Fall (Hero Society Book 6)

by Jessica Florence

  “The girl from earlier?” The image of her hate-filled eyes directed at me made me shiver.

  “Yeah, they usually hang out together. He does stunts to make her laugh and she likes it. But as far as I know, they never dated or hooked up. Looks like he wants out of the friend zone.” Jude helped me down the stairs and clicked on the top of his key to unlock the car ahead.

  “Maybe you should help him out. He’s a friend and all. Isn’t there some kind of bro-code for this stuff?” I bumped my shoulder against his and chuckled. I could totally see them plotting a way for Rudy and Lucy to get together. Jude could even give them the power to be human-like for the night, which was kind of weird.

  “What are you laughing at?” He pulled me around so my body became flush with his. He was so hard and warm beneath his ringleader’s attire.

  “That you have this incredible gift that can probably control an army of the dead but instead you use it to let ghosts fuck for the night.” I giggled. I know he did more than that, but this moment to tease him became too great to pass up.

  “You have quite the mouth on you.” He smiled while his gaze settled on my lips. My giggling died and was replaced by a consuming desire to use that mouth he spoke of on him.

  “She’s speechless already?” he teased softly, his lips, his breath coming closer and closer to mine.

  “Just kiss me, ringleader,” I told him, and he did as told without any resistance. A sigh that closely resembled a purr flowed from me into his mouth as we kissed . . . kissed some more.

  “Let’s get you home.” He pulled back and helped me into his car. I wished I knew what he seemed to be fighting about in his head. One minute we were kissing, and the other he was back in his head. The further we drove from his home, the darker his thoughts appeared to turn. I didn’t know if I should ask him if he needed to talk about, or if I should leave him alone. Every relationship I’d had—all two of them—were vastly different, and in the end we just couldn’t relate. My issues were hard on me somedays, and I knew they were hard on someone who cared about me, too. My insecurities started to take over, and as we pulled up to my house, I felt confused.

  “Cute house.” He parked behind my old Jetta, then faced me.

  “It’s no giant mansion but it’s paid for and I like it.” Pride blossomed in my chest as I looked at my blue cottage. The shutters next to the windows were plantation-style and white. It looked like the type of home you might find on a beach or lake, not just outside Seahill.

  “I love it. Bet it feels more like a home than mine does.” I peered at his face and saw longing in his expression. The words to invite him in got stuck in my throat. I wanted to hold him, make him feel like people cared for him.

  Hell, I cared for him. Jude wasn’t a simple stranger to me. He was a friend, and more if I faced the truth of my feelings.

  “Do you wanna . . .” His fingers stopped my lips from moving.

  “I want to. You have no idea how badly I want to go in that house with you. But I can’t. Not tonight.”

  “Why?” The question flew out before my mind caught up with the action. It wasn’t any of my business as to why he couldn’t come in, and he didn’t owe me an explanation. I tried to take it back but instead of his fingers muting my words, his lips crushed my lips into silence.

  “I want you. A lot. But even I can see you’re different than any woman I’ve been with, and I don’t know how to feel about that considering my fate.” He spoke against my lips, and I wanted him to kiss me again.

  “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted, kissing me one last time before his body moved back into the driver’s seat completely. I didn’t know, either, and it sucked. We were at a crossroads, and neither one of us knew which way to go. We still had time to turn back and not follow the path that led from friends to lovers to more. Part of me felt that ship had already sailed, and we had nothing left but to stay the course and fight for it.

  “Let’s not worry about it tonight. Get some sleep. I’ll message you tomorrow.” I leaned over to kiss him on his scruffy cheek, then got out of the car.

  He waited there until I was safely inside, then for another few minutes. I’d hoped maybe he’d changed his mind and would come in, but disappointment hit me as I watched him back out of my driveway and head to his full yet lonely home.

