"Everyone knows she's been through more dogs than a kennel club. . ." I heard the portly man on Orion's left side mutter.
The woman dabbed her eyes with a silk handkerchief. "Yes, it's true. I've lost so many of my babies."
Madam Bentley flipped over five more cards, making six of them face-up. "I see more sorrow in your future, but great joy."
The woman sniffled. "Will I. . .will I see my babies again?"
Our hostess flipped the last two cards. One of them I recognized as the Death card, and the word itself was scrawled beneath the image of the Grim Reaper. "I see you living to a ripe old age and joining them in the afterlife. You will take them for walks."
The woman smiled through her tears. "They always loved their walks." She sniffled and dabbed her eyes. "Thank you, Madam Bentley, for giving me such comfort."
Bentley shuffled the cards and smiled at the rest of us around the table. "Would anyone else like their fortunes told?"
The portly man raised his hand. "I'll have my fortune told, if that's what you call it."
A tense hush fell over the room. The Pomeranian woman's mouth dropped open. Others looked to our hostess.
Madam Bentley sat up and frowned. "What do you mean, Mr. Ambigo?"
He shrugged. "I just don't see how this is any more than a guessing game, and you answered all her questions with vague replies that anybody could give."
A dark look passed over her face. "Do you mean to insult me, sir?"
He leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. "I'm just saying I'm not impressed so far."
Her eyes narrowed. "We didn't you voice these concerns when you asked me for a seat?"
A sly smile curled onto his lips. "I thought you could prove me wrong. I guess I was wrong, but not in your favor."
Madam Bentley slammed the cards down on the table and stood. "If you wish for a stronger display of my powers then we will move on to the summoning." She marched over to the door and flicked off the light switch.
The room was plunged into darkness save for the crystal ball. It cast a bluish glow over those around the table and illuminated our faces with an unearthly hue. Our hostess resumed her seat and hovered her hands over the surface of the ball.
Her dark eyes flickered to Mr. Ambigo. "Do you wish to contact someone, sir?"
Ambigo opened his mouth, but the Pomeranian woman spoke up. "Please try to contact my Snookums!"
Ambigo smiled and gestured to the woman. "The night is young. Let her go first."
"How kind of you, sir," Bentley dryly replied as she ghosted her hands over the ball. She closed her eyes and tilted back her head. Her voice echoed through the dark, quiet room. "Spirits on the Other Side, please heed my call. Bring us news of Snookums."
The light from the ball flickered and changed colors. Several of the guests gasped as a faint fog appeared above our heads. The fog shaped itself into the form of a small, fluffy dog. I jumped when the dog let out a loud, clear, high-pitched, really-annoying bark.
The woman's eyes widened and a smile stretched across her lips. She stretched her hand out to the fog. "Snookums! Oh, my lovely little-" The dog quipped. Its foggy shape dissipated. The woman cried out and whipped her head to our host. "Madam Bentley, what's happening? Where is my Snookums going?"
Madam Bentley's eyes were rolled back and her mouth was agape. A strange groaning noise issued deep from her throat. One of the people beside her reached out to shake her shoulder.
Ambigo stood so fast his chair flew back and clattered onto the floor. He stretched out his hand toward the man. "Don't touch her!" The guest froze and joined the rest of us in blinking at the man. "She's in a deep trance. Touching her might kill her, or worse."
The color drained from the Pomeranian woman's face. "What could be worse than killing her?"
He looked up at the swiveling vortex of fog above our heads and pursed his lips. "I don't think we want to find out."
A thick scent of pumpkin spice filled the room. The fog above us spun faster and faster. The fog shaped itself into a human form. Dark trousers emerged from the mist along with a vest and jacket. The physical features were those of a young man. His bright blue eyes were accentuated by the glow from the crystal ball.
They also looked straight at me.
The man mouthed a few words, but no sound came out. He pressed his hands against his chest to emphasize himself, and then he stretched them out toward me. I wasn't great at lip-reading or guessing body gestures, but I could recognize a sign for help when one floated five feet above my head.
