Page 129 of The Devil and His Ghost

“It’s not too late,” I rushed to tell her. “It’s never too late for us, Kendyll.”

Her gaze was unfocused and words slurred. “I … can feel … a pull. I can hear … a man calling … me.”

Her voice grew fainter as she spoke, and her spectral body was becoming increasingly transparent. Whatever her soul was deciding on doing from this point, it prepared for that final departure. Her soul prepared to leave me.

“What if … a ghost … forgets? What if … forget you? I … run again.”

I shook my head hard and tried to speak loud so that she could hear me beyond the pull on her spirit. “Then I’ll wait until you remember. I will fucking chase you, find you, and wait for you, Kendyll.”

“I’m … scared, Xander. Want … you.”

“Don’t be scared,” I told her. I held her physical body closer while staring hard at the fading light of her spirit. “I’ve got you, Ghost.”

I’ve fucking got you.

Gritting my teeth in determination, I held up two fingers in front of her ghostly body. My eyes burned with the truth of my demonic nature. Shrouded under the cover of shadows, I raised my two fingers and made quick work of drawing a sigil in the air. The space glowed gold in the wake of my movements until the demonic sign now shined in front of Kendyll. I flung my two clawed fingers toward her, the glowing symbol darting into her ghostly form like an arrow.

Her spectral body rippled, and when I pulled the two fingers back in my direction, like a fish on a hook, her ghostly body shrank into a white orb before funneling into my chest. Her soul warmed my skin, making my eyes close in both anguish and fierce love.

My one ghost.

My one soul.

She really was mine now.

I should’ve been happy to at least have her ghost to be with once she settled in death and found enough energy to reawaken as a spirit, which could take days, weeks, months, or years. Every ghost was different. But my heart continued to break in grief. My tears continued to fall onto her cold body. My world had been taken from me. My life had been stolen.

The icy pain carving up my insides suddenly ignited into hatred and rage. Breathing hard, I slowly looked up at the balcony where Kendyll had fallen from. Where I’d seen that man.

Cradling Kendyll’s lifeless body, I stood back to my full height. My wet face had become an eerily blank mask that might’ve even rivaled Coldin’s.

There was nothing left now.

She was fucking gone.

Hell was all that awaited, and like a quiet storm rolling in, I prepared to deliver it.

My body hummed with the power of my malice and from the energy I’d gained from those who’d witnessed and reacted to my unchecked emotions, which had shattered the windows around me. I was a fucking powerhouse right now, and there was only one outlet for it to go.

I disappeared into shadows and reappeared on the balcony where I should’ve met Kendyll. I should’ve appeared here to find her backlit in the setting sun with a smile fixed right on me. I should’ve met her there where I could’ve told her how absolutely beautiful she looked and led her into the wedding to upstage everyone there. I should’ve fucking been there.

But instead, he was.

The man wasn’t alone anymore.

Terrance and a woman, who I assumed was Mrs. Cartwright, were with the man right inside the balcony doors. The man held his hands up, trying to calm Terrance down, pretending there had been an accident.

“What accident?” Terrance demanded. “Where’s Kendyll, Dad?”

“Kendyll?” I asked, letting my disembodied voice carry into the room like an echo in a chamber. I stepped into the room and let the balcony doors slam shut before the curtains swished closed violently. Shadows rolled off my body, descending the room into complete and utter darkness.

The three humans panicked, their fear adding to the fuel of my power.

“You want to know what happened?”

My eyes glowed brighter, and all three adults found my golden demonic eyes within the darkness. Screams followed, and I smiled my fanged grin at the horrified sounds they produced, allowing that smile to become visible to their limited sight. My attention snapped to the man staring blindly around the dark room.

Snarling, I barked, “Tell them what you did.”