by Box Set
My ghosts all had weapons of their own, similar to mine, and just as deadly despite the semi-transparency of them. Most souls don't have a clue how to fight with these things when they sign up.
By the time they leave, they're unstoppable.
With a scream of defeat, the asuwangs retreated, back into the ocean. Several ghosts followed, but I didn't. I don't like water and I knew how dangerous it would be. Asuwangs easily grab humans and drag them beneath the waves. They've been mistaken for sirens throughout history. They can even take the form of a beautiful woman during the day.
"Did any get by us?" I asked, panting, bent over with my hands on my knees, swords crossed awkwardly in front of me with the ends sticking in the sand. Like I said, I'm an uber-warrior.
"I don't believe so. They are becoming easier to control," Elizabeth said, sheathing her own swords.
"That worries me." I finally stood, sucking in air. Yes, I had more ghosts than I'd ever had before, more willing to fight for their eternal destiny, but seven years ago, battles like this would have lasted hours, not minutes.
"Do you think these are merely a distraction? That they are perhaps planning a bigger attack?" Elizabeth asked, staring off into the ocean.
"Well I do now." I stood up, kicking the sand as I stuck my swords back in their sheath.
"It could also be because the sun will come up soon." Elizabeth nodded toward the horizon in the distance. The first rays breaking over the mountains were lighting the sky.
"Yeah. Let's go with that." I nodded. "Thank you, all, for tonight."" The others joined around us, nodding and murmuring their thanks as well.
For as long as there have been people, there has been a fear of the dark. I've heard mothers tell their children there isn't anything in the dark that isn't there in the light.
They are wrong.
The reason humanity is afraid of the dark is because that's when demons are allowed to play. They can't walk in daylight. No, that's left to the evil humans—or demons who have shifted into evil humans. Luckily, human-shaped or cute-pet-shaped or worm-shaped demons are pretty helpless. Their forms are temporary and they have a hard time using the unfamiliar bodies. Still dangerous, but they tend to hide out until sundown when they can shift back to their lethal, ugly normal forms. Unless they're hunting someone who has seen them. Then? Well then they're just possessed and it's super creepy.
Especially because I can't kill them without my swords.
Ghosts can't come out until the sun goes down, either. And Soul's Agents, like me? We're just normal, boring people until the shadows claim the sky.
And then we aren't.
During the day, I can't run fast. I mean, I run fast, yes. But not so fast I blur the light. I did track for six years. I run that kind of fast. But at night, well... I'm nothing but a shadow, as previously mentioned. Even in stilettos. Also, I don't have Golly and Kali during the day. I am pretty good with a regular old gun, and my dad, for my sixteenth birthday, gave me some regular old swords. In a pinch, they'll do, although I haven't had to use them before except for training.
"You should go home before you can't run." Elizabeth moved to touch my shoulder. It felt like an icy breeze as her hand went right through me. I have no idea how long she'd been dead, but by the way she winced, she still wasn't used to the whole ghost thing. My only clue was her clothing—it was colonial, if I had to guess. But she didn't offer information and I didn't ask.
Sometimes, I wished I knew why these souls were on the brink of eternal damnation.
Most times, not so much.
I nodded, stretching. My shirt was ruined. My jeans might be salvageable. I swore when I saw the black, icky blood spattered all over my boots. There was no saving them. "It's admirable how you fight in such high heels." Elizabeth tried to hide a grin, and I had absolutely no defense, because she was right to laugh. I bet my mama never wore five-inch heels to fight demons.
"Okay then. You guys have a good day. I'll see you soon?" I backed away, waving at the others. Elizabeth gave me a sad smile as she faded into the darkness. Before I could even turn away, the rest were gone. And the sun was up.
I guess I would be walking home.
Chapter 4
Alec
Navi stood on the sand, staring out at the water. As always, I couldn't take my eyes off her—long dark waves tangled recklessly down her back, her perfect, so-gorgeous-it-hurt profile turned toward me just enough that I could see the shadow of her eyelashes against her cheek. She wore a long black dress with a low back, and my fingers ached to run themselves across the exposed skin. But I didn't. I stayed where I was, several feet away, watching her. Waiting.
