Chapter 3
Zhen
While my wife was at work, I spent most of my day in the workshop. The majority of my equipment was pretty beat up. I couldn’t even remember the last time it looked this neglected. For shame.
Dear problems, please give me a break. In fact, I wanted a discount for being a regular customer.
I sent my prayer winging upward even as I dragged out all the weapons and supplies needing repairs.
Which unfortunately amounted to a steaming pile of crap.
Honestly, the driving motivation for my shop being put together was exactly this problem.
I direly needed a space to work. Dad and Uncle Ty had done me a solid and finished my workshop while I was out on the road last month just to save my sanity, which I appreciated beyond words.
Not that they didn’t get a dig in once they saw the state of the weapons I’d left behind.
Dad had texted me a picture with him giving a thumbs-down over a haphazard pile of nicked and dinged swords, alongside a message saying their terrible state was because of a shorted circuit between driver and seat.
I’d replied with a thumbs-up selfie and a message reminding him I was the pretty, destructive son, not the smart one.
I’d received an eye roll emoji in return, but them’s the breaks.
After a month on the road, I was glad for the motivation to knock out some weapons maintenance and play with my shiny tools.
They hung on pegs, nice and organized, and my two long worktables were covered in the projects I’d knocked out today.
Some items were drying, the stain still taking hold.
The air smelled of varnish, wood, and leather, my favorite scent combination.
If someone could bottle this scent, I’d buy it. All I’m saying.
I also kept the laptop out in the shop with me, to keep up with any social media messages, just to give Kris a break from monitoring the feed.
Not that she’d complained. Still, nothing grated more than being taken for granted, and she’d worked really hard on setting up our social media.
She’d even laughed and only rolled her eyes when we’d insisted on calling our group D-Hunters R Us.
Which, yeah, the name wasn’t very mature, but hey, no one had taken it!
And it had made my friends cackle for a good five minutes, so to my mind, it was spot on.
Now, the funny part about the whole setup was that teens were finding us first. Likely because of the account name and their frequent social media use?
But being young, they didn’t think anything of DMing me and asking questions, and I was delighted to answer every message.
The more people who knew about us, the better armed they were against the big scaries, which drastically increased the likelihood of us reaching people in time to save them.
The whole point was to teach people how to safeguard themselves, first and foremost.
Frankie had done a kickass job on the logo, and he’d even drawn up a font for the D-Hunters R Us, so of course I’d ordered patches and windbreakers for everyone.
It was too cool not to show off. The windbreakers hadn’t come in yet, delayed somewhere en route, but I was confident I’d have them in time for the next job.
Oh, a new DM on Facebook. I set the new wakizashi hilt down, as I’d reached the stage where it was safe to pause, and pulled the laptop closer to me. Let’s see, what was this about?
Looked like another teen, judging from his profile picture. I clicked on the image to verify and, yeah, kid looked about fifteen, with bad acne and braces.
Ronnie: Hey, demon hunters, you guys real?
Me: Real as can be.
Ronnie: Do you handle ghosts?
Kind of a tricky question. Sometimes, if they’re causing enough ruckus. You got ghost problems?
Ronnie: Yeah. My parents recently bought this house, but dude, there’s freaky stuff happening. And we’re waking up with scratches. It’s sus as hell.
Uh, that didn’t sound good.
Me: Where do you live, Ronnie?
Ronnie: Texas panhandle
Me: Listen, I’m in Louisiana, and ghosts aren’t my forte, but I know mediums who live in your area. I can put you in touch with one.
Ronnie: Yes! Please!
Damn, he sounded desperate. I pulled out my phone and texted a medium buddy, Shara.
She took absolutely no shit from ghosts, and while she could be sweet as cherry pie, she was your worst nightmare when challenged.
She had a decade on me in the business, knew more tricks than I did, and would use them all if need be.
Shara didn’t text but called back. Now, she always sounded like she smoked twelve packs a day, but today her voice sounded scratchier than usual.
Like she’d been screaming along to Linkin Park while driving, which to be fair, she often did.
“Zhen, buddy, I need more explanation. How did this kid reach out to you?”
“So my wife—”
“Wait, someone was delusional enough to marry you?!”
I laughed, as honestly, she had a good objection. “Yeah. She rolls with the punches, too. She’s awesome. Actually, you should come visit. My house is finished, so you can stay with me and meet her.”
