Page 41 of The Devil and His Ghost

She walked beneath my arm in silence for a while. The only sounds came from our footfalls against the leaf-strewn pavement. As the inn came into view, she asked, “You’ve lived a long time, right?”

“I’ve been around for a minute.”

She smiled briefly while her gaze traveled far away with distant hopes. “I bet you’ve been everywhere. Done everything. Seen everything. The traveling part that comes with working for Bethelma is nice, but I don’t get the chance to see or do much. I know it’s crazy to travel as much as I do yet still not have seen or done anything.” She looked up at me. “What’s your favorite place you’ve ever been to?”

“Oh, man.” I let out a low whistle and looked up at the dark, cloudy sky. “There are so many great places out there. It’s really hard to choose just one, though I do have a special place in my heart for China. That’s where I was originally created and placed.”

“How long were you there?”

I shook my head with an incredulous laugh. “I’m not even sure. A long ass time. I was placed there during the Three Kingdoms period to help cause trouble and stir things up.”

“As it goes for a Mischief demon,” she nodded understandingly.

I smirked and squeezed her lightly under my arm. “You know me so well. Anyway, I was there through a few more dynasties. My favorite was by far the Tang Dynasty. Chaos is fun, so the harder times were obviously more fulfilling for me. But I also enjoyed the easier life of the Tang Dynasty. I like to think of that era as my vacation period.”

“I’m sure you still caused some trouble,” she retorted with a grin.

“Obviously. I’m pretty sure the legend concocted around me being a ghost who snatches people walking alone at night still persists in one village. Pitted a few neighbors against each other, too. You know, simple stuff.”

She shook her head. We made it back to the inn, so I merged back into the invisibility of shadows while Kendyll let Wendy know that she’d returned. I followed her to The Violet Room, and with the door shut, I dropped the shadows and my human guise.

“Jokes aside,” I said as I watched Catsper pad across the room and jump onto the bed. I sat on the edge to play with his paws. “I really do love visiting China when I can. The food, the people, the sights, the festivals. You’ve not seen anything until you’ve seen the Lantern Festival.”

Intrigue brightened her eyes before she disappeared into the en suite with arms loaded down in pajamas. She reemerged moments later in a silk charcoal long-sleeve top and pants. She fixed her attention on me while drifting closer. “What’s that like?”

“Magical. That’s really the only way to describe it. Lanterns of all sizes crafted in vibrant, bright displays of animals, immortals, and ancient tales. The sky is completely dark, but you can’t even remember what darkness looks like because you’re so captivated by a red and gold dragon flying across the air or a moon goddess who’s smiling down upon those at her feet.”

“That sounds incredible,” she mused wistfully.

I stood to pull my shirt off. Her eyes traced my hands as they undid my jeans so that I stood in nothing but my skin-tight black briefs. I rearranged the pillows on the bed and fluffed the blanket. Catsper was unbothered as the thick duvet passed through him.

“I’ll take you next time,” I vowed. “It’s the fifteenth day of the first Chinese lunar month, so you’ll have to wait until then. I think it will fall in February this coming year.”

“Really? You’ll really take me?” she asked happily, clasping her hands.

“Really.”

She held out her pinky with a cheeky grin. “Pinky promise?”

Kendyll’s body and personality might’ve changed, but some things would always be the same, such as the glow that lit up her eyes when promised a new experience or this habit.

Chuckling, I wrapped my pinky around hers. “Pinky promise.”

Chapter 16

Kendyll

(2 Years Ago)

I’D NEVER SKIPPED WORK OR ignored my responsibilities tied to Bethelma. There were days or nights when I’d look beyond the window of wherever we were and pretend I was out there, chasing adventure and living a life of my own. But my name scrawled in black ink on a dotted line that I didn’t understand at the time kept me rooted in place to simply stare and dream.

Xander was determined to change that.

“I can’t just leave,” I argued for the third time that morning.

“Of course you can,” Xander fired back, once again shoving the clothes he’d procured for me that morning into my arms. “The filming crew isn’t going to be here for another two days, and there are no actual ghosts here for you to talk to. That means we have two days to make up for lost time and your stolen youth. So change before I take off your clothes myself.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”