After Life

by Jacquie Underdown

  “Hi,” she said, her body tingling to be in his presence. How could someone affect her physically so much?

  He grinned wider. “Hi.”

  She stroked a finger down his temple. His eyes closed at her touch; it stole her breath. “How are you feeling?”

  “It’s still a little sore.”

  “You haven’t seen Daniel?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. I’d say he’ll be in the hospital for a few days yet.”

  Zoe gasped as this news shook her. “What, you put him in hospital?”

  Theron’s face didn’t change, and he didn’t offer an answer, simply let her question hang in the air. “Come on,” he said, “Class is about to start. I don’t want to stand out any more than I already do.”

  She couldn’t avoid feeling guilty about that. “Let’s catch up in the library later to study.”

  “A date,” he said with a cheeky grin.

  She laughed. “A study date. There’s a difference.”

  Theron pressed his hand to her lower back and led her through the doors.

  The room was full but among the sea of familiar faces, her gaze flickered to Rhianna, who was watching her but turned away as soon as their eyes met.

  “Evil bitch,” Zoe hissed.

  Theron guided her closer to his side, she realised as a protective gesture. Warmth swirled through her, and she leaned in to that comfort.

  ◆◆◆

  Students filled the library, wall to wall. Zoe used all her will to concentrate until both she and Theron had finished their set tasks, along with catching up on notes and study she missed from last week.

  But itching in the back of her mind was the need to know more about her current circumstances. Perhaps there were others like her. Not only people who could see the dead, but people who may be responsible for accompanying the dead to the afterlife.

  Even now, after all she had experienced, a little voice in her head told her she was a crackpot, truly insane, but she ignored it because those possibilities were worse than if her deliriums were real.

  Zoe pressed her foot on the top of Theron’s. He looked up from his iPad and grinned. Even with a black eye, he was sexy as hell.

  Yes, you can look, Zoe, but you can’t touch.

  Her gaze fell to his lips, but she quickly forced herself to meet his eyes again. She cleared her throat. “How are you going? Nearly done?”

  An abashed smile appeared. “I’ve been done for a little while.” He spun his iPad so that she could see the screen. “I’ve been researching.”

  A reference page was showing with the words Book of the Dead.

  “What is that?”

  “An ancient Egyptian spell book used to help the dead transition into the Afterlife.”

  Zoe’s eyes widened, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Wow. Um. Okay. Anything about someone actually accompanying the souls to the Afterlife?”

  “There’s a lot of info on a god called Anubis, who would shepherd the dead so Osiris could then judge them. If the scales balance, the souls would head off with Osiris for a good afterlife.”

  “And if they didn’t balance?”

  Theron chuckled. “They’d be eaten by a demon.”

  Zoe laughed. It sounded so far-fetched. “Have you found anything else?”

  He nodded. “Greek mythology seemed like it fit better with the story you gave me. There was a god called Hermes. He was a guide to the Underworld and moved between the worlds of the mortals and the divine.”

  Theron stopped and typed something into his iPad. He scrolled down the page and spun it so Zoe could see.

  On the screen was a picture of a half-naked man holding a long timber oar, standing in a boat on a river. Around him, people desperately reached for him. The notation under the picture said: Charon the Ferryman is known for carrying the souls of the newly dead across the rivers to Hades.

  The image struck Zoe because of the likeness to her experience. “Charon,” she mumbled to herself. “This is quite a popular mythology, isn’t it?”

  Theron nodded.

  “So it’s possible I could have invented some crazy arse delusion based on this from my subconscious mind?”

  “It’s possible,” he said with a shrug. “You could also be subconsciously inventing a reality where you can see ghosts that just so happen to allow others to see them as well.”

  The corners of Zoe’s mouth curled slightly.

