Seduction of Souls (12 page)

She
smiled.  “It feels so serene.  Can you smell the lilies of the valley?  This is wonderful.  I can’t believe the difference in the atmosphere from one second to the next.  Like someone flipped a switch and everything changed.”

“That was the goal.”  Everett clapped Ryker on the back, a huge smile spread across his face.

“Ryker, you were right, what a transformation.  I’m afraid to ask this but here it goes, how long will it last?”

“Hopefully forever, but just in case
, I’ll leave some sage with you.  If you ever suspect an evil or oppressive spirit has made its way inside, you know how to cleanse the house yourself.  In all my years of experience I’ve never had the same spirit come back after being forced out, but then I would never claim it couldn’t happen.  You know the saying, never say never.  Everett put his arm around RayeAnn’s shoulder and gave her a quick hug of reassurance.

“Well then, one down one to go.  How soon can we join Charity and Nathaniel’s spirits?”

“Why, are you in a hurry to get rid of me?”  Ryker put his hand to his heart as if wounded by the question.

“No!  I’m just a sucker for a happy ending.  Besides, I think they’ve waited long enough, don’t you?”  She walked up to Ryker and pulled him to her, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.  Looking up
, she kissed him gently on the chin after going up on her tip toes as far as possible.  For the second kiss he bent to meet her lips, brushing his mouth gently over hers. 

“If you two love birds can pull away for a minute we can schedule a channeling session and see if we can get our spirit friends reunited.”  Everett smiled broadly, running his hand through his thinning grey hair.  He headed up the steps
.  Ryker and RayeAnn trailed behind, keeping their arms around each other’s waists as they walked together into the kitchen.

Suddenly reality slapped
RayeAnn hard in the face.  What a mess she had on her hands.  Knowing all the other rooms were in pretty much the same shape, she let a moan escape.

“Well, I know what I’ll be doing for the foreseeable future.  I have a confession to make, I hate cleaning. 
When Bryn and I shared the apartment she did the cleaning.  Do you think I could bribe her with a spa day if she’ll help me?”

“Oh yeah, she’d do it for you.  Even I know how much she likes to be pampered, and I don’t even live with her…much
,” Ryker agreed.

RayeAnn
apologized.  “Sorry Everett, I’m sure you want to get home and here I am babbling about my own problems.  When would you like to hold the…meeting, I guess you’d call it?”

“How about Monday night?  I’ve got some other commitments this weekend
, and I want to make sure Gideon doesn’t find a way back inside.”  Everett offered.

RayeAnn
couldn’t agree fast enough.  “That would be great.  Ryker, will that work for you?”

“Yep
,”  Ryker agreed.  “Everett how many people do you need here for the séance?”

“Well
, the more the better.  We’ll need a lot of energy to pull Nathaniel to us, so the more the merrier.”

“All right, I’ll make sure we’re full up on Monday night.  Do you have any objections to
our taping this in both video and audio realms?”

“No, not at all.  I’ll see you both Monday night, say seven o’clock?”

“Perfect.  Thank you for all you’ve done for me.  I can’t believe the contrast in the feel of the house.  It’s just wonderful.”  RayeAnn placed a small kiss on his cheek before walking him to the front door.  “I’ll see you Monday.”

As soon as the door was closed she leapt into Ryker’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing him frantically.  He walked her up the steps to her bedroom
.  Their lips stayed locked in a passionate embrace of their own.  Laying her down, he slowly began to undress her, one slow, agonizing button at a time.

“Hurry.” She dove for his shirt, not wanting to take the time to unbutton it, but his hands stopped her as he nodded
. 

“
Nope, not this time, little lady.  This time we’re going to slow it down.  I’m taking my time so I can devour every square inch of you.”

“But…”

“All right, I can start there if you want.”

