Page 74 of Haunted Ever After

“Of course, it doesn’t,” Sarah’s husband said, using Cassie’s boyfriend’s body. “As I’ve said, you are property. This house too, property. Mine. What can you possibly do without your man’s say-so?”

“So many things.” Cassie crossed her arms. “You think I need a man to live my life? Let me tell you what I need a man for: nothing. Not a goddamn thing. I bought this house all on my own.”

There was that damn scoff again. “Impossible.” But there was something happening. A struggle in Nick’s face. Tension in his body. His fists clenched, then slowly relaxed again.

“Keep going.” Nan’s voice was a calm and steady lifeline for Cassie to grab on to. “He hates an independent woman. Piss him off some more. That’s the key.”

Cassie could do that. It was actually kind of fun. “Not impossible.” Her smile was bright and so very fake. “Women can get mortgages these days. I own this place outright.” Well, she would after thirty years of payments, but he didn’t need to know that.

She took a step closer to him, while internally Sarah rebelled. Sarah didn’t want to be any closer to Charles’s spirit than she had to, and Cassie didn’t blame her. But C.S. didn’t want Cassie to come any closer, and what he didn’t want he was going to get.

Sure enough, Not-Nick fell back a step. He held up a hand. “Get away from me, you…”

Cassie raised her eyebrows. “What? What could you possibly call me that would bother me in the least? Do you have any idea how irrelevant you are? Forgotten? After tonight, this house won’t even have your name on it, and your existence will be erased. Just like that.” She snapped her fingers, and Not-Nick flinched. He actually flinched. This was good. She could do this.

“Nobody will talk about you,” she continued. “No one’s going to visit your grave. Hell, no one has in years. No one’s even going to remember your name when this independent woman is finished with you.” She took another step toward him, then another. He backed up as far as he could, but when his foot reached the edge of the circle he stopped, as though his back were against a brick wall. His dark eyes stayed fixed on her, wide, as she stepped up to him, very much in his personal space.

“But you know what I’m going do?” She put her hands up, cupping his face in her palms, her voice a low murmur. “I think I’m going to take out another credit card. Maybe even…” She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, leaned in, and whispered in Not-Nick’s ear, as seductively as she could. “Vote.”

His face went red, mottled with rage, then he sucked in a huge breath. Before Cassie could react, Nick dropped to the floor, boneless.

“Shit!” She dropped down beside him, pulling his head into her lap. Outside of the circle, Sophie and Libby let out identical cries of alarm. For a stunned heartbeat she couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Had she killed him? But Nick’s chest rose and fell under her hand, his heart thumping strongly against her palm. Cassie closed her eyes and let relief flood through her body. C.S. Hawkins was gone. At last.

But then Cassie realized that Sarah was gone too, from inside her head. Outside of the circle, Libby gasped.

“The circle!”

Cassie followed her gaze to where Nick’s booted foot had scuffed the salt and sand circle, breaking it. Alarmed, she turned toward Nan, but she was the only one in the room who was both conscious and unconcerned.

The elderly woman closed her eyes and breathed deep. “He’s gone,” she said finally. “His anger burned him up from the inside out until he couldn’t withstand it.”

“But what about Sarah? She was right here.” Cassie tapped a finger against her temple, and her eyes filled with tears. When she first got here, all she’d wanted was a ghost-free house. But Sarah had become a friend. Had they repaid her by banishing her too? Was she still stuck with her husband? Had Charles managed to keep his hold over Sarah, drag her with him to wherever he’d gone?

But Nan seemed unfazed. “When Nick broke the circle she was free of your head. Simple as that. She’s still here. It’s her house, after all.” Her lips twitched in a smile.

Cassie’s laugh was like a sob, an involuntary heave of her chest. As her barely conscious boyfriend stirred and her friends peered at her inside the remains of a summoning circle, supervised by an octogenarian, Cassie realized that she finally felt at home. The house may be Sarah’s, but it was hers too.

She was home.

Thirty

It was surprisingly easy to clean up after an exorcism.

Granted, Nick wasn’t fully conscious for a few minutes, so it was possible he missed a lot. But before he knew it, he was sitting next to Cassie on the couch, one hand clasped between both of hers, while Sophie and Libby pitched in to set her living room to rights. He wanted to help, but his legs didn’t seem to be working well. Plus, he didn’t want to let go of Cassie’s hand. She felt like the only thing keeping him upright and awake.

He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it off his forehead. His hair was wet. Why was it wet? His face was wet too, and the front of his shirt. Like he’d been bobbing for apples but with no fruit to show for it. What the hell had happened while he was out?

A riot of pink obscured his vision, and he blinked blearily up at Nan, hovering over him. She shoved a tall glass of water into his free hand. Then she stood over him, arms crossed, until he got the hint and drank, though it seemed like the last thing he needed right now was water.

“You okay?” Her voice was brusque, but kind. Pale blue eyes in a wrinkled face studied him with interest.

He nodded, but not too hard because there was a very real chance that his head would fall off his neck. It had been that kind of day. Everything felt muffled, like he was ensconced in plastic wrap, removed from the world in front of him.

Then it hit him—why everything felt just a little off-kilter. “The noise is gone.” His voice was thick, raspy, as though he hadn’t used it in months. “The static…the buzzing. It’s all gone. It’s so quiet now.” The absence of the noise was so loud in his head. This plastic-wrapped feeling could fuck off any time now.

But Nan just nodded sagely. “Being possessed can take it out of you,” she said. “Make sure you rest tonight.” She looked a little drained herself. Nick wasn’t clear on how Nan’s abilities worked, but it had obviously taken it out of her too.

A full-on conversation was too much for Nick to handle just now, so instead he gave a heavy nod as he set the glass down on the newly reset coffee table. Huh. That hadn’t been there a minute ago. He looked bewilderedly around the room. The salt-and-sand circle had been completely swept away, and the area rug was back in its place. It was as though the past couple hours had never happened, and Nick wondered if he’d dreamed all of it. Or was he dreaming now?

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