Chapter 4

The sound of blood mixed with adrenaline that rushed through my body almost drowned out the heartfelt greeting that he gave me as he dropped his luggage onto the floor near the door and rushed in to hug me.

His lips brushed the flesh of my ear as he told me, in a soft tone, how good I looked.  “Marriage must agree with you.”

I felt a sense of relief and joy in seeing him that I hadn’t expected.  I cared for Evan; deeply.  I had to admit that to myself and come to terms with it.  Had Max not been in the picture, I was certain that there would be something between us that was more than the friendship that we’d developed or the cat and mouse game that we’d played since Peter left and I’d started dating Max.

Perhaps it was because of what I’d been through with Max just an hour earlier, or perhaps it was my discussion with Megan about the incubus, but I found myself wrapping my arms around Evan’s neck and clinging to him much longer than would be considered an appropriate time for a greeting hug between friends for the security and comfort that he provided.  I could feel his body tense for a moment before he accepted my actions and held me until I was ready to let go.

“Is everything alright?” he asked as his rich blue, deep set eyes looked from me to Megan and then back to me again.  When neither of us made a move to speak, he said, knowingly, “I’m here if and when you need me.”

“No, you’re not,” I surprised myself by saying in the manner of a whining child.  “You’re off chasing werewolves and zombies half of the time.”

His facial expression showed me how stunned he was by my unexpected outburst.

“Vickie!” Megan gasped with surprise.

I sat back down at the table in a dejected manner.  After propping my elbows on the table top, I rested my face in the palms of my hands.  It didn’t seem to matter to Evan that Megan was watching as he knelt down next to me and carefully pulled my hands away from my face.  Holding them in his, he placed a gentle kiss on my fingertips.

“Tell me what’s bothering you?” he said with a soft and caring voice.

I kept my eyes closed and my face turned away from him.  My body was responding to his nearness in a way that surprised me.  I’d always felt a type of zing whenever we touched and, sometimes, I’d get physically aroused, but I’d never felt the irresistible urge to tear his clothes off and use his body for my pleasure in ways that should only be done with my husband.  

Megan had done a spell to break our bond, but I still had his venom in my veins.  Could it be because of that?  Or, was it simply that I was attracted to him in an undeniable way that was getting more and more difficult to ignore; especially while being treated so poorly by Max.

I sucked in air as I tried to speak. “I didn’t mean to say that.  I’m not only sorry… I’m embarrassed.  I don’t know what got into me.”

“What got into you is that something is wrong and I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what it is.  I’m a vampire, not a psychic,” he said with a hint of frustration.

“We can handle it,” Megan said, firmly.

“Forgive me, Megan,” he said in a level and calm tone.  “I’m not trying to stick my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but I live in this house too.   I’m not Vickie’s close friend, like you, but we are friends and she knows that I care deeply for her.”

“You love her,” Megan interjected.

 I gasped and he closed his eyes for a moment while he collected himself.

“It’s true,” he admitted, “but I am not the kind of man who will intrude on a husband and wife.  She knew how I felt when she made her choice.  Even so, I can’t stand by and do nothing when it is clear that she is troubled.”

I turned to him and placed my hand on his cheek while I reveled in the eroticness that came with touching him.

“Do you feel that?”  I whispered.

“Always,” he whispered back.

“I needed to feel that,” I said in a low voice as I shifted in my seat from the contractions that pulsed in between my thighs.

He stayed silent while he closed his eyes.  I could feel his muscles tightening as the electrifying erotic current grew stronger.  If Megan hadn’t been in the room, I would have lost myself in the heights of passion that the sensation was causing and that I should have experienced from my husband’s touch. 

As if he understood that I was approaching the point of no return, Evan pulled back on the energy exchange and stood up.

I struggled to stabilize my breathing as he said, “I’m home for a few days.  You know where to find me.”

Megan kept her eyes on me as I watched him collect his luggage and carry it upstairs.

“I felt a bit out of place,” she finally said.

“I have no idea what got into me,” I admitted with shame.  “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s the spirits in this house,” she adamantly said. “They’re a strong lot and they’re influencing everyone in this house.  I’m sure of it.”

“How many are left?”

“I’m guessing four, but I could be wrong. 

There could be more.  I have a fairly good idea about the incubus and the witch who’s been messing with me.  Then there’s Melissa and the shadow man.”

“Shadow what?”

“I mentioned it to you earlier, but you focused on the incubus.  I can’t blame you,” she said with a shake of her head.  “That tall shadow that you saw in your room.  He’s a shadow person.  They’re a kind of spirit, but they’re not at the same time.  Not like the other ones.  The shadow people are a malevolent race that has never lived in a human body.  They’re earthlings, like us, but they come from a different dimension through portals and attach themselves to humans that they target.  Mostly, they stand over them at night and stare at them, but they, sometimes, touch or hurt them too.  In rare cases, you’ll find a good one, but most hate us.  I have to find the portal that he’s coming through and close it before he does something to you other than watch you sleep.

“I am so sorry that Max’s house burned down.  I didn’t want to come back here to this,” I moaned.

“I think that you have the ability to communicate with spirits,” she said.  “I’d like to see.”

“What will you have me do if I can?”

She put her fingers to her lips.  “Let’s take a walk, shall we?”

I lifted a brow with surprise, but didn’t

argue.

We left the house and walked several blocks in silence before she spoke.  “I don’t think they follow us when we leave.  All except Melissa, of course.  She is always with Max.”

