“Does that really matter now?”
“No. It doesn't. It just makes it harder to be put in the position of killing this girl, who I had a chance to help,” Nick said. “She's not the monster Drake was. She wanted her family back, and her sister most of all, by the look of things.”
Jackie put her hand on his leg, wanting to offer the little comfort she could. While not the same, she could understand the dilemma. Going after Detective Morgan several weeks back, knowing she might have to kill a man no longer under the control of his own mind, had pained her conscience. He had become a victim of his addiction, a harsh price to pay. Charlotte, though, had the added layer of youth. You just did not put the face of a young teen girl to the actions of a serial killer. It was too discordant.
“Nick, I'd say I was sorry we took this case, but I can't. If we didn't, then more Jessicas would end up walking the streets of Thatcher's Mill not remembering who they were, and a whole town would be left under the hypnotic manipulations of that girl. I am sorry, though, that we are probably going to have to pull the trigger on killing Charlotte. She certainly didn't deserve to be put into this situation.”
He glanced over at her, a faint, wistful smile on his face. “I'm not sorry we took the case, Jackie. I'm sorry it's come to this. It pains me to know I came upon this girl in the wake of a vampire, and now we're visiting the same thing upon her again.”
Jackie sighed. “I know it's not fair, but she's killed and ruined innocent lives. If there was another wayâ”
Nick's phone rang, cutting her off. “Hey Cyn, what's going on? We're on our way back to the airport now. Things are getting complicated. Today's paper? No, we haven't.” Nick's mouth pulled taut. “That is unfortunate. We'll look it up as soon as we can, thanks. No, you should stay here. It's not going to be safe. Yes, I'm sure, Cyn. I'll call you back when we know what we're doing. Yes, I promise. OK, talk to you soon.”
That did not sound good. “What's in today's paper?” Jackie asked.
“Our favorite reporter has written up some speculative fiction about our activities in Thatcher's Mill. Cyn's had about twenty calls to the office today already.”
“Seriously?” Jackie groaned. “I'm going to deck that little shit.”
“I may even hold him for you,” Nick said. “We'll look it up on the plane.”
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The article not only called them out by name and put Special Investigations out there in big, bold type, but it made them look like the Ghostbusters on crack, harassing everyone in their path in the search for paranormal glory. Belgerman would not be pleased. Jackie wanted to hurl the laptop across the plane.
“I'll get my PR guy from Bloodwork on this,” he said. “If we have to, I'll get the SI number changed. Don't worry, Jackie. It'll blow over.”
“I'm still kicking Philip's ass when I see him,” she said.
“Remember, too,” he replied, “Charlotte may have had some influence over his decisions. We vampires can be very persuasive when we want to be.”
His smile indicated he was going for humor, but the thought just creeped Jackie out. The whole notion of mind control disturbed her in a way she could not put into words. “Yeah, well, I still want to smack him upside the head.”
Nick chuckled. “You certainly have my blessing.”
The flight seemed to get quicker every time, and it was late afternoon when they touched down and met up with McManus. He waited anxiously by his car.
“Good to see you, Jack,” he said. “You're doing all right?”
“If good means cranky, pissed off, and generally ready to bite heads off, then I'm doing fabulous,” she replied. “Anything new down at the Mill?”
“Still no sign of the girl,” he said. “There's still some rioting going on in the streets, and the sheriff's office is on my ass to get troops in there to settle the situation. Whatever we come up with, it's going to have to go down soon, otherwise they'll be down there in force to crack some skulls.”
They all got into the car as he talked and were moving before Jackie had buckled her seatbelt. “We have an additional complication to deal with now,” she said.
McManus smiled. “Of course we do. What is it now?”
“The girl, Jessica,” Jackie said. “Charlotte has turned her into a vampire, too.”
“No shit?” He shook his head. “So now we have two vamps to deal with?”
“No,” Nick replied. “We have to try and get her out. She can still be helped.”
McManus laughed, his voice humorless. “And you have a plan for killing one while saving the other?”
“Not yet,” Jackie said. “I think we're going to need to treat this like a hostage situation.”
“Except your hostage is probably going to be hostile to getting rescued.”
“I know,” she replied. “She's going to hate our guts.”
Chapter 24
Jackie walked into their Dubuque hotel room and was immediately bear-hugged by Denny. “Jack! Looking lovely as ever.”
She laughed. “God, fuck you, Denny. I look like hell.”
He smiled. “Battle scars are hot. Anyway, I heard you got to cool your heels in Thatcher's Mill's jail.”
“Not an experience I care to replicate, thank you very much,” she said and stepped past him. Pernetti was standing by the dining room table they were using to lay out their information. She walked over to him and thrust out her hand. “I'm even glad to see you, Pernetti. I miss having an asshole around to pick on.”
He shook her hand. “I asked Belgerman to hire another bitch for the team, but he didn't take too kindly to my suggestion.”
They all snickered at that, and Jackie felt a pang of regret. She missed these guys. She missed the life of being an agent.
