Supernaturally Kissed (Frostbite, Book One) (23 page)

“Stop…”

I ignored him, kept my focus on the gun on the ground and never looked back. The sound of Zach fighting for his life sickened me. Deep groans, shouts of pain as metal sliced against bone filled the air around me.

Oh God, give me strength!

In seconds, I reached out and fell to my knees. I wrapped my hand around the cold steel and gripped it tightly as I stood. I raised the gun and pointed it in Brody and Zach’s direction.

“Have you ever fired a gun?” Kipp asked, right beside me.

My breath hitched. “No.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” His composed tone told me that he wasn’t completely against the idea.

Zach used all of his strength to stop the knife from plunging into his chest. I couldn’t wait any longer. “What do I do?”

Kipp stepped in behind me and the coldness of his presence surrounded my entire body. It provided a much-needed comfort and a boost of confidence to know I didn’t face this alone. “Feet shoulder-width apart. Bring your left foot forward a little. Yes, that’s right. Lean forward slightly and make your firing arm strong, but don’t lock your elbow.”

The posture felt entirely uncomfortable; a gun in my hand seemed all wrong. I pushed the insecurity away. Another life would be lost if I didn’t act, and by the way it looked now, it wasn’t going to be the one who deserved it.

“Close your left eye,” Kipp said. “Focus on Brody—lock in your target.”

The gun wavered with each and every way Brody turned as I followed his movements. “How can I lock in on him? They’re not staying still.”

“I’ll get him away from Zach. Just keep your aim on him no matter what. When Zach is clear, shoot and don’t stop shooting until he’s down and not moving.”

You can do this! You can do this! You can do this!

“Take a deep breath in and don’t let it out until he’s on the ground.” Kipp bolted toward the brawling men on the ground.

He passed through my peripheral vision, but my focus held on Brody to clearly understand what his plan was. My chance of hitting him would be slim and I only had one shot. If I didn’t take him out, we’d all be dead, and I did not intend to become a ghost.

Right then, Kipp came into sight, hovering over Brody, almost as if he floated, and then a second later, he dropped down on top of Brody and seemed to enter his body.

Brody flew straight back off Zach with a look of utter horror on his face. I followed the movement and stiffened my arms to be ready.
Come on…come on…Kipp…get out of there…

With a loud gasp from Brody, Kipp shot out of his body and vanished from my line of sight. I closed my finger around the trigger and the gun exploded, sending vibrations roaring down my arms that were strong enough to rattle my teeth.

Brody fell to the ground.

I ran forward with the gun still straight out in front of me. I stood over the top of Brody, pulled the trigger again and his body jumped. Blood poured from his mouth as he coughed. I screamed as I never had before, closing my eyes, and I fired again and again.

“You can stop now.”

Click, click, click.

A hand closed around mine and I realized the chamber had emptied and all that remained was the click of the trigger. I opened my eyes to find Zach staring at me with concerned eyes. “Did I do it?” My voice trembled and my blood ran cold.

Zach smirked—I thought, since his face looked swollen and bloody—and he glanced at Brody. “I’d say that he’s dead.”

Brody definitely no longer moved. Blood layered his cotton white shirt and his eyes were wide open, staring at the sky above. An emotional breakdown drifted up as I realized I’d just taken a life. I gasped a shuddering breath and dropped the gun as if it burned my skin. Tears filled my eyes and I nearly fell apart, but a voice distracted me.

“Tess,” Kipp whispered.

I spun on my heels and the confused look on his face momentarily held off the breakdown. But as I stared into his wide eyes, the horror of this situation dawned on me.

Brody had been the killer, the case had been solved and Kipp’s reason to stay had left.

“No. You can’t go yet. I thought we’d have longer—at least a while to do the DNA testing. No, this can’t be happening.”

“Tess,” he said again.

I ran toward him and fell to my knees. He joined me so we were face-to-face. He cupped my cheek and the cold air created frostbite against my hot flesh. I welcomed it because it meant he hadn’t left me. “I love you, you can’t go. I need you here.”

“I love you too,” he replied, cool and collected as always. “But Tess…”

I closed my eyes tight, not wanting to see him go. I couldn’t watch him vanish. “No, no, no. I don’t what you to go. I don’t care if that makes me selfish, I’ll be self-centered then. I want to keep you forever, or at least until I’m ready to join you, which isn’t right now, by the way.”

“Tess…”

I opened my eyes and raised my head, wanting to scream at the heavens above. “He’s mine. You can’t have him. I won’t let you have him.”

“Tess.” His voice sounded much more impatient now.

“What?” I looked back at him, a little annoyed myself. “Can’t you see I’m talking to God?”

He grinned. “Yes, I can see that.”

“Well then, what is it?”

He never said anything, but simply stared at me intently. The seconds ticked by while I found myself lost in the depths of those stunning eyes that could give me a lifetime of happiness if allowed.

My panic lessened and my sense of mind slowly returned. I glanced around to see Zach had a phone to his ear with one hand, while the other pressed down onto Eddie’s wound as he rolled in pain. I looked back to Kipp and his grin became a full-blown smile.

It took a split second for me to fill in the rest. I’d misread his wide eyes. He hadn’t experienced fear—it’d been surprise. The unbelievable had happened. “You’re still here…”

“Apparently so.”

“What…” I couldn’t wrap my head around my reality. “What does that mean?”

His smile said it all. “It means we have more time—”

“Tess,” Zach interrupted. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I said it, but realized that maybe I shouldn’t have answered so quickly. I had taken a life—killed someone. Could I even accept that now? No, I couldn’t. But as Kipp trailed his finger along my hand, I realized no matter what happened, no matter how much more there was to learn about my ability and all the shit that’d come along with that, I still had him. “I’m fine as long as you’re not going anywhere.”

