Lay the Ghost: Nightwatch Series book 4

by Cassidy, Debbie

  “My heart?” Tartarus’s voice cracked.

  “Yes. This creation you wish to destroy is your own heart. It’s your creation, and it was my last act before my power diminished. I retired to Somnium to live in a dream, but imagine my surprise when you arrived.”

  “You hid from me. You never spoke to me.” Tartarus spat the words like barbs.

  “I was ashamed. Afraid. You were so angry. Filled with the need for vengeance, but I dreamed of this moment. I dreamed that Kat would come, that she would bring us together. I waited for my chance.” Gaia reached up and caressed Tartarus’s face. “Will you forgive me? Will you start anew with me?”

  Golden light seeped from her fingers and into Tartarus’s skin. It traveled down his neck to his chest and then coalesced in a glowing ball. A twin glowed in Gaia’s chest.

  “Will you love me once more?” she asked.

  Tartarus reached up to cover his sister’s hand. There was wonder in his harsh face.

  Gaia smiled. “Yes, brother. Let go of the hate.”

  Tartarus’s expression grew cold. “No, sister, I will not.”

  He twisted her arm, and her scream of terror cut the air. She turned her head to look at me, eyes filled with sorrow.

  “I want to hurt you,” Tartarus said to her. “I want you to pay. I want them all to pay.” His words came out in a sibilant hiss. “You’re too late. Eons late. There is no heart big enough to sate my vengeance.”

  Gaia sobbed. “I’m sorry, brother. So sorry.”

  The heart in Tartarus’s chest began to grow. He staggered back, clawing at his chest, his crimson eyes wide with horror. “What … What are you—" And then he exploded.

  Gaia stood under the red sky, beneath the leviathans, surrounded by the horrors. She stood with her shoulders slumped, devastation etched into every line of her form.

  “It’s time for you to go now, Kat,” she said softly.

  My body began to rise off the ground, up toward the tear in the sky that was rapidly closing.

  I reached for her. “Wait! You have to come with me.”

  She looked up at me with a small smile. “No, child. It’s my turn to bear this burden, and it’s yours to ensure my brother’s heart remains protected. Forever.”

  And then the tear was swallowing me whole, and the crimson world was left behind.

  Epilogue

  I’m alive. I still can’t believe I survived everything. That we survived. No, that’s a lie. We didn’t all make it. Max didn’t make it. He sealed the tear like he said he would, but doing so took every ounce of his power, every last part of him. He’s gone, and we are all so grateful for his sacrifice, for Gaia’s intervention. In that last moment, I honestly thought the shimmer man would change, that sharing his sister’s heart would be enough to placate him. I guess he was too far gone to be saved.

  But our world is intact, and that is a blessing.

  It would be fab to be able to say that everything went back to normal, but an event like that leaves scars. In this case, our universal glamour was destroyed. What else could we have expected from a tear in the fabric of our world?

  Our world.

  Tartarus’s heart.

  Mine to protect … Ours to protect. But how do we do that now that the humans can see. Things are going to have to change, and I feel like I’m going to be in meetings for the rest of my life as we try to come to an agreement on how to proceed. For now, we’re lying low, protecting the world under cover of night. Using the media to cover our tracks, but it isn’t easy. It means recruiting human allies, a hell of a lot of them, but I’m here, and I’m alive. Alive because of you, Tris. You saved me. You stopped the shimmer man from hitching a ride to this world. I’ll never forget you. I’ll speak to you in this journal every day, and I know, somehow, somewhere, you’ll hear me.

  “Dinner is almost ready.” Bres popped his head around my bedroom door.

  I set my pen down and closed the journal. “It smells delicious.” I put the journal in my dresser drawer. “Is everyone ready?”

  He entered the room and closed the door. “We have time …”

  There was intention in his half-smile and hunger in his crimson-tinged eyes. My body responded by flooding with heat. I was insatiable when it came to Bres. I was wanton, needy, and greedy, and there was no other way.

  I stood and shucked off my bathrobe.

  He bridged the distance between us. I braced for impact, for him to crush me to him and claim me or sweep me off my feet and throw me on the bed. I was ready for the aggression, for the bruises we’d inflict on each other. But when he reached out to cup my face and stared deep into my eyes, the hunger made way for something deeper, something stronger. It thrummed between us, words we’d said needing to be put into action.

