Author note: My plot bunnies have multiplied, this rabid little idea bit me after I started watching the new TV series.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that is recognizable in this fanfiction story. The Midnight, Texas series belongs to Charlaine Harris.

Chapter One - Welcome to Midnight

Manfred was basking in the warm sunlight on his bare torso and taking in the view of the Dallas cityscape from his penthouse window when he heard a voice from behind him.

"So, when is your mark getting here?"

A hint of a smile curled his lips, "Rachel is a client, who pays for my services."

A young woman who looked to be in her early-twenties (but Manny knew she was just as old as him) came to stand beside him a large mug of coffee in her hands and her white t-shirt declaring 'I Drink Coffee for Your Protection'. She took a sip and smacked her lips before speaking, "Last time I checked, lawyers and prostitutes were the ones getting knowingly paid to lie to their "clients" and you're neither. Now a conman on the other hand—," She shot him a challenging look over the rim of her mug as if asking him to disagree.

He waited until she was taking a sip of her coffee, then grinned impishly, "Yeah, but in the end my clients are just as satisfied."

She sputtered a laugh that transitioned into a cough. It took a minute for the coughing to subside, by that time her jade-green eyes were slightly damp with tears. "Are you trying to kill me, jerk!"

Manny held his hands up in surrender. "Hey! You walked right into that one. I just took advantage of an opportunity."

"Whatever, Brutus, go get dressed," was the reply accompanied by an exaggerated eye roll. The girl turned away, her vibrant wine red curls whipping the air behind her.

"Aw, come on, Winnie," he cajoled while gently tousling the girls hair causing the minty scent of her shampoo to waft around them, "So, what are you going to do this morning?"

She turned giving him a mild-reproachful look, "Well, if I didn't have to make myself scarce I would still be sleeping, but since that's not an option…I'm thinking about hanging out at the café two blocks over, so I can drink more caffeine than is probably healthy while using the free Wifi to binge watch cartoons and occasionally ogling the hot baristas. Nothing special. Besides, it's Saturday, you know I try not to plan out my weekends."

"Yeah, sure, I'll see you later," he said walking into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

"Yup, Peace out," she said, and both unknowingly shared the same crooked smile at the old quip.

Winnie unabashedly stared at the tall, dark-haired barista that was bent over and cleaning a table across from her as she waited for her video to download. It was the sudden lighting of her phone's screen that drew her eyes away. Sighing once she had read the new message, Winnie quickly packed up her things and was on her way back to the penthouse in minutes.

Manny was talking the second she walked through the door, "I'm already done packing my stuff so I'll grab the food. Can you get the stuff in the bathroom?"

"Yeah, I've got it," was the answer as she quickly and efficiently packed away her things into her bags and then all of their personal items from the bathroom.

They met up when they were done all of their bags and box of foodstuff sitting next to the door, "That mess…I take it things didn't go so well this time. What happened?"

"The dead husband didn't like his wife dating his old friend. He took over and tried to kill her so they could be together," he saw the raised eyebrows and the silent 'oh' before a look of concern play across her face, he nodded to the unasked question, "It didn't last long. I'm fine."

"You need to be more careful, possession during a séance isn't uncommon, but that's amateur stuff. You know better, Manny." She glanced at the woven bracelet peeking out from under his shirt sleeve, "It didn't work, huh?"

Manny placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "No, it helped. I could feel it disrupting the ghost's energy and it was easier to fight him off. It helped fend off a possessing spirit, just like you said it would when you made it," he pulled her into a one armed hug and kissed her forehead, "You're awesome, Winnie. My personal good luck charm."

Her response was to poke him in the ribs and they each squeezed a little tighter before letting go and grabbing their stuff.

Winnie had been stretched out on the long seat in the back playing solitaire on her phone most of the ride, but she moved up to the passenger seat as the RV passed by the buildings on the outskirts of town. Reading the sign outside the church, "Weddings and pet funerals by appointment only," she let out a small hum, "…I wonder how many weeks you need to book in advance."

The rest of the ride was quiet both siblings not saying a word until they parked outside the pawn shop, where they would be meeting their new landlord.

"Looks…nice," Winnie said quietly.

Manny nodded as he turned the engine off and got out of his seat, "Come on, let's go find Bobo."

She rose with a groan and quietly groused, "I hate pawn shops," before they could exit the RV a black Land Rover rumbling by close to the door causing her brother to jump back and shut the door, "Whoa, Manny! You okay?"

"Yeah," he said a little breathless, this time looking both ways as he exited their ride.

Winnie stayed back as Manny approached the woman who got out of the other vehicle. There was something about the woman that made Winnie cautious, something dangerous. When the stranger glanced at the siblings Winnie saw the woman's eyes even through the dark shades, and suddenly there was a flash of red and the sound of a gunshot.

Manny glanced at the case the woman was carrying, "Musician? Pawning a...trumpet?"

"That's it. You nailed it." the woman answered in a deadpan voice as she entered a door to the building, but not the shop.

Once the door closed behind the stranger, Winnie caught up to her brother and nudged his shoulder, "I'm starting to think Grandma was wrong about how safe this place is."

"It's definitely not the friendliest," he said while entering the shop.

Reaching for her brother's hand as soon as she heard the voices, Winnie said, "Maybe we should wait outside."

Manny offered a weak smile as they walked further into the store. The voices had started getting louder as they passed by the old muskets but the rising sound of battle was washed away by a living voice.

