A tall blond man stepped forward and pointed to the two others with him. A muscular man with brown hair and a beard reeked of an ancient soul. He had seen many deaths in his lifetime. Echo I’d seen before, her black medium-length hair and scowl hadn’t changed since our first meeting at the first murder during my show.
“Nice to meet you all. Now bring me up to speed, please.” My mind hadn’t moved passed the killer wanting Selene. Right now all I cared about was that someone tried to hurt Selene.
“The hooded figure came and said I was wanted backstage. She had the same red polish and pale skin like Trixie said but I noticed the blue shimmer underneath the hood. I couldn’t see any other type of facial features. It was like she wore a mask or something.” Selene talked while avoiding my probing stare. I wanted her to look at me, to see me, to confirm that the kiss we shared wasn’t all an act.
“Anything else?”
“She did say something else before Trixie tried to rip off her hood.” Again, Selene wouldn’t look at me and the others watched us. An uneasy vibe settled over the group.
“Yeah. She said . . .” Selene struggled to get the words out. She was afraid to say them, which intrigued me.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. She said, ‘If he falls for you, then you’re gonna die. Remember that, Reaper. I won’t be the only one out for your head.’” Echo exhaled impatiently.
“But we don’t need to worry about that, so good news, I’ll survive.” Selene tried to wave off the warning, however all her jittery announcement did was make the group feel awkward. She and I needed to hash some things out but first we needed to talk business with the Hero Society.
“Do you have any ideas on who the killer is?” I kept my professional mask of ringleader as I looked at the superhero clan.
“Unless there is a very convincing cross-dresser underneath that hood, I think it’s safe to say the killer is a woman. A ghost woman. She has been picking people that have caught your attention or are interesting in seeing you, such as Trixie here. A fan. Motive seems to be jealousy, but that can’t be confirmed. We’re going to need to keep digging and possibly interview your crew. Selene said that might be possible, since she can talk to them.”
Echo divulged the bullet points on the case of the killer, and I tried to think of someone in my group of ghosts that would do something like this. Lucy, instantly popped into my head, but then I pushed the thought away. She wanted to sleep with me, but she wasn’t in love with me. She just missed the comfort of a warm body and the emotional connection between two people. Hopefully she would sleep with another ghost tonight and fill her sensation quota.
“Anything I can do to help. I’ll make them talk if I have to.” Since I was destined to die, I might as well do something other than wallow about my shitty fate and isolation.
“I think it’s an excellent idea! Selene, talk it over with Jude and let us know when and where. Echo and Rose will assist you in the interviews.” Phillip grinned and clapped his hands together excitedly. Then his hands grasped around his friends’ arms and pulled them away slowly.
Strange exit, but maybe that was normal and I just didn’t know. Dealing with the dead was easier than the living for me. A sigh from beside me brought my attention back to Selene. She avoided eye contact with me.
“What’s wrong? I mean facing death can make people upset but you’re with death all the time.” My hand started to lift toward her chin, but then I chickened out and dropped it. The women I’d been with before were cold and their emotions were buried far beneath the surface. Selene wore hers on the outside. I saw and felt her confusion like it was my own.
“I’m trying to sort my head out, that’s all,” she answered and I looked up to Trixie for any clues as to what Selene’s troubles were but she shrugged and disappeared.
“Talk to me, Selene.” The need to touch her defeated my uncertainty of our feelings, whatever the hell they were called. My fingers caressed her cheek and her hand jerked up to smack my touch away from her soft skin.
“I’m hurt, OK? Not that I almost died, but you kissed me so you could talk to me. You couldn’t have just grabbed my hand and pulled me into the room? You had to kiss me with your stupid death-weaved lips.”
I know I apologized for kissing her to get her away from the crowd, but she didn’t honestly believe that was the reason I kissed her, right? I couldn’t think of anything else at the time more than I needed her lips.
“You really don’t believe that I only kissed you to get you in that room, do you?” I dared her wrath as I reached out again. This time my fingers went beneath her chin to lift her gaze to mine.
