Page 56 of Séance

He’s completely unconscious at this point, and I grunt with effort as I tuck his legs into the vehicle. When I lean over to secure his seat belt, he seems to wake up from his stupor, and he glares at me, which is ineffective with only one eye, before grabbing the belt himself.

It takes him two tries before the belt clicks into place. Heaving a sigh, like it took all his power to do such a simple task, he wilts against the seat. I’m not sure if he’s resting or passed out again. Either way, we need to get out of here before reinforcements arrive.

I grab Rue’s arm, haul her around to the driver’s side of the car, then gently tuck her into the back seat. She’s shaking so badly that I’m wondering if she’s going into some sort of shock. I frown in concern, glad she kept her wits about her during the fight and waited until after the battle before falling apart.

Shutting her door, I slip into the driver’s seat, then wince when I get a look at myself in the rearview mirror. Blood is smeared across my face, my green eyes nearly feral with bloodlust. A dark bruise is already darkening my jaw, while blood spills down my chin from a split lip.

If we wanted to scare Rue away, then we’re doing a damn good fucking job of it.

Unfortunately, it’s much too late for that now.

The instant she joined the fight, she put a target on herself. Even if she wants nothing to do with us, the choice is out of her hands.

As much as I want to spare her the nightmare of our world, the instant she ran over our enemies to save us, she became one of us, whether she likes it or not, and fuck if I have any intention of letting her go.

Chapter Eighteen

RUE

As we speed off into the night, I stare blankly out of the car window, replaying the events of the night over and over in my head. I woke up when the temperature in my room dropped below zero, the air so cold it nearly froze in my lungs.

And found a ghost hovering over my bed.

While the wards managed to block her from communicating with me, they couldn’t banish her from the house completely. I only had a second of consciousness before she dropped straight toward me. The instant she made contact with my skin, it burned like ice.

Funnily enough, the burning is a good sign.

It’s when things start to go numb that you’re in trouble.

It wasn’t the first time some asshole thought it could take control of me. My body went rigid as it fought against the possession, but it was hard to battle something that I couldn’t touch. As I began the laborious eviction process, a woman’s voice filled my mind.

Please, don’t.The shout was so loud that it reverberated in my head like a gong, and I grimaced when my skull threatened to crack open. I gritted my teeth and covered my ears, surprised my brains weren’t oozing out.

After a second of quiet, the voice softened.I don’t have much energy after fighting past your wards to get to you, and Gunner doesn’t have much time.

I instantly froze at the mention of Gunner, afraid to move and accidentally banish her. As much as I wanted to force her to leave and scrub my brain clean, I couldn’t take the risk. “Explain.”

A human body isn’t built for two souls. The longer we remained connected, the more our realities would merge. Our memories would become foggy, and it would be hard to tell what was reality and what was fantasy. Eventually, one of us would crack and just cease to exist.

That doesn’t include the havoc two souls could wreak on the body. The brain would start misfiring, struggling to remember basic functions, then organ failure would occur within a few days unless one person conceded control.

Thankfully, the woman pulled away. She hovered over me once more, her anxious eyes searching mine, and I was shocked to see that it wasn’t a woman at all, but a preteen girl full of spunk and grit. Though she was wearing a mutinous expression, the golden light in her eyes was dull and tarnished, meaning she had been a ghost for some time. It was a miracle that she remained earthbound so long without someone feeding off her.

She was a fighter.

I had no doubt that if I didn’t listen to her, she would do whatever it took to get what she wanted.

Instead of answering me with words, she lifted her hand and pressed two fingers to the center of my forehead. My visiondarkened to black. I squinted at the abrupt change, blinking to clear my vision, when I saw shapes moving in the darkness.

No, not shapes.

Gunner!

He was surrounded by men beating the crap out of him…then he wasn’t. He was on the ground, his body so still that my breath hitched in my chest. Golden light enveloped his form, and a scream lodged in my throat when I literally saw his soul emerge from his body.

They killed him.

Something inside me shattered, and the vision wavered.

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