"Bye."
I hung up the phone. My worries were only amplified. I leaned back in my seat and ruminated over my friend's ill-sounding voice and absence. This was her first leave in all the three years she'd worked with me.
The rest of the day was one big rumination until the afternoon. My first hint that something was awry came in the sounds of suppressed squeals. I peeked over the top of my cubicle. My face fell. A large crowd of women stood at the elevator doors. Above their heads towered my mate, but nothing towered over the sounds of the women's adulations.
"Mr. Dives, what a pleasure to see you!"
"Can I have your autograph?"
"Are you still single?"
He raised his hands and smiled at his adoring admirers. "One question at a time, ladies, one at a time."
I frowned and lowered myself back into my chair. The excited squeals came closer. They headed down the hall that ran past my square living space. I leaned out the doorway of my cubicle. David strode down the hall with his groupie herd close at his heels.
I ducked back into my cubicle and prayed he was just passing through. The gods were not kind to me. David stopped at my cubicle and leaned his shoulder against the frame. Behind him lurked the shadows of my coworkers, now transformed into greedy phantoms.
He smiled at me. I glared at him. "Ready?"
My scowl deepened. "Ready for what?"
He chuckled. "For your doctor's appointment. Don't tell me you forgot already."
I opened my mouth, but the sound of a great bellowing beast interrupted me. "What's going on here?" Bulla's voice boomed. The shadows scattered to the four corners of the floor. Bulla himself appeared beside David. His eyes widened and a smooth smile slipped onto his lips. "Mr. Dives, what a pleasant surprise! What can I do for you?"
David nodded at me. "You can excuse this young woman for the rest of the day. She has a doctor's appointment that she can't miss."
Bulla glanced between us and blinked his eyes. "A doctor's appointment, Mr. Dives? But what does that matter to you?"
David turned to him and frowned. Bulla shrank. "What's important is that it doesn't matter to you, Mr. Bulla. Now may she leave?"
Bulla's head bobbed up and down. "Of course, sir! She can leave immediately!" He glanced at me and his eyes hardened. "You may leave now, Miss Combes."
I sighed, but picked up my purse and stood. David stepped aside and swept his arm towards the hall. I swept past him and strode down the hall. David followed, and everyone gawked at us as we stepped together into the elevator.
My narrowed eyes flickered to David. "Now I know you're trying to get me fired."
He smiled and shrugged. "I just didn't want you to be late for your appointment."
I arched an eyebrow. "And what's this about my appointment? It's your doctor."
"But it's your friend," he countered. His eyes flickered to me. "Bye-the-bye, I didn't see her in her cubicle. Did she come in today?"
My shoulders sagged. I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head. "No. I called her, but she sounded like death warmed over."
David stared ahead and pursed his lips. "Let's hope that isn't the case."
I whipped my head to him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I think your friend is in a lot of danger, and the doctor will hopefully tell us what's wrong and how to fix it," he replied.
I grabbed his sleeve and forced him to look at me. "What kind of danger? What's going on?"
David grasped my hand, but didn't pull himself free. He searched my face and sighed. "I didn't want to frighten you-"
"Too late."
"-but yesterday when I met you in the waiting room of the hospital the scent of death lingered on you."
I felt the color drain from my face. "Then I'm-" He shook his head.
"No, it didn't come from you, but from your close interaction to someone who was suffering, namely your friend."
I felt lightheaded. My hand loosened and I swayed from side-to-side. David caught me before I collapsed and leaned me against the rear wall of the elevator. The doors opened. We'd arrived at the garage.
He pulled me towards the open doors. "Come on. The car is just over here."
Puer waited for us beside the limo, and David helped me into the car. He sat beside me and Puer pulled the car out of the parking spot.
I grasped David's sleeve again and looked into his eyes. "What's going on?"
He shook his head. "I wish I knew, but perhaps the good doctor will know."
5
The 'good doctor's' resident was located on the west side of the river in the bowels of the urban environment. It was a small, unassuming two-floor house with a green lawn and a garage on the side. Windows near the ground level told me there was a basement, but they were shuttered by thick planks of wood.
