by Ginny Lynn
Running outside, he held my good hand while we trekked into the storm to see if she had anything hidden in the greenhouse. It was deathly quiet as we entered the room and he started up the flame on the propane lantern stationed in the humid room. The natural glow did nothing to assuage my fears as I looked for signs of the ghost around us. He was investigating every nook and cranny so I closed my eyes and went back over the images she had shared with me previously. I saw the platter being hidden, where the book had been kept, and the old shelf she had used now housed garden tools.
“Here.” I pointed it out. “This is where she had her plants and that shelf is where she hid her things.”
Sweeping the items aside, he looked for signs of anything she could have left. Her original diary wasn’t there and only the more recent items had been left behind after so many years of use.
“Had it been cleaned out?”
“If she has the power to become material then she has to have something around here to build from. Let’s go to the graveyard and see if she has something hidden there.”
Nodding, I saw him grab up a small citronella candle from the shelf and the old lighter stationed behind it. I let him lead the way into the darkness to the small outcropping of stones that lined the sacred area.
“Be careful,” he said as we picked our way around the stones to get to where the marble had Aster’s named scratched off of it.
He used the extended covering of one of the cracked stones as a dry place for the candle and lit it in between curses at the rain pattering around us. Saying a word of thanks to whoever left a lighter instead of a box of wooden matches, I felt a bit better when the flame stayed in motion as he looked around the witch’s marker. He reached just under the weeping willow tree when I heard a snap. Screaming above the unnatural wind, I saw a flash just as a broken branch smashed into Kenrick’s bent over form, knocking him into the soggy ground.
Using what little there remained of my night vision, I saw blood streaming down a gash on the side of his handsome face. How many more blows to the head could this man sustain? He was breathing but no muscles flinched under my touch at his injury. Knowing Aster had been the cause for the tree to lay him out, she had to be hidden around here.
“What are you waiting for, Aster?” I bellowed into the wind that wrapped around us like a current of icy fingers. She was gathering enough energy to reform in front of us.
The wind became her laughter as she made herself more substantial. “Are you in a hurry to leave this world, Renata?”
I stood in the rain, covered in dirt and grass, bleeding, aching, and at the end of my rope as I held onto any semblance of hope for getting us out of this as ourselves. No matter what she had done to Kenrick, or what she had in store for him, the waiting was unbearable.
“I’m sick of the games, so do what you have to do and get it over with.” I pulled Kenrick onto my lap.
“My poor man has gone and gotten himself injured again. Now he won’t be able to see the light change in your eyes as I take over your life force. Maybe he likes you too much to see that happen anyway.”
“He doesn’t love me, so you’re wasting your breath,” I replied to the shadow thickening in front of me.
“I believe you are wrong on this account. In all the years where I have watched, he has never come to you like he did to the other women. He visited you several times and would tease you about your lack of understanding of what he was doing to you. You had to have realized that your visions were increasing as he fed from your slumbering form. He had your body and your release as he made you believe you were safe in your chaste bed. What lies.”
“I have seen no proof your words are any more true than his were. You state you have gone about changing people’s lives to your own satisfaction, so how are you any different than what you claim he is?”
“Can you argue with me over you being visited by him on more than one occasion while you lay down to slumber?”
There was no way to keep from heating at the thoughts of what he had done to me in those dreams.
“I can feel your arousal,” she stated and then laughed. “Do not be embarrassed as I too wish to feel his touch on my skin.”
“But you have to get that skin first.”
“Exactly,” she said with more happiness than I wished her to have after my factual words.
“Am I going to be myself anymore or will you take over everything, killing me?”
“You will remain as a piece of your soul will stay attached to this body, but you will have no control in things I decide to do. You will simply be part of my consciousness and nothing more. Eventually, that part of you may die off as your will gives way under my strength but it won’t be for many years.”
“So, I’ll be less than you are right now?”
