She nodded. “But there was something that drew me to him.” She raised a hand and curled her fingers into a claw. “I couldn’t have stayed away from him if I tried. Same thing with him. Our attraction was undeniable. But it was more than that,” she confided. “We understood one another and got along. We became best friends. Now I know why,” she said darkly.
“Why?”
Tart swallowed loudly. “Because I was the light and he was the dark.”
I cocked an eyebrow.
“Let me explain. Your father was gifted as well; I think you know that.”
“Yes.”
“His power was the flip of mine. At first it didn’t seem that big of a deal. We were two sides of the same coin, as it was. But as we became closer and worked on cases together—yes, we worked on some hauntings and possessions—it became evident that our combined energies allowed chaos to open up. Now most of the time the chaos isn’t important, but if allowed to grow, some opportunistic spirits can take advantage of it.
“That happened to us.” She stared off in the distance, her gaze zoning on a time and place in the past. “An exorcism almost turned deadly. The demon was in the body of a young man. Because the combined energy of your father and I created more potential for chaos, which that demon thrived on, it then sprang into your father and almost didn’t release him.”
Her hands shook. I covered hers with mine. She stared down at my fingers and smiled. “Another priest was present and forced the demon out. At first I thought it was a fluke. I thought my presence had nothing to do with what the demon had done. But upon studying everything that had led up to that point, we realized my presence along with your father’s had caused the problem.”
I started to speak, but Tart cut me off. “I know! I know it doesn’t make sense. We should’ve strengthened each other, right? We should have, but it didn’t work that way. All we were doing was putting each other in danger. Which is another reason we gave you up. You couldn’t be around the both of us because of the potential danger from evil that most people cannot see.”
She pulled her hand out from mine and squeezed my hand. “I put your father in danger. If we had stayed together, I would’ve been in danger as well.”
I closed my eyes. I had a feeling I knew the answer to this question, but I had to ask anyway. “What about the power? What did my father have that caused the interaction?”
My stomach churned. I didn’t want to know, but I had to. I had to hear this for myself.
Tart exhaled. “I think you may have already guessed. It was the same gift I saw in Roan the moment I laid eyes on him. Your father was a demonologist, same as your boyfriend.”
“What does that mean for us?”
I opened my eyes. Tart’s face was grim. “I’m sorry. But it means you can’t be together.”
NINE
Tart left not long after that. Really there wasn’t any more to say. I could’ve argued with her, told my biological mother that she didn’t know what she was talking about, but what good would that have done? The fact was, she did know what she was talking about—at least for herself.
I thanked her for the information and said I needed to process it, which I did. I also needed to burn off some steam. Having that conversation had set me on edge.
I mean, what would happen if Roan and I got together? Would a void open between heaven and hell and allow an army of demons to be unleashed upon the earth?
Wow. If that was a possibility, thatwouldbe bad.
Or was there a way around it? I didn’t want to quit Roan, and I was pretty darn sure he didn’t want to quit me.
Not wanting to think about it anymore, I threw on my jacket and headed out to my Cruiser. I cranked her up and rolled down Haunted Hollow, heading to the deadest part of town I knew—the cemetery.
I parked on top of a hill and got out. Crisp air blew the hair off the back of my neck. I kicked a rock lying by my car tire. That almost made me feel better.
The stone needed to be the size of a boulder for me to feel better.
I reached the trove of crumbling headstones. Not one spirit in sight. I planted my foot right on Granny Mildred’s grave.
“I need to speak to y’all.”
Granny Mildred, who reminded me of the granny fromThe Beverly Hillbillies, stuck her head out of the dirt. “Who wants to talk to us?”
“I do.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And what fur? You gonna finally admit that we can have equal rights?”
