Page 9 of Bonding Beasts (Bonding: The Ultimate Guide #3)

“Stop!Make it stop!”

“Get them away from me, then!”

“Stop the pain first!”

“Stalemate, fucker!I can make it worse; don’t make me do it!”

“No!”

“I will puke on you, I swear!”

The guy starts crying and begging me to stop.I debate for a minute, then lighten up the cramps a little.If he tries anything, it’s a whole-body lockdown.

The five other occupants of the house come tumbling out one after another and freeze in open-mouthed shock at the sight of us both.

He’s still sniffling and jerks his head back towards them, “Stop the lawn hexes.”

They look at each other in surprise.The world suddenly stops tilting, and the gnomes fall over, lifeless.

“Your service,” I try and pace my breathing to keep myself from getting sick everywhere.

“Now me !” He squeals as he struggles against his own body for release.

I drop the line from my shaking hand.The spark begins bouncing over the gnomes, grass, and cobblestones, just having a great time out there.Good for it .

The guy lies back on the stones and whines pitifully.

“Who has murder gnomes as the welcome party to a house?” I snipe at him.

“Daddy?” a young voice asks softly.

Oh, no.Please, just no.

I look past the prone body and see one elderly male, two middle-aged men, and two children.

You never feel like a monster until a child witnesses you being an asshole. I feel smaller than the garden gnomes now.

“Shit,” I mutter and try to be stealthy about putting the dagger away.Afterwards, I begin to rub at the myriad punctures on my arms.They’re beginning to itch.Probably not a good sign.

“Are those your kids?” I ask quietly as I watch him catch his breath.

“Stay away from them.” His upper half jerks up, and he snarls in my face.He certainly revived fast.

“Dude, they’re kids ,” I hiss at him.“Just pretend we were playing around or something.”

“What?” He gasps incredulously.

“Your dad’s okay, you guys!” I call out and lean around him to see the five-year-old holding one of the middle-aged man’s hands.“Sometimes you just have to yell it out, you know?”

They all stare at me like I’m insane.I feel a little like Kimi right now, so it’s fair.Not a comparison I ever want to make again, though.

“They’re scared,” I widen my eyes at him and force a massive smile to my lips.The effect must be unsettling because he jerks back with a disgusted look.“Do something!”

“I-I’m okay, kids,” he calls back hesitantly.

“Grant,” the elderly male calls grimly.“What’s going on? ”

“I don’t know,” the guy, Grant, calls back with confusion evident in his voice.

“Do you want me to activate the army?” The older child calls out.

I narrow my eyes at Grant, and the smile drops.“Don’t you dare.”

His green eyes narrow right back at me, and he smiles menacingly.

“Stop it!” I hiss so the kids won’t hear me.“We called a cease-fire here.Consider the white flag raised all right?I have better things to do today than die via gnome army.”

His smile drops into a frown of confusion.“You came here expecting trouble, and you got it.”

“No,” I argue.“I came here wanting answers.I was happy with the house's appearance because I figured there wouldn’t be any trouble.”

“If that’s true, why are they still outside the wards?” He gestures behind me.

I glance back at Ben’s snarling face.It’s positioned beside one of Mitri’s guns, aimed directly at Grant’s head.Mal is hitting the barrier as hard as he can in frustration.Kimi is rolling around on the ground, still laughing.

“I think it’s a good thing they’re stuck out there,” I reply.

“No shit,” is his sarcastic response.

“Why did I get to come in, and they didn’t?” I turn back to him with a frown.

“You had no ill intent when you entered.”

“Wait,” I hold up both hands, palms out.“You mean they couldn’t come in because they were planning on hurting someone?”

He raises an eyebrow and nods.

“Those assholes ,” I scowl.“That’s why I told them to go back to the car!See?I was right! ”

Grant doesn’t reply, and the two middle-aged men join us.The older man is ushering the children back inside as they strain to watch us.

“Why did they attack me, then?I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

“They’ve been more active ever since the reporters started coming around,” the blond one on the left explains in a soft and melancholy voice.

“Reporters?” I ask in surprise.

“Following the story, those vultures,” the red-haired man on the right spits on the needle grass in disgust.

“The missing person's story?” I ask in excitement.“Do they know anything?I never found any articles about it.”