  “Let me make love to you, raspberry girl,” he said in that deep, vibrating tone that went straight to the juncture of my thighs.

  My throat pinched. Not fuck. Not sex. But love. He wanted to make love.

  His lips brushed mine with a tenderness that was at odds with his beastly frame, and his hands skimmed my body as if memorizing every dip and curve. I melted into his touch, mouth parting to accept his slow, leisurely kisses that tasted of cinnamon and sugar. I tested the tension in his shoulders, pressing my fingertips against his velvety skin and running my hands across his back and down his sides. His muscles jumped beneath my touch and a low growl vibrated in his chest. Approval or warning, I wasn’t sure. He was reining it in, taking it slow. Savoring me. This wasn’t his usual way. Hell, it wasn’t mine, but the anticipation built with every touch, every lick, every kiss, and every nip.

  How did we get to the bed? Oh, God, his mouth. His glorious mouth. My body tingled and fizzed with sensation. Soft moans, gasps, and cries filled the air.

  Mine.

  His tongue between my thighs undid my control. I arched my back and surrendered to him, moving against his mouth, wanting more, taking more. Hunger swirled in my chest, bloodlust unlike anything I’d felt before. This wasn’t the urge to feed, it was the urge to join. I grabbed at his shoulders and pulled him up so I could claim his mouth.

  “Bres, I need…”

  He silenced me with a deep kiss, sucking on my tongue and then pulling back to trace my fangs with the tip of his tongue, and then he was sliding into me. Filling me whole, offering me his neck. Yes, this was what I needed. What we needed.

  My fangs slid into his jugular as he began to thrust. The world splintered around his cries and for the first time in forever I was whole.

  * * *

  I’d never thought of Bres as a hand holder, but ever since I’d tumbled back into our world from a rift in the sky right into his arms, he’d taken every opportunity to touch me, hold me, hug me, and I’d discovered I liked it. No, I loved the contact and the closeness and now this. This new level of intimacy that involved a different kind of connection.

  I could totally get used to this.

  We entered the dining hall hand in hand to the delicious aroma of roast turkey and the sound of laughter. The room was huge with a long table built to seat twenty, and from the looks of it, we were utilizing the space. Jay, Mai, Kris, Lark, Luther, and Gramps sat on one side of the table, and Indigo and her troop had taken the other side. But the troop were more than her battle mates. They were her lovers. My cousin had several lovers, and from the looks of it, they were all fine with the arrangement.

  “Saved you guys seats,” Indie said, indicating the chairs beside her.

  I slipped into the spot next to her, and Bres took the seat beside me.

  “How are you feeling?” Indigo asked.

  “Better, less … weird.”

  “You just took a trip to the Abyss and made it back,” Indigo said. “You’re allowed to take some time to process.”

  “Did you?” I’d learned about her trials, about her war and her losses.

  “Hell, yes,” she said. “What’s the point of saving the world when you can’t stop to smell the ros
es?”

  “Point.”

  She stabbed a roast potato and slid it onto her plate. “Let’s eat, get drunk, and be merry. The world can be put to rights tomorrow.”

  Bres raised his glass. “I’ll toast to that.”

  Emmett glided in with even more food to place on the table.

  “Sit with us,” Jay said to him.

  Emmett blinked up at him in surprise.

  Jay smiled. “Emmitt, too. We celebrate Yuletide together as a team.” His gaze rested on us all. “To the future and kicking ass, no matter what comes our way.”

  A cold gust of air wafted through the room, and then a figure appeared in the doorway.

  Killion stared at us with curious ember eyes. “What did I miss?”

  * * *

  Bres kissed my forehead and tucked me into his side as we lay in bed, watching the sun come up.

  I drew circles on Bres’s naked chest with my finger. “I can’t believe Killion missed all the fun.”

  “Neither can he,” Bres said. “He was pissed off.”

  “Did he tell you where he was?”

  “No, but I doubt he was on this plane.” Bres kissed my forehead again. “Are you ready for celebration number two?”

  His fingers slipped through my hair and massaged my scalp.

