Seduction of Souls (5 page)

“Sure.  Wow.  That would be great.  Name a time, although I can’t guarantee
that my roommate will be able to make it.  She usually works evenings, but I’ll try.”

“Great.  How would seven o’clock do for you?  Since this is just the initial meet
-and-greet, your roommate doesn’t really need to change her schedule to be there, she may want to save that until or if we decide to investigate further.”

“Wait.   I thought you said you could help me.”  Panic took over her voice as her desperation cre
eped through the phone lines.

“Yes.  Don’t worry.  I’ll do everything I can, I’m just saying for tonight’s visit she or he doesn’t have to bother.”

“Oh…sorry…I guess I kind of freaked out on you a little.  I’m really, really tired.”

“I understand.  Just give me the address and I’ll be there at seven.”

“Right, it’s 4435 Briarwood.  Do you need directions?”  She heard a muffled cuss on his end of the line.

“What?  Are you familiar with the house already?”

“Umm, yes and no.  I’ll explain when I get there, but let me just tell you I believe you one hundred percent.  Huh, life is strange.  I’ll see you tonight at seven.”

The abrupt click of the phone disconnection made her jump.  What a strange guy.  But
thinking about it, she realized he had to be just a little ‘off’ to be in his line of work in the first place.  Heck, five months ago if anyone had told her all of this would happen to her, she would have laughed him out of the room. Yeah, and probably done a scathing expose about how fake paranormal investigation was, suggesting some good therapists for anyone who believed in this kind of stuff.  At that thought she decided to let the fact that she was an investigative journalist stay a secret.  Anyone in his half right mind would think she was trying to pull something over on him in an attempt to expose the whole profession as fake.  For now she would remain a researcher who worked from home, which really wasn’t a lie, exactly, it just wasn’t the
whole
truth.  Yes, she did research, mostly, then she
wrote the articles.  All she had to do was leave that little, tiny last part out.  Comfortable with her decision, she went looking for Bryn to give her an update and secure her promise of not letting the cat out of the bag about the journalism thing.

By five minutes to seven RayeAnn had convinced herself that the guy wasn’t even going to show up.  While she paced back and forth in the foyer, ready to pounce on the door at the first hint of a knock, she ran through the story in her mind, sometimes not even believing it herself.  Yet once she had given him the address he had already been convinced it was real.  Weird, but not as weird as being in this position in the first place. 

At the first knock she already had her hand on the knob, as if
she sensed that he was on the other side before he had even rapped on it.  After a brief shudder passed, she quickly opened the door. 
What the…what is he doing here?
  She was so stunned she couldn’t speak for seconds.

“You!
”  Her voice came out too high, so she lowered it.  “I know you, or should I say my silk blouse knows you.  Is this a joke,” she glared at him, “because I absolutely don’t think it’s funny.  Did Bryn put you up to this?”

“No, really, it’s not a joke.  I am the owner and operator of Soul Search.  Look, here’s one of my business cards.” 
He held out a white card with simple black lettering, something anyone could make on his own easily.

Tears sprang to her eyes
, though she tried to blink them back.  How stupid did she feel now, knowing she’d been set-up.  She slammed the heavy oak door in his face, thankful she hadn’t invited him in before she realized what he was up to.  Disappointment made her heart sink to her feet.  For the first time in what seemed like forever she had actually thought she’d found someone to help her. 

Ignoring the continuous pounding on the front door
, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and pressed speed dial, calling Bryn.

Without giving her a chance to say hello,
RayeAnn ripped into her with all her anger. 

“How could you have done this to me?  I thought you were my friend.  What did I ever do to deserve this?  I’ve treated you like a goddam sister and this is the way you repay me?”  When she paused to take a breath, Bryn jumped on the opportunity.

“RayeAnn?  What the hell are you talking about?  What happened?  Do you need me to come home?  God, I knew I should have stayed with you tonight.  Did that guy make a pass at you or something?”

“Are you telling me you didn’t set this whole thing up,”
accusation lashed her voice. 

“Honey, I have no idea what you’re talking about.  Tell me what happened.”

After she finished the expedited version of the story, she waited for Bryn to burst out into laughter, finally admitting that it had all been a joke.  Instead she got a very serious, if not embarrassing, response.

“I promise, on scout’s honor, and you know I really was a Girl Scout, that I had nothing to do with this.  I hate to tell you this, but the guy’s legit.  Did he already leave?”

She sat on the floor of the foyer, her back resting against the oak door, and noted that the pounding had stopped. 

“I have no idea.  Now I feel like an idiot.”
  Her voice quivered,  “I am sooo sorry I yelled at you like that.”

“Listen Ray, I have to get going.  If he’s already gone
, try calling the phone number again, maybe you can explain and get him to come back out.  Good luck."

She stood and cracked the door open, peering out to see where Ryker Whitcombe the fourth had gone to.

CHAPTER 6

Ryker
sat on the wide steps of the old Victorian house, waiting for RayeAnn to come to her senses or Bryn to come home.  Usually he would have just taken off, chalking the whole experience up to the lady being a nut job or the call being a joke. But this case was certainly not a hoax.  He had never been so sure of that in his entire life, not because he was so good at his job, but because he too had been haunted in his dreams for the past six weeks.

At first he
’d had no idea what was happening.  His dreams weren’t terrifying, just annoying.  Some guy named Nathaniel kept calling to him in his dreams.  Though he wore pants with suspenders and a white shirt, the tools hanging behind him looked like old blacksmith tools.   All he would do was keep repeating the same word over and over, and Ryker hadn’t any idea what it meant until he had talked to RayeAnn.  When she told him the name of the street she lived on was Briarwood, all the pieces clicked together like thunder.  It was the same word Nathaniel repeated over and over to him in his dreams. 
Briarwood.

