Chapter 27
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
PHOENIX
Within seconds, I was next to Tessa, so I slowed. “What’s going on?” I whispered as we hung back about twenty feet from Samantha.
“I don’t know. She asked me to stay back and be quiet,” she whispered.
What? Why? “Does she do this a lot?”
“I honestly never know what I’m going to get with Sam. I’ve never met anyone quite like her, and her skill is completely unique. I usually feel pretty good about myself if I can follow half of what she’s doing.”
That wasn’t going to work for me. I needed to know what to do to help her.
Sam stopped ahead of us, then waved us over to join her. “Do you see that?” Sam asked me.
I tried to figure out what she meant, but I didn’t see anything off. “What?”
“Her.” She made a little noise of frustration. “The lady walking through the park. The one in the long, black puffer coat. She’s trailing behind that other lady. They’ve stopped now and are talking by the fountain.” She glanced at me for the first time since she left the restaurant. “Can you still see ?”
“Yeah, baby. I can. I’m just not used to it. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be focusing on.” I looked over, trying to figure out what to looking for, but it just looked like a lady. Maybe my ability to see was wearing off? But I could still see all the ties around us.
“It’s subtle at first. Just look at her. Her face. Not her clothes. I can only see it for a second when she turns toward me a little. Just a there-and-gone flash.”
I nodded and waited, and then the lady turned. For a second, as she turned, it was as if the skin on her face was transparent. Under it, I could see muscles and sinew. It was disgusting.
I sucked in a breath.
“What do you see?” Sam asked.
“One time, my mom dragged us kids to the museum in LA,” I said. “The Human Body. There was this part of the exhibit where they had a replica of the inside of a human. Muscles, bones, tendons. No skin. That’s what she looks like. The skin isn’t really there. But how? What is that?”
Sam exhaled hard. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was going nuts. Those two were eating dinner together, and I kept getting glimpses of it, but I wasn’t sure. Not until they got up to leave. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She looked at me. “What is it?”
If she didn’t know what it was, there was no way I’d know. But she was right, there was something wrong there. It was unsettling for sure, especially with the way the skin seemed to disappear as the lady moved.
“One second,” Tessa said, and her bond lit up. “Asking Dastien to ask Garrett. He’s a local. Maybe there’s some lore here that he knows about. It could be something local, like what we saw in Utah.”
“Good call. I can’t keep track of everything. I try, but I don’t need to dig up every evil thing in the world. I have enough images in my head to fuel my nightmares for multiple lifetimes.”
Tessa’s phone rang, and she handed it to Samantha. “It’s Garrett. You answer it. I can hear him fine when he’s talking to you.”
Sam answered. “Hello?” She said and she waved me closer, holding it away from her ear so that I could lean in and hear, too.
“Hey, Sam. It’s Garrett. I think what you’re seeing is called a boo hag. It’s a local legend.” He let out a low laugh. “I can’t believe there’s truth to any of this. It feels insane, but I hear that’s your jam, so here we go. A boo hag—as far as I know—is used as a way to keep teenagers from staying out all night.”
“A boo hag ?” Sam asked, and she looked at me.
That was weird. Maybe the Black-Eyed Children had been telling the truth.
“Yeah. That’s what it’s called. But I honestly don’t know if it’s a real thing. It’s just local mythology.”
Sam was quiet for a second, and I wished I knew what she was thinking.
“You still there, Sam?” Garrett asked.
“Yeah. Sorry. I’m just putting some pieces together in my mind,” Sam said. “There’s often a layer of truth in legends and lore. Tell me everything you know about this boo hag creature. Don’t hold anything back, even if you think it’s stupid. It’s not like I’m going to judge you if you’re wrong.”
There was a rush of breath through the phone, and then Garrett started to speak. “The legend says there’s a demon, witch, or whatever—it’s not clear what it is exactly—that acts as a succubus. It steals the life from someone, and when it’s done, when the person’s soul—and thus their body—is dead, it takes their skin and wears it.”
Wears it? That was disgusting, but having see that thing, it felt like that was what we were looking at.
“During the day, the boo hag lives in its latest victims skin, living out that person’s life, but in the middle of the night, it leaves the skin behind and wanders the streets, looking for its next victim. Without the skin, you can’t see it. And if you’re not careful, the boo hag will follow you home at night, and you’ll be its next victim.” Garrett let out a nervous half-laugh. “But it’s just something moms say to keep their kids from staying out all night.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “Because I’m staring at something that looks like it’s wearing someone else’s skin. And if I’m understanding you correctly, the skin she’s wearing is a person that’s already dead?” I wanted to make sure I was following this correctly.
