by Eve Paludan
I turned and sprinted in the opposite direction. The sounds of shrieks and howls chased me down the corridor and I felt them behind me as I ran, pulling at my clothes. I had never been so scared in my life!
Thankfully, I came to a doorway. I pulled it open, stepped outside, and slammed the heavy, wooden door behind me. I leaned against it, out of breath. Through the wood, I heard malevolent whispering that chilled me to the bone. It was accompanied by what sounded like nails being dragged down the wooden door.
Terrified, I screamed. My heart thundered in my chest and I ran out into the garden, wanting nothing more than to be away from ghosts with bad attitudes and—whatever those other things were.
I didn’t know what to do. I was lost. And to make matters worse, I was losing my boyfriend to Pauline in the process. It wasn’t fair. I needed help, but had nobody to turn to. Or did I?
Taking deep breaths, I dug around in Pauline’s purse until I found her cell phone. I turned it on and scrolled through her contacts list. The names meant nothing to me, so I switched over to the log of her recent calls. Praying that this was somebody who could help me, I punched the button to make the call to the most recent person she’d spoken with. I listened to the call going through and almost cried with relief when it was picked up on the second ring.
“Pauline, I really don’t want to talk to you right now,” said the woman on the other end of the line. “I don’t have time for you. I’m at work.”
“Wait,” I said. “This isn’t Pauline. I—”
“Funny,” she said. “This sure sounds like Pauline. And you’re calling me from Pauline’s phone. I don’t have time for games.”
I almost screamed, “My name is Amanda Jordan. I’m trapped in Pauline’s body because she switched with me. It was to save my life, but I think she’s having a good time in my body and doesn’t want to give it back to me.”
There was a silence on the other end of the line for a moment before the woman answered me slowly. “That sounds like her, all right. It’s always about what she wants. What did you say your name was again?”
“Amanda Jordan.”
“What can I do for you, Amanda?”
The wave of relief that rolled through me was intense. I let out a breath and tried to steady my nerves. I took another deep breath and explained everything to her—everything from the drumming circle, to the Native American warriors, to this insanely haunted house and my need to stop them, to the spirits who’d hit and intimidated me, to not being able to find Mack, to how Pauline had taken my boyfriend and was doing who knew what behind that closed bedroom door. When I stopped speaking in a frantic tone, I was nearly out of breath and my body was shaking.
“Wow. Sounds like a bumpy night, Miss Amanda Jordan.”
“You have no freaking idea,” I said. “I really need some help. Psychic help. Medium help.”
“I’m a phone psychic. A real one.”
“Oh, thank God. At least you have some understanding of what is going on.”
“What is going on?”
“There are ghosts, ghosts, everywhere, but not the one I want. Mack is missing in this house.”
“Wait a minute. Mack is with you two?”
“Yeah, and I think something bad happened to him. I need to find him so he can help me, but the longer I look for him, the more I think he is in danger. I don’t want to call it a premonition, but yeah, I have this sinking feeling that Mack is not safe.”
“That sounds like an awful situation. Unfortunately, I’m working and can’t come out there.”
My heart sank. “I don’t know who else to turn to. Please help me, Julie!”
“Look, it’s my first night at the psychic hotline and I can’t afford to blow it on my new job. But I happen to know somebody who’s probably better suited to help you than I am. Just give me the address of where you’re at and let me make a call.”
I gave her the address of the haunted mansion in the Hollywood Hills. “Who are you going to call?”
“The cavalry. Keep the phone on you. She’ll call you when she gets there to open the security gate.”
“How did you know there’s a gate?”
“I am a real psychic,” Julie replied.
“Who are you sending?” I asked.
“Her name is Allison Lopez. She’s a witch.”
Chapter Ten
Pauline in Amanda’s body…
“Well, this is new,” Ramon said tenderly. “Crying in bed. It’s not the good kind of crying, either.”
I looked at him, trying, unsuccessfully, to blink back my tears. “Sorry,” I whispered. “Something is making me do this. Be with you.”
“I don’t understand. You didn’t say no. Not once.”
“I can’t say no. Someone or something is controlling me.”
“This is a game, right? A sexy role-play game?” he asked hopefully.
I shook my head. “No. Not a game.”
“Now I’m concerned. You plainly had a good time, but you don’t seem like yourself right now. Regret is written all over your face.”
“Boy, you said a mouthful.”
“How can I stop your tears?” He reached out and softly brushed them away as they rolled down my cheeks. I tried to smile, but it felt false, even to me. Why did he have to be so sweet?
“What did I do wrong, querida?” Ramon asked.
“It’s not you. It’s me.” How could I tell him just how wrong I felt to have done what I had? How could I tell him that even though he’d made love to Amanda’s body, he hadn’t been making love to Amanda? I felt incredible amounts of guilt. Unlike anything I’d ever felt before. Julie’s words about using her friendship for my own ends came ringing back through my head with a vengeance.
On the flip side of the coin, though, I felt amazing. I hadn’t physically been with a man in longer than I could remember. Our lovemaking had been passionate. Intense. And so enjoyable. And, as I looked down at his naked body and traced a fingertip across his chiseled chest, I wanted more. And then, I felt guilty about that desire.
