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Chapter 7

Mortimer

My entire existence was spinning into turmoil. I had never felt so unsure, so… inadequate before. I was the top of the food chain. I was to be feared. And yet, one woman had changed everything.

There she stood, keeping her distance from the man she so clearly harboured feelings for, keeping him safe from the risk of absorption. But, despite her fears, she stayed. She wouldn’t touch him, remaining just out of reach, but she was using her presence to soothe and comfort the newly deceased man as he suffered through the torment of an undignified burial.

What had this man done to deserve such unconditional devotion? Why did he have to look at her like a man in love, like he would walk through the fiery pits of Hell if that was what she asked of him?

And what was this odd, pinching sensation in my chest that had been bothering me since he’d been captured and tortured? No, that wasn’t what had caused it. It was the expression of pure, unadulterated anguish on her face as she’d watched him suffer. But why did I care? He was nothing to me, and she was… Whatwasshe?

I didn’t like not knowing almost as much as I hated this fucking incessant feeling poking at my chest cavity. It wasn’t natural. I had to make it stop.

Buthow?

Killing didn’t work. Absorbing the energy of those spirits also didn’t work. And theyalwaysworked. What changed?

It was the woman. Kali. She was the common denominator in everything that had gone wrong. Ever since I’d first laid eyes on her, she had turned my world upside down. Part of that I would willingly admit was my own doing, but I hadn’t anticipated the extent to which she would change me to my very core.

I thought I had known who and what I was. I had accepted that. Revelled in it, even. I was not a good man. Perhaps I had been when I was alive, but death had turned me into a monster, and I was glad for it. No one could hurt me if I was the one doing the hurting.

But there she stood, gutting me with a single look, and it wasn’t even directed towards me.

I considered absorbing the man, but something told me that wouldn’t go well if I wanted to keep Kali around. Because at the end of the day, she was mine. I had already claimed her, and I wasn’t giving her up for anything or anyone. I was too deep into this now to turn back, anyway.

And despite the irrevocable changes I was facing, I wouldn’t take back what I’d done. She was the future. My only way forward. I’d set this into motion, and I would see it through to the very end.

When the little murderer was finished packing the newest addition to his collection of graves, he sauntered off. That must have been what my ghost girl was waiting for, because she mumbled a few words to her friend, then darted away towards the trees. I admired her as she left, and the shadows nowtwisting and twirling around her form, adding power to her movements that she hadn’t had before.

I couldn’t help but smile, pleased at how well she was taking to the transformation. It was obvious that she was clueless about her new reality. She didn’t know what she was, but she would find out soon enough. I would be here to help her through the transition, to teach her how to harness this new power that would allow her to take her revenge.

I would be for her what she was to this new man. The man who had drawn all her attention away from me. I wasn’t sure how that was possible after the moment we had shared. I had been inside her, pushed her to climax,claimed herwith my phantom seed. It was a transcendent experience. Even now, my cock twitched as heat pooled low in my belly at the memory, my body eager for more. And yet she still looked elsewhere.

He was important to her, that much was obvious, but how much? And how? What did she want from him? What did he want from her? And where did I fit into the equation? I had figured out that I would need to carve my place inside her world, but how could I do that when her head was so easily turned?

Perhaps, while she was gone, I could take the time to get some of those questions answered.

I didn’t approach him immediately, choosing to stand back and observe before I decided on what action to take. Destroying him would hurt my ghost girl, I know that without a doubt, and while the option was appealing, the idea of hurting Kali caused that pinching in my chest to grow and spread into a full-bodied torment. The very concept of causing her pain was repulsive to me on every level, so hurting him was out.

Perhaps I could hide him, but that begged the question of where. Plus, there was no guarantee my ghost girl wouldn’t eventually find him. It could be a temporary solution until Ifound a better one, but again, losing him in any capacity would hurt her, and that wasnotan option.

So, then he would just have to tag along for the ride. A pet, perhaps? Yes, I liked the sound of that. I could bind him with my shadows to prevent him from causing any trouble, and she could keep him. That would make her happy.

I smiled, pleased with my decision, and drifted closer for a better look. I wanted to see just what exactly I was up against, without the blood, gore, and life impeding my examination. Wavy brown hair framed a square face, his jaw defined and sharp enough to cut. Dark blue eyes gaze forward vacantly, framed by thick black lashes that seemed to make the colour stand out even more. The more I studied his face, the more I realised how attractive he was. I could see what fascinated my ghost girl, and when my scrutinization landed on full, pouty lips, an image flashed through my mind of Kali pressing hers against them, licking, sucking, devouring with a bruising intensity, and I wanted to punch the right of his handsome fucking face.

Kali’s lips weremineto taste, and he couldn’t have them.

I stepped back to put some distance between us, but also get examine the rest of him. He had a muscular build. Broad shoulders, tall, strong. He had clearly taken great care of his body, honing his strength into something that would attract even the most prudish of people, but I could also see that it wasn’t all for show. This man was used to manual labour, and I didn’t need to watch him move to know that he was capable of impressive feats.

I got it. I put myself in my ghost girl’s mind and saw him through her eyes, even if it was difficult to stomach, and I saw what she must have seen. A male worthy of her attention. Of her affection.

A praiseworthy adversary, indeed.

I was going to have to work harder to secure my claim on my ghost girl. I may have had more power than him, but that meant nothing when the prize was a woman’s affections.

I froze.

Was that what I was after? Her affection? I had moved the chess pieces into place so I could ensure I would have her as a companion, though the terms of that companionship were ambiguous and vague even to myself. But perhaps I was merely too shortsighted to see things for what they truly were. I was attracted to Kali. I wanted her for myself. And I was lonely. This existence was a solitary one, but it didn’t have to be. I had chosen to forego any form of companionship for fear of being hurt again. I had been killed by my wife’s lover, after all, a betrayal that cut twice as deep and had ended in my demise.