Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Percival took to the sky in search of a snack, and Lilith stood behind Spencer like he asked. The scent of his coppery blood pulsing through his veins made her mouth water. She stepped closer, taking in the bouquet of his skin—warm and woodsy—and his pheromones flared with his desire. Delicious.
He felt their bond. Of that, she was certain, but Spencer was fighting it.
Her friends had assured her this was normal, especially for a topside dweller, and while Lilith would have preferred to declare them soulmates the moment his eyes met hers so they could cut through all the crap, Eve had insisted Lilith let him come to the realization on his own.
She moved closer as Spencer hoisted his camera onto his shoulder, and his pulse quickened, his blood flowing more rapidly through his arteries.
She should have fed before she came. The last thing she needed was to chomp on him or one of his friends.
He already had a mild disdain for her kind, which drove a stake into her plans for the elusive happily ever after. This would be harder than she thought.
She stepped back and cleared her throat. “What are we hunting?”
“Alan’s about to explain.” He turned on his camera’s light and pointed it at the host.
“El Cadejos…” Alan said. “A ghostly canine who’s said to have long, black fur, red eyes, and the teeth of a jaguar.
According to legend, if you’re out late at night…
especially if you’re drinking…” He held up his beer bottle.
“You’ll hear the sounds of chains dragging the ground and the clip-clop of El Cadejos’ goat hooves as he approaches you from behind. ”
Lilith held in a laugh. It was no wonder they never found any evidence on this show. They were hunting fables. El Cadejos was made up by a creative alcoholic who needed an excuse for why he stumbled home at three in the morning, missing his pants and a shoe.
“If El Cadejos shows himself to you, it’s a sign you need to change your life.” Alan downed the contents of his bottle. “Tonight, I’m taking on the role of a drunk to see if we can catch the beastly spirit on camera for the first time.”
Oh, dear. Lilith bit her lip. The most they were likely to find out here was light reflecting off the eyes of a jaguar stalking them from the trees.
“And, cut.” Alan waved a hand, and Spencer and Rebecca lowered their cameras. “Rebecca, you’ll focus on me as I wander down the road. Spencer, you keep your lens trained on the trees. We’re looking for anything that moves.”
“What will you do if you actually get El Cadejos on film?” Lilith asked. “You said you would never expose a cryptid.”
“Ghosts don’t count,” Spencer said.
“They exist on a different plane, so we wouldn’t be exposing their home to anyone,” Rebecca added.
“If we can catch El Cadejos,” Alan said, “even if the footage is low light, we’ll have something to show the network. They want evidence, and spirits are something we can actually show them.”
Except, the spirit they were chasing didn’t exist. Lilith drummed her fingers against her thigh as a plan hatched in her mind. “I think I can help. If you want the spirit on film, I can make that happen.”
“Can you summon it?” Alan asked, his brow creeping toward his hairline.
Excitement bubbled in Lilith’s belly. This would be so much fun. “Something like that. Start recording. I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?” Spencer asked.
“You’ll see.” Lilith spun toward the trees and took off at vampire speed. Even with her new friends’ enhanced senses, she doubted they saw much more than a blur as she entered the woods and hid behind a massive trunk.
Her sluggish pulse tried to sprint again, and her smile made her cheeks ache. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Spencer’s face. No way would the network cancel their show after this.
Picturing what she assumed El Cadejos would look like in her mind, she activated her glamour.
Magic shimmered around her, transforming her image into a black sheepdog with hooves for feet and fiery red eyes.
She didn’t shapeshift per se. Her body didn’t transform, but anyone looking at her would see the spirit dog, thanks to the magic surrounding her.
She started toward the road but paused. Her guise was too good.
Shows like this never found exactly what they were looking for; they only found evidence of it.
If she appeared looking precisely like El Cadejos, it wouldn’t be believable.
She called on her magic again, blurring the illusion she’d created and making the sheepdog look more like a black misty blob with eyes.
Flash this image on screen a few times, and viewers would fall off their comfy couch seats.
With her new guise in check, she prowled through the forest toward the team. Rebecca filmed Alan while he spun the tale of a local who claimed to have seen the ghostly beast. Spencer panned his camera left and right, scanning the woods for signs of spirit life.
Lilith stepped out from behind a tree, and Spencer froze. She ducked her head, shifting the image to look as if the dog blob were preparing to pounce, and he mouthed the words holy shit before shouting, “Alan!”
