Page 15 of Haunting Phantom
Krueger pierces me with his one good eye, and I suddenly feel powerless and small.
“Fuck, I didn’t mean to do that.”
Krueger’s mouth tics in frustration.“You’re getting stronger, Eve. Too strong. You gotta let some of this frustration go before you hurt somebody. I can’t help you if you hurt the living. Once you do that…”He shakes his head in disbelief.
“Once I do that, what?”
He throws up an angry hand and waves me off.“I don’t have time for your bullshit right now. You’ve closed her off, and I wanted to relay a message to my son. Now I can’t.”
“Krueger, wait! I’m sorry. Tell me what happens if I hurt someone who’s living.”
He stops in the middle of the room, turning slowly as his chest rises and falls with each undead breath.“Hurt someone who's living, Eve, and you’ll no longer be in control of your spirit.”He points to a dark corner of the room, one that has a bunch of unnerving red eyes blinking back at us.“They will.”
An unwelcomed shiver works its way down my body, and I quickly turn, refusing to look over there a second longer. I stay far away from that side of the clubhouse because I don’t like how it makes me feel. There’s a strange sense of evil over there, like if you get close enough, hands will shoot out and drag you beneath the floorboards lower and lower until the fires of Hell suffocate and smother you.
“Hey, they can’t control me! Nobody can! I’m my own spirit.”
Krueger ignores me and sulks back to his corner, just as Blake and the rest of his club start scooping up the shatteredglass around the room. I’m not sure where that surge of power came from, but I like it.
For the first time since dying, it felt like people actually heard me. Especially that Autumn chick. She stopped trying to channel me the second that first glass broke.
I got under her skin, and if she knows what’s good for her, she’ll stay as far away from the club as she can.
Ghost-talking bitches are not welcome beyond those doors. I’ll make damn sure of it.
Chapter Seven
I hover in Phantom’s open doorway, head pressed against the worn wood, staring off into the hallway’s darkness with wide, bored eyes.
Phantom passed out over an hour ago, and his soft snores have been more annoying than cute. I’ve been focused for the last hour on what to do if that chick comes back. But I’ve got nothing.
One of the club members, Hyde, suddenly appears in the hallway, his hands roaming all over a young Annie, who doesn’t seem too excited about the idea of them sleeping together. I wouldn’t be either. The biker is a grizzly-looking beast of a man, and not in that sexyoh my god you must be a werewolftype of beast. No, I’m talking about the kind of man that crawled out from the gutter, with greasy black hair that’s partially going gray, craters in his face from years of drug abuse that you could stick a pinky in, a nasty mouth that’s missing teeth or are rotting out, and a grotesque beard that still has flecks of food stuffed in it.
He was vile when I was alive, and he’s even more repulsive to look at while dead.
“Come on, baby, don’t play so hard to get,” he encourages.
He kisses the top of her cleavage, and she freezes.
“I’m gonna go to bed,” she whispers, covering her tits with her arms, stepping back a few steps until he has her backed in a corner.
“Yeah, you’re going to bed with me,” he growls, covering her mouth with his big beefy hand, ripping her shirt until both of her tits are exposed.
I’m marching into action before I can stop myself, ready to break into a full sprint and rip the guy off her, but I only make it one door past Phantom’s before I’m ripped backward, the force only stopping when I reach Phantom’s door. My tether to him seems to be getting shorter as the days go on.
“Shit!”I cry out, watching in horror as the asshole basically manhandles her toward his bedroom.“Someone stop him!”I scream.
Fuck! I only have one choice, and I fucking hate that I have to use it.
His name leaves my lips before I can stop it.“Damien! Damien, come quick. Please! I need your help.”
He appears without warning, casually leaning against the doorframe with that charismatic smile he’s so famous for. Even with a part of it gone, it’s still dismantling.
“Miss me?”he questions, grinning too fucking wide.
“Do something!”I shout, pointing to Hyde, who’s still dragging the Annie towards his bedroom while desperate tears rip down her face, her screams muffled by his unwanted hand.“Help her!”
Damien frowns.“I can’t do what you do, Babe. My ghostly powers don’t work like that.”
