by J G Jerome
We focus on cleaning until the supplies arrive. That includes scrubbing carpets and floors to get rid of blood and grime, digging bullets out of walls and furniture, and marking broken furniture for replacement. We strip wallpaper off the entryway and salon in preparation for redecorating.
Vikotorija and Clarice set up air filters throughout the house to remove the smell of gunsmoke, explosives, and eventually the ‘new house smell’ from redecorating.
While we’re working, Bernadette is on the phone arranging contractors and services for repairs and disposal. Afterward, she assists Lara in cleaning rooms and doing laundry until dinner time.
We replace two light fixtures and fill knicks and holes with wood putty, wax pens, and drywall patch. We replace the ruined plants out front, leaving the back to Bernadette’s landscape service. We repaint the entryway and the salon, and mount the replacement door. Rebecca and Clarice prepare an evening meal together.
Jack and Steven head home before dinner, and everyone else washes up. We all enjoy a hearty pot roast meal with a touch of cajun spice, fresh bread, and some delicious Mediterranean salads and antipasto dishes.
I take the first watch in the security center. Rebecca is the first one to come downstairs to join me after she showers, but Carla, Audrey, Marissa, Josie, Viktorija, Lara, Vanessa, and Clarice all stop by on their way to join Bernadette in the parlor. They all traipse up the stairs around 9:30, and their exhaustion is evident.
I watch the monitors until Clarice spells me at midnight. She insists on opening her robe to entice me with her considerable charms. I bend her over my knee and spank her taut, bare ass twice with intent. “Close your robe, jailbait.”
Clarice pouts, “I’m almost eighteen, Will. I have an adult body and all these adult desires. Why should I have to wait to align with an arbitrary date.”
I close her robe as she pouts, and I tie the belt. “Because it’s the law, sweetie. Right now you’re pining for something you can’t have. In five months?” She nods. “In five months you’re going to have every sleazebag in Phoenix trying to get between your legs. I know it’s difficult, but be patient, sweetie. You will have your pick. Choose wisely. In the meantime, have fun, flirt, but don’t cross a line that will put some stupid fuck in prison. Okay?”
Clarice continues to pout, “You just don’t find me pretty, do you?”
I chuckle. “Honey you are an exotically beautiful young lady. I bet the reason Bernadette homeschools you is to keep all the boys at school from dropping dead in the hallways with broken hearts as you walk by. You're a beautiful girl, and you are going to be an exceptionally beautiful woman. Have mercy on us poor males.”
She grins at me lasciviously. “Should I have mercy on the females, too? I don’t have a preference, Lord.”
I laugh. “Have mercy on us all, sweetheart. You got this.”
She leans across me and grabs an MP5 from the rack. She checks it out, clears it, and loads it. “I’m ready, Will.”
I get up, and she steps through and puts the weapon back in the rack.
I call as I walk away, “Goodnight, Clarice.”
When I get to the door of the salon she calls, “Will!”
I turn, and Clarice rushes forward to hug me tightly. “You’re a good man. Thank you for being so good to all of us here. Sometimes the staff have problems with how they pay back Bernadette’s generosity, and some of the patrons treat them like whores. You are always respectful to everyone and kind. We all think the world of you.” She stands on her toes and brushes her lips across my cheek. “Goodnight, sweet prince.”
She turns to go back to the Security Closet, and I head up the stairs. I mutter, “Have mercy indeed.”
I enter the suite to find my ladies are all around the fainting couch. The footboard of the bed is gone, but otherwise the room looks pristine. I collect kisses from each of my ladies and shuffle towards the shower.
Marissa hands me a glass of wine as I exit the shower. I take a sip, grab a kiss, and towel off.
I join the cuddle on the couch, surrounded by my ladies. We all finish a glass and have a short natter before our yawns get the best of us. I set my wine glass aside, pick up Rebecca, and carry her to bed.
She tucks me inside her tight channel and lays down on my chest. We fall asleep with my cock inside her with the rest of our ladies surrounding us.
My alarm goes off at seven o’clock. I wake to find Audrey and Marissa are tucked up next to me, Rebecca is still on top of me, and Josie and Carla are on the outside of the bed.
