Chapter 3
AS I GINGERLY made my way up the ladder and onto the roof, Max reached down to help me.
“Why couldn’t I just come through the trapdoor? I don’t like climbing on the roof. I’m not all that graceful.” I grabbed hold of his hand and clung to the edge as he gave me a good yank, hauling me up and over the eaves. He walked back up the roof, but I wasn’t that brave. I decided to crawl up the slope to where the tree branch was being cleared.
“Because they aren’t done removing the branch. Debris could fall on you. Come on, I won’t let you fall,” Max said, coaxing me to stand.
I gave him a suspicious look. “Are you sure? I’m not exactly Miss Graceful here.”
“I promise. Give me your hand and I’ll steady you. It’s dangerous for you to crawl. Too many splinters and possible nails.” He guided me to my feet and held onto my hand as he led me up the slope of the roof. I tried not to look over my shoulder toward the ground. Two stories and a crawl space high was two stories and a crawl space too many.
“You’re doing just fine,” he said as I inched my way forward. We reached the place where the branch had impaled itself through the roof. I grimaced, seeing the wide hole it had left. Dev and his men had managed to extricate part of the branch, but there was still a massive amount of debris left in its wake.
“What do I need to look at?” I couldn’t tell what the problem was, other than the gaping hole in the shingles.
“Over here. Look.” Max led me to one edge of the hole. He pointed to the other edge. “That’s the attic, right?”
“Right. And?” I still wasn’t seeing whatever it was he wanted me to look at.
“Okay, the wall to the attic stops here.” He pointed a flashlight midway into the hole. “But there seems to be another room beyond the attic. That’s not just empty space. Do you have two attics?”
I squinted, following the beam of the flashlight. I could see what he was talking about. There was the attic wall, all right, and beyond it, another open space and what looked like a finished wall on the other side.
“What the hell? No, we don’t have a two-room attic. At least not that I know of.” I leaned forward, trying to make out anything I could, but Max grabbed my shoulder.
“You’re getting close to a patch of the roof that was damaged by the branch. You don’t want to go tumbling in through the shingles.”
“No, I meant what the hell is that space? There’s no door in the attic that I can remember. I’m going down to check.” I suddenly froze, unsure of how to get down without stumbling headfirst off the edge. When I was in an ecstatic state, I could sometimes levitate, but it wasn’t anything I could control, nor did I want to chance losing my concentration halfway down. “Um, Max…I don’t do well looking over the edge of anything high up. How do I get down?”
He frowned. “I suppose you could try crawling, though it’s not safe. Or we could lower you into the attic crawl space, but that might further damage the roof.”
“How much worse could it get? There’s a hole in the damned thing already.” I stared at the opening. “How do we do this?”
Dev had been watching our interplay and now he walked over, holding a rope. “Let’s tie this around your waist and we can lower you in that way. But my company’s not responsible if you break a nail or get a splinter.”
I gave him a long, hard look. “Dev, you’re good at what you do, but if you patronize me again, I’ll fucking show you just how much I care about breaking a nail. I used to be one of the most feared vampire hunters on the Continent, and it wouldn’t take long for me to get back into training.”
He blinked, then adjusted his tool belt. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I didn’t give a damn. “I apologize, Ms. Gallowglass. Let me tie the rope around your waist and we’ll lower you down.”
I held out my arms, letting Dev and Max rig the rope up around my waist. Then, I dangled my legs over the edge of the hole, feeling the shingles beneath me start to cave in from where they’d been weakened. But before they could break through, the men lowered me down into the attic. I managed to find the trapdoor in the dark and opened it, dropping the ladder down into the hallway. I paused to text Sandy, then using the flashlight on my phone, made my way over to the wall that divided the attic from the secret area. Sandy joined me from the hallway, scampering up the ladder, bringing a larger flashlight with her. We began to comb the wall, looking for any sign of a door.
“This paneling makes it hard to see anything,” she said.
