Send-Off the Spirit and Then Say Yes
By S. Peters-Davis
“Do you see
or feel anything, Sharon?” Rick, my significant other of three years, stood
inside the doorway, glancing around the room.
I felt the
heaviness of dark energy.So far, I hadn’t discovered its source,butmy
sensitivity prickled stronger along my nervesthe farther I crept into the old
house.I waved at Rick to stay back. His constant protectiveness annoyed me and tended
to chase away the entities I needed to find.
“You know
I’m not leaving you in here by yourself,” Rick whispered close to my ear,
making me jump.
“Man, you
are stealth.” I stared at him wide-eyed. “If you’re going to follow, don’t talk.
There is something here, and I’m going to find it.” I turned to head off into
the next room.
He pulled me
back to him, kissing me until I became breathless. “Is it good or evil?” he
asked, pressing my body closer as his half-lidded eyes and other parts of him
spoke volumes about his wantonness.
I pushed against
his well-muscled chest before he carried me away from my task. “This is my job
you’re toying with right now.” I twisted out of his arms and stood a few feet
from him. “My client feels threatened, and from what I’m sensing, she’s
probably correct.”
We both
jumped as something glass dropped and shattered on the floor in the next room.
Rick rushed
through the door ahead of me, then stopped at the edge of the million chandelier
particles. “Must be the ceiling rotted.” We both looked up.“Did you hear
anything in this room before the crash?”
The
electrical wires had somehow gottensheared off.
“No,
nothing, but whatever did this isn’t human, and it’s powerful. I need some
extra supplies. Let’s go.” I turned toward the doorway, and a lamp slammed
against the wall right beside me, sendingglass splinters into me. The front
side of me became dotted with blood.
“What the
hell!” Rick ran to me, scanning my body. “You’re bleeding!” He looked over my
head and shoved me onto the floor beneath him. At least ten books sailed across
us, creating holes in the plaster as each hit the wall like a bowling
ball.“Come on.” Rick grabbed me off the floor, and we ran, dodging all kinds of
projectiles until we made it off the porch and down the steps. He crushed me to
his body, arms wrapping around me like a vise. “You are not going back inside
that place.”
“I have
things to protect me. I’ve shared that info with you a million times. What’s in
there is an angry entity. I need to find out why and hopefully rectify it.”
He didn’t
release his hold. “Nope. Not happening on my watch. I’m not losing you to an
angry ghost.”
I tilted my
head back and gazed into those electrifying emerald green eyes. “You won’t lose
me, but you better let me go if you hope to keep your jewels intact.” I squeezed
his man parts until he winced and broke away from me.
He bent over,
and a big, growly gasp shot out, “That was uncalled for, Sharon.”
“As I mentioned, this is my job, and I’m damn good at it.” I stomped down the sidewalk to my car. “If you don’t want to walk home, you better pick up speed. I’m leaving.”
* * *
I’d spent the afternoon in the library, researching the
village archives for any previous owners of my client’s property.
Bernard Anderson, a medical doctor in the late 1800’s,
discovered his wife’s dead body lying in the road a mile from their home. She’d
been abused, raped, and then killed. He’d struggled with bereavement afterward,
blaming himself for not protecting her.
Only, that
wasn’t the real story, according to another paper printed several years later
when a woman’s body was found in the same condition as the doctor’s wife.
I met Rick for
dinner, and we spent time at the park with Sparks, our dog.We went to bed
around ten.
Rick had fallen asleep quickly after our intimate romp in the
sack. I dressed and grabbed my bag of goods and then took off back to my
client’s old home. She’d promised not to return until I gave her the all-clear.
I entered the
house wearing my smoky crystal necklace and carrying a smoking sage and
lavender smudge stick. “Bernard Anderson, I call upon you, your guardian
angels, and the archangels required to assist you home. Come now.” I repeated
this twice more and waited until the angels surrounded the room.
Bernard Anderson appeared in the center, only a few steps
from where I stood. He looked maybe twenty-five, much younger than the age he
died. Anger straightened his lips and drew in his eyebrows. His long hair stuck
out, looking unkempt. He raised his hand as if to throw something toward me.
I blew the
smudge smoke toward him.
