The Ghosts Of New Orleans (A PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND CONTAINMENT DIVISION (PRCD) CASE FILE) (15 page)

That was the clincher.  “Actually,
ma’am, I think it would be better if Sergeant Anderson and I stayed here and
guarded the base,” Turner said, with Anderson nodding in agreement at his side.

“I’m sure the Major would agree
that driving to Baton Rouge does not institute any kind of a threat,” he added.

Eloise nodded. “I’m sure you both
know what’s best,” she said, “Thank you for your help. I’ll feel so much better
knowing that you’re here guarding the base. Good-night gentlemen.”

“Night, ma’am.”

Eloise let herself back into the
motor home and quietly shut the door behind her.  Sally sat next to the window,
obviously enjoying a session of eavesdropping.

“You know, you’d be dangerous if
you decided to turn your powers to the side of evil,” she grinned.

Eloise smiled. “I just hope they
don’t decide that the Major needs to know about my little scratch.”

Sally nodded, “Yeah, he’d be here
with both guns blazing.”

She paused and then added, “Kind of
like a fairy tale prince, isn’t he?”

Eloise and smiled sadly.  “Sally, I
don’t believe in fairy tales anymore.”

She wished Sally goodnight and
walked back to her room.

Sally watched her walk slowly away
and shook her head, “Sweet dreams, Eloise.”

Eloise stepped warily down the lane
between the crypts.  Her last experience in the cemetery had taught her that
not only the dead haunted the shadows around her.  She walked slowly, looking
around.  The night was still clear, the stars shone brightly and the few
streetlights that worked in the French Quarter cast odd shadows within the
confines of the cemetery.

“So you wonder why you walk the
cemetery this night?”

Eloise turned to see Maria Leveau
standing in the lane behind her.

“I thought the amulet would protect
me from being snatched,” Eloise responded, fingering the small pouch at her
neck.

“Oui”  replied Maria. “Lalaurie
cannot snatch you, but I do not snatch. I call to you because your lover, he is
in danger.”

“Paul?  What’s wrong?”

Maria shook her head in disgust.  “Always
so wise, try to protect and in doing so open him to danger,” she said. “Will
you come with me?”

“Yes,” Eloise agreed instantly.
“Please let me help him.”

Maria held out her hand and Eloise
grasped it.  She could feel the power within the spirit transferring to her. 
In a moment they were no longer in the cemetery, but in a small apartment. 
Eloise glanced out the window and could see the Capital Building.

“We are in Washington,” Eloise
stated, surprised.

“Oui,” Maria said, shrugging her
shoulders, “That is where you wanted him, was it not?”

Eloise nodded her head, “Yes, it
was.”

“So, we come here to protect him.”

Eloise heard the sound of keys
unlocking the door. She frantically looked around for a hiding place.

Maria laughed, her low voice
echoing in the room. “Non, ma petite, do not fear so, he cannot see us.  We are
here as spirits only.”

Eloise took a deep breath and relaxed. 
The door opened and Paul entered, flicking on the light. Eloise inhaled sharply
when she saw that Paul was not alone. A tall, blonde had her hand on Paul’s arm
and was following him through the door. Paul paused for a moment and looked
around the room.

Maria chuckled, “Your connection
with him is very strong, already he can sense your spirit.”

Eloise shook her head. “Maria, he
obviously does not need my help for this.  Please let me leave.”

Maria shook her head. “You have so
little faith in love.  We will wait for a while.”

Paul disengaged the blonde’s hand
from his arm and then leaned across the doorway, blocking her from entering any
further.

“Well, thanks for the lift,
Marilyn,” he smiled and then yawned. “Wow!  What a day, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow
at the office.”

Marilyn moved into the room and
trailed her finger from the top of Paul’s shirt to the middle of his chest and
then looked up into his eyes, her tongue suggestively moistening her lips. “I’d
be happy to stay and help you unpack,” she purred.

“How obvious can she be?” Eloise
snorted. 

Paul looked up quickly and scanned
the room.  Then he turned back to Marilyn.

