Ghost Hunter

Chapter 8

BERTHA STIRRED AND OPENED HER EYES. ELLY EXHALED A sigh of relief.

"Bertha, it's me, Elly. You're safe."

"Elly?" Bertha's voice was hoarse. Her gray eyes were dazed. "What are you doing here?"

"My friend, Cooper, and Rose and I came looking for you. You're okay. You had a brush with a ghost, and you must have hit your head when you went unconscious."

Bertha screwed up her face. "Can't remember…"

"Don't worry about it." Elly patted her shoulder. "You know how it is after an encounter. You'll be all right in a day or so. That's all that matters."

Cooper de-rezzed the engine and got off the vehicle. His face was hard and taut. "Let's get her into the sled."

"No problem," Bertha said, sitting up cautiously. She put a hand to her head. "Got a headache, but that's all that's wrong. Be right as tuned amber tomorrow."

Cooper helped her to her feet.

"I think you should go to the emergency room," Elly said.

"No," Bertha replied. "No doctors. I'm okay, I tell you. Got some supplies in the sled. Just need to clean up the mess and put a bandage on my head."

They got Bertha into the back of the sled. Elly climbed in beside her and opened the first-aid kit. She was relieved to see that Bertha's wound, although bloody, was not as bad as she had feared.

Cooper started to get into the driver's seat. She saw him hesitate, and then step down from the vehicle.

He walked swiftly to where the blue vortex had been whirling a few minutes earlier. She watched him lean down to pick up a small, narrow object that was lying on the floor. Sliding it into a pocket, he loped back to the sled.

Before she could ask him what he had found, he was rezzing the engine.

She could question him about whatever it was he had picked up some other time, she thought. Right now she had to focus on cleaning Bertha's wound.

*****

TEN MINUTES LATER, SPORTING THE BANDAGE THAT ELLY had applied over the disinfected wound, Bertha managed to stagger up out of the cellar and into the darkened back room of her shop. She swayed a little, but she stayed on her feet.

"Need to sleep it off," she mumbled, rubbing her temples with her thumbs.

"If you won't go to the ER, you're going to come home with me," Elly said firmly. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself tonight."

For a few seconds she thought Bertha would refuse.

"Okay, okay," Bertha finally grumbled.

Cooper rechecked his watch and then draped one of Bertha's arms over his shoulders.

"Let's go," he ordered, obviously still in full hunter-in-charge mode.

"Whatever," Bertha said groggily. "Just need some sleep."

"You and me, both," Cooper added.

Elly watched him with growing concern as he maneuvered Bertha outside into the alley and eased her into the front seat of the Spectrum. Elly had not one but two people who were in imminent danger of collapsing on her, she thought. She had to get them both back to her apartment as quickly as possible.

"I'll drive." She held out her hand, palm up.

"Not necessary," Cooper growled.

"You are in no shape, and you know it."

"Your shop's in the next block, right?"

"The keys, Cooper."

He looked annoyed, but displaying the decisive thinking that had no doubt been responsible for taking him all the way to the top of the Aurora Springs Guild, he handed her the keys.

"Be careful," he warned. "The car belongs to a known Guild boss who won't be happy if it gets dinged up."

"Yeah, I've heard those guys can be real touchy," Elly said.

She tossed the Spectrum keys into the air. Was she nonchalant in the face of danger, or what?

Unfortunately she missed the catch. The keys clanged on the paving stones.

"Oops," she mumbled.

Cooper watched her scoop up the keys.

"This will probably be interesting," he said.

She drove the powerful car very gingerly through the alley. The headlights penetrated only a few feet into the heavy fog. Every trash can was a major hazard.

She made it across the narrow street that separated the blocks and drove cautiously into the alley that ran behind her own shop.

She was sure she heard a deep sigh of relief when she stopped at the rear door of St. Clair's Herbal Emporium and de-rezzed the ignition.

"See?" she said, handing Cooper the keys. "No problem."

He pocketed the keys without comment. With Rose hunched on his shoulder, he climbed out of the backseat, opened the passenger door, and reached down to assist Bertha.

Elly de-rezzed the heavy new lock that she had recently installed and opened the back door of the shop. The familiar scents and a pleasant trickle of psi energy wafted over her, soothing and comforting all of her senses.

She rezzed the lights, revealing the ranks of herbs and flowers that hung upside down from the ceiling and filled an array of baskets.

"My apartment is on the floor above the shop," she said. "We need to get Bertha up those stairs."

Bertha grunted. "I'm not a total invalid here."

She grasped the handrail and trudged up the steps.

Elly left Cooper standing at the foot of the stairs while she piloted Bertha down a short hall into the darkened bedroom.

Bertha balked in the doorway, scowling ferociously at the neatly made bed.

"This is your room," she complained.

