Page 73 of Love Bites And So Do I

“Yeah, don’t listen to it,” she said, already moving across the room. “Last time it spoke to me, it told me things.”

I raised a brow. “What kind of things?”

She leveled me with a flat look. “Things a toilet shouldn’t know.”

I strode across the room, but the second I came within a foot of the bathroom, the door slammed shut, the hinges rattling.

“Oh, knock it off,” Isadora barked at it.

The pipes went silent for a moment, and then the whispering began. It was low at first, barely audible. I took another step closer to the door, and the murmur sharpened. The words weren’t comprehensible, but I understood the intent.

The voice—if it could be called that—sounded like it had teeth. Jagged, wet ones. It whispered furiously, its tone utterly violent and untrustworthy. This ghost, demon, whatever, was nothing like Bernard downstairs.

“Yes, well, that’s enough of that,” I murmured. I reached into my pocket and withdrew my phone.

“What are you doing?” Isadora asked, creeping closer.

“Resolving this. You need to be able to sleep without some specter whispering in your ear.”

I pulled up a contact from a list I hardly used and pressed dial.

“Ravenspell,” Isadora murmured. Her eyes shot up to mine. “You have a Ravenspell saved to your contacts? I thought your family hated them?”

And they us. They would charge me two or three times their regular fee simply because of my last name—and the longstanding feud between our families—but sometimes, there were issues only a witch could resolve.

The phone rang. Once. Twice.

Then, with a faint hint of static, a voice answered. “Mm?”

“Hello, Selene,” I said. If she didn’t have caller-ID, I knew she’d recognize my voice.

A long pause. Then she took a very deliberate sip of what I suspected was tea. Or liquid spite.

“To what do I owe the discomfort?” drawled the witch on the other end.

Regardless of my personal feelings about the Ravenspells, they did make me laugh occasionally. And this was one of those moments.

“I am in need of your services.”

“What services could you possibly need from me?” Selene practically purred on the other end. I could only imagine the dollar signs flitting through her head.

“My…” I paused. I didn’t know how to address Isadora. Finally, I settled with, “companion has a demon residing in her toilet.”

Silence. And then, horrifyingly, a small laugh. “Well. That’s new.”

“I want it gone.”

“And you think I can handle this task of yours?”

Truly, no one else could. I held my tongue. I would never compliment a Ravenspell. Not even with my dying breath.

“Fine,” Selene finally said when I didn’t answer. “Send me the address.”

“It’s Hank Corvus’ old place.”

Selene gave a throaty chuckle. “Delightful. I’ll be there within an hour. And Lucien?”

I paused.