Larue Donavon 3 - The Ghoul Next Door (3 page)

Callahan lifted his lips from mine,
and then stared into my eyes. “You make it hard to catch my
breath.”

Yeah, the feeling was
mutual.

I slowly unbuttoned Callahan’s shirt,
taking a little time on each button. When his muscular chest was
fully exposed, I pressed my lips against his hot skin. A soft moan
escaped his lips. I took my time kissing and licking, but my desire
for him was almost too much to handle. I felt his yearning as he
pressed against me. Without wasting another second, I unfastened
his belt, and then slowly lowered the zipper, releasing him from
the confines of the denim. He stepped out of his jeans and set his
sights on my clothing. Callahan gently pulled off my shirt, then
cupped my breasts in his hands. He caressed with his fingers,
sending a jolt through my body.

My body temperature was rising by the
second. He lowered his lips to mine again and our tongues mingled
together with a new urgency. I could wait no longer. I had to have
him. Stepping out of my pants, Callahan pulled me toward his body
again. His hard muscles sent a tremble from my head to my toes. As
my legs weakened, Callahan lowered me onto the bed, the down
comforter soft against my skin. The candlelight flickered across
his handsome face and I ran my hands across his hard chest again.
He made it easy to forget all my problems. Callahan lowered himself
over me. My hands moved to his tight butt as he moved against my
body. In that moment, I wasn’t sure if I would have noticed if the
room had been on fire. The world only consisted of the two of us at
that moment—or maybe not.

Just when things had heated up, a loud
thud echoed out. It sounded as if the crash had come from the front
porch. It was probably just the ghost trying to get my attention.
But what if it was an intruder? Someone trying to break in and
steal my valuables? Okay, I had no valuables other than a string of
pearls my mother had given me for my sixteenth birthday, but
whatever.

“
What was that?” Callahan
asked.

“
I don’t know.” I sat up in
bed, the air raising chills on my arms.

Once the heat from Callahan’s body was
gone, it was icy cold.

“
I’m going to check it
out.”

He sounded as if he’d had it with the
crazy antics. Callahan jumped up and grabbed his pants. This was
not how I’d envisioned this scene playing out.

I grabbed my robe and padded into the
hallway behind him. He was hopping into his shoes when I made it
out into the hallway.

“
What are you going to do?”
I asked.

“
I’m going to check it out.
You stay here, okay?”

My hero. It was nice to have a strong
man around once in a while to check out the spooky noises. I got
tired of having to do it myself all the time. But what was the
noise? Had the same thing started all over again? I thought the
black magic had gone for good. Stupid me.

Once he’d closed the front door, I
peeked out and watched him. Callahan stood on the porch and peered
around looking for the source of the noise. After a few seconds, he
moved down the front steps and made his way around the house. I
didn’t want to let him out of my sight in case he needed my help,
so I slipped back into the bedroom and looked out the window for a
better view.

I spotted Callahan as he moved
steadily along the side of the house, but he wasn’t the only thing
I saw. In front of him was a dark shadow. Just like the one I’d
seen before. Why was it back? I thought all of that was behind us
now. My heart thumped. Did Callahan see this thing too? Was he
following it? The shadow floated around the side of the house and
Callahan trailed along behind it. I still couldn’t tell if he knew
it was there.

Letting the curtain fall back, I
dashed from that window and made my way to the back of the house. I
had to warn Callahan. Again I moved from window to window looking
out for Callahan. The moon lit up the sky so that I could see his
movements, otherwise I wouldn’t have known where he’d gone. But for
a brief moment he wasn’t in my sight. I’d run out of windows to
look out of until he reached the kitchen. What if he met up with
the shadow at that moment when I couldn’t see him? No, I didn’t
even want to think of it.

When I made it to the kitchen, I
spotted Callahan again. I let out a temporary breath of relief. I
moved to the door with every intention of warning him about the
dark shadow. He inched his way along the side of the house, but the
shadow had disappeared. Had it been my imagination? No. I knew what
I saw and this was exactly like the thing that had shown up
before.

I hurried to the front of the house
just as Callahan was coming through the front door. I almost slid
into the foyer with my bunny slippers. If I was going to be sexy
around Callahan I needed to ditch the animal shoes. I looked at him
expectantly.

“
I didn’t find anything,” he
said, placing the flashlight back onto the small table by the
door.

So he hadn’t seen the black shadow.
Should I mention it to him? I just wanted to stop talking about
witchcraft, ghosts, and the supernatural for one day. Couldn’t we
be normal for just a few hours? Who was I kidding? Of course we
couldn’t.

“
Did you see a shadow figure
out there?”

He met my gaze. “Just now?”

“
Yeah, I thought I saw
someone out there.”

He peeked out the window again, then
looked back to me. “As far as I could tell there was nothing out
there.”

“
It looked as if you were
following it. But I guess you didn’t see it after all.”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t see
or hear anything. I thought maybe it was an animal that had
wandered up onto the porch.”

I gave a half-hearted smile. “That was
probably it. There are a lot of raccoons and stray cats around
here.”

“
That’s probably it,” he
said.

The noise might have been an animal,
but that shadow wasn’t. I was sure of that. How would I go back to
normal now? Okay, I wasn’t quite sure what normal was for me
anymore, but I wanted a chance to find out. All I would think about
for the rest of the night was the shadow outside.

Callahan made sure the door was
locked, then grabbed my hand. “Come on. Let’s go back to
bed.”

My heart rate increased. Okay, yeah,
maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to forget about the shadow after all.
When he looked at me with that hunger in his eyes I could forget
about everything and just live in the moment. I felt the desire
coming off him in waves and I wanted nothing more than to be close
to him.

When I walked down the foyer toward
the bedroom, Mr. Fine was leaning against the wall in the corner of
the room with a smug smirk spread across his face.

