Random Thursday – My Third Haunting: The Ghost That Followed Me, Part 3

(Part 1)

(Part 2)

Apart from strange beams of light, cold spots, clicking light fixtures, and a freakishly smiling doppelganger of my stepbrother, life in the Ellis Street house was boringly normal.  Still, visits to my dad in North Carolina were a welcome respite to the strange goings-on in Georgia, where there was always an undercurrent of tension.

One such visit to my male parental unit showed that the supernatural isn’t always so devoted to location, location, location.  No, whatever it was that haunted Ellis Street wasn’t that loyal to a piece of real estate.  It liked me.  Or at least, it liked hanging around me, giving me the willies.  Which begs the question, was it ever the house on Ellis Street that was haunted, or was I?

It was the summer visit of my thirteenth year.  Vacations with my dad were fun.  We went fishing a lot, and I would check in with old friends from my former school.  There was a handsome dark-haired Marine who lived next door for me to have a crush on.  And he had a handsome blond friend, also a Marine … double crush.  They would even consent to talk to me once in awhile.

I was enjoying myself enough to even pretend I didn’t hear the sound of a pull-chain light fixture every now and then.  There were no such lights in my father’s house to make such a sound.  When that distinctive click rang through the room (and I was always alone when it did), I kept on doing whatever it was that I was doing.  I refused to acknowledge anything strange was going on.  Didn’t hear that.  Nope.  Left that weirdness back in Georgia.

But it would not be ignored.

I had just gone to bed one night.  I was settling in, my closed eyes beginning to trade the darkness of the room for the darkness of sleep.  I was on my side facing away from the wall the twin bed was up against, leaving a little room behind me.

Something got in bed with me.  I felt the mattress behind and beneath me depress with the weight of a body.  I was wide awake all at once as it settled there.  It was close enough that I should have felt the press of another right up against me.  But nothing touched me.  It was just the sensation of the mattress, sunken enough that I felt I should roll into the hollow that had been created.

I kept my eyes closed.  I pretended I had fallen asleep.  And I waited for something else to happen with my heart galloping fit to burst out of my chest. 

Nothing did.  Gradually the mattress returned to normal until there was no hint of anyone lying next to me.  I finally went to sleep in the wee hours of the morning.

I never felt anything crawl into bed with me again … well, nothing paranormal anyway.   And nothing remotely as frightening as that has happened since.  But through the years, no matter where I went, I got hints I was still being followed.  Every time I would move  -- and I moved often throughout my twenties and thirties -- I would get a reprieve that lasted about six weeks.  It was as if when my address changed, my unseen companion would get lost and have to search for me.  Or maybe it was just settling into the new digs itself.  But sooner or later, I’d hear that pull-chain light fixture.  And there would be movement I’d see from the corner of my eye.  Cold spots.  An occasional object moved from its regular place or fallen from its sturdy perch. 

For a long time, I was still scared silly of the unseen, and I wanted it away from me.   I researched and found old folk remedies against hauntings.  The most effective defense seemed to be a clove of garlic and a pinch of salt in each corner of every room.  The moment my tagalong announced its presence in a new apartment or home, I would place these objects in their places.  The activity would cease until six weeks after I moved again.

When my husband and I spent three years living in an RV, I didn’t perform my little ritual.  Maybe my ghostly companion didn’t like the cramped living quarters, because it never showed up.  Ditto for the apartment that followed and the house we now own.  Maybe it got the message I didn’t want it around.  Maybe it found someone better to scare.  Perhaps I willed away whatever it was that allowed me to see, hear, and feel the other side.   Whatever the reason, it seems I am no longer haunted.  This is funny, because I’ve gotten over my fears and would welcome the opportunity to go ghost hunting, to converse with something supernatural.   Doesn’t that just figure?

Six Sentence Sunday – The Willow and the Stone

Consciousness faded in.  Carli stared out the window by the bed at the mid-afternoon sky on her sixth day without food. 

