Phantom Kiss

   “I’ve got it,” I said, and picked it up. It was heavy, probably loaded with electronics.

   “Then let’s get out of here,” Ethan said.

   It felt like the air was growing colder, but I wasn’t entirely sure if that was fear or reality. We went outside again, locked the door, and stood in the hallway for a moment while we looked at the backpack.

   “Just in case they’re here again for some ulterior motives,” Ethan said, “let’s give this a look-see.”

   “I suppose I should say something about not violating their privacy.”

   Ethan just gave me a flat look.

   “All right, then,” I said. “It’s your House, so I nominate you.”

   Ethan took the bag from me, put it on the floor, and crouched beside it. He unzipped it, began to pull out each item. A black device. Another black device. A bright yellow device. A small, bright yellow case holding another black device.

   “This looks pretty typical,” Catcher said.

   Then Ethan extracted the black padfolio Robin had used when they’d first arrived at the House.

   “Receipts,” Ethan said, taking out the pile of papers stuffed into its inner pocket. “Starbucks, Giordano’s, Superdawg.”

   “At least they have good taste,” Mallory said.

   Ethan removed a folded piece of letter-sized paper. Looking at it, he stood up, and fury spilled through the hallway.

   “A receipt,” he said, holding it out to Catcher. “For the purchase of a darknet summoning spell.”

   There were four of us in the hallway, and we peppered the space with enough angry magic to make the lights flicker above us.

   “Those little shits,” Mallory gritted out, teeth bared.

   “There was no car,” I said, fury rising. “No white sedan. No perpetrator they’d chased down at the cemetery. They raised the ghost. They were probably trying to get back to the fence when they ran into me.”

   Ethan looked back at the tunnel door, danger in his eyes. “They believe they are invincible and omnipotent. As they’ve hurt two of my vampires, I’ll be proving them wrong in the bloodiest way possible.”

   “Would you settle for their incarceration?” Catcher asked matter-of-factly.

   Ethan just growled.

   “You’ll both have to wait,” I said. “Robin’s not with them. Annabelle only saw one person leaving Lapham’s grave, so he could be the real culprit here.”

   Ethan’s grin was terrifying. “Then let’s go ruin their evening.”

   • • •

   My heart had begun to throb with the anticipation of a fight, of finding the truth. We formed a wall in the doorway of the second parlor while Ethan gave quiet instructions to Kelley. I dropped the backpack on the floor between me and Catcher, then crossed my arms, daring Roz and Matt to make a move for it.

   Ethan walked over, and we made space for him in the line. “Tell me why you did it,” he said, jumping right in to throw them off balance.

   “Did what?” Roz asked. “What are you talking about?”

   “I want to know why you’ve disturbed two graves. For fun? For profit? For excitement?”

   “We didn’t do anything.” But her eyes had gone wide.

   “We found the receipt,” Ethan said, holding it up. “You bought the spell. You summoned the ghost.”

   “No,” she said, so Ethan turned his gaze to Matt. “And what about you? Do you know?”

   When he opened his mouth, Roz grabbed his arm. “Shut up, Matt!”

   There was only a moment of deliberation, of hesitation. “Why? It wasn’t my idea, and I’m not taking the heat for it.” Matt looked back at Ethan. “It’s all Robin. He’s worried about money. After Sorcha, nobody’s using us, because nobody wants anything to do with magic. Everyone’s afraid of it. We’re barely making any money, and we might lose our place.”

   Ethan’s jaw twitched with fury.

   “So you thought you’d call up the spirits of two gangsters?” Mallory walked forward, hands on her hips and her eyes as cold as mine. For a woman with blue hair, she played the badass pretty well.

   “Look,” Matt said, pushing a hand through his hair. “Gangsters in Chicago are big business. There are souvenirs, ghost tours, the whole deal. Robin wanted a piece of that action. He thought if we raised one from each gang, installed them in a house or something, we’d be able to make some money. Have a legit haunted house, or stage an investigation like on television. We’d get crazy amounts of press, and we’d finally start making some real cash. He thought Almshouse would be easiest to get in and out of, and Riley was the only one of Capone’s people that we could find there. We bought the spell, cleaned out our savings for it. But it didn’t work. Or not the way we thought.”

   While he looked guilty, Ethan looked absolutely furious. “Do you know who you actually summoned?” Each word was bitten off in anger.

   “Robin recognized him,” Roz quietly said.

   “Did you think to warn us that you’d raised a serial killer?” Ethan asked. “That we had a serial killer in our home?” He’d taken two threatening steps toward them, and they backed away. That might have been their first smart move.

   “Robin’s going to fix it,” Roz said.

   Ethan’s eyes flashed. “He has fixed enough. Where is he?”

   Roz and Matt exchanged a look.

   “You may be under the impression that I won’t hurt you,” Ethan said. “That I’ll allow Mr. Bell to call the Ombudsman, and let you be processed accordingly. Make no mistake—you’ve hurt my people. And I’ve no qualms about your paying that back, bruise by bloody bruise.”