The host spun toward Spencer and then followed his gaze to the forest. “No fucking way.”
Lilith held in a giggle as she imagined the bleep that would replace Alan’s curse. She slipped back into the trees and reappeared closer to him.
“Are you getting this?” He looked at the beer bottle in his hand and dropped it on the ground.
“Yeah,” both Spencer and Rebecca replied, excitement in their voices.
Lilith let out a howl before darting back into the woods and dropping her glamour.
That was enough “evidence” for one show.
She returned to the road and found Spencer reviewing the footage on his camera while Alan beamed into Rebecca’s lens, rambling on about how exciting it was to see El Cadejos and how it must be time for him to change his life.
Spencer smiled as she approached, and she rested a hand on his shoulder and peered at the tiny screen attached to his camera. “How did I do?”
He laughed, unbelieving. “I had no idea you could summon ghosts. That was amazing.”
When his eyes met hers, a thousand butterflies came to life inside her stomach.
If not for her phone buzzing in her pocket, the magnetism between them would have pulled her in, and her lips would’ve been planted on his without a second thought.
Instead, she said, “I can’t,” and pulled out her phone.
She swiped open the messaging app and found a text from Deirdre: Esther ate her dinner! Whatever you’re doing, keep it up!
Lilith smiled. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so alive, and the man standing next to her was the reason why. Soulmate or not, she couldn’t deny her attraction to him.
“What do you mean you can’t?” Spencer’s honey-smooth voice pulled her from her thoughts. “How else did you get the spirit to show itself?”
“The only beings I can summon are my familiars.” She held up a hand, and Percival swooped down to perch on her fingers. “I used my glamour to appear in the form of the dog.”
The awe that had occupied Spencer’s eyes vanished as his expression fell. “You faked it.”
Lilith’s smile faltered. “I had to. El Cadejos is a myth. You wouldn’t have found any evidence at all.”
He slammed the camera screen shut and squared his shoulders at her, his right eye twitching as he ground his teeth. “We never do.”
“Which is why your show is about to be canceled.” Was he mad at her? Surely she was misreading the irritation his body language implied. His stiff back and protruding neck tendons didn’t mean he was upset. “I was trying to help.”
He gave his head a tiny shake and looked at his friends. “Alan, Rebecca, you might as well stop. That was Lilith in the woods.”
“Really?” Alan strode toward them, smiling and not exhibiting the slightest bit of the anger radiating from Spencer. “Damn, your glamour is next level.”
“It’s top level.” She shrugged.
“Yeah, it is.” Alan held up a hand to high-five her. “That was awesome. Smart not to tell us ahead of time. Our reactions were one hundred percent authentic.”
Spencer glowered. “We don’t fake evidence on this show. We’ll lose credibility.”
“It was just a little fake,” she said. “I made the image blurry so skeptics could call it a play on light and shadow.”
“A little fake is still fake.” Spencer shook his head harder and nearly stomped toward the black van parked a few yards up the road.
Well, wasn’t that fangtastic? Lilith had screwed up yet again, and this time, she’d pissed off her supposed soulmate. Dee wasn’t kidding when she said happily ever afters didn’t come easy.
Rebecca chewed her bottom lip, and Alan raked a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry. I was only trying to help.” Lilith tipped her head back and stared at the moon. A wispy cloud stretched across the lower half, and stars twinkled around it, much brighter than the few visible in L.A.
“I thought it was rad,” Alan said before jogging toward the van.
Lilith watched as Alan said something to Spencer, who shook his head and threw his arms into the air before handing Alan a memory card.
If she wanted to, she could have listened to their conversation.
Vampires, especially old ones like Lilith, could hear things a mile away.
She didn’t dare, though. No doubt what Spencer had to say about her would cut like a pair of fangs to the jugular.
“I should go,” she mumbled. “It was nice meeting you, Rebecca.”
“You don’t have to leave. Spencer’s just…” She pursed her lips and stepped closer. “He’s been blacklisted in Hollywood. This job is the only one he can get, so he takes it very seriously.”
“Blacklisted? What does that even mean? How did it happen?”
“It’s a long story that isn’t mine to tell. He and Alan have been friends forever, and that’s the only reason he’s here. He can’t get a job in movies or TV anywhere else.”