I stood and tilted my head back to look at the ghostly apparition. "What is it you want?"
"Stay seated!" Ambigo barked at me.
The ghost dropped its arms to its side and gazed into my eyes. A horrible mixture of sadness and fear flooded my thoughts. My body fell into a stupor. I didn't even have the will to fight as the spirit flew at me.
CHAPTER 3
"Watch out!" Orion yelled as he shoved me out of the way.
I dropped backward onto the ground and faced Orion. The ghost flew into him and didn't come out the other side. Orion's eyes widened. He dropped to his knees and pressed his palm against the floor. His other hand clutched his chest as his face scrunched up.
"Orion!" I called out as I scrambled over to his side. I leaned down and looked into his agonized face. "What's wrong?"
Ambigo knelt on Orion's other side and set his hands on my mate's shoulders. "Do you feel cold?" Orion could only nod. "Come on, then. We need to get you to the station."
"The station?" I repeated as the man helped Orion to his feet.
Ambigo nodded. "That's what I-"
"Aahhhhhh!"
The long wail came from Madam Bentley. She jerked her head up and whipped her head from left to right. Her eyes blinked at her guests. "What. . .what happened?"
"A summoning of spirits, Madam Bentley," Ambigo spoke up.
Madam Bentley sat straight and coyly smiled. "Now do you believe me, Mr. Ambigo?"
He nodded. "Yes, and that's why everyone is going to have to come down to the station with me."
Madam Bentley frowned. "Station? What's the meaning of this?"
"We're going to need statements from everyone," Ambigo explained.
A hand grasped the shoulder of my shirt, and I looked to Orion. He stared up at me with strange green-colored eyes that slightly glowed. His voice was a soft, hoarse whisper that barely slipped past his grinding teeth. "M. . .Mallory."
I blinked at him. "Who?"
Orion opened his mouth, but no words came out. His eyes rolled back and he fell forward.
"Orion!" I yelped as I wrapped my arms around his chest and propped him up.
"Let me handle him," Ambigo requested as he pulled Orion from my hold.
My eyebrows crashed down as I studied him. "Who are you?"
Madam Bentley's shrill voice interrupted us. She pointed at Orion and glared at Ambigo. "Now look what you've done! I demand you get out of here this instance, and you are banned from future seances!"
"I'm only doing my job," Ambigo argued as he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a small leather wallet. He flashed the credentials of the local police department, ones I'd seen far too many times in my short stay there, before he tucked the badge back into his clothes. "If everyone will follow me in their cars and jot down a statement then you can go on your way."
"You can't do this to my customers!" our hostess insisted.
"I'm doing it to you, too, Madam Bentley. You're coming with me personally," he commanded her.
She stood tall and glared at him. "With pleasure, sir! You can rest assured that once I'm there I will make a formal complaint."
"I look forward to reading it, now if you would please follow me," the officer replied. Ambigo smiled and slung Orion over one shoulder. He stood and offered me a hand. I took it, but not without reservations.
The guests muttered among themselves, but followed behind us as I hurried after Ambigo and Ori
on. My new acquaintance carried my unconscious mate outside to a black four-door sedan.
Ambigo opened the front passenger door first and turned to me. "Get in."
I nodded at the rear seats. "I'd rather be in back with Orion."
He pursed his lips, but turned to Madam Bentley. "Get in."
She glared at him, but obeyed his command. I opened the rear passenger and Ambigo set Orion inside. I slipped in behind him and shut the door. Ambigo got into the driver's seat and led a caravan of cars from the posh residential area to the police station.
The officer at the front desk raised his head and an eyebrow when the lot of us walked in. His eyes fell on Ambigo who carried Orion slung over his shoulder. "Trouble?"
Ambigo adjusted Orion's weight. "Just a little. Get statements from these witnesses about the events of tonight and put them on my desk."
The officer pursed his lips. "Starting off a little stronger, aren't we?"
Ambigo grinned. "That's why I was hired." He half-turned to Bentley and me, and jerked his head toward the depths of the station. "If you two would follow me."