"Hey," wearing startled looks they turned to see a man with short brown hair, a square stubbled jaw, and a polite smile, "You must be Manfred, and you, Miss."

"Oh, uhm, I'm his sister, Winifred but usually I go by Winnie," she replied with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you both. Well I've got the time if you two are ready to take a look at the place we talked about," Bobo invited.

Manny nodded vigorously, "Now would be great," and they quickly headed out of the store, both siblings quietly breathing sighs of relief.

"You made good time from Dallas," Bobo said conversationally.

"No traffic the last five hours," Manny replied but he couldn't help adding, "Which I spent the whole time driving."

Winnie elbowed him in the ribs. "I'm not qualified to drive a tank," she muttered under her breath.

The owner smiled as they reached the edge of the shop and stopped at the corner, "No there isn't," he turned to Manny with a knowing look before continuing, "I'll show you your new home."

The place in front of them received different reactions from the siblings, Manny gave it a dismal look while Winnie appeared a little worried.

"Part of the roof is gone, like it got squashed by the other building," Winnie whispered.

Manny let out a loud breath and followed after the other man.

"Come on," Bobo coaxed. The owner seemed to shift to landlord mode as they entered the house. "The last tenant left the furniture. If particle board bothers you, you're welcome to come by the shop."

"It's f—It's fine I like newer things," Manny stated as he checked out the small house.

There was a joking smile on the other man's face as he spoke, "RV outside suggests otherwise."

"Better the ghost's you know," Winnie said as she looked into the bedroom, "Only one bed in there. Do you want to flip for who sleeps in the van?"

Manny scoffs as he moves toward the kitchen.

"Hey, I gotta come clean, man. I checked you out before renting the house."

Manny turns around to face the shorter man with a wary look, "I hope it's not a problem."

"That you're a psychic?" Bobo asked before chuckling, "No, just the opposite. I was gonna offer you a month's free rent if you could help me out."

Manny looked interested and walked back to Bobo.

The man continued, "My fiancée, well…Aubrey, she—she walked out. And she's not returning my calls—"

"Let me stop you," Manny interrupted, "It's—It's not real. I tell people what they want to hear. I'm just really good at reading people. That's all it is."

Bobo seemed to back pedal but was still politely smiling, "Well, no harm in asking. You got the place for a month. You need it any longer-"

"I know where to find you. Thanks."

"Mm-hmm."

Winnie watched their landlord leave and her brother walk back into the kitchen. She rolled her eyes, as much as her brother advertises about being a psychic his reluctant to actually be one was a little hypocritical. With that thought she followed Bobo having to run to catch up with him.

"Bobo wait, please," Winnie said as they walked around the corner. She didn't reach out to stop him but was happy when he turned around. She looked into his grey-blue eyes for the first time and for a moment a feeling of safety washed over her and she suddenly knew Bobo Winthrop better than she had a second ago, she knew she could trust him.

She spoke quietly when she continued, "Please understand, this morning my brother performed a séance and it didn't go so well, right now he's more cautious than usual. If you take that into account and add in the fact that a lot of people out there don't like the idea of psychics, for one reason or another, and often take offence at living next to one, you can probably see his hesitation to help. I'm sorry that he lied to you, but he did it to protect himself…and me."

"You're…" Bobo started, "You're a psychic too?"

"Yes," admitted Winnie, the word was almost a whisper, and then bit her lip, "I also have empathic abilities and occasionally get visions. Grandma once told me it was "woman's intuition at its finest". So, maybe I can help?"

Bobo seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and then smiled, "That would be great."

She smiled back before becoming more serious, "Now you said your fiancé left, did she leave anything behind?"

"Yeah, a couple suitcases full of clothes and some other stuff," Bobo said with a slight shrug.

"Having something that belonged to her should help me find out where she is. I might be able to get a vision, but there's no guarantee. Just—Just let me get settled in and I can check out what she left behind." She knew she sounded hesitant but the only reason for that was, in a small town like Midnight where everyone knew each other, she didn't want to seem like she was coming onto the man. The last thing she wanted was to be labeled a floozy.

"How about after work? All of Aubrey's stuff is at my place, so we can go there as soon as Lem takes over."

"Sounds like a plan, see you later," she said with a nod.

"Thank you," he said with genuine happiness and relief as he thrust out his hand toward her.

Winnie accepted the handshake, and for a split second there was only the feeling of her smaller hand in his stronger one, but then a vision hit. It only lasted a second but was so heart wrenching the actual organ in her chest skipped a beat. Bobo was on his knees in mud, his body seeming to have given out on him and tears streamed down his handsome face that had been twisted in utter misery. Then she was back to looking at the man's smiling visage, but the vision of that same face filled with pain was burned into her mind's eye.

She gave a wavering smile, "Don't mention it."

A minute later, Winnie walked back into the small house she and her brother would be staying in.

"So you ready to flip for the bed?" Manny asked standing at the kitchen counter munching on a cookie.

"How about I take the RV for tonight? It's a new place, and I'd sleep easier in there."

Her brother looked worried, "Yeah, sure, something wrong?"

She could only shrug but then she looked curiously at the cookie, "Where did that come from?"

"House warming gift," he answered around a bite of cookie as he handed her a note on a piece of what looked like homemade stationary.

She read the note and then raised an eyebrow at him. "You do know those could be poisoned right? How many have you eaten?"

