WeirdNights

  The wind blew at her hair and a dusting of snow stung her cheeks. “If you’re going to snow,” she spoke to the sky, “do it already. Stop threatening with these flurries. They’re annoying me.”

  Finally, the lock gave and she entered the house, closing the door behind her. The house smelled of cooking spices and she sneezed. When Mindy cooked, which was next to never, she burned water. No one would ever call her domestic.

  “Pepper.” She sneezed again. It had to be a pepper of some kind. Her mother had cooked with it. Her father had accused her of trying to kill the meat again by over-saturating it with spices. But he’d said it with so much love her mother hadn’t been offended. She’d laughed and then chucked her apron at his head.

  Mindy rubbed her eyes. When was the last time she’d thought about that? These people didn’t keep their heat on very high when they weren’t in the house or they had a higher tolerance for the cold than she did. Mindy shivered and rubbed her arms.

  After she opened her bag and took her equipment out—sage, an ashtray and a lighter—she walked to the center of the house. The Banes, who owned the home she’d broken into, had let her inside willingly when she’d wanted. They had known about the ghost problem in the neighborhood and even went so far as to tell her about the noises they heard at night.

  Creaking footsteps when everyone was in bed. A loud bang that would wake them from sleep. The feeling of not being alone.

  Mindy would rid them of their ghost and, if she had to, she’d go to every home in the neighborhood and chase the thing around until it finally left for good.

  She’d sage every house on the block.

  She lit the sage, letting the smoke fill the room around her. In her left hand she held the ashtray. Some of this she had to make up as she went along. Reading about ritual and doing a ritual were two different things.

  The idea was to cover every inch of the house with the smoke until there was nothing else left to touch with the smoke of the sage.

  Mindy had spent some time memorizing the words she needed to say. “I call upon the elements. Please hear me. From the element of fire comes smoke, which is air. From the element of earth I present this plant, which is water. I call upon the elements and the blessings of spirit to please cleanse this house. For the good of all.”

  She kept walking. Smoke went up, down and around the house. Room to room she moved. Nothing happened, just the silence of the broken-into house making her ears ring.

  Then she heard a sound. If she didn’t know things actually went bump in the night—or in this case in the middle of the day—she’d think it was just the house settling. But that’s not what it was.

  She’d gotten something’s attention. Mindy forced herself to take a deep breath and then she continued to utter the words again. Over and over again.

  A chair slid across the room in front of her. “Okay. I saw that.” One of the books suggested letting the ghost know it didn’t belong in the house, that it had no place there. “I banish you. I send you on.”

  “You can’t actually do that.” Jonah’s voice wasn’t above a whisper, but she jumped whirling around.

  He held his hand out in front of him. She would have yelled, but he shook his head. “Mindy.”

  His eyes were huge and she shivered. Even with everything they’d been through, she’d never seen him scared.

  “Jonah?” The temperature dropped at least five degrees. Maybe more. “What is it?”

  “Behind you.” He took a few steps into the room. “Neither you nor I can banish this thing. We’re not equipped to do it.”

  She held up her sage. “I cover the house with this and then I say the words I’ve been speaking. It will rid the place of the poltergeist.”

  “No.” Jonah shook his head, inching closer to her. “It’s just going to piss off the entity.”

  “Why are you acting this way?” When he didn’t answer, but continued to stare behind her she whirled around to see what he saw. At first, her eyes couldn’t make anything out but then a large shadow on the wall began to look like an actual shape and not just a blotchy darkness among other unpronounced shapes.

  Suddenly, the shadow looked a great deal like a dog. A big, angry canine with sharp teeth. Mindy dropped the ashtray and it shattered on the floor. Her ears rang from the sound and she grabbed onto her face, feeling for the scar on her cheek. No, that thing on the wall could not be allowed to bite her. She would not go through that again. Anything, but being torn out by a monstrous creature from hell.

  Jonah grabbed her from behind, pulling her against him. “I don’t know what you see, but I can guarantee it’s different from what I am seeing.”