Confident that once
RayeAnn was able to confirm that this wasn’t a joke she would open the door, he sat and waited.  No point leaving if he was just going to have to turn around and come right back, gas was too expensive to waste.  A man living off donations learned to be frugal, constantly making decisions about priority and need verses wants and desires.

Of course, looking back, he should have told her who he was over the phone.  He knew the minute he heard her name that it was the woman from the bar.  How many
women named RayeAnn could possibly live in Crawford County and happen to have a ghost problem and live on Briarwood?   Only one.

He sensed rather than heard the door behind him open slowly, just barely a crack, before swinging open widely.

“Ready to get on with the meeting?”  He stood up and turned toward the door, not waiting for an answer.

“Why didn’t you tell me on the phone who you were?  It would have caused a helluva lot less confusion if you had
, and I wouldn’t be standing here like a fool trying to apologize.”

Amazing woman.  Suddenly it was all his fault she was a fool. 
Can you just beat that with a
stick?
  Obviously she wasn’t an experienced apologizer.

“I haven’t heard an apology yet
, and I’m freezing out here, so lets get on with it so I can come in and get warm.”

“All right.  I am.  Come on in.” 

Her apologizing skills definitely needed work.  Chuckling to himself, he walked in and paused to look around the well appointed foyer.  Immediately the quaint, old fashioned home pulled him into its massive embrace.  Someone had loved and cared for this home. 

He let out a low whistle. 
“Nice.  Really, nice.  How long have you lived here?”

“Only
for about six weeks or so.  A relative I never even knew I had left it to me.  If it makes you feel any better, I gave the attorney a hard time, too.  I was sure he had made a mistake, but he was able to prove he was right.”

Ryker noticed she wasn’t wrong from her point of view, the attorney had just been right.  Logical.

“If you think the house is haunted, why don’t you just put it up for sale and live somewhere else?”

“Because my Aunt’s will stipulate
s that I can only get the money if I live in this house.  If I move out the entire estate gets donated to the Catholic Church.  So here I am.  Besides, I love this house.  Everything you see came with the house, all the perfectly maintained antiques, and they just don’t make things like this anymore.  Do you want a tour first, or we can go into the library and have some coffee?  Your choice.”

“Coffee first, then the tour.  You say Bryn only had the one dream but that you have had several?”
  She crooked her finger at him to follow her into the kitchen, once there she poured them each a mug of fresh coffee. With a wave of her hand she took him back to the library so they could finish the coffee while they talked.  She felt the tremor in her hands, which forced her to hold onto the mug tighter than normal, while her knuckles whitened with the effort. 

“More than several.  Honestly, I’ve lost count of the number.  I haven’t missed a night since I moved in, sometimes even several
dreams a night.  Other than earlier today, I haven’t had more than two hours of sleep at a time, and then that sleep was restless and frustrating.”

“All right, let’s start at the very beginning.  You mentioned something about it all starting five months ago.  Start there.” 
Sitting in the wing back chair of the library, he pulled out a notebook and pen from the inside pocket of his brown leather jacket and poised himself to start taking notes.

The impact of his piercing blue stare hit her like a karate kick to the heart.  As if she had been shoved physically, she plopped down into the chair, too overcome to speak.  Why had she never noticed his eyes before?  Everything about him attracted her like no one had before.  At a loss for an explanation to soothe her sensibilities, she began to stammer out her story.  She clutched tightly at the arms of the chair to steady herself, not sure if it was she who was spinning or the room.  Everything around them faded away in a smokey blur, his eyes bright as an LED flashlight glowing in the darkness.  Her breathing began to come in short bursts, causing her chest to ache from lack of oxygen.  Every nerve in her body tingled, as if she’d just been plugged in to an electrical current.  Perspiration beaded on her forehead and her knuckles were white from gripping the arms of the chair so tightly.  When she couldn’t stand the assault to her senses any longer she stood abruptly.  Instantly everything came back to normal.  The room was back and Ryker’s eyes had stopped glowing.  It wasn’t until she felt the little shake that she realized than Ryker had been talking to her, though she couldn’t make out the words.  Confusion swamped her brain as she once again lowered her body back into her chair while something was being forced into her hand.

“Here, drink this.  Can you hear me
, RayeAnn?  Take a sip of water now.”  The sharpness of his words brought her mind back with a jump.

“Wow.  What just happened here?  One minute I was sitting in this chair and the next everything seemed, I can’t describe it really, sort of like ‘other worldly’.”  Slowly she took a sip of water while her body shuddered in rolling waves. 
Trembling soon took her over again.  Fear flowed through her at the thought that she had not been in control of her body or mind.  What kind of power had taken her over?

“I’m scared.”
   She hugged herself tightly in an attempt to comfort herself.

“Everything’s going to be all right.  Apparently you took a little side trip to the other realm.  Has that ever happened to you before?”

“No…never.  Not even in my dreams.  Usually I’m standing and trying to converse with Charity, just as you and I are now.  I keep asking her questions, but her only answer is her begging for help.  I can feel the frustration while I try to figure out what she needs help with.”

“How was this time different from the dreams?”

“Well, I wasn’t asleep this time.  Charity was here, I sensed her presence, but then suddenly everything but you faded away.  Your eyes were glowing blue like two headlights.  I couldn’t hear anything and I was transfixed by your eyes.  Once I stood up everything went back to normal.  Did I say anything?”