Doing a family favour before a wedding is nerve-wracking at the best of times, clearing out the haunted venue is a nightmare.

Hecate’s social life is looking up. Her sister is getting married, the new brother-in-law-to-be is a really good guy, and his family is helping Hecate fill in the gaps of her knowledge of what the hell she is.

Her grandfather’s ghost is convinced that she needs to become a ghost hunter in her family tradition. She has attempted to tell him that her way is more appropriate, but it is hard to get a new idea into the minds of the deceased.

When her grandfather’s assistant arrives, Hecate is in for a shock. Not only is he pale as marble, but he is also as solid as the stone as well.

She doesn’t have time to deal with the new arrival. Her sister’s wedding venue has had a disaster strike, and the search is on for a new one. Hecate goes with them when they locate a prospective replacement. There is only one problem. It is the most haunted building in the province. It’s a good thing that Hecate has cleared her calendar for the week before the event. She has some work to do.

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Sage and Spirited

Copyright © 2020 Viola Grace

ISBN: 978-1-4874-2829-7

Cover art by Martine Jardin

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Sage and Spirited

The Wakeman Grimoire Book #2

By

Viola Grace

Chapter One

“You are not serious enough about this, Hecate.”

She looked at him through narrowed eyes and yawned. “About what, Grandfather?”

“About your role as a ghost hunter.”

“I am not a hunter. I am an expediter, extractor, or remover. I don’t hunt them; I go when I am called.”

He muttered, “You should take an interest in breaking the family curse.”

She groaned and sat up, swinging her legs out from under her blankets. “Right now, I have an interest in a carafe of coffee and some hot breakfast. Is it even dawn yet?”

He blustered and got out of her way as she walked through her house and into her kitchen. Making coffee on automatic was something she had been doing for years.

She put pastries into the toaster, verified the setting, and pushed the lever down.

“You do not have a good diet. You consume too many calories.”

She gave the form of her grandfather a dark look as her coffee began to emit its life-giving scent. “I burn eight thousand calories on a day when I work. My body is constantly in a battle to keep itself heated and functioning. Being half-ghost and half-human is not something that comes with a lite grocery bill.”

She poured a coffee and took the cup out to the deck, where she watched the eastern sky turn pink.

In the last fourteen days, she had taken care of a jealous poltergeist that she had almost forgotten about, met her grandfather’s ghost, and been invited to the rehearsal dinner for her sister’s wedding. There were a few more ghosts extracted and released and the daily routine that never seemed to stabilize, but she was getting better at juggling.

“You need a structure to build on your strengths. Your instinct for your skills is tremendous, but there is never an excuse to reject education.”

“I will gladly welcome education. I just need materials to study.”

“Domerik should be here shortly. I don’t understand the holdup.”

She sipped at her coffee and muttered, “I think he had to hire a truck.”

“What?”

“When you made it clear that he was arriving with the furnishings, I knew that he had to bring them properly, at least for this community. I called Domerik back and explained things, so he was transporting stuff over and hauling it here in a purchased sea container. This community is small, and if something simply appeared without any means of approach, people would talk.”

“Ah. What did he say?”

“He would be driving in this week.” She smiled.

Ulysses was shocked. “I didn’t know he could drive.”

Hecate gave her grandfather’s ghost a stare. “I thought he was your driver.”

“No, he is a butler, assistant, and archivist.”

“Oh. Well, your question is answered. He’s about five minutes out. I just heard air brakes from the highway turn.”

“How do you know it is not for someone else?” He crossed his arms.

“You don’t understand how small this town really is. I would have heard if there were any other shipments coming in.” She smiled and headed in to get her toaster pastries and more coffee.

Four minutes later, a semi made its way down her drive with a forty-foot sea container hitched to it. She smiled, got up, and walked in front of the slowly moving vehicle, waving it on to the site that she had prepared for it.

The driver got out, and they discussed the placement of the doors. He made a slow loop around and then backed up until he was in front of the site. The bed the container was on tipped, and the sea can was gently eased into place, settled down with a thud, and when Hecate signed for the receipt, he handed her the keys.

All of the chains were unhitched, the transport bed was locked back in place, and the semi made its way off her property, leaving only the sea container behind.

Ulysses looked at the metal box. “It is most unseemly.”

“This is the country. And the new world, for that matter. Practical wins until I can arrange to have a proper outbuilding built for it.” She flicked through the keys and went to the unit, figuring out which way the key went in the lock before popping the first of three of them.

“How do you even know how to open it?”

She paused and turned to him with a frown. “Unsettled ghosts were often killed in this kind of container. I needed to get in, so I learned.”

Once the locks were off, she lifted the vertical posts that locked the doors into the base of the container via their handles. The metal moved with a hard squeak and a screech. She hauled the door outward, and it swung open and to the side.

Her grandfather stepped toward the door, and he called out, “Domerik!”

A figure stirred in the darkness of the stacked boxes. “Do I hear your call, Wakeman?”

Hecate was standing right in his path with the light blazing behind her. “You hear your old master, and you hear my voice once again. It is good to see you in person, Domerik.”

He stepped toward her, and he was a match to the deep voice that she had listened to over the phone. “Miss Wakeman? You have your grandfather’s eyes.”

He bowed low and looked up with bright, twinkling green eyes. The rest of him was more suited to a Nordic bodybuilder than a librarian. His blonde hair was tied neatly at the nape of his neck, and he smiled brightly when he stood straight in front of her again.

“Miss Wakeman, I stand ready to serve you as I have served six generations of Wakemans before you.”

Hecate stepped back. “Uh...”

Her grandfather chortled. “Excellent, Domerik. I knew you wouldn’t abandon us because the heir is a female.”

“Of course not. You are looking very robust for a naturally deceased ghost, Master Ulysses.”

Her grandfather chuckled. “That is all Hecate’s doing. There are many ghosts on this property, and I would ask that you treat them well. They are under her care.”

Hecate sighed. “Guys. I am right here. First, Domerik, call me Hecate, and I will call you Rick. Got it?

“Now, Grandfather, you don’t give orders around here. Amber does. You are not the ghost most familiar with our emergencies and protocols. She is. You wanted to teach me the ways of our family. I want to learn, but don’t forget that I have my own ways of working with the deceased, and my own methods to work with the humans that are affected.”

“Of course. This container is your legacy and Domerik’s home.”

Domerik smiled. “I can make it look like whatever you wish.”

Hecate sighed. “Keep it as a container. I don’t want to pay property taxes on a palace or a keep. There is a crushed limestone base under the container, so it will remain level and dry.”

Domerik gave a courtly bow. “Thank you, Hecate. I can work expansive magic inside and make it comfortable.”

She grimaced. “And we will have to put a few of your clothing items into my home in case anyone comes by. It has to look like you are staying there. This is a very small town. They will notice someone like you immediately.”

“Someone like me?”

She looked him up and down. He was wearing a neat set of trousers, expensive shoes, and a shirt so crisp it looked like it could cut paper. “You are going to need to downgrade your wardrobe a bit. This is a jeans and t-shirt kind of place. Also, I don’t know if your accent is stuck on British, but if you could alter it to something a little more North American, that would be great.”

He blinked and smiled. His voice changed, and the less formal tones rolled out. “I will do my best to blend in. How will you explain my presence?”

She smiled. “I suppose I will have to find something for you to do here. What would you like as a hobby?”

He stared, and his leaf green eyes widened. “No one has ever asked me that.”

“Get used to a lot of firsts.” She winked and looked past him. “Now, can I have a tour?”

“Of course... Hecate.”

She smiled brightly and followed him into the library of the Wakemans.

Chapter Two

The interior of the forty-foot container was neat, and everything was precisely arranged.

“Please, tell me that you didn’t travel all the way from the UK in this.” She looked around.

“No, I entered the country legally, via aircraft. You made it very clear that you wished to have no trouble with any legal issues, in case of law enforcement interference.”

She wrinkled her nose as she read the labels on the boxes. “Well, they do tend to pop up here to ask me questions, so if you are going to reside here, I need you to be able to identify yourself.”

She glanced toward him, and he smiled, handing her his international driver’s license.

She nodded. “Thank you. Things get weird very quickly, so obeying basic rules is usually a good idea.”

“Weird?” He chuckled.

“Yes. Weird. Like having a guy who is well over a hundred looking like he is in his mid-thirties. You know. Weird.”

“I will explain the circumstances another day. For now, you would be better served if you allowed me to do some dimensional magic here. I need to expand things for comfort.”

Hecate turned to him and was facing his chest. “Oh. Right. If I can just get past you?”

He grinned and slowly turned, letting her slide along the rows of boxes as she inched past him at very close quarters. He could have stepped back, but that didn’t seem to be his style.

She stepped out onto the gravel and sighed in relief.

Ulysses smiled. “Domerik is a very competent mage. We are lucky to have him bound to us.”

“Um, how did that happen?”

The doors began to swing closed, and she stepped back quickly.

The container began to hum, and her grandfather chuckled. “He is making a new home for himself. At the family property, he had an old cottage that he used as the library. It was much like this, but only a true Wakeman can enter. His little tour was a challenge.”

“Wonderful. More tests.” Light was flickering through the crack of the door. It wasn’t fully latched.

“Our job, your job is to deal with one challenge, one test after another.”

Hecate yawned. “Well, it seems like I am in desperate need of another cup of coffee. You can let Domerik know when he gets out of there.”

“It will take him a few hours. Magic is effective, but it is not usually fast.”

She nodded and headed back to the house. There was coffee in the pot, and she was the only one who was going to drink it.

Amber was sitting next to her on the deck. “So, the new guy is kinda hot.”

“There is a story behind him that I am interested in learning, but yeah, he is very pretty.”

Amber smiled. “If I was alive, I would totally be taking photos of him and pretending to my friends that he was a charming guy I met at a coffee shop.”

“He’s well over one hundred years old. So, if I let you hang around with him, your mom is going to have words with me.”

The giggles of the ghost teen lifted Hecate’s spirits. When she calmed, she asked, “Why is he here?”

“He comes with the Wakeman inheritance. It is starting to sound like the family owns him.”

Amber gasped with a hand over her mouth. “Can you do that?”

“I didn’t do it. Someone did it a few hundred years ago, and until he finishes playing in his dollhouse, I can’t find out how to set him free.”

Her grandfather was still over at the container, pacing slowly.

“Ulysses doesn’t seem very concerned over the situation. He does seem very happy to see Domerik again.” Hecate sighed. “This is complicated.”

Amber smiled. “You will figure it out, or you won’t. Either way, he is fun to look at for now.”

“I am not going to ogle him. He basically came along with my grandfather as part of his estate. I have no idea how it works, but I will ask him when we have a moment of privacy how his attachment to the family was created.”

“How do you think?”

Hecate chuckled as her phone started ringing. “I think they found him on the side of the road and just picked him up.”

“You don’t think a ghost was involved?”

She chuckled. “Probably.”

She answered the phone. “Hello?”

Her sister’s voice was tense. “Heck, I need your help.”

“Esmy? What is it?”

“I have an emergency, and I think that it is right up your alley. Will you help?”

“What do you need?”

Hecate listened as her sister blurted out, “Our venue had a sewage backup.”

“Damn. How can I help?”

“Well, we have found one alternative site that will fit the bill and provide plenty of room for the werewolf activities. There is just one problem.”

“What?”

“It’s haunted.”

She perked up. “Haunted?”

“Yes, Heck, right up your alley.” Esmy sighed. “Hang on, Leo wants to talk.”

Hecate paused, and then, her soon-to-be brother-in-law said, “Good afternoon, Hecate.”

“Afternoon, Leo. What is the situation?”

“Lovely building, old hotel, wide-open spaces for the games after the service, but no one can set up in there, and the cleaners had to storm the building in groups for safety. There are ghosts, they throw things, and they are determined that we will not have our wedding there.”

Hecate pinched the bridge of her nose. “How long have you known about it?”

“Three days. We have crews setting up the parking area and working with the plant life, but we need someone to extract some of the dozen ghosts in that building... so we are calling you.”

Hecate grimaced. “None of the other side of the family can deal with this.”

“That is correct.”

“Send me the address. I will let you know when it has been cleared.”

“Do you need help?”

“No. How many do you think there are?”

He huffed into the phone. “There have been at least six simultaneous events recorded.”

“Right. Okay. I will get my supplies together and get out there to do an assessment. If I can help ease any of them free, I will.” She mentally tried to figure out how many poppets she had on hand.

“Will you keep us posted?” He sounded a little nervous.

“Sure. Send me the details on the location, and I will go there tonight for the initial assessment. I haven’t extracted more than three at a single event yet.”

“Do you need our help?”

She smiled. No one had ever offered to help before.

“No, the living tend to agitate the ghosts. I will be fine. I won’t take too many risks, and I will let you know what the status is.”

“You are going at sundown?”

“I am.”

“You might meet some of my cousins. They are trying to get the plants and flowers ready for the weekend.”

“As long as they know I am coming, things should be fine.”

“Why do they need to know?”

“If it is nightfall and the ghosts rise, things will get weird. Ghosts gravitate to me, and they might not mind harassing some humans or werewolves on the way.”

“Merfolk, but I will let them know.”

“Thanks. Now, I have to get some stuff together. And more coffee. Coffee is definitely a necessity.”

“Call us and let us know how it is going. Please. Esmy worries.”

Hecate paused. “She does?”

“She does.”

Esmy took over the call. “I do. This place looks wonderful and feels weird, but there isn’t anything else that suits both sides of the family.”

“I understand. I will get my part sorted. Promise.”

“Don’t put yourself in danger. If we have to, we can move it to your place.”

Hecate’s eyes opened in shock. “Nope. I will get this cleared up for you. If there are any ghosts left, they will be minty fresh and quiet. I promise. Nothing and no one who can wreck your wedding will be left on the premises.”

“Thanks, Heck. We are just starting calls to let folks know the wedding moved. I didn’t want to ask you, but Leo said you would have been furious if we didn’t give you a chance to help.”

“He’s a very smart man, that guy who is going to be your husband in less than a week.” Hecate chuckled.

“I know. He thinks highly of you as well.” Esmy’s voice had a smile in it.

“I am so very happy for you. This wedding day is going to be perfect.”

“I know. Even if there is a poltergeist up my wedding dress, I am going to say my vows.”

The determination in her sister’s voice sent a ripple of relief through Hecate. Esmy needed someone, she always had. Finding Leo had been the right man at the right time. Knowing that Esmy had someone gave Hecate an overwhelming sense that everything was right in the universe.

They said their goodbyes, and Hecate promised to call the next day to update her about the site. The directions were on the way.

She set the phone down and exhaled.

“You have an assignment?”

She spun and struck out. Domerik grabbed her fist and raised his brows. “The door was unlocked.”

“Yes, but not open. Up until today, I have had an expectation of privacy. So, if you are going to be here, knock.”

He nodded. “You need training. You telegraphed that strike.”

She frowned. “To be fair, my targets are usually not corporeal. Can I have my hand back now?”

He let her go. “Do you require assistance on your mission?”

Hecate snorted. “No. I am going to do some research into the property and fatalities, make sure I have enough poppets, and then check my herb and thermos supply.”

“Poppets? Thermos? What are you talking about?”

“I have a system, and that system works very well. I don’t doubt that there are different ways to do it, but my reflexes and awareness of my work is what I have made function for me. Don’t forget, I had to go at this blind.”

He frowned, and Ulysses walked into the room behind him. “Domerik trains us. He has for generations.”

“Well, it is a bit of a late start with me, but I will start training as soon as I get a bit of a breather. Tonight, I am rather busy.” She smiled and started to gather her supplies.

Domerik asked, “What is happening tonight?”

She counted out a dozen poppets. She was running low and would have to sew more soon. “Tonight, I am going to an old hotel that has been renovated a dozen times. I have to get more details about the deaths, but it is going to be a late night. Don’t wait up.”

