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I just hoped that Paige didn’t make a comeback after this. With the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead closed right now, I wasn’t as worried that Paige would slip in to tell Addie what a piece of shit I was. My ex couldn’t ruin this for me right now.
That was a different matter once we set everything right again.
Please, Paige. I’ve forgiven you. Don’t come back.
“Are you all right?” Addie asked, putting a gentle hand to my chest.
I covered her hand with my own and offered a reassuring smile. “Let’s find this bastard.”
Darkness descended, allowing the dragon shifters to take flight. Most of the mammalian shifters took to the woods on feet. Ness and I shifted and hopped into the back of Vi’s Jeep. The antichrist drove like a mad woman, but that meant we arrived long before the other shifters.
“I hope he’s here,” Addie said under her breath.
There was a chance that Vince had gone elsewhere to lick his wounds. Or, worse, he was on the hunt again.
Addie drew on her arcana and filled the air with a ghostly chill that made everyone around her shudder. She offered a quiet apology while Ness and I looked on. The female hound shifter beside me bore a look of pride.
The Addie that I’d met weeks ago had refused to use her magic. Now, she accessed it constantly. She’d grown so much in such little time.
I could only hope that I was doing the same for her. She was the guiding light that I would follow. I would be her shadow, always there to wrap her in safety.
Ness bumped against my shoulder and tossed her head in Addie’s direction. It was an unspoken command—one that I was more than happy to follow.
My thoughts were interrupted by a chorus of jumbled voices. Their screaming was distant, at first. Then it grew louder, their pain viscerally woven into the sound. I stiffened and prepared for the worst when several dark forms flickered into being around Addie.
One crouched on the hood of Vi’s Jeep. Another shoved her head through the window to look Addie in the eye. Addie didn’t flinch. Her eyes were closed as she followed her arcana. The bloom of her power must have attracted the ghosts of Vince’s victims once more. They reached towards her, sending me into action.
I clambered into the passenger seat and placed myself on Addie’s lap. She didn’t react. Instead, the smell of blood grew stronger. The wound in her chest stained the fresh bandage we’d applied earlier. It was as if the presence of the ghosts drained Addie.
They were feeding on her, I realized. The shades needed Addie in order to materialize. I needed Addie’s arcana, too. We were all pulling and pulling on one person.
A female ghost reached through me and touched Addie’s chest. I snapped at the spirit, but my teeth caught nothing but air. They were making Addie’s wound bleed again. A snarl in the back of my throat, I tried again. I pulled Addie’s arcana into me and tried to force open the portal between the worlds, so I could bite the ghost in the world between life and death.
Addie caught me by my muzzle. She made ashhsound and pulled me tight to her body.
“They can’t hurt me,” Addie said. “They’re just memories. These aren’t real spirits.”