You'll be back some day, hon, don't worry,
Laurel said.
We'll see. They might decide after I've been gone for six months that they don't want me back.
You're a good agent. They'll want you back.
At this point, I'm beginning to think I'm far more trouble than I'm worth.
Hardly! You're a valuable asset.
Valuable or not, if she kept getting into situations like this, they might easily want to wash their hands of her.
Shelby stepped out of the bathroom, that effervescent smile spread across her face. “You guys could always hire me. I make a fabulous bitch.”
There was some uneasy laughter at that. Lust and fear made a very strange mix. Nick snorted and moved over to sit down at the table and see what they had. “Truer words have never been spoken.”
She walked by and slugged him on the shoulder. “You are not going on my reference page.”
McManus walked over and sat down. “Let's get down to business here, guys. This has to happen tonight. Hopefully our perp makes herself known soon or we'll be calling in the Guard to quell the rioting. Jack, you want to fill us all in on everything that's pertinent up to this point?”
“Sure,” she said and turned to find Shelby with a Styrofoam cup of coffee for her. “Oh. Thanks, Shel.” Jackie took a sip and began to circle the table. “You probably know a lot of this already, but I'll give you the quick rundown. We went to Thatcher's Mill to investigate a note we found by a former field agent indicating a great deal of paranormal activity. We found a town full of ghosts, like ten times what one would expect to find. It turns out most of them are likely the victims of one Charlotte Thatcher, a young woman who was turned into a vampire by our favorite bloodsucker, Cornelius Drake.”
“No shit?” Pernetti asked.
“Yep, no shit,” Jackie replied. “Surprised me, too. Nick realized after we got there who it was, because he came through Thatcher's Mill back in 1897 right after Drake attacked the Thatcher family.” She raised a warning hand to them. “But don't ask. It's a long story. Anyway, Charlotte has been keeping this town under her thumb ever since. Most of them have been influenced or hypnotized, or whatever you want to call it, to believe she's the best thing since sliced bread. Basically, if you mess with the Thatchers, you mess with the whole town. Their police chief made that very clear after we arrived.”
“He's a douche bag,” Shelby said.
“No arguments there,” Jackie replied. “Anyway, Charlotte has been kidnapping and brainwashing victims over the years to replace her family members, and apparently also trying to turn them into vampires as well. From what we can tell, she succeeded yesterday in doing just that. Her latest victim, fifteen-year-old Jessica Davies, has been turned.”
“Jesus Christ,” Denny muttered. “We have two to deal with?”
“She has just been changed,” Nick replied. “She won't be a danger to us in that regard. She won't know how to make use of the power accessible to her. We need to get her away from Charlotte, however, and that is the problem we face now. I doubt she will want to leave, especially if she truly believes she is Charlotte's sister.”
“So we have an uncooperative hostage, who technically may not even be a hostage by definition,” Jackie continued. “We have Charlotte, who will be extremely hostile and difficult to take down, and we have the parentsâalso hostages like Jessica Daviesâwho might be dead at this point, if rumors are true. The house is situated on a hillside surrounded by adequate cover, but unfortunately Charlotte will likely know we're coming because she can sense Nick and Shelby from a ways off. They could easily be armed, but as we all know, the danger of a vampire far exceeds any weapon he or she might be carrying.”
“So,” Pernetti said, “are we in a shoot-to-kill situation with Charlotte?”
“Perhaps,” Jackie said. “We're going to be seen as invaders in her town, trying to take down everything she has built up over the past century. I don't foresee her handing over Jessica under any sort of circumstance, if she would even want to walk away. Honestly, Jessica will likely attempt to kill anyone who tries to take her out of there.”
“That rules out a snatch-and-go possibility,” McManus said. “She'll have to be subdued.”
“Which won't happen as long as she's around Charlotte,” Shelby replied. “We have to separate them or take down Charlotte.”
“What about tear gas?” Pernetti asked.
“Doesn't have much impact,” Nick said. “We can withstand it for quite a while.”
“What if we burn them out?” Pernetti suggested.
“Charlotte will avoid that,” Jackie said. “She can cross between the living world and the dead.”
“Can the girl?”
“Unlikely,” Shelby said. “She won't know how to do that yet. It's not easy.”
“Actually,” Jackie said, “Charlotte won't cross over. There's something on the other side that will kill her.”
They all looked at her. McManus raised an eyebrow. “Something? Is this another complication we need to worry about?”
“No! God, no,” Jackie said. “It's just ...” She fumbled for words to explain. “Let's just say it's not relevant to this.” They really would think she was crazy if that story got out. “The point is, Charlotte has an enemy on the other side and she won't risk running into it. So, forcing them out of the house might be an option.”
“The townsfolk will be a problem,” Nick added. “They see us up there, you can bet they will all come running.”
The back and forth continued, everyone tossing out ideas, offering up complications, trying to resolve them, and hoping to create a plan of action that would not get them all killed. The two problems that continued to arise were the fact that Charlotte would know that Nick and Shelby were coming, and the townsfolk would likely come storming up the hill at the first hint of trouble. They all agreed the team could not initiate any kind of action without Nick and Shelby there to deal with Charlotte, so stealth in their approach was not an option. Then Laurel reminded Jackie of another issue that had not been brought to light.