“That’s what you said, so what else should I have believed?” Her voice rose and the pain she’d felt from our interaction came to the surface. However, she didn’t move her face from my touch or my stare.
“I’m sorry for that. I’ve lived with the dead for so long that I’ve forgotten how to act amongst the living.” It was a sad excuse but it was the only one I had at the moment.
“When I saw you, all my focus leveled on your lips. It’s stupid to want to touch you, and I acted purely on instinct. I enjoyed the kiss, enjoyed feeling you beneath my fingers, against my tongue. I know it’s stupid to act upon those things considering I only have a few weeks to live and the murders occurring, but I want to do it again.”
Her lips parted and my body pulled into the gravity of her touch. Something lay there, hidden beneath the surface of this thing between us. Something I’d never felt before but couldn’t stop as we drew closer and closer, even if I burned in the end.
Chapter Sixteen
Selene
So many emotions and words came to my mind, but none found their way past my lips. Should I believe him? The way his lips parted and eyes peered at me with longing pointed toward the truth in his admission. But what about everything else?
“I’m not asking you to marry me, Selene, I’m asking you to let me kiss you. But if you don’t wanna get involved, then I understand.” His hand dropped from my chin, and the cold feeling from his stepping away brought a shiver to my skin. I wanted to kiss him, but my head wasn’t clear.
“What about the killer’s threat?” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and watched his expression change from the indifferent mask he’d put on for defense to a smirk.
“I haven’t fallen in love with anyone yet. I doubt it’ll happen in the next twenty-seven days. No offense.”
It may sound harsh coming from him, but my shoulders sagged from the relief of his words. I didn’t have time for something serious, and while I knew I deserved love, I didn’t feel like I was ready for it. My hands shook as they lifted up to his chiseled jaw.
“Whenever I’m around death, I get this sort of tingle beneath my skin. The closer I get, the more euphoric the sensations become. Kissing you was like tasting the warm lips of death.” I figured his truthful words needed an admission of my own, something I’d never told anyone about being drawn to the bliss of death in a sensual way.
“Makes sense. I am the master of the dead.”
His head tilted as he pressed a gentle kiss to my hand, sending a shiver from my fingers to my toes.
“There is something else there, though, isn’t there?” There was a nagging sensation, like fingers caressing a closed door, trying to be welcomed in.
“I don’t care right now.” His hand held my face still as he bent to kiss me. This wasn’t like the surprising kiss we’d had before. There wasn’t any clashing of teeth and tongues the moment our lips met. His touch seared my senses and burned its way into my soul, branding the imprint of his kiss on my heart. It was a slow, patient kiss, like we didn’t have only twenty-seven days to explore this thing between us but like we had thousands of years. His breath blended with mine with every intake, invading my lungs and my body as if he could ingrain himself in my very blood.
Death kissed like he’d waited all of eternity for this moment, and he would take his time enjoying every sensa
tion. My knees weakened, and my hand had moved to the back of his neck, keeping his head rooted in place, his lips pressed against mine. Every breath felt heavy, as my nerves lit up with every sensation of his warm body touching the front of mine.
“Your kiss is heaven.” His growl reverberated down my throat and shook my heart.
“Peace.” I breathed against his lips, feeling the type of peace I’d only felt on the edges of the glowing afterlife. “Peace. You taste like internal peace.” I pressed his lips once more to mine, then parted our connection. His forehead rested against mine as we calmed our erratic beating hearts and basked in the tranquility of the moment.
“Do you wanna come back with me to the mansion for a tour? We can talk to some of the ghosts as we pass by.” His body straightened as his fingers caressed my cheek, then my wet lips, feeling the evidence of what we had shared.
I smirked. “This isn’t you trying to get me to come home with you so I’d bone you, right?”
