“Do you have any ideas on who the killer is?” I kept my professional mask of ringleader as I looked at the superhero clan.
“Unless there is a very convincing cross-dresser underneath that hood, I think it’s safe to say the killer is a woman. A ghost woman. She has been picking people that have caught your attention or are interesting in seeing you, such as Trixie here. A fan. Motive seems to be jealousy, but that can’t be confirmed. We’re going to need to keep digging and possibly interview your crew. Selene said that might be possible, since she can talk to them.”
Echo divulged the bullet points on the case of the killer, and I tried to think of someone in my group of ghosts that would do something like this. Lucy, instantly popped into my head, but then I pushed the thought away. She wanted to sleep with me, but she wasn’t in love with me. She just missed the comfort of a warm body and the emotional connection between two people. Hopefully she would sleep with another ghost tonight and fill her sensation quota.
“Anything I can do to help. I’ll make them talk if I have to.” Since I was destined to die, I might as well do something other than wallow about my shitty fate and isolation.
“I think it’s an excellent idea! Selene, talk it over with Jude and let us know when and where. Echo and Rose will assist you in the interviews.” Phillip grinned and clapped his hands together excitedly. Then his hands grasped around his friends’ arms and pulled them away slowly.
Strange exit, but maybe that was normal and I just didn’t know. Dealing with the dead was easier than the living for me. A sigh from beside me brought my attention back to Selene. She avoided eye contact with me.
“What’s wrong? I mean facing death can make people upset but you’re with death all the time.” My hand started to lift toward her chin, but then I chickened out and dropped it. The women I’d been with before were cold and their emotions were buried far beneath the surface. Selene wore hers on the outside. I saw and felt her confusion like it was my own.
“I’m trying to sort my head out, that’s all,” she answered and I looked up to Trixie for any clues as to what Selene’s troubles were but she shrugged and disappeared.
“Talk to me, Selene.” The need to touch her defeated my uncertainty of our feelings, whatever the hell they were called. My fingers caressed her cheek and her hand jerked up to smack my touch away from her soft skin.
“I’m hurt, OK? Not that I almost died, but you kissed me so you could talk to me. You couldn’t have just grabbed my hand and pulled me into the room? You had to kiss me with your stupid death-weaved lips.”
I know I apologized for kissing her to get her away from the crowd, but she didn’t honestly believe that was the reason I kissed her, right? I couldn’t think of anything else at the time more than I needed her lips.
“You really don’t believe that I only kissed you to get you in that room, do you?” I dared her wrath as I reached out again. This time my fingers went beneath her chin to lift her gaze to mine.
“That’s what you said, so what else should I have believed?” Her voice rose and the pain she’d felt from our interaction came to the surface. However, she didn’t move her face from my touch or my stare.
“I’m sorry for that. I’ve lived with the dead for so long that I’ve forgotten how to act amongst the living.” It was a sad excuse but it was the only one I had at the moment.
“When I saw you, all my focus leveled on your lips. It’s stupid to want to touch you, and I acted purely on instinct. I enjoyed the kiss, enjoyed feeling you beneath my fingers, against my tongue. I know it’s stupid to act upon those things considering I only have a few weeks to live and the murders occurring, but I want to do it again.”
Her lips parted and my body pulled into the gravity of her touch. Something lay there, hidden beneath the surface of this thing between us. Something I’d never felt before but couldn’t stop as we drew closer and closer, even if I burned in the end.
Chapter Sixteen
Selene
So many emotions and words came to my mind, but none found their way past my lips. Should I believe him? The way his lips parted and eyes peered at me with longing pointed toward the truth in his admission. But what about everything else?
“I’m not asking you to marry me, Selene, I’m asking you to let me kiss you. But if you don’t wanna get involved, then I understand.” His hand dropped from my chin, and the cold feeling from his stepping away brought a shiver to my skin. I wanted to kiss him, but my head wasn’t clear.
“What about the killer’s threat?” I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and watched his expression change from the indifferent mask he’d put on for defense to a smirk.
“I haven’t fallen in love with anyone yet. I doubt it’ll happen in the next twenty-seven days. No offense.”
It may sound harsh coming from him, but my shoulders sagged from the relief of his words. I didn’t have time for something serious, and while I knew I deserved love, I didn’t feel like I was ready for it. My hands shook as they lifted up to his chiseled jaw.
“Whenever I’m around death, I get this sort of tingle beneath my skin. The closer I get, the more euphoric the sensations become. Kissing you was like tasting the warm lips of death.” I figured his truthful words needed an admission of my own, something I’d never told anyone about being drawn to the bliss of death in a sensual way.
“Makes sense. I am the master of the dead.”
His head tilted as he pressed a gentle kiss to my hand, sending a shiver from my fingers to my toes.
“There is something else there, though, isn’t there?” There was a nagging sensation, like fingers caressing a closed door, trying to be welcomed in.
“I don’t care right now.” His hand held my face still as he bent to kiss me. This wasn’t like the surprising kiss we’d had before. There wasn’t any clashing of teeth and tongues the moment our lips met. His touch seared my senses and burned its way into my soul, branding the imprint of his kiss on my heart. It was a slow, patient kiss, like we didn’t have only twenty-seven days to explore this thing between us but like we had thousands of years. His breath blended with mine with every intake, invading my lungs and my body as if he could ingrain himself in my very blood.
Death kissed like he’d waited all of eternity for this moment, and he would take his time enjoying every sensation. My knees weakened, and my hand had moved to the back of his neck, keeping his head rooted in place, his lips pressed against mine. Every breath felt heavy, as my nerves lit up with every sensation of his warm body touching the front of mine.
“Your kiss is heaven.” His growl reverberated down my throat and shook my heart.
