mission magic 01 - the incubus job (2 page)

I’d warned her and just because her ghost was stuck in hormone hell didn’t mean she didn’t have to follow my rules. After four years with me, she knew I wasn’t going to kill her or bind her, but neither was I going to let her kill me. That meant she was about to be somebody else’s problem and my fixing job was about to get a lot more complicated.

I felt the clamor from the other ghosts as they quadrupled their efforts to settle her down. They knew what was about to happen.

I focused on Tabitha’s aural signature and wrapped it in a loose web of power. I pushed it out of me, beyond my shields, but still holding her in a bubble. She still wasn’t visible. My magic protected her. The moment I withdrew, everybody in the lobby would get a show. A spectacular one, since she was doing her version of Mount St. Helen’s.

Ready or not, here she comes . . .

I let the web unravel, and Tabitha exploded. Electricity arced through the lobby in crackling blue-white cables. Wind blew up out of nowhere. Furniture dragged across the floor toward the spinning center, and various bits of horrendously expensive artwork whirled into the air. Tabitha hung in the air, her long curly blonde hair a halo around her head. She glowed with transparent light, and her eyes had gone completely white. She was totally out of her gourd.

The impressive thing was that despite the arcing electricity and wind picking up the debris, the rest of the lobby was relatively unscathed. Nothing had caught fire, and the computers remained anchored to the counters. That was a damned good security web.

The clerk had begun to float up off her feet and clutched the counter for dear life. The guards pulled out weapons, though what Tasers or guns were going to do to a poltergeist, I didn’t know. I wanted to tell them to put them away before Tabitha got ideas about using them herself, but I figured they ought to know better and if you’re stupid enough to give artillery to a poltergeist, then you deserve what you get.

I used loops of magic to anchor myself down, and my other ghosts protected me from the flying debris. My hat went flying off into the maelstrom. Damn it. I’d just broken it in. Plus now the undyeable and all-too-memorable white streak was revealed. It hooped from my hairline above my left eye around my left ear. Evidence of my encounter with an Ammit demon. Didn’t matter, I supposed. White streak or not, nobody at Effrayant was going to forget me anytime soon, not with Tabitha doing a floor show.

I hit the ground when I heard the first gunshot. I wrapped myself in thick shields. More shots. My mouth dropped open. The guards were actually shooting at a poltergeist. A six-headed electrical hydra snapped at the six idiots. They went rigid and their hair stood on end. Tabitha didn’t let them go.

“Don’t kill them,” I admonished softly, knowing she could hear me. To my astonishment, she listened.

The cables of electricity dissolved and the six guards collapsed to the floor, flopping and jerking. The smell of burning hair made my gorge rise.

“C’mon, Tabitha,” I murmured. “Pull it together. This is not the place, and this is not the time.”

Apparently she wasn’t open to more advice because a chair smashed into me. It bounced off my shields, but the force of it slammed me against the stub wall holding up the counter. I was going to be sore later.

The surge of suppression magic came without warning. It rose up and dropped down like a curtain on closing night of a Broadway show. Tabitha vanished. All the crackling snakes of electricity dissolved. Debris dropped out of the air to hammer the floor. Papers drifted down more slowly, like oversized ticker tape. It looked like a tornado had hit.

I stood. The suppression lay heavily over me. It thickened the air into syrup, making breathing an effort. At least my shields held. I looked around. The guards remained incapacitated on the ground. They smelled like a sewer. Electrocution wasn’t good for bladder and bowel control. Guests hunched stunned against the walls or sprawled like crash-test dummies on the floor. I leaned to look behind the counter. Yun Chee had crawled down to the end and sat with her knees against her chest, her face pressed into her knees.

I sighed. I wanted to be safely out of the way before their exterminator arrived on the scene. I needed to find my mark before he vanished. I didn’t want to spend another three weeks tracking him down.

Underneath the counter was the button to call the housekeeper. Despite the rather menial name, he or she would be in charge of Effrayant. Though I expected the housekeeper was already on the way, I walked around and pressed the button anyway.

