Haunted Love

by Jessica Frances

  “The thing you learn having this job is that murderers are rarely smart or make sense.”

  “Can we at least wait until after we’ve had a shower before we start off on your wild goose chase?” I attempt to sound seductive.

  What has Aiden created inside me? I’m really not interested in leaving this bed, especially not for a lead that will likely be nothing.

  “A shower? We just had one last night, a thorough one if I remember correctly.” Aiden smirks, his hands shifting from my back to cup my bare bottom.

  “Really? I didn’t think it was thorough enough.” I wink at him as my own hand shifts lower to grip his hardening shaft.

  “You do make a compelling argument. Shower first, then investigating later. Although, if we’re going to take a shower, we might as well make sure to dirty ourselves properly first.” He rolls over me, pinning me under his strength, and with one sudden shift, he is inside me completely.

  I love feeling so full, feeling so satisfied from something we both enjoy. His body is art to me, his expressions an open book I never tire of reading, and the climb we both experience from every inch of movement we make together feels like pure magic.

  My body tingles, heat takes over, and emotions strong enough to wind me overload my body as he coaxes a climax out of me. And he isn’t done yet.

  Before I can recover, he is flipping me over, lifting my ass in the air and coming into me from behind, entering me deeper, hitting that elusive spot that only Aiden has been able to find so easily.

  I’m screaming his name by the end, my body spent and probably never so satisfied in my life. Before, I used to cook and swim to relax, but I think this might be my new favorite activity to unwind now.

  Once Aiden collapses over me, slowly pulling away, I enjoy the slickness of our bodies touching, the warm breath that hits the back of my neck, and the fast heartbeat I feel from his body.

  I am in heaven, and I’m not sure anything can get better than this, until his next words leave his mouth.

  “Now we’re ready for that shower.”

  ***

  As we arrive at the house Aiden is convinced Gerald and Lara’s child lives in, I begin to worry we might have chewed off more than we can handle. The street is quiet, but not in an it-is-the-middle-of-the-day-and-everyone-is-at-work kind of quiet. It’s a this-street-has-been-abandoned kind of quiet.

  It’s eerie and creepy.

  The house is definitely in need of being knocked over. It’s not impossible someone bought this place recently, but the real question is why would you bother? The area is full of crime, and there is nothing appealing about living here.

  The windows are boarded up, yet a new model sedan is parked in a driveway overgrown with weeds. It is out of place in the neighborhood where nothing is new, and the fact that no one has tried to steal anything from the car is a bit worrying. What keeps the thieves away from this house?

  “Aiden, I have a bad feeling about this,” I whisper, the situation calling to not attract attention to us, even though I can’t.

  “So do I,” he admits, his weight causing the wooden steps leading up to the front door to creak loudly.

  “I think you should call for backup, or better yet, just forget about this,” I beg him, my eyes glued to the front door.

  Apparently, Aiden’s focus is on the front door, too, because neither of us notice the man creeping up behind us. We definitely didn’t expect to hear the gunshot from a handgun tearing a hole through Aiden’s back, the bullet moving through to his front where blood spurts out.

  Aiden drops to his knees, shock clearly over his features, while I scream, unheard by the stranger behind us.

  “You’re a fucking pain in my ass, you fucking pig,” the man snarls at Aiden, his hand moving to Aiden’s where he easily relieves him of his gun. Then he quickly pats down his ribs, and I curse Aiden for not wearing his vest. Even though this seemed like a long shot, the neighborhood should have hinted at possible trouble.

  The man pats lower, going over Aiden’s legs before he steps over him and opens the front door. He then grabs Aiden’s arm, pulling him at an angle that clearly sends agony through his body, dragging him into the house.

  He sets Aiden down in a sparsely decorated room that smells musty and unused. Blood is piled over the floor, and Aiden already appears pale with sweat beading his brow.

  The stranger pulls out cable ties from his back pocket, tying Aiden to the wall heater screwed into the ground. He then grabs Aiden’s keys from his pockets, and I read the evil in his eyes.

