Demonically Tempted (Frostbite 2)

“You’ve come,” Holly said with a smile that didn’t hold happiness, but appeared to portray a friendly air. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t gotten rid of it and right now, I’m beginning to think I don’t want to.”

Her smile grew. “But you’re here, so that’s a start.”

“They’re quite afraid, aren’t they?” Dane said. “The energy here is thick with fear.”

I didn’t bother looking at him to agree. He might feel them, but I could see the fright in their expressions. That worried me. “I take it the ghost is still around?” When they nodded, I added, “And he still feels threatening?”

“Very threatening,” Holly replied. “But things have changed a bit since last night. We’ve realized he’s not a ghost anymore.”

I gawked at her. When that got me nowhere, I glimpsed at Kipp. Even he appeared taken back.

“What do you mean, he’s not a ghost?” he asked.

“It’s quite strange, really. He has always come into existence, his presence is strong, but then he fades away.” She studied the others before focusing on me. “But we haven’t actually seen him.”

I wanted to smack my forehead. “You’re making no sense at all.”

“He doesn’t look like us,” the elderly gentleman said. “He’s shadow-like.”

“A shadow?” I repeated.

Dane frowned. “What’s a shadow?”

“The ghost.” I glanced at Holly. “Can you explain what that, in terms I’ll understand, means?”

“When we saw him before, he had no distinguishing features. I know how strange that sounds, but he looked like a shadow.”

I shivered, not sure why, but iciness crept up my spine nonetheless. “I’ve never seen that before.” I focused on Dane. “Have you ever heard of a ghost that looks like a shadow, but who isn’t a shadow anymore?”

His gaze darkened, yet instead of answering me, he simply said, “If the ghost isn’t this shadow anymore what is it?”

“It was the strangest thing,” Holly said. “Last night, we all went by the house he stays at to make sure he was still there. When we were there, a man—a living one—came out of the house.” She visibly shuddered. “But it was him.”

“The man was a ghost?” I gasped. “I mean, the ghost was a man?” Was my head screwed on straight?

“I know that sounds weird, but it’s true.”

I almost laughed—almost. Weird was my standing in the middle of the park, in the daytime talking to a bunch of ghost, but what she said was just fucked up.

“Did he say anything to you?” Kipp asked.

She shook her head. “He only stared us at, smiling, and it was enough to spook us. We left.”

Unable to help it, I rolled my eyes. “You were spooked by a ghost or a man-ghost?”

They all nodded.

I pondered. A ghost wasn’t a ghost, but a shadow. The shadow wasn’t a shadow, but a man. Had anything ever been more confusing? I turned to Dane. “Have you ever dealt with a situation like this before?”

He parted his mouth to reply when a few of the soldiers approached, then he sucked in a harsh breath, clearly reacting to the spirits.

Uniforms decorated their bodies, and confusion spread across their faces. By the look of their uniforms, they’d been here since World War I.

“You can see us, can’t you?” one of them said.

My heart clenched. These men fought for the freedom I held. It hurt to see them lost like this. “Yes, I can—”