Chapter Eight

Jake

I leaned back on the couch in the television room and rubbed my temples in an attempt to eliminate the headache I felt coming on. Meena probably thought I was a jerk, but I couldn’t be around her until I figured things out with Vi.

“Why didn’t you want to meet with Meena?” the ghostly pain in the ass who was currently hanging out in my head asked.

“Because I don’t trust you.”

“You should. We want this relationship to work.”

“This isn’t a relationship.” I wanted to lay down the law without ticking her off. “You’re more like a temporary roommate. I’m sharing space with you until we can find a better arrangement.”

“You want to get rid of us.” Vi’s tone became slightly evil.

“No shit. I didn’t sign up for this.” Time to tread lightly. “I’m willing to find another place for you. I’m not trying to kill you.”

“Fine.” If disembodied voices could pout, that’s what Vi was doing.

“Promise me you won’t mess with Meena or Aunt Zelda.”

“That’s acceptable. We won’t make trouble as long as you feed us.”

I didn’t want to go down the vampiric road again. “Do you really need blood? What did you survive on before you came through from wherever you were?”

“We fed on each other,” Vi said.

Okay. This had taken an unexpected and twisted turn. “That’s disturbing.”

“The weaker among us gave their life force for the good of the rest of us.”

“Let’s try normal food today. If pizza doesn’t work we’ll try a rare burger.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Vi’s voice came through in a softer tone. “Thank you for helping us.”

“You’re welcome.”

“See. We can get along,” Vi enthused. “What are we doing today?”

“I don’t know.” Could I call Meena back? She was ticked off at me. It’s not like I knew anyone else in this town. I tapped her number and hoped she’d be reasonable.

“Can I help you?” Her tone was frosty.

“I can run errands with you now, if you want.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?”

I should’ve known this wouldn’t be easy. “I had a problem. I fixed it.”

“That’s nice. I went to a casino by myself and now I’m meeting Bane at the library. If you’re there when I’m done seeing him, I’ll consider having lunch with you.” And then she hung up. I rubbed my eyes. I’d hoped she’d offer to come pick me up because I didn’t have a car.

I ran downstairs and found Aunt Zelda organizing herbs in the shop. “Can I borrow your car?”

“No.” She smiled at me. “But you can use the truck.”

“What truck?” I’d never seen her drive anything but her Old Lady Oldsmobile.

“The one in the garage out back. The keys are in the visor.”

“Thanks.” I headed into the kitchen and out to the backyard. The garage, as Aunt Zelda called it, looked more like an old barn that might fall over if the wind blew too hard. The door squeaked in protest as I pulled it open. The cloud of dust I’d stirred up made me cough. I blinked and stared at the vehicle which could have been a truck in the early fifties. The hood of the truck was blue and it definitely wasn’t original because it didn’t line up right. The cab was painted flat black, like someone had used primer, realized paint wouldn’t make it look any better, and had given up.

I pushed the button on the old-fashioned handle and the door popped open. Inside, the truck was clean. Whatever the bench seat had been made of before, it was now comprised mostly of duct tape. A few black patches showed through between the silver seams. I climbed inside and checked the visor for keys. There were two. One was round and one was square. I tried the round one; it didn’t work. The square one slid in. When I turned it the engine coughed and then roared to life. I put the truck in drive and pressed the gas. The truck moved forward. Good enough.

Aunt Zelda stood on the steps of the back porch smiling at me. I pulled forward and waved. As long as the truck could get me to the library, Meena might be willing to talk to me again. Good thing she was a girl who didn’t care about cool cars.

I took a few wrong turns, ignoring the stares from other drivers, and eventually I ended up at the library. The spot behind Meena’s bug was open, so I pulled in behind her car and waited.

She came walking out five minutes later, carrying a stack of books. I climbed out and gave her a tentative smile. “Sorry about this morning.”

She eyed the truck. “Nice ride.”

I touched the hood of the truck. “If there’s a zombie apocalypse, this baby will still run.”

“Where’d it come from?” she asked.

“Aunt Zelda’s barn. I’m sure there’s a story behind it, but she hasn’t told me yet.”

She opened the back door of her car and set the books inside. After slamming the door, she said, “Why did you blow me off this morning?”

“You remember our ghostly friend from yesterday?”

She nodded.

“Her name is Vi, she’s made up of the spirits of some dark fairies, and she’s living in my head.”

Meena’s mouth dropped open.

I pointed at her. “See…it’s complicated.”

She nodded and turned to climb into her car. “Ride with me. We’ll come back for your truck.”