            Renee and Adam searched within a mile's radius of the house for something to eat every day without luck.  She’d grown too weak to join them.  Now she couldn't stand at all.

            I'm dying, she thought.             

Available as ebook or print from Amazon Kindle, Smashwords, and New Concepts Publishing

Lilith is Now Available

 The e-book is up for sale at New Concepts Publishing.  I will warn you, this book contains graphic violence and sexual situations (hey, Lilith is a demonic succubus – it had to happen).  For your consideration, the description and an excerpt:

Alex Williams has battled demons all her life.  Now Lilith, the mother of all demonkind, has declared war on the human race.  To defeat the immortal succubus, Alex must lay aside her hatred and work with two half-demons, Colwyn and Jacob.   Alex and Colwyn are prepared to destroy each other at the first sign of treachery.  What they don’t expect is the passion that overcomes them.  To defeat Lilith, Alex must embrace what she believes profane and trust the half-demon who might turn against her at any moment.

Genre:  Horror

Warning:  Contains explicit sex and violence.

Excerpt:

            Despite her best efforts, Alex dropped right on top of the dead man.  The body squelched beneath her, and the air went muddy with the scent of spoiled meat.  His blank eyes stare into hers, the windows to his soul looking into a bare, unfurnished room. 

She controlled an urge to scream – barely.  Her stomach heaved, and she scrambled off the bed.  The ripe odor of death hung about her, and Alex held her breath as she hurried to the door.  There she paused, willing her galloping heartbeat to slow to a trot.  Panic edged back but kept a hungry eye on her. 

Alex pulled the vial of holy water from her coat pocket and unstoppered it.  With a shuddering breath she cracked the door open.

            A powerful thrum slammed through her body and forced her to stumble backwards.  The demon recognition hit her with the force of a tidal wave.  She tried to scream, but only a whistling hiss of breath escaped.  Alex staggered in a drunken pirouette to the middle of the room, one hand outstretched to ward off the demonic presence, the other pulling back the holy water as if she readied to throw the first pitch of a baseball game.

            Alone and small, Alex had indeed blundered into the lair of the Beast.  A moaned litany escaped her lips.  “I can’t.  I can’t.  I can’t...”

            Staring at the dark hallway beyond the open door, she wept the tears of a terrified child.  Who was she to confront such a monster?  Lilith would surely annihilate her within seconds.  With all that power, she couldn’t be stopped, couldn’t even be slowed.  Lilith would destroy them all.  Such malevolence would crush everything in its path.  Alex’s puny arsenal of prayers and spells would be like pebbles thrown at a tank.  Incantations would be no more to the ancient demoness than nursery rhymes. 

            Demon recognition pulsed at her, sending her thoughts into chaos.  The storm pounded its fury on the roof overhead, adding to the confusion.  She had to get out; she had to run before the demoness scented the interloper in her den and came for her.  Alex turned back to the open window.

            The corpse lying on the bed confronted her.  The bloody, torn carcass blocked her path, stopping her from climbing out the window into the curtain of rain, from running from the house, from leaving the state to hide from Lilith and the Segreto forever.  She couldn’t crawl over that silently screaming remnant again.

The only other way out was to go into the hall and chance facing the demoness.  Her mind raced between the two options like a frantic squirrel caught in a cage.  Her whimpered chant of “Ican’tIcan’tIcan’t...” grew louder.  Soon she’d scream it, and Lilith would come.  The thought didn’t quiet her; it fed her panic and raised the volume of her voice.

            A weight dragged on her neck and grew heavier.  Alex clutched at it and grabbed her silver crucifix on its black cord.  She brought it before her eyes and stared at the tiny form of Christ, stretched upon the cross, sacrificed to save man from evil.  One man, alone.  Like her, the salvation of all humankind.  The metal in her palm felt warm, comforting.  It seemed to infuse her with strength.

            I’m Segreto.  God’s warrior.  Humanity’s only chance in Lilith’s hell.