  “You’re not crazy, Zoe. Because if you are, that means I am too, and the recording equipment Asher used at the hospital is too. I may not have seen Barkley with my own eyes, but I felt him, and I felt the change when he moved on. I may not have seen a vivid form on the video Asher recorded, but I saw a hazy red shadow that morphed into the outline of a man. I heard the static through the speakers too.”

  Zoe rubbed her hands over her face and groaned. He was right, too much had happened to doubt the reality of her circumstances now. “So what then?”

  “We keep looking for answers.”

  Zoe laughed and pointed to his iPad. “If we are to believe this, that would mean I’m a god.” She lifted her arm and tensed her bicep. A small muscle protruded from her thin arm. Zoe stared at the hard bulge of muscle with her mouth wide open. “What the hell? Where did that come from?”

  Theron rolled his head back and chuckled, but soon quietened when he remembered they were in a library. He leaned over the table and squeezed her arm. His touch sent pulses through her. “Not bad.”

  Zoe rested her arm on the table again and grinned. “Must be all those textbooks I’m forced to carry around.”

  The librarian, who was sitting behind her desk, shushed them with a finger to her lips and a harsh look.

  Theron began to pack up his gear. “Let’s go research this somewhere with more privacy.”

  “We’ll go have some dinner, then come back to my room,” she said.

  Theron grinned. “Sounds perfect.”

  ◆◆◆

  Asher was on her way out the door when Zoe arrived back with Theron. A tall girl, a little older than Asher, accompanied her. Her pale make-up contrasted with her dark red hair, making her appear corpse-like.

  In the foyer, Asher quickly introduced Zoe and Theron to Rosalie, a first-year student at the local university. When they had both rushed out the door leaving Zoe and Theron alone, Zoe looked up at Theron, and they burst into laughter.

  “Wow, those two are made for each other,” Theron said.

  “Agreed.”

  “Can you imagine if the teachers actually knew how much sneaking around happened here? I’m certain every senior student at this school would be suspended.”

  Theron laughed. “A mass culling.”

  With Asher gone, leaving them some privacy, they settled in the lounge to continue their research.

  Zoe typed in various variations of her situation into the search engine on her iPad and was offered random results: neuroscientists confirming there was an afterlife, Norse mythology, webpages dedicated to the Angel of Death or speculation if Heaven were real.

  There were plenty of stories about people who had died and come back to life, but not too much about people helping the dead transition.

  They watched videos of monks describing what they thought happened when people died and listened to accounts from people who had near-death experiences, but nothing gave them answers.

  Zoe turned her iPad off and sighed as she rubbed her smarting eyes. “I can’t do any more tonight. I’m exhausted.”

  Theron stretched his arms in the air. Zoe didn’t miss the flash of his stomach as his shirt lifted. Her breaths quickened. His skin was tanned and toned and completely touchable—kissable even. A blush crept up her cheeks for considering her lips on him there, so close to…

  “Me too. And, as hard as it is to say this, I think Asher might be right,” Theron said.

  “About what?”

  “If you want to know more about yourself and what’s happening, I think you nee
d to confront another ghost. See if you can get more answers from it.”

  Zoe groaned. After a fruitless night of research, she knew he was right. “I’ll think about it.”

  Theron nodded. “Do you want me to stay over?”

  Zoe lifted her gaze to meet his brilliant green eyes that asked so much more than the words that came from between his lips.

  Her belly fluttered for an entirely different reason. Her heart beat a faster rhythm. “Sure,” she managed in the most nonchalant voice she could muster. Because, despite her efforts to abstain from allowing them to move things further, her resistance was thinning.

  Zoe knew that when she was lying next to him in her bed that all her resistance would flee. And where would that lead them? Well, it didn’t take a genius to work it out.

  Chapter 21

  Theron. Big. Strong. Sexy.

  In her bed.

  Zoe shut her bedroom door, flicked off the main light and tiptoed to him. She crawled onto the bed and rolled to face him.

  To distract herself from the roar of anticipation crackling through her, she focused on his swollen eye. His skin was still a deep blue.

