Chapter 32
Xander
(One Year Ago)
THE PRIEST MOVED THROUGH THE manor, flinging holy water around the rooms while muttering prayers in Latin.
He held a crucifix in the other hand and wielded it like a shield while moving between rooms. I crossed my arms and watched blankly from the entryway where Bethelma, Alex, and Kendyll congregated.
Jonathan the ghost drifted over from wherever he’d been and watched the priest disappear upstairs. Jonathan fixed me with a quizzical gaze. “I take it this doesn’t actually have an effect on you?”
Smiling at the dead homeowner, I answered, “Nope.”
“Why do humans do it then?”
“We let them think it helps. You know, like a security blanket. It doesn’t actually do anything, but it makes them feel better. In reality, that’s just water, a piece of wood, and a bunch of words.”
Kendyll glanced at Jonathan and I but quickly faced forward again.
“Demons,” Bethelma said with a wary shiver. “What a terrifying thing to have in your space. I hope there aren’t any at the new haunted property I just purchased.”
Kendyll raised a brow and gave the woman a disbelieving once over. “You bought a haunted property?”
“You didn’t know?” Alex asked in surprise. He frowned at the old woman. “Bethelma, you said you were going to talk to Kendyll about it first.”
Bethelma scoffed and shook her head haughtily. “Why would I? I’m her employer, not the other way around. I’d be a fool to pass up the opportunity to own an abandoned mental hospital.”
Kendyll went eerily still and quiet. The color drained from her face, and her green eyes dulled as though her mind had left Brookdale Manor behind.
Growing concerned, I opened my mouth to ask her what was wrong, but before I could, she spoke in a lifeless voice.
“What hospital?”
“Mountview Psychiatric Hospital in New York,” Bethelma answered with a pleased, wrinkly grin. “You should know it well since it’s the loony bin they had you locked up in before you found me.”
Kendyll shook her head slowly and lied shakily, “Mountview isn’t haunted. You don’t want it.”
“Who cares if it’s actually haunted? It will still be a money pit for fools who want to play ghost investigator, not to mention all the filming we could do there for ourselves.
If there’s truly nothing there after you’ve done your sweep of the place, we can make stuff up.
Even better since you were actually a patient there and can ensure it feels authentic. ”
My mind raced upon hearing this news, but before anyone could say more, the priest returned to the entrance.
“Well?” Bethelma asked the man of the Christian god, wringing her hands nervously.
“The demonic force put up a fight, but it is gone. I’ve cleansed the place for you. Only the benevolent spirits remain,” the priest said with a saint-like smile.
I would’ve laughed at his ridiculous tale, but I was too focused on Kendyll’s lost gaze. Alex walked the man out of the manor while Bethelma faced Kendyll once more.
“Is it really gone?”
The question seemed to bring Kendyll back from wherever she had drifted. She cleared her throat and blinked a few times. “Yep. He’s gone.”
“Not now,” I argued with a cross of my arms. I leaned in to whisper in Kendyll’s ear, “Not ever, Ghost.”
She held back her glare until the old woman turned away. The minute the coast was clear, Kendyll snarled her lip at me.
I grinned. “You’re so cute when you’re angry.”
Especially since her glare wasn’t nearly as powerful as it could’ve been.
Exhaustion outlined her eyes from our sleepless night.
I hadn’t been lying when I said I was going to fuck her all night long.
My cock stayed inside of her until her alarm went off this morning, signaling time to return to the manor.
“I’ve sent Father Davies away,” Alex announced as he came back in. He looked at his watch. “Bethelma, since it’s daylight out, do you want to review your daytime footage from yesterday to see if you want to redo any of it? Since we have time to kill before nightfall.”
Bethelma yawned and waved a wrinkly hand. “No. I’m going back to the hotel until we’re ready to shoot the investigation. I want to sleep more.”
Kendyll rubbed a tired hand over her face. “I’m just going to stay here. I’m exhausted and don’t want to make this drive again. I’m going to nap in one of the rooms upstairs.” She looked at Jonathan and gave him a sleepy smile. “If that’s okay with you.”
Jonathan nodded and gestured toward the staircase. “Of course. Please. Rest well.”
“Sh—Should I stay here with you?” Alex asked while looking far too hopeful.
I scoffed a pitying laugh for the poor bastard. He kept trying and just continued to get shot down. Kendyll would never—
“Sure.”