  I try to stand in front of Aiden, try to push the monster away, but my hands make no contact with him. I am invisible and useless to help Aiden.

  Is he really going to die in front of me? What is the point of me being tied to him if I can’t help him now?

  Tears well in my eyes that I quickly blink away for fear of missing something vital, something that might help me to save Aiden.

  The monster reaches into Aiden’s belt and takes out his cell, moving both the cell phone and gun to a side table, well out of Aiden’s reach. He then leaves with Aiden’s keys, the front door slamming a moment later. Soon after, we hear the sound of Aiden’s car rumbling down the street.

  “Aiden, you need to get out of here!” I gasp, my hands tugging on the heater and the ties that restraining him. He puts up a small amount of struggle, but it takes its toll on him, and he slumps back all too soon, his energy zapped and his eyes beginning to close.

  “No!” I race over to his cell phone, trying to grab ahold of it. My hand slips through, and I don’t understand why. I’m able to move things when it is just Aiden and me. I’m able to touch his things. This is Aiden’s cell, and we’re alone. This has to work.

  I try again, this time moving the phone an inch or so before my hand goes through it. Knowing I don’t have much time, I try for his gun, hoping I can give Aiden a way to defend himself. After a dozen tries and getting nowhere, I try his cell phone again. It only takes two useless attempts before I end up trying to awaken it to see if I can make a call. Even if they can’t hear my voice, surely it can be traced. No luck, though, and Aiden’s shuddering breathing from behind me doesn’t help me focus.

  I close my eyes, willing myself to hold his cell, as I hear footsteps approaching the house, most likely signaling the monster’s return. I don’t open them, afraid that, if I am actually holding the device, it might drop from my hands and break.

  I make my way to Aiden and sigh in relief when my foot taps his leg. Opening my eyes, I see Aiden’s cell is there and pass it to him, placing it in his hands.

  He’s barely alert, but he begins tapping away, not only wakening the phone, but also placing a call to his captain.

  When the front door opens, I quickly move the phone to rest behind Aiden, hidden from view.

  The monster takes a quick glance at Aiden to make sure he is still in place before he keeps moving through the house, making his way out back.

  “Talk to him! Tell him where you are!” I gasp, touching Aiden’s face to awaken him.

  There is a mumble of noise from the cell, but it is too far away to make out.

  Aiden is losing too much blood. Bunching up my shirt until I’m standing in only my bra and pants, I push it against his chest wound. He cries out in pain, but it does get him motivated.

  “Captain,” he gasps, his voice strained. “I need help. I’ve been shot.” Aiden takes a shallow breath, clearly unable to take anything deeper.

  Since he is bleeding from both sides, I take off my pants and put pressure on his back, hoping to stem his bleeding.

  “Location!” his captain’s voice clearly barks at him.

  I’m grateful he’s not asking for Aiden to explain himself. I don’t think he has the breath to speak for any length of time, and who knows when the monster will return.

  Aiden sputters out the address, and then we both pause when we hear the monster coming back into the house.

  “How many men?”


  “One, as far as I know. He’s armed,” Aiden whispers.

  “Keep me on the line. I’ve got guys coming to you now. An ambulance will be waiting outside, so just hold on, Mercer!” his captain’s voice growls.

  I take the phone from Aiden’s hands, moving it behind him again so the monster won’t see it. My hands are shaking as I then continue to put pressure over Aiden’s wounds, my fear at an all-time high. I send up a prayer to whoever is listening to get him through this. Aiden doesn’t deserve to die; he needs to survive this.

  The monster finally enters the room, and as he drops a chainsaw on the ground, I jump from the noise and the tool.

  He can’t be serious, can he?

  My fear grows tenfold when he confirms my theory.

  “Gonna have to cut you up to scatter you, and not in my usual way, either. You’ve been a pain in my ass, pig, and I think I’ll enjoy this, even though killing men isn’t my forte. I’ll try to keep you awake for as long as I can; don’t you worry.” He grins, his eyes lighting up at the thought of causing Aiden pain.

