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“Be ready to catch her,” Lincoln warned the others. They all stood around, following as he moved me from the center of the ceiling and slammed me into the wall before moving me back.
I was slammed around like a ragdoll, my ears ringing and my body aching from the attack. I was desperate for air now and my head was starting to spin.
“I’ve got the rune off. How is he this strong still?” Ryker asked, his voice desperate and scared.
They were terrified.
But so was I.
I could feel Patrick’s hands on me, pushing me into the ceiling as the negative energy burrowed into my skin.
It was a cold ache that settled into my bones and filled my veins. My stomach rolled at the darkness overtaking me.
“They don’t even want you.” The thought wasn’t my own, but it pushed against my psyche. “You’re a burden to them. They think you’re a fraud, a liar.”
“No, they don’t. They love me!” I choked out, fighting back against his words.
“They’d be better off without you,” he taunted. “You’re nothing.”
He was using all of my insecurities against me. The dark thoughts that I kept at bay most days were creeping back in. He was planting seeds of doubt that I couldn’t ignore.
Every vicious lie he uttered grew like dark vines curling around my brain, keeping me in their hold so I couldn’t escape.
Tears were flowing down my cheeks, and he was giving me just enough air now to breathe, to live just long enough to torment me.
“You’re going to die here, Brea. This will be the last investigation you ever do.”
Then his voice shifted, morphing so he was speaking in Mack’s voice.
“I was always your biggest fan, Brea, but you killed me. You pushed me down that mineshaft. Then you left my broken body at the bottom.”
“You tried to kill me,” I sobbed. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” His death haunted me still, in so many ways. Partick had gone past my barriers and was picking apart my weaknesses and using them like weapons against me.
“I’m going to kill you like you killed me. You were always mine. Now you’ll be mine forever.”
“No, no.” I repeated it over and over in my head, trying my best to not believe any of the stuff that was coming my way.
This man wasn’t just a negative force, a spirit twisted by greed and anger; he was a fucking monster.
“Let her go!” It wasn’t my men that yelled this time or Hale, it was Remington. I tried to blink through the black spots still dancing in my eyes to see a flash of white as the ghost came to my aid.
They were solid as they shoved against Patrick. His form retreated just enough that I was released. I would have fallen to my death if not for one for the wisps slowing my fall so I landed softly into Ethan’s arms.
He clutched me, holding me close as I sobbed against him. It was all too much. I was overwhelmed, my brain a little bit twisted and broken now.
I was useless to them, just like he said.
My hysteria might end up hurting us but there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“He’s distracted, keep looking,” Hale said. Ethan didn’t move, didn’t bother to help as he tried to hold me together.
“Brea, you listen to me. I don’t know what happened there on that ceiling, but I saw your face. Don’t you dare let anything that happened up there make you doubt us or yourself. We are here for you. We love you. You are amazing, and you are going to help free these spirits from the hold he has on them.”
I glanced up at the spirits above us. Their forms had faded into a thick, white smoke that pushed against his black smog. It was a war of good and evil and right now, it was tied.
“I doubt the spirits would have helped a person they didn’t think was worthy,” he continued, whispering his thoughts to me. His voice chased off the panic that was still clutching at me until I could breathe normally again.
When I shifted to rub my aching throat, he let out a relieved sigh and squeezed me just a little bit tighter. “Come on, angel, help me. We have to end this. You can do this.”
