Dweller on the Threshold (22 page)

“A cop who looked like Brad Pitt.”

“Did the Pitt clone have cloven feet?”

The boy’s mouth dropped open. “How did you know?”

Ignoring him, I turned to Nikolos. “Blythe and I already had a little run-in with the celebrity ghoul.”

Nikolos frowned. “A ghoul wouldn’t have had the means to attack my wards. Did he give you the spell you were trying to use to get past my outside wards?”

The kid nodded. “But I don’t think we did it right.”

“No, you didn’t.”

The kid moved toward his friends and looked around, his expression grim.

I turned toward the shadow I had just seen lurking near the front door of the shop. “Blythe!”

The little witch stepped out.

“How about giving the topiaries a break and helping with these kids? Can you do a binding spell? Send them home?” I lowered my voice. “Without fire?”

She nodded, biting her lip. “Want me to do something about their wounds?”

I nearly nodded, then hesitated. “No. Their wounds are all superficial. They need to feel them for a few days—maybe learn a lesson.”

 
Blythe opened her bag and pulled out a yellow stone. She held it to her lips and murmured a few words. Bits of light floated around her head as a small breeze lifted the ends of her hair. She smiled and before I could take my next breath, nearly invisible streams of light flew from her fingertips and wrapped around each kid.

One by one they got to their feet—some obviously in more pain than others. The largest boy picked up the brunette girl, who I was happy to see was blinking her eyes.

Nikolos and I watched them turn a corner. Then we both looked back to Blythe. She still stood, smiling, surrounded by the glow of whatever she’d tapped into. She was capable of so much more than she realized. She was no ordinary witch and all those doubts I’d had about her absent mentor came rushing to the front of my mind.

Nikolos touched my arm and I looked up at him.

“Let’s get our things. My home will be safer.”

“You have more powerful wards on your home?”

He didn’t answer—didn’t need to.

I followed him inside, grabbing a now-giddy Blythe on the way. The silly woman was still smiling, lost in some strange magical glow.

Nikolos came out of the farthest room—the one I hadn’t had time to really see since we’d only used it to get to the roof. He cradled several huge old texts in his arms. “We’ll use these books to help translate yours.”

I retrieved my knife, Blythe’s heavy spell book and watched Nikolos gather his keys and move toward the back door—the one I’d kicked open. I felt a little bad about that now. I opened my mouth to ask Blythe to spell the door so it would look closed, but one look at her bemused expression told me she was feeling a little of that magic drunk I had suffered earlier.

Nikolos pulled a slim cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. “I need another back door,” he murmured into the phone. “Thanks.”

“You lose doors often?” I asked. He hadn’t looked up the number.

“Rough neighborhood lately.” He slid the phone away and I was startled to see amusement sparkle in those dark eyes. “Since you parked at the grocery store, I’ll drive you to your Jeep.”

Heat burned my neck. Some monster investigator I was. I was so not caving to vanity and buying the shiny red vehicle next time.

We all climbed into his truck—one of those huge Ford 350s. I was watching Fred and Phro settle into the back when I remembered Frida. Was he still in my car? I squinted toward the grocery store parking lot, trying to catch a glimpse of him and saw something wrong with my Jeep.

“They slashed my tires!” I was out of the vehicle before it even slowed, running to mine and looking in the windows. At least they hadn’t broken those. Frida still rested in the back. He looked better than he had earlier. My Jeep, however, did not. The kids had done more than ruin the tires. Fury made me shake. They had also keyed it. Lines crossed over each other from front to back and someone had spray-painted a huge black happy face on the driver’s side door. I touched the driver’s window.

“I should have broken all their arms. One by one.”

“They weren’t after you, you said?” Nikolos got out of his vehicle to look over my Jeep. He shook his head. “I’m sorry this happened. How did they know this was yours?”

“The Pitt ghoul must have told them.” The words came out clipped since I couldn’t unclench my teeth. I yanked my keys from my pocket.

