Essence: A Haven Ansley Porter Novel

By D. J. Humphries

Haven Ansley Porter is a ghost hunter, but not like those crazy people with the vacuum cleaners, and she's not just a psychic or medium trying to rip people off... What she doesn't expect is to find herself actually caught in the middle of a murder investigation when she goes out to a normal spirit-removal job. What's more, she starts getting really weird messages on her phone and comes face to face with a truth that she and her best friend had been ignoring for quite some time. And why won't the intriguingly attractive cop leave her alone?

A mix of mystery, a bit of romance, and a huge dose of the paranormal make up the start to the Haven Ansley Porter series!

• Language: English
• Publisher: D. J. Humphries
• Release date: Jan 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463813713

D. J. Humphries

I have been writing fiction stories for about as long as I have been able to hold a pen/pencil. My story files grew as I got my own computers, and I have carried them with me from one computer to another throughout the years. Despite my best attempts, I am always drawn back to the fantasy genre and find that I best understand my characters for those stories; I enjoy their travels and seeing where they take me probably as much as my readers will.Born and raised in the Metro Atlanta, Georgia area, I have been exposed to the Southern (U.S.) culture throughout my life. However, a recent move to Indiana has opened up my experiences even more and I have greatly loved the midwestern culture I have been experiencing! Writing (and reading) has always allowed me to explore other cultures, other worlds, and other lifestyles. My love of travel has not been fully realized, but I intend to use it to further my worldview and bring my readers even more fantastic stories!

Book preview

Essence

Haven Ansley Porter – Book 1

D. J. Humphries

©2019 D.J. Humphries

Table of Contents

0. Introductions Are Boring

1. Twisted

2. The Hunt Begins

3. Pulled In

4. Facing Fears

5. Diving Head First

6. Dare to Dream

7. Dating in the Moonlight

8. Victims Abound

9. Dating and Death

10. Art From My Mind’s Eye

11. Phoenix Rising

12. Making Connections

13. Finding Balance

14. Living Nightmares

15. Puzzle Pieces

16. The Room of Bad Luck

17. An Angel and a King Enter a Room

18. Broken

19. Shifting Priorities

20. The Art of Killing

21. Gunning Down Romance

Letter to Readers

Introductions Are Boring

My name is Haven Ansley Porter and I hunt ghosts.

Probably not in the sense that you’re thinking… Not like that movie with the guys running around sucking ghosts into what amounted to a vacuum cleaner. I don’t try to trap them, quite the opposite really, I try to get them to move on. However, I do work with a demon hunter and if the ghost goes all poltergeist on me, or if whoever called me in was wrong and they actually have a demon, Taylor will take care of it.

So why, if I’m just getting the ghosts to cross over, do I call myself a ghost hunter? For starters, what else would I call myself? Ghost Talker? Cross-Over Expert? Exorcist? That last one seemed to imply that I was religious and that the ghost was inhabiting a human body – or that I only dealt with demons, which I really don’t deal with at all.

I went through all the ideas and landed on ghost hunter not just because it was easiest to say, but because most of my customers didn’t care if I was crossing over the ghost that was haunting them, or if I was obliterating it, they just wanted it gone. Perceptions are funny things… I’d noticed a drastic increase in customers since I went from calling myself a medium to calling myself a ghost hunter… Not only an increase, but an increase in cases I could actually deal with myself.

I guess I should explain that ever since I was a child I was different. It started out with the usual, I was like four and had an imaginary friend who was really the ghost of a little boy that had died from being left in a car in the summer heat, but that’s jumping ahead. At four, it isn’t surprising for a kid to have friends that other people can’t see. At six, it starts to become less normal, especially when the number of friends seems to be increasing. By the time I was eight my parents were well and truly concerned. They had set an appointment for me to go to a child psychologist when I had my first really noticeable clairvoyant moment. I am by no means a psychic - I’m not even entirely sure I believe they exist but who am I to judge? Anyway… I’d been walking through energies that were ahead of their time for years, but it was usually something little, like I’d know someone was going to come running down the sidewalk and I’d step out of their way, something that wouldn’t necessarily be deemed odd. But when I was eight, I stepped into an energy that gave me chills and without even thinking about it, I grabbed the arm of the woman in front of me and yanked her back out of the street right before the car slid across the road from being rear-ended.

