Chapter 6

I woke up much later to a ceiling that definitely was not my own. It was a blinding white. I blinked several times before sitting up, which only resulted in making my head hurt like crazy. I probably had a concussion, considering all the times I'd taken a blow to the head that night.

I realized in a minute where I was. That's only because, at that moment, I heard my mom cry out, "Suzie!"

She hugged me tightly. "Oh, Suze, we were so worried about you! The doctor said that you were involved in a fire down by the docks." She looked down at me. "What on Earth were you doing there?"

So I told my mom the entire story. Well, okay, that's not really true. I only told her the part about Paul trying to kill me and the way he'd been acting like a stalker ever since I first met him last summer. But I didn't tell her about Jesse, or my newly found powers. I did tell her that I thought that the reason Paul had tried to kill me was because I had rejected him. Stupid, I know, but I had little doubt that it was true at that point.

As it turned out, I had to tell this same story to the cops, who came in a little while later. Before they left, though, I asked, "Hey, is Paul okay?"

One of the police officer glanced at his partner, then at my mom, then at me. My stomach twisted painfully. I swear I thought that they had questioned Paul first, and he'd made them think that I was the one who was trying to kill him. But instead, he said, "When our team went to the site, we couldn't find him."

From the way he was looking at me, I got the feeling that he thought Paul was dead. I doubted that very much, though. Paul Slater was not the kind of guy who would go and get himself killed. He was too smart for that. I figured that wherever he was, he was alive, and very, very angry. And, as I had to find out the hard way, a mad Paul Slater is never a good thing.

I made it out of the hospital three days later. My mom kept me home for the rest of the next week. During that time, I got a call from the cops, saying they had information I might be interested in. Thinking that they'd found Paul, I got Sleepy to take me down there.

But when I got to the Carmel Police Station, I found out that the cops hadn't found Paul yet. The guy I talked to, though, Detective Arnold, showed me into his office.

"Miss Simon," he said when we had both taken a seat at either side of his big oak desk. He pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "We have some interesting information on Paul Slater that I thought you might like to see." He took out this manila folder and handed it to me. "These are several cases that Seattle sent to us yesterday morning."

I skimmed through the papers in the folder, frowning. They were victim profiles, all girls. They were all pretty enough, you know, and they were all extremely smart and active in school. And each one of them had been murdered.

I looked up at Detective Arnold. "You think that Paul had something to do with these girls?"

The detective nodded. "According to Homicide up in Seattle, Paul had had relationships with each of these girls. There were a number of claims by their friends that they had seen Paul and the girls fighting constantly before they were murdered." He took the folder from me, scanning it. "According to friends, Slater was a very jealous boyfriend. He never took no for an answer, either."

I'd noticed. I shivered. Paul had killed before, and apparently he had no problem with doing it again, if the way he'd acted with me was any indication.

When I got home later that day, I found Jesse sitting in my window seat, petting Spike who, I might add, looked quite pleased by this.

Jesse looked up at me. I hadn't seen him since that night at the warehouse, which was a rare occurrence.

I stopped when I saw him. "Hey," I said in the squeaky voice that I always seem to use when Jesse was around.

"Hi," Jesse greeted. "How are you feeling?"

I shrugged, crossing the room to my bed and sitting down on it. "Better, I guess." I felt the odd urge to go over and sit next to him, but I stayed put. "How about you?" I asked dumbly. "I mean, are you okay?"

Jesse, who had been holding Spike in his lap, set the cat on the floor and stood up. "I'm all right." He came and sat beside me. I swear my heart started racing as soon as he did. God, I'm such a loser. Jesse could obviously see my uneasiness, because he grabbed my hand-something, I might add, he almost never does-and stared down at me. "Querida," he said in that silky voice of his.

I glanced up at Jesse, seeing his worried expression. "Look, Jess, I'm fine. Just a little worn out, that's all." But I didn't try to pull my hand away.

Jesse sighed. "Susannah, I'm sorry about what I did to you-"

I cut him off. "Jesse, look, it wasn't your fault. Paul was controlling you." I took a deep breath. "He did the same thing to me, when he made me call you." I frowned. "That's something I don't get, actually. How could he control me? I mean, I'm not a ghost."

There was a long silence. Finally, Jesse said, "It is because you have a soul. Just because you're alive does not mean that Paul, or anyone like him"-I looked away at that point-"can't control you." With his free hand, Jesse reached out and stroked my cheek. "But it's much harder to do it to a living person," he said this last part with only a tinge of sadness.

Then, I took a really big chance: I laid my head on Jesse's wide-and did I mention very muscular? -chest. I'd never done that before. At least, I hadn't except when his ex-fiancé was trying to kill me. But I figured, why not?

"But."I bit my lip.

"But what?" Jesse leaned his chin on the top of my head.

I pulled back just far enough to look up into Jesse's eyes. "Look, what's going to happen when Paul comes back? I mean, jeez, Jesse, he's already killed three other girls. I knew the guy was sick, but I didn't know he was that sick. What if he comes back to try and kill me again? Oh, God, I don't think I could go through all of that again." I was talking really fast. So fast, in fact, that I was surprised that Jesse could even understand me.

"But, Susannah," Jesse said, looking puzzled. "Paul is dead."

I blinked at him. "What," I demanded, "are you talking about?"

Jesse shook his head. "When I noticed that you were unconscious, I had to get you out of the warehouse before you burned to death. I left Paul there." His hands tightened around my shoulders. "When I looked back, the roof was in the process of collapsing."

That explained how I'd managed to survive the fire. Jesse had pulled me out before I could get hurt-at least, more so than I already was. There was still one thing bothering me, though. I frowned. "Jesse, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, querida."

I took a deep breath. "Look, I know that you left Paul in the warehouse, and they're probably going to find his body soon, but I was thinking about something when you said that just now." I glanced up at him. "Was Paul dead before the ceiling collapsed?"

Jesse just looked at me for a moment. Then, he said, "Are you asking me if I killed Paul before I saved you?"

I nodded silently, not trusting my voice.

Jesse, not letting go of my shoulders, stood up. He put his face up so close to mine that I could actually see the tiny stubble that was on his upper lip. I sucked in a breath. "Susannah," Jesse said firmly. "I didn't kill Paul."

And I believed him. I was pretty sure that Jesse had never been the violent type when he was alive, but he'd really hated Paul. The thing is, and maybe it's just because I love him, I honestly couldn't believe that Jesse would kill someone. I mean, maybe he'd hurt them, but never kill them.

And then I did something I never did before. See, Jesse was leaning in so close, it was making my heart pound so loudly that I'm sure he heard it. So right then and there, I cupped Jesse's face in my hands and kissed him.

Now, I don't think I need to tell you how nice that kiss was. Especially when Jesse started returning the kiss. He wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me closer to him. I swear, there is no better feeling than to be in the arms of the guy of your dreams. It was all I could do to not run my hands through his silky black hair.

Finally, Jesse broke the kiss, but he didn't let go of me. He just kind of stared down at me, like he was shocked that I had done that-or maybe he was shocked about the way he felt.

Whatever it was Jesse was thinking right then, I never did find out. Because at that moment, he disappeared.

I fell back on my bed, sighing. It's no joke, being in love with a ghost. But apparently, I didn't have much of a choice. I smiled, remembering the way Jesse's lips felt on mine. It wasn't all bad, I decided. Loving Jesse, I mean.

Touching my mouth, my smile widened. No, it wasn't bad at all.