"Like, three," he paused to look down at the remaining bite in his hand before shoving it in his mouth, "I can handle having cookies as my last meal."

She could only shake her head.

Hours later, after moving some stuff inside and unhitching Winnie's small trailer from the back of the RV, the two siblings were headed to the local restaurant. Winnie being the last one out had left a note on the door, 'Out for Dinner'.

"Pretty quiet," Winnie observed, "It's kind of nice."

Manny slung an arm around her shoulders, "Yeah, it is, now come on. Those cookies didn't kill me but they didn't fill me up either."

They laughed as they walked through the door and taking in the people already seated. The first person to catch Winnie's eye was the man they had seen walking around the church earlier, his bolo tie was interesting, and she smiled when he looked up at them.

Manny's arm went from her shoulders to her back to keep her moving, his sister had a habit of staring when she found something intriguing. It was because she liked to draw; when she didn't have her sketchbook Winnie would stare at things for a long time, picking out all the details, so she could draw them later.

They made it to the bar where Manny stopped to talk to the woman behind the counter and Winnie wandered further down to look at the rest of the dining area.

"I'd like to place an order to go," the psychic said to the back that was mostly on display. He would admit to admiring the view.

The waitress turned around and a moment later a spark of recognition entered her eyes, "You're Manfred. Bobo said he had a new tenant. I saw your RV, nice ride."

"I know. Real chick magnet."

They shared a smile before she introduced herself, "I'm Creek. I live behind the Gas & Go with my dad and little brother, Connor."

Manny smiled, "Cool."

From her place, Winnie rolled her eyes.

"Follow me," Creek said before walking down to the other side of the bar.

"Where?" But he was already moving.

"The Midnighter's Room. It's where we sit. Except for Rev. He eats alone. Now that you live here, you eat with us."

"That order was to go," Winnie muttered, then started shaking her head as her brother walked right past her, "and now I'm invisible."

Manny's brow knit, "So if Midnighters eat there then—"

"The rest of the folks are ranchers, folks from Davy," the girl explained.

"Well I don't want to bother."

The waitress scoffed, "You're not. It's usually more crowded. Folks are getting ready for tomorrow. It's the annual fall picnic. You should come."

"Well, if you'll be there."

Creek smiled and gave him a quick once over, then changed the subject as she tilted her head toward the table they had stopped beside, "You meet your neighbors yet?"

"Sort of," he glanced over at the woman they had met outside the pawn shop, who was now a blonde, "You're the non-musician."

A deep voice answered as the blonde just smiled stiffly, "That's Olivia."

Manny turned to the man at the table who also turned his bald head toward Manny. His electric blue eyes surprising the brunette, but the contrast to the man's dark skin made his eyes fascinating to Winnie.

The stranger's glance flicked to Winnie for a second, which left Winnie with the impression of hunger in her belly. The female psychic moved behind the waitress and out of his line of sight.

The man continued by introducing himself, "Lemuel Bridger."

"You eat beef?" Creek suddenly said, causing Manny to direct his attention back at her.

"Wouldn't have moved to Texas if I didn't," was his witty reply.

Winnie wanted to groan at his obviousness. 'He cons people out of their money on a daily bases, but then he flirts like a teenager,' she thought.

"Do you trust me?"

"No. But I'll let you pick out my dinner," he answered and his sister silently facepalmed.

"You'll like it. I promise." With that she walked back out of the room, not even noticing Winnie. Manny's eyes followed the sway of her hips.

"Don't let her father see you looking at her like that," Lemuel warned.

"I didn't mean any offense," Manny explained making his way to a chair at the other end of the table, "If I'm interrupting—"

"You're not," the blonde said quickly, but then got up to leave, laying her hand on her companion's shoulder as she walked out.

Lemuel suddenly decided to change seats taking the one on Manny's left, so Winnie moved to sit on her brother's right.

"I live under the pawn shop, work the night shift."

Manny started to nod, "That's very nice."

"Tch, manners," Winnie admonished, "I'm Winifred Bernardo, but please call me Winnie, and this is my brother Manfred or Manny. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lemuel."

The dark man smiled, "The pleasure is mine, and just Lem is fine."

Suddenly Lem's attention was directed to something over Winnie's shoulder, "Apologies."

Manny looked at his confused, "For what?"

The next second Lemuel had Manny pressed against the table and Winnie watched as her brother started gasping and turning blue, she startled and reached over to try and remove the other man's hands from her brother, but as soon as her hands touched his she felt a draining feeling like every drop of energy in her body was slowly being sucked out of her.

It felt like the sensation lasted forever but then suddenly Lemuel released Manny and Winnie was able to pull her hands back.

The bald man spoke quickly, "It's been awhile since I've eaten. I'm weak, and I was worried. They look like they could be trouble, so I leeched energy."

"Leeched?" Manny rasped his breath causing condensation on the table, "What are you exactly?"

"Vampire's one word for it," Lemuel said, almost blasé about the fact.

Manny and Winnie both flinched back with gasps, "Seriously? Holy…what the hell?"

"I'm beginning to take offense. Frankly, I'm less frightening than those Sons of Lucifer. Here," Lem said passing a glass over to Manny, "You'll feel better." Lem watched as the brunette took several gulps, and then turned to him in surprise while silently passing the glass to the redhead, "Told you."

Manny just chuckled and shared a look with Winnie who could tell what he was thinking and grinned back.

