She was too far away to hear actual words, but I knew she was threatening it. Mack flinched next to me and made anooohsound, so something had happened.
“Narrate for me,” I pleaded. I fucking hated not knowing what was going on.
Mack adopted a sports commentator voice. “Eli has the ghost by the throat, she’s not letting up the pressure anytime soon, ghost is arguing back that it has a right to do whatever it pleases, Eli’s losing patience, I think an exorcism is incoming—oh, oh, she’s doing it! Ghost is pleading for mercy but doesn’t want to cross over, ghost is now trying to attack her, which I must say, not a good decision, don’t know why he’s going with that play.Aaaand he’s been exorcised. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that’s a wrap.”
I snorted. “Had fun?”
“Quite fun, actually. I should do it more often.”
“She really exorcised him, eh?”
“To be fair, I don’t know if we could have passed him on.” Mack’s eyes sought Beau’s, like he wanted a second opinion. “His aura was very dark, and with the way this location has been boosting ghosts, it might have made it super difficult to pass him on instead.”
Beau looked a little unnerved. “I saw the effort she put into exorcising him. An Exorcist like her, that should have been a cakewalk. Boy, what have you dragged me into?”
“Hell.” Mack seemed more resigned than anything. “Beau, got any friends you can call in?”
“I’m thinking I need to make some phone calls, for sure. Otherwise, we’ll wear out before the ghosts are cleared.”
Not a cheery thought whatsoever.
Mack’s expression turned grim and he shifted, eyes on Gwyn. “Beau, I’m more than a little worried having her in the middle of this.”
I could see why he was. Hell, I was worried about Gwyn. It was bad enough we were in a town so haunted it resembled hell on earth, but these ghosts could pack a punch. Even pros were struggling. I knew Gwyn had her pack of things to help fight off ghosts, but was it enough? Was this group enough to protect her? I could send her home ahead of us, but I really didn’t want to. She didn’t know my family, so it wouldn’t be comfortable for her.
Fuck, I didn’t know what the right answer was in this situation.
Beau assured Mack, “I’ll watch her back when you get busy. Learning how to handle something like this is part of the job.Better to teach her how to safeguard herself than keep her ignorant.”
Very true. Beau was wise in that regard.
Mack nodded unhappily in agreement, but he at least saw his mentor’s point. “I think… Uh-oh, a mob of ghosts just materialized out of nowhere. Eli’s about to get outnumbered. I’ll go help.”
“I got Gwyn,” Beau promised.
Booker was already racing for the car—and likely the guns he kept in there. It wasn’t like we’d kept gear on us while eating, so really he was fetching stuff for Quinn, too.
I stayed planted because, let’s face it, I couldn’t help much. My best use of time was standing right next to Gwyn and keeping a sharp lookout for anything that might come at her. I wasn’t prepared for a fight, the only things I had on me were salt and my wits, but I’d do what I could. If only I had my thermal goggles… Dammit. Note to self: Go nowhere without gear from now on.
Mack waded in, snagging a ghost almost immediately. Eli laughed and said something like “You’re fucked now, suckers, there’s two of us!” and kept right on going. I shook my head. So young to be so crazy.
Lachlan muttered, “I can barely see outlines of the ghosts, otherwise I’d help.”
“Naw, they’ve got it,” Beau promised, his body language relaxed. “Not that many. They’ve had worse.”
I mean, true. They had. And I could tell from even this distance Mack had it under control. He wasn’t showing a single sign of distress, and right now he was working back-to-back with Eli.
Gwyn sidled up close enough our arms brushed and I glanced down at her. “You good?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes didn’t leave the park area. “It’s just… Wow. Eli’s powerful, I knew that the second I met her, but some of those ghosts are seriously bad. And they still don’t stand a chance against her. She’s fire.”
“One of the top Exorcists for a reason.”
“Whoa! Mack just exorcised one!” Gwyn’s grey eyes nearly popped out of her head. “I know he said he could, but…”
“He can do three a day, no more without exhausting himself. Still, it’s cool as hell he can do it at all.”
“Yeah,” Gwyn breathed, still a little stunned. “Wait, can I do it too?”
