Love Your Entity (17 page)

“Who was that bearded lady?” Ruby demanded. “And what was she doing coming into my house?”

Sierra sensed the dark malevolence of Hal’s spirit. An instant later she smelled cigar smoke.

“Great-great-uncle Hal, is that you?” Mary asked.

His darkness faded as he looked at his descendant.
Supposed
descendant. For all Sierra knew, Mary could be lying through her teeth. But she could see Hal and not Ruby, so that had to mean something. Mary probably was related to the gangster ghost.

“How can I help you?” Mary said.

“Get rid of her.” Hal pointed to Sierra.

“He’s not happy that you’re in his house,” Mary said.

“No shit,” Sierra muttered.

“Why haven’t you crossed over?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, why haven’t you?” Sierra said.

Mary looked at Sierra. “So you sense him too?”

Sierra just shrugged.

“He says he’s protecting the treasure,” Mary stated.

“He does?” Sierra said. She hadn’t heard Hal say that.

“Maybe we can help you with the treasure,” Mary suggested.

That’s all it took for Hal’s rage to return. He flipped the table over and sent the lit candles flying.

Chapter Fourteen

“Shit!” Sierra quickly stood as one of the lit candles almost landed in her lap.

“Shit!” Bob yelped as one of the candles
did
land on his lap and his wife slapped his crotch to douse the flames.

“That was illuminating,” Ronan said.

“This séance is over,” Sierra said.

“The séance may be over but not the interview,” Bob said.

“You only wanted to interview me to get into this house. It was just an excuse.”

“I was just trying to get information about my great-great-uncle Hal’s life,” Mary said.

“Information about his treasure, you mean. Do you even know what it’s supposed to be?”

“Not the specifics, no. But family legend has it that it is worth a great deal of money.”

Legends occasionally turned out to be true. Like legends about ghosts and vampires. “Did you really think that you could just stroll in here and make contact with your ancestor’s spirit and get a bunch of loot?” Sierra said.

“Of course not,” Mary said.

“I thought it was worth a try,” Bob admitted.

“So what was your plan? To have Hal tell you where it is and then break into my house later?”

“No,” Mary vehemently denied. “We were going to share it with you.”

“Share what?”

“The treasure.”

“Which consists of what?”

“Valuables. Lots of valuables.”

“I think it’s best if you leave now,” Sierra said.

“You don’t want me writing a bad story about you, do you?” Bob said.

“I don’t think your employer would appreciate you threatening to trash me in your article.”

“It would be your word against mine,” he said.

“No it wouldn’t,” Ronan said in a deadly voice.

Uh-oh. Do not piss off the vampire. She put her hand on Ronan’s arm in an attempt to restrain him. Right, like she’d have the strength to hold him back if he went full vamp on them. And then there was the fact that whenever she touched him, she wanted him—even more than she craved Godiva dark chocolate truffles when she was writing the end of a book on deadline and that was saying a lot.

Instead of flashing those impressive fangs of his, Ronan looked deeply into Bob’s eyes. “Sit down.”

He did.

Then Ronan gazed into Mary’s eyes. “Sit.”

She did.

“Tell me everything you know about this treasure.”

Sierra looked around, expecting Hal to throw something at them like furniture or something. But the ghost must have used up his energy for the time being.

“There might be a map,” Mary said. “We don’t know where. My grandmother remembered stories about a map. Her sister didn’t.”

“Is there a key?” Ronan asked.

“To the map?”

“To the treasure,” Ronan said.

Mary shook her head. “I don’t know anything about a key. Maybe the map leads you to a key and the key unlocks the treasure box? I don’t know.”

“The treasure is in a box? Is it money?” Ronan demanded. “Gems? Gold bars?”

“I don’t know,” Mary said in a monotone.

Ronan returned his attention to Bob. “You will write a glowing story for your paper about S. J. Brennan and her books. You will not return to her house or bother her again. You will no longer believe Hal’s treasure is real.”

Bob nodded as if in a trance.

So this was compulsion. Sierra could see how that ability would come in handy.

“Hal’s treasure is not real. You will not return to Sierra’s house or bother her,” Ronan told Mary. “Now you and Bob will leave.”

