“What is it?” John asked.
Slowly, she lifted haunted eyes to him, eyes that bespoke of pain and sorrow. “Jean. He was found…” Her gaze shifted to Ashley and her voice trailed off.
“He’s dead,” John said bluntly.
Sandra nodded.
The annoying Frenchman? Ashley’s heart jumped into her throat. “What? How?”
Sandra paused, as if weighing what to say, trying to decipher how much Ashley knew and how much of the truth she could handle.
“She knows all of it,” Kipps said, his face dour.
“Another werewolf,” she admitted. “He was…torn to shreds.”
Bile rose in Ashley’s throat and her pounding heart took off into a wild gallop. The edges of her vision faded. She flattened her hands on the countertop, refusing to give into hysterics.
John slammed a fist against the wall. “Son of a—”
“You still think it’s not your fight?” Ashley said, her voice high-pitched with emotion. “We need your help, before more people…” Okay, maybe people wasn’t the right word. “More of you are killed.”
“More of us?” John leaned forward, his fisted hands on the countertop. “You say it like you don’t belong.”
Ashley bristled at the comment, even though she knew he was only taking his anger and pain out on her. “I…I’m not like you.”
A deep rumble erupted from his throat and formed into an annoying chuckle. “And you think normal people see and talk to ghosts like they’re alive?”
A moment of stunned silence fell in the room. Ashley’s mouth went dry, even as her mind denied that he could possibly know the details of her powers. “How’d you know?”
“We all know,” Kipps said, his soft eyes showing his sympathy.
Ashley shook her head, she didn’t need his sympathy, she needed her privacy. “How?” How did they know what she was capable of, when she wasn’t even sure?
John sighed, the anger in his gaze dissipating. “Yir da, of course.”
Ashley’s confusion gave way to shock. “You knew my dad?”
John nodded, looking hesitant for the first time. “He visited often. Both he and yir aunt could see and talk to ghosts.”
She knew her father could, and she’d guessed her aunt had the ability. It made her wonder how many others in her family could. “Do you know?” she asked, almost afraid to ask, and at this point, not sure she wanted the answer. “How he disappeared?”
John shook his head, focusing on the countertop. They’d known her father, probably better than she’d known him.
“I have to go.” She slipped from her stool and numbly made her way back outside into the heat. A few people stood near their stoops, huddled together, whispering no doubt about Jean. At her approach, they fell silent.
Did they hate her? Did they, for some reason, blame her and her family for this? Ashley looked away, shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts and started for home.
“Hey,” Kipps called out, running to her side.
“You don’t have to walk me home.”
He flashed her that smile, so human-like. “I do. Or Cristian will kill me.”
Cristian. There he was again, always in her mind. She could never escape the man. Never escape those knowing eyes. Eyes that seemed to be hiding something more, something deep, something that tore at her heart. “Aren’t you already dead?”
He shrugged. “True.”
Ashley shook her head, feeling too lost and confused to be amused with their conversation. “I don’t see why it’s his business what happens to me anyway.”
“Cristian?”
Ashley nodded, kicking a pebble and watching it skitter across the street. Dark clouds hovered in the distance, threatening rain. Hopefully it would bring relief from the heat. A dreary afternoon for a dreary life.
“Don’t you understand why it’s his business?”
Ashley glanced at Kipps as they started up the small hill to her estate. “No.” And she didn’t. Not really. Why would he care if she lived? Unless he needed her to kill the demon. But she seemed to cause more trouble, than help.
He sighed. “Because without you, he’s no good.”
Ashley paused there in the middle of her driveway. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He seemed surprised by her lack of knowledge. “You two go together. As far as I know, the Warriors have always worked with a Seer.”
“A Seer?” Ashley whispered. Sun fell through the trees highlighting his pale face. If he’d been a stereotypical vampire, he’d be a pile of ash by now.
“It’s what they call people like you.”
People like me. Why did that feel like an accusation?
“A Seer, because you can—”
“See ghosts.” She finally had a name. She wasn’t a vampire, a werewolf, a fairy… She was a Seer.
“Your aunt, your da, they helped the Warriors find ghosts to send them on. Everyone knows.” He lifted his cap and scratched his thinning hair. “I thought…I thought you knew too.”
Ashley felt like it was test day at school and she was the only one who hadn’t been given the answers ahead of time. Numb, she moved forward, down the long lane of trees that led to her home. Her mind spun, her emotions in turmoil. What else didn’t she know? The trees flared into the front lawn and she paused there in the shadows, studying her Pub with the dark clouds looming behind it. Her home. Her father’s home before her.
“So it’s fate, huh,” Ashley whispered.
“What’s that?”
“The reason I’m here. The reason I’m dealing with this.” Ashley glanced up at Kipps, looking for answers. “Is this my life now? Whether I wanted it or not?”
He shrugged, and glanced uneasily at the house. Ashley had to resist the urge to laugh. She’d made a vampire uneasy. She knew he was hoping Cristian would come relieve him of this duty, but she wasn’t going to let him go without more answers. After all, he seemed to be the only one capable of responding.
This time, he didn’t need to answer, she could read the truth in his eyes.
