Laure Donavan 2 - Ghouls Night Out (23 page)

“
No, I don’t want you to
punch him,” I said.

As the words left my lips, I realized
what I’d done. I’d always been so good at not talking to the ghosts
around people. The stress really was getting to me. Cooper would
think I was nuts.

Cooper stared at me, then looked in
the exact direction of where Anthony stood.

“
Punching me won’t be
necessary,” he said directly at Anthony.

“
He can see us. Damn it,
this guy is bad news,” Mae said.

My mouth hung open. Finally someone
else who I could share my misery with, and he was low down and
rotten. Figured.

“
And I must say, Ms. West,
I am a huge fan.” Cooper gave a little bow.

“
Thank you, darlin’.” Her
hips swayed as she talked.

“
You can see them? Why
didn’t you mention before now that you could see them?” I
asked.

“
There was really no reason
to. You seemed to have everything under control. Well, I take that
back, I guess if you had everything under control, you’d help them
find the light.”

“
Hey, I do just fine with
helping them find the light. I’ve been doing this for years.” I
pointed my finger at him. “Some just take longer than others. And
why don’t you help them find the light, if you’re so good?” I
smirked, proud of my snappy comeback.

He held his hands up in surrender.
“Whatever you say, my dear.”

“
Don’t you patronize me,
you black magic jerk.”

“
Way to tell him, Larue.”
Seth stood beside like my senior citizen bodyguard.

“
Thank you, Seth.” I folded
my arms across my chest.

“
Okay, just calm down,
Larue.” Cooper stepped around the counter and moved toward
me.

I backed away. “Don’t come any closer
to me, buddy.”

“
I’m not practicing black
magic. I’m not like Brianna, if that’s what you think.”

“
Oh, and I’m supposed to
believe you? Just take your evil word for it?”

“
Okay, stop adding words
like evil and black magic on to other words to describe me.” He
smiled.

I glared.

“
You’re feisty.” He grinned
that sparkling white smile at me. “I thought Mindy was feisty, but
so are you. No wonder you’re friends.”

“
I can be a lot more than
feisty. But how would you know about my friendship with Mindy,
huh?” I placed my hands on my hips. I wasn’t backing
down.

“
Why don’t you tell me what
the problem is? Would you like to have a seat? I added some really
comfortable chairs back by the dressing rooms.” He gestured toward
the back of the store with a tilt of his head.

“
Oh, no. I’m not staying
around. I just came to tell you I know what you’re doing and I plan
on putting a stop to it.” I whirled around. “Come on, guys. Let’s
get out of here before he does something evil again.”

“
Larue, please, don’t go,”
Cooper called out.

I pushed through the door, not giving
him the satisfaction of a glance back. Plus, if I looked back, he
might see the terror in my eyes. I couldn’t believe I’d just
confronted someone who had the ability to cast bad spells against
me, my family, and my friends. What had I been thinking?

I hurried to my car before Cooper had
a chance to catch up with me. As I pulled away from the curb,
Anthony said, “Now can I show you where I know Cooper
from?”

“
Fine, but this better be
legal, whatever it is.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

I pulled the car up to the main
entrance and shoved it into park.

“
I can’t believe I let you
all talk me into this.”

“
What in the world is there
to be afraid of, Larue? You think the scary boogie man is going to
come up out of the ground and get you? You already have ghosts with
you, remember?”

“
Funny, very funny. And
yes, as a matter of fact, the boogie man might get me.”

“
Look, you know what
happens. We’re ghosts. Nothing to be afraid of.”

“
I beg to differ. There’s
plenty to be afraid of. I’m not afraid of ghosts, you should know
that by now.” I turned off the ignition. “But demons? Now, that’s a
different story.”

“
What about demons?”
Anthony asked.

“
Have you ever dealt with
one of those suckers? Huh? Have you?”

He shook his head.

“
I didn’t think so. Let me
tell you, they hang out in places like this just waiting for fools
like me who come for a cheap thrill. And let me tell you, they’ll
give me a cheap thrill, all right.”

“
I prefer my thrills to not
be cheap,” Mae said.

I rolled my eyes. No comment. In the
distance, an owl hooted.

“
Are you serious? Did
someone stage that sound?” What was next, a wolf howling at the
moon?

Anthony shook his head.

“
Come on,” I said. “If
we’re going to do this, we might as well get it over
with.”

As I closed the car door and walked
toward the big gates, the ghosts popped up next to it.

“
This is nuts. I bet I’m
the only person on the planet who brings ghosts to graveyards. I’ve
heard of bringing ghosts home from graveyards, but never bringing
them to a graveyard. And, speaking of which, do you have any idea
how dangerous it is for me to come to this place? I don’t have room
for any more ghosts in my car. Where would they sit? What am I
going to do, stuff them in the trunk?”

“
Oh, now you’re just being
silly,” Anthony said.

I quirked a brow and let Anthony have
my best stinging glare.

“
Right, well, anyway,
thanks for doing this, doll. But I don’t know what you’re so
worried about.”

“
I attract ghosts,
remember?”

“
Look, if any ghosts want
to come with us, just let me take care of it.”

“
I don’t like the sound of
that.” I frowned.

“
Do you want to get an
answer about this Cooper clown or not?”

“
I do, I do. But the real
question is do you have an answer? I hate to be a Negative Nancy,
but…”

“
Come on.” He motioned as
he floated through the iron bars on the entryway.

The big iron gate let out a huge moan
when I pushed it open. Tall trees ringed the grounds. Statues and
headstones greeted us through swirling mist. The scene was
something straight out of a gothic novel, complete with moon,
clouds, and a foggy mist.