            The thought struck like a splash of cold water in her face.  Reason returned.  Others had faced Lilith and driven her back to the ether.  The task was suicidally immense but not impossible.  Alex’s ragged breath eased, and her heart slowed a little.  Her body still trembled, but her thoughts had cleared.

            Besides, the bitch doesn’t know I’m here.  I’ve got a hell of a surprise in store for her.

            She squared her shoulders.  She approached the door to the hall again. 

            Alex peeked out into the dark hall.  She discovered the room she was in stood about halfway between the lit front room and the back door.  The television spoke in a mindless drone over the rain that pounded on the roof, the two providing plenty of noise to cover her presence if she was careful.  Alex eased out of the bedroom.

            The hum of her talent intensified as she drew closer to her enemy.  She passed the doorway of a darkened kitchen and wrinkled her nose at the rancid odor of spoiled food.  It was still more pleasant than the rotting body she’d left behind.  Peering into the room, she saw nothing except the reflection of metal from the stove’s burners and its litter of pots and pans.

            Alex returned her attention to the lit room ahead.  She thought she heard a cry behind her and turned.  She saw nothing but the hallway leading to the back door.  She listened, but there was no repeat of the sound; all that reached her ears was her own breath, the drum of rain, and the television.

            She resumed her approach towards the front of the house.  As she moved closer, she heard the polished tones of a newscaster. 

            “...350 bodies found in a mass grave.  Apparently, the victims had been buried alive...”

            Something chuckled over the television’s volume.  Alex halted at the obscene sound.  Her bladder nearly gave way.

            The laughter was inhuman, as if Hell itself had gained the ability to express humor.  Some loathsome, diseased thing reveled in the destruction of others.  Something that didn’t belong among humankind. 

Alex’s upper lip skinned back from her teeth in an unconscious snarl.  She was still awash in fear, but an instinctive hatred boiled within her as well.

            You have no business on my world.  God left it to us, you thieving bitch.  You may take it, but as the saying goes, it’ll be over my very dead body.

            All her attention locked on the doorway before her.  Her fist tightened around the vial of holy water.  Alex passed the kitchen door. 

            The toe of her shoe collided with a broken wedge of a plate.  It clattered across the hardwood floor, a cymbal crash amid the drumming of rain.  The whole house seemed to echo with the sound and amplify it until she clapped her hands to her ears.

            “Naamah?”

            Alex froze and held her breath.  Her heart thumped painfully.  A shadow appeared on the wall in the television room.

            “Naamah, is that you?”

            The shadow grew and glided toward the hall, its darkness slipping eel-like towards her.  Alex stepped back, watching it as it advanced.  Her foot landed on a wet blob and slid out from under her.  With a startled gasp she crashed on her backside with a solid thump, the holy water held aloft in her right hand.  Liquid splashed over her fingers.

            “Who’s there?”  The shadow charged forward.  The thrum of Alex’s talent grew into a scream.

The Legend of Lilith

 With my second book Lilith coming out any day now (it’s almost a week late due to unforeseen delays), I thought I’d share the myth that inspired my first horror novel.  There are many stories surrounding this ancient legend, but I’ll stick with the one that I worked from.

Lilith was created at the same time as Adam (you know, the guy from the biblical Garden of Eden), though not quite the same way.  Adam was formed of dust, while Lilith was made from mud.  God made them to be equal in every way.  However, when it came to who would be in the superior position during intimate moments, negotiations fell by the wayside.  Adam tried to force Lilith to be on the bottom, but she definitely possessed a woman-on-top personality.  Furious that her mate would try to subjugate her, she stormed out of the Garden of Eden. 

Adam immediately petitioned God for a more subservient mate, as he wasn’t quite ready to evolve into an equality-minded guy.  It was at this point God brought forth Eve from Adam’s rib.  And we all know how obedient she turned out, having decided a particular fruit should be added to their diets despite the Almighty’s dictates against it.

