by Myers, AJ
“Overreacting?!” I shrieked, turning on him right there in the middle of the kitchen. “You got mad because I didn’t tell you I thought I’d seen a ghost, Nathan! A ghost! You didn’t think I’d be a little pissed off when I found out you knew this freak was turning his victims into Ember clones and didn’t tell me? Really?”
“You’re right, I should have told you,” he said, taking a step toward me. The look on my face must have been promising violence, because he came to a quick stop.
“Then why didn’t you?” I hissed. “What? You didn’t think I could take it, Nathan? Is that it?”
“I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t bear to put anything else on your shoulders,” he answered, his voice almost a whisper in the stillness of the kitchen. “Don’t forget who holds you at night while you’re sleeping, Ember. I’m the one who wipes away the tears you don’t even know you’re shedding. And I’m the one whose heart breaks when you beg your friend to forgive you in your dreams, because I know you’ll never forgive yourself.”
I opened my mouth to yell at him again, and then snapped it shut and swallowed hard to choke back a sob that was so close it was making my chest feel tight and uncomfortable. Leaning my hip against the counter next to me, I dropped my face into my hands and tried to hold on to my anger. It was all that was keeping me from becoming a blubbering mass of tears and terror, and I was afraid to let it go. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep it together if I did.
Those girls, I thought, my chest tightening even more as a tidal wave of fresh guilt hit me. They died in my place. They died because of me.
“It’s not your fault, baby,” Nathan said quietly, sounding as miserable as I felt. “It’s not, Em.”
“It is,” I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek. “They’re dead because I wasn’t strong enough to get rid of him!”
With a sad sigh, Nathan walked over and wrapped his arms around me, tucking my head under his chin. I let the tears fall then, tears of anger and sadness and a frustration that ran so deep I could feel it in my bones. I let him comfort me because I knew he needed it as much as I did. I let him wrap me up in his scent, breathing it in deeply to help ease my aching conscience and my worried thoughts. I leaned on his strength, wishing I could borrow just a little of it.
“We have to call Shea, Em,” Nathan said softly when he thought I was calm enough to be reasonable.
I tensed against him and bit my lip to keep from saying something I wouldn’t really mean. Grams and I hadn’t exactly parted on good terms when she left for Washington. After banishing the body of one of my best friends, I had sworn off all things witchy. Grams had begged, pleaded, and even tried to bribe me into reconsidering, but I had refused to even hear her out. Finally, in a fit of temper, she had packed her things and gone home. Her parting words hadn’t been lost on me, however.
“Deny your heritage all you want, Ember Leigh,” she had told me, giving me one of the piercing glares she was so well known for, “but mark my words, a day will come when you can’t run from yourself any longer. When that time comes, I will be waiting.”
From where I was standing, it looked like that day was coming sooner rather than later.
“Fine, call her,” I agreed finally—albeit grudgingly. “When you do, though, tell her I’m really not in the mood to hear her say I told you so.”
“Noted,” he said with a slight smile, dropping a kiss on top of my head.
I sank onto the stool next to me as he walked out of the kitchen, his phone already pressed to his ear. When I was sure he was gone, I folded my arms on the counter and laid my head on top of them. I closed my eyes and tried to center myself the way Grams had taught me to, but I shouldn’t have wasted my time. As confused and overwhelmed as I felt, my center was probably in the bottom of the Pacific or something.
“If I could just find him,” I whispered to myself. “If I could find him, I could stop him before he hurts anyone else. I have to stop him.”
“Good luck with that, babe,” a familiar voice said sarcastically just as a blast of freezing cold air hit me, causing me to shiver.
I lifted my head to find my least favorite ghost—ever—leaning against the counter across from me, smoothing out his orange-streaked hair. I narrowed my eyes at him, but Snake just shrugged, causing the chains on his leather jacket to jingle.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Snake?” I asked with a sigh, leaning back on my stool and crossing my arms over my chest—more to keep warm than to be intimidating.
