Demonically Tempted (Frostbite 2)

“You, ghosts who just appeared, are to leave her alone,” Dane interjected in a curt tone. “Be gone with you. Now.”

I blinked, and to my utter shock, the soldiers vanished from sight. The ghosts around me all gasped and appeared more afraid than I thought possible, considering they all looked scared shitless a second ago.

Before I had a chance to understand what had happened, or deal with Dane appropriately, he continued, “Tess has offered to help you—which is kind of her—but after this you’ll not approach her again.”

I jerked my head toward him, totally stunned that his words held that much strength and that he made those ghosts vanish from sight. “What did you do to them?”

“Yes, what the fuck did you do?” Kipp sneered.

“You need to put up some boundaries,” Dane replied, unnerved. “They are ghosts and need to be treated as such. They have no right coming into your house, approaching you anywhere they want, and making demands of you.”

My mouth dropped open at the rage that seethed off his tone. Now I understood his reaction earlier when we discussed this. Sure, I’d always thought of ghosts as annoying, but I thought of them as people. And no one deserved to be talked to that way. “Listen you, show a little more respect to the dead, will ya?”

Dane shook his head. “You need to stop opening yourself up like you do. It’s dangerous. You’re the one in control. Not them.”

“For someone who’s a medium, you’d think you would show a little more compassion.”

He arched an eyebrow in the most arrogant of ways. “I do have compassion. I’m willing to help them and I’ve done so on many occasions. But it doesn’t change the fact they are ghosts and I help them on my terms. So should you.”

“Fuck off,” Kipp all but spat.

I kept my attention on Dane. “Yes, well, they were afraid and needed help.” Why was I defending them?

“Which you’ve offered and that’s your choice. But there are rules they must adhere to. If you never define those rules, you’ll be controlled by them. That’s not right.”

“What do you mean rules?”

He sighed, exasperated. “Your lack of knowledge seriously worries me. You have the strength to tell them to go away.

Tell them not to enter your house. You have to put rules up they must follow. For some reason you don’t seem to do it.”

“I don’t do it, because I didn’t know I could,” I retorted with a bite to each word. “So how ‘bout you stop being such a jackass and explain it to me.”

Kipp chuckled. “That’s my girl.”

Dane clearly didn’t share in Kipp’s amusement since he scowled at me. “If you tell ghosts to stay out of your house, they won’t be allowed in because you’re the living person and remain in this world. They do not.”

“Oh,” I replied, mainly because I hadn’t known it was that easy. For years, I ran and hid from ghosts following me. Ignored them. Was it just that easy to tell them to go away and they would?

Dane glanced around, clearly not seeing what I could, but appeared to stare at each ghost here. “I’ve made it known that they’re not to bother you again.”

My jaw tightened at the indifference he portrayed. I understood why he made that point, but I wasn’t sure I liked it. As much as ghosts had gotten to me over the years, I’d accepted my path now and if they were in danger or needed help, I’d chosen to assist them. “Ignore him.”

“What?” Dane shot back.

“It’s my choice how I do things. Sure, I don’t want them in my house—at inappropriate times—but if they need my help, I’ll never turn them away.”

“It’s one thing to help. It’s another to let them control you. You let them have the power. And that’s not their right.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “I’d prefer if you would stop talking like that. Either find something nice to say, or shut the hell up.”

Kipp laughed.

Dane sucked in a deep breath and focused on me so intently, searching for something. “You’re going to get yourself into trouble.”

I waved away his remark. “Yeah, what else is new?” Done with him, this conversation, and his anger, I said to Holly, “Tell us where this ghost is?”

Holly looked around frantically, seemingly stunned by the conversation with Dane. “At an abandoned house on Chelsea Avenue.” Her attention came fully onto me. “Trust me, you’ll know the house the second you walk down the street. I suspect you’ll sense his presence, just as we have, but he tends to come out of the house. So we all avoid that area as much as possible now.”