Ulysses frowned, and Domerik did the same.

“You agreed to a mission before knowing the details?”

She looked at her grandfather’s acquaintance. “Of course. It’s for Esmy. Her wedding venue was trashed, so the wedding is moving to this property.” Hecate held up her hand. “Before you ask, it is the only one that satisfies our family needs and Leo’s. The werewolves need a place to roam and have their games.”

Domerik straightened. “Wolves? You are consorting with werewolves?”

She laughed and went digging for her thermos collection. “Not just wolves. Merfolk and elves and monsters and a Nexus. They are all going to be at the wedding.”

Domerik blinked and sat down in one of the chairs. “There is a Nexus?”

“There is. She is very supportive of the couple. Leo’s parents are both members of the Nexus’ Guard.”

Domerik paled and looked at the shadow who was standing in the kitchen. “Ulysses, why didn’t you tell me that your granddaughter was marrying into the Nexus’ Guard?”

With her arms loaded, Hecate carried the thermoses to the dining table. “Why does it matter?”

“That is power, and no Wakeman has ever gotten that close to pure power.”

Hecate snorted. “I have visited the great archive; I think that counts.”

Domerik’s expression was filled with shock.

Ulysses leaned forward, and his ghostly presence asked, “What did you learn?”

She grinned and kept working on assembling her tools. “A lot, and I am hoping to find more information in those files of yours, Domerik.”

He continued to look stunned, Ulysses continued to ask her how she was going to use the items she was collecting, and she kept packing. First, plan to capture a bunch of red ghosts and then do the research, as long as she understood who she was going to capture.

This was one of the rare occasions where a living being was not directly involved, and that required a different plan of action.

Chapter Three

When her phone chirped, she checked the information and began her search into the history of the hotel. Carman House was an elegant building that had once been a lovely home for extensive parties and lavish holiday entertaining. When the original owners passed on, they left it to a nephew who turned the sprawling home into a hotel.

Two natural deaths occurred, but nothing that would cause a major haunting happened for four decades. There was a massacre at a wedding with seven dead, including the bride.

“That was probably it.” Hecate sipped at her coffee and got as many details from the mentions in memoirs and other stories of local haunting. The building was popular with ghost trackers, but they never stayed overnight.

The accounts of folks being injured due to unexplained attacks were varied, and while several men spoke about the spectral bride, the women on the teams noticed the jealous husband.

There had been a few owners over the decades, but right now, it was owned by a developer who had an eye toward destroying the building. They had been unable to get zoning for any new developments, but as the nearby city continued to expand, the eventual capitulation of the municipality was inevitable.

She didn’t know how Leo and Esmy had gotten permission for the wedding, but she had the funny feeling that her own skills were part of the reason. There was no sense in fearing a haunting when your sister could extract the remaining souls.

“So, this is how you work, you get a call and do your research?” Domerik was sitting nearby and watching her.

She shook her head. “No, usually I get the information from a living person, and then, I go in, knowing a little about their life and death. When I find a ghost who isn’t tethered to a living soul, things are more complicated. All of the family members of the deceased seem to be dead and gone. This is going to take a lot of typing and at least two visits to the site.”

“Why do you need multiple visits?”

“There are more than half a dozen of them. I want to release the ones that I can, but for this kind of thing, I am pretty sure that there is at least one red in the area holding the other ones in.”

He frowned. “Why don’t you destroy them as you go?”

She looked away from the computer and stared at his bizarrely handsome features. “I don’t destroy ghosts unless I have no other choice. They are bound by the most human of things. Emotion. Tearing them to pieces and sending them to the afterlife that way just confuses their path. Even the reds can very occasionally be unwrapped.”

He snorted. “There are no records of such an event.”

Hecate glared at him, stood up, pulled out the Wakeman Grimoire, and flipped through the pages. The fifth page, the stolen child. “She came around. I helped her to visit the child that had been ripped from her decades earlier. She turned blue and faded away.”

Domerik gave her a long and sober gaze. “Tell me about her.”

“Margaretta Rain-Runner. She was an abused child who turned to drugs and alcohol. Child and family services took the child, gave it to a couple, and Margaretta drank herself to an early grave at the age of twenty. Her ghost attacked mothers with daughters, holding the little ones tight until they suffered contact burns.” She sighed. “One of the mothers called me, and I went out, using a poppet as a surrogate for a child. She grabbed it, and the poppet pulled her in. I corked her into a thermos and brought her out of the city. We talked. She was bound to her purpose, but I offered her an option. If she could give up her anger at other families, I promised to help her find her child as long as she would not try to take her.”

“She agreed?”

“She did. It took me five days to locate her daughter. I scoured the internet and all social media, but I managed to match the child and the birthmark on her neck. The next day, I took Margaretta to the coffee shop where her daughter was working behind the counter. It had been nearly twenty years since Margaretta died, but she walked up to the counter, and she ordered a small coffee with a wobble in her voice. I kept her energy high enough to pass for someone living, and her daughter looked at her with a strange smile. They knew each other on sight. A few minutes of light chatter and Margaretta left with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She told me how proud she was of her daughter, and then, she simply broke into thousands of tiny pieces, blowing away on the wind.”

“That was it?”

She closed the book. “That was it. From what I have learned in the last few weeks, the deceased makes a deal with a demon, and as long as they are given what they bargained for, they remain red and hostile. Margaretta wasn’t given what she bargained for. She wanted her daughter back, so the deal was broken when that didn’t happen.”

“So, you negotiated with her.”

“I gave her what the demon promised. That broke the deal.”

Domerik blinked, and a slow smile crossed his lips. “That is an interesting technique.”

“It wasn’t a technique; it was what needed to be done. She wasn’t lashing out of malice. Her daughter was taken, and she deeply regretted the circumstance. She was willing to sell her soul for the possibility of seeing her daughter again. The magic that turned her into a monster, that was an outside force. Once the initial problem was dealt with, she was free to seek out her afterlife.”

He cocked his head. “You believe in an afterlife?”

She looked at him in surprise. “Of course. I am dealing with ghosts and fighting demons. The human soul can’t be a valuable commodity unless there is another phase to our lives. If it is useful, then it has a purpose, and a soul without a body is on to another life of whatever nature. Life after life.”

He sat back, and a deep frown covered his features. “What do you mean, fighting demons?”

She set the grimoire back on the shelf. “There is a local demon, and he is the one brokering these deals. Demler. Based on the age of some of the red hauntings, he has been around for over five decades. Well, in this area, at least.”

“You fought off a demon?”

Amber spoke from the doorway, “She kicked his ass, eventually.”

Domerik turned and stared. “I do not believe we have met.”

Amber chuckled and remained in the doorway. “I am Amber. One of the locals. That is a pretty nice setup you have in the sea can.”

He frowned. “You can go inside it?”

“No, but you left the door open, and my eyes still work.”

Hecate smiled. “Amber is in charge when I am gone.”

“Ulysses is far better—”

Hecate looked at Ulysses, and she smiled sadly. “He is a ghost hunter and now a ghost himself. He has no seniority here, and Amber has the loyalty of all of those who are here, even if she is currently diverting some energy from the emergency fund.”

Amber cleared her throat. “Just a little.”

Domerik frowned. “Emergency fund?”

“On days I don’t work, I store extra energy for later use or emergency purposes. Fighting a demon qualified.”

She returned to her laptop with the list of the names of the dead. She worked on the identities and images of the deceased from the property. The need to know who she was going to be speaking with was imperative, especially if they were hostile. A few of them had surviving family, but it was all two times removed. They wouldn’t know their own, so they had no attachment to the living. Something else was holding them at the house. The first visit was going to let her find out what that was. If she could extract anyone, she would.

She kept eating as she worked. Anything heat and eat was always welcome in her freezer. She burned a few things as she used the same settings for just about everything, but when her alarm went off to warn her, it was time to go. She needed to be there before the ghosts got to full power.

She gathered her gear, hefted her bag on the other shoulder, and looked around. She was alone. She had no idea when the others had left, but she had a moment of silence before she gathered her courage to go face the ghosts. If she had her sister’s complexion, she would have been considered pale. As it was, she knew her skin had a greyish cast. Facing this many ghosts at once was not something she had ever considered to be a possibility.

When she was out and loading her car, Domerik came up to her with a small orb on a chain. “Here. This is a seeking orb for those you call reds. The demon-touched ones. If they are in the vicinity, it will glow. In the case of an emergency, it will serve as temporary storage.”

“Okay, so if I run out of thermoses...”

He smiled. “Correct.”

She put the chain on, and the orb was nearly to her navel. “Thank you. Any help I can get to identify the ghosts is helpful.”

“When I have had a chance to do a skills assessment on you, there are many more options for magical assistance. I am just unsure as to what would suit you.”

She looked at him, and she smiled. “I have to take a test?”

“You do. I have trained generations of Wakemans and have to admit that you have a unique way of looking at the ghosts that is going to take a new plan on my part.”

She had a thought she wanted an answer to, and she asked him straight out. “Did you train my father?”

He smiled. “Yes. He was a good pupil.”

Hecate looked into the man’s eyes. “Can you tell me about him when I get back?”

“When we begin training, I will give you one story for each correct exercise.”

She grinned. “In that case, see you in a few hours.”

She got in her car, felt that the ghost load was high, and smiled. It seemed everyone who could fit in was there.

“Right. Well, let’s put in the coordinates and get ourselves on the road. Since we have a full car today, you can pick the music.”

She felt the silent laughter around her, put the car in gear, and started the drive to the venue. It wasn’t going to be pleasant, but she was going to get it done.

Chapter Four

The first thing that Hecate noticed was that the drive was well over an hour. The music choices were good but varied dramatically in origin from classical to hip hop.

The sunlight was turning red when she pulled onto the property. Three other vehicles were there, and she pulled the SUV in next to them.

The moment she opened the door, the static that the ghosts put out crackled through her system. There was a lot of death and a lot of anger in the area. Most of it was in the building, but there were traces on the outskirts of the property.

She went to the hatch and got her bag. It would have been more convenient to leave the bag in the car and reload, but her previous experience with multiples told her that she was going to need everything at once.

Hecate checked that her whip was snug at her hip and her knives were settled and safe. Her bag went over her shoulder, and she looked toward the house.

It was a palace in the prairies surrounded by gardens that showed the bright new growth of the wedding preparations and pillars that stretched upward into graceful arches that supported the upper balcony. Despite the years of what should have been decay, it looked wonderful.

As she headed for the main entrance, the doors opened up and a group of six who were stamped with the Fisher genes came toward her.

“Good afternoon.” Hecate inclined her head.

One of the young women smiled. “You must be Esmy’s sister. We were told you were coming.”

“Here I am. Were there any incidents today?”

The woman shook her head. “No, one of us kept watch while the others worked. They don’t like it when you can see them coming.”

“What were you working on? I don’t want to trash anything accidentally.”

“We were doing a power clean of the carpets and were doing patches in the plaster.”

“I will endeavour to not wreck your efforts.” She inhaled and exhaled, “Here I go.”

One of the men frowned. “You are going in alone?”

“I am.”

The others looked at each other. The woman who had first spoken said, “Are you sure?”

“I am sure. I have done this before. Not with this population, but if anyone sees my car here during daylight tomorrow, they should call my sister.”

They looked at her, and she gave them a small smile. They laughed in relief and walked toward their vehicles while she went inside.

The interior smelled clean, but the crackle of ozone was starting in the air.

She had had the entire drive to work out the method that she was going to use. Catching them all was her current plan or, at least, as many as she could.

The rooms that the deceased had left the living world in were not listed on any of the websites or books on local hauntings.

Hecate looked around the opulent surroundings, and she imagined Esmy’s wedding in this venue. It was going to be a wonderful affair, as long as Hecate could clear it.

“Hello?”

She looked around and fished a small stone from her pocket. She put a little bit of her energy into it and turned around with it. When her energy brightened, she took in a deep breath and began to walk into the expanse of Carman House. Time to extract some ghosts.

The stone had a strong signal when she entered the ballroom, and then, there was a quick flicker. Hecate whirled and faced the surprised spirit.

“Hello. You appear to be David Wilkenson.”

The blue ghost paused. “You can see me?”

“Of course. Are you one of the ghosts tormenting those who have been coming in here to do repairs?”

His cheeks would have gone pink if he was still alive. “Perhaps. Nothing harsh. It is difficult being tied to the hotel.”

“What were you going to do to me?”

He covered his face with one hand. “I was going to touch your hair.”

She snickered. “Nice. I would have hated that.”

A flash of the stone told her that there was another ghost behind her. She stepped to the side and backed against one of the windows. It was the safest place to be as they couldn’t leave the hotel proper.

Michael Montgomery was the other ghost who had entered the room.

“Ah. Good. Tell me, gentlemen. Why are you two here?”

Michael paused, “You can see us?”

David chuckled. “You came in late, Mike. Yes, she can see us.”

She looked from one to the other. “So, to ask my question again, what is keeping you here?”

David frowned. “They are. They have this place on lockdown.”

“They?”

“The bride and groom.” Mike was grim. “Once our best friends, now our jailers.”

“Wait, so you are all trapped here?”

David smiled. “You know about us?”

“I know about seven of you.” She kept her face calm. This was going to be more complicated than she thought.

She rattled through her list. “Michael, David, Joshua, Brandon, Thomas, the groom, Anthony, and the bride, Helena. You all died here on the same night, but you should not have all been trapped. If you didn’t have anything to hold you, you should have moved on.”

“Anthony and Helena, they are holding us here,” Mike answered. He added with a look of hope. “Can you free us?”

“It might take a few tries, but I am motivated.” She breathed in deep. “Where can I find the happy couple?”

David said, “You don’t want to do that. They are bound up in each other, and they took us with them.”

“They killed you? All five of you?”

“He did. He killed her as well.”

Hecate had to ask, “Were you intimate with the bride?”

David shook his head. “Helena was a friend. We loved her because she needed to be loved if you know what I mean. There was something about her that cried out for affection. She needed to be needed, had to be loved, but she was such a wonderful person that it was given easily.”

“I am guessing that they aren’t here.”

He shook his head. “They rise later. They will come in search of you the moment that they start to walk the halls.”

“Where are the others?”

David smiled sadly. “Looking out the windows. This is the calmest time in our evening before the groom walks the halls and kills us again.”

“What?” This wasn’t a situation she had been in before. “He kills you?”

“Every night.” Michael grimaced. “It is always the same.”

Daniel nodded. “First, I die, then Mike, Josh, Brandon, and Tom die, and then, Helena kills Tony and then herself.”

Hecate was stunned. “What? She kills all of you?” In her years of experience, she hadn’t run into that prolific a female killer.

Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know. I am always the first to go, and only Brandon and Tom die together. I only know this from Josh as by the time Tom and Brandon come to, I am already dead. I mean... again. What are you by the way?”

Hecate smiled. “I am a ghost extractor. I help folks like you to release this world, and I take folks like them and give them an option.”

Michael leaned in. “You can let us go?”

“Maybe. I am going to try. At the worst, I come back tomorrow and try again.” She patted Michael on the arm and he looked at her in shock.

“You can touch us?”

“Sure. It’s in my blood.” She stretched out her senses and found the next rising ghost.

“That’s Josh. He comes to in the ballroom.”

“Can we go down to speak with him?”

“Sure. Daniel, how much time do you have?”

He chuckled. “I don’t die until eight in the evening. We have an hour or so.”

“How can you laugh about it?”

“After the first thousand deaths, you sort of get used to it.”

She frowned. “You shouldn’t have to.”

“I shouldn’t have been murdered by my best friend, but he went insane, and here we are.”

Hecate smiled sadly. “Yes, here we are. Can either of you come with me in search of Josh?”

Mike nodded. “I will take you.”

