Haunting Savannah: 8 Dark and Seductive Tales

by Lia Davis

  He took her hand and kissed its palm despite the dirt. “Thank you. You’re incredible. I’m so glad you’re on this journey with me.”

  “I am, too.” She kissed his cheek and turned to lead them out.

  * * *

  Showered and changed into more comfortable clothing, Violet waited for Noah to do the same. It may have been a grand house, but at the moment, only one of the three bathrooms had been updated and remodeled. She settled into the oversized loveseat with one of her family’s diaries. It was possible she overlooked information that could help them uncover where the tunnel exited. She yawned a few times. Her eyes fluttered closed.

  “Are you kidding me? Damn it, Vi, how many freaking times do I have to tell you no chunks of tomato in my soup?” Violet flinched as Edward tossed his spoon at her from across the table, spattering tomato soup all over her white t-shirt. “You really are useless. You know that, don’t you? Tell me that you know this.”

  She looked down at her trembling hands in her lap. “I’m absolutely useless, Edward. Ok? I’m sorry I didn’t remove all the tomato chunks. I thought I’d gotten them all. But I see I missed a few.”

  “A few? My whole dinner is ruined now. What else did you manage to fuck up today?”

  “Nothing. School was fine. I went food shopping and found everything you asked for. So, my day was just fine. No fuck ups.”

  “Except for my dinner. How sweet of you to save it all for me.”

  “That’s enough, Edward.” She used a linen napkin and wiped down the front of her shirt while casting a piercing stare at him. “I think I’ve had enough berating for one evening. If you’ve nothing nice to say to me, then I wish you’d just stay quiet and finish your ruined dinner.”

  She straightened her utensils around her bowl, knowing she’d just asked for a whole can of whoop-ass to be leveled against her. But she didn’t care anymore. It was time to stand up for herself, and in the bigger picture, for what she thought her marriage was supposed to be. Mutual respect as a foundation.

  “Oh, so now you think you can back talk me? After two years, you get a mouth on you? You know, I should just divorce you already. You got a job of your own. Don’t say I owe you anything. I got you away from that overbearing father of yours. I’ve paid you back triple for working to put me through med school with this house and anything you want.” He threw his napkin on the table and stood up. “I’m done paying my dues. Done putting up with a lame excuse for a wife. Expect papers from my lawyer. I’m outta here.”

  Edward tromped down the hallway and up the stairs, presumably to their bedroom. Violet heard lots of banging, shouting of expletives, and a slamming of the front door. When all was quiet, she assumed he’d left.

  “You fucking, arrogant, narcissistic, son-of-a-bitch asshole. I can’t wait for you to be out of my life for good. I’ve wasted so much time with you. So much fucking time. An absolute waste….”

  “Hey, Violet, honey. Wake up.”

  Why was she shaking? And why were her cheeks wet? She opened her eyes and they leaked some more. Damned dream. Why did Edward have to come into her dreams again? Why now? “Hi. I must’ve dozed off waiting for you. I’m sorry.”

  “No apologies necessary. I was concerned, so I woke you. You were crying and mumbling something. Are you okay?”

  She swiped away the lingering tears from her cheeks and sniffled a couple of times. Why did he have to look so damned sexy, all dewy and fresh from his shower, when she was probably all blotchy and red-eyed? “Great. That’s embarrassing. I’m okay. I have recurring dreams sometimes and this was one of them. Not a very nice one, but it’ll stop eventually. What time is it?”

  “Nearing midnight.”

  “Hmm. Wonder if he’s going to make his nightly appearance.”

  “Who?”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you.” She adjusted in her seat, trying to wake up. “I have a ghost on the property.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Uh huh. For the past couple of weeks, he’s been running across the back yard, looking for his lost love, I guess.” She stood and stretched, and then grasped his hand. “Come on out to the back porch. He usually appears at midnight. Freaked me the hell out at first. Now, it’s just sad. To hear him…well, it’s heartbreaking because I think he’s reliving this same moment over and over again with the same result all the time. I can’t make out what he’s saying, but he seems to be calling to someone as he walked across the lawn. No other ghost ever responds or appears.”