What about the ghosts?
she asked.
What about them?
Well, what if Charlotte can use them like Drake and Nick did, by consuming their energy to build their own? If she made use of all the dead Rebeccas in town, would we have any chance against her?
Shit! I forgot all about that. Goddammit.
“Nick? What do we do about the ghosts?”
“Do? Why do we need ... ah, of course. That could be a problem.”
McManus huffed. “Come on, guys. What problem?”
Nick cleared his throat. “My apologies. It's something we should have thought of before. I can consume the energy of a ghost, the lingering essence of a person. It's the same thing Shelby and I draw from blood to keep us alive, just far more concentrated. It's that essence that allowed me to become this way. It was also how I was able to defeat Drake. You can forcibly do it, but it is difficult. If they are someone you drained of blood, however, there is a connection made, a bond if you will, which makes it far easier to do. It also works if they are willing.”
“Well, that's great,” McManus said. “So we have to keep a bunch of ghosts from getting to Charlotte along with worrying about a couple hundred pissed-off townsfolk?”
“Possibly,” Nick replied. “The fact that so many are still in the town indicates she either doesn't know she can do this or she doesn't want to.”
“But no guarantees,” McManus said.
“No,” Nick agreed. “No guarantees.”
Jackie ran her fingers through her hair, clutching it with her fists. “We're screwed if she does that. We'd have to drop a damn bomb on her to kill her at that point.”
McManus shrugged, raising his hands in defeat. “I can't deal with something like that. That's all on you SI guys.”
You might be able to stop them, without destroying any of the them, hon. You did it with Rosa and her baby.
Jackie's hands fell to her sides. “Are you kidding? There must be thirty or forty of them, easy.” The room went silent and Jackie realized she had spoken out loud. “Sorry. I was talking to Laur ... Agent Carpenter. I sometimes forget ...” Most of them gave her confused, blank stares. She waved them off. “Fuck, never mind.”
“What did she say?” Shelby asked.
She sighed. More of her craziness laid out on the table for all to see. “She thinks I might be able round up the ghosts so they'd be out of the way.”
“Round them up?” Pernetti chuckled. “You got a magic lasso or something, Jack?”
Shelby leaned forward over the table. “Could you do that, Jackie? Like what you did with Rosa?”
“Huh,” McManus said and smiled. “What exactly did you do to Rosa, Jack?”
Really? They had to go there? “It's hard to explain.”
Just tell them,
Laurel said.
This is our team here, hon. They need to know everything we're capable of.
Yeah, that's me, Jackie, the crazy, ghost-storing machine.
“Just use words us non-Ghostbusters will understand,” Pernetti said.
Jackie scowled at him. “I'm beginning not to miss you already, Pernetti. Anyway. You all know that Laurel's ghost hangs out with me.” She tapped her head. “She's in here with me whenever she wants, which is why it sounds like I talk to myself sometimes.” She expected some laughter or at least some chuckling over that, but nobody said a word. McManus must have warned them. He merely sat there, hands peaked together under his chin, listening. She would have to thank him later for making sure they took all of the weird shit seriously. Jackie took a deep breath. “So, on the Rosa Sanchez case. This wasn't in any of the reports, but the way that we stopped her in the end was by me basically kidnapping the ghost of her baby by inviting it in, like I do with Laurel. And because her baby was more important to her than anything else, she got invited in, too. When they were ready, they moved on to wherever the hell it is they move on to.”
Jackie looked around the room at the wide-eyed perhaps even dumbstruck, gazes.
Yep, crazy is as crazy does.
They've seen enough to believe you, hon. It's just a lot to take in.
I hardly believe it's possible. They probably think they've stepped into a bad horror movie.
This is a bad horror movie. We just need to make sure we aren't the “too stupid to live” types.
Can we kill the scriptwriter then?
Laurel chuckled in her head. “OK, guys, say something. You're weirding me out.”
“Freaky shit, Jack,” Pernetti said quietly. “I knew we were dealing with some pretty messed up stuff, but that's just out there.”
“Pernetti,” McManus said, “shut it. This clearly alters our initial plans. If the ghosts are a potential issue for us in handling Charlotte, then Jack needs to see if she can do this. Failing that, I think Nick and or Shelby need to see if they can get rid of them for us.”
Nick shifted uneasily in his chair. “I'm not sure I'm comfortable doing that. These are the souls of young girls here, victims of Charlotte's treachery.”
“They're already gone, babe,” Shelby replied. “If it'll save the living, we have to if it comes to that.”
“Agreed,” McManus said. “I'm sorry, Nick, but keeping people alive is my primary concern. Jack? You think you can do it?”
“I can try,” she said. “It all depends on them. I can't force them to do anything.”
“And she'll have to be able to wander the town,” Nick added. “The ghosts are all over the place.”