Page 61 of Mack's Horribly Hellacious Ghost Town
Eli waspoofingthem out of existence like she was playingDance Dance Revolutionor something. She had a definite tempo, moving us slowly about the room, catching ghosts as she could, her hands flying. She even reared back and kicked one ghost in the chest. Quinn and Booker either shot anything that tried to flank her or called out warnings so she could handle it. They moved like a well-oiled unit, which wasn’t a surprise. They’d been together for years, after all. I could tell she was slowing, getting tired. Her breathing alone told the story there. I started to really worry she was overdoing it. But good luck to anyone trying to tell her to take a breather now, she was in get-’er-done mode.
Eli abruptly paused. “Aww, they’re running away!”
I snorted. Yeah, so strange that the ghosts were running away from the moving death machine. Whodathunk. Still, their rallying cry hadn’t lasted long, had it?
Mack turned his head and offered, “I can start grabbing them and hauling them to you?”
Yeah, good call, let her get her wind back. She’d been doing the most running around.
Lachlan was in full support of this idea. “Let’s do it. I’ll try to herd some too.”
“Team, break!” I called, which got people snickering. It did feel like a team sport, though.
Mack darted to the right, snagging someone by the arm, then hauling them along. They were fighting him, I could tell, and I didn’t let that stand. I moved to line up my Super Soaker with their chest. “Holy water in the gun,” I told the ghost. “Try me.”
“You fucking bastards!” the ghost howled. “This is our land, and here you are, finishing us off!”
“Yup, that’s what happens when you’re harming the living.” I had zero sympathy.
He stopped attacking Mack and let himself be dragged along, but I could tell from the way he resisted, he was trying to wrest his way free again. I could clearly hear he was arguing with Mack. Mack pretended to be deaf to his pleas and just kept going until Elipoofedhim out of existence.
Afterward, it got harder to catch the ghosts. They’d thinned in number, leaving only the wily ones left. The ones who were more agile, more desperate to run. I saw what Eli meant by the mechanicals getting in the way, too, as I banged my head against at least two metal ducts. Ow.
Double ow—what the hell had just hit me in the back? All I knew was it had a sharp corner. They were still throwing things?
“Gold rides an iron horse!” a man screamed in my direction.
Honestly, it pissed me off so much I almost laid down cover fire of holy water on sheer principle. I would have, except Lachlan was still sword-herding and I didn’t want to soak him accidentally.
I was definitely getting my cardio in today. I made at least four laps around the room, trying to keep up with Mack and cover his flank.
The numbers dropped steadily with two Mediums being so gung ho about clearing this room. Look at us, making progress. We might clear the basement today. I glanced at my watch, grimaced, lifted my goggles so I couldactuallyread my watch, and tried again. Oh wow, we’d been at this over two hours already. It hadn’t felt that long, more like thirty minutes.
Yeah, we weren’t clearing this whole building today. We had maybe another six hours of daylight left and another two floors to clear. Eli was flagging, Mack wasn’t doing much better, and we absolutely did not want to trip over Joey with Eli so depleted. That would be a really bad idea all around.
Mack abruptly stopped and I almost plowed into him. He stared straight ahead, lips curled back in a snarl. Uh-oh, what had him all twisted up? I couldn’t hear the ghosts as clearly anymore. Probably because Eli wasn’t throwing around power like before. Which, dammit, being able to hear them had been helpful.
“If you think you can attack me, think again,” he said flatly. “Yeah, she’s busy right this second, and I look like an easy mark, right? But I can exorcise you too. Don’t fucking tempt me.”
I couldn’t hear the ghost’s response, but Mack threw his head back on a laugh. The sound chilled me. Like, seriously, Mack was scaring evenmeright now.
“Oh, honey child,” he said in the most patronizing tone I’d ever heard from him. “Bless your heart. I’ve fought bigger, meaner things than you. Hell, Lachlan kills scarier things for a warm-up before breakfast.”
Lachlan, standing on the other side of me, snorted.
“You ain’t getting past us. In fact, I’ll take care of you myself.”
Now, the hell of it was, I could actually see Mack’s ability work through the goggles. Psychic energy registered, too, and displayed like heat would. It was all oranges and reds as his ability flared like an aura around him, then he channeled it to go along his arm, straight out, hitting the ghost in front of him dead in the chest.
It was impossible to look away, and both horrifying and fascinating to watch the ghost-almost-demon splinter apart and disperse like his atoms came unglued. Which was kinda sorta what happened.
I blew out a breath and felt my pants get a little too tight. Damn, Mack was sexy when he used his power. This was neither the time nor place for a little PDA, but I was definitely jumping him later tonight.
Lachlan leaned in to mutter, “Ghost asked whose bitch he was, mine or yours.”
Oh. Well, that would explain why Mack got mad enough to deal with the fucker himself. I was glad, too. I kissed Mack’s cheek. “Thanks, honey.”
He muttered something too quick for me to catch, and Creole besides, before lifting his head. “I cannot believe how homophobic that asshole was. Okay, who’s left?”
