Page 6 of Waste (Legendary Shifters #4)

Shelley

S he frowned at the laptop as she shut it down.

Shelley had researched the hell out of ghouls and found nothing else since her breakthrough a week ago.

She turned her thoughts back to that fateful night and automatically flinched away from the violence.

Shelley rose to her feet and made her way to the kitchen.

She was missing a piece; she was sure of it.

As the kettle boiled and she prepared the fixings for a cup of tea, Shelley’s mind raced.

There had to be something, some tiny clue.

Once she’d poured her drink, she headed toward her living room and curled up in an oversized armchair.

Puffing her cheeks out, Shelley began to walk herself back through that night, step by step, because no matter what she told the police, she remembered everything.

Her car had started juddering as she passed through the rich area where she lived. Shelley often dreamed of owning a house like this, but it would never happen. She’d never make enough money to buy one of these. Still, it never hurt to dream.

She pulled over suddenly when her engine cut out and tried to restart it. When it didn’t, Shelley had got out and popped the bonnet.

Her dad had made sure she could do basic maintenance on a vehicle.

She ran through a quick checklist and found nothing obviously wrong.

Agitated, Shelley had called the RAC and looked up as a car approached.

Something inside her had warned Shelley to be on guard, even when she finally recognised John Saville as a customer.

It was clear from his appearance that he didn’t live in this area.

Shelley forced herself to run back through the conversation and the violence John had unleashed on her. Tears tracked down her face, but she wiped them away impatiently. She was safe now, and that’s all that mattered. Slowly, she recalled each detail about the ghoul, including how he disappeared.

Shelley sat up straight.

In her terror, pain and confusion, she’d forgotten that the ghoul had just vanished.

Like, literally disappeared into thin air.

The ghoul looked in the wing mirror of the car, and she remembered his mouth moving, and then he was gone!

Shelley couldn’t make out all the words he’d said, but she’d caught two.

Electricity ran through her body as she recalled hearing a name.

Mary Worth. Shelley immediately flipped open her laptop and brought up a search engine.

Well, there was certainly information about Mary Worth.

The legend had it that Mary had been a seventeenth-century witch, living in the New England area of America.

Mary was believed to have kidnapped and killed children.

For her crimes, she was burned at the stake, but not before she released one last curse on the townspeople.

She swore that if they said her name in a mirror, she would return, and their lives would be forfeit.

Shelley noted that the Bloody Mary story was probably based on Mary Worth.

Why would the ghoul be calling Mary Worth?

Confused, Shelley dug deeper and looked for a link between the ghoul and Mary Worth.

Not finding one, she sat back and tried to figure out what she’d seen.

The ghoul had definitely disappeared into thin air.

And she certainly remembered Mary Worth’s name being spoken.

Mary was meant to appear in mirrors, and while some sites mentioned she’d eat your soul, and others indicated she’d come through and murder you, the mirrors were important. Did they act as portals?

Shelley clicked on a link claiming there was proof Mary existed.

A page with several videos opened, and Shelley selected the first. Three teenagers sat in front of a mirror and called Bloody Mary three times.

It lasted mere seconds, but a frightening vision of a woman briefly flashed up.

The teenagers screamed and scrambled away, and the image grinned.

Shelley paused the video and studied the frozen frame.

Long, straggly black hair fell to the woman’s hips.

Pure black filled her eyes, with no white visible whatsoever.

Lips as red as blood were pulled back in a hateful snarl, and her cheekbones were high while her cheeks sank in.

The woman’s skin was as white as the ghoul’s, forcing her features to stand out even more.

Shelley noted the figure wore a torn and ragged black dress that hung in shreds around knobbly knees, and her raised hands were thin and bony with clawed fingers.

Shelley clicked on several further videos and sat back. They all were from different sources, yet the brief image in them showed the same woman. It was very interesting or incredibly frightening. Shelley was unsure what to do, then her eyes rested on her large mirror, and she flinched.

She got to her feet, rushed into her bedroom, grabbed a blanket, and slung it over the mirror. Had Mary Worth or the ghoul been watching her through it? Shelley felt suspicion rise, but shoved it back down. She refused to let it smother her, as it threatened to.

She’d lived with panic for a few weeks and had struggled to beat it, but Shelley wouldn’t allow paranoia to bring her down low.