The woman thanked me profusely, completely awed, deciding I had somehow just seen what was happening and reacted more quickly than anyone else could… My parents, however, had been standing beside me and that day they knew.

When we got home, they sat me down in the living room to talk. It was an odd sort of talk, especially with the ghost of my grandmother hovering behind them just smiling at me.

At one point in the conversation, Nana had looked up at me and nodded. Now you can tell them, she had said, and I did. I told them that Nana had passed away in her sleep - I could always sense how a ghost had died, as if they took the energy of their death with them - and both of my parents froze. Tears were actually stinging my mom’s eyes when the phone rang a second later.

They cancelled the appointment with the child psychologist. We went to Nana’s funeral a few days later, but Nana’s ghost had already gone.

When we sat down again, it was to tell me to keep things to myself - don’t blurt out that I can see ghosts, don’t tell people what’s going to happen if I sense it unless it’s a life-or-death situation, don’t discuss things that I shouldn’t know, basically. That last one got tacked on after I gave a little too much information about the mummy in our local museum because I could still sense the energy coming off of him and it told me a lot about his life. He, himself, his spirit or whatever, wasn’t there anymore, but…

Well, you see, energy is everywhere. Everyone and everything emits some sort of energy, even the so-called inanimate objects have gathered energy from the people and things that were used to create them.

I can tune out a lot of it, even though that took me a long time to master and I still wouldn’t exactly call myself an expert, but after dark, when the ghosts and demons and whatever else is out there slip into our world, I can’t quite tune them out as much. I’ve actually reached a point where I sleep during the day because there’s less energy pulling and pushing on me trying to get my attention. Except for days when I have to go work for my clients, like today….

Twisted

Taylor is a great partner. He works as my cover story more often than I could ever hope for from anyone else because he understands me in a way that most people don’t. So we were doing our usual that day.

Clayton Carter was our client. He was trying to sell his deceased mother’s home but every time he had a serious buyer, something would happen and the sale would fall through. Apparently he’d finally gotten one of the realtors to admit that their particular buyers backed out when they went to get the inspection and found the basement covered in green gooey mold, they said it was almost like Jell-O. The buyers had seen it, the inspector had seen it, but when they’d called out a specialist to quote getting rid of it, it was gone without a trace. Then Clayton, himself, had gone to look at the house and found that inside the locked house, all of the furniture had moved to block all of the exits - dressers in front of windows, chairs against doors - but no one was inside. He’d ended up scratching the wood floor pushing a recliner out of the way to open the door and check on the place. There was literally no way someone could have gotten outside while leaving all of the furniture where it had been. And that’s when he called me.

I had a feeling it was his mother haunting the place. Clayton didn’t care who or what it was, he just wanted it gone. Did I happen to mention how awesome my clients could be? And by awesome, I mean horrible….

Anyway, as with most uninhabited houses, it’s easier to check for the residue of ghostly energy during the day, while the house is empty and there aren’t a bunch of other energies trying to get my attention. That means that Taylor and I were sitting in Taylor’s vehicle, a deep black Range Rover, in front of 2418 Mockingbird Lane, waiting for the realtor to show up and let us inside.

Taylor was sitting in the driver’s seat, his shaggy black hair curling at the bottoms because it had gotten long enough to brush across his shoulders. His blue-green eyes were staring through the sunglasses out the windshield, but he wasn’t ‘spacing out’ or anything, he was focused. He said demons didn’t really come out during the day, but he was always on alert, always aware of his surroundings… He didn’t tell me much about the demons, and quite frankly, I didn’t ask much about them.

She’s here, he remarked, the sun glinting off his sunglasses when he shifted to turn the vehicle off and opened his door.

I could have gotten out at the same time he did, but, see… Taylor is sort of gorgeous, and he knows it, and I just love that first moment when a woman really sees him. So I did what I liked to do, I waited the extra second for our realtor, Amanda, to get out of her car, to look up from the folder in her hand, for her jaw to drop for the briefest second before she seemed to recover herself, and then, and only then, did I get out of the vehicle while I bit back my giggles.