  I want to lash out at this monster. I want to stop him from hurting Aiden, but I am powerless. Is it a good idea for me to try to stop Aiden’s bleeding? If help doesn’t get here soon, would it be more humane to let him bleed out?

  “Why are you doing this?” Aiden gasps out, a permanent wince covering his face afterward.

  “Because killing is what I was born to do. It is my life’s work.”

  “You’ve killed before?”

  I second Aiden’s question because this kid must only be nineteen or twenty, so how can he already be so twisted?

  “Of course I have. Did you like my work on that whore, Theresa? She was fun. I stepped out of my comfort zone for her. I usually kill in my own space, leave their bodies for you pigs to find, but she was different. She was delicious, and the taste of her fear was the finest I’ve ever known. Knowing I took away her safety in her own fucking home? Thrilling! It turned me on just as much as seeing it on the news. Every time I see them reporting one of my killings, I relive every moment. It is ecstasy.”

  I gag at the awful words, while Aiden is able to wrap his mind quicker around what this monster is really saying.

  “You’re the Surgeon killer?”

  “That is what my fans call me. The graveyard you found belonged to my father. My grandfather had his own, too. I decided mine was going to be out in the open. They preferred their kills to go unfound, but I wanted the bitches’ families to suffer, too.”

  “That is so sick,” I hiss, feeling ill from his words.

  “What happened to your mother?” Aiden gasps, the sweat building over his face and body. He’s going to go into shock soon.

  “She is rotting in my father’s graveyard somewhere. He wanted to kill her as soon as he found out she was pregnant, but then she told him she was going to have a boy, and he started to think about the family tradition. He never planned on keeping it going, but then, when the bitch died giving birth to me, he told me he knew I was perfect. I was only seconds old, and I’d already claimed my first victim.” The monster chuckles, as though he is retelling a happy memory.

  “What about … Thea? Why was she … different?”

  The monster crouches down in front of Aiden, revving the chainsaw and letting the chilling sound reverberate around us, before he stops, turning his chilling smile back over Aiden.

  “I hadn’t planned on killing that bitch. When my father found out my mother had put a P.I. on him, he killed him and his whore wife, and he thought that was it. I overheard that the fucker had a storage container full of his work files, and I tried to outbid the asshole who kept one-upping me. I decided it would be easier to just kill him for it after, save me money, too. Except he shipped it all to the daughter.” He pauses to punch a hole in the wall, the skin over his fist breaking and blood dripping over his hand. He doesn’t even flinch at the wound.

  “Dad always said the only people who knew about me existing were him, my mother, and that fucker P.I. When my mom told my dad about it, he was furious. She promised him she hadn’t said a word to anyone other than him, and Dad never let her leave the house again. She never had the chance.

  “I have lived my life taking other people’s identities when I’ve needed to, and it has given me the anonymity to do as I please. When I heard about the files, I knew they might contain the fact that I existed, that they might have other details that would not only reveal my dad to the world, but me, too. It would mean my fun would be cut short. I would be known, and killing would have been more difficult.”

  He narrows his eyes, his gaze sliding over Aiden. “I didn’t plan on drawing attention to myself. I was going to steal the file needed and get out of there. But then she came home, and I smelled her innocence and the safety she felt. I needed to take it away from her. I needed her to pay for what she was putting me through. She was making me hurt her; she knew it, too. She liked it.”

  I am repulsed by his words, knowing them to be untrue. His words appear to surge through Aiden, though, because his back straightens, and his voice sounds stronger than it has since he was shot.

  “Thea was innocent, just like every woman you’ve murdered. You won’t get away with this. I won’t stop and neither will the police, not until you’re put away or dead.”

  “Nice threat. Except you’re currently tied up and bleeding out. I have no doubt your little, pathetic friends will eventually come looking for you, but they won’t find you. And they won’t find me. I always liked this house; it reminds me of pain and terror. Dad brought a lot of women back here to torture. He told me he sometimes made my mom watch it all, but he drugged her so she never remembered. He was a good man, a good father. And that cabin was his sanctuary, and you disturbed it!”

