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Hannatook her time getting ready for bed that night.Shewas putting off going to sleep, but she was also enjoying her new surroundings.Theguest suite which was located right besideAuntLunaandUncleBruin’ssuite was a complete one eighty from her old apartment.
Forinstance, instead of a single, rusty shower stall and a stained sink and toilet, she had a huge bathroom with top-of-the-line fixtures and a bathing pool that was practically big enough to swim in.Hannadid do some swimming—and some soaking—though she was still a bit too tense to totally relax.
Therest of the suite was amazing too.Thebedroom had a huge bed with a thick, luxurious mattress, silky, cool sheets, and big puffy pillows.Aftersleeping on the lumpy fold-out couch for so long,Hannawas sure it was going to be a treat to drift off in such luxury.Ifshe could relax enough to go to sleep, that was.
Thefood prep area was well stocked—though admittedly most of the food wasKindredcuisine she wasn’t used to.Buther aunt had promised to make a grocery order and have some “Earthfood” delivered.Theywere going to have to go shopping for clothes, too.Hannahadn’t packed a thing other than what was in her purse.Notthat anything she’d left behind was worth much, but it was a little inconvenient to have to borrowAuntLuna’sclothes until she could get some of her own.
Fornow she had a lovely white silky nightdress to wear to bed.Shewas taller than her aunt, so it would be a little short on her, but she didn’t really mind.
Alreadyshe was beginning to see thatAuntLunawas right—theMotherShipwas a wonderful place to live.Therewas free healthcare and free education for anyone who wanted to take classes.Also, unlimited maternity leave and free childcare if and when she ever wanted to have children.Yeahright—she’d have to find a guy who didn’t think she was crazy first,Hannatold herself dryly.
Butthe best thing so far about theMotherShipwas the blessed lack ofImpsorDarkEntitiesof any kind.EithertheKindredwere much more honorable, kind, and truthful than human men or else they simply lacked the nasty little demonic creatures because they were aliens from another planet and theImpswere tied to theEarthlyRealm.
Hannasuspected it might be a combination of the two, but for whatever reason, it was nice not to be constantly distracted by the evil little spirits.Theydidn’t just leer at her when she was onEarth—they often pinched or poked her or jumped out at her at unexpected times, just to see her scream.Shehadn’t had a supernatural creature jump-scare her since she’d come aboard theMotherShipand it waswonderful.
Itwas amazing, she reflected, how much calmer she felt when she didn’t have the constant threat of some ugly little spirit scaring or pinching or poking her at any moment.Itmade her wonder if she might be able to pick up her studies again.Severalof the majorEarthuniversities had branches at theMotherShipnow—maybe a degree inEnglishLitwasback on the table.
Shealso hadn’t seen any dead people since she arrived.AsAuntLunahad promised, spirits and shades seemed to be few and far between up here.Itwas nice not to have to worry that she might turn the corner and confront an angry ghost at any moment.
Ofcourse, she had been on board less than twenty-four hours, so it was too early to say for sure yet, if things were going to work out here.Butso far,Hannawas cautiously optimistic.
Shecouldn’t becompletelycalm and optimistic though—not until she’d had her first night aboard and made sure that theDarkEntitywhich was stalking her really was unable to reach her here.
AuntLunaseemed to think she was perfectly safe—though shehadcome into the guest suite and taken the precaution of placing some wards herself.Shehad also made sure thatHannahad an extraThink-me on her bedside table in case of emergencies.
“Theminute you have a problem or eventhinkyou have a problem, just put on theThink-me and bespeak me andBruin,” she toldHanna. “We’llbe over there in a hot minute,Ipromise.”
Takingall these precautions had gone a long way to soothingHanna’sanxiety, but she could still feel some worry simmering in the back of her mind, like a pot on the stove that might boil over at any minute.Shewasn’t going to feel completely safe, she thought, until she spent an entire night without the intrusion of theDarkEntityand got the damn lust curse off her forehead.
Therewas no luck on that front so far—AuntLunahad tried several spells and counter spells butHannacould still see the fiery letters glowing on her forehead whenever she looked in the mirror.However, she still hadn’t felt any effects of it, meaning shewasn’tparticularly horny.Evenin the luxurious bathing pool, she had no urge to “help herself out,” as her aunt had delicately put it when she andSamanthawere growing up and they came to her with questions.
Hannahad a feeling that her sex drive might return if she could feel safe and protected, but for now, it was still missing in action.
Whenshe finally put on the white silk gown and slid between the cool, crisp sheets, she hoped she would be able to get to sleep.AuntLunahad offered her some sleep medication—supposedly all natural and completely hangover-free—butHannahad refused it.Shewanted to be instantly alert if the demon thing came back.Thememory of being frozen in place as theDarkEntitysat on her chest and leered down at her, was still vivid in her mind.Ifshe saw even ahintof the glowing red eyes anywhere in her room, she was grabbing for theThink-me at once to call for help!
Ittook some time for her to settle down.Aslovely and luxurious as her new bedroom was, it was still completely unfamiliar.Themattress felt almosttoocomfortable and the pillows were too puffy.Hannawas used to sleeping on the lumpy, thin fold-out couch mattress with a pillow so flat she had to double it over to get any neck support at all.
Atlast, however, she found a comfortable position and her eyes began to drift closed.Shehad left the light in the bathroom on and the bathroom door cracked but otherwise the room was in darkness.Therewere no windows theDarkEntitycould get through and the bed was triple warded.Andmost importantly, she saw no glowing red eyes in the shadows.
MaybeAuntLunais right—maybe theDarkEntityis confined to theEarthlyReam—like theImps,she thought hopefully as she yawned.MaybeIcan finally get a good night’s sleep for the first time in months…
Andso thinking, she finally drifted off, completely unaware that she was being watched.
8
WRAITH
WhenHanna’sbreathing became even and regular,Wraithfinally felt comfortable stepping out from his hiding place inside the wall.
Hedidn’t like hiding in solid objects—he could do it, but his vision was somewhat obstructed and he could feel the molecules of whatever he was in vibrating hard, wanting to get rid of him.Still, he had spent most of his afternoon and evening doing exactly that, since it was the only way he could find out what was happening with the intriguing littleElite.
Asfar as he could tell, she seemed to be in fear because some kind of demonic force was pursuing her.Wraithknew a thing or two aboutDarkForces—he had tangled with them before, greatly to his detriment.Sohe could understand her fear.
Hecould also see the fiery runes theDarkEntityhad placed on her forehead—they burned and glowed and were extremely obvious when she had her hair pulled out of the way.Buthe hadn’t gotten a chance to get a really good look at them and he wanted to—he felt like maybe there was more to the curse than even herAuntLunaknew.
Wraithhad decided to wait until she went to sleep to see if he could get a better look at them.Hedidn’t watch her while she was naked or bathing—he was an honorable male and it would have been wrong to spy on her when she was in such a vulnerable position.Buthe did hang around her suite—hidden in this wall or that—and watched as she explored it.Heliked to hear her little murmurs of surprise or pleasure, such as when she sat on the mattress and exclaimed to herself,
“Oh!Sosoft!” as though she wasn’t used to such luxury.
