We watched the girl collapse, and the usual gnawing, aching hunger in my gut all but ceased. The need to feed on her lifeforce was still there, but duller than when we’d sensed her and lured her into our prison.
“What is she?” Jagger demanded, his wispy form shifting in agitation. He leaned over her, breathing in her scent. “She smells…different.”
“Inhuman,” Cassius added. He had drawn closer too, trying to inspect our meal.
Normally when a human fell into the pit we were all like ferocious animals, tearing them to pieces in an instant.
So why were we hesitating?
Her lavender hair spilled across one side of her slender face, the silly hat she wore having fallen off her head. She was young, but her features were striking.
“Fuck, she’s hot,” I groaned, wishing that the pulsing need I felt every minute of every day could be sated.
Ransom reached for her with a ghostly hand, as though to brush away the strands of hair from her face. He was the least visible, almost entirely invisible. If he didn’t feed soon, he’d be gone for however long it took to regain a form and a voice. Sometimes it took weeks of absorbing the remnants of energy from the newly buried bodies. Other times it took years.
And none of us could leave this godforsaken hole. The groundskeeper filled it in every now and then, but the soil sank, providing the perfect catch for clumsy, unsuspecting humans.
“How are her looks relevant?” Jagger snapped. “We do what we’ve always done: we feed. Ransom, you go first since you’re in the worst shape.”
Their more silent counterpart hesitated, fingertips a breath away from lively, tanned skin. And as delectable as she looked, I doubted Ransom would be able to do it. Killing was never his strong suit. He often preferred to drift away, living off the residual energy within the cemetery.
Jagger scoffed at Ransom’s weakness, and was preparing to lunge when the girl’s eyes shot open. They were a rich mixture of seafoam green and the deepest darkest blue.
She sat bolt upright, and Ransom’s skin met hers. They gasped at the same time, and light flared beneath her skin. He didn’t remove his hand—a hand that glowed too before the light seemed to seep from her, into him. It made the edges of his features blur together. Her eyes widened, taking in the first glimpse of him.
“What the fuck?” she shouted, scooting back on her hands and ass.
An ass I very much wanted to see without the baggy dress covering it.
Ransom looked frozen, the light bleeding out of him, and leaving what looked like an almost living, human form. His skin was several shades darker than hers, his hair jet black and mussed.
The four of us watched in silence. After another tense moment, the colour faded from him, leaving his shadowy outline behind.
“What. In the actual. Fuck,” the girl breathed. “What are you?” It appeared that she could now make out Ransom’s intangible form.
“We aren’t sure,” Cassius rasped from directly behind her. She scrambled to turn and face the voice, but her eyes scanned the darkness and found nothing.
“Ohhhh fuck,” she whispered to herself. “I knew it. Partying in a cemetery was a bad idea. I’m dead, aren’t I?”
My lips twitched in the beginnings of a smile. “Calm down, sweetness. We like the parties.” I winked for added effect, remembering too late that she couldn’t see me.
Her head jerked in my direction, and for once I loathed being unseen. When my only purpose was brutally murdering all those that stumbled into our lair, I didn’t need to be seen. I was fucking terrifying, and that worked to our advantage.
“How many of you are there?” Her question was directed at Ransom, who watched her like she was a bomb ready to detonate.
“Four,” Jagger growled to my left. He had his muscular, tattooed arms folded across his chest. The expression he wore was nothing short of accusing. “How did you do what you just did?”
The girl blinked. “I don’t…I don’t know.”
“Then I’m guessing you wouldn’t mind doing it again.” Jagger shot towards her, and she didn’t flinch, unable to see him until his hands wrapped around her biceps.
She gasped, but her skin lit up instantly, glowing like some sort of firefly. It trickled into Jagger, giving him the same vibrant complexion he’d once had as a human.
The girl’s mouth parted on a silent inhale, and the way her hair stirred around her shoulders in a phantom breeze made her look even more damn beautiful. Her head tipped back slightly as she gazed up at the night sky like it held all the answers.
