Living Ghosts

I felt the car slowing down as we reached the airport.

I shifted in Nicholas' lap as I forced myself awake. My nap didn't do what I hoped it would do. Instead of making me more alert, it made it even harder to wake up.

"Butterfly, we're here," said Nicholas softly in my ear as I heard the sound of a chain link fence opening. What airport had a chain link fence around it?

It was a struggle to open one eye, but what I saw wasn't what I was expecting to.

The sun was setting, and the pinkish-purple light stretched across the sky. In front of the SUV was… nothing.

Okay, that wasn't strictly accurate. There was a metal building off to our right, and it seemed like the road in front of us stretched on forever. There was even a small jet plane on the road, the side door open, and the stairs leading up into the belly of the plane were down.

This was definitely not the airport we flew into.

And what made matters even worse were the threads of life covering almost every square foot of this 'airport' and yet, not a body in sight.

"Do you have any men here?" I asked Nicholas, my body stiff. I couldn't figure out if they were friends or foes. All I knew was that I didn't recognize any of the threads and none of them contained rot.

While that would typically be enough to make me satisfied that I wasn't in any danger, I also hadn't detected the rot in Jackson, and he managed to kill me in my own office.

"I have a few," answered Nicholas, and I could feel him stiffening under me. Dom let out a string of swear words from where he was sitting beside me, and I could hear Greyson racking a bullet into his gun. "How many people are you feeling?"

"If I said hundreds, how screwed would we be?" I replied with a cringe. Truth be told, each thread was interwoven with another, preventing me from figuring out exact numbers, but it was enough to know that there were more than six of them.

"Now, now, we can handle hundreds," chuckled Mathew. He tried to make it seem like he wasn't concerned, but I could hear the strain in his voice. "Any idea the species?"

I let my eyes blur a bit and then scanned the area again. "There are some white, purple, and baby blue," I muttered.

The purple I was used to… Nicholas was a deep purple, so I could only assume that the other purple threads were demons.

But I had never seen white or baby blue before.

That's it. I was going home and becoming a hermit. If the world wanted to destroy itself, it could do it without my help.

Not like I was planning on destroying the world. 

"Well, there is no point in just sitting here and being an easy target," muttered Levi from where he sat on the other side of me. I could hear him loading his gun, but I never took my eyes away from the front window.

"Why can't I see them?" I asked, my voice low. There was no reason why I could see threads not connected to a body. That was impossible. "Do ghosts still have a thread of life?"

Nicholas chuckled under his breath and shook his head. "To have a thread of life means that they have to be alive. A living ghost is an oxymoron and not possible. And I agree with your mate. We need to leave. I'll let the pilot know to prepare for a quick takeoff."

"Maybe this had nothing to do with us," suggested Mathew with a shrug of his shoulder as he started unbuttoning his shirt and cufflinks. "After all, we didn't even know we would be there until we started driving."

I mean, the wolf had a point. But I don't think it really mattered.

Dom let out a long sigh before he opened his door and got out. He used the piece of metal as a shield as he looked around the space in front of us. "I don't smell anything," he confirmed but took a gun out of the small of his back.

I had no idea that the guys even had that many guns on them.

"It doesn't matter what you smell. It only matters what she sees," muttered Nicholas as he passed me over to Levi and started to get out of the car. "There are many beings in this realm and others that can mask their presence, but no one can mask their connection to life."

Straightening up, he smoothed out his suit and walked away from the SUV and toward the plane. Dom followed him closely as if he was his bodyguard.

Greyson and Mathew quickly got out and started to walk a few feet behind them.

It was… hot… seeing the guys working so in sync together. It was like they were a well-oiled machine that had been together forever, not just a day.

I moved to get out of the car, but Levi held me tighter on his lap, his arm like a steel band around my waist, keeping me in place.

"Just wait for them to tell us it is clear," he muttered in my ear, causing goosebumps to form up and down my arms.

"You, me, Dom, and Greyson are the only ones that can't be killed," I reminded him. "They can shoot me full of bullets, tear me apart, rip out my heart, and I will still come back to life. Nicholas and Mathew don't have that ability."

"And yet, if you take a single bullet, it would be the equivalent of ripping our hearts out of our chests. Let them do their thing first and when they tell us it is safe, we will go to them then. Not a moment before."

"Has anyone ever told you how hardheaded you are?"

"Ah, Sweetheart, that is the nicest way anyone has ever described me," chuckled Levi, only to tense under me.

A figure appeared in front of Nicholas, forcing my men to come to a stop. Behind the man was literally an army of hundreds of men… their white threads of life practically lit up the area, so bright and shiny… and were those….

Wings?