Panic flared through her body. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath. “I have no choice? What if I like the ghosts, what if I don’t want to send them back?”
His lips parted in surprise, as if he couldn’t possibly comprehend how anyone could like a ghost. “But…but you have to.”
“Do I?”
“Ashley,” Cristian called out, coming toward them, his strides long and sure. She couldn’t help but notice how his shorts stretched across his muscled thighs, the way that gray t-shirt hugged his broad chest. Definitely a warrior.
Kipps disappeared. One moment he was there, the next gone.
“Coward,” Ashley muttered.
“Ashley. We—”
Her attention snapped back to Cristian and he felt her gaze like a knife to the heart. She knew. Something had changed and suddenly she knew more than she should. “I need to know, Cristian. Everything.”
He stopped short, his brows coming together. Shite, what had she learned on her little trip to town? “What?”
She was pale, trembling. Something had obviously upset her. “Is this my life?”
He shook his head, confused, but that wasn’t new where she was concerned. Hell, human females were certainly a mystery. He was over 300 years old and he still hadn’t figured them out.
“Did you know I’d come here? Was I supposed to arrive because I have to…to find ghosts for you to kill?”
His confusion cleared. He drew his hand over his face, so tired, so done with this entire situation. Swallowing hard, he focused on the trees just beyond the property. She was going to be difficult, but it was time to tell her the truth. “Yes.”
She leaned against a birch tree. “And what if I don’t want this?”
He looked at her, her face framed by the white, curling bark. “What do ye mean?”
“Why is it so shocking to realize I don’t want to kill ghosts for the rest o
f my life? I mean, what if I don’t want to point out ghosts for slaughter?”
“I don’t kill them,” he snapped, his anger growing. Why was it so hard for her to understand that these spirits didn’t belong here? Humans would never understand, all the more reason for him to atone and move on to his rightful place. So why did the thought of leaving her sicken him?
At an obvious impasse, they glared at each other for one long moment.
He was the first to break. Through gritted teeth, he sucked in a breath. “It’s how it’s always been.”
“And always will be?”
“Precisely.”
Her lower lip quivered. “What if I don’t want to? What if I like my ghosts?”
He raked his hands through his hair, cupping the back of his head. She was insane. And bloody hell he still wanted her, which meant he must be mad as well. “They aren’t pets. Ashley, no one is exempt from Judgment Day.”
She laughed, a sarcastic sound that grated his nerves. “What does that mean?”
He stepped closer to her, his anger mounting. Angry at her for being so ridiculous and angry at himself for caring. “It means they have to go stand at the pearly gates eventually. I just nudge them along.”
She stabbed him in the chest with her index finger. “But I let you in my house and you took my ghosts! You betrayed me.”
He rolled his eyes. She couldn’t be serious. “They would have been taken by the demon. Don’t ye see? Every ghost here is just a host waiting for a parasite like my father. He could gain power from them, suck them dry.
The words didn’t seem to influence her in the least. “And what about Maggie? She’s scared. Why can’t you send her mother’s spirit to her or something, try to talk her into going? Do you really have to swipe your sword through her like some crazy madman?”
Now she was calling him crazy? “We tried, she won’t go. The ghosts I send forward are the one’s who refuse to go.”
She was persistent. “Maybe if I talk to her, I could help.”
She hadn’t heard a word he’d said. They were getting nowhere fast. “We have more important things to worry about right now.”
Ashley frowned. “Like what?”
“Ye have visitors.” He stepped aside and nodded toward a dark blue sports car parked in the drive.
She started toward the vehicle, her steps determined. “Who?” She sounded almost angry that someone would dare invade her home. She’d grown closer to the place than he’d realized.
“Ashley?” The feminine voice stopped her in her tracks.
She turned toward the pub. Her mother stood on the front stoop, more frightening than any ghost or demon. Expensive name brand suit, perfect, shiny bob of dark hair. Ashley closed her eyes and groaned. He couldn’t make her flinch, but an old woman a third of his size sent her into a panic.
“Ashley Hunter, I see you standing there. You can’t ignore me,” the woman called out.
“I can’t deal with this right now,” she whispered.
“Ye?” Cristian snapped. “Dear God, woman, I’ve had to deal with her the entire hour ye’ve been gone.”
The older woman started picking her way toward them. Her lips lifted into a grimace as weeds clung to her pantyhose. Apparently she found their accommodations lacking.
“Mom,” Ashley shuffled forward, her hands in the pockets of her shorts. “What are you doing here?”
“Can’t a mother visit her only child?” They met at the fountain.
Her mother’s gaze went reluctantly to Cristian. She was nervous and certainly leery of him. She had been watching him that same way since she’d arrived, pounding on the door and pulling him from sleep. Sure, perhaps he shouldn’t have yelled at her to shut the hell up, but what did she expect?
The older woman opened her arms and tilted her chin defiantly. “Well, give me a hug.”
Reluctantly, Ashley moved into her stiff embrace. She patted her shoulders once, then stepped back. A pathetic excuse for a hug. “What are you wearing? Do they not even have a mall anywhere nearby?”
“It’s hot, I was walking.”
