The Phantom and the Psychic: A Paranormal Erotic Tale (2 page)

She
turned to the old man.  “It’s okay, Mr. O’Toole, if you’d rather stay in the hall.  I promise not to spend much time there.  I just need to do a quick walkthrough to get a read on the place.”

“I may be afraid
, dear, but I’m not a coward.  There’s no way I’m letting you in there by yourself.”

She nodde
d, and took his arm as he offered it.  The two made their way down a long hallway, cobbled brick beneath their feet, high stone archways overhead.  She thought it very likely Dominic followed them, but she couldn’t know for sure since she heard no words from him.  They passed a half a dozen doors before Mr. O’Toole stopped in front of one, and reached in his pocket for the key.  

Even before the gentle old man had the door
all the way opened, she felt the cold, dark entity inside.  It was a consciousness.  It watched them, there at the doorway, and waited ...

She
shot out her arm to block Mr. O’Toole before he could enter the room.

“Now see here, girl, I already told you
…”

“No, Mr. O’Toole.  Ne
ither of us is going in there.”

Her fear must have been evident
on her face, in her tone, because Mr. O’Toole froze, then stepped back.

From behi
nd her, Dominic spoke, concerned. “What is it?”

He
r voice wavered as she answered.  “I knew it was bad, but I hadn’t realized …” then, after a pause, “The good news is, I can tell it’s trapped.  It’s bound by that room and can’t leave it.”

Mr. O’Toole looked s
haken.  After a moment where he visibly collected himself, he looked to her.  “Do you still think you can help?”

“
Honestly, I’m not sure.  But I’m going to do everything that I can to try.  And if I can’t manage, I do have contacts, people who have other abilities and tools.”

Mr. O’Toole nodded, looking relieved.  He seemed heartened by her words.  “Well, okay.  I’m grateful you’re willing to stick with it.  Do you …
are you still comfortable staying here, in the castle?”

She sought to reassure him
even as she fought against the chill of evil’s presence.  “Of course, like I say, it’s confined to that room.”

Mr. O’Toole gave her a small smile.  “In that case, let me show you to your room.  It’s getting late.  You go on and get settled in, I’ll have dinner ready soon.”

“Actually, Mr. O’Toole, I’m not hungry. I ate right before I got here.  Perhaps I could just retire for the evening?”

“If that’s what you’d like, absolutely.”

He led her to a room on the opposite side of the castle.  Dominic remained quiet, though she was sure he stayed with them.

Mr. O’Toole
wished her goodnight, and she closed the heavy oak door behind his retreating figure.

“Christ
’s blood, Alyssa, what did you feel?”

She turned to his voice.  “You truly don’t know?  You don’t feel it too?”

“No.”  He sounded puzzled, worried.

“It’
s the worst thing I’ve ever sensed.  Pure evil.  I’m not sure why you don’t …” she paused, considering. “It’s outside of my experience, but I’ve read spirits can exist at different levels, on different planes, within the same geographic location.”

“That
makes no sense.  Explain yourself.”

“I’ll try.  But first, you’ve been here for six hundred years
, right?  During that time, has anything specific, anything memorable, happened in that room?”

He
remained quiet for long seconds.  Finally, he answered, voice a strange monotone.  “That’s where I died.”

She
startled, wishing desperately she could see his face.  “What happened?”

“We were called in, summoned.  There was a
young child, possessed by a demon.  Two priests and I, we were to exorcise it, but it was too strong.”

“It murdered you,” she
whispered.

“Aye.  All three of us.
Though only I remain here … alone.  I don’t know what happened to the other two.  Perhaps they moved on to their heaven.”  His voice was heavy, weighed down with bitterness.

“You must have at least partially succeeded in the exorcism.  That creature in there, it’s more a demon’s ghost, than a demon.  It
’s tied to its location.  I don’t think it could possess somebody, even if it wanted to.”  A thought occurred to her.  “Maybe that’s why the two guests had heart attacks!  It was trying to jump into them, to escape that room!”

Somewhere in front of her, Dominic roared with rage.  Fo
r a moment she saw his outline, a silhouette of a tall, cloaked man, vague and fleeting before it faded away.  “My life’s purpose was defeating creatures like that,” he cried, anguished.  “And now, all these years later, I learn it’s been here the whole time.  Still harming people …” his voice broke off, and the room fell silent.

Alyssa waited, heart breaking
for him, but after several long minutes of quiet, she was sure she was alone.  Hurting for him, wishing she could ease his pain, she unpacked her small bag and pulled back the bed covers.  She’d known him only a short time, but she longed for the impertinent rascal that had greeted her at the castle door with his saucy comments. 
Let him come back and replace the tortured soul who left me
. 

She crossed the room to stand in front of a
floor length antique mirror.  She studied her reflection in the smoky glass, took in her long, dark hair, pale skin, and stared into her own pupils, wide and black. 
What did Dominic see when he looked at me?  Luscious thighs?  He wanted to pound into me with his hard cock?
  Though crude, the heat of his lusty words appealed to a secret part of herself.  But it was his comment about her eyes that undid her. 
He said they were beautiful.
  He’d sounded different then, not angry like before, but awe-struck.  Gentle.  Like he ached for something.

Alyssa ached now. 

How long had it been since she allowed herself to be lost to desire?  She could understand something of Dominic’s loneliness, through her years of experience with other spirits, dating back to her childhood.  But she also understood because of her own isolation.  She was different.  Unusual.  The men in her life were either strangers, or vague acquaintances.  The few she allowed to grow close had all eventually fled, either discomforted by her abilities, or gripped by sheer terror because of them.

But Dominic would accept me, just as I am.

