Electric Blue (35 page)

"I thought you said you didn't remember what happened?" Lucy said.

"Oh, you know how it is." Karma flashed them a nervous smile. "Once you start talking about something, the details come back." She looked at them. "Look, if you don't believe me, we can go to the grave site later on, or tomorrow. I can show you my grave."

"Fine," Cecelia said. "In the meantime, I suggest we all get some sleep. The night is old and the shadows are thick." She had signalled the end of the conversation.

While David and Orlando were saying goodbye to Honey and Jose (both of them refusing to sleep a single night under the House’s roof) and Lucia was saying good bye to Lucy, Edgar gently touched Lilly's foot. She looked at him and then got on the floor beside him, using the excuse to pet him to move closer to him. He did not want to talk out loud in Karma's company. When she put her ear close to his muzzle, her fears were confirmed.

"I do not know this Karma," he whispered. "But I do not like her. None of her words ring true. This woman," he said, "is an impostor."

* * * * *

When Lucy and Honey and Jose had left,
Orlando
, David and Lucia moved to the living room. The tension in the air was so thick; it could be cut with a knife. There was a breeze that had been slowly building the moment Karma walked into the House. It found its way to the living room and brushed Naomi's cheek. She looked at Karma over the rim of her glass of scotch. She let the warmth burn down her throat and felt it warm her tummy. It calmed the feeling she felt, that something was not right. She looked at Karma's eyes and saw a shine there that made her worry. Karma seemed an awful lot more gutsy than she had before. Of course, this could have something to do with her having to climb out of the dirt, but Naomi didn't think so. Her psychic senses were stirring, a tingling sensation at the back of her neck. Something was not right here. Karma had been dead, deader than dead. Lucia had brought Moe back to life. David had brought
Orlando
back to life. Who had brought Karma back to life? Naomi knew that you could not be resurrected unless it was done with magic. So that brought her back to her original question: who
had
brought Karma back to life? It certainly wasn't her; Karma didn't posses any magic in her, of that Naomi was sure. At least, that had been the case when Karma was alive. She may have been a Witch, but she had no real magic in her.

Naomi stretched her mind to feel Karma's. Instead of being open to her, as a normal mind would be, it was closed. There were walls so tightly built around Karma's mind that Naomi almost gasped out loud. There was a darkness in the walls that frightened her. She watched as Karma sipped the last of her drink and stood, stretching. She yawned. "Well, I think I'm going to turn in." She began to head towards the basement.

"Where are you going?" Cecelia asked.

"Isn't this where the bedrooms are?"

"The bedrooms are on the second floor, as you well know," Cecelia said.

Karma had the decency to blush. "Sorry, I just wanted. . .you know, to see the place where I. . .died." There was silence at her words. "I'm sorry, I'll. . .I'll go to bed now." She went up the stairs, unsure of where to go. Her discomfort was evident.

"There's a guest bedroom first door on the right," Cecelia said, a grin forming on her lips.

"Thanks," Karma said. "I'm so tired, I forgot the layout of this place." She blushed. "It has been a long time."

"It's been less than a month," Cecelia replied.

"Well, yes. . .but even so. . . ." she eyed them all carefully. "Good night. I'll see you all in the morning."

They all watched her as she went up the large staircase. She could feel their eyes drilling holes in her head.

* * * * *

Once in the bedroom, Mistress let out a growl. Why was pretending to be someone else so hard? She had tried to access Karma's memory earlier, rolling her eyes to the back of Karma's head, so that she could see Karma's memories dancing before her. But Karma proved to be a more powerful Witch than she had previously thought. The only thing Mistress had been able to see, before Karma erected walls around her thoughts, was how her granddaughter had died. To be cursed like this. . .it drove Mistress mad. She was inside the body of someone she should be able to control, yet without her body she was almost powerless. She cursed herself for her stupidity. No matter. She would go down to the basement tonight and find where Poppy had entered the House’s belly. She would destroy the Otherworld and keep Poppy for herself. Her power would be hers.