“Yes, but at least you’ll still have the items you have come to love. The estate will be cared for, the money will be there to take care of our needs, and you’ll be in the arms of the man you have fallen in love with. What more could you ask for in this situation?”
“You seem very sure of our feelings for each other. We aren’t victims of your potions, so you shouldn’t be this secure in your plan.”
“But, you will be, or at least, Kenrick will be. We already have our feelings so all I need is for him to love me as I continue on in your body.”
Before I could scream at her for the idiotic game she was playing, she threw a blast of glowing orange power directly at my chest. I barely had time to breath before pain so intense took me to a place in my mind where only the cries of hell echoed. The feeling turned into a ripping sensation as if I was being yanked from my seam in the blanket of life. Crying out in my mind, the sound never made it out of my silent lips. Did the jerking move me over so she’d have more room inside of my body or could she be tearing my soul out of its place in the universe? This agony was worse than all of the visions combined into one ball of lava that encased me in a heat so hot it felt as if I was sizzling in the blast of one hundred suns.
No longer feeling the sway of the wind around me, the stab of pain at my cut feet, or the pressure of the man in my lap, there was only white noise as I was surrounded by gray thick enough to lie in. No sunny mental room for me in this cursed prison. This woman had no sunshine to share. She slipped into me like a brand new wool coat, warm and ready to be broken in. It felt awful. Trying to cry out was useless as no sound emanated from my lungs. I was no longer myself. She had taken everything away from me in a single blast of ever after. My drab gray walls shifted as she settled herself into my body. Then all I heard was her laughter.
“My dear, I feel your distress. I will be kind and let you see the world through my new eyes so you know what is taking place. Just open your metaphysical shield at any time and you will be a part of my actions. I cannot allow anything else for you as I can’t give you room to be naughty.”
Flickering the part of me that recognized her power, I opened up. It was like looking directly at searing coals with the first glance. Blinking, I concentrated on what was before her. She was playing with Kenrick’s hair as it moved in the wind which clung to them. He looked so peaceful, for a man she had knocked out. It was as if he was sleeping. Sighing in her head, she let go of him and waved symbols in front of herself in the air. I could just see the burning edge of runes in the atmosphere as she cast a new spell. Everything around us blurred. I kept blinking but it was all distorted, like oil smeared glasses.
When I could focus again, we were on my bedroom floor, back in the house. The bitch could teleport us as if she were still a shimmering ghost and not a spiritual possessor of a human body. Things were still in the disarray from earlier and worse than what I had recalled from my peek out of the covers. Letting Kenrick’s head slip to the rug under us, she left him there as she went about righting the room. Time had a different meaning in my dislocated soul. It could blur with speed or creep like a snail, depending on how hard I concentrated on following the actions of my betra
ying body.
Her strength was also more than I had anticipated. Why couldn’t she have had a normal person’s characteristics? This defied too many natural laws. Would it stay this way or would it wane with her actions, like her spirit form did? She was even able to circulate a small enough amount of wind in the room to sweep the glass aside as she noticed her borrowed feet were bleeding again. Taking a tissue from the table beside the bed, she leaned down and wiped away the blood congealed to the side of his beautiful face. She wasn’t able to remove it all so she had to get a wet cloth from the bathroom to remove the evidence of the attack.
Once she became satisfied with the results, she struggled when she realized her new body was a bit weaker than her power form. Annoyed, she struggled over how to get an unwilling man back onto the bed a few feet above the ground where he lay. After several attempts, she shoved the mattress back to the floor and dragged him up onto it by inching him as she pulled under his shoulders. I felt better when she let him slump against her in her last pull of new muscles on his sleeping form. It gave me hope that she had not taken this into consideration when choosing her host. My visions would not keep her safe in this shell and I wondered how she would react to one once she wore herself out to the point of mental exhaustion, if she was able to retain that part of me when she was forced to keep my soul in residence. Having bones and muscles to now deal with, she seemed more awkward in her movements when her magic wasn’t supporting her totally, especially for someone who had been able to hover with only the strength of her vengeful spirit.