Sierra didn’t say a word until they were gone. The way her luck had been going lately she might just somehow knock them out of their vampire trance or something if she spoke up.

But the minute the door closed after them, she said, “Wow, that really works. I mean, I’ve seen it on TV, but never for real. When will it wear off?”

“It doesn’t.”

“Not ever?”

“They’re human. They don’t have forever.”

“They … um … they really were human, right? I mean, you can tell if they weren’t? If they were vampires, I mean.”

“I can tell, yes. They were human. Compulsion wouldn’t have worked on them otherwise.”

A knock at the front door made Sierra jump.

“Relax,” Ronan said. “They aren’t coming back.” He opened the door. “It’s Bruce.”

“I saw the reporters leave,” Bruce said. “How did the photo shoot go?” He nodded his approval of her outfit. “I told you that black would look good on you with your coloring. Of course, the fashion pundits are saying that this season is all about color. Red and orange are supposed to be hot, although not necessarily worn together.”

“I think your bearded lady came to the séance today,” Sierra said.

“Mother was here?” Bruce looked around eagerly. “Is she here now?”

“No.”

“I didn’t know you were going to hold a séance today,” Bruce said in a hurt voice.

“I didn’t know either. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing,” Sierra explained.

He looked at the chairs and the candles. “It looks like you still have everything set up. We could reconnect with Mother.”

“Not right now. I’m too drained,” Sierra said. “Maybe later.”

“Sure.” He sighed and gave her a sad puppy-dog look. “I understand.”

She felt guilty and might have given in had Ronan not hustled Bruce out.

“So now we know why Hal is eager to get rid of me and why he’s hung around for so long,” Sierra said when Ronan returned to the living room.

“It could just be an urban legend like the treasure in Al Capone’s safe.”

“Maybe it’s tied to your story,” Sierra suggested.

He shook his head.

“How can you be sure?”

“I can’t,” he admitted.

Personally she found it hard to believe that there were two supposed treasures in this house. Although all Ronan had said about his missing item was that it was a key. But it could be a key to a hidden safe holding a treasure. Hal’s treasure.

Consisting of what? She doubted the angry ghost would reveal any details about his treasure, like what it consisted of. Cash? Gold bars? Those would be worth a nice sum given the way the price of gold had skyrocketed in the past decade.

But gold bars were heavy. Okay, maybe gold coins. Oh wait, hadn’t there been a story about a rare Liberty silver-dollar coin worth three million dollars? Maybe the treasure consisted of rare coins?

Her head was spinning with all the possibilities. How could she find out more? Google, here she came.

Too bad that Mary didn’t have more information on what the family legend was about the missing treasure. Maybe Ruby knew something.

“Did you know that Hal had a treasure?” Sierra asked her once the two of them were alone in Sierra’s bedroom.

Ruby shook her head. “How was I supposed to know? He doesn’t confide in me. That woman could have been lying about being related to him. Maybe she made the whole thing up.”

“It would explain why he stays here and why he is so adamant about getting rid of everyone.”

“You can’t get sidetracked by Hal. Just get rid of him, that’s all I asked.”

“It’s not that easy,” Sierra said.

“Hal has kicked your vampire’s butt,” Ruby said.

“He has not!”

Ruby just smirked.

“How did you know Ronan’s sister’s name?” Sierra demanded.

“He must have mentioned her at one time.”

“Do you know her?”

“Not unless she worked here. Hah!” Ruby pointed her finger in Sierra’s face. “I saw that look. A nice girl would never work in a brothel, huh?”

“I never said that.” She had thought it a couple of times, though.

“The look on your face said it all.”

“Adele died in 1919.”

“They had brothels back then.”

Sierra ignored that comment. “Did she ever haunt this house?”

“How should I know? I never believed in ghosts until I became one. I still find it hard to understand sometimes,” Ruby admitted.

“Are you able to reach other spirits outside of this house?”

“No. Are you?” Ruby countered.

“Apparently so. That’s how Mother showed up.”

“You invited her in. Without asking my permission, by the way.”