The wall was paneled in what looked like it had been white shiplap originally. We searched every inch, but found nothing. Up top, the noise continued as they finished removing the last of the branch.
Max peeked through the hole. “Heads up, the hole leading into the other side is big enough for me to get through. I’m going down to see what I can find out. Dev will hold the rope long enough for me to get in and out.”
I nodded, waiting. A few minutes later, a rapping on the other side of the wall alerted us. We could hear Max shouting.
“Mark the wall here. There’s a door on this side that must have been covered up over on your side. I’ll tap around the edges so we can figure out a way to get in.”
“Let me get something to mark it with!” I turned to Sandy. “You have a pen on you?”
She shook her head. “No, but let me get one. I’ll be right back.” She hurried back toward the ladder, but Dev shouted through the hole into the attic and tossed her a pencil. She brought it over and we roughly traced the opening as Max tapped away on the other side. When we were done, we had two-foot wide, four-foot-tall rectangle marked out.
A few moments later, Max joined us inside, dropping down from the hole into the attic.
I glanced at him. “What’s over there?”
“I didn’t get a good look, but it’s an odd room, I’ll tell you that. There are a bunch of things over there, and I’m not at all certain what they are. I didn’t want to touch anything until we get some solid light going in there. But at least we know where to look.” He stared at the shiplap. “Somebody wanted to cover it up, that much is for sure. I’m not sure why, but the energy feels very thick and cloistered. I felt claustrophobic.”
“I had no clue there was a room back there. I wonder if it was there when Franny was alive. We should ask her.” I stood back, contemplating the roof. “Is Dev securing a tarp over the entire hole? I haven’t heard back yet from the roofer I called.”
“Yeah, then he and his guys will tackle taking down the three trees. The tow truck’s on the way for Sandy’s van, now that the tree is off of it.”
A moment later, the room went dark except for the glow of the flashlights. I glanced up and saw a deep blue canvas stretched taut over the hole. Another moment and we heard the sound of pounding as Dev tacked down the tarp. It was heavy enough to prevent leaking, and it did help to keep the wind from blowing through. I glanced back at the markings on the wall one last time before following Max and Sandy down the ladder, back into the hallway.
“Well, that was interesting,” I said as my phone rang.
Grateful to see it was Alpha-Pack Construction, I answered. While they weren’t the best company around, they were quick and usually efficient, if you paid them enough. Leonard Wolfbrane, the owner, promised they could come assess the roof as soon as we wanted, but I needed to make an appointment now before they got totally booked up.
I debated whether to call the insurance company about it. They wouldn’t pay for a new roof, and if I only needed a patch, I’d rather not have the ding on my record. Aegis and I had already made the decision this was as good a time as any to have the roof redone, so I decided to just go with the flow. I glanced at the time. It was already two and the power still wasn’t back on.
“What about tomorrow morning? Nine o’clock?” I decided I might as well just bite the bullet and get started.
Leonard paused, then said, “It’s on the calendar. We’ll be there. Thanks, Maddy, for your repeat business. You’ll get a ten percent discount for being a returning customer.” He disconnected.
I stared at the phone for a moment. I knew Leonard from the Bedlam City Council. He was punctual, that much I could say for him, and his company had done a decent job on renovating my bathrooms when I first bought the mansion.
“Any idea on estimated time of restoration on the power?” Sandy dusted off her jeans. “I hope Alex gets here soon. We should really go home. I need to change. I hate wearing clothes more than a day.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. At least not until Aegis gets up. He’ll be waking in a couple of hours. Sunset is 4:36 today, and it’s almost quarter after two.” I didn’t want them to go. I hated the fact that there was a hole in my roof, and a secret room I had known nothing about. Without the power on, the mansion loomed large and echoing around me.
Sandy took pity on me. “All right. Alex said it would be after four thirty before he could get here, anyway.”
Kelson had returned with several bags of takeout. “The shops that have power and are open, are jammed. The sheriff wasn’t kidding when she said over sixty percent of the island was dark. I managed to get a big bucket of chicken, some pot stickers and egg rolls, and a couple dozen doughnuts. I figured that would hold everybody for a while.”
