Free Inbetween (Kissed by Death, #1) by Tara Fuller Page B

couldn’t stand the sound of it. “What do you want from me?”
    “Who said I want anything from you?” She tiptoed around me, lithe as a ballet dancer, fingers laced behind her back. I couldn’t help but notice the inky black veins inching their way up her pale neck, and the streak of gray weaving its way through her red hair. The darkness was eating her from the inside out.
    “So you’re just here to torture me some more then?”
    “I’m waiting you out.” Maeve stared though glittery hazel eyes at Emma’s window with an unsettling amount of hate and want. “I figure you’ll get called out eventually.”
    “Don’t count on it.”
    Maeve stood in front of me to get my attention and placed a hand on her hip. “Hey, shouldn’t you be writhing in pain somewhere right now?” She smiled. “Did you think Balthazar wouldn’t see your little stunt today at the school? That was clever going corporeal like that to save her. Clever, but stupid.”
    “I wouldn’t have had to it if it weren’t for you.”
    “Why not do it again?” she asked. “Go on. Go talk to her. Make her fall in love with you all over again. Think of how happy you could be!”
    “Maeve…”
    “To hell with that, think of how happy I’ll be when Balthazar turns you to dust for it.” She laughed. “Or even better, how much she’ll despise you when she finds out what you did.”
    I would have given anything in that moment to have the ability to annihilate a lost soul. To haul her off to Hell myself. But I didn’t. Unless it was a soul exiting a body, it was out of Balthazar’s jurisdiction, which meant I couldn’t do a damn thing about Maeve. To Balthazar, one lost soul wasn’t a good enough reason to bring down the Almighty’s wrath. All I could do was watch her try and try again, and hope to God I—or Easton and Anaya, if I was desperate—got there in time to stop her. And she knew it.
    The porch light flickered on, signaling the approaching darkness. I closed my eyes and remembered the look in Emma’s wide eyes as she stared back at me, seeing me for the first time in two years. The rush of heat, that hopeful desire inside me bursting into flames as I realized the impossible was possible.
    Behind us, laughter bounced through Cash’s little studio, and the walls pulsed with music, drowning out the ping of raindrops on the metal roof. He had a girl in there. He usually did.
    Maeve stared at the building. “Don’t you miss it? Being alive? Having a body?”
    “Go away.”
    Maeve paused, examining me like a lion about to devour its prey. After all these years, she was still painfully good at finding my weaknesses. “I do. I miss being touched.” She grinned. “I miss boys.”
    My fingers moved down to my waist. My wrist brushed the scythe there.
    “Have you seen the kid next door?”
    I didn’t answer.
    Maeve touched her lips and sighed. “I’ll bet he’s a good kisser. But I’m sure Emma knows all about that, right? Can you imagine it? His mouth on her lips?” She giggled. “If she hasn’t gone there yet, I’d bet money she thinks about it. Hell, she probably dreams about it. I know I would.”
    “Please leave,” I said, exhausted. “I can’t do this right now.”
    “I’ll tell you what. I’ll make you a deal.”
    “I don’t make deals with…” I gave her a sidelong glance. “With whatever it is you are now.”
    “Don’t give me that crap, Finn. You and I are the same, and you know it.”
    “No. We’re not. I came here to protect her; you came here to hurt her. Trust me—we’re not even in the vicinity of being the same.”
    That seemed to strike a chord. I could feel the heat of her anger scorching me. “It was my turn! That body…” She pointed a shaky finger toward the house. “That life belonged to me. And you stole it! She stole it!”
    “She didn’t do anything. I did. You want to hurt someone?” I turned to face her. “Hurt me.”
    She smoothed out her hair, a ripple of flaming