Supernaturally Kissed (Frostbite, Book One)

by Stacey Kennedy

  My theory burned out, but I continued to search for something more plausible, not wanting to believe what they suggested was true. No matter how hard I tried, the truth stared us all dead in the face. Instead of pointing out what neither of them wanted to accept, I helped them along. “So that means…”

  Both their expressions were masks of disappointment, and at the exact moment, they both lifted their gazes to mine and said in unison, “It’s a cop.”

  I laughed, unable to hold back. “You both said that at the same time.”

  “Ha,” Zach exclaimed. “Glad to know being a ghost hasn’t changed you—still stealing my lines.”

  Kipp chuckled.

  “You do that often?” I asked, more interested than I cared to admit.

  Zach nodded. “All the bloody time.”

  Cute little man bond!

  “Back on subject,” Kipp said, clearly more focused than we were. “It’s the only assumption that a cop is responsible. There’s just no way anyone else could gain access to the safe house.”

  When Zach still laughed, I raised my hand. “Oh, you need to stop now. Kipp is back to detective mode.”

  Zach clamped his mouth shut, shook his head and stared up at the ceiling as if Kipp were up there. “I’m taking it she didn’t know how to identify him—”

  I giggled, pointing to the chair. “He’s not up there, he’s sitting on the chair—and yes, all Hannah knew were lies, so we have no way of identifying him.”

  Zach rolled his eyes. “Oh for fuck’s sake.” He looked at the chair without bothering to repeat the question. “What are you thinking, bud?”

  “I think we should rule out Tess’s theory. Even though I suspect we’re on the right track here, we have to be sure—for all our sakes—that every other possibility is ruled out.”

  He cannot be suggesting…

  I searched his gaze, the determined set of his eyes showed my assumptions weren’t wrong. “Please tell me I’m not going where I think I’m going?”

  Kipp grinned. “That’s right, sugar lips! We’re going back to the scene of the crime.”

  In no time, we were back on the road, despite my continuous protests of how insane the idea was, which they both flatly ignored.

  After a short drive while the early evening settled in, we approached a middle-class bungalow on a tree-lined street—completely dull, without any warmth and plainer than a home built by Mennonites. “This is a safe house?”

  “What did you expect?” Zach scooted out of the truck and glanced over the hood at me. “Luxury?”

  I followed Zach up the steps, looking around at all the creepy-crawlies that made the front porch their home. “Yeah, exactly. At least something that would be worth living in. This shithole isn’t suitable for a stray dog, let alone people. If someone brought me here, I’d be pissed.”

  “They’re put here for protection.” Kipp looked at me sternly. “Not for a vacation.”

  “They’re—” Zach said.

  I raised my hand to interrupt him, not wanting to hear a repeat, since as of late I’d suffered a world of that. “Already heard it.”

  Zach grinned before he opened the screen door. He bent down, coming closer to the security panel next to the door handle. After he entered in the four-digit code, the door beeped and opened. He stepped through and flicked the lights on.

  I followed him in. “Okay, so you weren’t kidding about the house being secure.”

  “The house has more invisible security than you could even wrap your pretty head around,” Kipp said.

  I snorted. “Yeah, I gather.” The air seemed charged with electricity and a low hum sounded through the stale space. My assumption of a trespasser had been wrong. I suspected if you dared to open the fridge, spotlights would shine down on you and the walls would do that morphing thing into a steel cage to enclose you.

  After my Mission Impossible fantasy, I spun around to meet Zach’s gaze. He stood with the door open and stared at me. “Are you okay?”

  “Can I close the door?” he replied.

  Huh? “And you’re asking my permission be-e-cause?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Has Kipp come into the room?”

  I laughed. He worried about something irrelevant. “You do realize he can walk right through the door. He doesn’t need you to open it for him.”

  Zach’s jaw clenched. “I’m not making Kipp walk through a door.”

  “Stop goading him, he’s not like you and still thinks of me as well…me,” Kipp said.

