Chapter 6

We were all aghast when the ambulance staff pronounced that Melanie’s coma was severe enough for her to have brain damage and the possibility of her not coming out of it was great.  They suspected that whoever had done this to her had left her for dead.

The police insisted upon speaking to each guest privately.  Suspicion was pointed in my direction when a few of the jealous and catty guests proceeded to announce that I was nowhere to be found when Melanie disappeared.  To my relief , as well as my embarrassment, Lance came to my rescue when he confided that we were in a lover’s tryst.   Nora followed up with my alibi by confirming that I’d gone to bed after hearing about Melanie’s disappearance.  To my surprise and delight,  my interview ended up being short and sweet.  Not so for the other guests in the house. 

It felt like an eternity before the ambulance took her body away, and the police ceased their grueling questioning.  By then, the party was over and the guests were packing to leave.

“You are not leaving too, are you?” Lance practically whined as he entered my room without knocking.

I was planning on doing just that.

“It seems wrong to continue with the weekend after this,” I said.  “There was no love lost between Melanie and me, but I’m not as cold as that.”

He reached for my hands and held them in his. “It is not cold to stick around and try to figure out what happened.”

“Are you almost ready?” Nora asked as she popped her head in through the open door.  Seeing Lance standing close to me and holding my hands, she added, “Oh.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t know…”

Lance spoke without taking his eyes off of me. “Come in and close the door, please.”  Whispering softly, he asked in a question that was meant for my ears only. “Does she know about your psychic ability?”

Still uncomfortable  with being referred to as psychic, I flinched before nodding.  Nora and I had often discussed the impressions that I’d get on cases.  We’d even analyze them.  Interestingly, we’d never considered them to be psychic.

After leading me over to the bed and gently nudging me so that I sat on its edge, he smiled and turned to Nora.  “I would like you and Esmerelda to stay on, if you don’t mind.  I believe she can help me find out what happened.”

“Can’t the police do that?” I asked.

He turned to me with a hesitation.  I got the impression that he wanted to tell me something, but didn’t know how to say it.  When he finally spoke again, I realized that I was right. 

Maybe I was psychic after all.

He spoke directly to Nora.  “You spent a good deal of time in the company of my colleagues.  Did they tell you about this place?”

She nodded.  They’d told her a considerable amount.  More than she’d been comfortable hearing.  Most of it was nonsense that she had no intention of insulting him with by repeating.

“So, you are aware that the house is haunted?” he asked.

“I heard a rumor or two,” she scoffed, “but, I didn’t pay much attention since everyone was drinking.”

“It is not a rumor,” he admitted. 

“I don’t chase ghosts,” I firmly insisted.  “I don’t even believe in them.”

“The house is haunted, but not exactly with ghosts,” he explained.   When I looked at him as if he had five heads, he  began pacing at the foot of the bed.  “Let me see if I can explain this so that it makes sense.” 

He walked into the ensuite bathroom to get a drink of water before returning to explain his meaning behind the statement that the house was haunted, but not with ghosts.  “When something or someone haunts, he, she, or it manifests itself into a space that it normally would not belong in.  It does not have to be a dead person.  It could be an object or a live person or even an animal.”

“I’m not following you,” I mumbled.  I didn’t want to admit to him that, although I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure what he was talking about, something about it felt correct.

He looked at me long and hard.  “I think that maybe you are.”  When I emitted a small gasp of surprise, he added.  “Not only am I also psychic, but we are connected, my love.  We feel each other.  You just have not realized it yet.”

I wondered if  he was referring to the intense energy that he emitted to the point that it gave me the jitters. 

With a twinkle in his eye, he turned to Nora. “Do I give you the jitters?”

Giving him a confused look, she shook her head. “Why would you give me the jitters?”

“I would not,” he smugly informed us.  “I would only give my life-mate the jitters.   Even then, it would only be until we’d bonded.”   Turning to me, he asked, “We began that bonding process last night.  Do I still give you the jitters?”

“Not as much,” I admitted.

“See?” he said in a voice that made me think of an adult speaking to a child.

I can’t explain why, but I was annoyed.  “What does that have to do with this haunting by non-ghosts that you’re talking about?”

If he noticed my annoyance, he made no indication as he continued with his story.  “There is a good deal about this world that people do not understand, see, or accept.  That does not mean that it is not there.  Part of the problem is church and state.  In their quest to control the masses, they hid and disguised a good deal of knowledge. They dumbed us down and forbade us to continue with certain practices in order to maintain control.  It began centuries ago.  Facts became fairy tales and myths.  Magic, which was once a valuable tool and was usually granted to and performed by one family member, became a sin or a crime that was punishable by imprisonment or death.  Today, we look upon magic as a parlor trick for our entertainment.”  He stopped pacing and looked me in the eyes.  “Magic is real, my dear Esmerelda.  So are ghosts and demons.  Do not be taken in and dumbed down by those who wish to control you.”

Although I was a skeptic when it came to such things, Nora was a true and skittish believer.  The mere mention of the fact that demons were real sent her into a frenzy that took a considerable amount of time for us to calm down.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stay in a house that is haunted by demons,” she said with desperation. “I simply can’t.”

“I did not say that the house was haunted with demons,” Lance corrected her.  “I said that demons were real.”

I rubbed my friend’s back in an effort to assist her in avoiding the panic attack that was dangerously ready to spring forth. “You don’t have to stay here, Nora.”

“I wish you would,” Lance said as he looked directly at me. “I need your help.”

“What kind of help would I be?” Nora nervously asked.  “I’m not psychic like you and Esma.”

Lance mouthed the word Esma and I scowled.

Turning to him, I boldly scolded, “Don’t even think about calling me that.”  Then, heaving a sigh, I added, “I don’t know what help I can give you, but I don’t feel right abandoning you.  So, I’ll stay.”  Turning to Nora, I added, “You don’t have to stay, though.  I won’t be upset if you want to leave.  I’ll understand.”

Nora looked from me to our host and then back again.  “I don’t know what to do.”

“Why not stay for a bit?” Lance asked.  “If it gets to be too overwhelming for you, you can leave with no questions asked and no hard feelings.”

I smiled my agreement.

Nora nodded with hesitancy.  “I guess I could do that.”