Misfortune Cookie (10 page)

Pots and pans clattered to the kitchen floor. Mikey’s ghost stood on the stone countertop.

“Stay back! Don’t let it hurt me!” he half yelled, half sobbed.

Poor Mikey. The kind, convivial man I knew was now a terrified spirit. He probably had no idea what was happening. I’d fuck up whoever did this to him.

A sinuous blot appeared on the ceiling above Luca’s shoulder. Snake-like, its shadowy form slithered overhead, forked tongue flicking in and out, attention focused on Luca. He appeared to be unaware of the threat hunting him from above.

No way was I allowing that thing to hurt my partner. It was bad enough that it’d probably killed Mikey and caved in the back of my skull. With my remaining strength, I raised my weapon and fired. At the last moment, Luca and Mikey shifted into the probe’s path. Blue lightning raced through Mikey’s torso, immobilizing him. I swear I heard a low, hissing chuckle. When I glanced over, the ceiling was empty, the real monster vanished.

I dropped my arm. So tired. I closed my eyes. The brands burned, as if trying to rouse me.

When I opened my eyes again, Luca approached, dragging the ghost to me. I held out my palms. They connected with Mikey’s soul. Whorls of memories, snippets of life flashed before me. I held on long enough to see my palms glow with white light. He’d led a good life. Relief washed over me. Mikey wouldn’t be sentenced to whatever nasty place bad spirits went. Duty discharged, I willed the mental rollercoaster to end so I could pass out.

Seconds, maybe minutes, later, I re-opened my eyes, gaze latching onto Mikey’s corpse. Energy pulsed over my skin. Luca had opened the gate to the Hereafter. I blinked. Something had caught my attention. An unwrapped fortune cookie had been knocked under the couch. Red paper. Not white.

I stretched my arm, fingers extended. Luca’s footsteps echoed across the floor. I hooked the cookie, grabbing it before Luca lifted me. The sudden motion made the room spin and my stomach lurched. Tucking the cookie into my pocket, I rested my head against his chest. Blood soaked into his shirt.

Luca swore under his breath, “Motherfucker. Who did this to you?”

“Not Mikey,” I mumbled. “Snake thing.”

“Hush,
cariad
.” His voice vibrated next to my ear. “We need to go. The human authorities must have been alerted by now.”

I managed a strangled, “Mmm …” then passed out.

Chapter 5

Let nothing distract you from your goals.

“How could you let this happen? You’re supposed to be protecting her.”

“Get off my back. Don’t you dare lecture me, Julian.”

Just what a girl wants to wake up and hear after major head trauma. Two alpha males fighting over her. Even though they were arguing in angry whispers, pain pinged around my head every time one of them spoke. Like a massive hangover minus the cottonmouth and booze-soaked skin.

“You aren’t good enough for her,” Julian said. “If you fail to safeguard her again. I’ll—”

“You’ll what, ghost?” Luca snarled. “I don’t need you spitting my failures back in my face. You know I
will
die for her.”

“A lot of good that’ll do her. Who will protect her then?”

The conversation switched from English to what I presumed was Welsh.

I fisted the bedcovers and groaned. “Please stop. You’re hurting my head. It wasn’t Luca’s fault. The capture was different.” Very different. I know what I saw. There was something else in that penthouse with us.

Warm fingertips brushed my cheek then Luca came into my line of sight. “We’ve been worried about you.”

“Yes. You had a nice dent in your skull,” Julian added.

Luca speared him with an angry glare. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Returning his attention to me, worry lines creased his forehead. His ruffled hair, disheveled clothes, and blood-stained shirt told me he’d stayed by my bedside.

“How long have I been out?” Weak sunlight strained across the sheer curtains. Hard to tell if the day was beginning or ending.

“Almost eight hours. How do you feel?” Luca smoothed my hair off my forehead.

“Like someone bashed in my skull.” I gingerly probed the back of my head, relieved to find it intact. The bone had fully healed, but the skin remained tender. “There was something else with us.”

Julian grunted a vague curse in the background. “Some guardian you are.”

“Stop it, Julian!” I tried to sit up. The room lurched sideways. Okay, no more of that. I massaged my temples until the dizziness passed. “You weren’t there. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t an escaped soul.”

“Shhh. We can talk about it later. Drink this.” Luca helped me into an upright position, then held a straw to my lips.

The drink was cool, fruity. “Sports drink?” A few sips more and the residual hangover had disappeared.

“You’ve lost a lot of fluid.” He made me drink to the last drop before I could settle against the pillows. Against sheets that I didn’t recognize. When I’d woken up the morning before, I was pretty sure the bedding was white, not black.

Oh man. I groaned at the memory of me waking up, my stomach in turmoil.

“I barfed on you, didn’t I?” I wouldn’t have complained if the earth opened and swallowed me then and there.