“You know, you’re a nice girl and
all, but I am just not interested.”

Marilyn’s eyes widened. “Not
interested? Why not?”

Paul took hold of her shoulders and
turned her around and guided her back to the door. “Because my heart is already
involved somewhere else.  Good-night, Marilyn.”

He gave her a little push and
closed the door firmly behind her.  Then he rubbed his hand across his forehead,
“I must be going nuts, I even feel her when she’s not here.”

Maria snorted. “Now there is a man
who understands love.”

Eloise sighed in agreement.

Paul punched the button on the
answering machine while he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of
juice.  There were two messages. The first from Marilyn earlier in the day
leaving him her phone numbers, in case he needed them.

“How obvious can she be?” he asked,
deleting the message.

The second was Sergeant Turner.

“Hello, Major, this is Turner
checking in.  There was a little confusion this morning. When we arrived both
members of the PRCD unit were away from base.”

“Confusion my ass,” Paul
interjected, then took a gulp of juice.

“Anyway, we waited at the base and
they arrived at about 1200 hours.  They seemed fine and Ms. Parker apologized
for the confusion, seems that she confused 0800 hours for 2000 hours.”

“And you believed her?” Paul yelled
at the phone, placing the bottle down on the counter and pulling off his tie.

“She and Ms. Dawson then entered
the motor home and worked on their project for several hours.  At 2300 hours,
Ms. Parker exited the motor home to speak with us about tomorrow’s itinerary. 
At that time I noticed a long scratch across her left cheek.  There was also
considerable bruising on the same cheek.”

“Crap,” said Eloise.

“She told us that she had an
encounter with an unfriendly, but she now had protection.  I believe she was
referring to a small bag she wore around her neck.  She insisted that we not
tell you about the incident.”

“I bet she did,” Paul snarled,
unbuttoning his shirt.

“We maintained surveillance and
noted lights out at 2330.  Anderson and I will rotate watch tonight. If you
need further details, I will be happy to comply.”

Paul deleted the message. “Dammit,
Eloise, can’t you just let someone protect you?”

He slipped out of his shirt and
tossed it over the kitchen chair.  Then he walked to the bathroom and turned on
the shower.

“Come,” Maria said, motioning
towards the bathroom.

“No!” Eloise squealed. “There is no
way I’m going to spy on him.”

Maria shrugged, then remained
silent and stood next to Eloise for a few minutes. “And you have never been
attacked by Delphine in the bathroom?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Eloise lifted her hand to her cheek
and looked at the closed door.  “I can’t go in there,” she said. “I couldn’t…”

Before she finished her sentence
the shower stopped running and they could hear Paul moving around in the
bathroom.  He opened the door, wearing only a towel around his waist.

Maria smiled. “He is man who is
enjoyable to look at, no?”

Eloise blushed. “Good grief,” she
whispered harshly, “You are a spirit, you’ve been dead nearly two hundred
years. Stop lusting after him!”

Maria chuckled.  Paul stopped and
looked around the room again.

“Eloise?” he called, then he shook
his head. “Oh, yeah, she just transported herself here. Go to bed, Grimes.”

He went into his bedroom and closed
the door.

“We must follow,” Maria said.

“Why don’t we wait for a moment,”
Eloise suggested, “Give him some time to get dressed.”

The bedroom door opened and Paul
stepped out dressed in a pair of low slung cotton pajama pants.  Eloise’s heart
leapt to her throat. 

He shook his head.

“There’s no way I’m going to get
any sleep, so I might as well call,” he muttered to himself.

“He makes your heart pound, no?”
asked Maria.

“Oui,” Eloise sighed, absently.

Paul walked back to the counter and
picked up the phone. He punched a long distance number.

“Turner, it’s Grimes, I got your
report,” he said, “Has there been any movement or disturbance since you
called?”

He waited for a moment. “Good, good
job, Turner. Now what are her plans for tomorrow?”

After a moment he responded. “Baton
Rouge, what the hell does she need in Baton Rouge?”