The suppression magic didn’t lift. It wouldn’t until the exterminator reset it and got rid of any lingering poltergeists. Tabitha wouldn’t have long between the lifting of the suppression and the exterminator’s summons to make her escape. If she got back to me, I could protect her. If not, she’d be toast. It wouldn’t matter if she ran to China, once the summons was done, without protection, she had to answer.

I hoped she’d make it. She was a pain in the ass, but she was scared, not evil. She deserved to live whatever life she had left.

A heavy wood door swung open to the right of the counter, and a woman who could only be the housekeeper strode through. She was tall and wearing four-inch spike heels, a pencil skirt, and a tailored silk blazer. Her sleek ash blonde hair was shorter in the back with long wings on the sides to frame her porcelain face. She glanced down at the clerk before surveying the lobby. Finally her blue gaze settled on me. Her brows rose in disbelief of my existence in her auberge.

“May I help you?”

“I was checking in. Do you get poltergeists often?” I asked, letting a note of disapproval color my tone.

Her pink lips firmed, her eyes narrowing. “I must apologize, Ms. . . . ?”

“Carson. Mary Carson. I have a reservation.”

That caught her up short. She really ought to have known better. I could have pointed out that most people took Howard Hughes to be a vagrant. Not everything was what it seemed. Especially me.

She tapped on the keyboard, her fingernails the same color as her lips. She blinked at the screen and looked up at me. “I have your reservation right here, Ms. Carson. Everything is already taken care of.” All the distrust in her expression was gone, replaced by benevolent welcome. “I’ll show you up myself.”

She led the way across the lobby to the main bank of elevators, stepping around bodies and strewn furniture as if like it happened every day. Already a small staff army was pouring in, helping the injured and straightening the room.

I followed the housekeeper into the elevator with relief. Thank goodness Ivan had made the reservations. He was my current employer and had more money than god. What he wanted, he got, and he’d wanted a room for Mary Carson in Effrayant.

I was to be housed in the main tower, apparently, just below the residence floors. Of course. The priciest rooms. I should have told Ivan I wanted something closer to the ground floor and exits. Not that I couldn’t manage a quick escape with magic, but I preferred not to rely on it more than I had to.

“To answer your question, Ms. Carson, we do try to keep the ghosts out—this is a quality establishment, after all—but occasionally they do find a way. Our exterminator is quite good. Lawrence will have the situation well in hand within the hour,” she said, preening as she delivered the news.

I blinked at her, more than a little surprised. Unpleasantly so. “Stanger?” I asked before I thought to keep my mouth shut. “Law Stanger is your exterminator?”

Both of the housekeeper’s artfully plucked eyebrows arched. If she’d been a cat, her ears would have flattened. She was possessive about him. I wondered if she was screwing him. I wouldn’t be surprised. She was damned beautiful, and I’m sure men panted after her like dogs after a meaty bone.

“Do you know Mr. Stanger?” she asked.

Biblically. Not to mention he used to be my partner when I was still working for Acadia.

“We’ve met,” I said. I wondered if she’d keep the fact I was staying at the auberge a secret if I asked. Discretion was part of her job, after all. It was worth a try. The last person I wanted to see was Law. “I expect he’ll be busy with your little haunting. I’d just as soon not disturb him,” I said as the elevator doors opened.

She gave me a sidelong glance. “Of course. I’ve put you in the Ronce suite on the corner. I’m sure you’ll be very pleased with it.”

Her gaze slid down to my feet then ahead down the hall. I bet it twisted her hard that she didn’t know a damned thing about me and I knew Law. I wondered if her curiosity would win out over discretion. If so, it wouldn’t take him long to put two and two together and come up with the fact that I was Mary Carson. Law was many things. Stupid was not one of them.

I’d better come up with a plan fast. This job was already half derailed thanks to Tabitha; I didn’t want Law to push the train all the way over.

The housekeeper scanned a card over the door lock. The light turned green, and an electronic pad slid out.

“Put your left thumb on the pad please,” she said.

I did as told. Magic flowed over my thumb, and my body pulsed hot. It was over in an instant.

“The lock is now keyed to your aural signature. No one else can enter without your permission, including staff. When you want your room cleaned, simply press the service button inside. All the information on our services is listed in the notebook on the desk. Please do not hesitate to call down if you need anything. My name is LeeAnne Watson. I’ll be happy to look after any of your needs.”