  I sighed away my laughter. “He’s in.”

  Zach grumbled something incoherent and closed the door with a loud slam.

  With that funny business over, I scanned the room, and clearly, the house had been decorated in the seventies. The couches resembled the color of vomit and fake wood coffee tables decorated the tasteless house. Dust covered everything and the smell of something dead lingered in the air. “Lordy, how long has it been since someone used this place?”

  “A while,” Zach answered.

  “Like in the last decade?” I swiped a path of dust off the coffee table with my finger. “Boy, the guy who brought Hannah here was a real charmer.”

  “My sentiments exactly,” Kipp said.

  “I suspect it’d been the perfect place to take her.” Zach strode toward the bedroom. “No one would see him here or even know the house existed.”

  “Well, we know one thing,” I said. “She sure as heck loved him with all her heart.”

  Kipp’s eyebrow arched. “What makes you say that?”

  I spied a large spider who worked on his web in the corner of the ceiling. “Because no woman would come to a place like this unless she loved him.”

  “Maybe it’d been the only option. Obviously, he wanted to keep their relationship private,” Zach called out from the bedroom.

  “Private is one thing.” I grimaced as the stench of mold filled my nose. “Downright grungy is something else entirely.”

  Kipp inclined his head in agreement.

  “Come here, you two,” Zach shouted. “I’ve got something.”

  I rushed into the bedroom only to encounter a complete mess. Vodka, whisky, just an obscene amount of empty alcohol bottles littered the floor around the bed while tissues were scattered about.

  Zach glanced over his shoulder. “Appears that someone’s feeling a bit of remorse for what he’s done.”

  “Ya think?” I retorted. “Jesus, he’s drowning himself in booze.”

  Zach reached into his pocket, pulling out a pen and a paper bag. He lifted one of the bottles and placed it inside the bag, as well as a tissue. “I’ll get this to the lab to see if they can lift any prints or obtain a DNA sample. Might be the break in the case we need.”

  I’d seen this on television, so the revelation made me blissfully happy. “Oh good, DNA found means case closed.”

  Zach sealed up the bag. “You shouldn’t believe what you see on TV.” He shook his head as if it annoyed him my thoughts went there. “It takes weeks—sometimes months to get a DNA sample confirmed. Then who’s to say we have the sample on file to match it to the suspect?”

  “We will if it is a cop,” Kipp said.

  “If we’re assuming right and the killer is a cop, we’ll find a match. It’s part of protocol when you join the force to give a DNA and fingerprint sample,” Zach continued, since he didn’t hear Kipp’s response.

  “Oh, okay, well, that’s great.” I clapped my hands. “We can go then, right? I’m all done here?”

  Both men shook their heads. My happiness plummeted. “But you said you’ll have the cop’s DNA, so what else do you need?”

  “It’ll take months…”

  Zach sighed. “You’ll—”

  I waved my hand to indicate Kipp had already started to explain.

  “To see if a match is found. It’s best for us to continue on here and see where it leads us, which means, of course, that you’ll get to spend more time with me, beautiful.”

/>   I blushed and hated he caused such a reaction in me. I tore my gaze from him and looked at Zach. “Okay, well, tell me what I can help with so we can get out of here. It stinks and I feel my allergies acting up from all the dust.” I sniffed to prove my point.

  Kipp chuckled.

  Zach rubbed his own nose with the back of his hand. “Since the air is bothering you, why don’t you and Kipp go and search outside. See if anything stands out.”

  Great, more alone time with Kipp!

  The idea, though, of being out of the retched place was too appealing to pass up. “Good plan.” I spun on my heel and nearly walked straight through Kipp. He had come up right behind me and I hadn’t even noticed his presence, which surprised me. I always sensed a ghost’s nearness and that meant I forgot what he was or got used to him being around. Both possibilities weren’t good.

  Kipp grinned with a playful edge. “Despite your attempts to deny it, you are all too happy to spend some private time together.”