“Not exactly. But you gave the staff something to do.” Luca’s smile warmed me in other places. Without thinking, I ran my fingers down his stubbled cheek. Suddenly, I was feeling much better.

He leaned into my touch, eyes closed. “Don’t stop,” he murmured.

There was a soft knock at the door.

Luca swore, then barked, “What?”

Meadows poked his head in. “Sorry to disturb you sir, but there is a guest here to see Ms. Ashworth and you.”

“Who’s here?” I had to ask, it was my house after all.

“Ms. Joanna Evans.”

“We’ll be down when we’re ready,” I groused. “Her timing sucks.” I wondered if I could beg off the visit on account of my head. She didn’t know I was fully healed.

Luca gave me a lingering look then stood and faced Meadows. “Please ask Ms. Evans to join us for dinner.”

Or not. So much for sick time.

“We cannot refuse,” Luca said. He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “I don’t like it any better than you do.”

Duty called. No rest for the wicked and all that crap. “I need to bathe.”

“Let me help you.” He slung my arm around his neck and helped steady me on my feet. Once he was sure, I wouldn’t collapse in the shower, he returned to his room to change. He didn’t need to tell me that it was probably a good idea not to meet the boss looking like holy Hell.

I tried not to panic at the volume of blood pouring down the drain from my hair. Or at the white flecks that I feared were bits of skull. Insane laughter bubbled from my chest. It was all so damn crazy.
Sebastian, you shit.
Giddiness morphed into anger and I banged the shower tiles with my fist. Clearly, I needed to work through the stages of grief. To properly mourn my lost future.

“Radiance? You okay in there?” Luca’s voice boomed into the bathroom.

Cranking off the faucet, I toweled dry and threw on clean clothes. I styled my hair as best I could by gathering it into a loose ponytail, and trying not to think about the head injury thing.

“Wait! Where is my coat?” After Luca extracted it from the heap of dirty clothes on my closet floor, I rummaged the pockets. “I found this under the couch. I’ve never seen a fortune cookie with red paper.” I moved to tear it open.

“Stop.” Luca stayed my hands and peered at it. He plucked the cookie from my fingers and placed it in his jacket pocket. “We can look at it later. When we’re alone again.”

My heart did a pitter-patter at the erotic promise in his voice. Maybe it was the blow to the head. For the first time, I wasn’t nervous about my attraction to him. There was a rightness that I couldn’t put my finger on.

Luca offered me his arm. “Shall we?”

Right. No time for witty banter or gooey self-reflection. The boss had been waiting for close to a half an hour.

Joanna was as sour as ever, fingers drumming the dining table, broadcasting her displeasure loud and clear.

“Pardon the delay. We’ve only just returned from a run,” Luca said, giving my hand a conspiratorial squeeze.

I gritted my teeth and forced a smile, keeping my mouth shut. As soon as we were seated at the table, dinner was served by wait staff that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. That was a disturbing thought. Knowing Sebastian, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hired otherworldly help.

“I know. That’s why I’m here. I’m relieving you from soul capture duty. You’re on a new case effective immediately.”

Luca stared at her, waiting. She returned his glare with one of her own. He narrowed his eyes, anger flitted across his face, then it disappeared, replaced by a calm mask.

Oh my God. I pressed my hand against my chest. I had to be the slowest person in the room. “The murder in the penthouse. It’s related to all the others.”

Joanna’s mouth pinched into a severe frown. “Yes. The press has dubbed them the Misfortune Cookie Murders. Idiots.” She slapped a thick folder on the table. “Here are copies of the human police files.”

She said
human
like it left a bitter taste in her mouth. It made me wonder what the hell she was. She looked human enough to me.

“And what of our side’s investigation?” Luca asked.

Joanna placed a smooth flat stone on top of the folder. “Get yourselves up to speed by nightfall. If this thing has a pattern, I want you to find it. This situation is too messy and now that it’s public, we need to capture whatever is out there on a rampage.”

“The soul at the last murder? Did Mikey make it to the Hereafter?”

“Yes. He is where he belongs.” Joanna stood to leave.

“Wait.” Something nagged at me. Granted, I was new to the job, but who would send a rookie on such an important assignment. “Why are we on this case?”

Joanna’s face darkened, as if she wasn’t used to being questioned. She’d have to deal with that. Thanks to Sebastian, I was a battle-scarred veteran of the power struggle. Blind obedience was not my thing.

“The Prophet has spoken. And the Prophet is never wrong.” With that she walked away, her heels clacking across the marble tiles.

Luca placed a restraining had on my wrist when I moved to follow. “Do not argue with her. It serves no purpose.”

When I was sure she was gone, I turned to Luca. “Who is the Prophet?”

