Hell's Belle (14 page)

I pulled on black cargo pants and loaded the pockets with more stakes, extra bullets, and a few shuriken, or Japanese throwing stars, also made from sterling silver and doused in Holy Water.

I loaded a new clip into my 44 Magnum -- four sterling silver rounds rotated with four hollow point wood bullets that were filled with Holy Water. I shoved this into the vest's built-in holster nestled into the small of my back. I didn't sense any were-animals in town, but I didn't want to take any chances. Frankly, I didn't know what to expect anymore. Once I was suited up, I put on a cargo jacket to hide it all. My ass-kicking, steel-toe black boots completed the look.

"We should take the dog," Babe said. She nodded at my beast,
who was still alert, eyes following something we couldn't see. I was pretty sure she had her sights on my Casper.

"We?" I asked her.

"You aren't going in alone," Dr. O said firmly. "We don't know enough about this ghost to trust it. We'll take the Mini."

Great. Dog and I could cuddle up in the back.

CHAPTER 20

Once again, I found myself in that damn parking garage attached to the Biltmore, staring at the back entrance and dreading walking through. Dog sat at my right. Her low, throaty growl told me she was as on edge as me. I could hear Babe and Dr. O coming up behind us, and before I could turn to look at them, goddamned Casper just dropped straight into my body without any warning. I staggered backwards and landed flat on my ass.

"Goddamn it!" I groaned, stifling an angry shout. Pain began to flood my head again, and I closed my eyes against the fluorescent glare of the parking garage lighting.

"You need me to help you fight the ghosts," Casper reinforced his reason for the body jump.

Babe and Dr. O were beside me, reaching for my arms. I took a breath and drew myself up on all fours. How was I going to accomplish anything with Casper in my body giving me such a migraine?

Babe and Dr. O each gripped one of my arms and hoisted me to a standing position. I opened my eyes just enough to squint. It was like being in a fun house. Since there was an extra person in my body, my vision was completely distorted. Sort of double vision with a case of really bad seasickness. I willed myself not to hurl.

With Babe and Dr. O holding me sort of steady, we made our way into the haunted hotel, Dog stalking along at my side. The back hallway into the Biltmore was deserted, but sounds of clinking glass and slurred voices echoed towards us. The bars outside had closed two hours prior, but the Biltmore patrons had no use for the Blue Laws. The seedy watering hole pretty much never closed.

With Casper guiding me, we made our way as quickly as we could to a back elevator. I wasn't sure how the ghosts missed our presence, until I noticed that Babe was clutching a rosary and muttering to herself. This must have been the shielding spell Alfonso forgot to cast. Without it, the super freaks knew that he had protection talismans for Max’s room, which probably precipitated their attack. Of course Babe wouldn't make the same mistake.

When the doors opened, we rushed into the elevator, and at the ghost's instruction, I pushed 14 to get to Max's floor.

"They are in the room, right?" I asked my Casper.

Babe and Dr. O looked at me oddly, and I pointed to my head. This was taking some serious getting used to.

Casper must have nodded, since my head bowed in response, kicking off a throbbing sensation.

"It's a yes," I groaned at them. Dog licked my hand in solidarity.

The ding of the elevator opening its doors did not make my head feel much better. With their grip back on each arm, Babe and Dr. O guided me out of the elevator and we stumbled down the hall. Casper stopped me in front of Max's room.

Dr. O gripped the doorknob. "Ready?"

I nodded, breathing in sharply from the pain.

Dr. O turned the knob and pushed the door open. A shock of bright light exploded from the room, and I shielded my eyes, cursing that I didn't have my sunglasses. I walked boldly in, blinded by the light. Just past the threshold, Casper put on the breaks. My vision adjusted and I shrank back in horror. The room was filled with snakes.

I leaped onto the bed and started screaming like a little girl.

Okay, wait.
I need to point out, it wasn't me screaming. That's what Casper forced me to do. This tough-assed, tatted-up Mexican witch was afraid of snakes.

I would have loved to enjoy a laugh at his expense, but I was a little freaked-out myself. The snakes were everywhere.
On the floor, on the bed, slithering all over Alfonso, who was knocked out on the floor. Curiously, they were not bothering Max, who was lying face up on the bed, snoring.