Her weariness caused her new eyes to flutter as she fought the fatigue of a mortal body. Only being able to see life as it happened before her eyes, I was even more limited as to what I could do when she took that away from me. Would I sleep while she slept or would I just be held in a purgatory of the witch’s making? I would soon find out. She curled up against his lean form, pulling comfort and satisfaction from him simply being there after all these years. Lashes fluttered as the view of him beside the witch possessed form of my body was taken away and the gray slithered back in abundance.
****
“Renata, do you hear me?” Came a whispered voice in the fog of my prison.
Feeling as if I was back in a dream, I went to roll back over and ignore the person who dared to wake me when I felt so freaking tired. When I didn’t feel the sheets against my cool body, I looked around to see nothing but the drab of gray that seemed to choke at me. It all hit me in that moment and I could feel my panic growing as the fog seemed to get closer to me. But it couldn’t. I had to remind myself that I wasn’t being crowded because I had no real body to push upon. I did but she had taken it away from me like a body snatcher from a creepy old movie.
Then the voice interrupted my chaotic thoughts again.
“Renata, are you still in there? Please be in there somewhere?”
Mentally, I answered, “I’m here.”
“Damn, I was afraid she had completely killed you off.”
“I’m not much better,” I informed him.
“Your spirit still holds a spark and that’s good enough for now.”
“How are you hearing me or even able to get past her to talk to me when she’s taken my free will away from me?”
“She didn’t take something into consideration,” he hinted.
“What would that be?”
“She’s asleep and I’m still cursed.”
“Look, I’m tired of playing words games with people. Just spit it out,” I retorted.
“If the only power I have is when your body is asleep, then we still have a chance to get you back to where you should be and her in literal hell.”
“Kenrick, how are you going to dream up an escape route? She cast a spell to take over my body and I’m stuck in this corner until she chooses to release me. Us having sex is not going to get me any closer to the escape hatch.”
“Think about it. She stopped us the last time but she knows you’re skimming around in her subconscious. She knows I have the power to enter a woman’s mind once she’s asleep, so why can’t I try to play a little game and see what comes about? What will it hurt? I’m laid out and couldn’t reach you until she was into a deeper realm of relaxation and now is my chance. I’m not sure how long I’ll be out, so we may not have this chance tomorrow night. If it works, but we have to regroup, then we’ll try again in a couple of days when her guard is back down. Now that she’s taken human form, she can’t avoid sleep as your body won’t last very long under extreme fatigue.”
“What I’d like to know is if she still has my ability to have random visions? If we can get her stressed out enough, then she may have one that throws her for a loop. It took me ages to be able to gain control of this power and she has no idea what it entails. At least, that’s how she talks about it,” I voiced my concern.
“I say we try and see what effects it has on the big bad witch.”
“Fine, but how can you dream about me when I don’t have a body for you to take advantage of anymore?” I was trying not to sound offended at the fact he was admitting to what he had been doing but in a way where we could discuss it rationally. “By the way, if we get out of this, you and I are going to have a long talk about what you did to me.”
“Do you hate me for what I am?” he asked with a slice of pain in the words.
I waited a moment longer than I should have to answer, but I had to be honest. “No, but it doesn’t mean I’m okay with it either.”
“Renata, this is the wrong way to tell you but I want you back in your body, as you should be, so I can properly court you.”
That took me by surprise.
“Renata, are you still there, honey?”
“I’m here.”
“Please, say something,” he said so softly I barely registered what he’d requested.
“Get us out of this nightmare and I’ll give you a few days to explain everything to me, in detail. Agreed?”
“Agreed! And I’m not the monster under your bed. I’m the lover coming to give you a wet dream.”
