Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (31 page)

We paused, all staring up at the large
Victorian home.

“
Do you think she’s in
there?” Mindy asked.

“
Well, there’s only one way
to find out. I know my sister and she’s vindictive. She’s probably
up there sleeping off the spell that I cast against her. When she
wakes she’ll be like a hornet.” Karyn climbed out of the
car.

Great. That was exactly what I’d
wanted to hear.

“
Unless she is wreaking
havoc with someone’s life, she’ll stay in bed to get her beauty
sleep, as she calls it. That’s how she gets over a spell.” Karyn
motioned for us to join her.

I grabbed the bag containing the
necessary ingredients and met Karyn on the sidewalk. “Too bad
beauty sleep doesn’t help with beauty from within, because she
truly needs it. Sorry.”

‘
It’s okay. I know she’s my
sister, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the fact that she’s a
terrible person. I’ve known that since we were kids.”

“
Let’s do this,” Mindy said
moving toward the house.

I followed Mindy and Karyn, but I
couldn’t deny the apprehension that was lodged in my throat like a
large piece of hard candy. Soon it might choke me all
together.

We walked together up the path as if
we were Charlie’s Angels… the paranormal version. We were on a
mission. If this didn’t work, well, I didn’t want to think about
it. The demon in my head was pulling me back. He wanted me to turn
around and walk right out in the street. He’d love nothing more
than if I just killed myself. I wasn’t going down without a fight
though. I wouldn’t make his job easy.

When we reached the door, Karyn
knocked. Luckily, she knew the owner.

Mrs. Ragland opened the door. “Karyn,
what a lovely surprise.”

Mrs. Ragland’s gray bun was drooping
on one side of her head. Dark rings circled her eyes and she could
barely muster a smile. Everywhere that Jane went she had the same
effect on people. She was like a virus, turning stomachs everywhere
she went.

“
Won’t you please come in?”
She looked at us and stepped back so we could enter the
foyer.

The home was eerily quiet except for
the tick-tock of the old grandfather clock in the corner of the
room. I looked up at the staircase. Mrs. Ragland caught me looking
and a worried expression spread across her face. It was as if she
was saying, please don’t wake the beast. It was only going to get
worse before it get better. I hated to tell her.

“
What brings you ladies by?”
She looked at us inquisitively. “Won’t you please have a seat?
Would you like lemonade and cookies?”

“
I could use some lemonade
and cookies,” Mindy said.

I poked her in the side. I knew she
should have skipped the pole fitness class today. I’d heard her
stomach growling in the car on the way over.

“
No, thank you. We need to
see your guest,” Karyn said.

Mrs. Ragland fidgeted and her hands
shook. “Oh, no. She’s sleeping and we musn’t wake her. She isn’t
very nice when she’s awoken.”

Just as I’d thought. It was like
waking a beast.

“
I really don’t care, Mrs.
Ragland. Jane will be checking out today.”

“
She will?” The tone of her
voice brightened. “Well, in that case, would you like to go up and
wake her yourself?”

“
I’d love to.” Karyn stood,
then moved back out into the foyer.

“
I’ll go get that lemonade
and cookies just in case you want any,” Mrs. Ragland said before
disappearing around the corner.

This was
so
going to get ugly. I was glad I
hadn’t worn my nice clothes. Karyn made her way up the stairs and
Mindy and I stayed behind to set up our ingredients for the magic
spell. Normally, the coven liked to perform these spells outside so
that they could draw on Mother Nature’s energy, but that wasn’t
part of our plan today.

After pulling the ingredients out of
the bag, Karyn and Jane bounded down the stairs. Jane looked like a
mad hornet whose nest had just been disturbed. She would be even
more pissed when she saw what was about to happen next.

“
What is all this about? You
silly little bitches think you can come over here and do something
to me. I can tell you now, it ain’t happening. You are weak. I have
the power now.” She touched the pendant.

I looked down at her chest and the
necklace was draped around her neck.

Jane met my gaze. “You think you’re
getting the necklace back? I’d give it back to Karyn before I’d
give it to you. At least she had experience running the coven,
although I think she’s lost her mind for giving it to you in the
first place.”

“
We’ve come to perform a
spell that will force you to give the necklace back. Once the spell
is broken, they’ll be taking you away again. You’ll never get out
this time,” Karyn said.

Where was this mysterious place that
they were taking people? It really was like the land of the misfit
witches. I didn’t have time to contemplate it right now. I’d have
to ask Karyn later, if there was a later. By the look on Jane’s
face, I wasn’t convinced there would be. She looked like she was
ready for Armageddon.

There was no time to waste. I had to
break free from this spell before I did something that would harm
me or someone else. There was no time to go to the usual
spell-casting spot. We’d have to do it right there in the cozy
bed-and-breakfast around the teapots, delicate china and lace
curtains.

What would happen to Mrs. Ragland’s
trinkets if the spell picked up the wind like it had when we were
surrounded by the trees? It was a chance we’d have to take. The
knickknacks could be replaced. Well, most of them anyway. We’d have
to hope for the best.

“
Are you ready, Larue?”
Karyn asked.

“
It won’t work. I’ll fight
the spell. You won’t be able to get rid of me,” Jane
said.

We didn’t respond. We couldn’t give
her the satisfaction.

“
I’m more powerful than you
ever dreamed possible. The longer I’m around you the more I can
feed off your energy. You’re helping me destroy you. How ironic is
that? It really sucks being you.” She snorted.

“
Come on, ladies, let’s form
a circle.” Karyn held out her hands.

Jane’s face grew red as we began to
chant. I’d never seen that shade of red on anyone’s face before,
but we kept going. Nothing could stop us now. We had formed a
circle and we weren’t going to let it be broken. Mindy looked a
pale shade of green, a stark contrast to Jane’s crimson
shade.