“I’m doing that and soon,” she threatened. “But back to this kid.”
“Right, so my wife said we needed social media presence so people could find us in an emergency, and it was hard to argue. She set it all up and then roped Frankie, Jake, Jo Jo, and some of my other buddies into being in the group. It’s a new thing, about two months old, but our page is picking up speed quickly.
I get a lot of questions, and we’re starting a video series so people know how to safeguard themselves.
This kid reached out to me on Facebook. Said he’s in the Texas panhandle, so your area.
His parents bought a super haunted house, and people are waking up with scratches. ”
Shara sat on that for a second before muttering, “If it’s harming people, it isn’t a nice ghost, for sure. Can you add me to this chat?”
“Sure. That’s likely the easiest way for you guys to talk. I can’t move right now, and I wouldn’t be much help, anyway. I can send more help to you if you need it, though.”
“Probably won’t, but I’ll keep it in mind. Add me to the chat.”
“Okie dokie.”
I hung up and promptly added her, typing, Ronnie, this is my good friend, Shara. She’s a medium who lives near you, and I’ve never seen a ghost get the better of her.
Shara popped in. Hi, Ronnie. Tell me more about the situation.
Ronnie was all too happy to give her the rundown and started not only explaining but attaching pictures of damage to the house and their injuries, which was great.
Gave Shara a better idea of what was going on and proved he wasn’t a bored teen messing around.
Shara managed to get his parents’ info, and next thing I knew, another woman was added to the chat.
Ronnie’s mom, maybe? Yup, mom, based on her messages.
I let them talk while I went back to my hilt, sanding it down.
I wanted it perfectly smooth before I moved to the next part.
No splinters while fighting, please and thank you.
I mean, yes, it would be wrapped with material, but I wanted it smooth anyway.
Let’s just say I’d ripped off handles from my swords before in a fight.
About the time I switched to a finer grit sandpaper, I paused, sensing a change in the bond. What had become an irritating buzz in my chest the past hour now purred with contentment. Looked like Kris was home.
I heard the side door open and turned my head to see my wife walk in, still wearing her white button-down and black slacks.
“There you are,” she said. “I thought you’d be done by now?”
“Almost, I’m about to switch to wrapping the tsuka-ito, the cord that wraps around the hilt. Hey, honey, want to see some of your hard work pay off?”
“What are you talking about?”
I nodded toward the laptop screen. “Come see.”
Kris came around to stand near my shoulder, reading, blonde brows furrowed. “Wait, someone reached out with a ghost problem?”
I got up to grab materials as I explained, “Kid by the name of Ronnie. He’s in Texas. His parents bought a super haunted house, and the ghost is mean. I connected him with Shara, a medium friend who lives in the area, and it looks like she’s going over there tonight to help them clear the ghost.”
Kris beamed at the screen. “This is exactly what I hoped for when I made the group page. See! This makes it easier for people to find the help they need.”
“Yup, it was a brilliant idea.” I was happy she felt so happy. I mean, I’d always seen the merit of her idea, which was why I’d rolled with it, but it never would have come to fruition if she hadn’t taken charge. I wasn’t good with organizing stuff. My specialty was stabbing, not logistics.
As I sat back down, Shara’s profile popped up with a private message. Zhen, I’ve got it from here. You can exit out of chat.
“Honey, can you type okay for me?”
She looked at everything in my hands. “Mmm. Yeah, probably safer.”
Leaning past me, she typed in an okay and exited both chats. Then she paused, examining the message history. “Did you keep the laptop out here with you so you could respond to people?”
“Yeah. It’s not fair to leave all the responses to you, especially since you’re still learning the hunter business. I figured I could babysit the page while you were at work.”
Her pretty grey eyes crinkled in a smile before she leaned in and kissed me soundly. “Look at you being a good, supportive husband.”
Aww, I got kisses for being a good boy. “I’m totally bribable. Especially when it comes to my gorgeous wife.”
Her mouth curved into a grin. “Bribable, eh? What all can I bribe you into, hmm?”
“A lot.”
“Define a lot.”
“Anything short of world domination. Murder’s absolutely an option.”
“Why not world domination? Too much work?”
“And people.”
“Says the extrovert.” Laughing, she kissed me again before straightening.