"Nina!" Babe had jumped onto the bed too, and she slapped my face, hard, pulling me (well, Casper) out of hysterics. She pointed at the source of the blinding light, and my heart stopped.

Frankie lay in the center of two bright tanning lamps. His beautiful face was blistered, and his arms were dark, blackened by the UV light. Dr. O struggled to reach him, kicking snakes all over the room. But it was futile. The lamps wouldn't shut off. The switches didn't work, and they weren't plugged into any outlets, so cutting the electricity wasn't an option. The poltergeists didn’t want to kill Frankie and Al, or else they’d be dead. But they were feeding off the pain and misery, making the spirits stronger.

I leapt off the bed and popped my blades out of my wrist sheaths. Dog joined me. She forced the snakes
between me and Frankie to retreat, while I swiped the blades through them as they moved to the side. I could hear a hiss each time a head came off, and judging from Casper's little party going on in my head, I was killing the spirits along with the reptile bodies they were inhabiting. Score one for me!

When I reached Frankie, I re-sheathed the knives and tried to yank him out of the lights. But his skin was so fragile from the burns that it slid right off his bones. Moving him was impossible. This was not good, and I was close to panicking. His eyes fluttered open, and he looked at me.

"Bloody hell, Nina. Why were you screaming like a little girl?" He croaked.

The light from the lamps was strong, and my skin turned lobster red. Great, now I was going to get a sunburn, or worse if I didn't hurry up -- part vampire, and all that.

I squinted at the two sunlamps, which really looked like four in my double vision. I couldn't pinpoint exactly where they were. I drew up my leg and connected with the lamps with a long, smooth roundhouse kick. They collapsed to the ground and the bulbs busted and glass shattered everywhere.

Frankie let out a groan. "Took you long enough."

He tried sitting up without his charred skin oozing off. He looked like barbecue.

"Now. Time." Casper was urging me. I pulled out the Holy Water as more snakes slithered over Alfonso and towards me. Dog successfully pushed some away from me, but we were outnumbered. The snakes latched onto my ankles and began to twist around me, trying to pull me down. I took a swig and felt the water burn my mouth like scalding-hot coffee before I sprayed it out and over the snakes. They scattered when it hit them.

"Exunt corpus, licentia corpus, dimitto corpus," my voice repeated the words, each invocation becoming louder and more forceful as the snakes began to.... Well, burn up is probably the best way to describe it.

With a satisfying popping noise, the snakes disappeared from the room in flashes of flame. Babe rushed to Alfonso, placed the rosary on his forehead and murmured “
espíritu de salida.” He opened his eyes, sat straight up and shrieked, before dropping back to the floor. She gave his body a nudge with her foot. "Zote," she huffed at Al, calling him an idiot.

Casper laughed, causing my head to vibrate.

Dr. O went over and helped Alfonso stand up. Something knocked him out, but luckily he hadn't been possessed.

"Isn't it time you left?" I muttered to the ghost inside my head.

"I need your body to get out of here," he sounded surprisingly stronger. Good for him. But I felt like shit.

"Why?" I really wanted to have my body back.

"Trapped here without you," he said. “I weaken when I leave your body. The spirits want to trap me here, and it’s harder for me to fight them.”

I dropped to the bed and looked at Max. He slept through the whole damn thing. What the hell was in that potion that Al doused him with?

Babe began placing the talismans around the room, whispering in Spanish as she dropped each one.

Frankie, now leaning against the bed, reached up and squeezed my hand. Vampires sure could heal fast. His charred skin was shedding, being replaced with flawless, alabaster skin. The blisters on his face were still there, but they were beginning healing over, too.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I will be when Casper gets the hell out of me." I closed my eyes. Now that the adrenaline was leaving my body, my head was going back to throb mode.

"What happened to sleeping beauty over there?" Frankie nudged Max's foot.

Babe was perched on top of the bureau, shoving a talisman into the ceiling, and muttering an invocation. She looked down at us when she was finished.

"Now we clean up and give Max the antidote," she said very matter-of-factly as she wiped her hands on her thighs.