“Aw, Ember! You know I love to watch you wallow in self-pity,” he quipped with a grin, hopping up to sit on the counter behind him. “You’re my sole form of entertainment. I mean, what else do I have to do? I’m dead, hot stuff.”
“But not gone, unfortunately,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “Really, Snake, what do you want?”
“Hmm…” he murmured, rubbing his chin like he was really thinking about it. “Well, I guess I want what I wanted yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. The stairway to heaven. On the other hand, if that old guy is really there ticking off names on some list, there’s probably a reject stamp next to mine, so there’s no hurry or anything.”
“At the moment, though, I’m here to help you. Again,” he said, winking when I arched an eyebrow at him.
“And just how do you think you can help me?” I asked, not really in the mood to play games with him.
“I know how you can find your demon.”
“And how would you know where he is?” I asked, my eyes widening to the size of flying saucers. “Aw, Snake! You crossed over to the dark side, didn’t you? What? Are you playing errand boy for this creeper now?!”
“Do I look like the kind of dead guy who hangs out with demonic pieces of crap?” he snorted, looking genuinely offended. “Give me some credit, Ember!”
He was right, that had been out of line. When he was in front of me, though, with his smartass attitude and smug smirk, I forgot how much I owed him. If it hadn’t been for Snake, Jack would have killed Nathan and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything but watch. It had been Snake who’d told me how to break Nathan’s vampy mental bind so I could save him. I owed him more than just his imaginary stairway to heaven for that.
“Okay, so you’re not in league with the demon,” I conceded, sighing again. “But I can’t stop him if I don’t know where he is, genius.”
“God, you’re thick!” he muttered, rolling his eyes and shaking his multicolored mullet. “Ember, what am I?”
“Annoying?” I suggested, biting back a smile when he scowled at me. “Inconsiderate? A pervert? Yeah, don’t think I don’t know you like to play Peeping Tom in the shower, Snake. That jacket of yours jingles like sleigh bells every time you move.”
I thought maybe I’d hit my mark with that one. Snake looked like he was ready to flicker out from pure embarrassment. I smirked at his mortified expression and he flipped me off.
“I’m dead, dumbass,” he said with an exasperated huff, pointing at the counter next to me. “And if you can see me, why can’t you see her?”
Frowning, I turned to find a copy of the Moonlight Herald on the counter next to me. I picked it up with a shaking hand and stared at the picture of Jack’s latest victim. Annoying as he was, Snake had a point. The cops hadn’t been able to find Jack. Grams hadn’t been able to find him with her demon searches and Mrs. Amelia hadn’t picked up anything from the wards around town. That meant the only three people who knew where he was…
“Light dawns on marble head,” Snake muttered to the ceiling like he was praying for patience when my mouth fell open.
“Snake, you really are a genius!” I told him excitedly. “There’s just one small, tiny, itsy bitsy problem…”
“Yes?”
“I haven’t seen this girl,” I told him, turning the paper around so Jack’s victim’s picture was facing him. “Her or any of the others.”
“So? You’re a sorceress or something right?” he asked, giving me a l
ook that said he thought I was being dumb on purpose.
“A bandraoi,” I corrected him, rolling my eyes.
“Whatever. Bandraoi, sorceress, the hag with the flying monkeys, it’s all the same thing,” he said huffing impatiently. “You’re a witch. A witch who sees dead people. So go find her.”
With that, he was gone. For a long time, I just sat there staring at the counter where he’d been perched and thought about what he’d said. I didn’t usually have to find my ghosts. They just showed up and never left. How the hell did one go about finding a dead girl? I was so busy trying to figure it out that I never heard Nathan come back into the room. When he touched my shoulder, I nearly jumped through the ceiling.
“Easy, baby,” he said, frowning in concern. “It’s just me, Em. You okay?”
“Peachy,” I told him distractedly, turning back to the picture of the girl in the paper I was still clutching in my hands.
