7. Cade

7

CADE

T he witch cottage had turned out to be the perfect place. The moment I stepped inside the house I knew I would be placing an offer to purchase. But I couldn't. Not yet. Uncle Gally still needed to see it and acknowledge its value. But I was certain he would see fit to release some of my mother's trust fund to me for this adventure. Just to think — no more ghosts. Or at least, no haints within the structure where I laid my head down at night. I might actually get a full night's rest. The possibility of owning a refuge free from spectres was all too tempting to not act immediately. I mean, not only had the McCauley place been modernized and updated, the previous owners had kept all of the outside charm and they had done all the work to completely ward against the supernatural on the inside. It also had me thinking I'd be much closer to Jay. I liked the thought of being able to spend more time with him. He was easy to be around.

And spending more time with Jay was a plan I could get into. I hoped he'd feel the same way, but I suspected he already did.

I couldn't help but think about getting into his pants. I was certain his real estate would be as delectable as the rest of him.

Jay was crazy handsome. Sure, I could have got hung up on his body, which he obviously spent time on and took care of, but I found myself being more attracted to how he treated me. He didn't make fun of or diminish my family gift. Even after stating he was a non-believer, he still respected me for what I obviously went through. He seemed kind, caring, and he had a sense of humour.

Granted, all of it could have been for show. Who knows what kind of mask he wore when he took clients around. But I didn't get the sense he was being disingenuous.

I glanced across the car to steal a look. Another quick snapshot of Jay to file away into my memory.

He caught me looking.

He returned to driving, but he wore a slap-happy grin on his face.

"So, the last place I'm going to take you to is a pocket listing."

"What's that?"

"Pocket listing?" Jay asked and then I nodded. "Ah, I know the family personally. They have already moved out of the house and into their newly built, custom-designed home. They didn't need the funds from the sale of the house we're going to, but no one else even knows this house is on the market…yet. That will change in the next week as soon as Pam publishes the page to the MLS. If you like this house, this is the perfect time to snatch it up as there will be no competition."

"Do houses in town regularly have multiple offers?"

"No, not always. But the good buys typically will."

"What about the witch cottage? Any interest in that from others?" I began to worry I might miss out on that house. I'd never been anywhere so sterile and devoid of intruders.

"Ah, that's different. Homes that are located outside of the city can often be a tougher sell. That one has been on the market for a while. If you're interested in it, you can take your time to think about whether or not to place an offer, and for how much. If another party comes after the house, I'll let you know."

"Thanks." I smiled at Jay. I got the feeling he wanted to take care of me. I was hoping he'd attend to several other needs I had.

"Here we are." Jay said as the car came to a stop. "Hmph. That's odd."

"What's the matter?"

"Well, that's Pam's car and the lights are only turned on in the front part of the house. The rest is dark. I told Pam to turn on all the lights. Standard procedure. And it looks like the door is ajar. Come on." Jay unbuckled his seat belt and practically leapt out of the car.

I frantically scurried to keep up with him.

The wind whipped the snow around us, and within such a short period of time, drifts had accumulated that were now well above my ankles.

As we stood on the house's front stoop, Jay's suspicion had proven true. The door had been left open and snow had blown into the foyer. As we stepped over the mounds of melting white, I tried in vain to push mother nature's wintery presence back out onto the front porch with my running shoe.

That effort only made my feet wetter and colder than they already were.

"Pam!" Jay called out. He turned his head toward me. "This is so weird. Something is wrong. Pam, are you still here?"

Jay dug in his coat and pulled out his phone. He grimaced as his finger scrolled through various apps.

"Nothing. Dammit."

A crash of shattering glass sounded from the next room. Glass clinked and tinkled.

We rushed into what was the living room, Jay flipping on the light as we entered.

Pam was facing the fireplace, her fist covered in blood with shards of glass sticking out of it. The mirror above the mantel still swung, as shards continued to fall out from the frame and shatter on the tile surround on the fireplace.

"Pam, what the hell?"