“I’ll come, too.” Daniel nodded.

“Excellent. Lead the way and no walking through doors.”

They both laughed, and she smiled while her heart broke. This was probably one of the only bits of entertainment they had enjoyed that didn’t involve tormenting folks while incorporeal.

Mike asked her as they walked the halls, “How is it that you can see and touch us?”

“It is a family skill.”

“I think it is something else. You have the same feel that we do.”

“How so?” She was testing his awareness. If he could figure her out, so could the others.

“You feel like a ghost, but you are solid like one of the living. What are you?”

“I am complicated.” She chuckled. “But I was born for this.”

“What’s in the bag?”

She chuckled. “Just some supplies that I might need. If you are all pinned in a cycle, I will have to break the loop, and that will take some doing.”

Mike asked softly, “Will you hurt Helena?”

Static began to crackle around him and Daniel.

“No. I will give her every opportunity to release those around her from their entrapment.”

Daniel was frowning. “What do you mean? She isn’t responsible, he is.”

She sighed. “Every binding needs a catalyst, something to set the dominoes falling. I believe that she is the linchpin in this situation. If I can speak with her, I might be able to work things loose.”

Daniel murmured, “Can you wait through the massacre?”

“I can. I can’t promise not to interfere, but I will be there. I have never run into this situation before, and I need to see it to understand it.”

Mike grunted, “So, we are an experiment?”

“No. I just don’t want to take action that will injure you. I know that ghosts feel pain, and you have had more than enough of it. Give me one more night after tonight and I will know what I can and can’t do.”

Daniel frowned. “You are really going to try and break this cycle?”

“That is what I do. This house is off the standard routes, or I would have been here years ago. I didn’t even know about it.” She thought about it, “Which is rather weird because this place should be broadcasting loud and wide.”

“The demon comes in to check on us, he sits and watches while we are murdered. I really hate that guy.”

She grimaced. That would explain it. If it was Demler, it was right up his alley to enjoy watching the fruits of his labour.

Josh was standing next to a window, and he stiffened in surprise as they approached. “Who is she?”

Hecate chuckled. “I am a troublemaker. Josh?”

“Yes.”

“I am Hecate. Pleased to meet you.” She extended her hand.

He shrugged and extended his hand. His expression changed to shock when she shook his hand with a smile.

“How are you doing that?”

She winked. “Practice. I am a ghost extractor, and I am here to help you and help the wedding that is about to be staged here. I don’t want any hiccups on her big day.”

“So, you are here to destroy us?” His hand tightened around her fingers.

“No, I am here to set you free of this endless cycle. Whether you move on or not is up to you.”

He relaxed his grip and stepped back. “You are serious?”

“Yes. This is what I do. Now, what do you remember of that day?”

He looked at the guys next to her. “They didn’t tell you?”

“Yes, but they were the first to die, so their cognitive awareness ends at that point.”

She looked to the other two, and they nodded and shrugged.

“What do you remember, Josh?”

He frowned, and his ghost began to pace as he tried to think of the right way to start.

Hecate waited. She had all night.

Chapter Five

“It was a glorious day for a wedding, I guess. The bridesmaids were a little tense, and Tony was a caged animal, but Helena was sweet and kind to everybody, soothing ruffled feathers. The ceremony was lovely, the bride was an angel, and the photos were tense but fine.”

“So, Tony was causing tension.”

“He was guarding Helena and ordering us to stop looking at her. If it was possible, he was more possessive of her now that they were married than he had been while they were dating.” Josh rubbed the back of his neck and stared out the window.

“And then, after dinner?”

He was lost in the memory. “Dinner was great, the dancing was fun, and I got the number of one of the bridesmaids. Sophia. She was lovely.”

“What happened next?”

He lifted his head, his gaze blind to the world around him. “I heard screaming. I ran for the front hall, and Tony was coming toward me, his tux looked weirdly wet. His left hand was down and slightly behind him, and he stretched out his right hand to me. He walked up to me calmly and told me that he was so happy to be married. He grabbed my right hand and pulled me around, slitting my throat. I couldn’t even scream.”

He blinked and shook his head to clear it. “That is what I remember from that night. Every evening since has been the same, with only a few ghost hunters and paranormal idiots to break the monotony.”

Hecate nodded. “So, you are not attached to this afterlife?”

He made a face. “No. I want to move on and see what is next.”

“Any regret over Sophia?”

“I am sure she moved on after I died. It was only a dance, after all.”

Hecate looked at him, and his pain blazed outward. “I can take you to see her if she has remained local.”

“She has probably grown old and has a dozen grandchildren by now.”

“I can still check. What was her last name?”

“Anderson. Sophia Anderson. She’s Thomas’s cousin and one of Helena’s best friends.”

Hecate recognized the name, but she didn’t let it show on her face. “You felt a connection?”

“I did.” He waved a hand helplessly, “And then this happened.”

“I am sorry.”

Josh looked at her. “Why?”

“For lost potential love. Love needs all the chances it can get. Perhaps in your next life, you can dance again.”

Mike called out, “Dan!”

Hecate turned, and Daniel was fading. He bowed slightly and nodded his head. “See you tomorrow.”

She knew where she should be, what she had planned. But the depression in his expression, the resignation to what was about to happen made her turn to Mike. “Where does he die?”

“By the front entry,” Mike spoke eagerly.

Hecate ran at full tilt to the front entry, and a moment after she arrived, Daniel was manifesting in the doorway, flicking a cigarette butt out the door.

A new voice spoke. “Dan, so glad you came back in.”

“Hey Tony, the party is just getting started.” Daniel grinned and walked toward the stairway where the voice was coming from.

The waves of heat that were coming from the formal staircase were horribly familiar. Hecate looked over, and she saw the groom, coming down with his left hand at his side.

Using her moral compass was not normally the way she wanted to work. She wanted to use the facts about the situation and behave accordingly. Today, thinking about the tearful accounts of the events, the shock and horror that had spun through the community as so many of their young men were killed at that wedding, she decided that impulse was going to rear its ugly head.

“So, what was your deal, Tony?” She called it out, and she saw him jerk, but he kept walking toward Daniel.

She unfurled her whip and put herself in front of Daniel.

“You weren’t invited.” Tony looked at her, and she grinned. There hadn’t been any people of colour in the area during the murders, so she was definitely sure that he knew she wasn’t supposed to be there. Her modern clothing was probably also a clue.

“I know, but I represent the next folk who want to use the venue, so you need to clear out.”

He paused. “You don’t know who you are dealing with.”

“I know you are the groom, that you murdered your groomsmen, and then you and your new bride were found dead.” She cocked her head. “I also know that you made a deal with a demon that exchanged your soul for something. What was it?”

He froze. “How do you know?”

“I have met him. He is particularly good at preying on the need for love.”

Tony looked concerned, and he approached her in all his red ghost glory. When his expression flickered, she snapped her whip and lunged to one side, catching his leg as the knife sliced into her shoulder.

She didn’t scream, but she wanted to. Hecate staggered to her feet and flicked out the whip again. Discussion was over. She needed to take him down.

Hecate dropped her bag and held him with the whip while she got a poppet. She forced him into the small doll, and it began to smoulder immediately.

Hecate grabbed a thermos and crammed the doll in, wincing as she screwed the top on with scorched fingers.

Daniel was frozen in place, and when she lifted her left hand, the blood from the ghost knife was dripping off her hand.

“How the hell did that happen?”

She put the thermos in her bag and lifted it with her good arm. She reached out and touched Daniel, willing him to wake up. He blinked and frowned. “Hecate. It is going to start soon.”

“It already started. Where is she?”

He frowned. “Who?”

“Helena. Where is the bride?”

“Upstairs. Why?”

She unfurled her whip and pulled herself up the steps with her blood dripping down her fingers.

“You can’t hurt her.”

She ignored him and kept climbing. When she got to the top, she picked up the pendant and held it to the right and then the left. It glowed when she held it to the left.

“Are you going to hurt her?” Daniel was right behind her.

“I am going to talk with her. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

She followed the pendant, and it continued to glow red as she walked. When she got to the room where the bride was, she simply opened the door.

The woman was standing and sobbing in her gown. The back of the dress was torn, and she had her hands over her face. Daniel ran up to her and said, “Helena, what did he do?”

Helena raised her head slowly. “Daniel, you aren’t supposed to be here.”

He smiled. “I am here now. How can I help? What did he do to you?”

“I told him that I didn’t want to do... that. He got mad and ran out.”

Helena’s features were blissfully normal. No raving beauty, but a standard sturdy farm girl was looking at Hecate.

“Who are you?”

Hecate smiled. “My name is Hecate Wakeman. I am a ghost extractor, and I am here to set you free.”

“What do you mean? I am free here.” Helena looked wild.

“What did you sell your soul for? I can get it back.”

Helena paled and turned, her dress rustling. “I—”

A searing pain ripped through Hecate’s side. She fell to the ground, and Michael walked past her with a blade in his hand. The blade was stained with her blood.

She staggered backward and looked at Michael, really looked at him. “You made a deal.”

“Anything to keep Helena safe.” He walked up to her and pushed her dress back on her shoulders.

Helena looked at him in shock. Hecate began to back out of the room, her blood loss now a steady stream.

Helena called out, “I just wanted to be loved and admired by men.”

Hecate nodded and slammed out of the door, leaving her blood as she carefully walked down the steps.

The world got bright. Dots came to wrap around her vision, and she headed for the door. If she got out the door, she might be able to call for help.

When the stone met her cheek, she sobbed in relief. She might be immobile, but she was out of there.

Great. Now she could die out in the open with the moon watching her.

She could see her car, and that was torture. As she stared at it, a glow came out of it and flowed toward her. The light surrounded her and lifted her off the ground.

She was carried to her car and loaded into the front seat. Consciousness was tenuous, but she was buckled in, and the car started, her bag in the passenger seat.

She dropped off a few times, but when the car halted and the door opened, hands were helping her out, and she could hear someone yelling for help.

Her bag was left in the car, but she was carried toward the sea container. Domerik came running out, and he caught her, taking her weight and walking quickly into his home.

“What happened?”

“Lots of ghosts. Two are reds, and one has the others attacking each other over her. And me. They attacked me.”

“I need to remove your clothes to assess your wounds.”

“Go ahead. I am a little limp right now. I am pretty sure it isn’t anything you haven’t seen. Same anatomy, different colour.”

Ulysses came to her side, and he sat there as she helped Domerik remove her jacket and the tank top under it. Her bra was plain and black, but it was fine. The wounds were over and under it.

“These are deep and from a spectral knife,” Domerik muttered as he went to get some kind of kit.

“Funny. They felt deep.”

He snorted and began to clean her up before the stitches began. She was hungry and thirsty by the time he was done.

“Do you get carved up often while on assignment?”

“Now and then. Luckily, I don’t scar much. Not like my mom does.”

He chuckled and kept working. “You aren’t in any pain?”

“It hurts like hell, but one bonus to having a low body temperature is that you can control the numbness in certain areas.”

“So, you can feel it, but...”

“But I can make the pain cold. I don’t know how to explain it.” She didn’t sigh. Tried not to move. “It is a distant but sharp pain.”

“You lost a lot of blood.”

“Yes, I did. I am feeling a little grey.”

He sighed. “You might need a transfusion.”

“I can’t spend the time. I have to look up how to break a spell, not just a ghost. This binding is weird.”

“That is a third-level skill.”

She turned her head. “I have twelve hours before I can get back there and lay some traps. I am going to know how to construct them.”

Ulysses stepped toward them, and she heard him say, “Show her. She has been on her own all this time, the least we can do is help her when she needs it.”

“Thanks, Ulysses. It will be very helpful to get the information that I need when I need it.” She sat up when Domerik finished his stitching on her side.

Domerik murmured, “It is a miracle that your internal organs weren’t injured.”

She smiled and grabbed her clothing with her right hand. “I am just going to hydrate, and then, I will be back for that information.”

“You should remain stationary. You lost a lot of blood.”

“Hence the hydrating.”

Domerik paused, looked at Ulysses, and then, he nodded. “I will bring you the texts and stay to help you translate them.”

“Thank you. It will probably take me a while to move across the yard, so you have some time.” She carefully moved toward the open doorway. Hecate paused and looked over her shoulder. “Thank you, by the way.”

Domerik blinked in surprise and smiled. “You are most welcome.”

She carefully straightened and looked at her car. The door was open, the lights were on, blood was all over the driver’s seat, the passenger seat was empty, but the bag was dragging its way to her home. Just a normal Monday night at the Wakeman property.

Chapter Six

The row of sports drinks on the table showed her that Amber had been at work. The first two went down so fast that she could feel her body dumping it into her bloodstream.

Hecate wished that she could give Amber more energy, but she gave her just enough to see her. “Hey, squirt. Thank you.”

“It is no problem. The rest of the gang are resting around the property, so we should be back to full strength when you go back.”

Hecate was on her third bottle when she paused. “You want to come back with me?”

“You need help. I felt what was inside there, and I am amazed that you made it out on your own.” Amber sat her ghost self on the table and swung her feet.

“It was a near thing. I thought that the problem was the groom. It was both of them and all of the groomsmen.”

“What?”

“Oh, yeah. It sucked.”

She grabbed some meat pies that she had managed to make for herself a few weeks ago and put them in the toaster oven. Remembering the right timing was difficult, but she pulled out her record book and found the right timing. Setting the unit, she closed the binder and put it back in the drawer. Working with reds was draining, so she had designed the book to help her when she couldn’t manage the simplest tasks.

She continued to drink the electrolyte beverage while microwaving a cup of beef bouillon. Fluids, minerals, and meat protein for blood loss.

A knock on the door brought her out of her bleary and dim focus on the numbers of the microwave. “Hello?”

“You are still on your feet.” Domerik came in, and he set a pile of books on the table. Amber sat there, and she was looking him over as if he was edible.

“I am. This might be the worst injury, but it is not the first time I have been sliced up on the job.”

She took the mug of hot beef tea and sipped at it. “What did you find?”

“I have a few ghost-trap charms and several weapons in the books. Do you use magic?”

“No. I only use ghost energy.”

He nodded. “Of course. Would you mind if I make you some of the traps?”

“As long as I don’t get stuck in them. Now, show me these charms.”

He picked up the third book in the stack and pointed to the page. There was a crystal in the center of a glyph, and it was glowing. The watercolour and ink painting was fairly clear.

“Pretty picture.” She smiled and reached out to trace the image of the glyph.

The page hummed to life and glowed brightly. She lifted her fingers, and the glyph followed her.

Domerik cleared his throat. “You said you don’t do magic.”

“I don’t. I mean, I use crystals for focus and glyphs for locking out the local demon, but I rarely have to draw the designs.”

Domerik’s expression was shocked. “Local demon?”

“Yeah. He’s a jerk, but the marks I leave after he has visited a site seem to work.”

“Marks?”

“Yeah. Like this one. It feels right to draw them with a bit of my blood.”

“But... you don’t have any of these books.”

“Nope. I prick my finger and draw in the air. It feels right.”

“You have not had any training?”

She snorted. “No.”

The timer went off, and she put on the oven mitts to remove the meat pies from the toaster oven.

“Are you hydrating?”

She laughed and set the pies aside to cool. “I have already put a liter and a half in my system, I am on my way.”

“Good. Now, how do you know to use the glyphs?”

“It just feels right. I think about what I am trying to do, I see the image behind my eyes, and I draw the picture.” She shrugged. “After that, I see the pattern when I pass the place I left it. I keep it about waist high in the air, and I am guessing that as it is in ghost energy, I am the only one who sees it.”

He gave her a somber look. “So, why use the blood?”

“It sets the power.”

“Ah. That is mentioned in one of the books, but it is a master-level branch of mage craft. How long do the marks last?”

“Years. I haven’t had one fade yet. Pretty sure that they are linked to me. As long as I am alive, so are they.”