"What's so funny?"

"Usually we're the freaks in the room," Winnie explained.

"So, uh…" Manny started and then gestured to his neck area, "none of this neck thing?"

"Oh, that's always on the menu."

Suddenly a plate was set in front of the male psychic, "Madonna's pot roast special."

Manny picked-up the plate and started shoveling the delicious smelling food into his mouth and Winnie licked her lips, the hunger she had picked up from Lem earlier and the leeching of her energy had caused her own hunger to reach almost painful levels.

Creek smiled with a small chuckle, "See, I told you you'd like it. So, if you want, I could stop by your place tomorrow and we could go to the picnic."

"I'm not sure. I had a big day of driving…I'm spent." Manny waffled.

Lem interrupted, "You'll feel better in the morning. I'll have to miss it, but you should go. Midnight…is very different in daylight."

"Excuse me," Winnie said bursting the bubble that had seemed to form around her keeping the other woman from noticing her, "I'll have the same thing and a Coke, please."

Creek blinked, "Oh, I'm sorry, Miss, I didn't see you, but you can't sit in here, residents only."

Winnie's face went blank before she spoke, "I've been here the whole time, my brother and I came in together. We just moved here."

"Oh sorry…"

Winnie shook her head, "Don't worry, it happens sometimes, let's just forget about it. So, food?"

The waitress looked like she had to mentally shake herself, "Yeah, I'll be right back."

Winnie's stomach gave a very loud growl that the other three could hear, and her cheeks heated up as she laughed, "Thank you."

After dinner, they said their goodbyes to Lemuel then headed back to their new house, where they said their good-nights to each other before Manny went inside.

Winnie was just about to open the door to the RV when Bobo came around the corner of the shop. It was so quiet but she still didn't hear him until he spoke up.

"Hey, Winnie," said woman jumped and turned around. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he apologized with an amused grin.

She snorted with a raised brow, "Forgive me, but I'm having a hard time believing you with that look on your face."

"Well," his smile was charmingly crooked, "So, are you still alright with heading over to my place? I'm leaving now."

"Yeah, sure, now is fine."

Bobo drove them to a nice house on the other side of town, and then lead her up to the bedroom where Audrey's clothes had been left in the closet. Winnie ran her hands over each article of clothing that belonged to Aubrey but frowned.

She looked over at the man and shook her head, "Sorry. I'm just not getting anything."

A sad smile played across Bobo's face, "Well, at least you tried."

Winnie opened her mouth to say something but stopped and sighed instead. "It's been a long day, maybe I'm too tired. How about I try again tomorrow?"

Bobo shook his head. "I won't be here, tomorrow's the picnic," he said, "Did you hear about it yet?"

"Yeah," she admitted with a sardonic smirk, "The waitress, Creek, mentioned it to my brother at the restaurant. Funny thing though, I wasn't actually included in that invitation."

"Well then, Ms. Bernardo, I would like to invite you to the Annual Fall Picnic tomorrow," he said with a polite smile which Winnie returned.

"I accept your invitation, Mr. Winthrop," a moment later a hesitant look passed over her face, "but it will be awkward if I have to play third wheel to my brother."

"I wouldn't mind taking you," Bobo quickly offered, "though I will be leaving early to help set up."

Winnie nodded. "That would be nice but I have my own ride, so we could just meet up at the shop and I'll follow behind you?"

"Alright, I'll swing by around seven in the morning. Now, it's pretty late. Let me take you home."

The next morning, Winnie was up around six so she could get ready. She showered and dressed in black jeans and a pink tank top asking 'Why fit in when you were born to stand out?', then cooked and ate breakfast with Manny before going out to the trailer, which had been moved to the opposite side of the house as the RV.

Opening the doors wide and sliding out the extendable ramp, she gazed around the inside of the eight-foot trailer. Cabinets on the walls and in the back held all of her worldly possessions, and securely strapped down in the middle of the trailer was her black Kawasaki Ninja.

It always made her smile when she saw the beautiful bike. She had been eighteen when she got it. With the way her family lived it had been hard to save up money and she had never even dreamed of owning a motorcycle.

But one day, a man her grandma had been talking to was skeptic about their abilities as psychics, so he made a bet with Zylda; if her grandmother could tell him something about himself that no one else knew, he would give her a hundred thousand dollars as payment. Needless to say, they walked away a hundred thousand dollars richer and Zylda had allowed her to buy the trailer and motorcycle after a very convincing argument.

She pulled her helmet and riding jacket out of the closest cabinet and then wheeled the bike out of the trailer, closing and locking it up, before moving to wait in front of the pawn shop.

Bobo pulled up ten minutes to seven and smiled, "That's a nice ride. I'm guessing it was in that trailer of yours. You ready to go?"

"Yep," she chirped happily, "Right behind you."

Winnie pulled on her helmet, fully covering her head and face, zipped up her riding jacket and then pulled her messenger bag across her chest before swinging across the bike. The engine came to life with the twist of the key and then they were gone.

They parked on the grass next to each other. Winnie took off her helmet and jacket, and left them on the seat. Bobo got out of his truck and went around to the bed to opened it. He was quick to drag one of the boxes over the tailgate and starting walking toward the picnic area.

"Can I help?" Winnie asked as he walked away.

He half turned, throwing a grin over his shoulder, "I'd appreciate that, just leave the heavier ones for me."

