CHAPTER 4
She was holding on to nothing, floating just a little above the bed.
It took her only a few seconds to recognize this as abnormal, but when she did she let out a scream that would have woken the dead. She pushed off the unseen chest and fell backwards off the bed, hard. She got herself up as fast as she could, grabbed her weapon and flattened herself against the wall. She held out the small statue in front of her in a defensive stance.
Her heart was racing along with her mind, but she still couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on.
“Hello,” she said, but didn’t get a response. “Is someone there?” Still she heard nothing.
She wiped her hair away from her face as she looked around the room. Was she going crazy? Was she beginning to confuse reality with her dreams?
Selena began to laugh out loud at herself. “Oh my God, I’m totally losing my mind!”
It must have been a very vivid dream. It had to be, right? It was either that or something else, but being alone in the middle of the night she didn’t want to even think about the alternative.
She redressed and got back in bed, this time leaving on the lamp on her nightstand. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but jumped at every little noise. She swore she felt things touching her the entire time. By the time she finally fell asleep it was seven in the morning, and even then she only slept for a few hours. Needless to say she was pretty cranky when she got up.
She needed to get to the bottom of things. There had been several incidents now that, when added up, seemed like more than mere coincidence. She needed to find out once and for all if the suspicions she hadn’t voiced yet were true.
She needed to find out if she had a… a ghost.
“Hello, Mr. Davila? This is Selena, from apartment 2E.”
“Hi, yes, Selena, what can I do for you?” asked the building manager.
“Well, you’re going to think this is strange, but the reason I am calling is to see if you have ever heard of anything funny about my apartment.”
“Funny?” he asked.
“Yeah, you know, strange. Like, things being moved or lights being turned on and off. Or, um…dreams.”
The line was silent for a moment. “Miss Dean, are you feeling quite all right?”
“Yes, yes. Um, has anyone ever died here?” she asked.
“Not that I am aware of.”
“Okay, well, that’s all I needed. Thank you!” She hung up. Now there was another person who thought she was crazy.
Selena decided to ask around, visiting a few of her neighbors, all of which reported no strange activities within their homes.
Then she went to the library, where a little old lady helped her locate information about the building’s history. Again, no deaths.
She was completely baffled.
She walked into her apartment and put her keys on a little table she had set next to the door.
“Hello,” Selena called out just in case. Nothing. She looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe she was just overreacting to things that were just plain and simply normal. Believing that, she relaxed.
She served herself a bowl of ice cream and turned on the television while she ate it. She’d finished her treat and was in the middle of a movie when her cell phone rang.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Hello, Miss Dean? This is Betsy from the Library. I don’t know if you remember me.”
“Oh, yes, of course.” She’d left her phone number just in case Betsy found something more about her place. She really didn’t think she would, since they’d been pretty thorough.
“I was thinking about your building and thought that perhaps we were looking in the wrong place. So, instead of searching the records for that I looked at the records for Pirates Alley and the buildings surrounding it.”
Her heart sped up, “Did you find something?”
“Well, the Vieux Carré is very old as you well know. There have been many deaths around that area. So I printed out the ones that were recorded and have it for you here if you’d like to pick them up.”
She hadn’t even hung up the phone when Selena was already on her way. The second she got back home she sat down and started reading through the list. It was actually pretty long, so she decided to go through a process of elimination. She knew there was a chance that her ghostly friend, if there was one, would not be listed, but she had to try. She had to know.
First she removed all of the female names. There was definitely nothing female about her midnight lover. Then she removed any of the men that just seemed too old to be it.
Her list was a lot shorter now, but not short enough. She read the names and the circumstances around their deaths to see if she got any “feelings” from them.
“Alain Dupree, died of yellow fever, 1817. Olivier Bastién, trampled by his horse, 1825. Eric Mercier, found slain in Pirates Alley, 1845…” she sat staring at the name. “Eric,” she whispered to herself and she felt a chill crawl up her spine. It wasn’t a bad thing, however. It was more the feeling that she was being studied just as she studied the sheet of paper in front of her.
She looked around and saw nothing, but she felt it. She felt him. Selena set down the paper on her coffee table and sat back. Her heart was racing with excitement. What if… she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Touch me,” she whispered. She stayed very still, waiting. She felt it then, a light caress on her cheek. Her first instinct was to jump at the contact, but she made herself hold still, her breath coming in and out in rapid pants.
She opened her eyes, but still saw nothing. She reached out to where she knew he was, expecting to feel a cold mist or something. What Selena felt was warm, soft, and it made her skin vibrate.
