Ghost Guard (23 page)

MORRIS INHALED DEEPLY. No time for nerves. He saw Ruby and his anxieties got the better of him.

“
Don’t look at me like that. It’s not my fault Rev ran away.”

Ruby
generated a series of low clicks, mixed with harsh chatter, telling Morris he was the one to blame, that Rev thought his new version of the ghost gun was too dangerous. And so did she.

“But I thought you were okay with it,” Morris raised his palms. “
You wait until now to tell me you’re not happy?”

She squeaked and clicked furiously
. She wasn’t happy at all, and demanded to know why Morris would create a device so harmful to ghosts.

“But it’s not—” he made the mistake of nudging the ghost gun barrel just an inch toward Ruby
. She lost control, screeching to get it away. He lowered it to the side of his seat and rolled up the window, hoping nobody in the street had just heard that.

“Okay, okay
. There,” he said, but she still wasn’t satisfied. She knew full well what those things could do.

“Ruby, I mean it!” she paid attention that time,
albeit suspiciously. “It’s not just a ghost gun. It has…special attributes. I had to do this. There’s nothing in my arsenal that will even come close to doing what this baby can do. Now, I’m not wasting any more time arguing with you. We’re helping Abby and Brutus and—” his lungs constricted at a shockingly cold breeze that grasped his hand, the one resting over his newest invention, the modified ghost gun. Ruby wanted to kick herself for not saying something earlier. She’d felt it, but her revulsion to the gun had robbed her focus. Outside the driver door, standing bigger than life, was Aros. He peered through the windshield, a grin of smug and unnatural malignancy painted on his picture-perfect face.

Morris
was paralyzed. Before he got the chance to use the gun, Aros seized him, preventing even the slightest movement.

“Go!” Morris ordered.
“Ruby! Get out of here!”

Reluctantly she submitted to his command, leaving him in the Phantom. She didn’t want to go. Morris’s friendship went beyond just
a teammate. She shared a bond with him, with all of them, and that bond transcended the boundaries between the dead and living. She would never be able to die with herself if she didn’t try to do something to help him. Now she felt like she was on her own. It was up to her to save her friends.

IF REV HAD EVER laid eyes on a residence that screamed cold, hard cash, it was the palatial estate sprawling before him. The Mediterranean style palazzo sparkled like a jewel in the heart of Portland’s historic Irvington District. A traditional English garden abounded with trimmed topiary of the highest precision, framing a grand columned portico with glittering chandeliers and gilt-gold ceilings. That was just on the outside. Inside, what Rev didn’t see, was even more opulent. Two Grand Ballrooms. Extensive collections of European and continental porcelains adorned the halls, and 19th Century impressionist oil paintings adorned the walls. Rev would have known this was the place even without Ruby’s extensive spiritual reconnaissance. The perfect dwelling for an immortal with such a lavish taste as Elyxa’s to hide out and wait…for him.

He checked the road for any signs of the Phantom. Morris’s resourcefulness knew no bounds, and Rev wouldn’t have been surprised if he had a tracking device planted on him somewhere.
Another of the many detriments of being alive again. He could be tracked. He also had to move in linear style. Point A to point B. When he was a ghost, he took melting into the atmosphere and traveling effortlessly for granted. If he was still a spirit, he wouldn’t have bothered with doors or stairs or even open windows. He would have squeezed in through the very spaces between the atoms and wafted throughout the mansion, drifting from room to room until he found Abby and Brutus.

But, as a physical mortal, he was reduced to climbing the
wrought iron security gate, all ten feet of it, and throwing himself onto the mansion grounds. The sound of dogs amplified his innate desire to dash to the property line and leap back over the fence. Instead he decided to be bold, and sprinted through the front yard garden, heading for the veranda.

The dogs
were near. He had to be quick…and loud.

“You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips,”
he sang at the top of his lungs. It wasn’t a song from his day, but felt it appropriate for the circumstances.
“And there’s no tenderness anymore in your fingertips.”

