Puer glanced from his master to the doc. "Is there nothing that can be done to free such pitiful creatures?"
Ficus lifted his head and glared at Puer. "Start worrying about yourself. These things don't mean to hug us."
David pulled out the vial of holy water. "Will this holy water help?"
A loud, deep chuckle startled us. We whipped our heads to the stairway. The rotten thing reached the landing and blocked the hall with its decrepit corpse. A figure appeared beside it. It was Gardi. A wide, crooked grin adorned his face. He leaned his side against the creature and bowed his head to us.
"Good afternoon, my early guests," he greeted us. David pulled me behind him and growled at the phantom thing. Gardi chuckled again. "Is that any way to treat your host? And I had such plans for you."
David tensed. "Pity. We were just leaving."
Gardi glanced up at the stench-ridden bony thing beside him. "Oh, I don't think so. You see, my friends here love guests. They love them to death, if you'll pardon the pun. They would dearly love for you to stay."
"Aha!" The cry of joy came from Ficus. He pulled out a square metal box with pictures of animals on the four sides. There was a crank on one side which he cranked around and around.
Gardi's eyes widened before they narrowed. He curled his lips back in a snarl. "What are you doing there, human?"
Ficus chuckled. "Just a little surprise." A small musical sound emitted from the box.
Gardi whipped his head up to the rotten corpse and jerked his head towards us. "Destroy them."
The corpse dragged its body towards us. Its elongated arms stretched out and threatened to wrap its bony fingers around our necks. We backed up, but the hole blocked our escape path.
"Doc, if you've got something planned, you'd better do it now," David hissed at him.
Ficus pumped the handle faster and faster. A maniacal glint slipped into his eyes as the music sang faster and faster. "Get ready!" he yelled at us.
"Ready for what?" I asked him.
"This!" He stopped his grinding and tossed the box.
The box flew in an arc and clattered to the ground at the feet of our rotten foe. Both Gardi and it glanced down just in time to see the metal lid to spring open. A jack-in-the-box toy doll sprang from the box and waved its tiny hands and head at them. The pair startled back and drew into the shadows beyond from the stair landing.
Ficus picked up his bag and whipped his head to us. "Run, you fools!"
David swept me into his arms, but I pulled on the collar of his shirt like it was a pair of reins. "Not without Ruth!" I insisted.
"All right, but you're not coming with me!" he replied.
David dropped me into Puer's unwilling and unprepared arms. I was nearly dropped to the floor, but the old servant held me up long enough for me to set my feet on the boards. David turned and leapt across the gaping hole to the other side of the hallway.
"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at him.
He paused and glanced over his shoulder to flash me a winning grin. "Meet us outside on the side of the house." He glanced at Puer. "Keep care of her."
Puer pursed his lips, but nodded. David turned and rushed into the darkness that lay at the end of the hall.
I started for him, but Puer grabbed my hand. "We must leave," he insisted.
I whipped my head around and glared at him. "We can't leave him!"
He smiled at me. "Have faith in Mr. Dives, and let us hurry. He dislikes late appointments."
I frowned, but let Puer lead me down the stairs.
9
What remained of our party fled down the grand staircase and to the first floor. We swept across the leave-covered hall and rushed to the open doors. That's when they slammed in our faces. We slammed into them and tugged at the handles. They weren't budging.
"Did you think a little parlor trick would free you from me?" a voice spoke up.
We whipped around to find Gardi striding down the stairs. Behind him shuffled his bony pet. He reached the bottom of the stairs and set his arm atop the end of the banister.
His dark eyes fell on Ficus. "It's not every human who knows ghosts dislike surprises. How did you find out such a secret?"
Ficus smirked. "We'll call it 'tricks of the trade.'"
Gardi chuckled. "Perhaps it is, but I'll wager you are running out."
Ficus popped open the clasp of his carpet bag and the top parted. "Care to try out your theory?"
