“Okay,” I said quickly, concerned for her well-being, which seemed ironic considering I was fairly sure she was dead. Well, in at least one sense of the word. “One thing at a time, Rhea,” I started in as soothing a voice as I could. “Who is he? Can you tell me who he is?”

  She looked at me. “He doesn’t understand.”

  “Yeah, we got that much,” Angelo responded as Rhea began to shake her head in earnest and then began wailing.

  “Okay, please calm down,” I started as Angelo just looked from me to her and shook his head like I was doing a terrible job of trying to help her. And, as far as I could tell, he was right. But, he made no motion to leave, so apparently he was enjoying the entertainment, at least to some degree.

  “I need to see him,” Rhea said, this time more softly.

  I held my hands up towards her in a supplicating sort of gesture, hoping to calm her down. “Please explain to me,” I said in the softest voice I could manage. “And start from the beginning.”

  “Tell us what we need to know, and we will help you,” Angelo said, surprising me as he took a step forward and shook his head at me as if to say I’d failed.

  Rhea looked up at Angelo as if just seeing him for the first time. Tears poured down her face as she reached out and touched his cheek with her palm, that pleading expression back in her eyes. I felt my eyebrows arch in shock.

  “She can see you,” I whispered.

  “It would appear so,” he answered and didn’t seem at all surprised, saddened or interested, for that matter.

  “Please. Please help me.”

  “We want to help you, but we need to know what’s wrong,” Angelo said with as much kindness as I’d ever seen him exhibit toward another being. It was fairly shocking, actually. So shocking that I almost wondered if there wasn’t something she was doing to him subconsciously that was pulling what little kindness from him he possessed.

  “I don’t know why he won’t let me in,” she said one last time, her voice sounding like it was coming through a thick fog, from a far distance. She sounded so small and lost, so unhappy and defeated. And the shadows around her began to darken, as if they were closing their massive hands around her and pulling her back from wherever it was she’d come.

  She was already beginning to lose her grip on our world—I could tell because her image started to waver and as the seconds rolled by, she began to grow more and more transparent, the darkness around her folding her into its embrace.

  After another few seconds, we watched her fade away into the dark mist and only seconds later, the shadows bleached into the afternoon winter sky.

  I glanced down at the EMF meter, which was still clutched in my hands, and noticed it had dropped back down to its lower limits, but it didn’t completely stop lighting up. That made me wonder what it was now detecting—was Rhea somehow still here? Was it possible she’d never completely left us? Was she always lingering nearby, just waiting for a chance to come forward and make contact again?

  If so, what fueled her? What gave her the energy to make contact?

  “What was that all about?” Angelo asked, now looking a little bewildered.

  “I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head as I fought to get control of my heart. I hadn’t even realized it was pounding.

  “You acted like you knew who she was.”

  “I’ve seen her once before,” I answered, figuring I had a lot of explaining to do, but I wasn’t really in the mood to start. Besides, I wasn’t even sure where I should start or if Angelo even wanted to hear it.

  I sighed. “She just… seemed so sad, so out of sorts.”

  In a rare display of concern, Angelo nodded in agreement. The expression on his face told me he’d felt her pain as well as I had.

  “The poor thing,” he said.

  I looked at him and frowned. “What’s gotten into you?”

  He frowned right back at me. “What? Can’t I feel sorry for her too or is that just your right?”

  “You can feel however you want to feel, but I’m not used to you… showing any sort of sympathy for anyone. Usually, you’re a self-righteous, pompous, self-involved, narcissist.”

  He chuckled. “Tell me how you really feel.”

  “How much time do you have?”

  He smiled and shook his head and then sighed as he apparently returned to the topic at hand—that being what in the world had just happened. “Well, perhaps emotions are contagious because it appears I’ve caught them.” And he sighed as if that were a big shame.

  But, back to Rhea… she was lost, and I didn’t know how I could help her, and that bothered me. Even though I was a demon, I’d been born defunct—well, by demon standards, anyway. Defunct in that I had a big heart, and I cared about people—living and dead, I supposed. Either way, I didn’t want Rhea to continue existing the way she was, and if there was something I could do to help her, I wanted to do exactly that.

  But, just what I could do, I wasn’t sure. That seemed to be the sticking point.

  Angelo and I stood outside for another few minutes, each of us almost rooted to the asphalt of the parking lot. It was like we didn’t want to take a step, both of us hoping Rhea might return—that she might explain herself and make this whole mystery easier to figure out. But, of course, none of that happened.

  “What do you say we head to your office and you explain this whole situation to me?” Angelo asked after another few seconds.

  I just nodded.

  Chapter Seven

  I told Angelo everything I knew about Rhea, which wasn’t much.

  Then I further explained that I had friends coming to the house tonight to discuss it and whatever camera footage I might have captured, which I doubted was anything at all. As far as I was concerned, the only thing that could substantiate my claims was the EMF meter and now… my brother.

  “Friends?” he asked warily. “Who?”

  “Marty and his paranormal researchers.”

  “Ugh. You’re going to filthy up our apartment with the stench of ghost hunting mundanes?”