Bentley and I frowned, but we followed him through the myriad of desks to a back office. A name plate on the door read Ambigo, but was without any honorifics or explanation. We slipped inside and Bentley lay Orion on a couch to the right of the door.
Ambigo knelt down beside him and pulled out a small pocket flashlight. He forced open Orion's eyes and flashed the light in one and then the other.
Bentley stepped up and glared down at him. "Now will you kindly explain this matter, Mr. Ambigo?"
Ambigo stood and pocketed the flashlight as he turned to us. He gestured to the desk at the back, in front of which were two chairs. "If you would have a seat."
I looked past him and nodded at Orion. "Shouldn't he be at the hospital?"
Ambigo shook his head and strode past us to the opposite side of the desk. "No hospital can help him," he commented as he took a seat in a plain chair. He nodded at the other chairs. "But please take a seat. I owe both of you some explanations."
We reluctantly took seats. Madam Bentley glared at him. "Mr. Ambigo, we've known each other for a few years now-"
"Ten years, and not intimately," Ambigo told her.
She pursed her lips. "Even without that intimacy I accepted you into my exclusive circle, and this is how you repay my kindness?"
He leaned back and clasped his fingers together. "It isn't a matter of repaying your kindness. I was investigating your skills for the Mystical Division of the police department."
She straightened and arched an eyebrow. "I've never heard of it."
He smiled. "You shouldn't. It was meant to be a secret for longer than a month. That's when the city council authorized its creation, and put me as the sole officer."
Bentley turned up her nose and sniffed. "What experience do you have? I've seen you only work at walking the town."
Ambigo shrugged. "I was mostly retired when they offered me the position."
"Retired from what?" I spoke up.
"From insurance fraud. I was an investigator for such things, and now I investigate spiritual frauds for this town," he explained.
Bentley narrowed her eyes. "I am no such thing, Mr. Ambigo."
He looked past us at Orion. "So I see, but I wanted a personal account of your abilities. That's why I asked for the invitation."
"Then you personally antagonized me?" she accused him.
He nodded. "Yes. I wasn't impressed with your card tricks, so I thought it would speed things up to the grand show."
Bentley jumped to her feet and clutched her bag in both hands. Her body shook and her jaw was clenched. "How dare you, sir! How dare you-what in the world!" I had grabbed her black skirt and pulled her back into her seat.
"I'm doing you a favor," I told her as I turned to the officer. "What about Orion? What happened to him?"
Ambigo pursed his lips. "I'm afraid I can't be sure, but from what we witnessed there's a spirit residing within his body."
"And that means what? He should start charging rent?" I asked him.
The corners of his lips twitched up. "I'm not sure what it means. Does the name Mallory have any significance to you?"
I shook my head. "Not a thing, and he's never mentioned it before, either."
Ambigo furrowed his brow as he rocked in his chair. "Then we have to jot that down to the influence of the spirit." He stopped his rocking and his gaze fell on Bentley. "What spirit did you summon?"
She shrank into herself and shook her head. "I don't know."
He arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean you don't know?"
Bentley turned her face away and stuck her lower lip out. "I mean what I say. I don't know what spirit was called. It intruded on my communication with the spirit realm and forced itself to appear by sheer will."
Ambigo leaned forward and set his arms on the desk. "Has this ever happened before?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Not in my nearly seventy years of experience."
He turned his attention to me. "That ghost seemed very interested in you. Why?"
I shrugged. "Maybe it'd been a long time since he had any."
"Or perhaps he didn't like your coming at all," Madam Bentley spoke up. She straightened and her fury fell on me. "You wrecked the circle with an unlucky number of guests."
Ambigo arched an eyebrow. "Didn't you invite them?"
She shook her head. "No. They arrived with an old set of tickets, so I let them in. I'm very sorry I did."
I frowned and jerked my head toward the unconscious Orion. "So is he."
Ambigo held up his hand. "If I might be a part of this conversation, ladies." His sharp eyes studied me. "How did you two come upon the old tickets?"
"They came in the mail today," I told him.
"Any idea of the sender?"