  Chapter Twenty- One

  Selene

  One week vanished in slow motion if anyone had been paying attention like I had been. Jude cancelled his show that was supposed to happen two days ago, claiming sickness. I’d tried to contact him, to see if he lied or truly suffered from some illness that kept him from performing, but he didn’t answer.

  I was worried about him, and while everyone went on with their lives, every single day of the past seven had felt like eternity waiting for Jude to let me know he was OK. I’d helped six souls move on from this world and even helped catch one of the six who thought it was a good idea to stab someone, then go to a restaurant down the street like nothing happened. Echo arrested him, and I’d helped that soul find peace before taking him onward. Life felt dull, and nothing had changed in the way it played out before . . . except for Jude.

  The last time I saw him, he confessed that he felt confused, and didn’t know what to do. I understood his pain, but after the week I just had without him, I realized my feelings had already gone past friends. I wanted to be near him, and I had no clue where things would lead if his fate turned out to be fact. I only had twenty days left with him before the debt to the gates keeping back the dead had to be paid. Twenty days before Jude had to die and end that stupid curse.

  The three tarot cards Madam Tully had given me sat on my coffee table next to a half of a cup of tea. I’d researched the meaning of them and researched what they could mean besides the obvious. There had to be something more to them, some clue that I missed.

  Feeling frustrated all around, I grabbed my coat and decided to take a walk in the crisp fall air. I needed to step away from those cards and think about another topic that didn’t start with J and end with ude.

  The breeze was strong today. The forecast called for a chilly night ahead, and I thought it would be a nice night to light up the fireplace in my living room and maybe grab a book to distract myself from my wallowing thoughts.

  “Excuse me, miss, could I trouble you for a moment?” A frail voice spoke from behind, so I stopped and turned only to scream instead of smile. A shimmering blue ghost stood in the setting sun’s light with a gun pointed at my heart.

  “This isn’t happening.” I spoke aloud and the ghost man smiled, his rotting teeth and sunken skin making me cringe.

  “Oh, darling, it is. Now it’s been a while since I felt a woman, and now that I can, I plan on making up for lost time.” He reached out. His cold finger touched my skin, leaving a greasy sensation behind. The gun pressed against my chest, its metal hard against my flesh, and fear shook my body.

  This wasn’t right. Souls weren’t allowed to do this. Something was wrong. The ghost’s gaze dropped to my heaving chest, and I acted quickly, smacking the gun out of the soul’s hand, then grabbed onto his torn clothes. I closed my eyes as he squirmed, trying to get free from my grip.

  “This isn’t possible. I’m a ghost. You can’t touch me, only I can touch you! You shouldn’t even see me!” He gurgled as a red light glowed from his insides.

  “I’m a reaper, darling, and let me be the first to say, “Welcome to hell.” My soul left my body as we went to that other realm of the afterlife, but unlike most souls I’d taken onward, this jerk wasn’t going to the place of peace. Rage, pain, anguish. Those were the sensations that crept over my skin as the ghost’s whole body was consumed by the dark-red light that appeared black. He disappeared, taken to wherever bad people enjoy their version of hell, as I collapsed back into my body.

  As soon as I rose to my feet, I sprinted toward my house and grabbed my keys and phone. The Hero Society had to know what happened, to be on the lookout for any othe
r souls taking advantage of their new power. It wasn’t just the ghosts of Mallory Mansion who had special benefits. It was all of them.

  The drive to Jude’s mansion felt longer than the twenty minutes it took. I’d called Phillip on the way and as soon as he answered all he said was, “I know,” then hung up. He knew this specific future was the one happening now.

  The four hitchhikers waited with their thumbs up outside the mansion’s gates like before, only this time I didn’t smile when seeing them. My hands shook as I pulled up to the barrier and got out as soon as I put the car in park.

  “Get me through.” I didn’t feel like climbing over the fence. I needed to see Jude now. The one ghost with a large hat saw my expression and held out a hand. The other souls looked at their friend then the road with longing.

