28. Dane

Dane

I 've never seen a dead body before. That thought keeps repeating in my brain in a strangely calm tone. I feel kind of numb and detached, but the horror of it is searing itself into my eyelids, burrowing down to implant itself in my brain. There's so much dried blood on her body, but distantly, I know that there should be more. The ground around her is pristine. Her dress has a delicate lace hem. One of my foster mums used to wear dresses with the same pattern. I hated them because she had looked older, even though she was trying so hard to be young. I'll hate it for a different reason now.

"Dane," Rafe whispers.

It takes me five long seconds to tear my gaze away. I follow Rafe's gaze and catch sight of Jax before she disappears up the stairs.

Rafael is already moving, so with one last look at the body, I tear after him. We rush through the house and only just get the door open in time to see her drive off in a cherry red convertible that I know she doesn't own.

Rafael huffs. "We need to follow her." He runs to our car. I'm only a moment behind him.

With a grunt, I slide into the driver's side and start the car. I have a fairly good idea of where I think we can find her, so I don't rush. Rafe's knee bouncing drives me nuts, but I clench my jaw and keep my mouth shut. I can almost see the words that are dying to slip past his teeth.

"You really like this woman, don't you?" My voice has no tone to it. It's the most careful question I've ever asked. Why am I so tense waiting for his answer?

Rafe gives me a sidelong look, and his cheeks heat. Well, that confirms that. Strangely, I feel a strong pulse of loss. I clear my throat and clench my fingers around the steering wheel.

"Yes. I really do like her, and I believe her."

I snort.

Rafe's head swivels back towards me. "You don't?"

"I didn't say that."

"Dane, I know you."

"I…she's annoying and weird. I don't trust her."

"You like her." Rafe beams at me. "You said I was annoying and weird, and you didn't trust me," he points out when I stare at him.

My mouth falls open, but damn, if I can't argue with that because his memory is right, I did say that.

"Look, Rafe, we have to be careful, she's holding stuff back-"

"Of course, she is. We just met her." Rafe shakes his head like he's disappointed in me.

I press my lips together and ignore him. "The facts are: Terrance met her and vanished." I can't bring myself to say the next part, though after seeing Cherise, there is almost no hope left in me. "The facts are: she's keeping secrets, and the killings have started again. The facts are-"

"Give it up, Dane. I can recite the facts better than you can, but what do you feel? Do you really feel she's capable of doing that? What we just saw?"

I shake my head instantly, and then stop. "I know she isn't the killer, Rafe. We don't have to keep going over this. There's just something…I can't put my finger on it, I can't help but feel it might hurt us, and I can't…"

I trail off, my throat tight, and stare at the light my headlights are making on the road.

"Nothing will happen to us. It's different this time. We have a heads up." Rafe shifts in the seat. "I'm not going to let anything happen to either one of us."

I blow out a breath and kill my lights before turning into the car park and turning off the car.

"Oh, no…" I breathe out in a thread of sound.

Rafe goes to jump out of his seat, but I clamp my hand around his arm without looking.

"Sit this one out, brother."

I can feel his eyes boring into me, but I don't dare take my own gaze from what is unfolding before me.

I open the door as quietly as I can and slip out of the car. I slip my hand into my pocket and take hold of my phone. It's the only weapon that will save her.

She is standing in the shadows of a tree. You'd miss her if you weren't looking for her. A dark shape that vaguely resembles a man has her wrapped in his arms and is slowly rotating on the spot. A sick, twisted slow dance.

"Jax!" I call out loudly. She jumps and lifts her head off that thing's chest and looks at me. "I need you to move away from him."

She reacts like she's been electrocuted. Her face goes bone white. Even in the dim light, the colour is alarming. I take a step towards her and watch as she sways.

"What?"

"Jax, that thing isn't what you think it is. You have to move away from it."

Her head whips back to the thing, and I can see the torment written on her expression.