  His voice sounded clipped but firm. Hearing it forced her to swallow, to regain her composure. “You don’t see a dog?”

  “No. Not a dog. My fear is always of the human variety.” He swore. “It’s playing with us. We need to get out of here before the violence starts.”

  “We can’t leave the house like this. I’m not done. I’ve stirred it up. I have to send it away before the owners of this place come home.”

  “Mindy.” He huffed and she wished she could simply do as he asked. But she’d set out to accomplish something here and that was what she meant to do. “We are not going to be able to send this thing off, just you and I. I’ll admit I was wrong and you were right. There was something here and you found it. But we need a Shaman to come in here and rid the place of the presence. The only thing you and I could have done to help this place is get the people out of it. They’re not home. Now come with me.”

  “The sage and the incantation? Not going to work?” She’d really been counting on the idea that they would.

  “If this was a normal ghost, yes. But that thing…taking multiple shapes? No.”

  “Okay.” She exhaled. “Let’s go.”

  Seconds later, Jonah threw her to the ground, his weight on top of hers. She didn’t know exactly what had happened, only that objects were crashing above her head. Loud bangs followed by shattering glass startled her.

  “You’re going to be okay.” Jonah’s voice sounded like a gift, but she knew that he couldn’t possibly know if she’d be fine or not.

  “Don’t pacify me and for that matter you have no business shielding me like this. I won’t have you hurt. This is my business.” She’d take the shards of glass. Jonah already had stitches and her heart ached at the thought of him having any more pain.

  “Mindy, the day I let you get hurt when there is something I can do about it is the day they will bury me in the ground. Got it?”

  She could argue, but she knew him to be totally serious. Jonah was nothing if not sincere in his need to help others. In this case, she’d gotten them both into this situation.

  “Why is it throwing things?”

  Jonah laughed and the room fell silent. Maybe the entity didn’t want to be found amusing? “Didn’t you say you read up on this stuff?”

  “I did.” What had he thought the book was all about?

  “Well, it’s a poltergeist. Literally defined as a noise ghost. Or a loud one. They like to make a scene. This one is making one. Problem is they are not really ghosts at all.” He squirmed off her. “In three seconds we go. Ready? One. Two. Three.”

  He asked her the question, but never gave her the chance to answer. Instead, he hauled her from the ground and took off running, propelling her in front of him. She heard a smash and he grunted but didn’t stop moving.

  “Are you okay?” she called over her shoulder.

  “It’s nothing. Keep moving,” he yelled, pushing her to run faster.

  They both pounded down the stairs, toward the front door. She thought about the homeowners. They would come home to find their house had been destroyed. This had not been her intention. Why did everything she touched turn to hell?

  Together, they busted out the front door and onto the street. The cold assaulted her and she nearly went down to her knees. What had happened?

  “Wh
y did that happen? What was it if not a poltergeist?” Jonah coughed and bent over from the waist. She could see blood seeping through his shirt. Oh no! He’d torn his stitches. Mindy rushed to his side. “Don’t move. You’ve hurt yourself and this is entirely my fault.”

  He looked up at her, his dark gaze hot. “You’re right. It’s all on you. Every bad thing that happens in the world can be laid on your doorstep.”

  “What? That’s…”

  He interrupted her by pulling her against him and he kissed her. Hard. She gasped and he did it a second time. His lips were soft even though his embrace was not. His tongue plunged into her mouth, demanding a fire-filled embrace from hers. Mindy moaned.

  After a moment, Jonah pulled back. His eyes were hard. He did not seem a man who had kissed her into a whimper, but rather a cold, distant stranger who looked as if he’d rather be somewhere else.

  “To answer your question.” It took her a moment to realize what the hell he meant. Her question? Oh the one about the creature in the house. “It is a poltergeist. A big one. But poltergeists aren’t ghosts. Not really. They’re energy. Usually from a child. Mostly a female one, but it can be either. Someone here is hurting a kid. And it’s surging all over the neighborhood. We’ll get a Shaman to handle that house. But after that? I’m afraid we have a very different kind of a problem.”