“
I can’t believe they don’t
keep this locked.” Once I’d walked through the gates, I pushed it
back to its original position.

“
They don’t care about the
people in here. They’re dead to them.” Anthony let out a cackle at
his joke.

“
That was a very lame
attempt at humor,” Mae said.

He cleared his throat. “Whatever.
Follow me. I think I know where we’re going.”

“
Oh, you think? Well, how
reassuring. Follow the ghost who thinks he knows where he’s going.
Perfect.” I held the flashlight in front of me. It didn’t add much
illumination to the spooky scene.

“
I don’t usually come at
night. It’s too scary.” He cackled again.

Seth rolled his eyes.

“
Do not, I repeat, do not
drain the batteries in this flashlight because I didn’t bring any
more with me. And the last thing I need is to be in a graveyard in
the dark.”

“
Who knew you were such a
chicken?” Anthony said over his shoulder.

“
I am not a chicken. I just
don’t want to trip over a tombstone.”

“
Right, right, right.” He
snorted.

“
How do you know where
you’re going in this place?” I asked.

“
Just trust me.”

“
Yeah, I’ll be sure to
trust you.” I rolled my eyes. “Some of the graves are really grown
over. It’s a shame someone doesn’t take care of them. Look, this
person passed away in 1796.” I pointed at the old stone to my
left.

“
Wow, that’s really old,”
Mae said.

“
Almost as old as you,
Mae,” Anthony quipped.

“
Hey, that was very nice,”
I said.

I pointed the light in front of me and
followed Anthony as he weaved through graves and around a couple
trees toward the back of the cemetery.

“
Are you going to tell me
how you know your way around here so well, or not?”

Anthony stopped abruptly and I almost
walked right through him.

“
I’m buried here, okay,” he
said with a slight edge to his voice. “I come here sometimes just
to check up on the old bones.” He turned away from us and stared
down at the ground.

I frowned. “I’m sorry. I should have
guessed.”

“
It’s okay, doll.” His
voice cracked, but he tried to maintain his devil-may-care
attitude. He didn’t look my way, but instead stared into the
darkness.

“
Why are you bringing us to
a cemetery, anyway? What does this place have to do with
Cooper?”

“
You’ll see. Now, shall we
continue?” Anthony turned to face us again.

“
Yeah.” I nodded. “Lead the
way.”

“
Don’t go so fast,” Seth
said from somewhere behind us.

“
Come on, gramps. Keep the
pace up,” Anthony said over his shoulder.

“
Don’t listen to him, Seth,
you take your time. How much further is it to where you’re taking
us? I refuse to go much further.” The smell of soil and crisp
leaves swirled around me. The crackling of the foliage as I walked
was slightly unnerving; everything else was dead quiet. Appropriate
for a cemetery, I guess.

“
It’s over here somewhere,
so quit complaining. Why are you so slow? Those fitness classes are
doing nothing for your stamina.”

“
I’ll let that comment
slide. I’ll assume you’re under a lot of stress right now.” I
glared at him. “Can’t you give me a hint?”

“
There’s something over
here I want to show you.” He gestured for us to follow. “It’s a
grave, okay?”

“
How do you know where it
is? I mean, there are hundreds of graves here. Why did you bring us
out here to show us a grave?” I moved the flashlight across a few
stones.

He stopped again. “You sure are full
of questions tonight.”

“
Well, when you drag me to
a spooky graveyard in the middle of the night, I kind of have a few
questions.”

“
First, it’s not the middle
of the night, it’s a little after nine o’ clock. That’s far from
the middle of the night.”

“
Don’t argue with the
lovely lady, you big dummy,” Seth snapped.

I rolled my eyes. Bickering in the
middle of the cemetery. Most women were home with their families,
having dinner, maybe movie night and reading bedtime stories to
their kids. Not me. I was in a scene right out of a Scooby Doo
episode.

“
Anyway, middle of the
night…I say po-tay-toe, you say po-tah-toe. The time is irrelevant
right now. Just answer my questions, Anthony, or I’m not going a
step further.”

“
My grave site is right
over there, okay? I know all the names around here. That’s how I
recognized the name Cooper Garret. That guy is an impostor, I’m
telling you. The real Cooper Garret is dead.”

“
What?” I stopped on the
spot.

“
The real Cooper Garret is
buried here.” Anthony seemed adamant that he was on to something. I
wasn’t so sure.

“
You’re dead serious aren’t
you?” I covered my mouth with my hand. “Oops. Sorry about
that.”

Anthony scowled. “Very
funny.”

“
Did you ever think that
maybe the current Cooper Garret happens to have the same name as
someone else? I’m sure there’s another Larue Donavan out there in
the world. Maybe Cooper was named after his father. He’s not from
around here, anyway.”

“
Yeah, that’s what makes it
scarier. He probably came out here and just picked a random name
off a grave when he got to town.” He continued walking. “It’s the
next aisle over. We’re almost there. Shine the flashlight that
way.” He pointed.

Chapter Thirty-Four

The sound of leaves crunching
underfoot rang out. I knew it wasn’t me because I was standing
still. I whipped around with the flashlight. The small circle of
glowing light revealed nothing in front of me. I moved the light
around, but didn’t see anyone or anything. Thank goodness for small
favors.

There were a lot of tall grave
markers, someone could easily hide behind one. I wasn’t worried
about ghosts, but I was worried about some crazy living person who
might be lingering around the graveyard. That was a much creepier
scenario. Ghosts, I could handle. A chill ran down my spine. Plus,
there was that whole demon thing. What if the dark shadow was
back?