Ghost Story

by J G Jerome

  Audrey’s laughter stops short. She grasps my face again. “William. I love you. I knew the first time you took me to bed that I wanted to be with you forever. My love for you has only gotten stronger since then. That makes this even more painful.” She looks into my eyes as tears start streaming from hers. “I can’t see you anymore. My father still reports into the Church as part of his retirement agreement. They don’t let many people retire. Dad and my uncle Jack are the only two that either of them knows of. As a part of that agreement, my dad - probably Uncle Jack, too - is required to report demon activity and sightings of necromancers. Hopefully you haven’t left a binding on me that is visible. Only necromancers do that. If he sees that, he will know I’m connected to a necromancer. He will grill me, find out about you, and report it. I will probably get impressed into the Church too in order to ensure I haven’t been ‘infected’ by my necromancer lover. They will put me on a Hunter team.”

  I don’t know what to say. I feel like she just stabbed me in the heart. She says, “I saw three bindings extending out of your aura when I looked at you. Was one of them to me?”

  I say, “Marissa, Rebecca, and Josie. Josie is another resurrected ghost - all power, no semen involved. She is more like a close friend at the moment, but I suspect more will develop. They all know about you and are looking forward to meeting you. I need to get a bigger apartment. At least Josie was 24 when she died, so there are no jailbait concerns.” I hold back the information that she is both thaumaturge and necromancer.

  Audrey squints as she looks at me. “Damn. It’s too late. I see an energy band reaching out of you and running into my aura.”

  I look at her with my sight and see it too. “I can dissolve it,” I tell her quietly.

  Audrey wraps me in a hug, pressing her delightful naked breast into my skin. “Not yet, Master. Make love to me. I want to revel in knowing that I am completely yours. I’ll get dressed afterward, and then you can dissolve the link. Then I will go to my apartment and cry myself to sleep.”

  I wrap my arm around her and she buries her face in the crook of my shoulders. A moment later, I feel tears running down my chest.

  I ask, “Audrey, what are Hunter teams?”

  She murmurs her response into my neck. “They are teams formed by the Spiritual Security Department of the Vatican Police to hunt rogue demons. The teams include a ‘hunter,’ a sorcerer, and a necromancer. Sorcerers are on the team to bind demons. Hunters are the killers. They are basically bad-ass norms. They have no magical power - hmmm, or they don’t have any that is detectable. They usually are recruited from people that have survived a battle with a demon or demons. They tend to scare the crap out of other people. The necromancer on the team is there to keep the other two alive and pull demons from their hosts, but Dad told me that his team’s necromancer was a bad-ass in her own right. He said it was the norm rather than the exception.”

  She caresses my chest as she continues. “Joaquin, my father’s Hunter was attacked by one devourer in a nest of three of them. Joaquin managed to shoot one in the head, but the other two were sucking on his soul. My Dad attacked one of them with his sword, but it turned on him and started sucking his soul instead. Then Monique, the necromancer, just pulled one devourer out of its body and held it while she drained the life out of the host of the one eating on Joaquin. Then she slammed the first one back into its host body and shot it in the forehead. Mission accomplished.”

  I turn to kiss her forehead as she continues. “Uncle Jack is a retired hunter. He is a little intense, but overall I think he is a sweetheart. My dad doesn’t get scared of people, but he’s warned me multiple times to be careful of Uncle Jack. Apparently he was the Hunter all the others were scared of. Dad said the Church sent Jack out twice to hunt down rogue Hunters.”

  Audrey sits up. “Will, I need to leave before I do something stupid. Please make love to me and let me go.”

  I look at her as I feel my own eyes get moist. My voice catches as I tell her, “Audrey, I would never hold you against your will. The thought of losing you, even for a little while, is devastating. Honestly, I am really not in the mood right now.”

  She gives me a sad smile. “I can help with that.” She crawls backward until her face is over my crotch. She cups my jewels and kisses the head of my cock. She looks up at me and sucks my cock into her mouth.