Meanwhile, Lilith made her way to the Red Sea, where she met up with the fallen angels.  Perhaps they didn’t mind a dominant woman, because she got up close and personal with these rebellious ones.  Legend says Lilith gave birth to demonkind, particularly the succubi – female demons who used sex to feed on the lives of human men.  Lilith herself is usually classified as a succubus, because she too visits men for sex and energy.  While consorting with fallen angels should probably be considered a pretty heinous sin, Lilith remains immortal because she was never guilty of having eaten from the Tree of Knowledge.  She got out of the whole death sentence issue, having left the Garden of Eden before that serpent could offer her the naughty, lease-breaking fruit. 

Lilith was often the cause attributed to the deaths of newborns in earlier times.  She was supposedly killing them because of her hatred for Adam and his children, having been denied her rightful place on Earth.  As late as the 18th century, it was a common practice in many cultures to protect new mothers and their infants with amulets against Lilith. Males were most vulnerable during the first week of life, girls during the first three weeks. Sometimes a magic circle was drawn around the cradle, with a charm inscribed with the names of three angels, Adam and Eve, and the words "barring Lilith" or "protect this newborn child from all harm."

So that’s where my villainess springs from.  I hope you enjoy her evil as much as I did.  You can get an ebook copy from NewConcepts Publishing when it comes out, and from distributors like Kindle and Nook approximately 8 weeks later.  Happy reading!

Interview with Colwyn Planter of Lilith

(Click here for the interview with Alex Williams of Lilith)

My second book will be out tomorrow, available directly from New Concepts Publishing.   This is a horror novel based on the legend of Lilith, the woman created before Eve.  After leaving the Garden of Eden, Lilith took up with the fallen angels and birthed the demon race.

In my book, one of the main characters is a descendent of those unholy children, a human-demon hybrid known as a demi-demon.  Despised by humans for their demon blood, and abhorred by their ancestor Lilith for being part human, Colwyn and his brother Jacob are caught in the struggle of good versus evil.

Q:  So where do you stand, Colwyn?  Do demi-demons usually fall under the good or bad category?

A:  You could ask that of any full-blooded human, couldn’t you?  Those with demon blood don’t have the market cornered on evil deeds, you know.  I don’t go around killing, stealing, or causing general mayhem.  I pay my taxes.  If that’s your barometer for good, then I think I’m pretty safe.

Q:  How much demon heritage do you have?

A:  My mother was full demon, a succubus.  My father was human.

Q:  A succubus?

A:  She feeds on men through sex, often killing them.

Q:  What a way to go.  What is it like, being raised by someone like that?

A:  I wouldn’t know.  She gave me and my brother to our father to keep.

Q:   You were raised by a human?  How did that go?

A:  My father was a good man.  My mother terrified him when she came around, but he never took it out on us.  In fact, he cared for us as if we had no demon blood whatsoever except to teach us to feed without harming.

Q:  Feed?  You feed on people?

A:   We feed on their fears and pain.  Demonkind thrive on the agony of others.  Many cause harm in order to feed.

Q:  But you don’t hurt anyone?

A:  My brother and I own a funeral home.  There’s more than enough pain present to take care of our needs without causing further harm.

Q:  It’s my understanding there are those who would kill you on sight.  The Catholic Church has a group that does nothing but hunt down those with demon blood and destroys them.

A:  The Segreto.  I’m well aware of them.

Q:  Have you run into them before?

A:  Not personally.  Someone close to me was killed by those murderers.

Q:  They believe they are doing holy work by destroying the descendents of Lilith.

A:  There are those who have demon blood and have never harmed another.  There are those who use their powers for the greater good of all.  The Segreto are no better than Lilith, who destroys anything with human blood.  It’s genocide, and the Segreto will pay for their crimes.

