The Haunted - Jessica Verday [100]
I drew back from him, horrified.
He looked blissful and dreamy. “It is especially so the first time. An involuntary reversal of noise.” His eyes turned cold. “Your friend, Kristen? She made the best noise.” He leaned over to whisper in my ear. “De-licious.”
Without even thinking about it, I hit him.
The slapping sound echoed off the tombstones, surrounding us. We were both clearly shocked by my behavior, but I found my voice first. “How do you like that noise?” An instant later the door behind us scraped full force and opened wide.
“Let her go,” Caspian ordered in a deadly voice. I knew it wouldn’t do any good—Vincent couldn’t hear him—but I’d never been so happy to see someone in my whole life.
Then I saw the large chunk of marble in his hand.
“Did he hurt you?” Caspian asked me. I was too shocked by what he might do to answer.
“Did. He. Hurt. You.” Caspian said again. I shook my head no, but he advanced anyway.
Vincent licked his lips and stared me down. “Like I said, I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“I have a lot more than that in me,” I retorted.
“This is D., I presume?” Caspian asked, standing directly behind him now.
I nodded. “You were there that night, weren’t you, Vincent?” I said. This might be the only chance I had to get answers, and I didn’t want to waste it.
He looked angry, and then his face smoothed over. “I see now that Kristen was a mistake.
The wrong one for me.”
“So what, you led her on and then lured her to the bridge to finish her off ? Did you push her in? Did you leave her there to die, all alone?” I had to know. The need to find out was fe-rocious.
He shook his head and put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I came back to see her. Things ended… badly. Is it my fault she slipped?”
“It is your fault if you broke her heart and left her there to cry. It is your fault if you saw her slip in after she reached for you and begged you to come back. It is your fault if you turned away and did nothing.”
Murderous rage seeped through me, and I thought, just for the tiniest of moments, about letting Caspian hit him in the head with that stone. To let him bash Vincent’s head against that rock so he could feel what Kristen felt. “If you did any of those things… then you’re a murderer.”
Vincent’s eyes filled with an unholy fury, but his voice was calm. “Such accusations, Abbey. You have no idea if any of them are true.”
I took a step toward him. “I know you did those things.”
“Careful, Abbey,” Caspian warned. “Don’t get too close.”
“He killed her, Caspian! He was the reason she was at the bridge that night.”
“I know, but—”
Vincent suddenly turned to face Caspian. “Could you just shut up? All this back and forth is really confusing. I’ll get to you in a minute.”
Caspian’s jaw dropped open.
So did mine.
“You can see him?” I asked. “Who are you?”
“Not who,” Vincent said, a tone of sheer entitlement in his voice. “What.” The Haunted
Chapter Twenty-one
THE REVENANT
This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except in our long-established Dutch communities.
—“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
I’m a Revenant,” Vincent said.
“A what?”
“A Rev-e-nant,” he repeated the word slowly, breaking up the three syllables. “What, you’ve never heard of me? I’m hurt.”
Caspian came to stand beside me, and Vincent eyed him coldly. “I wouldn’t get any ideas if I were you.”
“I don’t have ideas,” Caspian replied. “I have plans.” Vincent’s face changed, almost faster than I could tell what was happening, and it was like looking at a rapidly flickering movie screen. His features pulsed and faded, as if they were being broadcast across a blank canvas. He reached across me in the same instant, grabbing Caspian by the throat. “You may be dead, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.” Vincent lifted Caspian off his feet and tossed him against the mausoleum door like a rag doll. He hit with a sickening crack and slid to the ground. His eyes were closed.
I screamed, clenching my fists in panic.
“Interesting,” Vincent said.
I tried to push past him, tried to rush over to Caspian,