Page 98 of Shadows of Nightshade
“Shit…” I could barely read the curse forming on Miles’s lips, but his focus was not on me. It was to the front of us where the darkness was broken by the deep red glow seeping from the dirt around Damen’s feet. The smoke-like light moved like fingers across the onmyoji’s feet and slowly rose around his calves.
“What’s happening?” I asked, tightening my grip on the neck of Miles’s tank top. It was impossible to tear my eyes from Damen’s tense, readied form. Sharp, hurried markings were etched into the ground, and it was from there that the lightoriginated. But what stood out was that, in his hands, in a practiced pose raised high over his head, was a bright golden sword.
“Damen’s exorcizing the ghost,” Miles said, speaking directly into my ear. “He’s going to send it directly into the Underworld.”
I winced in response.
Exorcize. The only things I knew were what I’d seen or read in fiction, and I had no idea how much of it was accurate. But it seemed to be an unpleasant business.
“Why?” I asked.
Miles glanced down at me; eyebrows lifted in dubious surprise. “Because it tried to hurt you?”
Was that a question? Besides, why should that offend him?
I was always getting attacked by something or other. If Damen was going to get angry anytime something happened, he would become an unpleasant person to be around.
But even if that was the case, what was this tightening knot in my stomach?
Damen was here—these men were the ones with experience. Heck, even Bryce knew more than me right now. And it was a bad ghost, without a doubt. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to offend it, but it’d tried to kill me twice… or thrice, maybe.
I was beginning to lose count.
But this was wrong. I wanted to help it, not send it away.
Damen muttered something in a low language I’d never heard before, yet the words were hauntingly familiar. Then he lowered his weapon with a powerful, arching flourish. A bright light in the shape of an arc sliced through the dark before it moved harmlessly over the six of us.
And singled out the hidden seventh.
There was a screeching wail as something fell to the ground, and a man, wrapped in chains, landed on his knees in front of Damen. My blood froze and my skin hummed as I took him in,and I allowed myself to linger in this protected place behind my wall of defenders.
Was this what Rosalie had been protecting me from? But he didn’t look much older than me, and from appearance, he was not as evil as I expected.
He had light blond hair that fell across his red-rimmed eyes, and his pin-striped slacks and silk shirt were ripped to pieces around him. Spirits usually stayed dressed in the garments in which they died, and sometimes it was very telling about their lives.
This was a wealthy man who’d perished in questionable, unpleasant circumstances.
He tried to kill me. He would still kill me if given the chance. I could see it clearly in his hateful expression.
But it didn’t make sense. Why?
‘Maybe it’s lonely.’ Finn had said it, although I was sure he was being sarcastic. However, he wasn’t wrong.
‘He doesn’t understand.’ Rosalie’s parting words…
Watching him… he was also a victim, lashing out against the closest threat.
“Wait!” I jumped to my feet. It would be stupid to intervene, especially since Damen was aglow with magic, and interference might cause problems.
But it was one thing to fear this ghost when it remained a faceless thing seeking to destroy me. Now, though, it had become something else entirely.
I was no longer afraid. I couldn’t let things end this way. I was being driven forward with a certain assurance, the same feeling I’d followed when speaking to Rosalie.
Not everything was as it seemed. And I was not one to make life-altering decisions without knowing all the details.
There were four people standing between me and Damen, butmy weightless steps let me pass them before they could even turn.
“Don’t hurt him!” I stood between Damen and the ghost. My heart was racing. I was intervening in his work, undermining a decision he’d made as the self-proclaimed leader of their little group.
