Black Arts & Bones (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 11) Read online

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Black Arts & Bones

  by

  Sara Bourgeois

  Chapter One

  A loud bang sent me scrambling down the stairs. I’d gone up to the bedroom to change into a dress and put on makeup. Laney was in her playpen in the living room, but she was asleep. So, I figured it was fine leaving her undisturbed to finish her nap.

  Naturally, the thud made my blood turn to ice water. Meri was in the living room with Laney, but I still shot down the steps so fast that I missed the last two and fell on my knees.

  That was going to leave a bruise.

  If all that noise hadn’t brought Thorn in from outside, I didn’t know what would. It didn’t wake Laney either.

  I, on the other hand, got to witness the full horror of what was unfolding at my fireplace. The thump was the sound of the jar containing Zane’s soul hitting the stone hearth. Fortunately, it hadn’t shattered, but Samara’s spirit stood over it. She appeared to be contemplating her next move.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed.

  While the sound of the jar hitting the floor hadn’t woken Laney, my distressed outcry to the ghost before me did. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and pleaded, “mama.”

  I rushed over to the playpen and scooped her into my arms. “Mama’s here,” I said and kissed her forehead.

  It was just babble, and I knew she really didn’t know what the word meant, but it pulled at my heartstrings, nonetheless.

  I hoped that Samara’s spirit would just vanish. It wasn’t as if she hung around my house knocking stuff off shelves. In fact, that was the first I’d seen of her since shortly after her death. I’d never expected to see her again.

  So, of course she was there.

  Trying to set Zane’s awful ghost free?

  What?

  It was supposed to be Thorn’s and my first date night since Laney was born, and right on cue, the supernatural began its shenanigans. I was already nervous about leaving her with my parents while we went out on the town.

  “What are you doing?” I asked again when Samara didn’t answer.

  She looked up at me and looked back down at the jar. Instead of addressing me, Samara tried to kick the jar. That was followed by her trying to stomp on it. Neither attempt had much effect, and when she stooped down to pick it up, her ghostly hand went right through it.

  “You don’t have enough energy to do anything more than just knock it off the shelf, apparently,” I said. “You’re not going to be able to smash it because you can’t draw any more energy from this house.” That was at least one thing Hangman’s House had going for it. The house could also provide me with any money I needed or food I desired, but that wasn’t relevant to the current situation.

  Samara looked up and me and scowled. “I want… I want…”

  She went quiet for a second.

  “You want what?” I asked. “Tell me. Maybe I can help you.”

  “I want my life back,” she said with a heaving sigh. “I don’t want to be dead. I miss my house. I miss baking.”

  Her words stabbed me right through the heart. Samara was so sad, but that wasn’t uncommon. People were frequently sad when they died before their time. It’s the reason things that reminded them of life were so attractive.

  “Taking revenge on Zane won’t bring you back,” I said and stroked Laney’s soft curls. She was starting to wiggle in my arms, and I wanted to get rid of Samara before I put her down again.

  “I don’t want revenge,” Samara said. “I want him to put me back.”

  Oh.

  “No,” I said so loud that Laney jumped a little in my arms. “Sorry, baby,” I said and kissed her forehead. It kept her from bursting into tears. “Mommy’s just got to take care of this ghost, and then we’ll get you some pears.”

  “Pears?” Samara’s spirit looked at me with heightened interest.

  “They’re baby pears,” I said. “Mashed all to high heck. Besides, you can’t eat.”

  That was a stupid thing to say. I sighed as Samara’s face became a mask of fury.

  Fortunately, that was the end of it. She poofed out the way I imagined she’d poofed in. I would be infinitely happier when we fixed good magic and I could redo the protection spells and sigils around Hangman’s House.

  “Well, that was fun,” I said to Laney.

  She squeezed my cheeks and giggled.

  “Come on, cat,” I said over my shoulder to Meri. “Pears for the princess and bacon for you. Let’s get you dinner before Thorn and I leave.”

  He was seated on the coffee table licking his paw and then washing his ears. Fat lot of help he’d been. Not that it was his fault.

  Thorn arrived home from work a half an hour late. In fact, he showed up at the exact time my parents arrived to watch Laney.

  “I have to shower,” he said as he took his hat off and hung it over the door.

  “You can’t,” I said. “We have a reservation.”

  Just then, my mom pinched her nose and scrunched up her face. “Let him take a shower,” Mom said as she waved her hand in front of her face.