She didn't move or turn to face us.

"It's not here," she said in a hushed whisper.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's not here!" she shouted.

Jay started to move toward her, but the moment he put one foot closer to Pam every hair on my body rose.

The room's temperature plummeted.

I grabbed Jay's shoulder and pulled him back.

He spun around clearly angry at me for what I'd just done.

"I'm sorry." I pulled my hand back to myself. "That's not Pam."

"What are you talking about?" Jay's brows furrowed.

"Look." I puffed out a breath of air as it clouded and billowed out from my mouth like we were still outside.

"Yeah, it's cold in here, she left the door open!"

"It's not here!" Pam screamed.

"Oh shit," I said, but this time I grabbed Jay, held him tight to me, but spun him around in hopes he saw what I was seeing.

I'd never met Pam, but I was willing to bet her face didn't normally look as if it was half rotted.

"Jesus Christ!" Jay's entire body tensed. "What the ever-loving fuck?"

"Listen to me very carefully," I whispered into Jay's ear. "I don't think whatever has possessed Pam knows we are here. It's clearly focused on something else right now. We are going to quietly back out of this room and exit?—"

A sickening rip tore through the room. Pam's head fell back as ghostly fingers pushed their way out of her exposed throat. Drool slithered out from her mouth, which hung open in a most unnatural angle.

It was at that moment I spied the pentacle hanging around Pam's neck.

"Jay, take a step backward with me." We moved silently a step away. "That's good, now tell me," I continued to whisper, "was Pam into the occult?"

Jay nodded.

We took one more step away from the possessed woman.

"Fuck. Okay. Not good." Then we took another step. We were getting close to the front door, when the ghostly fingers coming out of Pam's neck clenched down and started pulling apart.

Pam's throat split open.

Blood poured out from the wound.

"Pam!" Jay screamed as he reached toward the woman.

Pam's head swivelled up, turning slightly to focus in on our location.

"Shit." I took several steps back, hauling Jay with me.

Pam blinked out of existence.

"How the hell…" Jay stuttered.

A chill ran down my spine.

My breath fogged out in front of me.

I heard a gurgling from behind us.

As I spun us around, we faced the front door, our eyes meeting Pam's death glare.

Congealed blood oozed out of her gaping mouth, ran over her chin, and splattered onto the tile in the front entrance.

A harsh voice snarled out from within Pam, "It's not here!" The spirit had gone from frustrated and screaming to angry and vengeful.

We were in a world of trouble.

Pam's eyes milked over.

The same ripping sound we had heard before started again, but this time the flesh on Pam's forehead tore open. We both watched in horror as Pam's face split apart.

The spirit that had possessed her pushed its head out through the gaping wound. The second face buried within Pam appeared to be of a woman, but it was hard to tell as the ghost chose a decomposing vestige.

Its lips pulled apart, displaying ragged and broken teeth, mimicking fangs, as the entity within lurched to pull itself out of Pam.

As the apparition left the body, Pam crumpled to the floor.

The lights flickered until they went out completely, and the ghost vanished.

The room lay silent.

Blood pooled out from Pam's face, staining the carpet in the entryway.

"It's gone. For now. But it will be back. We should take this opportunity to leave." I suggested.

"We need to call the cops. We can't just leave her like this. Maybe she's not dead."

"Trust me, Jay, she's dead." I hugged him close.

Jay slumped into me and then let out a strangled sob. Wrapping my other arm around him, I held him close to me as the stress and fright of the last five minutes overwhelmed him.

"My God, how do you do this?"

"In all fairness, this is new. I've seen possession before but nothing on this level. The ghosts I've dealt with had never been violent, abusive, or murderous until the last couple of weeks."

"I need to go." Jay said, then pulled himself away from me. Then he turned. "Please stay with me. I don't think I could do this again, and certainly not alone."

"I'm not going anywhere. Let's go sit in your car."

Once we got situated, a safe distance away from the house, Jay started the car, turning the vents to blast the hottest air it could muster, and turned to me with glassy eyes.

