5
On the way back home I thought about the conversation with Marissa. She wasn't wrong. It had been at least four months since she'd been at the house. She had a television, a few books left over from the previous owners, a stocked fridge and not much else. I couldn't even imagine how bored she was. Before her pregnancy she'd been heavily involved with the other military wives and was well known socially. I'd basically uprooted her entire life and plunked her into a prison.
Sikes would kill me if he could see what I had done. Hell, I felt like a real asshole for it, but it was the only way I knew to protect her. But maybe I had overdone the whole cloak and dagger scene. It was possible she could have come to Midnight Cove with none the wiser, but we had a lot of intuitive and powerful people in this town. It was very possible her secret would have been discovered.
I scratched the back of my neck and tried to think. I couldn't ask anyone for advice. A horrifying thought occurred to me and one I tried to immediately squash, but couldn't quite make myself.
There was a woman...one who supposedly could raise the dead. Sikes had been buried at the local cemetery here. Would he hate me for doing that to him? He was the only one I could ask for advice.
I made a quick left turn and headed over to Helen Reaper's house before I could talk myself out of it.
The womanwho answered the door was startlingly pretty and super grumpy.
"I'm booked six months in advance," she snarled at me when I rang the door and told her what I was there for.
"It's an emergency."
Her stare turned flat. "Oh? Let me guess. Is there an inheritance burning a hole in your pocket or something?"
It was my turn to get annoyed. "No," I barked. "But the nature of the emergency isn't any of your business."
Helen Reaper shut the door in my face.
"Shit," I muttered. Guess that was the wrong answer. I raised my hand to knock again, but before I could, the door flung open and an enormous, very dirty man stood there glaring at me.
"Did you just insult my wife?"
I inhaled discreetly. Crap. This guy was a ghoul and could probably pound my head into the ground before I said a single word. Tread lightly, Lucas.
I slapped on an insincere smile. "My apologies. I'm here with an emergency and the only person who can help is my friend."
"The deceased," Hank said, his voice dry as dust.
"I'm afraid so."
"You do know Helen hears this every single day from people who have zero respect for her time, don't you?"
At my alarmed look, the ghoul chuckled. "You think you're the first supposedly clever schmuck to come to our door declaring some kind of emergency?" He looked heavenward and shook his head. "If you people had half the brain of a grape, you'd realize very few people are more clever than my wife."
The door started to shut, but I set my foot in it. "Sir, I implore you to listen -"
The pressure on my foot grew.
"Two seconds to move your foot or I'll crush it to powder," the ghoul said with zero emotion in his voice.
I moved my damn foot and let him, once again, shove the door in my face.
I sat down on the steps with my head in my hands. Perhaps I had been a jackass. I knew the only way I could get Helen to help me was to tell her the truth. I couldn't wait six months. By then, there would be a vamp/wolf baby roaring through the streets.
I stood back up, dusted myself off, took a deep breath and rang the doorbell again. The ghoul answered and more than a flicker of rage was present on his face.
"Are you really that stupid?" he asked in that slow tone that told me I was about to get my ass kicked.
"Ah, no," I said on a nervous chuckle. "But I must implore you to see me today. It truly is an emergency."
The ghoul crossed powerful arms against his chest. "So?"
My shoulders slumped. "And if you invite me in and swear to never tell a soul, I will share with you what it is."