  “And pizza,” I teased. “You can stay and participate if you want.”

  “Yeah, that’ll be a hard pass. I have a date anyway.”

  “I figured.”

  He raised his brows at me and then, without bothering to say another word, simply turned around and walked away. I wasn’t offended though—that was just Angelo. In fact, I was still pretty much reeling from the way he’d reacted earlier—when he’d actually seemed like he cared about poor Rhea’s plight.

  And on that subject, I breathed out a sigh that had everything to do with this frustrating business. Glancing back down at the EMF meter where it sat atop my desk, it was still registering fluctuations of energy, but nothing like it had when I’d seen Rhea earlier.

  I looked around the room for her for the umpteenth time, but she was definitely gone and that meant there was no reason for the meter to be picking up anything which, in and of itself, was frustrating. Regardless, I stuck the thing back on the top of my desk and leaned back into my chair as I pondered the strange events of the day. Feeling a slight headache beginning, I pressed my fingers to my temples.

  My head started to ache in earnest the more I thought about it, so I rubbed my fingers back and forth across my temples before realizing I was doing exactly the same thing Rhea had been doing outside. And that realization stopped me cold in my tracks.

  Had she somehow influenced me? Affected me with something? I didn’t feel any different other than the slight ache between my eyes, but what if she’d tainted me with something when she’d touched me?

  Jeez, paranoid much? I asked myself.

  But, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was different—ever since Rhea had touched me. Could she have somehow infected me with those shadows?

  Maybe she means to turn you into what she is.

  I had to shake the thoughts out of my head because they were ridiculous and, furthermore; I had no proof of anything. As far as I knew, Rhea was a lost soul who was in need of saving and that was it. The rest of this stuff was just fear, and fear made people do stupid things all the time. I took a deep breath and pushed the ugly thoughts away as I made up my mind that I was going to help Rhea as best I could. After all, she appeared to need all the help she could get.

  Maybe that’s just how she comes across, I argued with myself and I was fairly sure it was the succubus arguing with me—mainly because she embodied every negative trait I possessed. Maybe she just comes across as a harmless and deeply unhappy soul, looking for something she’s lost, but how do you know that’s not just a ruse?

  Will you stop it? I’m sure she’s just in need of kindness and help.

  How will you feel if Rhea, if that’s even her real name, dupes you into doing her bidding only to find out that her motives were indecent or downright diabolical? What if she’s an unbarred demon?

  An unbarred demon? I scoffed at the thought. Unbarred demons were spirit demons that didn’t have bodies. They were the types of demons that existed solely in the spiritual plane, but they could cross over into the mortal plane, where they usually searched for a body to inhabit. They were the types of entities responsible for demonic possession.

  Angelo and I, on the other hand, were a different type of demon—it was sort of like comparing a Great Dane to a Chihuahua—both are dogs but night and day different.

  She didn’t seem like an unbarred demon, but they can be crafty.

  I shook my head and refused to allow this silly conversation to continue. Instead, I focused on the facts I did know about this ghostly woman. And so far, they weren’t numerous. I knew Rhea wanted to get into the Mathison house. Why? I had no idea.

  Hmm, there were instances where entities could attach themselves to objects within a house, just as they could attach themselves to the house, itself. That’s how Darla had come to arrive in Haven Hollow with Poppy. She’d attached herself to a box or something (I couldn’t quite remember what) and she’d hitched a ride from Poppy’s Los Angeles house to the old fixer-upper here in Haven Hollow. Of course, all that was long before Wanda had reanimated her.

  If Rhea was somehow attached to something in that house, then maybe that was the reason she wanted to get inside? But then I shook my head because I couldn’t fathom how she would have gotten separated from the object? As I understood it from Darla during the brief conversations we’d had, when a spirit was attached to an object, it couldn’t travel far from said object. Darla had been able to haunt Poppy’s house, only because the box to which she was attached was within Poppy’s house.

  Maybe the bigger question with regard to Rhea was: why couldn’t she just get into the house on her own? What was keeping her outside it? I guess I just didn’t know enough about ghosts in general to answer any of these questions.

  None of this made any sense at all and I suspected I might be able to understand more if I spoke with Tobias Mathison, the owner of the house. Yet, how would I even start that conversation?

  Excuse me, but a ghost won’t leave me alone and keeps telling me she wants to get inside your house.

  Yeah… no.

  I sat there contemplating all of this for a while, losing track of the time. When I finally snapped out of it, almost an hour had passed. I felt oddly out of sorts, almost like I was losing myself—like I wasn’t quite as aware as I used to be. It was an odd feeling.

  Standing up, I picked up the EMF meter again and tilted it toward me. It was still registering energy, but at a very low frequency. Whether that meant Rhea had left some sort of ghostly residue on me or she was still partly present herself was unclear, but I realized I had to shake this bizarre feeling off and get on with my life.

  I opened up my laptop and began typing a letter I’d been meaning to draft with regard to the interested gargoyle family that wanted to relocate to the Hollow. The letter was addressed to the council, which was silly because, currently, I was a member of the council. Yet, the rules were pretty antiquated, and this was just another example of how.