"I got to get this guy out of my head," I moaned. I felt useless. I was in agony with even the slightest move.

"Frankie and Al, you boys clean up your mess," Babe barked. "Nina, I'll get you outside and we can get rid of your friend. Thank him for his help tonight for me, would you?"

"
Ow! He said de nada." A wave of nausea hit and I rushed to the bathroom before I vomited all over the floor. I could hear Frankie laughing at me as I heaved.

When I was empty, I staggered out of the bathroom.

Babe hooked her arm in mine and helped me out of the room. "Let's get you out of here."

When we entered the hallway, the impact of the Biltmore hit me full force. Even Babe looked a little green with all that was happening. Lucky for me, Casper the Witchy Ghost was the only ghost that could possess me. I suppose it's better the ghost you know and all that. But poor Babe had no such protection, if you could call it that.

"Aren’t you going to cast a spell or something, to keep the ghosts from messing with you?" I whispered.

She shook her head tersely. “I broke the incantation off in the room, and I can’t start it again with all these spirits around. They keep blocking it. Give me the water."

I handed my flask of Holy Water to her, and she opened the top and took a gulp. I felt the cold breeze of ghosts flashing past us even before I saw them. They didn't look happy. A few of the more modern spirits gave us the finger.

We managed to wind our way through the hallway and down the creepy stairwell without incident. When we got back into the parking garage, I felt Casper crawl out of me, and my body ached with relief.

He paused beside me at the moment, grinning. His grin turned sour, however, as he looked past us. And with a little wave, he simply disappeared.

Behind us, someone was clapping, slowly. Babe and I both turned in the direction of the noise. Babe grasped my hand. Crap. It was Marcello and he was wet.
And really, really angry.

A giant puddle was pooling around Marcello, his hair stringy and hanging past his shoulders, and a gleaming, brand-new witch knife in his hand.

"You made it out, you little bitch," he said, flashing his fangs at me.

"Back at you," I said, flashing my fangs too. They obviously didn't impress him because he lunged at me immediately.

"Sorry!" I yelled as I pushed Babe, hard, out of the way. I ducked down and did a somersault under his arm, coming up behind him.

He turned. With Babe at his back, I could keep his eyes off of her. I nodded my head back towards the hotel, and she nodded and began to make her way to the door.

"Not so fast, witch. Confuto!" He barked “restrain” at Babe, shifting his arm towards her for less than a moment.

Babe froze on the spot. But I could see her mouth moving. She wouldn't be frozen for long.

"Why don’t you confuto me, you fanged freak?" I called out. Diverting his attention wasn't that difficult.

"Because you, fanged freak, are not that easily stopped," he hissed, and made another lunge at me. I jumped back, and his knife barely missed my stomach as it whooshed past.

I lifted my leg and gave Marcello a quick front kick that slammed him right under the chin. His head snapped back and he lost just enough balance for me to land a second kick at his arm, forcing him to drop the knife. I dropped to the ground and scrambled for it, but he was quick. He flung himself on top of me, the weight of his body crushing into mine. I felt the hilt of the knife press into my stomach. He might’ve been on top of me, but the knife was under me. I was still in the game.

He pulled back my hair, wrenching my head back to expose my neck. "I could bite you right now, little one," he whispered into my ear as I pushed my hand under me, searching for the knife. "I can hear your heart -- it's moving very fast. Your blood is rushing just under here," he added with lick to my neck. He was dangerously close to my jugular vein.

I refused to flinch and forced my arms further under my body to reach the knife.

"I could slip my teeth into you. It could be ecstasy for both of us. Or just one of us." He pressed his groin against me harder.
Ewww.

Of course, I didn't think sinking his teeth into me was part of his master plan. But not only was Marcello pissed, he was showing clear signs of blood lust. A pissed off, lusty vamp could easily forget about his big, master plans.

He pulled my head back further, and I felt his fangs brush against my neck. This time, I couldn't help it. I flinched.

The barest hint of pressure was on my neck. His teeth began to slide down, pulling at the skin on my neck. I felt my skin split open, and a small moan escaped his mouth as he barely broke through the skin and then stopped.