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Nana Pratt clapped her wispy hands together. “Ooh, you can command us to go with you, can’t you?”
“No,” I said firmly. “I can’t.”
“You can,” she insisted. “You controlled my hand when you showed me how to use the putty knife to remove the wallpaper. I bet you can do a lot more than that. Let us come with you. We promise to be good. We can even help you.”
Nana Pratt had been paying closer attention than I realized.
“You knew I did that?”
“Of course, dear. You were being helpful. There’s no harm in that.”
I hesitated. “Help me how?”
“You can’t be everywhere at once. We can eavesdrop on all the people you aren’t able to talk to.”
“Divide and conquer,” Ray added with an enthusiastic punch to his palm.
I actually found myself considering the option.
“It would be a nice change of scenery,” Nana Pratt said. “Not that I mind the grounds of the Castle. I’d rather be here than…” She jacked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the afterlife.
“It could be dangerous,” I said.
“Not for us,” she shot back. “We’re already dead.”
“Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you’re beyond certain kinds of torture.”
“Like what?” Nana Pratt asked. “I’m immune to bullet wounds and vampire fangs.”
“There are others way to hurt someone that don’t involve their physical bodies.”
Ray’s expression turned solemn. “She means our loved ones, Ingrid. The reason we stay tethered to this place. Our living relatives could become collateral damage if we upset the wrong people.”
Worry lines formed over Nana Pratt’s wrinkled brow. “I see. I’m starting to understand why Lorelei has kept to herself all these years. You don’t have to worry about endangering anyone you love if you don’t love anyone.”
My chest tightened. “I need to open the door for Kane.”
“Kane has taken care of that himself.” The prince of hell stood framed in the doorway of my bedroom, looking more debonair than I’d ever seen him. Nana Pratt was right. Wowzers.
“Hi,” I said, momentarily distracted by his sudden appearance.
“Hi.” His gaze traveled slowly from my head to my feet. “I’m sorry I let myself in. I thought perhaps you hadn’t heard the bell.” He shook his head. “You look like a star that’s been plucked out of the sky. Simply breathtaking.”
“Are you sure you want to wear such a low-cut dress?” Nana Pratt asked.
“Come on, Ingrid,” Ray chided her. “It’s the twenty-first century.”
“I don’t mean because I’m a prude. I mean because of the vampires. Won’t all that skin be like waving a red flag in front of a bull?”
I smiled at the elderly ghost. “I can handle myself.”
“We have spectators, I presume,” Kane said.
“We do.”
His gaze flicked to the bed. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
I shoved him toward the door. “Not a chance, Romeo. This is a work event, remember?”
