Ghostly Justice (Seven Deadly Sins, #2.5)(36)

He kissed her so hard and so fast she would have wondered if he’d kissed her at all, except for the heat that zapped her body.

“Lecture later,” he mumbled as they ran back down the hall to the break room.

The door in front of them splintered when a bullet blasted through.

“Shit!” Moira exclaimed, pulling Rafe back toward her. “That almost hit you.” Her heart raced. They were going to kill themselves if they weren’t careful. Maybe that’s exactly what the ghost wanted.

“Hold your fire!” Rafe shouted. “It’s us!”

Moira opened the door. “Why were you shooting?”

“I saw the ghost,” Skye said, stunned. “You’re not—”

“You didn’t hit anything human,” Moira said, entering the room. Rafe was right behind her, but the door slammed shut in his face, separating them.

“Moira!”

She pushed and pulled at the door. “It’s not budging!” Moira called back to him.

“I’m going to find a way out. Be careful in there.”

“You too.”

Moira heard furniture slamming against the walls. The ghost was dividing them to make it easier to take them out, one by one. She had to distract the ghost away from Rafe.

She remembered that the ghost had gone after her. “Skye, I have an idea.”

“Great, because I have nothing.”

“Just play along, okay?” She turned to David who looked shell-shocked. “David, you’re SWAT, you’ve got to get it together.”

“I’m okay.” He shook his head as if to clear cobwebs. “I’ve never seen a ghost before.”

“Guess what, neither have I. You have to be the bully, he won’t believe it coming from a woman. Skye said something the other night about Nichols blaming the manager for sleeping her way to the top, or something like that.”

David nodded. “He was furious. And at Skye because she was a woman. Said she slept her way into becoming Sheriff.”

“Play that. We have to get him in here and away from Rafe.”

Another crash from the showroom and Moira tried not to picture Rafe lying injured—or worse—under an armoire.

“Oh—oh, okay. I think I know what you want.”

Moira backed into a corner with her dagger ready, watching the entire room, an exorcism on her lips. David turned to Skye and said, “I should congratulate you, Skye—you became Sheriff the old fashioned way. On your back.”

Skye was a little slower on the uptake. She turned and stared at him, shocked.

“Speak up, or are you going to continue to lie about it?”

Moira pushed the scenario along. “You prick, don’t talk to my girlfriend like that!” She looked pointedly at Skye, willing her to get into the role.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Skye said, catching on. “So what? I’m a good Sheriff. It doesn’t matter who I had to screw to get there.”

The temperature in the room plummeted again.

“You set Ned up because you hate men,” David said. “You made me kill him because you hate men.”

“That’s right,” Skye said, less forcefully.

Nichols manifested himself right next to Moira. That, she wasn’t expecting. He reached out, waves of energy coming off of his spiritual aura, and she was flying across the room, hitting the wall.

Fuck, that hurts!

She was pinned against the wall, scarcely able to breathe let alone fight the ghost.

Nichols rushed at Skye and David, then bounced off the invisible shield the salt circle gave them. All three of them looked stunned.

“Skye!” Moira called, using the last of her breath. Skye turned and Moira tossed her dagger toward her.

Skye leapt from the circle to catch it. Nichols went for her, fast.

“Handle,” Moira said, and Skye flipped the blade around and slashed the ghost with the iron handle.

Nichols disappeared and Moira fell to the floor.

Skye rushed over to her. “Are you okay?”

“He’s no Casper.” Moira slowly rose to her feet. She took her dagger back. “I don’t think I like ghosts.”

The back door opened and Anthony rushed in. Skye practically flew into his arms. “It’s Nichols ghost,” Skye said in a rush, “he lured David here, locked us in, I don’t know what he wants—”

Anthony touched Skye everywhere, as if to make sure she was in one piece, then kissed her, holding her close.

Moira told David, “Go out, as far as you need to get reception, and call the coroner. Tell him he has to destroy Nichols’ body. Pour salt all over it then burn it.”

David looked at her like she was insane. What, he was questioning her now after everything he’d seen tonight?

“Rafe is trapped in the showroom!” Moira exclaimed. “Do it!”

Skye said to David, “Please, David, trust them. Tell Rod I’m ordering him to do it. I’ll take any fall-out.”

“All right. But Skye, in June—”

“It’s okay,” she said, “The election isn’t as important as our lives.”

“You still have my vote,” David said, and left.

Moira fought to open the door into the showroom. “Dammit! It’s not moving!”