  Dad had already scooped up Laney, and they were headed out to the back yard to look for bugs. It was too late in the year for fireflies, but they could always get into something. He was teaching her to love the creepy-crawly things instead of fear them.

  “What’s wrong?” I started to ask, but as soon as I was closer to Thorn, I could smell him. “Oh, my gosh, you smell like hogs,” I said and covered my nose.

  “Yep,” he said with a shrug. “Farmer’s fence broke and the hogs were blocking traffic on the highway. I got called in to help round them up and wrangle them home.”

  “Go,” I said. “Shower, and don’t hurry.”

  “I’ll be squeaking clean in a jiffy,” Thorn said as he rushed up the stairs.

  “No, really. Take your time,” I said with a laugh. “You want tea, Mom?”

  “Sure,” she said. “You’re going to miss your reservation, though. Will you guys have to eat at another restaurant? I know you were looking forward to trying that new steakhouse in the city.”

  “No, we won’t miss it. I always tell Thorn the reservation is for half an hour earlier than it really is. He’s super punctual at home, but when it comes to work… he frequently has to deal with issues that don’t care about his schedule. I find that if I tell him that he needs to be here a half an hour before he really does, he tends to make it when I need him,” I said.

  “Good thinking,” Mom said.

  I made some tea, and we chatted for a while. One cup later, Thorn came downstairs, and I went out to the living room to meet him.

  “Wow,” I said when I saw him.

  He was dressed in a white button-down shirt, but he’d rolled it up to the exact place that showed off his biceps. His black slacks were fitted just right so that they hugged his butt.

  “Do I look bad?” he asked and looked down at his attire. “I know the sleave thing is kind of dumb, but it’s what’s in fashion. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  He quickly unrolled them and buttoned the cuff. Interestingly enough, the sleeves still accentuated his biceps. “We should go,” I said.

  “Right, the reservation,” Thorn said. “Are your parents all set?”

  “We are good. We’ll call you if we need
anything,” Mom said from the dining room doorway.

  I’d told her about Samara’s ghost making an appearance just before she’d arrived, and Mom had waved it off. She said it was nothing she and my dad couldn’t handle.

  I walked quickly out to the car and almost dove in before Thorn had a chance to open the door for me. “Sorry we’re going to be late,” he said just before shutting the passenger door.

  What he didn’t know was that we weren’t going to be late. We just needed to get out of there before I dragged him upstairs to make Laney a little brother or sister. Dang, Thorn looked good, and he smelled even better.

  It hit me like a truck when he got in behind the wheel. “You okay?” he asked.

  “I’m doing great,” I barely squeaked out. “You just look really good, good enough to devour.”

  “I’d say the same about you, but I don’t think the words would do justice,” he said and squeezed my knee.

  “You’d better pull out of the driveway now, or we’re going back inside,” I said with a chuckle.

  He thought about it for a minute, and then reversed out of the driveway into the street. “As much as I’d love to spend some quality time at home with you, I promised you a night out on the town. So, away we go,” Thorn said.

  It was a quiet drive into the city. Thorn and I held hands and listened to the car’s stereo. Laney wasn’t a loud baby by any stretch of the imagination, but even quiet babies are noisy compared to two adults on a car ride. It was like the earth opened up and swallowed all of the sound. The ride was peaceful in a way I didn’t even know I’d missed.

  “I feel guilty,” Thorn said as we pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because the ride here was so peaceful and calm, and I feel bad for thinking it,” Thorn said.

  “Our lives have been hectic,” I replied. “And you’ve had the added stress of being back at work. I have Reggie and Katherine running the shop for me. Basically, I pop in when I feel like it.”

  “Yes, but I’m a hundred percent sure that being a full-time mom is more work than being town sheriff,” Thorn said. “You never get a day off. At least when I go to work, all I have to worry about is my work.”

  “I guess I’ll just let you keep thinking that,” I said. “But as far as feeling guilty because we’ve had a few calm minutes to ourselves, don’t.”

  Thorn came around and got my door before helping me out of the car. We walked inside the restaurant hand in hand.

  I tried not to worry about Laney. Each time I did, I’d get a pang of guilt for being away from her. When that happened, I’d look over at Thorn and study the rough stubble peppering his square jaw.

  We had to focus on our marriage too. It was the only way we could be good parents for the long haul.

  The host was at the station and seated us right away. I was blown away with the restaurant. It was dim inside with lights that resembled candlelight. The dining area was in a sunken section in the middle of the building. Waitstaff dressed in crisp white shirts and starched black slacks scurried around delivering white plates of perfectly cooked meat that looked more like works of art than meals. Others busied themselves pouring wine or clearing dishes.

