Free Red Devil (Dangerous Spirits) by Kyell Gold Page A

laughing at him and Kendall’s smirk. “Sol has a date and a ghost and I have—I cannot even—”
    “Okay, settle down. What’s bothering you? Is it because you’re all wet? Get that shirt off and let me get you a towel.”
    “No—” But she was already gone. He inhaled and pulled his shirt off, throwing it in the corner.
    Meg returned with a towel and tossed it to him, not commenting on his physique or fur or anything. “So what is it? Your sister?”
    He rubbed his fur dry and shook his head. “There is someone I want to ask on a date…but…”
    “A date? Fuck, is that all? Why don’t you just ask Sol?”
    “I did—I mean, he is helping, but—”
    “You know there are books, right? ‘Dating for Dummies’? I don’t know if there’s a ‘Gay Dating for Dummies,’ but probably. Anyway, you’re in a gay club! What could be easier?”
    He threw the towel at her, his tail curled tightly against his leg. “If you do not wish to help me, then go away. I will find something on the Internet and I will do it myself.”
    Meg dodged and then picked up the towel. “Fine, then do that. Don’t tell me how it goes.”
    She walked out of the doorway and Alexei fumed, fists clenched, staring at the painting of Niki. The fox had talked to Sol, and now Alexei needed him, and he was right here in the room. There had to be a way to get through to him. He cleared his throat and said in Siberian, “
Niki…please come talk to me…help me…
”
    He’d never had to summon a ghost in Samorodka; there, the problem was keeping away from the ghosts. He fixed his eyes on Niki’s until they watered, said variations on the same thing in Siberian and English over and over, and then went to his computer to search for ghost summoning rituals. All of them seemed ridiculous, and required incense or bells or chalk or (in one case) a blood sacrifice.
    At that last one, Alexei put the computer to sleep and shuddered. It had been easy for Sol. He’d drunk the absinthe from Meg…
    The fox stood up. Meg. She would have to get him some absinthe. He would just drink it himself, and then she wouldn’t have to be involved. He hurried out to the living room and knocked on her door.
    “Go away,” she said, muffled.
    “I just need some absinthe,” he said.
    “Go. Away.”
    “Please.” He slumped against her door. “I…don’t know what else to do.”
    The silence lasted for so long that Alexei nearly trudged back to his room. But then Meg rattled the door handle and pulled her door open, and stood there staring at him. “You don’t need absinthe,” she said. “Anyway, Athos doesn’t have any more of it. Sol asked too.”
    “Then—”
    “Jesus.” Meg scowled at him. “If I help you do this ritual, will you promise to leave it alone and go pick up a self-help book or get a motivational CD or something and stop going on about ghosts?”
    He perked his ears straight up and beamed at her. “Yes! I promise, yes.” Because of course the ritual would not fail, and then he would be able to talk to Niki and ask him for help, for confidence in talking to Mike. And if by some chance Niki refused to speak to him, well then, he would have to find something else to do anyway, and he wouldn’t involve Meg. But he knew in his heart that the ritual would work.
    Meg sighed. “Fine. Let’s get it over with, then. Are you eating here tonight?” He nodded. “All right. Want to go with me to get fish at the market?”
    His eyes lingered on the painting. “Can we do the ritual now?”
    “No.” When he gave her a pleading look, she folded her arms. “One, you don’t know when Sol’s going to get back. Two, we have to do it at night.”
    “Why?”
    “We just do, that’s all. Ghosts come out at night.”
    He thought of the second story of Jerry’s house, of the old abandoned house in Samorodka. “Not always.”
    “Well, we’re doing it at night. Anyway, I need to get a list of stuff from Athos. Want to come to the