Grave Danger (9 page)

“
You are felling all right, sugar? You don’t
look so good.” Eleanor placed her hand over Clarissa’s, feeling the
inner turmoil within the young ghost’s soul. “Whatever it is, you
know you can confide in us.”

“
Yeah, you look like death warmed over.”
Richard stuffed his mouth with more of his steak. “Maybe you need
to see a doctor or something. It could be life threatening. How
about an exorcist or voodoo priestess? That might work.” He eyed
her plate with interest. “Are you going to eat your
cornbread?”

“
No, go ahead.” Clarissa answered, staring out
the window. Cars zoomed by, pedestrians lining the sidewalks and
just beyond that she could make out the Old Jail House. Now just a
tourist stop and ghost hunters’ destination, it had once housed
hardened and toughened criminals. Yet even now, the living claimed
that some inmates had yet to leave their cells. It was fun for them
to imagine a ghost peeking at them from a second story window, or a
lady dressed in old fashioned clothes walking up and down a
deserted highway, there and then gone. That rush of adrenaline that
the living got from believing they say a real ghost was addicting
and even in these modern and scientific times, still an unsolved
mystery. The paranormal world was an exciting adventure that
science was just beginning to unravel.

“
What are those ghosts doing over there?”
Clarissa asked her companions as she watched a couple of ghosts
follow in line behind a group of tourists on a ghost tour. “Why are
they walking with those livings on the tour?”

“
Oh, they’re tourists too, out-of-town
ghosts.” Eleanor answered, looking out the window and across the
street as the group stopped in front of the jail. They were too far
away to hear what the tour guide was saying, but she could make out
the faces of the tourists as they switched between looking at the
jail to turning their attention back on the guide. One of the
ghosts brought up his camera from a strap around his neck and
snapped a photo of the building.

“
They’re on the tour as well, I would imagine.
They look like tourists to me,” Eleanor took note of their attire,
“Northerners, just from the look of their outfits. The snow-ghosts
always come down around this time of year, not because of the cold
weather of course. I’m not really sure why. I guess maybe they get
confused between the living and the dead during the winter months.
Everyone starts looking a little dead after being in those kinds of
conditions.”

“
But why would they go on a ghost tour?”
Clarissa watched as one of the ghosts made a face in front of the
hangman’s scaffolding as his friends clicked away with their
cameras. “Is that like a Hollywood celebrity going on a celebrity
tour bus? You’d think a ghost would find a ghost tour boring. What
excitement is there when they know perfectly well that ghosts do
exist and they happen to be one?”

“
It’s just good fun and it’s not so much about
the ghosts as it is about the history of the place. We are one of
the oldest ghostly communities. People come from all over the
country to see us, even other ghosts.” Eleanor cut into her steak,
bring her fork to her mouth and taking a lady-like bite. “I met a
couple last year who have made it a point to go to every haunted
city in the country and next they’re going overseas. They take
pictures, of course, and scrap book everything. Sometimes they send
me the photos of their latest adventure.”

“
It’s true,” Richard joined in. “Last month we
had a wedding in town. Bride and Groom came from out west from some
state that I guess doesn’t have a large ghost population. They
wanted to get married in St. Augustine, of all places.” He laughed,
pushing more food in his mouth. “Totally pissed off the New Orleans
ghosts I’m sure. They get all the attention. I don’t know what it
is about Louisiana and the supernatural but its fucking weird up
there.” He swallowed, taking a sip of his soda before continuing.
“So the whole town is invited and it’s a big community affair. Even
the big wigs from Washington come down. The bride has some
connections, a friend of a friend kind of deal and she’s in with
the Eidolon politicians. Clare made this huge cake. I swear it was
as big as this room.” He spread his arms out wide. “It had to have
at least thirty tiers. It’s never been my desire to go to a
wedding. They’re not my thing. I went for the cake and the
out-of-town ghost ladies.”

“
He’s such a charmer.” Eleanor rolled her
eyes. “Richard doesn’t care how dead they are. He’ll chase anything
in a skirt. In fact I wonder if that is even a requirement
anymore.”

A chunk of corn bread hit Eleanor square between the
eyes. It was a spectral cornbread so it didn’t pass through her
like living food did. Ghosts could manipulate objects, pick things
up or sit on objects. But if they weren’t paying attention the
tangible world could pass through them; hence that ghost phenomenon
of passing through walls or falling through floors.

“
Hey,” Eleanor shouted, picking the cornbread
off her lap and throwing it on the table. “That was terrible. I
have crumbs all over me now.” She swatted at her clothes, brushing
imaginary crumbs off her blouse. She glared at Richard across the
table. “You are so going to pay for that.”

“
I think that was rather tame on my part.”
Richard snarled through light lips. “Questioning a man’s sexuality
isn’t something to be taken lightly. As for retaliation, bring it
on Southern Belle. It’s kind of fun to see you get your hoop skirts
all in a bunch.”

“
You’re such a jerk.” Eleanor threw her napkin
at him. He caught it in the air, wiping his mouth with a dramatic
flourish.

“
Frankly my dear Eleanor, I don’t give a
damn,” he said with a tilt of his head and a fairly good southern
accent.

“
Tell me about this town hall meeting.”
Clarissa interjected. Richard had informed them earlier when she
and Eleanor had finished shopping and joined him on the street that
the community had issued a town wide meeting tonight to discuss
important issues. Richard hadn’t gone into detail about what these
issues were. “What exactly is the reason everyone is getting
together for?”

“
I just heard about it this morning.” Richard
answered her. Putting the napkin down on the table, he brushed his
fingers through his unruly hair. “It was a spur of the moment set
up, but I imagine that everyone will be there. Usually town
meetings are a big snooze fest and no one ever goes except for the
few ghosts that apparently don’t have an afterlife. I personally
have only been to a few and that only because
someone
said there was going to be food served
afterwards.” He eyed Eleanor.