  With her fingertips, she brushed gently across his temple. His eyes closed at her touch. “How’s it feeling now?”

  He smiled. “I’ve had worse. I’m sure I’ll live.”

  Zoe didn’t want to think about him having worse, nor when or why he had had worse, so she tossed those thoughts from her mind.

  They gazed at each other for a long, silent moment. There was no awkwardness, only subtle curiosity as she committed to memory the exact colour of his eyes—jade, with a darker green rim lining the irises. His lashes were long and a little duskier than his sandy hair.

  Zoe trailed her finger from his temple over his cheekbone, down to his square jaw which was rough with stubble. Feeling that sharp prickle against her finger made her belly pulse low.

  Her fingers moved along his jaw, then down to his mouth where her thumb fluttered over the fleshy lower lip—soft, warm. She remembered how it felt to kiss him, to taste his tongue, to have her legs wrapped around his hard body.

  Her gaze fell to his mouth, and her lips tingled as she imagined closing the space between them and kissing him.

  Zoe’s next inhalation hitched.

  Theron’s chest rose and fell more sharply.

  She pressed her hand against his hard chest, feeling the muscled inclines beneath his T-shirt. His eyes closed for a few moments, and when he opened them again, she didn’t miss the desire in his half-hooded gaze.

  Kiss me.

  “Please,” she whispered before she could filter her thoughts.

  Theron groaned, gripped her waist and shuffled closer; his long, warm body pressed hard against hers.

  Need washed over her unlike any other she had ever experienced.

  She would burst if he didn’t kiss her right now.

  His face leaned closer until his lips met hers. Firm and warm. But instead of quenching her need, it fanned the flames.

  She pulled back and breathlessly said, “I can’t resist you. I must be selfish.”

  He blanched, shook his head. “What? Why does that make you selfish?”

  She frowned. “Because what being with me means for you. Because of my curse.”

  “Your abilities have only ever been a gift for me.”

  She chuckled sardonically. “Except for your fight with Daniel.”

  “That had nothing to do with you and everything to do with Daniel.”

  Drifting closer to him, her lips brushed against his. “My body and heart are pulling me to you, but my mind is saying set him free.”

  “I’m already in. There’s no going back from this.”

  When his soft tongue met her tongue again, the sigh that fell from her throat and touched the silence shocked her. It was desperate sounding.

  Zoe tangled her fingers in Theron’s hair and deepened the kiss, loving how he tasted on her tongue and the scent of his body—so male, such a turn-on.

  She could not have imagined Theron would make her feel like this—a little wild, dizzy, consumed with lust.

  His lips, tongue, this closeness was everything she needed at this moment.

  ◆◆◆

  Tingles fanned up the back of Zoe’s spine like the spindly legs of a spider were crawling over her flesh.

  She tumbled from her sleep, waking with a gasp.

  The sensation was cold; it chilled her marrow. Clenching her eyes tighter, she didn’t dare open them yet; she didn’t want to see what was there.

  The steady breathing of Theron sounded behind her; his heat permeated her body, but something intruded between them.

  Something … not human.

  Her breaths thinned in her throat. A layer of goosebumps spread along her arms.

  The sensation of something there, watching, was strong; she wanted to rush out of bed, sprint to the door and not look back. Her heart raced, thudding so hard she felt the pulse in her ears and behind her eyes.

  Since that moment at fifteen years old, waking to the cold toes of the hanged woman, she didn’t doubt how disturbing it could get. How the girl’s eyes shot open, staring at her with all their deathly whiteness, had been one of the single most terrifying experiences of her life. Aside from the nasty spirit at the hospital.

  Her teeth clacked together as she trembled. Could that be who was behind her? Could this be his way of fucking with her mind? Her muscles tensed and trembled as adrenaline spiralled through her, desperately urging her to run, hide, and never come back.

  But if she did that, she’d be lost to the fear.

  She needed to keep a level head.

