Page 53 of Tragic Ink
I lowered the bow, and it clattered from my hand, useless.Damn.
Walter reached for me, and I jerked backward faster than I’d meant to when I realized his fingers had actually caught hold of my dress. They wrapped firmly around the strap and pulled. I yanked against his grip, startled. How could he touch me if I couldn’t kill him? Most ghosts couldn’t summon the energy necessary to manipulate the physical world, but then most ghosts weren’t carrying a grudge likeWalter’s.
The fabric ripped away, freeing me, and I went stumbling backward onto the balcony. My heel caught on my dress, but the momentum was too strong tostop.
A sharp pain lit up my back and hips as I hit the railing. Ethan flapped his wings, desperate to move out of the way as my arms flailed. Walter still came, his ghostly eyes crazed. I felt my body give over the railing and knew I wasn’t going to be able to stopmyself.
I was goingover.
The last thing I saw before I tumbled was another figure—ghostly and old and just as crazed as Walter, as she raced for him with her armsoutstretched.
Then Ifell.
I grunted, the wind whooshing out of me as two arms caught me roughly. The impact delayed the scream building in my throat, but when I opened my eyes and saw Rhys hovering over me, my relief outweighed the pain, and Isighed.
“Impeccable timing,” I managed tosay.
Rhys was not amused. “Are youhurt?”
I shook my head, glancing up toward the balcony. Sounds came from there—something shattering and then a moan—but I couldn’t see anything. Ethan had left his perch and was circling, relieved that I was allright.
“I can walk,” Isaid.
Rhys set me upright and held me steady until he was sure I wouldn’t fall. “Whathappened?”
“Walterhappened.”
Rhys started to move, but I stopped him. “Not Walter the dark fae. Walter theghost.”
“What?”
I sighed. “It’s a long story but, believe it or not, I think Madame Luiza has him undercontrol.”
Madame Luiza, Michaela’s aunt who’d managed the inn for a brief time, had passed away last year. Aelwyn had spoken of rumors that she’d returned as a ghost and now spent her time watching over her family. I believed the rumors after what I’d just seen. She was not a bad security system,really.
“Luiza Petran?” Rhys asked. “Isn’t shedead?”
I shrugged. “So is Walter. Sounds like a good match to me. What happened in thewoods?”
He hesitated. “It was atrap.”
“Where’sElsmed?”
“Noidea.”
“Where’s your tattoo?” I asked, suddenly struck by the fact that his shirt had been peeled back to reveal smooth skin where I’d inked him lastnight.
“I had to useit.”
“Was there something in the woods? Did you seehim?”
He shook his head. “Not him. Anotherhellhound.”
“Where would he get another hellhound?” Iasked.
“No idea. I think this asshole anticipated how we would have armed ourselves and found a way to conjure his own monster to try to use up ourweapons.”
“But you didn’t see him?” I asked, suddenly aware of how exposed we were outhere.