Gardi turned his eyes down at the hole. A dark rope of bones flew out of the opening and stretched itself towards us. A bony hand lay at the end of the rope and grasped Ficus's bag. It tore the parcel from his hands and slipped back into the darkness from whence it came.
Gardi tilted his head back and laughed. "Now say you, my friend? What can you do without your bag?"
Ficus narrowed his eyes and stalked towards the pair. I reached out for him, but Puer held me back.
I whipped my head around and glared at the servant. "What are you doing? He's going to get himself killed!"
Puer smiled. "Have faith in Mr. Ficus, as well."
I pursed my lips, but returned my attention to Ficus. He pulled up his sleeves and stopped ten feet from our foes. "You would been better off to leave me with my bag."
Gardi chuckled. "And why is that?"
Ficus grasped his hands together so they were mirrors of each other like the yin-yang symbol. A strange light emanated from between his hands and cast shadows over his face.
His smirk slipped back onto his lips as the light brightened. "Because I'm more dangerous without it."
Gardi stumbled back and raised his arm over his face to shield his eyes. His teeth were clenched together and he grasped the banister tight in one hand. "What are you doing?"
Ficus chuckled. "Just a little magic. Now watch the birdy."
Ficus pulled apart his hands. The light burst forth and exploded into a million tiny, glowing blue birds. They flew at our shadow foes like a focused ocean wave and attached themselves to their clothing. The tiny birds wrapped their bodies around the bones of the creature and the body of Gardi.
Then, one-by-one, they started to explode. These weren't large explosions, but they were brilliant bursts of blue light. Every blast blew apart the bone to which they were attached. The death creature screeched in pain and fell back onto the stairs.
Puer grasped my arm and pointed at the bony creature. "Look!"
I didn't need his finger to show me the small white clouds of mist that floated from the bony body every time a bone blew to pieces. The creature writhed and screamed. The cloth that covered it was pushed off by the clouds of mist and revealed a black skeleton beneath the armor of miscellaneous bone parts. Its empty sockets contained a pair of red eyes that glared back at us.
Gardi caught our attention as he screamed and flailed around. He slapped his arms and face and clawed at the little translucent birds, but they wouldn't come off. Those lights, too, burst, but his body didn't crumble. Instead, a thick mess of black smog was pulled from the flesh piece by piece until a whole shadowy form was transposed over Gardi's body. The shadowy creature had the same red eyes as the skeleton thing.
Ficus leaned back and sucked in air. He leaned forward and blew. The smog form was separated from Gardi and pushed backwards into the black skeleton. The smog creature disappeared into the skeleton. Gardi's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor.
The skeleton climbed onto its body feet. The miscellaneous bones fell away and it was left with only a few bits of sparse, rotten clothing.
The creature took a step forward and shook one of its bony fists at Ficus. "Damn you, sorcerer! I'll make you pay for destroying my souls!"
Ficus scoffed at him. "They weren't your souls to begin with, demon, and as for paying, my bill is too expensive." He clutched his hands as before and another blue light appeared from his hands.
The skeleton's red eyes widened and brightened. It turned tail bone and raced up the stairs. Ficus opened h
is hands. A large, brilliant blue butterfly flew from his palms and fluttered after our foe. Its huge wings were five feet long and its antenna two feet tall. The details were that of a monarch, and its majesty stayed true to that name as it floated up the stairs.
It caught the skeleton halfway up the flight and enveloped the bones in its wide wings. The skeleton let out one final, high-pitched scream as the butterfly released its energy. The light was so strong that Puer and I averted our eyes. When the light faded we looked back at the stairs. A fine sprinkling of black powder drifted onto the stairs.
I glanced up at the ceiling looking for its light like the other destroyed bone. "Where'd it go?"
Ficus chuckled and pointed a finger at the floor. "Someone other than those poor souls."
The door behind us burst open. We spun around and watched David fly into the room partially transformed and prepared for a battle that was very much over. He blinked at us and looked past our little group at the pile of ash and Gardi's limp body.