Together they carried the boxes over to the grill, then Winnie stepped back trying not to get in the way. After a while it became obvious that people were avoiding her and Winnie started to think that maybe she shouldn't have come.

She picked out a tree with decent shade to sit under and took off her messenger bag, she usually carried around her laptop but had left it at the house; instead she pulled out her sketchbook and started drawing pieces of the landscape. She had just gotten finished with a small sketch of a tree across the clearing when she felt something on her leg. Looking down, Winnie saw the small brown lizard that had crawled onto her knee.

"Hello," she said quietly not wanting to scare it off, "Would you like me to sketch you?" The lizard didn't move so she took that as a silent 'yes'.

She did two sketches of the animal without it ever moving. Afraid that it might be hurt, she put down her book and pencil then slowly reached for the small creature. It followed the movement of her hand but didn't even twitch as she stroked its back. Nothing.

"Are you okay?" She asked and picked the lizard up to bring it to eye level, it moved around in her palm as if making sure it didn't fall but didn't even try to jump off. Looking it over, there were no obvious signs of harm, so she continued to stroke its back and shortly after the lizard closed its eyes and seemed to fall asleep.

"Well, that's certainly interesting," a voice said from beside her and Winnie looked up to see a Hispanic male with dark eyes and hair looking down at her and the animal in her hands.

"Uhm," she said then looked down at the lizard and realized that it almost looked dead which would be weird to anyone that walked by.

"It's not dead!" Winnie insisted, "It just…fell asleep…at least I think it did," she finished awkwardly.

She picked the animal up with the hand that wasn't holding it and it instantly woke up, "Time to go home, buddy," she said sitting the lizard on the ground beside her and it quickly scampered off. Winnie smiled up at the man with an openly relieved face, "See, not dead."

The man chuckled lightly. "I see that. I also saw that it was pretty comfortable with you. Not just anyone can tame a wild beast," he stated.

Winnie picked up her sketchbook and tucked it back into her bag before getting up while dusting off the seat of her jeans; the man seemed to wait until she was done before he extended his hand and she shook it, hesitantly expecting a vision and relaxing when one didn't come.

"My name is Chuy," he nodded his head to Winnie's left, "That's my husband Joe over their playing with Rasta."

"Winifred but I really prefer Winnie," she looked over at the long blonde-haired man playing fetch with a dog, "Cute dog. Wait, I saw him coming out of the tattoo shop yesterday, looked like he was going for a run. I remember thinking his hair looked nice, clean, there are some men I've seen with long hair but most of the time it looks greasy, like they don't take care of it."

Chuy let out a surprised chuckle, "True, he does have nice hair." He gave his husband an appraising look, eyes full of affection, "Though that's not usually the first thing women notice," he said shooting her a sly glance.

"Well, he is good looking, I won't deny that but...I don't actually find myself attracted to him. Must be my intuition telling me he's unavailable," she smirked, "But honestly, you guys make an attractive couple."

He smiled kindly and looked pleasantly surprised, "Thank you. So, Winnie, what are you doing over here all alone?"

"Drawing," she said with a shrug, "but mostly trying to stay out of the way. I was getting the whole outsider vibe. I figured it would be easier to sit back and let everyone get used to seeing me. Someone was bound to get curious enough to talk to me. I'm used to it, my brother and I have been moving around practically all our lives. It's the same thing everywhere we go."

"And your brother's not here?"

"No, um, Creek invited Manny, he's going to show up with her."

Chuy looked confused, "So how did you get here?"

"Bobo showed me how to get here this morning."

"It's a good thing he did." They both shared smiles. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Joe. Are you okay with dogs?"

"You kidding, I love dogs! I just never got to have one. Is it okay if I play with your dog?"

The twenty-something girl looked so much like an innocent child when she asked her question, that Chuy had to laugh, "Of course."

Winnie was still playing with Rasta and Joe, and Chuy had wandered over to the grill by the time Manny arrived. It was shortly after that, Rasta got distracted from chasing the ball and had started barking at something. Joe started calling out to quiet the animal as two women began moving to see what was wrong with the canine. Winnie got a strange twist in her gut and a chill up her spine, worried she started following the women.

The dark-haired woman, who Winnie had heard others call Fiji and was obviously the one that left cookies for her and her brother, screamed. It startled the psychic girl for a moment before she ran the rest of the distance to the other two females. Noticing how they were both staring at something in the same direction, Winnie followed their line of sight to see what it was. It didn't take long to spot the disturbance; bellow them was a river bed, the water level was low but the ground was still muddy and laying half-in/half-out of the water was a body.

The sound of running footsteps drew Winnie's attention and she watched as Bobo stopped next to Fiji.

"What's wrong," his concerned face searching for what had caused the woman to scream; Winnie saw the instant the man's eyes caught the figure in the water.

Bobo's features rapidly flitted from concern to surprise and he quickly made his way down to the river bed, where his expression became one of shock before morphing into utter sadness, and then the tears came; suddenly Winnie was living the scene that she had glimpsed for a split second the day before.

Before Winnie knew, a crowd had gathered at the edge of the drop off. Manny came up behind his sister and gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

"You alright?" He whispered in her ear.

Winnie nodded in answer. As they watched, the two psychics saw the head of the dead woman turn to look directly at them. Winnie pressed herself against her brother in shock, and he responded by squeezing her shoulders in reassurance.