“I am thinking you have a few things to teach me.”

She smiled. “I need to get better at hand-to-hand combat, so you can teach me that. I can show you the glyphs.”

“You definitely need weapon work and defense training.”

Hecate smiled. “Right. I can agree with that. What else is in those books?”

“We have more defenses, several weapons, and a protection spell that you may or may not be able to cast.”

“Do you think I can try that stuff in my condition?”

“I think you can try.”

She chuckled and went back to test her meal. It was in the right temperature zone for consumption. “Do you want one?”

He shook his head. “No. I fend for myself.”

“Ah. Good. I am not used to making food for two. Where is my grandfather?”

“He is going through the archives to find anything resembling the situation you have described.”

Hecate had a mouthful of meat pie, or she would have explained that they didn’t need to look it up. She knew what she needed to do. She would take a beating, but she could do it.

The ghosts were tied together, and if there hadn’t been signs that one of them was breaking free, she would have no idea where to start. That one had shown her what was holding the whole thing together, and when she went back, she was going to rip them apart until they were able to think like the men and woman they once had been.

It was not going to be a fun day, but if she could make some weapons and get some sleep, she was up for it. “Oh. Darn.”

She pulled out her phone and sent Leo a note. There is blood in the building. Sorry. And can you get the cleaning or decorating team out of there by four? I need to get an early start.

She munched and looked over Domerik’s shoulder as he flipped through the books and set out a listing of weapons and traps. When she cleared her mouth, she asked, “Are there any weird accessories for those?”

“Clear stones. That’s it. The rest just depends on the amount of power that you can bring to the cause.”

“Right. Like the Nexus.” She laughed and walked to her bedroom and got the box of glass beads that she had bought as a gift for Abby. She seemed like the kind of woman who could always use more places to store power.

She finished her first pie, washed her fingers, and divided the stones into three piles.

“What are you doing?” Domerik looked puzzled.

She glanced at the designs on display, and she pulled the first pile to her. She drew a glyph and concentrated. “These to call them.”

The glass glowed pink.

She got a plastic baggie and slid the beads into it.

She took the largest pile and focused. “These to hold them.”

They glowed soft blue, and Domerik was watching her closely.

She put them in a separate baggie.

The final pile needed the most focus, she traced images in the air over them repetitively until they began to glow. “And these to burn them.”

They were crimson when she finished charging them. She tucked them into the baggie, and she sighed. “That should do most of it.”

“You just did that. No study, no training.”

She picked up her second meat pie and chewed through it in under two minutes. When she was done, she washed it down with more sports drink and sighed. “No study, no training, no resources. I have drawn trap glyphs before. My instincts told me what to do, and it has always worked out. Oh, also, my dad’s ghost has been forthcoming on a few of the techniques, but I can only get him once a year.”

“You have spoken with Andrew?” Domerik looked like she had just told him she had found his puppy.

“I have. All hallows eve through to dawn. I met him when I was a teen and having a tough time with my stepfather.”

Domerik scowled. “He hurt you?”

“He ignored me. Andrew Stefan is a lot of things, but he isn’t compassionate. I was different, and different wasn’t what he was prepared to raise.”

“Wait, he has the same first name as your father?”

She groaned and nodded. “I tend to call him Stefan. It annoys him and satisfies me, but it does make things strained with my mother.”

Domerik sighed. “Why antagonize him?”

“Esmerelda’s name is Esmerelda Wakeman-Stefan. He adopted her.”

Domerik paused. “And you. He must have adopted you as well.”

“No. He didn’t want to get that close to my particular brand of crazy. My mother didn’t fight him on it. She thought I was channeling devils as well.”

“She didn’t understand what you were.”

Hecate laughed. “Ulysses didn’t understand what I am, I am pretty sure he is still figuring it out.”

“You understand what you are?” Domerik sat back and smiled.

She drank more of her favourite blue drink and sat down at her kitchen table. “Of course I do. I got to visit the archive, and now, I not only know where the Wakemans come from but what they are supposed to do, and what it will take to free the skills that I was born with for the next generation of little girls.”

“What are you supposed to do?”

“Complete the grimoire. Free the next generation from centuries of confinement dictated by their fathers and brothers and signed in blood. Yes, it was so that the women would survive, but the lack of movement on breaking the curse that bound them is truly shocking. If I don’t finish the grimoire before Esmy starts to have babies, the line is done.”

Domerik blinked. “You don’t think you can carry a child?”

“I was born half-dead if you want to be blunt. It is not likely that I will ever be able to carry a child. I also am not that comfortable with all of the rituals that lead up to a child, so it will be Esmy or nothing.”

“Does Ulysses know that?”

“It doesn’t matter. If he wanted to get to know anything about me, he could have come over here much sooner. You know, before the month before he died.”

He sighed. “He was hurt when his son moved to Canada and devastated when Andrew died. The result of the union was female. There was little mention of you or your sister and no one thought you would inherit the power that runs in your family. When the grimoire appeared and began to populate, he paid attention but assumed that it was the talent of the eldest. Do you have any idea how you came to possess the skills of your forefathers?”

“Yes. I know how I came to be.” She laughed. “My father held to his contract and then used everything he had to get me started.”

“What contract?”

She thought about what she had learned and figured out that Domerik worked with the family. He would know some of the details.

“So, you know that the Wakemans descend from the line of Death. We were put here to help those caught between worlds, and it comes very naturally. But, some of the living can sign contracts with demons to gain them their heart’s desire. That is the kind of contract that my father signed when he learned my mother was pregnant.”

She looked at him and said, “He wanted to protect my mother by making sure that their first child would break the chain of Wakeman tradition. They were married, she was pregnant, and he died on their wedding night. This was what the demon wanted. He wanted my father dead and the Wakemans bound completely.”

She sighed. “He gathered every bit of stored energy that he had and returned to my mother. They had sex one last time, and after, he explained about his financial safety net for her. By the time dawn touched him, he had done all he could and he returned to his shattered body at the accident scene. The thread of life had kept him going until he released it.”

Domerik stared. “I had no idea. So that is why you...”

“That is why I exist. At the last minute, Dad realized he was scammed, and he tried to correct it for his father, for you, and to protect his family from those who were going to use their powerlessness against them.” She smiled sadly. “One last act of defiance.”

He reached out and touched the back of her hand. “He was a good man. A strong man and he wanted nothing more than to be a father to an entire wave of young ladies. Ulysses wanted him to focus on the duties of the family, and Andrew struggled to balance the two. I am thinking that in his last moments, he found that balance.”

Hecate blinked, and she gave him a wobbly smile. “Thanks.”

It was the last thing she said before she pitched forward, and he caught her. Blood loss and the wounds had caught up with her. She belonged in the dark now.

Chapter Seven

“So, are you just going to float in the dark all night?” Her father was sitting in a small pool of light in the darkness of her thoughts.

“Why are you here?” She struggled to sit up; the blue gauzy gown flowed around her, so it was certain that she was in the dream state.

Andrew Wakeman got to his feet and helped her up. “So, my father and Domerik are finally settling in.”

She looked up at him, feeling confused. “Why are you here?”

“You are weak and need a boost. You have all the power you need in you, but you don’t know how to access it. I am here to help with that.” He grinned.

“You are in a really good mood, Dad. Why so cheerful?”

He smiled. “You are coming into full power, and Esmerelda is getting married. It is a good time to be a Wakeman.”

She chuckled and looked around. “Where are we?”

“This is the interior of the library that Domerik taught me in. Here. Let’s put some light on things.”

He still held her hands, but the shelves of books surrounded them in a wide bowl with the center of space polished stone, surrounded by weapon racks. There were bowls of crystals on study tables, shelves filled with vials with differently coloured liquids.

“This is where I grew up. I went to school during the day, and after I finished my homework, I trained. I hated it. Training to destroy ghosts felt wrong. They were people, after all.”

Hecate blinked and squeezed his hand. “They are. They are every emotion and feeling that a person has ever had. No wonder they are confused and can be aggressive. They seek out what is familiar and beloved or sometimes hated.”

“Exactly. I died furious at my own stupidity. I thought I was protecting Amitra and our child, but that was when things went wrong.”

“Demler.”

Her father blinked. “You know him?”

“Yeah, we have met. He’s a really slimy jerk and tends to prey on those in vulnerable family situations as well as those who are predatory themselves.”

Andrew sighed. “I really fucked that up. I was so desperate to keep my family safe. I would have eaten poison if it would have kept my child from being used.”

“I understand, and you thought Esmy was a boy.”

He shook his head. “Any child. I didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl, but I had a feeling that if it inherited, it was going to die a very early death. I had to leave my family with someone to defend them, so I made another deal.”

He lifted her hand and patted the back of it. “That was you. I needed a protector, a warrior, and someone to carry on the family legacy.”

“Who did you make the deal with?”

“Death. The queen of the dead. A few others were all there in that moment that the truck hit me and began the process of killing me.” He looked down at her and smiled. “They all wanted to keep the Wakeman talents in the works, so they added a little bit extra to me and sent me back to get their champion started. Fortunately, one of the gods dabbled in fertility and that is how you came to be.”

Hecate exhaled slowly. “Why couldn’t there just be a stork, like a normal kid?”

He chuckled. “You were never born to be normal. You were born to be extraordinary. I wish I had been there with you and Esmy.”

“You have been... sort of. I have just been the only one to see you.” She smiled slightly. “My gain is their loss.”

“I am very glad you have become a strong and independent woman. Did you ever reconcile with your stepfather?”

“No. I have tried over the years, but he doesn’t consider me to be family.”

Her dad squeezed her hand. “His loss is my gain. He is missing out on an amazing daughter.”

“Thanks for that. I know that I didn’t fit into his precise idea of a stepchild.”

“No child is to blame for their circumstances. It is up to the adults around them to keep them safe and make sure they are loved.” He led her away from the room of shadows, and they walked slowly through her mind.

“Where are we going?”

He smiled. “I have been given the honour of being your guide to the next phase of your inherited skills.”

“Like the glyphs I used earlier?”

“Yes. Those come from your namesake. She is known for her ghost control. Tonight, we meet with Persephone. She has been eager to talk to you.”

“Wait, these people are all in my head?”

He shrugs. “You are half-ghost, so they are rather all over you.”

She bent her arm and looked down. “I wonder who lives in my elbow.”

He laughed. “If it is a god, it is female. They are the only ones I would allow to offer themselves in that moment.”

“Why?”

“Because you were going to carry them in you for your entire lifespan. I wanted there to be empathy in those who finally had a place to step into the modern world.”

“I mean, why did they come to you? Why did they agree?”

He smiled. “I loved my wife. I loved my family, and I was the last of the Wakeman line, thanks to my deal with Demler. The shockwaves that would have rippled through the world without the next generation would have been devastating. So, the goddesses got together, got Death’s blessing, and sent me back. Oddly, the whole thing only took a few seconds after impact when the debates had taken at least a day in my mind. They gave me their power and sent me home.”

She smiled as they walked into a silvery realm with a woman seated on a throne, waiting for them. “So, that is where I got the magic?”

A clear feminine voice rang out. “It isn’t magic, Hecate. It is far older.”

Andrew led her to the base of the dais, and the woman in the throne was beautiful, but her face was shifting through all of the defined races on earth, each one more beautiful than the next. It was dizzying to watch.

“Persephone, queen of the underworld for far longer than anyone knows. It didn’t start with Hades, it started with her.” When he said her, he bowed toward the throne.

Hecate stood straight and looked the woman in the eye.

Persephone laughed. “You are bold.”

“You are part of me. I grant you respect, but I don’t bow before any part of me.”

“Very wise. Yes, I am part of you, and you are growing to be quite the talented ghost extractor. The demon in your area has made things more complicated.”

“Too much dark power, and I am not developing fast enough.”

Persephone smiled. “Indeed. It is good that you are realistic about that.”

“How much is getting to the next level going to hurt?”

Persephone looked surprised. “It will be the cool surge of wind across the grasses.”

“So, what is the new magic?”

Persephone laughed; the sound was the laughter of spring, the whipping of leaves, and the gurgle of brooks. “This is not magic. None of what you do is magic, it is just energy manipulation. In your case, the energy of the soul. You already have the ability to raise an army or dismiss an enemy, but you need to learn how to use it and that means experimentation.”

Hecate winced. “I hate experimenting on ghosts.”

“I know, child, but it must be done for you to gain mastery. I have observed your little gathering, and it is impressive how much loyalty your ghosts have to you.”

“I am loyal to them, as well. They are all linked to one of the living, and I hope that my intercession is helping them both.”

Persephone smiled. “I have a foot in the realm of the dead and the realm of the living. Your interesting methodology is sending a wave of serenity out from this point, and it is having the effect of helping other ghosts across the continent to calm and move on. It is a pleasure to watch.”

“I am glad I am entertainment.”

“It is more like finally seeing a part of the puzzle when the corner has always been in shadow before. If you need the power of the earth and bindings for the demons, call on me.”

“How?”

“Call my name? Think of me? Touch the earth with your skin. I will come for any of those, and I will take over your body to assist in the confinement of any of your attackers.”

“Thank you. It is always nice to have backup.” She wasn’t sure if she should ask, but heck, she was dreaming, so, “May I speak with Hecate?”

Persephone made a small expression where she pursed her lips. “Hecate is with you always, and she is not very chatty. She is with you when you move to control the ghosts, and the glyphs you used tonight are hers.”

“Can she teach me more?”

Persephone chuckled. “She has written the books that Domerik uses. Read them. You will be able to read them after a few moments of adaptation. Oh, and don’t forget to begin your own procedure manual for how you approach ghosts and deal with them.”

“Why?”

“You are the only untrained ghost extractor that has occurred in recorded history. So, share how you figured out what you were, the weapons you use, though I know Nyx stepped in for that one.”

“Nyx?”

“You will meet her later. She believes in the serenity of the night, but also believes in kicking butt. The whip and your skill with daggers are her skills.”

Andrew squeezed her hand. “That is it for tonight. You need to wake up now.”

Hecate’s eyes opened, and she looked down at her shoulder where the stitches were, noting that they were glowing softly. She closed her eyes and murmured, “It was a pleasure meeting you, my lady.”

The stitches glowed green as she got her reply.

The light was bright out, and she panicked before she was able to check her clock. She sighed when the display said one. She had time to get her plan in place, and she was prepared to save that wedding.

Chapter Eight

She had a shopping list in her mind, and as she drank a lukewarm protein shake, she walked over to the new sea container, knocking politely on the door.

Domerik looked surprised to see her. She smiled and said, “Hello, I need the charm of Magnal, the crystals of Neffine, and the chain of Hargar.”

Domerik stared at her. “How do you know about those?”

“I had a talk with my father. So, can I get them, please? I have a lot more to eat before I head out today.”

He frowned and nodded. “I will bring them over right away. You go and get ready.”

She nodded and headed back to her house with the silicone straw still clenched in her teeth.

Today, she had the whole oven working for her. She was going to need to eat at regular intervals throughout the process, and that meant a lot of food in thermal containers. Meat pies with plenty of veg in them were the star of the show, fruit pies for dessert. When the oven chimed, she had her thermal packs ready and started loading enough food for two sumo wrestlers and three powerlifters. Calories were going to burn.

She finished off her toaster pastries and made a note to do a lot of shopping the following day; she had enough to get her through a recovery tomorrow but not much after that.

The packs were ready, and when she looked out the window, she saw Domerik walking across the yard with a small stack of boxes in his arms.

She used her right hand to gather her collection of hot food and met him next to the car. She already checked her bag from the night before, and there was only a charred hole in the canister where she had put the groom. He had probably been gone before the ghosts drove her home.

She settled the bags in the back seats of her car and buckled them in.

“What is that?”

“Food. This is going to be an all-nighter, and I am bringing everything I need to keep myself going. That includes dessert.” She smiled.

