The detective’s fear.
He began reciting a rosary prayer.
Tori laughed.
“Detective, that’s not going to work. Besides, she’s not going to hurt you.”
“How do I know that?” he asked.
It was the living who could hurt you.
The dead…
They just wanted to be heard.
“Bethany,” Tori called. “Prove to him you’re here. I want to get this show on the road. There’s another spirit here.”
Julian was praying it wasn’t Shelby. That was the last thing they needed at that moment. They already had a detective holding a gun, who could send them to the spirit world.
There was laughter.
The pen in Arsen’s breast pocket vibrated. He physically ripped it out and tossed it onto the bed like it was possessed.
It made her laugh.
“I hope you have a spare pair of britches,” Beckett said, moving closer to his wife to protect her if something went south.
Oh, the show was just beginning.
“Be careful what you ask for, Detective.”
Tori pulled her notepad out of her back pocket and placed it on the bed beside the pen.
“What are you…?”
He stopped when the pen stood upright, without anyone near it.
Then his heart pounded as it began writing a message out to him and everyone in the room.
‘I’m here. Ask.’
Arsen stared at it like the place was about to swallow him whole. He was the only one freaked out, and that clearly spoke of everyone’s sanity in the room.
They were definitely loco. He was watching the other three, and they were calm.
Way.
Too.
Calm.
“What the hell is this?” he asked, moving away from the bed and objects.
Tori pointed. “That was Bethany.”
He stared at her with his mouth open. “WHAT?”
“Bethany can’t manifest in any other form. Trey can manipulate the radio, but Bethany can only do this, move things, and touch you.”
He looked horrified.
“Trey? As in Trey Christensen?”
Tori let it go. It was best to hit him with one spirit at a time. The man looked like he was on the edge.
“I suggest you ask her. She won’t last long. This is draining on her.”
“And you’re…?”
“Channeling her. She’s using my energy and my body to hang out. Ask. Fast.”
“Are you really dead?”
The pen began moving.
‘Yes.’
Jesus!
He was scared shitless.
He wasn’t sure what to do. There was no way that they could have set this up. He’d heard the glass break, and he’d hustled into the closet before they entered the room.
There was no way they could set up wires, fans, or anything to fool him.
That meant...
Tori laughed. “We didn’t set it up, Arsen. This is my gift, and this is why I’m here. My brother didn’t do this.”
“Did Bethany tell you that?”
“No, my brother did, but you can ask her.”
He stared at the pen and weighed his options on that. Did he want to talk to the dead?
Did he have any choice?
“Did Beau Christensen kill Shelby Christensen?” he asked, even though he knew the answer—or suspected it.
The pen moved effortlessly across the paper.
‘No, but you knew that.’
Yeah, he was going to pass out or just hyperventilate before this was over. Arsen could tell.
“This has to be a trick.”
Tori didn’t even speak, but the radio did.
“MAN. DON’T. DISS. MY. GIRL.”
Arsen spun to face the radio on the table. He stared at it like it was some alien.
“Ignore him. That’s Trey.”
So much for one ghost at a time. Trey’s timing, as usual, sucked.
“Trey Christensen?” he asked again.
“Yes, that’s my deceased brother.”
He started laughing like a lunatic.
“Yeah, he’s about to lose it. I hope he doesn’t shoot us,” Julian muttered to Beckett.
Yeah, him too.
“This is insane,” Arsen stated.
He walked toward the radio, and ripped it out of the wall. The cord literally ripped from the plug, ending the speaking.
“He’s not going to like that,” she said. “It costs him more energy.”
He threw it onto the bed.
“None of this is real.”
“IT’S. REAL.”
He began backing toward the door.
“Lock it,” Tori stated.
Bethany did what she asked. The door clicked closed, and the detective was trapped. When he pulled his gun, the magazine fell out of the bottom of his gun.
Julian pulled his wife against his body. He didn’t like the idea that the man had pulled his gun.
“What the hell?” he asked, trying to open the door.
“Relax, Detective. You’re safe,” Tori offered as the pen went crazy.
‘We won’t hurt you.’
This was the weirdest day of his life. “How do I know that?” he asked.
“We are on the same side,” Tori stated. When she noticed that he was staring at the lit-up radio, she knew what he was thinking.
“Go ahead. Quiz him.”
“What’s ten plus one hundred?” he asked really fast.
The radio dial went insane.
“ONE-ONE-OH.”
Then Bethany chimed in with a message on paper.
‘My man is really smart.’
“I can’t believe this.”
Tori shrugged. “Believe it. We broke in here because Beckett has a gift too.”
He looked at the man wearing one glove. “Do I even want to know? After all of this, what could you possibly have as your gift?” Arsen asked.
