Scryer (8 page)

I trailed off the ridiculous story as
Caleb’s hands worked magic, fucking me with his fingers and I threw my head
back and let out a cry as every part of me trembled and sweat covered me just
as it had in my so-called fantasy. At some stage, I had let go of my legs and
grabbed onto him, digging my nails into his flesh as everything in me rose and
rose. When it was all finished, I lay my head against his chest, and I sucked
in air. I heard him laugh, and I moved back from him abruptly to look at where
he stood, smiling down at me. Why was he laughing? Yeah, the fantasy may have
made me hot and bothered, but it was still one where the man, as always, was in
control, and the idea irritated me.

“See?” he said. “That wasn’t so hard now
was it? But don’t get comfortable. You’ve got a whole night of cumming ahead of
you.” Taking my jaw, he kissed me on the lips, and I let him.

After,
we lay in bed as we drank the remainder of the wine. Somehow we had ended up
entangled together. I lay against him, and he secured me there with an arm that
sat just beneath my breasts.

“How many times was that?” I asked
lazily, exhausted yet contented.

“Lost count,” he murmured into my skin.
“But I’m going to tell everyone that it was more times than it really was.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” It felt odd
to be held like this, but at the same time it felt comforting, as well. That
was, after all, the reason that I had asked him to come. The smell of sex and wine
lingered over us, and for some reason it made me want to have him again.

Twisting my head to face him, I touched
my lips to his, nipping slightly at them to turn them red and swollen. I wanted
to leave some kind of mark, good or bad. He gave a slight laugh in response,
smug that I wanted his body, before biting back at my own lips as if challenging
me. I lifted my hands to grip the hair at the back of his head so that I would
be the one to control this kiss while taking the satisfaction of causing him a
little pain, as well. A few hours ago I had let him believe that he controlled
my body, and while it was true that it turned me on, this was really the way
that it should be—with myself as mistress of both our bodies.

My cellphone sounded loudly, too
intrusive to ignore.

“Shit.” I let him go and reached for my
phone that lay on the nightstand. The screen glowed with Magdalena’s name, and
I let out a sigh. It wasn’t often that she called me, preferring instead to send
long emails with each task outlined clearly with bullet points. She disliked
people and preferred to avoid contact as much as possible. When she did contact
me it would often be at odd hours, such as now when the time neared one in the
morning.

“Who the hell is that?” Caleb asked.

I ignored him as I accepted the call.
“Hi, Magdalena.”

“Ivy. Get a pen.” Her voice was gravelly
sounding from all the cigarettes she smoked.

I pulled a pen and notepad from the
small drawer on the night stand. “I’m ready.”

She rattled off an address to me that I
scrawled down quickly. “Be there at 9am sharp. I’ll meet you there. Apparently
they’ve got a haunting.”

“9 Simpkins Street,” I repeated to
confirm. “Do you think this is a real one?” I asked her.

“Not sure. I’ve got an odd feeling about
it. Don’t be late, or you’re fired.” She ended the call before I had the chance
to ask any more. I was never offended by her rudeness or other antisocial
mannerisms. In some ways, that was preferable to people who acted kind to your
face then did the complete opposite once your back was turned.

“Who was that?” Caleb asked at my shoulder
as he reached past me for his wine glass.

“My boss. She’s an occult researcher.”

He arched an eyebrow, his interest
caught. “Really? What does she do?”

I shrugged, reaching for my own glass.
“Everything. Ghost hunting, satanic cults…she leads an interesting life. I help
her out with her boring admin. stuff. She’s hardly ever in her office.”

“So what’s happening tomorrow?” he
asked. I was surprised because he hadn’t seemed the type to hold any kind of
interest in that type of thing.

“We’ll go check out this house that’s
apparently haunted and take it from there.” I yawned at the thought of having
to get out of bed in the morning.

“Can I come along?” he asked.

I frowned. “Why? Are you a believer?”

He gave a smile. “I have a wide variety
of interests. So, do you think your boss would mind?”

Magdalena would probably not even
register his presence; the real question was
did I mind?
This was
supposed to be just sex and confined to the bedroom. Then I thought: to hell
with it.