I released Callahan’s hand. “Give me
just a second, okay?”

I held up my index finger indicating I
needed a little time before making my way back to the bed. Not that
I wasn’t in a hurry to get there, because I definitely was looking
forward to it. Callahan touched my cheek, then smiled and walked
away toward the bedroom.

When he was out of view, I said, “Were
you responsible for the noise?”

I was so mad I had to take my
frustration out on someone. My words might have seemed hostile, but
I couldn’t help it. It was late and I had been interrupted. Yeah, I
was a tad cranky. Hey, if ghosts could be crappy then so could
I.

Mr. Fine shook his head innocently.
“It wasn’t me. I thought when you brought me here tonight that
you’d entertain me. You know, we can chat and share
stories.”

I stared at him blankly. “What gave
you that crazy idea?”

“
Well, I could have talked
to myself in your crazy friend’s attic.”

“
Who are you calling crazy?
You’re the one who likes to hang out in attics. Last time I
checked, my friend doesn’t hang out in attics.”

“
Touché,” he said, flicking
off more ashes from his cigarette.

“
And will you please stop
doing that?”

“
What? They really don’t get
on the floor or anything. They’re invisible.”

“
I know, but it still freaks
me out.”

“
Listen, at least I don’t
hang out in closets and jump out at people.”

“
Yeah, that’s real
comforting, thanks.”

He shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a
nice guy. I do what I can to please people.” He smiled.

“
If you pleased people you
wouldn’t be hanging out at my house right now.”

He snorted.

“
Just remember that I’ve got
my eye on you. No funny business during your stay at my
home.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Do
I look like I’d try any funny business?”

Before I had a chance to respond, he
disappeared. Typical jerk ghost behavior. He knew I wouldn’t give
the most flattering answer. I had better not hear another word or
noise out of him for the rest of the night. I had to find a way to
get rid of him in the morning. If he’d only share his reason for
being there, then I could help him cross over into the
light.

As I made my way down the hall,
thoughts of the shadow ran through my mind. It had been dark,
human-shaped and wearing a cape. Well, maybe it was a little
skinner than a human with slightly longer arms, but it was hard to
tell in the dark. Whatever the shape, it was enough to make the
hairs on the back of my neck stand up and a chill run up my
spine.

What kind of creature had been lurking
outside my house? Karyn had said the shadow I’d seen before was
just Becky Schultz playing tricks on me with a magic spell. Was
someone else still playing a trick on me? Or was this sighting
something else? With any luck, I wouldn’t have to think about it
ever again and this thing would never appear again.

The next morning after kissing
Callahan goodbye, I made my way through the living room toward the
kitchen. Mr. Fine sat on my sofa with his feet propped up on the
coffee table. A cigarette dangled from his lips.

“
What’s with all the toss
pillows?” he asked with disdain. “A little excessive, don’t you
think?”

“
What’s with all the
cigarettes?” I smirked. “A little excessive don't you
think?”

He blew out a ring of smoke that
circled his head like a halo. He was no angel though.

“
I don’t allow smoking in my
house. I have an allergy,” I warned.

He blew out another ring of smoke, but
didn’t offer a response. It looked exactly like a ghostly mist
floating toward the ceiling.

I let out an exasperated breath.
Ghosts. You couldn’t live with them and, well, you couldn’t live
with them.

“
Any time you want to tell
me why you are hanging around would be great,” I said over my
shoulder as I continued on toward the kitchen. I wasn’t going to
let him ruin my corn-flakes.

I’d just sat down with my bowl and
milk when a knock sounded at the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone,
so the sound caught me off guard. Maybe it was Mindy. All those
fitness classes were making her way too chipper in the mornings.
She’d started one of those pole fitness studios. Who knew the
little old ladies of Magnolia would be so good at working the pole.
Anyway, I’d rather attend yet another pole fitness class than deal
with another ghost—I prayed she didn’t have another ghost problem.
I didn’t want or need another one hanging around my
kitchen.

I left my new ghost friend sitting at
the kitchen table and made my way back through the living room and
to the front door. When I peeked out the side curtain, no one was
in sight, just the crisp blue sky and the swaying branches of the
trees. Not this again. I unlocked the door and eased it open. I
never knew when something might lunge out at me, so I wasn’t taking
any chances.

A small brown package sat in front of
the door, lost like a little stray kitten. Where had it come from?
I reached down and grabbed the box, turning it over in my hands to
see if I’d find a clue as to its contents. Nothing gave away what
was inside. I glanced around again before returning inside. Once
back in the kitchen, I placed the box on the table.

“
Special delivery?” Mr. Fine
straightened.

“
Get your legs down,” I
snapped. “Were you raised in a barn?” I’d always wanted to use that
expression. It was one of my mother’s favorites.

Great. Another nosy ghost, although I
guessed I’d be meddlesome too if I wasn’t able to communicate with
the living. The first person who came along who could see me and
I’d talk their ear off.

Without answering Mr. Fine’s question,
I opened the package and pulled out a blown glass ball that dangled
from a clear string. Strands of glass weaved through the interior
of the ball in a wild, random pattern. The glass was a beautiful
shade of turquoise with streaks of white and yellow mingled
through.

I’d seen these ornaments before and
heard about the lore associated with them. According to folk tales,
a witch’s ball enticed evil spirits with its bright colors. The
spirit would go into the ball and the strands inside would capture
it, stopping it from escaping. Some rumors claimed that when a
witch was killed by a curse, a witch’s ball was always found nearby
and believed to be somehow responsible. That thought sent a chill
down my spine. But how could something used to guard against evil
spirits be involved with something so sinister? Regardless, I
didn’t believe any of those tall tales. Or did I? No, no. It was
all just silly talk.