Haunted On Bourbon Street Part 19

"Thank G.o.d. Pyper? Can you hear me?" She didn't move as I smoothed her hair back from her closed eyes. Her skin burned. I ran for a cold wet cloth. Once I started to mop her brow, her eyes flickered open.

"There you are," I said. "Welcome back."

"Jade." Her eyes filled with tears. "Is he still here?"

"Who? Kane?" My voice was low and, I hoped, calming, though my heart was beating hard enough to leap right out of my chest.

She shook her head, tears streaming down her temples.

"It's all right now. Shhh. It's all right." I moved to cradle her head in my lap and stroked her hair.

Pyper's breath came short with silent sobs. She turned her face into my s.h.i.+rt and held on while her body shook. I continued to whisper soothing words until finally she stopped and was silent.

A m.u.f.fled sound came from her buried face.

"Hmmm?" I said.

"Thank you," she said in a hoa.r.s.e voice. She sat up across from me.

I handed her the cloth and gave her a small smile. "No thanks needed. It's what friends do."

She tried to smile back but failed, turning her head toward the window.

I got up and headed to the kitchen. I didn't notice the shaking until I grabbed the tea kettle. After filling it and placing it on the burner, I ran my still shaking hands over my arms. Pyper wasn't the type of person to break down. I didn't think anything else could unnerve me more. Searching through the cupboards, I found a new bag of mint Milano cookies. After arranging the cookies on a plate, I set it on a tray along with the tea and headed back into the living room. Pyper sat curled up at the end of the couch.

I set the tray down and handed her a mug. "Here, drink this."

She took the mug but neglected to take a sip and stared into the contents. After a few moments, I held out a cookie. "This might help."

She glanced up but sat unmoving.

"If you don't want it, I'm eating it. This is not the time to turn down chocolate."

She made a move for it, but I bit into it before she could grab it.

"b.i.t.c.h," she said, but it lacked any heat.

I smiled sweetly and handed her another from the tray. She took it before I could s.n.a.t.c.h it back, and we nibbled the cookies in silence for a few minutes. Finally, I asked, "If you weren't asking about Kane, who were you asking about?"

She ran her fingers along the rim of her cup then looked up meeting my eyes. "The man I've been dreaming about."

My head jerked back, causing me to spill my tea. "s.h.i.+t!" I tried to mop it up with a napkin, but a small dark spot stained the cream sofa.

"Don't worry about it." Pyper waved her hand in a dismissive fas.h.i.+on. "I know the owner." She tried to smile, but it came out more as a grimace.

I shook my head and said something about getting it cleaned. After putting the tea cup down to avoid further disaster, I turned to give her my full attention. "You're dreaming of someone, too?"

She nodded, fear flas.h.i.+ng in her eyes. It wrapped around my chest, making me wheeze. I took shallow breaths and tried to conjure up as much calm as I could to combat her energy. When the air flowed freer, I asked, "Do you know him?"

Her confusion, fear and anger seeped through my protective calm. Clamping down on my barriers, I shoved her emotions and my own mounting anger aside and concentrated.

Pyper shook her head. "I don't actually see him. There aren't any details, just a shape, so I don't know who it is."

"Can you tell me what happens in your dreams?" My stomach did flip-flops. Was it the same ghost as Mr. s.e.xy? My hands started shaking again. I didn't really want to know what had happened to cause her breakdown, but I knew I needed to hear it.

Pyper focused on her tea cup again. "He torments me, almost every night, or day. Whenever I try to sleep."

My fists curled. "How?"

"I don't know how to explain it exactly." Her voice shook a little and I took her hand, squeezing it lightly. "It's like...well, like I'm being physically beaten, but I'm not."

I nodded and waited for her to continue.

She screwed her face up in concentration. "In the dreams I can feel myself being hit all over, but the brunt of it is my stomach and my face. My arms feel pinned down so I can't defend myself. I feel the pain. I literally feel it so intensely, I think I must cry out in my sleep."

I s.h.i.+vered as the hair stood up on my arms.

"When it's over I feel empty. And bruised. Only, when I wake up, I'm not bruised at all. Then I think it's just all in my mind, the pain, you know? "

"I think so." Her experience was very much like my own dreams of Mr. s.e.xy, only most of the time he brought me pleasure. It wasn't until recently that he'd brought physical pain, and it didn't sound the same. Mine was more of an emotional hurt, not an actual beating.

I thought about what she said for a moment. "What happened tonight that sent Kane to get us?"

"Hey, where is he?" Pyper glanced around.

"I have no idea," I blurted. "He came in raving about how we needed to help you. I took off and the rest of them stayed in my apartment."

Pyper drew her eyebrows together and frowned. "That's odd." I thought so too, but didn't respond. "Well," she continued, "Kane and I were just sitting here talking and I felt so safe being here with him, I curled up and went to sleep. I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"I can imagine." I felt a small twinge of guilt as I remembered actually enjoying Mr. s.e.xy in my dreams.

"I guess I thought with Kane here, things might be all right." Her face paled. "But I was wrong. It was the worst attack yet. I woke up screaming and ran."

She plucked at the couch cus.h.i.+on. "I guess I was disoriented and panicked. Kane started yelling at me to stop so he could help me. I froze. When he got to my side and put his arms around me, there was a light that flashed. Lightning, probably." She squeezed her eyes closed and shuddered. "Then I suddenly started to burn from the inside out. I guess that's when I pa.s.sed out." Her eyes fluttered open and found mine. "The next thing I knew, you were sitting next to me."

"Oh my G.o.d, Pyper." I squeezed her hand harder and said in a very small voice, "This is my fault. I'm sorry."

