The Old House (Haunted Series Book 16) (29 page)

Mia dressed for battle.  Ted and she left Brian in Audrey’s capable hands.  Murphy followed the couple, curious.  Ted pulled the truck out before the hungover males could protest.

“Where is your grandfather?” Ted asked.

“Orion is out drawing power.  He is going to stay here and protect Brian,” Mia said.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to wait for the others?”

“I’m afraid that one of them could get hurt.  If not by the elemental, by me swinging this damn sword.”

“Mia, you don’t have to do this.  We can call Angelo. I’m sure…”

“I have a feeling that this is a test.  Fate has been herding me, interfering with us.  It’s time to go on the offensive.  That negative elemental has to be brought down.  It’s not just my pride.  It’s for Mark.”

Ted nodded.  “What’s your plan?”

“I’m going to enter the house, search the upstairs, and try to draw out the elemental.”

“Not alone.”

“Maybe.”

“No, Murphy or I go in too.”

“Okay.”

“You’re not fighting me?”

Mia smiled.  “I trust you to know the right thing to do, Red Leader.”

“What happens when you find it?’

“I’m going to ask it to leave voluntarily.  If it doesn’t, I’ll have to kill it.”

Ted backed the truck into the rutted drive.  Mia waited until Ted connected with the internet, and Jake was brought online.  Mia placed an earcom inside her ear.  She caught movement behind them.  She walked out and greeted Murphy.  “Glad you’re here.”  She explained what Orion had asked her to do.

“You’ve never intentionally killed anything before, Mia.”

“I know.  That’s why I’m going to give it a chance.”

“What if you can’t kill it?”

“You or Orion will have to. It’s important that Mark no longer has this thing whispering to him at night.”

Murphy nodded.  He touched her face, noting the swollen eyes.  “You’ve been crying.”

“Yes, but everything is fine now.”

“Good.  I wouldn’t want to have to kill Ted.”

“I heard that,” Ted called out of the truck.

Murphy winked at Mia.

Orion landed on Mia’s shoulder as a hummingbird.

“Gee, I was hoping for something a little more substantial,” she teased.  “Don’t you have any pterodactyl in your repertoire?”

The bird looked at Mia a moment before flying towards the cottage to watch over Brian.

“Teddy Bear, time to go in,” she said.

“Wait,” he said.  He ran out and slid a tiny camera on the front and the back of her scabbard.  “Meet Pete and Repeat.  They will help me to help you, Mia.”

Mia reached out, and Ted hugged her.  She kissed him. “For luck,” she said.  She waited until Ted was in the trailer before she drew a line of salt across the opening.  She squared her shoulders.

“Time to go in.”  Mia ran and launched herself over the black ring, landing on the porch.  Murph followed her inside.  They then split up.  Mia sent Murphy into the cellar to look for the tins.  If everything went to hell, at least the manuscript would have been saved.

She moved through the big room as quickly as she could and headed up the stairs and into the room where she was attacked before.  She scanned the ceiling but didn’t see anything.  She walked over to the closet, kicked the shoes out of the way and pried up the boards, exposing an oilcloth-wrapped bundle.  She picked it up and stuffed it down the back of her pants.  She moved out into the playroom.

“Mee ah,” the boys chorused.

She nodded to them.  She pulled out of her pocket two metal cars she had purchased at the dollar store.  She squatted down and rolled a car to each of the boys.  The elder of the boys patted his back, indicating the sword on Mia’s back.  He mimed a fencing posture.

“Mia, behind you,” Ted warned.

Mia spun around, pulling out her sword and shield at the same time.  A black entity moved quickly towards her.  She took up the fencing posture the boy had recommended.  He moved beside her, and the two of them faced the entity.

“I’m asking you to voluntarily leave this home,” she said.

“Get out,” Timmy said, poking his imaginary sword at the elemental.

The elemental lunged toward the boy.  Mia put her body between the creature and the ghost child.  She pushed out with her shield, repeating, “I’m asking you to voluntarily leave this home.”

The elemental pushed back.  Mia pulled Timmy behind her.  “Take your brother and hide,” she hissed.

“What are you?” the elemental asked, sensing Mia’s power.  “You’re neither bird nor beast.”

“I’m asking you for the last time to leave this place or perish.”

“Me perish?  I am older than the trees that were hewn to build this place.  The only one who is going to perish is you.”

It pushed Mia back so hard that she hit the opposite wall.  She heard the camera crush behind her.

“Note to Ted,” she said, “Impact housing on all Mia cams.”

Mia quickly moved to the center of the room.  The elemental was moving overhead on the ceiling.  It had taken the form of a large spider.

“Ted, I’m seeing eight legs of ish,” she reported.

“Think Samwise Gamgee,” Ted said.  “Bring out your inner Hobbit.”

The spider jumped.

Mia sidestepped, quickly bringing her shield up in time to deflect most of the weight bearing down upon her.  The legs became hands and gripped the shield.  Mia sliced at them only to find them replaced with metal hooks.

“Now that’s not fair,” she complained, moving backwards.

It pulled the shield from her hand, and as it did, Mia leaned in and stabbed into the center of the moving mass.

Sparks flew.

Mia withdrew her sword and watched as the darkness was sucked inward until a being started to emerge.  It was a beautiful black woman.  Her hair was thick and held up in a patterned scarf that matched the long dress she wore.

She looked at Mia sadly for a moment and pleaded, “Take me home,” before she fell to the ground.

“Oh my god, Mia,” Ted said.

“I have to take her home,” Mia said.

“Do you know where home is?” Ted asked

“Orion told me.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’ll be once more standing in front of Roumain.”

