Chapter Seven
“ A rgh!” I flopped back on my makeshift bed on top of the bookshelf. “Stupid men!”
I was on a date with the latest release in my favorite series by Eva Chase. It should have been a perfect evening. The book was just as amazing as I’d come to expect from the author, but my mind kept wandering to Lochlan and Rhodes.
Less than twenty-four hours ago, my life—well, death—had been perfect. It was uncomplicated. Now I couldn’t shove aside the thought that I should help the guys.
“Don’t do it, Axe.” Even as I warned myself, I was already accepting the fact I would ignore the advice. “This has nothing to do with you. If you get attached to them, it’s going to get messy.”
I reread the page in front of me three more times before I finally snapped the book closed and drifted to the floor. Wasabi appeared in the doorway, his whiskers twitching as he glared up at me.
“Yeah, I know I’m breaking my rules. But my conscience isn’t going to let me sleep until I do something to help.”
And my libido isn’t going to let me rest until I give in to desire.
Bending to give Wasabi a quick scratch under his chin, I tried to reassure both of us I was still in control of the situation. “All I’m going to do is open the back door and turn off the security camera. Then it’s right back to my book.”
My rat bestie gave a reproachful squeak, not buying my excuses.
Turning off the cameras took less than sixty seconds. I was getting good at this whole ghost thing. I approached the back door, then stopped at the soft rumble of male voices that came from the other side.
Pressing my ear against the cool metal, I closed my eyes and tried to listen for a voice I recognized. Imagine how terrible it would be if I unlocked the door to a group of robbers? Or worse, a pack of raccoons looking for trouble? Robbers would take whatever electronics they could find and the meager contents of the cash drawer.
Raccoons would climb all over the shelves, wrecking my precious books. The chubby masked marauders were like vampires—once they were invited inside, it was almost impossible to get them out.
“Lochlan, I thought you?—”
Hearing Loch’s name was all the assurance I needed. Flipping the deadbolt on the door, I gathered my energy and twisted the door handle.
As soon as the door began to creak on its hinges, I hid myself in the shadows and hurried to the upstairs reading nook where I’d stashed my book.
I’d helped, thus proving I was a good ghost. Heck, I might have changed my name to Caspera. Yep, I was going to leave the stray ghost wrangling to the professionals.
Blowing out a long sigh, I released the tension in my body and curled up on the worn velvet reading chaise.
I flipped open the book and began to read.
What if they got lost in the library?
Stop being stupid, Axe. These men have been doing this longer than you’ve been dead.
My eyes slid over the words on the page, barely taking in what I was reading.
Maybe I should have told them about the giant, scowling guy I’d seen in the library after Lochlan. Caught up in my book, I’d given him a quick once over, then assumed he was one of Rhodes or Lochlan’s buddies.
But something about him had been tickling the back of my brain, leaving me slightly unsettled. I replayed the memory of him glancing over his shoulder at me before he’d left the library. Every hair on my body had stood on end and the temperature around me had dropped to near freezing levels.
Tonight, Lochlan and Rhodes had struggled to unlock the door. Which meant Collectors had to go through doors.
Since I’d watched the purple-eyed stranger walk through a wall, he couldn’t have been a collector.
The man hadn’t been like any ghost I’d encountered since my death. Closing my book, I popped my knuckles and tried to recall every detail I could about him. It didn’t help, and I still had zero clue what he was.
The guy hadn’t appeared until after Lochlan had left. Was he purposely avoiding the collectors? Did Rhodes and Lochlan even know that another paranormal being was loitering around the library? What if the stranger was the one causing the ghosts to congregate in town? The guys could be walking into very real danger while I relaxed with fictional drama.
My stomach churned, something it hadn’t done since I’d eaten bad sushi a week before my premature demise. Wasabi appeared from beneath the chair, peering up at me with his shiny black eyes. Then the ungrateful rodent nipped the bottom of my foot.
“Hey! Stop that!” I scolded, quickly pulling my foot up onto the chair.
Wasabi was undeterred, scampering onto the chaise and nipping harder at my foot.
“What is wrong with you? Have you been sharing secondhand breadsticks with the raccoon in the alley again? We agreed he was sus, and probably rabid.” I tapped Wasabi’s nose and gave him what I hoped was a stern glare.
The famous talking mouse wasn’t the only rodent that wore pants, because Wasabi seemed to be wearing the pants in our relationship. Unbothered by my disapproval, he bit me again.
“That’s it. I’m going ghost!” I yelped, stifling the emotional energy that had caused my form to stabilize enough that I could interact with Wasabi.
I swear the chubby cheese boy rolled his eyes.
“Maybe I’ll let them call the exterminator next time Bertha catches you stealing a midday snack.” My threat lacked any heat, and Wasabi knew it.
He hopped off the chair and took off toward the storage room.
“Okay, Lassie. Let’s go save them.” I made the comment in jest, not seriously thinking it was possible the two perfect specimens of manhood could actually need my help.
If they were searching for books with tropes like enemies to lovers, second chance romance, morally gray heroes, fated mates, vampire royalty, fake relationships, jilted brides, love triangles, forced proximity, or reverse harem… I was the ghostess with the mostest.
If they wanted recommendations for books with the most unique male anatomy… I held the world’s only PHD on the subject. And by PHD, I meant I was the Poltergeist of Hung Dudes. Or was it Phantom of Huge Dicks?