“You can’t drive with those tires.”

This from Blythe. I snarled at her and I must have looked scarier than normal because she stepped behind Nikolos. “I know I can’t drive it. But we might need some of the stuff I carry in the back. Plus, I’m pulling all my info from the glove compartment. I’ll have to call a shop to come get it. Damn. Damn. Damn.” I continued cursing as I stomped to the back of the Jeep. Right about then, I saw a flash of blue that looked like the same color of the ghoul’s shirt. I didn’t slow—didn’t reveal that I saw anything. I was too far away to give chase.

I yanked up the back door and pretended to search for something as I tried to see exactly who was watching us. The staggering, lurching walk gave it away. It was most definitely the Pitt imposter. “Guess someone punched the dead ghoul.”

Blythe, who had been hovering over a more solid-looking Frida, scurried over to stand by me. “Huh?”

“Your pretty cop ghoul is by the side of the store. No, don’t look. I bet he’s the asshole who keyed my car. Looks like he’s been at it through the whole fight, too.” I slammed my hand on the duffel bag I kept in the back. “You know, I’d felt a little bit of guilt over temporarily killing him, despite the fact that he would have had no guilt at all over killing me. None. But this time, Blythe? This time, I’m gonna make sure he won’t get back up on his stupid horsey legs.”

Blythe nosily poked through my monster investigation bag, picked up my Polaroid and stuck it up to her eye. “Are we going to chase him? Do you think he’s faster with hooves?”

I yanked the camera out of her hands and shoved it back into the bag. “Not with just two. But he could easily shift into his normal form and take off. That ghoul I fought in Louisiana was a bitch to catch once he’d turned into his normal hairy self.” I stood and peeked around the side of the Jeep to see what Nikolos was doing. He was talking on his cell phone again, but was watching the ghoul through the loosened strands of hair that had pulled from his ponytail. Shaking my head, I finished putting everything in the bag and shoved the strap onto my shoulder before grabbing the paperwork out of the glove compartment.

Nikolos shut off his phone as we walked back to his truck. “Want me to ram him with the car?” Subtle humor laced his voice.

I snorted. “Yeah, but we’re not going to. He’s going to run the minute we get inside anyway.” I gave my Jeep a last sad glance as we walked to Nikolos’s truck.

“What about another binding spell?” Blythe asked as she climbed into the backseat and pulled open her bag.

“It worked on those kids.” I turned in my seat to better see her. “Had you done that trick before, Blythe?”

She nodded and grinned. Sometime in the last couple of hours, she’d managed to apply makeup, and her lips were a pale, shell pink. Faint, red scratches still decorated her pale skin. “It’s my second best spell.”

“Can you bind the thing and make him get into the back of the truck?” I looked at Nikolos. “We need to get moving—he’s going to be suspicious of us sitting here for so long.”

Blythe was already pulling out that stone. When the breeze swept through the interior of the car, I narrowed my eyes to slightly separate the dimensional layers to see what this magic looked like in the next one.

“Oh.” I gasped. “Blythe, it’s lovely!” Colors swirled from the trees and the ground beneath us. They also came down from the sky. One yellow string of the smoke-like tendrils floated from the light bulb on the ceiling of the cab. “You’re pulling from everything. Why don’t you use this ability on your other spell work?”

“Not supposed to,” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Her blonde curls swayed around her head and that dreamy expression from before crept back over her delicate features.

“Who told you that? Sophie again?”

She nodded then lifted her hands to tie an imaginary knot in the air. I was so busy watching her get high, I jumped when there was a knock on the glass by my head. The ghoul stood next to my door, the dimple in his chin prominent as he lifted an eyebrow and gestured at the window. I rolled it down only enough to hear his words.

“I’ll ride in the back.”

Chapter Eleven

“Oh my,” Blythe breathed. “The power. It’s intoxicating.”

