“I do want you to. I may not be able to give you these things, but they are things you should want. They are things I want, too,” he said, his voice tight and his words strained. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You can’t. Your fangs…well, only a pure Cruor can turn a human, right?”
Charles climbed off the bed. “It’s not about that.” He walked over to the bedroom window before turning back, his face a marble effigy of contempt. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice with a raw edge. “We’re going to get through this. But I don’t know if I can promise you what you want.”
He returned his gaze to whatever was outside the window, and I watched him in silence from the bed, wondering how the world looked through his eyes.
***
LATER THAT NIGHT, the spirit lady watched me through the kitchen window while Charles cooked dinner. Her eyes were bleeding.
I never panicked when I saw her anymore. She was as constant as the rising sun—with me wherever I went for the past few months, her figure drawing ever nearer.
“It’s not terrible I’m immortal,” Charles said, glancing away from the grilled cheese he was making on the stove. “For you, I mean.”
I froze. His sentiment came out of nowhere, and I wasn’t sure how to respond.
“No?” I asked.
He stared stonily back. “I can protect you. If you understood the potential dangers—”
“I understand fine,” I said. “And I can protect myself once I figure out how to tap into my ancestor’s powers.”
“You’re still upset I won’t seek out the Ankou,” he said.
“You have your reasons,” I said, even though he was right.
“The Ankou should be focused on why they are here,” Charles said, engaging in the argument I was trying not to have on the surface. “It’s beyond me how they find time to do these things when they are supposed to be moving the spirits of deceased immortals to the afterlife.”
Moving spirits? That’s what the Ankou did? The revelation panged through my chest, and lungs constricted. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe.
Of all things, this revelation was the one that would shatter my resolve. It meant I wasn’t safe from Charles’ world, not if the spirit following me had anything to do with elementals.
Charles dropped the spatula for the grilled cheese and turned to hold me against his chest. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said.
I shook my head. “Charles, there is a spirit following me.”
Chapter 16
“A SPIRIT IS FOLLOWING YOU?” he repeated, the lines across his brow deepening. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
I gave an insignificant shake of my head. “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
He arched his eyebrows. Yeah, I sounded crazy.
“Look, where I come from, they exorcise people, so seeing things that other people can’t isn’t exactly something I want to broadcast. I didn’t think it had anything to do with elementals.”
“We still can’t go to the Ankou,” he said firmly.
“Why not?”
“First of all, the most helpful of them are in Brazil, and secondly, I don’t think it’s wise to approach them. There’s no telling how they might respond.”
Defeat settled heavily on my shoulders. “So there’s nothing we can do?”
“Sophia, there is something you must always remember about my world. You cannot count on running or hiding forever. Whatever you do, fight. Always, always fight, until your dying breath. That is your only chance at survival.”
“Until I die? Stop being so morbid!”
“You can’t be passive about this. Morts don’t follow people for the fun of it.”
“Morts?”
“Mortuss Phasmatis. Spirits of elementals who have met their final death but are stuck between this world and the afterlife. The Universe tasked the Ankou with moving these spirits—either to new lives or to the afterlife—but if the spirits remain too long, they sometimes possess humans.”
“Seriously? Seriously, Charles? Why the heck does it want me?”
“Likely because you don’t have an aura. That makes your ability to resist possession stronger, but if they succeed, they can take you over completely—not only to use your body but to bind with your spirit as well.”
“How can you be so calm about this? What am I supposed to do? Could it really possess me?”
Charles placed his hands on my shoulders. “Calm down. Let’s talk about this. When did you first see it?”
“It’s a her, and I first saw her when I woke up in Ivory’s room after I was attacked at Club Flesh.” My eyes widened with realization, and I covered my mouth. “Oh shit. She followed me here, didn’t she?”
“How close is she now?”
I peered over the ridge of his shoulder, through the window of the kitchen door that led out to my backyard. The young woman with the dark hair now had her face pressed to the windowpanes.
I shuddered. Her face was pressed to the windowpanes, the blood from her eyes smeared across the glass. A shudder ripped through me and threatened to empty the contents of my stomach. I hadn’t been so afraid of her before. Maybe ignorance really is bliss.