Ghost at the Feast: The Nightwatch Book 3

by Cassidy, Debbie

  “Four,” Ben said. “They’re attacking us. And some Custodians woke up, and they’re headed this way.”

  The riders couldn’t possess us, but they could hurt the other specters. Rip them like they had in Good Spirits. “We need to leave. Now. Ben, get your people to the exit.”

  “Fleur is on it. I’m here to lead you out.”

  “Thanks. Lark, we have to go.”

  “Five more minutes.”

  “No. We don’t have that time.”

  Lark made a sound of exasperation and then punched the glass.

  I headed for the doors. “Everyone be ready to fucking fight.”

  I doubted we’d be getting out of here without a little bloodshed.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “We’re almost there,” Ben said. “We might just m—"

  “Don’t. Don’t say it.” I jogged beside Lark. “If you say it, you jinx it.”

  Jay and Bres supported a Nightblood each. The Nightbloods needed to feed, but they weren’t going to get any blood until we got out.

  Kris limped beside me. He hadn’t said a word since our hug. He was withdrawn, just like the others we’d liberated.

  “Round that bend then onto the main corridor,” Ben said. “Then, we’re home free.”

  The world was filled with a shrieking sound, and then the lights turned red.

  Alarms.

  We were screwed.

  “What did I say, Ben?”

  A wave of bodies came at us around the corner. Custodians decked in black combat gear.

  Fuck.

  They stopped up ahead, blocking our exit.

  “Drop your weapons and surrender,” one of them said.

  “Not happening,” Jay replied. “You’re gonna have to fight us.”

  “Won’t be much of a fight,” the Custodian said. “We’ll take you down in minutes.”

  “Maybe,” Jay said, “but I guarantee we’ll take several of you down with us.”

  My body rippled with tension, and a feral growl lifted the hair on the back of my neck. It was Bres, falling into a fighting stance, muscles bulging, ready to attack. My fangs slid free as my primal beast sat up in response to the testosterone surrounding me.

  “Bring it.” My voice was thick, almost guttural. The Nightblood was in control. “Me and my friends are feeling mighty thirsty.”

  The Nightbloods we’d liberated hissed and growled. Yeah, they were weakened, but even in their weakened state, they were stronger than a tainted unless these Custodians were souped-up on demon blood.

  Shit.

  No time to think. They were coming for us, running down the corridor, bathed in red light.

  I let out a bloodcurdling scream and attacked.

  My dagger flashed, slicing, stabbing. Blood sprayed, hitting me in the face, kissing my lips. I flicked my tongue out to taste, taking the hit. Yeah, this shit was laced with demon mojo. A Custodian came at me and got a pair of fangs to the neck. Just a bite, just one fucking slurp. God, that was good. Back to stabbing. Achilles’ heels were the key. Groin jabs worked too. Fuck keeping them alive. Fuck the fact they were almost human. That was bullshit, these fuckers were worse than the worst monsters.

  Die.

  Bres kicked ass in the periphery of my vision. No time to check in on the others. I needed to stay focused. The shriek of the alarms was overlaid by a wailing scream that sounded like it had nails embedded in it, and those nails were being drawn across the surface of a chalkboard.

  Riders.

  They swept over us, swirled above, and then dove at the Custodians. What the fuck? They couldn’t hurt them.

  But the Custodians were bellowing as their skin opened beneath phantom claws. These riders were different, riders born from the souls of tainted who’d been experimented on. Super riders. Shit.

  “Now!” Ben appeared in front of me. “Come on.”

  The riders were focused on the Custodians, sticking to them like bees to honey.

  “Guys, this way.” I grabbed Bres’s hand and tugged on Kris’s arm. The Nightbloods wiped at their bloody mouths and followed. A wolf bounded at my side. Shit. Moonblood in animal form. Sensory overload.

  We hit the main corridor where the ghosts were gathered, so many that they merged into one.

  I shoved the keycard at Bres. “Get the door open.”

  “You promised to get us out,” Fleur said.

  “And I will.” Oh, shit, I’d never created this many tethers before, didn’t even know if I could do it. “I’m gonna do it in sweeps. Stand still.”