“If you want.” I gave a shrug like I
didn’t care. But I did care. To my surprise an involuntary sharp thrill went
through me at his request, and I had to force down my feelings. I wouldn’t be
taken in like I had been by Lake again. I had to stay on guard. I may let him
into my bed with ease, but it would go no further. “Anyway, I had better get
some sleep since I’ve got work tomorrow.” I finished my wine and set down the
empty glass. He put his own one beside it before meeting my eyes.

“I won’t let you kick me out tonight,
Ivy, since we have plans tomorrow.” A slight smile played on his lips.

I shrugged again. “You can stay, if you
want.” Then I reached over and switched off the lamp. There was a rustle as he
lay down, and then I did the same. However, I made sure that I remained on one
side of the bed and that we did not touch. He made no move toward me anyway,
but as I lay awake in the dark and listened to him breathe, I couldn’t help but
think about how it would have been nice if he had reached for me…

The next morning, I awoke with a hangover
while he was annoyingly bright and amused at my headache. I just pulled my
sunglasses over my eyes and got into his car without speaking to him. He
stopped to get us coffee before we located the address. It was an old warehouse
and scaffolding sat in place around it. At some point in time someone had
started to mend the brickwork, but today there were no workmen in sight. The
ugly red brick and narrow windows made it look uninviting and creepy.

Caleb led the way, not daunted by the
fact that it probably wasn’t structurally sound. I followed him up an iron
staircase that shook under our weight. Even so, I reached for the metal railing
rather than reach for him.

“Magdalena?” A quiet voice called to us
as our footsteps echoed across the space, and we turned a corner to reveal a
large empty room. The owner of the voice was a petite woman whose dark hair was
pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck. It was shot through with
grey and the effect made her look as aged and shabby as the cardigan that she
wore.

“No. I’m her assistant.” I didn’t reach
forward to shake her hand and, to my relief, she didn’t offer hers. The woman’s
eyes went from me to Caleb, and I saw them widen slightly at the sight of him.
I couldn’t blame her. He was a good-looking man. “This is my…friend,” I said
clumsily, not sure how to explain him.

She stayed staring at him, and her arms
pulled her cardigan tighter around her body. “I was only expecting Magdalena,”
she muttered.

“I’m here, I’m here.” Magdalena’s
gravelly voice boomed around the room as she came into sight, puffing slightly
at the exertion of the stairs. We all turned to watch her as she swept into the
room. For such a no-nonsense woman, she dressed rather fancifully. Gypsy hoops
pierced her ears and a brightly patterned scarf was draped around her shoulders.
Her eyes flicked quickly to Caleb, but if she had any questions about him, she
didn’t let on. Her gaze passed from him to the small woman. “Right,” Magdalena
started. “Which areas have the most activity?”

It took the woman a moment to speak, and
I wasn’t sure if she were taken back by Magdalena’s bluntness or Caleb’s good
looks. She visibly swallowed. “This way.” Her voice was little more than a
whisper as she put her hand in a pocket in her skirt and drew out a set of
keys. She led us to a large wooden door and inserted the key, twisting it in a
sharp motion. There was a click and the door swung open.

She stood aside to let us pass, and we
filed through, led by Magdalena. Another large empty space came in to view.
There was another door at the far end and above that, a small window let in
light. Dust particles rose up from the wooden floorboards that creaked as we
walked across them.

“Most of the activity takes place here.”
She lingered nervously beside the door, fidgeting with her ugly cardigan, and
making no move to step any further into the room.

I felt it immediately. Sensing the dead
wasn’t part of my curse, but at that moment, I felt an iciness that ran through
my body. Caleb and Magdalena sensed it as well. She stopped immediately, her
eyes widening as if taken aback by the rapid temperature drop. Caleb paused as
well, but then when I shivered, he came up behind me and rubbed at my arms to
warm me. It was such a kind gesture that for a moment I forgot why we were
here. It felt almost intimate,
too
intimate here in front of other
people.

