Jude appeared under a spotlight, just in front of the woman’s decapitated head, and lifted it gently to her. The crowd’s energy was electric, yet there was no sound beyond the footsteps of the ringleader. A tiger growled and prowled toward the woman and Jude as she placed her head back on her neck.
“Is this life or death, you may ask, but the truth is. . .” Jude turned his body, directly facing the audience with his eyes on me.
“You’re already in the mystical adventure of death.” He smirked as the tiger leaped, his bared teeth aiming for Jude’s exposed back. My fingers went up to my mouth to stifle the scream just as the tiger collided with his body and they both turned into butterflies.
I was going to need his secrets on how he did all his tricks. It was such a mystery. Trapeze artists flew and flipped together in the air. The woman who hissed that Jude was hers walked one foot at a time on a tightrope, then flipped onto a horse that appeared out of nowhere with Jude on its back. Her hand wrapped around him possessively and my gaze narrowed at the gesture.
“It wasn’t a real kiss,” I whispered to myself, trying to focus on the show for anything stranger than ghosts performing. With great effort I tore my gaze away from Jude and looked around the crowd for the killer. Trixie was doing the same. Out the corner of my sight, I noticed someone walking toward me, covered in a hood.
Draco moved from his spot against the wall and began walking toward me, with his focus on the hooded person. Trixie disappeared from her perching spot, then appeared next to Draco. Both of them didn’t want to spook the killer.
“You’re wanted backstage.” A feminine voice spoke to me, and a pale hand with red polish lifted beneath the large sleeve of the hooded cape for me to take it. I tried to see who was beneath the hood, but only saw a bluish shimmer, giving them away as a soul and nothing else.
“I don’t think so,” I whispered, as a woman behind me told the stranger to move out of her way.
“If he falls for you, then you’re gonna die. Remember that, Reaper. I won’t be the only one out for your head.” The voice morphed into a gurgling noise, and Trixie appeared before the figure and lifted the hood.
Nothing. The hood dropped to the ground as if there had been nothing beneath it but air.
“Hey, sit down! We can’t see!” someone behind me hollered, and I realized I’d risen to my feet. I was too hyped to stay there and finish watching the show. I knew the hooded ghost had been the killer. I felt its dark aura, the aura of someone who had taken a life. That kind of stain on a soul doesn’t go away, it rots, and creates a fate of misery. Even before the woman had become a ghost, she’d hurt someone.
“Let’s go,” I told Trixie and Draco. We needed to get out of view and keep an eye out for the killer in case she wanted another victim since she didn’t get the chance to kill me. We made it to the side of the building where Phillip stood, watching. He was tall, handsome, but unlike Draco, he had blond hair and looked more boyish. He was dangerous in his own way, though. He knew all the possible future outcomes, and when you know the future, you can bet on whichever one played to your advantage. He’d done it once before . . . bet the lives of everyone, even his sister if Rose’s retellings of the big battle were true. He would do whatever had to be done for what he deemed as the best future.
“The killer is a ghost, but I didn’t see a face. Just the same pale hand and red polish Trixie saw.” I was frustrated. Every one of them was transfixed on the performance onstage. Jude was getting the performance he wanted without murder occurring, but I couldn’t get the sinking feeling in my stomach to disappear despite the deep breaths I started to take. I hadn’t felt fear with the killer near. After having spent time with Jude backstage, I figured I’d be a target like the other women. However, that feeling in my tummy only seemed to harden and churn when I repeated the woman’s words over and over in my head.If he falls for you, then you’re gonna die. Remember that, Reaper.
I didn’t think I’d have to worry about Jude falling for me. He was against love and relationships, since he was destined to die in twenty-seven days. She’d also mentioned the title of Reaper, so she knew who and what I was, and there wasn’t any fear in her tone. There were only one set of ghosts that knew I couldn’t take them onward.
My nervous gaze lifted to where Jude danced across the stage, pulling magic out of his hat surrounded by ghosts who could kill a live person, including him.
Chapter Fifteen
Jude
The performance proceeded perfectly, and nobody died. I was riding the high of a successful show that I told my ghosts to go back to the mansion and enjoy the wine in the cellar. I’d let them feast and feel for the night. All of them disappeared, and I felt their presence in the mansion even from the stage. The mansion and I were connected. The gate to the afterlife was bound to me by blood and birthright. I thought about joining them. Instead I walked toward the crowd that waited by the stage with Trixie.
“This night’s show was perfect!” I announced as I neared Selene and her friends, although my steps slowed the closer I got. They weren’t excited or joyous as they looked at each other nervously.
“What happened?” I took a step next to Selene and while it was a small movement, she leaned away from me. I’d thought after the hell of a kiss we shared earlier that she’d want to be near me like I felt toward her. I’d wanted to talk to her and to tell her about what I’d learned. Instead, as soon as I saw her, I couldn’t think about anything else beyond tasting her lips. It was stupid to want her, knowing I would die in a few weeks. Maybe she didn’t enjoy our kiss, despite how passionately she kissed me back. If it wasn’t for the show and the pressing matter of the barrier to the otherworld deteriorating, I would have stayed in that room with her, exploring her lips and the whimpering sounds she made when I nibbled against her skin.
“The killer showed up and wanted Selene.” Trixie broke the silence with a shrug. I glanced over her face, then her body, looking for signs of an injury. She wasn’t dead, so I called that a win, but everyone’s faces looked pinched.
“I’m Phillip. This is Draco, our leader of sorts, and this is Echo. She works for the Seahill PD and for us.”
A tall blond man stepped forward and pointed to the two others with him. A muscular man with brown hair and a beard reeked of an ancient soul. He had seen many deaths in his lifetime. Echo I’d seen before, her black medium-length hair and scowl hadn’t changed since our first meeting at the first murder during my show.
“Nice to meet you all. Now bring me up to speed, please.” My mind hadn’t moved passed the killer wanting Selene. Right now all I cared about was that someone tried to hurt Selene.
“The hooded figure came and said I was wanted backstage. She had the same red polish and pale skin like Trixie said but I noticed the blue shimmer underneath the hood. I couldn’t see any other type of facial features. It was like she wore a mask or something.” Selene talked while avoiding my probing stare. I wanted her to look at me, to see me, to confirm that the kiss we shared wasn’t all an act.
“Anything else?”
“She did say something else before Trixie tried to rip off her hood.” Again, Selene wouldn’t look at me and the others watched us. An uneasy vibe settled over the group.
“Yeah. She said . . .” Selene struggled to get the words out. She was afraid to say them, which intrigued me.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. She said, ‘If he falls for you, then you’re gonna die. Remember that, Reaper. I won’t be the only one out for your head.’” Echo exhaled impatiently.
“But we don’t need to worry about that, so good news, I’ll survive.” Selene tried to wave off the warning, however all her jittery announcement did was make the group feel awkward. She and I needed to hash some things out but first we needed to talk business with the Hero Society.