She handed me a linen card embossed in blue and gold. “Enjoy your stay at Effrayant, Ms. Carson. Please do note that all your meals will be comped during your stay as compensation for your difficulties checking in. We have several doctors on staff if you would like to consult anyone, at our cost, of course. Effrayant values your patronage.”

“Thank you,” I said. “You’re very generous.” She wasn’t. It was bare minimum compensation for me nearly getting killed by a poltergeist in the lobby. It’s not as if LeeAnne Watson knew Tabitha being in the auberge was my fault. All the same, I’d take it with a smile and get on with my business. With luck, I’d be gone by tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I’ve never been very lucky.

Chapter 2

I stepped inside the suite. It was really more like a palace. The master bathroom could have doubled as a ballroom. A sunken hot tub steamed in the center of the oversized room, with another bathtub and separate shower, both big enough for orgies. I could have parked two cars in the closet. The four-poster bed was on a pedestal with four stairs leading up to it. Apparently giants usually stayed here because four or five could have slept in the bed without touching. There were two other lavish bedrooms, a den, a sitting room, another bathroom—this one without a hot tub—a fully stocked kitchen, and a media room with an enormous wall screen and reclining chairs.

For a second I considered delaying my job for a few days just so I could take a vacation in the glorious suite. I wouldn’t even leave it. Sighing, I dismissed the idea. My mark would vanish, and there was Law. I wanted to get clear of this place without having to see him.

After exploring, I set up shield wards. Nothing was coming in without permission, and more important, nothing was leaving. The walls were already magically secure—Law’s handiwork, I was certain—but I wanted my own. After I’d activated the wards, I released my hold on the ghosts. They peeled off like layers of lettuce. Mostly I couldn’t see them. They didn’t appear unless they wanted to, or like Tabitha, were out of control.

I considered Tabitha. Law was probably already setting up the summoning to catch her. He’d drop the suppression spell then activate the summoning. There’d be a couple of seconds between, if that. Time enough for Tabitha to escape, but I had to be ready.

I returned to the hallway outside my suite to wait for her. I tuned my personal shields to let her in and deny the summoning. I was careful to keep my magic subtle. If LeeAnne hadn’t told Law about me, I didn’t want to give him a reason to come looking.

The hallway was deserted. I walked back up the corridor toward the elevators. The blue lighting around the nearby doors indicated I didn’t have neighbors. There weren’t any surveillance cameras, but I hadn’t expected any. The Effrayant’s clientele wouldn’t appreciate it.

I returned to my room and loitered in the hallway. Five minutes passed. What was taking so long? I jumped when the elevator dinged, but no one came in my direction. A few more minutes passed, and my stomach started to knot up. Had Law destroyed Tabitha?

The idea was a hard punch in my throat. I leaned back against the wall, blinking away the prickly heat building in my eyes. Damn damn damn. Damn Law and damn me for not binding her and keeping her safe. Pissed off is better than dead.

Tabitha slammed into me like a freight train. If a ghost could shake, she would be. She was terrified. Her spectral body wrapped around me. I pulled her close and snapped my shields tight around her. The hairs on my arms rose as I felt the summoning begin.

“Sh,” I said, backing into my room. “It’s going to be all right. You’re safe now.”

I shut the door. The power of the summoning increased. Law always had been good. I strengthened the room shields, even though they were perfectly fine, and went to sit on a low couch. I could feel the other ghosts watching. Edna shimmered into form on the chair across from me. She sat primly, hands in her lap, knees together. Her short, finger-waved hair had been fashionable in her day. She’d been forty-one when her husband had decided to commit murder-suicide. He’d strangled all three kids and Edna before deciding he was too afraid to die.

I could see the navy leather of the chair through her, but otherwise she looked real enough.

“Hello, Edna,” I said. She didn’t often come out.

“Give me the child,” she said in a hollow-sounding voice, lifting her arms.

“Tabitha, Edna wants to talk to you.”

Tabitha tightened her grip on me. I shook my head at Edna. “She doesn’t want to come.”

The ghost’s mouth firmed, and her arms dropped. She folded her hands in her lap again. She had a round face with smile lines. I’d never seen her smile.