22. In the Moonlight

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Needless to say Susan was still in the Manor when we got back, giggling and commenting on the last hour at the guesthouse. She insisted on serving our dinner, and I almost had to push her out the backdoor to get her to leave.

As soon as I was done eating, I went down to the basement to check on Kujo. I didn't know why. I just felt I needed to make sure he was okay.

"Do I still smell of sage?"

"Stink."

"You mean thing!" I protested, laughing.

Joseph was still there, and I lingered with them, telling them about the cleansing. Back to the first floor, I was surprised I wasn't tired, but wide awake and ready to spend the whole night up.

Amy and Trisha were still at the kitchen table, watching something on TV, and Amy flashed a little smile when I told them I didn't feel like going to bed at all.

"What have you done to me, Amy Taylor?" I asked.

"When you perform a cleansing like today, you sort of channel energy that comes to you through your crown chakra, which is tuned to energy from above. It's clean, it's healing, and it's like a fucking sugar rush."

"Will I ever sleep again?"

"Sure. It wears off."

Only it didn't seem in any hurry to wear off. So when my friends called it a night, I went on to the third floor with a tea and a couple of cupcakes, intending to update my journal before I forgot details I wanted to write down.

I had just started with the Haunters' arrival when my phone buzzed. Who could be texting me at midnight? Yeah, well, guess who.

"It's that you on the third floor?"

Jeez! And I complained about Susan's control freak supervision. I shook my head, feeling a mix of annoyed, flattered and curious.

"Thought you'd still be sleeping."

"Just woke up, ready to roll. Hey, Fran, we forgot about the papers. I wanted to work on some editing, but I can't do shit without your signature."

Ha. That was Haunter charming for you.

"Can't we do it tomorrow?"

"If I can't work, you have to take a night stroll to the lake with me."

What the fuck? "You afraid of getting lost? It's only 1k feet away."

"Humor me. Full moon. Bet it's an awesome view."

"It's late and it's cold!"

"You bitch like an old lady."

Shit! I didn't know how to keep refusing, mostly because I didn't want to. I knew there had to be a catch, but I wasn't sure I cared. A sigh escaped my lips as I typed, deploring my feeble backbone.

"Meet you out in five."

So I bundled up for the cold night, tiptoed all the way down the stairs and sneaked out the backdoor.

He waited for me in the middle of the garden, keeping his distance from the Manor. Back to his black outfit, he reminded me of something I'd heard in many a ghost-hunting video: a shadow darker than the darkness around. That was Brandon Price under the stars, before the full moon rose above the woods. Not exactly an appealing figure to approach on that freezing dark night. The only pro was that he'd replaced his baseball hat with a beanie, which would allow me to see about an inch more of his shadowy face.

To my surprise, he showed me two beers in one gloved hand and reached out to grab mine with the other. All my alerts went off. Not because I thought he was out to do me any harm, but because it was completely out of character from the map of him I was outlining in my head since I'd first spoken with him.

I let him take my hand and lead me toward the Quabbin trail in no hurry. Funny, now that he was wearing gloves, he didn't seem to have any problem touching me. Was it some kind of phobia of skin-to-skin contact? No way. He wouldn't have stood the cleansing. Whatever. This man was so weird.

Don't ask me why, but we headed down the trail with our arms almost brushing each other. Maybe the dark woods made us stick closer together.

"I didn't expect you to join me," he said without raising his voice, glancing at me with a quick smile.

"Me neither," I replied before I could stop myself.

We chuckled under our breath, and he was about to say something more when a twig snapping behind us made him stop on a dime, phone already in hand. Of course the flashlight wouldn't show anybody there. Noticing how tense he was, I tapped his arm softly.

"It's okay, it's Edward."

He turned to me with a questioning frown. "One of the spirits? They don't let you go out at night alone?"

Crap. He wasn't gonna like the answer. "He's just keeping an eye on your parasites," I said, as softly as I could. "Just like Joseph is keeping an eye on Kujo. You can't blame them if they don't like having that kind of thing around, right?"

His frown was a full-out scowl for a heartbeat, then he rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Yeah, guess you're right." He put his phone back in his pocket and grabbed my hand again.

Okay, that had been way easier than I'd expected. We walked until the Quabbin showed past the end of the woods, and paused to admire the golden shimmer of the water framed by the dark arch of the last trees.

"Wish there was a camera that could capture this," I whispered, like speaking any louder would shatter the magic of the moment.

He just nodded, pressing my hand.

When we reached the shore, I took him to the fallen tree and we lingered looking around in silence for a long moment. Then he turned around, letting go of my hand.

"You think we can get a little fire going? It's fucking freezing."

"Why not? As long as we're careful."

I was then introduced to Brandon the Camper, who had a small campfire on in under ten minutes, including firewood to keep it going for a good while and stones to circle the pit. We sat on the cold pebbles before the fire with our backs against the fallen tree, hands stretched out to the flames.

"That's better," he said. He opened the beers and handed me one with his nice smile. "This was your first cleansing, right?"

"Jeez. That bad?"

He shook his head, chuckling. "Just shy. Like you were afraid of touching me."

"Well, I was, sort of." I shrugged. "You don't seem fond of touching people, so I didn't wanna make you feel awkward and distract you. Hope I didn't screw up."

He smiled wider. "You did well, don't worry."

Time to move on from the touching subject. "And how did it go for you? When Amy cleansed me, I sort of forgot about my body and saw myself here under the sun."

He shook his head again, this time turning back to the fire, frowning instead of smiling. "I've been getting cleansed and saged once a week ever since what happened here, and I know how to keep my mind eye closed, but it felt different this time."

"Different good or different bad?"

