Frostbound Part 41

She sniffed, pretending it was the cold air making her nose run. "Safety tip-next time, get the tree where it's going, then decorate it."

"Oh." He looked it up and down. "I guess that would be easier."

He sounded like he really didn't care, or that logic wasn't what he was going for. What a weird conversation this is.

The parking lot was where they'd had their first real talk. She could barely think for wis.h.i.+ng she was back at that moment where their brief happiness still lay ahead. Maybe he remembered that, too. Let me go, Lore. Just leave me alone and let me go!

She looked up at him. His dark eyes were sparkling-very different from the sadness that had been clinging to both of them the last few weeks.

He shouldn't be happy. Talia was suddenly suspicious. "What's up?"

"There are a few things to celebrate."

"Like what?" As she'd predicted, his nearness was an aching, empty throb. If she'd had the willpower, she would have stopped talking, left him there, and gone back to her packing-but she simply didn't have the strength to walk away from him twice.

"You saw that Errata published her article."

Talia tried to focus on his words. "Yeah, she sent me a copy."

The article on the fight in the tunnels had got the werecougar a foothold in the human press, and the paper wanted another story. "But her byline said Amanda Jones. Is that a pen name?"

"That's her real name. She says it's time to stop hiding behind her radio persona."

"She doesn't look like an Amanda."

"Who knows what we hide inside?" For a dog, Lore still looked like the cat who got the canary.

Suddenly, Talia was tired. "Lore, you've got news. What is it?"

"Did you notice the decorations?" He pointed to the tree again.

"Are those little bones?"

"This is a h.e.l.lhound tree. Candy canes are for humans. We wish for other things." He tapped a gold foil star hung with thread. There were hundreds of them on the tree. "These are for the mates who have gone missing. We wish for them to be reborn and come back to us."

"Weren't they destroyed by magic?"

A funny look came over his face. "But maybe they weren't destroyed."

"Then why can't they come back?" she asked, remembering their conversation in the Castle. And afterward, he covered the bed in flowers so I'd wake up knowing he was thinking of me.

"The pack likes you, you know. You put the common good before your own. You fought beside them. You're a teacher, and you offered to help set up a school. Osan Mina likes the fact that you know how to darn socks."

Talia didn't know what to say. Why does any of that matter?

"You may not believe this, but they've changed their minds. They wish you were their queen." He touched the star again, making it spin and sparkle. "I think that wis.h.i.+ng is powerful."

Talia wanted to scream with sadness and frustration. "I'm not a h.e.l.lhound. I love you. I want you. You can't doubt that. But I'm not the right species. I can't make the right biological magic happen."

His face fell, suddenly serious. "The female hounds went into heat."

"They can't do that." She stopped cold. "Unless you took a mate."

"You-I mean-you and I did. Then they did." He shoved his hands into his pockets, suddenly looking very, very young. "I don't know how. I mean I do, but-"

Talia's mouth dropped open, and then she burst out laughing. "You want me to draw you a picture?"

He grinned at her, her laugh straightening his spine, opening his expression.

Her heart caught in her throat. "You're serious?"

"Absolutely. It's, um, active in the neighborhood right now. There will be a next generation. It just goes to show you the old traditions aren't everything. Or else there's a new kind of magic. Whatever the case, you're my mate."

Oh, my ... He'd said if the Prophets wanted him as Alpha, they'd have to solve the Talia-as-mate problem. The double-dog dare had worked.

She flung her arms around his neck, smelling the delicious, musky scent of him. "I don't understand. Why did this happen?"

He wrapped his arms around Talia, cradling her against his chest. "Perhaps our lost souls went to other species. Perhaps there are too few h.e.l.lhounds left, so we have changed in order to survive."

Perhaps a vampire queen who understood ancient h.e.l.lhound magic had played a role? Or the Castle?

"The Prophets only know, Talia. I'm just a dog."

"But something's going on." Yes, something was going on. She was happy. Deliriously. Emphatically.