Chapter Fifteen
I focused my thinking on him but when nothing happened, I centered on myself instead. I had to have a body for him to come to me, so that made more sense. Feeling a warm spot where I would imagine my middle to be, I pushed it outward. The elastic feeling was uncomfortable but bearable as I saw my legs begin to form under me. Wiggling a solid looking toe, I heard a laugh too masculine to be mine.
“I knew you could figure it out,” Kenrick’s voice said to me.
“Some things, like information, are better when shared,” I stated truthfully.
“Sex is one of those things,” he retorted with humor riding his words.
Shaking my head, that wasn’t present yet, I was not going to waste energy arguing with him. Taking the feeling centered at my spine, I mentally pushed it so the tingle of it rode over what I hoped would be my hair covered scalp. Messy tresses came into view and a thrill came over me as I had successfully made myself materialize. Aster wasn’t the only one powerful enough, or stubborn enough, to make magic happen. As if on cue, Kenrick began to walk to me from the gray distance and he was clothed exactly like when we’d started our date. This sleek casual look was sexy and I had no problem with him taking it back on in my mind. If this occurred in his mind and not my twisted one. As he got closer, I saw he was indeed barefoot, so I asked him who happened to be in charge here.
“Well, we’re doing this as your body sleeps, so I would say you have the control over this. Why do you ask?”
“I wondered if I was picking out our clothes,” I shyly answered.
“Who said you were wearing clothes, sweetheart?”
Looking down, I saw I had indeed come into full view and I stood stark naked under his heated gaze.
“Shit!”
“Don’t get upset. I’ve seen it all before, remember?”
My hands went to cover what they were able to and I fought the insecure feelings of b
oldly standing here with nothing to really cover myself.
“This is not how I wanted to show up,” I confirmed out loud.
“It’s fine, really. And it answers part of our questions as you didn’t even think of making clothes appear and you still don’t have any on. That must be my fault.”
“Do you mind handling that?” I asked with a bit of annoyance in my voice.
“Yes, I can certainly handle that.” And he was on me in a stolen heartbeat.
He began kissing me as if he’d been starving for years. Taking possession of my mouth, he tasted every centimeter of it before deepening the kiss to swooning level. It buried every kiss he’d given me so far and I was clutching at the front of his shirt as he made me shudder under the aggressive action of his wicked tongue. Was he drinking my sexual essence in through my open mouth?
As we were in a dream, and I was stuck in mental limbo, there was no furniture or walls to lean against. Just when my legs wobbled, he scooped me up before laying me on the cloudlike floor of my prison. His hands went everywhere as soon as I got out of his protective hold. He started touching every part of me and all at the same time. He found erogenous zones I hadn’t known existed. Even the inside of my elbow laid bare to our desires.
Sweeping his clothes back off, I was in awe of his lean farmer’s body and toned muscular build. He was gorgeous. Running my hands over him, I drew nonexistent patterns across the skin that I couldn’t tell was warm or cold. He was just there, above me, as his gaze burned down my flesh. One of his hands played at my sensitive nipples as the other slid down my legs and into the softer crevice of my thighs. As he nudged my legs apart, I gasped when he nipped my breast. His teeth and tongue played with one as his hand tugged almost painfully at the other. If that was too much, he leaned himself beside me where his other hand could slide over my lower half as his weight was taken off of it. No one had ever paid this much attention to my body, not even a physician.
His mouth captured the gasp emitted from my parted lips when his slender fingers played at my core. Digging my hands into his shoulders, I held on as he had me crying out for the release that would roll over me at any moment. After a few deft strokes inside of me, my back arched with the amount of pressure which caught me in a sexual whirlwind. With his hand still playing, his teeth bit into a nipple almost too painfully but it drove the orgasm to tighten around his fingers, capturing him. But still, he did not stop. Just when I thought I would lose the body I had made from my lack of focus, his lower half moved and he thrust into me. I was impaled by his manhood and gave myself over to his movements. My mind exploded as another orgasm claimed me. Then a scream erupted so loud that my concentration was completely blown away.