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  Maddy took in the sight of this young ghost and wondered what she would be like in a few years, even in a few months after living here in St. Augustine. Even now after only being recently created, it was clear that she was an exceptional being. Clarissa possessed a powerful soul that with enough time and encouragement could easily rival the aged ghosts who ran the oldest city. And they might not be so pleased to know that someone could usurp their authority in the world of the dead.

  “Would you like to come and see your rooms now, Clarissa? I’ve set you up in one of the rooms that face the front yard and the city. You can see a bit of the church from your bedroom.”

  Clarissa tilted her head, a single nod. “Thank you, Maddy.”

  They had agreed earlier to set aside formality and call each other by first names from now on. Madeline was accustomed to being called Maddy. At first it was only Henry who had called her by such a name and then it had suddenly caught on until she was Maddy to everyone as well.

  Clarissa followed Maddy up the narrow staircase to the second floor. At the moment Clarissa was the only dead resident staying at the house. Henry and the others in the city had homes of their own and after a time so would Clarissa. It was one of the requirements that all ghosts asked for, a home of their own where they could be at peace and feel safe. It was obviously something left over from their living days.

  Maddy told Clarissa about her grandson, Jackson. He would be over some time tomorrow afternoon after school. A senior in high school, he didn’t have any future plans for himself after graduation. Maddy knew he would figure it all out in time. His parents were constantly away on business trips and so left their only son with his grandmother a lot. It was clear that he loved his grandmother despite it being un-cool for someone his age to want to hang out with an old woman. And it was clear that Maddy loved her grandson unconditionally.

  Jackson could see ghosts just as easily as his grandmother. Another thing his parents found disturbing about their son. Conversing with the dead was not something they approved of and they secretly hoped that he would go away to college and forget all about his grandmother’s gifts and her paranormal friends. But so far Jackson had no intention of ever stopping his visits to St. Augustine or his grandmother any time soon.

  “I hope your stay here will be pleasant enough. I know it must be difficult sharing with a living. But I promise that as soon as things can be arranged we will find you a place of your own.”

  They had by now reached the landing and were making their way down the silent hallway to Clarissa’s room. “You must be exhausted from your journey.” She opened the door on her left, letting Clarissa walk through first.

  Clarissa was tired, an improbability considering she was dead and no longer needed sleep to survive. But she was wary. She just wanted to rest in peace, to think about her new circumstances and to simply relax her brain. Going to the window that faced the front yard and the city, the river and sea coast beyond. Lights illuminated the old city and somewhere out in the night the flesh-eaters were taking down the living like cattle.

  What did they look like, she wondered? What poor soul was being taken down by them at this moment, exterminated by the monsters of the night? It was a strange world she found herself part of, the dead and the living so close yet never completely united. The ghosts allowed them, the living, to be sacrificed to these undead corpses and they thought that was okay. It wasn’t, not by any standards okay to condone murder.

  Clarissa drew the curtains closed, turning away from the window, trying to block out the image of a living being consumed by an animal of the night. Instead she took a close look at her rooms. Her space consisted of a small sitting room which she was now standing in. A connecting French door, that was now set open, led into a moderately sized bedroom. The entire apartment was outfitted in reproduction antiques, though some of the pieces were likely authentic. The style of the décor was elegant and stately, dating to a time in American history that enjoyed luxury, turn of the twentieth century or slightly earlier.

  “Is there anything I can get for you?” Maddy questioned as Clarissa moved about the sitting room, touching objects as she passed: a crystal vase of flowers, a ceramic bowel and pitcher, a lace doily that lay on a circular end table. She touched these things because she wanted to see that she could.

  “No, thank you though.” Clarissa responded quietly, not looking at the woman, still lost in her own thoughts. She took a seat on an upholstered arm chair, folding her pale hands on her lap. She looked down at her hands, running her fingers along her jeans. “I’m a little tired it’s true, but you don’t need to fuss over me. I can take care of myself.”

  Maddy nodded her head in understanding. “Okay,” she said. “If you need anything, remember I’m in the room across the hall from yours.” She backed out of the room, taking hold of the brass doorknob. “Good night, Clarissa. I’ll see you in the morning.” With that said, she pulled the door closed, leaving Clarissa alone with her thoughts.