"Did I miss much?" he asked me. I walked over to him and rapped him upside the head. He winced and rubbed the sore spot. "What was that for?"
"For being late!" I snapped. "Where the hell were you, anyway?"
"I dropped something during the transformation, and it took me a few moments to find it," he admitted. He glanced at Ficus and arched an eyebrow. "Are all of the souls gone?"
Ficus jerked his head over his shoulder. "Sniff for yourself."
David lifted his long snout and sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything except must and cobwebs."
Ficus strode over to the stairs and picked up his bag the skeleton creature dropped. He brushed the dust off the carpet sides and turned to us. "You can expect my bill will be quite large, especially as I consider this a house-call."
David smiled and bowed his head. "Of course, my dear doctor."
My eyes widened and I grasped David's arm. "Ruth! Is she-" He set his hand on mine and nodded.
"She's fine. I left her outside near the car," he assured me.
My shoulders slumped and I ran a hand through my hair. "Finally some good news. . ."
Puer stepped up to us and bowed. "I am sorry I couldn't be of more help, sir."
David chuckled and patted Puer's shoulder. "You were a great help, Puer. Without you who knows what Dakota would have done."
I whipped my head up and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He stepped back and held his hands up in front of him. "Nothing important."
Ficus strode past us and paused in the doorway to half-turn to our little group. "If you people are done patting each other on the back, I would like to go home now." He nodded at Gardi's limp form. "And could somebody pick that fool up and bring him with us? This is no place for the living."
I frowned. "Shouldn't he feel right at home here?"
Ficus shook his head. "Not anymore. The phantom has been exorcised and he's as human as any of us." His eyes flickered to David. "Generally speaking, of course."
David hefted Gardi's body over one shoulder and we left that dark house. Our time in the manor house was long enough that the sun was setting in the west. We returned to the car and found Ruth seated in the back. She was fast asleep. I reached out to her, but David, now human once again, grabbed my wrist and shook his head. "Best let her sleep. Hopefully she didn't see anything, and if she did she will think it was a dream."
I frowned and took a seat close beside her. "I wish I knew what we saw." Puer got the car started and turned around so we bounced down the long driveway.
David furrowed his brow and glanced at Ficus. "What did happen in there while I was rescuing a damsel in distress?"
Ficus leaned back and shrugged. "Nothing important."
I snorted. "You had blue butterflies and birds flying out of your hands."
A sly smile slipped onto David's lips. "Then the good doctor had to prove his chops to the lowly skeleton?"
Ficus frowned. His bag lay in his lap, and he scooted it closer to his chest. "That damned idiot stole my bag. I had no choice."
I glanced from one male to the other. "Mind filling me in on the details?"
David nodded at Ficus, who turned his face away. "Our good doctor here is not only a top-rate physician, but he happens to be an expert sorcerer."
Ficus's eyes narrowed and flickered to David. "Warlock."
David bowed his head. "I sit corrected. He's a warlock, and a very good one. Not many could have outmatched the evil in that house."
"You mean the skeleton or the phantom?" I asked him.
"They were one and the same," Ficus revealed.
I blinked at him. "Come again?"
Ficus sighed. "The black skeleton beneath the bodies of the trapped souls was the original body of the phantom. I merely freed the souls that protected its body, reinserted its own black soul into its body, and destroyed that."
David clapped his hands. "Bravo, Doc! It's so simple and yet so magnificent."
I grabbed his hands and put a finger to my lips. "Ruth!" I hissed.
He lowered his hands and sheepishly grinned. "Sorry, but I had to admire the doctor's simple approach to a very complicated problem."
Ficus scoffed. "Generally the more complicated the appearance of the problem, the easier it is to resolve."
David tapped the limp body on the floor of the limo. The man known as Gardi groaned, but didn't awaken. "And what about this problem? Is it resolved?"