  My cheeks burned deeper and I did what I continually had done, ignored him as I walked by and exited the bedroom, striding toward the front door. I hated that Kipp might have been right.

  He’s a ghost. He’s a ghost. He’s a ghost.

  Maybe if I echoed those words in my mind a thousand times, I’d remember that fact. But even as I repeated it, I suspected it’d turn out to be a battle I would inevitably lose.

  Once outside, Kipp stayed quiet as I searched for any place that looked like an entry point. By the time we approached the backyard, there hadn’t been any hint of trespassing.

  The night had fallen upon us and a couple bright stars twinkled above me in the dark sky. I took a quick look at my watch. Nine o’clock. My body experienced the strain of the day and exhaustion settled in. A cold shudder ran through me. I gasped and took a step back. “Sorry,” I said to Kipp. “I didn’t realize you stopped.”

  He stood in front of me with his head bowed. I walked around to face him and saw the despair in his expression. “What’s wrong?”

  “Here.” He looked up at me, pointing to the ground. “The night I died…this is where…”

  I followed the direction of his pointing finger and along the concrete patio was a large stained area, which I assumed had been his blood. “Oh, you were shot here.”

  Kipp knelt down, placing his hand on the darkest area. “I feel…” His gaze returned to mine. “It feels strange to be back here.”

  Yeah, I bet it does. “An unhappy memory happened here. Of course returning here wouldn’t be pleasant.”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s more than that. For the first time since I woke up, I feel as if I’m in the right place.”

  “The right place?” I repeated.

  He pondered, only a moment, and apparently, the answer came to him, since his eyes widened. “Home.”

  Now he’d lost me. “What do you mean home?”

  “It’s the same feeling you have when you walk through your parents’ front door. You know, the one that says you’re right where you belong.”

  It’d been some time since I experienced such a feeling, but I understood what he meant. Maybe more so because I had longed to feel that again for years. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”

  His gaze pleaded for answers. “Why am I experiencing this?”

  How should I know? “Maybe it’s because some of you remains here, at this place, because your life ended here.”

  He stood in one swift movement and closed in on me. I gasped as the coldness of his presence washed across me. His movement had been so fast, supernatural for sure, and I had never witnessed such a move before. For the most part, ghosts appeared normal and his move simply wasn’t.

  “Holy crow! How did you do that?”

  His eyebrow arched. “Do what?”

  “Move like…” I paused in an attempt to find the right word. “Something out of a scary movie.”

  He looked at me reprovingly. “I’m a ghost, Tess.”

  “Yes.” I returned the look. “I know this.”

  “The rules you live by are no longer mine.”

  The idea of ghosts didn’t scare me because they appeared somewhat normal. This whole spooky nonsense freaked me out. “So, you can move quickly?”

  He nodded. “As quick as I want.”

  How much did I not know? Creepiness ran up my spine. “What else can you do?”

  Kipp stared intently. “There’s more, but I don’t want to frighten you.”

  “I’m not frightened,” I retorted.

  “No?” He trailed his icy fingers under my eye. “In here, I see fear.”

  I moved away from his touch, since my initial reaction had been to lean into him. “I’m not saying it’s not a little strange, but I can handle it, so spill.”

  Kipp shook his head, apparently dismissing my wants completely. “There must be a reason I feel this here.”

  I suspected his reason for not telling me was for my own good. This time, I left the matter alone and followed his lead. “Like I said before, it’s probably because you died here. With every ghost I’ve met, they remember things more when they return to a certain place or see something that sparks a memory. Maybe coming back here is something you needed to do to…” I hated the way my voice trembled, as the idea of him moving on didn’t appeal to me in the least, “to cross over.”

  The knowing look in Kipp’s gaze, plus his grin, told me he noticed my hesitation. “As much as what you say makes sense, it still doesn’t explain why I remember everything from my life.”

  I took a step back in order to put a little distance between us. “Yes, you do.”

  “Then your theory isn’t much of a theory at all.” He closed the distance between us and bowed his head closer to mine. “There’s more going on here.”

