What Voodoo Do You Do? Read online

  Monty snarled and lunged at the elderly woman, shocking me with his aggression. I shortened the leash, keeping him close to my legs. But when I looked into Molly’s face, I saw what Monty no doubt had already seen.

  Something that wasn’t my friend was looking out at me through her eyes.

  Molly’s cotton-candy hair still blowing around her skull, her lips were curved into a smile that belonged on a long-dead corpse. She stood with her gnarled hands layered over her rounded belly, observing me as if I were a particularly fascinating bug.

  “Molly?” I sent out a wave of energy and could barely feel her essence beneath whatever was riding her. “Molly, you need to fight this off.”

  A foul-smelling wind surged up from the ground and wrapped around my legs, ripping them out from under me. Monty yelped and tugged the leash from my nerveless fingers. I crashed to the ground on my back. The force knocked the air from my lungs, ensuring that I couldn’t scream when the invisible energy around my calves lifted me off the ground and slammed me into the brick wall of the building.

  Agony flared quickly as my flesh hit the hard, biting surface, but I couldn’t dwell on it because I was suddenly flying across the courtyard to smash against the opposite wall.

  Immediately, I was flung into the sky, so high that I came even with the top of the shadowy illumination infesting the courtyard.

  For just the briefest of seconds, I thought I saw a face in the shadows. Round black eyes and a bovine nose above the curve of scabby lips around deadly-looking fangs. Then I was flung downward again, seeing my death in those hate-filled eyes.

  I gathered my energy and pushed against the power that had hold of me, using my own energy in an attempt to sever its control. I threw everything I had at the entity, watching with satisfaction as the illumination changed form, spun on the air, and then plunged downward into the decorative well.

  I hung in the air for a heartbeat and then plummeted toward the ground.

  Massive wings beat the air above my head. I barely had time to acknowledge the presence before strong arms snatched me from the sky. I screamed, arms flailing until I realized who had hold of me. Then I sagged with relief, allowing him to ease me to the ground.

  I clung to Lungren Maker like he was a lifeboat on the surface of a storm-tossed sea. My entire body shaking with fear and residual adrenaline, I clutched his shirt and buried my face in his delicious scent. “Oh my goddess,” I murmured unintelligibly against him. “I thought I was a goner.”

  Gren’s arms came around me and held me tight. “Just breathe, Aggy. Pull air into your lungs, and let it slowly out.” His warm hand rubbed my back, inspiring delicious thoughts even while it soothed my jangled nerves. “Tell me what happened.”

  I lifted my head, looking into his fathomless dark brown eyes. “There was a summons. And then I got a call…” My words drifted away, and my eyes went wide. “Molly!”

  We found her crumpled in a limp pile where I’d last seen her. Her tiny form looked so lifeless, I thought she was beyond our help.

  But as Gren gently turned her over and I felt for a pulse, her bright blue eyes snapped open and she stared up at us, looking thoroughly confused. “Am I inside a romance novel?”

  Gren and I shared a look. I was afraid the dementia that had a grip on her mind was in control.

  But Molly laughed, winking at Gren. “He’s a hottie. Introduce me, Aggy.”

  “Molly, this is Gren. He’s my…” Our gazes caught and held across the prostrate woman. Heat painted my skin wherever his gaze touched it. “Um…”

  Gren turned a smile on Molly. I wanted to tell him to tone it down a bit. The eighty-some-year-old woman could have a heart attack at the sight. “Aggy and I are the best of friends. Would you like to get off the ground?”

  Molly’s mouth was open, her gaze locked on his. “Ground?”

  Gren chuckled, the sound sexy and seductive.

  Molly and I both swallowed and blinked under its force. “Come on,” I told the woman. “Let’s get you up. How did you get out here, anyway?”

  Molly allowed us to lift her gently to her feet. She frowned, her soft hair like a halo around her tiny, wizened face. “Out where?” I watched as she finally realized where she was. “Did you bring me out here?” she asked, looking alarmed.

  “No,” I told her, easing her onto a nearby bench. “Do you remember calling me?”

  “I called you?”