Once she was driving, I relaxed back into the seat. “It’s a little early for lunch. Do you need to run any non-demonic errands?”

“Not really. How about you?”

“Is there a decent secondhand store in this town? I could use some summer clothes. Most of my shirts have long sleeves.” My mom said there was no point in buying new clothes when people gave away good stuff all of the time. Of course she also didn’t have money for new clothes, but she wasn’t wrong.

“There’s a church resale shop downtown. My sister bought her wedding dress there.”

“I’m not in the market for a wedding dress, but we can see what else they have.”

“Doesn’t your Aunt Zelda collect a bunch of clothes for charity?” Meena asked.

“Girls’ clothes for a women’s shelter. I told her she needs to ask for men’s, too.”

The resale shop had an interesting selection of John Deere T-shirts and jeans. I held out one of the shirts. “Do you think people would realize I was wearing this ironically?”

“Nope,” Meena said. “You’d blend in with all the other guys.”

I put the shirt back on the rack and kept searching until I found a few plain T-shirts that didn’t have logos on them. Meena handed me an old concert T-shirt for the Rolling Stones. “This is kind of fun and retro.”

I added it to the pile. By the time I checked out I had six new shirts for six bucks. My kind of shopping.

“I was thinking pizza for lunch,” Meena said on the way back to her car.

“Works for me.” I planned to be as agreeable as possible for the rest of the afternoon.

“We can go to Pam’s Pies on Main Street,” she said. “They have pizzas and pie.”

“Weird combination.”

As we drove back the way we came, she said, “It’s the one place where you can order a whole pie and eat it by yourself and not be judged.”

“You’ve done that?”

“Maybe.” She grinned.

The parking on Main Street was surprisingly slim. She drove around behind Pam’s and parked in the gravel lot. We entered through the back door and walked past all the tables which gave the people already seated plenty of time to gawk at us.

The hostess up front sat us at a table by the picture window. Once she’d handed us the menus and walked away, I leaned closer to Meena and said, “What’s with all the staring?”

She played with her straw wrapper. “Two reasons. One, you’re still new. And two, people may have heard about my fabulous new summer job.”

I glanced at the other tables. About half of them were looking our way and whispering. Not very smooth. “Do you think the people on the payment plan all know about each other?”

“Maybe.” She held up her arm. “I’ve seen people checking out my bracelet. Maybe they know it means I’m involved with Bane. So tell me more about your new friend.”

“Well, she’s a collective of dark siren fairies that snuck through when my aunt was communing with spirits. And now she’s hitched a ride in my body without my permission. I hear her voice in my head. Her name is Vi,” I added because the situation couldn’t get much weirder. Unless I told her about the blood, which I had no intention of doing.

“Maybe your aunt could perform an exorcism.”

“That’s not a good idea,” I said. “Vi has promised to lay low until I can find her someplace else to live.”

“Do you think someone is going to volunteer to be possessed?” Meena asked.

“Maybe.” The waitress brought us water and we ordered a large thin crust pepperoni pizza.

“Want a slice of pie while you wait for your pizza?” the waitress asked.

I was about to say no when Meena said, “Yes. I’ll have apple heated up with ice cream.”

“And you?” the waitress asked.

“No thanks.”

After the waitress left, I gave Meena a questioning look. “What’s with the pie before lunch?”

“It’s one of the few traditions I like in Crossroads.”

…

Meena

After lunch I felt a lot better about why Jake had blown me off. Still, he could have told me the truth. Then again, he didn’t owe me anything at this point.

“Why do you have that look on your face?” Jake asked.

“What look?”

“Like you’re trying to solve an annoying puzzle,” he said.

I laughed. “Well, honestly, I was wondering why you didn’t share about your new friend when I called this morning.”

He stopped walking. “So I’m the annoying puzzle?”

I laughed. “Those are your words. Not mine.”

He rolled his eyes. “Right. How would you describe me?”

Feeling playful, I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward my car. “Let’s see. Interesting and confusing and dangerous.”

“The first two work, but I don’t get that last one.” He kept coming toward me when we reached my car until we ended up standing toe to toe.

I smiled up at him. “I let you inside my bubble. Normally it’s just me, a few family members, and my cats.”

“You have a bubble?” Was he teasing me, or did he not understand?

“I have a personal bubble. Most people are not allowed inside, but you came out of nowhere. We bonded over demon drama, so I let you in.” Hopefully, confessing this wouldn’t make him want to turn around and walk away.

