Haint Party, Chapter 7

I checked my weather app, anxiety creeping up my spine. “It says it should stop around 2 am.” I tried to sound confident, but Bex would be devastated if we had to move the wedding indoors. Sure, there was a backup plan, but it wasn’t the plan, the one with the sunset and the ocean breeze and all those Pinterest-perfect details.

Erin and I stood simultaneously, gathering plates like we’d choreographed it. The dishes clinked as we loaded them into the dishwasher, thunder rumbling ominously in the distance.

“Oh! We better get the cookies.” Lizzie headed for the kitchen, Zora trailing behind with a smile.

Spencer pulled out his ever-present notebook and scribbled something before straightening the table. Then lightning cracked, really cracked, like the sky was splitting open, and thunder boomed so loud the floor trembled. The lights flickered. Being on stilts, the whole house swayed. We all froze, looking at each other with wide eyes.

“Is the house moving?” Erin squeaked, white-knuckling the counter.

“We better find the blackout supplies,” I suggested, trying to sound calmer than I felt.

Spencer paused and turned to me. “Um… we have candles.” He gestured vaguely at the shelves, then pointed to an enormous candelabra that looked like it belonged in a vampire’s castle. The candles were triple-wicked and absurdly large, you’d need both hands just to carry one.

Not ideal, but we didn’t have much choice. I scanned the room. There were more candles scattered on shelves throughout the space. We gathered what we could and created a small altar of fire hazards on the coffee table.

Zora emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray of cookies like an offering to the storm gods. “These will help,” she said with a smile, distributing them while Lizzie handed Spencer a lighter.

Lightning struck again. The lights flickered, died, and stayed dead this time.

Spencer lit candles while we huddled together like campers telling ghost stories. Which, considering our evening, felt uncomfortably on the nose.

Then Spencer jumped back so hard he nearly dropped the candle. He grabbed another and thrust it toward the sunroom. “What the…”

In the warm glow of candlelight, you could make out a silhouette standing in the doorway. A woman. My heart stuttered. Lightning flashed, blinding us all, and when our vision cleared, the silhouette had melted back into darkness.

“Oh god, dammit!” Spencer cursed.

Erin broke the tension with a snort of laughter. It was completely inappropriate, the events unfolding were decidedly not funny, but that gelatinous edible still flowing through our systems said otherwise. We laughed. We cackled. We were damn near hysterical.

“We’ve got to stop,” I gasped.

“We should…” Spencer wheezed.

“Oh my goddess,” Erin finished, wiping tears from her eyes.

Zora covered her mouth but kept laughing. Then Lizzie stepped forward, her face serious. “Well, we’ve all seen her now.”

The laughter died in my throat. I shook my head and looked at Spencer. “It’s real. She’s real.” The mood sobered faster than a bucket of ice water.

“Fuck…” Spencer breathed.

“What should we do?” I looked at Erin, already dreading the answer.

She collected herself, straightening her spine. When she spoke, her voice was calm. “We have to talk to her.”

I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I thought you might say something like that.”

The candle flames flickered, throwing dancing shadows across the walls. I breathed in again, and the smell of cookies hit my nose. Danger could wait. I walked over to the tray and carefully grabbed one, keeping the gooey goodness together as I took a bite. “I’m having a cookie before we do any more magic.” I grinned through a mouthful of the most delicious salted caramel chocolate chip cookie I’d ever tasted.

Lizzie grabbed one. Then Zora. Then Spencer shuffled over and took one too, leaving Erin standing cookie-less and confused. Zora set the tray down. Spencer’s voice came out husky as he complimented Lizzie, and we all nodded agreement, mouths too full to speak properly. Even in the dim candlelight, I could see Lizzie looked genuinely pleased that we were enjoying her baking.

Erin planted her hands firmly on her hips, pouting. “Don’t worry, I’m only giving you a hard time,” I said, swallowing my bite. “You’re the only one who knows what we need to do now. Besides, it’s too late to go back. Bex is going to kill me either way.” I wanted her to see we were still on her side, that we trusted her, even if her track record was, shall we say, spotty.

I watched my words wash over her face as she fought her instinct to snap back. The whole room held its breath, waiting.

“Well, I obviously have experience with this. Sort of…” Erin began.

“Sort of,” Lizzie echoed dryly.

Lightning struck. Thunder rumbled. We all jumped and yipped like kids at a sleepover.