The Sheriff's department showed up later and Winnie stood next to her brother as he spoke with the deputy getting more and more annoyed the longer the woman talked, but she never let it show on her face. Manny answered all of the questions and when it was over he had Winnie follow behind Creek on the way back to town.

Startled by the banging at the RV door, Winnie sprung up into a sitting position.

"It's your brother," Xylda told her granddaughter making the girl groan.

"What the hell, Manny?" asked Winnie as she answered the door in her tank top and sleep pants, "It's still dark," she hissed and her tone said there better be a good reason for waking her up.

"I just got a visit from Aubrey. She wants to tell me something but she can't talk, every time she tries water comes out. I need the board and stuff to make a circle," he quickly explained moving into the RV and around his sister as he talked.

"Don't forget the holy water," Xylda said.

"Please, tell me you are not planning on doing a séance in our new house?" Winnie ask incredulously. When he just looked at her she sighed and rolled her eyes, "Idiot. Let me get some clothes on."

The Sun had come up by the time they had gathered everything together, Winnie carefully drew out the protection circle, "If this doesn't go completely belly-up. I'll have to cleanse the house and add major protection charms, maybe then I'll feel comfortable enough to actually sleep in here."

"You never had problems with me doing a séance before," Manny groused.

"Yeah, but before we weren't living in a house. Don't you remember what Grandma taught us? Hotels are where people and energies move frequently, because of the constant transition it is easier to summon and banish spirits. A house is a place that is more permanent and energy accumulates. Ghosts in a home can feed on that energy, and spirits form stronger attachments to a structure they can claim ownership of, making it harder to get rid of them."

He sighed, "Alright, I think we're ready. Let's get started."

Later, Winnie was able to refrain from saying 'I told you so', but it was a close thing. Then they saw the deputy pull up outside the house.

Winnie shook her head and threw up her hands, "I'm out. I need coffee. I can barely deal with you before my second cup on a normal day, but ghosts invading the house and something growling under the floor, not a normal day," she said walking to the back door in the kitchen and yanking it open. She turned around to look at her brother, "Try not to get into any more trouble while I'm gone." Then the door shut cutting off anything that her brother might have said.

Winnie had to walk all the way to the end of the alley and around the pawn shop to make it back to their street, which was when she saw Manny leaving with the deputy.

"What are you doing, Manny?" Winnie groaned quietly, noticing he wasn't in handcuffs she was able to calm her worry, hopefully he would be fine.

Walking into the pawn shop to get off of the street, Winnie found Bobo in his office.

"Hey," she said standing in the door frame, white letters across the chest of her black baby doll tee declaring 'I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost', "My idiot brother is talking to one of the deputies, but she's the same one from yesterday and she was rude. I have not had enough coffee to deal with rude right now, so I left before I could put a curse on her. Can I hang out here?"

Bobo looked surprised but nodded, "Sure…wait you can curse people?"

She gave a half shrug as if it was nothing, "Well, yeah, with the power and know-how it's easy. I mean, simple curses are just summoning spirits to haunt a specific target and enact the will of the caster. Gypsies have been doing it for a long time."

Bobo let out a nervous chuckle. "Should I be worried?" he asked, only slightly joking.

"That depends," Winnie said with a blank expression. "Do you have coffee?" she asked her face shifting into a smile, and they both laughed.

"Yeah."

A few minutes later, Bobo and Winnie were sitting in his office together. Since the psychic had been willing to help him before, Bobo had no problem sharing what the Sheriff had told him that morning.

Winnie's eyebrows were knit tightly in thought, "So she was married to this Lowry guy, who's a member of a white supremacist group," Winnie paused to sip her coffee, "That's really hinky, especially when you take into account you're still alive."

Now Bobo seemed even more confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well Aubrey's involvement with the Sons of Lucifer would make them suspect number one, in my book. And trust me, after spending my whole life watching my grandma and brother, I've learned how to read people. A man like Lowry wouldn't just let his wife leave him, and if she ran away there is no question he would have hunted her down. If that were the case though, he would have killed whoever he found her with. Yet here you sit," explained the psychic, "It's definitely suspicious."

The conversation lapsed into silence both of them absorbed in their own thoughts. Finishing her coffee, Winnie sat the mug down on the desk.

"Thanks for the coffee," she said, then stood making sure to catch Bobo's attention. A gut feeling caused her to say her next words, "A warning from your friendly neighborhood psychic, be careful, something's up."

Bobo looked her in the eye seeing how serious the woman was and simply nodded.

Strong Angel Tattoo was a quaint shop with enough room to serve as a tattoo parlor and nail salon. Inside, Winnie saw the two men she had gotten to know at the picnic. Joe was obviously with a client and his eyes never left his work, but Chuy was by himself on the other side of the room and smiled when he saw the girl.

"Hey, what brings you here?" the black haired man asked.

"I'm not sure," she admitted honestly, "I was walking around and my feet sort of led me here."

He scoffed, "Maybe you should come sit down and give your feet a rest."

She laughed when she sat down, eyes busily scanning the items on the table.

Chuy smiled at her amusement, "What?"

"I was just thinking about how much stuff is sitting here and I'm not even sure what it's for," she saw the questioning look on his face and explained with a shrug, "I've never had my nails done professionally. One in a list of many things I never indulged in."

He gave her a raised eyebrow, "How about now, and I can show you what I use all of this stuff for."

"Just no fake-nails," she said wrinkling her nose, "that would bug me."