The three men look at each other in confusion.

“How did you know about that?” Grant asks suspiciously.

“That’s why I’m here,” I rush to explain.

“I’m looking into Laverne Rodriques and Darlene Reyes's disappearances. I was hoping I could get in touch with anyone from the Salt Houses and try to dig into their history a little. Maybe try and match up what I’ve discovered with any clues on where I can find them. ”

The three look at each other again.

“Please stop doing that.I’m getting left out of the loop here.”And it’s annoying.Look at that!I didn’t say it out loud.

“Who are you?” Red hair asks.

“Beatrice, or just Bea.Would you be willing to talk with me?I mean, I can let bygones be bygones if you can,” I shrug and cross my fingers behind my back, hoping this will be the big break I need.

“Come on inside,” Blondie sighs, trailing back towards the open door .

“I think I’ll stay out here,” I call back to him.“I’m full up on surprise attacks, and if I leave their sight, they might go ballistic.”

We all look back at the four outside.They’re lined up like menacing statues behind me, glaring.Even Kimi is in on it this time.

“If you don’t come inside, the hexes will get worse,” Grant gestures to the punctures on my arms.

The itching hasn’t stopped, and they’re starting to ooze some clear fluid that’s slowly soaking into my shirt and pants.

“What, exactly, did I get hexed with?” I ask cautiously and eye my wounds.

“Infectious disease and skin rot,” the red-haired male says with a menacing smile.

“Wow. Aren’t you guys sweet. I’m sure Yule celebrations here are a blast,” I mutter.

I make no move to get up and focus on the punctures. Sparky swoops back to me for the assist. The sooner I’m rid of killer gnome STDs, the better.

The wounds spit out what looks like black seeds that make my skin crawl, then smooth over.

“Problem solved. No going out of sight necessary,” I smile grimly, and the spark returns to bouncing all over the yard.

I cross my legs and sit up straight, elbows propped on my knees.

All three males look shocked and incapable of speech.

“Come on, guys,” I snap my fingers in front of me. “Why were there reporters here? Why did they not mention it online if they followed the story?”

Grant shakes his head and stares at me in wonder. “They weren’t here to cover Laverne going missing - “

“At first,” Blondie interrupts .

“They were here to interview her newest hex technique,” Grant finishes with a glare over his shoulder.

“OK,” I nod with a frown. “So she was something special.”

“Our wife is amazing,” Red snaps defensively.

“Wait, all three of you?” I ask in surprise.

They stare at me blankly.

“Humans prefer monogamy,” Grant mutters over his shoulder.

“Because they have enough females to promote it,” Red sneers back.

“Wait, wait, we’re getting off track,” I try to reel the curiosity in for a second. “So she gets interviewed. Then what?”

“Then the reporters started hounding her. It got so bad we,” Grant gestures to the lawn gnomes.

“Why would they hound her? She already gave an interview, right?”

“She wouldn’t name the other Witch that helped make the technique work,” Grant sighs.

“And they decided to beat down her door to find out? What did this hex do?”

“It isn’t what it did. It’s how she pieced it together,” Blondie frowns.

I swirl two fingers to get them to spill it.

“She and the other Witch made the hex casting possible from anywhere ,” Grant says, getting a little excited about it.

“Okay? What’s so great about that?”

The three stare at me in disgust.

“Humans,” Red snaps.

“I don’t think she’s Human,” Blondie frowns.

“A hex has to be face to face. You may not see it coming, but the target has to be in sight,” Grant explains. “Lavie made a hex that can be done without being in sight. She could look at a photograph and send it to a target, animate or inanimate.”

“What did it do?” I ask. So far, I’ve been hit with infections and rot. I’m not sure I want to know what this one did.

“Anything. It could carry any hex,” Grant replies. “Lavie’s specialty is in mental manipulation, so that was the test.”

“Excuse me?” I blink a few times in surprise.

“The other Witch didn’t help with the distance, but she could make it multiply once it reached its target.”

“Would that Witch just so happen to be Darlene Reyes?” My stomach begins to twist in a knot.

“Yeah, she was so young,” Blondie mutters and sniffles.

“ Was ?” I ask sharply.