"Don't worry, I'll sleep on the sofa."

"Can't take your only bed."

"Yes, you can and you will," Elly said. "Please, Bertha, don't go into stubborn mode on me tonight."

"Can't." Bertha lurched into the room and collapsed on top of the bed, eyes closing. "Feel like a building fell on top of me."

"I don't doubt it." Elly tugged off Bertha's heavy boots. "Do you remember anything at all about what happened?"

"Not much." Bertha rubbed the nape of her neck. "Can't think. Maybe in the morning."

"Do you feel nauseated?"

"No."

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

Bertha peered at her hand. "One. G'night."

She started snoring.

Elly covered her with a spare blanket and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Patient number one was under control, she thought. Now to deal with patient number two.

Rose tumbled up the stairs and drifted into the kitchen in search of her food dish.

Elly went to the landing and looked down. Cooper was still standing at the foot of the staircase. It seemed to her that he was gripping the end of the banister much too tightly.

He watched her with stark, hot eyes. An unfamiliar tension radiated from him.

A chill of awareness swept through her.

"Cooper?"

"Remember, don't tell her who I am."

"Yes, I know." She wrinkled her nose. "Guild business."

"Yeah, and it just got a lot more complicated."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'll explain in the morning." The words sounded ragged around the edges. "Just wanted to make sure you understood how important it is that you don't tell her about the blue."

"I won't."

"I need to get out of here." He shoved himself away from the banister and started toward the door.

"I don't think so." She hurried down the stairs. "You're not in any shape to drive, especially given the fog. You'll have to stay here tonight."

"Bad idea. I'll be back in the morning."

"I'm not going to let you leave."

"Be okay." He kept walking toward the door.

"Like heck you will." She rushed past him and flung herself in front of the door, barring his path. "Stop right where you are. I mean it. You cannot possibly intend to drive that Spectrum anywhere tonight. You're a danger to yourself and others."

He blinked a couple of times and then nodded, reluctantly acknowledging the obvious.

"You're right. I'll sleep in it, instead," he said.

"You will do no such thing. This isn't the most dangerous neighborhood in the Old Quarter, but it isn't exactly Ruin View Drive with lots of private security patrols, either. One of the shops in this very block was broken into just a few days ago. Trust me, you do not want to sleep in the back of a car in that alley. That would be asking for trouble."

He shook his head. "Can't stay here."

"Look, we both know that you're going to crash big time after that energy burn. I've got a perfectly good sofa upstairs. Why not use it?"

His eyes went very, very blue. "Because even though I'm going to crash in a little while, right now I'm burning up, that's why."

"You've got a fever?" Alarmed, she stepped forward and put her palm on his forehead. "Oh, dear, you do feel warm."

"Not that kind of fever. Get out of my way, Elly, I'm warning you."

He jerked away from her hand, moved around her, and yanked open the door.

"Warning me about what?" she asked, following him out onto the small back stoop.

He circled the Spectrum to open the door on the driver's side and paused to look at her over the roof of the vehicle. In the dim glow of the light above the doorway his face was an implacable mask.

"Remember what I told you earlier after I summoned that small ghost to take care of that mugger we ran into?" he said evenly. "About how I could handle the rush before the crash?"

"Yes."

"Well, that was true for routine ghosts. But this one was a blue."

"And you melted amber to deal with it," she whispered, comprehending at last. He was in a state of intense lust. And he was trying to protect her from himself.

He scrubbed his face with one hand. "As much as I hate to ruin my macho Guild boss image, I gotta tell you, it has been a very long eight months and five days. Not that I'm counting."

He slid into the driver's seat.

Eight months and five days. He was counting, Elly thought.

She felt her heart rate escalate.

"Cooper, wait."

She went down the steps, yanked open the passenger side door, got in beside him, and slammed the door shut.

"Cooper, are you saying you haven't dated anyone since I left Aurora Springs?"

He gazed straight ahead through the windshield. "Get out of the car, Elly, for both our sakes."

"Not until I know why you haven't slept with anyone in the past eight months and five days."

He turned, one arm stretching along the back of the seat of the car.

"I haven't wanted anyone else," he said. "Just you."

The fog closed in around the Spectrum. The close confines of the interior of the front seat seemed almost unbearably intimate.

Careful, Elly thought, you're over-rezzed yourself tonight. All that adrenaline earlier and now the man who has been invading your dreams for the past few months is telling you he wants you. And you want him. You've wanted him from day one. That's why you seized the excuse of knowing he was in town tonight to track him down to ask for his help.

"Cooper-"

"Get out of the car."

She ignored that. "I didn't think you felt that way about me."

"You were wrong. Now, please, get the hell out of the damn car."

Her blood fizzed in her veins. She felt light-headed. Anticipation heated her insides. She touched the side of his stone-hard face.

