Page 5 of Bound By the Wraith: Northern Realms

Where did he come from?

How did I not see him there?

“You’re drugged, pet,” he answered, coming to stand by her bed. His hands, which reminded her slightly of claws, wrappedaround the side of the hospital bed where she was chained. His nails were black. It was terrifying.

I don’t want to go to hell.

She needed to escape. She wanted to scream.

Something.

“Hello?” she cried out, finally finding her voice.

“Hello?” a female voice responded. Instantly, the moment that other woman responded, the figure by the bed disappeared, like a whirlwind of smoke.

“I don’t know where I am,” Cali responded, weakly. “I’m tied down.”

There was no response from the other woman, but she could hear muffled voices in the hall, beyond the doorway, and then there was a flash of energy rippling in the air. As if there was a power outage, and she could feel something heavy in the atmosphere.

It was almost if something was changing, not for the worse, but for the better.

“You need to remember,” the male creature’s voice whispered in her mind.

As he said it, her body stiffened, like she was about to have a seizure. She hadn’t had a seizure in a long time, but she remembered the feeling well. A bunch of images flashed through her mind. Different places, different points in time, but the one constant that remained in all the images was him.

Only, it couldn’t be. The man she had fragmented dreams about and memories of wasn’t some kind of lurking demon with glowing eyes. He’d been human and loving. There didn’t seem to be anything good about the creature from the shadows.

“Parts of me are good, pet,”he responded, reading her erratic thoughts.

He reappeared then. Her body relaxed. The shadows didn’t do him justice. Her mind was fabricating something far more sinister. Yet, she still had an inkling he was slightly dangerous.

“Oh, but I am,” he cooed.

“Let me go,” she whispered.

“I can’t do that. You belong to Gootch, remember? You sold your soul to him.”

A sob welled up in her throat. “That was a mistake. I don’t really believe in those things.”

“I think you do.”

“I wasn’t supposed to that do. Like I said, it was a mistake.”

The creature grinned. “Indeed it was. For you. Your husband, well, he got his life spared now, didn’t he? Only he didn’t keep his end of the bargain.”

A tear slid from her eyes. “So you’re some kind of minion that’s come to collect, aren’t you?”

He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “I’m not a minion. I’m a wraith.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The difference, pet, is that I can arrange a new deal if you’re interested?”

“A new deal with another devil? I don’t think so.”

“Think very hard on that,” he said, coming closer to her. “With Gootch, you face a life of eternal damnation. With me, you have an out.”

“An out?” she asked.

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