“It’s actually a collective of psyches with knowledge that transcends time and space.”

“And?” I pinched the bridge of my nose, hoping to stem off the headache I could feel was coming.

“You must have appeared to them as a key player in these events. Hence the change in assignment.”

“Yeah, well I think the Prophet is wrong this time.” Completely off their rockers was more like it.

“Do not make that face,” Luca said.

“Which one? The
how did my life get so sucky
face? Or the
is
everyone smoking crack
face?”

Luca ignored my sarcasm and palmed the rock. “We should see what this has to say.”

Seriously? A rock? I bit back my disbelief and nodded. “Okay. How does one speak to a stone?” As if in response, the brands tingled. “Of course. I have to touch it.” Silly me. Feel the creepy, glowing rock. So I did. And nothing happened.

“We need to do it together.” Luca covered my hand with his much larger palm. “Hold on.”

“To wha—?”

The room disappeared, replaced by a dark cavern or cellar. Moisture coated the sleek walls. Stale decay filled the air. The only light came from a work lamp hanging overhead.

Shivers chased up my spine. “Is this real?”

Luca twined his fingers around mine, his skin warming my chilled fingers. “It is a memory.”

“So no worries about messing up the space/time continuum.”

The corner of Luca’s mouth quirked. “Pay attention,
annywl
.”

A different tremor passed through me at the smooth sound of his voice. Husky and low, the tone commanding. I shook myself.
Mind on the job
.

The tableau shifted, and the lamp hovered over a cache of artifacts: jars, clay pots, broken rocks. The items were arranged on wooden shelves with no sense of organization. Before I could focus on any one item, the scene changed again.

“Is there a pause button on this thing?”

“Hush.” Luca wrapped his arms around me. “You ask when you should watch.”

I resisted the urge to lean into his chest. “Is this necessary?”

Shrieks split the air. I started, slamming into Luca’s chest hard enough to knock the breath out of him. “Damn it!” My pulse thudded in my ears. “You could have warned me.”

“How could I when this is the first time I’m witnessing this event? Now, hush.”

Heart-rending screams raised the hair on the base of my neck. Whosever memory we were in started running toward the exit. Angry growls snapped on his heels. I knew it was a he because of the large, clomping hikers.

Heavy pants. Another howl. So close. Darkness.

“Did he make it?” I gripped Luca’s shirtfront. “Did he?”

Luca chuckled and patted my hands. “We’re watching this, aren’t we?”

I thumped his chest. “Don’t be an asshole.” Belatedly, I realized we were back in the dining room. “That’s it?”

“For now.”

“What was the point of that? And what does it have to do with the murders?”

“That is what we have to determine.” Luca sat at the table, fingers tracing the stone.

“There has to be more to it than that? A year? Place? Does it say who the man was?”

He sifted through the files. “No on all counts.”

I threw my hands up in frustration. “Pointless.”

Luca rubbed his temples. I didn’t like the gray pallor of his skin. Or his lack of a reprimand for my sour attitude. Definitely not his normal self.

“You okay?” I touched his shoulder. Cool under my fingers, as if the warmth had been leeched out his skin.

He took a long drink of wine, placing his palm over mine. “Yes.”

I wasn’t buying it. Obstinate to the core, he refused to discuss it further.

“Fine. Be stubborn. What’s the Welsh word for ass?”

He never did tell me and I was too lazy to look it up on Google. Instead, we finished lunch then called for a car.

“Is this really necessary?” I groused.

Luca tapped the tinted glass. “You really have to ask?”

Outside the main gate was my worst nightmare. An army of paparazzi. We’d already discussed why we couldn’t use a portal. Too much risk of being seen during the day and I got the impression it drained Luca. Not that he would admit weakness of any kind to me.

“Vultures. It didn’t take them long to start camping out.” No doubt to catch me in some compromising position. This was my fault. My excursion to the café had only whetted their appetite. “They’re barking up the wrong tree. The person they’re looking for is gone. No more parties. No more indiscreet fashion choices. No sex in public places.”

“You’re blushing.”

“Shut it, please.” Bright flashes popped outside the windows. Even though the glass was blackened, I shimmied closer to the center of the seat, skin crawling.

“You have nothing to regret.”

“Easy for you to say. You obviously missed my wild youth.” While I’d barely escaped the advent of social media, the video, unfortunately, continued to crop up from time to time.

“Worry not.” His face grew somber. “I ensured all copies of your escapades were destroyed.”

I paled. “Y-you . . . did what? Why?” Lord I wanted to disintegrate. The thought of him watching that tape was mortifying.

He smiled wickedly and said, “Because I know it continues to vex you. No more fretting about the past. From now on, I am the only male who will watch your lovely face while you come. And I’ll do a right better job of it.”

“Oh. My. God.” What else could I say to that?