My eyes widened, and my blood ran cold. I whipped my head in Kendyll’s direction, but she wasn’t looking at me. Her gaze was fixed on Alex, who beamed happily.
“What the hell are you doing?” I grumbled at Kendyll.
She ignored me. Alex got Bethelma’s car ordered, and when it left with the star, Kendyll motioned for her coworker to follow her up the stairs.
“I’m confused,” Jonathan whispered to me as we watched the two humans ascend the carpeted steps. “I was under the impression that the two of you were lovers. Was I mistaken?”
Kendyll glanced back halfway up the stairs. Our eyes locked, and the warning within hers was clear. She’d put on a front of wanting me to go away last night. Likewise, she continued to do things in an effort to drive me away today.
But I wasn’t falling for her facade this time.
You were a mistake, and I regret it all.
Don’t look for me, because I won’t be looking for you.
Her wounding note had aimed to get rid of me, and it had worked.
I’d let myself second guess and give in to an emotion I should’ve been immune to.
But after running into her again, after hearing her soft confession the night before about me being the only one, after sharing in the gift of her body, I saw all of her cold actions and words for what they were.
I saw what I’d been too blinded by fear to see before.
“You weren’t mistaken,” I finally answered Jonathan as Kendyll and Alex disappeared into a bedroom.
Jonathan looked even more confused now, his ghostly gaze bouncing between the second-floor room and me.
I didn’t explain. Instead, I shadow-walked to the room to find Kendyll and Alex lying on top of the bed, over the comforter.
Kendyll laid on her side and faced away from the cameraman while he laid on his side to stare longingly at her back.
Kendyll was apparently so exhausted that she was already sound asleep, unconcerned about the man who pined for her on one side or the demon who ached for her on the other.
I stared down at her slumbering face and gently trailed my knuckles up her warm cheek. “Push me away all you want, Kendyll. I’m not letting you go this time.”
I STAYED OUT OF THE way for tonight’s attempt at filming their episode. Kendyll hung out in the control room, so obviously, I chose to stay there, too. Even though the human woman mostly ignored me. Not that that stopped me from talking to her.
“Poor Johnnie boy and Melinda girl,” I sighed while watching the ghostly home owner and his wife.
The two hovered around a beeping device in the room Alex and Bethelma were shooting in. As Bethelma asked them yes or no questions, they made the device go off—once for yes, twice for no.
“Having to be in the same room as those two twits is rough. Thankfully, you guys are almost done here. Although, I’m sure Jonathan will be sad to see you go. He—”
“When will you go?” Kendyll cut me off flatly with her blank stare fixed on the live footage in front of her. “I’m not sure what you’re still doing. No one wants you here, Xander.”
“Being unwanted is part of the demon job description,” I grinned as I leaned back in my chair next to hers.
She glanced at me before shaking her head and facing forward again.
I reached out and gently toyed with the ends of her black hair.
I expected her to shrug me off, given all of her other efforts to get rid of me since reuniting, but she didn’t.
That only made my smile grow as I wrapped her hair around my finger.
While Kendyll had been colder this whole time, her demeanor had shifted even further since Bethelma broke the news about purchasing Mountview. I’d wanted to check in with Kendyll about it, but she’d run off to sleep with Alex so that we couldn’t talk.
“Are you alright?” I asked softly.
She was quiet for countless heartbeats. When she finally answered, her dull gaze never wavered from the computer screens.
“She’s making me go back there. As soon as we’re done filming this season of Haunted Days and Nightmares, I’ll be sent to Mountview to gather as much information about the spirits there as possible.
The email Bethelma forwarded me says three months.
I’ll be staying there to work on my own for three months. ”
I frowned and stilled my twirling of her hair.
Hundreds of questions raged in my head. They’d always been there since I found Kendyll in that institution all those years ago.
I’d never broached the topic, because our relationship was already so precarious.
I didn’t want to make her retreat even further into herself.
But I wanted to know more. I wanted to share in the parts of herself that she was afraid of. I wanted to walk through the dark with her.
“What was your experience like there?” I hedged, resuming my toying with her hair. My fingers swept through the strands until I caressed the back of her neck to massage it gently. She really seemed to enjoy having her neck touched.
She let out a humorless laugh. “More of the same nightmare.” She swallowed hard and seemed to settle into my palm and the brushing of my thumb.
“They wanted me to think I was the one with a problem. They wanted to make sure no one would believe …” She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes around a pained grimace.