Countdown to Lilith - Excerpt 2

Please note:  graphic violence and sexual situation in this excerpt 

           As the elevator climbed to the sixth floor, Lilith licked her lips in anticipation.  She felt the presence of two halflings close by.  She was sure it was the pair who’d helped the Segreto bitch the day before.

            “It’s them,” Naamah said, her face stretched in a hungry grin.  “I never forget the pulse of a man.”

            “We’re not going to toy with them,” Lilith said.  “They die as fast as possible.”

            The elevator chimed its arrival on the sixth floor.  The door slid open.

            A silver crucifix blazed white light into her eyes.  Naamah fell back with a howl.  Lilith raised her hands to her face to shut out the glare.

            “Depart this world in the name of Jesus Christ, our most holy Savior!”

            In Lilith’s womb the unborn cried out, a long, drawn-out scream.  She felt it try to leave her body and clutched at her stomach.  She glared at the little dark man waving the crucifix in her face and bared her teeth.

            “Get out of my way, you fool!”  She hurled herself at him and bore the flailing man down to the ground.  The crucifix fell from his hand, and his terror washed over her, drowning her with delight.  She straddled his groin and let her crotch settle over it.  “Surrender to me, priest.  Taste the pleasure your precious Church has denied you,” she said.

            His arms fell limp to the floor.  Lilith felt him grow hard beneath her.  She tasted his shame as his erection pressed at the fabric separating their flesh. 

            His humiliation entranced her.  “You want to know me.  You want to feel how it is to be inside a woman and spill your seed within.  Show me how much you desire it,” she growled.

            His hips bucked against Lilith in answer.  She sighed and put her hands around his throat.  He moaned.  She squeezed.  Her fingernails cut into his skin and blood ran warmth over her fingertips.  He raised his hands to hers.

            “No need to fight.”  She rubbed her crotch against his. 

            His arms dropped to the floor again.  Now excruciating pain mixed with his shame and fear.  It ran over her in a delicious flood.  Lilith liked the helplessness he felt best.  She tightened her grip on his throat.  Yes, make it hurt more.  Crush the fragile windpipe.  Dig the claws in deeper.  Yes.  Yes. 

            The priest made a gurgling noise.  His lips turned blue, and his eyes rolled white.  The pulse in his throat slowed.  His agony was crushing, all consuming.  She ground herself against him even harder and felt the first stirrings of orgasm.

            “Die for me, priest.  Die, you worthless—”

            Naamah grabbed her shoulder and shook her desperately.  “They’re getting away!”

            Lilith’s rapt attention on her victim snapped, and she looked around wildly.  The sensation of the halflings’ presence was fading.  She shot to her feet and stared around until she located the direction of the pulse. 

            “This way!”

            Lilith ran around the corner and collided with a nurse carrying a tray of pills.  The medication flew everywhere, and the demoness thrust the shocked woman out of her way, ignoring her indignant yell.  She followed the demi-demon pulse down the hall.  A cry rose behind her as the strangled man was discovered.

            “Hurry!” Lilith screamed to her daughter.  “They must not escape!”

            A door marked ‘Stairs’ loomed ahead.  Lilith and Naamah burst through it.

            “Down!” Lilith said.

            “Here she comes!” a male voice cried from below.

            “Get back here!  Give her to me, and I’ll spare your lives!”

            A deep voice, growing more distant, yelled back, “Sure you will, you bloodthirsty bitch.”

            Lilith shrieked her rage at that voice and rushed down.  Far below she heard a door slam shut.  The halflings’ presence diminished considerably.

            As fast as she raced to catch them, the sensation from the demi-demons receded farther away.  Finally the women reached the bottom of the stairwell and plunged out the door to the hospital’s parking lot.  Lilith saw a light-colored car speed from the lot and into the street with a screech of tires.  As it drove away, she lost the connection to the halflings.

            “Nooo!”  Lilith screamed her fury at the starlit sky.  “She escaped me again!”  She whirled and faced the hospital.  “That damned Segreto shit with his crucifix.  I’ll rip the bastard to shreds for distracting me!”

