[Anthology] The Paranormal 13- now With a Bonus 14th Novel!

by Dima Zales

  George's lips twitched and pursed and twitched some more before he finally gave in with a deep sigh. "Very well. If you must." He looked up and down the street, which was wider and filled with fewer shadowy corners and characters than the streets we'd just left behind, although it wasn't any cleaner. London's soot covered these sturdier buildings just as thickly as it did elsewhere. George's gaze finally settled back on mine. "Be careful. And hurry home before it rains. All right, Beaufort?"

  Jacob grunted. "This farewell has gone on long enough." He strode off, no doubt expecting me to follow.

  "We'll be in touch soon," I assured George. Jacob stopped and waited for me, arms crossed in a picture of impatience. "In the mean time, perhaps if you could speak to Leviticus Price."

  He nodded and doffed his hat. "Of course, Emily. Good day, Beaufort." He watched me go and I was relieved to turn the corner with Jacob and be out of George's sight. I wasn't sure why but having him watch me like that, with such interest, made me feel awkward. On the other hand, having Jacob watch me like that made me feel special but only in a good way.

  Unfortunately he wasn't looking at me at all. He was staring straight ahead. Several people walked through him but he didn't seem to care.

  "What did you want to ask me?" I whispered trying not to move my mouth and draw attention to myself. It wasn't easy.

  "Nothing," he said. "I just wanted to get rid of Culvert. I don't like him."

  "Why not?"

  His entire answer consisted of a shrug. "What private matters did you want to talk to me about?"

  We had to cross the road and I waited for a break in the traffic. Jacob wandered out into the middle of the busy street and a carriage pulled by two horses rolled right through him. No, not through him. He could touch them because they were objects, just like he could touch the picture frame or the mantelpiece. He must be vanishing just as they reach him then reappearing after they'd passed.

  It took me longer to safely navigate the traffic and horse dung but I managed it without incident and joined him on the other side in front of a row of shops.

  "Well?" he prompted.

  "Last night you did something for me," I said. "So now I want to do something for you in return."

  He frowned. "Last night? You mean meeting your aunt's ghost? I don't think you should thank me for that. She was a witch. I'm sorry I mentioned her at all."

  "No, not for that." I spoke quietly but not just because I didn't want to be overheard. The tears in my throat kept me from speaking any louder. "I wanted to thank you for … for telling her you think I'm pretty. It was very … noble of you."

  Before my heart could hammer another beat, he'd pulled me into a dead-end alley. It was empty except for a few crates pushed up against the brick wall of the neighboring chop house and some rotting vegetables piled in a corner. "It had nothing to do with nobility, Emily," he whispered. He bent his head so that we were nose to nose, barely a breath separating us. His eyes burned into mine, their smoldering heat seeping through me, warming me from the inside out.

  "Then what was it if not to show me you're still a gentleman?" I had the heavy feeling that his answer would bring us closer to something important, something so big that I knew we could never go back. Never undo it.

  Nor would it be something I wanted to undo.

  9

  Jacob didn't say anything. He simply touched my cheek with his fingertips. It was the lightest, gentlest of touches as if he was afraid anything more would shatter me.

  I was afraid of that too—of the emotions swelling inside me, filling me to overflowing, my body almost unable to contain them.

  "My conduct around you has nothing to with nobility, Emily. Nothing to do with once having been a gentleman." Then, as if he liked saying my name, he repeated it in a murmur. "Emily." His lips came closer, closer, his eyes never leaving mine.

  My nerve endings sizzled at the intensity in his gaze, the feel of his cool fingers on my skin and the sheer masculine presence of him towering over me. "Then what is it about?" I managed to whisper past the lump lodged in my throat.

  His thumb traced the line of my jaw, across my chin and down my neck. I thought perhaps he hadn't heard me over the pounding of my heart but then he said, "I don't know." He watched, absorbed, as a trail of goosebumps formed in the wake of his fingers. "I've never felt so drawn to someone before. Not like this. But I can assure you there's nothing honorable about what I feel."

