me when I tell you, it ain’t pretty.”
Paige took a lock of long brown hair, pressing it to her lips for a long moment before letting it drop. “Yeah. I know. You hear from my brother? Do you know how she’s doing?”
“No, and I’m sure Leah’s fine.”
The pain inside Paige’s heart coiled, waiting. “Sure. Coffee ready? Let’s go see what Tru found.”
He stood, grabbing a t-shirt off the floor. He brought it to his nose before pulling it over his head while Paige filled the two mugs. She handed one to Dexx and waited as he doused it with about five creamers and half a shaker of sugar.
“Did you want a little coffee with your sugar?”
“Shut up.” He sipped his concoction as he exited the room.
Alma and Tru’s room had two single beds done up in shades of blues and browns. It felt very warm, but not quite as earthy as Paige’s. She glanced at her grandmother lying on one of the beds. The woman looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Tru camped at the lone table against the wall next to the window. He had two laptops set up and other equipment Paige couldn’t even begin to name.
“What do ya got for us?” Dexx asked, sitting down next to him.
Paige perched on the edge of the empty bed.
“Okay, well, first off,” Tru said, glancing at them both with wild excitement in his gray eyes. “Paige, I caught the sound of something sliding across the floor in the attic. And I caught what you thought you heard. The first time the little she-ghost called your name, that’s all I caught. You heard that, so I don’t have to replay it for you, but listen to this.”
Tru handed a set of headphones to Paige and another one to Dexx, his expression rife with excitement.
“… you’re here. Without scaring me half to death.”
The attic door slammed shut.
I won’t go back, the little girl’s voice said.
Paige shoved the headphones off, her heart racing. “That was very clear. No confusing anything there.”
Dexx tucked one cushioned cuff behind his ear. “Where won’t she go back to?”
“Who is she?”
“I don’t know,” Dexx said. “But there’s no record of any girl dying there. I can tell you that. So…” He trailed off with a shrug.
“Well, I can answer part of that.” Tru pointed to their headsets. He waited until they’d put their headphones back on before clicking to another screen.
Static. My name is Jessica Camley, the girl’s voice came out garbled, but easy to understand.
“Wow.” Paige’s hands shook as she exposed one ear. “How often do you actually get answers from a ghost?”
Tru beamed with excitement. “Where did she come from?”
“That name didn’t come up in the research.” Dexx played with the headphone cord. “It’s like she came out of nowhere.”
“I have more. When we got to the cellar, catch what I have on the digital recorder.” He unplugged the multi-headphone jack and turned up the volume. “This guy is easy to hear.”
“You’ve got to listen to me, love.”
“That’s the guy. Lucius.” Paige set her headphones on the bed beside her.
“Things are going to happen tonight.” Static warbled his next sentence. “Do not fight me when I come.”
“I didn’t hear that last night.”
“Maybe because he’s a ghost?” Dexx asked. “A demony ghosty thingy-ness?”
“You need to be careful,” Alma said, her tone hard. “I don’t like this.”
“Right and she really didn’t like what I’m about to show you,” Tru said, closing that file and opening two other windows. “Look, this is the thermal recording I took while we were down in the cellar.”
On the right hand window, Paige saw what she’d seen over Tru’s shoulder the previous night in the cellar. Paige shrugged. The fear of the night before crept forward. She swallowed. “Right. Been there. What else?”
“This,” Tru said, pointing to the screen on the left and enlarging it. “This is what you didn’t see.” The screen swung wildly about the room. “See, I just pulled it out and I’m putting it on the shelf. But look at this.” Tru hit pause. He used the mouse to clarify the rather fuzzy picture of something on the floor. “There. What do you see?”
Dexx leaned in, squinting his eyes. “What the hell is that?”
Paige’s breath caught in her chest as she stared at what had been scratched into the dirt floor. “A binding symbol.”
“It was a trap,” Dexx said. “Someone knew we were going to be there. Who knew?”
Paige shook her head. “Chief White and the owner. There was a cop there.”
“The chief said he got a call from one of his guys, and the last thing he remembered was seeing Mike on the scene.” Dexx tapped a finger on the table.
Tru turned his attention back to the computer. “We got so much footage this trip. It’s unbelievable. Paige, I’m taking you with us every time.”
She snorted.
“Did you get anything else?” Dexx asked.
“Tons.”
“Stuff that’s pertinent?”
Tru shrugged. “Not really.”
“So,” Dexx said, rubbing his eye. “What happened down there?”
Paige licked her lips and glanced at her grandmother. “He tried to possess me, I think. It felt like he was doing more than that though. It felt like he was trying to push me out.”
“Did the tattoo help?” Dexx asked.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the only thing that stopped him.”
“Good,” Dexx said. “Then, as soon as Nick sends my ink, we’re putting it permanent on your body.”
“Still not sure what I think about tattoos. I don’t know if it will interfere with my gifts.”
“Don’t care. This was close, Pea. Too close.”
She hid her trembling fingers. “Yeah.”
“Hey,” Tru said, pointing at her with a goofy expression on his face, “if you do any kind of possessed thing, give me a heads up. I need pictures.”
Asshole.
Dexx decided Paige was good enough on her own, with Tru and Alma just down the hall. She agreed whole-heartedly, stating something about not needing a babysitter as a full-grown adult woman.
He had research to do.
Dexx slid into Jackie’s driver’s seat and clenched the wheel, grinding his teeth in frustration. Why, why, why would anyone think it smart to wipe a person’s memories? And who in this pissing world thought walling off a person’s gift would help anything, especially one like hers?
The bad guy. That’s who.
What was Balnore really up to? Dexx’d never once bought into the whole protector-watcher-demon thing. Really? A demon as a protector? Seriously? What would Buffy had been like if Giles had been a cuddly vampire watcher?
Buffy had had a soft spot for vampires, the good ones and the bad ones. Gross. That had better not be going on with Paige.
He eased Jackie into gear. She sedately sauntered down the road.
He stopped at the stop sign ready to turn onto the highway running through town. He had too many questions and they were all good. Who was this ghost? Where had she come from? What did Lucius want? How did the killer even know about Lucius?
He scanned the friendly streets. Few people populated the sidewalks. Cars were parked all along the storefronts and people meandered around inside the stores. Jackie purred beneath him as he searched for a sign that would lead him to the library.
The wind lifted the tree branches, allowing the sunlight to strike a little green sign attached to one of the silver light poles along the street. Dexx narrowed his gaze to read the white letters in the fading shade of the noon-time sun. Perfect.
The library wasn’t very big. A little white square of a building, but the area outside took the edge off the stark feel of it.
Comments (0)