Darkly Ever After by Kaye Draper

Author:Kaye Draper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kaye Draper
Published: 2018-02-24T18:19:44+00:00

Chapter 9

The next night, I found myself standing amid Indian burial mounds, in the depths of the Huron National Forest, cursing the gods as I stared at the pile of empty bodies around me.

“Can’t you just teleport us all there using your black magic?” I demanded of Death.

He ignored me. We’d had this discussion already. Something about him not interfering and me living up to my purpose.

Tears streamed down my cheeks. I was trying. God fucking damn it all, I was trying. But I couldn’t do as Death said. I couldn’t control the power he had given me.

I stared down at the rabbit I had just ended.

Death had come to me as a rabbit the first time. Ghostly at first, then black and sleek. If only I had known he was going to ruin my life.

“You can do this, my Tess,” he said from his seat on a nearby log. His brow furrowed. “I know you can wield the gift I have given you. You have done it before.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and clamped down on the pain. I had taken so many lives over the last few months. Was any of this really worth it?

“I what now?” I asked, knowing I was about to be angry. If I had managed to touch someone and not kill them with this power, I would have known. And the dip-shit should have told me that from the beginning.

His eyes went all distant, and he looked as if he were seeing something I couldn’t see. “In the burning house. You saved a little girl. You held her in your arms. She lives.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Sure, but I didn’t touch her. I wrapped her in my cloak. All the layers kept her safe.”

He nodded. “But your ghoul touched you.”

I froze. “Tommy? No. He was wearing his leather jacket…and…he’s alive still. Well, sort of. As much as he ever is these days.”

Death rose and came to me, taking my hand. Images arose in my mind, replaying in fits and starts as if they were being rewound and fast forwarded. I saw myself fall backward from the cabin window. I knew Tommy was waiting below to catch me. I trusted him.

From Death’s perspective, I saw my thin, damaged clothing billow in the wind. My shirt rode up. And Tommy’s arms wrapped around me and my bundle, his bare hands slid over my waist, over bare skin, as he set me on my feet.

“No. I mean. He’s a ghoul and I made him. He must just be resistant.”

Death shook his head and dropped his hand, letting the images fade. “No. You could sever his ties to this life if you wished it.”

I glared at him, trying not to hyperventilate. I could have killed Tommy. Again. “So?” I demanded. “What does this prove?”

He gave me a patronizing smile, like a parent to a small child who had just presented him with a finger painting that looked like random smears. “Deep down inside, if you really want to, you can control this power.

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