“And you can’t wear a nice little sundress?”
Ashley’s face went red. “Mom, I’m glad you’re visiting, but you should have given me some notice. The house is a mess, I need to clean rooms.”
“Yes.” She turned to face the pub. “It’s repulsive. But we’re staying at a hotel in Leeds.”
Ashley went pale. “We?”
Ah yes, here’s where it was getting good. Cristian smirked, waiting to see how Ashley would react to this little bit of wonderful news. At the same time, his body went cold at the reminder. A fucking fiance. She could have mentioned that before Cristian had practically screwed her in the parlor.
“You thought Matt wouldn’t come along? Of course he came, he cares about you. He’s worried.”
“Ashley.” And there was good ole’ Matt, stepping out onto the front stoop and joining their happy party.
Cristian brushed past her. Like hell he’d stay and watch this little reunion. “I’ll leave ye to get reacquainted.”
She grasped his arm, a fierce hold. “Don’t leave.” There was panic in her eyes that gave him pause and damn it all, hope.
Matt came strolling toward them, his light hair combed neatly in place. Not a wrinkle was seen on his khaki trousers.
“Are you going to look at me?” Matt asked her, not bothering to glance at Cristian.
“I’ll wait by the car.” Her mother slid her sunglasses into place and started toward the vehicle but not before he saw the smirk of satisfaction on her lips. She thought she’d won.
A low rumble of thunder shook the ground, the heat crackling with electricity and expectancy. “Storms coming,” Ashley said softly, glancing up at the sky. “Not surprising with weather hot and cold, the way it’s been.”
“Ashley,” Matt snapped.
Finally, her gaze went to him. His blond hair glistened in the setting sun, his tan face contrasting against his white polo shirt. Handsome, from a family with old money, a good job, the kind of man who wanted to settle down, he was exactly what any mum would want for their daughter. He made Cristian sick.
“What are you doing here Matt?”
“Can we speak alone?” He glared at Cristian.
Cristian winked at the two of them and slowly moved away.
“What am I doing here? I want to talk,” Matt said in a hushed whisper.
“About what?”
Cristian had made it to the front door, but could still hear every word.
“About us,” Matt sighed.
A breeze swept through the trees, rattling the branches. Dusk was coming and with it, the monsters would make their move. Dare he warn Ashley, or should he let her mother and fiance face their own fate?
“There is no us,” Ashley said. “You need to leave. Go to Leeds with my mom before it gets too dark.”
“Ashley. Come on. This is ridiculous.” Matt reached for her.
She stepped back. “No. Please, just go.”
Cristian’s annoyance flared. The man was getting physical and Cristian felt an odd sense of possessiveness over Ashley. She was his Seer, damn them.
“You want me,” Matt insisted. “I know you do. You’re just scared. Your mom explained that you’ve had…”
Red shot to her cheeks. “Had what?”
He shifted, shoving his hands in the pockets of his khakis. “Problems with anxiety and depression in the past.”
“She told you? About the hospital?” her voice cracked.
He grasped onto her upper arms and jerked her forward. “It’s okay. We’ll get you help. We’ll make you normal again.”
Angered, Cristian started forward. This was getting out of hand. How dare that arse touch her.
Ashley pushed back. “That’s the thing, Matt, normal seems damn boring. This is me.” She held her arms wide. “Crazy ass and all.”
Matt frowned. “You don’t need to be this way. There’s
medication for people like you.”
“Yes. I do need to be this way because there are people counting on me. I’ve been fighting myself my entire life, fighting who I am. I’ve been trying to be who my mom wanted me to be and I can’t do it anymore.”
Cristian paused, his breathing harsh. As much as he wanted to slam his fist into that pretty boy’s face, he knew this was Ashley’s battle. He felt oddly proud of her. The dark sky rumbled and a patter of rain fell around them.
Matt glanced up at the sky, as if annoyed the weather would dare ruin their conversation. “So, you won’t listen to reason?”
She smiled. “No.”
He shook his head and stepped back. “You’re further gone than I realized. You’ll never be normal. Never know love. You’ll give that all up?”
“Go, Matt. Take my mom home and don’t come back.”
He didn’t respond, merely turned and settled into the car. Cristian waited for her to run after them. She didn’t. With a squeal of tires, the vehicle and her family disappeared through the trees. Silence fell, the only sound the soft patter of rain on leaves. She could have gone with them, she could have left behind this monster. She could have tried again to be normal, tried again to be good enough. But she’d stayed. Even though he was soaked through, warmth invaded Cristian’s very being. She’d stayed.
“Are ye all right?” Cristian finally asked.
She spun around and searched his gaze, he didn’t look away. And as the rain thickened, he didn’t flinch. Even in the dim light of dusk, even with her hair plastered to her head and water trailing down her face she was beautiful and he couldn’t look away.
“Are ye all right?” he asked again, stepping closer, drawn to her.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
“Ye could have left.”
“Yeah.”
“Ye didn’t.”
“No.”
He waited for one heartbeat. “Why?”
She stepped closer. So close her breasts brushed his chest. She settled her hands on his broad shoulders, a bold move.