Page 150 of Cursed Lifeline

Outraged, his mind finally disassociates with the horror surrounding him, and he says, “How the hell am I supposed to find my way back, let alone navigate my way here again tonight? If I had Silas and Caelum to help, maybe. But…”

A banging noise echoes up the tunnel. It is followed by a brutal knocking and rattling of chains. Alfred looks at me wide-eyed, and I swear the man has half a mind to jump into my arms for safety.

Laughing at the irony of his fear of blood and ghostly spirits, I ask, “Why on earth did the Magister Council ever employ you?”

“I was Esme’s brother.”

“In her first life,” I say. “What is the reason for allowing you to continue her training in her second and third?”

Shaking his head, he starts to back away. Terror fills his eyes as the banging grows louder, a foul odor invades the space, and a can is viciously thrown through the air between us.

Horrified, he looks in the direction the spirit hucked the object from.

“They can’t hurt you unless you let them,” I warn as Alfred steps further away.

“Yeah right,” he laughs sarcastically.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I grin, “How is it you're not afraid of vampires, but ghosts…”

“You, I can see,” he states the obvious, “Them I…”

His voice trails off as his fear gets the better of him.

The rattling and knocking grows closer.

“If you start to run now, odds are you’ll beat them to the entrance.”

His terrified eyes flash to mine. Shrugging, I add, “It’s either that, or stand here and take your chance with the devil.”

Instantly, Alfred turns around and bolts for freedom. I laugh as his petrified screams echo off the concrete walls, and Talon and Dimitri step to my side.

“That wasn’t nice,” I grin.

Talon chuckles. “You did say scare the guy. It’s not our fault he’s afraid of his own shadow.”

“He’ll likely shit himself before he sees the outside,” Dimitri laughs.

“True,” I grin. “But if he’s ever going to man up and learn to get over his fears, he needs to start now before a certain fae princess falls more in love with a man who might love her back, but I worry could never protect her.”

Another rattling noise down a tunnel to our left catches all three of our attention.

“Did you bring company?” I ask.

My brothers in the coven shake their heads no.

“Everyone is not supposed to arrive until later,” Talon says as I make my way toward the phantom sound. “Tickets sold out, but we made sure everyone knew not to arrive until the sun went down.”

I follow a knocking noise to a turn. Looking back at Talon and Dimitri, I motion for them to stay where they are and let me investigate. I know these tunnels better than they do. If there is any danger, I’ll deal with it. Besides, now that we’ve seemed to have finally made amends, I wouldn’t want Felix getting pissed at me if one of them got hurt.

Stalking quietly around the bend, I notice a faint light a few yards away. Stealthy making my way towards it, I hold my breath as I near the rattling and knocking noise. Searching the area, I come up empty until my gaze lands on a tin can held above my head by a thin wire. Dripping from the canister, red plasma plops to the floor at my feet. Smart enough not to inhale, I raise my palm and let the warm liquid fill it before turning around and looking for whoever or whatever it may be coming from.

As my gaze falls over my left shoulder, a bright light blinds my eyes. Stumbling back a step, I raise my hands just in time as a figure plummets towards me and violently forces me up against the nearest concrete wall. Hands holding the banshee as far away as possible, it takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the bright light and realize - it’s not a spirit that attacked me.

No.

It’s a woman.

Our gazes sharpen, and as she takes in my startled stare, hers miraculously softens.

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