by Elise Faber
"I wouldn't hurt anybody." I wouldn't.
"I told you. All ghosts turn vengeful after a while. It is only a matter of time."
"I wanted her home. I just needed to tell her…"
"I know you did. That's why I brought you here," Jodi says. She lets out a shaky breath.
I find my fingernails immensely interesting. "I think it's time you tell me the truth, Jodi. I think I'm ready."
She leans up in her chair and nods. "Gabe isn't my partner. I work by myself for the most part. A lot of hunters don't like working with a woman. They think we are weak, but whatever… Anyway, I got a call from the Michaels family. They were scared to death and wanted to know how to get rid of a ghost that was terrorizing their family. I read up on the house and found out about the family who had owned it before."
"But my house… it looked like mine."
"Just like this hotel. Sometimes a ghost sees what it wants to see. It sees its own reality. Then, when it can't do that anymore, the veil starts to break, and the ghost starts noticing things. Remember you told me about your house? How things would move sometimes, and you didn't know why?"
"That was me?"
She nods. "I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you something different."
I don't want to believe this. I'm not… I was the case all along? "This had nothing to do with Jessica, did it? It was all about me and helping the Michael's family."
"You'd gotten so violent they couldn't live there anymore. The last straw was when you tried to strangle Mrs. Michaels in her sleep."
"I never…" But I can see it now. Just as plain as I see the hotel room in front of me. I'm over her bed. My fingers are wrapped around her neck, and I'm squeezing the life out of her. Me… my hands… "I thought it was me. I thought I was hanging myself because I couldn't live without her anymore."
"I know." Jessica leans on her knees. "I know."
"When you came to my door, it was to kill me, wasn't it? You weren't there because of Jessica. It was because of me." I feel like an idiot. It was me all along.
I remember.
"Not exactly. The Hotel Toujours has always had a history of the paranormal, but one room stuck out to me. Room 614. I'd heard about the woman in white, and I called to ask questions about her. Higgins, Gabe, he was very helpful. He said he'd stopped letting people stay here. I asked about the history of the room. When I saw the Jenkins name, I knew."
"Two birds, one stone." I'm bitter. I can't help it. All the time, she knew, and she hadn't told me.
"You weren't ready to know then. And I needed you here. Both of you."
"The salt?"
"It's just salt. But it burns ghosts."
I laugh. "So you hand me make my own prison? My own trap. That's why I couldn't leave, right? Because of the salt I put at the door."
"I needed you to feel like you were helping. I needed…"
"You played me. You…" I'm getting angry, and I try my best to stop it. What's the point? I'm dead. I killed my wife. I was driving… not her. I hurt the Michaels woman. I'm a horrible person — a horrible thing.
"I could have sent you into the great beyond at your house, you know? Never looked back. Saved that family. But when I got there… they were gone… scared away. And you answered the door. You… a ghost. And you had no idea you were dead. I decided to use you. Bring you here so you could reunite with your wife and, hopefully, end all the violence. All the death."
I feel Jessica's hand on my shoulder. She's squeezing it, trying to make me feel better. I don't deserve to feel better. "I've done… things. Things I'm not proud of. Things I can never be forgiven for. If I go into the afterlife, what will I see? You never answered me before. Please, answer me now."
Jodi stands and comes closer to me. "I'm not sure what you'll see. But I know this. You two, you loved each other when you were alive. You had a good marriage."
How could we have had a good marriage if I broke her wrist? If I made her cry? What kind of a person am I? "I thought so." Tears fall down my cheeks. "I love her. I love her more than anything, and I remember now. I remember why I couldn't go. Why I went home…"
I stand and face Jessica. My Jessica. As I watch, her broken bones fade. All the blood… all the dirt… disappears. She's my wife again. Beautiful. Smiling. Shining. I take her hands in mine and rub my fingers over her knuckles. "Jess, I can never tell you enough… I can never prove to you enough… how sorry I am… for what I did to you. I was having a bad day, you know? It's no excuse. It's not. You were crying, and I couldn't stop it. I just got mad and grabbed your wrist too tightly. I didn't mean to hurt you. God, I wish I hadn't. I wish more than anything. I love you so much… I don't want to be without you."
The red that has clouded my mind for as long as I remember begins to fade. Warmth starts to fill my chest, warmth that I haven't felt in forever. "I'm so sorry."
Jessica smiles at me. "I was crying… because I was sad… because I planned this trip, originally, yes, to meet someone who could hopefully give me a baby, help me get pregnant. The thing is, I took a test that morning. And it was positive."