"You…you can see him?" Her voice is stark, and it tears at my chest. I want so badly to undo the last few minutes.

"Yes, I've always been able to see them," I speak calmly.

"But they're my hallucinations, Dane. Mine. How can you see my hallucinations?" Her voice rises to a shriek.

"They aren't hallucinations, Jax. They are spirits. Move away from him now, and I'll tell you everything I know."

She takes a breath. It's deep and raspy. It doesn't sound right. She sways, and the arms tighten around her.

I've never seen one so strong before. He has shape and form; he is so clearly on this plane of existence. I'm intrigued and terrified of it.

I take another few steps closer, and the head snaps towards me. I can feel the hostility rolling off it. It seems to grow in height.

"Who are you?" Jax whispers through increasingly short, sharp inhales.

He turns his head back to her and lowers his head to her ear.

"Mine."

My body turns to ice. It spoke, it actually spoke. This is impossible. I pull out my phone and shine the torch in its direction and watch it vanish back into the dark.

She starts to fall backwards, but I'm already there, catching her under her arms and carefully guiding her to the ground.

"Jax? It's okay, breathe. Slowly now, in and out, breathe."

"They said," she gasps, and her fingers tighten in my shirt, holding on like she's fighting death, "he was in my head."

"He's real. I can see him, and so can Rafe. I promise, I will explain everything, but you have to calm down and slow your breathing."

"I can see spots."

"Yeah, I'll bet you can."

"I need him," she screams suddenly in a voice so painfully full of torment that it threatens to undo me.

Rafe skids to his knees beside us and reaches for my phone. Our eyes meet, and I reluctantly nod my head. He switches off the torch, and instantly, the dark swirls around her, drawing her out of my arms and into his.

Rage fills me, but I fight it back. We did this to her. We need to help her. I repeat the words in my head as I sit back on my heels and watch the familiar way he holds her. The way his hands follow the curves of her body is so fucking unnatural. What power does this creature have over her, and how were we going to tear the two of them apart?

"You shouldn't be here," I say to it in a low voice. I can't contain my fury and disgust.

The head lifts slowly, and I swear the thing is mocking me. But she's breathing easier. Rafe reaches out and takes one of her hands.

I half expect the thing to attack him, but it just seems to ignore Rafael completely.

"We need to go," I snap.

The thing ignores me and continues stroking from her shoulder, down her side, all the way to her knee and up again.

"We need to get her somewhere warm," Rafael says respectfully; I only just manage to hide the scoff. "Her friend, Cherise, died tonight as well as," Rafe looks at me. "She's probably in shock."

It unfolds its body, standing to its height, and brings her up with him. He handles her so carefully and holds for a moment longer before, to my complete shock, it passes her to Rafael and steps back.

Rafael gets her arm over his shoulder and leads her to the car. I can't take my eyes off this monstrosity. It shouldn't exist. It isn't possible, and yet, I'm seeing it with my own eyes.

I back away slowly and get in the car quickly. As soon as I start the car, I turn on the headlights and watch as he disappears. I don't feel better not being able to see him. If anything, my unease settles into me and just grows stronger.

***

She lifts her head, and her stormy grey eyes stop me in my tracks.

"Explain."

I sigh and rub a hand through my hair.

"Have you died before?" I ask instead of answering her. "Like, for a moment, and been brought back?"

Her face turns into marble. I didn't think it was possible.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," I mutter and look at Rafael, but he's sitting back and observing her from the other couch. "When I was an infant, I died. I grew up fairly normally after that, but I would talk to people about my friends, and it eventually drove my parents apart. My parents and the doctors told me they weren't real, that it was in my mind. I ended up in the foster system, being bounced from one home to another. I learned quickly to keep my mouth shut. I started doing some research and came across Terrance through one of the forums."

I stand up from the couch and pace the small space. "I'd spent my whole life around them, my whole life being told I'm crazy, but I'm not. They are real, Jax. Spirits. Ghosts. The departed. We can see them because we straddle the two worlds."