“If the legend is right, then, yes, I think so,” Garrett said. “If you wait, if we track her, then she’ll lead us to her home. You’re supposed to wait for the boo hag to leave again, get into her house, destroy the skin, and then…” He huffed. “This is where it just feels dumb. I don’t know that this next part is accurate.”
“Don’t worry about that. Just finish telling me what you know,” Sam said patiently coaxing words from Garrett.
“Fine. Okay. Well, legend says if you want to kill the boo hag, you have to leave something outside of where her skin is—like on her doorstep—for her to count. While she’s gone, you destroy the skin. When she comes back, she’ll stop to count, and if you leave enough of whatever it is—beads, grains of sand, whatever—she’ll get caught in the daylight without her skin and die. Which sounds nuts, but apparently this thing has a counting compulsion? My great-grandma used to keep a bowl of sand on her doorstep, just in case.”
One detail bumped for me. “You keep calling it a her.”
“I guess I do. I don’t know if that’s part of the story I was told or if I’m just making it that way because a hag is usually a mean word for an ugly lady. But I don’t know. I think I might be making that up.”
“Thanks, Garrett,” Sam said. “This demon thing is disgusting looking. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.” She paused and looked at me. “This is what the Black-Eyed Children were talking about. They told me the hag would lead me to what I was looking for.”
That was what I was realizing, too. “I think it might be exactly what they were talking about.”
“Wait. The Black-Eyed Children told you something?”
“Yeah. Only on the spiritual realm, though. I wasn’t sure I should believe them, and honestly, this could be a trap. So, I decided not to fill you in. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. Trusting a demon…well, it’s not usually smart.”
“Okay. I can understand that,” Tessa said. “What did it say exactly?”
“I don’t remember the exact words, but it said that the hag would lead me to my past which would help me get to where I wanted to go. But then they said that there was a danger I couldn’t see. Which might be the invisible monster that’s killing the wolves or it could be something else entirely.”
“It sounds like this has potential, but you don’t sound convinced,” Tessa said.
“I’m not. They said the message was from Gabe, but they couldn’t give me the code word we use. So, if anything, it feels like a trap.”
“But this the thing could lead us to whatever is killing the wolves?” Tessa asked.
“Potentially. Yes.”
“How do you want to handle this?” Tessa.
Sam stood quietly for a second, watching the two ladies as she thought. “I mean we could do exactly what Garrett said and follow it. See where it leads us. Wait for it to shed its skin and leave its home. Then, break in. Burn the skin, and…” She was quiet for a second, and I knew that wasn’t going to be the plan. The boo hag was walking with another lady, and maybe she was just a friend of the boo hag. But there was a chance it was the next victim.
I didn’t know Sam that well, but I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t about to leave a potential victim alone with a demon. That wasn’t how she worked.
“Sorry. I can’t do that. We’re going to have to do this another way.” She held the phone out to Tessa. “I just need a second to wrap my head around this. I feel like I’m missing something…”
Tessa took the phone. “Thanks, Garrett. I’ll keep you posted with what we end up doing, but Dastien can find me if you guys want to catch up.” Tessa hung up, and her bond lit again. As soon as I saw it brighten, I realized I had more werewolf questions. How far would a bond like that reach? I’d assumed they needed to be in the same room for it to work, but Dastien wasn’t anywhere near us.
I wondered if Sam and I could talk through our bond like the werewolves could. That would be incredibly handy.
I filed that thought away for later. I’d ask Samantha, but something told me Eli would be better at answering that question.
And now that I thought of Eli, I wondered if I should tell Sam to ask him for help. Was that overstepping? Did I care if it meant keeping her safe?
She paced up and down the sidewalk as she thought, her eyes never fully leaving the boo hag. I glanced at Tessa, who shrugged—she didn’t know what to do either.
Okay. So, we’d wait.
Sam stopped pacing. “Did someone end up getting chalk for me?”
“Yeah,” Tessa said. “One of the SUVs left before dinner. It’s in one of the trunks.”
“Good. That’s good,” she said, but she sounded distracted. “Don’t know why I feel like I’m going to need it soon, but…”
She was struggling, and the only person who could really give her sound advice was Eli. I still didn’t want to overstep, but it turned out that I cared more about her peace of mind than overstepping. “Do you want to call Eli?”