Mia housed her sword.  “I don’t like this any more than you do, but I get the feeling, I’m taking back someone who was taken from him.  Don’t worry, he can’t hurt us anymore.”

“No, he can’t,” Ted said.  “Are you going to be able to hold her, Mighty Mouse? She is half again as tall as you are.”

“Watch and learn, Grasshopper,” Mia said, taking the remaining camera off, setting it on the ground and angling it up at her.  She remembered the bundle she found in the closet and drew it out and lay it on the ground beside the camera.

Ted watched as she activated her wings, and as they sprouted, she grew, matching Sariel’s height.  The top of her wings touched the high ceilings of the second floor.  Mia bent down and lifted the woman into her arms.  She extended her wings, as she had seen Angelo do, and wrapped them around both of them and disappeared.

Ted sat back amazed.

Murphy, who had come with news of the wall of tins, made it into the room just in time to see her disappear.

Ted watched as the ghost moved to the spot where she had dropped the package and the discarded camera and shook his head.  “Mia’s still a slob.”

~

The air was still when Mia opened her wings.  She looked around at the familiar graveyard and approached the middle and called out, “Roumain!”

The ground opened, and out of the thick mist walked the judge.  He looked warily at Mia.

She knelt down and lay the beautiful woman on the ground before her and stepped away.  “I was told to bring her here.  I’m sorry, Roumain. I sense there was much love between the two of you.”

Roumain squatted down and moved his hand along the woman’s face.  He put his hand on his heart, and Mia watched as the king of purgatory cried.  Mia withdrew her wings but allowed the tattoos to roam her back just in case she needed to bolt.  She walked over and put a hand on Roumain’s shoulder in sympathy.

“Was it your blade that took the elemental curse from her?”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

“You freed her, Mia.  This is Violine Roumain, my wife.”

“How did this happen?”

“She got too consumed by the black arts.  She made a bargain for power, and the power took her.  She has been living this horrible existence for nigh on an eternity.  I have looked for her, made bargains with the wrong creatures to get her back.  In short, sold what was left of my soul to find her and bring her home.”

“You must hate me for killing her,” Mia said.

Roumain looked up.  “Mia, she was already dead.  By you bringing her here, you saved her.  If you had left her, she would have descended into Hell.  Now she can walk the land in which I rule, and in time, she will be able to ascend.  Who instructed you, may I ask?”

“My grandfather.”

“Émile or Orion?”

Mia shook her head.  “You know way too much about me, Roumain.  It was Orion.”

He studied her a moment.  “How can you look upon me with a kind face after what I’ve done to you and Ted?”

“It never occurred to me to be otherwise,” Mia said, stepping back.  “Brutal truths, bargains made, all for me to bring Violine home.  Why can’t you beings just ask direct questions?”

“If I asked you to find this elemental, kill it and bring it here, you would have… how?”

“I don’t know, but I would have found a way.  Now I’m stuck with these.”  Mia sprung the wings out.

“Archangel wings.  Tell me, do we have a Nephilim on the way?”

“No, give me some credit.  What is it with you male entities?  You think that we women are so damn weak that we will open our legs for a good set of wings?  Damn, you’re a piece of work.”

Roumain looked at her.  “You have broken the Cooper curse.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“It matters not.  You all have brought me so much pain.  Did you enjoy it?”

Roumain had the decency to look guilty.

“Please, I ask this of you, release Beth Bouvier.”

“Why?”

“She was once a friend.”

“She wanted to destroy you and your child, Mia.  She is no friend of yours.  Ask me something else.”

“Then don’t use her against me.  If you have a problem with me, come to me.  Don’t use my family and friends.”

“Sariel made that clear.”

“No, not under the veil of a threat.  I’m asking you this personally.  I’m not too proud to beg you.  The days that are coming are going to be hard enough without you playing your games.”

“You amaze me.  Is it the human in you, the demon, the birdman or, perhaps, the angel that humbles itself before me?”

“It’s all.”

“I can see that even I have underestimated you, but I have never undervalued you.”  Roumain picked up Violine in his arms, cradling her to his chest.  He looked over at Mia and said, “For my part in your sorrow and pain, I am sorry.  Thank you for bringing Violine home.”

Mia turned to go.

“Wait.  I have some information for you.”

Mia gave Roumain her full attention.

“The Other was hired by the Cynosura.” He looked at her puzzled expression.  “Tell Orion, he will explain it to you.”

Mia nodded.

“You know, Mia, Violine returning doesn’t stifle my feelings for you.  Anytime you want to come and swim with me, I wouldn’t leave you to swim off your anger like Mr. Dupree did.”

Mia felt a chill move over her body.  “The Native American is your spy, isn’t he?”

“Oh yes.  I will remove him pronto.  There are no bones to seek, just a trap.”

“The house?”

“Oh, the house is real, and you need to deal with it if you are to save Mark.  Removing Violine is just one step of three that will turn Mark forever away from the dark.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

“It won’t make up for my interference, but perhaps these brutal truths have released you to find the real truths, Mia Cooper Martin,” Roumain said and disappeared into the mist.  The ground resealed itself.

Mia drew her wings around her and thought about Ted and home.

~

Mia arrived back outside the trailer.  Ted looked over and smiled.  “I’m still here,” he said in a sexy voice.

Mia nodded, pulling the wings back into herself.  She climbed into the trailer and over to the man she loved so much.  She smiled down at him, bent over and kissed him tenderly.  “Thank you.”

“Baby steps, Minnie Mouse, baby steps,” he said, drawing her onto his lap.  “Want to see you in action?”