He lifted his head and dropped his arm.“What is this madness?
No woman should have such power.”
“You’ve allowed your anger at your wife to define you into
something you are not. She mistreated you, didn’t she?” I stepped closer to
him, and my protective smoky crystal vibrated against my chest.
His apparition shook so hard I thought he might explode. “How
dare you talk of my scarlet wife.”
“She hurt you, and you let her, never allowing yourself to
face the truth.” I took another step forward, glancing around the room to see
the angels moving closer. Bernard hadn’t noticed them.
“I faced the truth. She deserved what she got for her scarlet
behavior.” His eyes opened wider, and his lips pinched together for a moment.
“Do you doubt it? She secretly met my brother, and when he tired of her, he
killed her.”
“Your brother?” I didn’t realize the killer was Bernard’s
brother. “If you knew the killer, why didn’t you report it? He killed several
more women before they captured him.”
“Because every one of those scarlet women deserved their just
punishment.” He stomped a silent foot, then lunged toward me.
I blew smoke toward him again, enough to stop him. “And what
about your brother taking advantage of those lonely married women?” The angels
took another step closer to him.
His mouth dropped open, but he still hadn’t noticed the
angels.
“You were a busy doctor, leaving your wife alone most of the
time. Right?”
“Are you telling me that I’m the one that led her to stray?”
he bellowed, charging the air around me, but the smoky crystal still protected
me as did the angels, who now surrounded Bernard, even though he could not see
them.
“I’m only pointing out her loneliness with no children and a
man who had no time for her.”
His head dropped forward, and he howled. “I tried my best to
get her with child, after several years, I gave up.”
“And you gave up on her, your love, and then blamed her for
finding solacein another man’s arms?” I took another step, and he glanced up,
looking past me.
“What’s happening in here?” Rick’s arms slid around my waist.
My back planted against the warmth of his chest.
“Stay with me, but let me finish.” I glanced up at Rick and then
back to Bernard.
“Is he your man?” Bernard studied Rick, even though Rick
couldn’t see the spirit standing before us.
“Yes.” I nodded in confirmation.
All the fight left Bernard as if watching a balloon deflate.
He glanced around, discovering the room full of angels.
Archangel Michael glowed in sapphire light as he moved next
to Bernard. “Your wife has been waiting for you, Bernard Anderson. Let’s take you
home.”The angels gathered, lighting the room and raising the temperature as
they shimmered through the ceiling.
“What’s happening,” Rick whispered.
“That angry spirit just went home to his wife.”
Rick spun me around to face him. “I want to marry you. If I
ask you, will you say yes, my little ghost-buster?” He’d been asking me this
question more often, but he still used, “if I ask you.”
I brushed my lips against his and whispered, “Are you ever
going to ask me for real?”
He dropped to his knees, grabbed my hand, and pulled out a
small velvet box from his pants pocket. “Marry me.” He opened the box to a
beautiful sparkling diamond.
“I will.” I kissed him hard, and he kissed me back, with even
more passion, and then he slipped the ring on my finger.
Excerpt: Kendra’s Point of View
“Thank you for your assistance,” Derek acknowledged the man who guided us to the morgue.
“Now, I’d like this entire room cleared for at least an hour. Your morgue director can verify that order.” Derek nodded, and as he turned toward me, our guide moved away to the two working coroners, escorting them out of the room.
“Dang, this place reminds me of places in the dark plane.” Jenna stood in the center of the room and spun a slow circle. “It’s almost like I can feel Bertellia’s presence, even though I know that woman is gone forever.”
Once everyone cleared the room, I went to work crushing and mixing up the concoction of herbs in a small burning pot. “I can see the film that cocoons the body you mentioned.” I lit the herbs, allowing a quick flame. Then I blew out the little fire and left the blended ingredients smoldering. As I waved the pot over the body, I said the ritual words. Jenna and Derek joined in the mantra, repeating it with me two more times to break the bond holding Mr. Mead’s soul.
A massive pop, deep enough to shake the floor, startled me. Jenna screamed. Derek jumped in front of me, pushing my body back. “Grab your blades. Mine’s vibrating as if it wants to act on its own.” He grabbed his dagger (the one that NaNa Rosa had given to everyone on our team for protection and guidance against evil spirits from the dark plane) out of the sheath tucked into the back of his pants.