"I'd rather kiss you," she said, feeling more daring than she had ever felt in her entire life.

"Bad idea. If you kiss me, I can't promise that I'll be able to stop."

"Who said anything about stopping?"

She leaned toward him and kissed him lightly on the mouth.

For a fraction of an instant, Cooper went utterly still. In the next heartbeat, he claimed the kiss with a rough groan, crushing her against the back of the passenger seat. His mouth was fierce and hot and ruthless.

Energy-sexual, not psi-flashed inside the front seat of the Spectrum, engulfing her senses.

Cooper moved closer, pushing hard against her. Heat came off of his body in waves. His mouth shifted to her throat. She felt his hand glide up under her sweater. Somehow he got her bra undone. She could feel his fingers shaking a little. Or maybe she was the one who was trembling.

The next thing she knew, his thumb was scraping lightly over her nipple. She almost screamed at his touch. Her skin had never felt so incredibly sensitive.

"Cooper."

He raised his head to look down at her. He was breathing heavily.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No, no."

Her head tipped back against the seat. She braced herself against the onslaught by clamping her hands on either side of his lean, solid chest. He was hot, so hot. And so was she.

He grabbed a fistful of her skirt and shoved the garment up to her waist. Her panties vanished in the next instant.

He propped her right foot on the dash, opening her. His fingers stroked deep. She was suddenly aware that she was already very damp.

"Talk about melting amber," he whispered.

He moved in the shadows, turning them both so that he was the one sitting in the passenger seat. Somehow she was astride him.

She could no longer see anything at all through the Spectrum's windows. It wasn't just the thick mist outside that limited the view. The glass itself was seriously fogged on the inside.

So much heat. Exhilaration and urgency made her shiver in Cooper's arms.

His hand moved between her thighs. Everything inside her was growing tighter.

She reached down and unfastened his trousers. His rigid erection surged into her hand.

He gripped her hips, cupping her buttocks in the palms of his hands. Positioning her where he wanted her, he slowly, carefully eased her downward.

When she felt the size of him, her body tensed involuntarily against the sensual invasion. Her fingers clenched around his shoulders, and she froze.

"Open for me," he whispered, his voice husky with need. "Got to be inside you. Waited so damn long."

She felt herself precariously balanced on the bright line between pain and pleasure.

"This may not work," she gasped.

He took one hand off her thigh and did something to the delicate, exquisitely sensitized little nubbin between her legs. Without warning her climax rolled through her, stealing her breath and her voice.

"It'll work," he said.

He took advantage of the delicious distraction that he had created to thrust deeply into her. Her body accepted him fully this time, thrilling to the intense sensation. Gloriously satisfying contractions throbbed through her.

Cooper uttered an exultant, half-muffled groan. His release roared through him in heavy, pounding waves that she could feel deep inside.

For a short eternity Elly could not envision anything of importance existing beyond the realm encompassed by the front seat of the car. Everything she needed was right here, she thought. She could live in the vehicle for the rest of her life so long as Cooper was with her.

Eventually it dawned on her that Cooper was no longer moving. The realization brought her back to full awareness with a start of anxiety.

"Cooper?"

His head was resting against the back of the seat. She could see that his eyes were closed. His breathing was steadying rapidly.

First the burn and then the crash, she reminded herself.

She had to get him inside before he went out like a de-rezzed light. She eased herself away from him, wincing a little. Her entire lower body felt tender. The muscles of her inner thighs were jelly.

"Cooper?" She shook him, gently at first and then with more force. "Wake up, Guild Boss. We have to get you inside. I told you that you couldn't sleep out here in the alley tonight. It's just too dangerous."

"Huh?" His dark lashes lifted slightly. His sleepy smile was the essence of male satisfaction. "Can't remember the last time I had car sex. Going to have to do this more often."

"Out." She reached across him and pushed open the door. Chilly, damp air spilled into the vehicle. "Move, Boone. There's no way I can carry you."

"I'm fine right here." The words were slurred. He closed his eyes again.

"I'm not going to leave you out here, and that's final."

When that reminder elicited no response, she climbed awkwardly over him and got out of the car. Her sweater was still hiked up over her breasts. Hastily, she yanked it down.

The light over the back door of the shop barely reached the Spectrum. On the positive-rez side, she thought, if any of her neighbors were still up they might not notice her getting out of a strange car with her clothes in disarray and a near-unconscious man in the front seat. Not that folks here in the big city paid attention to that sort of thing, she assured herself. This wasn't a small town where everybody loved to gossip.

"You know," she said to no one in particular, "I never had problems like this back in Aurora Springs."

"Neither did I," Cooper mumbled.

"At least you're not completely asleep yet."

She leaned back inside the car, gripped his right arm, and tried to drag him bodily out of the vehicle.