  I was pretty sure she hadn’t been under the influence of that shadowy thing with the scabby lips when she called me. “Yes. You asked me to come because something was happening here.”

  Molly nodded, swiping a hand over her mouth. “Yes. I do remember that.” She stared at her hands, the skin pecan brown and crepey with age. “But I can’t remember why I called.”

  “There was some kind of explosion,” I told her. “I rushed over and found the courtyard full of fire that didn’t burn.” I was looking at Gren, telling him even as I filled Molly in. “And wind that wasn’t really wind.” I shuddered. “Molly was standing over that little well over there, her arms outstretched. It looked like she was doing a spell or something.”

  Gren walked over to the harmless-looking wooden well and looked down into it, his stance going rigid. “Abby.”

  I touched Molly’s shoulder. “Don’t get up, okay? I don’t know what that thing did to you. I don’t want you to fall.”

  She nodded, her eyes locked on Gren. Or, more precisely, on his backside.

  “Molly.” My voice held a note of censure.

  Molly didn’t seem to care. She briefly tore her gaze away from Gren and winked at me. “Let an old woman dream, cher.”

  I rolled my lips to keep from grinning. “I’ll be right back.”

  Gren didn’t turn to me when I approached. Every line of his tall, muscular form was taut, his hands clenched at his sides. I knew it was bad before I stopped beside him and looked down.

  The sides of the small, wooden well rolled and boiled as if something writhed beneath the cheap wood. The nearest side-wall bowed toward me as if the entire thing were made of stretchy fabric. I stepped back in alarm as the distinct shape of a clawed hand groped the spot where I’d been. “What is that?” I asked Gren.

  He turned a haunted face to me. “I don’t know. But whatever it is, it’s just about as evil as anything I’ve ever felt, Aggy.”

  I had no problem believing that. The clawed apparition retreated and I stepped closer, peering down into the well. I gasped, one hand coming up to cover my mouth. “Oh my goddess!”

  The space inside the yard ornament appeared infinite. Boiling with inky black magic, it was alive in the way nightmares lived. The movement of the magic drew me in, enthralling me before I even knew what it was trying to do. I stared into the shimmering roil of energy, watching as it fought its constraints and tried to bubble to the top of the limited space.

  Like a pot of boiling pudding, it rose thickly toward the edge of the well, sending seeking threads toward the lip in an effort to lock on and pull itself out.

  Every time it managed to clamp on, a shiny geyser of energy burst at its center, sending grave-scented air into our faces and ripping the questing magic back down.

  “Something is keeping it from escaping,” I told Gren.

  He nodded. “It seems to be fighting itself.”

  “Weird,” I said.

  “Beyond weird,” he agreed. “You should call the witches.”

  The witches… I blinked. “Curse!” Spinning on my heel, I hurried toward the door. “Mavis was coming to help. She’s probably locked outside.” As I rushed past Molly, I said. “Don’t move.”

  She was still watching Gren as if he were a sizzling steak and she hadn’t eaten in months. Her lazy grin was creepy, but in a lecherous older woman way, rather than a monster boiling in a well way. “No worries, cher. I ain’t movin’ from this spot.”

  Rolling my eyes, I yanked open the door into the lobby. As soon as I stepped inside, my phone starte
d ringing, and there were a series of dings as several texts popped onto my screen.

  I answered the call while hurrying toward the front door. “Mavis, I’m so sorry!” I shoved the door open and came face to face with my angry mom. “I have a good excuse for forgetting you. I promise!”

  3

  A Rupture in the Fetid Soil

  “I’ve been standing out here for twenty minutes,” Mavis complained, pushing past me into the lobby. “I thought you’d been eaten by demons or something.”

  I felt my hazel eyes go wide. “Demons? Why would you say that?” Was I the only one who hadn’t expected a demonic presence and a Hellmouth in the courtyard?

  She blew a raspberry. “It’s just a figure of speech.” Her expression turned sly. “But you do realize Rome is built on top of a vortex to Hades, right?”

  At the horrified expression on my face, she laughed, her good nature returning. “Just teasing, honey. That’s just an ugly rumor. There’s no such thing.”