She felt a headache coming on and rubbed her temples. She had never before experienced a headache, but she felt stress flowing into Karma's shoulders, making her ache. Karma had been her ticket into the house, but it looked as if she would be her undoing. Without being able to access Karma's memories as she had hoped, she was putting up a really poor performance. Mistress was over-confident, however. She figured the shock of seeing their dearly departed friend made them suspicious, never guessing that they might have seen through her. She smiled to herself. It was midnight. She could hear the clock chiming down below her, its bongs gentle. They sent a hum through the house. Tomorrow would be Halloween. Once she had the Shifter’s power, the Coven, and its House, would be hers once more.

She smiled and looked at herself in the mirror. She saw herself instead of Karma's body, a glitch in the spell she had done. It was able to disguise her body, but not her soul. Only in a mirrored surface would her true form show. She had been careful to avoid the mirrors downstairs or the glass windows that would show her for what she was. Mistress heard the final bong of the clock. She would wait another hour or so until everyone was asleep. Then she would go to the basement and claim her power over the Shifter and the House. She listened to them all moving and talking downstairs. She wished she could hear what they were saying, but no matter; they would be dead tomorrow. Even as they sat there talking, she was planning. LaWanda and her henchmen had remained behind, lest anyone grow suspicious. Mistress knew that, in her real form, she was more powerful than an army of Witches. She could kill anyone in a second, if she had to.

She sincerely hoped she would be given the chance.

* * * * *

Downstairs, the group in the living room had watched Karma's retreat. When they heard the door click closed behind her, they all followed Cecelia's lead and shuffled close together on the floor so that they could talk. Edgar spoke first. "I do not trust her," he said.

"Neither do I," Cecelia said. "Her aura is black."

"There's a darkness inside her," Naomi whispered. They all turned to her for explanation. "I tried to get into her mind earlier, but it was closed to me; more walls were around her thoughts than I have ever seen and it frightens me."

"When I hugged her. . . ." David said, "she seemed. . .cold."

"Cold how?"
Orlando
asked.

"Like there was no warmth in her. If she had been brought back to life, would there not be heat there?"

"How did she come back to life, though?" Lucia asked in a soft whisper. "Someone had to have brought her back."

"That's exactly what I thought," Naomi said. "And the breeze we've been feeling? I think it's House. She's trying to warn us."

As if to confirm what Naomi had just said, another breeze went through the living room. It sounded as if the wind was whispering ". . .. . ..yeeeeeesss. . ..."

"Why doesn't House come to help us?" Lucia asked.

"Because of the last time we were attacked," Cecelia said. "Her spirit protects the House. I have also asked Monica and Moe to lend their spirits to her."

"I wondered where they were. . . ." Lucia said.

"We need all the protection we can get," Cecelia said. "Monica was a powerful Witch, even for a unpractised one. Monica and Moe will give House strength she might otherwise not have."

"So what do we do now?" Lilly asked. "We know she's an impostor. We must stop her."

"But she hasn't done anything yet," Naomi said. "We don't know if it really IS Karma, or if someone is controlling her. I believed her when she said her grave was dug up. It's obvious, otherwise she wouldn't be here. But we have to wait for her to make a move, until we can do something. We don't want whoever it is thinking we're on to her."

"Agreed," Cecelia said. "We must all pretend as if everything is alright. We must go to sleep."

"Sleep?" David asked. "How do you expect us to sleep?"

"We won't be sleeping," Cecelia said. "We will be waiting for Karma to make her move."

As they all filed up the stairs to their respective bedrooms, Lilly and Edgar being given another of the guest bedrooms, David could not help but spare a thought for Poppy and hope that she was alright. He also hoped that they would all make it out of this alive. He squeezed
Orlando
's hand and headed up the stairs to sleep that would not come.

