“I’ve given you guys enough excitement to last you for a while.” I clung to his thick neck. “Next time, we’ll go fishing or jump scare folks on ghost tours. Something wholesome and fun.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” He set me down with a kiss on my cheek. “Take care now.”
“Ready?” Harrow walked up to Jean-Claude. “We can set Kierce down out here, let Frankie clean?—”
“The cleaning spell on the wagon will remove any blood or stains. Let’s get him comfortable. I’ll use the charm once he’s in the back.” I walked ahead of them to the crypt and called, “Badb, it’s time to go.”
Her low glide barely kept her from the floor, and I scooped her out of the air to hold against my chest.
Together we watched as Kierce was loaded into the back of the wagon. I set Badb down beside him then put one of the charms in his hands before helping him snap the bone. Magic spiraled in a glittering wave from his head down to his toes, cleaning his skin and clothes, and leaving the self-inflicted damage even starker against his freshly scrubbed pallor.
Before I could give the go-ahead, Badb tucked herself into the bend of his arm and nestled against him.
Adoration that frankly baffled me warmed Jean-Claude’s voice. “Take care of her, you hear?”
“She’s spoiled rotten, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“You can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps.” He huffed at me. “Your man has good taste.”
Aware he wasn’t talking about me, I heaved a sigh. “Have you considered adopting your own crow?”
Stubble rasped under his nails as he scratched his chin. “Not until I met Badb, no.”
“That might not be legal,mon amie,” Vi interjected. “Do your research before you get attached to one.”
“If the grim can have one,” he grumbled, “I don’t see why I can’t.”
“I’m not sure Badb is all crow.” I caught her looking at me. “Crows are smart, but she’s next level.”
Add to that she could communicate with Kierce in his mind, and their bond resembled a witch and their familiar more than an owner and pet. Or, as he liked to say,friend. Their link could have altered her over time. Exposure to Abaddon or other forms of magic could be to blame, or maybe her otherness was what had attracted him in the first place. I should ask him sometime for more of their story, if he remembered it. I wished that I could ask her. I bet she had some wild memories of their time together.
“Next time I see your man, I’ll ask him.” Jean-Claude winked at me. “Maybe she has a sister.”
After the joke earned its intended laugh, he walked to Vi wearing a faint smile.
“See you at The Body Shop.” Carter tossed her keys and caught them on her palm. “Call if you need us.”
“Like you’re going to let Josie out of your sight until this is over.” I scoffed as she set her jaw. “You’ll be a car length behind us the whole way, or my name isn’t Mary Francis Talbot.”
With a growl under her breath, she marched out the door to fetch her truck from a nearby garage.
Laughing at her stomping, Harrow trailed his partner, careful to keep a few yards between them.
Once they were out of sight, I turned to the Suarezes. “You guys ready to go?”
“A nap sounds fantastic,” Pascal gusted out. “I never expected death to be so exhausting.”
“It’s all that partying,” Pedro teased him. “You should have rested more.”
“And miss out on late nights with Anita?”
Anita Fontenot, one of the spirits who inhabited the family mausoleum at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, was a fast friend of his, and something told me he would invite himself along the next time I visited Vi to spend more time with her.
Matty handed me the spirit box, and I slipped off the lid. The Suarezes entered aided by faint magical suction and disappeared from sight under the spell that would protect them from sunlight should they get jostled and the top come off during the ride.
Locating Anunit, I verified her travel plans. “What about you?”
“I too will ride in the box,” she decreed, pausing. “Unless I can ride in the Harrow?”