Zora offered Erin a cookie as a peace offering. “What if she doesn’t want to go?”

We looked at each other through the candlelight, passing worried glances around the circle. The buzz from the edible was fading fast, replaced by creeping anxiety. It was really sinking in now, we were dealing with a ghost. An actual, honest-to-god ghost.

So far, she’d only made random appearances. “She doesn’t seem malevolent…” I offered weakly.

Lizzie shook her head. “We don’t know that yet.”

Zora turned and poked Lizzie gently. “That’s not helping.” Lizzie pretended the poke hurt, holding her arm dramatically, but a smile crept across her face. Zora smiled back.

“Erin, what does it take to get rid of a ghost?” Spencer asked.

The room lit up with another flash of lightning and thunder. Erin looked around, her confidence visibly draining. “Well… we need to… know who they are.” She said it like the idea had just occurred to her.

Zora slipped into investigative journalist mode. “Could we text your parents to see what name was on the deed?”

Spencer nodded and grabbed his phone. He poked at the screen, then frowned. “I don’t have a signal, but…” He held his phone above his head like he was trying to summon the cellular gods.

Then it hit me, I’d been looking at a journal earlier. Maybe it would help. I jumped up, grabbing a candle, and headed for the last place I’d seen it. My sudden movement made Erin drop part of her cookie. She dove for it, scooped it up, and shoved it in her mouth, mumbling something about the five-second rule with chipmunk cheeks.

“What are you doing?” Lizzie asked, following me with her eyes.

I found the book on the sofa and flipped through pages, looking for names. “I was looking at an old journal…” I raised it triumphantly, and Lizzie stumbled backward into the darkness with an audible hiss.

It didn’t register at first. Then I looked at the book cover. Shit. There was a symbol on it, something familiar but wrong, like a word on the tip of your tongue.

Everyone snapped to attention, trying to locate Lizzie in the shadows. She’d jumped back so violently I worried she’d hurt herself. “Shit, Lizzie, are you okay?”

Lizzie bounced to her feet, still hiding in the dark. “Yeah, yeah… thought I, uh…”

“Did you just hiss?” Erin asked, walking toward us.

Lizzie laughed, but it sounded forced. “No, I just took a quick breath.”

Spencer joined us, but Zora stayed put, hand covering her mouth. A sliver of light caught Lizzie’s face. You could see her eyes, silver and shining like polished metal.

“Your eyes,” Zora breathed.

Lizzie dropped her gaze and stepped further from the candlelight. We were dangerously close to hitting our secret quota for the evening. I sprang into action, distracting everyone back to the journal. I flipped through pages, writing, drawings, but no name. I started to put it down when my fingers felt something on the cover. Below the symbol was a name.

“Here! Look at this! It says Sadie.” Everyone crowded around, even Lizzie, though she kept her distance.

Spencer either hadn’t seen Lizzie’s eyes or was ignoring them. He looked over my shoulder. “Good eye.” He turned to Erin. “What else do we need?”

Erin seemed confused, still staring at Lizzie. My eyes were probably too wide when I looked at her. Lizzie met them, and I tried to silently apologize.

“Step back into the light, Lizzie,” Zora demanded, her voice shaky but firm.

The weight of Zora’s words spread through the room. Spencer turned to look as Lizzie slowly stepped forward into the candlelight. Her otherworldly eyes gleamed and glinted, and the pale, sharp angles of her face drew your gaze down to blood-red lips parted to reveal decidedly sharp teeth.

Everyone froze.

“I’m not the ONLY one with a secret,” Spencer said with a smile, almost taunting.

“Shut up, Spencer.” Lizzie looked like she might get angry, but then she smiled, all teeth, and began, “Okay, so I’m… a vampire. Let’s not make this an issue.”

“Oh, hell no!” Erin backed away. “An issue is EXACTLY what I’m going to make.” She looked at me accusingly. “Did you know?”

I nodded, knowing this would only make things worse. Everyone braced themselves for the inevitable Erin explosion.

“A vampire? You’re a fucking VAMPIRE!” Erin paced, words tumbling out faster. “How? I’ve seen you in the sun! I’ve seen you eat food! You own a fucking BAKERY! Seriously, how? What the fuck, Lizzie?”

Spencer placed a calming hand on Erin’s arm. “Ease down. Let her answer a question.”