“How are you doing today? You seem very determined.”

Hecate grinned. “I am. I had a helpful rest and am eager to get this over with. The clock is ticking.”

“You are going to wait for sunset?”

“Oh, no. That was a one-off. I am going to lay my traps and pull them into them. There is no more option for them to sneak up on me. I will have them all in front of me, and I will deal with their curses.”

“Wait... curses?”

She smiled and took the boxes from him, setting them on the floor behind the driver’s seat. She opened them, and he jumped. “What are you doing?”

“I am putting them on.”

He was staring at her in shock. “They are not meant to be used together.”

“That is what you think. I have been assured by someone that these objects are exactly what I need for my project.” She chuckled. “I trust the information. I am impressed you were able to find them so quickly.”

He snorted. “It is what I do. Now, where have you been getting your information?”

“Dreams. Some of the ghosts I have known still return to speak to me in my dreams. Some are very old.” She smiled. “One ghost is exactly as old as I am.”

He looked confused, but he nodded. “If you are sure.”

“I am. My father speaks highly of you, by the way.”

His eyes widened. “Andrew?”

“Yes. My newfound strength has brought him closer.”

“Does Ulysses know?”

She chuckled. “He does now. He and the others jammed into my car the moment I woke up.”

“In your car?”

“Yes. They got worried last night, so they all powered up at the emergency fund, and they piled in the car. I am amazed it isn’t hovering.”

She heard giggles and chuckles coming from her SUV.

Hecate finished putting the charm, the chain, and the crystals around her neck, on her wrist, and in her pockets. It was like wearing live wires, but she was willing to put up with it until she could use it.

“So, Domerik. Are you going to stay here or come along?”

She checked her blade and her whip.

“Wait, you are inviting me along on a haunt?”

She quirked her lips. “If you want to come. You would have to hang back and not act unless I fell back and was immobile for more than a minute. Anything other than that is just a fight.”

Domerik looked excited. “You are allowing me on a haunt?”

“An extraction, and yes. You need to see how I do what I do and to learn what skills I need to acquire. My telling you is not going to properly explain what is going on.”

He didn’t need to be asked again. He moved her go-bag from the front passenger seat to the rear, and then, he buckled into the front seat.

She checked that she had everything from the previous day and all of the new additions, and once she confirmed the stones were with her, she was ready to go.

Hecate got into her car and commented, “Someone cleaned up the blood.”

Domerik shrugged. “It was the least I could do.”

“I am going to have to stop next to the house to send a text, but after that, it is an hour in the car. Do you travel by vehicle much?”

His smile was slow. “Not really. I am more of an air traveller.”

“Right. Well, here we go.”

She started the car and rolled up next to her house, nearly touching it. She picked up her phone and sent a text.

Heading to the site. Will let you know when it is clear.

She put her phone down when the message was sent and drove toward the highway. “Okay, here we go.”

“I must confess, this is rather exciting. None of the others have ever taken me with them.”

“I am sure that they might have. But it is an intensely personal thing. You see the ghost, you speak with them, and then, you help them release from the earth or you cut them to pieces and destroy the demonic power letting them prey on the living. There really isn’t that much to it.”

“That is not how it was described by the others. They described it as a life-and-death struggle every time,” Domerik murmured.

“It isn’t. If you take the time to speak to the dead, to let them know what they are and how they are hurting the living, most of them will just leave. They are staying because of love, not malice.”

“What about the ones you refer to as red?”

“They made a deal with a demon to get power over those they loved or those they felt had wronged them. Occasionally, they can be talked around, simply analyzing their flawed logic sometimes works, but if not, I have to extract them with force.”

He nodded. “Like a dentist.”

She snorted and made a right turn onto the next highway, setting the cruise and settling in for a long, straight run. “I agree with the dentist analogy. Sometimes they need a light scraping, and sometimes I have to shatter them to get rid of the nasty effect.”

“Interesting. How often are you injured in this occupation?”

She shrugged. “Not often. About one in ten draws blood.”

“How often do you need stitches? How badly do you scar? I have heard that persons with your complexion can be prone to particularly invasive scarring.”

“Keloid scars. The body reacts violently and seals the wound, overbuilding the protective tissue.” She sighed. “I am not prone to them, but my grandmother was. She had some scars that were nearly half a centimeter above the surface of her normal skin.”

“Is there a treatment?”

She chuckled. “In some cases, more surgery. Lasers are doing some good work as well. It is ironic that a healing action can cause disfiguration.”

“Your grandmother was disfigured?”

“Yeah. My great grandmother saw some of the local wealthy white boys eyeing her daughter, so she drew a blade across her face. Forehead to jaw on both sides. It was all my great grandmother could think of. It worked for a few years.”

“That is horrible.”

“That was desperation. There has been so much mixing and matching in my bloodline in the last three hundred years, and a lot of it did not involve any kind of consent.”

“I see.”

“Yes, so while I was a child, my gran was protective, now that I am an adult, she is after me a few times a year to find a man of my own, now that I know how to protect myself.”

“Does she live with your mother?”

Hecate laughed, “No, she is dead. She died when I was seven. Until recently, she was my only regular haunt. I learned how to talk with ghosts because of her. That was the easiest part. She told me why she was holding on, but as I was a child, there was no chance of her being able to ease her personal worry. So, she follows me and talks to me now and then.”

“You mentioned that you have been talking to Andrew.”

“Yeah, he is trying to make up for lost time and filling me in on a few bits and pieces of the reason for my existence. It was far from the easy achievement that I thought it was. I thought it was just his Wakeman energy coming back to comfort my mother, but now, I have learned that I was the loophole that could get the grimoire back on track.”

“I don’t understand.” Domerik was genuinely confused.

“Neither do I, but I can tell you what I know. The rest seems to be given to me when I level up.”

“Level up?”

She chuckled. “Achieve a skill level that has been determined by someone else. When they think I am far enough along, I get a new skill to use. I leveled up last night.”

He continued to ask her questions that she verbally danced around during their drive. She distracted him now and then by getting him to hand her some food. It was a rather relaxing drive, and she was warm and humming with energy when she pulled up to the hotel.

At a stop to refuel the car, she had answered Leo’s text, asking if they needed to empty the hotel. She had replied in the negative. If the ghosts were throwing things around during the day, they were manifested enough for her purpose.

If they could be active in the house, she could get them out of it. In fact, she was counting on it.

Back in the car, she finished her drive and parked in the lot.

“This is it?”

“This is it. I am going to make the cage, and then, I will summon them to it. Then, we will wait for sundown.”

Domerik fidgeted. “Can I help?”

“You can carry my stuff and watch my back. That is how they got me last time. If I didn’t heal fast, coming back today would suck.”

“Just tell me what you need me to do.”

“Great. Grab my big bag, get the glass pellets, and follow me. I am going to show you what I consider to be a very effective ghost trap.”

To her amazement. He picked up her stuff and got ready to follow. She had just gotten herself a Sherpa.

Chapter Nine

She put a rock in the center with a narrow string around it, and she paced out a space that would be able to hold five people comfortably. After that, she marked out another one that would hold the happy couple.

Once the roughout was done, she took the blue glass and stepped each one into the grass. This was the binder. It would run off ghost energy. The more that they struggled, the stronger the binding.

Each circle got a summoning stone for each of the ghosts it was going to receive. They were stepped into the grass as well.

Now, the outer layer that would defend and punish at the same time. If they got past the binding layer, they would hit the degradation layer. That would be attention-getting.

She stood back with her hands on her hips, and she nodded. “Right. Time to get the pink ones placed in the hotel. This is the last bit of it, and we still have an hour before they rise.”

Domerik was paying such close attention that it was like he was taking notes.

“What do you do when you are not being a librarian?” She asked him as they entered the hotel.

“This and that.” He shrugged.

“Oh, I have to warn you, there may be poltergeist activity while we are in here.”

As she spoke, she saw a portrait vibrating on the wall. It parted from the plaster and sailed toward her.

To her surprise, Domerik stepped in front of her and deflected the portrait. She was about to thank him when four of Leo’s family came down the staircase.

“Miss Wakeman? Is that you?”

She waved at them. “Yes. I am back to finish the job.”

One of the ladies said, “You didn’t die?”

“Not quite. Sorry about the blood.”

She shrugged, and the others chuckled. “You haven’t been to our werewolf celebrations. We keep a quick clot on hand at all times.”

“Well, I am going to be dropping a few glass pebbles. If you leave them alone today, you can just chuck them out tomorrow.”

One of the men said, “Is this about the ghosts?”

“Yeah. Still about the ghosts. I hope to have them taken care of by dawn tomorrow.” She nodded and smiled. “Just a warning, they are going to be really pissed in about an hour. I would recommend not being in a standard haunt area.”

“A what?” The woman blinked.

“An area where crap has come flying at you or where you have been shoved around. That is where they hang out, and that is where they manifest.”

“Got it. One weirdness, and we leave for the day.” The woman smiled. “Thanks for helping with this. The mages are going to come in for the final overhaul. We were just here for pest reduction and working on the restrooms.”

Hecate nodded and turned to Domerik. “Now that they know we are here, we had best get to work. We are heading upstairs, so just remember, don’t touch the glass.”

One of the guys asked. “What will happen if we do?”

“It will try to pull your soul out of your body and put it into holding. So, it won’t be comfortable, and your body might die. Got it? They will be discharged at dawn.”

The werewolves stepped aside and gave them plenty of space as she climbed the elegant stairway with Domerik at her back. Her baggie of glowing pink stones was the last one to go.

“So, how are you doing this?” He asked her from behind her.

“Well, I am not telegraphing more than I already have to the collective here. You can watch, and once I activate them, you can ask all the questions you like, though you might not have any by then.” She headed up to the room where the bride and groom had their fight every night.

She took a handful of the glass beads and closed her eyes, looking for the hot spot.

The whole room lit up with bright dots, confirming what she had sensed the night before. They were more than bound by the location, they were bound by the bride’s curse on them. All of them.

“What are you seeing?”

“Dots. I am seeing dots.”

“With your eyes closed?”

“That is the best way to see them.” She put the glass out, one piece at a time, back toward the door. Domerik caught a few pieces of flying furniture for her, but he didn’t interrupt her as she baited the room.

When they got to the door, she opened her eyes, backed into the hallway and sighed. “One done, five to go.”

“Where to next?”

“Ballroom. That is where two of them were initially killed.”

“Initially?”

“The murders have been occurring every night for decades.”

“Ah. That is rather horrible.” He spoke quietly as they walked the halls and descended to the main floor.

She paused and put a stone on the stairs. “Just in case.”

He chuckled and waited for her to lead again.

Hecate found the ballroom and smiled. It was lovely. The main floor of the house was for entertaining; the upper was for comfort.

She closed her eyes and walked toward the bright spots on the floor, putting six stones down in a wide pattern around the dots of energy in her mind.

The other three were easy. She had actually been in place when they manifested. The glass was put in place, and it was time to spring her trap.

Hecate and Domerik left the building half an hour before sunset. She tossed one pink bead into the center of her circles and nodded. Time to get back to the car.

She paused for a break and offered Domerik a pie. “Would you care for one?”

He shook his head. “I would take one of the fruit pies if you have them. I try and avoid red meat unless I can go and work it off immediately.”

Hecate munched and shrugged. “Well, we have to wait now anyway. Eat what you like.” She reached in and grabbed him an apple pie. It was still hot, and she handed it over to him.

He took it and bowed. “What are we waiting for?”

“The beads are set to summon. They are going to go off when the ghosts manifest.” She put her pie down on the hood and held her hands far apart. “When the ghosts show up, they are huge but malformed. A mist of consciousness that has to pull itself into a column resembling the body. They also manifest in the same spot every time. Well, they do if they are linked to a place and not a living person. This group doesn’t have a person to cling to, so this is it. If the building was torn down, they would go with it.”

“You are talking about them like they are alive.”

“They are. They are living as much as I am. Well, half of me. I am half my mother and half my father after my father died, remember? There is only part of me that identifies with the living world.”

Her car rumbled under her hand, and she patted it softly. “I know you are my friends. I keep you in my thoughts wherever I go.”

“Who are you talking to?”

She snickered, “The thirty-two ghosts, including Ulysses, that packed into my car before we left. They were worried about my damage when I came home. There was no way I was leaving today without them.”

“There are ghosts in your car.”

“Yeah, can’t you tell?”

He looked over the surface of the metal and shook his head. “No.”

“Excellent. That is why they are so very effective. They are on a temporary tether to the SUV, and from there, they can follow me wherever I am. That is what happened last night. I passed out right about there.”

She pointed to the grand entryway of Carman House.

“They picked me up, put me in the car and drove home with me. Without them, I would have bled out to a far more dangerous level, or the ghosts inside could have gotten together to haul me back in and kill me there.”

Domerik frowned. “Is that possible?”

“I don’t think they know how to work together, or it could have been much worse for them or me. I would have had to really fight back, and I wasn’t quite in the mood for it. Today, all bets are off.”

The car hummed happily in anticipation.

She quickly got another pie down, and then, she followed that with hot coffee. When she was ready, she looked at the cage made of tiny, cheap bits of glass, and she smiled. The ghosts were beginning to manifest in the house, so her first arrival should be here in seconds.

“What is happening?” Domerik brushed the crumbs from his shirt.

“You can feel that?”

“Yes. The house is... humming. Is that the right word?”

“That is how you would feel it. How most people would feel it, but you can see a manifested ghost, so that is something.”

“I can?”

“You have been seeing Ulysses and Amber.”

“Oh, I thought that was something you did.”

“It sort of was, but you had to be able to see them before I powered them up.”

“Ah, well, that is a first.”

She grinned and tidied up, another swig of coffee, and she was ready. “It’s showtime.”

She pulled her knife calmly with her left hand and settled her whip in her right.

“What are you doing now?”

“Waiting for them to step into the traps.” She smiled and was pretty sure it was not a good smile.

“You are sure they will?”

She was about to answer when Daniel flared into being in the crimson light.

Domerik backed away and faded into the shadows. “Never mind. You have this.”

She smiled and looked at the befuddled Daniel. “Good evening, Daniel. We have a few minutes until the others join you. Do you have any questions?”

Daniel looked around and pressed his palm against the barrier. “I am a prisoner?”

“More or less. I intend to set you free tonight, but the method is up to you.”

“You. From last night. They said you were dead.”

She smiled. “I am, and yet I am here anyway. So, will you leave willingly?”

He frowned. “I am trapped here.”

“Yes, but the bride carries the curse. Not you. You can choose to leave; you need only agree to leave her behind.”

Daniel stiffened. “No, she needs me.”

Hecate nodded. “That is what I thought. So, now we wait.”

They waited. Daniel asked her questions, and when Mike arrived, his questions were hurled at her, Josh came into bright solidity with surprise, and she smiled.

“Hello, Josh.”

He stared at her. “Hecate. They said you were dead and you would be joining us.”

“They were only partially right. I am giving you an opportunity to join me. Out in the free world. Your choice of final destinies.”

Mike and Daniel shook their heads. “No, we are all staying for Helena.”

Josh looked wistfully at the house, but then, he shook his head. “Can you get me out?”

She smiled. “Stay very still.”

She lashed out with her whip and pulled him gently through the barriers made out of her will.

She took his hand. “You are out, you are anchored. What do you want?”

He smiled sadly. “Sophia.”

“It is a good thing that I brought her with me.”

She turned back toward her car, and she pulled out Sophia. The woman who had aged on her own with her soul promised to a man long dead.

Sophia came out as the semi-elderly woman, and with a little help from Hecate, she was the young woman from the wedding again in a few steps.

Josh stood and stared. A shriek came from the hotel, but he ignored it. He took a few steps toward Sophia, and Hecate kept contact with him until he was holding her friend’s hands.