“Shea said she’ll be on the next flight out.” When I looked back up at him, he gave me a weak smile before saying, “And I think you can expect that ‘I told you so’ whether you’re in the mood to hear it or not.”
“Did she say when the next flight was?” I asked, thinking fast.
“She’s hoping to get a flight out this evening, but it’s not guaranteed. It’s been snowing there all day.” He gave me a look like he thought I was crazy when I smiled up at him. “Em, I know that look. What are you up to?”
“I have a plan,” I told him, jumping off my stool. “And since the Great and Powerful Shea O’Hare won’t be here for a couple of hours, that gives me plenty of time to put it into action.”
“Plan? What plan?”
“We’re going to the funeral home.” He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, his usual ‘Time to Deal With the Crazy Chick’ stance.
“And why, pray tell, would you want to do that?” he asked in a deceptively calm voice.
I smiled. “Because that’s where they take dead people,” I told him, shrugging. “Can you think of a better place to find a ghost?”
“Well…no,” Nathan said hesitantly, giving me another concerned look when I beamed at him.
“Great!” I chirped, already headed for the door. “You just volunteered to help me.”
“Help you do what?” he demanded, already looking resigned.
Stopping in the doorway, I looked over my shoulder and gave him another brilliant smile. “Break in, of course.”
Okay, so breaking into the local funeral home might have been my brilliant idea, but when Nathan parked across the street just after eleven that night, I started to rethink the whole thing. I tended to avoid funeral homes during the day—for obvious reasons—but a funeral home in the middle of the night was a horror movie waiting to happen. I had a sudden vision of being chased through narrow halls by some psycho and felt a chill slide down my spine that didn’t stop until it hit my toes.
“Em, are you sure this is the best way?” Nathan asked uneasily, staring at the funeral home. “This isn’t how you usually meet your invisible playmates, is it?”
“Hardly,” I muttered. “If you can think of a better way, I’m open to suggestions. Trust me, nobody wants to go in there less than I do.”
“That’s debatable,” Nathan grumbled under his breath.
He turned to look at me and I saw that he looked a lot paler than usual. Like, a lot. I felt my lips starting to twitch and did my best to look solemn. I failed. When Nathan scowled at me, I started giggling and couldn’t stop. Seriously, it was just too much. My big, strong, fanged boyfriend was scared of going into a funeral home. What did he think was going to happen? Did he think he was going to end up in one of the coffins?
“I’ve had that experience,” Nathan mumbled, picking that thought out of my head with no problems at all. Seriously, the whole mind reading thing could be annoying sometimes.
“Wh-what?” I choked out, trying to stop laughing.
“Being locked in a coffin,” he said with an uncomfortable shrug. I swear, if vampires could blush he would have been as red as my hair. The mental picture of a blushing Nathan sent me into new peals of laughter. With an exasperated look, he mumbled, “Some of my buddies have really warped senses of humor. Let’s just say it wasn’t an experience I care to repeat.”
“I bet,” I said, finally managing to get control of myself. “Okay, I will try to fight any urges to lock you in a coffin. Pinkie swear. Feel better?”
“And what am I promising in return?” he asked, his full lips turning up at the corners in a way guaranteed to send my heartbeat sprinting like it was in the hundred yard dash and determined to win. Seriously, those lips—along with the rest of him, for that matter—should have come with a warning label.
“Oh, I’ll think of something later,” I told him, wishing he’d stop smiling at me like that. It wasn’t doing anything good for my concentration.
“You know, I can think of much more pleasant things to do instead of breaking and entering,” he murmured, hooking a hand behind my neck and drawing me toward him. “Allow me to demonstrate just one of the many options I could offer you.”
For a second, I got lost in the warm glow of his beautiful hazel eyes. All I could think about was him, the way his scent surrounded me and the way he would taste. And, oh God, did he taste good! The second his lips met mine, a rush of heat swept through me that practically melted me to the leather seat. Only Nathan could do that to me, reduce me to nothing more than putty in his very capable hands.