Jenna slipped hers from the sheath strapped to her thigh.
The film surrounding Mr. Mead had disappeared, and the oozing, dark entity that rose out of him charged the air with a distinct acrid odor that immediately gagged me.
I grabbed a wastebasket and threw up.
“Wow, you actually tossed your cookies, Sparky.” Jenna stared at me. “Are you sick?” She stood next to me, dagger in her hand. “Come on, woman, we need you now.”
“Rotten eggs, Kendra. Do you have your dagger in your hand?” Derek’s full attention remained on the grizzly form of leaking pustule bumps and dripping saliva.
I puked again, and my stomach continued to buck and roll. My protection sigil burned, telling me this guy came from the dark plane and would love to feed off our energy. I had tucked the blade in my bag with the herbs. Right now, that satchel lay on the floor about three feet to my right. Gagging and swallowing, I inched toward the bag to hold off the inevitable next wave of nausea.
The entity pulled itself entirely out of Mead’s body, red eyes gawking at us. It caught my movement, and a wretched toothy smile spread across its disgusting thick, slimy lips. The horrendous monster stood on the opposite side of Mead and stepped toward me through the gurney and Mead’s body as if wading through water.
“Sparky, get your dagger!” Jenna readied to throw.
“You look tasty, you’re first,” it rasped and stretched a claw at me, snapping its sharp nails.
Derek and Jenna threw their blades, hitting the evil creeper in the heart and slowing its progress toward me.
I dove for my bag, and the hilt of my dagger snugged into my hand. I yanked it out and flung it with a snap of my wrist. The blade found its mark and sunk into the entity’s heart beside the other two daggers. A vicious scream howled out, dropping Derek and me to our knees with hands covering our ears. I watched as it burned from the inside out and turned into white ash that disappeared, leaving Mr. Mead’s spirit staring at us.
“Where the hell am I?” He looked from Derek to me to Jenna and back at Derek. Then his gaze wandered around the room. “Am I inside a morgue?” His mouth dropped open when he saw his body on the gurney. “Am I dead?”
“I’m so sorry to tell you this, but yes, you died. We don’t know how. Can you remember anything that happened?” I didn’t want to force him, but his anxious shaking took a drastic turn as he stared at our daggers lying beside his feet.
“Did you guys kill me?” His image faltered into momentary static, but then he restabilized into a vivid body, appearing alive. “I want answers.” His lips pinched together, and then his eyes wandered to his dead body on the gurney. He slumped and looked at Derek. “What will my husband do?”
I glanced at Derek and watched his eyes widen.
“Let us know who your significant other is, and we’ll inform him of your passing.” Jenna stepped closer to him.
Mr. Mead huffed. “What would you say? Even I don’t know how I died.”
“We believe it had something to do with Sassy Blaze.” Derek moved beside Jenna, and I followed.
“All I remember is heading to the prison wing to check on the prisoners there. I noticed one guard sleeping beside the door, totally against protocol, so I kicked his foot to awaken him. Then I noticed a green powdery substance around his nose and wondered if he was on drugs. That’s all I recall, other than getting slammed against the wall and hearing the iron door slide open. That normally happened for my prisoner check, but I don’t remember anything after that. I blacked out.” His eyes went wide. “Did anyone look at surveillance?”
“The monitors recorded static in that cell block. That’s why I’m asking you.” Derek took a couple steps to stand directly in front of Mr. Mead. “Sassy Blaze hung herself in her cell. That got caught on surveillance and then her body disappeared. Do you know anything about that?”
“Sassy is dead?” His spine went erect, and he shook his head. “No, that can’t be right. That lunatic wants to murder the FBI Task Force team that imprisoned her. There’s no way she would kill herself.” He glared at Derek, and Derek stared back at him. “Wait a minute. You think I had something to do with Sassy hanging herself?”
“Did you?” Derek’s body went rigid.
1 comment:
I love the cover, synopsis and excerpts, Wrath is a must read for me and I am looking forward to it. Thank you for sharing the author's bio and book details
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