Taylor was looking at me over the top of his sunglasses when I walked around to meet up with him, but he knew exactly what I had done and he just reached out and slid his fingers down the length of my dark brown hair. He leaned next to my ear, away from Amanda, of course, because perception is everything…

Are you having fun, luv? he whispered and I fought to suppress another giggle.

See, Taylor was from England. He could sound utterly American if he wanted to, and most of the time he did, but that accent… And he could just pull it out whenever he felt like it!

"I thought we agreed you wouldn’t call me luv when no one else was around to hear you," I quietly retorted, being absolutely certain Amanda couldn’t hear me because it would ruin the illusion we were going for if she did.

I thought we agreed you wouldn’t watch them watching me, luv, he playfully countered as his fingers wound into my hair and lightly pulled me the slightest bit closer to him, Besides, we have to get into character, luv.

Amanda sort of cleared her throat, you know that feminine version that’s sort of a cross between a squeak and an almost-word, but really, it’s just sound? Anyway, she made a noise to get our attention and we slowly turned to face her, Taylor’s hand trailing down my hair, then down my arm to take hold of my hand.

Hi, I’m Amanda, she introduced, holding her hand out toward Taylor, but I had his right hand, so I shook her hand instead. Only then did I get the full focus of her light brown eyes.

I’m Haven, this is my fiancé, Taylor, I replied with my client smile on my face. You know… that smile when you’re being polite and friendly because it’s what’s expected? It’s not a real ‘hey, I’m happy’ smile or anything, but it still made her smile back at me.

She started rattling off details of the house and I stepped up beside her as she led us to the front door. I needed her distracted so that Taylor could work his techno wizardry and copy the access code to the house from the app on her phone, or however that all worked, I wasn’t technologically intelligent. Need your computer turned on or off? Need to look something up on the internet? I’m your gal! Other than that, it’s really outside of my know-how.

She unlocked the door and led me inside while Taylor stayed outside to walk the property. He had this weird concoction that looked like fine sand that he would sprinkle on the ground along the edge of the property. It would keep anything new, new demons or ghosts or anything, from coming onto the property. It also somehow did a magnificent job of concealing our presence from the sight of people nearby when we came back after dark, because I could already tell you that we’d definitely be back after dark.

Amanda had rattled off all of her details and was standing out of the way, fingers tapping away on her screen as she sent a text message off somewhere. I was just wandering back into the living room from the bedrooms when Taylor leaned in the front door, silhouetted by the sun at his back.

You absolutely must come see this yard, luv, he lovingly beseeched and I managed to look up in time to find Amanda smoothing down her shirt like she hadn’t been completely caught off-guard by his accent. I grinned at him, finding his smooth smile aimed right back at me, and then hurried just a little out the door with him. Taylor didn’t ask me to come outside often… there was always a reason if he was asking me to come outside after he’d been walking the protective line.

There was also always the issue of what to do with the realtor… It wasn’t the first time we’d done this, pretended to be an engaged couple viewing a potential home, so we’d worked out the kinks in the methodology by now. He wanted me to see something outside? I went outside, he pointed in the general direction of the thing, then he started talking to the realtor while I went to look.

Look at that gorgeous tree, luv, he had remarked, pointing at a very old tree across the yard. I had started that way immediately, but didn’t miss the tiny ‘eep’ noise that escaped Amanda’s lips when he turned his full attention on her and started asking her questions about the yard and the house. Since he hadn’t been inside while she had rattled off her information, it was perfectly logical of him to ask questions.

I turned my attention to the tree, though, still fully tuning out the daytime energies like I normally did, while I inspected its twisted trunk, the branches growing like curls in a wave. It was an odd tree, beautiful, in fact, but I didn’t even make it all the way to the tree before I felt the shift in the air.

No… I whispered under my breath, forcing myself to walk further. When my heel suddenly sank into the ground and reminded me why I didn’t like heels, I stumbled and reached for the tree trunk to steady me. I gasped as the energy of the tree overwhelmed me - it was twisted, dark….

