25

Chris was way past being ready for bed.

Although house calls were a thing of the past, when the weather was bad sometimes they made exceptions. Like tonight. A woman had gone into labor. After calling 911 and the hospital and finding out there were no available ambulances, she'd called the clinic. Chris had taken the phone and had figured out in four seconds that he was going to have to make the trip himself. The husband was beyond freaked out, as was the expectant mother. Neither of them were fit to drive. They were young and it was their first.

He'd done all he could do at their house, with Emma's help. After examining the woman, finding that she still had plenty of time, and calming down the man, they'd all gotten into the car and headed for the hospital. Chris stuck around for hours, lending them a hand since the clinic was closed. Now all he wanted was home and bed. He didn't care if his electric was back on or not. He and Emma could huddle under a stack of blankets and quilts and sleep for twelve straight hours.

Of course Em had a head start. She was in the passenger seat next to him, eyes closed, dead to the world. And that was in the space of time it took to pull the car from the hospital lot to the clinic. He locked the doors and left the engine and the heat running while he dashed to the clinic doors to tell Cora to go on home.

She smiled at him as he unlocked the door and stepped inside. "It's four in the morning, Cora. Why are you still here?" Chris asked as he knocked snow from his shoes.

"The same reason you are most likely. No heat at my house. The hospital director has shut us down until further notice. He called right after you left."

Chris's eyebrow went up. "Why would he do that?"

"He wants you to help at the hospital since they're overcrowded and short-handed." Cora said with a smirk. She finished gathering her things, and pulled her coat on. "Of course he expects you to work the night shift too. So he asked me to tell you to report to his office at eight tomorrow evening."

"Lucky me." Chris shook his head and walked up the hall to his office. He made sure he'd shut down his computer before turning to escort Cora out the door. Before he could step into the reception area there was a loud bang from the parking lot.

"What the hell?" Cora didn't normally curse, so just hearing that got Chris moving a little faster. He ran toward the doors with her at his heels, stepping outside in time to see a large black SUV fishtailing at high speed down the road.

"Emma!" Chris managed her name when his eyes fell on the cause of the noise. His car...it had been hit on the passenger side. The doors were crumpled inward, the mirror was snapped off. He took off at a run, ignoring the way his feet slipped on the icy parking lot.

Emma had to climb over the passenger seat to get out of the car on the driver's side. She ignored Chris's attempts to get her to sit still so he could check her over. She'd been sleeping deeply one minute, and the next had been throw sideways by the impact of the vehicle being hit. It had scared her. Terrified may have been a better way to describe it, but she didn't feel hurt. Chris was looking in concern at a trickle of blood that ran down her forehead. A piece of glass from the broken window had winged her. She was lucky she wasn't killed. Shaking, she let Chris wrap an arm around her to steady her.

"What happened?"

"Somebody just rammed the car..." Chris was still studying her closely. Looking for signs of shock? Most likely. Emma surprised him. Actually she didn't feel shocked, she felt angry.

"And ran off? Nice...asshole." She swiped at her forehead and the blood smeared. "Great."

"I've seen that car before." Cora spoke softly, drawing their attention away from Chris's wrecked car.

"What? Is it a patient or something?"

"No." Cora shook her head and turned to them. She'd watched the SUV until it disappeared around a corner. "Earlier tonight. Several times. It pulled in the lot, it pulled out of the lot...I don't know, maybe three times?"

"So not just an idiot that can't drive one the ice." Chris muttered. "Did you see who was driving?"

"No. The windows were too dark for that." Cora reached into her pocket and pulled out a tissue, which she used to wipe the blood from Emma's head. "Just a scratch. You got off lucky. From the sound of it whoever it was didn't slow down before they whacked the car."

"Let's get inside." Chris said uneasily, trying to lead the women back to the door.

Emma resisted. "Wait a minute. Why? Why would some dumbass ram into a park car on purpose." She looked at Chris. The first thing to jump into her mind was Eric. But they didn't own an SUV. Not that he couldn't go out and rent of buy one, but that was not his style. If he knew about her relationship with Chris, he'd want to get right up and personal with her. In spite of that...or maybe because of it...Emma hadn't broken it off.