“I believe you two have a lot to discuss.” She poured more of her energy through Sophia, and the contact point spread to Josh. He was now officially out of the grasp of the bride.

Hecate smiled. “One down, six to go.”

Daniel shrieked, and it wasn’t his voice. “Where did he go? Where is Josh?”

Hecate walked closer to the cage as the other two groomsmen arrived. “Josh is free of this situation. He isn’t fawning over you or waiting to be murdered by your husband. He is finally free.”

Daniel’s eyes were a brilliant red. “How?” Helena’s voice was screaming through him.

She looked over her shoulder at the couple who were standing with their heads close, hands touching, and whispers were flowing between them.

“Love. True, honest love. This is what it looks like, and this is what you took from all the men around you. You took away their chance for love, but Josh had only just met you, hadn’t fallen under your spell, and had just met what would become the love of his all-too-short life.”

The ground trembled, and the bridal couple made their way into the cage.

“Well, now that you are here, we can begin.” Hecate locked the summoning stones, and she smiled brightly while she moved her whip so it cascaded freely. “Who wants to go first?”

She didn’t have any takers, so she made the choice for them.

Chapter Ten

She didn’t announce her attack, she simply lashed out, and the whip wrapped around Helena, pulling her out of the primary cage. The small alcove that she had created suited the bride and her wide skirt very well.

“How did you do this?” The horrified whisper came out of Helena’s lips.

“Practice. Now, Helena, you are going to have the opportunity to release the other men in your thrall, and if you can do that, I can keep your soul for burning for eternity. If not, you will go to your final destination tonight.” She flicked her wrist and the whip coiled and uncoiled.

“Why are you doing this to me?” She sobbed with large crystal tears in her eyes.

“Helena, you made a deal to have men love you. They did. Tony proposed to you, and you accepted, causing Tony to make a deal to keep you with him exclusively, but that isn’t what you wanted. You wanted more and more attention, more men to love you. It was the intoxication of the curse. You would have continued to wreck the men around you, destroying their lives.”

Helena’s tears dried up, and she tossed her head. “How can you say that. They love me. That is hardly destruction.”

Astonished, Hecate looked over at the four blue ghosts and one crimson in the other holding area. “You don’t see that they wouldn’t be dead if not for you.”

Helena looked at them and frowned. “It isn’t my fault.”

Hecate sighed. “It actually is. On the night of your wedding, Josh met his true love. They danced and were going to begin their courtship. They would have had children and grandchildren by now. You destroyed that with your clingy curse. Tony went mad, and it didn’t matter that Josh had begun to break free of you, he died.”

Helena raised her voice. “Josh loved me, and he still loves me.”

Hecate gestured over her shoulder. “Josh is back with Sophia now. She lived her life with the memory of their meeting, and when she died, she asked me to hold onto her until her love was free. I didn’t put it together until I met him last night, and then, it all made sense.” She smiled. “Now, they are together, and whether they stay for a while or progress on to the afterlife, he is out of your grasp.”

Helena reached for Josh, and she wailed. There was magic in her voice, so Hecate simply cut off the sound from her cell.

While Helena was trying to get Josh back, Hecate looked at the ghosts in the other cage with an eye toward their disposition in love. There. There it was. Michael was Helena’s proper match.

“Helena, why didn’t you marry Michael?” She opened the sound again, and Helena stopped short.

“Michael doesn’t have money. I wanted to be comfortable.” Helena lifted her chin. “I deserve the best.”

Hecate winced. “Of course. That sounds just like Demler. He gets you so wrapped up in your own insecurities and promises anything you want as long as you sign. Did he sleep with you, too? That seems to be his standard procedure. He seduces to get what he wants.”

Helena’s eyes went wide, and Tony had been listening. His fire flared wide and high. “What?”

Helena cringed and looked to the other captives. “Save me.”

Daniel scowled. “You really slept with a demon to get your way? That is low.”

Brandon and Thomas stood close together, and a second look at them explained why they had been killed in the same place. They were bound together, even if they hadn’t had a chance to act on it yet. That really sucked.

All of her thralls were furious except for Michael. He was just sad.

With the shock to their connection, Hecate was able to reach in between the bride and her collection, freeing each one of the men, including her husband. The moment the link was severed with Tony, he calmed to a dark purple.

“Now, who just wants to be done with this?”

Daniel, Brandon, and Thomas raised their hands. Tony was still looking as if he was processing.

She flipped her whip out and pulled Daniel through the cage.

“Well, Daniel, what do you want? Shall I tether you out here, or would you prefer to simply see what happens next?”

He smiled, his formal wear still pristine. “I want to see what happens next. I didn’t have a wife or children, but I wouldn’t mind trying to see if I can get another try.”

She took his hand and smiled. “Excellent choice. I wish you well in your next life or the entire world in this one.”

She scraped all demonic traces off him, and he stood straight with a bright smile.

“That feels great.”

She nodded. “You are unlinked from anyone. Free of the earth itself. When you are ready, let go of my hands.”

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

He took a deep breath that he didn’t actually need, and he let go of her hands.

His skin grew bright blue and then white as he became an upward cascade of energy that flew up, gathered, and shot off like a comet.

Brandon and Thomas walked toward the front of the cage.

“You want to go?”

They looked at each other, and as she watched, they held hands. It was a testament to the strength of the demonic energy that it had been able to break through their attachment. Repression made a doorway for all kinds of nasty incursions.

She carefully wrapped her whip around them and eased them through her cage.

They came out as a pair, and she held out her hands, letting them put their hands on the back of hers.

Brandon looked at Thomas, and he smiled. “I think we will go anywhere as long as we can go together.”

Thomas grinned. “I think that is an excellent idea. I am done with this place. I want to see the world.”

“Fine. Stay away from too much tech. Folks get irritated, and enjoy a world where a lot of the past attitudes are being released from the shadows.”

They looked at each other and, again, took deep breaths that weren’t necessary. Old habits died hard.

Their skin glowed, the shower of minute stars flowed upward, and soon, the twisting and playing columns of light were flowing up to see what the sky could offer.

She was now left with Michael, Tony, and Helena. The bride was looking at the sky, shocked that her little slaves had left her.

“Now. We have a love triangle here. Tony, you want to possess Helena; Michael, you are in love with her; and Helena is in love with the idea of money and being worshipped. I am sorry, Helena, you are not a goddess. I have met a few, and you are not even in the running.”

The bride looked shocked. She turned to Michael and gasped, “You are going to let her speak to me like that?”

He looked at her with a tired expression. “I love you, Helena, I just don’t like you anymore. She can speak in whatever manner gets things through your skull.”

He looked at her and said, “I loved you before you went off and came back dazzling. I loved you when you were awkward and helping out on the farm, and I loved you when you were my first kiss. You have burned that love to embers, and all that is left is ash. I am going, and I don’t care what happens to me.”

Helena’s face was changing, and the pristine looks were giving way to flushed skin and red eyes. “Mike...”

He looked at Hecate and nodded. “I would like to go, and I am very sorry for the injures. I wasn’t myself.”

She gave him a close examination and scraped the bits of crimson from him. Her whip wrapped around him softly, and she pulled him through.

She watched him approach, and he grabbed the hand with the knife in it, trying to plunge it into his chest.

She gave him a look and pulled her hand right through his. “You are already dead, but if you want me to remove your consciousness, I can do that, too.”

He nodded sobbing. “Please. I can’t exist like this anymore.”

She touched his cheek with the hand holding the knife. “Fine. You have suffered long enough.”

She did what she thought of as a cleaning. Every thought, every emotion that went through his head was set free. His thoughts weren’t violent, just despondent. They were far away from a city or human population, so when the thoughts floated in, it would just mean a mopey cow or pig for a day or two.

She felt his love, all the memories slowly drifting away, and finally, his manifestation followed, his ghost dissolving and dispersing without purpose.

Helena sobbed, and she watched what she had wrought coming apart. She had to wait.

“Tony, do you still want her, knowing that it was the demon’s curse that tied you two together?”

He looked over at Helena. “I wanted her to be my wife. I wanted to keep her to myself.”

Hecate waited. Ghosts had a horrible sense of time.

Tony looked at her and sighed. “I only want her if she wants me. Is that sensible? This has gone on for too long.”

She smiled and stepped toward the cage. “Grab the whip. I am leaving you in for a moment. Okay? I promise to set you free before dawn.”

He nodded and held out his hand. She flicked the whip into it and focused on stripping the demonic energy from him. It took nearly an hour, but she managed it. Direct contact would have been easier, but she wasn’t risking it.

She retrieved her whip, and Tony was standing straight, dapper, cheerful, and a multiple murderer. This is what he should have looked like before Demler got involved.

Tony stretched, and he smiled. “That feels great.”

Hecate nodded and smiled. “Do you have any reason to remain in the living world?”

“No. I am good with whatever comes next. I know what I did and why I did it, and I will wait for my judgment.”

Helena frowned. “What do you mean, judgment?”

Hecate smiled and turned to her. “You enslaved and murdered those who loved and trusted you. Unless you get them to forgive you, you are going to burn.”

The squeaking sound that came from her showed genuine fear.

Hecate put her whip and knife back in their sheath and hook, respectively, facing the bride. It was time to finish this.

Chapter Eleven

The bride’s expression could be best explained as terrified.

“Hello, Helena. I am here to offer you an opportunity that is only good once. I would like you to admit that you used these men, and then, I want you to apologize to them, one by one. Anyone who was hurt by your actions. Apologize, and then, you can drift off to find out what is going to happen next.”

Helena broke into sobs. “I don’t want to go.”

“I understand, but you are dead. You have been dead for decades. The fact that you look as you do is just your own will. If you had lived this long, you would have been wrinkled, grey, and possibly enjoying your grandkids. You sacrificed life for your moment in a white dress.”

Helena looked at her, and her eyes flared red. “What do you know about it, you celibate bitch?”

“Celibate? No. Picky? Yes.” Hecate smiled. “Hello, Demler. I am guessing you are on the way?”

Helena blinked in shock. “What just happened?”

“You gave the demon the right to use your body, just like Tony did. After you act, he fuses his memories with yours, so you think it is your action. It’s rather bastardy of him.” She cocked her head. “He’s on the way.”

Helena and Tony paled.

“Based on the strength of the connection, he’ll be here in three minutes. I am guessing that he got on his bike when I let Josh go. We are an hour from the city.”

She glanced back to check, and Josh and Sophia were next to the car, leaning on it and speaking softly. It was adorable.

She turned back to Helena and smiled. “So, will you apologize?”

“I just wanted love.”

Hecate shook her head. “You had love. You wanted worship and money.”

“What is wrong with that?”

“It’s selfish. It is about what you want. Love is wanting the best for the people you are with, even if it means that you don’t get what you want.” Hecate sighed. “You held Josh’s love for Sophia hostage, tormenting her with the loss of the man she fell in love with on first sight. Brandon and Thomas wanted each other, but they had to worship you because you demanded it. Daniel was arm candy for you, and Michael was the hook. He was the means by which your influence spread because he actually loved you, so that was the emotion you tapped into to spread your touch.”

Helena paused. “He really loved me, but he wasn’t enough.”

“Right. So, that is why we can either go with the apology, or you can surrender to your chosen destiny.”

“What does that mean?”

“You signed a contract for your soul, providing that the demon carried out the terms. You know the consequences.”

Hecate heard the approaching motorcycle.

Tony asked, “What will happen to me?”

“Well, will you apologize to all of those you hurt?”

He frowned. “Of course. Do I just say it?”

“Say it, by name, with as much detail as you can manage.”

He started with Josh for murdering him in the hall because Josh was there.

Josh brightened and gave a small smile as he nodded at his once-friend.

Tony apologized to everyone, and he looked better with every declaration. Finally, he turned to Helena, and he said, “Helena, I am sorry for loving you, for wanting you to be my wife, and for wanting to keep you from everyone else.”

There was an audible snap, and a wave of power flushed through Tony, clearing all traces of his demonic agreement from his soul.

Demler roared in on his bike, and he drove right up to the spot where Hecate was standing.

She grinned when he removed his helmet, and the mark was streaked across his face. “Darn, that looks painful.”

The mark across his face made him a lot less pretty, which had been the point. People gave him all kinds of insight into their souls because they got lost in the beauty of his face. That was over.

He growled at her. “What are you doing to the bride? This is her haunt.”

Hecate shook her head. “She is being evicted. Too many people dead, and you have been drinking in the agony of being tortured night after night? Did you get off on it? Riding around in Tony’s skin and killing over and over?”

He frowned. “How do you—”

“Oh, and as you had sex with your contractee, you probably planted the aversion to sex that set Tony’s insecurities off to begin with.”

Helena blinked in surprise. “How do you know—”

Hecate nodded. “Great. You stacked the deck. You know that it isn’t allowed, Demler. You have to sign the contract on the merits of their desires, not yours.”

Demler frowned. “She is a greedy cow, she wanted attention from everyone. Do you know how many solid marriages she used the curse to screw up? Nineteen.”

Helena tried to look innocent. That was fine. Hecate had already made up her mind. Some folks didn’t want to be helped.

Hecate reached into her pocket and flicked one of the crystals at Demler’s feet. “Let’s just check on your veracity, Demler.”

He tried to move his feet and scowled. “What the hell?”

Hecate tapped the charm around her neck, and it began to broadcast a visual display of the interaction between Helena and the demon.

The display was concise. Helena was alone, was flattered by Demler, and then, they fell into bed. Afterward, he spoke to her at length and then brought out the contract. She was giggling when she signed, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead that wrapped her in the curse with a few flickers extra.

The rest was a blur of endless entanglements until the wedding, and then, Tony touched her. From the vantage point of the charm, Helena was hiding the demon behind the curtain. It wasn’t just a fling, Demler was there on her wedding day.

Tony was sent mad with the application of another charm, and the screams began to come to the bride’s room via the open windows.

Helena panicked. She pressed her hands to Demler’s chest, begging him for something. To make it stop by the way her lips were moving.

Demler pulled a knife and plunged it into her chest. She staggered back and looked at him in confusion.

She died and remained on the bridal bed until Tony returned. He slashed his own throat when he saw that she was dead.

Demler hopped out the balcony window and dropped to the ground below, casually walking away from the scene.

She tapped her charm again. “Well, that was effective.”

Helena stared at Demler. “You killed me? I loved you!”

Demler snorted.

Hecate filled her in. “He needed you to bind the men to the building. Every soul that was captured that day was one more that he could draw power from. You were nothing more than a battery pack, every life that you ruined boosted his power.”

Tony drew in a deep breath. “If you don’t mind, I am going to go now.”

Hecate gave him what he needed, and he splashed into fragments that then slowly rose to dance on the night breeze.

“That isn’t possible. He signed a deal.”

“You killed the reward, Demler. That makes the deal null and void. He can go on to wherever he pleases now. He has earned it.”

“He is a murderer!” Helena wailed.

“He was given the urge to kill through the curse wrapped around him. Demler orchestrated this, and he got the result he wanted.”

Hecate looked around with her hands on her hips. “The problem is he isn’t allowed to do that.”

She looked at Helena and said, “For the crimes that you have committed and the murders that you urged Tony to, your sentence is to complete the terms of your contract.”

“What?”

“You show no remorse, no empathy, and only envy of those who found love without your interference. Your soul is dead, your ghost just needs to catch up.”

She triggered the outer ring of stones, and beams of light sliced the ghost of Helena into small pieces of power that shattered and burned into the soil.

Demler was stuck in place, and he screamed as the power bank that was Helena slowly drifted away on the breeze.

Hecate took off the chain and stepped forward to wrap it around Demler’s neck.

“Now, for you. Demler, you have been a pain in my side for years now. It’s time for you to go home and do a full audit of your actions, however your kind does it.”