"Out," she said in her sternest tones, trying to cut through the veil of heavy sleep that she knew was crashing through him. "Right now."

"Nag, nag, nag."

But Cooper rolled slowly out of the front seat and actually managed to stand on his own two feet, although he had to lean heavily on her and the car door to do so. It said a lot for his stamina that he was still able to move at all under his own steam in this condition, she thought.

She got him up the step and through the doorway. Rose tumbled toward her in an agitated manner.

"He's okay," she said. "At least, I think he is."

Cooper opened one eye. "That's it. I'm inside. I'm going back to sleep."

His knees buckled. She couldn't hold his weight, but she was able to control his collapse to the floor so that he did not hit anything important on the way down.

She went back outside to secure the Spectrum. Suddenly remembering her missing panties, she opened the passenger door and checked the front seat. The little triangle of red lace dangled off the gearshift. She snatched up the underwear and locked the car.

Cooper hadn't had an opportunity to hang a ghost on the license plate. She could only hope that the expensive vehicle would still be there in the morning.

She hurried back into the shop and rezzed the new lock. Cooper was still sprawled, faceup, on the floor, eyes closed. He did not stir when she shoved a pillow under his head and covered him with a blanket.

When she was satisfied that she had done all she could, she de-rezzed the light, collected Rose, and climbed to the upper floor. A heady mix of weariness, astonishment, and nervy excitement hit her full force halfway up the stairs.

What had she just done?

She'd had sex with Cooper Boone, that was what she had done. In the front seat of his car, no less.

When she emerged from the bathroom a short time later, having showered and changed into a nightgown, she went into the kitchen. Rose was sitting on the windowsill next to the little vase that held the strange green flower.

Her mother had given her the vase. Evelyn St. Clair had found it years ago while working as a tangler para-archaeologist for a private exploration team.

There was no way of knowing if the small, gracefully shaped vessel had been intended to hold flowers, of course. As was the case with virtually all of the alien artifacts, its original purpose remained a mystery. But it worked very well as a vase. It also functioned as a dim and slightly eerie night-light. Like all green quartz artifacts brought out of the catacombs, the stone emitted a faint, residual glow after dark.

Elly went to stand at the window. Rose sidled along the windowsill, getting closer to her hand. Taking the hint, she petted the dust bunny gently somewhere in the vicinity of the top of her head. Together they looked out at the view of the green-tinged fog.

"The thing I have to keep in mind here is that nothing that happened tonight can be considered normal," Elly said to Rose. "I definitely should not make any assumptions about the future based on what just occurred down there in the front seat of the Spectrum."

Rose rumbled softly. Elly couldn't tell if she was agreeing or not. Rose appeared to be a fairly worldly dust bunny. Nevertheless, it was unlikely that she understood much about the potential emotional ramifications of human passion.

"Melting amber always hits a hunter hard, you know," Elly explained. "And that was a for-real blue ghost that Cooper de-rezzed tonight. There's no knowing exactly how that kind of psi drain will affect him. It's quite possible that, come morning, Cooper won't even remember having hot sex with me."

Rose made another vaguely comforting noise.

"Wouldn't be surprised if he wakes up with no recollection at all of what happened." Elly pondered that for a moment. "It would certainly make things simpler if he happened to develop a convenient case of amnesia regarding the events of the past half hour."

Rose sat up on her hind legs and playfully batted the stalk of the green flower, causing the bloom to bob lightly.

"The thing is, I'm not sure that I want him to forget. I'm certainly not going to be able to forget, and I'm afraid that is going to really, really complicate things."

Rose blinked her big blue eyes a couple of times and looked concerned in a dust bunny sort of way.

Elly reached out to cup the elegantly shaped, emerald flower. The velvety soft petals felt delightful against her skin. But that wasn't the only sensation she experienced when she was this close to the blossom. A frisson of unusual energy gently sparked her paranormal senses.

The sensation was not unfamiliar to her. Ever since she was a girl, she had been able to detect a delicate psi buzz from plants of all kinds. In her experience each species had a distinctive energy pattern in the same way that it had other distinctive characteristics such as fragrance and color and petal design.

The problem, of course, was that, as far as anyone knew, the flora of Harmony did not give off any psi energy, at least not in a wavelength that humans could detect with their para-senses or their high-tech gadgets. The fact that she could detect the resonating frequencies of plants made her different and, when it came to parapsych abilities, being different was not generally considered a good thing. The result was that her unusual talent had been kept a deep, dark family secret.

But because of her ability, she knew that there was something very unique and possibly extremely important about the strange green flower on her windowsill. Unfortunately, she knew of no one she could talk to about the matter. If she took the specimen to a botanical research lab and explained what was going on, the scientists and technicians would very likely refer her to a parapsych therapist for counseling.

"Let's go to bed, Rose."