by Krista Walsh
Her career depended on this decision, so she would stay on the job and focus on the work. Whatever supernatural creature haunted the hotel was welcome to proceed with its affairs. She would not interfere. In another four days, she would be free to put the situation behind her. Happily.
A weight fell from her shoulders now that she’d made up her mind, and she went about unpacking the belongings she’d laid in her suitcase.
Her gaze landed on the alarm clock radio on the bedside table, and a low groan escaped her as she remembered the sentimental song giving way to harsh static on the radio in Monique’s room. Even if she commuted from home, she would still be in danger while she was here, not knowing what she was up against or how to defend herself if it came after her.
She stood between the suitcase and the wardrobe, once more torn between putting her clothing in the bag versus taking it out.
“Perhaps it would not hurt to ask a few questions,” she said aloud, even as another part of her recoiled at the distasteful idea.
Asking questions would mean stepping into the problem, which was exactly what she’d agreed with herself she wouldn’t do.
But if she didn’t ask questions, her chances of walking into the problem unknowingly would be higher. Knowledge would give her the power to avoid the issue.
At the thought of gaining a new advantage over her invisible enemy, her instincts uncoiled and ran down her spine, straightening her stance and lifting her chin.
As always, she would do whatever she needed to do to survive.
4
On her way to the spa, where the morning’s photo shoot would take place, Allegra spotted Tim at the bottom of the stairs. He appeared more relaxed than he’d been the day before, and she saw the possibility of answers in his blue eyes. After all, no one would know more about the hotel than the man who owned it.
She adjusted the fleecy hotel robe Courtney had assigned them to wear for the shoot, exposing the length of her neck and a hint of her smooth caramel-toned shoulder, and approached him.
“Good morning,” she said.
He jumped at the sound of her voice and turned to face her. His fingers rose to his neck and ran under his collar before he dropped his hand to his side. She repressed a smirk. Had she made him nervous?
“Good morning, Ms. Rossi,” he said, and Allegra acknowledged his ability to remember his guests’ names. A sign of a man who put his business first. “How did you find your first night? Did you end up having everything you required?”
“And then some,” Allegra replied. “I particularly applaud your tea selection.”
“Only the best for our Garden Hotel guests.”
She lowered her gaze in a show of sadness and ran her fingers over the front of her robe, drawing his attention downward. “Although I must admit not even the most expensive tea could have put me to sleep last night. Such a tragedy, what happened with Monique.”
Tim brushed his fingers over his mouth, and the lines around his eyes tightened. To most people, the demonstration might have been a sign of his sorrow, but Allegra caught the flash of fear in his eyes, which aroused her interest. Did Tim Banks have secrets he was worried a police investigation would uncover?
“A great tragedy, yes,” he said. “I understand you were the one to discover the poor woman?”
Allegra nodded and dropped her gaze to the floor, furrowing her brow. She hugged the robe tighter around her, ensuring the front gaped open momentarily to reveal a glimpse of her black lingerie underneath. “I was. It was a horrible experience. I’m not certain if I will ever forget it.” She allowed her words to go husky with assumed emotion, then blinked to clear away the nonexistent tears and pressed the crook of her finger against her upper lip. “I apologize.”
“Not at all,” Tim said, handing her a crisp white handkerchief. “Your reaction is understandable. I’ll ensure that a bottle of our best house wine is sent up to your room this evening as a courtesy. The comfort of our guests is our highest priority.”
Mentally, Allegra raised an eyebrow at his need to try to buy her good regard, but outwardly she pressed the edge of his handkerchief to her nose, folded it neatly, and handed it back. He tucked it into his jacket pocket and bowed his head. “Excuse me.”
He turned toward the reception desk, and Allegra’s heartbeat picked up as she saw her opportunity slipping away to get the answers she needed.
She reached out and rested her hand on Tim’s arm, just above his elbow. At the contact, the taste of his energy wafted into her nostrils and tickled her taste buds. She swallowed hard to control herself and sent the power of her allure through her fingers. Her spell worked better against bare skin, but the man’s suit left little flesh exposed.
Although the effect wasn’t as strong as it could have been, Tim jolted under her touch and turned back to her, surprise etched into his features.
“I hope you won’t find business too badly affected by what’s happened,” she said. She ran her gaze over his face, noting the tightness of his jaw and the twitching of his upper lip. His mind was fighting for him to walk away and leave her behind, but for now, she held sway. She met his eyes, and in the depth of his stare, she spotted a glimpse of confusion that faded into a dull glaze as he fell deeper under the power of her spell.
He ran his free hand over the banister and crooked his fingers around the carvings in the wood, but he didn’t pull away from her touch. If anything, he eased forward, an unconscious motion.
“To be honest, this is the worst thing that could have happened this week,” he said, in a gruff voice that carried more authenticity than any of his charm. “Your friend’s death has sparked a new round of ridiculous rumors that the hotel is haunted. I’ve spent years trying to quash the stories, but no matter how often I tell the staff not to talk about it in front of the guests, they take that to mean it’s the only conversation worth having. I’ve had to let go of two staff members just this morning for starting the story that some ghost killed that model.”