  The ghosts surged toward me.

  “Stand fucking still!”

  They froze.

  I took a deep breath and tapped into the center of my power, the glowing center that did all the spooky shit, and then I began to touch the specters, starting with Ben and Fleur. Bam, bam, bam. Tag, tag, tag. The connections formed and a weight built on my chest. I’d need to move fast. Work quick.

  When the weight got too much, I staggered toward the exit. Bres was standing there, his hand reaching out to me. His fingers curled around mine. The pressure grew, and then a slicing pain lanced through my body. Move faster.

  “Bres.”

  He yanked me forward through the ward that seared my skin and tore a yelp from my lips. I guess the tether went two ways.

  The specters came with me, spilling into the storage room.

  “Motherfucker.” Bres shook me. “Drop them, Kat. Do it now.”

  The tethers were linked to my center, pulsing rapidly. Cold seeped into me. They were feeding off me. Ungrateful fuckers. I had to … Had to …

  I grabbed the tethers and tore them free. My knees buckled, but Bres caught me and swung me into his arms.

  “No!” Fleur came at us, her face contorted in anger. “You promised.”

  “Fuck you,” Bres said coldly. “She’s done.”

  Behind us, the specters we’d left behind wailed mournfully. “I’m sorry.” The words were a whisper.

  “Close the wall,” Jay ordered.

  The screech of the riders echoed up the corridor toward the remaining specters.

  But then Lark was closing the wall.

  I’m so sorry.

  “Kat.” Bres hugged me to his chest. “Feed. Take my blood.”

  But a new burning was racing through my veins. The cold fire that Lincoln had put there.

  “Tris … I need Tris. The shimmer man. The binding … They did something. It’s about to unravel.”

  But Bres was already in motion. Running down clinical cream-colored corridors.

  Boot falls behind us. Around us.

  Were we running through the pharma company in broad daylight. In view of the cameras.

  Yeah. Yeah, we were.

  Oh, man, I needed to keep my eyes open to see the guards’ faces, but my eyelids were too heavy.

  Cool air brushed against my skin, and the world moved into snapshot mode. The pavement. The van. The back of the van. The motor running. Bres’s hand on the back of my head. My fangs in his neck. His blood in my mouth. Filling me. Feeding me.

  Power and heat battled the cold. But there was no contest. The binding spell was winning. It was working.

  My head fell back, and I looked up into Bres’s beautiful face. “If I don’t come back. If he comes back instead, then you kill me. You hear me. You cannot let him have me. You cannot let him win.”

  “No. Dammit, Kat. Fight it.”

  It was almost over. The binding was almost over, and I was sooo fucking sleepy. So exhausted that I could barely keep my eyes open.

  “Drink more blood,” Bres demanded.

  “It won’t help her,” Lark said. “She’s expended too much psychic energy. Her body needs to shut down to recuperate.”

  “Fuck you!” Bres snapped. “Come on, raspberry girl.”

  My eyelids were weighted blankets falling over my eyes.

  Bres gripped my chin in one hand and kissed me hard on the mouth.

  And then sl
eep grabbed me and pulled me under.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Tris

  Danger.

  Chickie is in danger.

  I’m awake, trapped inside my stone body, but my poppet is in danger. Alarms are going off inside my head. It’s that bastard, the shimmer man. He’s done something. Changed something. Phantom needles prick at my consciousness, and cold fire trickles through my veins.

  Something is wrong. Kat? Where are you?

  No answer.

  Where is she? Find the thread that connects us. Follow it to know.

  I grasp at it in my mind, but it winks out before I can get a grip.

  Gone.

  No. No, this can’t be happening.

  For the first time since Vinod woke me, I am truly utterly alone.

  There is only one place that she could be, and I was created to be a gatekeeper of that place without knowing it. My trips to Luther’s and the extra reading is about to pay off. I take a deep breath and dive into the arms of unconsciousness, into the waiting arms of sleep.

  I’m coming, chickie.