  Slowly, she peeled her eyes open.

  The lamp was off.

  Darkness met her.

  She gasped, threw her blankets back and jumped out of bed. In the darkness, she fumbled for the lamp switch. Her finger touched the switch; she flicked it on and flinched her hand back.

  Eyes adjusting to the light, vision drifted in. Theron was on the bed. She spun in a circle, looking in all corners of her room.

  Nothing.

  A cold hand gripped her ankle from under the bed. She hurled a high-pitched scream and yanked her foot free from the cold grasp.

  She didn’t look down, instead jumped back onto the bed, pulling her legs up onto the mattress.

  Something was under the bed.

  Theron sat up, gaze darting around. “What’s the matter?”

  “There’s someone here,” she said, the words wheezing from her mouth.

  Theron stilled and listened. “Where?” he mouthed.

  Zoe pointed under the bed.

  He nodded and crawled across the bed.

  Zoe shook her head. “Not human.” He wouldn’t be able to see what it was. He wouldn’t be able to help.

  Theron reached for her hands and pulled her to him until she sat on his lap. He edged off the mattress, and his feet touched the ground. Still cradled in his arms, he lifted her up with him as he stood and marched for the door.

  She turned the knob. He opened the door with his foot, and they charged out into the living room. Asher was rushing from her room, straightening her pyjamas as she did.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, eyes wide.

  The door slammed behind Zoe, making Theron jerk. “What the hell was that?”

  “There’s a presence,” Zoe said as Theron let her down.

  Asher ran a hand through her hair and winced. “Not from the hospital?”

  Before she could answer, the television flickered on, and a woman’s scream split the silence—one of Asher’s horror movies sputtered on the screen, a darkened image of someone drowning a girl in a lake.

  Zoe’s eardrums thrummed from the intense volume.

  Asher’s eyes brightened. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a show.”

  The television faded to silent white snow.

  The lights overhead flashed with little tinkering sounds as the lightb
ulbs sparked off and on, then the bulb smashed and darkness surrounded them. Zoe ran into Theron’s arms, burying her head against his chest.

  His heart was racing beneath her ear, but he was steady.

  A flashlight shone through the darkness. “You guys okay?” Asher asked, shining it on them.

  Zoe nodded.

  “Yep,” Theron said.

  A whooshing noise flooded her ears like all sound that had ever existed was being vacuumed from the room until nothing remained. Only her own and Theron’s harsh breathing could be heard.

  The lights in the dorm flickered back on; the television turned off.

  Zoe glanced around. There was no longer the sensation of anything unordinary present, aside from herself that was. “It’s gone.”

  Asher yahooed like a cowgirl. Her eyes were bright and round. “What a rush!”

  Zoe wished these occurrences were as exciting for her as they were for Asher. Her hands were trembling, legs were shaking and weak.

  If she wasn’t leaning against Theron, she’d have fallen to the floor. Her heart was thudding out a frightened melody.

  “Is it the man from the hospital?” Theron asked.

  Remnants of the hospital spirit lingered, almost like the faintest of scents, just enough in the air to retain the impression of evil he left behind.

  Zoe shuddered. “Yes,” she whispered, throat hoarse from the fear of what happened and what this now meant. Was this just the beginning? Was this one step on the road to screwing her mind?

  Zoe had already seen how persistent a spirit could be—Barkley. And he was loving and kind. What lengths would this hospital ghost go to? Just how persistent was he going to be? Tonight he comes to the dorm, and then what? Tomorrow he’s strangling Zoe in class? Or waking her up multiple times a night, not just with flashing lights and a flickering T.V. but something much worse?

  “I somehow think this isn’t the last of it,” Zoe said, a deep body tremble working its way up from her legs to her head.

  “We can’t be putting up with this every night,” Asher said, anticipation in her wide purple eyes. “We need to go to the hospital right now and deal with this … soul.”

  Zoe shook her head.