“I guess, but I’m not one hundred percent certain. I’ll go back after I’m done here.”
“Well, for your sake, we need to say he fell, because if I write down ghost attack—”
I chuckled. “You can write what you want. I’m sure he’ll have his own story anyway. What do I need to do?” I asked before Amelia went off on a tangent. The woman ran the ER here in Cordelia’s hospital, but had always been interested in the occult.Speaking of which, I needed to get back to the manor to find out what was really going on and what needed to happen to keep the twink safe because, for damn sure, had I not been there, this would’ve ended a hell of a lot worse than it did.
3
Evan
My head pounded, andI was lucky I hadn’t lost my breakfast. I had no idea what hit me except it must have been something fierce. My handsome driver, Cary, rushed me to the hospital, still not talking, thank God, because my head hurt too much for conversation.
By the time he’d unloaded me at the ER, I was feeling so nauseous I thought I wouldn’t be able to resist puking after all.
Luckily, once they got me settled in, my stomach relaxed. The guy who brought me into the room introduced himself, checked my vitals, and assured me the doctor would be by soon. I was surprised because soon wasn’t long, and I wondered what kind of ER got to patients that fast.
Thanks to my grandmother’s illness, the one that finally took her, I’d had enough run-ins with hospitals to know it was never quick.
The nurse left, and a nice woman came in to get all my information, including my insurance, which was brand new since I’d never had the money for such frivolities before. I’d usedsome of Dad’s life insurance to buy a policy. Guessed I was about to break it in.
Then the doctor arrived, pronounced me concussed, gave me a friendly smile, patted my shoulder, and disappeared. The male nurse returned, told me I was free to go, and that was that. All told, I’d been there maybe thirty minutes.
I had no idea whether Cary had stuck around when I was wheeled inside. And, in fact, he was nowhere to be seen. So, I took the bull by the horns and ordered an Uber, though it surprised me they had them out in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t know what the fuck had happened at the manor, but I did know I wasn’t planning on sitting around all day staring at the hospital lobby.
By the time the Uber got to me, which incidentally took longer than the ER visit, it was getting dark. I didn’t want to return to the manor, especially not knowing who’d attacked me, so I checked into an over-the-top, pink hotel the Uber driver suggested. My head still pounded, and with the doctor’s assurance that sleeping was fine, I decided to call the attorney tomorrow to work out all the details. Right now, I just wanted some Ibuprofen and sleep.
4
Cary
The spirits in themanor were in a temper by the time I returned. The energy around the place literally popped in my ears as I approached the front door.
I knew of at least three spirits that occupied the manor since I’d interacted with them on more than a few occasions, but I knew there were more. I had felt them, but never encountered them. Most had died on the estate, and all, except the particularly nasty one, were benign. However, tonight, nothing was benign about any of them.
Shit, I thought. It was too much for one man, even if my powers had improved with all the work and practice I’d been doing. I quickly picked up my phone and rang Allissa, or Al, as everyone called the leader of our coven.
“Yeah?” she answered, and I could tell she was annoyed, not that she wasn’t usually annoyed about something.
“Al, I need help.”
She sighed. “Cordelia Manor?” she asked, as if she’d been expecting trouble.
“Yeah.”
“I told you we should’ve exorcised that place.”
“I know, but… well, we can discuss that later. The new owner was attacked, and we have to do something before he returns.”
Al sighed again. “Okay, I’ll get the coven together, but it’s time, Cary, beyond time.”
“I know, but, Al, tonight it just needs to be calming, push the spirits back long enough for me to figure out what’s going on and how many spirits I have to deal with. I don’t want—”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard all this before,” Al said in a huff. “Tonight, we can put a Band-Aid on it, but it’s the last time, got it?”
I shook my head, but whispered, “Sure,” before Al hung up.
The women of my family had shown me the ways of witchcraft and been strong advocates for not forcing energy to flow one way or another. “You must let the spirit world move on its own terms, otherwise, you threaten the balance between this world and the veil,” were words my grandmother repeated often.
Recently, Chemeketa, another small town along the coast, where many of our magical community lived, had some unfortunate experiences working with that imbalance as four brothers there had to battle a nasty cantation that was tipping the balance in many different ways. It’d almost broken the community and worse.