Puer parked the car on the curb, and David led the way up the stone walk to the front door. There was nothing to show there was a doctor at home except for a small decal on the front door. It was the pair of serpents entwined around a staff, but the staff looked a little strange. Small sparks flew from the top of the staff, and the serpents looked particularly menacing with red eyes.
David knocked on the door. Hurried footsteps came to the entrance and the door was flung open to reveal a half-crazed maniac with a surgical saw in one hand. His bushy white hair stuck out in all directions, and many of the ends were singed and smoking. He wore a white lab coat with red and purple stains over the front, and his feet were bare.
Behind him I glimpsed a living room crowded with tables full of beakers, small cauldrons, and Bunsen burners. Grayish liquid bubbled inside the containers and the steam floated over mounds of papers and stacks of books. Books were strewn about the floor and abandoned lab coats that were even more grisly in appearance than the one the man wore.
"What?" he barked.
David smiled and bowed to him. "Your afternoon appointment, Dr. Ficus."
Ficus frowned and leaned forward while squinting his eyes. "Bah." He straightened and slammed the door in our faces.
I glanced at David and jerked my head towards the door. "Are you sure this guy's even competent to stand trial?"
David chuckled. "He's a little strange, yes, but that's just what we need for this strange case of your friends." He knocked. There was the hurried footsteps and the flinging door. The maniac returned. David grasped the door so it couldn't be shut. "Put on your glasses, doctor, and look at us again."
Ficus rummaged in one of his overcoat pockets and pulled out a pair of tiny spectacles. He put them on his long nose and looked at us. His eyes widened. "David! Why didn't you tell me it was you!"
"You didn't give me much of a chance," David pointed out.
Ficus grabbed David's shoulder and pulled him inside with me a few steps behind. "If that's true then you're getting slow in your old age, David. Now what sort of-" I didn't get to hear the rest because he slammed the door in my face.
I rolled my eyes and knocked. Ficus answered the door and glared at me. "Go away. I'm in conference with a patient."
David appeared behind Ficus and put his hand on the doctor's shoulder. "It's okay, Doc. She's with me."
Ficus frowned, but stepped aside so I could enter. "I do wish you'd tell me these things, David. I'm too old to play guessing games."
I stepped up beside David and he draped an arm over my shoulder. "I've got a much larger surprise for you, Doc. I'd like to introduce you to my mate, Miss Dakota Combes."
Ficus's eyes widened. "Mate? Seriously?" David nodded. The doctor slapped his knee with his free hand. "It's about time, you slow werewolf! You should've caught that catch years ago!"
David shrugged. "Fate is funny that way, but we need your help, Doc."
Ficus nodded at me. "So is she my patient, or do you have some new curse on you that needs removing?"
David shook his head. "Neither. The patient is a friend of Dakota's."
A dark shadow descended on Ficus's face. "You know th
e rules, David."
"But this is serious, Doc. She really-" Ficus shook his head.
"No patient, no diagnosis," he insisted. He strode past us into the depths of the living room to a table where he set down the saw. "I'm not a miracle worker from afar, and even if I was my crystal ball is broken."
David hurried after him. "But this is serious, Doc. Her life could be in danger."
Ficus shook his head. "Nope. Not doing it."
David pursed his lips and glanced over his shoulder at me. His eyes lit up and a mischievous smile slipped onto his lips. He whipped his head back to the doctor. "Then how about an early wedding present?"
Ficus glanced up from his mess and arched one of his bushy eyebrows. "Wedding present? Who's getting married?"
David nodded at me. "Dakota and I are getting married."
I blinked at him. "We're what?"
He rushed to my side and looped his arm around my waist to press me close to his side. A great big goofy smile graced his lips as he turned to the doc. "We're hopelessly in love, Doc, and we're going to be married as soon as we can help out her friend. What do you say? Don't you want to help the future Mrs. David Dives?"
