“Thank you for helping me . . .” My words drifted off when all I saw was a tomb next to me. The soul had gone back into the cemetery. I looked at the cemetery and felt the euphoric sensation turn into a calming high. All of this was so strange.
I mentally cursed the stairs as I took the first step up. Exercise was not one of my favorite hobbies. I thought people who woke up every day and worked out because they enjoyed it were crazy. However, they were probably better off mentally and physically than I was, and happier, too. Unless something was after me, I was not a runner. These stairs would fill my exercise quota for the rest of the year.
By the time I made it to the veranda, I was tired, hungry, and a little pissy at myself and at Jude Mallory. I probably should have just reached out to him via his agent, or emailed, or written a letter. But he never did interviews, and I doubted he would have answered any of my inquiries. This was his fault. My irritated brain focused on that, as I walked up to the back door and gripped the handle like I owned the place.
“Mr. Mallory! Anybody home?” I yelled at the top of my lungs and waited by the opened doors.
Two souls dressed in circus attire came through the wall by the atrium and stared at me in shock.
“Rudy, that voice was really good. Nice trick.” A tall, live man walked around the corner with a grin on his face, then stopped as he noticed me and realized the voice hadn’t come from who he thought it did.
“Uh, who are you?” He ran his tan fingers through his dark brown hair and looked at his two ghost friends, then back at me.
“I’m Selene Constance from theSeahill Sun Times. I’m also working with the Seahill Police Department on the case of Lindsey Walters. I wanted to speak with you, ask a few questions. I knocked on the door but no one answered, so I thought this place was abandoned. It’s very lovely, Mr. Mallory.” He was still staring at me, not with anger in his expression but more of a stunned look, like he didn’t know what to do with a live person in his house.
“It’s Jude.”
We stood there like idiots, watching each other. I had lost all thoughts and nothing mattered but his eyes, his face with his trimmed beard, and those lips that begged me for a taste. I didn’t understand the intense pull toward his soul. Usually the only time I felt like this was if someone was about to die. Unless he was destined to die shortly, then the draw toward death didn’t make sense. None of this did.
I needed more answers to the mystery that was Jude Mallory, the ringleader living in a haunted mansion.
Chapter Six
Jude
“Why don’t we go sit in the parlor room?” I didn’t even wait for her answer before I walked toward the parlor where we could sit and be more comfortable.
I should have told this woman to fuck off and leave my property. Should have, but didn’t. What was wrong with me?
Interviews were not something I enjoyed. Everyone wanted to get too personal, get to know the real me. Real me was an asshole who preferred to hang out with the dead than the living. There was no use getting to know anyone if I was just going to die. Some fans of the show and my work cry when they heard the news, but they would move on unlike friends or family who would grieve for much longer.
Accepting this Selene into my home unsettled me to my core. The woman from the show that talked to the dead girl, here, in my home.
Maybe I was just curious.
“Interesting place you have here. Very intricate and well . . .”
“Dusty, yeah. I don’t have the patience to clean everything. There’s really no point, anyways,” I answered for her, knowing what she was going to say. I’d once thought of making the ghosts clean the place up but they were already suffering. Cleaning seemed more like a punishment fit for hell.
“You said it, so can’t say I was rude or anything.” She continued looking around as we made it into the parlor. I gestured for her to sit, and I took a seat on the loveseat opposite of the one she descended onto. She was beautiful with dirty blond hair that looked streaked with melted honey in it. I knew her blue eyes could peer into my soul. She looked haunted in her own way, though, and it wasn’t just being here in the house. She had a heavy burden and it weighed on her with every move she made, the way she had to force herself to sit tall and push confidence into her very being.
We sat there, neither one of us saying a word in this awkward situation. A few of my ghostly friends peeked in, unaware someone else in this room could see them.
“She is definitely a looker. Man, I thought she was hot back at the show. She is smoking now.” Rudy came over to sit next to me, his mouth gaping at the woman before us, whose knowing smirk promised sweet revenge.
“Why, thank you, I didn’t know if this sweater was complimentary to my body but I guess if I’m smokin then it must be great.”
I laughed at the shock on Rudy’s face. Serves the asshole right.
“You can see us? Holy shit, Jude. You’re not the only one! Oh girl, I have been on the other side too long. I could use another flesh-and-blood person to live vicariously through.” Rudy sat down next to her, filled with excitement.
“Rudy, give the woman some space.” I watched her expression carefully to see if she was scared or annoyed at my friend, but she seemed content, like his presence relaxed her in some way.
“It’s OK. But I wouldn’t touch me if I were you. I’m a reaper, so taking dead people to the afterlife is my superpower.” She shrugged, like having that sort of power was no big deal, but I knew differently. It was a power from Hades, the god of the underworld. The old gods had killed off their children, the demigods, and mankind lost faith in them. They were dying but still wanted to protect humans so they put their powers out into the world into the DNA of mortals. Lucky people were picked to host “said gifts” to help the world.
My gift was control over the dead, which sounded cool but it wasn’t useful in stopping a bank robbery, unless the person got shot and we wanted information or I created an army of the dead to stop the criminals. Neither was really a good idea.
Ghosts on this plane of Earth couldn’t do harm like they could in the movies. They couldn’t shake doors or attack you. My family was the key to keeping it that way.