  "Then what … ?"

  "It's primal. Basic." His mouth curved into a crooked, devilish smile that had me gasping for air. "Savage."

  As if the word had flipped a switch inside him, he reeled back and dropped his hands to his sides. His eyes shuttered closed and he breathed deep and hard as if trying to regain his composure.

  Savage. The word hung above us like a guillotine, ready to fall at any moment.

  "I'm sorry." He opened his eyes and stared at the hand that had touched me, a look of utter horror distorting his handsome features. "I don't know what's happening to me," he whispered.

  I didn't know what to say to that so I clasped both bunches of violets in one hand and gently took his hand with my other. I placed the palm against my lips and kissed it.

  Slowly, like unpeeling layers, his face relaxed and returned to the perfect proportions I admired. "Talk to me," I said. "Tell me what's wrong."

  He shook his head.

  "Jacob, if you are to be my spirit guide for the next little while then I need to know what's troubling you. I might be able to help."

  "You can't help." He pulled his hand away. "You're the problem."

  My heart missed a beat. He hadn't said I was part of the problem but I was the problem. "Do I … scare you in some way?" I tried to wade through all the possibilities of what he might mean but I could only come up with one. "My unnatural ability to see ghosts can be disconcerting—."

  "No. It's not that." He laughed ruefully. "You don't scare me in the least. It's—." He shook his head and started again. "It feels like I'm losing my humanity. Every day I'm with you, every hour, every minute, gets harder and harder to—." He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes.

  I waited but he didn't continue. I didn't know whether I should prompt him or if that would only anger him, or upset him. I reached out and caressed his cheek instead. The hard, chiseled line of it gave his face a regal quality, commanding and majestic. Fascinating. The skin was soft, cool, and I sighed, enthralled.

  With a matching sigh he opened his eyes. And stepped away. "You shouldn't do that," he said but there was no anger in his voice, or alarm. "We must go."

  "But I haven't told you what I wanted to say," I said. He waited, feet apart as if steadying himself on a rocking ship. "I wanted to do something for you in exchange for the service you rendered me."

  "I told you, getting your aunt to come was a mistake. You owe me nothing."

  The best response to that was to ignore it and move on. "I want to speak to your parents."

  "No."

  "I want to reassure them—."

  "No, Emily." He paced from one side of the narrow alley to the other, hands on hips, head bowed. "I don't think it's a good idea."

  "Why?"

  "Because it's not."

  "Why not?"

  "Emily, just leave it be. I don't want to discuss this with you."

  He stalked off. I remained in the shadows and waited for him to realize I wasn't following. When he did, he came back, his temper seething if the tightness of his face was anything to go by.

  "Don't make me hoist you over my shoulder," he said. He wasn't laughing. Not even close.

  "I'm going to see your parents this afternoon," I said. "Unless you can give me a good reason not to."

  He scrubbed a hand through his hair and down the back of his neck, kneading it as if it ached. "Very well. You've forced my hand. My concern is that they won't believe you." He said it defiantly and I waited for the "so there" but it never came.

  "Few people
ever believe me at first," I said.

  He shook his head and I waited for further explanation. I had the feeling there was more to it than he was letting on. "My father dabbles in the sciences—biology and psychology mostly. It's a hobby of his. He belongs to various scientific societies and regularly writes papers debunking the supernatural. He thinks all mediums are frauds, and that's putting it kindly."

  "Most are."

  "It won't matter how much evidence you present him with, he'll find a way to discredit you."

  I shrugged. "I'm used to skeptics. Is that your only concern?"

  He shook his head again and sighed. "You won't find an ally in my mother either. I'm afraid she won't want to believe you."

  It took me a few moments to understand what he was saying. "You mean she still hopes you'll be found somewhere, alive?"

