“Who’s here? Show yourself.”
The room seemed to still as if the lines of time and space had stopped progressing. All points converged in Roan’s room. The feeling of oppression returned, but this time it wasn’t just a sixth sense.
Something pushed on my head. A great weight had been placed there. My knees shook. I scraped my hands over my scalp but couldn’t feel anything on me.
Nevertheless the feeling persisted. This wasn’t an enemy I could see to fight.
“Stop it,” I yelled.
But the feeling intensified. For the first time in my ghost-hunting career I started to think I’d bitten off more than I could chew.
Not once in my life had I experienced anything like this. “Stop,” I yelled again.
The weight subsided, but only for a moment. I jerked forward to get out of the path of the thing, but I was yanked back. A crushing sensation gripped my throat. Whatever it was wanted to choke me to death.
“Oh!”
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t call out to Roan. There was only one thing I knew to do. I thrust my hand out and focused.
A thousand pinpricks of light danced in the darkness. The presence lessened.
“Go to the light,” I wheezed, grabbing my throat. “Go!”
“Never,” a voice rumbled through the silence.
“Blissful?” Roan shot up in the bed. His face twisted in horror.
An invisible hand yanked my towel, pulling me.
Roan’s hand thrust forward. “You will not!”
And just like that, in the blink of an eye, the thing vanished. I knew it immediately. The oppressive weight slipped away. The light slowly dimmed.
Through the waning light my eyes locked with Roan’s.
“What was that? What did you do?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know.”
I cocked my chin at him. “Bull. You know.”
Roan’s gaze cut to the bed. He scrubbed his fingers over his scalp and sighed. “Blissful, there’s something I need to tell you.”
I crossed to him and sat on the mattress. The cushion dipped under my weight. Roan extended his hand, and I took it, relishing the feeling as our fingers slid over one another.
I hitched a brow. “You’ve got some explaining?”
“I do.”
“I’m all ears.”
TWELVE
“Icome from a long line of demonologists.”
I stared at Roan. “Demonologists?”
He shot out a breath of air. “Yes. Demonologists.”