He clapped his lips shut, and his eyes widened. Allegra pressed her lips together in a practiced expression of sympathy, pretending his explanation had been nothing out of the ordinary rather than a slip of the tongue caused by her allure. “I am sorry to hear that. Although I am sure your guests are wise enough not to believe such drivel. That being said, I must confess a certain curiosity about a tale that has such an effect on your staff. Does this ghost story go far back into the hotel’s history?”
She had believed her hold on him to be tight, but at her question, Tim gave himself a shake and stepped away from her fingers, creating distance between them. The lines around his eyes hardened, and his charming smile fell back into place.
With a forced chuckle, he said, “I assure you, Ms. Rossi, there’s no story to tell. There is no haunting, and the idea that there is a story is more than enough to get most people going. I’d rather not spread the rumors further. I’m sure you understand. My staff would love to catch me in the act of sharing the gossip myself. If you require anything else, please speak with Stacy at reception.”
He turned on his heel and stalked off. Allegra watched him go, propping her hand on her hip. She tapped her foot against the step, then forced herself to fall still and hide her frustration.
The hotel owner had been her first line of attack, but she wouldn’t stop there. Before the day was out, she was determined to find some answers.
***
The morning’s photo session was strained and uncomfortable. The photographers were out of sorts, many of them still hungover from the previous night’s indulgence. The other models were clearly shaken, and the makeup artists had to work twice as hard to remove the exhausted bruises from under their eyes. The new model, who had been called in that morning to replace Monique, stood by herself, excluded from the circle of grief and shock.
Allegra kept to herself and focused on the work, ignoring the random emotional breakdowns and murmured words of reassurance and condolence passing among her
peers.
She didn’t believe half of their emotions were genuine. Monique hadn’t been the worst human being, but she also hadn’t been the sort to encourage any deep loyalty in her colleagues. She’d been scheming and manipulative, with a tendency to trip her competition on the catwalk just to make herself look more graceful. She’d made enemies in the business, and Allegra doubted if any of the models on the shoot that day had ever been part of her inner circle. Even Allegra wouldn’t go so far as to classify herself as such. Their relationship had been purely physical, even if Monique had opened the gate for something more meaningful.
Midway through the morning session, Courtney called a halt and sent the models, hairstylists, and makeup artists off for touch-ups while the crew readjusted the equipment.
Allegra scowled at Katie, who stood on the edge of the crew, tears trickling down her cheeks. The last thing she wanted to deal with was more fake emotion. She knew Monique had made Katie’s life miserable.
“What is it you’re grieving, exactly?” she asked as she sat down in the chair in front of the artist. “Is it that you’ve lost the woman who made you feel as small as a slug whenever you had to work with her?”
Katie wiped her tears away, smudging her eyeliner in the corners. “I can still be upset that she’s dead, Allegra. Whatever you think about me and my skills, I’m not the type to crow over something like that.”
Allegra smirked. “I wonder if that is true. If I did not wake up tomorrow morning, would you not feel a twinge of satisfaction?”
The furrow that appeared between Katie’s perfectly shaped brows gave Allegra all the answer she needed.
“Perhaps before you take it into your head to get rid of me yourself, you would be so kind as to fix my lipstick? And please do a better job than you did this morning. I am supposed to be a woman of status, not a clown.”
Katie clenched her teeth and set to work.
She will never learn if she is not taught, Allegra thought as Katie’s brushes lit upon her lips. Her aunt had struck home the same lesson in her so many years ago. Allegra had hated her at the time, but now she looked back with gratitude that Louisa had been so strict and demanding.
True, she had still disappointed her aunt in the end. The fact that she’d never embraced her demon self and had instead insisted on referring to it as a separate entity had driven Louisa to distraction. More than once, she had been pushed to voice her regret that she hadn’t taken one of Allegra’s sisters to train, but Allegra never allowed that memory to discourage her. She’d managed to find a compromise with herself that she could live with, and it didn’t matter what anyone else in her family thought.
She was strong enough to take them on. More than once she’d proved that their opinion of her inferiority was unmerited, and she would continue to do so until they admitted her method was sounder than theirs. In this changing world of social media and viral videos, it didn’t do to gain attention. Addressing one’s demons might be a catchy premise for a reality television show, but she doubted anyone in the mundane world was ready to admit those demons were sometimes literal.
Her thoughts drifted to Tim’s reaction to her questions that morning, and to what his own demons might be. His anger at the existence of the ghost story had come off as genuine, but she’d also noted the stress in his face and the fear in his eyes. How much did he know about what was happening?
If the man knew some creature was lurking around his place of business, the responsibility clearly fell to him to ensure his guests’ safety. If so, he was doing a poor job of it. He seemed to be more worried about lost profit than the welfare of the people giving him money. Of course, maybe he really did believe such stories were only fiction and the deaths were only unfortunate accidents. Humans had a tendency to overlook the obvious when the truth didn’t make sense in their small-minded brains. It was possible the hotel owner was living in a world of blind denial.