  Her heart sank. The idea? Someone hurt a kid so badly that they were sending out their energy in such a way that it became a ghost? She rubbed at her forehead and looked at Jonah’s shirt. He bled profusely.

  “We can’t leave a kid to suffer. Not if it’s so bad they are doing this.” She pointed at the house. This hadn’t been the kind of fight she thought she’d have. But she’d take it just the same. And maybe some more of Jonah’s kisses. If he could manage not to look so cold every time he did it.

  * * * * *

  Jonah slammed his fist into the wall and then wished he hadn’t. He’d been stitched twice in two days. That was unacceptable. Mindy had nearly been taken out by something she hadn’t understood and now he knew there was a kid being abused in the vicinity of that house who needed some damn help. And fast.

  But finding the kid wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world. He couldn’t exactly go door to door checking out the houses until he suddenly just knew one of them was in pain. Someone would call the cops.

  Mindy needed to be better handled. He winced at the thought. Kissing her when she’d been all but taken out by a poltergeist had been a bad call. Now she’d question his intentions and would have good reason to do so. He wanted her and having a taste—to know her tongue was sweet and that she made little whimpering sounds when she got excited—that would torment him for the rest of his life. She deserved better than to be manhandled by someone like him.

  If she was going to get herself into that kind of situation—and it seemed no matter how many times he told her not to she was going to do it anyway—then she had to be better trained. He could do that.

  Assuming he could manage to keep his hands off her.

  Which would be easier said than done.

  He left his room, going to find Foy. The man could help, if he wanted to. His Master had his own agenda and it didn’t always include doing what Jonah or any of the others thought he should be doing.

  Foy was, of course, nowhere to be found and he ran smack into Braxton instead.

  “I just heard you had to go to the hospital again.” Braxton stared at him.

  “Right. I tore open my stitches.” He wasn’t happy about running into Braxton after the shit the other man had pulled during the card game. Jonah called bullshit on the idea that the other blood-oathed man didn’t know why he’d been called to Chicago. However, he didn’t have the time to deal with that right now.

  A thought dawned on him. “How did you hear that?” He’d just gotten back. Who would know? He’d dropped Mindy off at her home before he’d gone to the ER, even though she’d objected vehemently about not going with him. There were just some things a guy wanted to do without the audience of the girl he lusted over.

  Mindy shouldn’t see his skin hanging out and his blood seeping onto the floor. Not a hot image. It probably wouldn’t inspire her to want to go to bed with him. Ever.

  “Foy told me.” Braxton scratched his head. “Before he went into seclusion. He saw it in a meditation.”

  Fuck. So much for Foy helping him with the poltergeist. Apparently, he’d be on his own finding one child among hundreds who was projecting that energy onto the neighborhood.

  “I guess thanks for letting me know.” He turned to leave and Braxton grabbed his arm.

  “I’m here because someone died in San Francisco and it was my fault. I got cocky and now someone is dead.” Braxton dropped his arm and looked away. “Foy thinks I need to regroup. Find the dedication again. Remember who I am. That’s what he said and I don’t even know what it means.”

  “Wow.” Jonah swallowed. Someone had died? That would be the worst thing to happen to any of them. They’d sworn to fight evil, to protect the innocent. To lose someone? He shook his head. “That’s the most I’ve ever heard you talk all together.”

  Braxton rolled his eyes. “Ass-hat.”

  Jonah grinned. He really couldn’t do serious with too many people. They lived in the midst of the gloom and doom. Something had to lighten life up a little bit or they’d all go nuts. Also, he didn’t know what the hell to say. Sorry? It wouldn’t cut it.

  “I could use some help.”

  Braxton grinned. “I could really use something to do. Since I’m supposed to be finding myself. Or whatever. Sitting around. Taking classes. Meditation. It’s not getting it done.”