“Save some for Aegis. Even though he doesn’t have to eat, he likes his food.”
Sandy and I helped Kelson lay out the food. She had also thought to get paper plates. I knew we had some, but where they were, I had no clue. And in an emergency, it was just easier to buy new and know you had what you needed.
Max washed his hands, then joined us as we gathered around the table. I asked Kelson to tell Henry Mosswood that dinner was ready.
“He’s not here,” Franny said, interrupting as she walked out of the wall. “He asked me to tell you that he decided to go downtown for dinner and a movie, since the cinema has power.”
Well, that was one fewer person we had to worry about feeding. Grateful, I changed the subject.
“Hey, Franny, I have a question. When the tree busted through the roof, we found a secret room. We can’t get in there yet—it’s walled off. But there’s a door on the far side of the attic behind the shiplap. It leads to a private room. Do you know anything about what’s back there or when it was walled off?” I piled my plate high with mashed potatoes, fried chicken, pot stickers, and a couple egg rolls.
A quiet look of contemplation swept over the ghost’s face. “No, I don’t. Not that I can remember. When I was alive, the attic did seem larger, now that you mention it. But I never thought to see if there was something behind the wall.”
“Maybe someone who owned the mansion after your parents died walled off part of the room? If it seems smaller than when you were alive, that would be the most logical guess.” I paused, then asked, “What do you know about any of the owners between then and now? Do you remember any of them?”
Franny tilted her head, absently stepping through the table till she was standing right through the mashed potatoes.
“Could you not stand in the food?” I knew that she wasn’t really touching it, but it still gave me the creeps.
She blinked, looking down. “Oh! I’m sorry. I know that bothers you.” She quickly stepped to the side, away from the table, and moved into the dining room corner. “Let me think. I’ve been here a long time, you know. That’s a lot of memories to go through.”
“Not a problem,” I said, digging into my meal. The food was still hot and it tasted wonderful. Kelson looked exhausted.
“You were in late. You should take a nap after dinner,” I said to her. “There’s not much we can do till—oh, I forgot to call to find out about the power.” I pulled out my phone and placed a call to Pacific Bedlam Power—PBP. The automated voice reported that we should have power back in our neighborhood by seven p.m. “Well, that’s better news than tomorrow.”
Sandy called as well. “Not such good news for me. Out by my house, it’s not supposed to be restored till tomorrow night, around midnight.”
“You can take a hot shower before you go home. Or just stay the night here again.”
She shook her head. “I may take you up on the shower, but after that, we have to go home and make sure Mr. Peabody’s all right.” Mr. Peabody was Sandy’s pet skunk. He wasn’t magical, except when Bubba granted his wish to get his scent glands back, but he was a loving little creature and adored both Sandy and Jenna. He wasn’t so sure about Max, but neither did he shy away from the weretiger.
“You know, I remember vague images of people who lived here. As I’ve said before, most of them never noticed me, or if they did, they left me alone. A few were spooked by my presence. But I do remember one person who stood out. There was a woman here, many years ago—I think it had to be a few years after the turn of the century, 1915 maybe? I don’t know, but around there. Anyway, she gave me the creeps. There always seemed to be a cloud hovering over the house while she lived here. I remember wishing I could leave, but never being able to. I mostly stayed in the basement because she didn’t go down there much. I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember there were workmen in the house while she was here.” Franny shrugged. “I’m sorry, but that’s it. That’s the only memory that stands out.”
“That’s fine.” I thought for a moment. “What was she like? The woman? Do you remember anything about her? Why did she give you the creeps?”
Franny sighed, looking put-upon. She was good with melodrama, that was for sure, and she milked it for all it was worth.
“Well, let me think. She felt dangerous. I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt like she would be a dangerous person to have for an enemy, and an even more dangerous one to have as a friend. She was tall, with long black hair, and really full lips. And oddly enough, she seemed frightened. That’s all I can remember.” She vanished back into the wall before I could ask anything else.