I heard the sound before she did. Long before she did. The roar of hooves, pounding across the sand, splashing through the surf. The waves, in response, became wilder, more angry. I turned, slowly, too slowly, toward the horse and rider. Both of them black, like Navi's dress. It took several more seconds before I realized the rider was carrying a broadsword of some sort, the hilt bumping against his horse as they raced down the beach.
Straight at Navi.
"Navi!" I screamed, but she didn't hear me. She still stared at the ocean, so serene, so content. I tried to race toward her, but there was something in the way, holding me back. Blocking me from her. I could see her, I could hear her breathe, but I didn't exist to her. I screamed anyway.
It did no good. The rider came closer, raised his broadsword. She finally saw him and turned, horror crossing her beautiful face. She tried to run, and I pounded on the invisible wall, keeping me from her. I threw myself against it, felt my shoulder break, my ribs crack. But the wall held firm.
She was fast, but no match for the horse. They caught up to her and the rider grabbed her hair, yanking her off her feet. Her hands struggled to grab his hands, to free herself, but there wasn't time. He swung his broadsword down and it sliced across her stomach. Then he released her hair and she dropped to the ground, curling in on herself, facing toward me. The horse reared once, and they were gone, racing back the way they came.
"Navi!" I screamed again, throwing myself at the barrier between us. She sobbed, clutching her stomach, and I could see the blood staining the sand.
"Help me," she whispered, reaching, seeming to reach for me, and I redoubled my efforts, but I couldn't get through. No matter what I did, I couldn't get to her.
She died before my eyes.
I swore, flinging myself out of the dream and out of my bed. The blasted blankets tangled around my legs and I collapsed on the floor, swearing more. I hated that dream. I'd had it so many times I could play it on repeat forward and backward, start from any given point and watch it clear through, and the ending never changed. I always watched her die.
It had started the night I met her. Years before we were together, long before I started realizing she was going out every single night, even longer before I'd realized she was going out every night to see other guys. It had stopped, briefly, when she'd gone away to college. But my subconscious knew she was back before I did. The dream had started again a few months ago.
And after I'd seen her yesterday, I'd been expecting her in my dreams last night. Hell, she'd been in my head all day long, why leave when I tried to sleep?
Although it would have been nice if she hadn't tortured me with the nightmare. "Just once, Angel, can't we have a dream that isn't bloody and involving your death?" I muttered. And then I was glad no one was around to hear me talk to the girl who had broken my heart four years ago. And who also, coincidentally, wasn't there to answer me.
I blinked at the clock, its red face trying to fry my eyeballs, and groaned. Five a.m., and I had to get up at six. No point trying to sleep now. Heaving myself to my feet, I stumbled to the kitchen, focusing solely on my need for coffee and trying desperately to shove the images from that stupid dream out of my head.
It never worked, but I could try.
I was leaning against the counter, drinking my coffee black and glaring out
the window at the rising sun when my roommate stumbled in. "Hey."
He blinked at me. "What are you doing up so late?"
"It's morning, dude."
"Oh." He collapsed on the barstool like being on his feet was a monumental achievement. "You should have come with us last night. I met the hottest girl ever."
I raised my eyebrow at him. "You say that every time you come home. Usually, though, you bring her with you."
He scowled at the counter top. "She left early. Had to work. I got her number though."
"Good for you."
"We're having a party tonight, by the way." Bryson winced, because he knew how I'd react to that. But I was too tired to yell.
"Fine. Why?"
"So I have a reason to invite her over." I couldn't tell if he was exhausted or drunk, but I glared at him anyway.
"Why don't you just ask her out instead of messing up my apartment?"
"So she came with these girls. She lives with them. Her friend—I forget her name—her friend gave me her number and said she doesn't do the whole dating thing but she does go wherever her friends go. So I invited them all to a party here." He spread his arms wide and grinned like I should congratulate him.