But as much as I wanted to stay there and let him show me exactly how capable those hands were, I couldn’t. With each minute I waited, Jack could be on his way to killing another Ember look-alike. With a sigh of true frustration, I gently pushed Nathan away.
“You’re going to hold that thought, right?” I asked breathlessly when he just looked down at me, the heat and passion in those beautiful eyes making me seriously reconsider my plan for about half a second.
“Oh, most definitely,” he murmured, brushing his lips across mine again. That barely-there kiss did more to turn me to mush than the full-on, bone-melting kiss that had come before. Seeing my mesmerized expression, Nathan grinned. “Let’s go get this done before I decide to keep that promise sooner than you wanted. I have to tell you, that outfit you’re wearing is not helping me be a gentleman.”
Blushing, I looked down at myself as Nathan got out of the car. I’d never been a big fan of black, seeing as I’m about as pale as one of my ghosts, but even I had to admit my breaking-and-entering ensemble didn’t look half bad. I’d chosen the black hooded shirt because it was the only one I had that would hide my very vivid hair, but it hugged every curve and made me look a lot thinner than I was. The black yoga pants had been chosen more for function than fashion, but they did some really great things for my legs—and my rather voluptuous derriere.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” Nathan said when I joined him next to the car. “We’re going to get in and get out. The security system here isn’t all that great, but we won’t have much time before the boys in blue get here to check things out.”
“How do you know what kind of security system this place has?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.
“I did my homework.” When my eyes narrowed even more, he shrugged and grinned. “Do you want to do this or not? I’d say you have five minutes, tops. Will that be enough time?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” I admitted, glancing at the funeral home warily. There wasn’t anything overtly scary about the single-story red brick building with its white columns and dark shutters, but I couldn’t deny that it gave me the heebie-jeebies. As visions of zombies and psycho morticians danced through my head again, I shivered. “I’ve never actually had to look for a ghost before. They usually just find me.”
Nathan looked from me to the funeral home and back again, his eyebrows drawing together in a frown. I could almost see the gears in his mind turning as he tried to figure out a way to turn what I’d ju
st said into another argument against what we were about to do. Deciding not to give him the opportunity, I jerked my hood up and started tucking my hair beneath it.
“All right,” Nathan sighed, not looking particularly pleased. “Don’t forget, Em. Five minutes and we’re out of here. Agreed?”
“I’ll do my best.” When he frowned at me again, I smiled. “Fine, five minutes. Can we go now?”
“You’re mighty eager to run in there,” he said with a slight smile, reaching out to catch a curl I’d missed and tuck it behind my ear. The way his fingers lingered against the side of my neck did absolutely zilch for my concentration.
“No, I’m just eager for this to be done and over with,” I told him, standing on my tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. “But, just so you know, if zombies start chasing us, I’m tripping you.”
Winking at him, I turned and started across the street. I hadn’t made it three steps when Nathan’s hand wrapped around my arm. I looked up to find him shaking his head and smiling at me.
“Most criminals don’t go through the front door, baby,” he said with a chuckle. “Might I suggest we use the back entrance? And maybe try to stay away from the streetlights? You know, just so we don’t get caught before we even get inside?”
“Oh, yeah, good idea,” I muttered, my cheeks heating up.
After that, I let him take the lead. I mean, what did I know about breaking and entering? Before I’d met my undead Prince Charming, I’d been a good, law abiding citizen—well, mostly. Since meeting Nathan, however, I’d committed grand theft auto, vehicular assault, attempted homicide—of a demon, but still—and now breaking and entering. Call me crazy, but I was starting to think he was a bad influence.
“Okay, so far so good,” Nathan said nervously when we reached the back door without bringing a SWAT team down on our heads. “It’s crunch time now. Once I break the lock, we need to find your dead girl, summon her up or whatever it is you intend to do, and get the hell out of here. And we need to do all of this before Moonlight’s finest show up. Got it?”