            Naamah jumped in front of her to stop her from going in.  “Wait!  Look!  You’re bleeding!”

            Lilith looked down at her tan slacks.  The crotch and inner thighs were stained red.  She shoved Naamah aside and started for the hospital.  “It doesn’t matter.”

            Naamah grabbed her arm.  “The unborn is injured again.  The man who attacked us may not be able to hurt you, but he can kill the unborn and take away your advantage.”

            “I have to find where they’ve taken the bitch.  Get out of my way!”  Lilith hooked her hands into claws and raised them to Naamah’s face.

            “They probably took her straight to the Segreto headquarters!  Listen Mother,” Naamah said.  “You don’t want to lose that child, not yet.  Not when you’re so close to destroying your enemy.  You’ll have to be impregnated again and wait for it to mature enough to use its power.  Healing this unborn will take a week at the most.  Then you can destroy them all.  It’s not like the Segreto are hard to find!  The fool in the hospital can wait.”

            “What if they don’t take the woman to their headquarters?  What if they hide her until she’s well again?”

            A slow, evil smile spread over Naamah’s face.  “She won’t have a chance to recover because she’ll be too eager to get revenge on you.  Angry people do stupid things.”

            Lilith’s rage abated a little at the calculated tone in her daughter’s voice.  “You have an idea?”

            “Yes.”  Police sirens shrilled in the distance.  Naamah paused.  “We should leave now.  I’ll explain everything back at the motel.  Don’t worry; this realm will be yours yet.”

Releasing Friday from New Concepts Publishing

Excerpt from Lilith (Releasing Friday)

Jacob started as if waking from a dream.  “Yeah, okay.  I got curious.  There hasn't been a succubus in this region for a couple of years that I know of.  I thought this guy’s organs might still retain something, so I cut the stitches of the autopsy incision to get inside.

            Alex swallowed.  “You found something.”

            He nodded.  “I nearly choked on the poor guy's fear.  I saw what he saw, which was the most gorgeous and horrifying woman ever created, if that makes any sense.”  He surprised Alex by shuddering.  “I guess you had to be there.  She made short work of him.  I don't think he lasted five minutes once they started – you know.”

            “You're sure it was Lilith and not some other succubus?”

            “Positive.  We with demon ancestry sense each other.  The less diluted by human blood, the more powerful that sense is.  I've crossed paths with a pure succubus, one without a single drop of human blood in her.” 

            Alex nodded.  “Okay, I get it.  You know what you’re talking about.”

            Colwyn leaned forward.  Alex’s talent jumped a notch.  She shifted in the chair as he said, “I heard a crash in the embalming room.  When I ran in, Jacob was lying on the floor.  He stopped breathing for about a minute.”

            “Another second in contact with that man, and I think it would have killed me.”   Jacob closed his eyes against the memory.  “It had to be Lilith.  I've never felt anything that strong.  It was like I was being drained without her even being there.”

            Alex studied him.  If he was putting on an act, he deserved an Oscar, she decided.  She nibbled her thumbnail.  “I believe you.  It must have been bad to shake a hulk like you up.  But there's one thing I don't understand, and I think you'll agree it doesn't make much sense.  Lilith's always gone after men with prestige, men with enough power to help her in her fight to destroy humanity.  World leaders, military men, that sort of thing.  Why would she be in a motel room with a nobody truck driver?”

            Colwyn said, “For that matter, what's she doing in this small town?  There's nothing of note in this area except—”  He broke off.  A smirk crept over his face.  “Except the Segreto.”

            “Regretting your phone call, Mr. Planter?” Alex asked.  “You missed your chance to get rid of it.  Lilith could have wiped the entire Segreto out before they even knew she was here.”

            “And then she would have destroyed our kind as well,” he responded, still smiling a little.  “We don't have much chance either way.  One drop of human blood is too much for her, and one drop of demon blood is too much for the Segreto.  People like myself and Jacob are very much between the proverbial rock and hard place.  Each side condemns us for our ancestry.”