  We were seated at a booth along the wall to the left. It was cozy without feeling overcrowded. Dinner was delicious but uneventful. Thorn ordered a massive ribeye and I had filet. We mostly made small talk, but eventually the conversation turned to Laney. We discussed her first five months and what we thought it would be like until she turned one.

  As Thorn paid the check, my phone rang. My heart jumped into my throat when I saw it was my mother.

  “Mom, is Laney okay?” I asked before she could get a word out.

  “Is she okay?” Thorn asked.

  We were already scooting out of the booth.

  “She’s fine, honey,” Mom said.

  “She’s okay,” I said to Thorn. “Well, then what is it? Is Dad okay? It’s not Lilith, is it?”

  “It’s nothing like that, Kinsley. I hate to bother you, but I think you need to come home,” Mom said.

  “If everyone is okay, then what’s up?”

  By that time, Thorn and I were out in the parking lot. We shuffled quickly to the car. He opened the door for me, and I got in. When he got behind the wheel, I fumbled to put my seatbelt on. Eventually, Thorn reached over and helped me click it into place.

  “It’s going to be too hard to explain over the phone,” Mom said. “Laney is fine, but please come home. Your father and I will make it up to you with another date night.”

  “Okay, Mom. We’ll be there as soon as we can,” I said and we disconnected.

  “What’s going on?” Thorn asked as he pulled out of the restaurant’s parking lot.

  “Laney is fine,” I said. “Mom said it was too complicated to explain over the phone but we need to come home.”

  Thorn and I were silent again on the drive home, and this time the stereo was off. We tried listening to it, but the music made my anxiety worse. Thorn held my hand, and I must have practically squeezed it off.

  I knew my mom had said that Laney was fine, but I was terrified something had happened to her and my mother just didn’t want to tell me over the phone. Dread crept from my stomach up into my throat the entire excruciating ride home.

  By the time we turned onto our street, I felt like my skin was on fire and crawling with ants. It was amazing I didn’t jump out of the car while it was still rolling.

  The thing that stopped me was the woman sitting on our front steps. I’d seen her around town, but I didn’t know her.

  She was sitting there with her head on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs. When she looked up, I could tell she’d been bawling.

  There were also ugly purple circles under her eyes like the poor woman hadn’t slept in years. Even at the worst of my insomnia, I never looked that bad.

  “Should I get my gun?” Thorn asked as he turned the car off.

  “I think if she was dangerous, my parents wouldn’t let her just sit out on the porch. They probably would have called your deputies,” I said. “Let’s just go talk to her.”

  As I was getting out of the car, my mom peeked out the window and pointed at the woman. She gave me a thumbs-up, and I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean other than that the woman probably wasn’t dangerous.

  “Hello,” I said, and I could feel Thorn behind me. He was so close, I swear I felt his breath on the back of my neck. I elbowed him gently, and he took the hint.

  The woman was standing at that point, she came down the last few steps. “You have to help me,” she sobbed.

  “Well, let’s slow it down a bit. I’m Kinsley. What’s your name?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry,” she said and wiped her eyes with the heels of her palms. “I’m Nora Kent.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Nora,” I said. “What do you need help with?”

  “I talked to your dad,” she said. “He said it was okay for me to wait. He said he would help me if you couldn’t or wouldn’t.”

  “I’m sure he would,” I said gently. “But tell me what you need?”

  “Should I call in one of my deputies?” Thorn asked.

  “Oh, you’re the sheriff,” Nora said before turning back to me. “I almost forgot you were married to the sheriff. No, nothing for the police.”

  Her eyes shot back and forth between me and Thorn. I realized whatever she wanted my help with, she didn’t want to ask in front of Thorn.

  “Sweetie, why don’t you go in the house and check on Laney,” I said to Thorn.

  “I think I should stay out here,” he said and crossed his arms.

  “Thorn, go check on the baby,” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be in soon.”

  “Okay,” he said and put his hand up in front of his chest in mock surrender. “Just holler if you need me.”

  “I need you to come with me,” Nora said as Thorn went inside.


  “Where?” I asked. “Please tell me what’s going on. You’re starting to make me nervous.”

  “I’m sorry,” Nora said and then bit her bottom lip. She was about to start crying again. “I’ve been having a rough week, and I haven’t slept in… I don’t know how long.”

  “I can see that,” I said. “No offense.”

  “None taken,” she said. “I know I look terrible. It’s just that… there’s something in my house.”

  “Something? Like what?”