Leanne paced our room. “What was Madame Woods—or that thing that possessed her—talking about?” she asked.
Oliver lay back on my bed, eating chocolates and reading a Cosmo magazine. “Really chickadee?” he said, not bothering to tear his gaze away from the “Six Sensual Tricks Sure To Make Him Stay.” “It seemed pretty obvious to me. Even the devil has the hots for Gabrielle,” he said, popping a chocolate into his mouth.
“Ugh, Oliver,” I said, “don’t put it like that.”
He raised his eyebrows and laid the magazine on his stomach. “Then how should I put it? That the devil and his little cloven hooves want to—”
I put a hand up. “Please don’t finish that sentence. And Leanne, I can answer your question.”
I’d meant to tell my friends about the man in the suit, but the moment just never seemed right. Now, however, they deserved to know that I came with a little extra baggage—okay, a lot of extra baggage.
I looked from Oliver to Leanne and took a deep breath. “Remember how people had tried to kill me at the beginning of the school year?”
Leanne nodded and Oliver popped another chocolate into his mouth.
“Well, one of those people who stalked me was someone I call the man in the suit. He’s haunted me all my life. And the day Bishopcourt—Andre’s mansion—burned, I found out that he may be the devil.” Except it wasn’t maybe. He was the devil. I just wasn’t comfortable with that piece of information.
Leanne’s brows furrowed. “What does he want?”
I gave her a sad smile. “Me.”
***
I lay in my bed in the middle of the forest. The white gown I wore looked like snow against my skin. I stared at the night sky above me. Stars shone between the treetops. A chilly wind blew through the forest and someone rubbed my arms.
That was when I realized I wasn’t alone in my bed.
“Do you want this?” the stranger whispered in my ear. “You can have it all.”
I turned my head to see him. The pale moonlight cast his face in blue hues. His face was perfect—strong jaw, full lips, thick lashes that fringed bedroom eyes. At the moment, I did want it all. Oh yes please I did.
But what about Andre? Something about this situation felt wrong.
“No . . . I can’t.” I pushed against the man. His hands moved to my upper arms, and he held me in place.
“What do you think you’re doing? Get off of me!” I struggled against him.
His nails dug into my arms and I woke up gasping for air. Just a dream.
Only, the man was still on top of me.
I let out a bloodcurdling scream.
On the other side of the room Leanne woke up gasping. “Gabrielle, are you okay?”
“Get the fuck off of me!” I yelled at the man.
I figured that would answer Leanne’s question.
Lucky for me, my strength gave me an edge. I catapulted him off me, and I heard him grunt as he hit the floor.
The light in our room clicked on and a naked man scrambled up.
Ew, ew, ew! A naked man had been in my bed! At the moment, I didn’t really care that he was a perfect specimen of the male species; I was about ready to toss him out my window.
“What the . . . ?” Leanne’s voice trailed off as the man clambered to his feet. He didn’t even bother covering himself up. “What’s a naked man doing in your bed? I thought we had a code for these kinds of things Gabrielle. Not cool.”
“What?” I squeaked. “I didn’t bring him in! He just made himself comfortable.”
The man looked back and forth between the two of us. And then his form blurred until he vanished completely.
What. The hell.
***
“Goddess above,” Leanne said, “what was that?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea,” I said, still creeped out that he’d been in my bed. I glanced at my upper arms. Half moon divots were still impressed into my skin from the man’s fingernails.
“How the hell did he disappear?” Leanne asked.
I rubbed my face with a hand. “I have absolutely no idea.” And I had no idea how to prevent something like that from happening again in the future.
“So you really didn’t invite him in?”
I gave her a look. “Did you really have to ask?”
“Well, he was pretty easy on the eyes . . .”
“Leanne.”
She held her hands up. “Okay, okay—I just had to give you a hard time about it.”
We both stared at the place where he disappeared.
Leanne cocked her head. “He had really big—”
“Man bits?” I finished for her.
“Yeah.” A slow smile spread across her face. “Oliver is going to be so jealous.”
***
At 4:00 a.m. the following morning my phone went off.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumbled.
“No,” Leanne moaned. “Turn off that hellbeast.”
I silenced the phone and rolled out of bed. I could already guess the caller.
Once I exited my room I answered my silenced phone. “I don’t think I like investigations,” I opened.
“Too bad,” Maggie said. “I don’t think our victim likes being dead either. We need you to come in. Another person has been murdered.”
***