Ficus snorted. "Maybe I want to offer her my condolences, but I'll bite on this one, David." He picked up a pair of long clamps and shook them at David. "But only this once, you hear? I won't be making these educated guesses for you on a daily basis."
David nodded. "That's fine, Doc. Now what do you need to know first?"
Ficus tapped his chin with the clamps. "Well, if you want an accurate diagnosis I'm going to have to know her medical history and the symptoms."
"She's never missed a day of work in all the years I've known her," I spoke up.
Ficus arched an eyebrow. "Is that it?"
I shrugged. "That's all I know."
Ficus sighed. "Well, I suppose that's a start. Now, about the symptoms."
"They started yesterday," I began. "She was pale and slow, and when we left for work she collapsed in the underground garage. She was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and the doctor's said it was anemia."
Ficus's eyes flickered to David. "Any puncture marks on the neck?"
David shook his head. "No."
Ficus scoffed. "Then I doubt it's anemia, but why do you think there's anything strange about this case? She grow an extra horn or something?"
"She has the smell of death over her, Doc, and Dakota saw something white and filmy try to escape her body through her mouth," David explained.
Ficus's eyes widened. "Now that's a different story altogether! You should have told me that in the first place!" He dropped the clamps and ducked beneath the table to scour the stacks of books. "Is there anybody new in your friend's life, Miss Future-Dives?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Yes. She has a new boyfriend."
Ficus snatched a book from the bottom of a pile. The tall stack toppled onto him, but he wiggled himself backwards and turned to us as he sat on the floor. "Anything strange about this guy?"
"He has an unusual scent like death," David told him.
Ficus flipped through the pages of the book and absently nodded. "Scent of death on a victim and a close acquaintance. Now that does ring a bell." He stopped and browsed a few pages. "Aha!"
David and I tensed. "What is it?" my mate asked him.
"I finally found that alchemical recipe for quick-creation steel I've been looking for for a construction friend of mine," Ficus told us.
Our faces fell. "But what about my friend?"
"Oh, right, of course." Ficus flipped through a few pages and stopped near the back. He pressed his finger against the sheet. "Here it is. Phantom fatigue. It's slightly rare, but it sounds like what your friend is going through."
I frowned. "And what's that?"
Ficus's eyes flickered over the page and to us. "It means your friend is suffering from the depredations of a phantom. A malevolent ghost, if you will. Her life is slowly being consumed by the creature, and in a short while she will be in a lot of trouble."
I arched an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
He frowned. "Of course I'm sure, at least from the little you gave to me. All the symptoms are here except the last one. Scent of death, fatigue to the point of anemia, a new acquaintance."
"What's the last symptom?" I asked him.
"Death."
I felt the color drain from my face. David squeezed my side and looked to the doctor. "How can we verify this is true?"
The doctor clapped the book shut. "The only way to be sure that he's a phantom is to purify the guy with fire."
I frowned. "And if you're wrong?"
Ficus climbed to his feet and shrugged. "Then you're going to need an attorney, not a doctor."
"Isn't there a less dangerous way to find out?" I spoke up.
Ficus furrowed his brow and tapped the book against his chin. "Well, you could try to get him into a very bright light and see if he becomes transparent. Phantoms hate that. They won't step a foot out in the daytime because of it."
I whipped my head to David. "Ruth's boyfriend won't meet her before sunset."
David pursed his lips. "How bright a light does it have to be?"
The doctor shrugged. "Oh, I'd say something like the headlight of a car, or maybe a couple of lamps."
"And if he is transparent, how would we save her friend?" David asked him.
Ficus set the book on the table and rummaged through his pockets. "I have just the thing somewhere in here. Aha!" He pulled out a small vial of purple liquid and walked over to us to hand it to David. "This is what you'd need. It's my catchall recipe for getting rid of ghosts."
David raised the vial and squished around the contents. "What is it?"
"Holy water mixed with some purple dye so you can see where you're tossing it," Ficus explained. "Phantoms hate the stuff more than the light. Just toss some of that stuff onto him and it'll soil his 'suit.'"
