Page 61 of Outlaw Witch

While not talking too loud or breathing on me. Although, I don’t add that last part, as ghosts tend to be notoriously touchy.

“Why would you want to do that?” she asks, blowing her icy breath directly down my neck.

That’s another thing about ghosts. In my experience, they’re also nosy as hell.

“I’m trying to help someone who has a blood curse. It’s bad and spreading fast, so I could do with all the help I can get.”

“Third book on the third shelf down will open the secret passageway, which leads to all the highly restricted books,” she says. “That’s where you’ll find all the tomes on vampiric legacy.”

Of course it is. Because we apparently haven’t traveled deep enough into the bowels of the city yet.

“You think you could persuade the tattooed hottie to undo a few more buttons? It’s been a long time since we’ve had any man meat down here and I need some new material for the ol’ spank bank.” She giggles.

“I’ll do my best,” I tell her. Frankly, I get where she’s coming from. Roscoe’s hot as hell and if I was stuck down here with just myself for company, I’d drive myself nuts.

I glance over my shoulder and see him wandering around with an overwhelmed expression on his face. While he’s not looking my way, I grab onto the book the ghost pointed out and hope she’s not messing with me. My hand makes contact with the book and I yank firmly, causing an ear-splitting screech of metal on stone as the shelves drag themselves across the floor, revealing a dark hole in the ground.

Roscoe and Mindy bound over to me, his eyes wide and excited. “Holy shit.” He’s practically buzzing with excitement as he looks down into the hole.

“You think there’s going to be puzzles and stuff for us to solve once we get down there? Each of them getting more complicated as we get closer to the heart of the forbidden archives?”

I sure hope not. “You’re into puzzles?” I ask him. I can’t say I was expecting that.

“I like to be challenged,” he purrs, stepping closer to me.

Pulling out my cell phone, I hit the flashlight and point it down into the hole. There are rungs carved into one side like a ladder and I glance at Roscoe.

“I have a feeling we need to climb down there,” I say.

“Careful,” the ghost mutters against my neck and I shiver.

Seriously, they have zero comprehension of personal space. She continues to talk uncomfortably close to my skin. “You wouldn’t want to break your neck. And I’m not sure we need your kind down here joining us.”

“I’ll take it slow,” I reply, although I’m not sure if I’m talking more to myself, to Roscoe, or to her.

Before I can take a step closer, Roscoe slips an arm around my waist and pulls me back slightly.

“Nope. I’m not letting you go down there first. I’ll go and yell if there’s a monster lurking at the bottom or I break my neck. You save yourself and tell the tale of my gallantry and sexiness in the face of danger.” He smirks at me and the ghost librarian giggles.

Shaking my head at his antics, I then just about hold in a shriek as he chucks himself down into the hole.

Fuck.

I drop into a panicked crouch right at the edge of the hole, holding my flashlight, but I can’t see a thing. It’s like the darkness entirely swallows the light.

“You okay?” I call down, my voice echoing.

“I’m at the bottom. You’re all good to come down, baby girl.”

“Neither a baby, nor a girl,” I call back, carefully feeling my way down the rungs and heading into the pit of darkness.

Dammit, I thought this place couldn’t get more creepy, and yet here we are.

“Once you’re down there, you’re going to want to avoid looking at anything for too long,” the ghost tells me.

I guess once a librarian, always a librarian. She just can’t fight the urge to help me find the book I’m looking for.

My fingers are sweating as I steadily make my way down. The air grows colder and colder with every step and it’s thick with the lack of ventilation down here.

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