The Ghoul Next Door

chapter Four

Once he’d closed the front door, I peeked out and watched him. Callahan stood on the porch and peered around looking for the source of the noise. After a few seconds, he moved down the front steps and made his way around the house. I didn’t want to let him out of my sight in case he needed my help, so I slipped back into the bedroom and looked out the window for a better view.

I spotted Callahan as he moved steadily along the side of the house, but he wasn’t the only thing I saw. In front of him was a dark shadow. Just like the one I’d seen before. Why was it back? I thought all of that was behind us now. My heart thumped. Did Callahan see this thing too? Was he following it? The shadow floated around the side of the house and Callahan trailed along behind it. I still couldn’t tell if he knew it was there.

Letting the curtain fall back, I dashed from that window and made my way to the back of the house. I had to warn Callahan. Again I moved from window to window looking out for Callahan. The moon lit up the sky so that I could see his movements, otherwise I wouldn’t have known where he’d gone. But for a brief moment he wasn’t in my sight. I’d run out of windows to look out of until he reached the kitchen. What if he met up with the shadow at that moment when I couldn’t see him? No, I didn’t even want to think of it.

When I made it to the kitchen, I spotted Callahan again. I let out a temporary breath of relief. I moved to the door with every intention of warning him about the dark shadow. He inched his way along the side of the house, but the shadow had disappeared. Had it been my imagination? No. I knew what I saw and this was exactly like the thing that had shown up before.

I hurried to the front of the house just as Callahan was coming through the front door. I almost slid into the foyer with my bunny slippers. If I was going to be sexy around Callahan I needed to ditch the animal shoes. I looked at him expectantly.

“I didn’t find anything,” he said, placing the flashlight back onto the small table by the door.

So he hadn’t seen the black shadow. Should I mention it to him? I just wanted to stop talking about witchcraft, ghosts, and the supernatural for one day. Couldn’t we be normal for just a few hours? Who was I kidding? Of course we couldn’t.

“Did you see a shadow figure out there?”

He met my gaze. “Just now?”

“Yeah, I thought I saw someone out there.”

He peeked out the window again, then looked back to me. “As far as I could tell there was nothing out there.”

“It looked as if you were following it. But I guess you didn’t see it after all.”

He shook his head. “No, I didn’t see or hear anything. I thought maybe it was an animal that had wandered up onto the porch.”

I gave a half-hearted smile. “That was probably it. There are a lot of raccoons and stray cats around here.”

“That’s probably it,” he said.

The noise might have been an animal, but that shadow wasn’t. I was sure of that. How would I go back to normal now? Okay, I wasn’t quite sure what normal was for me anymore, but I wanted a chance to find out. All I would think about for the rest of the night was the shadow outside.

Callahan made sure the door was locked, then grabbed my hand. “Come on. Let’s go back to bed.”

My heart rate increased. Okay, yeah, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to forget about the shadow after all. When he looked at me with that hunger in his eyes I could forget about everything and just live in the moment. I felt the desire coming off him in waves and I wanted nothing more than to be close to him.

When I walked down the foyer toward the bedroom, Mr. Fine was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room with a smug smirk spread across his face.

I released Callahan’s hand. “Give me just a second, okay?”

I held up my index finger indicating I needed a little time before making my way back to the bed. Not that I wasn’t in a hurry to get there, because I definitely was looking forward to it. Callahan touched my cheek, then smiled and walked away toward the bedroom.

When he was out of view, I said, “Were you responsible for the noise?”

I was so mad I had to take my frustration out on someone. My words might have seemed hostile, but I couldn’t help it. It was late and I had been interrupted. Yeah, I was a tad cranky. Hey, if ghosts could be crappy then so could I.

Mr. Fine shook his head innocently. “It wasn’t me. I thought when you brought me here tonight that you’d entertain me. You know, we can chat and share stories.”

I stared at him blankly. “What gave you that crazy idea?”

“Well, I could have talked to myself in your crazy friend’s attic.”

“Who are you calling crazy? You’re the one who likes to hang out in attics. Last time I checked, my friend doesn’t hang out in attics.”

“Touché,” he said, flicking off more ashes from his cigarette.

“And will you please stop doing that?”

“What? They really don’t get on the floor or anything. They’re invisible.”

“I know, but it still freaks me out.”

“Listen, at least I don’t hang out in closets and jump out at people.”

“Yeah, that’s real comforting, thanks.”

He shrugged. “What can I say, I’m a nice guy. I do what I can to please people.” He smiled.

“If you pleased people you wouldn’t be hanging out at my house right now.”

He snorted.

“Just remember that I’ve got my eye on you. No funny business during your stay at my home.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Do I look like I’d try any funny business?”

Before I had a chance to respond, he disappeared. Typical jerk ghost behavior. He knew I wouldn’t give the most flattering answer. I had better not hear another word or noise out of him for the rest of the night. I had to find a way to get rid of him in the morning. If he’d only share his reason for being there, then I could help him cross over into the light.

As I made my way down the hall, thoughts of the shadow ran through my mind. It had been dark, human-shaped and wearing a cape. Well, maybe it was a little skinner than a human with slightly longer arms, but it was hard to tell in the dark. Whatever the shape, it was enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and a chill run up my spine.

What kind of creature had been lurking outside my house? Karyn had said the shadow I’d seen before was just Becky Schultz playing tricks on me with a magic spell. Was someone else still playing a trick on me? Or was this sighting something else? With any luck, I wouldn’t have to think about it ever again and this thing would never appear again.