Gypsy Magic - J.R. Rain Page 0,72

it was done with me?

When it was done with me…

I was about to leave my little boy alone and motherless…

No! I thought back immediately. I won’t do it! I’ll fight using everything I’ve got and I’m a Traveller Gypsy which means I’ve got a lot!

Marty took a turn in the road too quickly and the tires squeaked out their outrage as I went hurtling back onto the coffin.

“Mind leaning off the lid, lovely? You’re making it exceptionally hard to get out,” a voice sounded from within.

With an undignified sound, I took Bailey’s outstretched hand and scrambled into the bench seat along the wall. All the while, I looked at her in horror as she returned the expression. Then we both faced forward as the lid of the coffin creaked open and a figure rose, Lugosi-style, from the interior.

Lorcan Rowe seemed a little rumpled, but no worse for wear, after spending who knows how long in the casket. He brushed the hair from his face with a frown as he peered around.

“What are you doing in there?” Bailey demanded.

“And how long have you been in there?” I added and then shook my head, not really sure what Lorcan was going to be able to do to help the situation. I mean, he was just a man…

Or was he?

“What was I doing in there?” he started. “Well, I was sleeping!”

“Nevermind that!” Bailey started as she motioned to the rear-view window.

“Henner told us to knock on your coffin if we needed you!” I yelled at him.

“Would either of you, lovely ladies, mind filling me in on the details, hmm?” he asked, seeming completely unconcerned about the particulars.

“There’s a wendigo after us!” I blurted, not knowing how else to say it. Then I pointed out the back to the rapidly encroaching shape of the creature.

Lorcan blinked once, but showed no other outward indication of surprise. “Ah. So there is.” Then he turned to face me. “I suppose you want me to do something about it?”

I wasn’t sure what he could do, but I nodded mutely, watching with a rising sense of awe as he tugged himself free of the coffin. The dentist was apparently a Star Wars fan, because he’d been bundled up in a Death Star fleece.

“All this time I thought Danny was the poltergeist,” Bailey said, shaking her head, her eyes filled with guilt.

“We all did,” I answered.

“Offending the dead should be the least of your concerns presently,” Lorcan quipped as he stood, as best he could, in the interior of the hearse and shuffled to the back, hunched over all the while.

“What are you going to do?” Bailey demanded.

“Why, I’m going to ask the bloody creature if it would like to join me for tea,” he answered with a frown. “What the hell do you think I’m going to do?”

“Um, I’m not sure,” Bailey answered.

Then Lorcan began fiddling with the rear door, before pulling it open. Immediately, a rush of freezing air entered the void, and I shivered in spite of myself. Lorcan stood in the gap, clad only in a pair of black silk boxers, cutting an impressive figure. His pale skin glowed like alabaster in the splashes of street light we passed and his light, wild hair seemed to take on a life of its own in the night wind.

Then, casual as you please, he dove off the back of the hearse and onto the street, taking the brunt of the fall on one shoulder before rolling to his feet. There was a stripe of bloody red where the asphalt had turned his shoulder into hamburger.

“I think I’m losing my mind,” Bailey whispered.

“Well, then, that makes two of us.”

That was when I realized Marty had no idea what was going on in the back of the hearse. “Stop the car!” I shouted as I reached forward and banged on the glass that separated us. It was then that I realized where we were—right in front of the Half-Moon Bar and Grill. Lorcan was maybe halfway down the street and just beyond him, I could make out the wendigo in the darkness.

Marty brought the hearse to a screeching halt in front of the Half-Moon. His eyes were showing a lot of white when he peered through the back curtains at me.

“Get inside, both of you!” he directed. “Find Roy. Ask him if he’s got a gun or an acetylene torch. Maybe Lorcan and I can slow her down. Go! Hurry!”

My legs felt numb, and I was on autopilot as I