But I couldn’t tell him any of that. I had to keep all of that to myself because he wouldn’t understand. So, I opted to deflect the conversation.
“It’s nothing, Ramon,” I said. “It’s just that—you made me feel so beautiful. But I feel like I don’t deserve to feel this happy.”
He pressed his face to my neck and said some sort of soothing things in Spanish.
I’d told the truth, after all.
Ramon smiled and spoke to me in Spanish. I couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying, but I didn’t need to be able to translate the words to understand the context of them. They were words of love. Of passion. They were words that came from his heart. And his soul. And it was then that I knew exactly how much Amanda meant to him.
“English, please?” I said hopefully.
“Fine, but your Spanish is perfect.” He smiled and said, “I said, never before have we made love like this, where you let down all of your barriers and just rode me like the crest of the ocean. You were glowing, happy, free. I will never forget tonight, Amanda. Never. I have always known you were beautiful outside. But tonight, you were truly beautiful inside.”
“Ramon.” I didn’t know what else to say but his name.
“Listen to me, querida. You deserve every happiness. It is my joy and honor to give you all that you need and want and crave.”
Tears welled up in my eyes again, as I realized that I would probably never again experience something this profound, this pure. Not with somebody like Ramon. Probably not with anybody, the way my life was going in my own body.
“I love you, Ramon.” I felt I could say that because Amanda did love him. I knew she did. At least I didn’t mess up their relationship by having a fight with him.
Ramon looked taken by surprise. A slow, warm smile stretched across his face.
I cocked my head and looked at him, not sure what the smile was for. “What is it?” I asked. “Why a
re you smiling?”
“My sweet Amanda, I tell you that I love you all the time, but I have been waiting so long to hear you say it back. Too long. And now, you have. You finally have.”
“Wait, I have never said it before?” I was shocked.
“No. But now, we can go forward from this day, together. Always. No more breaking up and getting back together. This is it. This is the ‘us’ that has been eluding us for all this time. We have found each other. We trust each other. We love each other. No one will ever separate us again! Not even destiny can tear us apart now.”
Tears, fat and warm, rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t fathom how Amanda could have never told this beautiful man that she loved him. He was wonderful. He was perfect. If I were truly Amanda, I would have grabbed hold of this man and held on for dear life.
“I’m so sorry I made you wait so long to hear those three little words. You’re amazing, Ramon.”
“So, all is forgiven then, from our huge argument last week?” he asked.
Uh-oh. “Forgiven? Argument? I don’t even remember it,” I said truthfully.
He touched my cheek and planted a soft kiss upon my lips. “My heart is yours, Amanda. Just as it was always meant to be. We will never be apart again. This I swear on my life.”
“Oh, Ramon!” Oh, boy, I’m in trouble now. I knew that I was going to have to give Amanda’s body back to her soon and let her deal with this situation. I leaned forward and kissed Ramon on the mouth to make him stop talking. I didn’t want him to propose to Amanda while I was in her body. That would be unforgivable to make her miss such a precious moment that I felt was coming soon. His eyes were serious, as if he were thinking of doing that very thing.
He was caught off guard for a moment, but it didn’t take him long to warm up my lip-lock on him. I let my hands travel all over his body and found out just how warmed up to the idea he was. I made him forget about proposing.
It wasn’t long before Ramon and I were involved in another bout of passionate lovemaking. The sensations shooting through my body made my heart—Amanda’s heart—pound with the fulfillment of true love. It was the most amazing thing I’d felt in my entire life.
His dark, chocolate-colored eyes sparkled with life, intensity, and happiness. But as I looked at him, as I felt him, as I enjoyed him, I saw a red droplet fall upon his shoulder. I watched it roll down his skin, leaving a trail of crimson in its wake. The droplet fell off his shoulder and onto the sheet, staining it red.
At first, I didn’t understand what the red liquid was. It looked like thick red nail polish. But what would it be doing falling from the ceiling?
I felt Ramon’s body in the throes of—oh no! I looked up and instantly felt my blood run cold. A dark spirit, malevolent and flaming like a fireball, hovered over us, close to the ceiling, even blackening it. Her eyes glittered with a golden light and her mouth looked like it was filled with countless sharp teeth. Teeth that dripped with blood. Her face looked angry. Vengeful. Evil.
Without a doubt, this was the horrible thing that had controlled me, and had made me just leap into bed with a stranger and enjoy it.
I opened my mouth and screamed in absolute terror just as Ramon was…oh, no. Yes, he did. Was Amanda going to get pregnant? It would be all my fault, too.
Upon hearing my scream, Ramon looked down at me and smiled, oblivious to the danger that was hanging, quite literally, over his head. “It was good for you, too, querida?”
Another drop of blood from the creature hanging over us ran down his neck and plinked onto the sheets.
When he saw that it wasn’t sweat rolling off him, but blood, it was Ramon’s turn to scream.
Chapter Eleven
Amanda in Pauline’s body…
Wanting a drink like crazy, but not giving in, I stood in the air-conditioned gatehouse with a chilled Perrier in my hand, waiting for Pauline’s friend’s friend to come.