The thought fueled her need. 

She lifted both hands, fingers splayed, to her throat and slowly dragged them down the silky length to her chest.  She cupped her full br
easts in her palms and gave each pointed tip a gentle squeeze, all the while imagining a pair of ghostly hands and a sinfully rich, masculine voice.

Frustrated, she moved her fingers to the straps of her re
d cotton summer dress and pulled them down her shoulders.  The garment fell, briefly catching on her hardened nipples, before dropping to the floor. 

Now
she stood before the mirror clad in only a pair of black bikini briefs.   She placed a hand on her flat stomach and dragged it down past her navel, to the top of her panties.  With a breathy sigh, she slipped her fingers under the satin material, her heavy breasts swaying with her movements.

“Dominic,” she whispered, remembering the electric spark of his touch
on her cheek. Her eyes half closing, she slid one finger into her smooth, moist cleft. 

“Alyssa.”  The hoarse utterance came from directly behind her.

Did I summon him?  A spirit goes where it’s called.

Instead of horror or embarrassment at being caught in such a position, desire flooded through her.  Her sex clenched around the single finger buried in her moist folds. 

She looked
behind her in the mirror, and watched him materialize.  Tall.  Broad shouldered.  Dark, wavy hair.  He wore a black cloak with a long sword at his side.  His image flickered, was nearly translucent, yet she could still make out the sharp planes of his striking face and see the burning blue of his eyes. 

“Dominic.  Touch me.”

His image flared, and for a moment he nearly became solid.

“God, I want to Alyssa,
” he rasped, his voice pained. “But earlier, when I grabbed your shoulders, I think I hurt you.”

Throbbing with need, s
he opened her lips to protest … but was interrupted by a bone-chilling scream from outside, echoing down the long hallway.

Frantic, she spun
around.  “Mr. O’Toole!”

*****

Dominic barely registered the scream that startled Alyssa.  He was too fixated on her naked body, all that silken skin and her busy fingers, while he burned with a need and a heat he hadn’t experienced in centuries.  Maybe ever. 

But t
he fear he saw in her eyes pulled him from his trance.

“Hurry, love.  Get dressed.”  He picked up a nearby robe, a satin, crimson creation
, and threw it to her before he realized he had moved an object.  And seen his own hand. 
Later. I’ll deal with it later.

The two quickly made their way through the castle, an intuitive dread guiding them to the haunted room.

O’Toole lay sprawled on the floor in front of the room’s still-closed door, some type of mechanical contraption locked tight in his grip.  Blood trickled from one nostril, but his eyes blinked open as Alyssa knelt next to him.

She
spoke, nearly shouting, “Mr. O’Toole!  Are you okay?  What happened?”

“ I …
I didn’t like the idea of you under the same roof as whatever that thing is in there.  I was trying to bolt the door shut from the outside, but it was like something reached right into my chest and squeezed my heart.”  He paused, looking confused.  “I guess I blacked out.  Woke up, and you were here.” 

“Are you having heart palpitations now?”
she asked, clearly horrified.

“No, no,” the old man assured her as he struggled to sit up. 

She reached down to help him, but as soon as he sat upright, he grabbed his chest again.

“Okay, that’s it!
  We’re calling an ambulance.  I want you to see a doctor, Mr. O’Toole.  And I want us to get away from this room. Right.  Now.”

The old
man offered no protest as she slung his arm over her shoulder, helping him to hobble away.  Anxious, Dominic hovered behind them, wishing he could carry some of O’Toole’s weight.  His mind flashed to the moment he picked up Alyssa’s robe and threw it to her. 
Maybe I can help. 

He materialized next to O’Toole, opposite Alyssa, and reached for the man’s other arm …
only to swoosh through it

“Damnation!” he shouted. 

She jerked her head towards him, eyes wide and questioning.  She said nothing though, giving a pointed look to O’Toole’s lowered head.  Since she’d first walked through the castle door, she seemed intent on not revealing Dominic to the old man.

Dominic explained himself.  “I thought perha
ps I could be of some use.  Earlier I threw you your robe, I thought I could help you move O’Toole now.”

She
gave him a nod and a sad smile, but spoke no reply.  She continued limping the old man down the hall.  Dominic followed behind the two, bitter thoughts crowding his mind. 
I’m a mere observer.  Like always.

They finally made it to the great room where a fire roared in the hearth. 
The room was immense, but cheery and warm.  One would never know evil lurked down the hall.

She helped O’Tool
e settle on the divan.  “I’m calling an ambulance.  I want you to be checked out.”

“Aye, gal, but you’re coming with me.  I’ll not
have you stay here by yourself.  Not with that thing.”

“Mr. O’Toole, that
thing
needs to be dealt with.  It’s why you hired me.  Please, let me do my job,” she replied, her frustration evident.

“I didn’t understand how truly dangerous it was
, until now.  Nobody else is going to get hurt.”  His brow wrinkled with determination.  “I’ll burn the place to the ground, that’s what I’ll do, take a wrecking ball to it!”

Dominic had a moment to wonder what would happen to
him
, in the event of such an occurrence, before Alyssa answered. “Mr. O’Toole, absolutely not!  Besides the fact your retirement is tied up in this place, you can’t know what the repercussions would be.  What if that actually freed the evil?”

What if it freed me?
  He dismissed the notion at once. It couldn’t be that simple … he’d just end up haunting a pile of rubble.

Dominic watched pure horror settle over
O’Toole’s face, the old man’s eyes widened, his mouth gaped.

Al
yssa remained quiet for long seconds, looking thoughtful.  Finally, she spoke.  “Dominic, I’m going to tell him about you.”