Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder (21 page)

“Well thanks so much. First a ghost and now… what am I supposed to do now?”

“You are supposed to do what you do. Help people, find the evil, and get rid of it, but not without help from others, not practically by yourself.”

“Did you get the impression I’ve turned into Buffy the Vampire Slayer somewhere along the way, or Xena the Warrior Princess? I can’t fight evil. I can’t even pay the kid’s medical bills.”

“You are going to have to accept it, Tali. Somehow you have tapped into the magic here and I believe you can use it to help find out who murdered people in this town. Somehow it’s part of the contest and fair and us. We don’t have a choice. Why do you think I have spirit guides who reveal themselves to me? Most people don’t. I can’t tell everyone about them or I’d be on a locked adult psych unit somewhere being treated for schizophrenia.”

“You see them? They’re here? Are they here now?”

Mumsie used her soothing voice. “Yes, they’re here right now. Amen Ka looks bored and Chung Po is watching you with great interest.”

“Great. Just great. You mean I have creepy guys following me around too?”

“Um, no. You have only one and she’s never spoken to me, she usually looks a little unhappy—well, a lot unhappy. You never speak to her yourself.”

By this time my mouth had fallen open. I snapped it shut. “I’m not going there. Can you imagine if I start going around talking about—or, worse yet,
to
—an imaginary friend?”

“Tali, she doesn’t look Egyptian or Chinese. She might be an informative guide.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. Let’s go back to this fighting-evil thing. Aiden has powers, physical powers, I’ve seen them. Can’t he do it, fight the evil whatevers?”

“About Aiden, there is something you need to know about him—”

I interrupted. “Okay then, there must be someone. I don’t have any physical powers. I can’t fight like some superhero. I’m just me.”

“Most warriors don’t have superpowers unless they are truly magical beings like angels, fairies, or an occasional demon. Warriors may have some training, but Sam Lopez could help you with that. The other thing most warriors have is friends with the expertise to help. You have Aiden, me and the
boys,
as you insist on calling them. They hate that by the way. You have JT.”

“What if Aiden doesn’t stay around? And JT has Laurel, too.”

“Someone else will come and your abilities will increase. You will get stronger.”

“Do you know how much I hate this whole idea? I attract magic, evil—and fate says I have to battle it, defeat it somehow? I came here to raise my family in a safe place. Lead a life, not lead an army against the legion of darkness.”

I stood up. “If you knew all this, why didn’t you warn me when I first got here? How could you do this to me? You’re my mother. I’ve put my children in danger by coming and the idea is to protect
them
, not the damn universe
or
this town. You’ve always known how I felt about the woo-woo stuff and now I’m in the middle of it.”

Mumsie was hurt by the accusations but she spoke quietly. “This was all set in motion long before you came but your choices had to be your own. And you made the right ones. You did come, you did stick to it when you stopped the last string of murders. You’ll make the right choices this time too, in spite of your instinct to run the other way. But remember, you’re dealing with an ancient evil draining the life-force from people, that’s what turns them into mummies.”

“Why? How could someone do that?”

“If you steal someone’s life force, you stop your own aging process.”

“That’s sick. I don’t even want to think about it.”

Tears stung and pushed against the backs of my eyes. I turned and walked away onto the deck, leaving Mumsie staring after me like I had left Aiden earlier. Now where do I go, what do I do? There wasn’t a good place for me to stomp off to—like a corner bar to order a double martini. Love County was dry. My face wasn’t. Tears spilled over and down my face. I didn’t bother to wipe them away.

I shivered and hunched my shoulders. Fall was here. I should fire up the chimenea but didn’t have the energy.

What did they want from me? Was I really supposed to risk everything, fight things I didn’t want to know exist?
It’s not fair. Daddy, it’s not fair.
I stopped. I hadn’t had one of those conversations with my dad for years. I used to run to him when my mother wanted me to do something I felt was unreasonable. He’d explain to me why it was okay, how I truly wasn’t being singled out of all the other kids in the world to be tormented.

He always made me feel better, and I so wished he was by me now, his arm around my shoulder, assuring me of my place in the world in the scheme of things. I took a deep breath and thought I detected the scent of Dad’s aftershave, old-fashioned Old Spice. I felt a warmth, as if something kept me safe.

