Smoke on the Water (28 page)

“What if he does?” Sebastian asked.

“I'd like to shoot 'em all,” Bobby said. “But I suppose I shouldn't.”

“If Roland knows we're there with guns,” Owen continued, “he'll leave.”

“Can he leave if he's been summoned?” Sebastian wondered. “For that matter, if he's summoned, will he have time to gather minions?”

“I don't know,” Owen admitted. “But if we blow this chance, we might not get another. We save our shots for the demon, okay?”

“Okay.” Bobby didn't sound happy about it.

“And if he arrives with others, what do we do?”

“Maybe there's a spell to keep anyone but Roland from arriving,” Owen said.

“Maybe the spell keeps anyone
but
him from arriving.”

Bobby cast Sebastian a glance. “That would be awesome.”

Silence settled between them as they continued to bounce along the glorified deer trail, he hoped on their way to a real road. Pru continued to stare out the back window. Since she didn't bark, growl, or snarl, they must still be alone.

“So,” Sebastian said. “About those ghosts.”

Bobby sighed. “They freaked me out at first too.”

“Not anymore?”

“No, they still freak me out.”

“You saw them?” Sebastian asked.

“I saw yours,” Bobby said. “Felt mine behind me, but then I always kind of did.” At Sebastian's frown he continued, “I'm sensitive to them. Had a voodoo queen in my family tree.”

Sebastian turned his gaze toward Owen. “And you?”

“No voodoo queen in my tree. Never felt a ghost in my life.”

“Not even today?”

“Didn't need to
feel
anything. I saw yours and his.” He jerked his head at Bobby.

Bobby and Sebastian exchanged a glance.

“What?” Owen asked.

“Your mom—” Sebastian said at the same time Bobby said, “Dude.”

“She was there?”

“She kissed your head.” Sebastian lifted one shoulder, lowered it. “You smiled. I thought—”

“Shit. I was hoping she'd gone on. She deserves some peace.”

“Why is she here?” Sebastian asked. “Why are any of them here?”

“Unfinished business,” Bobby said. “Either their own or ours. A ghost might hang around because their murder went unnoticed or unsolved, or they didn't say what they needed to say, which is their unfinished business. But they might also haunt someone who can't let them go.”

Sebastian winced.

“Yeah,” Bobby agreed. “I felt the same way.”

Silence returned but not for long.

“Now that you're with Willow—” Owen began.

“I'm not
with
Willow.”

Owen snorted.

Bobby appeared as if he wanted to. “If you aren't now, you will be.”

“I can't, she's—” He paused. She wasn't his patient, and she wasn't crazy.

“Exactly,” Bobby said as if Sebastian had finished the sentence. “I know what a Taggart woman in love looks like. She loves you.”

“She doesn't even know me.”

“Did you ever think that maybe she's known you most of her life?”

“What does that mean?”

“Visions.”

Sebastian remembered the first thing she'd ever said to him.

It's you.

As if she knew him. As if she'd always known him.

“If you're with Willow now,” Bobby continued, “maybe you can let that other girl go.”

“She's my sister.”

“Oh. Well, that's different then. Though you still need to let her go.”

“How?” Sebastian asked.

“That's something you'll have to figure out on your own.” Bobby met his gaze in the rearview mirror before he returned it to the road. “Like I did.”

The stark pain in his eyes and in his voice did not invite questions about who and how and why, so Sebastian didn't ask them.

“Figure it out after we off Roland, okay?” The car shot out of the trees and onto a road. Owen pointed north and Bobby accelerated.

“If we murder Roland, won't he be hanging around haunting us rather than going back wherever it is he escaped from?”

“How can we murder what was already dead?” Owen asked.

 

Chapter 20

When I awoke the bedside clock read noon. I'd been sleeping for over two hours. I felt rested, revved, ready. I hoped Raye and Becca were the same.

A door closed somewhere in the house and I tensed, but when I heard Sebastian's voice, followed by Owen's and Bobby's, I relaxed. They sounded calm, almost happy. Female voices joined them, asking questions, being answered. I wanted to be part of that conversation.