Bernadette and Viktorija on the fainting couch. I kiss each of my ladies, and we all get up fairly quickly to hurry through our morning preparations. I detour to kiss my favorite madame and harlot-hacker before draining the main vein. Bernadette and Viktorija get into rotation for the loo, and borrow hair brushes from my ladies. Somehow all seven of them end up using my toothbrush, so I grab the nearest one available. I’m not sure which of my ladies it belongs to.
We get ready and clear the suite quickly. We meet Serena, Michelle, and Cindy at the bottom of the stairs as they walk in from the front entrance. We leave our bags just inside the parlor, and head to the kitchen. We arrive to find Clarice starting breakfast. We all pitch in. I soft boil three dozen eggs and fry up two pounds of bacon. Rebecca whips up a huge batch of biscuits. Carla puts some frozen bread into the oven to warm before helping Lara pull out cold cuts, cheese, yogurt, fruit, and granola. Viktorija cleans berries and cuts up some melon and fresh pineapple. Bernadette makes a big pot of coffee and heats an equivalent amount of whole milk. Audrey and Cindy squeeze a huge bag of blood oranges into juice.
Josie, Marissa, Michelle, and Serena work together to set the table and help Lara lay out the cold items on the buffet. Manuel leads Erica into the kitchen as we plate the fruit and bacon. She collects hugs and kisses from the family before she helps Bernadette put the coffee and hot milk into carafes. Manuel returns to the security closet. I shock the eggs, so they will peel properly as Rebecca pulls the bread and biscuits out of the oven. Carla slices the bread before she and Rebecca put the fresh bread and biscuits into towel-lined baskets. There are two baskets each of biscuits and bread. We cart everything to the dining room as Jack, Darcie, and Candice show up, too.
We stuff ourselves on a mixed European-American style breakfast. Lara tries to go eat in the kitchen, but Bernadette has her join us at the table instead. Bernadette tells us that Chantelle and Rosalie should return this afternoon. Tanu will be back on Friday. We try to keep the conversation light, but the topic keeps turning to House Valeran. Even the ladies that escaped the adventure are fixated on what they will do next.
I’m afraid we’re going to find out.
- the End
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed this story. It was a bit of an adventure to write, but I have thoroughly enjoyed where the story took us. It’s a I would value your feedback. As you know, Amazon is driven by reviews, so please leave one - especially if you liked it! I love 5-star reviews!
Those 5-star reviews are critical because I’ll get more exposure to new readers based on the ratings of each book. Plus, it helps to counteract the haters out there. As not all readers will love what I write, it’s important to hear from those of you that do, so I can reach a wider audience. As a part-time author, I would appreciate the help.
Also, Amazon won’t tell you when my next book lands. The best way to find out is to follow me on my Amazon page or Facebook. Links are at the end of this section.
I moved to Prescott, Arizona in April of 2019. I was in the midst of writing the first Green Lord book when the idea for Ghost Story came to me. Despite getting inspired by real locations, all of the people portrayed in this story are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons is completely coincidental. The restaurants I mentioned are all places I enjoy. I think it makes the story much more interesting to put my characters in locations you can visit yourselves.
I have a lot of fun writing these stories. I o
riginally called this book ‘Bernadette’s Bordello,’ but Rebecca and Josie came up with a better title. In ‘Ghost Story,’ Carla, Charlene, and Sidney were unfinished business. As I find myself doing frequently, the first book in the series spent a lot of time setting the stage. In this story, we resolve a troublesome issue for Bernadette and reveal that Xralnazny was not the biggest danger on the horizon. I have the next two books sketched out in my mind. I think book three will be shorter, but then I thought that about this one.
My concept for zombies sprang from a conversation with a friend of mine. He’s a bit of a geek and a font of knowledge on a wide variety of topics. One day when we were having a discussion over breakfast at First Watch in Phoenix, my buddy mentioned that he had been reading about a school of philosophy that believes that there are a fixed number of souls on the planet. The idea of this philosophy school is that as people die, the souls are reborn into new bodies - standard reincarnation. However, as the world population has increased, the number of people has exceeded the number of available souls. The philosophers of this school believe these soulless people are here to challenge the rest of us to help us grow. That idea percolated in my brain over time, and eventually the soul-less became the basis for my zombies.
