One of the women stood up from her seated
position and walked her over to a chair, she then sat down once
again and said, “She didna’ leap o’ her own accord. She was pushed
by another spirit. McIntosh needed her sacrifice as a virgin an’
Conall’s soul-mate tae seals the curse. “
Looking very confused, Addie leaned in and
said, “How do you possibly know all this?”
“We ‘ave been waiting fer ye, fer o’er
twa-centuries. We are the coven o’ Fern, an’ we came the night
Addie was pushed from the window,” another answered.
Mouth dropping open she was about to protest,
when one of the women stood and cast a brilliant light into the air
and the moon came within her sight. It moved through the room as if
on air.
Gasping Addie tried to move, but the object
struck her face softly and for the first time in years she felt
completely calm and at peace. It was as if someone overdosed her on
valium.
“What was that?” she sighed.
“It be the magic o’ our coven an’ yer great,
great, great, great grandmother, the deceased Addie’s grandmother.
Even though Addie’s mother denounced her gift, we didna’, an’ we
‘ave been watchin’ o’er yer family fer centuries. We ‘ave summoned
ye ‘ere tae lift the curse.”
It was sheer craziness. She was the
descendent of witches?
“Aye, ye be.”
Addie looked to one of the older women
sitting directly across from her, and her eyes widened.
“Tha’ be, Ina. She can read thoughts,”
another woman said.
“Perhaps we should introduce ourselves. I be
Lorna, tha’ be, Nessie, Malvina, an’ finally, Shona. We are the
coven o’ Fern. We ‘ave been awaitin’ yer arrival. There has yet tae
be a girl bairn born within the Campbell family since the death. We
‘ave been consiprin’ an’ mixin’ potion after potion fer every
female who marries a Campbell man. Yer mother an’ father answered
our prayers. They ken o’ the curse, tha’ be why ye were raised in
the states. Howbeit, before they left they took the tonic an’ nine
months later ye were born.”
It was all too much to take in. She was
sitting with mad women. The effects of the moon spell they gave her
were wearing off, and she decided it was time to leave. Coming into
the tent was a mistake.
“Well, thank you very much for the
information, but I think you may have the wrong person,” she
finished lamely.
“The, gel, doubts us. Fine, hie away.
Howbeit, we will be close by. Remember ye can try tae change yer
fate an’ deny yer heritage, bu’ ye’re a part o’ our coven. Ye ‘ave
yer own talents, ye jest donna’ ken it yet. Make sure ye check yer
land’s borders, gel, it has no’ always been in yer families
keepin'. Keep yer eyes open an’ yer ears listenin’. Ye be learnin’
the truth soon enough. The Highlander donna’ knows abou’ us yet,
bu’ he soon shall. ”
Standing abruptly she ran from the tent and
back to the sanctuary of her home. When she reached the bathroom
and vomited, she felt faint. There were so many questions, scary
issues at hand that she had no ready answers for, which made her
feel crazed.
Standing abruptly, she felt the wind caress
her cheek and hair. Gasping she moved quickly away and hit the
door.
“Conall?” she whispered.
Just then an-unexplained warmth entered her
body, and she found a quick emotion of comfort. She relished the
feeling. It was wonderful and highly arousing. She felt as if she
was made for this embrace her entire life.
She walked slowly over to the sink and washed
her face and hands. It had been a very long emotional day, and she
was ready to turn in. She was suddenly exhausted. As she walked
back to her room, she left a note upon the couple’s door explaining
she did not feel well and was retiring to her room.
She felt bad that she had yet to eat a proper
meal with the couple, but it would seem her complicated life was
becoming much more complicated. She set her phone to wake her at
11:50 pm. She wanted to see Conall materialize this very night.
****
The gel was sick and Conall was worried. He
watched her from the window as she ran to the home at a quick
snapped pace. It was as if she had seen a demon, and in his
opinion, they did indeed exist. Watching her run into the bathroom
to rid her stomach of its contents had been upsetting. He wanted to
take his love into his arms and calm her, and ask her why she was
ill. However, being in his blasted state, he could not do so.
