Dire Warning WC0.5 Read online

  Chapter Nine

  It took an hour to get to the house where the séance was being held. Bill insisted they take back roads to avoid the media, who was rumored to be in neighboring towns.

  It was more than a rumor. Rifter had Stray interfere a bit there, leading the media to the wrong places, but they’d stumble on Bill’s PNR Center sooner or later.

  Now, close to eleven p.m., all the cameras were being dragged out of the vans and set up. Big coils of cable were running throughout the big old dusty house that looked to be seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

  “Creepy as shit,” one of the cameramen said as Rifter stomped along the wraparound porch.

  “Great land,” Rifter added, looking it over longingly. Brother Wolf was more than ready to run, but it couldn’t happen tonight, no matter how badly they wanted it.

  The woman who lived here was named Ruth. She was close to eighty and seemed excited to have all the attention and the company, staying busy plying Rifter and Jinx with cookies and pies in between asking them if they could fix a few things for her.

  They complied, because there were no ghosts or anything remotely resembling a supernatural being, except for Paula who, according to Jinx, appeared right after they arrived and now remained quietly outside on the back porch. Every once in a while, Jinx said he caught a glimpse of her looking in the window at them but he was trying not to spook her.

  “She still quiet?” Rifter asked at one point.

  “Like she’s on mute,” Jinx told him as he snagged more cookies. “We need to get this recipe.”

  “I’ll get right on that,” Rifter said dryly.

  “We’re ready to commence,” Bill called.

  It was close to midnight. Bill kept calling that the witching hour, and that made both Rifter and Jinx’s Brother Wolves very unhappy, as they didn’t like to hear anything about witches at all.

  “Ruth, what’s the deal here?” Jinx asked finally as she handed him a plate with two large sandwiches. He’d just rewired her overhead florescent light and she patted him on the shoulder and called him a sweet young man.

  Rifter had nearly choked at that.

  “There are two ghosts here,” she told them in a low, confidential whisper. “Lovers from the nineteen twenties. They tell me they’re terrorized by a demon but they won’t leave the house. They stay here to keep me safe.”

  She was totally serious—and completely delusional, maybe with age or the plethora of medicines Rifter found earlier in one of the cabinets. There were several all-natural vitamins in there too, and a couple of homeopathic herbs that could easily cause hallucinations if taken in conjunction with the wrong meds. But Ruth didn’t seem distressed and hell, the made up ghosts probably kept her company.

  “I told Bill not to banish them, but to try to get rid of the demon,” Ruth continued.

  Jinx started, “Bill couldn’t banish––”

  “The demon without the ghosts giving their consent. Don’t worry, Ruth—it sounds like they like you too much to leave.” Rifter shot Jinx a look and the wolf stuffed his mouth with another cookie.

  “We’re ready to begin,” Bill said finally and Ruth went toward him, barely able to contain her excitement.

  Jinx finished all the food Ruth left out, eating in an attempt to get less goddamned pissed about what this asshole was doing to an old lady.

  “He didn’t take money from her,” Rifter said quietly. “She’s having a great time.”

  Ruth was. The cameramen were all rapt attention at Bill’s show, except for Sam, who looked at the Dires and rolled his eyes. He might not be able to see ghosts but even he knew there was nothing here worth filming.

  They had the Ouija board out because Ruth claimed she summoned the ghosts with it every night. That in itself was a dangerous move, because humans had no clue what kind of things they were inviting inside.

  Bill had his eyes closed, fingers balanced on the plastic pointer as it moved all over the board, giving the answers any audience of ghost enthusiasts would want to hear. The ghosts gave their names—different from what they’d told Ruth, but Bill had some stupid explanation for that.

  “For the love of the Elders,” Jinx muttered under his breath.

  Bill was obviously pulling all the strings here and Marley appeared clueless. If she did have any ability to see ghosts, she’d never develop it hanging around this clown.

  Bill was now tapping his foot and then looking in different directions. Spooking the shit out of everyone as Marley worked an EMF meter around the perimeter.

  Of course, the electric pole outside the house would be interfering with it like crazy—she should know that. And maybe she did. She could be in on this whole thing. “You still think she’s innocent? Because she’s got a lot to gain by helping Bill with this scheme.”

  “Attention.” Rifter nudged him and Marley walked over to where they stood.

  “What do you guys think?” Marley asked.

  “It’s the biggest piece of—” Jinx spit.

  “Paranormal we’ve seen in a while,” Rifter added smoothly. “Fascinating.”

  Marley nodded, but there was a small frown on her forehead. She turned slowly and Jinx held his breath, because Paula was suddenly standing right in front of her.

  Jinx watched the panic rise in Marley. She stepped back and Paula moved toward her and he and Rifter were the only ones noticing.

  “Is she all right?” Rifter asked.

  “She’s seeing Paula,” Jinx confirmed, quiet enough for wolf hearing, but not human. “Marley’s the real deal.”

  “And she looks ready to bolt,” Rifter added.

  “I’ll get rid of Paula for now.”