"We need to call the police."

"That would be a good idea. But I think we need to edit the story a little. No cop is going to believe that a ghost ripped apart Pam's face."

Jay flinched.

"Sorry. But?—"

"No, no, you're right. So, what do we do?" Jay asked.

"I think we should simply state that we found Pam, and then immediately came back to the car and called the police. We've been with each other all day, so both of us will be quickly eliminated as suspects."

Jay nodded, then pulled out his cell and tapped out a number.

It wasn't long until a patrol car showed up with its lights flashing.

"Jesus, Jay, I've never seen anything like this," Officer Hycha said.

"Me neither. It's entirely too unsettling." Jay replied, not willing or able to look the cop in the eyes. But it appeared as if the policeman took this as a sign of distress and sadness, not the fact Jay was bold-face lying to him.

The cop placed a hand on Jay's shoulder. "It's okay, man. We got this. I've called for an ambulance and we'll take it from here. You and your client should probably get to your respective destinations. This storm is supposed to do nothing but get worse. We're in for a pile of snow. Might even last a couple of days."

"Great." Jay shivered.

"I'll make sure he gets home. Thank you, officer," I said, then steered Jay toward his car. "Do you want me to drive?" I asked.

"No, I'm okay. I think…" Jay climbed into the driver's seat, then sat there staring off into the night's blackness, which now was speckled with a flurry of white. The wind had stepped up a notch. "I could never handle the things you must have seen. I would be a mess."

"Like I said, it's only very recently they've all become angry. Generally, the dead are rather quiet." I lied a little to calm Jay down. Sometimes ghosts were mean-spirited. That only happened every now and then, until now.

"And fuck." Jay's head slumped forward.

"What?" I asked, concerned but not sure what had made him swear — something he hadn't done all day.

"I'm going to guess Pam didn't get you a hotel booked. Let me make a few calls." We sat in the car for a few minutes longer while Jay phoned around to the handful of hotels and motels in the city, but because of the blizzard, every single one of them was full. Jay glanced at me with worry plastered on his face as he clicked the End Call button. "There's nothing available. I can't have you driving home in this, and you heard Officer Hycha. If this storm is going to get worse, you absolutely can't be on the highway. Especially at night.

"I can offer up my place, if that's not too weird or uncomfortable?" Jay looked exhausted, a severe departure from his upbeat enthusiasm he'd shown all day.

"As long as you don't mind a stranger staying in your house, your offer is very generous. Thank you." My emotions were being torn into two directions.

The opportunity to stay with Jay and get to know him a little more beyond the current business arrangement was enticing, and of course, sleeping in the same house as him…well, that could lead to possibilities. But I also knew he had a kid, and having a stranger sleep over— "Won't that cause some questions with your little one?"

"Who, Sam? No. Not at all. If anything, it's a good example that we look after people in need. Right? And you're in need, so we help out." Jay threw me a half-hearted smile.

"Oh, I have needs," I mumbled.

Jay bit the inside of his lips together. I knew he had heard me, which I wasn't unhappy about.

"Let's see if we can pick up some dinner somewhere, and then we'll head to my place. After today, I don't have the energy for anything other than to eat, drink, and sleep…maybe a really hot bath." Jay's gaze darted over in my direction. "Sam's bedtime is usually around nine, and if the storm is really gonna be as bad as they say, then he'll have a snow day for school tomorrow. You'll probably get to spend a lot of time with him."

"That sounds like fun. I'm sure being your kid, he's an amazing little guy."

Jay stared at me, then smiled. "Be prepared for a lot of questions though. Sam is curious, and I encourage that. He also likes video games. I hope you're into magic and dragons. He loves that stuff, and he'll ask you to play."

"Sounds perfect." I smiled back. "Tell me, does Sam's dad play games too?"

"Only with good boys." Jay winked.

He then put the car into drive as we carefully wound our way through Camrose looking for anything open that would feed three guys.