It was maddening and frustrating to say the
least. He just hoped Addie would allow him to touch her this eve
during the witching hour, for he wanted her warmth, more than he
wanted anything in his entire life.
****
A few hours later, Addie awoke to a bleeping
noise in the darkness. She felt around for her phone and shut off
the annoying noise, sitting up slowly and getting her bearings. She
walked to the lamp and clicked it on. She then turned, looked into
the mirror, and assessed her person. She looked a mess. Her hair
was tousled, and her eyes looked sleepy. Her clothing was in
disarray. She decided she looked like she’d had a good tumble.
Shrugging her shoulders and adjusting her
clothes, she walked from the room with a pad and pencil.
Having made her way to the attic, she pulled
up a chair and waited for midnight.
Just when the room began to change, light and
then mist was thrown up from the floor, a Highlander as gorgeous as
she remembered was standing in the middle of the room.
“Ach, lass, ye came,” he said.
Addie had no time to say a word to him for he
picked her up from her chair and kissed her soundly on the
lips.
When he lifted his mouth from hers to grab
some air, she was able to murmur, “Conall…”
Before she could complete her sentence, his
mouth was back upon hers in sweet torture. And she was lost in the
sensation of his skilled touch. It was madness. She did not know
him, and lastly, but most importantly the man was a ghost!
Oh, but how he could kiss! His lips tasted of
the sweetest wine, and his hands were expertly working her
shoulders and back as if she were an instrument.
No matter how crazed it was, she wanted this
man, this stranger, this apparition.
“Aye, lass, ye’re beautiful,” he stated, when
he finally let her come up for air.
“Conall...”
“Ach, say me name once again, sweetin’,” he
encouraged.
“Conall, let me go so we may talk,” she
gasped out the last word.
“Can we no’ speak with ye in me arms? I saw
ye expel yer stomach contents earlier,” he stated.
Sighing she tried to move away once more, and
replied, “Conall, we need to speak seriously. Please,” she
begged.
“Fine, fer exactly ' alf an 'alf an 'our we
may talk,” he warned.
She took a seat within the chair as Conall
then sat upon the floor. She noticed that he was as tall in his
seat as, she. He was a massive man.
“Conall, I visited the shops today, and I
have a conversation with some women who say this house is cursed
beyond your bounds. That there are other spirits within the
home.”
“Aye, tha’ be true, albeit, they li'e beyond
the pale. I can hear their tortured souls, bu’ I canna’ see ‘em,”
he explained.
She was not sure she should tell him that his
betrothed was pushed from the window. So making her mind up, she
skipped to the other part of her inquiry. She picked up her pad and
pencil from the floor and asked, “What exactly happened the night
of the curse, and what became of McIntosh?”
“Wha’ do ye ‘ave in yer hand?” he asked.
“Oh, I am writing a new novel, and I thought
to use the backdrop of my home and ancestors for a great story
line. I want the world to know of Addie.”
“Ye be writin’ a book abou', Addie?”
“Well, that is what I do for a living. I
write novels,” she explained.
“Ye work?” he continued.
“Yes. Yes, I do. I’m quite good at it,” she
smiled awkwardly.
He looked perplexed for a moment, but he
seemed to relax and smile at her. Feeling crazier by the minute,
she sat and listened to his tale of courtship and woe when Addie
passed away, and ending with the terrible curse.
After a time, he stopped speaking and Addie
had half a booklet full of notes.
“Now, I ‘ave told ye all I ken an’ remember.
Come ‘ere tae me,” he commanded.
Feeling a retort on her lips she stopped when
he stood and held out his hand to her.
Taking his offering like a robot, she stood
within his embrace and accepted his fiery kiss. His lips and tongue
sent her body up into flames. She could not think past the moment,
nor the fact that this man had been betrothed to her ancestor. She
only thought of her own selfish needs.
“I need tae ‘ave ye, Addie,” he gasped, her
name.
Pulling back she stated, “I, uh, have never,
uh…” she did not know how to finish her sentence.
“Ye be a virgin, an innocent?” he asked.
“Yes, I have been saving myself for Mister
Right, my husband.”