I stopped and faced her.  “I’m sorry.  I know that she is your sister, but I’m just

so creeped out by the thought that she was with us on our honeymoon.  Some things that go on behind closed doors between a husband and wife aren’t meant for an audience.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.  I’ve tried very hard to get her to leave, but she’s insisting that she’s waiting for him before she goes.  She wants the two of them to ascend together.”

“Do you mean that I’m stuck with her for the rest of our lives?” I practically cried out the words.

“We’ll think of something,” she said.  “Truthfully, Melissa is the least of our worries.  She’s in love and refuses to leave Max, but she’s not evil.  There is someone in that house who tampered with our wine.  Remember that?  I think it’s the witch, but I’m not completely sure.  In some ways, I’m at her mercy because she messes with my head and causes me to either have a severe headache or to feel disoriented.”

“She’s a spirit witch?” I asked.

“I’ve seen her and spoken to her.  Apparently, her feud with my family goes way back.  I’ve tried to talk reason to her, but she’s determined to haunt me.  She haunts Melissa too, which I’m sure effects poor Max.”

“Does Max know about Melissa?”

“I told him what I knew when you returned.  That’s why he went and salvaged as much of her ashes as he could.   He has it in his head that her spirit will wander, restless and unhappy, if the ashes aren’t properly cared for.”

“That’s what’s in the urn in my room?” I asked with a shudder.  “He brought her ashes into my bedroom.”

“He’s not himself,” she said in a voice that was meant to soothe me.

“He was cruel this morning when I touched the urn to admire it.  He never told

me what was in it either. To say that he’s not himself is an understatement.  I’m almost afraid of being alone with him.   Since we’ve returned, I can’t seem to say or do anything right. Until this morning, he hadn’t touched me. After this morning, I don’t want him to again.”

“It’s either because he now knows that Melissa is watching or it’s because of that damned witch’s interfering.  I’m banking that it’s the witch.  I need you to see if you can get her to back off.  I can’t get a proper handle on what’s happening with her messing with me like she is,” Megan said with frustration.

“I don’t know how to talk to spirits and I know only a small amount of magic,” I fussed.

“You know more magic than you realize and I’ll teach you how to talk to spirits.  We’ll just have to do it somewhere other than at the house so that they don’t interfere with you,” she said with conviction.

“Max still hasn’t told me about his estate home or his money,” I pouted.  “We could go there if he’d just admit that it exists.”

“I wouldn’t expect much coming from him until we get this spirit situation under control,” she said.  “We can either go to my place or into the woods or both.  Let’s play it by ear.”

“Is your sister stopping him from telling me?” I asked with trepidation.  I hated asking anything about her for fear it would come out wrong or be taken out of context.

“She didn’t stop the two of you from falling in love and getting married.  I told you that she’s not evil.  She understands that he’s still living and she agrees that he deserves happiness,” she said with a woeful tone.  “It’s that witch doing it.  I just know it is.”

“So, the witch wants to hurt me too?  What did my family ever do to her?  What century is she from, anyway?”

“As far as I can tell, she’s from the late seventeenth century.  She won’t say, but her clothes and speech make me think that.”

“Good grief, and she’s still carrying a vendetta against you?  And, I guess, me?”

“Not you,” she said. “Not directly, anyway.  She knows that I love you, so she’s messing with your life to upset me.”

“Was she responsible for the fire?” I gasped.

“I think so, but whenever I’m able to confront her – which isn’t often - she just laughs and says something cryptic about my not knowing what I have under my own roof,” she sighed.

I had no idea what that meant any more than Megan did, unless it meant that there were more spirits hiding amongst us.  I truly hoped not.  Four was plenty; especially when one was an ex-girlfriend, another a witch with a vendetta, an incubus demon who’d already violated me once, and a creepy shadow person staring at me while I slept.

Our conversation was interrupted when Max pulled up alongside us in his sheriff’s car. “Well, what luck is this?  Two of Wolf Junction’s most beautiful ladies out on a walk.”

His smile was so big and genuine that I couldn’t help returning it.  I shoved his behavior from the morning into the back of my mind as I reveled in the return of my husband.

He asked to steal me away from Megan.  Since we were only a few blocks from the house, she said that she would walk home after she’d taken just a bit more fresh air.   I studied her face to make sure that it was alright for me to leave her.  It looked to me like she was fine with it, so I scurried into the passenger’s seat in the front and merrily waved as we drove off.

“Do you miss your practice?” he asked as he headed out of town.

“It’s been too crazy since I got back to even think about it.  Why?”

“I was just asking,” he said with a shrug.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I enjoyed the beauty of the black walnut and oak trees that lined the country road.

“Somewhere that will allow me to ravish my beautiful wife from head to toe,” he cooed.

I smiled, excitedly, as he pulled onto a logging road and then turned off the car and then gasped with pleasure when he leaned over and gently kissed my lips.  His kiss stayed tender for a considerable time before the passion began to build.   When his hand slipped beneath my shirt and found my breast, I sighed my thanks for the return of my lover.  These were the actions of the man I’d married. 

The car had a bench front seat, which made it much easier for me to accommodate his attentions as his lips caressed my body with a heated fervor.  He sent me higher than the treetops more than once before he slid his manhood deep into me and thrust us both to the point of no return.  The birds sang in tune with our cries of passion as we reached our peak together.

I lay on my back on that seat with my husband’s body weighing me down with an enormous smile on my face.  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I was glad that he’d returned to me, but something told me to say nothing.  Instead, I stroked his hair with my slender fingers while I waited to see what he intended to do next. 

When he started moving inside of me, once more, I had my answer.