  I will find you.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  I opened my eyes to sunshine, the sensation of wet sand beneath my cheek, and the crash of waves behind me. A breeze ruffled my hair.

  Oh, shit.

  I was here, in Somnium. It was real. Okay, so I’d known it had to be, but still, reading about it was one thing, but being here … Yeah, that was freaky.

  “Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty.”

  I tensed. Shimmer fucker was here.

  “I know you’re no longer unconscious. I know you hear me. This is my domain, and I know everything.”

  I sat up slowly. Something glinted on my wrists. Gold bands. What the fuck?

  “Eyes up, Kitty Kat.”

  My gaze flew up the beach to a figure sitting on a fancy chair. His feet were up on a pedestal, and he was sipping from a golden goblet. Slender, wiry frame, silver hair, jet-black eyes, and a slash of a mouth made up the real features of the shimmer man. He looked young, but his eyes were ancient, and every blink seemed orchestrated as if it was only for show. Predatory, dangerous vibes beat off him and brushed against my skin.

  “That’s better.” He sighed. “I have to admit, now that I finally have you here, it’s a little bit of an anti-climax, don’t you think? A little too easy? Huh? Yes? You agree?”

  My gut told me to keep my mouth shut because if I opened it, something sarcastic would undoubtedly spill out, and antagonizing him while in his domain was not a good plan. But I needed to know what the damn gold bands were.

  I held up my wrists. “Jewelry? For me?”

  He grinned. “You like them?” His smile fell, his expression cold. “They’re a little invention of mine. A way to stop you from waking up.”

  Fuck.

  “The tainted idiot did a good job,” he continued. “I honestly wasn’t expecting him to pull it off.” He looked out to sea. “But he did. He got me access to the sea of human souls with his little ritual. It would have been better if he’d let the tainted humans die, to be honest. But he let them live, wiped their memories, and returned them to their homes. I suppose he felt responsible for the people of his town.” He shrugged. “Still, it got me where I needed to be in order to set my backup plan in motion, and I tell you, Kitty Kat, there is so much power in the sea of human souls. Much more than here. Ironic, huh?”

  God, he did love the sound of his own voice. “And what is plan B?”

  He chuckled. “Unnecessary, now I have you.”

  “So, why not just tell me. It’s not like I can do anything about it.”

  He pondered this for a moment. “You have a point. If you must know, I was working on capturing souls and trapping them here until this world and yours overlapped. It started with a handful of humans. I used harpies to get those to me. I just needed to get a foothold, juice my batteries. But I have the jumpstart I need now. It would have been a ransom situation, if you will. Give me Kitty Kat, or no one will wake ever again.” His eyes gleamed. “It would only have been a matter of time until you were forced to give yourself up to save your world, and if the lives of all the people didn’t move you, once the darker things that now roam the edges of your reality made their way into the overlap, you’d reconsider.” Something akin to fear dashed across his features. “And they would have come, Kitty Kat. If I’d activated plan B, they would have come.”

  “But you wouldn’t be able to cross over.”

  His expression closed. “No.” But then his lips curved in a cold smile. “But trust me, by that time you’d come to me. Willingly.”

  My mind was whirring. “Why not just use my mother as leverage?”

  “Pfft. Like you’d sacrifice the world for a woman you don’t even know, a woman who is technically dead. I know you better than that, Kitty Kat. But sacrifice yourself to save the world … that’s a different story.”

  “I’d hardly be saving the world by allowing you into it.”

  He smirked. “Oh, honey, when my plan B would have been complete, I’d have been the lesser of two evils.”

  A shiver ran up my spine.

  He frowned. “I’m kind of bummed I didn’t get to use it now. Damn you for being so easy to catch.” He wagged a finger at me. “But now that you’re here, we can spend some quality time together.” He swept his tongue over his bottom lip. “Naked.”

  Icy fingers gripped my nape. Hell, no.

  “I’ve been dreaming about being inside you, Kitty Kat, in more ways than one.”

  I dug my fingers into the sand. “No.”

  He raked me over with his coal-black eyes. “You want to run now? Shall we play now?”