“I guess she got bored.” Max picked up a biscuit.
“I suppose so. Well, that gives me a time frame, at least. I think I’ll look into the previous owners of the Bewitching Bedlam. We know about Franny’s family, but I don’t know much about anybody who bought the place after them.”
There was a resounding thump from the front door. I frowned, then remembered the big old knockers we had installed. With the power out, the bell wouldn’t be working.
Kelson jumped up. “I’ll get it. You eat.” She vanished into the dining room, heading toward the front door. A moment later, the sound of loud voices echoed into the kitchen, and then, before I knew what was happening, an all-too-familiar figure entered the room.
I slowly stood, pushing my chair back as Sandy let out a gasp.
“What the fuck do you want?” My stomach felt like it had just been punched in the gut. For the first time in over a year, I found myself staring at my ex—Craig Vincent Astor. And that was one face I’d have been happy never to lay eyes on again.
“CRAIG? WHAT THE hell are you doing in my house?” I crossed my arms so I wouldn’t be tempted to stab him with my fork. Craig had been my one foray into dating a human. Well, the one foray into marrying a human. To say that it hadn’t worked out would be an understatement.
He was still just as tall and smarmy looking as I remembered. Five-ten, toned and trim, and with every hair in place on his precious head, and a few fewer wrinkles around the eyes than I remembered, he was wearing an expensive black jacket that I pegged as Armani, and a pair of Italian loafers that probably cost half a grand. Craig was a lawyer, a snob, and an abusive buttmunch whom I had wasted eight years of my life on.
Craig glanced around the room, then his gaze landed on Sandy and his eyes narrowed. The two of them had never gotten along. He had called her a whore one too many times and she had threatened to wither his pecker. However, when he saw Max sitting next to her, he quickly looked away. Max was stocky and fit, and looked every inch capable of taking down someone like Craig. From the scar that traced its way from his left temple to his chin, to the beefy biceps that showed beneath his close-fitting cashmere sweater, Max was an imposing alpha male.
“Can’t you live in a normal town? I had to pay someone to bring me over in a boat because the goddamned ferry’s out and then rent a fucking car.”
I blinked. “Not my problem, dude.”
“Whatever. We need to talk.” It was a demand, not a question or a request. Craig had always assumed that his demands would be met.
I stared at him, debating on whether to toss him out on his ass, or find out what he wanted. No doubt it was something stupid, but my curiosity got the better of me. But I was going to make him pay to talk to me.
“Say please.”
“What did you say?” His eyes narrowed as he swung around to stare at me.
“I said, ‘Say please.’ As in ‘Please, Maudlin, do you have the time to speak to me?’ It’s really not that difficult, Craig. At least not for most people. I do, however, realize that polite conversation tends to be outside your venue.” I moved forward a step. He was in my house and my territory, and I wasn’t about to let him have the upper hand.
He clutched his keys in one hand, the tension squaring his jaw as he clenched his teeth. I could sense the impending explosion. I had muted myself for years with him. I had learned to walk on eggshells. But I was done with that. Forever.
“Do you have time or don’t you?” He tried to lock gazes with me, but I just laughed.
“Even now, even after all this time, you refuse to be civil. I didn’t ask you to come here. You didn’t call to make certain I would welcome your visit. So you’d better learn how to say please really fast or I’ll call the cops and have you thrown off my property.” I half-hoped he wouldn’t. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be alone with him, even in my own house. Craig could be dangerous, and he held grudges for the stupidest things.
A moment later, he let out an angry huff.
“Please take some time out of your precious schedule to talk to me,” he said.
The ball was in my court. He’d met the challenge. Now I had to talk to talk to him. I glanced over at Sandy and Max.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Maddy? You don’t have to.” Sandy started to stand, but Craig turned on her.
“I don’t need your interference, bitch. You already did enough damage.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when Craig found himself against the wall, with Max holding him by the lapels.
