Phantom Touch #1 (Ghost Paranormal Romance) Read online

all go home."

  "Not gonna listen to you!" he shrieked.

  Rob rushed Brent, who swung at him with the branch. He connected with Rob's face and the big boy went down. His back slammed into the ground, but that didn't even knock the air out of him. He was too drunk to notice. Rob scrambled up with the knife still in his hand and turned his fury on me. I was unarmed and definitely much weaker than him. He gave a roar and charged at me.

  I admit it; I screamed like a girl and turned tail. There was no way I could doge his slashes, and even if I did he'd slam into me with his much heavier body. I ran up the old road and reached the low gate. It was one of those old panel ones where there were bars that ran from one end to the other. I grabbed the top and swung myself over the top. Not a small feat considering it was about four feet high and I was a hair over five feet.

  I hit the ground running and in a few seconds heard Rob clambering over the gate. Brent was in the background yelling at both of us, but I wasn't going to be stopping for anybody, not even the devil. The road climbed up a small hill and on both sides ancient trees sprouted from the ground. Their branches hung heavy over the path and the tombstones that pushed up from the thick layer of leaves. My feet pounded hard against the tough ground and I slipped a few times on the wet leaves and weeds that littered the road.

  Rob huffed and puffed right behind me. He was in decent shape, but his being drunk gave me the advantage. Besides that, I had a shit load of adrenaline at my disposal and was using all of it. The leaves flew up in my wake and I crested the top of the hill to find myself in a grove much larger than I ever imagined the place to be. The road stretched out and disappeared behind a curve past a large boulder. To the left and right lay the scattered monuments of the dead. Mausoleums, tombstones, weeping angels, everything imaginable lay on this forsaken plot of dirt. To add to the creepiness, most of it was covered in a thin layer of fog. It slowly floated over the ground, slipping between the graves and in and out of the tree branches.

  I didn't have too much time to admire the spooky scenery because Rob wasn't that far behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Brent was struggling to catch up, what with that big branch in his hand, so that meant I was on my own. I got off the open path and ran along the bumpy ground between the graves. Rob had a harder time keeping his already impaired balance, but I didn't dare look back. All I saw was the way in front of me as I dodged beneath branches, around bramble bushes and across the beds of the dead. It felt like my lungs would burst, but still I kept running. The graveyard felt like it had no end.

  I didn't even notice I'd managed to lose him until my foot kicked a tree root. I stumbled forward and caught myself before I fell head first into a pile of rotting leaves. I thrashed on the ground for a few moments before I rolled over onto my butt. That got me looking around. Brent was nowhere in sight, but thankfully neither was Rob. I was alone.

  "Hello?" I croaked out. My throat was dry from all the harsh breathing. "Brent?" No answer.

  Then I froze. I thought I'd heard something creak. I slowly, stiffly turned around and my eyes widened when they fell upon a large mausoleum. It towered over me with its white walls covered in dying and dead vines. Trees grew up from beneath the foundation and their trunks hugged the sides while their branches loomed over the roof. The entrance was likewise encased in the shadow of those limbs, and I noticed the door was made out of old, half-rotten wood. It was also ajar. Not by much, but enough for me to notice a dark void between the door and the frame.

  The wind picked up and cast a breeze along the ground. The door got hit and creaked a little. I breathed out a sigh of relief. That's all it was, just that stupid door getting pushed around by the wind. That's when I saw something move near the door. My heart and breathing stopped as I twisted around to see what it was. No good, I had to swing my body around to face it. I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd just ran back the way I'd come and not been so god damn curious.

  When I turned around all I saw was shadows. Not just any shadows, though, these moved against the light from the sky. They crawled down from the roof of the mausoleum, onto the wall and turned toward the far corner away from me. A tree had nestled its trunk against the side of the low building, and the shadow slunk between the half inch-wide space between the rotting vegetation and the wall. I waited breathless for the shadow to creep to the other side of the tree, but I wasn't prepared for a man to step out from behind the trunk.