  He nodded. "I visited them shortly after my death. The Administrators warned me against it and I should have listened to them. They said it can be traumatic for a spirit to know how their loved ones reacted to their death. They were right." He leaned against the brick wall of the chop house and tipped his head back. "It was awful. Mother was adamant that I must be somewhere, lost or kidnapped with no way of getting home. Father either believed it too or simply went along with her because it was easier. They've spent a fortune since my death on investigators who claim they can find anything and anyone. None have even turned up my body let alone any answers to explain my fate."

  His shoulders stooped and he sagged against the wall. He was clearly distressed about his parents, despite the matter-of-fact way he spoke.

  It made me more determined to see them than ever. "That was some time ago," I said. "Perhaps they've changed since then. Perhaps your mother is ready to move on, if only she knew the truth."

  "I doubt it." He pushed off from the wall and leveled his gaze with mine. "So you see that she'll be as skeptical as my father. She'll simply refuse to believe you."

  "I can still try. You could feed me some information that only you and they could possibly know."

  "They'll think I told someone at school or—"

  "Jacob!" I balled my fist. I wanted to punch him in the shoulder to knock some sense into him. "I'm going to try regardless of what you say."

  His jaw clenched, causing the muscle high in his cheek to throb. "Emily, listen to me." He caught my shoulders and lowered his head to look directly at me. If he was trying to mesmerize me, it was working—I couldn't look away, couldn't move. I wanted to fall into the deep blue depths of his eyes and wallow in there forever. "They'll be resentful of you trying to convince them I'm dead, and … and I don't want to subject you to that. Do you understand?"

  "I understand." It came out breathy. Could it really be that he was worried about me? "I'm going anyway."

  "Emily!" He let go, pushing me a little as he did so that I rocked back. He strode towards the street but stopped before he exited the alley. "You're so stubborn," he said.

  "If your only concern is that I won't be believed then it's not enough to stop me going." I joined him and we walked along the street together, neither speaking. We were almost at Druids Way when the rain came.

  Jacob took my free hand—the other still held the bunches of violets—and drew me into the sheltered doorway of a coffee shop. Everyone on the street either scattered to seek cover or continued on their way, heads down, umbrellas up. It provided a certain amount of anonymity for us. Except for the handful of patrons visible through the coffee shop's bay window, we were alone—and they couldn't hear me.

  "Wait inside," he said. "I'll find you an umbrella."

  "And do what?" I tried not to laugh to draw attention to myself. "Bring it back here? A floating umbrella might cause considerable panic."

  He sighed and peered up at they endless gray sky. "It won't ease for some time, I think. How about I return to your house and write a note for your sister asking her to bring you an umbrella at this location." He peered inside the shop window. "There's a spare table near the fire for you to wait."

  I smiled at him. "You're very kind." It felt nice to be fussed over by such a handsome, masculine gentleman. I wondered if he'd fussed over any girls like this when he was alive or if it was a trait he'd picked up after his death. For me.

  He frowned. "I'm only thinking of your comfort."

  The pressing, desperate desire to kiss him again swelled within me. "Come on, let's run home." With the hand that held the flowers, I clamped onto my hat to hold it in place, picked up my skirts with the other hand and ran into the rain.

  Jacob joined me. I'd not thought that he could get wet, but he was as soaked as me within seconds. It made sense, I suppose. If he could move objects and touch things, why wouldn't he be able to touch the raindrops too?

  His pace slowed and instead of running he began to skip and turn around, his arms outstretched. He tilted his face to the sky and closed his eyes and opened his mouth. I watched him, fascinated by his response to the rain pouring over him, not caring that I too was getting drenched.

  Then he laughed. He opened his eyes again and caught me round the waist, spinning me around in his arms, catching me easily as I lost my balance. And all the while he laughed and laughed. It was magical and I laughed along with him, not caring that a passerby eyed me warily from beneath his umbrella.

  "You're soaked," Jacob said, touching the curls at my temple.