She chewed on her lip. “Not really, but…” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I guess I might as well. If this thing is what’s killing the werewolves, then we’ll need help. And if it’s just connected in some way, then still, he might have some advice. He was pretty annoyed with me earlier.” She sighed. “Screw it. Eli? ” Her voice wasn’t that loud, but something about it resonated through my soul, almost like an electrical current running through my body.
I rubbed a hand on my chest. “What was that?”
Her eyes widened at my comment. “Sorry. I didn’t know I’d hit you with it, too. I called him through the spiritual plane. I can project my voice along it, and I boosted it with a little extra power. Sometimes that’s the only way he can hear me.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m okay. Next time, I’ll know what to expect.” It hadn’t hurt, exactly. It’d been more of a surprise than anything else.
A second later, the angel was standing in front of us. He was in his plain clothes. No wings or armor or flaming sword. Which was a relief, especially since we were standing on a public sidewalk. Well, that and he was much more intimidating when he came showing every bit of his angelic form. “You rang?”
“Best way to get rid of that.” Sam motioned to the lady behind Eli with a head nod.
Eli turned, and then gave a gruff huh . “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of those.” He turned back to us. “Follow it to its lair. Break any remaining ties it’s hidden. Burn her skin. Portal her to Hell. But you can’t skip the following her part. It’s linked and has ties. It will just come back until those are ash. You’ll have to follow it to wherever it lives.”
“Why wait?” Sam crossed her arms as she stared up at the angel. “Can’t I just portal it to Hell now with its skin on? Wouldn’t that be much easier and take care of everything? You always taught me that one step is better than two.”
Eli smiled, as if Sam just said something that made him really happy.
He gave me a nod confirming that, and then focused on Sam again. “You could, but there might be some lingering demonic attachment to the family. This type of demon sometimes attaches to a single person, but more often, also with a spouse or a family or a home . Those ties are?—”
“Tricky to find. Right.”
“Why are they tricky?” I asked.
“The boo hag has a special tie where it keeps its skin. It acts like a portal of sorts, but more like a door. If it’s closed, Sam can’t see it. She won’t be able to find it until the demon comes through it again. And only for an instant. It’s why these little pests have lasted in the mortal realm for so long. They’re a nightmare to kill.”
“Right. So, we follow it,” Sam said.
“Exactly. If you don’t break the tie first, then you’re leaving a door open for the demon to come back. Except its skin will be gone. So, it’ll take whoever is on the other end of the tie—meaning an innocent family member or whoever moved into the house. The best way to take care of this demon is to follow it home, and then wait for it to leave without its skin. Get into the house, burn the skin, break any remaining demonic ties. Which eliminates the need for a fight. Only once you’re sure all the ties are gone can you send it to Hell. Don’t worry, the hag will know. It’ll come for you. And you’ll know you’ve done it well.”
Forget two steps. That seemed way more complicated.
Sam let out a groan and muttered softly to herself.
Tessa laughed, and I turned to her. I raised a brow when she didn’t say anything.
“Oh. She wants to know why everything has to be done the hard way.”
Oh. Yeah, that was fair. Nothing in life was ever easy.
“What about the lady it’s with? I can’t just leave it with a victim. That would be wrong .” Sam was frustrated, and I got it. It would’ve been much easier to not have to worry about all the connections, but I had no doubt that Sam would.
“It can’t do anything while wearing the skin. It will get rid of it before it starts draining its next victim,” Eli said.
“What if it goes home with that other lady, sheds it there, and then kills the new lady?” Sam asked.
“It won’t. It won’t shed its skin anywhere but its designated safe place.” Eli was quiet. “They’re not roommates. The other lady is thinking about calling a car service and waking up her husband when she gets home. The rest of her thoughts are pretty inappropriate. The hag is trying to convince the woman to hit a club instead. Trust me, angel. The demon will go home before attacking anyone. It will make sure its skin is in the safest place it can be. Then, it will hunt.”
Samantha glanced at her watch. “It’s after midnight now. How do I know this isn’t a trap? I ran into some Black-Eyed Children?—
“You what?” Eli’s tone was thick with ice.
“Stop,” Sam said. “It happened fast. They knocked on the door, and I had to deal with them. Woke me up from a dead sleep with a stupid bell.”
“Ah. Alright.” Eli huffed. “If I needed to know, He would’ve told me. Fine. What did they say?”
Samantha quickly filled him in on what happened, and then Eli was quiet.