He listened to the response and
chuckled. “Feminine products and ingredients for Sally, they must want you to
stay behind pretty badly.”

Eloise was astonished. “He saw
right through it.”

Paul stretched and yawned. “Okay,
place the GPS device on her car and track them tomorrow. If they go anywhere
except to Baton Rouge and back, I want you to call out the troops. This is
getting too dangerous to have them playing games.”

He listened for another moment.
“Good job Turner, I appreciate your diligence. I know I handed you a handful.
By the way, has the Frenchy shown up yet?”

Eloise could see the muscles on his
back tighten.

“Good, that’s great.  Do me a favor
and call me when he does. Thanks. Good-night, Sergeant.”

He hung up the phone and chuckled.
“Feminine supplies.  They’re good, they’re really good.”

Paul walked back across the room,
switching off the lights as he went.  He closed the bedroom door and Eloise
could hear him get into bed.

“Well, it looks like it was a false
alarm,” Eloise said to Maria, “We can go now.”

Maria shook her head. “No, it is
not when he is awake when he needs you.  It is while he sleeps.”

“What do you mean?”

“Delphine sends him a dream
tonight, a dream about you.  He will think he is protecting you and he will
jump to save you.”

Maria turned and looked at the
balcony.  Paul’s apartment was on the sixteenth floor.

“He’ll be killed,” Eloise said.

“Oui,” Maria agreed, “So, for
tonight the amulet protects you both.  In the morning you will be back in your
bed and he will be safe.”

“But after tonight, do I come back
every night?” Eloise asked.

Maria walked over to the bathroom
and selected several hairs from Paul’s comb.

“Non, tonight while you watch over
him, I will create gris-gris to protect him.”

“Gris-gris?” she asked.

Maria smiled. “It is like your
amulet. It will protect him.”

Eloise nodded, grateful to Maria
for protecting him. Maria nodded back and faded from sight.  Eloise took a deep
breath and then slipped through the door in Paul’s bedroom. Paul was sprawled
out in the center of the bed and already his breathing was deep and rhythmic. 

She walked up beside the bed and
watched him sleep for a moment. Then she climbed into the bed with him and slid
her arms around his waist. Only, because she was in a spirit form, she couldn’t
feel him.

“Eloise,” he murmured in his sleep,
“Darling, you’ve come back to me.”

Eloise nestled closer and closed
her eyes against the tears. “Yes, darling, I’m here.”

He shifted in his sleep and tried
to wind his arms around her, but they slipped through her and onto the bed.

“What good is this? How can I
protect him when I am not really here?” she wondered. 

In a few moments, Eloise drifted
off and found herself with Paul in his dream.

“Eloise you’re finally where you
belong,” Paul whispered. 

He reached out and took her hand in
his and pulled her to him.  This time when his arms circled her they felt
strong and real. He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly.  Then he
picked her up in his arms and walked toward a large canopied bed.

Eloise looked down at herself and
found that she was wearing a slinky cream-colored ankle-length satin negligee.
It was obviously Paul’s dream, Eloise thought, she should be grateful that she
wasn’t dressed as a French maid.

She reached up to her throat and
found that Paul had remembered to let her keep the amulet.

Reaching the bed, Paul placed her
on the edge and cupped her face in his hands. “Darling, how did you hurt your
face?” he asked, running his thumb alongside the scratch.

She smiled and shrugged her
shoulders. “Unfriendlies,” she replied, remembering Turner’s report, but not
wanting him to worry added, “But now that I’m with you, I’m safe.”

He kissed her again, tenderly,
almost reverently.

“I’ve wanted you for so long,” he
whispered in her ear, “At last, you’re mine, body and soul.”

“Body and soul?” Eloise asked.

Paul pulled back a little and smiled
sheepishly. “Well, I suppose the wedding vows make me yours too.”

Wedding vows!  This was a dream
about their wedding night. Well, Eloise could just guess where this was headed.

Paul bent down and began nibbling
on her neck.  She shivered at the delicious sensation.