I nearly fell backward. I don't remember ever feeling so bad — so upset — in my life. "You were pregnant? I killed you… and the baby?"
I can barely stand. I sink to the bed, and Jessica sinks with me.
"I don't know. When we got to the rest stop a few miles outside of New Orleans, I went to the bathroom — and I'd started bleeding. I was crying because I was so sad. I thought I'd lost it. And I had this big thing planned for you — to surprise you."
I'd screwed everything up. If I'd just listened. If I hadn't been a total jerk… my wife would be alive. Our baby… it would be alive.
I can't take this. I can't deal. I've never felt so much sadness in my life. I didn't even know a person could feel so sad. Jodi places her hand on my shoulder, and I flinch away. "How can you touch me?" Because that's the important thing to know.
Jodi smiles sadly. "You can see what you want to see, remember?"
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The End of All Things
I'm sitting on the bed with my head down. I can't look at Jessica, the wife I love so much — the wife I killed. I can't look at Jodi, who brought me here to stop me from hurting people at my house. I have never felt so guilty in my life. I just want to disappear. Never hurt anyone again. Mistake or not, it's all my fault.
All of it.
I hear the door open. I look up in time to see the salt line broken, and Higgins walk in. "We don't need the circle anymore," Jodi tells me, pointing to the symbols on my chest. "Those will hold you here."
"Jess?"
"I have you. Why would I leave?" She places her hand on my knee.
It makes me want to sob. "Because I hurt you. I killed you."
"Do you really want to dwell on that?" she asks, rubbing her hand over my hair. "Do you? Because I don't. Will, we had a good marriage up until that night. A good marriage. I loved you. You loved me. We hardly ever fought. You thought I was going to grab the wheel, so you grabbed my hand. End of story."
"Jessica… that's no excuse…"
"It is what it is. It happened. And we turned into these things. I remember everything I did. I remember what I did to that girl, breaking her neck like that."
"That's on me," I protest.
"No… it's on me. I didn't go with my reaper because I was supposed to be here with you. I had to tell you something… I had to tell you here…"
"About the baby," I say sadly. Everything is completely screwed up.
"…about the baby. I never got to tell you…"
"I killed it too." I can't forgive myself. I just can't. It's one thing to find out you're dead. It's another to find out that you were responsible for the death of your wife and your unborn child. She shouldn't forgive me. Ever.
Jodi kneels down in front of me. Higgins is at her side. "We brought you together because we thought it would stop people from getting hurt. You each were looking for the other. Now
you have each other…"
"But—"
"No buts, Will. What happened happened. Jessica is right. You can't change it, but you can choose about your future."
I wipe my tears away, still in shellshock over all of this, but I know it has to end. It just does. It has to be over. Jessica and I can't be allowed to hurt — to kill — anyone else. "Will it hurt?" I ask. Does it really matter now? Is there any amount of pain that can be enough punishment for what I did?
"I don't know." She sounds kind. Jodi. The girl I wanted so badly to kiss. The girl who will kill me — send me into the afterlife. Seems poetic, I suppose. "And I don't know exactly what will happen to you. But I know that it's for the best. I know that you won't hurt anybody else, and I've done my job."
"You've done more than your job." I feel one side of my mouth quirk up, and I glance at her. "Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for letting me find Jess so I can tell her I'm sorry."
"You're welcome. Be lucky it was me. Most hunters would have just sent you on without a care in the world." She grins.
"Then I'm glad it's you." I stand to get this shindig on the road. We have to go, might as well not drag it out. I pull Jess up with me, gently, to not hurt her any more. I face her, holding both of her hands in mine. "Jessica Jenkins, I can never tell you enough how sorry I am. I just want you to know that I love you more than anything else in this world. I can't live without you, obviously. I'm so proud to have called you my wife."
Jessica, my sweet, sweet Jessica, smiles brightly at me. She looks as young as she did when we got married. Just as beautiful too. "Will Jenkins. I need you to know that I forgive you. I forgive you for everything. And I want you to know that I'll be with you for the rest of time. I'll hold your hand. I'll love you. I don't hate you, Will. I forgive you. You can rest now, Will… you can rest."
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Things We Leave Behind
"Thank you." Jodi Granger pats her on the back and nods. It's over. It's all over.
Will's gone.
He just gave it up. He disappeared.
"Don't you think it was wrong to tell him all that stuff about his wife? I mean, you made her a psychotic, vengeful spirit who killed people. Think that might have been a little… much?" Higgins leans on the bathroom door facing her, his arms across his chest.
