And with those words, the door opened behind us and a woman in a flowery dress walked in, smiling widely at us. “So, you’re the men who saved the day! I’m Heidi, the leader of the Danish medium team.” She ignored the grimaces from her employees as she fixed her gaze on all of us. “I must say that I’m impressed. The case was a hard one and I doubted I could entice others into facing that ghost if you’d given up as well.”
“We had help,” Marcus said, offering her his hand. “My fiancé’s presence protected us against her. With him there she couldn’t touch anything.”
Heidi held her chin, looking to think it over. “I’ve never once thought about having ghosts as partners before. We only have two at this property who help train new mediums, otherwise we don’t really tend to work with ghosts other than on the cases we get.”
“They’re disgusting!” Kimmie snapped again, drawing all our attention.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dylan
I heard many sighs around me as Heidi turned to face Kimmie with an odd look. “What are you saying?”
Kimmie pointed to Marcus. “Being in a relationship with a ghost? That’s fucking disgusting!”
Marcus’ hand seemed to hold onto Erik from the way it bent, but his other was in a tight fist. I couldn’t stand to watch it.
“Is the sight of them being in love bothering you?” I asked, stealing the attention from her. “Does it scare you as a medium that ghosts are capable of feeling love? Because if that’s the case, how can you help them pass on if you believe they shouldn’t be shown any empathy?”
Kimmie blinked a few times before her mouth opened and closed, then she spluttered, “That’s entirely different! I’m not having sex with them!”
“How do you know what Marcus and Erik are doing behind closed doors?” Mike asked, joining the discussion. “You’re the one who went straight to sex after judging Marcus for having Erik by his side. Shouldn’t Erik be the one to decide what he wants to do in the afterlife?”
Heidi clapped before we could argue any further. “Ghosts have free will. That is the mediums way of offering them the respect they deserve.” She leveled a glare at Kimmie. “We protect ghosts first and foremost and only banish them if they’re a danger to humans. If Erik is happy with Marcus, then so be it. That is no crime.”
“I actually think it’s cute,” Thor said, grinning at Marcus. “If I die before my wife then I would want to follow her around, too, if she’d let me. I sadly wouldn’t be able to still talk to her like you can, but if it was possible then dying wouldn’t feel as scary. At least I wouldn’t be gone from her life until I chose otherwise.”
“Erik is waiting for me to join him,” Marcus admitted shyly. “He died before we could get engaged and has chosen to stay beside me until my time comes.”
Heidi smiled at Marcus. “I think it’s wonderful! And because of your bond, you helped the castle and the friendly ghosts within. We’re most grateful for that.” She gave the room a quick glance. “I have to speak with them privately so go back to your new case; it should be an easy one to take on.”
Her team left the room, Kimmie looking sour as she passed us, but then we were left with Heidi and the room suddenly felt much warmer without the angry medium in it.
“I spoke briefly with Rino,” Heidi began, looking at Mike. “Did you see the ghost’s final moments while you banished her?”
Mike gasped softly. He’d told me what had happened and how traumatic it had been. I was glad we’d eaten beforehand because we were both left feeling nauseous once he was done explaining it all to me.
He nodded. “And some random memories too that she thought of when she realized she was about to die.”
Marcus’ eyes widened, but he didn’t comment on it, just allowed Mike to talk this through with Heidi.
She nodded. “You have a gift, or a curse, however you wish to interpret it. It’s a rare ability among mediums and it is most helpful in cases where we don’t have enough information. But.” She held up a hand to stop his protests. “It can also be extremely traumatizing, which is why it is up toyouif you wish to never banish another ghost again. Because with your ability, you will experience it every single time you perform a banishment.”
I felt the small tremors that went through Mike’s body at the news, so I tightened my hold on his hand, even if it pained me with my wounds. Comforting Mike was more important that my aching hand, though, so I kept a firmer grip on him as Heidi continued to speak.
“Are you sure it’s every time?” Mike asked, his tone lacking any hope.
Her smile was kind and full of understanding. “I’ve met one with the same ability and heard of another. Neither of them could banish ghosts without having their final moments shown in their minds, and only one of them chose to continue with banishmentsand is picky about which cases she takes. The other is firmly against ever banishing ghosts again, his last time had him throwing up and he occasionally still has nightmares about it.”
Mike’s eyes widened. “It was that bad?”
She nodded grimly. “Serial killer. The murderer… he um... thought about the people he’d killed and how he reveled in murdering them while he died of old age. The poor medium saw and felt all of it.”
“You’re never doing that ever again!” I demanded, tucking Mike closer to my side. “You don’t deserve to experience that sort of trauma. No one does.”
Heidi nodded, clearly agreeing with me. “If it was me, I wouldn’t do it either. We have to think about ourselves as well. And being a medium means that you already give much of your life to help ghosts. No one would blame you, Mike, if you refuse to do it.”
Mike nodded, looking almost as drained as he’d been yesterday. “I prefer never to experience it again. I was lucky that my ghost had a quick death. The pain was there, but it had been so quick I didn’t really get to feel it. The worst part was the knowledge that she would die, and I felt that fear as if it was my own.”