  I winced. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

  Mavis walked past me into the lobby. “Why didn’t you answer my calls? Or my texts?”

  I stared at the texts that had all arrived as soon as I’d come inside. “Something was apparently blocking them. Maybe the courtyard is a dead zone.”

  Mavis didn’t look convinced, but she let it go. “Where is everybody?”

  “I assume they’re sleeping.”

  Her brows lifted. “Even Shadee?”

  Shadee was the night nurse, a no-nonsense Amazonian with coal-black skin, a wild halo of curly black hair, and eyes that pierced your soul and ripped the truth from reluctant lips. She was also one of the kindest, most compassionate people I’d ever met. “That is strange, isn’t it?” I agreed. “The explosion wasn’t exactly quiet.” The realization made me panic. “There must be something wrong with the residents.”

  The door to the courtyard opened, and Gren came inside, carrying a limp and unconscious Molly in his arms.

  I panicked. “What happened? Is she okay?”

  He laid her down on the couch. “I’m not sure. One minute she was ogling my backside, and the next her eyes were rolling up in her head. Then she collapsed.”

  Mavis bent over the unconscious woman. Once upon a time, a couple of decades earlier, Mavis had been a nurse. She quickly assessed my friend, a worried frown playing across her face. “This isn’t purely physical, Aggy. There’s the stench of black magic about her.” She lifted her gaze to me. “Tell me what happened while I was cooling my heels outside.”

  Curse, swear, curse! She wasn’t going to let that go anytime soon. I told her about finding Molly standing over the little well, the monster in the tower of light and shadow, and being used as the whacker in a magical game of whack-a-mole.

  Her expression finally softened on that last part. “Are you okay, honey?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “It takes more than a shadowy demon to dent my head.” I’d been going for humor, but Gren and Mavis both winced. So, I tried again. “This Lares thing seems to have made me kind of invincible. But getting smacked into a building still hurts like a mother,” I admitted.

  Mavis patted my hand, looking down at Molly. “I’m not sure non-magic medicine will help her, but she needs to go to the hospital. After that, we’ll look at alternatives.”

  “Alternatives?” Gren asked.

  Mavis nodded. “We might need to fight black magic with black magic.”

  My eyes went wide. “You mean, like voodoo?”

  The door behind me smacked shut with a loud clang. “Voodoo ain’t black magic, cher,” a booming voice said. “It’s a religion. I’ll give ya dat da rituals to deities can be misused by some.”

  Shadee strolled toward us, the whites of her eyes bright in the dim light. The woman was six feet tall and built like a swimmer, with broad shoulders, narrow hips, and the longest legs I’d ever seen. She was dressed in blue hospital scrubs, but even in the soft, slouchy clothes, she still looked stunning.

  The night nurse looked about as spooked as I’d ever seen her. “But, in dis case, you’re right.” She stopped next to the couch and looked down at Molly, her smooth brow furrowing. “Dis energy dark. The devil done got inside dat poor creature,” she said in her deep, husky voice. “It gone take jus’ ‘bout everyting we got to drag his sorry behind out o’ dere.”

  “You think she’s possessed?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure about dat.” Shadee jerked her head toward the courtyard. “What happened out dere?” she asked.

  “You didn’t see it?” Mavis asked.

  “Na. I bin takin’ care o’ all dem old folks in dere. Whatever blasted through dat barrier sent a shrill tone into da air and knocked dem all off dey feet. I got bloody heads, broken noses, and I’m worried about a few hips. Da ambulance is comin’, and I don’t have a clue what ta tell ’em happened here.”

  Knowing we were about to be interrupted, I quickly relayed the story again, keeping to the pertinent facts and leaving out some of the detail about my too-close association with the walls and ground.

  “Dat vortex still in da well?”

  “Yes,” Gren said. “It’s trying to escape its bounds.”

  She frowned. “I’ll see if I can slow it down some.”

  “Slow it down?” I said. “We need to stop it.”

  Shadee threw me a look, her dark brows arching. “Yeah, Lares, we do. But if dat da vortex out dere, it gone take more’n jus’ me ta stop it. We lookin’ at a whole lot o’ heartbreak if we don’t get dat ting shut down. Ya feel me?”