He fought the restraint of the crystal and lashed out at her. She ducked, but a huge shadow passed over her, and there was a snap as Demler struck the ground.

Domerik was crouched over Demler, and Hecate was fairly sure that she saw his hands going from clawed to human.

“Step back, Domerik. Hell is coming for him.”

She grabbed her companion by the back of his shirt and pulled. He stood up and stepped back. Hecate quickly darted forward and picked up her crystal. No sense losing it.

Her side was throbbing with pain as the ground beneath Demler glowed. Hands reached up out of the glow and pulled Demler under the grass, leaving a scorch mark where he had been. The chain was lying in a coil on the smoking soil.

Hecate reached over the char, and a hand reached up to grab her. She focused the cold that was always with her into that hand, and then, she smashed it with her fist. The howl from hell echoed in the yard. She grabbed the chain and put it back on her wrist.

She glanced at Domerik. “So, how was your first haunt?”

He chuckled. “Eventful. Fascinating and definitely different than I thought it would be. You have impressed me.”

“Good. Now, we have to cleanse the interior.”

He looked at her in surprise. “We need to clean it?”

“No. Cleanse it. There is a hollow here now, like a well-worn footprint. Other ghosts could simply fall in if we didn’t close it to incursion. So, we engage in one of the more interesting spot of the local traditions. We smudge it.”

“What?”

Hecate laughed. “I am going to need some food first, but then, we are going to light sage and go to every window and door, smoking it lightly to repulse any ghosts who are not invited.”

“So, more pie?” He looked hopeful.

She laughed, and they returned to the car where Josh and Sophia were standing.

“He was really a demon?” Josh was a little stunned, his colour a pale blue.

“He really was. He put this all in motion and kept all of you from moving on. The kind of loop you were in was not normal. It should have only happened on the anniversary of your death.”

The younger version of Sophia nodded. “He was feeding on them.”

“Yes. The emotion of the day was still hot and would have remained so until the building fell down.” Hecate dug into her packs and got a fruit pie for Domerik and two meat pies and some hot coffee for her.

The break was just what she needed. She had opened her stitches and drained her resources. The smudging had to happen, or the wedding could be a psychic mess. Eyeing the huge house, she shivered. This was going to be a marathon.

Chapter Twelve

“You know, it has been two days, and I can still smell the sage.” She muttered it as Domerik tended to her stitches, replacing the ones that had torn free during her afternoon wood cutting.

“It does linger. How are the plans for the wedding coming?”

Hecate chuckled as he set the stitch. “My sister is delighted, Leo is worried about me, and my mother and stepdad don’t even know I have been invited.”

“Well, as long as you are prepared to get there on time, all is well.”

She smiled softly. “Esmy has asked me to be there when she is getting ready. So, I have to leave here early and make sure my hair is ready.”

“You won’t have someone there to do your hair? I have seen enough weddings to know it is part of the ritual.”

She snorted. “The population in the cities is primarily white. Finding someone to do textured hair is a bit of a challenge, so I just clip my hair on my own and make my arms ache while I work with it.”

“That sounds awkward. It looks fairly straight.”

“Looks are deceiving. It is kinked on a cellular level.” She chuckled. “At least you didn’t touch it.”

He paused. “Is that a thing?”

“It is a thing.” She snorted.

“I have noticed your wardrobe is simple. Do you have something to wear?”

She grinned and nodded. “I have a great dress, off the should—”

She smacked her forehead with her palm. “Fuck!”

“What? What is it?”

“My dress is off the shoulder. The left shoulder. I don’t think having ten stitches marching down my shoulder front and back is going to be ignored by those attending the wedding.” She huffed, and he set the final of the missing stitches.

“That seems awkward. Can you do something?”

She looked at the sunset and shook her head. “No. I can’t believe that I didn’t think about this. There is no time tomorrow. Shit!”

“Perhaps your attendance will be enough.”

“For Esmy and Leo, yeah. For my mother and stepdad... that is another matter.”

“Why do you have an issue with them?”

She gave him a tired look. “They have an issue with me. They are both purely human. A ghost extractor in the family was not something that they adapted to. My mother thought I was unholy, and he thinks I am trying for attention.”

“So, they don’t know what you do?”

“No. They can’t really get their heads around it.”

She picked up her phone and texted Esmy then she paused. She flicked through her contacts and found Laura’s number.

She sent the text and waited.

With her breath held, she pulled her shirt back on and went to her wardrobe to look at the dress that would show the stitches to advantage.

She kept close to her landline, and when it rang, she jumped on it. “Hello?”

“Hello, Hecate. This is Laura. You said you needed to speak?”

The noise in the background sounded like a busy restaurant, Hecate winced. “You are at the rehearsal dinner.”

“I am. Why aren’t you here? Your mother said she asked you.”

Hecate swallowed. “There must have been a miscommunication. She doesn’t know I am going to the wedding, right?”

“Um, I believe that Esmy announced you were going to be there.”

Hecate winced. “Right. Well, I had a bit of a disaster with my dress. Do you know anyone who opens up before eight in the morning?”

Laura chuckled. “I will make arrangements. Just be at the hotel for nine, and it will be fine. We will get you sorted.”

“I don’t mean to be trouble.”

“You aren’t trouble. You have saved the wedding. We will make sure you can enjoy it. Do you have any idea of the style?”

“Something dark that covers the shoulders and part of the neck completely. Nothing fancy.”

“What are we covering?” Laura was matter-of-fact.

“A three-inch puncture, through and through.”

“Ah.”

“My original dress was off the shoulder.”

“That will be no problem. I will see you tomorrow while Esmy is getting ready. Prepare to join our circus.” Laura chuckled and hung up.

Hecate was nervous, but she spent the evening discussing a training regimen with Domerik and trying to explain to Ulysses that he wouldn’t be able to enter the building tomorrow.

Ulysses had been irritated since Domerik came back with her, making notes about her technique and the effectiveness of her energies.

Hecate had looked at the grimoire, and there were only four empty pages. Hell was going to have to send another demon, or she was going to have to leave home. Neither option was particularly appealing.

She set out two sets of shoes that should cover most outfits, one dark, one light.

With her heart in her throat, she set her alarm and went to sleep, hoping to be on time before she got to the happiest day of her sister’s life.

She parked with other vehicles and smiled at the archway being built near the treeline. It was three hours to the wedding, and things looked well in hand.

Hecate headed for the building where the organizer was standing with a clipboard, and she was gripped hard and spun around.

“Stefan. Good morning.”

Her stepfather moved in close and hissed, his hand crushing her left shoulder in that special way that he had. “What are you doing here, Hecate?”

Hecate looked at him and was reminded that he was not her father. He didn’t want her in his life.

“I am here because of Esmy and Leo. They asked, and here I am.”

She could smell her own blood as the wound separated.

He frowned. “What the hell?”

He pulled his hand back, and his pale skin was marked with her blood.

“Congratulations. You opened my stitches. Well done.”

She walked over to the organizer, who had watched the whole thing. “Hiya. I am Esmy’s sister. I am supposed to meet her here?”

“You are Hecate?”

“Yes. I believe you have met our mother. No, she is not Stefan’s, as much as he tells people she is.” Hecate smiled brightly. “My sister?”

“Upstairs to the right.”

So, they were using the old bridal room for this. That was fine. She had stuffed the windows and doors with so much sage smoke, nothing sinister was getting in.

Hecate knocked on the door, and one of the pale and elegant bridesmaids was there. She looked at Hecate and frowned. “I will tell her you wished her well. You shouldn’t be here.”

Hecate let out a sharp whistle. She smiled as the response came from inside the room.

She pushed past the bridesmaid and looked at her sister in her robe, with her hair being twisted into an updo. “Hecate!”

“Esmerelda, you look wonderful. Leo is very lucky.” She walked up and squeezed her sister’s hand.

Laura was in the corner, talking with the flower girl. She looked up with a smile and said, “Ah, Hecate, come with me.”

Hecate nodded and squeezed Esmy’s hand one more time. “You look radiant, sis.”

“You look drained. I will see you soon.”

Laura took her hand and tugged her down to a panel truck parked near the other supply vehicles.

They opened a side door, climbed up some stairs and were inside a room full of gowns and footwear with a corner for jewelry.

“Mistress Galfor, this is Hecate. She is the ghost extractor we told you about.” Laura smiled. “She requires your services.”

The woman turned, and to Hecate’s shock, she didn’t have the standard number of arms.

“Hello, Mistress Galfor. Pardon if I stare. I am very new to the realm of paranormal beings. For the longest time, I thought that the ghosts were as unusual as things could get.”

Mistress Galfor nodded. “I understand. The idea of pulling a soul out of a human is perplexing to me as well. I can’t think of why you would do it.”

Hecate shook her head. “That isn’t what I do.”

“Well, you can take off your clothing, and I will patch up that wound and you can explain it to me. I love a good ghost story.”

Hecate was bemused by the woman’s lack of concern over the wound, but she took off her shirt, and soon, goblin spider silk was binding it and actually felt pretty good.

“The silk will detach as the oils in the skin return to normal.”

“Thank you.”

“I also have a box of bandages for you to use in the future.”

Hecate felt her cheeks heat. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You don’t have to. The Nexus is going to pay my fees. She is also an excellent tipper.” Mistress Galfor grinned, and her teeth were impressively terrifying.

“So, you think you can hide it?”

“Oh, I can do more than that. I can make you second to the bride alone. Shall we?”

Hecate smiled. “This I have to see.”

It took over an hour, but when Hecate left the truck and went down the stairs in knee-high boots, she felt comfortable, and she felt gorgeous. The warmth of the sun heated her skin, and the two days of sleeping and gorging had done wonders for her body heat. Purple silk that felt like it could stop a bullet was wrapped around her, and she felt like she belonged.

Her makeup was impeccable and had been set with some powder that would defy sweat and tears. She was set for the entire day.

She returned to Esmy’s chamber and knocked on the door. Her mother was standing there, and she hissed, “She doesn’t need you here, Hecate.”

There was a cry from inside, “Hecate! Come and button the last few buttons on my gown.”

The bridesmaids laughed, but Hecate pushed past her mother and went to help her sister. Esmy was gorgeous. Stunning and as lovely as Esmy had ever seen her.

There was a photographer who was standing by, and as Hecate reached out and finished the last three buttons, the shutter snapped furiously.

When it was done, Esmy turned and leaned toward Hecate. She leaned in, and their foreheads touched like they used to do when they were small.

“I am so happy that you made it. You here makes it the perfect day.”

“I am very glad to have made it. Thank you for inviting me, Esmy.” She squeezed her sister’s hands.

The shutters of the photographer went crazy.

They smiled and laughed as they were ushered downstairs to have more photos taken in the newly refurbished gardens.

Their mother tried to keep Hecate out of the photos, but the photographer wasn’t having any of it. He made sure that Hecate was in several photos alone with Esmy and that she was in all the images with the bridesmaids.

The picture with her, her mother, and Esmy was strained, but they stood on either side with Esmy in between. Everything was very polite until Stefan showed up.

He paused. “What is she doing here?”

Esmy smiled, but there was steel in her tone. “She is here because she is my twin, my sister, my blood from birth. I asked and she came, just as she always has, but I had forgotten how much effort she had to engage in just to render help. I want her here, she is sitting at the head table, and I am not going to hear a word about it.”

Stefan was still looking daggers at Hecate, but they stood for pictures as a family.

Hecate wandered around the corner, and she heard a “Psst.”

She followed the sound and found Leo and his groomsmen getting their own pre-event photos done. Leo wanted an image with her, and they stood for the photo, chaste, with a few inches in between them and both decorously looking at the photographer. The next ones got silly as she was asked to do what came naturally.

She reached into her boot and pulled out the stock of her whip, whirling it lightly before cracking it down.

Leo blinked. “You keep a whip with you?”

“Yeah. It is kind of a distance weapon, and though we cleared out this area, there is going to be another demon coming soon, and I don’t want to be unarmed when it happens.”

Leo grinned. “Sensible. So, did Esmy tell you that you are at the head table?”

“She told Stefan. This isn’t going to be fun.”

“Yeah, but it sets a tone. You don’t get shoved aside anymore. You are part of our family, and if we have to make you remember it, we will.”

Hecate smiled. It had never been her who wanted to forget, but she would see where the night took her.

Chapter Thirteen

The ceremony was lovely. She sat in one of the front rows reserved for family, and her father sat next to her. This day was important enough for her to summon him. He got to see his baby married.

There were more pictures then the buffet and party, and sitting at the head table was a little weird with everyone looking at her, but as the projector screen came down, she knew that things were going to go downhill, just a little.

Stefan stood, and he said, “We are here today to welcome Leo into our family, and I just wanted to share some memories of Esmerelda growing up. We will share these to make room for more memories.”

Esmy looked excitedly at Hecate and then to the screen.

Hecate already knew what she would see.

She ate her dessert and watched the display of a lovely couple and their beautiful daughter. Singular. She had been edited out of her own life.

Esmy stared at the images, and her expression changed. “Stop the projector. Switch to my disk, please.”

She waved, and a groomsman brought the mic over. “Hiya, I thank my stepfather for the video, but it reminded me of someone that I have been missing for a very long time. So, since this is a family day, I would like to offer this as a present for my sister.”

The reels began, and the carefully cropped photos were shown to have a dark caramel smiling face next to her milk-white sister. They were at the beach, at church, making sandcastles, getting school awards, graduating, all the things that Stefan had tried to cut in half.

Then, there was Esmy’s accident after graduation, pictures of Hecate at her bedside. Images of the broken car, and then Hecate helping her with her physiotherapy, helping her learn how to walk again. And then, the image from today, the two girls standing head to head, smiling and happy.

Hecate blotted under her eye at the tears that were trying to get started.

She got up and walked over to Esmy and gave her a hug. The assembled folk who weren’t crying themselves began to applaud wildly.

The party was just getting started.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and the crowd was thinning.

Hecate had ended up at the Nexus’ table, and she asked, “So, you are driving the humans out?”

Abby grinned. “Not me. Not precisely. I just provide the magic to be used, like a giant piggy bank.”

“Huh.”

Hecate’s mom came over and smiled. “Please excuse me, I just want to borrow my daughter.”

This wasn’t going to be good.

Her mother grabbed her arm as soon as she stood, and Hecate took charge, walking with her mother out of the building and into the shadows of a tree near the spot where the ceremony had been held.

When Hecate stopped and turned to her mother, the slap across her face caught her by surprise. “Wow, Mom. What was that for?”

“How dare you embarrass Andrew that way?”

“What way, Mom?”

She flexed her jaw and rubbed her cheek.

“That video.”

Esmy’s voice was clear. “That was my video.”

Their mother whirled and said, “Baby, you should be inside, this is your party.”

Esmy looked at her and shook her head. “You know, I always wondered why it was so easy for me to make space between Hecate and me, but now I get it. You reinforced every moment of jealousy I had, used it to draw a line between us that widened. I was an asshole, but you helped every step of the way.”

“Baby, you are upset. She’s upset you. Go inside and calm down. Dance with that handsome husband of yours.”

A voice behind them spoke, “But first, how about a father-daughter dance. I can’t get inside, but I can dance with you out here.”

Hecate smiled and stepped aside as Esmy properly saw Andrew Wakeman for the first time.

Esmy took a step forward. “Dad?”

Hecate watched as their mother went grey.

“How is he here?”

Hecate looked at her mother and smiled. “He has always been here. Always watching. Always keeping you from hitting me too hard and killing me. Weird, huh? Protected by the dead. How could that be possible?”

Her mother sat down hard on the grass. “He left me.”

“He died. It happens. He tried to protect you, tried to give you everything you needed to survive.”

“All I wanted was him... and he left me.”

Esmy and Andrew’s ghost were dancing slowly in the shade of the tree. The music spilled out, and Leo was leaning in the doorway, giving her a thumbs-up when Hecate caught his gaze.

