Read Wolf Ties (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 2) for Free Online

this point, you’re probably thinking aw, Rue, don’t you care? You were once where she is. You were once a ghost cut off and alone. You should understand how she feels.
    I would say to you I understand , but I don’t feel the sorrow. The only being I was driven to help who wasn’t my friend was a human. The ghost was not human. She was dead. She had no claims or rights to this physical realm. However, I knew I should care, so I didn’t try to turn her out.
    “Why haven’t you crossed over?” I asked her.
    She shrugged. “I don’t know, and I’m not sure how long I’ve been dead either. The others are gone.”
    “Who are the others?”
    “Other spirits who happened along.” She lowered her voice. “I think they were captured.”
    Banished, she meant. I squinted at her and then thought of something that should have occurred to me to ask long before now. “Lily, did you see the murder?”
    Her misty form danced around in agitation. “Of the others?”
    “No, not the others. More recent, the werewolf. Did you see who killed the werewolf?” I remained still, hiding my eagerness for her answer. With any luck, this case would be resolved within a few moments, and Nathan would be free to find a safer place during the full moon.
    “I’m not sure. There were sounds in the house.”
    “You can’t convince me a ghost was scared.”
    “I drift,” she said. “Often, I’m not sure of how much time has passed.”
    I groaned. One might think the ghost avoided giving me a straight answer, but I knew what she meant. During my time outside my body, if I relaxed too much and let my mind wander, I would drift into nothingness. That’s the best way I know to describe it. The world around me ceased to exist, and I ended up in a void, but I didn’t see this void. I was a part of it. I was nothing. The world was nothing. Long periods of time passed while there, and truly the only way I think I returned or evaded this place was that Ian used to call me. I heard his voice straight into the void, and he never failed to bring me back.
    “Lily, do you think you lost your memory going into the void?”
    She stared at me and then dipped closer. Her misty gaze met mine. “You know about the void, don’t you? You’ve been a part of it?”
    I hesitated and then said, “Yes, many times.”
    “I knew it! But how? You’re vampire.”
    “I’m vampire now. I wasn’t born this way—the first time. I died, sort of. Long ago.”
    “Tell me all about it,” she squealed with excitement.
    I stood and headed for the bathroom. “I don’t have time. I have to interview some people.”
    “I’ll go with you.”
    “No.” I shut the door in her face and turned on the shower. She appeared in the bathroom with me. “Lily! Can I have some privacy?”
    “Oh, yeah, sorry.” She flattened her hands on her cheeks and then laughed. “Guess I can’t blush anymore.”
    Still chattering, she whisked through the door, and I moaned. In case she forgot herself again, I undressed at top speed and zipped into the shower. I wasn’t ashamed of this body or the last one, but really a woman didn’t need to flaunt it all over the place—especially not for other women—if she didn’t swing that way. I smirked at my thoughts and finished cleaning up, brushed my teeth, and dressed. When I left the bathroom, Lily met me at the door to the street.
    “I said you’re not going.”
    “I’m bored.”
    “You’ve had”—I eyeballed her clothing—“decades to get used to it.”
    Still, she followed me down the steps and to the street. I could have used my speed, but from experience, I knew a ghost was faster. She could be wherever she wanted at will. Then again, if she didn’t know where I was going, she couldn’t will to be there. I think.
    I pondered the idea and remembered Ian calling me a very ignorant ghost when I first became one. Lily wasn’t so ignorant. She knew about the vampire’s chant and probably a great many other things.