Ghost Guard by J. Joseph Wright

else!”
    Silence. For the first time, Abby thought she may have gotten through. Rev, on the other hand, knew better. He felt the negative psychic energy spiking all around him.
    “Uh, guys,” he announced. “The natives are getting restless.”
    The MC swept the microphone from Abby’s hand, and that calmed down the breathers, if only a little. Abby’s heart sank. This might turn into a long, long night.
    “Thank you, Maggie Mae Gilbert,” Patricia grinned sarcastically. “But I think we all agree that ghosts who commit hate crimes aren’t the kind of ghosts we want to have around. They should be committed to the dust bins of history!”
    Another unruly roar. Rev knew these people were out for blood, or ectoplasm.
    Ruby, squeaking and gurgling as she hovered over the gathering, told her teammates she sensed something strange again.
    “Ruby’s right,” Brutus said. “There is something.”
    Rev locked his senses on one person—the woman he’d seen earlier, amongst the protesters, looking centuries out of time and thousands of miles out of place. She wore a long, dark garment over layers of material that sprang with her movements. An elfish nose, upturned ever so slightly. Full lips flirting with a smile. He couldn’t keep his focus off her.
    Abby cleared her throat over the radio as the strange woman strode up the stairs and onto the platform with the other presenters. The MC appeared indignant at first, gesturing at the scraggly, burly biker-types they’d hired as event security. The bikers just stood there, refusing to come to her aid. She turned to the woman again and her eyes went blank. The woman held out her hand . The MC gave her the microphone, smiled, then backed away.
    Whoever this was, she seemed to have some sort of sphere of influence. Rev felt it. Her pull. It took much of his energy just to stay above the surface of her immensely deep psychic sea. Gathering his strength, he sent mental messages to his spiritual teammates.
    “Brutus, do you feel that?”
    “I feel it. I’ve felt it for some time now.”
    “Is Abby okay?”
    “I won’t let anything happen to her. You can count on it.”
    “Ruby? What are you getting from this?”
    Using a series of clicks, ticks, and whistles, Ruby told them she was moving in. She also asked Brutus if he was sure he had everything under control.
    “ Yes, Ruby! Why does everybody keep asking me that?”
    “Everyo ne just relax,” Morris broke through. “Nobody panic. We’re not worth a thing if we panic.”
    The woman waved her hand to the side slowly and, quite by itself, the lectern slid with it. Murmurs and whispers. The woman smiled.
    “I am Elyxa. I believe you need a spirit disposed of? I might be able to help!”
    She lifted her hands high , and a bolt of lightning slapped against the surface of the Willamette, bringing with it a deafening clap of thunder. Most people dropped to their hands and knees. Those who didn’t were trying to run, though it seemed their feet had been cemented into the mud.
    As Elyxa watched the panic she’d just created, Morris fed her image into the Ghost Guard face recognition system.
    “Come on! Come on!” he shouted at the computer.
    “Morris, what’s going on!” Abby demanded under her breath. “Who the hell is she!”
    “Hold on! I’m working on it!”
    Elyxa faced Abby with a threatening glare. Abby trembled as if a sudden earthquake had originated under her feet. She felt her consciousness slip away, replaced by an instantaneous and searing agony deep in her brainstem. Brutus couldn’t wait for a computer to tell him what he already knew. This woman was dangerous.
    Brutus formed into a solid object and towered over Elyxa, breathing smoke from his nose. If Abby hadn’t seen this a thousand times before, she would have sworn he was a demon. Blackened flesh, peeling and crusted. Fiery eyes. Overgrown, muscular frame. Thank God he was on their side. Consequently, it was a complete shock to everyone on the