  He was tall, about six foot, with dark black hair slicked back but for a few short strands that brushed across his forehead. His face was definitely handsome, with pale blue eyes and a chiseled nose like those you see on Greek statues. His face was thin but not pointed, and his lips were a luscious red. He wore a black, plain shirt with buttons down the center, and his pants were clean and fancy, like dress pants for a wedding except they were black. His shoes were simple and also black.

  I would have been glad for him to be looking at me if he didn't give off such a creepy vibe. It was unsettling the way he stood so still staring at me with those eyes that were so pale they almost glowed in the dark. I jumped back when he swept his arm out in front of himself and bowed at the waist.

  "Good evening," he greeted me. His voice held a hint of an accent. Not foreign, just old-fashioned, like he was speaking the words in a way that wasn't used any more. Clearly and concisely.

  "Um, h-hi," I replied.

  "You are a long time in coming," he continued.

  "What?" My end of this conversation wasn't exactly intelligent, but his was just downright confusing. I glanced around hoping to see any of the others, even Rob, but nobody was there. We were completely alone. "I know this sounds crazy, but my boyfriend chased me in here and I've sort of lost my way. Could you tell me how to get out?"

  "Why would you wish such a thing?" the man asked me.

  I pulled my arms up against my chest as he eyed every inch of my body with his careful, unblinking gaze. He never made a move that wasn't necessary. Heck, I couldn't even see him breath. "Because I have to get back to my dorm. I have homework to do tomorrow and-"

  The man took a slow, careful step toward me and that shut me up. I likewise took a step back to keep my distance, and he stopped. Those pale blue eyes looked into mine, and suddenly the world changed. It wasn't that everything stopped, but that I was pulled out of the world. I no longer felt the breeze against my cheeks or the crunch of the leaves beneath my shoes. Even my arms and legs were no longer a part of me as their weight was lifted from my commands. It was both a freeing and terrifying sensation. The burden was lifted, but so was the control.

  Then I stepped forward. I hadn't commanded myself to move. I should have been terrified and trying to scream or shout, but I couldn't. Correction, I just didn't want to. His eyes had me, all of me, body and mind, though there was a deep fear inside me that tempered my eagerness to follow his will. My feet led me forward and stopped me in front of him. I gazed up into his face, captured by those eyes, and he smiled down on me. He reached up a hand and cupped my chin between his fingers. For all my numbness I could still feel him, and my lips parted in a quiet gasp. His fingers were cold, as cold as the grave.

  "Are you afraid of me, little one?" he whispered to me. He leaned in to where his lips brushed against mine. My body trembled against the touch. "Do you shake with fear, or something else? Excitement, perhaps? Eagerness?"

  I couldn't reply, but he wasn't expecting any. Being so close to his smoldering eyes, I felt myself falling into a dark place filled with shadows and whispers. Inside such a place I was alone, and yet not, because he was there with me, guiding me through the darkness into a world I couldn't fathom. His voice came to me as though echoing down a long passage.

  "So lovely. I have lost so many, but you are here now, and I will not let you leave me."

  Through my dark daze I watched him lean closer. Our lips touched, and then pressed against one anothe
r. The kiss was deep and forceful, but not rough. He parted my lips but his tongue didn't come to play. Instead I felt a tingle through my mouth as a wisp of something slid down my throat. My body took in the wisp and responded with a flush of heat. A blush danced across my cheeks, and when he finally pulled away he mischievously smiled down at me.

  "That is only a taste of what I offer," he told me. He reached up one of his hands and softly brushed his fingers along my cheek. "Would you like to feel more?"

  I didn't have the power or will to refuse, and he swooped in for another deep, passionate kiss.

  "Jess! Jess!"

  Somebody was calling my name. That broke the spell. I gasped out when I felt the weight of the world rush back to me. My limbs were my own, the leaves crunched beneath my feet once more, and the breeze chilled me to the bone. The man snapped his head up and looked over my own. His smile turned to a scowl, and the expression twisted his face into a mask of hatred and annoyance. I cringed back from such a face and tried to free myself from his grasp. He looked back down to me, no longer the lover but something different, something not of this world. It both frightened and excited me.

  "Jess, you okay?" This time I was able to recognize the voice as