"I have no idea, but I really don't want the dumbass to come back and run over a couple of people in the parking lot. We'll call the cops." With that he finally got her moving. Once they were inside Cora locked the doors and headed for the phone. Chris sat with Emma, holding her close, the strange feeling of danger not leaving him even though they were safe inside. If anything it got stronger. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her, trying not to let his emotions cause him to imagine things.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~S~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If Jamie thought that Mark had been acting distant the day before, today she was being smothered with attention. She was pretty sure he'd go in the bathroom with her if she hadn't shut the door on him. It was unnerving. He wasn't being talkative, and she'd been sensing an angry vibe about him all morning. She had finally asked if she'd done something and he had looked genuinely surprised.

After a huge breakfast, Jamie had joined Randy and Lucy in the living room near the fireplace. They had cards. They were passing their time playing blackjack. Jamie declined their offer to deal her in, and instead reached for Lucy's pack of cigarettes. It wasn't a habit that had hooked her, and she knew what the consequences of smoking were, but sometimes she just wanted on.

Randy lit it for her and watched as she drew in a lungful of smoke. "Any word yet on what we're going to do exactly?"

Jamie shook her head and blew the smoke out. It made her lightheaded, but it sure felt nice.

"We caught the weather. It's going to get near freezing today. So stuff is going to melt. Then back down in the teens and more snow on the way." Lucy shuffled the cards as she spoke. "You'd think it was the first time in history anyone had ever seen snow."

"Hey, it'll be a white Christmas." Randy said with a snicker as he looked at the cards his sister had dealt.

"Hell, I totally forgot about Christmas." Jamie muttered. From the corner of her eye she saw Mark enter the room. He stood in the doorway for a moment as if trying to decide whether to join her on the couch. Finally he turned and stepped back into the kitchen. "Not that I celebrate it anyway. No family."

"Don't tell him that." Lucy said with an exasperated sigh. "Rands will adopt you. He brings home strays all the time."

"I do not." Randy laughed and showed his cards.

"Its debatable. Remember that Olivia chick from right after graduation?" Lucy smiled. "You invited her to stay and Nan had to practically drag her out kicking and screaming. Poor kid."

"Yeah, whatever." Randy rolled his eyes.

Jamie finished her own cigarette and flicked the filter into the fireplace. There were no ashtrays, so it seemed like the thing to do. Hearing Randy and Lucy going back and forth was soothing. It made things seem normal when she knew they were anything but.

"I don't like the idea, using Jamie for bait."

A silence had fallen over everyone in the kitchen when Mark spoke. It had been Nan's idea. Since there were four, five including herself, who dealt with spirits, she thought that Jamie would be safe near them. Even outside of the protected house. She could see the idea disturbed Mark and Glen. Kayla just raised an eyebrow and didn't chip in. She was a writer, not a strategist.

"Unless you can think of another way to draw it out, I see no more options." Nan spoke softly. "It will wait you out. I don't sense that, it's just something that I know. It has patience. To a point. If we do it now, tonight, perhaps we can stop it."

"You won't be doing anything, Nan." Glen said, keeping his voice low too. "We'll take care of it."

Nan reached up and gave Glen a pat on the cheek. "That's sweet, dear. I may be old but I still know a thing or two about this business we're in. Plus, that girl's going to need all the support she can get."

"So tonight? Because I don't want to rush into anything..." Glen was speaking again when Mark interrupted.

"We're not going to do it. I won't put her at risk like that." His tone was final.

Nan looked at him, her lips twitching upward in a smile. "She'll be in more risk if we do nothing. The thing is being cautious right now, but that won't last forever. We should surprise it."

Mark huffed a sigh but he knew they were right. It didn't mean he had to like it. "Tonight but after midnight. Christmas day. Maybe it will weaken it."

"It's possible. Although it's a little close to the turn of seasons...it is the only really powerful day we'll have for a while." Nan eased up from the table, accepting a hand from Glen. She paced slowly to the sink where she peered outside through the window. "I only hope that once we find it, its simple enough to deal with. Obviously it will have to be you, Mark. Or possibly Lucy. There is absolutely no good coming from this thing."

