Page 24 of Shadow Scorching

“I don’t see any residue shards, so that’s good. I’ll clean this, stitch it, and get you on your way.” She paused, retrieving an antibiotic wash, which she began squeezing into the wound. “So, a ghost got you?”

“Yeah. We’re on a case—it’s bad—and either a poltergeist, or ghost, or whatever it is, decided that I wasn’t welcome. It threw a fork at me, which I missed, thanks to Orik. It threw a couple other things at me, but the glass, I didn’t see coming.” I said, frustrated. “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to solve this one. It’s one of the nastiest cases we’ve had, I’m beginning to think.”

And right there, I realized what was bothering me. I didn’t know if we could handle this case. And, if we couldn’t, I suspected that Michael would move back in, which might lead to the destruction of his family. And I’d feel responsible.

Dr. Lana began to stitch the wound shut. “These are self-dissolving stitches. You won’t need to have them removed.I’ll spray on an invisible bandage and you’ll be good to go. It will wear off in about a week and, unless you notice any inflammation or infection, you won’t need it rechecked.” She finished with the stitches, then gave it a spray of the liquid bandage. “I don’t know a lot about ghosts, but I can tell you this: if it’s strong enough to throw and embed a glass that deep in your arm, you’ve got a fight on your hands. Be careful, please.”

I glanced at the wound. Gnarly, but it was stitched up and I was ready to go. “Yeah, I thought about that. I don’t know, doc…You were able to help me with the demonologist—Seton’s been so helpful. You don’t know any good exorcists, do you?”

She laughed, nodding for me to jump off the table. “No, I’m afraid I don’t. Okay, you’re good to go.”

As I left the office, stopping to pay my copay to Ronette, it occurred to me that maybe Penn would be able to tell. She was a witch, after all, and part Fae. She might be able to help us—or find someone who could. One way or another, I wanted to help Michael and his family. They couldn’t afford to lose the house. And I didn’t want to admit defeat.

CHAPTER NINE

Back at the office,I tossed my jacket in my office, then called Penn. “Hey, I have a question,” I asked when she came on the phone.

“What’s up?”

“Can you exorcise ghosts? Or can you even tell what’s a ghost and what’s a demon or an astral nasty?”

Penn paused for a moment, then said, “Yes, I’m pretty good at that. What’s the problem?”

I told her what had happened. “We want to get a handle on what we’re dealing with.”

“When do you want to go back?” she asked.

That stopped me for a moment, as I suddenly realized that yes, we were going to have to return to the house and face those creatures again. Then, before I could answer, Orik stuck his head in my office.

“Boss, come on. We’ve got images on the cameras over at Michael’s.”

I jumped up. “Penn, we have cameras set up. Can you come down? Or, if you don’t want to drive, I can send someone for you,” I said, entering the conference room.

Orik gave me a quizzical look and I mouthed, “Penn.”

“I don’t like driving in the snow,” she said. “But I can.”

“Wait,” Orik said. He motioned to my phone. “Put her on speaker.”

I did as he asked and sat the phone on the table, resting it on top of a battery-operated pillar candle sitting on the center of the table. “You’re on speaker, Penn.”

“Hey,” Orik said. “If you don’t want to drive in, I can cast the images we’re looking at to your computer, if you want.”

Penn breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks. I hate driving in snow. Let me turn on my computer. I’ll call you back when I’m there.” She hung up.

“Good,” I said. “I was going to send someone over to pick her up.”

“No need,” Orik said. “I’m also pulling Lazenti in on this call. We need all the help we can get.”

“He’s not asleep?” I asked.

“Nope. Heisat home, though.” Orik said, as he and Carson began setting up their laptops. Carson opened a Meet-Me Room and pulled both Lazenti and Penn into it.

Lazenti was looking as dapper as ever. With wavy black hair, pale skin so alabaster he might have been a statue, and ice blue eyes ringed with crimson, he was good looking, with a glamour that wouldn’t quit. But then again, most vamps had glamour and could charm the hell out of most shifters, humans, and some other species. The Fae were usually immune to them, and I found that I could withstand his glamour for the most part—probably my demon side.

Lazenti was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater over blue jeans, but somehow it worked on him. “Hey,” he said, waving.

In the window next to him, Penn was dressed in a cozy green sweater with a black skirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing a sparkly candy-cane headband that matched her candy-cane glasses.

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