Chapter 5

Max dropped me off at the house with the promise to be home in time to take me out for dinner.  I practically skipped into the house and rushed up to my bedroom to freshen up after my impromptu lover’s tryst.

As I walked past the porcelain jar containing Mellissa’s ashes when I came out of the bathroom to select a fresh pair of panties, I couldn’t help feeling resentful.  “Why won’t you go away?”

“Where would you like me to go, baby?” echoed a man’s voice that came from nowhere.

Not only was I freaked out because the voice was a disembodied voice, but it was a familiar one.  I recognized it as the voice that had chuckled so wickedly after doing those things to my body while I slept that afternoon, not so long ago.

Too freaked out to take the time to put my panties on and grateful that I’d changed into a sundress so that I was covered, I clutched my panties in my trembling fist and rushed from the room to search for Megan.  I needed to tell her that the incubus spoke to me.  Did they do that?  They must because it just did.

As I fled my room, I body slammed into Evan as he was making his way toward the stairs leading to his little third floor apartment.

He gripped me by my upper arms and held me firmly in place while he assessed my condition.  He gave the panties that I clutched a curious look, but said nothing.

“Are you okay?” he asked.  “You’re trembling.”

“Where’s Megan?” I choked out.

“I don’t believe that she’s come back from her walk.  Didn’t you go with her?” he asked.

“How did you know?” I asked, suspiciously.

“The note on the table,” he said with confusion.  “You left a note.”

“We didn’t,” I insisted.

“Well, someone did,” he said. “It said that you two were going for a long walk and it asked me to deal with the two scientists who were coming for the formula for the werewolfism cure.”

I leaned my forehead against his chest, “I can’t believe I forgot about them.”

“I handled it.  You had everything together.  All I needed to do was to be courteous and give them the file you’d prepared for them,” he assured me.

I looked up into his mesmerizing blue eyes

and said, “As usual, you had to bail me out of a situation.”

“I wouldn’t consider that a situation,” he said.

“Well, thank you,” I said as I continued to search his eyes for something that I couldn’t explain.

“I consider the state that you’re presently in one, though.  Do you want to tell me what’s going on with you?”

He still had hold of my arms.  Instead of pulling away, I placed the flat of my hands on his chest and asked him to take me somewhere away from the house so that we could talk.   He was more than a little surprised, but he nodded and, with his arm around my waist, guided me to the stairs.

My legs were still shaky as I held firmly to the railing and did my best to descend.  I didn’t question him when he grew impatient with my progress and swept me into his strong arms and carried me down the stairs with surprising grace and ease.  Instead, I thought about how it must resemble a scene from one of the old romance movies such as “Gone with the Wind” and smiled.  He put me down as soon as we reached the bottom

of the stairs and I walked the rest of the way to the garage.

A wave of relief swept over me when I climbed into the passenger’s seat of his van and I noticed that it no longer smelled of skanky werewolf.  In felt, it smelled fresh and clean.  I took a deep breath of gratitude.

He slid in behind the driver’s wheel and started the van, without question.  When I recognized the logging road that Max had taken me to I asked him to pull in there.  He carefully guided his van far enough down the road so that passersby wouldn’t notice us and then shut it off.

“Okay.  Now, are you going to take the mystery out of what’s going on?” he asked as he twisted his body so that he could better see me and stretched his arm so that it started on the back of his seat, but ended on mine.

I looked out of the window while I searched for the right words to begin my story with.  “I’m not sure how to tell you.  It’s not only freaky and frightening, it’s embarrassing.”

“You should never be embarrassed about something with me,” he cooed. “I’ll never laugh at you or judge you.  That’s not who I am.”

When I turned to face him, I realized that I still had my panties clutched in my hand.  I took them and stuffed them beneath my buttocks on the seat and then smoothed my skirt.   “A while ago, you asked me if the ghosts in the house were bothering me.” I waited for him to say something, but he simply looked at me, expectantly, so I continued.  “At the time, I didn’t realize that we even had ghosts.  Then, one afternoon while I was laying on top of my bed… err…  napping in the nude, I felt someone making love to me.  I thought it was Max, so I didn’t fully wake up.”  I ran my fingers through my hair.  “Shit, this is embarrassing.” 

He took his forefinger and caressed my cheek.  “I told you not to worry.  What do

you think I believe you and Max do behind closed doors, play bridge?”

His comment made me chuckle and eased my nervousness enough for me to continue.  “When I finally did open my eyes, there was no one there.  Of course, I went nuts and yelled for whatever it was to get off me and I heard a voice laughing.  I ran to Megan and she said that she thought it was an incubus.”

“I’m not familiar with that,” he admitted.’

“It’s a type of spirit demon that has sex with women when they sleep or something,” I said quickly.  “Anyway, I was bitching about the fact that Max’s ex-fiancé’s spirit is attached to him and I asked aloud why she wouldn’t go away and that same voice of the incubus asked me where I thought it should go.  I freaked out and ran out of the room. That’s when I slammed into you.”

 He thought for a moment.  “I was under the impression that Megan had chased out all of the ghosts.  The house feels so much better now and there were no incidents while you were gone.  None at all.”

“Gee, thanks,” I pouted.

“I didn’t mean for it to sound like that,” he said, apologetically.  “I was just thinking aloud about how surprised I am that we still have entities to deal with.”

“According to Megan, there are four.  That’s why I had you bring me away from the house.  She claims that they listen and watch us back there.”

“Well,” he chuckled. “That’s a bit creepy.”

“It is, isn’t it?” I said.