“Why can’t I see you?” she asked. “Why can’t I hear you? Say something to me, please.”
She gave up. She knew he was there, but for whatever reason he wasn’t able to communicate with her. It was then that she began to feel the incredible heaviness in her lids. It dawned on her that every time she felt this way he visited her. It was still early, but she really wanted to get to know this man, especially now that she knew she wasn’t dreaming or going crazy.
She closed the blinds and got ready for bed, and for him.
He made love to her. She had so many questions for him, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop him. They would have to wait. Now that Selena knew that she wasn’t dreaming she was able to enjoy it for what it was. Amazing sex with a man/ghost that really thrilled and excited her.
He wrought pleasure from her body like no one had ever done. She lay completely sated, and limp, but she forced herself to stay conscious and aware. She felt his body lift off the bed and she bolted upright, “Wait!” Selena called for him. She could still feel his presence in the room.
She turned on the nightstand lamp. “Please, don’t go. I… can I communicate with you somehow?” She felt so stupid when she talked to the air and got nothing. “What’s your name? Are you Eric Mercier?”
Suddenly the temperature in the room began to drop. It got so cold she could see her breath and had to hold the blankets up to her neck. Then, there at the foot of the bed a cloud of mist began to form. Little by little she began to see it take the shape of a man, then to solidify until she could make out his features.
Her mouth dropped open when he appeared solid, looking just like a normal man. Only normal would not quite describe him. He was unbelievably beautiful, tall and muscular, with dark brown hair and sea green eyes that she wanted to drown in. He looked to be in his mid to late thirties, dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers. She ate him up with her eyes.
That was what she had slept with? She couldn’t believe it. “Hi,” was all she could think of to say.
Eric Mercier stood at the foot of her bed, struggling to maintain a form that she could see. His energy was completely depleted. Every time he made love to Selena it took a lot for him to be able to touch her, wh
ich is why he was invisible during the act.
He stood and let her ogle him with her eyes while he did the same to her. She was beautiful. She sat at the head of the bed, her golden hair completely disheveled, her full lips swollen from his kisses and her eyes still heavy lidded with passion, while she held the blanket up to her luscious breasts. Eric had never seen a more beautiful sight.
And she wasn’t frightened of him. Sure, she’d been startled the first time she discovered that he wasn’t merely a dream lover, but a real man. Well, perhaps a real ghost was a more accurate description.
He felt a little bit guilty for having let her believe he’d been a dream at first, thinking that perhaps he was taking advantage of her. That first night he’d been watching her sleep, and the temptation to caress her soft cheek proved too much to resist. And then the nape of her neck did. And when he’d planted a small kiss there she’d moaned. Her response had sent him beyond the edge of reason. Who’d have thought that even after death he could desire a woman to that degree?
He hadn’t even known he could still feel anything at all, physically or emotionally, until he’d felt her. The softness of her skin, the warmth of her body. He felt it all and his senses reeled.
He made love to her and she’d begged for more. Eric had been only too willing to give more.
“Can you speak?” she asked him. He closed his eyes and envisioned tendrils snaking out of him into the room, consuming energy from the air, electrical outlets, anywhere he could. He needed to power up his ghostly abilities. When he opened his eyes he noticed she’d pulled the blanket up higher. It was an unfortunate side effect, the temperature in the room went down when he drained it for energy, but it would return to normal in a few minutes.
“Yes, please forgive my rudeness. It takes a lot of energy for me to appear to you and speak.” As he spoke the temperature began to rise again.
She wrapped the blanket around herself, got off the bed and walked to him hesitantly. She reached out her hand to touch him, her intention obvious, to poke him and see if he was really there. Before she was able to do so he stopped her, grabbing her hand and bringing it to his mouth. He turned it over and placed a kiss of the inside, then bit it before he released it back to her. She sucked in a breath and her big blue eyes widened.
Eric’s gaze fell on her lips and she licked them. He smiled down at her, knowing exactly the effect he was having on her body. She suddenly pulled away and went back to sit at the edge of the bed.
“Are you Eric Mercier?” she asked. “I don’t know why I keep going back to that name. It just seems to call to me.”
“Yes, I am Eric Maximillien Mercier, mon chèrie.” He bowed down low as he presented himself, but kept his eyes glued to hers. She blushed at his act of nobility.
“Perhaps you would like to sit down so that we could talk? I have a million questions to ask you.”