  “Now you know why we want to leave.” He bowed his head, his corpse-like skin pulled tight against his skull as I placed my hand against his skeleton fingers. My body became weightless as he used his ghostly gift that he shouldn’t have to pull me through the gate. It tickled slightly; the bars coasted through me as if I was the gentle fall breeze caressing the steel. The sensation felt like when I used my own gifts to take a soul onward, only this time, it was my whole body and not just my soul that made the journey to the other side.

  “Can you stop it?” the hat ghost asked and my lips tightened. I had no idea how stop it.

  “I’m gonna try.”

  “You might die,” he retorted, and I shrugged. Death didn’t scare me; it never had.

  “Then I’ll die for a worthy cause.” I waved goodbye to the ghost as he let go of my hand and I ran toward the mansion’s doors.

  As I ran, I thought about my life leading up to this moment, and the future I’d be thrown into once I got to the massive house at the end of the driveway. When I was a teenager, I’d willingly walked into death’s embrace. I was refused and came back to live my life the way it had been meant to be lived, by helping others, solving crimes, and actually doing more than existing in chaos. Until now, I had been coasting through my years, scared to make the true leaps that made this life worth living. Not anymore. Fear of getting hurt and fear of rejection were only that. Fear. I thought being around dead people made me live without fear, but I was wrong.

  This time when I knocked on death’s door, I ran into his arms and sealed my fate against his lips.

  Chapter Twenty- Two

  Jude

  I never thought a kiss could be both heaven and hell. A week. That’s how long it had been since I’d tasted Selene’s lips and savored her whimpers against my mouth. I felt like a man on the brink of starvation. I wanted more. No, I needed more. But I couldn’t.

  “I’m surprised to see you here.” I hated pulling away from her. I wanted to touch every inch of her warm skin against mine. She looked at me with explosive desire, and the sight nearly brought me to my knees.

  “I was just attacked by a soul with a gun. Something is really wrong. It’s not just your mansion ghosts that have extra gifts.” Her hand caressed my cheek and instinctively my head leaned against her touch. My body and soul reacted to her without hesitation, that wasn’t the problem.

  “Are you OK?” My fingers checked for signs of any injury along her cheeks and neck.

  “I’m fine, but we can’t let anyone get hurt. We have to fix this. I’ve already called the Hero Society but I’m not sure what they can do. What is super speed or changing into an animal or manipulating metal against a ghost.” She took a step away from me and paced, while rambling about the dire situation.

  I sensed her pain and frustration. I’d spent the week trying to figure out how to fix the gates to the other side without me dying in the process. Anything to stay alive past my birthday. Anything to have more time with Selene. “They can’t do anything. Maybe the witch can, but that is only temporary.” I sighed; my shoulders dropped from the weight of my words spoken aloud.

  “We’re the only ones that can see them and can actually do something.” She rushed back to my side, her hands touching me, and the anger simmering beneath my skin boiled over.

  “It’s useless. The only thing that can stop all of this is for me to go fucking hang myself in the tower like the rest of my godforsaken family. Just leave, Selene. I’ll take care of the world’s ghost problem soon.” I didn’t care if I sounded like an ass. She needed to stay away for both of our sakes. I had been starved for her touch, and she will be heartbroken when I died. What was the point of getting attached and chasing heaven when I would be dooming us to misery?

  “It’s not useless. We can do something. We have to try!” Her voice raised and I walked away, refusing to fight with her. I could only handle so much of the hope in her words. I didn’t have the luxury of hope.

  “Jude! You fucking coward. Fight with me. Be with me.”

  It was the hitch in her voice when she uttered those three words that stopped me. “You’ll get hurt.” I wasn’t an idiot, I saw where she and I were heading a week ago, and made the decision to stay away. I’d never had a reason to hate my fate of dying, until her. Now I was bitter, and resentful. . . Didn’t she see it? The only outcome for us is anguish, the same pain that led my mother to leave her child behind while she followed my father into death.