  “I’ll let the asshole keep thinking he’s doing a great job,” Rifter said, running a tongue over his elongating canines, his Brother Wolf obviously begging to be allowed to come out and play. “Later, boy, we’ll get him. Just have to figure out his game first,” Rifter muttered to himself.

  He moved back and hit an old pipe that would echo into upstairs. It got everyone’s attention, except for Marley, who didn’t take her eyes from Paula for a second. And as frustrating as it would be to break up their meeting, this wasn’t the place for Marley to talk to the ghost.

  Jinx moved forward and Paula looked up at him, a question in her eyes. Meanwhile, Bill was coming toward them.

  “Marley, why are you staring into space when you’re needed?” he demanded, coming up to stand next to her, inches from Paula’s ghost. “We’ve heard knocking coming from upstairs.”

  Marley took her eyes from Paula and glanced at Bill. “I’m sorry—what do you need?”

  “Come with me.”

  When Marley looked back, Paula was still there, waiting. Marley nodded at her, white as a sheet. But hell, at least she’d finally realized that her boss was a total fake.

  Marley backed away from Paula, turning at the very last minute so she didn’t kill herself on the stairs. It was then she ran up after Bill.

  “It’s okay,” Jinx said to the ghost. “Not here, Paula—visit her later. When she’s not with Bill. I’ll get Marley alone so you can talk to her.”

  For the first time since he’d seen her, Paula spoke. “Thank you,” was all she said before she disappeared, but it was enough.

  Marley watched Bill posturing in front of her as she felt Paula’s presence retreat, her body no longer freezing cold, the way it had been moments before when she’d seen the ghost.

  He can’t really see her. Or even feel her. Or any goddamned ghost.

  And actually, he’d been the one to make the noise earlier. He was a fraud and it was disappointing as hell, but it also put a much deeper worry inside her mind.

  Paula’s murder . . . what if?

  Paula . . .

  Her
chest tightened and her skin tingled. She’d definitely seen the ghost. She could try to blame lack of sleep or lack of food or bad lighting, but she knew she’d seen the real thing.

  And Bill hadn’t.

  There were no other ghosts here. Paula had been the real deal. Her chest . . . the blood. The hole where her heart should’ve been. Could Bill have done that?

  The bodyguards seemed serious about the wolf thing. What was going on here?

  She knew one thing for sure—she didn’t want to be around any of this. No more, she promised herself. When she got back to Bill’s, she would pack up. In the morning, she was out of there.

  Chapter Ten

  While still at Ruth’s, Rifter got the text that Cyd had found the tapes and passed them off to Cain, who’d run them back to the Dire house. Stray and Vice would watch it and report back while Rifter and Jinx would get the PNR crew back to their house.

  Sam still hadn’t heard word one from Kyle, but according to Cain, there had been no other murders in the area tonight.

  Rifter knew Jinx would deal with Marley—in fact, Jinx insisted Marley ride with him, and Rifter was lucky enough to be Bill’s escort. Keeping them separate for now was very important—if Marley spilled anything to Bill . . .

  Well shit, who knew what would happen. Rifter hoped everything would become clearer when the men watched the unedited tape.

  “Where’s Bill?” he asked Sam now as the Were walked by him balancing heavy cable and cameras without breaking a sweat.

  “On the back porch, phone attached to his ear,” Sam said, muttered something about humans and continued to the van.

  Rifter waved to Jinx to head off and went to grab Bill. The man needed to be smarter about being alone anywhere if he was truly worried about a Were attack, although Rifter was beginning to suspect Bill wasn’t all that worried.

  He found Bill pacing but off the phone.

  “Time to head out,” he told Bill, who acted like he hadn’t heard what Rifter said, instead launching into his own tirade.

  “Two major networks want to air the tape in special evening reports. Two cable stations want to build a series around it. And TMZ just called.” He waved the phone around and Rifter tried to figure out what the fuck the man was building toward.

  But Bill slumped his shoulders forward and Rifter smelled the fear wafting over everything as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

  “You must’ve been waiting for this moment for years,” Rifter pointed out. “So I’m guessing these are all good things?”

  Bill looked decidedly unhappy. Rifter wondered if his conscience was finally catching up to him.

  It wouldn’t matter. They still had to prove he was a fraud even though the fraud had finally gotten lucky enough to catch a rare supernatural event on tape.

  “Yes, for sure,” Bill answered finally. “I’ve just got to make the right decision.”

  “Let’s get you home. Sounds like you have a lot to think on.” Rifter motioned to the truck. “Not the best time of night to be out.”

  “When you get past three in the morning, the paranormal world is really calm,” Bill told him, but complied by walking toward the van and getting into the passenger’s seat.

  Right. Three a.m. was Vice’s favorite time for mayhem.

  “I can really learn a lot from you,” Rifter told Bill as he walked him to the car.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jinx checked his phone when he pulled up to the PNR Center. According to the text, Rifter was going to give him plenty of time alone with Marley. He’d stopped with Bill to grab some fast food, and Bill was using Rifter as a sounding board for his career.

  And he’s not shutting up, the next text read.

  Suddenly, Jinx was more than thrilled to be the ghost whisperer. He got Marley inside safely and let the cameramen return the equipment to the first floor storage area under Sam’s watchful eye.