Having necromancers made sense once I had zombies, so I developed a framework for magic, zombies, and the Church’s involvement. As I finished developing the magical and supernatural framework for Ghost Story, I started writing it into Master of the Road, my Patreon serial, too.
In case you’re not aware of it, Bernadette and her staff came from the ‘Master of the Road’ story. That story was supposed to be an erotic short story, but it grew to merge into a full-length book that is nearing publication length. That’s also where Jack and Darcie came from - Jack being the titular character. I’m having a lot of fun dealing with keeping the two stories alive and separate. Magnus is the title character of another idea I have in the works. He’s been with me the longest, and he told me that he’d like to be in this story since I’m taking so long to write his story.
Previously, I have tipped my hat to the many sci-fi and fantasy authors I’ve read over the last 20 years. Shawn Keys got a special mention in this book for his creative party game. If you want to see how it works in detail, check out his book ‘Angel of Black Friday.’
Although I’ve struggled to keep up with my favorite authors, I have managed to enjoy some great works recently.
My recent favorites are
Logan Jacobs’ Scholomance series - all three came out while I was writing this book. As much as I loved his Arena series, this one is better.
M. Tefler’s Three Square Meals series - I just caught up!
Eden Redd’s ‘My Girlfriends are Pirate Elves!’ books 1 & 2 - what fun! Great story with lots of sexy, lewd activity peppered throughout.
Eric Vall’s ‘Without Law’ 11 & 12 - love this series. #10 may have come out while I was writing this, too.
Terra Whiteman’s ‘the Antithesis: Inception’
Michael-Scott Earle’s ‘Monster Empire 2’
Rodzil Labraun’s ‘Dystopian Girls 4’
Shawn Keys’ ‘Chasing Dreams, Year One’
P.S. Power’s ‘Frankenstein’ series - this is an awesome three-volume series. I read all three in a row when I should have been writing.
Laurence Dahner’s ‘The Thunder of Engines’ - hardcore scifi. Great author.
I’ve also got a bushel basket of books in my backlog: Daniel Schinhofen, Randi Darren, more PS Power, more Shawn Keys, and a bunch of new stories from various authors that sounded good, so they are sitting on my kindle.
I’m also watching for new works from William E. Brown, William D. Arand, Michael-Scott Earle, Marilyn Foxworthy, Cebelius, Maxx Whittaker, and Daniel Pierce. There are so many good authors. Hopefully I’ll work my way up to that level. In the meantime, I appreciate your support and feedback.
I have a Facebook page and a Patreon site, which kinda follows the example of M. Tefler. As I said, my Patreon story, ‘Master of the Road,’ was planned to be a straight erotic story, but it changed over time. I won’t publish that series on Amazon until about six months after I have a book’s worth of content complete on Patreon. I need to do that to stay on my publisher’s good side. I’m maintaining a one premium post per month pace at the moment. My patrons are telling me ‘give us more,’ so I will be looking at driving more content there in the future.
I’ve got a good start on the next Accidental Necromancer (AN3) and my space story. There is an AN short story on Patreon as a free, public post titled ‘Clarice’s Admirer.’ It has some spoilers in it for where this series is going, but if you’re jonesing for another installment, it’s available unless or until I publish it on Amazon.
I’m on my FaceBook page 2-3 times each week minimum. I’m a member of several groups, too. Here are a few I like to recommend:
Harem Lit Group on Facebook. Many of the authors in the harem-lit genre are members and pitch their new works there. If you like my books, you will find other authors to enjoy between mine! I’ve been banned from it for doing something stupid. It’s not their fault - I earned it. Regardless, you can find it at https://www.facebook.com/groups/haremlit/. With luck I’ll eventually finish my sentence and meet you there.
Eden’s Lewd Fantasy & Sci-fi Garden. This is Eden Redd’s group. Lots of fun to be had, and a lot of the Harem-lit authors hang there. I always make a point to drop in and see what’s going on. Address is https://www.facebook.com/groups/158209654749089
Fantasy/Science/Fiction Cool News and Humor group is mostly fans. Good times. Very little in the way of politics. Address is a https://www.facebook.com/groups/584252842052663/
It’s time for me to get back to writing. Watch my FaceBook, Patreon, and Amazon Author Page for updates.
