Chapter 16 #2
Now, Lachlan wasn’t a Medium, not really.
He could barely sense ghosts at all. That wasn’t his strength.
His strength was getting a foot of steel into gnarly monsters.
That said, I wasn’t surprised he was also doing what Mack was doing.
Those two were guarding Eli’s back and helping at the same time, which was great.
Half the struggle was catching the ghosts, after all.
Him using a sword to do so amused me. Lachlan was creative at problem solving, had to give him that.
Another thing was lobbed at our heads. I threw up an arm to defend myself, knocking it aside. Fortunately, it was lighter, a box of something fluffy, as it didn’t have much impact. Still smarted, though. I had a feeling I was going to be walking out of here covered in bruises.
A booming voice screamed, “Gold rides an iron horse!”
What the hell?
An echo of it came from different voices all around the room: “Gold rides an iron horse!”
Fuck. I knew their slogan. These guys were part of the same mob, then.
We’d heard they’d be here, but I hadn’t been sure if the mob was down here or scattered throughout the building.
Seemed at least a few of them were down here.
It seriously unnerved me to realize even the dead would form mobs. There should be rules against that.
“Get her! Fucking get her!” at least two ghosts screamed, their voices echoing. Adrenaline shot up my spine, and dread dragged my stomach back down. I did not want Eli ambushed on all sides, but from my view with the goggles, ghosts were coming in from either side like a tidal wave.
I wasn’t about to let them ambush Eli and quickly changed stance to help fight these guys off.
My rock salt gun leapt into my hand as I fired at one, then another ghost trying to sneak up from behind.
Two rushed Mack’s back, and I got one before Mack managed to spin and catch the other by the throat.
This was a true fight, a battle. Adrenaline beat a staccato in my ears, sweat gathering at my temples.
I was moving, turning, trying to keep everyone safe and every ghost in line of sight at once.
A near impossible task, but fortunately, as quickly as the ghosts rushed us, they fell.
I focused in a way I rarely did, only thinking of the next target, my breathing loud in my ears.
Always, always, I kept Mack right at my side.
Alarm sent sparks up my spine, but I ignored it, staying focused.
Eli was poofing them out of existence like she was playing Dance Dance Revolution or something.
She had a definite tempo, moving us slowly about the room, catching ghosts as she could, her hands flying.
She even reared back and kicked one ghost in the chest. Quinn and Booker either shot anything that tried to flank her or called out warnings so she could handle it.
They moved like a well-oiled unit, which wasn’t a surprise.
They’d been together for years, after all.
I could tell she was slowing, getting tired.
Her breathing alone told the story there.
I started to really worry she was overdoing it.
But good luck to anyone trying to tell her to take a breather now, she was in get-’er-done mode.
Eli abruptly paused. “Aww, they’re running away!”
I snorted. Yeah, so strange that the ghosts were running away from the moving death machine. Whodathunk. Still, their rallying cry hadn’t lasted long, had it?
Mack turned his head and offered, “I can start grabbing them and hauling them to you?”
Yeah, good call, let her get her wind back. She’d been doing the most running around.
Lachlan was in full support of this idea. “Let’s do it. I’ll try to herd some too.”
“Team, break!” I called, which got people snickering. It did feel like a team sport, though.
Mack darted to the right, snagging someone by the arm, then hauling them along. They were fighting him, I could tell, and I didn’t let that stand. I moved to line up my Super Soaker with their chest. “Holy water in the gun,” I told the ghost. “Try me.”
“You fucking bastards!” the ghost howled. “This is our land, and here you are, finishing us off!”
“Yup, that’s what happens when you’re harming the living.” I had zero sympathy.
He stopped attacking Mack and let himself be dragged along, but I could tell from the way he resisted, he was trying to wrest his way free again. I could clearly hear he was arguing with Mack. Mack pretended to be deaf to his pleas and just kept going until Eli poofed him out of existence.
Afterward, it got harder to catch the ghosts. They’d thinned in number, leaving only the wily ones left. The ones who were more agile, more desperate to run. I saw what Eli meant by the mechanicals getting in the way, too, as I banged my head against at least two metal ducts. Ow.
Double ow—what the hell had just hit me in the back? All I knew was it had a sharp corner. They were still throwing things?
“Gold rides an iron horse!” a man screamed in my direction.