  “You staying around tonight?” Jinx asked the Were.

  “Got a nice spot on the top of the hill,” Sam said. “Just make sure your friends know me.”

  “You’ve already met Cyd—he’ll be doing foot patrol tonight,” Jinx said. “We won’t forget this, you know.”

  Sam nodded stiffly. “Kyle’s been my best friend since forever. I have a feeling he’s not coming back.”

  Jinx had a stronger feeling that the Were was indeed returning, but he didn’t tell Sam that. Instead, he let Sam go about his business as he went to search out Marley, who hadn’t stayed inside as he’d told her to.

  But instead of lecturing her on the importance of following directions, he took a softer approach since she was on the back porch, drinking a beer and shivering even though she still had a heavy coat on.

  “How’s it going?” he asked her.

  Marley took a gulp of beer before answering, “Not bad.”

  “Is today the first time you saw Paula?” He grabbed the bottle before it hit the ground, put it back into her still opened palm and wrapped her fingers back around it. “Drink.”

  She did, waited several long moments before she spoke. “Yes.” She moved to sit on the porch swing and stared up at him. “You saw her too?”

  He nodded.

  “But Bill didn’t,” she continued, said that more to herself than to him, like she’d discovered something she hadn’t wanted to know.

  “I’m not sure Bill can see his own hand in front of his face,” Jinx said quietly with a glance toward the back door.

  “He’s a fraud,” Marley said angrily.

  “Yes.”

  Marley gave a small, resigned smile and asked, “What does Paula want?”

  “She won’t talk to me,” he told her. “Maybe she’s trying to tell you something about Bill?”

  “You think she wants me to know he’s a fraud?”

  “Maybe.”

  “But the video—the wolf shift—that was so real.” She shook her head. “I need to find Paula again.”

  “I haven’t seen her since you guys finished up.”

  “Do you think I have to prove Bill’s faking everything?” she asked.

  “Probably something you should do whether Paula wants it or not.”

  “Do you think Paula knew Bill couldn’t really see ghosts?”

  “I think she came back to prove what she does know,” Jinx answered.

  Marley looked sincere when she said, “Then I owe it to her to help. To learn to, anyway, because I probably learned all the wrong things from Bill.”

  “Paula never professed to have any abilities?”

  Marley shook her head no. “She was the office manager. She came on the séances because she believed, really truly, but she always said she wasn’t able to see anything.”

  “Well, neither could Bill. I guess he fooled her, the way he did everyone. But why would Bill bring you into the fold when he knew you could show him up?”

  “He knew I was scared shitless of what I saw. Maybe he figured he’d follow my lead if I saw something.”

  “And he wanted to keep you scared,” Jinx said. “Was he close to Paula?”

  “He was her boss and her landlord.”

  “Bill told the police Paula was out on a blind date the night she died.”

  Marley frowned. “That’s weird. She had a boyfriend. She was crazy about him but she wouldn’t tell me who he was. I told Bill that and he said he would mention it to the police.”

  “Well, he didn’t. Said it was a random blind date, which threw the police off the track.”

  “Shit.” She slammed the bottle down on the porch rails. “Did you take this job on because you can see ghosts?”

  “Paula came to me first,” he said. “Well, she followed me home from the morgue.”

  Marley opened
her mouth then closed it as she digested that information, remembering no doubt that she was still in danger.

  “Are you ever scared?” she asked finally.

  Jinx shook his head, because how could you be scared when you were immortal. “Not of the ghosts. Not for myself.”

  It was the most honest answer he could give.

  “But you’ve seen vengeful ghosts?”

  “Definitely.” He paused. “Sometimes, it’s easier to stay away, but if you’ve got the ability, you should use it.”

  “I’m scared of what I see,” Marley admitted. “There are times I wish I could shut it off.”

  “Yeah, I hear you.”

  “Do you see them all the time?”

  Jinx nodded. “They seek me out. Always have.”

  “It’s not like I see them all the time but it’s still scary.”

  She was blocking them, but he didn’t tell her that. You had to be ready to deal with that shit and she wasn’t quite there.

  But Paula wasn’t hanging around this side for him. She was seeking, but he hadn’t figured out why just yet.

  “Do all ghosts hang around?” she asked.

  “Not everyone’s spirit hangs around. Most go right on up. Or down. It’s only the unlucky—or the unfinished business types—who hang out in limbo, walking the earth. Annoying the shit out of me.” Jinx crossed his arms and breathed into the night air.

  “You’ve been seeing ghosts your whole life?” Marley asked.

  “Ever since I can remember.”

  “And your family knows about it?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, they do. My brother can see spirits. I wasn’t as alone as you are, I’m guessing.”

  “My family . . . they wouldn’t understand. They didn’t get what I’m doing with this group already. But if they knew how my involvement started . . .” She trailed off, shook her head. “They’re quite religious and all of this is breaking through something we shouldn’t meddle in.”

  “You don’t have to understand everything about someone to love them,” Jinx pointed out. “When did you start seeing ghosts? Because I know Paula wasn’t your first.”