The doctor nodded. "It is. He will remember his time as one possessed, but may not agree with the decisions and wonder only why he made those choices."
I winced. "So he might not like Ruth."
"That may be," Ficus replied.
David wrapped his arm around my shoulders and grinned at the doctor. "So what do you think, Doc? Should we make Fairfax House our vacation home?"
Ficus closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, nor would I advise that you two ever return there."
David arched an eyebrow. "Why not? You destroyed the phantom."
"I destroyed a phantom, but that house holds more dark secrets than shades of the dead," Ficus warned us.
David frowned. "But I didn't smell anything."
Ficus leaned back so he was enveloped in dark shadows. "The house didn't want any more trouble today." He glanced out the windows as we passed from the shadows of the forest and onto the busier paved road. "I wouldn't be surprised if all that was damaged was already fixed and the evil stench of that place revived."
10
The soft lights of the city shone ahead of us, and the lights in the stately mansions along either side of the road reminded us we were back in the human world. Well, most of us.
I glanced at the doctor. "So where did you learn how to do all that magic?"
Ficus looked to me with a smile. "Night school."
I arched an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
He shrugged. "And a few personal lessons here and there."
David laughed. "Don't try too hard to get that information out of him, Dakota. I've tried for years and those are his only answers when someone inquires."
Ficus smiled and bowed his head. "A magician must keep his secrets."
We dropped Ficus off at his home along with a large check from David made out in the doctor's name.
David slipped back into the car and glanced down at Gardi. "I must admit I'm not quite sure what to do with him."
A sly idea slipped into my mind and I jerked my heads towards Ruth. "Why don't we leave the two lovebirds together?"
David grinned. "And leave us alone?"
I rolled my eyes. "And leave us time to get some food and collapse." I slumped in the seat and sighed. "I'm exhausted, and because of you tomorrow's probably going to be a nightmare."
He arched an eyebrow. "Because of me? What do you mean?"
I tilted my head in his direction. "Remember that exit you gave me from work?" He nodded. "Well, my boss and all my coworkers are probably going to torture me about it. It isn't
hard, but you made Bulla look like a fool, and he won't let me forget it."
He shrugged. "That's easily remedied."
I frowned. "How?"
He leaned close so our lips brushed against each other. My cheeks flushed with heat. His sultry voice tempted my better instincts. "We could help each other. I can deal with your employment problem, and you can help me save face in front of the doctor."
I leaned back and raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"
He cupped one of my hot cheeks in his palm and studied my face with gentle eyes. "You could consent to be my wife."
My eyes widened. "You're. . .you were serious about that?"
David chuckled. "Am I not always serious?"
I rolled my eyes. "Only when-" He leaned down and pressed our lips together in a long, passionate kiss. When we broke apart I gasped for air. "Only when that happens."
"Then you know how serious is my proposal," he pointed out.
I pursed my lips and studied his expression. "You're not doing this just because your werewolf self wants it, are you?"
"Would that matter?" he wondered.
I shrugged. "I'm a woman, so I'm complicated. I'd like to think there's more than just carnal desire to our relationship."
He smiled. "Well, let's just say we will be spouses with benefits." He leaned away from me and clasped my hands in both of his. Our eyes met. His voice lowered as did he, right onto the floor in front of me and on one knee. He pulled out a small container from one of his torn pockets and opened it so I could see the large diamond ring nestled in its interior. "Dakota Combes, my mate in both beast and soul, we haven't known each other very long, but will you be my wife?"
I blinked at the case. There was a bit of dirt and dried bits of leaves stuck to the exterior. "This is what you lost in transforming, wasn't it?"
He sheepishly grinned. "It was, but what do you say? Do you believe you can survive without having your wonderful job?"
I smiled, leaned down and pecked a kiss on his lips. "What do you think?"
He plucked the ring from its velvet cushion and slipped it onto my finger. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship."
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Seasick Love
Alpha Mated, Book 5
1