The instant I emerged from the bedroom, Sebastian's gaze went to me. I wasn't sure what I saw in it. Something new. Would I have time to discover what?

“They found the perfect place,” Raye said. “We should do the spell today.”

Guess not.

“I'd like to get this over with before another darkness falls.” Becca glanced at me with a lift of her eyebrows.

I had to agree that ending Roland before another sun set sounded like a great idea; I nodded.

“Shouldn't you practice or something?” Sebastian asked.

“There is no practice with a spell,” Raye said. “There is only do or do not.”

“Sometimes she channels Yoda.” Becca shrugged, which made me laugh.

It would have been nice to grow up together. I liked them.

Raye rolled her eyes as I imagined a big sister might. No one had ever told us our birth order, but I knew she had been born first, Becca next, and then myself as surely as I knew we were sisters at all.

“If we cast a spell,” she said, “we've cast the spell. So we need to do it where we want it done.”

“You really want to go now?” Bobby asked, but he was already checking his service weapon.

“Yep.” Owen pulled two rifles from the closet, handed one to Sebastian, who held it like a smelly diaper, then proceeded to pull out boxes of ammunition and stuff them into an empty duffel bag.

“I'm not going to be any good with one of these.” Sebastian handed the rifle back to Owen.

“Okay.” Owen tossed the rifle to Bobby.

He caught it with one hand. “I'll give you my pistol, just in case.”

“Just in case what?” I asked.

“In case he kicks Roland's ass and he gets back up. You okay with shooting the creep then, Doc?”

“I'm okay with shooting him now,” Sebastian said. “I just want to make sure I don't miss.”

“If he gets past us, he's gonna be close enough so there's no way you can miss. But we'll do a few practice shots out back just for the hell of it.”

“Maybe you should stay here,” I said. The last time Roland had been that close, Sebastian had gotten stabbed.

“No.” Sebastian didn't even look at me, though everyone else did.

“But—”

“No,” he repeated, this time meeting my eyes. I wasn't going to change his mind; I saw that as clearly as I saw him. “I'm not letting you out of my sight, and you can't make me.”

“She could transport you to Delaware,” Bobby said.

I hadn't thought of that. Could I? Should I?

“Don't. You. Dare.” From the sound of the words, and the set of his jaw, Sebastian was grinding his teeth.

Pru yipped, and Becca held up her hand. “She says we need him. He's part of this, and Willow knows it.”

Everyone looked at me again.

“I haven't caught a glimpse of this showdown. Not yet anyway.”

Suddenly Sebastian was close enough to touch, looming over me—so big and strong and solid. “What have you had a vision of?”

Did he suspect how many times I'd had a vision of him? Of me? Of us? Together.

“Willow?”

The way he said my name didn't help me to stop remembering things that, right now, I shouldn't. I closed my eyes, shutting him out. It was the only way I could think straight.

“I saw you before I met you. I knew you were important, but I didn't know why. That you would keep me safe, that you would save me. But I didn't know from what.”

“That's informative.”

I opened my eyes, shrugged. It was what it was.

“Good enough for me,” Raye said. “Sebastian comes along.”

I could have argued, maybe I should have. But the truth was, I wanted him there. He made me feel strong and whole, and while I'd risk my life to keep him safe, was it fair to risk everyone else's?

“I'll be fine.” Sebastian brushed my fingers with his. I managed, barely, not to grab onto them and cling.

“Roland isn't going to have time to do anything to any of us before he's barbecuing his nuts back in Hades,” Bobby said.

“Or having his nuts barbecued for him,” Owen agreed. “I kind of like that image.”

“I like the image of using his own athame to cast the spell that begins his end.” Becca held up the curved knife with the wolf head carved into the hilt that I'd seen in my visions.

“Why would a witch hunter use the magical instrument of a fire witch?” I asked.

“Christians have been appropriating pagan symbols and holidays for centuries.” Becca put the knife into a shopping bag, along with a stainless-steel bowl from the kitchen. I nearly suggested a first-aid kit, then remembered that Becca could heal us quicker than we could open one up.