“A gentleman would never do such a thing,” he scoffed playfully, which made a tiny giggle burst from me. I doubted Jude Mallory was a gentleman. Instead, he looked devilishly mysterious, a trait I hadn’t experienced before in the opposite sex but now found attractive. Now that I’d cooled down from the anger I had before, a carefree sensation and eagerness to live in the moment took over me. I wouldn’t sleep with Jude tonight, but I wouldn’t mind spending more time with him.
“We’ll see about that.” I nodded toward the door and Jude’s face lit up with his smile. The expression made his very handsome face of a man appear boyish. I liked that look on him. Everything he’d told me about his life told me it hadn’t been easy. Parents’ suicide, then raising him as ghosts, plus knowing he has to die in a few weeks, probably by his own hands. Heavy, heavy burdens rested on his shoulders and I doubted he had many opportunities to shake them off.
“Do you want to ride together or drive there yourself?” he asked, as we started walking toward the exit. The cleaning crew were getting started on their jobs so I’m glad we were leaving.
“I rode with Phillip, who left me . . .” I stopped the rest of the words from coming out of my mouth when a thought clicked in my head. Without warning, my shoulders trembled and a bark of laughter came barreling past my lips. Jude stopped to stare at me with wide eyes, having no clue what brought on my sudden fit of amusement.
“That sneaky son of a bitch. He asked me to ride with him on purpose.” I had thought it was weird that Phillip invited me to ride with him, though I didn’t think much of it. He was friendly and passing by my little cottage, so why not? Of course, he only did it because he knew this thing between Jude and I would happen and that I’d be invited to go back to Jude’s mansion with him. He left abruptly, and I had been so caught up in my emotions, I totally forgot that he’d been my ride until now.
“I’m kinda lost here.” Jude smiled, then a small chuckle bubbled up from his chest when I had a laugh attack in front of him.
“Oh, you must not know. Phillip, the blond guy you met? He sees all the possible futures and likes to help things happen the way he thinks would lead to the optimum future for all. He invited me to ride with him to the show because he knew this would happen and I’d have no ride if he left. Apparently, I’m supposed to go with you.”
It sounded wild and almost like I needed a tin foil hat to say it aloud, but I knew how Phillip worked. I’d chatted with the guy, heard the stories from the ladies of the Hero Society. He told his sister to take a walk in the woods when a storm blew in and she had to hide in a stranger’s chicken coop. Of course, the chicken coop turned out to belong to Draco.
“I’m liking the man more and more.” Jude winked and grasped onto my hand, leading me toward the doors to where his vehicle waited to take us to his haunted mansion.
Chapter Seventeen
Jude
Selene sat comfortably in my sports car as I drove us farther and farther away from the skyscrapers and city lights. We didn’t really speak as time passed by. She watched the buildings turn to trees like the sight was the only thing that mattered in the world to her.
It was nice to be around a woman who didn’t balk at the idea of being so far from the metropolitan area. Not that I’d brought any women to my home because having a ghost do weird shit while you tried to fuck would kill the mood. But whenever I’d mention to them that I didn’t have a flat in one of the tall towers, and I had my mansion in the woods, a sneer would appear on their naturally sour expression.
The longer we rode, the more I thought about how fucking depressing my life had been, and because I knew I would die, I forgot to truly live. By the time we drew near the entrance to my driveaway, my mood had darkened.
“Who are they?” Selene pointed toward four shimmering figures standing outside the gates to my home.
“Idiots.” I rolled my eyes at the four ghosts dressed in Victorian-era clothes with suitcases packed and their thumbs sticking up to hitch a ride. They knew that they couldn’t leave the property. They had already walked as far as the curse would let them go. Even my crew had to come back after I was done with them, like they were all tied by a cord to the house. They could try to escape but would eventually be yanked back to their personal purgatory.
“Are they hitchhiking?” They moved out of the way as I turned into the road and pressed the button for the gates to open for us.
“Yes, we’re heading to New Mexico!” Roger, one of the ghosts, popped into my car. His grotesque corpse-like face made Selene let out a surprised scream.