  Jonah could understand that. “Busy is better. Come on. We have to go get Mindy and then the three of us are going to strategize how to figure out what kid is causing a poltergeist. Oh.” He shook his head. “Do you know a Shaman?”

  Braxton raised an eyebrow. Yeah, he might look at himself as if he were nuts too.

  * * * * *

  Jonah knocked on Mindy’s door. She opened it and stared up at him. “Shouldn’t you be in the hospital?”

  “For stitches? No. They let me go without giving me any trouble about it. I have a whole story I gave but truth is Foy gives them a lot of money. He’d get me out of it if I ended up in serious trouble.”

  “Well, that’s good.” She scuffed one of her feet on the ground. “What are you doing here?”

  She sounded so forlorn he had to pull her against him for a hug. Embracing didn’t come naturally for him and he might not have done it right. She made an oomph sound and it was several seconds before she squeezed him back.

  “Jonah?” Her voice came out tight.

  “Yes?” Whatever she needed to say, he wanted to make it better for her.

  “You’re squishing me.”

  “Oh.” He let go. Well, hugging would be out of the question. Why had he thought he could do that? Ridiculous notion.

  “Would you like to come in?” Her cheeks turned red and he wondered just how tightly he’d held her? Had she been choking? Hell.

  “No.” He really did not want to come in. Not with the way he botched everything up. “But I’d like you to come out. Braxton is in the car. We’re going to strategize. You, him, and me. On ways to beat the poltergeist and find the kid, which is probably one and the same.”

  Her blue eyes lit up and for a second he felt as if he could float from the sheer joy radiating from them. “You’re going to include me in this?”

  “I am.” He held up her hand when she would have spoken again. There were conditions and she needed to hear them. “But you’re going to do what I say—or what Braxton says—without question when it comes to safety.”

  Mindy narrowed her eyes and he thought she might argue but then she exhaled loudly, nodding instead. Smart girl. She knew when to give in to things that were beyond her control. He wished he could learn that lesson himself.

  “The other thing is tha
t you’re going to study and train. But this time it’s going to be with books that I give you that have proven methods and truth to them. Not conjecture. For example, you should be able to tell me after you read them the difference between a poltergeist, a ghost, and a haunting. They are not the same things. As you saw for yourself earlier today.”

  He’d never forget the feeling of walking into the home and seeing her about to be assaulted by the thing on the wall. She’d had no idea. Standing there, muttering her nonsense, holding the sage. Fear didn’t creep into his world very often but right then he’d known it.

  “One more thing.”

  She looked up at him. “Yes, Jonah?”

  Shit. The way she said his name. He wanted to roll around in it for a while, hear her utter it in the throes of passion. Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought. What good did it do to want what he couldn’t have?

  “You were right about a couple of things and I was wrong.”

  “Oh?” She held his eye contact.

  “Yes. Obviously there was more going on at that location that just the Satan worshipers. I should have listened. In the future, you make me listen. If we’re going to be a team, that’s what we’re going to be. I won’t take any running around, vigilante crap.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “And.” This last part was hard but it had to be said. “I did bring you here to train you and to be fair I haven’t done what I said I would do. I left you to the care of Foy’s martial art’s teachers, as if that would be good enough.”

  She shook her head. “You got me a job. An apartment. I’m enormously grateful.”

  “No.” He shouted out. “I don’t want that. Don’t ever feel beholden to me. I also almost got you killed in Austin.”

  “That’s not true. You’re not remembering that correctly.” She put her hands on her hips.

  He didn’t want to hear her versions of events. He knew perfectly well what had happened. “I didn’t do what I said I would do because I have feelings for you. I want to fuck you. And it makes me crazed. I’m not telling you this to make you feel scared or intimidated. I’ve got it under control now.” He didn’t. But he would. Somehow he would. “And by the time we’re done here, no one will be able to hurt you. Not a human or a paranormal creature. You’ll be strong.” When she didn’t speak he cleared his throat. “Get your shoes on and we’ll go.”