Oh God
, she thought. She sounded
completely dense. Who in this day and age was still a virgin in
their twenty’s?!
He looked into her eyes for a moment and
replied, “Guid, lass, guid. Ye needs tae keep yerself pure fer yer
weddin’ night. Howbeit, there be other acts o’ lo’emakin’ we can
consent tae, without the benefit o’ takin’ yer virginity.”
He could charm the very devil and Addie was
sore not to take him up on his tempting offer. However, as he
kissed her, the mist swirled around her legs and just as suddenly
as he appeared, he disappeared, leaving her alone, aroused, and
frustrated.
Chapter Six
Conall looked at her shaking in frustration,
and he could well imagine her current state. Even as a spirit he
could feel his throbbing cock, and he was shaking with the same
need as hers. He then watched as she pivoted on her foot and walked
out of the attic door. He could not help himself as he followed her
to her bedroom and made sure she placed herself under the sheets
for repose.
He remembered that his Addie had been full of
spirit and contradiction when he was wooing her the first time. It
had been a delicious torture to have her challenge him at every
turn.
He also remembered how she thwarted his
affections and denied her feelings for him. All by the name of
saving her grace, for he ignored her for the first seventeen years
of her life. However, now that she had his attentions she made him
work for her hand, which in the end had been triumphant and
devastating.
He firmed his jaw and set his shoulders. He
would let her do as she pleased until she was his wife. And just
the idea of them marrying brought thoughts of hand-fasting with her
delicious body. And images of that brought a curse to the
Highlander’s lips.
However, he stayed at his post near her
bedside and watched as her eyes refused to close. He felt bad that
she had no real idea yet of the meaning of the curse. He had no
real idea either. All he knew for sure was McIntosh cursed him into
the walls, and the curse added entities that he could not see, but
only hear. Conall had been subjected to repeatedly watch and feel
his beloved decent to the earth right before her passing. However,
funnily enough, the episodes stopped as soon as she entered the
home. Whatever witchery was behind this curse; she was the key. And
she was to be his wife. He would see to that. He loved the gel far
too much to let her go.
****
Addie awoke at dawn with a crick in her neck
and a feeling of coolness upon her face. She knew instinctively
that Conall was with her in the room.
“Good morning, Conall. Thank you for watching
over me,” she said, smiling at the last word.
She felt her hair whisper against her neck,
and a sexual thrill of desire coursed through her already
over-heated veins. Her thoughts scrambled as unbridled images of
his massive, thickly corded body came over her own in coital
purpose.
He would kiss her deeply in a way that she
had never been kissed before. His hands would move over her body in
ardent determination.
She had read many romance and erotica novels
to achieve the correct frequency in which her characters would make
love within the pages. However, feeling the real intimacy and
knowing what a, ‘zing,’ felt like, was addictive. And she knew that
Conall was the only man of her acquaintance, including Steven, who
could bring her to such a fever pitch, that she was very tempted to
bring her vow of celibacy until marriage to a non-existent
conclusion.
Shivering from her wayward thoughts, she
stood and went into the bathroom where she felt alone once
more.
At least, he is a gentleman ghost.
She
thought.
She turned the faucets on and waited for the
tub to fill. She wanted to indulge in a long, hot bath. Once the
tub was filled, she slipped into the water and sighed as her
muscles began to relax.
There were so many questions plaguing her
mind. Her time spent with the coven of Scottish witches yesterday
came barreling back to her mind. She wondered if she should tell
Conall of the incident. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know about
the incident. It scared her to think that they may be right about
her birth. That the only reason she was here was to bring the curse
off Conall and her ancestral home.
Then another thought struck her. They
expressed their desire for her to check her lands. What could they
possibly mean? Her home was bought by the original owner for his
wife and to bring Conall and the first Addie closer together.
She would have to go inquire as to where she
could find the original plans for the home. There was a mystery
here, and she was obsessed with finding the answer.
Finally letting her mind go blank she sighed
more deeply within the tub. It felt like heaven to have the warmth
wrap around her. The stresses of seeing her book come to fruition
and finding out about the mystery behind Conall’s curse melted away
as her eyes closed.