Claire ran her hand up and down her husband’s chest to soothe him. She suspected the man was going to want to see him in action, and Beckett was tense.
“I can touch things and see what happened. I was about to take a peek into who killed Shelby Christensen.”
He stared at Beckett.
“What?”
“I was going to…”
“I heard you. You have to be shitting me. Is that really a thing?”
Tori stared at him. “What if it is a thing, and we’re not shitting you, Detective? What if we’re the key that can close this case, and you only have to trust us?”
She had a point.
A scary one.
* * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *
Beau And Nyx’s
Townhouse
Sitting home wasn’t easy.
Beau wanted to be out with his sister, with Julian, and with the team trying to clear his name, but he couldn’t. He was now a liability, and that killed him.
As an ex-soldier, he was all about the action—not riding the bench while others pulled the weight.
It sucked.
As he sat there, he sunk dangerously deeper into the mire of anger.
He was pissed at himself because no one did this to Beau but himself. Beau knew that he deserved everything he got in this mess. After all, Julian had warned him to stay away, and he didn’t listen.
No, of course not.
He went and did what he thought was right, and it came back to bite him in the ass.
Well, this sucked.
He needed something to distract himself with, and he needed it fast. His mind was a mess, and his heart was breaking.
Beau looked around.
He could hear Nyx in their bedroom, and he thought she was on the phone. She was talking, but to who?
He wasn’t sure.
Maybe Tori had called.
As he headed there, he couldn’t make out the words, but she sounded desperate.
That worried him.
Opening the door, quickly, he caught her off guard.
“Nyx?” he asked, as she sat there on their bed. There were tears in her eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Did my sister call?” he asked, seeing her phone.
“Yes,” she lied.
“Why is it cold in here?” he asked, rubbing his arms. “Is the heat off?”
He checked the thermostat. When he turned around, Nyx was right behind him.
He jumped.
“Jesus! You barely made a sound,” he admitted. As of late, that was happening a lot with Nyx.
It was creepy as hell too.
She was watching him. Lately, it was a look she gave him when she wanted to crawl all over his body.
The sex with her had gone from sweet, gentle, and girlfriend-like, to porn quality.
Don’t get him wrong, he liked it.
A lot.
It was just…odd.
“I need you,” she said, jumping up to wrap her legs around his hips.
Beau staggered back, but stayed on his feet.
“Okay, Nyx,” he began, only to have his words cut off by the hard, rough kiss.
Her hands wandered.
Her mouth took.
He could feel her nails down his back, and it both turned him on and made him worry. It was like Nyx was trying to climb inside his body.
“Slow down,” he muttered, but she didn’t.
She dropped to her feet, grabbed his hand, and shoved him onto the bed.
For a little woman, Nyx was strong.
As she pulled off her clothes, Beau simply watched. He wasn’t sure what to say.
Then she was on him.
She pounced, pinning him beneath her. Nyx’s hands continued to travel across his body, seeking out his pants. When she got to them, she ripped them open, pulled out his dick, and then slipped him home.
It was rough.
She was dry.
It couldn’t have felt good, but then Beau was lost to the ride. She was tormenting him as she drove herself up and down his erection, trying to make him cum.
Beau stared up at her, and she wasn’t even looking at him.
It was as if Nyx was…
Using him.
God!
It was as if she was just using him to get off. That didn’t bode well at all, but he didn’t stop it.
He was trying to focus through the pleasure to muster enough control to stop her, but she seemed to have a spell over him. The words wouldn’t come out.
As she rode, her nails found his shoulders, and they sank in. Despite his worries, he couldn’t stay on the ledge any longer.
The need.
The bouncing.
The heat.
It was taking over, taking control, and making his body ache for release.
“I’m going to cum,” she muttered, driving herself down his dick so hard, it stole even his breath.
Beau exploded.
Nyx tumbled.
Then they both floated in the afterglow. When Beau opened his eyes, Nyx was already heading toward the door.
“Baby?” he called.
She glanced over her shoulder and licked her lips. “Thanks for that. It’s been too long.”
Then she was gone.
Beau stared at the door. They had just made love that morning. What the hell was Nyx talking about? What had been too long?
That creepy feeling was back, and Beau couldn’t help but freak out.
His heart was pounding again, and not because of the fast, sweaty sex.
Something was wrong.
Big time.
In the bathroom, Nyx stared into the mirror at herself. She focused on her eyes. They were hers, but they weren’t hers. As she forced the voice to back off in her mind, she finally got back in control.
“OUT,” she hissed.
Evangeline’s laughter filled her head. There was taunting, tormenting, and promises of what was to come.
Evangeline wanted to possess all of her. She wanted to erase Nyx in the process.