Sarah Rogers stands in the middle of the room, right where Will was earlier. She's in a white dress, blond hair flowing down her back. She might not look like Jessica Jenkins, but she didn't have to. Not exactly. The hotel took care of the rest.
"You know it would have been easier to just ice him at home. Not have to go through all this," Higgins says. "Or do you just like doing dramatic productions of all your exorcisms now?"
Jodi sits on the bed. She lets out a shaky breath, letting everything that happened sink in. Yeah, it was probably the most unorthodox end to a haunting ever, but it had to be this way. It had to.
"I had to tell Will that about his wife and the vengeful-spirit thing because that's what he was. He had to be prepared."
"And the baby?"
"She was pregnant."
"Still think it would have been more humane to kill him at home." Sarah sighs and sits on the bed next to Jodi. "But… it is nice to think that he's gone in peace now. Gone without having to cause him pain. He's happy now. That's all that matters."
"Will never would have gone until Jess forgave him… but Jess isn't a spirit… or at least as far as I can tell. I think she went on to heaven, which sort of hurts the whole she needs to forgive him thing. We did what we had to do. He thinks Jess forgave him," Jodi tells Higgins. "He's at rest. What more can we ask for? The Michaels house is safe. Win/win, right?"
"Pretty elaborate for a win/win." Higgins shakes his head.
Whatever, she knew he was glad it worked. Truth be told, Jodi had felt sorry for Will when she went to his house to exorcise him. He'd been alone, scared, hadn't even known what had happened to him. He'd just known his wife was dead. That was it. He felt so guilty, and he didn't even know why. That was when this idea just sort of popped in her head. She knew about the hotel. She knew what it could do. She knew that if she could just make Will give it up… he'd be at peace.
And he was.
He was.
EPILOGUE
Heaven's Door
I open my eyes, and it's warm. Warm and sunny, the two things I remember the most. It's bright. Way too sunny outside. Everything has a strange yellow hue around it. Beautiful, but strange. It's my house. My house with Jessica. She forgave me. All I ever wanted was for her to forgive me.
She's standing in the doorway, smiling. Just like I remember her. Her arms are outstretched. I run toward her, taking the steps two at a time. When I reach her, I hug her tighter than I've ever hugged anyone in my life.
"I've been waiting for you." She kisses me on the forehead.
I run my fingers through her hair.
I'm home.
I'm finally home.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
FIRE AND ICE
Elise Faber
When she’s not writing best-selling dark and sexy paranormal romances, Elise is often found on the ice rink where she and her husband hold regular hockey date nights. She is the mom to two exuberant boys and addicted to Dancing With the Stars. The beaches, mountains and redwood forests of Northern California serve as inspiration for her books. Connect with her on facebook (facebook.com/elisefaberauthor), twitter (@faberelise) or www.elisefaber.com
RENDEZVOUS IN ROOM 311
K.D. Wood
K.D. Wood lives in north Mississippi with her family and a very spoiled White Waug. She creates love stories and smokin' southern erotica, but not your mama's happy ever after. She's a consumer of chocolate but not spiders and is completely composed of liquid awesome. When not in her office pounding the keys she can be found under a snuggly blanket, cup of Donut Shop close by, with her nose in a book.
WISHES
C.C. Ravanera
C.C. hailed from the Philippines but now lives in England with her husband and two young boys. She works as a full-time nurse and absolutely enjoys it. When she’s not working she spends the rest of her time running around the house with the boys and spending quality time with her husband. In her spare time (whew!) she writes her books and dreams of becoming a ‘proper author’.
She’s addicted to coffee and chocolates. She loves reading books and waking up to the sound of birds early in the morning.
THE THINGS WE LEAVE BEHIND
Kelly Martin
Kelly Martin is a bestselling author of contemporary, historical, and YA romance. She has been married for over ten years and has three rowdy, angelic daughters. When she's not writing, she loves watching horror gamers on YouTube-- even though she's a huge wimp-- and drinking white chocolate mochas-- decaf which totally defeats the point. She's a total fangirl, loves the 80s and 90s, and has a sad addiction to a certain British boy band (shhhh). Her favorite characters are the 'bad guys'-- especially those who, in their mind, are the heroes of the story.
If you ever have a question or comment, feel free to email her at kellymartin215 @ yahoo.com ♥ You can follow her writing adventure at www.kellymartinbooks.blogspot.com
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