‘Til next time.
-JG Jerome
https://www.facebook.com/JGJeromeAuthor
https://www.patreon.com/jgjerome
https://www.amazon.com/JG-Jerome/e/B07TWJJSYL
Appendices
Cast of characters:
People
William (Will) James - Main character. Former Military Policeman. Martial Artist. Technologist and project manager. The Accidental Necromancer.
Rebecca Silverstein (Silberschmid) - young Jewish girl, born April 17, 1874 who died in 1891 after her father tried to rape her. 145 year old ghost when Will meets her. Witch. Official legend is that she was born Angela Marie Olsen on November 2, 1999 at the general hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado and adopted on 05 November, by Jacob and Lenore Silverstein of Littleton, Colorado. Left home when she turned 18, and her adopted parents died two months later in a car wreck.
Marissa Tomlinson - initially Will’s playmate and Carla Jackson’s girlfriend. Later, she broke up with Carla, and committed to being William’s ‘wife.’ Irish-Mexican heritage, bodybuilder and martial artist. Works in medical equipment sales. Originally in a relationship with Carla Jackson.
Audrey Cheung - Korean-American. Sorceress. William’s girlfriend in Phoenix. Audrey is submissive and likes Will to tie her up. Volleyball player for GCU. Studying Biomedical and Mechanical engineering.
Josephine (‘Josie’) Carroll - apprenticed to her father, Gryffin Carroll, as a thaumaturge in the 1800s. Sold into apprenticeship to Julius Lafayette as a necromancer. She is a tall, well-proportioned, strong woman with a cute face and ash blond shoulder-length hair. Her height is 5’10.” Official legend is she was born in Springfield, Missouri on April 6th, 1995.
Carla Sydney Jackson - zombie. Human Resources lawyer for an international mining company. Marissa’s ex-partner. Eventually she hosts Sidney Beauchamps to become a sorcerer.
Erica - Audrey’s roommate. Zombie. Curvy blond Latina with glasses. Does online sex shows to pay for school at GCU.
Bernadette Pasquale - (AKA Babette Printemps, AKA Anne-Marie Pasquale) Runs a brothel, but prefers to call it a ‘salon.’ Has yet revealed her true name.
Her staff include:
Viktorija Dana Ozoliņa (AKA Viktorija Dana Ozola, AKA Tori) - Latvian girl rescued by Bernadette to work in her stable. Bernadette’s hacker and dress designer. Entertainment staff. In love with Bernadette and William
Candice - tiny Asian woman. Culinary queen of the household as well as entertainment staff. In love with Jack Jerome.
Vanessa - voluptuous light-skinned black woman. Zombie. Host for Shryl, the succubus, until Shryl is banished home on Bernadette’s business. Entertainment staff.
Chantelle - former olympic volleyball player. Chocolate skinned, tall, and athletic. Keeps renewing her indenture to Bernadette for new academic interests. Has witches in her family. Entertainment staff. In love with Darcie Conroy
Rachel - Voluptuous Jewish woman. Entertainment staff.
Michelle - Brunette ‘girl-next door’ - looks like a cheerleader. Studying nursing. Entertainment staff.
Rosalie - Curvy Mexican woman. Entertainment staff
Tanu - Dark-skinned Bollywood-worthy Indian woman. Studying Information Technology at ASU. Entertainment staff.
Cindy - voluptuous blond ‘girl-next door’ - looks like a cheerleader. Studying business marketing, and interning in a local call center. Entertainment staff.
Serena - Italian, brunette. Law clerk, studying for the bar. Has a patron couple that she entertains almost exclusively. Entertainment staff.
Manuel - good natured male entertainer from California. Trained paramedic.
Luis - stoic Mexican entertainer. Bartender. Has a younger brother who Bernadette paid for his college education. Has witches, or brujas, in his family.
Lara - elven zombie. Formerly Ilara’en, lady-in-waiting to Duchess Valya Valeran. Valya sent Ilara’en to Bernadette as a ‘gift.’