Taylor was suddenly there, sliding his hands down my arms as he pulled me back against him and away from the tree. Loud enough for Amanda to hear, he made some joke about being more careful of the ground, but beside my ear he whispered, Are you okay, Haven?

So much darkness, I mumbled back in that shock voice that doesn’t ever sound quite right. I don’t know if it was the tone of my voice, or the words, but Taylor helped me even farther away from the tree.

Can you stand? he was still whispering and I knew it was because Amanda was carefully making her way closer.

I shifted my shoulders, shaking off the remnants of the dark energy from the tree and inhaled a deep breath before I stepped away from Taylor.

Sorry, hun. You know how clumsy I can be, I chimed with a smile that just resulted in Taylor grinning back at me.

As long as you’re all right, luv, he replied in kind before he turned back to Amanda, bringing her to a sudden stop.

I wandered across the yard and headed toward the back door that we’d unlocked at some point while viewing the house.

I’m going to look around inside a little more. You two come in when you’re ready, I called and I could tell from the look on Amanda’s face that she really couldn’t decide if staying outside (which clearly wasn’t her usual comfort zone) was truly worth the attention from Taylor. Taylor saw it, too. I knew he had because he pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head revealing those gorgeous blue-green eyes of his, like seawater, and suddenly Amanda had no desire to walk away from him.

I restrained my laugh and entered the house. I walked through it a lot slower that time, hyper-focused on the feel of the energies inside because for there to be that kind of dark energy on the property, something had to have happened - I’ve felt that kind of darkness from a few demons, lingering at homes where people had been murdered, once when the husband and wife had just been particularly abusive to each other and the negative energy had leeched into the house itself…. All I could say with absolute certainty was that an energy like that came from something bad.

But I walked the entire house and didn’t get any sense of the same kind of dark energy inside. I had just made it back to the kitchen and the back door when Taylor and Amanda walked inside. Taylor came through the door first, filling the space of it enough that if I’d given him any kind of indication that it wasn’t okay to come in, Amanda wouldn’t have been able to see me or get past him. Since he was giving me that questioning look, I gave him a tiny shrug back to let him know that I really didn’t know what was going on.

Well, luv, do you want to get out of here so we can talk it over? he queried while he walked across the bit of floor to me and slid his arm around my waist.

That sounds good, I answered, not missing the tiniest bit of panic our little blonde-headed realtor was having from our discussion - after all, we weren’t giving any real indication to whether or not we were interested in the property.

She recovered and pulled a card out of her stack of papers, smartly holding it out just in our general direction instead of trying to give it directly to one of us. I have some other homes I can show you if you’re interested. There’s one just down the street if you have time.

Taylor reached out and took the card, flicking his eyes across the text before he turned it between his fingers and tucked it in his back pocket. Her brown eyes followed every little detail of his movements, but darted back to me when I spoke.

We’ve got somewhere else to be right now, but thank you for meeting us today, I responded pleasantly, using that client smile on her again until her brief disappointment turned into a similar smile.

Of course. I look forward to hearing back from you, she added as she ushered us out of the house. I think she might have tried to walk all the way back to our car with us if Taylor hadn’t pulled me closer to him while he lowered his sunglasses and leaned over next to my ear as we walked away.

The lovey-dovey nonsense was a show. Taylor and I were just friends, despite the fact that most of the known universe didn’t believe a male and female could be just friends.

Taylor and I had met when I’d gone off to university at Trinity College in Dublin. I’d been trying to escape to a new place, new opportunities, where no one who had decided I was mental before I had figured out how to conceal my extra senses. The problem with being able to sense energies, though, is that ghosts and demons and such can sense me even easier than I can sense them. I don’t have to say a word to them for them to know that I can see them, or hear them if they’ve got enough energy saved up to make themselves auditory on this plane again. So yes, I had gotten away from the people who had known me growing up, but it hadn’t stopped the ghosts from showing up.

It was actually pretty early into my first term when a particularly chatty ghost had latched herself onto me and started following me around campus. Obviously she’d been around for a long time because for a ghost to manifest visibly so that I could actually hear it during the middle of the day, she had to have built up a lot of energy - they can only do that by existing without trying to do anything that eats away at their energy, like making themselves visible.