Honestly, it pissed me off so much I almost laid down cover fire of holy water on sheer principle. I would have, except Lachlan was still sword-herding and I didn’t want to soak him accidentally.
I was definitely getting my cardio in today. I made at least four laps around the room, trying to keep up with Mack and cover his flank.
The numbers dropped steadily with two Mediums being so gung ho about clearing this room.
Look at us, making progress. We might clear the basement today.
I glanced at my watch, grimaced, lifted my goggles so I could actually read my watch, and tried again.
Oh wow, we’d been at this over two hours already.
It hadn’t felt that long, more like thirty minutes.
Yeah, we weren’t clearing this whole building today. We had maybe another six hours of daylight left and another two floors to clear. Eli was flagging, Mack wasn’t doing much better, and we absolutely did not want to trip over Joey with Eli so depleted. That would be a really bad idea all around.
Mack abruptly stopped and I almost plowed into him.
He stared straight ahead, lips curled back in a snarl.
Uh-oh, what had him all twisted up? I couldn’t hear the ghosts as clearly anymore.
Probably because Eli wasn’t throwing around power like before.
Which, dammit, being able to hear them had been helpful.
“If you think you can attack me, think again,” he said flatly. “Yeah, she’s busy right this second, and I look like an easy mark, right? But I can exorcise you too. Don’t fucking tempt me.”
I couldn’t hear the ghost’s response, but Mack threw his head back on a laugh. The sound chilled me. Like, seriously, Mack was scaring even me right now.
“Oh, honey child,” he said in the most patronizing tone I’d ever heard from him. “Bless your heart. I’ve fought bigger, meaner things than you. Hell, Lachlan kills scarier things for a warm-up before breakfast.”
Lachlan, standing on the other side of me, snorted.
“You ain’t getting past us. In fact, I’ll take care of you myself.”
Now, the hell of it was, I could actually see Mack’s ability work through the goggles.
Psychic energy registered, too, and displayed like heat would.
It was all oranges and reds as his ability flared like an aura around him, then he channeled it to go along his arm, straight out, hitting the ghost in front of him dead in the chest.
It was impossible to look away, and both horrifying and fascinating to watch the ghost-almost-demon splinter apart and disperse like his atoms came unglued. Which was kinda sorta what happened.
I blew out a breath and felt my pants get a little too tight. Damn, Mack was sexy when he used his power. This was neither the time nor place for a little PDA, but I was definitely jumping him later tonight.
Lachlan leaned in to mutter, “Ghost asked whose bitch he was, mine or yours.”
Oh. Well, that would explain why Mack got mad enough to deal with the fucker himself. I was glad, too. I kissed Mack’s cheek. “Thanks, honey.”
He muttered something too quick for me to catch, and Creole besides, before lifting his head. “I cannot believe how homophobic that asshole was. Okay, who’s left?”
I turned to look but…uh…it looked kinda empty? “Did we get everyone?”
Booker walked to us, offering a water bottle to Mack first, then bottles to Lachlan and me. “Here, everyone hydrate. And yes, I think we got everyone. I say we leave the salt line down and check again tomorrow, just in case someone’s trying to be very clever and hiding somewhere.”
It was dark in here, despite all of our lights, so I was all right with erring on the side of caution. “Sure. Thanks, Booker.”
“No problem. It’s easy to dehydrate in this desert.”
He had that part right. I kept drinking, and drinking, and still I feel like a sponge left to dry out on the back patio. In full sun. In July.
Mack drained half the water bottle in one long gulp before letting out a happy sigh. “That hit the spot. I must remember to drink more. Eli, how you feeling?”
“Exhausted. I’m ready for nap time. We did a lot of clearing down here.
” Eli regrouped with us, Quinn still watching her back like he didn’t trust the room.
I didn’t blame him. “I think we should quit for the day and finish tomorrow, though. I do not want to tackle this building at night. It’s too damn dark in here as it is.
Plus, I need to recharge before we run into Joey. ”
“I’m good with leaving.”
Lachlan nodded. “Aye, breaking for the day’s smart.”
“We got a lot done, but we must remember this is a marathon, not a sprint,” Booker said.
Pacing ourselves was hard because we normally didn’t get these huge cases. Normally we did sprint, getting in and out, and rested while on the road. Something else to keep in mind and guard against.
“Then let’s close shop for the day and go get some lunch.” I, for one, was famished after chasing ghosts and trying to protect multiple people all morning.