Page 127 of Their Blood Rite

‘Could you give us some privacy?’ Shaw snaps at the guards.

They refuse to move an inch.

‘Fine. Then we will retire to our room.’ He scoops me up in his arms. I don’t dare open my eyes. Fuck knows what I’ll see.

He walks for several moments before the air feels warmer, and he settles me down on a soft armchair by a fire. He closes the door and returns to me.

‘It’s just us,’ he assures me, pulling my hands away from my ears. ‘What’s happening?’

‘I’m seeing the dead,’ I reply. ‘I can hear them. See them. They’re everywhere.’

‘You can actually see them? Not just in the mirrors?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you see any in here?’

‘I don’t dare look,’ I admit. ‘They’re so angry, Shaw. I can feel their anger. Their pain. And they’re so loud.’

‘Can you hear anything now?’

I shake my head.

‘Open your eyes.’ He tucks my hair behind my ear. ‘Be brave.’

‘I can’t. Please.’

‘You’re the toughest little earth witch I’ve ever met. Open your eyes.’

His hand rests on mine. I squeeze it tight.

He rests his forehead on mine.

‘Look at me, Pixie.’

I slowly open my eyes and see him before me. His eyes look deep into mine, and I find them a great comfort. By the door, Dorian and Archie look on, tense and on alert.

‘Do you see anything?’ he asks.

With a shuddering breath, I look around.

‘Yes…’ I stare at the far corner of the bedroom where an elderly man faces the wall and repeatedly slams his face into the stone. With each thud, I can hear the bones of his nose and skull break.I hear the blood and flesh squelching. His long grey hair is a ratted mess, and his white shirt is splattered with blood.

‘Who do you see?’

‘A man.’

‘Just one man?’

‘Yes.’

The spirit stops and slowly faces me.

‘He’s looking at me,’ I whisper, utterly frozen in terror. His lifeless eyes bore into mine. ‘Shaw? What do I-’

I scream when the spirit runs straight at me.

I charge past Shaw and throw myself under the bed, scrambling underneath in utter desperation, my nails tearing as I pull myself into the tight space.

---