Ever Tempted (26 page)

As the hot liquid pricked my veins, I closed my eyes. “So, did we win?”

“Yes.” Cole’s voice was soft. “I’ve heard nothing from Grace for a month.”

“What happened?” Whew. This stuff was strong. I opened my eyes. The room was warmer. Without moving, I sank further into the bed. Places I didn’t know could be reached with narcotics heated to a slow burn. Not painful, but tingly and pleasant.

“We burned her DNA, your DNA, and the original witch’s DNA together. It killed Grace.” Kaitlyn looked at Cole.

“But I still shift.”

It took a few seconds for his statement to sink in.

“Will we be reincarnated?” I never thought I wanted that, but with the prospect of losing forever with Cole, I wanted nothing but all the time I could get with him, even if I didn’t remember each life. Tears filled my eyes. This could be it.

“We don’t know.”

“Cole’s blood wasn’t burned in the mixture. He might be the only person who reincarnates since he still has the ability to shift.” Anna Marie stepped through my bedroom door. “I hate to interrupt, but I come by every Friday to see you. I’m glad I caught you awake.”

I was silent as the prospect of losing Cole gripped me.

Cole stared at the carpet and took a deep breath. “There’s a way to ensure we reincarnate.”

“And there’s a way to stop us from aging.” Shelby grinned and gave Cole a cocky expression. “I love this witchy stuff.”

“Wait. What?” I shook my head now and it didn’t hurt. However, the room took on an odd lighting. Everything seemed to have a sparkly glow.

“We have a choice.” Cole took my hand.

Did I want to live forever?

That was a very hard question.

At first.

“I want to stick around here awhile, but I don’t want to stop aging.” I looked to Cole for approval.

Cole nodded. “Whatever you want. They’ll be able to find our souls and place us wherever they want us. We can grow up together in the next life if you do reincarnate. If you don’t, then they know what I want.”

“We chose to live until we decide we’ve had enough,” Shelby said pointed between herself and her sister. “The deal breaker for me will be when modern style turns to big colorful wigs and clothing turns into fur, instead of classic revisits to previous decades.”

“The deal breaker for me would be if you said no to living out forever with me.” Trevor stepped up and looped his arm around Shelby.

Her eyes got wide. “Is that some sort of proposal?”

“Maybe. I don’t have a ring yet. I’ve been here with you every day making sure you didn’t lose your mind over your comatose best friend. That didn’t leave very much time to shop, but I couldn’t pass up a moment like this. It never happens.” Trevor turned Shelby in his arms. “So, what do you say?”

“Yes! I’ll spend forever with you.”

Giving us a scene much like the ones we harassed the whole family with, Shelby jumped into his embrace.

“Who needs to get a room now?” Cole gazed lovingly at me.

“I always wanted to grow old with you.” I could think of nothing I wanted more.

“Then you get your wish.” Cole smiled and kissed me with the fervor I’d never stop needing.

In death.

And beyond.

Be sure not to miss the first book in Odessa’s Cursed series

In order to fully inherit a millionaire’s fortune, Allie Knowles must survive a month on her property. Easier said than done when the enormous house is haunted by a violent ghost who claims to know Allie. But the true mystery lies with Cole Kinsley, the handsome groundskeeper. Cole and Allie have never met, though he’s been driving her wild in her dreams for years. Yet now, every effort to get closer to him pushes him further away….

Cole has only ever loved one soul, and that love has endured for centuries. Now that soul rests within Allie’s body, and it takes everything in his power not to confess the truth. For her presence has put them both in mortal danger. Racing against the clock, Allie will have to break the ghost’s curse—or history will be doomed to repeat itself.

A Lyrical Originals novel on sale now!

Learn more about Odessa Gillespie Black at

http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/author.aspx/31686

Chapter 1

Between dream and reality, I fumbled for my phone, knocking over my nightstand lamp in the process. The phone felt like a cold wrought iron handrail of a sweeping Victorian staircase from my dream. I shook off the feeling and answered. “Hello.”

“Allie, you have some mail here,” Mama said. “It’s marked urgent. From the Law Offices of Preston Dawkins of Nashville, Tennessee. You’re not in trouble, are you?”

“Seriously? When was the last time I was in trouble?” I righted the lamp and turned off my alarm. It was set for eleven AM, and I had two minutes before it blared some ridiculous talk show host’s voice in my ear.

Mama sighed and glasses clinked in the background. “Well, it’s odd it came here instead of your apartment. And you are too perfect. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“Because I fell from the same tree as your other rotten apples doesn’t mean I have to be tainted, too. It’s probably junk mail.”

“Well, to ease an old woman’s mind, would you have time to come open it?”

“You’re not old. Let me put on some clothes.” A night of restless sleep had left me drained, so I wobbled as I stood. “You could always open it for me. I’m not going to convict you of a felony.”

“I’ll just wait. Besides, it’s a good excuse to see you.” She let out a laugh that had always made my less than desirable childhood experiences bearable.

I hung up and fumbled around, looking for my other shoe. Every morning, after that stupid recurring dream, my chest ached, and the cramped one-bedroom apartment was even lonelier. Most psychology books would instruct me to go to a club with people my age and fraternize more.

Outside, a mixture of baby diapers and rotten salmon patties scented the air. Even breathing through my mouth hadn’t helped. The dumpster next to the apartment overflowed. The little two-door monstrosity, which the local car lot had called the best car there, fired to life. Welcoming the fresh air, I cranked the window down as I made my way to Mama’s.

* * * *

“And you’ve never heard of her?” Mama and I eyed the letterhead, the address, and the body of the letter.