"It means we share something deep. It means I'll always find you, no matter where you go. I'll walk at your side. I'll sleep beside you and watch over you. I'll walk the pa.s.sages between life and death to come back to you."

Did you miss the book that launched Sharon Ashwood's Dark Forgotten series? Read on for a preview of RAVENOUS.

Available from Signet Eclipse.

Prologue.

Being the evil Undead wasn't fun anymore. For one thing, it was increasingly hard to get a library card.

Even borrowing a book required identification. The same applied to finding an apartment, renting a movie, or leasing a car. Sure, in the old days there was the whole vampire mind-control thing, but now the world was one big bar code. Just try hypnotizing a computer.

In the end, it was easier to give in than to hide an entire subpopulation from the electronic age. The vampires-along with werewolves, gargoyles, and the ever-unpopular ghouls-emerged into the public eye at the turn of the century. While Y2K alarmists had predicted millennial upheaval, they sure hadn't seen this one coming.

In fact, they hadn't seen anything yet.

Three Sisters Agency.

Specializing in removal of Hauntings * Poltergeists * Unwanted Imps.

Keep your house happy, healthy, and human-friendly!

Best in the Pacific Northwest!

Holly Carver, Registered Witch.

Chapter 1.

" Why didn't you say you were calling about the old Flanders place?" Holly's words were hushed in the street's empty darkness.

Steve Raglan, her client, pulled off his cap and scratched the back of his head, the gesture sheepish yet defiant. "Would it have made a difference?"

"I'd have changed my quote."

"Thought so."

"Uh-huh. I'm not giving a final cost estimate until I see inside." She let a smidgen of rising anxiety color her voice. "Why exactly did you buy this place?"

He didn't answer.

From where they stood at the curb, the streetlights showed enough of the property to work up a good case of dread. Three stories of Victorian elegance had crumbled to Gothic cliche. The house should have fit into the commercial bustle at the edge of the Fairview campus, where century-old homes served as offices, cafes, or studios, but it sat vacant. During business hours, the area had a Bohemian charm. This place ... not so much. Not in broad daylight, and especially not at night.

Gables and dormers sprouted at odd angles from the roof, black against the moon-hazed clouds. Pillars framed the shadowed maw of the entryway, and plywood covered an upstairs window like an eye patch. A real character place, all right.

"So," said Raglan, sounding a bit nervous himself, "can you kick its haunted b.u.t.t?"

Holly choked down a wash of irritation. She was a witch, not a SWAT team. "I'll have to go in and take a look around." She loved most of her job, but she hated house work, and that didn't mean dusting. Some old places were smart, and neutralizing them was a dangerous, tricky business. They wanted to make you dinner in all the wrong ways. Lucky for Raglan, she needed tuition money. Badly. Tomorrow was the deadline to pay.

The chill September air was heavy with the tang of the ocean. Wind rustled the chestnut trees that lined the cramped street, sending an early fall of leaves scuttling along the gutters. The sound made Holly twitch, her nerves playing games. If she'd had more time, she would have come back to do the job when it was bright and sunny.

"Just pull its plug. I can't close the sale with it going all Amityville on the buyers," Raglan said. Fortyish, he wore a fretful expression, a plaid flannel s.h.i.+rt, and sweatpants with a rip in one thigh. Crossing his arms, he leaned like limp celery against his white SUV.

She had to ask again. "So why on earth did you buy this house?"

Raglan peeled himself off the door of the vehicle, taking a hesitant step toward the property. "It was on the market real cheap. One of those Phi Beta Feta Cheese frats was looking for a place. Thought I could fix it up for next to nothing and flip it to them. They don't care about looks, as long as there's plenty of room for a kegger."

He dug in his pocket and handed her a fold of bills. "Here's your deposit."

Prompt payment-heck, advance payment-was unprecedented, un-Raglanish behavior. She usually had to beg. Holly stared at the money, not sure what to say, but she took it. He's worried. He's never worried. Then again, this was his first rogue house. Before this he'd only ever called her to bust plain old ghosts.

He looked her up and down. "So, don't you have any, like, gear? Equipment?"

