Page 5 of Haunted Heart (Things that Go Hump in the night #1)

FIVE

Two years ago, this woman invaded my home.

Two years ago, she refused to be scared of me.

At first, I let her stay out of curiosity. Then, her visits reminded me of the world I’d abandoned… Of the world that had abandoned me.

She dusted corners and told me about her life. I watched her take gentle care of my home. I watched her try to take care of me, too.

“You don’t look happy to see me.”

“I am,” she says, her words a rush as she blinks. “The circumstances are… not ideal.”

“They never are.”

I stay in my corner, wishing I didn’t feel weightless, wishing my limbs weren’t numb.

What a cruel joke her arrival in my life has been.

Falling in love with a woman had driven me west all those years ago.

Now, when loving Genevieve is acceptable, it’s not possible.

I haunt this house. She haunts me.

Julia floats close to me. “Let me see the spell.”

We both freeze and look down at where her arm touches mine.

“I guess you can do more than see me now.” She brushes her hand along my skin and then draws her fingers along my cheek.

I twine my fingers in her other hand, holding onto her because I’m afraid she’ll disappear again. She brings our clasped hands up and brushes her lips across my knuckles.

“You’re warm, I’d… forgotten.” Eyes closed, she presses her cheek to the back of my hand and holds me there, but only for a moment before she exhales.

“May I do something I’ve wanted to do for… too long?”

I hesitate, but I smile. “I remember a time when you wanted to kill me. So, it depends on what it is.”

“If I wanted you dead, you would be.” Her fingers brush my lips. “At first, I wanted you to leave, then… I started to like that you had come to haunt me, too.”

I swallow the tremor of fear and lick my lips. “As long as your intentions are good.”

“Good intentions are a matter of dates and puritanical rules.” Her fingers tip my face up and she leans close. “Can I kiss you, Genevieve… in case this spell fades, and I lose the chance to do it again?”

I look at her lips, soft and dark and pale at the same time, and for the first time, they’re here . “Yes.”

Her hand grips my chin and as her lips meet mine, I can’t help but shiver at the icy chill that her kiss pulses through me. I take an involuntary half step closer and grip her waist.

Julia says I’ve haunted her, but she has haunted my dreams and desires for so long now… I need her.

She hums a soft sound, breaking the kiss but not drawing away. Forehead tipped to mine, she strokes my chin with her thumbs. “That may have been a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Because now, I don’t want to give you back to the living…” she glances toward the floor, “or the half dead.”

Half… “Crap.”

I want to linger here. The way she smiles makes me want to forget for a moment, but I can’t.

“I really want to talk to you. There are so many things I’ve wanted to ask, but… I have to deal with them first.”

Her smile fades, and she releases my hand. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

I catch the hand that she’s just removed from mine. “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. If I hadn’t messed this up…” I let those words fade, because if I hadn’t, she wouldn’t be solid right now.

“I understand.”

I laugh mirthlessly and drag my hand down my face. “At least one of us does.”

Her head tips to the side, but she doesn’t ask me to clarify.

I grab my phone and hand it to her, but it drops straight through her palm and clatters on the floor.

“Oh. I guess the spell only works for me.” I grimace as I scoop the phone back up.

“You’re more than enough,” she assures.

“If I’d known that spell would do… this,” I say haltingly, still not sure what it is, “I would have done sooner.”

Smiling, she shows off sharp teeth. “No point in dwelling on the past.”

Her hand wraps around my waist, hugging me to her as she looks at my phone, reading the spell, silently. “It’s been mislabeled. It’s a reveal spell, not a revival one. That’s why I’m here and they’re not.”

“You said they’re half dead. What did you mean by that?”

“Look into their eyes,” she says, releasing me.

“I already did.”

Julia shakes her head. “Look through them the way you do to see me in the mirror.”

Jonas is closer right now, so I go to him and peel one eye open.

They’re glassy and lifeless like before… until I look into his pupil. Red and swirling sky, black branches… I draw back, because something in there tugs at me.

I immediately go to Dylan, lifting him so I can get a better look at the same thing “behind” his eyes.

“What am I seeing?” I ask, flashes of darkness flickering deep in his vision like there’s a cyclone inside of him.

“Hell,” she states.

“What?” I look up at her and drop Dylan in shock.

His head hits the floor with a heavy thunk, and I wince down at him for a moment before I go back to her.

“What do you mean Hell is inside him?”

“It’s not in him. You’re seeing what he sees.”

“But he shouldn’t be in Hell.”

“You killed the soul of the one who lusted after you,” Julia says. “He’s not dead, but his soul has gone to find its place in Hell until his body succumbs.”

No… no, that can’t be right. “That’s not what the spell said.”

“It is if you had read it untranslated.”

“Untranslated…” I exhale and pinch the bridge of my nose. “The pages are enchanted to alter themselves to rhyme in the reader’s language?”

“Did no one tell you how the black-page books work?”

“No.” I inhale deeply and let it out slowly. “I may have stolen this from my grandmothers’ library without their permission.”

“Genevieve,” she says my name, scolding, and then cups my face with both of her hands. “You can’t use spells you don’t know the provenance of.”

I know.

She knows I know.

I take another deep breath, and when I exhale this time, it’s like the determination that had buoyed me drains out. “I just needed him to stop.”

“I understand that now.” She places her forehead against mine. “I thought you wanted him dead, so I didn’t intervene.”

“Did you want him dead?”

She tips my face up so that I meet her haunting eyes. “If this hadn’t worked, he would have had an accident tonight that he would not have walked away from.”

I believe her.

“I don’t want him dead, I just want him to be my friend again, with no expectations.” I chew on my lower lip for a moment, and then I ask, “How do I get their souls back?”