“Nope. She’s no long-lost relative of mine.” Mama scanned from over my shoulder. “But it has a legal letterhead, and it appears real.”

“If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.” I tossed the letter to the center of the chipped Formica table along with the enclosed plane ticket.

“She might be leaving you a million dollars.” Mama smirked as she shoved a sandwich, a banana, and a bottle of water in a lunchbox.

“Or it’s an elaborate sorority prank.”

“You know, I always thought you were meant for more than this.” Her gaze darted toward Daddy as her voice dropped to a whisper. “It may be a case of mistaken identity, and even if the woman leaves you her most valuable cross-stitched quilt, it’s a trip you’ve never taken before. Besides, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“Never say that when someone is about to board a plane.”

“That’s my girl.” Mama kissed my forehead. “Now I can’t be late, or I’ll be fired.”

“Love you.”

The screen door slammed behind her.

According to the letter, a video of the deceased reading her will would be shown at the funeral. Apparently, she wanted me to witness it.

A few days later, I boarded a plane to Nashville, Tennessee.

* * * *

A cold, murky thickness surrounded me. Seconds felt like minutes, and my lungs burned under the water.

Mud suctioned against my feet as I trudged forward.

Through the frothy murk, a rectangular box emerged, a casket of rotting wood and rusted latches embedded in green sludge.

My heart did a staccato against my chest, and my lungs burned deeper. My hands grabbed the wooden hatch on the coffin, and the latches broke free.

I pushed the lid upward, and the corpse’s hair lifted with the current. Through the settling hair, leathery gray skin stretched across a deformed skull.

My feet were trapped in mud. Though observing the most horrifying thing I’d ever seen, I couldn’t swim away. A large rock pinned down a decomposing corpse in a long white dress.

My hair tangled around my face as my hands pulled the rock from the box. With a steady jerk, they severed what was left of the rope preventing the body’s escape. I willed my hands to stop, but they wouldn’t.

I shook my head frantically.

The hands that had disobeyed me weren’t mine.

I tried to push up from the bottom of the watery grave, but a force too strong to fight compelled me to stand erect, motionless.

The hands reattached themselves to the forearms of the corpse. Skin and tendons snaked together and pulsated to create unity. The fingers wiggled as the corpse tried them on. The long slender fingers grasped the side of the coffin.

A sucking, popping noise pulsated from the corpse’s neck as it turned its head toward me. The eyelids popped open, revealing large yellowed orbs with white irises.

Thin leathery bands of flesh stretched back into a leering smile.

The rotting corpse rose from the bottom of the coffin with stiff jerky movements. Her face changed and death fell away, little by little, but not enough. She still looked like a dead girl, but she had been beautiful in life. Her skeletal cheekbones became covered in whitish-blue skin, and her eyes blacked out, hollow.

She no longer had difficulty moving through the water.

Propelling myself backward, I stumbled, and my bottom hit the muck. I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound escaped. Dirty water filled my mouth, gagging me. I yanked free of the impossible suction.

She leaned in toward me with her arms outstretched.

With all I had, I flailed against the water to get away.

Under the black depths, a voice that could only be hers blasted through my skull as I reached for the surface. “You have something that belongs to me.”

My fingers scraped against the rough embankment, and jagged rocks cut into my knees. Grass and tree roots gave me anchor as I dug my way out of the pond. I gasped and coughed until I caught my breath. Behind me, the corpse stood motionless at the water’s edge, eyes now black and expressionless.

When I turned to run, a guy with no face appeared. He was the same sweet guy from all my recurring dreams, but this time he was desperate.

“I never belonged to her,” he said. “You have to forgive me.”

His face shifted in and out, giving me an unclear picture of what he looked like, but bright green eyes shined through the vision.

The landing gear skidded across the pavement.

I jumped awake.

The arms of the plane seats were slick, and my shirt was damp with sweat.

Recurring nightmares had found me any time I closed my eyes since I’d received the letter. I’d liked having only the faceless young man dominating my dreams much better. These made no sense.

No one seemed to notice my abrupt jerk awake. The little bald man on one side of me smiled, and on the other side, the elderly lady’s face pinched in irritation.

Had I drooled on her?

As others gathered their carry-on bags and made their way to the front of the plane, I wobbled to the restroom. A refreshing towelette, one of the first class amenities, wiped away the dream’s after effects, though sleep deprivation had set purple circles under my eyes.

Outside the airport, the sign-holder bearing my name wore a suit and a captain’s hat, and he stood next to a long stretch limo. Everyone around me gawked at the huge car and whispered. A few people pulled out cameras.

With my head down, I made my way through the crowd toward him.

“Miss Knowles?” the man said.

“Um, that would be me.”

“Jensen.” He bowed. As soon as he opened the door to the car, the first camera flashed.

Poor fool.

I was a nobody.

Jensen offered his hand to assist me into the limo.

The door shut on the faces of people who peered in at me, wondering who I was. I sank into the soft leather with a sigh of relief.

* * * *

The long limo took a left onto Rolling Hills Drive. It twisted and wound around the countryside for miles. The road narrowed so that another passing car wouldn’t have fit. Green-leaved branches of hundred-year-old trees armored the road. Clover and an array of wild flowers bordered the lane banks. It was a private little piece of heaven.

The window that separated the driver from the cab of the car was down, and the man peered back every so often.

“It feels like my first day at a new job where everyone knows me, but I don’t know anyone’s name. It’s awkward.”

“You’ll be fine. It won’t be long now.” Jensen gave a friendly smile.

To the right of the car, a black wrought iron fence inlayed with tall shrubs stretched on with no sign of an entrance.