  Chapter 4-

  “Did you rest all right last night, Clarissa? Mrs. Connors told me over the phone that you kept your lights on all night.” Eleanor had phoned the house earlier that morning for a quick chat with Maddy and to see how her newest guest was doing.

  Maddy had said that Clarissa seemed a little out of touch, distant and quiet. But that was to be expected. She said she thought Clarissa was a nice young woman who would fit in well with the rest of the community. Eleanor had agreed with that and informed the older woman that she would be over to pick Clarissa up so she could take her around town and have some girl time before Richard would join them.

  Clarissa had been sitting quietly in the front parlor while Mrs. Connors was doing a bit of light cleaning before her living guests arrived. On Fridays her ladies group came over to socialize and most importantly to gossip about town affairs. The group was a cross between the Red Hat Ladies club and the occult. They didn’t sacrifice any animals or pray to any mythological deities. They were just a couple of grown women who happened to have close ties with the supernatural world.

  Eleanor had noticed how drawn into herself Clarissa was, a total contrast from the woman she had seen leave with Henry last night. She had seemed so happy then and now she appeared extremely reserved.

  “The truth is I’m just trying to understand how I fit into all of this; my role in this world. And when Henry was taking me home last night he told me about theses flesh-eaters that the community allows to have the city during the night, using it as their hunting grounds. I guess Henry freaked me out a little.”

  “Henry doesn’t always know how to explain things the right way.” Eleanor took Clarissa’s hand into the crook of her arm, patting it in comfort. “I’m sorry if he scared you. That was not his intention. He’s a very protective man, very rare in these days. It’s just that you are so inexperienced in this world, he wanted you to be safe.”

  “Henry said I can’t go out at night, at least not on my own. So if I want to do anything after dark I have to be chaperoned like a little kid. He explained that these flesh-eaters are permitted free reign over the city and if they saw me I could get hurt, killed even.”

  They were shopping today. Clarissa was still wearing the clothes she had woken up in at the hospital; the clothes she had died in. Shopping was a task that irritated Richard. He had made clear that he would rather die all over again than be forced to go shopping with Eleanor.

  The Eidolon community had several dressmakers on hand who catered to a specific dead clientele. Just because they were dead didn’t mean they couldn’t be up on the last trends in the fashion world. Like the food they could create, the ghosts had to have clothes specifically created for their non-corporal forms using an alternate technique from the living, again with the use of magick.

  “That is true,” Eleanor answered. “But you have to understand that when they come over that bridge they have only one objective, to feed.” Eleanor knew quite a bit about the supernatural beings in this
world. She did her best to try to understand them even if their lifestyle abhorred her.

  “Why don’t they stay on their side of the city, on the island? Why do they come over the bridge at all into the downtown area?” Not that that would be any more acceptable. The livings on either side of the river were in danger from these undead flesh-eaters.

  “They prefer to have access to the city and downtown area on our side and to use the island purely for housing. The feedings are only in the downtown area so those on Anastasia Island are safe, I guess, from their appetites. It’s like that phrase I’m sure you’ve heard about, not eating where you do your business. In this case the flesh-eaters remain on the island during the day and cross over the bridge at night.”

  “I still don’t get it, but I know what you’re saying. So they cross the bridge at full dark and come into our city and consume our people, then when the light comes they go back across the bridge and spend the day on the beach.” What was it that forced someone to consume another human being? It was cannibalism at its worst. Clarissa voiced her thoughts aloud. “How can they do that people?”

  “It’s an all together consuming need they have that drives them. We don’t completely understand their species, but we know that without constant ingestion of living human flesh they will break down and become mad until there is nothing left of them, without a soul they would crumble into nothingness. Really, they are more like animals than humans. The flesh-eaters in our city co-habitat as a clan, but sometimes they move about alone. In either case, nothing can stand in their way when that appetite for flesh takes over their systems.”

  Eleanor glanced over to see Clarissa’s drawn face. “I’m sorry. I’m just as bad as Henry. You’re not afraid, are you? You just need to remember to take certain precautions when dealing with the others. If we stay out of their way, they won’t get in ours.”

  “How can you say that? They’re eating the locals and more likely the tourists. If they really are these demonic-like soulless beasts, what is stopping them from coming into our homes? There is no such thing as staying out of their way, pretending like they don’t exist and letting them eat innocent human beings. If they wanted to they could take over the city.”