“We need to patrol for whatever’s killing the wolves, but according to the Black-Eyed Children, this is tied in some way. Do you know how?”
“I don’t. No demon should be able to open a portal, but it’s wearing another’s skin. It could be a loophole. If it is, I’ve never seen it done before. But that demon can’t kill werewolves. It’s tied to the mortal in such a way that it doesn’t have the supernatural strength of a wolf.”
“So, you don’t think this is connected?” I asked Eli.
“I honestly don’t know. It could be or it could be a trap or it could be both.”
Sam groaned. “I don’t have time to fall into some demonic trap. I need to find what’s actually killing the wolves.”
“Then, leave the hag.” He gave Sam an arrogant smirk. “This thing can’t kill werewolves. If you’ve got better things to do…” His words dripped with sarcasm and judgment in a way that made me want to hit him.
Eli waved a hand, as if to usher her along.
That wasn’t necessary.
He narrowed his gaze at me, but whatever. Don’t talk to her like that. I thought the words at him.
Eli gave me a smile, one that seemed part-amused, part-evil.
“You’re a jerk sometimes,” Sam said before either Eli or I could say anything.
“But a lovable one.” Eli’s grin changed to be more cherubic. He might’ve been an angel, but I was starting to see a bit of a gray area with him. The grin was all wicked.
“I’m an archon . Not exactly an angel,” Eli said, as if that cleared everything up.
“Stop it, Eli.” She looked at me and Tessa. “So, now what? I have to follow her around until she goes home?”
“DCan you think of another way?” Eli made a smug face that was kind of annoying. “What did I just tell you about these demons?”
He shot me a look, but I really didn’t care that he heard I thought his face was smug and his tone was annoying. I thought a lot of things all day long. As long as I didn’t say them aloud, they didn’t really count.
“Fair enough,” he said.
“Oh. Dang,” Sam said. “I see it now, and man, I’m really off my game. That’s going to be much easier. So many less steps and less waiting around.”
“Do you need more help?” Eli asked.
“NO. I got it. I don’t think I need help with this, but maybe later if you’re not busy? I’m still not sure what’s killing the wolves or how the hag is connected.”
Eli gave her a look, and she interpreted it. “Stop. Man, you’re in a mood today. Fine—how busy are you right now? You’re not in armor.”
“ Exceedingly .”
“Don’t worry. We have her back,” Dastien said as he crossed the street to us. The rest of the werewolves were trailing behind him. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Eli looked at me. “You’ll stay by her side.”
Of course I would. We could technically split up because I could see, but I wasn’t going to do that. “No place else I want to be.”
“Good,” Eli said. “I’ll try to come back if I’m able, but it might not be for a bit. Just know that the boo hag very well might be some sort of wild goose chase. Or it could be part of a trap. Or the Black-Eyed Children could’ve been telling the truth—that it will lead you to the monster you’re searching for. But demons don’t tell the truth unless it serves their end. So, if they told you the truth, they might want you to find the monster. Which would be a whole other kind of a trap. Be very careful, my angel.”
“I will be.” Sam studied him for a second. “Are you okay? You’ve been off lately. You’re starting to worry me.”
“If I wasn’t okay, there would be nothing you could do to help it. Don’t worry about me. There are battles happening, but nothing for you to concern yourself with. At least, not yet. For now, just focus on getting your job done.” He gave Sam a snarky smile. “You’re welcome, angel.” The way he said it—with that sarcastic, arrogant tone—grated on me, but I knew he said it that way to tease Samantha.
I was starting to understand their relationship, and I knew what she was going to say.
“I’m not an angel .” She whispered-shouted the words at him as predicted, and I had to swallow down my laugh.
“Thanks, though,” Sam said. “Go back to whatever you were doing.” She lifted a hand to wave at him, but he was already gone.
The entire Wayfarer pack was around us now, waiting to find out our next step. Sam seemed to take it all in, and I could almost see the wheels turning.
“What’s the plan?” Dastien asked. “Put us to work.”
She nodded, looking from the ladies, to something in the spiritual realm—I wasn’t sure what—to the group, and back again.
“If a couple of you could stay and watch her, that would be good.” She started slowly, as if she was working it through as she spoke. “I don’t want her catching up to me. That seems like it could turn into a fight, and I’d rather not have that happen. We need to save up energy for the big bad.”
There were some scattered agreements.