“
Oh, did I say there was going to be food?”
She returned his look with an evil little smile. “I guess that was
my mistake.”

“
Tonight will be different though.” He
returned his attention to Clarissa. She was new to their city and
as of yet hadn’t been partial to the recent events that had been
plaguing their city. And things weren’t getting better, only worse.
However, like all political issues, it had taken a catastrophe to
make the big wigs wake up and actually try to do something about
it.

Unfortunately, it was too late now. The damage had
been done and even if they could somehow resolve the problem it
wouldn’t change the fact that these people had to die for anyone to
even begin to start caring.

“
Why do you think that?” Clarissa wondered
what a ghost town hall meeting would be like. She had been informed
by Eleanor and Richard that the community was run by Diplomatic
Authorities and they were not voted in, rather they happened to be
some of the oldest and strongest of the Eidolon world.

There were four of them, two women and two men, who
orchestrated the running of the ghostly community. It was their job
to ensure safety to their citizens and even the livings to some
extent. They had been in charge since long before anyone could
remember, having resided here in St. Augustine the longest out of
anyone.

Like a usual town meeting the four would preside
over the gathering, bringing to the table the current issues that
affected the dead community. And surprisingly there were a few. As
the ghost owned or ran much of the businesses in the area they were
affected by economic strife and issues that one might associate
with the living. But much of the time, the issues were specifically
ghost related. Tonight’s meeting would discuss an issue that
affected them all; the living included.

“
I guess you already heard that we aren’t the
only paranormal beings in this city.” When Clarissa nodded, he
continued. “Well, this issue we think has to do with them. We’ve
been dealing with the flesh-eaters for quite a few years now and so
far our associations with them have been going relatively smoothly.
Meaning it hasn’t gotten out of hand.”

“
If your idea of running smoothly means only a
handful of livings have died because of these creatures, then yes.
I’m sure it has.” Clarissa wondered bitterly what sort of numbers
was acceptable to the Eidolon community before they believed things
were getting out of hand. To them it seemed a few deaths here and
there were nothing to them. But then when it was someone you knew
about, cared about, who was served up as a flesh-eater entre then
the issue became personal.

So who had died and left these political authorities
in charge? In this case, it was they who had died and voted
themselves into office. In Clarissa’s opinion they were doing a
terrible job and if it were possible she would like to see them all
impeached from office.

“
So I can see where you stand on all of this.”
Richard could tell from her tone of voice that Clarissa had no
liking for the concept of allowing the flesh-eaters to reside in
their city. It wasn’t something he cared for either. Richard had
only moved here after his death and the clan of flesh-eaters had
already moved themselves in across the river several years earlier.
As far as he knew, there had never been another way of life without
these other deads. He didn’t hold much sway over the community and
like the rest of them, had to adhere to the authorities in these
matters.

“
If you think I like having to watch my back
all the time from these things, then you’re wrong. You’re not the
only one in the city who hates having them among us.”

Clarissa looked between her two companions. It was
clear that neither of them were sympathetic towards the
flesh-eaters. But even if they did reject having them in their
city, they still did nothing to change it. For thirty-eight years
these creatures were allowed to consume the innocent livings in
order to continue their depraved un-dead lifestyle. That was thirty
some odd years to long in her opinion. Something should have been
done long before now. They should have known that one day they
wouldn’t be able to keep the beasts at bay and in a single night
these creatures could take out the entire city. If the Eidolon
community had any sense at all they would find a way to exterminate
all of these soulless beasts as soon as possible.

“
Then why do we let them roam in our city at
all, Richard?” Clarissa stared hard at the male ghost in front of
her, trying to see beyond his outer souls shell into the inner man
beneath. She could see that he was a complicated soul, but then
every ghost she had met was equally complicated in some way. They
kept secrets from others and even from themselves. Richard in
particular wouldn’t face what had been done to him during his
living existence, simply keeping that psychological door closed and
locked so he wouldn’t have to deal with the pain.

“
Stop trying to read me, Clarissa.” Richard
barked, giving her inner soul a little push in warning. An arch of
electrical current zapped him back causing him to fall through the
bench he was sitting on and slide across the floor before he
skidded to a sudden stop. His hair, always a mop, sticking in all
directions was now even crazier looking, vibrating from the shock.
His entire body was blinking, the currents over his skin waving
like ripples on a pond.

Richard’s eyes had gone wide for a few seconds, a
measure of fear flashing in his green eyes. He had been knocked on
his ass, literally, by a fresh formed ghost-girl. He bet his entire
bank account that she probably had no idea she could even do
that.

“
Oh my God, Richard,” Eleanor cried as she
leaped over the table, running to his side as he lay prone on the
dirty floor. “Are you alright? You’re fading in and out and I can’t
get a clear look at you. Can you hear me?” She touched his forehead
lightly with her fingers. And her fingers went through him. Hastily
she drew back, afraid to touch him again. Eleanor couldn’t touch
Richard, even as ghost. This was strange considering they were made
of the same composition and she should have been able to feel him.
“Richard,” she called to his still form. He wasn’t moving and he
kept staring at Clarissa, not saying anything. It worried her. What
had happened to him; was it something Clarissa had done?

Richard’s soul began to settle down, his aura
quieting over his form and he once more became tangible. It had
been the most tripped out experience of his existence and he had no
idea how she had accomplished it. He had thought to just give her a
push as a warning to back off. Richard had no idea that Clarissa
would react on some long forgotten instinct and fight back. Even
now he could still feel her touch on his soul; it was like the
fingers of death had grabbed hold of him and this time it was going
to finish him off.