Mark nodded. He had already figured that part out for himself. "We'll take care of it." He only hoped they would. Because up to this point he'd never dealt with anything like this.

"I need some air." Lucy stood up and stretched. Jamie stood with her.

"Me too, actually. I'll take another cigarette too, if you don't mind."

Lucy smirked and handed over the pack. There were only a few left. "Gonna have to go to the store at some point today too. Damn errands." She pulled her coat from a chair near the front door. Jamie looked toward the kitchen where her coat was hanging, shrugged, and reached for Mark's. It was on the same chair. She wasn't going to disturb the talking in there if she could help it. They were trying to figure out what to do. She'd leave that to the experts.

Mark's leather coat was comically big on her as she pulled it on. But it was warm and smelled good. She took a deep breath, drawing in the scent of the leather, and of Mark's cologne as she followed Lucy onto the front porch.

"Inhale any harder you're likely to suck the lining out of it." Lucy remarked. Jamie laughed and accepted the lighter the other woman held out to her. Lucy leaned closer and sniffed. "What is that? Brut?"

Jamie laughed again. "Maybe its Stetson. Could just be that Axe stuff they advertise day and night."

"Fancy britches in there probably wears some hundred buck a bottle shit." Lucy mumbled. "Better not let him hear you accuse him of using anything cheap."

"I'll try to keep it to myself." Jamie inhaled again, this time the cigarette smoke. Maybe she would have to peek in the bathroom cabinets to see what exactly it was that Mark wore. Just to prove Lucy right on the expensive stuff. It was nice...acting silly with someone. It took her mind off of everything else that was happening.

They smoked in silence for a few minutes, listening to the snow as it melted and dripped from the roof. The door behind Lucy opened, making both of them turn to see who it was.

"We're probably going to go to town in a few minutes." Glen said, looking from one to the other with an unreadable expression on his face. "Last chance. Stores are going to be closed tomorrow."

"I could use some smokes." Lucy said, digging in her pocket for money. Glen waved her off.

"I'm good." Jamie flipped the rest of her cigarette off the side of the porch and tucked her hands in the coat pockets for warmth. Glen hesitated another moment before heading back inside. Something in the pocket of the coat poked her in the hand. Curious, Jamie pulled it out. It was a small picture. Of her. "What is this?" She looked at it, turned it over to look at the back, and then back around to study the front. She recognized the place. She had gone with a friend about a year after John's funeral to a concert in the park. Neither of them had taken a camera, so just where the hell had the picture come from?

Lucy was peering over her shoulder at it. "Ah. Summer time. How I miss it." She smirked. "So are you carrying a picture of Mark around with you? Kinda like back in the high school days. When you wrote stuff like 'don't ever change' and shit?"

That made Jamie laugh. Because she remembered doing that very thing. "Nope. They're probably both camera shy. I haven't seen a picture of either of them." She slid the photo back into the pocket and made a mental note to ask Mark about it later. "I'm about frozen out here. I'm heading in."

"All right." Lucy followed along. Mark, Glen and Kayla were in the living room, the latter two with their coats already on. Mark smiled at Jamie and held his hand out. She took it off and handed it over, ignoring the amused twinkle in his eyes. Everyone drifted off to do other things, leaving them alone for the moment.

"I want you to stay in the house while we're gone." Mark said, tugging his coat on. It was still warm with Jamie's body heat. "And I mean in. No going out even on the porch. We're going to do something later on...something that might end this. But it has to be on our terms. All right?"

"Sure." Jamie had the feeling of being lectured. Mark must have sensed it because he relaxed a little bit and pulled her forward, giving her a hug and a quick kiss against her lips. She smiled as he pulled back as if afraid someone might see him being affectionate.

"We shouldn't be too long." He stroked her cheek with his thumb before heading in the direction that Glen and Kayla had gone. Jamie sighed and sank down on the couch to stare into the flames of the fireplace. He had said they were going to do something. She only hoped that whatever it was, no one got hurt. Not on her account. Again the day dragged out in front of her. There was nothing left to do but wait.