Every Hero Deserves a Blowjob [A Paranormal Romance]

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Ehma

She knew that she was within herself. Unlike in the dreams of her youth, she and the shadow were alone in the pitch blackness. There was no source of illumination, yet the shadow before her held an eerie glow. Ehma had forced herself to forget those dreams out of fear, but she knew what she would see if she stepped closer.

All the anxiety, all the worry, all the anticipation. Gone. Like standing at the top of the bluff near the bay as the waves crashed against the island. Looking out over that endless sky and knowing there was an ocean of unknown that waited far below their perch in the sky.

Who are you?

I'm you. Well, I'm the part of you that was you before you were you. You already knew that, though.

That doesn't make any damn sense.

The shadow shrugged and closed the distance between them. Ehma had wanted to be the one to do it. She wanted to set down the shackles that had bound her for so long and step forward into the truth. Whatever the truth meant for her.

So why don't you?

Ehma narrowed her eyes at the question. The idea of someone lurking in her thoughts irritated her. Since becoming a ghost, she had forgotten what that felt like. Telepathy was grade school stuff, though, and a challenge was a challenge. Ehma wouldn't back down. Not now.

What had always happened in her dreams hung at the edges of her memory. The moment had replayed so many times when she was younger, but now that she was here, she couldn't remember why it had terrified her. It was like looking at herself in a mirror.

She copied the shadow's shrug and took a half-step forward. It didn't need to make sense, did it? Lifting her hand, she touched the shadow's forehead. After all, there wasn't anything to fear.

The last time they had come face to face, she had turned and walked away. She had turned her back on herself without really understanding why. She knew better now. When the haze lifted, she had been in the lobby with Aria.

From the exact point where her fingers touched the truth that she had been blind to, the shadows surrounding the woman dispersed. Ehma could feel the lifeforce that she had borrowed from Karma flooding her body, moving through her arm and into the woman before her. The ethereal light resonating from Ehma's body dimmed and then faded into nothing.

"Welcome home." Ehma stood alone in the darkness, relieved to feel the heart beating softly in her chest. She wanted to remember this exact moment. The moment when she accepted herself. Like waking up from a bad dream, it gave a new meaning to fearing your own shadow.

"Brother?" Ehma waited. It was taking too long for him to find the small pocket of space she was using to stretch time. He had to be here, hiding. "I know you're watching, Twelvius Dodeca Hyparkein."

"Gah, with the Greek?" A disembodied pair of eyes and sparkling teeth appeared in the absence of space. "How long are you going to hide in that spec of dark matter, dear sister?"

"For one, I'm not hiding. Two, don't patronize me. Three, can you not do that? It's creepy."

Her brother grumbled but relented. She saw the features of a young man filled in the disparity, pulsing around his floating eyes and teeth. "Aw, look at you! You haven't aged a day."

"It's only been a day."

"Oh, well... Still, don't take this from me. Come here, give me a hug."

"I'm busy. Why don't you go give the human a hug?"

"You sound awfully bitter. It was your plan after all, to make the ghost me emotionally unstable. So, if anything, that's your fault."