I tried to decipher the odd wards. They almost seemed to pulse, as if enlivened with the heartbeat of some beast. “What can these do?”
“I’m no witch. It could be anything from protecting this particular piece of property to stealing ghosts’ energy. Don’t ever touch a ward you know nothing about.”
He pulled me back to the path, and I saw a tall, thin figure dart behind the building we’d been studying. A hooded cloak flapped around him, and I had the awful feeling whoever he was had been spying on us.
Before I could tell Dan, a beastlike squall split the air two houses up. Dan led me to the far side of the root-draped street.
“It sounds like someone’s keeping a rabid werehog over there. Keep sharp.”
We skirted the building, its doorless and windowless openings barricaded with barbed wire. Jeez, I couldn’t wait to get out of here.
“So let me get this straight in my head. If our energy is stolen, we become wraiths. Ghosts of ghosts.”
Dan nodded, his eyes searching the hellish surroundings. “Helpless and racked with pain from being constantly fed on. I can’t imagine Hell having any worse punishment. If Stacy Wilkerson ended up here, a wraith is probably what she is. Witches and other ghosts desperate for energy love to get their hands on new ghosts because they’re so naïve.”
“How does this feeding happen?”
“All you have to do is come in contact with another ghost and consciously pull, like you did from the magnetic field earlier. It takes concentration. A ghost can also feed you their strength, but you’ll only find that in exceptional cases.”
I frowned. “So say a ghost decides to feed on me. What’s to keep me from pulling my energy back if contact is all that’s required?”
Dan quirked a sickened smile. “First come, first served. If a ghost draws from you, you’re too lost in the pain to draw back.”
“But once the feeding is over, if you don’t disappear you can get your strength back, right? Pull from the magnetic field or something?”
He shook his head. “Being fed on to the point you become a wraith does damage beyond just losing your strength. You bleed energy after such an attack, too fast to replenish through the magnetic field alone. Even strong energy sources, if available, won’t keep you going for long. Some ghosts are permanently injured and never recover their ability to hold power.”
Yikes. Note to self. Do not let anyone turn you into a wraith.
Dan motioned to the reddish clay ground beneath our feet. “Keep an eye out for wards drawn in the dirt. They might be temporary, but they’re just as potent as the painted ones for as long as they last.”
My eyes wide, I stared at the ground before us as we continued on. I might not know much about being dead, but I knew for certain I didn’t want to be a wraith.
“So how do we find her?” I asked.
Dan opened his mouth to answer, but the voice came from behind us, and it was female. “How do you find who, princess?”
We turned to see a woman with hair dyed burgundy. Her skin was as pale as a vampire’s, and she wore a lot of black mascara, black eyeliner and her tank top, jeans and boots were black too. A near middle-aged Goth chick? Well, it was a statement. To each her own.
She had a solidness that told me she still lived. Yet she looked straight at me. Another clairvoyant, one with more ability than Lana, I supposed. She smiled at me, but for some reason, I wasn’t warmed by it.
“Do I know you?”
She shook her head slowly. “Not yet. My name is Erica Ford. Can I help you with something?”
“I’m looking for someone.”
Her grin got bigger. She started to look a bit like a shark. “I got that. Maybe I can help you find this someone … for a price.”
A couple of big guys, definitely spirits, walked up to stand at her back. They would have made good bouncers, and I’m not talking the sexy Patrick Swayze type. These were goons. Thugs. Brutes. I’d keep going, but I’d left my thesaurus at home.
Dan’s expression was wary, and he took my upper arm, pulling me away from the terrible trio. “She’s a witch, Brandilynn. You don’t want to pay her price.”
Erica gave us a round-eyed innocent look, all the more evil for its exaggeration. “A little of her energy to help her find a friend? That’s not so steep.”
We had moved a couple of steps out of easy grabbing distance. Dan scowled. “Any price you charge is too high.”
They started towards us. Erica’s beam became a twisted thing, more snarl than smile. “I don’t like your attitude,” she told Dan.
Dan and I moved faster. “I’m sure you know who I work for.”