            Jacob shrugged.  “As for the trucker, he could have been just unlucky to find himself in her path.  Lilith feeds on pain like any demon.  Maybe that's all there was to it.”

            Alex mused over his account.  Her talent buzzed through her skull, making it hard to think.  She'd not been in the presence of more than one demi-demon at a time for quite a while and had forgotten how distracting it could be.  Then again, she was more accustomed to screaming exorcism rites at demonkind than holding conversations with them.

            Colwyn asked, “What will the Segreto do now?”

            “I have to track Lilith down and send her back between realms.”

            “That’s a lot of ground to cover for one person.”

            “As the one person trained to fight Lilith, it's pretty much left up to me.  She's back on the corporeal plane, so she has a physical body with physical needs.  She'll require a place to live.”  Alex cocked an eyebrow at Jacob.  “My best bet is to check with realtors to see if a gorgeous, horrifying woman has come looking for an apartment or house.”

            The younger Planter’s lips twitched.  “This time around she's got red hair, green eyes, and the most incredible figure I've ever seen.”

            “It’s still not much to go on.  Heaven knows how long she’s been here.”

            Colwyn drummed his fingers on the desk.  “So do my brother and I go into hiding now, or will you be needing us further?”  As Alex glowered at him, he added, “Let's be frank here.  The Segreto's intention is to destroy all demonkind, and I doubt our help makes us immune.  You can at least give us a head start in gratitude for our warning you.”

            She shook her head.  “As much as neither of us likes it, I may need more information later.  I'd appreciate you two not disappearing just yet.”

            “A truce then,” he agreed.

            Jacob's brow furrowed at his brother.  “You're not trusting this woman, are you?  What's going to keep the Segreto from attacking us now that they've got what they want?  Besides, she and her kind owe us beyond just letting us live!”

            The elder Planter snapped, “We and the Segreto have too much to lose to play tricks on each other right now.  Ms. Williams seems intelligent enough to respect that.  As for the other matter, reparations can wait.”

            The intercom buzzed, interrupting him.  Marta's voice flowed into the room.  “You have a phone call from the mayor, Colwyn.  Shall I have him call back?”

            Colwyn glanced at Alex.  “Our meeting's over.  Patch him through.”

            “The mayor, huh?”  She frowned. 

Colwyn smirked.  “Friends in high places, Segreto.  The kind who will ask questions if I disappear.  Good luck in your search.”

Alex scowled at his confidence and abrupt dismissal.  If the Planters had those kinds of connections, exterminating them would indeed be a little tricky. 

            Not my problem.  Father Luis and the gang can worry about that.  I've got more than my share already.

            Pointedly ignoring her, Colwyn boomed a hearty, “Mike!  How are you?” into the phone.

Fine.  They were done then.  Anxious to put distance between herself and the demi-demons, Alex stood.  Without saying goodbye, she followed Jacob out of the office.  She sighed as her body's reaction decreased.

            Jacob led her down the hall back to the entry.  Marta wasn't around to favor Alex with more of her glares.

            “We’ll let you know if anything else comes up,” he said, holding the door open for Alex.  She almost rebuked him for playing the part of a gentleman when she knew better.  Since she thought she might need his goodwill later she kept quiet, simply nodding her goodbye as she left the funeral home.

            The door shut behind Alex, and her shoulders sagged with relief as the last of the demon buzz died within her.  She hadn't had prolonged exposure to demonkind since she was a child. 

            She made it halfway to her truck before Colwyn's voice shouted behind her, “Ms. Williams, wait!”

            She swung about to see the giant demi-demon barreling towards her, his face twisted in a grimace.  Her talent woke, buzzing through her system.  She staggered back a couple of steps as he rushed for her. 

            Bastard!  It was a trick after all!

            Alex shoved her hand into her coat pocket and curled it around the vial of holy water.  She braced for the coming battle.