Allegra also considered the possibility that the magic in her veins made it easier for her to detect the energy oozing down the walls. That her demon blood had drawn this creature to her, and that it wasn’t able to mask itself around her as well as it could with the human guests.
Whatever the truth was, Tim had made it clear she wouldn’t get any answers from him, so she would have to find someone who was willing to go against his boss’s wishes and tell her the entire story, even if that person didn’t believe it.
She thought of the concierge who had first made the joke about the hotel being haunted. What was his name? Cary? Cory?
“There,” Katie said, pulling her out of her thoughts. “You’re not a clown. Happy?”
She held up the mirror and Allegra peered into it. She leaned in and flicked her finger along the outer edge of her lip.
“It will suffice.”
***
Allegra remained so focused on her goal for the afternoon that the rest of the morning sped by, and when they finally broke for lunch, she pushed ahead of the crowd to avoid being trapped in any sort of social interaction with Courtney.
First rushing upstairs to change out of the hotel robe into her afternoon attire — a red satin cocktail dress — she then headed back downstairs, paused at the bottom, and watched the faces of the staff going about their duties. Three young men in the dark green concierge uniform, their silly round caps perched on their heads, passed by, but none of them was the one she sought.
It occurred to her that her concierge might have been one of the staff to lose his job for a sideways comment about the hotel ghosts. After all, he’d been quick enough to speak of the issue with her when she’d arrived.
But then she spotted him on the other side of the lobby. He was leaning against the reception desk, whispering something in the desk clerk’s ear that made her smile and glance down at her shoes.
Allegra’s lips twitched upward at the sight. At least the young man kept his priorities in a suitable order.
She caught his gaze and allowed her smile to melt into a warm invitation. He stood at attention and crossed the lobby, stopping within a foot of her.
Allegra glanced at the gold name tag pinned to his chest. Cody.
“Can I help you?” he asked. The slow way he presented the question left no doubt in what way he hoped to help her.
Allegra’s smile widened at his confidence, and she brushed her finger up the young man’s chest toward his chin. “Trust me, darling, if we were to go down that road, I would be the one helping you.” She knocked the crook of her finger against his jaw and chuckled as his pupils dilated with lust. His cheeks flushed and his Adam’s apple bobbed with a hard swallow. Allegra warmed at the reaction, but forced herself to remain focused. “At the moment, I am not looking for that sort of help. You awakened a different desire within me yesterday that I hoped you might satisfy. My curiosity.”
The disappointment on Cody’s face was comical enough to make her laugh, and she looped her arm through his.
“Walk with me.”
He leaned close to her ear. “I know an out-of-the-way place we can go.”
Allegra chuckled again. “That sounds perfect, but not for the reason you intend. I would hate to put your job at risk by asking questions that would get you into trouble with management.”
Cody eased out of her grip and a smile hinted on his smooth lips. “Really?” Some of the desire had seeped out of his voice, replaced by disbelief. “You want to know about the hotel haunting? You don’t strike me as the type to believe in fairy tales.”
She winked. “There is usually so much more to a woman than meets the eye.”
His brown eyes scanned her over, and again his pupils dilated, his thoughts returning to whatever out-of-the-way place he had in mind. Allegra inched away from him, preferring he pay attention to her questions instead of being overwhelmed by the seductive vibes she inadvertently gave off. She worked to rein her power in, but could only lower her allure so far. Such was the downside of her succubus blood.
A shame that it work
ed so well on this man who was willing to give her answers, but had failed to have enough of an effect on the man who knew what she really wanted to find out.
Cody looked around to see if anyone had noticed their conversation, then took her elbow and guided her around the corner, into the hallway that led to the gym. Allegra found it amusing that he knew this place would keep them isolated while they spoke.
“Personally,” he said, and then paused to clear his throat. When he spoke again, the huskiness was gone. “I don’t believe a word of it. I think management started the story years ago as a way to bring in more guests — back when ghost stories were a popular draw. The stories stuck, but the interest faded over time. Now Banks is doing everything he can to make the rumors disappear. He sees it as an immature gimmick. He thinks people come to this place wanting glamor and expensive meals, and talk of ghosts lowers the value.”
“Yet the rumors persist?” Allegra asked.
Cody shrugged, his gaze never leaving her lips. “Of course they do. When weird things keep happening, it’s easier to blame it on something external instead of on a health and safety oversight by one of the staff.”
Allegra crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. “And what are the rumors exactly?”
“It changes depending on who’s doing the telling. All I know is that the death toll in this hotel is pretty high. Not slasher movie high or anything, but high enough that if you work here for a stretch of time, you notice the trend. Mostly heart attacks, one person fell down the stairs, that kind of thing. Every time someone dies, most of the staff are quick to blame the ghost, although I don’t think anyone really believes in it. Mr. Ghost has been a resident of the Garden for over a decade or something. Sometimes he’s a monster, sometimes some kind of shimmering spirit thing. Sometimes he’s made of all teeth. Depends how drunk the person is when he’s describing it.”