  I bit back a moan of pleasure and tilted my mouth up to receive a soft goodnight kiss. “I’m more than ready.”

  I closed my eyes and let sleep take me to Somnium.

  Waves lapped at the beach behind me, my bare toes sank into the warm, white sand.

  A figure dressed in loose black pants and a cream shirt greeted me with a raised hand.

  Morpheus smiled as I approached. “Are you ready to partay?” he said teasingly.

  “Partay?” I grinned. “Who have you been speaking to?”

  He shrugged and pouted. “I don’t spend all my time here, you know. I get around.”

  He was Henri, but not Henri. He was so much more, but he was still my soulmate. I slipped my hand into his, and it was like coming home.

  Home.

  Somnium, the place of my birth.

  He fixed his mercury eyes on me, and they darkened in a way that made my heart race and my mouth dry. He was Henri, he was Morpheus, and he was so much more, but then he broke eye contact to look over my head.

  “Ah, the rest of the gang.”

  I looked back to see Bres, Jay, Mai, Lark, and my gramps walking up the beach toward us.

  Morpheus released me to clasp hands with Bres and greet the others.

  “What’s taking so long?” a female voice said from farther up the beach.

  My mother stood, hands on hips, her brow arched. Behind her, the world was shimmering.

  “Sweetheart, are they here?” Death stepped out of the shimmer, and his face lit up at the sight of me.

  My parents, finally together. My chest ached with possibility, with hope, and then my mother’s gaze settled on Gramps, and she was running across the beach toward him.

  Gramps gathered her into a hug, his sobs of joy drifting up the beach.

  “She was so nervous about seeing him again,” Death said. “I told her she needn’t be.”

  Gramps and my mother walked arm in arm up the beach toward us. We headed toward the shimmer, a doorway to Morpheus’s castle, for our second Yuletide celebration.

  Tomorrow, the world would need to be put to rights, but today … Today was about family.

  The End

  Kat’s journey has come to an end, but if you like Reverse Harem books and haven’t had a chance to read Indigo’s story, you can start that by clicking HERE

  Otherwise check out what’s up next.

  Reaper Unexpected.

  A kickass Urban Fantasy with a why choose romance. Vampires, ghosts, angels, and demons. Perfect for readers who enjoy forbidden romance, enemies to lovers, or friends to lovers.

  Grab it Now!

  Taste My Wrath

  An Urban Fantasy Romance adventure. Experience the magic of the Fae set against a Post-Apocalyptic backdrop in a dystopian world.

  Grab it Now!

  Other books by Debbie Cassidy

  The Gatekeeper Chronicles

  Coauthored with Jasmine Walt

  Marked by Sin

  Hunted by Sin

  Claimed by Sin

  The Witch Blood Chronicles

  (Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)

  Binding Magick

  Defying Magick

  Embracing Magick

  Unleashing Magick

  The Fearless Destiny Series

  Beyond Everlight

  Into Evernight

  Under Twilight

  The Chronicles of Midnight

  Protector of Midnight

  Champion of Midnight

  Secrets of Midnight

  Shades of Midnight

  Savior of Midnight

  Chronicles of Arcana

  City of Demons

  City of the Lost

  City of Everdark

  City of War

  For the Blood

  For the Blood

  For the Power

  For the Reign

  For the Hunt (novella)

  Heart of Darkness

  Captive of Darkness

  Bane of Winter

  Fate’s Destiny

  Deadworld

  Deadworld

  Dead City

  Dead Sea

  Dead End

  The Nightwatch Academy

  Shadow Caster

  Shadow Weaver

  Shadow Warrior

  Shadow Master

  The Nightwatch Series

  Ghost of a Chance

  Give up the Ghost

  Ghost at the Feast

  Lay the Ghost

  Deadside Reapers Series

  Reaper Unexpected

  The Iron Fae Series

  Taste My Wrath

  Dragon Guard Series

  Dragon Trial

  Survivor’s Heart (Planet Athion World)

  Novellas

  Rogue

  Rebel

  Survivor

  Standalone Novellas

  Blood Blade

  About the Author

  Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Space Fantasy, and Reverse Harem. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Or sign up to her Newsletter to stay in the know.