His eyes grew dark, his gaze piercing as he moved slowly onto the bed.   This was going to be torture
.  Sweet exciting anticipation crept along her spine, bringing the heat with it.  He turned her gently onto her stomach and started at her feet, nipping and sucking his way up, stirring her heated body to an almost painful level of excitement.  Never had she been so aroused, so sure she wouldn’t survive his slow assault.  She thought for sure she would explode.  Her excitement practically shook the bed across the floor.  She grabbed the rungs of the brass headboard, trying to brace herself for his anticipated thrust into her body.  Instead, he deftly flipped her onto her back and started all over again, this time over the front of her body.  His erection was hot against her leg as he worked his way around her painfully tight nipples with his lips and tongue. 
Did he have no mercy? 
She thought to beg, but couldn’t get her mouth to form the words.  Her chest heaved while she struggled to breathe.

Finally he spread her legs wide
.  “Open your eyes, I want you to see who is making you come.”  His eyes were nearly black with passion.  Too overcome to speak, she nodded once.  Before she could nod again, he thrust into her with one hard surge.  It was her undoing.  Her world burst into a million particles, her vision blinded by the fireworks going off.  Once twice, three times her world shattered, only to pull together and shatter again. 

“That was… remarkable.” 
RayeAnn  sighed  as she lightly caressed his chest.  “I’ve never been so completely satisfied in my life.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.  Sex with you is so much
better than ever before.  Why do you think that is?”  Ryker ran his hands gently through her hair as he spoke.

“I have no idea.   I’m just thankful and hungry.”  She bolted out of the bed and ran down the steps.  Ryker’s hot breath heated her naked back as he followed her to the kitchen.  After downing a few cookies and grabbing some water bottles they made their way back up the steps.  Together they got under the covers and snuggled.

A
slamming door woke RayeAnn from a doze.  The loud gasp made her turn over and kiss Ryker.

“We have company,” Ryker muttered.

RayeAnn groaned.  “Time to get back to reality.”

RayeAnn heard a door slam, followed by Tim’s expletive.  “Holy shit!” 

It reminded her that she still had a full day of work ahead of her. 

“
RayeAnn!  Where are you?”  RayeAnn grabbed Ryker’s hand and dragged him out of her bedroom door. 

Bryn grimaced. 
“Oh, hey, ummm, sorry?”

“No problem.  Actually
, you’re just the person I wanted to see, Bryn.  Come talk to me while I get a quick shower and get dressed.”

“No way.  I know that tone in your voice…you want something and I have a pretty good guess what it is.”  She waved her ar
m over the mess all around her. 

“But you know that’s not why you’re my friend, right?  I’ll give you a day at a spa as an added incentive.”

“Which spa?”  Bryn was playing hardball, RayeAnn realized.

“Your choice.  Of course I’ll have to come along just to make sure everything’s
to your satisfaction.”

“Of course…deal.  Where do you want me to start?”

“Kitchen first.  You might need Tim to help get the knives out of the floor, they’re lodged in there pretty tight.”

“All right, I’m not going one step further until you tell me how they got there.  Why does it smell so good in here
?  You’d think with this kind of mess it would stink to high heaven.”

“It’s all part of the story.  Let me grab a quick shower while you make the coffee.”  She turned back into her room before Bryn could object, laughing to herself on the way to the shower.

Four hours later
, with the help of Tim and Ryker, they had the house almost completely back to normal, leaving the basement and attic for another time.  At least it was livable again.  To her surprise, very little had been broken, they mostly just put things to rights and mopped and vacuumed.

In celebration of their major accomplishments
, Ryker ordered in Chinese food.  It was fun to just sit around and spend time together, just the four of them, almost as if it were an everyday occurrence to clean up after a major spirit had ripped the hell out of her house. 

“So
, Bryn, now that everything’s back to normal, when are you moving back in?”

The look of guilt between Bryn and Tim told
RayeAnn all she needed to know.  With a heavy heart she didn’t wait for her answer.  “You’re not coming back, are you?”

“Oh Raye, it’s not that I don’t love you.  It’s just that Tim and I want to see how things go for us…together.”