"Don't need much for this kind of job." She saw herself through his eyes-a short woman, mid-twenties, in jeans and sneakers, who drove a rusty old Hyundai. No magic wand, no ray guns, no Men in Black couture. Well, house busting-house taming ... whatever-wasn't like in the movies. Tech toys weren't going to help.

She did have one prop. Holly pulled an elastic from the pocket of her Windbreaker and sc.r.a.ped her long brown hair into a ponytail. The elastic was her uniform. When the hair was back, she was working.

"Surely you knew the Flanders house has a history of incidents," she said. "The real estate companies have to disclose when a property has ... um ... issues." Holly eyeballed the place, eerily certain it was eyeballing her back. As far as she knew, Raglan was the first to hire someone to de-spook this house. No one else had stuck around long enough to pony up the cash.

Not a good sign.

Maybe next summer I should try dishwas.h.i.+ng for tuition money.

Raglan blew out his cheeks in a sigh, fiddling with a thread on his cuff. "I thought the whole haunted thing wouldn't matter. The kids from the fraternity thought it was cool. Silly b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. The sale was all but a done deal up until yesterday."

Holly walked up to the fence and put one hand on the carved gatepost. The flaking paint felt rough on her fingers, the wood beneath crumbly with age. The house had a bad att.i.tude, but still the neglect made her sad. The old place had been built from magic by a clan of witches, just like Holly's ancestors had built her home.

Houses like these were part of the family, halfway to sentience. They lived on the free-floating vitality that surrounded any busy witch household-the life, the activity, and especially the magic. It was that energy that kept them conscious. Take it away, and the result was a slow decline until they were nothing more than wood and brick.

Reports of abandoned, half-sentient houses came up every few years. Centuries of persecution, combined with a low birth rate, had taken their toll on the witches. There were only a dozen clans left in all of North America, most with a scant handful of survivors. As their population dwindled, their houses perished, too. Most of these old, dying places were just restless, but a few turned bad, fighting to survive.

Like this one. Only its designation as a historical landmark had saved it from demolition.

Holly's pity mixed with a lick of fear. A gentle tugging was trying to urge her through the gate. Gusts of chittering whispers draped over her body like an invisible shawl. A caress, of sorts. The mad old place was inviting her in, embracing her.

Come in, little girl. So lively, so sweet.

A starved house would drain power from any living person, leaving them tired and achy. A magic user, especially a witch, was much more vulnerable. They had so much more to take.

A flush p.r.i.c.kled Holly's skin as her heart sped up, filling her mouth with the coppery taste of fright. The strain of keeping still, resisting the whispers, made her teeth hurt.

Come in, little girl. The path to the front door was just flagstones buried in moss and weeds, but to Holly's sight it glowed. It was the one path, the only important route she would ever take. Follow it and everything will be better. You'll be coming home at last. Holly, my dear, come to me.

Holly pulled her hand off the post, putting a few paces between her feet and the property line. Sweat plastered her s.h.i.+rt to her back.

She felt the touch of a hand on her sleeve, but she didn't jump. That particular pressure, the curve of those fingers, was familiar, expected. Instead her heart skittered with a roller-coaster swoop of bad-for-you pleasure.

"I didn't hear you arrive," she said, turning and looking up.

Alessandro Caravelli was about six foot two, most of that long, lean legs. Curling wheat-blond hair fell past his shoulders, framing a long, strong-boned face that made Holly dream of fallen angels. The leather coat he wore had the scuffed, squashed look of an old favorite.

"I think the house had you." His voice still held faint traces of his native Italian, a slight warmth in the vowels. "I called your name, but you didn't hear me. I was crushed."

"Your ego's hardier than that."

"You make me sound conceited."

"You're a vampire. You're in a league of your own."

"True, and so is my ego." Alessandro gave a closelipped smile that both invested meaning and denied it.

Holly pressed his hand where it rested on her sleeve, keeping the gesture light. Her pulse skipped at the coolness of his skin. Touching him was like petting a tiger or a wolf, fascinating but fearsome. Full of deadly secrets.