Anyway, she had been following me around, talking non-stop the entire day, and I was at my rope’s end on my patience. I stopped in the middle of the courtyard, just about to say something to her regardless of all of the people around, and Taylor appeared. There, out of nowhere, was this tall, dark-haired guy, looking at me over his sunglasses with these eyes that looked like the ocean itself, but as I watched his eyes grew darker, then they shifted toward the ghost beside me and she just… disappeared! Poof! He was wearing these old, broken-in looking jeans, black boots, and a simple black t-shirt that was only halfway tucked into the waist of his pants, all of which I noticed after the ghost was gone. I had blurted out a laugh and he had smiled, which drew more attention than just my laughter alone. When I thanked him, he just smirked, and then we walked across campus and we never parted ways again.

Sure, in the beginning I’d had a little crush on him, to say otherwise would be the biggest lie ever - he was gorgeous, he was more than kind to me, and he didn’t ever treat me like a mental patient when the ghosts were getting to me. He was like so many others, though… The energy I got off of him was closed-off, impenetrable almost, like he didn’t want anyone to ever get any sort of real emotion or anything from him. I knew him better now, I even knew why he’d been so closed off… Having to kill your only long-term girlfriend because she became a vampire and started killing the locals would make anyone shut down….

I can’t pinpoint when it happened, I only know that at some point I realized he was more than a crush, he was like this piece to a puzzle that I didn’t know was missing. We even talked about it a few times, about how we had found each other attractive, but dating? Dating would be ridiculous because he was into one-night stands and way more sexually active than I would ever be - nothing wrong with his choice or mine, we just had such different views on being intimate with someone that that alone would keep us from ever dating. Plus, we both decided that we’d rather be friends, and a romantic relationship could potentially screw that all to hell and back.

So we were friends, the best of, if you asked me, and partners in this ghost-demon hunting thing we did. It worked for us. The fact that everyone else in the world thought we were dating just made playing like we were to keep their guards down that much easier.

Taylor waited until we were on the road heading toward the hotel to say anything. It was really more self-control than I had expected from him…. So… what happened in the backyard? he finally asked but I was digging in my purse. The thing about focusing as much as I had on the energy of the house and the backyard was that it drained my own energy. I had discovered that the quickest fix for my lowered energy was sugar! I always kept some candy in my purse, but somehow, as I dug around in it, it was completely empty.

Ugh… Can you stop at a gas station or something, please? I requested as I sank into the seat.

Rather than answer me, Taylor reached across the dash and popped the glovebox open revealing a bag of my favorite dark chocolate caramel candies inside. I grabbed out two pieces because they were the mini size and closed the glovebox before I shifted curious eyes to him, lifting a single eyebrow until he laughed.

You’ve been a little distracted lately. It seemed like a good idea, he reasoned with a shrug of his shoulders. I noted that his British accent was completely gone again since he wasn’t trying to distract the female realtor anymore.

There’s been something off at every location we’ve been to in the past month… I swear I feel like someone’s watching me half the time… it’s… it’s weird… I murmured while I ate the two candies and relaxed in the seat a little more, waiting that extra minute it took for my energy to return to normal.

But there wasn't anything dark inside this house, right? So we’re still coming back tonight? he continued just as he pulled up at our hotel and stopped the vehicle.

Nothing in the house… we go back… I sighed, shaking my head while I stretched, undid my seatbelt, and opened the door. I need a nap… Are you staying or going out?

He laughed as he laid his head on the steering wheel and looked over at me. Haven Ansley Porter… I don’t know what to do with you. He laughed again and I knew if I could see his eyes they would be the brightest shade of blue-green that they ever were - they were always lighter when he was happy about something. I’m going to get something to eat and then come back. I’ll keep quiet, don’t worry.

I was halfway out of the car, one foot on the running board, and I tilted my head to one side so that we were both facing the same direction again.

Where are you going for food?

Nowhere that will taste good in like three hours when you wake back up, he chuckled, We’ll go get you something after your nap.