“You can’t get rid of me,” Nyx stated to the monster living within her.
Oh God!
She had a huge problem.
Nyx shook her head, trying to expel what was left of her hold. She needed to get her body back, so she could figure out what the hell she needed to do.
Nyx was desperate.
This was no time to panic, but it was damn hard to keep a level head.
She had a violent squatter in her body.
She had a trespasser who had an appetite for pain.
Nyx knew what was happening. Evangeline was taking over her whole life.
There was only one thing she could do.
Quickly, she pulled an amulet out of the drawer and dropped it over her head.
She could hear the screams in her mind from the unwanted demon.
There were threats.
There was the promise of payback.
Oh, Evangeline wasn’t happy, but then neither was she. When the cold metal and the amber touched her throat, the sound of the spirit in her head dissipated.
She’d gotten rid of her.
For now.
Only, Nyx knew she was screwed. She’d invited Evangeline into her, only there was one thing she didn’t know at the time.
She wasn’t a ghost anymore.
No.
She was too far gone.
It was too late to save Evangeline from the darkness. She was now a ghost gone bad.
She was their worst nightmare.
Evangeline was a demon, and she was hell bent on making the living pay.
Starting with her.
Chapter Four
H e didn’t know what to believe when it came to all of this insanity. Here he was, staring at two people who claimed to be…psychics. Genuine, legitimate people who talked to the dead, and apparently, for a living.
Was that really a thing?
Did they really exist?
Arsen wasn’t sure what to think. If he dared believe them, then that meant there was another world out there once you died. He wasn’t sure if he thought that was true or not.
Still..
Starla Bright was his real mother’s name, or at least that’s what someone had put on the birth certificate before he was taken away. Being his only clue, he needed to believe it was true.
It posed one very important question.
How did Bethany know that?
“Well?” Tori asked.
“I don’t personally think your brother is guilty,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. If they turned on him, he was screwed, but he had to play the game to get justice for Shelby Christensen. They seemed to be on the same side on this one.
Seemed.
Plus, he wanted this case closed.
Then there was the carrot dangling right in front of him. Maybe, just maybe, they could give him more on his real mother. If she was out there…?
Like it or not, he needed them.
This had taken one hell of a twist.
“The evidence doesn’t match up,” he stated. “I’ve been looking at it for a couple days, and I can’t make it fit. As far as I’m concerned, Beau Christensen isn’t guilty of killing your mother.”
“His mother. We were estranged.”
He stared at her. What wouldn’t he give to know his biological mother, and this woman was estranged?
Seriously?
Still, this wasn’t the time for a lecture. They had a killer to find.
“What?” Tori asked. “You look pissed.”
In a way, he was.
“That’s what you got from that whole sentence I just handed you?”
Tori laughed. No, she’d gotten it all, but Shelby was never going to earn back the title of mother.
Not in this lifetime.
“I’m not going to lecture,” he stated.
She cut him off. “Good. No one likes a nag.”
&
nbsp; It was hard not to like the man. From his dark hair, to the bright blue eyes, he screamed good cop. You could see the weight of this on his shoulders.
The best cops always suffered for the job.
He was one of them.
“What didn’t match up?” Tori asked.
He laughed. “You have the file, and you were a good cop. Chances are, you already can answer that. Oh, and the only reason you have that file is because I wanted you to have it. I don’t share my notes with just anyone. I happened to believe you would be able to help.”
She lifted a brow. “I was a good cop?” she repeated.
“You were a Fed. You have some accolades behind your name. Let’s stop pretending.”
She wasn’t.
It was just that her career was years ago and miles away, and she knew it. Hopefully, she didn’t lose her edge. Beau’s life depended on it.
“Really. Tell me what YOU think,” Arsen stated.
Yes, he was testing her.
Yes, he wanted to see if all the hype was legit.
This was his way of verifying the rumors.
“Well, then let me give this a shot. You don’t have a weapon that matches anything in the room, so you already suspect the killer took it with him when he left. That’s one of your big hang-ups on why it can’t be my brother. He wasn’t found with anything that could constitute a weapon.”
“Correct.”
Tori thought about it a little more. “You’re also puzzled by how the killer got in and out, aren’t you?”
“We are. There were no broken windows, or damage to the locks. Up to now, we think he was invited into the motel room by the victim.”
She thought about the blood and the damage that was done to Shelby’s body.
“He or she wouldn’t have gone out that way. Think about it. He’s just beat a woman to death, so there’s going to be blood all over him from the splash-back. He or she wouldn’t just mosey out the front door where someone could see him.”
He smiled.
“True.”
“Our killer had a plan.”
Kiss of Souls Page 9