“As sweet as that sounds, we sure have a lot ahead of us to discover the ‘why’ I’m still here.”

I scowled. “If I could pinch you, I would, and I’d make it hurt. Don’t ruin my romantic moment here.”

He laughed, leaned in and brushed his nose across mine to send a cold breeze to tickle my skin. “By all means, then, continue…”

“Oh, just kiss me, will you?”

Kipp leaned in as I heard police sirens blaring in the distance and he placed his lips across mine. The frostbite stung my skin, but I embraced it. Who knew how much longer Kipp and I had, but the only thing that mattered was we had tomorrow.

The rest I could figure out later…

Epilogue

Calla lilies, yellow roses and deep green foliage decorated the pretty wreath atop the casket. The large cathedral was stuffed full of people as the sun streamed through the stained-glass windows. I’d never been one to cry at a funeral, but Hannah’s service had me gulping back the lump in my throat. It didn’t help much that Hannah’s mother stood in front of her casket and cried as she addressed the crowd.

“It’s been so long since Hannah went missing, but to us, her father and I, the days have been long. I’d be lying to you that if I said that hearing the news of her body being discovered didn’t disappoint us. We still prayed she’d come home to us and somehow had lost her memory, which explained why she’d been missing.”

The crowd sniffed and sobbed and I found myself unable to restrain my tears. As one escaped my eye, a tissue came up in front of my face. I took the tissue and glanced over at the hand that held it to see Zach. His arm was supported in a brace from what he called a “minor wound”. I was sure getting shot and stabbed was anything but minor, but I wouldn’t argue with him. I mouthed a thank-you and dabbed my eyes before I focused back on Mrs. Reid.

“Once the news had sunk in, I realized what a blessing it was that she’d been found, because what we’d been searching for this entire time happened—Hannah came home. It might not have been how we wanted it, but Hannah wasn’t missing any longer, which is what we wanted all along.” Mrs. Reid straightened her shoulders and wiped the tears off her face. “We’d like to thank the police who went out of their way to find Hannah and the one responsible for her murder, even after all these years. They never stopped caring, searching to find her, and we’re grateful for all they’ve done for our family.”

“You see why we do this now,” Kipp said, standing beside me next to the pew.

Out of necessity, of course—either he’d have to sit on someone’s lap or it’d be hard to explain a seat was occupied because a ghost sat there. Although there were a couple ghosts in the church—an elderly gentleman stood next to the casket and watched Mrs. Reid intently, while a middle-aged woman admired the flowers.

“We’ll continue to miss you, my sweet Hannah. Every day I hope wherever you are, you’re happy.”

A man in front of me sobbed as his wife consoled him. The sight made my light tears fall heavy. Not only because of how sad the moment had been, but because I knew Hannah had found her peace. Her killer had faced the worst type of justice—by my hand, no less—and I held no doubt he’d burn in hell forever.

The ceremony ended with a beautiful rendition of
Amazing Grace
and the crowd began to leave the room. I stood and exited the pew, following Kipp as we proceeded to the front door. But just as I reached outside, I remembered I needed to do something. I spun around and banged into Zach’s chest, who didn’t move an inch while I bounced off him. “Oops, sorry.”

With his uninjured hand, he grabbed my arm and steadied me. “What’s wrong?”

“I forgot I have to talk with Hannah’s mother.” He looked at me curiously, but I just waved him off. “Give me a minute. I’ll be right out.”

“What are you going to say to her?”

I stared at Kipp and gave him a look to inform him, “Hello, I cannot answer you.” The crowd still filed out and I wouldn’t say something random that’d have people gawking at me. Yes, I’d come a long way in how many people were aware of my ability, but I didn’t want to share it with the world.

I made my way back toward the altar and saw that Mrs. Reid had just hugged the priest. I waited a few feet away, not wanting to interrupt. The priest whispered words to her I didn’t hear, but I could tell by the way Mrs. Reid sank into him that he comforted her.

As Mrs. Reid turned away from him, she caught me waiting and offered a kind smile, but sadness stole any happiness on her face. “Y’all from the police department are welcome to our house. We’re having some lunch and continuing with the memorial service for Hannah.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that, but we need to go to the hospital to check in on Eddie.”

Concern touched her gaze. “How are the officer’s injuries?”

“From what I’ve heard, he should have a full recovery and be back on the job in no time.”

“I’m pleased to hear such news.” She smiled.

We were getting off track. I shook my head to focus myself for the conversation I suspected wasn’t going to be easy. “That’s not what I came to tell you.”

“What is it then, dear?”

“Well…” I glanced at Kipp, who nodded me on, and I looked back at her. “I know how insane this is going to sound and I hate to even do this today since you’ve already been through so much. But I’m afraid if I don’t do it now, I might not see you again.”

Her brow furrowed. “Go on.”

“You might not believe this, or maybe you will, but I have a gift, you could say—an ability.” I drew in a deep breath to stop rambling and got to the point. “The reason we found Hannah was because I talked to her ghost.”

Her eyes widened. “You did what?”

“I know it’s totally crazy, but she had a message for you that she wanted me to relay.”

“What did she say to you?” she whispered.

“That she always heard you read to her at nighttime and loved every minute of it.”

A moment passed before Mrs. Reid’s eyes filled with tears and her lip quivered. “How do you know I read to her?”

“I know because she told me.” I took her hand and held it tight. “Don’t try to understand it all, just know that she was with you all these years and she’s in heaven now.”

Tears leaked from her eyes. “I’m not going to pretend to understand how you know I read to Hannah every night in her room since her disappearance, but without y’all, we never would have found her.” She squeezed my hand. “So because of that, I’m merely going to believe what you’re telling me is the truth and thank you for letting me know she has found her peace.”