“She’s been missing for almost six months. Lavie has been gone for even longer. No one has found a trace of either of them. We’ve searched,” Grant’s teeth are starting to grind.

“So they interview Laverne. She tells them about a wonderful new hex but won’t give up the second part of the duo and then disappears. Six months later, the other half of the duo disappears?”

“Yeah, and in between then, the reporters got more persistent. We had one break into the house looking for information, but Lavie never kept anything here.”

“Wouldn’t the hex have been a huge deal?” I throw out, following a hunch.

“Of course,” Red scoffs.

“Then why is there no mention of it when I researched her?” I raise an eyebrow.

They all frown, and Blondie disappears back into the house.

“What do you mean?” Grant glances back at Red in confusion .

“I mean, the only thing I found was that she was from Salt House. There is nothing super exciting about her or Darlene. I thought this would be a crapshoot for information, to be honest. I figured I’d get some family history or what she was like before she disappeared, not this.”

Blondie comes back with what looks like a photo album.

It turns out to be a scrapbook of Laverne’s interviews.

Several different magazines questioned her.

She never mentions Darlene's name, saying that the second Witch wanted to remain anonymous.

Everything lines up with what her husbands have already claimed.

“What happened after she disappeared? Did TGT come to investigate?” I ask as I thumb through the articles.

“No one came,” Blondie whispered.

“ Excuse me?” I ask in surprise.

“You’re the first person to come asking questions. I take that back. Someone else came, some reporter, I forgot his name,” Red frowns.

“ Her name,” Blondie mutters. “Renee something.”

“Renee Snyder?” I ask in surprise. One of the other people who disappeared on April 30th? My, my, my, what a coincidence.

“That’s it,” Red snaps and looks pleased with himself.

“She’s missing too,” I frown back at him.

“What?” They say simultaneously.

“Yeah, about nine people that I’ve found so far with no correlation to each other, except Laverne and Darlene. Now Renee is connected to the search for Laverne, and she disappeared the same day as Darlene.”

“Shit,” Grant runs a hand through his hair, and his eyes well with tears.

“Yeah,” I wince as he starts sniffling. “Look, I won’t stop until I find them all.

But if there are more hidden connections, I need to piece them together.

Can I get one of your numbers? I’ll text the info I have to you, and you can get back to me with any other thoughts you guys have.

In the meantime, I’ll be going around and asking people about them.

Maybe if we can get everyone together to brainstorm… ” I trail off.

That’s either the worst idea I’ve ever had or the best. Time will tell, I guess.

“Of course,” Grant gasps and pulls out his phone. I hand the scrapbook to Blondie and pull mine out of my pocket. We exchange numbers, and I add ‘Grant, Salty Bitch House’ to my contacts.

“Can you spread the word to the other Salt houses? I don’t want to go through,” I cut myself off and wince at the gnomes.

“Yeah,” Grant has the decency to cringe and looks over my shoulder. “Are they going to kill us when we release you?”

I look back, and all four of them are standing at attention with various stages of irritation on their faces.

“Can you release me from inside the house?” I look back at them and wince. “It would be safer that way.”

Grant nods, and the other two help him up from the ground.

As they walk back, I notice my spark rolling around a gnome.

“Stop that and come back,” I hiss at it, irritated. I could have used its attention when my skin first began to rot, but no, it had to play around.

It bounces a few times over the gnome, and I frown.

“What?” I ask in exasperation and reach out for it.

Before I can grasp the spark, it disappears into the gnome .

“If you animate that thing, I will disown you,” I growl.

As I watch, a symbol appears over the thing’s belly, a black outline with the spark highlighting it.

I don’t recognize the mark, and the spark hops out after I see it.

Then, it goes to the needle grass and does the same thing.

A different symbol appears, multiplied over and over throughout the length of the lawn.

Each mark is spaced in four-by-four squares.

“Are those hexes?” I ask with disbelief. Now I feel guilty. I was over here pouting, and it was doing legwork.

It shows a symbol over the flowered arch, the bushes surrounding the front porch, and even the windows. I don’t want to know what those do.

One of the curtains parts, and Grant waves from inside the house. I wave back stupidly and stand up.

“Come on,” I gesture the spark back to me, and it zips into my chest.

Then I turn to face the pissed-off group of males waiting for me.