"Gideon is real?" Jax asks in a voice that sounds unlike her own.

"Yes, he was a real person, and he's dead now. He shouldn't be able to do any of that. He's the strongest spirit I've ever seen."

"Wait, go back, Dane." Rafael holds up a hand. "From the research we have been able to do, there are some people born with the ability to see the two worlds or people who die and step into the worlds. Clairvoyants, fortune tellers, mediums. Some of those people are the real deal. The world is much bigger than we ever believed. Spirits come in three tiers-"

"The rainbows, the dreams, and the tangible," Jax murmurs.

Rafael's jaw drops open. "How did you know that?"

"Because I see them all the time. It wasn't hard to work out who is who." She lifts her chin, and even with a pale complexion and looking like she's done ten rounds in a ring, I still have to admire the fire in her eyes.

"All right, so you get it. The tactile would be the cases of poltergeists, all those hauntings. That is what that thing," her eyes flash, and I catch myself, "Gideon is. He's a very strong ghost. How, I don't know. Then, on the other hand, you have the thing you see out of the corner of your eyes, the dark shape, there and gone, harmless but freaky when you're tired. Those are the spirits that aren't strong. And it takes energy to be here. The rainbows floating around are almost not touching this world anymore. The nightmares and dreams and the ones who are closer but not strong. Think of those people who suffer from night terrors. I have a theory they feed off that connection of the people they haunt. Like a parasitic leech feeding off energy."

"Who is he, then?"

"A ghost-"

"No, who is he?" Jax shouts and jumps to her feet. "Who is he? How do I find that out?"

The room pulses with her temper, and I can almost feel parts of her splintering.

"Jax, I don't know how to get that information." I step towards her and take her wrist in mine. She moves to swing away from me, trying to pull her arm free; I grip harder. She glares up at me mutinously.

"I'll help you find out." I find myself promising.

She pauses and nods her head. "This happened to you, didn't it? You ended up…"

"In a psych ward, yes. I was in and out from when I was young. Medicated most of my life. I spent forever being told I was crazy."

All the tension in her body slowly drains away. She makes a sound that I can't identify, and then gently pulls her arm free and turns to face me full on. She studies my face for a long time.

"You understand."

I nod my head.

"I'm not crazy?"

"No, you're not. They are real."

She throws back her head and starts to laugh. A wild, free laugh as captivating as it is concerning.

"Oh, this is just too much," she says and wipes tears from the corners of her eyes. "Too much," she whispers and backs up. "I need to be alone right now."

The coldness of the tone is a stark contrast to the agony in her eyes. She doesn't sound broken or hurt; she sounds determined.

"There's a bedroom at the end of the hall. It's yours," Rafael says quietly.

She walks away, her shoulders stiff. I follow, ignoring Rafael's low hiss. She turns halfway down the corridor and glares at me.

"What?"

I can't help it, the way she bristles is so adorable, and it just makes my blood fire. The smirk is almost instinct.

"Just wanted to make sure you had lights."

Her stormy eyes turn to mercurial glass. "I know how to turn on a damn light switch, Dane."

"Well," I stretch out the word just to watch the silver fire ignite in her eyes, "it's just good manners to make sure, isn't it?"

She steps backwards through the open doorway, flicks on the light with exaggerated slowness, and then slams the door in my face.

I stand there for a minute, my pulse throbbing at my temples. I try to turn away, I really do. But the next thing, I'm turning the door handle and pushing the door open. I slam it behind me. Jax jumps, turning around, her eyes wary.

"What are you doing in here, Dane?"

"Don't slam the door in my face, Jax."

She scowls harder and goes to turn away from me. It ignites my temper even more. I grab her shoulder and spin her, and then my mouth is on hers. She fights, pushing and punching at my shoulders, but just when I'm about to pull back, her fingers grab my hair and pull it tight, holding me to her.