It sounded like a good enough idea, so I slid down to the pavement and tossed my purse over my shoulder while I pulled the keycard for the room out of my pocket. He waited until I had gone into the hotel and upstairs - all of which he could see because there was a great big glass wall around the glass door that went from ground level up to the ceiling of the second floor right where the stairwell was. I turned at the top of the stairs and waved and he waved back before he pulled out of the parking spot and headed away from the hotel.

Our room was just off of the stairs, but I still barely made it inside to the bed closest to the door before I fell soundly asleep.

The Hunt Begins

Haven… Time to wake up.

I was fighting against the weight of my dream with Taylor’s voice drifting around me like an echo in a cavern. The sudden, sharp pain in my arm caused my eyes to shoot open, though, and I blinked to clear the haze from my vision. When I could see clearly, I actually shifted backwards with wide eyes because Taylor was kneeling on the floor beside my bed, his blue-green eyes intense and level with my own.

What the crap?! I blurted, but the intensity didn’t leave his eyes, Taylor, what’s wrong? You scared me.

He just kept staring for a long, drawn out minute, his eyes getting darker. I’d seen that look on his face before, it was the look he had when he was hunting… I’d never had it aimed at me though, that scrutiny.

Eventually he sank back on his heels until he was sitting on the floor with his back against his bed. Only then did I move enough to sit up and look down at him, not that he wasn’t just blatantly staring back at me….

Taylor…?

What do you remember about your dream? he evaded, his eyes still far too serious as he kept watching me.

Nothing, I admitted with a shrug, It wasn’t even something weird enough to register as odd. Why? What’s going on?

Hopefully nothing, he answered while he rolled his shoulders and I could literally see the tension disappear from him. It hadn’t been obvious that he was tense until the moment that he let it go. It’s almost nightfall. I thought you might want to eat before full dark.

The mere mention of food now that he was back to his usual self was enough to make my stomach growl and I bit my lip to try to stop the smile from spreading across my face.

Food would be really great, I admitted.

He was still watching me a little closer than normal, but nodded toward the bathroom and moved his feet out of my way.

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes he would actually just give me the keys and let me drive his Range Rover. He was like a lot of people though, and that was his baby and he didn’t particularly love letting someone else drive it. Why do I bother to mention it? Because if he was going to let me have the Rover for the night, he would have handed me the keys right then and there…

Are we going back to the house right after? I called from the bathroom where I was brushing out my hair. In all reality, my hair was so long and straight that I could get out of bed, walk out the door, and probably no one would notice I hadn’t brushed it, but it always seemed healthier when I gave it a little attention.

Yes, he simply replied. I jumped a little, not because of his answer, but because he was obviously not across the room near his bed anymore and I hadn’t heard him move. He only moved that quietly when he was in hunting mode….

I turned to find him standing outside of the bathroom, leaning his shoulder against the little wall that separated the front part of the room from the section with the beds, tv, and desk.

If you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m not going anywhere, I stated while I placed, okay closer to slammed, the hairbrush down on the counter.

He didn’t react like most people would have to my slamming something down, he just grinned and barely shook his head. I couldn’t wake you up… something felt off. I don’t have a good explanation, he finally admitted while he shifted his shoulders again and again it was like watching some sort of tension melt off of him. I’m trying to let it go, but you know paranoia has kept me alive.

What do you mean you couldn’t wake me up and something felt off? I pressed. My anger, or annoyance, or whatever was gone, now I was genuinely concerned.

Look at your arm, he responded, motioning with his chin while I lifted my left arm - that was where I had felt the pain that helped me wake up.

It was red, trying to bruise already, and I looked back up at him in confusion. Did you seriously pinch my arm hard enough to bruise it?

You wouldn’t wake up. I tried calling you, shaking you, for ten minutes and you didn’t react, so I pinched you. A light pinch didn’t work either, I tried that, too, he recounted, causing a chill to race down my spine and goosebumps to appear on my arms.

Has it happened before? I whispered, but he startled me when he walked over and pulled me into a hug.

Would I usually call you a hard sleeper? Yes. I’ve had to shake you awake before. But never anything this bad, he calmly revealed, We’ve got to get you to food and back to the house. Whatever happened while you were sleeping, you’re fine now, that’s all that really matters.