If they wanted a romance that would give them a good cry… I could suggest several books capable of causing heartache that would haunt them for years.
If they wanted a book to raise the heat level in their bedrooms… I had a list of titles capable of creating phantasmic orgasms.
But if they wanted trained backup while taking on an enemy force, they needed to look elsewhere. Heck, I was dead because I was easily spooked and struggled to think clearly during moments of panic.
Yet there I was, floating around the storage room, searching for the guys.
But they weren’t there. Where else could they be?
An animated string of squeaks from the back wall caught my attention. “Wasabi? You okay, bud?”
I found him sitting next to a large opening in the floor. “That’s odd.”
The trapdoor had been designed with attention to detail, and unless you knew it was there, it would have been impossible to find. So how had the guys found it? I’d gotten the impression from Rhodes and Lochlan that they weren’t familiar with the town.
Bending over, I looked down the dark tunnel, then backed away. “Nope. I don’t care if the creepy crawlies down there can’t touch me, I’m not doing it.”
Hadn’t the guys ever watched a horror movie? This tunnel was exactly the type of place you weren’t supposed to explore if you valued being alive.
But I had one thing going for me. I was already dead.
Standing there, I stared down into the hole. It was the stuff of my old nightmares and it might as well have been Hades as far as I was concerned.
I backed away several feet, but instead of easing my anxiety, it had the opposite effect. With each centimeter of distance I placed between the hole and me, my trepidation grew.
My hair lifted around me, and static crackled in the cold air. Wasabi’s breath looked like smoke billowing from a dragon’s mouth.
They were in trouble. I didn’t understand how I could possibly know that, but I was absolutely certain it was the truth.
Questioning my sanity and why I cared so much, I slowly descended into the tunnel.
As I reached the bottom, I sniffed the stale, moldy air. The tunnel had been built using bricks, several of which had worked themselves free and tumbled to the stone floor.
There wasn’t a nightlight or torch in sight, and I thanked my unlucky stars for my ability to see just fine in the dark. Turning in a slow circle, I tried to figure out which way the men had gone.
I was standing in the middle of a cross point in the tunnel, and needed to pick which of the four paths to follow.
“Ahhh!” I screamed as a ghost stepped through the crumbling tunnel wall to my left. “You are supposed to announce yourself with some soft bangs or moans!”
The ghost either didn’t hear me, or he was too dead to care about anything other than getting to wherever he was going.
Excitement bubbled in my chest. I knew how to find the guys. Darting down the tunnel after the specter, I crossed my fingers that he was leading me there.
My ghost guide led me deeper into the tunnel. At times, the path was so narrow I wondered if Rhodes’ wide shoulders had even been able to squeeze through it. Some portions were wide enough that a vehicle could’ve driven through it.
Traveling deeper into the dark passageway, I looked for any clues that had been left behind that might hint at what the tunnels had been used for. But thus far, I’d found nothing of interest.
Currently, my working theory was that they were likely used for traveling unseen between locations or maybe to transport alcohol during prohibition. While history hadn’t been my favorite in school, I think I would’ve remembered learning about a secret society with enough money to build extensive tunnels beneath the city. How many people in town were aware of the maze of passages running beneath their feet?
Amberwood had been a farming town from its founding, and those who lived there were known for watching out for each other. But clearly there was more below the surface of the town—pun intended.
At last, the vibrations of low male voices echoed down the tunnel. The male ghost picked up his pace and blurred down the tunnel. I followed, hot on his heels, torn between wanting to pass him and knowing I needed to follow him and help the collectors get the information they needed.
With each second that passed, it became harder to ignore the steady thrum of my anxiety as it turned to a thundering beat. Over and over, a single word chanted in my head.
Death. Death. Death.
The knowledge of what lay ahead of me should’ve had me tucking my tail and running for my life. But I wasn’t afraid of death.
If given a choice, I would’ve chosen to live. Life was beautiful. It held endless possibilities, and every day provided a chance for a new beginning.
But I’d also been a pretty go-with-the-flow person, and rather than whining about dying, I chose to focus on the upsides. I hadn’t wanted or welcomed death, but I’d learned to accept it and enjoy the benefits.
Death didn’t scare me.
Is that so? Then why are you trembling like that time you decided to go hiking with work colleagues? Remember? You tried to score points with your hot new boss by saying you loved hiking. Then you were too stubborn to admit you’d never hiked to the top of anything higher than the pile of clean laundry you tossed on the floor at the foot of your bed?
I winced at the memory of the muscle pain I’d endured during that misadventure. Why did my inner voice have to be such a jerk? It knew how to hit me exactly where it hurt the most. I’d read some people didn’t have an inner monologue. Frankly, that had been a harder pill to swallow than being dead.
Snarled curses and shouts bounced off the walls, making it seem as though they were coming from every direction.
“Lochlan! Get back!” Rhodes ordered.
The raw terror in his voice cleared my mind of every thought except one. My guys needed me. Now.
I streaked down the tunnel at a speed I’d never attempted before. My form twisted and warped as I moved. One minute, I was nothing but inky shadows and golden light, and the next, I appeared almost human.
Without slowing or even blinking, I surged through the wall in front of me and into a larger chamber. I took in the scene in front of me, and for the first time in my indecisive life, I knew instantly what I had to do.
They said no one could stop death, but I was going to give it my best shot.