I drank my coffee and went back to glaring out the window.
"You should see this chick, Alec. Dark, dark hair. Her eyes are huge. She's like a tiny doll in six inch heels, and her voice—"
I nearly choked on my coffee. My hand jerked so violently I spilled half the crap in my cup down the front of my bare chest as I swung toward him. "What about her voice?" I growled, ignoring the pain.
"She sings like an angel."
I swore. Again. "Hang on." I shoved past him, slamming my cup down on the counter as I went. I snatched a towel off the oven and wiped scalding coffee off my chest before I dropped it into the hamper in my room. I wished I didn't know exactly where that picture was. I wished I hadn't looked at it just yesterday. But I did, and now I snatched it out of the bedside table drawer and stormed back in to Bryson. "Is this her?"
He took the picture, looking at me before he turned his attention to it. "Yeah. This is her." He handed it back to me. "Why do you have a picture of the love of my life?"
I snarled, jerking it out of his hands. "Because she was the love of my life, once. When I was young and stupid."
"No way. Are you serious? Are you gonna have a problem with this? Because I can find a new apartment..."
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck and searching for inner peace. "No. I don't care about her anymore. Go ahead."
He peered at me and I decided he must definitely be drunk. "You sure?"
No. "Yeah."
He gave me a lopsided grin. I'd seen girls swoon over that smile, but it just made him look half-paralyzed to me—I didn't have a clue what girls saw in it. "So, you knew who she was from her singing? Does that mean she used to sing when you were together?"
His words hit me hard and pulled me back to when I'd drive her anywhere or everywhere because she absolutely did not want to learn to drive, and she would sing to every song on the radio. It pulled me back to all the times I'd gone with her to competitions and performances and watched her rock the stage like she owned the world. But my favorite, the memories that hurt the most, where of her sitting on my bed, rubbing my shoulders after football practice, singing nursery rhymes under her breath. "Yeah. She sang when I knew her." She was my own personal angel.
Unable to take his love-drunk expression anymore, I left to take a shower. This day was going to be just stellar. I could already tell.
But you'll see her tonight. And I hated the fact that my stupid heart leapt at the thought.
Chapter 5
Bryson wasn't a horrible roommate. He had weird friends, and I'm not exactly sure he had a job at all because he came and went whenever he felt like it, but he paid the rent and his half of utilities on time. The fact that he was trying to date the one girl in the entire world that I would sell my soul to forget was sort of a mar on his record, though.
That being said, he could pull a party together faster than anyone I'd ever met. By the time I came home from work, the house was stocked with food and music was already blaring on my stereo. "Hey. Do you know what kind of music she listens to?" Bryson asked, his back to me as he thumbed through his CD collection. Most people put it on an iPod now. Not Bryson. He had ten thousand little disc things taking up space in my living room.
"She listens to everything," I mumbled, dropping my keys on the table. "And stop. I'm not your personal Navi consultant. If you want a chance at her, leave me the hell out of it." I opened the fridge, searching for something that would dull the nervous energy trying to swallow me whole, and surveyed his drink selection. "You don’t have any Pepsi," I said, standing up. "Only a lot of alcohol. How many people are you inviting?"
"I don't know. About thirty, maybe? There are three of just her and her roommates." He glanced over his shoulder at me. "She was serious about the not drinking thing?"
I shrugged. How should I know? I hadn't talked to her in four years. Not since I'd told her she was a cheating, lying... word that I don't need to repeat. She'd thrown Pepsi in my face then. I assumed it was still her drink of choice. She had a weird thing about alcohol and anything else that made her sluggish. Trying to get the girl to take cold meds had been a nightmare.
"Hey, maybe you can hook up with one of her friends. She hangs out with some hot girls... and some creepy ones. But whatever." He turned back to his music and I slammed the fridge a little too forcefully. Hanging out with her friends was the last thing I wanted to do. Yeah, let's get an up close and personal show of Navi's life and how she'd moved on with no problem whatsoever.