"I don't know. It was your hands." He sipped his beer, like forcing a pause to pick his words. "They cooled down the usual burning in the back of my neck, but you did something else."

"Whatever it was, swear it wasn't me."

He pursed his lips, only halfway to a smile. "It was like... Like I couldn't keep the black curtain I usually focus on. I saw a pale glow before me where your hands were."

He rested a hand on the back of my neck and scoffed when he felt me stiffen, completely taken aback. "Easy, I don't bite. So when you had your hand here, I saw this pale glow here." He held his beer a foot away from my chin. "And if you touched my chest, I'd see it here." He removed his hand from my neck and lowered the bottle to my chest's height. "I don't know if your friend's method is different, or if it was you, but it's the first time I see anything, let alone light."

It was such a grim picture, this man always clad in black, afraid of human touch, enslaved by the dark things feeding on him, living mostly at night and seeing only darkness when he closed his eyes. Was there any kind of out for him, to at least take a peek past the darkness that surrounded him at all times?

"That's one scary frown," I heard him say softly.

I realized I was staring blankly into the fire, oblivious to the man by my side because I was thinking so hard about him. I tried a tight smile.

"Sorry," I muttered.

He turned to bend his arm on the tree, which left his face only inches away from mine. I held his eyes, somehow managing to not let mine slide down to his lips. Until he flashed a little smile I thought I knew.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions and film your answers?"

I scowled at him. "Seriously? All this just to get a witness interview for your show?"

"Well, I thought this view is better than a small studio stuffed with lights, wires and people all around."

"Always so thoughtful."

"Can't help it." He produced his phone. "So?"

"As long as you don't ask me about the Blotters."

"C'mon! You're one tough bone, young lady."

"Get clean and I can try to get you an interview with the Blotters themselves."

"Okay, okay," he grunted. He moved to sit a couple of feet away, his back to the Quabbin, and aimed his phone at me. "First, I need you to state your name, and that you give me permission to use this footage on any Haunters episode or limited series."

I rolled my eyes and did as he said. And laughed out loud when he produced a fifteen-inches-tall tripod from a leg pocket of his cargo pants. He set it on the pebbles before his feet and looked up at me with a satisfied smile.

"I can't talk to that," I said, pointing at the phone.

"Forget about it. You're talking to me."

"I'm gonna suck at this. Consider yourself warned."

"Got a feeling you're gonna surprise me."

"Wait. If we're gonna do this, let's do this right. You're supposed to be filmed too, so you can intercut back and forth."

"Look at you, a whole expert in editing now."

I gave him the finger, which made him laugh, and grabbed my phone. After a little juggling, we were able to set it on the fallen tree, a few inches away from my shoulder, using the selfie cam to allow him to check if he was in frame.

He sat back behind the tripod, nodding slowly. "I like it. Your phone with me on screen shows in your frame. Nice touch, young lady. Now, tell me how you ended up living in Blotter Manor."

I breathed deep, hoping the fire wouldn't show how bad I was blushing, and pleased Lord Price as usual. However, he behaved like it was just an ordinary conversation, and his way to lead it helped me loosen up little by little. Soon I was talking to him like he were Trisha or Padme, and he reacted just like any friend would. I stuck to my side of the story, my own experiences and feelings, leaving out any private information about the Blotters.

By the time we were done, we were both joking and laughing, our phones were out of battery, the moon had cruised across the sky to hide behind the woods again and the fire was all but out.

"Oh, my," he mumbled, still chuckling as we stopped the recordings. "Coming from any other person, I wouldn't have believed half the things you said. But for some reason, I believe you."

I blushed so hard my ears burned. Good thing it was so dark, with the moon gone and the fire dying. Just in case, I turned away with the excuse of retrieving my phone.

"We should go back," I said, zipping up my jacket and rubbing my arms.

"Okay, let's put this out."

He stood up and went to the shore with the empty bottles, bringing water to pour on the last embers. I helped him kick dirt on top of the wet ashes.

"Hopefully, we won't wake up to a wildfire," I said.

He grabbed phone and tripod, and I honestly didn't think much of it when he took my hand again to stroll back to the Manor.

"You really don't feel deprived of your privacy?" he asked for the third or fourth time.

"Not at all. It's like living with your parents. Everybody has their own stuff and routines, and you get together a couple of times a day, to share a meal or a movie."

"It still sounds batshit crazy."

"Because it is! And that's exactly why it's so awesome."

"You do love these spirits."

"Hell yeah."

We were already halfway across the garden, so I stopped, tugging at his hand to make him stop too. He faced me with that nice warm smile I dreaded, especially like this, from only inches away. I wished I could see his eyes, to try to guess why he was smiling that way. His gloved fingers pressed mine as he took my hand to his chest.

"Thanks for sharing all this," he said, his voice matching his smile in the right way to make my heart race. "Your time, your story, your feelings."

"What else are you gonna ask of me now?" I said, trying to play tough to cover for the avalanche of chills playing rollercoaster up and down my spine.

"When did you say I'd be free of surveillance?"

"When it's only you, parasite-free."

"Two days?"

"Three tops."

He took my hand to his lips, kissing my fingers.

"You'll find out what I wanna ask of you when I can be really alone with you," he whispered, his lips still brushing my skin.

The bastard! Had it not been because of Edward somewhere nearby, I would've jumped on him right there and there.

"Night, Brandon," I forced myself to say.

He let go of my hand gently. "Night, Fran."

Somehow, I found enough will to turn my back on him and hurry away toward the backdoor. To go look out from the closest window in the dark kitchen, and watch him head to the guesthouse in no hurry, head down and hands in his pockets. 


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