No Ghouls Allowed by Victoria Laurie Page A

catch even though Christine had warned me that a man had died.
    “Come on, Em,” Heath whispered, and I felt his gentle hand on my back. “Let’s go back
     outside so we’ll be out of the way.”
    Daddy’s eyes flashed with a brief note of approval for Heath before returning to me.
     “Wait for me in the drive,” he said, his tone brooking no argument.
    With a heavy sigh I turned and headed back outside with Heath to wait next to our
     rental car, which was parked well out of range of projectiles. Gilley came out from
     the SUV to join us, but he kept glancing warily up toward the third-floor balcony.
     It was now empty of flowerpots, but after our earlier experience, I could understand
     how cautious he was being.
    After a bit there seemed to be some movement visible in the front hallway and soon
     enough two paramedics appeared with a stretcher between them. They carefully eased
     it down the steps and it wasn’t until the stretcher was even with us that I could
     see who was on it.
    A man with salt-and-pepper hair and a thick mustache was totally strapped down, complete
     with head and neck brace. His hands were struggling against the straps and his fingers
     were extended and slightly curled, resembling claws. He was also growling and spitting
     while trying to twist his head this way and that. Abruptly, he stopped growling and
     emitted a laugh that could only be described as a cackle. It was a terribly creepy
     sound, and as it faded, he returned to growling. I felt Gilley latch onto my arm with
     both hands and step close enough to hug me.
    “What the hell is that?” he whispered.
    But I knew that he already had that answer. “Something’s got ahold of him,” I said
     to Heath, who wore a grave look on his face.
    We watched as the paramedics maneuvered the stretcher toward the ambulance, and all
     the while the medic at the helm attempted to talk softly to the man and reassure him,
     but it was as if his words were falling on deaf ears.
    No one else spoke although a slew of other first responders was now coming out of
     the house. I focused on them for a moment and I saw how strained their expressions
     were. There was something about the way they were holding themselves so tensely, as
     if they were quite disturbed by what they’d witnessed inside.
    Daddy came out at that moment with the sheriff and a few men wearing hard hats who
     were pale and visibly shaking. They scrambled down the steps and over to three pickup
     trucks parked among the patrol cars and fire truck, and hustled inside.
    “What do you think happened?” Gil asked, his grip on my arm becoming painful enough
     that I pried some of his fingers loose.
    “Somebody died,” Heath answered, his gaze far away as he stared in the direction of
     the house.
    “You’re trying to make contact?” I asked him.
    He nodded. Then he frowned. “There is some
really
bad juju in there.”
    “We already knew that,” I told him.
    “Yeah, but, Em, I think it’s actually gotten worse from yesterday.”
    “Maybe we should go?” Gil said, a hopeful note in his voice.
    I pulled my arm out of his grip and walked with determination toward Daddy. He saw
     me coming and excused himself from Kogan. “You can’t go in there,” Daddy said, obviously
     mistaking my purposeful walk toward him at the top of the stairs.
    “What happened?” I asked when I reached him.
    Daddy shook his head and wiped a sheen of sweat from his brow. “Nothing you should
     be concerned with, Mary Jane. It’s a terrible sight in there, and nothin’ I want my
     baby girl to see. Now please, let me handle this, and you and Gilley and Heath go
     on back to Minerva’s house.”
    A knot of anger formed in the center of my chest. Daddy was forever treating me like
     a child, as if he was oblivious to the fact that I’d seen far more terrible things
     just in the past few years than he could even imagine. “Daddy,” I said sternly, refusing
     to budge or go away. “That man