The silky window treatment rippled, and from the
master bedroom, through a set of double doors, strode Elyxa, her face surprisingly smooth and scar-free. Astonished at what she beheld, she watched…and listened.

“You’re trying hard not to show it, baby…but baby…baby I know it…”

Rev continued to sing, and Elyxa’s surprise turned to anger. But, as he kept it up, she softened, slowly, reluctantly.

“You lost that
lovin’ feelin’…whoa that lovin feelin…you lost that loving feelin, now it’s gone, gone, gone, whoa-oh-oh-oh…”

The dogs
got close. Rev smelled their drool. Four Dobermans. And they weren’t happy. Inches before the canines sank their greedy, frothing fangs into his all-too-tender flesh, Elyxa shrieked a command, overpowering every sound, and forcing them to obey by sitting, instantly, all whines and lapping tongues, slurping up their own froth.

Rev was breathless, heart thumping in his ears. He did
his best not to let it show on the outside. Cool and calm as a cucumber on the shady side of the garden.

“Nice trick,” he flashed a toothy grin. “But can they fetch the newspaper without
drooling off the ink? I’m not seein’ that.”

“What tricks have you brought with you?”
Elyxa wasn’t buying Rev’s detached attitude. “What’s up your sleeve? Where are your friends?”

She knew Rev wasn’t stupid enough to just waltz right in like this. Another shoe was about to drop. Still, she
was
happy to see him, an emotion she hadn’t felt in so, so long.

“No friends. No tricks,” he held out his hands,
then started singing again.

“You lost your tenderness and my heart’s—”

“Cease!”

He quit instantly, dropping his hands and slapping his thighs.

“Sheesh! Everybody’s a critic,” he complained. Then, at her silent gesture, a wisp of supernatural smoke manifested in front of him, then another, both large and wiry and whiter than white. When they materialized into fully formed physical beings, Rev was confronted by the gangliest, ugliest fellas he’d ever laid eyes on. Then he remembered…he’d seen them before.

“Oh, look, Renault!
Fresh meat!”

“Let me
have him!”

They began playing tug-o-war with his
wrists, trying to snap him in half.

“Hey!”
Rev complained even louder. “If you hated the performance that bad you could have just said so!”

In no mood for
levity, Elyxa considered ordering her ghost slaves to finish him right then and there. She recreated him to be hers, forever, which was why she couldn’t do it.

“Bring him in.”

The two lanky specters shared a quick smirk and a nod, then teamed up to twist Rev’s elbows. The instant explosion of pain made Rev wince, but he didn’t let it out.

“Don’t hurt him!” she shouted with her back turned
.

“Aw!”
the large, spectral thugs took turns moaning in disgust. They refused to relinquish their pressure-hold on Rev’s arms.

“I mean it!”
Elyxa shot them each a look and they let go. Rev smiled and they prodded him into the house.

NINE
TEEN

“IF I’D KNOWN this was going to be a party, I would’ve worn something more appropriate,” Rev chuckled. The ghost thugs had led him into the mansion’s sprawling recreation room. Two pool tables, a fully stocked bar, and a bearskin rug before a roaring fireplace. Cozy, and at the same time spacious. The perfect place for a murder or two. Elyxa, in a painted-on miniskirt that cuddled her every curve, raised a glass of champagne. One of the spindly specters handed Rev a glass. He took the offering and downed a swallow. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a quick movement and checked to see Abby, bound and gagged, sitting in a tasteful chair.

“Abby. Swell
to see you. And look, all tied up,” he raised an eyebrow at Elyxa. “Just what kind of kinky stuff do you have in mind?”

“Always such
flippancy,” Elyxa said. “Always such sarcasm. Even in the face of the imminent death of your beloved Abby.”

“Abby? Beloved?” Rev folded his arms over his chest. “I like her, sure, but beloved? I don’t—”

“QUIET!” Elyxa put an end to his clowning. “You cannot deny what I see clearly in your heart!” she glanced at each of them. “Both of you!”