"Alright," he acquiesced and held out his hands, "Now let's see what we have to work with."

She held up her hands and gazed at her own slime fingers and shortly trimmed nails, almost feeling self-conscious as he took her hands in his.

"They look healthy and should be long enough to do French-tips or you can pick a color," he nodded in the direction of the polishes.

"French-tips sound like fun," she said with a childish grin, "How much?"

"Today? Ten dollars," he said starting to move things around and getting ready, "I just need you to wash your hands in the sink."

Hands washed, and a spark of forethought causing her to pull out her wallet, she sat back down and Chuy was ready to start. There were a couple of minutes of silence before Winnie interrupted it, "Do you know if the Reverend does exorcisms?"

The man's hands froze for a second and he shot her a questioning look before he resumed his work, "I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"

She shook her head dismissively, "Just for future reference."

"Right," he said.

She smiled, "Okay, so it might be the near future, but as much as I dislike having a evil entity under the house my gut is telling me it can wait. Aubrey's death is a more pressing matter, as long as her ghost is going to be haunting us."

"Sounds like quite the day you're having," Chuy commented.

They lapsed back into silence and it wasn't disturbed until the man stopped, "Just let this dry and we'll check it in a few minutes."

It was during that time Joe finished with his customer and the patron left. When Joe turned to them he smiled at Winnie, "Hello, Winnie. How are you doing?"

"Fine, just getting settled in, which is turning out to be a little difficult, but I've come to expect it. You can't be a wondering gypsy and expect things to be easy," she replied with a slightly sardonic smile, "Especially not when you're one-half to a set of psychic twins. But there's a silver lining, this is my first time having my nails done and they look amazing."

"Thank you. Maybe you can get a tattoo next," Chuy joked.

"No, thanks," she told him before turning to the blonde, "I mean, you're art is amazing, but tattoos aren't my thing."

"I understand," Joe said, "I don't have any myself. Now, you said you're having difficulties?"

"Just the usual stuff ghosts, evil and only having one bedroom—which will get really awkward if my brother and Creek start dating—but that just means I'll have to keep sleeping in the RV. Plus, there is this feeling I've been getting lately, it's telling me we need to go with the flow and be ready for change."

"We?" the blonde asked his head slightly tilting in question.

Winnie nodded and scrunched her brows trying to focus on the feeling that had been dogging her since the day before, "Yeah, there's an overall…" she raised her hands into the air as if holding an invisible ball, "…sense of something gathering, or a mounting tension, that will affect the whole town. A change is coming. Change isn't necessarily bad, but still, it's safer to err on the side of caution."

Chuy reached over taking one of her hands and lightly testing the paint on the girl's nails, "Well, Ms. Cleo, it looks like you don't have to be cautious about your nails, they're dry."

Winnie snickered. "Thanks, they look beautiful," she gushed as she gazed at her hands. Pulling out a ten from her wallet she handed it to Chuy as she stood up. "I think I better see what's happened to my brother. I'll see you guys later."

They gave their own farewells as she walked out, but the two men were too busy sharing a look to notice when she slipped a hundred dollar bill into the tip jar.

Manny's jacket was lying across the seat when Winnie entered the RV, and her grandmother's ghost was sitting on the bed.

"Is he in the house?" she questioned moving to the fridge for a bottle of water.

"No, that blonde woman came by, knocked your brother out and dragged him off," Xylda replied.

Winnie couldn't stop herself from doing a spit-take, spraying water all over the table, "What?! What the hell—where did they go?"

Xylda gestured to the building next-door, "Toward the pawn shop, but you should be careful."

"I have Zorba," she stated tapping the stone pendant around her neck, it was one of many she wore, "So, don't worry. I'll be back."

Winnie arrived in time to hear Manny call their grandmother a 'pathological liar' and saw him tied to a chair in his boxers with Lem, Olivia and Fiji standing around him. She waited, trying to find out what was going on, and soon found out that Lem knew their grandmother and Olivia was apparently paranoid.

"Untie him. He's one of us." Lem finally said.

"Manny, I thought I said no more weird parties," Winnie teased before pointing at everyone in the room, "You all have so much explaining to do."

Later, Manny was dressed and the others had given the siblings a brief rundown of the town. It was Fiji, who unknowingly filling the two psychics in on the problem with their unwanted house guests.

Manny expressed his wish to leave and Lem nodded, "Of course. Apologies for the little misunderstanding. This is usually a quiet and peaceful town."

Manny scoffed as he made his way to the door, "Right." Winnie and Lemuel followed him out of the building, but the redhead hesitated next to the dark-skinned man, who had stopped outside the door.

"Lem?" Winnie questioned almost in a whisper.

The quiet tone was off and Lemuel turned to the girl with a concerned frown, "Yes?"

"Bobo didn't kill Aubrey and apparently she was involved with the Sons of Lucifer, but honestly…," she stopped and bit her lip, "…I don't think they did it either."

"What are you saying?" The vampire asked.

She shrugged but her eyes were filled with worry, "Wouldn't that mean there was another killer on the loose?"

The question seemed to grab Lem's focus and he didn't speak for a few minutes, "It would, but there is no need for you to worry, at least not tonight. I'll be keeping an eye on things."

"Alright," she gave a small smile, "just be careful. Night."

"Goodnight," he said and they parted ways.

When Creek showed up at the door of the RV, Winnie didn't have to be psychic to understand the signs her brother was giving her, and announced that she was going for a walk. She didn't go very far.