Magdalena stared around the room. I knew
that look; it was like she had gone somewhere else. She could sense the spirits
of the dead, and I was bitterly glad that I wasn’t cursed with that. Finally,
she turned her attention back to the timid woman cowering by the doorway.

“What happened here?” Magdalena had a
way of asking questions like she was a lawyer tormenting a witness on the stand
in a courtroom. Her tone allowed for no nonsense.

The woman shrank back against the wall.
“I don’t know. Whatever it was, I want it gone! That feeling we all get when we
come here…I can’t live with it.” Her fingers curved into her own skin with
contortions that must have been painful and I imagined her bones snapping under
the tension.

Magdalena tilted her head as if
observing prey. “What happened here?” She spoke slowly as she repeated the
question.

The woman shook, but then anger came
over her and her eyes darted from Magdalena to Caleb and me. “I don’t know!
What does it matter? Just get rid of it. That’s what you’re here for. Do your
job! That’s what I’m paying you for.”

Magdalena pressed her lips together in
annoyance before speaking. “I think you do know. There was blood, a lot of it,
and terror. It’s a woman. I can feel her torment. So once again.
What
happened?
”

The woman looked like she wanted to cry.
Her lower lip trembled and she seemed to retreat back into herself as if she
could hide by folding her body into the oversized cardigan she wore.

“Stop it,” Caleb said from where he
stood behind me, his hands still on my arms. “You’re tormenting her. Stop being
such a bitch.”

Both Magdalena and I turned to face him.
I couldn’t hide my surprise at his intervention but kept silent. Magdalena, on
the other hand, narrowed her eyes at him like she was up for a challenge.

“I don’t like you,” she told him.

Caleb’s lips flicked up into a quick
smile. “That is of no consequence to me in the slightest. Now, stop bullying
this woman and just do as she asks.”

Magdalena’s eyes rested on him as if she
were assessing who she were up against, and then her lips slid into a sly
smile. “I don’t think that I will.” She turned her attention back to the woman.
“You’re on your own. Something tells me that you deserve whatever torment this
spirit decides to bring you. Revenge is on her mind, and you and your ilk are
her target.”

The woman let out a slight sob and
Magdalena just shrugged and swept past her and out the door, her bright scarf
trailing behind her. I watched her go and wondered if I still had a job. Caleb
moved to stand in front of the woman. His arms went around her, pulling her to
him slightly.

“You were right not to answer her,” he
said quietly. “Don’t listen to what she says. Get a priest in here to bless the
place. It will be more effective than that charlatan.”

She nodded and he let go of her. He
turned to me. “Shall we?” He indicated toward the door.

I nodded, and he stepped through first,
but as I went to follow, my arm brushed briefly against the woman and I caught
the reflection of her watch. I stopped abruptly.

I saw her cowering in a corner, not in
this room, but somewhere else in the building. Her body wracked with silent
sobs as she covered her mouth. Muffled screams could be heard. Someone was
terrified. Someone was dying, and she was doing nothing.

I leaned in close to her before I
passed. “You deserve it,” I whispered so Caleb couldn’t hear me. She squeezed
her eyes closed, but tears escaped anyway. I turned and left her.

Magdalena was already gone by the time I
arrived downstairs. “Well that was fun,” said Caleb. “What should we do for the
rest of the day?”

I paused to look at him. “Why did you
come if you don’t believe in this kind of stuff? You pissed off my boss.”

 He grinned. “She’s tough, she can take
it. Besides, you’re not really pissed at me, are you? If you were, you would
have told me to shut up in there.”

I shrugged. He was right. “I don’t like
to tell other people what to do, to try and control them. It’s not right.”

“That’s another thing I like about you.”

I arched an eyebrow. “What are the other
things?”

His grin changed to more of a seductive
smile, and he leaned in close. “I like how you fuck,” he said softly.

I barked out a laugh and pushed him away.
“I have to go to work now.
If
I still have a job.”

He laughed this time. “She won’t care.
It’s expected that pretty girls like you make bad decisions when it comes to
men.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely,” he confirmed.

I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, are you going
to give me a ride, or should I start walking?”