“After you,” he said indicating towards the living room. She looked that way, then back down at herself.
“Well, maybe I should dress first.” He stood and waited, watching her. She just sat and watched him. “Um, can you wait for me in the living room?” she asked.
Eric frowned, confused. “I’ve already seen all of you, you needn’t be shy.”
“Oh, I do need. I can’t dress if I know you’re watching every single move I make.”
He rolled his eyes. “Very well.” He walked out and waited down the hall, but still faced the bedroom. When she peeked out and saw he was still there she closed the door. “Huh!” he said to himself. If he wanted to he could just walk in there without her being able to see him.
“And don’t think about coming in here invisible. That’s not becoming of a gentleman,” she yelled from the other side of the door.
“Damn!” She had him there. It was too bad, because she was a lovely little thing indeed.
Selena stood in front of her bedroom door, with her hand on the doorknob. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. She was actually talking to a real live ghost! “A ghost I’ve slept with,” she whispered to herself.
A ghost that was incredibly beautiful, incredibly masculine and sexy, who had made her insides turn to goo with the way he’d gazed at her with those sea green eyes.
She took in a deep breath to relax herself. The last thing she wanted was to act like a complete idiot. She opened the door and walked out, down the hall and into the living room.
Eric already sat on her white canvas loveseat, looking completely relaxed and at home, with his legs wide open and his arms flung across the back. He was so big he made the loveseat look like a single chair.
She walked over and sat in the matching chair that was set beneath the window, and faced him. What she really had wanted to do was squeeze herself onto that loveseat with him, but she didn’t want to seem so forward. Would that be considered forward if they’d already had sex?
“Well, I suppose the first thing I should do is introduce myself, even though I feel like you know me pretty well by now.” She had a sudden horrifying thought of him spying on her in the bathroom. She gave him a suspicious glance, but he looked like he really was a perfect gentleman. At least she hoped. “My name is Selena Dean.”
“Yes, I know,” he responded.
“Um, right. How did you come to be in my apartment? From what I read you didn’t die here.”
“Well, I died right below, but I’m not stuck there. I can go wherever I’d like,” he replied.
“If I could live wherever I wanted I would choose a nice big mansion, not a tiny apartment.”
He chuckled. “I lived in a nice big mansion and look where it got me. Dead. Besides, my real home was converted into a bar. I tried going back, but I just can’t stand all of the racket.”
“What about an empty building?”
“There are few and most are falling apart. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I’m willing to live like that.”
“May I ask how you died?”
He frowned, and it seemed he was trying to decide whether to tell her his story. “It is a long story, one that still brings me too much pain.” Sadness clouded his beautiful eyes and she regretted having asked the question in the first place.
“I am so sorry,” Selena said to him. She wanted to comfort him, but didn’t know where to begin.
“Do not look so distressed, mon amour,” he said, leaning forward and taking hold of her hand. He smiled and caressed her cheek.
“Why did you come here? To my apartment?” she asked.
His smile faded. “Because of you,” he said in all seriousness.
“Me?” she asked. Did she somehow call him to her without knowing it?
“I was up here once, simply looking for a new place, when I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen,” Eric said remembering that day like it was yesterday.
“Who?” she asked.
“You. You were with a man then, but I could see on your face that you were not happy. There was sadness in your eyes that I desperately wanted to take away. And then you looked up at me. I felt as though you were looking right into my eyes, and my soul.”
A year ago a young man rented out this space, but only used it during the winter. He would have had a nice place to live without having to deal with its living tenant. He had been in the process of touring the place when he looked out the living room window.
Down below, in the café that was located in Pirates Alley sat Selena. She’d been sitting at a table that was just inside the door, so he couldn’t see the man that she was with. Then she’d looked up, as if she’d sensed him watching her, and she pierced him with those deep blue eyes. The blow to his heart was so swift he nearly fell back from it.
In that instant he knew he’d found his soul mate. Eric had laughed at the irony of that, meeting his soul mate when he was nothing but a soul himself. His heart broke at the realization that he’d never be able to have her. He was a spirit, and she was alive.
Then h
er companion had stepped into view, and he saw the sadness that shadowed her face in his presence. He’d wanted to kill the bastard for not being able to keep her happy, to make her smile.
He’d made his way down to her and followed them for a while, until he realized the foolishness of his actions. He could not have her. He’d turned around and set up residence in the apartment, resigned to being a soul without its mate.
And then, one day, she blew in like a summer breeze, breathing life back into his afterlife.