  My heart was hammering in my chest, pulse throbbing in my throat with the need to flee. But I stood my ground. Or sat on it, whatever.

  He smirked. “No smart comeback? No witty smackdown? I’m disappointed in you, Kitty Kat. You always loved the verbal tennis. You always loved games. Remember? Remember when we used to play together.” He frowned. “No. I guess you don’t. They took that away from you, didn’t they?” He stood in one fluid motion, and his chair, pedestal, and goblet vanished. “How about we play a game? Your favorite. Hide-and-seek. And maybe that will jog your memory. Maybe something will trickle back.”

  Fuck his games. At least that’s what I wanted to say. But playing a game could buy time for me to figure a way out of this place. Figure out a way to fight back, maybe? Dammit. I couldn’t let him have me. I couldn’t let him use me as a bridge.

  “Where’s my mother?”

  He made a meh face. “Around.” He shrugged. “She likes to play hide-and-seek too. She’s very good.” His eyes widened. “You might find her if you play.”

  “I’ll play your game.” I stood, dusting the sand off my clothes, which were now bone-dry. “But what do I get if I win?” I gave him my best coquettish smile, and I swear I caught a blush on his cheeks.

  He cleared his throat.

  I pouted. “Oh, come on, there should be a prize.”

  His eyes narrowed in thought. “If you win, I’ll take off the shackles and give you a shot at leaving.” He held up an index finger. “One shot.”

  I rubbed the shackles on my wrists. One shot. “How long do we play?”

  He clicked his fingers, and my forearm burned. I yanked up my sleeve to see an hourglass inked into my skin, except the sands were slowly trickling, moving.

  “Once the hourglass is empty, the game is over,” the shimmer man said. “If I can’t find you before then, you win.” He turned his back on me. “You have until the count of one hundred. One. Two. Three.”

  Fuck.

  I turned and ran for the tree line.

  * * *

  Darkness enveloped me, and the ground shifted from sand to soil. The scent of the forest filled my head. A glance over my shoulder showed nothing but trees. Where the fuck was the beach?

  No time to dwell. I needed to find a place to hide. Hide o
r keep moving. Bracken crunched beneath my boots as I ran, weaving through the trees, looking for a nook, a cave, something. Heck, who was I kidding? This was his domain. He knew it inside out.

  A quick look at the hourglass showed it a quarter of the way empty. Shit, time was going fast. The forest grew darker as the canopy above grew thicker. Was it getting hotter?

  The terrain was changing too. Oak and evergreen trees morphed into the kinds of flora I’d never seen before.

  Something dropped down in front of my face, and fangs lunged at me, accompanied by a hiss.

  Fuck! I reared back, avoiding the bite from the snake.

  It swayed in front of me for a moment, watching me with its hypnotic round eyes. “You sssmell like her. Like my little treatsssie. Come clossser, let me sssmell you.”

  Okay, a talking snake. Nothing to panic about here. “I’ll pass if that’s okay.”

  The snake blinked slowly.

  Did snakes have eyelids? Weird.

  “Kitty Kat, is that you?”

  Fuck, how did it know my name? “You know me?”

  The snake swayed from side to side, its thick body suspended from a branch high above. “We usssed to be friendsss, remember?”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, you must have me confused with someone else.”

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are …” The shimmer man’s voice echoed through the trees.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

  The snake’s head jerked up, and it hissed. "Quick, come here, little one. I will protect you.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Ssstay where you are, and he will have you. Trussst me and live.” It blinked slowly at me. “Trussst your gut.”

  My gut was all over the place, but one thing was clear—if the shimmer man caught me, it was game over. And okay, there was something familiar about the damn snake … Its eyes … it had kind eyes. Fuck, I was going insane.

  “Kat, now,” the snake said. “He comesss thisss way.”

  Sod it. “Do not eat me.” I walked toward the snake, and in a flash, it had its body wrapped around mine. My boots left the ground, and the world sailed by as we whooshed up into the air. I bit back a yelp. And then we were far above the jungle floor, looking down through a gap in the thick foliage. The snake set me on the branch it was curled around.