Page 69 of Silver Claw

“Bastards,” I muttered.

Joe stood against the wall, machete in hand, looking as fierce as the clients liked him. “Council?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I hadn’t told him about them calling me back in, because he’d insist on coming with me. Though the magic warding the entrance could have barred him, I didn’t trust the council to refuse him entry. And they might take him again.

So I didn’t tell him.

He was going to be furious.

Remy walked in and fell into a chair across the room. “If Voss doesn’t show soon, I’m going to have to leave you for a while, Kait. I need to fight something.” He grinned at Joe and patted his favorite stake. “Kill me some vampires, maybe.”

Joe pointedly ignored him.

Gracie Dawn escorted the first client to the door. She opened the door, stuck her head in, and asked, “Everybody decent in here? We got a lady in need of ghost busting.”

“Dear god,” Remy muttered, and got to his feet. “I’m going to take a walk down the street.”

And so the night of work began.

Outside the office building, a group of ghosts had gathered, milling about and looking confused. They knew there was something drawing them to the area but couldn’t quite figure out what or exactly where that something was.

I hadn’t even glanced at them on my way in. If they realized I could see them, I’d have been buried beneath a dozen spirits in seconds. All screaming, yelling, gnashing their imaginary teeth, begging for help.

I could handle one at a time. An entire group at once?

No.

I needed to discourage them from gathering near my place of work, because that was just distracting. Occasionally one would find his way into the office, but so far, it hadn’t become a severely haunted building. And I wanted to keep it that way.

The seventh client of the night was a young couple worried about their ten-year-old daughter. The woman was a pale-skinned redhead with pink rings around her eyes, trembling lips, and exhaustion in every premature line on her face. Her name was Leah Kelly, and her husband was Keith. “Our daughter, Mila,” she started. “She’s been sick for nearly a year now. All her blood work comes back normal. Her scans, exams, MRIs,everything. All normal. I think her doctors are suspicious that Keith and I are somehow hurting her.” She burst into tears and dug for tissues in her bag.

“Someoneis hurting her,” Keith said grimly, putting his arm around his sobbing wife. “But we don’t think it’s anyone we can see. We think it’s a ghost. And it’s affecting her mind, as well.” He was grimly determined to get the words through to me, no matter how ridiculous he believed they sounded. “She’s…she’s fading.”

“Mr. Kelly,” I started. “I—”

“Don’t say no,” Leah cried. “I can’t take it.”

“I wasn’t going to say no,” I told her gently. “If it’s okay, I can come to your house to see Mila right now.”

They only stared at me.

“Where do you live?” I asked, then clicked on their file to open their address. “Oh. I see you live in Sterling Hills.”

Sterling Hills was a rather elite neighborhood for wealthy people. I’d never been called there or had any real reason to visit, as I had no friends or family there.

“You’ll come?” Leah asked quietly. “Right now?”

“Yes.” I stood and Joe left his spot against the wall. “Right now.”

They got to their feet, still a little dazed that everything was working out for them, and so easily.

Keith pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’ll register you so you can get past the gate,” he murmured.

I gave him the make, model, and color of my car, and he quickly added the information.

I gestured at Joe. “My assistant, Joe Patrick, will be riding with me.”

Joe grinned. “Assistant.”