  It didn’t take a genius to understand the meaning behind “there is more going on here” had nothing to do with the blood on the concrete, but had everything to do about us.

  “Yeah, well, you’re asking the wrong person. I only know what I’ve seen so far and why you’ve had this reaction here is beyond me. All I know is this…” I pointed to the ground, “is where you died.”

  Kipp frowned as he stepped away from me and looked down to the ground. “Yes, it is.”

  Shit! All the heat surrounding me had made me harsh. I’d never been so blasé with a ghost and unaware of what they were going through. I’d answered him without a single thought in my mind. Get a hold of yourself, Tess. “Um, I mean…”

  His gaze jerked to mine and he held up his hand. “I don’t need you to beat around the bush. Neither you nor I have time for it.”

  He alleviated some of my guilt for being a stone-cold bitch, but it still didn’t mean I understood any of this or could give him the answers he sought. That didn’t mean I couldn’t help him along. “Why do you think you’re feeling like this?”

  Kipp seemed to consider it, glancing around a couple times before turning back to me. “It’s as if there’s an unknown strength here.” He arched his eyebrow. “Does that make any sense?”

  No. “Yes.”

  He inhaled deeply as he apparently tried to sort it all out. I stayed silent while I watched him struggle, wishing I held the ability to ease the situation and help him answer his questions.

  Finally, after many minutes, he sighed. “I’m not quite sure if I can put it into words, but I feel a great amount of energy right here. It’s in the air, along my skin, fills me when I breathe and it fuels me with adrenaline.”

  Most ghosts were so distant to the world around them, exactly why they always drove me batty. Self-absorbed wasn’t a strong enough word to describe them. “I’ve never had a ghost experience what you are now.”

  Kipp cocked his head. “Never?”

  “Never, ever.”

  “It feels powerful.” His eyes fluttered closed as he breathed deep. “I feel alive.”

  Alive? The word seemed so wrong coming from his mouth. He was so far from being alive tha
t the comparison left my mouth to gape open.

  “Yes, it feels exactly like I’m alive.” He snapped open his eyes and his gaze lit up with excitement. “I couldn’t place it at first. But I feel more alive right now than I have since I died.”

  Warning, you’re now entering the Twilight Zone. Ghosts were ghosts. They did what they had to in order to move on. What Kipp explained now had nothing to do with crossing over, but seemed more like self-discovery. The heebie jeebies set in. “W-w-why do you think you’re experiencing all of this?”

  Kipp shrugged. “How should I know? You’re the expert here.”

  Expert! Not likely! The world seemed turned around, upside down with nothing to support me. “So where does that leave us?”

  He winked. “It leaves us—one stupid ghost with one pretty lady.”

  I might have blushed yet again, that is, if Zach hadn’t chosen the exact moment to interrupt us. “I found nothing inside.”

  As he settled in next to me, I studied him, and his angered expression and curt tone left me at a loss. “A good or a bad thing?”

  “A bit of both.”

  I looked to Kipp, who said nothing. My gaze came back to Zach, who also said nothing. I waved him on. “Would you care to elaborate?”

  Zach ran a hand through his hair, leaned up against the house and put one foot up on the brick wall. “It’s good we’ve ruled out your theory—it’s bad that our assumption of the killer being a cop is right.” He glanced around the yard. “Have you found anything out here?”

  I glanced sideways at Kipp. He shook his head. I heard his message loud and clear. He wanted to keep what he experienced private. “No, just like you, we found nothing out here.”

  Zach yawned, stretched and pushed himself off the wall. “Figured so much.” He rubbed his hands across his face.

  I sympathized, equally as ready to crawl into my bed. “So-o what are we going to do now?” It’d been an exhausting couple days. I’d always been a stickler for being in bed at ten, up at seven. My body was used to a routine and this Kipp business messed me all up.

  Zach bent down to stretch his muscles, then he straightened up and looked straight at the ground. “Whatcha thinking, Kipp?”