Capricorns and Devil Horns

Just a Dead One

"She usually comes over for tea on a Wednesday, you see. Sometimes she's a bit busy, so she rings me up on the house-phone for a little while. But she didn't even ring last week. I'm a little worried now. She's missed three weeks without so much as a little ring. My Hannah wouldn't forget about me like that." The frail old dear told me.

"Of course she wouldn't, Mrs Keating."

The door swung open and Morgan stood, proudly presenting a tub of Ben and Jerry's. Atop the lit, sat our new pet.

"Honey, I'm-" He paused, setting eyes on Mrs Keating sat beside me, "-interrupting..."

"Hello, Dear." She smiled sweetly.

"Evening, Ma'am. Say, Nora Love, you didn't tell me we were expecting company?"

"We weren't." I said through my teeth, "Morgan, this is Hannah's grandma."

His icy eyes widened; I assumed he was a little surprise. Little did I know, he had a plan.

"Mrs Keating, this is my f-"

"Hairdresser." He cut in, "I'm Nora's mobile hairdresser- free ice cream and scorpion for every client!"

Mrs Keating giggled, looking Morgan over.

"You're a funny lad, aren't you?" She squealed.

He and I exchanged a glance.

"If you really were a hairdresser, you'd give yourself a haircut! Your hair's longer than Nora's! Or you'd at least dye over your grey!"

"I'm not grey, I'm" He noticed how he'd raised his voice a little to much and how the smile had faded from her wrinkle lips, "-sorry. Let me make it up to you, Ma'am. How about a hair cut? I don't have a spare tub of ice cream or a scorpion laying about, but I'll do it for free."

She giggled again.

"You had me at 'free'"

Morgan disappeared into the kitchen and emerged a minute later, dragging along a barstool and clutching the pair of scissors we used to open food packets. I gulped, fearing for Mrs Keating's hair. She, however did not seem phased by the bright green scissors and sat herself upon the stool without another words. Morgan began snipping away.

"So, Nora. You do know where my Hannah is, don't you?"

Moran looked me dead in the eye over Mrs Keating's head and I looked back, silently pleading for help.

"Didn't Hannah err say something about going away with that err boyfriend of hers? What was his name again?"

"Jamie." I answered without hesitation, trying to hide my wince from Mrs Keating, "That's right. They went to Spain for a few weeks, right Morgan?"

"Right. It was on a bit of whim- perhaps she was so excited she just forgot to mention it, Mrs K?"

"You're probably right, Dear. Oh, I am glad she's gone away for a bit. I don't want her wandering about around this area at the moment. Have you been keeping up with the news?"

We exchanged another glance. A knowing glance. A guilty glance.

"They found two soldiers dead in their beds this morning. Soldiers. And one of 'em had kiddies. It's so awful, isn't it?"

I sighed deeply.

"It is... There's some bad bad people in this world..."

"You two ought to be careful around here."

"We will."

"Of course," Morgan agreed, "Hey, Nora Dear, will you come here a mo and tell me if this is even?"

When I was by his side, he nudged a fistful of wispy white hair into my hand. I quickly shoved it into my pocket and sat down in front of her again with a "yeah, it's even".

She discussed memories of me and Hannah as kids- running around in her garden dressed as princesses, playing with her dog BonBon. All the while, I held Skip close to my chest, scratching behind his ears.

"Wow." I breathed when he'd finished, "You actually did a good job!"

"Of course he did, Dear." Mrs Keating cut in before Morgan could respond, "He's a professional."

"I am indeed." He grinned.

"You'd look a bit more professional if you got rid of all that scruff around your mouth..."

"I'll keep that in mind, Mrs K... Would you like me to escort you home?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Dear. If anyone comes my way, I'll set my teeth on 'em!"

She all but cackled and we couldn't help the smiles tugging at the corners of our mouths.

The scorpion and a little bag containing the hair were added to the shelf above my bed. I didn't sleep in my room that night, even though I could. The idea of sleeping beneath Hannah's wings set my teeth on edge, so I dragged my duvet to the sofa. Around 3am, I awoke, as I usually did, but didn't find myself in the living-room. Lazy fingers ran through my hair and my head lifted and fell with every breath of the chest beneath me.

"You're awake." He stated.

"How'd you know?" I whispered.

"You stopped snoring."

I breathed a laugh, which was then followed by a silence. His fingers drifted down to my back, sweeping along my shoulder blade.

"Morgan?" I questioned, minutes later.

"Yeah?"

"How are we gonna get a heart for the spell?"

"I'm not sure yet, Love. Maybe we wait for her to kill again and get there before the police?"

"You mean use bait? I don't want anyone else to get hurt, Morgan..."

"But we don't have access to any of the bodies."

"...we do. Vivienne knows where David is. Does the heart have to be fresh?"

"Spell doesn't specify. But a heart's a heart. I'll call Viv in the morning."

"Can't you call her now?"

"No. Now we both need our beauty sleep, okay?"

"Ugh. Why do I have to sleep? I'm dead, aren't I?"

"You don't" He said, "But you will anyway. Because you can. And it makes you feel more human, doesn't it?"

"I'm still human." I reminded him, "Just a dead one."

"Touché."