  “I’d rather live with hurt than having lived without being with you.”

  My heart ached as it thumped hard against my chest, and my head hung low. The weight of my fate was too much. I didn’t know what to do anymore. I tried to stay away and had warned her. I did everything I could to fix those cursed gates to hell, but every attempt I made at changing the course of my future failed.

  “Come with me.” I held out my hand, and she latched onto it in seconds. Silence stayed in the air between us as we walked into the house and to the stairs leading to the basement.

  We walked past Madam Tully’s doo, and stood before the entrance that housed the doors.

  “It may be a lot at first but just keep holding my hand. As long as you have someone to lean on, the darkness doesn’t weigh so heavy.” My words were cryptic but there wasn’t really another way to put it. She’d see, and despite wanting to take her as far from this place as I could, my free hand reached out to open the door.

  My teeth clenched as I took the first step into the dark room. My fingers gripped onto Selene’s, and she gave me a little squeeze of support. This room, or portal, appeared dark until the door shut behind us, sealing in the poor souls that walked up the gates of the other side, the only thing that truly kept the dead at bay.

  “Is that . . .?” Selene gasped, and her other hand gripped onto my arm.

  “Yeah.”

  A red and golden mist began to form in the room as the walls broke apart, giving way to an endless realm. We were no longer in the basement of my mansion but standing on a dark-blue stone road, with nothing but smoke coming from the trees around the rocks we stood on. The gates were large and made of sharp onyx weaved against golden rods with pointed tops. There was no lock or chains holding them together. They were sealed with magic.

  A shimmering blue hand reached through the gates, then pulled back immediately as if burned, which is what a ghost did when trying to get through the gate.

  “They’re trying to get through.” She took a step closer, her fingers gripping me tightly.

  “There are more on the other side than there were a few months ago. It’s like they know the gates are failing. I don’t know how or why it’s happening, but the ghosts are making a mass exodus here.” Selene pressed further against me, her body shivering from either the chill or fear.

  “Do you know what is happening?” she asked, and I pointed to one of the golden rods that appeared more of a reddish brown than gold.

  “The gates are breaking. Literally. A chink in the magic. I’ve tried to seal it back, including feeding it my blood, but nothing has worked.” I pulled back my sleeve and showed her the cut made across the tanned skin of my forearm.

  “Jude.” Her
whisper of my name made me close my eyes. I wanted to hear my name coming from her lips for a long time.

  “I need to get out of here. I’m having trouble fighting back some depressing thoughts.”

  I nodded and turned us to go.

  “No!” a man screamed from behind us. A ghost crawled through the broken section of the gate. His fingernails dug into the sapphire-blue rocks.

  Anger bubbled up from my chest as I pulled Selene close, covering her eyes. I held my other hand out to use my death magic.

  “Go the fuck back to hell,” I growled, and watched as a dark smoke curled around the ghost, wrapping around his fingers one by one, up his arm, then hook his neck. I gripped my fingers tightly, and the ghost screamed while my power pulled him back through the burning gates.

  I needed to leave more of my tendrils of darkness behind to guard the broken area or more would be escaping. No one else had the power I did to relieve me when I grew tired, and I needed breaks.

  “Let’s go.” I walked with Selene in my arms out the door and slammed it so hard, the walls rattled beside it.

  Chapter Twenty- Three

  Selene

  He didn’t want me to see his power wrap around the ghost like a dark noose to drag it back to the other side. Maybe a normal person would fear his power, but I wasn’t normal or afraid of him.

  Jude walked us back upstairs silently, while I counted my blessings. Being in that room had brought out all my horrifying moments of depression, and it made me feel small and alone. My hand gripped Jude’s hand tightly.

  “Come home with me,” I blurted out as we neared the doorway for me to leave. I wasn’t giving up on this. I’d made that decision as soon as I saw his face when he opened the door. Whatever force pulled us together was too strong, and I didn’t care.