“The rest of you maybe can bring the cars to us so we can patrol once I have this sorted? If I trusted the Black-Eyed Children—which I’m not sure I do—the boo hag could lead us to whatever has been killing members of the pack. Or this could be some kind of a trap. It’s really fifty-fifty. So, I’m thinking I take care of this, and then we’ll likely need to move fast once I know more. Which I guess is all kind of vague but just be ready. I don’t know what the boo hag is going to do when I burn its ties. So, I need eyes on it. For now.”
“We’re always ready for a fight, and we will absolutely have a team on her,” Dastien said, while looking at Max.
Max nodded and pointed to five guys, who started out on foot, following the two ladies as they slowly made their way through the park. If Eli was right, they were on their way to whatever club they were going to hit.
Dastien focused on Sam again. “Where are we going?”
“I don’t know where it’s going to end up, but I’m following a trail.” She pointed off to the right and behind her a little. “I’m going that way. The trail is super dim, so it’s going to take all of my focus to stay on track. If someone wants to coordinate with the group, that’s fine by me. I just can’t. I’ll be quiet while I focus.”
“No problem,” Max said. “Coordinating this bunch is my job.” He turned to Dastien. “Do you and Tessa want to go with her? You can pick other wolves if you want more?—”
“No,” Sam cut in. “I’d like to keep it a small group. Too many will draw attention, and again—this isn’t the patrolling portion of the evening yet. We still might hit that depending on how much information I gain after dealing with the hag and?—”
“You don’t need to explain,” Max said. “We’ll get it taken care of.”
“And I want the chalk.”
Max nodded to a few of his guys who took off jogging. “They’re bringing the cars around. I’ll get it to you, no problem.”
Sam took off without another word.
“Can you show me the line that we’re following?” I asked, keeping pace beside her.
“It’s a light pinkish red. Really thin. This little line below my finger right here.” She ran her finger above something, and it took me a second to see it through all the other visual noise in the spiritual realm. But once I did, I saw the fine, dim red string. “It’s tying her to somewhere or someone. That’s her hold on this world. I’m going to follow that to the source—her lair.”
“I just want to make sure I understand. We follow this tie to where it ends, cut it and close any doorways. Hopefully, the hag will come running, and you portal it—skin and all—to Hell.”
“Exactly.” She stopped for a second, focusing on the dim tie again before following it. “Eli had a bunch more steps in it at first, but he’s not one to follow some stupid instructions like that. It’s not how he taught me to do it either. Which is why I tried to call him out on it, and why he was so snarky with me.”
“Got it.”
“The tie is the big thing, and I’m guessing there’ll be some sort of doorway where it stashes the skin in its room. Maybe a closet or a basement or something. That way if something happens, it can come back through the doorway. But following the tie will lead us there. And if the Black-Eyed Children were right, then this will lead us to where we really need to go. So, hopefully we can get this done quickly with little to no drama. Then, move on to the bigger problem.”
“That sounds easy enough.”
She shot me a look eerily similar to Eli’s oh-you-mere-mortal look, and I almost laughed.
“You’ve jinxed us now. We’re screwed .” She shook her head.
Now, I did laugh. “What?” I didn’t jinx us.
“You said it would be easy. Now, it’s going to be your fault when it’s an absolute pain in the tush. Don’t worry. Someone always ends up saying it.” She looked over her shoulder. “I want full acknowledgement that it wasn’t me this time.”
Someone laughed behind us, and I turned to find Dastien and Tessa. They’d moved so quietly, I hadn’t heard them catch up.
“Every time someone says it’s going to be easy, it turns into a disaster,” Tessa said. “Epic. Disaster.”
“Well, shit.” Now, I kind of wanted to take it back.
All three of them laughed, but I didn’t mind being the newbie.
My life before Samantha had felt tedious. It might have seemed cool or fancy or whatever from the outside, but on the inside, it was a lot of hotels, a lot of travel, a lot of working out, and a lot of attention that didn’t always feel good. I’d known I needed a change, but at the time, I had no idea what.
Everything I was seeing, feeling, and doing with Sam felt the opposite. She made me feel alive and filled with purpose. Maybe I shouldn’t feel that way. I was just following her around and mostly useless, but I was learning.
I would learn.
And in that house earlier, I hadn’t been useless.
I’d seen when she was taking it too far, and I’d stopped her. Now, she could save this family.
Would it be enough for me?
I wasn’t sure. I was going to have to see where I landed, and if I needed to be able to do more. Be more. I didn’t know what that meant or where it would lead me. But I knew whatever it was, I’d be by Sam’s side. For as long as she’d have me.