  When I was finished explaining the situation in the letter, I printed it and the envelope to go along with it. Then I opened my office door and walked out to reception.

  “Libby, I need this to go in the mail today,” I said as I gave Libby a smile. “Can you prepare it with a return receipt and get someone to take it to the post office before it closes?”

  “Absolutely.” Libby paused then and looked at me for a few seconds before frowning. “Are you okay?”

  “Of course,” I answered. “Why?”

  “Well, you just seem… different somehow—not your usual, happy self,” she answered as she cocked her head to the side and studied me. “Like you aren’t the same Fifi.”

  “I just have a lot on my mind,” I answered, and it was the truth.

  “Well, don’t let the little stuff blow up into big stuff, okay?” Libby said and reaching out, tapped my hand with her fingers.

  “Good advice,” I said, retreating back to my office, as I wondered how it was possible not to let the little stuff turn into the big stuff. And what even counted as the little stuff, anyway?

  As I sat down in my chair, I watched Bea walk by my office door several times, pretending like she wasn’t trying to check on me. I knew she wanted me to invite her in and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I just couldn’t handle the grilling I knew she’d give me. I was just suddenly exhausted—emotionally and otherwise.

  An image of the shadows surrounding Rhea suddenly welled up in my head, and I had to beat them away.

  ***

  The rest of the day was uneventful as I went about my work.

  I stayed busy and tried to avoid any employees who wanted to chitchat. Instead, I buried myself in my tasks with a certain level of numbness, my thoughts continuously returning to Rhea.

  All I could think about was how deeply unhappy she seemed and what I could do to help her. Intertwined with those thoughts were deep-down fears that maybe there was more to this whole story and that something ‘more’ could be sinister.

  At the close of the day, I handed the keys over to Angelo and told him to lock up after the employees left. Marty had already dropped by earlier to retrieve his equipment, but I’d asked him to leave me the one EMF meter, just in case Rhea happened to show up again. I was eager to see Marty to fill him in on the day’s events. And, of course, I wanted to see if we’d captured anything on the cameras.

  But, all of that would have to wait until after I ordered pizzas and then picked up a bit before my guests arrived. I always tried to keep the house fairly neat, but Angelo was famous for leaving his things laying around.

  “I’m sorry about poking fun at you earlier,” he said, looking at the keyring I’d handed him rather than directly at me.

  “Poking fun?” I asked, completely taken unawares by his apology. As I stood there in the lobby, about to walk out to the 4Runner, I tried to remember if he’d ever apologized to me before and I couldn’t think of one single instance.

  “People around the office were talking about you having a conversation with your chair earlier today and I might have egged it on a bit,” he said, shrugging as he finally looked up at me.

  I felt my mouth drop open, but not for the reasons one might think. “Wait a second,” I started, studying him intently. “Not only did you just apologize to me, which is basically unheard of for you, but you’re apologizing for something you said when I wasn’t even there?” He chuckled as he nodded. “Where is my brother and what have you done with him?”

  “Haha, Fifi.” Then he sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “But, seriously, there’s a part of me, deep down… somewhere… that feels… kind of bad about it.”

  “So you do have a soul after all… I was starting to wonder.”

  He frowned at me. “Are you done?”

  I smiled. “I think I’m done.” Then I remembered what he’d just said. “So… am I to assume Bea has a big mouth and told everyone I’m seeing things?” I asked, feeling hurt, but also defeated.

  “No,” Angelo answered. “From what I heard, there were a few people who witnessed you talking to your chair.”

  I’d tried to hide what I thought was my own looming insanity. And, yet, that had apparently failed miserably. How could I command respect from my employees if they thought I was losing my mind?

  “Well, now you can just tell them you saw Rhea for yourself and I’m not losing my mind,” I said, inhaling deeply. “If everyone knows the two of us saw her, then I don’t look crazy any more right?”

  “Right,” he answered, but by his tone, I could tell there was more to it than that.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Everyone thinks you need to feed more, Fifi,” he answered as I immediately started shaking my head. God, I hated this conversation. “They’re worried you’ve gone loopy from stress and hunger. And I’m not sure they’re wrong.”

  “I’ve been feeding from Roy,” I insisted.

  “Maybe not enough or not… fully enough.”

  I glared at him. “I’m not having this conversation with you.” Yeah, there was no way I was discussing my sex life, or lack thereof, with my brother.

  “Everyone is worried about you,” he replied, looking a bit embarrassed, probably over the same topic.

  “Well, they can stop worrying about me because I’m fine.”

  He nodded and looked away, wearing his discomfort. “So, what do you think that ghost woman is, anyway? What did you call her again?”

  I wasn’t surprised when he changed the subject. There was only so much of emotional conversations that Angelo could take. But, it appeared he was actually trying and that was commendable.

  “Rhea,” I answered. “And other than being some sort of spirit, I don’t know what she is. I’m actually not even fully sure she’s a ghost.”

  “She disappeared like a ghost.”

  “Right.” I shook my head at how frustrating the whole situation was.

  “It was so weird, but I could feel her pain when she was standing there,” Angelo said, shaking his head. “It was like her emotions were infecting me.”