Rev
focused on Abby and their eyes met. It was brief, and then they glanced away quickly, but, in that moment, they each felt a certain sense of surrender from the other. And a certain sense of desperation.

“You see?” said
Elyxa. “You cannot deny. But, in the impossibly slim chance I may be wrong about you, Rev,” she lifted an ornate container from the fireplace and stared Rev in the eyes. He had no way to hide his alarm, though he tried. Judging by the swirling gray turbulence inside the jar, he knew it was Brutus, and it put a lump in his throat when he guessed what Elyxa wanted him to do.

“That’s right,” she read his thoughts
plainly. “I want
you
to destroy him.”

Abby jerked and kicked in her fetters. She couldn’t watch this. No matter how hard she struggled, though, she had no way to
free her arms or legs. No power to intervene.

“You don’t have to do all this,” Rev played it cool. “I came here to give myself to you…freely.”

“You don’t mean that,” Elyxa said. “What kind of fool do you take me for? You’ve got something planned, I’m certain of it.”

He raised his right palm.

“No tricks. Promise. I swear I’ll stay with you. All I ask in return is that you let my friends go,” he slipped his sights over to Abby. Breathing heavily, she told him with her scrunched eyebrows she didn’t need his help. He flashed a gesture with his brow himself, telling her yes she did. Elyxa saw the whole exchange, and her suspicions were confirmed.

“You can’t hide your feelings from me,” she scowled. “Neither of you can. I know what you want. It’s the same thing you’ve always wanted,” a single tear
adorned her eye. “You want to destroy me.”

“We don’t want to destroy you,” Rev said. “We just want you to quit
chasing and extinguishing ghosts. Can you do that? Can you just lay off with the ghost hunting?”

She rushed at him with speed that rivaled anything he’d ever seen. In one, fleeting half second, she had him, her fingers rigid like steel. Abby fell silent and still. Rev wanted to recoil, but
Elyxa had him immobilized.

“I could. I could give up the hunt.
If you loved me. Can you do that? Can you love me forever?”

“I-I could, if—”

“No you can’t!” she released him and he took in a welcome lungful of air. “Because of her!” she pointed sharply at Abby, whose sideways grimace told everyone in the room how absurd of a proposition she thought that was. “Don’t try to refute it!”

Then Elyxa cocked her head just as a
low rumble shook the floor. The patio door opened and Aros entered the room in no rush whatsoever. He had Morris by the scruff of his neck.

“
Ah, Aros,” Elyxa praised her servant. “You have a gift for me I see. Good work. Now we have but one member of that bothersome Ghost Guard left to contend with,” she eyed the ceiling, the corners, the places where shadow played with light. “And all we have to do is wait for that disfigured runt to make her appearance.”

Aros
had in his hands what looked to Rev like a familiar device. Instantly he cringed at the sight of it.

“Why don’t you shoot her with this?”
Aros held up the implement for Elyxa to inspect.

“What
is that?” she squinted at him. In an instant she read his thoughts. “A ghost gun?”

“Yes,”
Aros’s smile couldn’t have been bigger. “A ghost gun!”

“What do I need with a ghost gun?” she was not amused.

“Think of it as a tool, Elyxa. With this, we can eradicate souls much more efficiently. Think of the damage we can inflict on the spirit world. We’ll be like gods!”

“I already
am
a god. I don’t need such an apparatus to destroy souls,” her keen sights drifted to the ceiling. “Isn’t that right, Ruby!”

Ruby froze in midflight, knowing she’d be
en spotted. She wanted to slap herself for trying this. It was a stupid idea infiltrating the mansion on her own. But she was the only one left, and she had to help her friends. On the verge of capture, escape was the one thought that occupied her mind. So she darted to the nearest way out, only she came too close to the baby grand piano. When it lurched, scraping the marble floor, Elyxa shouted.

“There she is!” she commanded Ogilvy and Renault. “Get her!”

“Yes, mistress! We’ll get her! We’ll get her!”

The
two foul spirits roared into a lively chase, taking turns snatching at Ruby’s curled, stubby legs. She squawked when Ogilvy got hold of her. Then she wriggled away, avoiding capture. Barely.