  I really am not in the mood given the knowledge she is going to leave me. It feels too much like a betrayal. However, looking down into her beautiful brown eyes of her angelic, oval face with my cock in her mouth is too much. The little traitor in her mouth quickly grows under her loving ministrations. Soon, I am fully erect as she tries to shove me deeper into her mouth, but she can’t get me past the back of her throat. She never has mastered deepthroat.

  I reach down and hook my hands under her shoulders. My cock slides out of her mouth and I pull her to me. I open my legs as my little monster stands straight and tall. “Straddle me, Kitten. I want to hold you to me.”

  Audrey steps up as I slide forward. I sit with my knees akimbo. Audrey steps over my leg and sits on my lap as I slot my cock into her entrance. She slowly slides down onto my cock as she wraps her legs around my waist.

  “Love me, William. Love me with your body like you love me with your heart.”

  I can’t deny her. She saved me when I was in danger of turning away from all emotional connections after my divorce. I would gladly give her anything.

  We start grinding into each other as we kiss. I caress her back with my right hand as my left strokes downward along her back to grasp her firm, round tushy. She moans into my mouth as our grinding gets more strident. I bite her lower lip and suck on it.

  Audrey clasps my face and pulls back to look at me. I grab her other ass cheek and lift her by her gorgeous ass. I slam her down as she gasps with her eyes locked on my face.

  “Willam James, I am yours forever. I will find my way back to you. Don’t give up on me, Master.”

  I gasp back at her. “Then don’t go. This doesn’t make sense to me.”

  She squeezes her eyes closed for a quick moment. “There are too many ways for it to go wrong, Will. Trust me.”

  I let her sit on my cock and look at her. “Always.” Then I hook my arms under her knees and grab her ass again. I lift her and slam her repeatedly down on my cock while thrusting up into her - my own bliss approaches quickly.

  She rolls her eyes back and yowls. Then she looks down at me. She whispers urgently, “Now, Will!” as I feel her grasp me urgently with her inner muscles. I lock onto her mouth with mine and slam her urgently down on me once...twice...GEEZ!

  We both quake as we fight to gasp and kiss each other while Audrey milks every last bit of my seed from me. She finally collapses against my chest as my ragged breath gradually slows. I pray silently, ‘God! What a woman! Please bring her back to me!’

  I lean to my right and stretch her right leg from behind me. Once I’m sure I won’t pinch her leg, I roll to my left and lay Audrey on her side as I settle in next to her. She pushes my right shoulder away and hoists herself onto my chest, laying her chin on her hand.

  “Mr. James. You make me feel like I’m in heaven. I always love when you tie me up and brutally fuck me, but those times when you just make love to me…” she grimaces and twists her head just a bit and back. “...those, my darling man. Those are the memories that keep me tied to you. I love you, William James.”

  I look down into her eyes. “I’ll give you six months after your graduation day. If I don’t hear from you by then, I am going to come hunting for you.”

  She looks at me serenely for nearly a full minute before she says, “Okay, Will. You have a deal.” She leans up and kisses me. As I release her mouth she slides back with a melancholy smile.

  As she stands she tells me, “If I don’t get up now, I may never leave you.” She closes her eyes with a pained expression. “Please support me in this, Master.”

  I nod minutely despite not und
erstanding at all what the heck is going on. I lie in bed watching her get dressed. She pulls on panties and her short athletic shorts. She sits on the edge of the bed and pulls on her socks and shoes, so I pull my pants and t-shirt on. I slip into my boots without socks and grab my room keys as she pulls her tank top over her head and lets it glide down her athletic torso.

  She closes her bag and sets it on the floor, lifts the handle, and wipes her eyes with her hand. I hand her my handkerchief. “I gift this to you. It is yours, so it will not link back to me. An old man gave it to you when he saw you crying after you and your boyfriend broke up. Clear?”

  Audrey throws herself at me and wraps her arms around me and weeps into my chest. She moans, “How am I going to do this? I dream of you all the time!”

  I wrap my arms around her. “You are a master-level sorceress. Your craft is a pure manifestation of your will. You summon beings from other dimensions and bind them to you through your willpower alone. You can do this. Remember that I love you and I will be waiting for you. Let that power you.” I kiss the top of her head.