Jane ran around the circle yelling at
us, but we kept chanting. Karyn’s eyes were determined. And that
was exactly what Jane hated to see. It was making her furious. Her
eyes flamed, her mouth twisted into an evil grin. She was turning
into a demon. Maybe not literally, but she was pretty darn close.
The closest I’d ever seen any living person and I’d seen quite a
few exorcisms.

When Jane lunged into the circle,
Karyn jumped on top of her. Karyn had warned us that Jane would try
to fight us off and she had been right. It wasn’t even necessary to
perform the magic spell at this moment. Just the act would make
Jane so furious that she’d lose her cool. Now if Karyn could just
get the necklace from her.

The women rolled around on the floor.
Mindy and I exchanged a glance. I nodded and Mindy agreed. We moved
forward and climbed on top of Jane. She had Karyn on the
ground.

From over my shoulder, Mrs. Ragland
said, “Oh my. This is awful. What are you girls doing?”

Furniture was being turned over and I
heard glass break somewhere in the room. We’d have to pay Mrs.
Ragland back for all that. I knew it was going to be a bad day for
Mrs. Ragland but if couldn’t be avoided. With one big pull, Karyn
yanked at the chain around Jane’s neck. Karyn fell backward, but
the necklace was in her hand. Success.

“
Give that back,” Jane
panted.

Already Jane’s power was diminishing.
Now that we had the necklace, we could perform the spell that would
banish the demon back to hell forever. I couldn’t breathe a sigh of
relief yet, but at least I was one step closer than I had been just
a few minutes ago.

Karyn jumped to her feet. “Come. Let’s
join hands,” she said as she placed the necklace around her
neck.

I was glad that she’d kept it. I
didn’t want anything else to do it with it. The necklace had caused
nothing but problems for me. It certainly hadn’t helped. We stepped
into the circle again. Jane was still on the floor. She didn’t look
as if she had the energy to fight. We joined hands and began the
chant again. After several seconds, the wind picked up, whipping
wildly around the room. What hadn’t been destroyed during the fight
with Jane sure would be now. I wasn’t sure where Mrs. Ragland had
vanished to. Probably to call the cops.

Just when the wind had reached what I
thought would be its peak, a voice sounded over the roar of the
wind.

“
I want you all to stop and
stop right now.”

When I looked up, I knew where Mrs.
Ragland had disappeared to. She was pointing a gun in our
direction. Well, if that didn’t beat all. Just when you thought
things were looking up, a little old lady drags out a firearm and
points it at your head. We couldn’t win for losing.

We slowly released our hands and
shoved them above our heads, breaking the circle, and with it, the
spell. What would we do now? This would give Jane the opportunity
to get the necklace back. Was Mrs. Ragland in cahoots with Jane?
She did have that strange glow in her eyes. Or was she just a
little old lady scared for her life? I couldn’t say that I blamed
her for the latter. A bunch of crazy women fighting and chanting in
her living room was enough to scare the heck out of
anyone.

“
I want you all to get out
of my home right this moment.” She gestured toward the front door
with the gun.

I chanced a glance over at Jane. She
was trying to get to her feet. If we didn’t hurry, she would jump
back up again.

Before I had time to think about what
to do, the gunshot rang out and with it a scream too. Jane had
jumped up and lunged for Karyn. At that moment, Mrs. Ragland had
pulled the trigger.

Karyn screamed out. “Jane, are you
okay?”

I knew Jane was a bad person, but it
was still Karyn’s sister and I knew she wouldn’t want her hurt.
Thankfully, the shot had hit her in the leg. She wasn’t going
anywhere. Now if only we could convince Mrs. Ragland to allow us to
continue the spell, preferably in her living room.

Karyn leaned down to her sister.
“You’ll be okay. We’ll call for help. Just keep pressure on the
wound. In the meantime, we have to break the spell. Jane, if we
don’t the demon will come after you too. He tricked you into
thinking that he was only there to help you. He just wants to help
himself.”

Jane nodded. She didn’t have the
strength to argue.

Mrs. Ragland had dropped the gun. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean to shoot it. The gun just went off.” She fell
into the green velvety chair.

Mindy ran over and grabbed the gun,
placing it on the sofa behind us.

Karyn gestured for us to hold her
hands again. “The ambulance will be here soon. We have just enough
time to finish the spell.”

By the time we had finished the spell,
talked with the police, and saw Jane in the hospital, it was
morning. Mindy had insisted we stop for blueberry doughnuts before
going back to Book Nook. I’d drop her off at her car, then tell
Beth I was taking the day off. I needed rest and I knew she could
handle the store without me.

Now that the spell had been broken,
the vile and evil feeling trying to take over my mind removed, and
Jane taken away, there was one more thing left to do.

“
How do you get rid of Candy
Cherry?” Mindy asked as we stood at the counter of Book
Nook.

“
Now that the ghosts have no
hold over me, I can tell them to go into the light. They’ll have no
reason to say no and no way to fight me without Jane’s
spell.”

Mindy let out a deep breath. “I need a
margarita. This is more than I can handle.”

She was telling me. I had to remember
to stop by and pick up some tequila for later.

The ghosts stood in front of
me.

“
I’ve had enough of you two
and it’s time you went to the other side.” I pointed at Candy
Cherry and Mr. Fine.

I didn’t tell them that I
wasn’t sure
which
other side they would end up on. But by the black hole that
appeared in the side of the bookstore wall, it looked like they
were going to the deciding room—they would be going to the judge’s
score card for that decision.

Elvis watched from beside me. I knew
he wasn’t going with them.

“
You think you’re so
special, but you’re not,” Candy Cherry spewed. She knew what was
happening and she still couldn’t be nice.