Rev cringed and cursed
at his inability to help. He fixed his vision on the tiny jar, way too small of a container for a gargantuan of a ghost like Brutus. Without letting the thought enter his mind, he lunged for it. A sudden and crushing blow sent him sideways. His elbow burst with pain and he saw stars. He also saw Aros standing over him smugly. Then the loudest, shrillest screech rattled his brains. It was Elyxa, and she’d come unhinged.

“Don’t
TOUCH!
” her voice roared like thunder. The gruesome ghost twins huddled together, forsaking their malicious pursuit and allowing Ruby her escape. She took full advantage, passing through the wall and then into the upper floor. Elyxa didn’t care about her anymore. She only saw what Aros had done, and it enraged her. “He’s mine, Aros! You hear me? Mine!”

“You’re going to let him live!”
Aros issued a bold indictment. “What’s gotten into you, Elyxa? You’ve changed. This human has made you weak. I’ve had enough of this! He’s an abomination of nature!”

“No more of an abomination tha
n you and I,” she declared. “Maybe
we
should die.”

“The
Elyxa I know would never say that! Never! You betray your kind by caring for this…this disgrace,” he reached inside his waistcoat for his dagger. Its handle glimmered with gems. Its golden blade twinkled in the soft light. Elyxa knew what he had in his hand wasn’t dangerous to her in the slightest, though it could be quite destructive to Rev, and that got her attention.

“What is this?” her emotionless tone unnerved
Aros. Even faced with Rev’s death, she tried to rob him of his glory. “Are you threatening me?”

“This is the only thing in this universe that will hurt you,” he took aim, preparing to thr
ust the knife into Rev’s chest. “To hurt someone you love.”

“Foolish
Aros,” with a flick of her wrist, she forced the two ghost slaves to attack their former master. Aros avoided capture—momentarily. Renault he outsmarted easily. Ogilvy he sidestepped, twisted, and ducked so fast he became a colorful shadow to everyone watching. Elyxa knew she had to play her ace, the newest member of her ghoulish crew. She twisted the cask open, and a gray soup rose into the air, heavy and dense like burning metal and soot and coal mixed together, spreading so large it threatened to overtake the entire room. Plume upon plume of puffy darkness, expanding in all directions, bringing with it dimly terrible dread and doom.

“Brutus!” Rev shouted
happily. Morris didn’t share the same optimism. Something about that cloudy mess. Too angry, too determined, even for Brutus.

Ruby used the distraction, and, without anyone knowing, slipped through the air
, materializing near Abby. As Brutus emerged from the tiny jar, another sort of escape took place—Abby, from the tight, bruising cords around her ankles and wrists. She and Ruby shared a quiet moment of happy reunion, all while keeping their real focus on Aros and Elyxa, and now Brutus, who looked angrier than ever.

Aros
glared at the giant ghost.

“You’ll have to do better than—” he choked up, unable to get out the last words. An iron fist squeezed his windpipe.

“I can kill you in many ways,” Elyxa remained consistently smooth and calm. “You’re not like me, Aros. There are several types of immortals. It’s such an ambiguous word. You just don’t understand,” she raised her hand and motioned to Brutus. Then she snapped her fingers and the burly ghost cinched his fists, cutting off Aros’s airway completely.

Aros thrashed and fought against Brutus, though his brave efforts were ultimately in vain. Brutus possessed a power beyond any Aros could have
ever dreamt of for himself. A power endowed unto Brutus directly from Elyxa. That didn’t stop Aros from fighting. Almost two thousand years he’d lived, hunting and wreaking havoc on souls. He’d come across countless spirits, and never met one he couldn’t conquer. That’s what made his sudden circumstance so utterly baffling, almost to the point of absurdity.
A measly ghost can do this to me? Me? Aros the invincible!

Yet, in the end, Aros proved less than invincible. Brutus
finished him off by crushing his throat, severing his spinal cord, snapping off his skull, and ending his immortal life.