Haunted

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Hmm?

I stir a little, hearing soft voices. I must have dozed off on the sofa in Kole's room.

"No, but it's the only one I have."

Katia and Kole, they're speaking, somewhere from behind me.

Kole must be exhausted. He'd stayed up with me the rest of the night, we'd sat in here in the living room. We didn't talk much, he mostly just held his arm around me, let me stare at the floor and shiver occasionally. He's already called Candy, she's already agreed to help, although I'm not thrilled about Gavin, but I guess I can't be picky.

"Kole, if you die again, there's no guarantee you'll get this House when you return," Katia sounds anxious for the first time ever. "They might appoint a new leader."

"Well, let them. Maybe I don't want to lead anymore."

"You don't mean that. You know what will happen to the girl if you abandon her."

Kole's quiet a moment, but now they've got my interest.

"You promised her friend you would care for her, and you promised Amelia she wouldn't be hurt. Did you mean either of those?"

"You know I take my word seriously."

"Do you? Because if you die, Conway will take Amelia, and he'll do whatever he wants with her. You brought her into this life, now you must watch out for her. You're the only thing standing between her and enslavement, Kole."

Enslavement?

"They won't do to her what they did to you. It's not a thing anymore," Kole sounds tired, I doubt he's slept. "No one binds spirits to homes."

"Because it's impractical. Because we spirits tend to get vengeful."

"You haven't."

"Because of you." Katia's voice is soft. "I don't want to be here forever, Kole. I want to move on. I can't take another House Leader who treats me as nothing more then dirt, knowing he can because I can't leave this place. Amelia's right..."

"Please don't tell her that, she'll never shut up." Kole mutters. "She's already righteous enough."

"That's what you like about her, isn't it?" Katia is amused. "She's not like all the rest of them. She's been through so many trials, and yet she still wants to find happiness."

"Isn't that the goal of all humans?"

"I don't know." Katia murmurs. "But she's different, I can sense it, so can you, and so can everyone else. Everyone is different when they come back from death, no experience is the same. She might not remember what she went through when she was gone from her body, but it changed her spirit. If she ever gets proper training, there's no telling what she'll be capable of."

"I intend to train her, once her schooling is finished. She can be useful."

"You've already made her useful," Katia's voice is dry. "Do you have to sleep with every seer we get, is it some personal goal? Or is it just that you're incapable of resisting a brunette?"

"Katia." Kole's voice is a warning.

"Don't mess this up, that's all I'm suggesting. She is good, and she should remain that way. Don't ruin her like the rest of your kind do. You're here to protect humans, not destroy their spirit." I don't hear Katia move, but somehow I know she does. "Protect her, because I get the feeling no one else has."

Kole sighs.

...

How many other seers has he been with? What did that mean?