Fear drifted away for a moment. He was here—at least, in my heart. And I didn’t have to decide everything this moment. I didn’t have to accept everything that was thrown at me. And if I had the means to stop murder, I’d have to do it. It wasn’t as if I could just look the other way.

Panic slammed in right behind the calm and I let out a scream when another, harder, and not-so-warm arm came down on my shoulders.

Chapter Twenty-two

I gasped, jumped, and slugged Aiden. “Shit, shit, shit, that hurt.”

“You shouldn’t try to hit me, you’ll only hurt yourself.”

“Hell fire and damnation. You have to stop just appearing. My God, you
will
succeed in giving me a heart attack.”

He backed up when he saw the expression on my face. “What’s wrong? I wanted to see if you were still angry with me.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’m having a nervous breakdown. Mumsie gave me the whole speech, you know—all about monsters and fairy tales are alive and well and living in Love County.”

He grinned. “What was your reaction?”

“My reaction, Mr. Wannabe-psychiatrist, is that I’m pissed. I was raised here. This was my safe place, where I always went in my imagination when I wanted to feel good, protected. Now it’s gone, all gone. Everything is dangerous. Fairy tales are not just stories, they’re real. A scary story is no longer just a
fairy tale.
The monster does live under the bed and in the damn closet. I can’t stand it.”

“Aren’t you overreacting a little? Nothing has really changed. You are simply more aware.”

“I didn’t want to know. I wanted the boogie man to be my imagination.” Tears streamed down my face again.

Aiden turned my face to him, cradling it in his cool hands. “Tali. Do I look like a monster?”

I shook my head.

“Kiss me.”

I turned my face up to his. He kissed me, lightly at first, growing more insistent, intense. My knees grew weak, threatening to give way as waves of desire flew through me, promising to take over completely if he didn’t stop. I wrenched my head away, gasping for air. He was a monster of desire and he caught me up in it, distracted me, and I loved him for it.

“What are you, a magical seduction expert?”

“No, just your ordinary neighborhood vampire.”

“Right and I’m the damsel in distress. Who is going to rescue me?”

“Tali, I’m serious.”

Any warmth I’d felt after the kiss vanished like snow in the sun. “A vampire,” I said, my voice flat. “My boyfriend is a vampire. My life is so not happening. It can’t be. Shouldn’t you be wearing a cape and flying around? Oh, yeah. We did that already. Do you sleep in a coffin, drink blood and all that?” I held out my wrist. “Need a damn snack?”

Aiden recoiled as if I’d slapped him and looked at me as if I were someone he’d never met. He left as he’d come, silently and in an instant.

* * * *

The only thing left for me to do was check on the kids and go to bed. I’d managed to argue with Mumsie and with Aiden, and if JT had been around I would have pissed him off too. My world had changed, tilted on its axis, begun rotating the other direction. Yup, overdramatic, but that’s how I felt. Actually, I felt as if I’d run a marathon, an emotional race. I didn’t win.

I didn’t come out ahead in my dreams. Things chased me through the dark, I ran, chased back, they ran. Night turned to bright day but I still couldn’t see what was after me or where I ran.

* * * *

The next morning I browbeat JT into meeting me at the diner for coffee, lots of coffee. I wanted to tell him the latest theories, leaving out most of the monsters.

JT snorted. “Tell me you don’t believe that hogwash.”

“I don’t know
what
in hell I believe any longer. Did you ever hear anything from the autopsies?”

“Finally. It looks as if the fluids had solidified into a powder, which makes no sense. There has to be another explanation. It did not happen spontaneously, but no matter how it happened, it remains murder and is in my jurisdiction. Finding the killer is my job, not matter how squirrelly the forensic report—and despite black magic gossip. I see enough of that crap about the Rayburn place.”

I brightened up and stirred too much sugar and creamer into my coffee. The place might not have espresso but the regular coffee had strong enough legs to get up and walk. “What kind of reports?”

“The usual. Lights in the windows, strange noises, movements in the house, shadows on the windows.”

“Any signs of witchcraft?”