Erin took an unsteady breath and gestured for Lizzie to respond. But Lizzie wasn’t paying attention to her. She was staring at Zora, whose eyes glistened with unshed tears.

Lizzie broke the silence. “Zora… I’m, “

Their eyes met, and Zora ran. She bolted into the darkness toward the sun porch.

Lightning struck. Glass shattered. Zora screamed. We heard something heavy fall.

We all ran to the sunroom. Zora was on the floor surrounded by glass. Something large had crashed through the window. Lizzie rushed to her side as rain poured through the opening. She gently touched Zora’s back. Zora didn’t respond at first, then looked back at Lizzie with such sadness, a look that said everything they’d never spoken aloud.

“You’re hurt,” Lizzie said, reaching forward.

Zora sat up a little, looking down at herself. Blood blossomed across her head, arms, and legs. She stared at it, opened her mouth to speak, then slumped. Lizzie caught her before she hit the floor.

“We’ve got to get her out of here,” I said.

Lizzie immediately scooped Zora up, cradling her head carefully. She made it look effortless.

“Been working out?” Erin asked as she brushed glass off Zora.

Lizzie shot Erin a look that could freeze lava as she carried Zora to the living room. Spencer accepted this wasn’t the time for jokes and closed the sunroom doors, leaving that problem for later.

“Spencer, is there a first aid kit?” I asked.

He took off at a jog toward his bedroom. Lizzie laid Zora gently on the sofa, her head on a pillow. Zora’s eyes twitched as she tried to open them. I perched on the back of the couch while Erin stood behind Lizzie, who knelt beside Zora.

“Zora… can you look at me?” I checked to see if she’d come around.

Lizzie stood up, watching Zora’s face as she backed away into shadow, head down.

Spencer returned with the first aid kit and fish-patterned towels. Zora slowly opened her eyes, eyelashes fluttering. She looked around, still dazed.

“Are you okay?” I asked gently.

“Yeah,” she said weakly.

Spencer held the kit out to Lizzie, but she raised her hands and pulled away until her back hit the wall. She retreated into darkness again.

“What are you doing?” Spencer asked, confused.

Lizzie shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Why?” Erin turned to ask.

Zora finished the thought in a shaky breath. “The blood.”

Lightning and thunder continued their violent dance, illuminating the room in strobing flashes. Spencer walked to the sofa, pulled out his lighter, and lit nearby candles. Then he grabbed Erin’s arm. “Help me.”

I watched as Erin and Spencer cleaned and bandaged Zora’s cuts. She let out little yips of pain each time they touched her. I looked across the room to Lizzie. You could tell she was hurting too.

I’d been keeping her secret. I was still shocked she’d trusted me with it. She’d tried hypnosis when she first confessed, and it hadn’t taken, turns out I’m a natural resister. Lucky me.

I stood as Erin dabbed Zora’s head wound with an alcohol wipe, earning another yelp. Zora probably didn’t want us all hovering. I walked over to Lizzie and took her hand.

“Lizzie, look at me.”

She lifted her head. Her eyes were glistening silver pools as she spoke quietly about being a danger to everyone around her. I gave her a stern look and squeezed her hand, refusing to let her pull away. “That wasn’t your fault unless you’re ready to tell me you control the weather.”

The pained expression on her face was hard to see, but I tugged her back toward the group. She came willingly. I reminded her we weren’t running away, everyone here still loved her. Lizzie had a habit of getting distant when things got tough. We were working on that.

I stopped and turned back, whispering, “You might want to put those away.”

Lizzie looked confused at first, then understood. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, rolled her neck, and when she opened them again, the fangs were gone.

Erin, who’d wandered over, stepped up beside me. “Does it hurt when you do that?”

Lizzie nodded. “Yes.”

“Which feels better? The fanged face or this one?” Erin rapid-fired questions before I could slow her down.

“Geez, Erin, do you have to do this now?”

“What?! She drops this bomb on us, and suddenly we have to tiptoe around?” Erin shook her head.

I started to respond, but Lizzie stepped toward us. “It’s okay.” She squeezed my hand, then turned to Erin. “The fang-face, as you so nicely called it, is more comfortable. But this one scares fewer people.”

Erin went quiet, processing. Before she could formulate more questions, Spencer stood up. “That should do it.” He closed the first aid kit and set it on the coffee table with the trash and towels.