The corners of his mouth turned up. “I guess something good came from all the demon weirdness.” And then he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. Happy warmth filtered through my chest. I wasn’t normally a public-display-of-affection kind of girl, but Jake was changing my mind.

After he kissed me, Jake rested his forehead against mine. “Want to come back to Zelda’s? We can check out more of her books.”

“Sure.”

I drove him back to his truck. Things between us felt right again. Thank goodness. I wanted to ask him more about Vi, but that could ruin the happy vibe we had going.

As we pulled out of the gravel lot, I noticed Jake staring out the window with a look of concentration on his face. “Jake?”

He blinked. “Sorry. Vi said she liked the pizza and next time I should order pie, too.”

That was odd. “So she’s always awake and experiencing what you’re experiencing?”

“I guess.” He shrugged the question off like it wasn’t a big deal.

From my point of view, he had an internal stalker. Shouldn’t he be freaking out about this situation more than he was? Maybe Vi was manipulating his brain in some way so he wouldn’t panic about it. “I could ask Bane if anyone would be willing to take on a guest.”

“How would that conversation go?” Jake asked.

“Strangely. I’m sure.” And then I had a thought. A disturbing thought, but it might be worth investigating for Jake’s sake. “What if Vi went into someone whose soul was almost gone. After Bane ate some guy’s soul and right before he died, maybe his body would be like an empty house she could move into.”

Jake was quiet for a moment and then he frowned. “Vi’s not sure it would work. She might not have enough life force to keep an empty body going.”

“So she’s a parasite?” I asked.

A strange growling sound came from Jake’s throat.

I hit the brakes a little harder than necessary at the stop sign and turned to him. “What the hell was that?”

“Vi doesn’t like that term.” He cleared his throat. “She’s more of a passenger.”

Okay. So apparently Vi had some sort of control over his body. Jake hadn’t been the one who growled at me. How could I make him see this wasn’t okay without Vi overhearing? I had no idea.

“So do you two kind of share your body’s actions?” I asked.

“No.” Jake didn’t sound sure of himself.

“So…you made a conscious decision to growl at me?”

He tilted his head to the right, like he was listening to the intruder in his brain. Then his posture relaxed and he reached over to take my hand. “No. It was an accident. She won’t do it again.”

Sure she wouldn’t. And then a disturbing thought occurred to me. “Not to be paranoid, but when we kiss, could Vi transfer over to me? Because I have enough issues right now.”

“She could,” Jake said. “But she won’t. That’s what I was doing this morning, negotiating ground rules. She’ll stay with me until we find another host. She promised she wouldn’t go after you or Aunt Zelda.”

“Good to know.” Not that I trusted Vi, but I didn’t want to stop kissing Jake, either. Hopefully, she’d honor their agreement. What would happen if we went to Carol’s and she gave him some holy water? Would that force Vi out? I’d have to ask Carol. Maybe we could come up with a plan.

“Do you still want to go to Zelda’s?” Jake wrapped his warm hand around mine and gave a light squeeze.

“Yes. While we’re researching how to break demonic contracts maybe we’ll find a way to transfer Vi to a willing host.”

“Let’s focus on one problem at a time. Bane.”

I pulled up to the library and parked near Jake’s truck.

“See you at Zelda’s?” he said, like he wasn’t sure if I was going.

I leaned over and pressed my mouth against his in a quick kiss. “Yes.”

I followed Jake out to his aunt’s house and was surprised to see several cars parked in the driveway. I met Jake on the sidewalk and pointed to the other vehicles. “Does your aunt have company, or are those customers?”

“Customers, I bet. She doesn’t usually have friends over.”

When we entered the front door, which led into the store, the shoppers turned to see who we were. Zelda smiled and waved at us from behind the cash register.

“Jake, can you check the deliveries for a box of healing crystals from Taos?”

“Sure.” He headed toward the storage room while I waited near the register. Had he told Zelda about his new ghostly friend? If he hadn’t, should I?

He returned from the storage room looking like his normal, not-possessed-by-anyone self. “Is this what you wanted?”

“Yes.” She took the package from him. “Thank you.”

She slid a letter opener under the seam of the brown paper and unwrapped it neatly, then folded the paper and tucked it under the counter before opening a cardboard egg carton. Inside the carton were different colored crystals nestled in tissue where the eggs should’ve been. She grabbed several and wrapped them in thin white paper before placing them in a jewelry box for the customer she was ringing up.

“Meena, can you and Jake go add the rest of these to the display?”