“You mean as a couple?  From what I’ve seen here today, this could be the real deal for both of you.  I understand, but that doesn’t mean I won’t miss you.  We’ve lived together since college and been friends since middle school.  I’m not sure I’m ready to give that up, but I guess I have no choice.”  Ryker put his arm around her shoulder, giving her a little squeeze.

“Don’t worry
, RAT, you still have me.”  He fluttered his eyelashes at her, making her burst into laughter.

“Yeah, right up until we reunite Charity and Nathaniel, then you’ll be moving on to the next case somewhere in Timbuktu.”  The thought suddenly terrified her. 
Until now she hadn’t let herself think about the future of their relationship.  Now that she not only thought about it but said the words out loud, it was more horrifying than living with a violent ghost.  She could already feel the loneliness creeping under her skin, causing a little spasm of her heart as it settled there.  She desperately blinked back the tears that tried to fight their way out of her eyes.  Now was not the time to lose it.  Anxious to change the subject, she blurted out the first question that came to her mind.

“You will come for the séance though, right?  Everett said the more people here the better the chances of success.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.  I love a happy, sappy ending.”  Bryn hugged RayeAnn, then she pulled away, grinning. 

“Count me in
, too.”  Tim grabbed Bryn’s hand and held it.

“Then it’s a date.  I wonder, what do you serve people at a séance?”

“What else, Bloody Mary’s, Zombies, Banana Banshee, Ecto Plasm.” Bryn held up her fingers as she began to count the number of items on her list.

“Spoken like a true barmaid.  Maybe I’ll make some cookies in the shape of body parts?”

“Umm, all right.  I was thinking more along the lines of cheese balls and crackers, but if that’s what you want, it’s your house.”

“You’re such a traditionalist
,” RayeAnn complained.

“And on that note I think it’s time for us to take off.  I just realized it’s after midnight already.  Ready to go
, Tim?”

“After you, my dear.  We’ll see you both tomorrow night for the séance.  If you need anything
, you know how to contact us.”

“Right.  Thanks for all the help today.”
  RayeAnn stood at the door and watched until their car turned out of her driveway.  She was going to miss seeing Bryn every day.

After RayeAnn and Ryker had brought all the dirty dishes back into the kitchen, she started to load them into the dishwasher.  She was way too rattled to go to sleep.  The thought of both Bryn and Ryker deserting her kept her on the verge of tears.  Her heart started to pound violently in her chest when she felt his arms circle her waist.  His lips nuzzled the back of her neck, kissing her gently before his hands began to roam over her body.  He pressed his erection against her back while his hands worked their magic on her body, exciting her through her own despair.

“I’m not planning on going anywhere after the séance, you know.  We haven’t really talked about…us.  I want to stay
, if you’ll still have me after the séance.  I really care about you, RAT.  More than I’ve cared for anyone…ever.  Hell, I guess I’m trying to say that I’ve sort of fallen in love with you.”

Tears that she had fought for so long refused to hide any longer, streaming down her face with relief.  She turned slowly toward him
.  Not bothering to hide her tears, she looked him straight in the eyes. “Oh God help me, I love you, too.”

Moving even closer to her
, he let his forehead touch hers before giving her a long, lingering kiss.  She melted into a puddle of molten heat, slowly wrapping her legs around his waist while her arms circled his neck, taking in his delicious taste and smell.  Totally submerged in him, she didn’t even realize he had started to move toward the living room until he laid her gently on the couch. 

Slowly he unbuttoned her blouse, pulling it apart to look at the skimpy scraps of lace that encased her
breasts.  As she unhooked the clasp in the center to free her breasts, her nipples hardened for him.  The need coursed through her like fast moving rapids.  She clasped her breasts in her hands, offering them to him, inviting him to feast on them as she began to squirm with excitement.  Like a flash he was naked and on his knees, suckling the hard pebbles while his hand crept to her core with taunting little circles.