Mx. Landry threw their arms up and held them wide above their head. Rolling white smoke billowed upward from their palms and held the ceiling in mid-fall, pushed it back up into place, knit the broken beams together again.
Nick trembled and wept. Leigh, Atlas, and I did the same. Moose just gave a little sniffle.
"Go to the car," Mx. Landry said. "The back of the car."
Head hanging, Nick slumped out of the room looking like a kicked puppy dog made of photons and laser beams.
The moment he stepped outside, my emotions settled down.
Leigh blinked like a sleepy toddler and took a step back from me.
Mx. Landry popped a cigarette into their mouth and held a finger to the end of it. A spark flashed and vanished. They shook their hand and tried again with better results. After taking a long drag and blowing it out, they said, "I'll get Nick under cover. You've got things here?"
"The kids are already safe. We'll load this lot in the van and drive them back to Seattle," Rowan said. "Thank you for your help. Please thank Nick for us, too."
Mx. Landry nodded. "All in a day's work."
The eight of us passed an hour erasing evidence of the battle that had taken place and loading the traffickers into the back of the van like so much stacked wood.
By the time I trudged back to the car with Scoob I thought maybe the magic wasn't working. Maybe I was dying after all. Or I was just incredibly freaking tired? Was it possible to die from exhaustion?
The ordeal at Benny's, inter-dimensional portals, dismembered feet inside shoes, Nick's advances, child-trafficking Hindu demons, ghouls, almost dying... all of it really saps a person's energy. Plus, my own stench and the gross, crusty clothes scraping against my body were seriously skeeving me out.
I dozed off in the car, waking when Scoob bumped over the end of the driveway by my apartment.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow if you need to get your car."
Nodding, I climbed out and stretched. In the east, the first suggestion of sunlight brightened the darkness to gray. As I planted my foot on the bottom step, I doubted my ability to reach the top, but somehow, I made it, went inside, stripped in the entryway, dropped my clothes in the nearby trash bin, showered, brushed my teeth, and fell into bed wrapped in a towel.
***
Light poured through between the curtains.
I pulled a blanket over my head.
***
My phone rang.
I turned it off.
***
When I woke up again, I knew right away from the quality of the light that I'd slept the day away and evening was fast approaching.
I got up and peed, pulled on a tee shirt and pajama shorts, and went back to bed.
***
A few minutes past midnight I woke a second time and lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling. My stomach growled for food, but I couldn't bring myself to leave the pseudo-safety of my warm, cozy nest. Thoughts drifted around inside my skull, no more than flotsam and jetsam.
Nick could have killed us all.
I didn't know Mx. Landry had those kinds of skills.
The Seattle guys must be halfway home by now.
YOU ARE READING
Wanted: Undead or Alive
Paranormal*** A disillusioned young woman leaves her mundane desk job for a chance to earn big bucks as a bounty hunter for monsters. *** Olivia Nowicki is working at a local fleabag motel making a little less than she needs to survive. When a bounty hunter a...