“Oh, my. Who did this to him?” A strange protectiveness burned in Lilith’s gut, the desire to find the person responsible and teach them a lesson making her fangs ache and her mouth water.
“His ex-fiancée, but don’t tell him I told you. He doesn’t like to talk about it.”
“A woman ruined his career, and another woman ruined this episode.” Lilith rubbed her forehead. She had to make amends.
“I don’t think you ruined it, and neither does Alan. Come on, let’s go talk to them.”
She walked with Rebecca toward the van. The back doors were open, and Spencer leaned against the bumper, his arms crossed. He glanced at Lilith and looked away, but in the split second of eye contact, an array of emotions crossed his features.
“I think we should use the footage,” Alan said.
Spencer sighed heavily. “How can a show like The Curse of Oak Island run for nine seasons? They’ve been hunting for the same treasure for years, and they haven’t found jack.”
“But they have.” Lilith stood near Spencer, and his posture relaxed. He uncrossed his arms and rested his hands against the bumper. Thank goodness. The idea of him being mad at her sat like a load of garlic in her stomach.
She continued, “They’ve found bits of wood, coins, tools.
I think they even found a piece of jewelry.
It’s the little things that keep viewers glued to the TV.
Intermittent rewards, like a slot machine.
Not to mention the curse. Will someone on the show have to die on the island before they can find the treasure? ”
Spencer arched a brow. “Sounds like you’re a fan.”
“I’ve seen every episode.”
Rebecca nodded. “Let’s see the footage.”
Alan inserted the memory card into a computer on a table in the van, and they all climbed inside to watch. Just as Lilith had wanted, her image was distorted, hazy. Viewers could see what they wanted to see in the black shadow peering through the trees.
“We should use it,” Rebecca said.
“It’s fake.” Spencer sank into a chair.
“Is it, though?” Rebecca sat next to him. “I mean, Lilith is a cryptid. We caught a supernatural being on camera, and that’s what our show is about.”
Alan nodded. “Our reactions are real. Technically, it’s not faked at all. I can do a voice-over at the end, questioning what we saw. Was it El Cadejos? Another ghost? A shapeshifter? A vampire?”
“The network execs are all human,” Rebecca said. “They won’t care what it is, only that we caught something.”
“They’re going to cancel us otherwise, and then what?” Alan nudged Spencer with an elbow. “Move back to Arizona and work at the family feed store?”
Spencer closed his eyes for a long blink. “You’re right. We’re desperate enough, so let’s use it.” He squared his gaze on Lilith. “But don’t ever pull a stunt like that again.”
Lilith drew an X over her heart and held her fingers up in a V. “Vampire’s honor.”
His brow rose in a slow arch. “Is that even a thing?”
“It is now.” Lilith winked and stepped out of the van.
“Let’s head back to the motel,” Alan said as the others filed onto the road. “If the Wi-Fi is decent enough, I’ll send the footage to the editors tonight.” He and Rebecca climbed into the front seats, leaving Lilith alone with Spencer at the back of the van.
Spencer’s lips were tight, his expression a glower, and he shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Thank you for letting me hang out tonight,” she said. “It was fun.”
A grunt was his only response.
“Why are you still mad at me? I swear I only wanted to help.”
He sighed heavily. “I’m not mad at you for trying to help. What you did was dangerous. Do you know how many venomous snakes and spiders live in those woods? Hell, even the frogs are poisonous. You could have been hurt.”
How cinnamony-sweet. He was concerned for her safety. She grinned and playfully punched him on the shoulder. “Oh, Spencer. You do care.”
“Of course I care. What we do is dangerous enough. You don’t need to put yourself at risk for a TV show.”
“You’re forgetting one tiny detail… I’m immortal. I could lick a dozen poisonous frogs, and I’d be just fine.”
“That’s something I can’t forget, and it’s why this ends now. You and I can never be, and you can’t keep showing up on our excursions. You’ll have to find your excitement somewhere else.”
“But we’re…”
“I can’t, Lilith. I won’t.”
The sting of rejection backhanded her across the face, but she maintained her composure despite her thickening throat and sour stomach. “I understand.”
Spencer headed to the van. He opened the side door, but before he got in, he turned to her. “I hope your familiar feels better now.”
She nodded, and he climbed inside, sliding the door shut behind him. Ouch.