Page 38 of The Devil and His Ghost

While I scrutinized the red rose painting hanging on the wall, Kendyll made a slow walk of the room. I glanced at her, noting her serious expression as she closed her eyes as though trying to sense any potential occupants. Her frown deepened, and wordlessly, she moved onto the next location—The Emerald Room.

“Green bed, carpet, and furniture?” I gaped. “I’m shocked.”

Her lip twitched, but she bit it to fight the grin. She ran a hand over the foot of the bed like she was searching and waiting to feel something. She called out softly for any spirits that might be here to come out, promising that it was okay. Nothing happened. The Azure Room was just the same in both color theme and lack of energy.

We reached the final bedroom, which read The Gold Room on the golden plaque on the door. I leaned against the doorframe and nodded my chin at the sign. “I bet you’ll never guess what color the room is. It’s truly a mystery. The biggest mystery of the whole damn place.”

She couldn’t hide the small chuckle under her breath, but she attempted to disguise it with a cough and opening of the door. My grin fell as I looked around at the silver furnishings, bedding, decor, and floor. Kendyll shifted to look over her shoulder at me, and this time, she didn’t hide her laugh. I whipped my head every direction, on the hunt for the fucking gold.

“You’re shitting me,” I remarked in outrage, coming up with nothing but silver at every angle. “I didn’t think I could hate this inn more, yet here we are. I’m gonna burn it down.”

She threw her head back on another laugh and placed her hand on my chest to move me aside so that she could search the area I crowded. “You’ll do no such thing.”

“Why would they do that?” I groaned.

Instead of feeding into my misgivings, she grumbled. “I still don’t feel or see anyone.”

“Because there’s no one here to feel or see,” I told her. Closing the space between us, I wore a wide fanged grin as I grabbed her hand and placed it back on my chest. “Unless you count me. Feel me all you want to.”

She sucked in a hard breath before going rigid. Her wide-eyed stare slowly brightened, and a grin stretched across her face. “I sense it now.”

I craned my neck around and scanned the room. “I don’t sense shit.”

“Nope. It’s crystal clear.” The hand on my chest fisted my shirt, and she yanked me closer. “I found the entity who haunts The Gilded Inn.”

My smile fell. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes,” she argued coolly. “You wanted to come along, so you’re going to help.”

“What? You want me to let you capture me on film and mess with your team while they’re here?”

She nodded. “That’s exactly what I want.”

I narrowed my eyes for a beat before my smile found its place back on my face. “Sounds fun.”

“I knew you had a brain inside that head of yours,” she chirped, releasing my shirt to pat my chest like one would pat the head of their pet cat. “Now, let’s go take some spooky photos.”

Kendyll was a ruthless camera woman. She set up the device to snap photos and videos, but because I was hidden within my shadowy veil, the footage couldn’t actually capture me. I had to allow a bit of my shadows through the invisible barrier so that the camera glimpsed my black mass with glowing eyes. She filmed me in that form rushing across the long stretch of hallway or crouching to peer around a chair in a dark room or looking between the crack in the door of The Azure Room.

But Kendyll wasn’t a one shot and done kind of girl. I had to retake the damn photos and videos over and over, and I had a hunch that she wasn’t nearly as strict when dealing with other entities. It seemed I was the only one lucky enough to experience her true bossy side.

I was currently under the bed in our final shooting location. With the photoshoot over, Kendyll sat with a hard bounce on the mattress right above where my large body struggled to get free.

“Fuck,” I gasped. “You’re sitting on me.”

“These photos look great,” she praised, ignoring me. “I think these are the clearest photos I’ve ever taken.”

Giving up on trying to wiggle out from under the cramped space beneath the bed, I merged with shadows and reappeared directly in front of Kendyll, who smiled proudly at the footage she was busy reviewing.

“Yeah,” I finally agreed, smoothing my hair with a clawed hand. “Demons have way more power than ghosts, so if we really wanted to show up on camera, we would. Likewise, if we didn’t want to be seen, you’d never capture us.”

Before she could respond, her stomach growled. I pressed my lips together to hide my grin while she froze and her cheeks grew red. She’d loved food in the past, and I found myself wondering if she had the same weakness these days.

“Should we go grab dinner?” I asked.

Clearing her throat, she stood and tossed that long black hair over her shoulder. “Fine. I guess we can eat.”

I bit back a chuckle. After putting away her gear in The Violet Room, she let Wendy know that she was running out to eat and would be back. Out on the sidewalk, I made sure no one was around before materializing and shedding my demonic form.