Home > How to Survive an Undead Honeymoon (The Beginner's Guide to Necromancy #8)(15)

How to Survive an Undead Honeymoon (The Beginner's Guide to Necromancy #8)(15)
Author: Hailey Edwards

“She might have changed her hiding place more often to lessen the odds of us finding her.”

“Maybe,” Hood agreed, but he didn’t sound convinced. “Let’s double-check to be sure.”

With Hood’s nose leading the way, they eliminated the prime hiding spots in record time. He was right. Kylie had opened every door and drawer in the downstairs. Her scent marked every quilt, every light switch, and every knob. As if she was searching for something.

“There’s a funky smell in here.” Hood tracked the freshest trail to the pantry. “Rotten eggs.”

“It gets worse.” Linus opened the basement door then fished out his modified pen. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” Hood didn’t move a muscle. “Do your worst.”

That unwavering trust left Linus’s palms damp. His reputation was such that not many would allow him carte blanche without an angle. To have a friend extend that faith as easy as breathing…it humbled him.

“This is one of Grier’s creations.” He drew the light sigil on Hood’s left palm. “It will come in handy in the basement.”

“Handy.” He chuckled. “I see what you did there.”

The joking felt good too. Hood treated him the same whether or not Grier was around, so he wasn’t trying to earn points with his wife’s best friend by palling around with her husband or simply indulging a valuable ally. It made Linus grateful all over again for having Grier, and everything that came with her, in his life.

After giving his own palm the same treatment, Linus popped the lock and led them down the stairs into the basement. He stood back and gave Hood room to search it from corner to corner, but he showed no interest beyond the partially concealed door.

“Let me guess.” He snorted. “That’s our way in.”

The rhetorical question, Linus ignored. “Can you tell if anyone is home?”

“The cocktail of teenage hormones and fear is pungent, but so is the feces and urine.” He shot Linus a questioning glance. “What the hell is down there anyway?”

“Grier calls them shadow cats.”

“The creatures who attacked her on the stairs?”

“The very same.”

“This ought to be good.” He dropped to his knees. “Here, kitty, kitty.”

He shoved the door wide then shimmied into the opening headfirst.

Linus followed, a smile in place.

“This is the first level.” He took the lead while Hood examined the hall. “Kylie is one down.”

“How hard did you have to look to find this inn?” Hood whistled. “What a freak show.”

“Not hard,” Linus admitted. “Vetting it was more difficult.”

With his connections within the paranormal community, it was a simple matter to locate a haunted inn. Validating its spiritual activity was much harder, and it required him to send in a proxy to get a feel for it.

“I bet.” Hood touched the nearest wall, and splinters flaked off on his palm. “This place is all wood?”

“With the exception of the exterior foundation, yes.”

“No offense to Mr. Oliphant,” he said, dusting his hands, “but his architect was whackadoodle.”

Based on what he had seen the of the subbasements so far, Linus was inclined to agree.

“Can I ask you a question?” He led the way to the trapdoor, keeping his back to Hood in case he declined. “A personal one.”

“Shoot.”

Surprised to find himself pushing the issue, he still managed to get out the question. “Why have things been tense between you and Lethe since you arrived?”

“She knows a secret.” Hood exhaled long and hard. “I think she should tell. She disagrees.”

There was little doubt who the secret involved. “Should I be concerned?”

“I swore not to spill the beans until after the honeymoon.” He chuckled like he couldn’t believe she had extracted the promise from him. “I have to keep my word. You understand, right?” His laughter deepened. “Now that you’re a married man, you get that ain’t nobody happy unless the mate is happy.”

The push and pull of wanting to demand more information while respecting his friend’s boundaries left Linus torn in a way he wasn’t sure he ever had been. Ultimately, Lethe and Hood were here to protect Grier. If either of them had pertinent information, they would share it.

“I trust you,” Linus said, and the weight of it made Hood pause and then grin.

“We’re family.” He slugged Linus in the shoulder. “Who else are you going to trust?”

Family was a delicate topic for both him and Grier, and it had grown more brittle after Odette’s betrayals came to light. He trusted his mother, to an extent, but his father had passed away, and he was an only child with no extended family. Grier trusted none of her blood relations. Neither did he.