I arched an eyebrow. "His clothes?"
Ficus smiled and shook his head. "Not that kind of suit. Phantoms take over a body that resembles there's and tries to revive their soul in that body by sucking the life out of somebody else."
I whipped my head to David. "So somebody's actually stuck in that body with the phantom?"
David pursed his lips and pocketed the vial. "So it seems."
Ficus nodded at the pocket that held the vial. "Sprinkle enough of that at him and he should scram. Not enough and-well, you've got yourself a mad phantom."
"What can a mad phantom do?" I asked him.
Ficus chuckled. "Plenty, but you don't want to find out."
"We'll be careful," David promised.
6
Ficus led us to the entrance and opened the door. "If I know anything about you, David, then I'll bet your up to your eyeballs in trouble already, and no amount of my advice will get you out of it."
David smiled. "Not quite that-" A phone rang. It was mine.
I pulled it from my purse and looked at the number. My eyes flickered up to David. "It's Ruth." I answered the ring. "Hey, Ruth."
"Hello, Miss Combes." I frowned. The voice wasn't Ruth's. "This is Doug."
My pulse quickened. "Where's Ruth?"
He chuckled. "Ruth is just fine, at least for now."
I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You might wish to ask your werewolf companion what that means, but I didn't call you to discuss him. Or rather, I called to discuss both of you. I'd like to invite you to my house for supper this evening."
My grasp on the phone tightened. "What's going on? Where's Ruth?"
Doug sighed. "I would dearly love to talk to you longer, Miss Combes, but I have a supper to prepare. If you and your werewolf friend would be so kind as to call at 311 Fairfax Drive at seven, I would be most obliged. And Ruth would be very glad to see you."
My eyes widened. "Where is she? What have you done with her?"
He chuckled. "Nothing, but if you don't come I may be forced to
do something else. We'll see you at seven. Goodbye." Click.
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at the ground. Mad thoughts of danger and Ruth swirled in my head.
David grasped my shoulders and caught my gaze. "What is it? What's happened?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat and fought back tears. "He's got her. I don't know how, but he's got her at his house and he wants us to come, too. Tonight, at seven."
The doctor clucked his tongue and shook his head. "Sounds like a trap if I ever saw one. What's the address?"
"311 Fairfax Drive," I replied. David and Ficus glanced at each other. I frowned. "What is it?"
David pursed his lips. "We might need you to come along with us, Doc."
Ficus gave a nod. "Let me get my stuff and I'll go with you now." He turned away and disappeared into the depths of the house.
I glared at David. "What's with you two? What's wrong with that address?"
David sighed and turned to me. "Do you remember how Blake told us his island was a focal point for the strange?"
I nodded. "Yeah, why?"
He folded his arms. "The house that stands at the address you gave isn't much better than Blake's island, but for ghosts. In fact, it might be the worst place for us to go if we're going to confront this phantom. Spirits have the upper hand in the halls of Fairfax House."
"How?" I asked him.
He leaned against the door frame and shrugged. "I'm not quite sure about the mechanics. You should ask the doc about that." He glanced over his shoulder and in the direction where the doc had disappeared. "Where is that old man, anyway?"
"Don't call me old, and I'm right here," Ficus replied as he hurried from a hall on the left. He had a carpet bag in one hand and a black overcoat in exchange for his white one. Atop his head was a barbershop hat. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
I glanced from one man to the other. "Could somebody please explain to me the dangers so I can know how much to panic?"
David pushed the doctor out of the house and guided us down the path to the limo. "How about we discuss this somewhere more comfortable?"
Ficus glared at him. "If you wish, but stop shoving me about! I'm not a chew toy!"
David grinned at him. "I might reconsider that if you don't hurry." We reached the limo and Puer opened the door for us. "To Fairfax House, my good man, and don't spare the horses."
Puer's face paled and he slammed the door shut before we could get inside. "Fairfax House, sir?"