Unlocking the trailer, she circled around her bike to the back cabinets. Flipping through her keychain she found the right key and opened one of the drawers. From inside, Winnie pulled out a pair of fingerless gloves embroidered with runes and symbols; next, was a set of four throwing knives in their sheath, which secured to her belt and was hidden under her shirt; and last was a pocket taser. All of these items she knew how to use.

Locking everything up, she began her walk. Winnie chose to head down the street toward the church and was surprised to see the reverend pulling the carcass of a longhorn down to his cellar, all by himself. Looking to the right, she saw Fiji on her porch doing some kind of ritual. Not wanting to disturb either person, the psychic turned back and headed the opposite direction, ending up in front of the pawn shop just as the Sheriff's cruiser arrived with its lights flashing.

Knowing that things were going to get dicey, Winnie crossed the street to stand opposite the pawn shop. The Sheriff and deputy had handcuffed Bobo and were leading him to the car as a small crowd gathered. Standing among the Midnighters, some with guns, it felt like they were seconds away from lynching the two law enforcement officers. Winnie felt like a distraction was in order.

"Wait!" yelled the gypsy girl and suddenly everyone's attention was on her, including the two officers who had stopped in their efforts to get the pawnshop owner into the vehicle.

Winnie reached her right hand inside her jacket as she spoke, "Now, let's say I'm holding a lit stick of dynamite…" she said pulling out the mentioned item with the fuse sparking. The people beside her gasped/yelled as they backed away, but she paid no mind as she moved her left hand to cover the top of the explosive then moved both hands in front of her to reveal empty hands, "…then suddenly I'm not. Which one are you more worried about, where the dynamite is, or where your prisoner went?"

At her last question, all of the eyes that had been on her moved to the figure that should have been standing between the two officers, but was now missing.

"Where is he?" asked the Sheriff to his deputy as they both spun around looking for the man they had been arresting.

"Not sure," Winnie said innocently, hands still raised and shrugged, making her way around the front of the cruiser, "but you're welcome to search me, Sheriff."

The two officers moved to intercept her, a look of anger on the Sheriff's face as he grabbed her arm, "Miss, if you just helped him escape, I can charge you with aiding and abetting."

"I didn't help him escape," she said, tone still innocent, as her eyes moved to where the car door was still open, "In fact, looks to me like he's still standing there."

When the officers looked behind them, they saw that she was right, Bobo was standing in the last place everyone had seen him. He appeared a little dazed and the deputy moved quickly to get him into the car with little resistance.

Winnie pat the stunned lawman on the face, "Seems like you just learned a lesson Sheriff," she easily slipped from his grip as she backed away with a Cheshire-grin to stop next to her brother, "You should always look twice and dig a little deeper before jumping to conclusions."

Appearing to shake himself, the Sheriff moved to the driver's side of the vehicle and called out, "Everybody, go home."

"He would never kill her. He loved her!" Fiji protested as Olivia held her back, "More than she deserved."

"Look, we have identified the murder weapon. It belonged to him," explained the Sheriff.

Lemuel was the next to speak up, "You've already decided he was guilty. I don't trust you with our friend.

"Yeah, well, I don't trust you either," replied the lawman.

"You don't want to start a war."

The statement caused a pause until the Sheriff addressed the crowd, "Clear the road."

"He's not going anywhere," a voice from the crowd called out.

Another voice said, "Neither are we."

"Go home! Just clear the road!" he yelled, and getting in his car he repeated quieter but with the same authority, "Go home."

A second after the man got behind the wheel of the car, the metal started to crinkle and the cruiser shook, as if being crushed by an invisible force.

Some of the onlookers watched the car and others glanced at Fiji, who had suddenly raised her hands as if holding something between them. Winnie noticed how the woman's eyes glowed.

The reverend placed a hand on the dark-skinned woman's arm, "Fiji, not this way. This won't help him. And tomorrow's a full moon, I'll be unavailable for a few days."

"We have got to be smart about this, Fij. Not angry," Olivia said, trying to persuade her friend to stop.

"I'll help," Manny suddenly stated and Lemuel nodded at him, "However I can. And I think I can."

After that statement, Fiji made a sound like a strained cry and suddenly her hands fell to her side at the same time the Sheriff's vehicle landed on the ground.

Through the windows of the car everyone could see the startled faces of the two officers as the Sheriff slowly started the engine. The gathered bodies parted as the car moved forward and then sped away.

As one the crowd moved back together and watched the taillights fade into the distance.

Manny glanced over to his sister and shook his head, "Alright, where's the dynamite?"

The people around them, namely Lem, Olivia, Fiji, Joe, Chuy and the reverend turned to the redhead. Winnie held up her right hand to reveal a stick of dynamite missing its fuse, "Here."

"And the Sheriff's watch?" Manny questioned.

A smirk spread across his sister's face. "Right here," said Winnie tossing something to her brother who almost missed it in the dark.

When he opened his hand they all saw the watch he was now holding.

"I did warn him to look twice," she explained as she slowly started to walk away, "so I borrowed it for teaching purposes, I'm sure when he learns his lesson you can give it back to him."

Manny scoffed and followed after his sister back to the house. Once standing in the lot in front of the building they both stopped in their tracks at what they saw. The house was lit by a red glow from underneath and the shadows of numerous ghosts pressed against the windows.

To be continued…