  “That is sad, but freaking awesome, too. I’ve never encountered a ghost before. A couple friends of mine have claimed to, but I think they were drunk off their asses at the time.”

  As they stepped onto the back porch, Violet pointed to the huge oak tree to their right. “He comes from over that way. Just sort of appears out of thin air. Then he scurries across the lawn, stopping and hiding from tree to tree, looking all around him, as if someone were chasing him or maybe he’s hiding from someone. He gets as close as this tree right here, and then he fades. Thank God, because I’d sell the damn place if he got any closer.”

  “It’s almost midnight. Just about a minute to go.” He took her hand and placed it on his chest. “Do you feel that?”

  “Ha ha! Holy shit, you’re a bit excited.” Violet wondered, too, if she could keep her hand there a while. He felt so good beneath it.

  “That ghost’s not the only thing that has my heart racing, though.”

  Before she had a chance to respond, the ghost appeared exactly where she said he would. “Noah! Look!” she uttered in an excited whisper and seized his arm in a viselike grip. “There he is!”

  They stood frozen, side by side with mouths agape, as the corporeal form of a man scurried from tree to tree across her property and close to the house. He wore ripped pants held in place by a string that stopped just below his knees. As he spun around to check his surroundings, his back, laden with scars from enumerable lashings, caught the glint of the full moon’s light. Violet gasped, as she’d not been able to see with such clarity before. From the first day she noticed him, until now, his form had changed from mist floating across the lawn to a man nearly solid. Her heart ached for the poor soul and what he’d endured as a slave. He spoke. Called out. Violet strained to comprehend what he was going on about, but most of what he said was unintelligible. Just like every other time.

  The closer to the house he ambled, the more his figure dissipated like steam over a cooling earth. And then he was gone.

  Noah stumbled back and fell into the rocking chair behind him. “I can’t believe what I just saw. Did that really happen?”

  Violet stroked his cheek with the back of her hand and chuckled softly. “Yes, yes it did, and you can believe it. This is what I’ve been seeing for the past two weeks. To be honest, though, tonight he was clearly visible, the most corporeal. And it’s the first time I think I heard him use a name. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I think he was calling out a name. Could you tell what he was saying?”

  “Not at all, but holy shit, he’s definitely a slave. Maybe a run away. There’s definitely unfinished business here for him.”

  “There were so many who came through my family’s house on their way to new lives, just like your family. Maybe he’s one who’s reliving his escape. If he’s calling out a name, he could be searching for someone he was supposed to meet here. If he comes around again, we might be able to catch a name. We need a name! You know, they say Halloween is when the veil is lifted between the world of the living and the dead. There may be a bunch more to see and hear this time tomorrow. I have to admit, with you here, I’m feeling brave.”

  Violet yawned and stretched, but while doing so, Noah grabbed her by the hips and pulled her to his lap. While wrapping her up in his arms, he nuzzled her neck. “You must be exhausted. We did a lot today.”

  “Mmm. Yes, we sure did.” She closed her eyes, reveling in the sweet intimacy of being in his arms. Drinking in his lavender a
roma from the shower.

  “Violet, I’m going to make love to you.”

  “You are?”

  “Yes, but not tonight.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “No, you don’t. But let me explain.”

  “By all means.”

  “Tonight, I’m going to hold you all night long. I’m going to touch you, caress you, and ache all damn night for you, because tomorrow, when the Halloween party’s over and the ghost has faded away, I’m gonna worship you over and over again until the sun comes up the next morning. Just wanted you to be prepared.”

  “I see.” She shifted in his lap so he could see her eye to eye. “Well, thanks for the warning. Just so you know, I approve of your sado-masochistic plan. I will gladly join you in the ache of wanting to feel you inside me, over and over again. And tomorrow, when the party’s over and the ghost has faded to nothing more than mist, I intend to commit every inch of you to memory…with my mouth. Just so you’re prepared.”

