Ghost (The Halloween Boys #1) (44)

Ames rubbed the back of his neck. “I know there are newer game systems out there but—”

“No, I love it.” I smiled. Was he . . . insecure bringing me here? Something warmed in my chest at the thought that he might be hoping to impress me. No hope necessary, I was continually impressed by and attracted to Ames. The ride he gave me earlier made me want to ride him in return. It wasn’t only sexual attraction, though. There was a tenderness behind his blue eyes I’d never experienced before. It was as if Ames had seen and lived a thousand lifetimes yet still looked at me as if I were the only person in the world. It felt easy with him. I felt like I could trust him. Trust that he wouldn’t lie to me or screw me over. Ames Cove seemed like the most perfect angel of a man. Maybe that was why, unlike me, he felt at ease in holy places. He was an angel; I was a demon. My sins burned at me with the alcohol on my throat. Someone like Ames deserved better than me. For the sake of my newfound friends, I pasted on a smile and bounced on mushrooms in Super Mario Brothers. Being around them was a warm blanket of comfort I’d never experienced before. I found myself loving their banter and loving it even more when they included me in their teasing and jokes. These strange boys somehow felt more like home than the one I’d fled in Alabama. They felt so right that fear sprang up like a weed in my thoughts.

What would they think of me if they knew what I did?





CHAPTER 16





Ames





IF YOU THINK YOU SEE ONE . . . NO, YOU DIDN’T





Terror made me cruel . . .

Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights





She looked good in my place with my friends. I liked having Blythe in my space, watching her smile and laugh. She deserved happiness. She deserved a life. That was the one thing I couldn’t give her. All I could offer Blythe was death. And I was a bastard for considering it. Just as I clicked on the dangling lightbulb, Wolf jerked his head up in alarm. Onyx and I noticed immediately. The Wolf stare. He smelled something. I shot Onyx a pointed glare toward Blythe, who was sticking out her tongue in concentration as she played. He understood, moving to sit beside her on the couch as Wolf stalked toward me, the floors creaking under his weight. “Animal, demon, death,” he said.

“Where?”

“Everywhere.”

“What do you mean everywhere?” I glanced over his shoulder at Blythe, who was already nodding off from the touch of Onyx’s palm.

“Let’s go find out. Onyx, you got her?” Wolf ordered, but I was already halfway out the door.

“She’s having tranquil dreams. Go.”

I stopped on the church steps. Claws pricked my palms, and my knuckles shook. My demon awakened. Angry.

“Motherfucker,” Wolf hissed. “How many?”

“A dozen.” Blue smoke settled around me. My blue smoke. Finally. But the satisfaction I felt at my abilities finally waking the fuck up was short-lived—stabbed to death by the scene before me. Interspersed amongst the orange pumpkins was bright orange, white, and black fur. Their lifeless bodies lay perfectly around the courtyard.

Foxes.

Wolfgang rumbled forward, kneeling by one of the slain. He touched it softly before inhaling. “It suffered in death . . . .They all did.” He swallowed, surveying the dead foxes. “The one who did this will suffer more.” I wasn’t certain if he was speaking to me or the fallen animals. I didn’t really care.

“He knows we’re here in the church. He knows Blythe is dressed as a fox at Hallows. The fucker’s been watching her . . . right under our nose.” Blue mist permeated the ground now, rising, slithering, sensing. I closed my eyes and breathed in every ounce of my power’s intel. Something demonic but somehow smells of human too—a ghoul.”

“I got a scent. The ghoul went east,” Wolf barked, his form already rippling.

“The alphas would have scented a ghoul. How could we miss this?”

When my smoke faded, the carcasses were gone, pressed back into the earth. The threat of death to Blythe in such a poetic way . . . seemed unlike a ghoul. But maybe this was an outlier. They had the ability to take on their kill’s skin and walk in it, though it was strange that one would do it for as long as this one. They typically used their bodies as bait to lure more humans, latching onto, and repeating, the victim’s last words. Help. Save me. Somebody.

I’d catch this one and question its fixation for Blythe as I tortured it slowly.





Wolf was a big guy in his human form. As a werewolf, he was massive. We always laughed at the films the mortals made about his kind. They envisioned overgrown rabid dogs, which couldn’t have been further from reality. Though Wolf and his community could shift into wolves at will, their true forms were closer to what a human would call a four-legged demon. Like a monster made of black smoke with thrown back pointed horns, he’d stalk through the forest, bigger and more sinister than any imagination could muster. Following behind him on my motorcycle, I could make out his black, hunched back and claws as they propelled him forward. As much as we teased the guy, I was glad he was on our side. I’d hate to go up against him in a battle. I’d win, of course, being what I am, but it would be painful.

We trailed the highway deeper toward the coast, which was several hours from Ash Grove. Though with our abilities it only took half an hour. Thankfully my hell-rider powers were back, thanks somehow to Blythe. On the outskirts of a dirt path, Wolf’s shadowy form halted. His snout turned toward me and then the woods, signaling that I follow on foot. The moment I stepped into the woods, I felt it. The birds had gone silent. Even the yellow leaves on the maples didn’t dare to flicker in the wind. It was the way the woods acted when one of them was around. Wolf led the way with the stealth of a seasoned predator, while I was content to stroll. I wasn’t anticipating that this being would put up much of a fight when it saw us. If anything, Wolf would get all the fun of chasing it and shredding it to pieces. I was just here because I couldn’t stay in Ash Grove after what it pulled. The way she was just upstairs as the innocent animals were slain and arranged around us, the threat on her life, the way it was toying with her right under our noses . . . It pissed me off. If I could get even a single blow in the creature would be ended. Wolf stopped abruptly, and I slammed into his smoky backside. “Of course.” I rolled my eyes. The putrid aroma burned my nose. “These things love swamps. Like I told Onyx, these fuckers aren’t creative. However, we should have checked here earlier.”