I didn’t have to ask what she was talking about. I felt it. Nikolos’s home was several miles north of Jacksonville and as we slowed to turn into a heavily treed private drive, I felt the magic crawling along my skin. Invasive and explorative, the fibrous currents crackled in the air, like it scouted ahead to see if I was friend or foe. I knew my cheeks were turning red because the feeling made all my feminine areas tingle a bit.

Whatever it was doing sure agreed with Blythe. She had her head back and those blonde curls of hers were floating in the air again as they had when she’d bound the kids at the shop. I hoped she didn’t lose the binding on the ghoul currently sitting in the bed of the truck.

“Uh, Nikolos.” I cleared my throat.

He turned dark eyes my way, faint humor warming those strong masculine features.

“What kind of place is this?” I shifted on the seat, really getting uncomfortable.

“Don’t worry. It only does this at first. As soon as you are considered a non-threat, it backs off.”

I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of being considered a non-threat, but my attention was yanked onto the ghoul as he started thrashing in the bed of the truck. I wondered if the magic hurt him, especially when he screamed and smacked his face into the window. Spit smeared the glass as he grunted and snarled.

I unbuckled my seatbelt. Just in case. “Blythe, I don’t think your binding spell is holding.”

The witch started muttering, her small fingers frantically rubbing that yellow stone. She threw a couple of nervous glances over her shoulder as the ghoul pounded his head on the side of the truck bed.

“Aieeeee!” He screamed and scrambled back to the window. He frantically pounded on the glass. Hair sprouted on his right cheek as his face began that grotesque bubbling we’d watched earlier in Blythe’s shop. “Vile place! Vile women! Your magic stinks of rotting lobsters and piss!”

I couldn’t help it—I laughed.

“I am not without my own magic! I will tear you all limb from limb and leave you alive so the bugs can feast upon your pieces!” When he was done with his pitiful threats, he started screaming again at the top of his lungs—right before he punched one fist through the glass.

“Shit, Blythe!” I reached over the seat and dragged her into the front with us. Her feet smacked the ceiling, Elsa’s too-big sweatshirt flopping over her head to expose her bra. I caught a glimpse of yellow and pink butterflies. I up-righted her in my spot and dove over the seat to smash my fist into the ugly mug the ghoul was squeezing through the broken window.

Nikolos hit the brakes hard and the truck swerved, nearly slamming into a tree. I flew to the right so my fist barely glanced off the ghoul’s face. All the hair just padded the blow anyway. The magic book bounced off the back seat and crashed into my temple. A piece of broken glass slid into the back of my already-throbbing hand.

That was about the time the thing lost it. Screams and body slams rattled what was left of the sliding glass window. Wincing at the pain in my ears, I scrambled to get the back door open, planning to go back there and knock him the hell out—but before I could, he lurched out of the bed and half-galloped into the woods.

I jumped out of the truck and ran after him, yanking out the piece of glass before pushing aside low hanging tree limbs. I leapt over stumps and bushes, staying on his tail. His grunts were loud as he worked his odd, two-legged hoofed-self through rough terrain—almost as loud as those heavy clompers hitting the hard packed earth. Every now and then, he screamed. The sound came from different directions so I knew he was swerving in a ragged path, trying to get away from the magic.

There was a noise to my left and I glanced over to find Nikolos running with me, his long legs easily keeping pace with my own. “We’re getting close to the highway.”

We heard the squeal of breaks just as we burst through the thick trees into the open. I bent to catch my breath and watched as the ghoul, surrounded by a swarm of bees, flipped off the driver of a Honda that had nearly plowed him down. He turned slapped at the insects zooming around him then loped with impressive speed to the back of a trash truck. He jumped onto the rear bumper. The stupid creature was still slapping at bees with one arm as the vehicle sped off.

“Well.” I gasped. “That was weird.”
 

Nikolos chuckled and pulled something from my hair. Leaves and few twigs fell from his fingers as he dropped his hand. “The magic didn’t like him.”

“Actually, I don’t think he liked it.” Humor rumbled in my chest before I snorted. “Rotting lobsters and piss.”