She nodded.

When the song was over, Esmy smiled at her father. “Thank you for coming.”

“I have always been here. And I would not have missed today for the world.”

Hecate smiled. “He has been really chatty about it, too.”

The translucent form of her father walked over to her mother and crouched next to her.

They spoke softly to each other, her hand constantly going to his cheek. Hecate swallowed at the last words that her father gave her mother, and she blinked away her tears.

Their mother was crying in huge and ugly sobs.

Andrew touched her cheek one more time. Stood up, walked up to Hecate, and stepped into her. It wasn’t her favourite way to transport a ghost, but it was effective. There was no way she was going to let Dad miss Esmy’s wedding.

Andrew Stefan came out and ran to where his wife was sobbing on the ground. He asked her what was wrong, and she waved at Hecate.

Her stepfather was up in her face in a moment. “What did you do, you little bitch?”

“Nothing. I just brought Esmy’s father to her wedding, and he wanted to talk to his wife. Nothing else.”

He gripped her by the arms and shook her hard. “Shut up! Ghosts aren’t real, and I am Esmy’s father. Do I still have to beat it out of you?”

Esmy beckoned to Leo, and she put her hand on Andrew’s arm. “What the hell are you doing? Are you threatening her?”

Hecate turned to Esmy. “It’s fine. I am a big girl, and I carry a knife now.”

Andrew dropped her suddenly, stepping back.

Their mother had scrambled to her feet, and she was pulling at Andrew’s arm. “Don’t, don’t hurt her.”

He looked at her in astonishment. “She upset you.”

“No. That wasn’t. Let’s just go.” She was defeated.

Hecate stepped forward and kissed her mother on the cheek. She whispered in her ear, and her mom paused and then nodded. “I understand.”

Andrew tried to pass her, so she made a fist and plowed it into his abdomen. When he bent over, she whispered in his ear. “Try that again and I will pull your soul out and see how long your body can live without it.” She flexed her fingers in his spiritual energy.

His eyes grew wide, and they left.

Hecate sighed and looked at Esmy. “Sorry about that, but I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I just didn’t think it would happen at the wedding.”

Esmy hugged her. “I instigated it. It was my chance to actually see them in action, and they didn’t disappoint. Did he really hurt you?”

“Yeah. He liked pressure pain. Mom gave him the excuse that I needed to be punished, and he was trying to keep me away from sullying her angel.”

Esmy winced and leaned against Leo. “Yeah, that is what Mom calls me.”

Leo snorted. “What did your father tell her?”

Hecate felt her face heat. “Um, I was the angel he told her about that last day. He said that he had left her an angel to watch over her. He meant me.”

Leo’s eyes widened, and he covered his mouth. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah. It is a common issue, confusing lack of colour with virtue. Boy, they never did learn about what you did at the chocolate shop, did they, Esmy?” Hecate tried to lighten the mood.

Esmy giggled and then sobered. “You got spanked for that as well.”

“Well, that didn’t go well. How about we put the past in the past and shake hands to be better sisters going forward.”

Esmy smiled. “Deal.”

They shook hands. Hugged again, and then, Leo cleared his throat.

“Hecate, I am offering myself to you as your big brother. My family is at your disposal, and you can come over any time.”

Hecate grinned and looked at her sister. “I do.”

Leo shook her hand, and he grinned. “Welcome to the family.”

She smiled and said, “Congratulation on your wedding and your new addition. It’s a sister.”

He laughed and pulled her in a one-armed hug. She winced at the pain and simply smiled. Family at last.

“Now, when are the others getting here?”

“The mages are getting ready to open the portals. As soon as sundown starts, the party will begin in earnest.”

Esmy was grinning.

Hecate asked, “You are ready for this? This is a lot of weirdly wonderful family.”

“When Leo and I started dating and I saw his family, I knew something was really wrong in ours. That began a lot of introspection and how things actually worked. I realized it didn’t, and Leo and I talked about it. I am going to call you after we get back from our honeymoon. We have some time to make up for. The new family has been nothing but wonderful.”

Hecate was partially listening and double-checking that all the humans had left the grounds. They were gone.

Leo grinned and nodded. “Human repellent. It works wonders.”

Xander and another mage nodded to each other near the treeline, and huge portals swelled open with a stream of folk coming through, laughing and talking loudly. No one was worried about getting attention. Magic was already thickly lining the exterior of the property, which meant that everyone was free to roam in whatever form they chose.

“We even have a dignitary coming.” Leo smiled, and they began walking back to the ballroom.

“Sounds fancy.”

Esmy laughed. “It is really a huge deal. The council has been trying to get more of a heavy-hitter presence here in Canada. This is an excellent chance for him to meet everyone and for them to meet him in a casual arrangement.”

Xander whistled sharply, and Leo changed direction. “And here he is.”

Esmy and Leo walked over to meet the new arrival, Abby came by to stand with her husband, and the gnomes had come out of wherever they were hiding and were saluting as the dark figure stepped through the gateway.

Hecate stared at him. “Domerik?”

He smiled. “Hecate. Have you saved me a dance?”

Esmy was surprised. “You know him?”

Domerik smiled. “I am staying with your sibling. I even stitched her up after the stabbing.”

Esmy’s eyes went wide. “Stabbing?”

Leo put his arms around her shoulders. “She’s fine. She told me about it on the night and said it wasn’t serious.”

Domerik took a few more steps toward her. “Forty-seven stitches. A normal human would have died.”

She walked up to him and smacked him in the arm. “Shut up.”

Abby stood next to her husband and piped up, “Thank you for joining us, Archivist Domerik.”

“Nexus, the invitation was welcome when I learned I would be staying nearby. It is good to meet you at long last.”

He bowed and extended his hand, taking hers and bowing over it. No creepy kissing, thankfully.

A man with dark hair and dark eyes walked over from the group that had just come through one of the fixed portals. He looked at the newcomer and shouted, “Domerik!”

“Ah, Terric. Good to see you again.”

“Come, come, meet my wife. Elly is looking forward to speaking with another of our kind.”

When he left, all eyes of those gathered turned to Hecate.

Esmy raised her brows. “He’s living with you?”

Leo chuckled. “You smacked him on the arm.”

Xander just grinned, and Abby raised her brows. “Even I wouldn’t slap one of the ancient dragons around. I mean, even for me, there are limits.”

As Abby spoke, a small and delicate dragon flitted toward her and landed on her shoulder. To Hecate’s surprise, it took flight and came toward her, landing on her right shoulder and curling around her neck.

Abby smiled. “Aw, she likes you.”

Hecate looked over at Domerik and the wave of folks going into the ballroom and spilling out onto the stone patio again. “How did I get so popular?”

Chapter Fourteen

Hecate was sitting out near the trees, and she kept the ghosts who wanted to attend the party charged up and interacting. There was a family cemetery just behind the treeline.

She stroked the chin of the tiny dragon and relaxed for the first time since Leo called her.

Her dad sat next to her. “It’s a helluva party. The Carmans are having a great time.”

“It looks like it. I have never seen ghosts square dance to hip hop before.”

“It is a whole new world now. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good. The shoulder is healing, the side is healing, and it looks like Esmy wants to be my sister again. Leo’s a good guy, his family is welcoming, and I have seen more people today than I have in the last six years.”

He chuckled. “I am sorry about your mom. There wasn’t much I could do.”

“I know. She’s a living adult, you were dead the day I got started. You comforted me when you could.” She wanted a distraction, so she released her ghosts from the car. Everybody loved a party.

Ulysses saw her father, and he ran toward them.

She chuckled. “Time for you to make up with your dad. I will still be here with my new neck ware. Go on.”

Andrew gave her a dark look, and he got up to meet with his dad. They stood a few feet apart and spoke with each other before finally going in for a stiff hug. She chuckled softly. “Baby steps.”

One of the gnomes ran up to her, Ruffles, she thought. It pressed a small glass bead wrapped in metal around her wrist.

Ah, finally. You can hear me. The dragon sat up and made a delicate yawn.

Hecate paused and focused on answering the voice in her head. I can?

The small dragon moved from her neck to perch on her knees, nearly at eye level. I am Echo, creation of the Nexus. You are the ghost worker, carrier of ancient gods. Yes?

Hecate frowned. I am not sure about that. I extract ghosts.

And house three goddesses and all of your ancestors. You are interesting, and I like interesting.

Um, doesn’t the Nexus need you?

No, she has other resources and is looking into building more small dragons. I am one of a kind and will not associate with riffraff.

So, you want to live out in the middle of nowhere without other humans around?

It sounds ideal. I would, of course, accompany you on your ghost stalking.

Extracting.

Whatever.

Hecate laughed. This was a very snarky little dragon. Are you always visible to humans?

I can change that if I wish. Echo sat up and flexed, going from gold to pearl to translucent.

Fine. I know you can get back to Abby if you need to. We are not that far away. Just let me know if you are going anywhere, so I don’t worry about you getting nabbed by eagles.

Echo huffed and then returned to Hecate’s neck. Deal.

Hecate was still smiling when Domerik walked toward her and stopped a few feet away.

“Hello, Hecate.”

She nodded. “Hello.”

“They are playing music for dancing.”

“I know.”

He extended his hand. “Will you dance with me?”

She looked at him, and then, she held out her right hand. He helped her to her feet. “One dance, and then, I am going to call it a night.”

“And tomorrow, we begin on your combat training.” He led her back toward the ballroom.

She looked at the determination in his face. “Maybe I can play some of the formalwear hopscotch that the mermaids are playing.”

He chuckled. “There are a few other things that you can do, and your sister would like to have you having fun. This is her day, after all.”

As they went to the dance floor and he held her carefully, it dawned on her with a sick horror that he was going to make her socialize.

He smiled at her as they danced, and he guarded her weak side. “I see you have made a new friend.”

She frowned and then realized. “Oh, yes, this is Echo. Echo, this is Domerik.”

She stood up on Hecate’s shoulder and bowed to him as he carefully moved them around the dance floor.

“Pleased to meet you, Echo.”

She got all flirty and fluttery before she returned to her coil around Hecate’s neck.

“She’s on loan from the Nexus.”

Domerik chuckled. “She likes that you are cold.”

“I am glad she can enjoy it. So, why did you really come here?”

He shrugged. “I am bound to the Wakeman family, and right now, you are the Wakeman family or at least the magical portion.”

She frowned. “How does that work?”

“I made a promise in the heat of the moment and have been living with it ever since. The last week has been the most enjoyable of the last three centuries.”

She felt her skin heat, and Echo shifted. She really did like being cool.

“So, what are you going to do when there are no more Wakemans?”

“I suppose I will take my library elsewhere.” He shrugged. “I have not given it much thought... recently.”

She looked into his eyes, and she felt a little nervous. “Did a hawk just fly over?”

He grinned.

Echo shifted on her shoulder and told her off for warming up.

Hecate prayed for a tempo change in the music, but with the floor full of dancing couples, it wasn’t going to happen any time soon. “So, is there a Mrs. Domerik?”

He shook his head. “No. My kind chooses a mate once and we remain with them.”

“Oh. That’s nice.”

“Glad you think so. Terric waited for generations for Elly, and I have always found my books to be the ultimate companions.”

“Books?”

“The library.”

“Oh. So that is your hoard?”

He paused, but his feet didn’t miss a beat. “Yes. Books, magical artifacts, ancient scrolls, I collect them all.”

“Ah, so when you wanted me to write down all of my methodologies...”

He blushed. “For the collection. Yes.”

They swayed with the music, and she felt like this was the first sign of weakness that Domerik had shown. He had seen her at her most vulnerable, and now, she knew one of his. It wasn’t a lot of progress, but if she needed something to distract him while she was getting combat training, she would just throw a book.

The thought made her smile as they danced with the other paranormals on the dance floor.

After midnight, Esmy threw the bouquet, and it was caught by an eager mermaid with her eyes on a very nervous goblin.

Hecate went to help her sister change out of the frothy white silk, and she helped her into the going-away outfit.

“Thanks for coming and for all of your help, Heck.” Esmy hugged her tight.

“Thanks for inviting me.” She smiled. “It meant more than I can say.”

“Leo has been a good influence on me. He has been showing me how to see through the bullshit and think for myself. It is about time I grew up.” Esmy smiled. “I think growing old as Esmerelda Wakeman Fisher is a pretty good way to do it.”

Hecate wiped tears from her eyes. “I think it sounds pretty good. Make sure you let me know when you get back in town. We can meet for lunch or something.”

“Or something. Nice dragon, by the way. Just watch Echo around nachos. She can’t control herself.”

Hecate laughed, and Esmy refused to let her pick up the bag. They walked down the stairs that had been the pathway to death a few days earlier and the fresh and open feeling in the building.

The column of well-wishers was waiting. Leo smiled and took Esmy’s hand at the base of the steps, kissing her leisurely, and then, they were on their way out and into the night.

Xander opened a portal, and the happy couple walked through.

Hecate leaned on the banister and smiled. She still had to get home, but she had had a nice time. Weird but nice.

“When are you heading home?” Domerik asked.

Hecate said, “I have one more thing to do, and then, I am heading out.”

“Can I get a lift?”

She grinned. “You can. I just need to collect my revellers.”

She walked outside, and near the doorway to the ballroom were Josh and Sophia. They were holding each other close and swaying in a weird counterpoint to the peppy music.

Hecate stood nearby, and they paused and turned to her. She smiled. “Ready?”

Josh held Sophia’s hand tightly. “We are. Whatever is next, we will face it together.”

Hecate held her hands out, and they each gripped a hand.

“Sophia, it has been wonderful having you with us. You waited, and you found the man you had fallen in love with.”

Sophia smiled. “He was worth waiting for.”

“Josh, you waited and kept her in your heart through tremendous travails. I want nothing but the best for you, and Sophia is the best.”

She smiled brightly. “By the power vested in me, I now give you your freedom for the next life.” She pulled the tether that she had placed in them both, and they both glowed bright, clung to each other and turned into a streaking comet of energy that did a circuit around the manor house before leaving human vision.

Domerik spoke from a few feet away. “Well done, Hecate.”

Hecate blotted at her eyes and saw that Domerik wasn’t the only one watching.

Abby was crying, and Xander was holding her. Amber was standing next to him and staring at his ears. She mouthed to Hecate, He’s an elf!

Hecate chuckled and finished blotting her tears. She boosted Amber’s density, and Xander turned to stare at her while she had her fingers just over the tip of his ear.

Hecate chuckled. “Amber, that is Xander. He is part elf. Xander, this is Amber. She has been with me for a few years now.”

Xander turned to her, and he inclined his head. “Miss Amber. Thank you for coming out tonight.”

She blushed, and she tried to look adult. “Thank you, Mr. Xander.”

Hecate smiled, and she swayed. Amber was immediately on guard. “Hecate, are you okay?”

Hecate smiled. “Just a little tired.”

“Shit, and here we are using you for stability. Get in the car, Hecate.”

Hecate chuckled and was bullied into her vehicle, hugging folk and shaking hands, promising to come by for coffee in the next week if she was able.

She got into her car, buckled up, and her ghosts filed into it behind her. Domerik sat in the passenger seat, and he gave a polite bow to those who had come to wave them off.

They left the drive and started on the way home.

“That was a nice wedding.”

Hecate agreed. “It went off very well. I am very glad that the sage held.”

He grinned. “I am enjoying this new location. It has a lot of educating moments.”

She snorted and drove down the highway, her lights on, and the journey home ahead of them. Being educational wasn’t the worst thing she could be. At least she now had people to talk about things with. She might not have truly gotten a family out of the marriage, but she had gotten a community. It was the best gift she had gotten in years.

About the Author

Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.

An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around, and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.

In real life, she now is engaged in beekeeping, and her adventures can be found on the YouTube channel, Mystery Bees Apiary. Just look for the cartoon kittens.