  I did feel her. I felt a lot of things. And none of it was good.

  “Is there any point in taking her to the hospital?” Mavis asked, nodding toward Molly. “Can they help her at all?”

  “Dat sister los’ to da magic. Ain’t nothin’ no human doc can do ta help.” She blew air between her lips and put her hands on her narrow hips. Sirens speared the unnatural quiet beyond the doors. Shadee’s head snapped up at the sound. “We need ta block dat vortex from dem humans.”

  Mavis nodded. “I can do an obfuscation spell. And I’ll see if I can slow it down while I’m at it.”

  “Tanks, cher,” Shadee said, glancing at me. “You can help me in here? We need ta do triage.”

  “Of course.”

  “I’ll go keep an eye on Mavis,” Gren said softly, squeezing my elbow.

  I gave him a grateful smile. “Give me a call on our special line if you need me.”

  It will be my pleasure, Gren said in my mind.

  Despite the dire situation we found ourselves in, the sound of his sexy voice in my head warmed me right down to my toes. Shoving the warm fuzzies away, I fell into step behind Shadee. I struggled to keep up with her as she strode quickly through the door to the patient rooms, her long strides making two of mine.

  As soon as we entered the residence part of the building, I noticed all the open doors, which seemed odd. What was even odder were all the bodies laid out in the social area of the space. Elderly people were draped over the floor with pillows under their heads and blankets covering them. I saw the knots and wounds on their pale, papery skin immediately. The bruises and blood stood out against their paleness like beacons. Most were awake, their rheumy gazes following us as we approached, but three of them in the first row were unconscious. A woman and two men. The woman’s face was covered in blood from a hairline wound. The arm of the man next to her was draped carefully across his chest, the stark white of a bone piercing the skin. The other man had one leg that jutted at an odd angle.

  Shadee looked at me. “I gave dem sometin’ for da pain. Dey old bones don’t hold up well to trauma.”

  Tears filled my eyes. I wondered if I could do anything with my power as Lares to help them.

  As if she read my thought, Shadee shook her head. “Let the human docs help dese folks. It’s da natural ting. It always best ta go wit natural whenever you can.”

  I nodded. “What do you want me to do?” br />
  “Da hospital could only send two ambulances. We need ta triage dese people so da EMTs can just come in, fill dey gurneys, and get dem out o’ here. Da sooner dey leave, da sooner dey can come back for more.”

  “Got it.”

  Shadee motioned me toward the front when someone knocked. “Let ’em in, cher.”

  We triaged, soothed, gave water, and added pillows for the next two hours while the ambulances worked their way through the injured. By the time the last patient left the building, the sun was peeking over the horizon, and I felt as if I’d already put in a full day’s work.

  Which I had.

  “Was everybody affected?” Mavis asked, looking a little peaked when she finally came inside.

  Shadee shook her head. “Dere’s Mrs. Wolde and Old Mr. Pintwallen. He be fine ’cause he’s deaf as a shoe.” She chuckled. “Drives me batty, he does, refusin’ ta wear dem dang hearing aids. Always with da, ‘what now?’ ‘what you say, honey?’ I never thought I’d be happy when he couldn’t hear sometin’.” Her formidable brows lowered. “Mrs. Wolde is jus’ a little mouse. She’s as shy as dey come and don’t speak much ta strangers. Somehow she came out o’ dis widout a scratch.” Shadee shook her head. “Da two o’ dem gonna be lonely widout da rest.”

  “Some of the residents should come back soon, right?” I offered. “Not all of them were badly hurt.”

  Shadee nodded. “Dey gotta check dey bones and heads. Make sure dey ain’t nothin’ goin’ on dat’ll hurt ’em in da long term.”

  “How do we close up that vortex out there?”

  Shadee’s gaze slid to the glass separating us from the courtyard. “I wish I knew, cher.”

  I yawned widely, exhaustion suddenly finding me. “Okay. I’m going to go swim in a vat of coffee, then call my council together and see if we can come up with a plan.”

  “I’ll hit da books and call some of my friends,” Shadee promised. “We’ll figure dis out, Madam Lares.”