"No, there was no name or return address."
He returned his attention to the other woman. "Do you know how old the tickets are?"
She pursed her lips and shook her head. "No. I've never changed my ticket design and there's no dates on any of them."
A soft groan interrupted our conversation. I spun around in time to see Orion's eyes flicker open.
"Orion!" I yelled as I leapt from my seat and over to his side.
Orion sat up and winced. His clutched his head in one hand and looked up at me. "Did somebody get the license plate on that truck?"
Ambigo came up behind me. "It was an astral entity that hit you."
Orion blinked up at the man and the room around us. "Where the hell are we?"
"My office in the station, but how do you feel? That is, besides the headache," Ambigo asked him.
Orion swung his legs over the front of the couch and shook his head. "Fine, I guess." He looked up into my face as I took a seat beside him. "Did I miss anything?"
I snorted. "No, and unfortunately the ghost didn't miss you."
"Do you feel any different than before the incident?" Ambigo asked him.
Orion shrugged. "I don't know. I feel kind of stretched. Like I'm transforming, but not quite."
Ambigo glanced over his shoulder at Bentley who remained seated but had her chair turned to us. "What effects can he expect from this experience?"
She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I couldn't say. Every experience is different as every spirit is different."
I turned to her and set my hand on Orion's shoulder. "How do we un-experience-" Orion jerked beneath my hand.
I turned to him and started back. Orion's eyes were rolled back, but they still glowed that illuminated blue. His mouth was agape and his head was tilted back. When he spoke his voice didn't sound like his. It was higher-pitched and softer.
"Mallory. Mallory." Each word was punctuated with increasing noise. His blue eyes widened and grew brighter. "Mallory! Mallory!" His face twisted into a horrible expression of agony and a scream erupted from his lips.
Then Orion collapsed.
CHAPTER 4
"Orion!" I yelled as he slumped over.
Ambigo and I caught him and pushed him back onto the couch. I tapped his face with my hand as Ambigo strode over to his desk where sat a glass of water. He returned and cupped the nape of Orion's neck.
"Help me tip his head back," he ordered me.
We tipped Orion's head back and Ambigo poured some water down his throat. Most of it splashed down the front of Orion's shirt. Orion coughed and his eyes fluttered open.
He blinked at us. "What. . .the hell. . .happened?" he gasped.
"You were taken over by the spirit that now resides within you," a voice spoke up. We turned to find Bentley standing before her chair with her eyebrows crashed down and her lips pursed. She clutched her bag tightly in front of her. "It seeks to control you for some purpose."
I marched up to her and pointed at Orion. "Take it out."
She frowned at me. "I can't, at least not tonight." Her eyes flickered to Ambigo. "He broke the mood, and after that spirit barged in on the seance I don't have the strength to call up the spirit world again."
"Can't you make a collect call or something? Or can somebody else do it for you?" I persisted.
Her eyes narrowed. "Calling forth spirits isn't as easy as you believe. It takes skill, practice, and a great deal of concentration."
"When can you perform another seance?" Ambigo spoke up.
Bentley stood straight and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Well, I don't really know. This has never happened to me before, but I think I can do something tomorrow night, or maybe the day after."
My mouth dropped open. "What's he supposed to do until then?"
Her eyes flickered to me. "I would suggest you find out what the spirit demands. If the spirit finds the rest it seeks it will leave Orion." She looked to Ambigo. "I'm very tired. If my services are no longer needed, I would like to write my statement and go home."
Ambigo nodded. "All right, but I might have more questions for you later."
She bowed her head. "Of course. Goodnight." She strode to the door, but paused with her hand on the knob and glanced at Orion. "Don't be too worried about the spirit inside you. I sensed more sadness from him than malice."
Orion managed a smile and gave a nod. "Thanks. That helps a little." Bentley slipped from the room. Orion hung his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I could really go for some bottled spirits."
Ambigo stepped backward away from Orion and pursed his lips as he studied my mate. "I've got worse news for you. I know you're not going to like this, Orion, but I'm going to have to ask you not to go too far out of town."