Chapter 26 #2
“Honestly? I have no idea, but for some reason, I couldn’t say no,” Ashlyn said, looking lost in thought as they paused by the fountain. “Tell me the rules again.”
“If someone dies with unfinished business or just refuses ta accept that it’s time, they can linger behind.
If they died violently, then their souls are stuck where they passed.
Other than that, when someone dies, they’re either taken to heaven or hell,” he explained as he watched as she thought that over.
“And if they don’t leave?” Ashlyn asked, glancing at him.
“We help them on their way,” Shayne said, watching as she slowly nodded and-
“Ye’re welcome, lass,” Quinn said, shooting her a wink as he suddenly appeared next to them.
“There you are! Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?” a middle-aged woman with a bob haircut and a look on her face that told him that she hadn’t been fucked in years suddenly demanded when she spotted them, making Ashlyn frown, that is, until the woman walked through the fountain.
“Is...is that a Karen ghost?” Ashlyn asked in an awed tone as the woman in question stopped in the middle of the fountain to prop her hands on her hips as she glared at them.
“I felt your presence this morning in the hotel lobby, but instead of waiting five goddamn minutes so that I could finish screaming at my husband while he fucked my sister, you left,” she snapped as she gestured wildly back towards the hotel. “I want to talk to someone in charge!’
“This is, without a doubt, the best day of my life,” Ashlyn said, nodding solemnly as Quinn decided that enough was enough and made his way through the fountain walls and-
“Stop slapping me!” Quinn snapped, only to stumble back when the Karen ghost pulled her purse off her shoulder and hit him with it.
“And it just keeps getting better,” Ashlyn said in a reverent whisper.
“Ow! What the hell is wrong with ye?” Quinn demanded, which apparently was the wrong thing to say.
Shayne watched the woman’s eyes go wide before she raised her bag higher and-
“Get her off me!”
-took his brother by surprise and began beating the shit out of him with her purse.
“Oh, shit!”
She managed to knock him down in the middle of the wall before she stepped over him and picked up where she left off, leaving Quinn with no choice but to try to crawl away while Shayne stood there, shaking his head in disgust because he really should have seen that purse coming by now.
“Are ye going ta help me?”
Deciding to take pity on his brother, Shayne said, “Stay here,” as he released Ashlyn’s hand and made his way over to help his brother only to end up biting back a curse and ducking out of the way when that purse was swung at his head.
“Grab her!” Quinn shouted.
“Ye fucking grab her!” Shayne shouted back, stumbling to get away from her only to end up ducking out of the way and-
“Where did Ashlyn go?”
-forgot how to breathe when he realized that she was gone.
“Find her,” Shayne said, blindly reaching over and slapped his hand against Karen’s chest seconds before she gasped in outrage and a black light suddenly swallowed her whole, sending pain up his arm that he barely noticed as he watched his brother disappear only to reappear seconds later.
Alone.
“I can’t find her,” Quinn said, looking absolutely fucking terrified as they took in the dimly lit walkway, searching for any sign of her. “The fucking black fog blocked me.”
“Take the walkway to the right,” Shayne said as he broke out into a run and ran down the walkway that disappeared into the woods and would take him around the lake even as he told himself that she was fine.
He only took his eyes off her for one minute, he told himself, knowing that she couldn’t have gone far. She had to be here. He-
“Get him!”
-was going to spank her fucking ass the first chance he got, Shayne thought as he watched the man trying to drag her into the bushes suddenly let go of her and ran through the woods.
After a quick glance in Ashlyn’s direction to make sure that she was okay, Shayne ran after him, cutting through the woods only to stumble onto the neatly manicured lawn in time to see the asshole take off down the walkway, shoving an elderly man out of his way as he went.
Shayne chased after him as he made his way back towards the hotel, shoving guests out of his way in a frantic attempt to get inside before Shayne could grab him.
Shayne quickly gained on him only to have a woman carrying a fucking poodle step in his way.
Never taking his eyes off the asshole, he shoved the woman aside, ignored her gasp of outrage and followed the man racing across the lobby and out the doors seconds later only to have him shove a valet out of his way, run across the front lawn, race across the street and-
Listened as several women screamed when a black SUV slammed into the asshole before he managed to make it to the other side of the street, sending him flying through the air.
Shayne watched as the body hit the pavement, bounced only to roll another twenty feet before it came to a stop, leaving behind the asshole’s ghost. He watched as the man stood there, watching in fascinated horror as his body finally came to a stop.
The asshole stood there, swallowing hard as he looked down at his body, taking in the vacant expression on his face before he glanced back at Shayne and-
Released a blood-curdling scream as black tendrils suddenly rose from the ground and wrapped around his body, tearing into him as they pulled him down as he fought to break free only to disappear in seconds, leaving his body behind with the eight black rocks that had flown out of his pocket and were nothing more than a trail left behind his body.