“I suggest you apologize to both of these ladies before I forget my manners and let my tiger out to play. I haven’t played cat and mouse in a long time.” Max’s eyes were burning and even from here, I could smell the anger coming off the weretiger. The scent of pheromones was overwhelming.
Craig let out a strangled yelp. “I’ll sue you for assault—”
“Go ahead, lawyer boy. I’ve got the best lawyers money can buy and they’ll whip your ass in court. Now apologize.” Max slid him higher on the wall.
Craig squeaked out an “I’m sorry” and Max opened his fists, stepping back. Craig went tumbling to the floor. As he picked himself up, I could see he was stewing for a fight, but he wasn’t stupid enough to take on someone who could beat the crap out of him.
“Nice friends you’ve got, Maud.” He turned back to me. “Now can we talk?”
“You’ve got five minutes. Come into the kitchen.” I wasn’t about to take him into the parlor where he could shut the door and get me alone.
We entered the kitchen and at that moment, the lights flickered and came on. I let out a long breath. One problem solved. In the sudden brilliance of the overheads, Craig looked less suave than I remembered him looking. In fact, he looked a little rough around the edges. He had a five-o’clock shadow and dark circles under his eyes. And his hairdresser had missed a few gray hairs that were peppered in among the black.
“Five minutes. What do you want?” I set the kitchen timer, then leaned against the counter.
He snorted. “Always so gracious, aren’t you, Maddy?”
“Gracious to those who deserve it, yes. You have four minutes, forty seconds. Better hop to it, dude.” I wasn’t going to let him bait me into an argument. I glanced at the clock. Four thirty-five. One minute and Aegis would be awake.
“I need your magic. You’re going to cast a spell for me.” Again, a demand, not a request.
I let out a peal of laughter. “Oh, that’s rich. Thanks, I needed that laugh. You need my magic? You hated the fact that I was a witch. And now you show up at my door demanding I help you? What makes you so sure I’ll even think about it?”
“Because if you don’t, I’m going down in flames and I’ll take you with me.”
And at that precise moment, Aegis opened the door to the basement, his beautiful brown eyes ringed with crimson, which meant he was in predator mode, and I knew exactly who he was fixated on.
THE NEXT FEW minutes were a blur. Aegis was suddenly behind Craig, and Craig’s feet were dangling off the ground again, only this time it was a vampire, not a weretiger, in charge. Aegis looked about ready to toss him through the sliding-glass door when I yelled for him to stop.
“Aegis, wait!” I had no desire to help Craig, but neither did I want him suing us because that’s exactly what the little worm would do.
Aegis froze, staring at me, then slowly lowered Craig to the ground and shoved him roughly into a chair. He moved over to slide his arm around me, and gave me a long kiss as the fire in his eyes died down.
“You okay, babe? I heard him threatening you when I was coming up the stairs.” Aegis was wearing his bad-boy leather pants, a black mesh muscle shirt, and a gorgeous golden belt buckle in the shape of the sun. His hair hung loose, sweeping his shoulders, and he was wearing both his Apollo ring and the Celtic claddagh ring I had bought for him.
Craig’s eyes went wide as he looked up at Aegis, who smiled, deliberately lowering his fangs. He looked wildly from Aegis to me, then back to Aegis.
“What the…vampire? You’re mixed up with a vampire?” Craig’s voice was raw, and he looked like he might pee his pants.
“Craig, meet Aegis, my boyfriend and business partner. Aegis, this is my ex-husband. I told you all about him.” I let my voice drop on the last few words, and once again, Craig blanched. A very small, evil imp inside me was delighted by his response.
Aegis just stared at Craig, not blinking, not moving from where he stood, arm wrapped around my waist. “What the hell do you want with Maddy and why were you threatening her?”
Craig cleared his throat and I could feel Aegis working his glamour on him. He wouldn’t be able to look away, no matter how terrified he was.
“I need her to cast a spell to get some thugs off my back. They’ll come after her, too, if they don’t get what they want from me,” he stammered.
I froze. “What the hell did you do? And why would they be after me?”