“Never gonna happen, buddy,” I told him as we drove to the side of the property where I’d had a carport built to keep the sun off my car.
“How do you do, my lady?” Roger’s ghostly hand appeared out of thin air and tipped the frayed hat that sat on his head.
“Nice to meet you?” She chewed on her bottom lip nervously, and I felt my cock stir from the sight of her flesh between her pearly teeth.
“Oh, it’s nice to meet you. Won’t you take us when you leave? We won’t bother you or ask to go to the bathroom. Really we are the perfect traveling companions.” Theodore, another of the ghosts, appeared in my car as I put it in park.
“You know you gentlemen can’t leave, so get out of my car. You’re making it smell like desperate ghost in here.”
“You were such a nice boy as a kid. Age has not been kind to you.” Theodore stuck out his tongue like a child, then he and his friend disappeared. I could have made them leave, but as a rule I tried not to control the dead too much. My work with the performers was enough to let my power out. If I didn’t release some of that energy, I’d go crazy, and I didn’t have room for that on my agenda before my upcoming death.
“This is going to be interesting, isn’t it?” Selene asked as a smile grew on her face, and I nodded. I hadn’t brought anyone here before, so I’m sure she would get loads of attention and curious stares.
“It’s not gonna bother you, is it?” A gnawing worry grew in my thoughts that this experience would be too much for her. She said she reacted differently around death, and this house held a lot of death. The house was too big and decorated to show how rich my ancestors had been. It wasn’t a home filled with family portraits or knickknacks. It had bustles of poets and stoic-faced paintings of rich people of the past. Purples, greens, and golds weaved into every room to show a high-class status for the people who would dine and party every night.
I hadn’t realized I’d gotten stuck in my thoughts until a warm hand caressed my trimmed beard. Selene looked at me with understanding. Her blue eyes were a trap for my soul, a place I could lose myself in. I’d known it since the first time I saw her in that crowd. Death permeated from the slain girl, and Selene stood there like a light in the dark, without fear and judgment. A simple understanding that no one could feel but us. Two souls ruled by death.
“It’ll be fine. I don’t scare easily.” Her fingers ran up my jawline, then caressed my cheekbone and settled against my lips
. A consuming desire to kiss the fuck out of her came over me.
“If you don’t wish to be ravaged in this car, then we need to get out,” I said, unable to voice my words calmly. Something about her made me feel possessive and selfish. I wanted to feel her lips on mine again, her creamy skin beneath my fingers, and her moans against my mouth as I slid between her legs slow and hard.
Her lips parted and my fingers gripped the material of my black pants to keep from wrapping around her neck and pulling her mouth to mine.
“Not a lot of room in here. I think we better get out.” She leaned in as she spoke, her sweet breath grazing my lips. Suddenly she climbed out of the car without a glance back at my restrained posture. What the hell was wrong with me? Two kisses from Selene and I suddenly transformed into a caveman who wanted nothing but to carry her to my cave and fuck.
Twenty-nine years. I’d gone twenty- nine years without behaving like this, and instead of spending the rest of my short life enjoying the fame and performances, my thoughts were consumed by Selene.
She began walking up the steps when I’d exited the car and caught up to her. Since people never came here, I rarely locked the door, so I let us in without the jingling of keys to let the ghosts know someone was coming in.
Performers were cheering and enjoying their night of fun and feeling. Lucy made out with both of the trapeze performers in the foyer. Selene’s eyebrow raised and I sent a little zap of power to the threesome to take it somewhere more private. Lucy pulled back and licked her lips at me, the invitation to join obvious in her stare, but then her sultry eyes saw Selene and narrowed. She sneered at the sight of the two of us, grabbed onto the two lovers, then disappeared together. I saw the hurt and jealousy. I knew she wanted me in her bed, but I’d assumed she just wanted to feel a warm body, but her clenched jaw and angry stare indicated she wanted more from me. They weren’t things I could give her, which made her situation more depressing.
Fall (Hero Society Book 6) Page 7