Page 58 of Winter Lost

And that was another weird thing. Ghosts, like cats and certain other sensitive creatures, avoid vampires to the extent that I can sometimes tell there is a vampire in the room because there are no spirits at all.

“You can hear him,” she whispered. “See him.”

Adam took a step back until I rested against his body. He gave the sort of grunt that told me he understood that there might be a second threat. One he couldn’t see. I patted him to let him know that a ghost wasn’t a threat. Or at least I didn’t think a ghost could be a threat to me.

I didn’t answer the vampire.

“She can, can’t she?” The Irish lilt was lighter when the ghost wasn’t angry. The dead man rocked back with a broad grin. “Hello, doll,” he said to me. “Aren’t you an interesting find, then?”

He was wearing a shoulder holster with a big pistol. A 1911, I thought, though I couldn’t pick out the make other than it was different from the 1911 model Adam carried as his backup. The ghost hadn’t been wearing a gun when he’d come through the doors, but ghosts could be changeable like that.

The vampire glanced toward the Irishman, looking a little high and to the right of him. She couldn’t see him. She took a deep breath—vampires didn’t have to breathe except to talk, but most of them are pretty good at maintaining the illusion.

She looked at Adam, tried to meet his eyes, I think. But Adam moved his head, tipping it so she was in his peripheral vision, making it harder for her to capture him—if that was her intention. My mate seldom made unforced errors.

Finally, she turned to me.

She pursed her lips. “I think it is time for introductions. I am Elyna Gray.”

“O’Malley,” said the ghost with a frown.

Her lips quirked up. “O’Malley.”

She couldn’t see him, but she could hear him. I thought about the last few minutes and changed that to she could hear him some of the time.

“But I go by Gray,” she continued. “I live—my home is in Chicago. I’m here because my good friend’s daughter is supposed to be getting married this weekend. Travel is complicated for people like me—vampires—so I came early, just in case.”

“Jack O’Malley,” said the ghost, extending his hand to me with a challenge in his eyes. “Also from Chicago.”

“Mercy Hauptman,” I said.

I stepped around Adam so I could take Jack’s hand. It felt real, solid and warm—and a breath later it felt like nothing, though I could still see it. Disconcerted, I let my hand drop back down to my side, rubbing my fingers together to let the feel of his flesh dissipate.

“Jack O’Malley, Elyna”—I dispensed with the last name issue by dropping hers entirely—“my husband, Adam Hauptman.”

“Hauptman?” Elyna said with a faint frown. “I didn’t see your names on the guest list.”

“We’re not attending the wedding,” I told her.

Adam made no effort to join in the conversation except for a faint nod of acknowledgment when I’d introduced him. Because I could deal with both of them, vampire and ghost, while Adam could see only her, he would play backup. Adam didn’t say that was what he was doing—but I knew my husband.

Jack bent to his wife. I didn’t see his lips move, but Elyna nodded. “He says you feel like Gary Johnson, the caretaker of the ranch up the canyon.”

Johnson? I thought. Really, Gary. You couldn’t have come up with something better?

“My brother,” I said.

“Is there a reason you’re here rather than at the ranch with him?” she asked.

“Yes,” I told her. “He’s not there. The rig he drives is gone, and I’m worried about him. We were hoping there might be people here who know more about what’s going on.”

Honest answer. It wasn’t my fault she—they—would get a few false impressions from that.

Something skittered behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder. It was only a big house spider running across the tiled floor.

I returned my attention to Elyna—but that spider had been in a frantic hurry.

“Gary was supposed to bring down the sleigh today for a dress rehearsal, but he didn’t make it,” Elyna was saying in a determined effort to pretend Adam wasn’t still treating her like the enemy. “Jack was pretty sure it was the weather. The landlines are out—”