Free My Way to Hell by dakota cassidy Page A

warning.
    “I’ll be careful. Promise. Besides, it’ll do them both some good. It’ll teach Kellen to hone his communication skills with the dead, and it’ll force Marcella to realize how much she wants to be back here on Earth.”
    “Just a thought, but how do you suppose Marcella’s bickering with your brother is going to make her pine for her old demonic life?”
    “Oh, honey. Haven’t you paid attention to me—even once? Marcella’s hot for Kellen. She always has been. Kellen’s hot for her, too. The more one-on-one time they spend together, the more Marcella will want to find a way back—to Kellen, and me as a by-product.” Delaney gave him a satisfied grin.
    “But I thought Kellen hated demons.”
    Her expression was sweet and full of innocence. “But Marcella isn’t a demon anymore. She’s a ghost.”
    Ever contrary, Clyde replied with, “But if she manages to get back, won’t she be a demon again?”
    She waved her hand with a dismissive gesture. “Technicalities. Look, all I know is this. Kellen, whether he’ll admit it or not, has always been attracted to Marcella. The demon thing is a problem, yes. But I’d bet my whole stash of valerian root he’d change his mind if he could just experience the woman I know. Not the one who hurls insults at him, but the one who kept us together at all costs. Remember her? We’re the reason why she’s wherever she is.”
    “I do, and every day I’m grateful to her for the second chance she gave me. Gave us.” He nibbled at the tip of her finger then frowned. “Did she ever tell you how she became a demon anyway? I’ve always wondered, especially since she wasn’t anything like the freaks I ran into during my stint. Becoming a demon happens via choice, unless she did something really shitty and was left with no choice.”
    “Nope. I never asked and she never told. But I just know it had nothing to do with her being evil. I know it here.” She pointed to her chest in the general vicinity of her heart.
    “Could it be that you’re just wrapped up in the romance of it all?”
    Sticking her tongue out at him, she said, “Could it be you’re just wrapped up in the überlogical? I don’t think I’m romanticizing this at all. I just know my friend and the woman who saved us couldn’t— wouldn’t —have done anything heinous enough to have made her final destination Hell. And that’s that.”
     
     
     
    “You can see me?”
    “Uh-huh.” Carlos bent his dark head to gather up a plastic army man.
    Her thoughts came in choppy rushes. He could see her. He wasn’t screaming for his mother in terror. Oddly, he’d hardly missed a beat while playing with the plastic toys on his bed. In fact, she might scream for his parents because she was so freaked out that he wasn’t freaking out. How the hell had she landed in the bedroom of a kid who couldn’t be more than eight or nine? “You’re not afraid of me?” She’d be afraid of her.
    His glossy head shook. “Nuh-uh. You’re just a lady.”
    Yeah. A lady. In. Your. Room. How had this happened? She didn’t even like kids. She had no idea how to relate to them. “I am, at that. Just a lady. Nothing to be afraid of. So, your name’s Carlos? I’m Marcella.”
    “That’s a weird name.” He giggled on his words, scrunching his nose up.
    Like Carlos was a top pick.
    “You look sorta like my mom, but her hair’s shorter.”
    Marcella almost snorted. She did not either look like anyone’s mother. Moms didn’t look like this. Her boobs were too frisky, her belly too flat and concave. “That’s nice. So what are you playing?”
    He held up an army man and gave her an impatient roll of his eyes. “Duh. Army.”
    Duh. Okay. Painfully, and ever so obviously, small talk and kids weren’t her thang. Figuring out how he’d gotten her here was. Because she wanted out before she got caught scaring tweens. “Do you know how I got here, Carlos?”
    “Nope.”
    What a fount of helpful information.