But Hood was a member of the family they had chosen, and he had earned his place. They all had. It made a difference when you weren’t expected to trust based on sharing DNA, as if family never lied or hurt you, but rather chose to give trust to someone who had earned it.

They reached the trapdoor, and Hood made a hand gesture to tell Linus he would open the hatch while Linus advanced on Kylie. The teen had already met him. She would be less traumatized to find him in her hidey-hole than a stranger. But when Hood leveraged the door open, and Linus shined his light down onto the pallet, it was empty.

Linus glanced up at him. “She’s not here.”

“Yeah,” Hood said, nostrils flared. “She is.”

He jumped down and began a search of the sleeping area. He was less worried about respecting her personal space than Linus had been, under the circumstances, and he located a second trapdoor when he pushed the pallet aside.

Waiting for Linus to join him, Hood assumed the same position and tugged the trapdoor open.

The space beneath was a simple square room with a mini-fridge, a microwave, and enough jugs of water to last one person a week or more. Kylie sat at a table made from an old Coke crate, her face illuminated by an electric camping lantern. An ancient formula can held plastic utensils, and she selected a fork as he watched. His presence finally registered, and she paused with a scoop of macaroni and cheese from a microwaveable cup halfway to her mouth.

With the ease of long practice, he donned his Professor Woolworth mask, his least intimidating persona. One he had designed and refined over time to put his students, just a few years older than her, at ease.

“Kylie,” he soothed in the tone he reserved for spooked familiars, “you need to come with me.”

Thanks to the light from her electric lantern, Linus witnessed the first tear fall. “What’s happened?”

The girl’s leap straight to worst-case scenarios told him she was more informed than she had let on.

“Your grandparents…” He struggled to form a proper condolence when no matter what he said, it would ruin her. “They were killed last night.”

“No, no, no.” She dropped her face into her hands. “This can’t be happening.”

In the end, there was only one thing to say. “I’m sorry.”

For the second time in his life, he watched a young girl’s world crumble to dust at her feet, and he mourned the loss of her innocence as he had with Grier.

“They used to let me play down here as a kid. It was my secret lair. I had no idea that they…” She rocked back and forth. “They told me to get out.” She sobbed. “They told me to…”

Slowly, Linus climbed into the space with her. “Kylie, we need to move you somewhere safe.”

Their new proximity allowed him to send tendrils of his magic questing toward her, but she read as human to him, making the vampires’ interest in her family even more peculiar.

“I told them I would stay until after…” She hiccupped. “I can’t break that promise.”

“What do you know about the haunting?” Linus settled onto the floor in lotus position so that he didn’t loom over the seated teen. “Tell me the truth this time.”

Dust sifted down onto his shoulders from the overhead gap, and Kylie skittered against the back wall.

“Who’s there?” She brought her knees to her chest. “Who’s with you?”

“A friend.” Linus held up his hands, including the one with the sigil. “Hood?”

Moving carefully, Hood ducked his head in and waved. “Hey, Kylie.”

“W-w-what’s wrong with your hands?” White shone around the edges of her eyes as comprehension punched through her grief. “They’re glowing.”

“Magic,” Linus said simply.

“What are you?” She shrank into a ball. “You’re not demons.” She squinted at them. “Right?”

“We’re something else.” Linus saw no reason to get into the specifics. “We’re the good guys.”

“How do I know that?” She wet her lips. “What are you doing here? Really?”

“He really brought his new bride on a ghost-hunting excursion,” Hood said without moving. “She’s got a thing for haunted history, so he thought solving the mystery of this place would tickle her funny bone.”

Kylie blinked a few times. “You’re one freaky strange dude then.”

Linus smiled, not disagreeing. “How can we convince you that you’re safer with us than you are alone?”

“I’m not safe anywhere unless I do my duty.” She uncoiled a bit. “I have to stay.”

“Why?” Hood settled in with an open smile. “What’s so important that only you can do it?”

“There’s a demon in the maze.” A shiver rolled through her. “It won’t come up as long as I’m here.”

Hood kept his tone even. “How do you figure that?”

“I’m an Oliphant.” Her shoulders straightened a fraction. “It’s scared of us.”

   
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