Even so, a shiver ran down her spine. What had she stumbled into?

Mary Worth/Marie

“Oh, that won’t work,” Mary muttered as she shifted to another view and stared at Shelley as she gazed at her large mirror.

Mary shook her head; there were other reflective surfaces in Shelley’s living room. And now she watched through one of them. Shelley had clearly figured out something, but Mary was unsure of what. She called to Drew in her mind and felt him answer, knowing he was heading for her tower.

Mary stayed in her monster form; the mirror network didn’t work as well for her in her human body.

In this shape, though, Mary was the Mistress of the Mirrors and ruled supreme.

Mary tapped her nails as she studied Shelley.

The young woman appeared frightened, but she wasn’t allowing it to rule her.

Mary could and did admire Shelley’s strength.

“What is it?” Drew asked as he entered the mirror room.

“Your female knows what you are, as in a ghoul. She’s been researching you since the attack. And Drew, there is an issue. She remembered you saying my name. Now, your Shelley is curious. I don’t think it will be long before she calls my name,” Mary said.

Drew blanched. And Mary understood why. Mary was not compelled to respond to a summons, but she did occasionally like to mess with people.

“Don’t answer her; you don’t have to,” Drew replied, and Mary snorted.

“Drew, Shelley will not quit, which may put her at risk from Hunters.”

Mary saw a chill run through Drew. The Hunters would have no qualms about taking Shelley and torturing her for information before killing her.

“What should I do?” Drew asked.

“I think you should tell her to stop. Visit her as Ghoul and let her know she’s in danger if she continues,” Mary suggested, and Drew stiffened.

“That is unacceptable,” he said emphatically.

“Then she will attract the wrong attention and die,” Mary replied callously.

Drew sent her a horrified look.

Mary held his gaze as Drew decided what to do.

A sigh escaped him. “Open a portal, I’ll go through,” he muttered sullenly.

“Knock on her back door; don’t enter her home. A scream coming from her house would alert the neighbours. They probably know she was attacked and will be vigilant to anything irregular around her,” Mary warned as she opened Ghoul’s mirror.

As he shifted into Ghoul, Drew sent her an angry look, but Mary brushed it off.

She guessed from the way he’d capitulated so easily that he was looking for an excuse to see her again.

Mary smirked as Ghoul disappeared and settled in to watch.

He was the only one out tonight, so he had her full attention.

Did that make her a voyeur? Mary didn’t care at all.

She enjoyed watching her siblings stumble over themselves.

Ghoul/Drew

He appeared in Shelley’s back garden, arriving through a mirror on a wall. The area was nicely done, highlighting water features and masses of flowers. There were several decorative mirrors he could escape through should it be necessary.

Ghoul knocked on the rear door and waited in the shadows. They wouldn’t do much to hide his white skin, but he wouldn’t frighten her either.

Shelley peered through the blinds, and he watched as her eyes searched the garden before they latched onto him. Ghoul expected fear to flood them, but they widened in excitement instead, and her mouth opened in an ‘O’. Shelley fumbled with the locks and unlocked the door, stepping out towards him.

“It’s you,” she whispered.

“Quit looking for me,” Ghoul hissed.

“I wanted to thank you,” Shelley replied.

“You’ve done so. Now stop searching; you’re bringing unwanted attention to yourself and are putting yourself in danger,” Ghoul asserted. He didn’t see the point in beating around the bush.

“From Mary Worth?” Shelley challenged, and Ghoul shook his head. Damn, Mary had been right. Shelley was in deeper than she needed to be.

“No. There are monster hunters; they will take you and torture you to find out what you know about me. Quit searching. I’m a monster, human, not a friend,” Ghoul said.

His exasperation deepened as Shelley held his gaze. “Well, that’s a load of bunkum, isn’t it?”

“What?” Ghoul was confused.

“You saved my life and now have come to warn me to stop looking for you. Those aren’t the actions of a terrible creature!”

“Why aren’t you frightened of me?” Ghoul burst out. This human female was annoying.

“Because no monster would save me and then harm me. That’s not who you are,” Shelley remarked and stepped closer.

Ghoul’s eyes narrowed. She was disregarding everything he said, yet he couldn’t hurt her.