Page 26 of Viper

He swallowed. “Great.”

He doesn’t sound as though he thinks it’s great,Ella mused.

No, he doesn’t,Mia agreed.

He let out what seemed to be a relieved breath, but it was a little too exaggerated to be genuine. “Glad that’s all sorted.”

“As am I,” Mia told him, studying him closely.

Again, he cleared his throat. “Well, I … I guess I’d better go.”

Mia watched him scurry out of the shop before turning to Ella. “That was weird.Hewas weird.”

Ella bit her lip. “I hate to say it, I really do, but I think he said that stuff to hurt you. Why else do it? He could have omitted that he allegedly regrets that you two had a fling. Could have just apologized and asked that you focus on your friendship from here on out.”

“I don’t get why he’d want to hurt me, though.” Mia flapped her arms. “I’m stumped. And pissed. I was already angry, thanks to what Dionne did. Speaking of that, did she deny it?”

Sensing that Mia wanted to change the subject, Ella went with it. “Until she realized we have cameras, yes. She was actually surprised that we fired her. I can’t think why.”

“Seems like people are set on acting strange today.” Mia sighed at the shop door.

“Are you gonna be okay?”

“Fine. You go handle whatever situation Neve has tossed your way. I’m good here.”

“You’re sure? I can cancel—”

“I’m completely sure.” Mia tilted her head. “Did Neve give you specifics?”

“Just that human friends of the Mills were asking to speak with me, wanting my help with a ‘personal matter’.” Ella shrugged. “Hopefully it won’t be a weird one.”

“Our house is haunted.”

Ella blinked at the middle-aged blonde sitting across from her. “Haunted?” She glanced to the woman’s husband, who stared back at her steadily.

Though pleased that she’d arrived as promised, the couple hadn’t invited Ella into their grand Victorian home. They’d urged her to follow them through the side gate that led to their backyard. It was beautifully maintained, bordered by trees similar to those in the massive wooded area behind this particular street of houses.

Very ‘Zen’ with the pretty pond, Japanese-style bridge, and stone lanterns, the garden possessed a relaxing feel. But there was nothing relaxed about the humans sitting opposite Ella at the patio table. They were nervous. Twitchy. Looked a little worn-down.

The woman, Nestor, licked her lips. “The Mills said you helped them with a similar situation. That you got rid of whatever was in their home.”

Ella couldn’t say that the situations were similar, since they so far didn’t appear to be. “Why don’t you tell me a little about what’s been happening?” she invited.

“There was nothing until four months ago,” replied Nestor’s husband, Martin. “We’ve lived here a decade, never had any issues. Thenbam, the place turned into a hub of supernatural activity.”

Nestor rubbed her arm. “Things move around by themselves. Or they go missing and then turn up in odd places.”

“And by move around, she doesn’t mean something as simple as a glass sliding along a kitchen counter,” added Martin. “We’ve had objects thrown at us. The TV was knocked off the wall. Light bulbs randomly implode. Food gets taken out of the fridge and dumped over the floor. Our bedcovers were once yanked away from us in the middle of the night, and somethinglaughed. It was a horrible sound.”

“We hear footsteps in the attic, but nothing is up there—we’ve checked,” said Nestor, a manic light in her eyes that conveyed she’d reached her limit. “Or, at least, it’s nothing we can see.”

Okay, well, they definitely had a preternatural problem of some sort.

Martin thrust a hand through his russet-brown hair, making it stick up in parts. The poor guy was the picture of frazzled. “We had the local priest bless the house, but it didn’t help. We’re hoping thatyoucan.”

Ella had helped with hauntings in the past. For her, it wasn’t a matter of banishing spirits or guiding them to ‘the light’. She simply used magick to provide enough of a tear in the veil between this realm and that of the dead for the ghosts toslipthrough. Though, yes, sometimes she had to give them a violent magickal shove to get them moving. Not all wanted to pass on; some clung tight to their old lives.

She leaned forward slightly. “How about you two stay out here while I go take a walk around the house?” she proposed. “Would that be okay?”

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