We all gathered around the couch like mourners at a wake, but there was a problem. Spencer had gone overboard with the bandages. I tried not to laugh. I really did. But I failed spectacularly.

“I’m so sorry… she looks like a mummy.” The stress-laugh took over. Maybe I was still slightly high, or maybe the absurdity had finally broken me.

For a few seconds, nobody else laughed. Then Zora looked down at herself and started giggling. Erin and Spencer followed. Even Lizzie cracked her sideways smile. It was a brief laugh, and afterward, we sat in heavy silence.

We took turns staring at each other, but Zora never looked away from Lizzie. Lizzie was too nervous to make eye contact at first, but she finally mustered the courage. I was proud of her when she did. They looked at each other. We all watched them watch each other.

“So you’re a vampire?” Zora asked directly.

“Yes.”

Everyone stayed quiet, witnessing this unfold.

“How long?” Zora’s journalist training was helping her cope, I could tell. She had an incredible resume, uncovering political corruption, reporting from war zones. This was just another story to process.

Lizzie took a deep breath without breaking eye contact. “Since November.” Her responses were clipped, careful.

Erin hung on every word, she loved drama. She started to speak, but Zora beat her to it. “It happened on your trip to New Orleans?”

We looked from Lizzie to Zora and back as she nodded. “Yes.”

Lizzie didn’t offer more. I assumed it would be embarrassing to tell in front of Zora, hard enough to tell anyone. Lizzie made everything harder for herself. I settled at Zora’s feet on the couch. She moved like she’d make room, but I stopped her.

“Don’t move, I’ve got plenty of space.” I went to pat her gently but stopped, hovering over the bandages. I pulled back and focused on Lizzie, who stood in silence. Spencer moved to a nearby chair and pulled out his notebook again.

Erin slowly sat on the chaise lounge. “Come on, tell us how.”

Lizzie looked away, finding a chair opposite the couch. “There’s not much to tell.”

Zora shifted so she could see Lizzie better. “But there is something to tell.”

I was surprised by Zora’s insistence. She wasn’t usually pushy. Lizzie’s secret clearly upset her.

I met Lizzie’s eyes and tried to look encouraging. Lizzie had always been private, even before becoming a vampire. I only found out by accident, she’d spilled her “lunch” in my car. Blood everywhere. She’d been forced to explain and get my car detailed before Bex saw it. I’d been shocked but understanding. My best friend was a witch, and one of Bex’s cousins was a fairy. It wasn’t the craziest thing.

Lizzie squared her shoulders at Zora. “It was the last night of my trip. I went to the Quarter for a drink. Met someone, went back to her hotel. It’s foggy, but I remember blue eyes and… this necklace.” She pulled the necklace from her shirt, a white disc with intricate designs on a long silver chain. The design wasn’t familiar.

She tucked it away. “I woke up the next morning alone.”

Silence. Spencer seemed to be transcribing every word. Erin sat forward, frowning. I was more worried about Zora, who sat up on the couch’s edge, studying the floor.

Zora looked up, tears in her eyes. “What was her name?”

Lizzie looked like someone had stabbed her. She shrank. “I… don’t know.”

I watched Lizzie look at each of us, Erin frowning, Spencer scribbling, me nodding encouragement. She was gauging reactions.

Focusing only on Zora, Lizzie leaned forward. “When I woke up, there was the a note with the necklace, on the pillow.”

“What did the note say?” Erin couldn’t control herself. I didn’t stop her, I didn’t know this part either.

“You’ll need this in the morning.” Lizzie’s strength wavered. Her eyes welled up. “And no, it wasn’t signed.”

Erin nodded, already brewing more questions.

“Why did you NEED it?” Zora brought everyone’s attention back.

Lizzie touched the necklace against her chest. “This has a protection spell. It keeps me safe from the sun and lets me keep my reflection. But I didn’t know that at first. I learned many hard lessons.”

I looked at Zora as a tear slid down her cheek, but she seemed more composed despite obvious pain. “What if you could find out more about that night?”

Lizzie looked confused. “That’d be helpful, but what do you mean?”

Zora smiled softly. “In the spirit of full disclosure, I have a secret that might help.”

Everyone’s eyes locked on Zora. I was shocked. Like everyone else tonight, she was coming out. The weight lifting from my shoulders was almost physical. The secrets hadn’t been a burden exactly, but they’d been tricky to navigate. We were all close, but busy lives kept us apart.