  The monster starts up the chainsaw again, and I scream, watching him lean in closer to Aiden. Then he pauses again as he looms over him and turns the machine off, thankfully.

  He’s dragging this out. Even though it is probably meant to terrify Aiden further, it instead gives the police more time to arrive.

  Please let them arrive in time.

  “If that bitch hadn’t woken up before I could finish, hadn’t called 911, then none of this would have happened. If you want someone to thank in the afterlife for ending up here, thank her.” He starts the chainsaw again.

  Just as he nears Aiden, several gunshots ring out over the loud noise. The monster stares at us in shock as his body falls backwards, and the chainsaw cuts into his skin as he can no longer hold it up, letting it rest over his chest before it stops altogether. Blood spurts everywhere, the sight enough to make me sick.

  Two policemen race over to Aiden, cutting him free of the ties before their hands move through mine, putting pressure over his open wounds.

  “He’s lost a lot of blood. Get the medics in here, now!” One of them yells out.

  A moment later, two EMTs race in, bags at the ready as they quickly administer first aid to Aiden. A few minutes after that, they get him on a gurney and race him away, everyone ignoring the now dead monster on the floor.

  I race along with Aiden, finding myself tucked inside the ambulance as it speeds away. His captain is with us, yelling at Aiden to stay awake as a medic works on him.

  I feel overwhelmed and beyond emotional as I watch Aiden’s eyes close, the atmosphere surrounding him growing more frantic. I wonder what is going to happen to him, if he will see Santa, too. If he will make the same decision I did to come back.

  I don’t feel any satisfaction from Aiden finding my murderer. The man was insane, and his reasoning doesn’t give me any closure, because getting that answer has probably cost Aiden his life.

  I sob next to his captain, feeling even more depressed than when I first came back here as a ghost. My presence feels like a burden, and I cry harder as I think of his grandmother, his mom, and Max.

  It is my fault Aiden pushed so hard, my fault he is where he is, and my fault if his loved o
nes lose him.

  As the ambulance arrives at the hospital, I’m pulled along with Aiden, not able to separate myself from him, and I am taken into surgery where twice Aiden’s heart stops. For what feels like days, though is most likely only hours, Aiden is operated on, his body pumped full of new blood and countless drugs.

  When a nurse comes in at some point to ask for an update to tell his family, I take solace as the doctor tells her Aiden is a fighter and is responding well.

  Several more hours pass before he is stitched up and moved into a bed in icu. Afterward, I sit with him, watching his breathing and listening to the machine beep. I tell him over and over again how sorry I am. I beg for his forgiveness and promise to leave him alone. Except I can’t even leave his room, so I just give him what comfort I can. I hold his hand, squeezing it hard and hoping he might squeeze back.

  ***

  Aiden is unconscious for three days. When he does wake, he is groggy and unable to stay awake for much time. Max, Abby, his grandmother, and mom constantly are at his side, ignoring the visiting hours. His captain also makes several trips to see him. He tells them Aiden should have died in that house, but for some reason, he didn’t lose as much blood as he should have, which kept him alive long enough to get him to the hospital.

  It is little relief to hear I might have helped by putting pressure on his wounds. I do feel pride when the captain gushes to his mother and grandma about how Aiden helped with catching a serial killer and finding over a hundred victims as well as that he put a stop to the Surgeon killer, too. If Aiden’s career was going to shoot up before, after this, he might as well run for president.

  On the fourth day, Flynn visits Aiden, and it is so good to see him. Despite being worried for Aiden, his appearance is already much improved. He doesn’t look as tired, and his clothes look freshly washed, as does he.

  He’s doing better, finally.

  Once Max greets him warmly and introduces him to their family, Aiden’s grandma gives him a huge hug, surprising not only Flynn, but everyone else in the room, too. She is incredibly nice and insists that he joins them for their next family dinner. Even though I can tell Flynn wants to say no, that he doesn’t want to intrude, she doesn’t give him a chance to back down. Before he knows it, he has both agreed to dinner along with giving her a lift to Aiden’s mom’s house.