“For that guy to call himself Christian is stretching it,” I said.

“Preaching to the choir, sister.” Becca winked.

“What about the wolf carved into the hilt?” I asked. “It looks just like the ring Roland used to brand Henry and Pru.”

“We don't know for sure, but we think Roland or one of his minions snatched a fire witch, appropriated her athame, and carved the symbol in it to make it theirs.”

I suddenly liked the idea of using that particular item to end him too.

*   *   *

An hour later we stood on top of a ridge.

“This is great,” Becca said.

“Perfect,” Raye agreed.

The land around us was flat. We could see what was coming for several hundred yards in all directions. A small grove of trees stood nearby, spaced far enough apart that it would be hard to hide within.

Owen indicated the grove. “He won't suspect anyone's there.”

“Sebastian's not going to fit behind one of those tree trunks,” I said. From the size of Owen's shoulders he wouldn't either. Bobby might, but barely.

“We'll be in the trees.” Bobby pointed to the branches. “Higher ground is the best offensive position.”

“There's a reason taking a hill is so damn hard,” Owen said, “and why a lot of battles are won because of the terrain.”

He should know. I liked the idea of Sebastian hidden
in
a tree so much better than the idea of him hidden
behind
a tree.

“Ready?” Bobby asked.

Everyone broke into couples. Even Pru sat with her back to us, staring at the air, head tilted. I assumed Henry was professing his everlasting love. I hoped so. On the one hand it was nice that they were still together after all these years. On the other, it kind of sucked that they couldn't touch, kiss, or otherwise engage.

Sebastian held Bobby's service pistol. Before we'd left the cabin, he'd fired at a can a few times and hit it. There'd been a lot of backslapping and congratulations. I did not point out that hitting a nonmoving can was a lot different from hitting a moving demon. Right now, confidence might be our best weapon. It certainly couldn't hurt.

“Please be c—”

Sebastian kissed me and not on the forehead. He planted one smack on my lips, and he used his tongue. Best kiss ever. I never wanted it to end. I clasped my fingers around his neck and held on.

He put one arm around my waist and pulled me against him. He was so warm, so solid and real. He tasted like midnight and the heat of the sun. The scent of lime was faint, but his. A little tequila and a sprinkle of salt would explain the dizzy euphoria that came over me.

Someone cleared his or her throat. We broke apart, our eyes caught. Together we smiled.

A hand came between us and the fingers snapped. I met Raye's gaze.

“Let's kill the creepy demon now, okay?”

I nodded. I didn't trust myself to speak just yet.

“Did we ever decide what we'd do if he brings minions?” Sebastian asked.

I hadn't thought of that.

“The instant I see McHugh, I'll shoot him,” Bobby said. “The minions will scatter, they always do.”

“If they don't?”

Pru growled.

“According to Mom,” Becca said, “the spell will bring him. He shouldn't have time to collect anyone else, and if he does, Dad will take care of them.”

“What's a ghost going to do?” Sebastian wondered.

“He's the ghost of a powerful witch.” Raye indicated a good-sized boulder that was now hovering in thin air. It dropped, smacking into the ground so hard a puff of dry dirt lifted up then sifted down.

“Okay, then,” Bobby said. “Any more questions?”

The men strode toward the trees. Pru glanced back and forth between them and us. Raye pointed after the men, so did Becca. She went with them and I was glad. We had magic to protect us; at least they had a wolf.

Raye led us to the center of the ridge. “Becca, find a flat rock.” She held her hands about a foot apart. “At least this big.”

Becca moved off, gaze on the ground as she searched.

“What's that for?” I asked.

“Natural altar. The crones had one in the vision, we need one too.” Raye pulled the athame and the bowl from the bag and handed me the latter, for which I was glad. I didn't mind the idea of the athame being used for blood magic, but I didn't want to be the one letting the blood.

Becca returned with the flat rock and set it on the ground. Raye dropped down, sitting cross-legged next to it. Becca and I did the same. Raye pointed with the knife to the bowl in my hand, then tapped the top of the rock. I set it there.