I sank against him for only a moment, my head pressed to his chest because he was just that much taller than me, and allowed myself that brief second to wallow in the comfort of someone who cared about me. Once that moment was over, I inhaled a deep breath and stepped out of his arms.

Let’s go, I decided and he smiled down at me and nodded. The thing was, as he turned back toward the bedroom, I couldn’t ignore the feeling that something was seriously wrong, nor the fact that he was still tenser than normal.

I pushed it aside, though, because he was trying to do the same, and grabbed my purse and my hunting bag - really it just had some things that could be helpful if I found the ghost to be particularly unhelpful… A Ouija board in case they didn’t have enough energy to be able to speak, some sage in case the house needed cleansing, my bloodstone pendulum just in case the energy was dispersed oddly and I was having trouble pinpointing which energy was really the ghost, and a few other things… It wasn’t a big bag or anything, and most of the time I didn’t even need it, but I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and it be sitting back here in the hotel room.

We were both so busy trying to ignore whatever was going on that we weren’t even talking and neither of us realized how odd that was. We just left the hotel room, got in the vehicle, and headed out of the parking lot. Taylor had headed more into the heart of town with both of us in our own heads, but he suddenly laughed and I startled in my seat, turning wide eyes to him - it had really been that quiet.

I don’t even know what you want to eat, he laughingly remarked, slowly shaking his head and I couldn’t help but laugh, too.

We’re trying to act like nothing’s wrong when we both know something’s wrong so we’re being weird… I realized and he nodded in agreement, Fast food is fine. Somewhere that has like salad with grilled chicken would be great.

He was still laughing when he changed lanes and headed in a different direction. I didn’t bother to question why he knew where to go in a town neither of us had been in before last night when we’d gotten checked into our hotel. Knowing Taylor, after he went and got himself something to eat, he had driven all over town, plus I actually managed to sleep last night and sometimes he can’t sleep and will go for a drive. What can I say, he likes to know his way around!

It came in handy, though, because he went straight to one of my favorite fast food places. We just went through the drive-thru, and he kept going while I ate. You’d think someone who considered his car his baby wouldn’t let other people eat in it… I was still always a little shocked when he let me do it, but I wasn’t going to argue. It made it so that we were pulling into the parking lot just a little ways down the street from 2418 Mockingbird Lane just before dark.

Haven…?

Hmm? I mumbled around my mouthful of food.

What do you think is causing the darkness in the backyard?

I swallowed, hard, and sighed. I’m afraid to guess… You know as well as I do what it most likely is, but I just don’t want to deal with that right now….

I’m going to take my pack just in case, he decided. He got out of the driver’s seat and walked around to the back of the Rover to where he kept his own hunting bag, except his was filled with guns and knives and dangerous things that I would probably hurt myself on just because I wasn’t particularly well-skilled in that department. Don’t get me wrong, if a demon came running at me, I would kick, hit, or punch my way free of it, but when Taylor had tried to teach me to use a knife, I’d ended up with a pretty nasty cut in my arm, the gun training had resulted in a hole in the wall of our house that we shared even though we hadn’t really been anywhere near the house…. Needless to say, I left the weaponry to Taylor and he left the ‘magicy’ (his word) stuff to me.

I turned inside the dark car to watch him. If I knew what he was packing, then I’d have a better idea of what he thought was out there. In all reality, we tried really hard not to influence each other’s opinions because when you expected a particular something to be there, you planned for that something, and if it turned out to be something completely different, you could find yourself in a tricky situation. Which might be why he was strategically keeping the bag and its contents out of my sight. I wasn’t completely positive that’s what he was doing until he shifted a grin up at me and I couldn’t keep myself from smiling back at him.

You know you’re ridiculous, right? I giggled under my breath, but I settled back into my seat and finished my last bite of food. I was looking out the window, trying to see if there was a trashcan in the parking lot, when Taylor just appeared at my door and I jumped a little in my seat which only made him chuckle to himself. We amused ourselves at the expense of the other of us way too much….

"You know you’re ridiculous, right?" he queried playfully once he had opened my door. He had his bag slung over his shoulder, but I didn’t miss the sparkle of a hilt in his jeans.