The one-witch cavalry was Allison, who apparently drove a beat-up car with a bumper sticker that read: Coexist.
She pressed the gate buzzer and spoke into the intercom, “Ding-dong, the witch is here.”
Walking outside the gatehouse, I pushed the button on the interior side of the gate and watched it roll aside. A dark, mashed-up SUV rolled in through the gate and a woman with lively eyes sat behind the wheel, smiling like she knew something I didn’t.
I followed her on foot as she drove down into the parking area, found a spot between a classic blue Mercedes and a new yellow Corvette, and shut off her ignition.
A petite Hispanic gal got out of her beater car. I was surprised at how lean and toned she was. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting, but this woman in ripped, white denim cutoffs and a tight white tank top wasn’t it.
She approached me with a warm smile. “Amanda Jordan?”
I nodded. “Yes. I’m actually in Pauline Ocean’s body right now, though.”
“I assumed that.”
“Allison Lopez, right?”
She smiled. “That would be me. You were expecting another witch to save you tonight?”
“No, just you. You look like a personal trainer, though.”
“Thanks.” She grinned. “That’s my other career. I used to be the girlfriend of a boxer and I had standards to maintain and rent to pay. Hence, your witchy gym rat is here. I also work on a psychic hotline, but my employer and I are currently taking a break until they come to their senses.”
“That’s what Julie said. Thanks for coming, Allison.”
“It seemed important.”
“It is. I’m in big trouble here. My medium is under the powerful sexy spell of my boyfriend.”
“I get your drift, but I sense that isn’t why you called.”
“Not completely. Look, there is something evil in that house. And something heinous is going to happen in there if we don’t stop it. I’m only a wimpy empath and Pauline is the medium, but I can tell you as surely as I know my real name that we are screwed and we need magic to pull us out of it. So, please get your wand out and let’s get started. I need my body back!”
“My wand?” Allison arched one eyebrow and gave me a bemused expression. “I have no wand.”
“Sorry. For some reason, I thought you would have a wand.” I was feeling anxious as I watched her silently surveying the house.
“I don’t need a wand. Oh, boy, here we go. A benevolent spirit is in terrible danger,” she murmured.
I nodded. “That’s Mack. He’s Pauline’s familiar or something.”
“According to Julie, that’s not what he is to her, not that she knows it,” Allison said. “Let me listen to the house for a few moments and see if I can locate him.”
The longer we stood there, the more anxious I became.
Finally, Allison looked at me again. “This is a very dangerous place. There’s so much negative paranormal activity that these bad spirits are a threat to life and limb and even to other spirits.”
“I know. James Cagney threw a bottle of wine at me. He bet Humphrey Bogart that I wasn’t really a flesh-and-blood person, but just some spirit trying to trick them.”
“That’s not good. They are being controlled by some powerful and malevolent entity in the house, no doubt.”
“So, what do you call them: poltergeists?”
“Worse than that. Tell me what you know, so far.”
“The reason I called Julie—who called you—is that Pauline and I came here with a friendly ghost named Mack to try to deal with all the hauntings here and she promised to get the ghosts to go into the light or Home, she calls it,” I explained. “In my body, Pauline was being a jerk to me by commandeering my boyfriend, to put it mildly.”
Allison nodded.
I continued, “Mack saw her getting cozy with Ramon and he disappeared somewhere in the house. I haven’t been able to find him since. I’m terrified for him! This is bigger than my own fears about Pauline stealing my lover. I feel like Mack, a truly nice ghost guy, is in deep trouble.”<
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Allison took a deep shuddering breath. “You’re right. I always rush to help the one in the greatest danger. And since your so-called friend, Pauline, only appears to be in danger of becoming superglued to your boyfriend, first, we’ll look for Mack.”
“Of course. By all means, let’s save Mack first.” I felt the jealous heat rise in my face, but I held my temper in check. I’d deal with Pauline when the time came.
Allison looked up to the sky and closed her eyes. She began chanting something beneath her breath and held her hands up in front of her. I stood in shock as the palms of her hands began to glow. Yeah, she had no need of a wand. Slowly, the glow faded and she opened her eyes and looked at me, satisfied.
“Mack is in the basement,” she said. “He’s being held prisoner by a small group of underling demons, or minions of some greater evil creature. They’re torturing him.”
I was horrified. “You can actually torture somebody who’s already dead?”
Allison rolled her eyes. “Of course you can. Don’t you know anything about the spirit world?”
I looked at the ground to avoid her eyes. “No, because I am not Pauline. I’m just in her body right now. My only supernatural m.o. is that I am a very weak empath. If that.”
“Right. I’ll save my choicer words for Pauline. You’re the innocent client.”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
“So, how do we get into the basement?” Allison asked.
“Follow me,” I said.
We walked back by the reflecting pool and the sounds of the party going on in the house drifted out to us. It was a typical party in the Hollywood Hills—loud, obnoxious, and not likely to lose steam until well into the wee hours.
We got to the door and I hesitated with my hand on the handle.
“What is it?” Allison asked.