“So, there’s an incubus and what else?” he asked with interest.

I started counting on my fingers as I said, “We have the incubus, Max’s fiancé from when he was a kid who hung herself, a witch with a vendetta against Megan, and a shadow person who seems to like to watch me sleep.”

He slid his hand through his hair and said, “Good grief.”  He shifted in his chair and said, “I’m familiar with the shadow people.   They’re not really people.  They’re actually a race that lives in another realm; a different dimension.”

“Megan told me that, but I’ve clumped it in with the rest,” I explained.  “Do you know how to handle the shadow person?”

“The best way is to close the portal,” he replied.

“The problem is that the witch keeps messing with Megan’s mind so that she can’t think clearly enough to do it.  I noticed a change in her personality when I came back.  I just didn’t know the reason until she told me this morning,” I said.   “What about the incubus?  Do you know what to do about him?”

“I’m not really an expert on things from alternate realities.  I’m afraid that I’ve spent my time training and focusing on threats like zombies and werewolves and such,” he apologized.  “Let me ask you.  When does it approach you?”

 “I’ve been alone both times.”

“Then, until this thing is cast out, make sure that you’re with someone at all times,” he suggested.

“Max has to work and I can’t ask Megan to let me follow her around like a puppy dog,” I complained.

“I’m here too, you know.  I’d consider it a gift to have you hang around me.”  He chuckled and got a teasing gleam in his eye.  “I might even look for a way to reward that incubus for it.”

I reached over and lightly slapped his chest as I chuckled, “You’re awful.”

“I can be,” he smirked.

The sight of a small car pulling up the road behind us caught our attention.

“I didn’t realize this road was really used,” I said, guiltily, as I remembered what

I’d done with Max only hours earlier in that very same spot.

The sight of Angela’s jealous face as she peered into Evan’s window took me by surprise.

“You looked surprised to see me,” Angela said after Evan lowered the window.

“It’s an odd place to meet up,” Evan said, icily.

“I was driving down the road listening for any signs of werewolves.  You know… doing my job… and lo and behold, what do I hear, but the familiar voices of my co-worker Evan and my recently married landlady, Vickie.  You can imagine my surprise to discover that you two were cozied up here on this secluded logging road.”

“Don’t read more into it than need be,” Evan said with a harsh tone and a scowl.

“Need anything be read into it?” she asked with a raised brow?

“We just went for a ride, that’s all,” I said as I grasped at what to do to turn the situation from being suspicious to normal.  I had no intention of confiding in her about the incubus, since Megan was firm with her warnings to me about Angela.  “It’s good to see you, Angela.  Maybe I’ll catch a ride back to the house with you so that we can catch up, if you’re going that way?”

“I am,” she said as she walked to my side of the van and opened the door.  “I’d be more than happy to give you a lift.”

When I slid out of the van, the skirt of my dress caught on the lever of the seat and displayed the fact that I was bare bottomed.  The fact that my panties were still in the seat didn’t help matters.

At the sight of Angela’s rage, Evan leaned over and pulled me back into the van.  “I’ll drive her back myself, Angela.  I still have a few things to talk to her about.  You two can catch up later.”

“Whatever,” she bellowed as she slammed the van’s door shut and stormed back

to her car.  Leaves, stones, and dirt scattered as she backed out of the road and then peeled off toward town.

I chewed on my lower lip.  “I was getting my panties on when that thing spoke to me and I just ran.”

“It’s alright.  It doesn’t matter what you say or do with that woman.  She’s insane and will make of it what she makes of it.”

“What if she tells Max?” I worried.

“It will be her word against ours,” he assured me. “Nothing has happened here and nothing is going to happen here.  Although, I’d appreciate it if you’d put your panties on.  Such a temptation is cruel.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, hurriedly as I slipped my feet into my panties and pulled them up.  When I got to my knees, I stopped and looked at him.  He grinned, sheepishly, before turning his face away to give me privacy.

When I felt like I had them in place, I told him that he could turn back around.  When he did, his rich blue eyes meshed with my brown ones.

“What would have happened if I’d made a move before Max did?” he asked with sincerity. 

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“I wanted to that night that we sat outside talking.  My damnable insecurities stopped me,” he grumbled.  

I said nothing, but I also didn’t untangle my eyes from his.  After a moment of silence, he leaned forward and gently kissed me.  His kiss was sweet, yet sad.  I did nothing to stop him, but I didn’t encourage him either.  I simply enjoyed the tantalizing pleasure that it gave me. 

As he kissed me, his energy grew stronger, as did that erotic zing that always

happened.  I could feel my nipples hardening as my womanhood pulsed with desire. I shifted just a bit to ease the tension that was building up.  He didn’t stop like he had when it happened in front of Megan.  This time, when he felt me reaching an erotic peak, he continued until I reached out to hold him and moaned with release.  Then, and only then, did he pull his lips from mine.

My face was flushed with desire as I struggled to compose myself.  I didn’t want him to stop.  I wanted more.  So much more.   I had all I could do to stop myself from taking his hand and guiding it beneath my skirt. Or, at least placing it over one of my wanting breasts.  Something stopped me.

Instead, I leaned my head against the window and said, “I think that I could have loved you like I love him.  If not the same, then, equal in its own right.”

“That’s what I thought,” he said with a sigh as he started the van and backed out of the road.

We rode in silence. 

When he pulled into the driveway and parked his van in his designated spot, I looked straight ahead at nothing in particular and said, “You can’t keep kissing me.”

He turned off the van and pulled his keys from the ignition while staring at the same ‘nothing’ that I was.   “I know.”