“I was trying to help Ronan,” Sierra said.

“Help me first. Get rid of Hal first. Then I will help you find Ronan’s sister. If you take Hal’s treasure from him, then he has no reason to stay.”

“Can he hear us talking like this?” Sierra asked.

“I’m not sensing him right now. Are you?”

Sierra shook her head. “I need more information. I don’t even know what I’m looking for.”

She spent the next few hours on the Internet, researching Hal, his affiliation with the Chicago Mob, and this house. Doing so prevented her from thinking about the vampire bond she shared with Ronan. His wound had healed with supernatural speed. Hers hadn’t. Staring down at the cut on her arm, she wondered how such a small thing as a drop of her blood could cause such a change in her circumstances.

Right. Like the fact that Ronan was a vampire hadn’t been the biggest change of all.

All those around her acted as if it was no big deal to be a vampire. Maybe it wasn’t if you’d been one for decades and decades.

She tried to focus on getting some pages written on her book.

Nicki sensed someone was following her. Shit. She didn’t need this. She’d already had a hell of a day going to the hospital to see Bernie’s wife, who was still in intensive care and sedated.

Nicki had seen someone suspicious loitering around the waiting room. He had a shaved head with swastikas on it. She asked the attendant, who admitted that she didn’t know who he was and that he’d only asked about Bernie’s wife but was not listed as family. The young man had run out before Nicki could catch him.

She was now on a Chicago street in a neighborhood known for trouble. She’d gotten a tip that her runaway young man was from this area. Bending down, she reached for the knife in her boot. Turning, she confronted him.

“You brought a knife to a gunfight,” he mocked her.

“Yeah, I did,” she drawled before shooting him in the kneecap.

Sierra paused. Maybe Nicki shouldn’t shoot the guy before she even knew who he was. She hit the delete button and tried again.

“Yeah, I did,” she drawled. “What’s your connection to Bernie and his wife?”

Sierra paused again. She really should come up with a name for poor Bernie’s wife but she had yet to find one that really fit. Okay, she could fill that in later. Keep writing.

Skinhead said, “My name is xxx.”

Sierra couldn’t think of Skinhead’s name either. She used
xxx
as a place holder to fill in later. Forget the name. She hit delete.

Skinhead waved his gun at her. “You don’t get to ask questions, bitch.”

Pissed off, Nicki shot him in the kneecap and both legs and arms.

Hold on. Sierra just remembered she hadn’t even given Nicki a gun in this scene. She had a knife. Besides, Nicki shouldn’t go around shooting suspects before interrogating them. Not good even for a first rough draft.

Time for a break, Sierra decided. Clearly this scene wasn’t going well and she wasn’t thinking straight. So she headed for the kitchen. She needed some chocolate chocolate-chip ice cream.
Now.

Grabbing the carton from the freezer, she removed the lid and reached for a spoon, dug it into the ice cream and stuck it in her mouth. Yummm.

Dark, sinfully delicious … which immediately brought Ronan to mind. Those dark eyes of his reminded her of chocolate. They could go even darker with passion. Were all vampires as hot as he was? Damon and Nick were good-looking, granted, but they did not have the power that Ronan did.

“You were thinking about vampires,” Ronan said, appearing suddenly behind her.

She whirled to face him, holding fast to her spoon and dessert. “How do you know that?”

“A lucky guess.”

“You’re lying.” She thumped her hand still holding the empty spoon against her chest. “Yep, you’re lying. I can tell. It wasn’t a lucky guess.”

He remained silent.

She stared at his mouth, wondering what lie he would fabricate next. Then she wondered how he’d learned to kiss so incredibly well. Was that a talent he’d had as a human or one he’d learned as a vampire? Had he had a lot of women before and after? Where had he learned those tongue moves?

“I don’t kiss and tell,” he said.

Shit. He really
could
read her mind!

“Stop doing that,” she said. “Stop reading my mind. Or I won’t help you.”

His expression instantly darkened. “Don’t threaten me.”

“Then don’t invade my mind.”

He ducked as a plate flew from the cabinet at his head. “Tell your ghost to stop doing that.” He grabbed it before it fell onto the floor.