A Beautiful Evil (A Beautiful Book. 1) #Wattys2015

Chapter Twenty- Two - Into The Shadows

Purgatory version of Phoenix was nothing like I imagined it. It looked run down and deserted, apart from the floating purple souls. We continued to walk towards the heart of Phoenix, as Avery said, but something felt off about it.

"How did you get that piece of paper?" I asked, jogging a few paces to catch up to Avery.

His curls shadowed his face, but the small mole above his lips quirked up into a sly smirk. "I thought you'd be smart enough to guess it by now."

"Guess what?"

"The note was obviously from Asmodeus. He had to have known we were coming, though how is still a mystery. Your father was the one that banished him when he fell in love with the daughter of Raguel. Some say that Lucifer had his own secret lover, but nobody knows who."

I looked back over my shoulder, to check on Charles, but he wasn't there. Startled, I came to a stop. "Charles?" I called.

"Right here, luv." Charles emerged from a building a few yards back, his striped shirt with a long and bloody tear on his abdomen.

"What happened?" I gasped, running over to him, placing my hand on his arm.

He didn't look at me when he spoke. He was looking at Avery. "We need to be more careful. This place is crawling with specters."

"Ghosts?" I asked with a chuckle. "Charles, look where we are."

"No, Mara. Specters are what we call those pissed off spirits Avery told you about. Unlike the normal spirits that are floating and moaning around this place, they can actually touch you."

"So that..." I pointed to the gash on his stomach, looking behind him to the building he just emerged from.

"Yeah," he said. "A specter's in there. He snatched me off the road. But they only attack when you're not paying attention. I'd totally forgotten about them. We're aware of him now, or of them, so as long as you keep your guard up you should be fine."

"So these specters.... They're kind of like the ghosts off of Mario."

Avery laughed, his chuckle cold and detached. "Yes Princess, I guess you're right. They're exactly like the ghosts off of Mario, following you when you have your back turned. But you want to know the difference between specters and Mario ghosts?"

"What? What is it?"

Avery smiled wickedly. "You don't do get a do over. Once a specter has you, you're gone."

My pulse pumped in my throat. "But that's not possible. We're immortal."

Avery turned his back on us, walking away but still talking. "Perhaps your father didn't tell you much about James's realm, hmm?"

"He didn't tell me you guys even had realms."

"Exactly, so you do not know what is possible here and what isn't. Trust me when I tell you this, being attacked by a specter is a fate worse than death."

The warning in his words chilled me, and I had the sudden urge to look over my shoulder. It felt as if there were hundreds of pairs of eyes on my back. I knew they were there, lurking in the shadows... But I wasn't used to the one being stalked. I've never really been the one on the receiving end and I didn't like the change.

"Oh, by the way. Don't touch or talk to the spirits. Some have a tendency to stick around, if you know what I mean."

My mind wandered to the woman I'd murdered, and how I looked into her eyes and said I was sorry. "What do you mean?"

"Charles, mind explaining this to your little girlfriend?"

I growled. "I'm not his girlfriend."