"What? Your fault?" Her shock penetrated my defenses.

"I don't know if it's my fault exactly, but I've been having somewhat similar dreams. Maybe if I'd shared the extent of them we could have figured something out so this didn't keep happening to you."

"If I understand correctly, you're having s.e.x dreams. Those are nothing like mine."

Her flat, cold stare made me flinch. "No, the content isn't the same. You're right." I stopped, rubbed my eyes. "What I mean is, mine seem so real. They feel just as real as yours do. When I wake up I can still feel the effects of the lovemaking." My face burned hot and I turned away, embarra.s.sed.

"Okay, maybe, but what does that mean?"

"I know, or at least I think I know, that the person in my dreams is the same as the ghost in my apartment. What if the same ghost is invading both of our dreams?"

"If that is true, why would he torture me and have s.e.x with you?" Her eyes narrowed, piercing me.

"I don't know!" I threw my hands up. "How could I know? He's been hurting me too, lately. And with the similarity, it could be a link." I paused as my words triggered a thought. "You said this attack was the worst one yet, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Kane was with you. The two times I was attacked, Kane was with me."

We stared at each other until Pyper leaned back and in a low, controlled voice asked, "You think Kane has something to do with this?"

A thread of anger, combined with protectiveness, entered my consciousness. I rushed to rea.s.sure her. "No. I don't. But maybe he's a trigger for the ghost."

"I'm sorry." She moved to sit next to me. "You're right that he could be a trigger, but the ghost hurts me when Kane isn't around, too."

"I know. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence."

She nodded agreement then jumped to her feet. "I'm tired of being the victim. I wish there was something we could do. Like confront the b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"We can," I said, surprising myself. "We can call him out like we did that first day in my apartment."

"Now?"

"Yes." I said in a firm voice, not feeling at all as confident as I sounded.

She studied me for a long moment and gave a quick nod.

I moved to the middle of the living room. Pyper joined me and clasped my hand in hers.

"I think we should both call him at the same time. Do you have a name you refer to him as?" I asked.

"Mr. Evil," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.

"What?" She frowned.

"You'll see," I said trying to contain myself. "On three, then." With a nod from Pyper, I counted backwards from three.

On one I called out, "Mr. s.e.xy," just as Pyper called, "Mr. Evil."

Pyper turned her head toward me and grinned briefly. Another flash of lightning shone through the uncovered window. Pyper flinched, tightening her grip on my hand. Her face went chalk white. Her terror rippled through me as if it were my own. "No, please don't," she whispered.

I turned my head frantically from side to side, seeing nothing. She shook violently.

Panicked, I yelled out "Mr. s.e.xy! Stop this right now. Do you hear me? I need you to stop this!" I concentrated hard on gathering as much energy as I could from my being. A tight ball formed in my stomach. It grew rapidly like an inflating balloon. When I mentally pushed the force from myself the lights flickered off and on, off and on. The tea tray vibrated on the coffee table, and a dark shadow appeared right in front of the two of us. A light breeze tickled my skin and ruffled my hair.

And suddenly there was Mr. s.e.xy, standing in full view in front of us. He looked at me, turned around and put his arms out wide. The flickering and shaking stopped, and all that was left was a light tickling breeze.

Trembling, I turned to Pyper. I felt the tension run out of her and her death grip loosen. But she didn't let go. The color returned to her face, and a rush of grat.i.tude and relief oozed from her into my awareness.

"It's all right now." I stared at my ghost and reached my hand out, slow and tentative. The air felt hot and thick, even though I could hear the air conditioner blowing just over our heads.

The ghost lowered his arms, turned back to face me and just as my hand was about to reach his outstretched one, the door flew open with a bang. He vanished into a dark shadow and disappeared. "d.a.m.n it!"

Kane, Ian and John barged into the room. Equipment filled their hands and hung from straps around their necks.

Kane shot me a weary glance as he strode toward Pyper.

"Where have you been all this time?" I asked.

"Dealing with your ghost." He stopped in front of Pyper. "Are you okay?"

"I think so." She turned to me. "Thank you, Jade." Her arms wrapped around me. She hugged me hard and whispered, "I'll be right back." She moved toward her bedroom. I thought I saw a single tear roll down her cheek.

I watched her disappear through the door then turned on Kane. "What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? The ghost was here." Kane raised his eyebrows and Ian's eyes went wide. "At least for a little while, anyway."

Ian didn't question me. He said something softly to John, and the two of them went about setting up equipment around the room.

I grabbed Kane's arm. "What did you mean? What happened after I left?"

"What happened here?" he said at the same time.

"You first," I said, poking him in the ribs. "It must have been something compelling to keep you away when Pyper was pa.s.sed out on the floor."

"Pa.s.sed out?" His voice rose and he turned in the direction of Pyper's room. "She was screaming just like you did last night. I couldn't get her to come out of it. I thought-"

"She's all right." My heart squeezed with his pain. "What happened?"

Kane led me to the couch and tugged me down to sit next to him. "When you left, I followed you."

"No-"

"Yes. I did. At least, I tried to."

My eyebrows pinched together, causing a wrinkle just above my nose.

He reached his hand out to smooth it. "Don't do that. You'll give yourself a headache."

I frowned, in no mood to be teased. "Go on."

"I was right behind you when you left. You ran out the door. I turned to follow you, only Ian yelled for me to stop and I hesitated. Both of them, Ian and John, went crazy taking pictures." He shook his head. "I thought they'd gone mad. I couldn't see anything, so I turned to follow you. Only...well, when I tried to go out the door, it was blocked somehow."

"Blocked? With what?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. I couldn't see anything except you turning the corner at the end of the stairway. I called out. Didn't you hear me?"