  She says, “I need to call an Uber.” She steps back and calls for a car. The app says there is one three minutes away.

  She dries her eyes and looks up at me. I tell her, “I will walk you out to wait for your car.” She nods at me and dries her eyes again with the handkerchief. I walk her down the hall to reception. Her car pulls up. I walk her out and open my second sight. I reach for her aura and bathe the bright blue shining connection between us with ‘death,’ or ‘entropy,’ energy while she checks the license plate against the app. I watch it dissolve quickly where it touches her body. It breaks loose, and Audrey gasps as it falls. It feels like I’m pulling my own heart out of my chest. It looks like there was a core of soul energy connecting us inside the blue.

  She puts her bag in the back seat and slides in next to it. I close her door and step back. I blow her a kiss as the car pulls away. I keep my second sight open to see the connection reaching for her. I draw all the life energy from it and channel it into my well of power. I turn and slowly trudge back to my suite.

  My mind is screaming. ‘I DON’T GET IT? WHAT IS SHE SO SCARED OF?’ I blow out a breath as I detour to the bar. ‘Time to trust, William. You have not had good luck with that in the past, but if you love her, you have to trust her.’

  I walk to the bar and take a stool. The other seven are empty, and there are a couple of tables pushed together in the middle of the bar with a group of ladies getting rowdily drunk.

  Time to drown my sorrows.

  22 - Another twist of fate

  I wake up at 5:30am to the tune of my phone alarm. Audrey is my first thought. She often is, but recently with Marissa and Rebecca keeping me so busy, she had fallen in priority - my strategy has been ‘deal with the immediately available lovely ladies, then think of the one that is absent.’ I had been looking forward to giving her top billing for a few days.

  Without the distraction from my other loves, my recent split with Audrey smacks me right in the head first thing.

  Last night wrapped up in a mostly uneventful manner. I had a double ‘old number 7,’ neat, a large club soda, and a bacon cheeseburger with a side salad. As I was having dinner at the bar, I was interrupted three times by ladies from the drunk group trying for a hook-up. None of them could compare to any of my ladies, and I declined as politely as I could. Instead, I hooked up with a 22oz Stella Artois draft chaser as I finished dinner.

  When I finished dinner and my beer, I thanked the young gentleman behind the bar, left him a good tip, and headed to the travelers’ store to pick up a couple bottles of water. Then I went to my room. I stripped down to my boxers, grabbed my phone, and called Rebecca. She didn’t answer, so I tried Josie’s. She answered on the fourth ring. She, Rebecca, and Marissa were laughing as Marissa gave Josie directions on how to put the phone on speakerphone. First, I told them that I loved them and I missed them. I heard all three voices tell me that they loved me. Then I told them that Audrey and I broke up at her request. They tried to console me and asked for details. I told them that something I did upset her greatly and that I would explain when I returned home. They wished me a good night and assured me that they loved me. Marissa said she was going home, but assured me she would check in with the girls every night.

  I did some stretches and meditation after we disconnected. Once I was a little more relaxed, I brushed my teeth and went to bed at roughly 9:30pm.

  Now, I shake my head as yesterday runs through my brain. I get up, drain Willy, and get dressed in workout togs. I grab my key and water bottle and head to the little fitness room. I warm up with twenty minutes on an elliptical and follow that with an 18-Minute Workout - replacing burpees with twenty pound dumbells for the normal ‘ball slam.’ An attractive late-thirties to early-forties brunette woman in a stylish workout outfit flirts with me a bit. She is tall, slender but curvy, nice arms and shoulders, perky breasts, and just a touch of saddlebag on her thighs. If I were in the market, I would be all over her, but I just smile and wave goodbye. I drink water on the way back to my room and do a yoga stretch routine once I get there.

  Then I dress in chinos, oxford, and blazer before going to breakfast and hustling to the conference room.

  I set up my computer and test the audio-visual. The attractive woman from the gym shows up and introduces herself - she turns out to be my boss, Susan Rey. She laughs because she rightly thinks I figured she was hitting on me. It’s funny - I’ve worked with her for three years, and I had never seen her. She’s one of the many folks that are video-shy on conference calls. I manage a small smile, and she picks up on my mood. She thinks my melancholy is from the attack on Thursday. She tries to be supportive when I tell her that my girlfriend broke up with me yesterday, too. I confess I won’t be particularly chipper initially, but I’ll work to pull myself up by noon.