“Sure.” I took the box of sparkly rocks. Did these things actually have any power? I’d never believed in the power of crystals, but I’d never believed in demons, either, and they were frighteningly real, so who was I to judge?

We went over to a bookshelf stacked two deep with wooden bowls. Each bowl held different colored stones. There were green, red, brown, and a surprising number of purple stones. We put the easily identifiable crystals where they belonged, matching them by color and shape. There were a few that looked similar.

“Do you know which one is which?” I asked Jake, holding up two cloudy white rocks.

“No.” He leaned in close and whispered, “I’m not sure it makes a difference.”

We were thinking along the same wavelength. Good to know. He lifted his hand to my face like he planned to brush my hair back, but then he stopped before making contact. He backed up a step and paused like he was listening to something, or someone.

“The smooth one is opal.” He put the smooth one in the bowl with the other opals. Now that they were next to each other I could see they matched.

“Vi knew what it was?” I guessed.

“Yeah.”

Creepy yet useful. “So you have a supernatural Google in your head?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

Again with the annoyingly casual attitude. “If she’s still with you when we go back to school, she can help you ace your tests.”

His eyebrows came together. “Do you think I’m stupid?”

“What?” Where had that mood change come from? “No. It was a joke because you have a secret voice in your head that knows things. I know you’re smart.”

He still seemed annoyed. What else could I say?

…

Jake

Maybe I was sensitive about people thinking I wasn’t smart because I didn’t want to go to college. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to build things. People didn’t always have a lot of respect for guys who worked with their hands. Or they thought I wanted to go to trade school because it would be easier. They were wrong. I mean I wasn’t an Einstein, but I didn’t have to add on my fingers.

“Come on, Jake. Out of all the crap that has happened lately you don’t get to be pissy with me about a statement you took the wrong way.”

Where did she get off talking to me like that? “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

Meena pressed her lips together in a thin line and backed up a step. “You’re right. I don’t.” She turned and headed for the door.

Shit. “Meena, wait.” I jogged a few steps to catch up with her and block her path. “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t say anything, but the look in her eyes told me she was waiting for more. I reached for her hand. “Let’s go grab a root beer and look at some books.”

I tugged on her hand. At first she resisted, but then she came with me. Once we were alone in the room where my aunt kept her books, Meena’s expression was way too serious.

“Jake, what you said back there is true. I don’t know you that well. You don’t have to stay here. You can get away from demons and Bane and all the craziness of this town if you want to, and maybe you should.”

She’d forgotten one major thing. I pointed at my head. “Hello…spiritual hitchhiker on board. I’m pretty sure Crossroads is the only place I can find an answer about how to relocate Vi.”

Meena looked at her shoes as she spoke. “If you didn’t have your new friend, would you jet out of here as fast as you could?”

“No.” I pulled her closer. “This town might be infested with demons.” I leaned down and brushed my lips across hers. “But it has its perks.” And then I kissed her for real. She could have pushed me away and griped about what I said earlier, but she didn’t. Instead she leaned in, wrapping her arms around my neck.

This. This is what I needed to get my mind off the bizarre turn my life had taken. Meena was soft and her skin felt smooth and warm under my hands.

Someone cleared their throat and Meena froze. Damn it. I turned to see my aunt in the doorway.

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think to knock. It’s been a while since there’s been anything romantic going on in this house.”

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more awkward.

“I’m going to grab some wine.” She headed for the bar and grabbed a green glass bottle from the wine fridge. “Everyone’s picked up their orders, so I’m closing up shop to do some reading. I’ll be upstairs if you need anything.”

After she left, Meena headed over to the bar and grabbed two bottles of root beer from the refrigerator. “How was your aunt not embarrassed?” She handed one to me and then went to sit on the couch.

“I don’t know.” I twisted the cap off my bottle and took a drink before joining her.

“Maybe we should do some research?” she said like she wasn’t sure.

I wanted to shut my brain off for a while and I needed to reassure Meena I wasn’t going anywhere. “I have a better idea.” I leaned in and she met me halfway.

“You could do better than her,” Vi’s voice stated in my head. I tried to ignore her but somehow Meena knew.

“Did Vi say something?”

“Nothing important,” I said.

Meena raised her eyebrows at me, like she expected me to confess. Nope. “We’re in a no-talking zone.”

“Really?” she said. “I had no idea.”

“I don’t make the rules,” I said. “I just follow them.” Pulling her close, I kissed the spot right below her ear. Her breath caught and then she sighed.

“Words bad,” she agreed.

I felt a spike of irritation from Vi, but she didn’t interrupt us again.