“I don’t know.” JT folded his arms across his chest, withdrawing. “I didn’t find any black hats or cats. We did run into a couple of dead animals—some sick kids’ idea of a pre-Halloween trick.” He took a gulp of his black coffee and sputtered when it burned his mouth.

“What if there really was something?”

“Like what, animal sacrifices under the full moon?”

“Stranger things have happened. Maybe not stranger, but you know what I mean.”

“Tali, if I blame every dead animal in the county on the presence of witchcraft or black magic, I’d be out of a job faster than a duck on a June bug.” He jumped when his pager beeped. I laughed.

He checked the number, dialed, and listened, conversing in monosyllables before he hung up. “Gotta go. Talk to you later.” He stood up.

I jumped out of the chair. “Where are you going? Can I go along? Is it something about the murders?” Damn. I sounded like a kid wanting to go on a fun house ride.

“I’m going on a domestic call and you don’t want to get involved, especially when you know the people concerned.”

I could see from his face that he’d said more than he meant to. “If it’s someone I know, maybe I can help defuse the situation. I’m not as threatening as the sheriff’s department.”

He shook his head. “It could get us both killed, you know, but come on.”

I ran for the door. “Let’s take my car. They won’t be instantly on guard when we drive up.”

“Go out past the Rayburn house to that little frame house right off the highway. I can’t believe I’m letting you do this.”

“What if I stay in the car and you go up to the house and do what you do. If it’s appropriate, you tell me to come up. Would that make you feel better?”

He frowned. “Not really but it will have to do.”

“Why are you being so pissy about my riding along? My God, you didn’t have to let me come. Besides, you let volunteers come all the time.”

“They have training and you’re driving, not riding. Plus if you get hurt, my ass is grass for bringing you at all.”

“Well, pardon me for living. Whose house are we going to, anyway?”

“It’s one of Choice Bergan’s rental houses. A gal and her two kids, moved here recently. She says she has a protection order against her ex and he’s here and won’t leave. She was with you at the contest.”

“Lyn? I hope she’s all right. No wonder she was bitchy at the contest, if her ex-husband was harassing her.”

We wheeled into the short gravel driveway next to the beat-up green Civic parked there.

Lyn stood in front of her front door, the girls looking out from behind her. Her eyes blazed and her hands clenched into fists on her hips. Her expression was so angry, she could probably shoot out dragon fire. Wind whipped her hair around her head like Medusa’s snakes.

“Don’t you dare call me that! You’re a coward, afraid of what I can do. You know the one thing keeping me from hurting you is the girls. Just because I can do things you can’t, that frighten you, my gifts don’t give you the right to threaten me.”

JT got out and walked toward them.

The muscular man planted in the middle of the scrabble yard had a medium build and was about the same age as JT, if you went by looks. As angry as Lyn, the veins in his neck bulged and his face turned red.

He spit out words in a rumbling bass. “I don’t know what you think you are doing, but these girls shouldn’t be around you and your magic stuff. I want them with me and my mama in Dallas. They shouldn’t be exposed to all this. Pretty soon you’ll have them lighting candles and chanting and such. It’s the devil’s work and you know it.” His words and dress were at odds. Colorful, grim tattoos circled his arms. He wore a black leather vest and pants that belonged astride a motorcycle. His long hair was tied into a ponytail.

At that point I leaped out of the car and ran up to stand by Lyn. It was as if I was back in my own front yard, hearing the same hurtful words out of Brian’s mouth as he kicked me out of my home, put me and my son on the street, literally escorted out of town. Now it was happening to someone else. I didn’t care if Lyn had real magical gifts or not. She was in the same situation I’d been in and no one had stood up for me.

“You leave her alone and her girls. She lives here now and in Love, Texas, we stand up for our own.”

Lyn stood looking at me with her mouth open, silent for once.

Her ex-husband was livid. “If you accept her as one of your own, you’re as bad as she is. I’ve heard things about this town. The devil lives here and God’s wrath will rain down upon you, all of you.”

He marched to his car but then turned around. “This isn’t over. I’ll be back with help. I will not leave my children in this devil’s den of evil. You mark my words, you Satan’s whore.”