“I remember,” she whispered. “I felt like this place was calling to me ever since then. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I think it was you calling me, Eric.”
He loved the sound of his name on her lips. It sounded sweet and erotic at the same time.
“Perhaps we called to each other,” he said in a low voice. “I think I’ve been waiting for you since then. Somehow my heart must have known you would return.”
He stared at her plump lips as he spoke. If he had a heart it would surely be thrumming right now. He leaned into her and she closed her eyes just before his lips met hers. She tasted like heaven and hell, deliciously sinful.
Eric pulled her to the loveseat, and then forced her back until her head hit the armrest. He was lying on top of her, her legs cradling his body. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip and she opened her mouth more to him, sliding her own velvety tongue over his. Selena moaned when he cupped her behind and ground himself into her.
“Eric,” she whispered his name deliriously. Then suddenly, “Aaah!” she pushed him off.
“What is the matter?” he asked frantically. Had he hurt her? Sometimes his ghostly strength was hard to judge.
“You’re, you’re… invisible!”
He huffed exasperatedly. “Well, woman, what did you expect? I am strong, but not that strong. I lose my concentration when I have you in my arms and I can’t hold onto my visibility.”
“Oh,” she said, “well, that’s a compliment I suppose. I’m sorry. I guess I just have to get used to it.” He liked the sound of that. If she needed to get used to it, that meant she intended on doing more of it.
Eric willed himself to become visible once again. He saw the moment her eyes were able to gaze upon him because she smiled and relaxed. Unfortunately he was no longer in the mood, she’d hurt his feelings when she pushed him off the way that she did.
Selena reached for him and he turned away, but apparently she wasn’t having it. She plastered herself right against his side, rubbing her breasts on his arm as she kissed his neck. He gave her an indignant, “Pfft,” but she just kept on nibbling. She reached down between his legs and found that she’d succeeded in putting him back in the mood. He groaned when she rubbed him over his trousers.
His image began to fade a little. What she was doing was definitely working. She slid off the couch and positioned herself between his legs.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Don’t you worry about it.” She began to undo the buttons there, taking her time, torturing him all the while.
“Be done with it, woman!” He undid the rest of the buttons and his cock sprang free. Her eyes bulged as she took in the size of him. He was large, he knew it, but he never relied on that to give a woman pleasure. He knew there were more ways than simple penetration to bring a woman to ecstasy, and he enjoyed them all.
She encircled her small fingers around it and brought it to her mouth. Eric closed his eyes and leaned his head back, enjoying the feel of her wet, warm tongue sliding over his shaft, from base to tip. She flicked her tongue over the head then completely engulfed him with her mouth. When she moaned the vibrations of her throat traveled throughout his entire body. He could take it no more.
His body exploded and grabbing her head he pumped into her mouth until he was completely spent. Releasing him, she looked up at him with those blue eyes that turned his insides to mush, and she giggled.
“I can’t see you,” she said.
“Forgive me,” he said, and taking energy from the surroundings appeared to her. Now that he’d had his pleasure he wanted to make sure she had hers. No one would ever accuse him of not being a gentleman, and a gentleman always made sure his lady was completely sated. His lady, yes, that is how he’d thought of her since the day she’d moved in.
Eric got off the loveseat and maneuvered her onto it. Sliding to the floor on his knees in front of her, he lifted her short jean skirt and slid her panties down her legs, then in a husky voice said, “Spread your legs for me, minou.”
She complied slowly. He lowered his head and tasted her, the scent of her arousal filling his nostrils, making him once again dizzy with lust. He could sense that she was close to the edge, and he wondered for a second if he should prolong it, torture her. Selena took the decision out of his hands when less than thirty seconds into it her body tightened, lifting a little off the couch and she let out a small cry. He inserted his fingers into her hot sheath and felt her body spasm around him.
She relaxed back into the couch and he kissed the inside of her thighs, then made his way up her body to her mouth. He kissed her deeply, letting her know it was more than a physical attraction. At least for him it was.
Eric sat next to her, “Mon Dieu! That was…”
“Amazing,” she finished for him.
“Yes. And also draining. I must rest.”
Selena sat up and opened her eyes. His form was slightly faded, looking particularly ghostly. Even to him it was a bit unnerving to see himself in that state.
“Are you leaving?” she asked, disappointment evident in her voice.
“Just for a moment, ma belle. I will return to you tonight.” He gave her one last kiss and allowed the ether to swallow him until he was no longer in her realm of existence.