Love Your Entity(66)

Pulling out her smartphone, she ordered a deep-dish Chicago-style pizza with extra mushrooms. She had to change her order when she learned it would take an hour to make it and deliver. So she ordered a thin crust pizza instead.

As soon as she walked inside, she headed for the bathroom to take a shower and wash the cemetery dust off. “Do not talk to me for at least an hour,” she warned Ruby before she slammed the door in the ghost’s face.

She’d smudged the bathroom earlier with sage to prevent spirits from entering the room. The technique worked best in small spaces, so it wouldn’t do for her bedroom. But she had to have one small iota of privacy. If she couldn’t even pee without an audience then she was going to loose it completely.

Not that she wasn’t already on the verge, teetering there. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stood under the shower, using some of the soap that Zoe had given her as a housewarming present before wondering if it was spelled. Hell, even the soap around here wasn’t safe.

Muttering under her breath, she reached for her makeup kit, which had a small bar of soap from the last hotel she’d stayed in. That should be safe enough.

Okay, she had to calm down. She had to be logical.

But that was hard to do when wild thoughts kept zinging in her head. How could she be sure that her father wouldn’t come after her? What if he’d followed her home from the cemetery? What if he joined forces with Hal to punish her?

This was playing out more like a horror movie by the minute.

And then there was the entire Voz thing, where he would turn her into a vampire if they didn’t find the key in time. Unless Sierra was no longer bonded to Ronan. Which meant she had to have sex with him in the next forty-eight hours. Better make it sooner than that to be on the safe side.

Not that there was anything safe about having sex with a vampire. She was going to have to talk to Zoe and Daniella about that. She needed to get them alone, without Ronan being present. Or Hal.

She washed her hair and let the water sluice over her, rinsing away the bubbles but not her anxiety. Was that evil incarnate she’d sensed this morning after the séance at Zoe’s house a manifestation of her father? Or did it represent Voz somehow? But Voz was a vampire, not a spirit.

Maybe evil was evil. It didn’t matter what paranormal world it originated from. This was all new territory for her. Wondering what her heroine would do didn’t help because Nicki had never had to deal with anything like this. Plus there was the fact that Nicki was a fictional character.

The lack of hot water made Sierra finally turn off the shower. She couldn’t stay in there forever. After drying off, she tugged at the pile of clothes she’d grabbed on her way in—underwear and a soft microfleece top and pants in black.

She was finally starting to feel warm again after that incredible otherworldly cold in the cemetery. She quickly blow-dried her hair and then emerged, ready to welcome the pizza delivery guy.

He arrived a few moments later. She paid him and gave him a nice tip before closing the door and carrying her dinner to the dining room table.

The aroma made her mouth water. The sight of Ronan standing nearby wearing black pants and a soft black V-neck sweater also made her mouth water. There was something about a guy going SOS—sweater on skin. He’d apparently decided to clean up too after his time in the cemetery. His dark hair was still slightly damp and fell over his forehead.

Oh yeah. He definitely looked good enough to eat. And to lick. And to kiss and nibble.

He gave her a fiery yet cursory look and then headed for the wall where the built-in bookcase had been before Hal pulled it down. He started feeling the wall.

“What are you doing?” She stood next to him. Big mistake. Because the wall suddenly shifted and shoved them into a pitch-dark space.





Chapter Eighteen

“What did you do? Get us out of here!” Sierra demanded.

“This must be a hidden passage,” Ronan said.

“Ya think?”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic about it,” he reprimanded her.

“My pizza is out there and I want it now.”

Her eyes adjusted enough to the darkness that she could just barely make out Ruby, playing her tiny finger violin. “So you want your pizza. Tough tinsel. I want to head into the light. We all have problems.”

“Do you know how to get out of here?” Sierra asked.

“No,” Ronan said.

“Yes,” Ruby said.

“Then get us out,” Sierra told Ruby. “Or I won’t tell you the message I got from Johnny.”

“When did you see Johnny?” Ruby instantly demanded

“At the cemetery.”

“Tell me what he said or I won’t let you out,” Ruby said.