  The audience shuffles in slowly, and I see a group of eight women drag themselves in painfully. Three of them look at me, look at each other, and hide their eyes. That does get a chuckle out of me. When it looks like we have a full house, I start the workshop.

  I start drawing everyone in, and my spirits pick up considerably as we get going. At the first break, I see I have a message from Zach. I grab a glass of water as I listen to the message. ‘Interesting!’ Hmm...

  Before I call Zach, I call my real estate agent and have her send me a seller agreement by email for docusign. This is a battle drill for her, so I have it in my email by the time I get out of the loo. I quickly run through the electronic signature process. I receive the acknowledgement with just a minute to spare before I am to resume. I tell Susan I need to make a call after I kick off the planned exercise after the break. Then I kick off the workshop and orient everyone to the group exercise. Once everyone has broken into their groups and started work, I walk out into the corridor and called Zach.

  “Hello Zach! I got your message.”

  “Sorry to bother you, Will. I thought it was important.”

  “No, Zach. It’s no problem at all. Regrettably, I’m leading a workshop and didn’t check my phone until I had a break.”

  “Can you talk now?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a few minutes. I started them on an exercise. I have ten minutes before I need to be back.”

  “Oh, good! This older guy came by dressed in an old-fashioned striped suit. White hair, goatee, mustache, Panama hat, etcetera. He has a slight southern accent. He says that he is looking for a family heirloom that should be stored on the property.”

  “Oh? How odd. What is this guy’s name?”

  “He said his name is Julius Lafayette.”

  I think, ‘Oh shit’ before I respond. “Lafayette? I don’t know anyone named Lafayette. What is he looking for?”

  “He didn’t say specifically. He just said he was looking for an old family heirloom. He kept looking at the chains, but he tried not to. I think that’s what he wants.”

  “How wierd. What did he s
ay when he left?”

  “He said he was going to have the City put the project on hold until his investigation was finished.”

  “He doesn’t have a leg to stand on. If he comes back, have your boys take his picture while you talk to him. You can send the pics to me.”

  “Will do, Will. Hold on a minute.” I hear muffled discussion followed by Zach returning to the phone. “I told them...uh. Apparently not a moment too soon. Bruce Bennett is walking on site, and the old guy is with him.”

  “Okay. Tell them you have the owner on the phone, and then put me on speaker.”

  “Sure, Will. Stand by.” I hear more muffled conversation. Eventually, I hear Zach return. “Hey, Will - are you there?”

  “Yeah, Zach. What’s going on?”

  “I have Bruce Bennett and Mr. Julius Lafayette here. Gentlemen, I have Mr. William James on the phone, the owner of the property.”

  I jump in. “Hello, Mr. Lafayette. Hey, Bruce! How are Mary and the kids?”

  I hear a “Hello, Mr. Jerome” with a slight New Orleans accent as Bruce answers. “Hello, Will. They’re doing okay, thanks for asking. Mickey is now a starter on his little league team, and Mary is coaching Addie on the tennis court. Both kids would love to have you at a game.”

  I grin. I know Bruce well from working with him on the permits. I’ve got him halfway onto my side already. “That’s great, Bruce. I am out of town this week on business, but make sure I have their schedules.”

  I address the stranger. “So, Mr. Lafayette. I have about five minutes before I need to head back to my students. What may I do for you?”

  The elder man says, “Mr. James, I need you to stop construction while I search for a valuable artifact from my family that was buried here on the property.”

  “Well Mr. Lafayette, I can’t say that I’ve found anything of value in the two years I have lived here. Come to think of it, I worked with Bruce to research the history of the home. It was built by a Leuvenfeld family in the 1860s. The house burned down in 1891 and was rebuilt by the Johnson family less than a year later. After them came three generations of MacAfees before I bought it. There are no Lafayette’s involved. Did I get that right, Bruce?”