Chapter Forty Seven

Sleep No More

Mistress listened to the sound of the big clock in the living room clanging the hour. It was one o'clock in the morning; time to make her move. She felt almost horny with excitement. Her breathing was rapid and she tried to calm herself. It would not do to have everything fall to cinders because she was excited. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes, trying to feel the power inside herself. She felt it rising inside her, inside the shell of Karma's body. She smiled. She was ready. She took another deep breath and gave thanks to the dark power that ran through her. She checked herself in the mirror, smiling at herself. "Get ready to have some fun," she whispered. She shook her head. Why was it that bad guys always talked to themselves? She would have to stop that. People would think she was crazy.

Mistress stopped at the door and listened carefully. There was no sound; no one moved below. She heard the gentle snores of the others in the bedrooms down the hall. She eased the door open and stepped out into the hall. She went down the stairs, careful not to make the boards under her feet creak. She had made it to the bottom of the staircase when she saw a light on in the kitchen. She looked at her hand and watched in amusement as she made her long, red nails grow longer. It was time to have some fun.
Orlando
, wanting a midnight snack, came out of the kitchen at the exact moment Mistress blocked his way. "Karma?" he said. "What are you doing up?" he eyed her warily. "Couldn't sleep either huh?"

"No," she said and before
Orlando
could say anything else, she drove her nails into
Orlando
's neck, blood flowing down her hand from his jugular. She moved her hand deeper into his neck, taking hold of his muscle and sinew that surrounded his neck bone. She lifted him off the ground with one hand, a slow smile spreading on her lips, and cracked the bone. She watched his eyes as he shook and jerked in death movement. He made a gurgling sound as blood and saliva dripped from his lips and onto her skin. Soon, he moved no more. Mistress smiled to herself and licked the blood off her hand. The magic in his blood made it taste sweet and she could feel it tingling on her tongue. She threw his dead body into the kitchen and turned off the light. She waited a moment, in case someone else had heard the noise and woken. No sound was made. She felt hornier than ever, more excited. Killing was always a wonderful aphrodisiac.

The breeze that had been blowing since earlier that evening intensified. Someone had seen her kill the magic man. And she knew who. "Come down, then, and fight, House Spirit," she said. "I'm ready for you." When no one responded, she continued on her way towards the basement. When she got to the door of the basement, she had a surprise waiting for her. She could see the wards that had been placed on the door. She recognized Cecelia's signature in the magic and laughed silently. Did the stupid woman really think that she could keep her out with a simple ward? She inhaled deeply and let out a breath that was ice cold. She could see it melting the magic pentacle that was in front of the door, melting the soft gold lines of it with her icy magic. It tinkled softly and the pentacle turned to a gold and silver dust that fell softly to the floor. She eased open the basement door and shut it quietly behind her. In the dark of the basement, she felt safe. She could see in the dark, could feel her pupils growing bigger to take in the dark shapes that were in front of her. She could see the glow from the door to the
Fallen
City
. The light on the other side of the door framed the door in a line of light. It wasn't that door that she wanted, however. She had no interest in prophecies right now. Her mind was on more important things.

Mistress went down the stairs slowly, careful not to make any noise. She was on high alert, knowing that there had been wards placed on the door. She needn't have worried, though. She could see no more magic in the basement, nothing to stop her. She smiled again, laughing at their trust of her, and went further down into the basement. She looked around, finding the spot near the stairs where the Shifter had entered the Otherworld. She could see the Otherworld's magic pulse a dull red that coloured the stone in front of her. The Shifter was in that world. She would call her out. Something was wrong, however. When she placed her hand on the stone wall in front of her, it began to quake. The ground underneath her began to shake with a force rivalled only by an earthquake. She reached out and grabbed on to the stairs at her left to keep her from falling, one hand still placed on the wall. There came a deep rumbling from the ground then, and Mistress was thrown backward as a shower of rock and stone exploded in front of her, the wall blown to pieces. She hit the wall behind her and was covered in large chunks of wall and dust. When she was able to move the rock and stone off her, what she saw made her eyes widen.