Page 97 of The Devil and His Ghost

“I just don’t understand,” she admitted softly, “why you’d want someone like me around.”

“Someone like you? Let’s talk about who you are. You’re stubborn. So fucking stubborn. Secretive in the most frustrating way. Although, secretive isn’t the right word. Guarded. That’s better. You’re constantly readying your defenses against the world.”

She nodded with eyes downcast.

Shaking my head, I continued, “You’re so strong, Kendyll.”

That one word seemed to snap all of her attention back to me. “Strong?”

“And brave,” I added. “So damn brave. You’ve been through some wild shit, most of which I still don’t even know. You see the fucking dead and literal spawns of Hell on a daily basis. You stare directly into the eyes of what would make even the strongest man crumble to his knees. Despite the horrors you’ve been subjected to and seen, you’re still here. You’re still marching your way through every hurdle. I’ve never met anyone as strong and brave as you, be it human or demon.”

She swallowed hard and reached up to grab my outstretched forearm with both hands. She squeezed hard while her intense gaze seared into mine. “I hide from you, Xander. I still run to the goddamn closet when I’m scared out of habit. I’m still sifting through broken pieces of a story you don’t know anything about. How is that brave or strong? How can you accept me so easily when you don’t know what’s locked behind my walls?”

“It’s exactly because you do those things that make you strong in my eyes. Hiding, running, sifting. You’re fighting in your own way to get through whatever holds you down. And, I have hope that one day I’ll be a safe enough space that I get to fight alongside you. I have hope that I’ll get to see beyond that wall. If I have to wait in the thick of the thorny bushes in the meantime, so be it.”

She bit her lip and looked down, her cheek still cupped within my hand. I could practically see her habit of pushing away and running in an act of self-preservation warring with the temptation to pull close and stay. I really fucking hoped the latter would win, but even if it didn’t, I’d follow and wait.

When she looked at me again, she announced, “I want pancakes with fresh fruit and lots of bacon.”

The words were a dozen little glowing arrows piercing my heart. They bloomed warmth across it and the rest of my body.

The latter had won.

“Anything for you, Ghost.” I released her face, and instead, slung my arm around her shoulder. I held my head high, an unshakable grin across my face. “Anything for you.”

Chapter 33

Kendyll

(Present Day)

THUNDER RUMBLED WITH A BOOM as bright lighting danced across the sky. I jolted with a gasp as though coming out of a deep sleep. I looked around with blurry eyes, wondering when I’d fallen asleep and where I was. After fumbling to find my glasses on the bed near my pillow, I realized it was well into the night, and I was in my bed in Ward E. Xander must’ve brought me up here at some point after I … what? Fell asleep in the comfort of his lap down in Dr. Roberts’s office floor? I practically groaned from embarrassment.

A storm raged outside. The wind and rain beat against the windows, and angry clouds obscured any moonlight so that the hospital was exceptionally dark with only the fleeting bursts of lightning to offer any visibility.

I ran a tired hand through my hair and sat up in bed. Another crack of thunder made me jump, and seconds later, lightning briefly lit up the open, large room. In that quick flash of light, I saw it—a figure in a white gown with abnormally large black eyes and a gaping mouth peering at me from beyond the foot of my bed.

I gasped and grabbed my blankets as I leapt back against the metal bars of the headboard, but the darkness returned all too soon, taking the figure with it. I strained my eyes with a scream lodged in my throat, trying to see if the apparition was truly there at the foot of my bed, but it was no use. I couldn’t make out anything in this darkness, but … I could feel it. I could feel those eyes on me. I could feel the blankets subtly shifting as something crawled up from the floor and onto the bed.

Breathing harder, I leapt up from the bed and rolled toward the window where my flashlight rested. Another beam of lightning illuminated the room in quick flashes, allowing me to see the creature on all fours as she growled a low yet piercing sound from right where I’d been sitting on the bed.

The curtain of darkness descended once more.

A push of the button on my flashlight nearly sent my heart hurtling down into my stomach. I frantically clicked it, but the light wouldn’t come on.

And I could hear her crackling garbled sounds drawing closer within the darkness.

I quickly abandoned my flashlight and ran blindly from the ward. This thing wasn’t a normal ghost, and the very embodiment of horror coated it, making me lose all sense. I shouldn’t have been this scared. I shouldn’t have been running away from an otherworldly being.

Yet, here I was, panting as I raced down the flight of stairs while yelling for Xander. I wasn’t sure where the demon had gone, but I panicked in my attempt to flee and find him.

I nearly stumbled as I leapt from the bottom of the stairs of the first floor. The front doors were somewhere within the darkness ahead of me. I wasn’t sure if going outside and into the torrential downpour was smart, but it was better than being trapped in a building with that thing.

Just as I neared where the door should’ve been, lightning lit up the room in a white glow. I barely managed to stop my forward momentum as I let out a disbelieving, “What?”

I smacked my hands against the solid wall where the front door should’ve been, but no matter how I beat the concrete, no give of a door or knob or crack could be found.

“No,” I gasped while moving along the wall in an attempt to find the neighboring window. Yet, that, too, had vanished. “Why—”