  Noah slid a hand to rest on her thigh and closed his eyes. When they reopened, those dark pools spoke of hot lust and unmatched restraint. She went damp with need. “Seems we have a challenge before us, Violet. Why don’t we head inside and test our resolve?”

  As she leaned in, her taut nipples pushed through her t-shirt to graze his chest. She pressed her moist lips against his in a soul-searing response, and when she’d given everything she had left in her, she pulled away and whispered in his ear, “Challenge accepted.”

  Chapter 3

  Heaven. She smelled heaven. Or was it coffee? Definitely coffee. So, the man knows how to make coffee and keep her nerves tied up in sexual knots. What more could she ask for?

  “Good morning, beautiful. Coffee for my mistress?” Noah leaned against her bedroom doorway, boxers slung low on his hips, revealing an exquisite V, a mug of coffee in his hand, and nothing else.

  “Damn, but you’re looking all sorts of fine this morning. I don’t usually have my shit together until at least noon on the weekends. Come here, you coffee god, and just pour it all over me.”

  He laughed lightly, stalked over to her and poured kisses all over her instead. As she erupted in giggles, an overall sense of peace and joy welled from within. This. She’d never had this. She’d yearned for this. Even doubted that she’d ever find this kind of feeling with anyone, yet here it was. Found in the arms and affections of one Noah Blackman.

  As he hopped in bed beside her, she grabbed for her mug and drank deeply. “That’s more like it. Although, I must say, you’re just as strong as caffeine.” She winked and he may have blushed a little.

  “So, today, we find the exit to this tunnel.”

  “Yes! I have the estimated distance written down. I have shovels and spades in the shed out back.”

  “I’ve been re-reading the Blackman’s journals that talked about Benjamin’s escape. I’m hoping maybe I missed something all those other times, but I probably haven’t.”

  “It would be so helpful if either of our records had coordinating mention of names during that time. This may not have been the only house along the river that was a station stop, nor could it have been the only station stop around here, period. If we could tie Benjamin to someone from my family who lived here, we’d have conclusive evidence that he came through here. But then again, I don’t think they’d want to keep a list of names for fear of getting caught.”

  “This may sound crazy, but I’ve had this strange feeling in my gut since seeing that ghost last night.”

  “Oh yeah? Tell me about it.”

  “Well, what if…what if that ghost is Benjamin Blackman? He’s obviously the ghost of a runaway slave, given the nature of his clothing. Benjamin was a runaway. This ghost is looking for someone. Benjamin was supposed to run away with his girl, whose name we don’t know, but she never showed. Do you see the parallels?”

  “I do, but Noah, you gotta admit you’re connecting a lot of dots without a lot of evidence. Just supposition. I’m willing to go with it barring any other evidence that crosses our path. I want to know who he’s looking for, too. If the ghost is Benjamin, and he’s looking for his girl, why didn’t she show? And how do we get him to rest in peace?”

  “Tonight might give us all the answers we need.”

  “Time to get up and get going, then.”

  * * *

  Although it was the end of October, Savannah was still the place to be for warm breezes and mild temperatures. As the sun reached its zenith, Violet was thankful for the bounty of trees in her backyard. The pair had been counting and marking, digging and refilling for hours with a break for lunch and lemonade. It was Violet’s turn to be frustrated and ready to throw in the shovel.

  “Damn it all! Why does finding the exit to this tunnel have to be so difficult?”

  “Maybe because it’s been over a hundred and fifty years since anyone’s used it.”

  She whacked his shoulder as they stood leaning against the trunk of an ancient oak tree. “Smartass. We have a few more hours before we should stop and get ready for the party. Pray to any god that’ll listen that we find something.”

  Violet trudged over to the starting point, right at the edge of the back porch that faced the river. She measured and counted straight out toward the river, and then dropped her shovel to start digging again. Noah did the same, but he shifted a few feet to the left of her. If there was a doorway to the tunnel, they’d know it. Just a few feet down they’d hear a thud or a thunk. Something different than earth being sliced into, anyway. Like buried treasure, that door would be worth gold in historical relevancy.