Craig shifted nervously in the chair. Aegis held his glamour tight, reeling Craig in so tight that he couldn’t possibly get away. I recognized the technique, even though witches were immune to the glamour vampires used, at least with their eyes.
“Remember when I signed for the loan on the cabin?”
I blinked. That had been seven years ago, and the cabin had been sold off during divorce proceedings. “Yeah, but I thought that was sold during the divorce.”
“Not exactly,” Craig said, tugging at his collar. Finally he let out a shudder and said, “Well, it was sold but I didn’t pay back the loan. I didn’t exactly tell you where the loan came from.”
“The bank. Craig, tell me you went through a bank for it? You wouldn’t let me see the paperwork, but…” But I had trusted him because, even though things had started getting bad even back then, I kept hoping to make it work. I didn’t like giving up so easily.
“No. Not the bank. My credit was falling apart and the only way we could get the loan was for me to borrow it privately. When the judge gave you the condo during the divorce, I decided I deserved something for all those years of being married to you and used the money from the cabin to buy my car and a few other things for me. But now the man I borrowed the money from wants it back and...I put your name on the agreement as well as mine.” He slumped back as Aegis let go of control.
I stared at him for a moment, wanting to throttle him. “You fucking took out a loan for five hundred thousand dollars from a goddamn loan shark and signed me up on it too?” Inside, I could feel my fire rising. I reined it in. Craig wasn’t going to make me lose my control, even though I had every right to fry him to a crisp.
“How much do you owe them?” Aegis asked, his voice dangerously soft.
“With interest, seven hundred thousand dollars.” Craig shifted again, no longer blustery. He seemed aware that Aegis was ten seconds away from poking a drinking straw in his jugular.
I let out a squeak. Seven hundred thousand dollars? And Craig was right, if they didn’t get the money out of him, they’d be after me. I had no clue whether these guys were part of the Pretcom, or if they were human. Either way, it wasn’t good.
Aegis growled under his breath. Then, moving so fast I didn’t even see the blur, he was standing beside Craig. He leaned over and grabbed Craig by the hair, yanking his head back.
“Listen to me. You are going to go back to those men and you will tell them to take Maddy’s name off of the contract. You’ll inform them that you’re selling your watch and your Beemer or whatever else you drive and your house in the country and all of your other assets, and you will turn that money over to them even if you have to shit under a bridge and sleep in a cardboard box. Because if you don’t do as I say, you’re one step away from being a sippy cup for me and my fangy friends. Do. You. Understand?”
He let go and Craig slipped off the chair, tripping as he tried to get to his feet. He glanced over at me, and I could tell he was hoping for some sort of intervention, but I said nothing. I decided to let Aegis handle this on his own. I wanted nothing to do with Craig and it seemed fitting that he end up disbarred, or whatever happened to lawyers who made bad decisions.
“Maddy—Maddy? Come on, Maddy, please.” He gave me one last pleading look. “I can’t afford to pay them back.”
“Then maybe you should start offering your legal services free of charge to them. Who knows, they might need a lawyer on the team. Get the hell out of here and never darken my door again. Get back on your private boat and get the fuck back to Seattle. Enjoy the mess you’ve made of your life, because it’s the one you chose.” I shook my head, still furious that he had dared to come here, that he had dared to put me in danger, that he had ever even thought of marrying me when he couldn’t stand witches.
Max showed up then and grabbed him by the wrist, hauling him toward the front door. As Craig vanished out of my view, I turned to Aegis, breathing hard.
“I can’t believe he actually thought he could come here and…” I paused, shaking so hard that I started to cry.
“I know, love, I know.” Aegis pulled me into his arms and stroked my face, running his thumb gently down my cheek. He lifted my chin and kissed me, long and slow, and he tasted like cherries and chocolate.
“He’s gone,” Max said, returning. “Now, maybe we can get on with things.”
“Maybe,” I whispered. “Maybe he’s the last bad luck we’ll have this week. Or month.” One could always hope, I thought.