Page 4 of Ghostly Touches

Move, damn it!I tell my feet.

To my horror they do, but in the wrong direction. I can’t stop myself as I approach her. Each step is a calculated move, like a predator stalking its prey. And that’s exactly what I am. If I get my hands on her, she’s as good as dead. I can’t do this. I can’t kill this innocent woman.

Please, no,I beg, as if my warped instincts could understand such a plea.

Taste her, the sinister voice whispers.

As if she can sense me, her head swings in my direction. She places her hands on her hips. There’s no way she could possibly see me. Yet her brow furrows slightly as her frown deepens.

“You can stop lurking in the dark. If you’re going to rob or murder me, at least have the decency to face me instead of trying to sneak up on me,” she calls out.

My feet don’t stop moving. Even as I beg them to, my footsteps never falter as I step into the yellowish hue of the light by the side door.

“We’re not here to harm you, Miss Harvest.” My mouth is moving but it’s the monster that speaks. Mentally, I’m screaming to stop this before it goes too far. “My friends and I have come to you this evening because we need help. Due to the nature of the problem and who we are, we need to stay discreet, which means staying out of sight, so the others are already inside.”

She cocks a brow in surprise.

“Help? Honey, I think you’ve come to the wrong place.” Her eyes trail down my frame, and curiosity brightens those moss green eyes. With my cloak on and hood up, there’s nothing for her to see, but still, I feel self-conscious.

“Please, will you just hear us out?” The monster knows he needs to get her into the house. I can feel its glee as if it is my own as she sighs and drops her hands from her waist.

“First, I want your name.”

My throat works, trying to give her an answer while my lips remain pressed together. I shouldn’t tell her. It’s up to Theo to decide what information she learns. But it only takes a moment for the monster to win again. Determined to appease the woman in front of us, I choke out, “Kwil. My name is Kwil.”

Fuck, do I have no control at all? The young woman gives me a curt nod.

“Alright, Kwil, since your friends have already made themselves at home, I might as well see what they want.” She walks past me up the two steps to the side porch and opens the unlocked door. Does she have no sense of self-preservation? Surely, even in a town as small as this one, there are some unsavory characters one would want to lock out of their home.

Like me.

With her back turned to me, my eyes fall to her full, round ass, and I nearly groan.

Mine, the monster whispers gleefully as I follow her into her house.

The part of me that I thought was moral, that I thought was more man than monster, whispers back,ours.

Chapter3

WILLOW

Hanging close to my side, Georgina Peele is hyperventilating.

I don’t know what her problem is since she’s already dead. Despite being alive, I’m not too worried as I step into the kitchen. These men came to the wrong house if they’re looking for trouble. I already know there are two living men I have to contend with. There’s the mysterious man with a deep voice shutting the door behind us, known as Kwil, and a man standing in the family room. There’s also a surly spirit lingering around the two of them. And, if Georgina is to be believed, the man in the other room has a pet monster waiting for me in there as well.

Tossing my keys onto the counter, I go to the refrigerator first and grab a soda. I look over to the hooded man standing as still as a tree.

“Want one?”

“No.” There’s a short pause before he adds, “Thank you.”

With a shrug, I shut the refrigerator and leave the kitchen to greet the other intruder.

“Don’t go in there,” Georgina whispers, petrified. She tries to reach out to grab my arm, but without the help of my power, her hands simply flow through me. “The monster is going to eat you.”

I want to roll my eyes as I head down the hallway. Monster? It’s probably just a big dog she’s never seen before. When I enter the family room, however, I immediately agree with her assessment that the thing tied up by the fireplace is certainly a monster.

It’s huge. The creature has elongated arms and legs, with meaty hands and feet that house sharp, dangerous claws. The chest and torso are strangely stretched. Its back is arched, lined with sharp spikes. The head of this creature is almost human-like although its jaw juts out further and there are horns that curve ever so slightly around its bald head. There are slits for its nose and no eyes. Despite the lack of sight, its head turns and locks onto my exact location. It makes a gargled sound, but with its mouth gagged with some sort of filthy material, the sound is muffled.

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