“You’ve given her to me, so I will do you a favor.” Death flexed his fingers again, and Agnes flew to his grasp. He turned and tossed her like a garbage bag through the portal he had arrived by. Then he faced me again. I stood there almost straining for his next words. Death pointed a finger at my forehead, and the mark ached but not so much I couldn’t bear it. “I will remove the mark, and you will die when you were intended to die.”
I gaped. “You can do that?”
“I can.”
“Do it,” Ian demanded.
I grabbed his arm. “No, wait.” Both of them looked at me. I hesitated.
“I have a schedule to keep,” Death said, impatient.
More people to drag through that black hole.
I twisted my hands together, took in Ian’s handsome face and the hope I knew he must feel. I wanted it too, more than I had ever wanted anything in my entire life. Someone else deserved this chance.
“Can you remove the mark on someone else as my favor?”
Ian’s face turned to stone. Death appeared intrigued.
“I can.”
I shifted achy shoulders. “Then please remove the mark from Clark Givens.”
“You understand that I am offering to remove only one mark?”
“Yes.” Tears rolled down my cheeks for the first time in forever. “I understand. Take away Clark’s mark instead of mine.”
“Liberty,” Ian growled. “It is not necessary to sacrifice your own life for his.”
“I’ve decided, Ian. Can you do that, Mr. Death?”
Death straightened and folded his hands together behind his back. “It is done.”
He disappeared right before our eyes, and all traces of him being there vanished. My knees gave out, and I crumbled to the floor. Ian knelt down and lifted me up. He walked with me in his arms to his armchair and sat with me on his lap. I leaned into his chest, my eyes closed. The electricity was no longer there, but I could feel his cool skin with my fingertips. I breathed in his scent, subtle as a vampire, but still there.
“I need to check on him,” I said and felt him stiffen. “Ian—”
“If you must. Go.”
I sat up, waiting to wink out and remembered I was in my body now. There would be no more willing myself here and there in no time. I wondered if I could do like Agnes and leave my body at will, but I didn’t dare try. Not when I had just gotten it back. I still felt heavy, but I appreciated the weight because it meant I lived. For now.
When I reached the street, I recall I didn’t have a car and I would need to walk all the way to the station. I could call for a pickup from Bernie, but who knew when he would arrive. I longed to see for myself if Clark was going to be okay.
After a long walk, my legs ached. This came of weeks without exercise. I vowed to remedy it soon. As usual, the men allowed me access to Clark’s office, and I knocked. When he called for me to enter, I opened the door.
“Hey, Clark, do you have a minute?”
He smiled at me. “For you, any time.”
I winced. He still liked me. I walked over to the visitor’s chair and took a seat, linking my fingers in my lap. “Um, everything okay with the case?”
“Open and shut. We got evidence that Tevin McClain was killed in a freak accident on the road when he tried to escape. I don’t want to upset you with the details. You’ve been through enough already.”
He didn’t know the half of what I had been through and that I had been with him through most of the investigations he had dealt with in the last weeks. Still, I appreciated his concern. I glanced at his forehead, but his hair covered the spot. Without thinking, I raised a hand and leaned toward him. To my surprise, he moved closer, and I brushed the hair back. No mark. Relief flooded me, and gratitude to Death. Tears filled my eyes afresh, but then I wondered if I couldn’t see the mark because I was in my body.
“Hey, Libby, are you okay?” Concern clouded Clark’s eyes. “It’s over, sweetheart. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you anymore.”
“That is not your job.”
We both jumped, and I turned to find Ian standing behind my chair. I hadn’t heard him arrive. His steely gaze shifted from Clark to me and softened just a tad. “It is not there, Liberty.”
I knew what he meant and sighed in relief.
“What are you talking about?” Clark glared at Ian. “And why are you here?”
I stood up. “Don’t, you two. Good night, Clark, and thank you for all you’ve done for me.”
He shuffled to his feet. “Libby, like I said, you’re always welcome.”
I hesitated, and Ian touched fingers to my lower back. Clark saw it and frowned.
“Clark. I—”
“I get it.” He dropped into his seat. “One day it might be different. I can wait.”
I started to say something more but changed my mind. He was a good man, and who knew, maybe some day would come. One never knew.
As Ian and I stepped out of the police station and back onto the street, I worried over another problem. “Ian, about Monica.”
“She is frightened of me.”
“Yes. Can you help her forget, like you did for the others?”
“If you are sure that is what you want.”
I stopped walking and faced him. “Are you saying you’ll do it only if I want it? But she knows your secret.”
He rested large hands on my shoulders and drew me close. My body’s response surprised me, but I welcomed it. There was nothing like being physically attracted to the one you love. This journey wasn’t solely a spiritual one, but took all the parts that make us who we are.
“Is that what you want?” he asked.
I nodded, coming to realize what this man would do for me. “Yes, please. I don’t want her to be afraid. She’s been through so much because of me. Give her relief.”
“It shall be as you say.”
He started to move, but I held him where he was. “I don’t know how long I have here.”
“You have eternity.”
“Ian, I’m not immortal. You heard Death. He won’t let me stay.”
“When the time comes to let this body go, I will make you a vampire.”
My mouth dropped open. I stared into his face. “You can do that?”
He hesitated. “Not in this body. It belongs to him.”
“What do you mean?”
“I cannot interfere with what Death has marked, but you can leave your body and go into another. Then I will change you.”
“Won’t that make me Death’s target?”
“You heard him, Liberty. He has been ordered not to touch the cursed. That is the safest course for you. If that rule changes for you, it changes for all vampires.”
His words threw me. What Ian offered me was immortality with him as a cursed being. “I would be no different than Agnes, stealing another person’s body.”
He released me and turned away, shifting his shoulders. “I can make sure that does not happen.”
“How?”
“Leave it to me, Liberty. As I said, I do not have the morality of a human.”
“But—”
He turned back to me and touched a finger to my lips. At last, I relaxed. We started walking again, his arm encircling my shoulders. I leaned into him. He couldn’t offer warmth on cool nights, but he did offer security and love in his own way.
“I want to stay as I am, a mother to Jake until he’s grown. I have at least ten years.”
He nodded.
“And if the time comes, and I’m going, I might change my mind.”
“Then I will be here for you,” he promised.
“Thank you, Ian. For everything.”
The End
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter
Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
How to Kill a Ghost Page 16