I was the one who'd been cheated on. Shouldn't she be the one still wallowing?
"I'm getting in the shower," I muttered. So what if this was the second one of the day? Being an electrician was dirty work. I’d spent that afternoon slithering through crawl spaces trying to find dead wires. I was positive there were still spiders crawling through my clothes. I made it halfway across the room before I decided I should definitely bring my drink with me. I jogged to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and went back to the bathroom.
"Party starts in an hour!" Bryson said cheerfully.
I swore as I slammed the door.
Chapter 6
She was late. There were fifty other people in my small apartment by the time she showed up. I had to work in the morning and was trying to convince myself to go to bed, but my traitorous heart wouldn't give up hope that she would still show up. And for some unfathomable reason, I desperately wanted to see her. Like, I'd chew my foot out of a bear trap to see her.
I hated myself.
I was playing bartender, standing in my kitchen passing out drinks and laughing with Josh at drunk people. He'd been my roommate before Bryson, but decided to up and get married, and his new wife hadn't wanted to share an apartment. Go figure.
And then Konstanz walked through the door. Konstanz was gorgeous. She always had been, and after high school, she was even hotter. There was no mistaking her. And I knew, wherever Konstanz went, Navi would be right behind. My pulse leapt as three, four more girls—not Navi—walked in after Konstanz. Maybe she wasn't coming? I felt my shoulders sag with disappointment, more crushing than I'd been expecting.
And then Navi came through the door.
I'd seen her yesterday. But it was through two windshields and the glare of the afternoon sun. I'd seen her in the nightmares, too, but nothing compared to real life. Her hair was longer and thicker than it had been when I'd seen her last. And Bryson had been right. Her body... made my mouth dry.
She wore boots with heels at least six inches high, putting the top of her head to just above my chin. I watched as she scanned the room and her hand tugged nervously on the end of her red scarf. And then those big, dark eyes settled on me and I watched her suck in a breath through her teeth as pink stained her cheeks.
Oh yeah. She hadn't for
gotten me.
I nodded, all cool, and went back to pouring drinks. "Damn. I haven't seen Navi since high school," Josh said, keeping his voice low even though there wasn't a chance she could hear us over the music and the ten thousand people shoved into my living room. "She looks good."
"She went to Alaska after we graduated. I don't know how long she's been back. Bryson's after her now."
"Ouch, dude. That's awkward."
I nodded.
"Alec. It's been a while." Konstanz sidled up to the kitchen counter with a smile, shoving Josh lightly with a bump of her hip.
I smiled. Even after Navi and I had broken up, Konstanz had played mediator. Until she'd suddenly hated me. I still wasn't sure why, but it was nice that she'd forgotten the animosity. That, or she just wanted a drink. "It has. How are ya? What can I get you?"
"Water, no ice. I'm good. How are you?"
"Hi, Konstanz. I'm here, too." Josh waved.
"Oh my gosh, you totally are. I didn't see you there." She grinned and he scowled at her. I turned my back for thirty seconds to grab her a glass, and when I came back, Navi stood next to her, looking immensely uncomfortable.
That made me feel better. A little.
"Navi. I heard you were back from Alaska." I tried to keep my voice cold. Instead, I was forced to wince when it jumped like a kid right before puberty.
"Yeah." Her voice was soft and sweet. It didn't jump at all. She peered up at me through those thick lashes and I couldn't swallow. Or breathe. "Sorry I almost ran into you yesterday."
I meant to be cold and distant. I really did. But I couldn't help the grin because she looked so damn apologetic. "It never has been safe to be on the same road as you." I nodded as her cheeks flamed. "What can I get you?"
"Pepsi?" she asked hopefully. "And I'm a much better driver now. Honest, I am."
Good thing I'd run out last minute to get her a twelve pack. "Yeah... I'm sure you are." I was trying to make her smile. This was not okay. Not okay at all. Why did I want to see her smile?