Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“You’d really do that for me? But…you just met me.”
“And I gave you my Oath of Protection,” Wraith reminded her.
“But…don’t you need to sleep too?” she protested.
“I never sleep. I’m a ghost,” he reminded her.
“Oh—that’s right.” Her cheeks went pink with embarrassment. “How could I forget? It’s just…you’re not like any ghost I’ve ever met before. And believe me, I’ve been seeing ghosts since I was a baby.”
“That must have been hard for you,” Wraith remarked. “Carrying such a powerful Gift—such a heavy burden at such a young age.”
She shrugged uncomfortably.
“It didn’t start getting really bad until I was a teenager—that’s when I started seeing the, uh, darker spirits, not just ghosts.”
Wraith’s heart went out to her. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with such frightening sights when she was so young and vulnerable.
“Well you don’t have to worry about that particular dark spirit tonight,” he promised her. “I’ll guard your sleep, Hanna. And I won’t leave your side for a moment.”
She nibbled her lower lip.
“Will…will you wake me up again if I start having a nightmare? I’m worried the, uh, Dark Entity might try to get to me that way. Through…through my dreams.”
“I’ve never heard of a dark spirit that can do that, but yes, I’ll wake you if you start to thrash or cry out,” Wraith promised her.
“And…you’ll really stay with me?” She looked at him appealingly. “All night long?”
“All night long.” Impulsively, he squeezed her shoulders and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Go to sleep now, Hanna. Do you want me to tuck you in?”
“I, er, think I can manage.” She gave him a tentative smile. “Wraith, why do I feel like I’ve known you all my life?”
“Maybe the Goddess sent me to you—or you to me,” Wraith said seriously. Despite his long confinement to the Mother Ship, he still believed in the Mother of all Life. “After all, you’re the only one who can see me, and I seem to be the only one who can see the demon that’s after you and the markings he left on you.”
She went pale and her fingertips traveled to her forehead again for a moment.
“That’s true. I wish they would fade—then we’d know he was dead.”
Wraith didn’t like to tell her that killing a demon was no easy proposition, so he simply nodded.
“If it’s any consolation, I do think they’re a little less bright than they were,” he told her. “He may yet die of his wounds.”
Hanna looked troubled.
“I wish he would. I was afraid I might go…go crazy for a minute there when he was…was on top of me, pinning me down…”
Her breath was beginning to hitch in her chest and Wraith was afraid she was going to start crying again. Not that he minded comforting her, but what she needed right now was sleep, not more tears.
“Try not to think about it, little one,” he murmured, stroking her cheek. “He won’t get a chance to get near you again.”
“All…all right.” Hanna looked up at him, gratitude shining in her lovely silver-green eyes. “If the Goddess did send you to me, I owe her a big ‘thank-you.’ I’d be dead right now and my soul would be in the Demonic Realms if it wasn’t for you.”
“Don’t think about that,” Wraith said again. “Never dwell on things that might have been—that never leads to happiness.”
“I guess you’re right.” She sighed and shifted so she was lying down in the bed again. “I changed my mind—you can tuck me in if you want to.”
Wraith’s heart squeezed in his chest. She seemed so vulnerable…so innocent. He wanted with all his heart to guard her and keep her safe from the terrible danger that stalked her.
“I’ll try,” he told her. “Though I usually can’t touch anything physical—my hand just passes right through.”
“You’re touching me,” she pointed out, since Wraith still had one hand on her arm. “Try pulling the covers up and see what happens.”
He took his hand off her arm to do as she said…but found that his fingers simply passed through the rumbled bedclothes when he reached for them.
Hanna saw the problem at once.
“Now try pulling the covers up with one hand while…” She yawned. “While you touch me with the other,” she finished.
Wraith put his hand back on her arm and reached for the covers again. This time he had no trouble grasping them and pulling them up for her. It occurred to him that he had been actually sitting on the bed when he was holding her—sitting, not hovering. Touching Hanna seemed to make him solid and corporeal again in a way he hadn’t been for a century.
“Thank you,” he said to her, meaning it from the bottom of his heart. “Thank you so much.”
“For what?” Her eyelids were already closing.
“For letting me touch again—for letting me feel. The warmth of the covers…the softness of your skin…” He shook his head. “I haven’t felt anything at all in so long.”