When Jagger released her, his humanesque form didn’t immediately dissipate. He looked at his hands, examined his arms and torso. “What is this magic?” he murmured, the usual gruffness in his tone absent.
“Wow, you’re both so…”
I chuckled. “Is sexy the word you’re looking for? Because just wait until you get a look at me.”
Jagger shot me a glare, but little by little he faded again into a dark grey, wispy ghost.
The girl touched her head and groaned. “Maybe my drink was spiked and now I’m hallucinating.”
“I assure you, we’re very real,” Cassius answered. “But not in the way that you are. For countless years we have lacked corporeal bodies …until now.”
She shook her head. “Okay, I need to get out of here.” Starting for the edge of the pit, she attempted to find purchase in the packed soil, clawing at it desperately. But the girl went nowhere.
“I’m just gonna go ahead and save you some time, love,” I drawled. “No one has ever managed to climb out of here. And many have tried.”
She whirled and tried to spot me in the dark. I rushed towards her, my hands hovering just above her skin, which pebbled. She stilled, her breath hitching, as though she could sense my nearness.
“I can’t die in this hole,” she answered softly, yet resolutely.
“You won’t,” Cassius rasped.
I turned to look at my brother while Jagger snarled, “She is our only means of ensuring our survival.”
“Oh, she can do so much more than keep us in this phantom form,” Cassius replied, a half-smile curving his lips.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the innuendo, even though that wasn’t what my brother had meant.
The girl jumped, seeming to forget that I was directly in front of her. I leaned closer, breathing in her scent. It was the first time I’d smelled anything in far too long. “What’s your name, little one?”
“Amethyst,” she answered with defiance burning in her vibrant eyes.
I hummed nuzzling my nose to the crook of her neck. The slight brush of her skin against me sent an electric shock through my body. Her gasp made me think she’d felt it too.
When my eyes blinked open, taking in her ethereal beauty, she stared at me with wide eyes.
A lazy grin twisted my lips. “I’m Archer.”
She blinked at me, even as I faded back into nothing but mist.
“What are you?” Jagger demanded, breaking our stare.
Those brilliant eyes narrowed on the harshest of our ragtag group.
Brave girl, I thought with a barely suppressed chuckle.
“How should I know?” Her words were clipped with anger that made Jagger straighten. Somehow the bastard seemed even bigger than before.
He stalked towards her in a way that looked entirely human. “Here’s how it’s going to work, girlie,” he said in a voice thrumming with lethal violence, “you’re going to figure out a way to make us human permanently. That should in turn break the curse forcing us to remain in this godforsaken hole.”
When he stopped at her right side—his arms folded across his chest—she turned her small body, so she was facing him completely.
“And if I can’t?” she challenged.
Jagger bared his teeth, which probably looked more terrifying than if he’d been solid. He brushed the back of his fingers down her cheek, sending colour into his limbs. “Not an option, girlie.”
She jerked back, breaking the contact. “If you want me to help you then you need to tell me who cursed all four of you and how.” Scanning the grave, she sighed. “There’s one of you that I still can’t see.”
She held a hand out and waited for Cassius to take it.
Slowly, his ghostly form shifted until he was before her. He lifted his hand with evident hesitation before sliding his palm over hers.
She sucked in a sharp breath as shaggy brown hair and even darker eyes came into view. His brother seemed just as entranced with her, a shaky breath escaping him.
“Your skin is so…warm,” he murmured.
“That’s because you’re all like ice,” Amethyst answered. Her earlier fight was replaced with pure curiosity. Looking at each of us in turn, she asked, “There’s just four of you, right?”
I nodded. “For as long as any of us can remember.”
She bit her bottom lip, but still didn’t break contact with Cassius. Their fingers threaded together, a glow of light flaring between their hands.
He drew in a long breath. “Thank you.”
She nodded. When they finally let their hands drop, I wished I’d held onto her. The urge to feel her lips against mine had the raging desire coursing through me nearly unbearable. If the others felt it too, they didn’t let on.
“So what next?” she asked.
Jagger flashed a wicked smile in her direction. “We’re all going to touch you at the same time to see how much you can handle.”