  Nothing.

  There was one more swath of lawn to tear up between the two of them. “Listen, I’ll gladly pay for a professional to come here and fix the mess we did to this beautiful lawn.”

  “That’s mighty kind of you, but I’ll split it with ya. I agreed to this madness. I’m just as invested as you are. I’ll take on half the cleanup. Ready for the last search?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Back to measuring and counting and digging. So engrossed in her work, she didn’t hear Noah calling to her until he sounded like a growling bear.

  “Oh, my God. I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.” She put down her shovel and shuffled over to him. “What is it? What was the yelling all about?”

  He didn’t say a word, but he took his shovel and dug into the earth. “Did you hear it?”

  She squinted and crinkled her brow. “Do it again.”

  He pulled the shovel out and shoved it back in while tossing her a shit-eating grin.

  “Geezus. You found it. You fucking found it.”

  “I found it.”

  Noah let go of the shovel and picked her up instead, wheeling her around like a spinning top. “Woohoo! We got ourselves a room, a tunnel, and an exit to freedom! Woohoo!”

  “Ha ha! Whee!” She threw her arms in the air, enjoying the dizzying elation.

  Noah brought her down to rest again on the solid ground. “Let’s see what we got here. Maybe our resident ghost will use it tonight.”

  As they continued to unearth the long-hidden trap door, Violet’s thoughts spun all over the place. In the span of two days, they’d excavated and found physical evidence of where her family had hid slaves fleeing to freedom. One of those slaves was Benjamin Blackman, Noah’s ancestor. They now shared such a special, intertwined history, unique unto themselves. Her heart was full, her soul, at peace.

  “I have an old wooden gate that I replaced a few months back. It’s wide enough we could use it to cover up the exit so no one falls in and gets hurt. Now, I gotta figure out a more permanent solution.”

  “It’s getting late. Why don’t you go inside and start getting ready while I finish up out here? Your costume has more pieces to it than mine, it’ll take me no time to shower and get ready.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  He grabbed her to him, pressing his hardness against her belly as his eyes pierced through
to the very core of her. “Besides, if I go in that house right now, I’m marching straight into the shower with you and we ain’t makin’ it to no Halloween party.”

  He gentled her away and smoothed out his shirt. “A promise is a promise, though. Tonight.”

  A shiver crept up her spine at the thought of him taking her. All of her. And of her consuming him. Before she jumped him right then and there, she chose to pat his well-muscled chest with her hand. “I’m just gonna go inside now. Gate’s, um, leaning up against the side wall. Yeah.” She flashed a smile and ran for the door.

  All she heard as she fled up the stairs was a deep rumble of laughter that nearly brought her to her knees.

  * * *

  God bless corsets! Violet thought her figure was in pretty good shape. She’d had no complaints. The corset and dress she’d rented at the Halloween shop, however, took her body to a whole other level. “You are so flipping hot right now, I can’t even stand it. Yes, I’m talking to you in the mirror. Who else would I be talking to?”

  Giggling, she thought about how long it would take Noah to get her out of all the layers of clothing and laughed even harder. Poor man. He’d be working hard to get some this evening, and what did she have to remove from him? Ripped pants. That’s all. He’d bought fake scars to glue onto his back. He’d asked how she felt about him going shirtless to the party and whether she’d prefer he wear a shirt. She remembered her answer quite clearly. If you got it. Flaunt it. And, baby, you got it.

  All her colleagues would be drooling at the party, while she got to take him home. There was no denying his killer body. She could see how his chosen profession had honed it into a living masterpiece. Thick, chiseled arms and shoulders, ripped abs, tree stumps for legs. And yet, his touch belied the power beneath. She’d feel that virile power tonight, and she was ready for it. Her heart leapt at the mere thought of his body on hers. A final twist of her hair and a name tag tacked to her sleeve, and she’d become Caroline Adams, Mistress of the Adams Estate and station master of one stop on the Underground Railroad.