Even Vampires Get The Blues

And alone, the door to my room slamming back against the wall.

Be careful, I yelled, grabbing Paen's shirt and yanking it on over my head as I ran toward the door. It's got six arms.

"It doesn't have any now—it's gone." Paen's voice rumbled out of the darkness of the living room. I felt along the wall for the light switch, but he was right—the room was empty of all but him. He started toward me. "Are you sure you saw—"

"Yes, I'm sure I saw him. It. Whatever."

He bent to pick something up.

"It had six arms and moved really quickly, like he was being fast-forwarded. It was really creepy, and I couldn't do a thing to stop it—what's that?"

"Stones," he said, an odd thoughtful look on his face. I touched them. They were small and round, as if they'd been washed up on the shore, about the size of a penny.

"Stones? Where did they come from?" I looked around and noticed a couple more near the bookcase. "What the heck?"

"They're apports," Paen said, turning as Clare's door opened. I flung myself forward to stand in front of him as Finn loomed in the doorway, a sheet wrapped around his waist, Clare peeping anxiously over his shoulder. "The being you saw was a poltergeist."

Chapter 7

"Is something wrong? We heard noises," Finn asked from Clare's doorway, grinning when he noticed Paen was naked and I was wearing his shirt. "Ah. Never mind, then."

"Sam? What are you doing?" Clare asked.

"Standing in front of Paen. He's naked," I said, a little annoyed that she didn't have the decency to look away. "Do you mind? Stop ogling him and look at your own. No, wait, don't."

Clare frowned. "You're not my mother, Sam. If I want to look at Finn, I will. You have your own boyfriend—you can't tell me what to do with mine."

I waved that away. "I'm not talking about that. We have poltergeists!"

"What?" she shrieked, trying to push past Finn. He mumbled something over his shoulder at her. She disappeared for a moment to reappear in her silk bathrobe. I snatched a pillow off the couch and shoved it at Paen before running to my room for his kilt.

"Sorry, it must have fallen into a plant," I apologized as I dusted off the kilt, blocking the view of him long enough for him to put it on.

"Poltergeists? We have poltergeists? You mean like the little blond girl in the movie?" Clare asked, going straight for the bouquet on the bar that marked the division between the living room, and kitchen. She popped a couple of lilac blossoms into her mouth.

"She was an actress, not a poltergeist," I answered, slowly walking around the room, picking up small stones. "This was a man. Or man-shaped. And he had six arms."

"Six arms? Definitely a poltergeist," Finn agreed. "Did he leave apports?"

Paen held out his hand. His brother took the stones and nodded.

"What's an apport?" Clare asked, munching lilac. "Six arms? Are you sure, Sam?"

"Six arms are kind of hard to miss," I said, bringing back a handful of stones to Paen. "They look the same."

"They are. An apport is the result of a poltergeist manifesting physical energy. I'd heard of them, but never seen one until now," Paen answered.

"They look like normal stones," I said.

"They are normal. It's a physical reaction to the poltergeist interacting in our world. Did you find them around the things you saw him touch?"

I nodded, rubbing my arms, cold with fear, the remaining chill of the poltergeist, and most of all, from the loss of Paen's body next to mine. "What does a poltergeist want with us? I thought they just inhabited old houses?"

"I have no idea what he wanted, but I'm going to find out," Paen said grimly, handing me back the stones as he strode over to the phone in a swirl of pleated blue and green plaid.

"Who are you calling?" I asked, half joking. "An exorcist?"

"No, someone better," he answered, asking the directory assistance for a number. He wrote it down, punching in a new number as he added, "I'm going to call a Guardian."

"Oh, no," Clare gasped, her eyes widening, a lilac blossom halfway to her mouth.