She bites my lower lip hard enough I taste blood. I let out a growl and walk her backwards until her legs hit the edge of the bed. I stop and yank at her top, ripping it over her head and throwing it away. She's soft curves and has these adorably soft rolls. She's the sexiest woman I've ever seen. I groan and paw at her breasts. She arches into my hands, her fingers flicking the buttons on her jeans and pushing them down.

I open her bra and send it flying, but now she's tugging at my clothes. I tear them off, the buttons of my shirt skitter across the floor.

"God, you're such an asshole, but you're fucking hot," she spits.

I unzip my zipper on my pants and kick them off me.

I grip her hand, pull it to my cock, and curl her fingers around me.

"You're a bitch, but you're the sexiest woman I've ever seen."

She chokes on a chuckle and strokes me up and down. I let her do it, and then pull her hand free and push her onto the bed. She bounces and sits up, huffing, but I kneel over her, rubbing the tip of my cock against her lips.

She opens her mouth, and I groan at the feel of her tongue running over me.

I stay there, watching her through slitted eyes as she devours my cock. There are no protests. She sucks me with all the frustration and need that I feel for her. I reluctantly pull free and sit back, grabbing her breasts and squeezing them. She moans deeply and arches again.

"Roll over!"

I stand up on the bed, watching as she rolls over. Man, her ass is something else. I kneel behind her and lean down to bite her ass cheek.

She looks over her shoulder, glaring. "Do that again, and you're going to need implants."

I chuckle and sit up; I line myself up and thrust in. Fuck foreplay.

She lets out a gasping moan.

"You dick!"

"I have a dick!" I correct. "And from the feel of how wet you are, you were loving it."

She groans and drops down to her elbows. I lean over her and grip her hair, pulling her head back.

"The ghosts can't give you this. They can't be here in the light with you. I fucking can. Can't you see me, Jax? I'm right here."

I don't know where the words come from, but with each syllable, I thrust in, punishing her. Punishing us both. The raging, helpless jealousy that has set me on fire. I take it all out on her ass, showing her exactly what I can do.

"I'm right fucking here. In you. The way you're in me. Sinking down and changing everything, I believe. But. I. am. Here. I can give this to you!"

"You think you aren't doing the same to me?" she growls out. "You think I'm not changed by you?"

I growl and twist her head. The kiss is weird and awkward, but it feels amazing. It sates that burning frenzy.

"Baby, are you close? You feel so good, I can't hang on," I growl into her mouth. "Come for me, show me that it's me you're thinking about right now. Me, and me alone!"

She lets out a gasp.

I drag myself up her body, fucking her with a fury I've never, ever had with another person. I reach around and grip a breast, squeezing it, while I try my best to hold back the inevitable tide.

"Dane!"

She tenses suddenly, tightening around my cock, milking me. I hiss and slam into her, my release so intense that, for a moment, I think the pleasure is so great I might die from it.

I shudder and kiss her shoulders until we're both panting, and I'm soft inside her. I want to stay. Keep my cock in her and fall asleep like this.

I never do that. I get up and walk out. That's what I should do now, right?

I shift and pull myself out, wincing as my soft dick slaps my thigh wetly. "So, I'll uh, let you sleep."

She rolls onto her side, glaring at the wall. "Sure, Dane."

"Hey, Jax."

"Yeah?"

"This was the most incredible sex of my life. I'm leaving because if I stay, we're going to do it all night long, and I think you need time to think over things. But if you want me to stay, say so, and I will."

The anger in her disappears, and she sits up and kisses me. "Okay."

I still hesitate before pulling on my clothes. I don't want to leave her. This is new and weird. At the door, I look back. She appears to have fallen asleep.

I turn and head back to the living area. There is a strange lightness in my chest, despite the dark worry that I feel deep in my bones. Until I look into the shadows. Until I remember that there is a more sinister threat.