  "So are you." My gaze strayed to his chest. The wet shirt, almost transparent thanks to the rain, clung to the contours of his lean muscles. My mouth dried, my tongue felt thick and useless. I ached to touch his broad shoulders and the ripple of muscles across his stomach and chest. My fingers twitched at my side. I licked my lips …

  "Even your eyelashes are wet," he said in a faraway voice.

  I looked up. He was staring at me with that curious intensity that made my insides do odd flips. I smiled at him tentatively.

  He smiled back then laughed again, his attention no longer on my face but in the direction we were heading. "I'm sorry," he said. "But we're thoroughly wet now. Do you still want to run?"

  "Walking is fine," I said.

  He was still smiling when we reached Druids Way. Occasionally he glanced up at the sky but never at me again.

  "You like the rain?" I asked.

  His smile widened. "I'd forgotten what it was like. It's good to feel it on my skin after all this time."

  "Is it cold?"

  "No. I don't feel heat or cold. But it does feel wet. And fantastic!" he shouted. He spun around again, finishing the twirl with a flourish by kicking a puddle.

  I giggled all the way to my house. We climbed the steps to the front door and huddled beneath the porch. Not that staying dry mattered anymore. I opened my reticule but didn't search for my key. Jacob would leave as soon as I was inside and I wanted this moment to last just a little longer.

  "Will your sister be mad at you for being out in this weather?" he asked.

  "Probably. But she's my sister, not my mother and she can scold me all she likes, I don't care."

  He smiled but it was wistful, perhaps even sad. "She cares about your health, Emily. As I should have done. Go inside and warm yourself by the fire before you catch your—." His lips clamped together as if he were stopping the next word from falling out: death.

  I blinked up at him. "Jacob? Are you all right?"

  He shook his head. "Your eyelashes," he murmured.

  "What about them?"

  "They look even longer when they're wet." He backed up to the steps. "Go inside, Emily." He turned to leave.

  "Jacob. Wait. I still plan on visiting your parents this afternoon. Come back at two and we can go together. Or I can meet you there if you prefer." I preferred to walk with him. I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could, even if we spent it in awkward silence—a distinct possibility considering he was not meeting my gaze again.

  "Don't you have a séance to conduct?"

  "Not today."

  He stood with
one foot on the highest step, the other one step down, dripping wet. He was utterly, thoroughly, breathtakingly handsome.

  "I won't come with you," he said. "If that's all right."

  "Of course." My heart sank at the notion of going to visit his parents without him but I wouldn't beg him to join me. It would be a very difficult situation for him and it was unfair of me to press him.

  "I'll come back at two and tell you some things that will help make them believe you, but … " He shook his head and droplets sprayed off his black hair.

  "It won't be enough?" I ventured.

  "Probably not."

  He disappeared and I stood there a moment, hoping he would reappear but not really expecting him to. Then with a sigh, I retrieved my key from my reticule and opened the door.

  Jacob had been right. Celia was mad at me. Not even the violets softened her. After she scolded me for being "wet through to the bone" she made me change into dry clothes then sat me down in front of the fireplace while she heaped more coal onto it. Lucy brought in a bowl of steaming soup and I sipped while my bones thawed and my hair dried.

  To distract Celia, I asked her about her visit to the Wiggams' house. "Is Mr. Wiggam still there or has he left his wife in peace?"

  "He's still there," she said, dusting off her hands. "And still haunting her."

  "In what way?"

  "He throws objects around the room sometimes, particularly when she has guests, and hides things so she can't find them. Important things like money or her corsets."

  "Corsets! That is cruel." But rather ingenious. I couldn't imagine a large woman like Mrs. Wiggam wanting to go out without wearing a corset.

  "And he likes to keep her awake at night by knocking on the wall or thumping the floor."

  "Oh dear. I probably should try and talk to him again."

  "I think that would be a good idea, Em." She lifted a strand of my hair and sighed. I couldn't blame her for her disappointment. It would take some time to remove all the tangles and fix it into a half-decent style. "What were you thinking walking around in the rain like that?"

  "I had to get home somehow."