The Ripple Effect (Rhiannon's Law #3)(66)

You have to let him go. You have to set him free.

“You have to.”

“No, I don’t,” he corrected, continuing toward me.

Panic set in, a true fear that he’d be stuck here. I’d seen aimless spirits. I knew what he’d become. He’d be unable to connect to anything, his sole purpose to find some semblance of peace. However, there might not be anything left for him here, a way to have the vengeance he longed for. If Disco and I didn’t make it out alive, Paine would be just as he was now—a lost soul—trapped in this pit of shit.

“Yes, you do,” I whispered, afraid of taking control, of using the only thing I had left to ease his passage. I didn’t want to force him to cross, to make him find peace. My gift wasn’t meant to be used that way. I didn’t want to use it that way.

“Don’t tell me what I have to do.” He pulled his lips back, but there were no fangs. He wasn’t a vampire any longer, only a spirit needing peace.

“Don’t hate me.” I knew he could hear my desperation, because alarm flashed across his face.

“Then don’t make me,” he warned, eyes narrowing. “It’s my choice.”

Shit. He was going to make me do something I didn’t want to do. To force my hand. How unfair was that? Wasn’t it enough that I’d lost him? Did I have to face this, too?

“Then make the right choice.” Please, please, please make the right choice. I don’t know how much more I can take. “Don’t make me do it for you.”

I waited, hoping he would listen and knowing he wouldn’t. He took another step in my direction, and I had no other choice. Calling on my necromancy had never hurt so much. The price had never been so high. As the power stretched over me, I knew Paine felt it, could see and feel what I intended.

“Don’t,” he repeated, but his confidence was gone.

“The light is beautiful, isn’t it?”

I solidified the comment with my will, redirecting him toward the rays I couldn’t see. I’d never forced a spirit across—had never had to—and I found it was easier than I thought. His body trembled as he attempted to fight the words, struggling as he turned his head.

“Listen to the glory that is Heaven, of those who are welcoming you home.” More power hummed between us, making my skin itchy, radiating outward. “They are waiting for you. They want you to come to them.”

“Please.” Paine never begged, so I expected what came next: a furious scream. “I won’t stay. I’ll find a way to come back. I will come back.”


“Go into the light, Paine Garrett.” It was a command now, no longer a request, even though my voice was quaking. “Pass through it. It’s time to go home.”


He pivoted away from me, still shaking, trying to fight although it wouldn’t work. Now he was trapped, snared by Heaven, enraptured by it. I was stunned when he broke free just long enough to look at me.

“You have to take care of each other.” His gaze darted to Disco. “Watch over him until I return. I’m binding you to your word. Swear it.”

I felt a warning there. What would happen if I couldn’t watch over Disco? Would there be penalties? Was it dangerous to make a promise to a departing soul? I shook myself, bringing my attention back to the moment. Paine couldn’t come back. Once gone, he would never return.

“I swear.” It wasn’t a lie; I would take care of Disco if I had the opportunity. Then, because I hated myself for forcing him, I said what I always should have, what needed to be said in the bedroom when he and Disco had started a conversation they never got to finish. “I wasn’t fair to you. I should have told you how I felt. How much you mean to me.”

“I knew,” he responded, softening toward me, sadness taking the place of anger. “I always knew.”

“Please don’t hate me.” I’d made the request once, but I had to do it again. If I survived the night, I couldn’t live with his hate. I didn’t want to consider such a thing.

“Don’t think this is ending.” His words were shaky, his feet guiding him away from me. “I meant what I said. This isn’t over. You’re not rid of me so easily.”

This isn’t over. You’re not rid of me so easily.

I knew that he meant it, although it was impossible.

“I love you. Goodbye,” I breathed, a lump in my throat, an invisible hand crushing my heart. More grief, something shattering in my chest, my tears no longer winding in trails down my cheeks but flowing in heavy streams.

“Who are you talking to, ghost purveyor?” Revenald snarled. “Matthew and your deceased lover? Are they ready to burn? Are the two of them dancing in flames?”

“Go now.” While you still can. While I can still make you. “Go.”

My necromancy flared, no longer passive as I forced Paine’s spirit to my will. The bastards in the room wouldn’t hurt him again.

Not if I had my f*cking way.

I ignored Revenald’s questions and taunts, watching as Paine presented me with his back and started making his final journey, informing me as he crossed to the other side, “This isn’t over. So help me. This isn’t over, Rhiannon.”

He was breathtaking—tall, proud, and unbreakable. Even in his final moments, he remained a man who wouldn’t back down, an individual who lived and died by his own rules, sustained by his own decisions.