  Eleanor shook her head. “No, they couldn’t. This is our city,” she said emphatically, stressing each syllable, her words staking a claim on what she believed was her right of ownership. “The flesh-eaters only control a portion of the city and only at night. They cannot enter our homes or businesses, nor are they allowed to overindulge on our livings. They do not eat children or innocents as far as I know.”

  Eleanor continued. “If people were disappearing right and left, don’t you think the media would catch wind of it, making it into a story of rising crime in the area? We already have enough of that as it is. If that happened the tourism would drop to almost nothing and then where would they be? It is for their benefit that they do their business discreetly and with as little causality as possible.”

  “Is that what these livings are to you, necessary casualties? Are we truly that heartless to feed our citizens to these creatures so we can be safe? Like human cattle or pigs, we treat them as expendable so we can pretend we have some control over the city.”

  Eleanor stopped walking. She turned to give Clarissa a cold, hard stare, her lips thin, her pretty mouth drawn down in a frown. “Look here,” she bit out, “I don’t like this arrangement any more than you do. As far as I’m concerned I wish we could get rid of them for good, but we can’t. There was a time when we had the tools to exterminate these abnormalities of nature, but we’re at a disadvantage here and believe me, the death toll could be so much higher if we hadn’t stepped in and made these arrangements. I may not have a heartbeat anymore, but I am not heartless.”

  Clarissa looked away from that hard stare. Perhaps she was right. If left to their own ruling, these flesh-eaters would consume the entire city in a single feeding frenzy. Maybe in some sick way, this arrangement was the lesser of two evils.

  The Eidolon community kept much of the community safe from the night stalkers. Only those foolish enough to wander around alone in the dark were consumed and only when necessary as Eleanor had said. They didn’t kill for fun but for survival. However, Clarissa had trouble wrapping her brain around the concept of death as a necessary need even if it meant sparing others. Even if it was the lesser of two evils, it was still an evil in and of itself.

  “I’m sorry,” Clarissa apologized, turning to face Eleanor, seeing the other woman’s pinched expression. “This is still so new to me. I didn’t mean to insult you or the community. Please forgive me if I hurt your feelings.”

  Eleanor let out a long breath, her face relaxing into its usual calm disposition. She nodded, taking Clarissa’s arm back into her own as then continued walking down the streets of the old city.

  She laughed. “That was our first little skirmish, you and I. It’s a sign, you know, that we will be great friends.” She gave Clarissa a lopsided grin. “Only best friends fight like that with each other. It’s a rule somewhere.”

  “So you’re saying people who fight with each other are really good friends. Then Henry and Richard must be extreme bff’s,” she exclaimed sarcastically. “Do you expect us to argue like they do?” She hoped not.

  Clarissa was glad that they could get past this first argument even though she knew it wasn’t completely settled. She couldn’t find it in herself to agree with Eleanor, but she had sense enough to understand her reasoning.

  “If we are lucky, then yes. We’ll argue about a lot of things, call each other horrible names, then apologize and make it up to one another by going shopping.”

  Clarissa smiled. “You have it all planned out, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do. I know everything.” She flipped her beautifully curly blonde locks over her petite shoulders forcing Clarissa to laugh as well as lifting the mood considerably.

  “Okay, all knowing being, let’s go shopping. We’re supposed to meet Richard for lunch, remember. He would be upset if we made him wait to eat.”

  Eleanor rolled her eyes. “Oh, heaven help us if we keep poor Richard from food,” she said with obvious sarcasm. “It’s a good thing he can’t change or he’d be as massive as his house. As it is, his ego is just as big.”

  “He’s not so bad,” Clarissa contradicted. “I think he has a kind of sweet nature once you get past the surliness and bravado. He’s a nice guy.” She caught Eleanor giving her a curious look. “What is that all about?”

  A sly smile crept over Eleanor’s lips. “Mmm-hmm,” she murmured, giving Clarissa a knowing look. “You have a thing for Richard, don’t you?”

  “What?” Clarissa shouted in astonishment.

  “You do.” Eleanor laughed. “You’re blushing all over right now. Oh, that is too sweet.”

  Ghosts didn’t actually blush like living humans, rather their soul’s aura changed to accommodate the change in emotion.

  “I’m blushing,” Clarissa touched her cool cheeks, “because I’m embarrassed by what you are thinking about right now. You have a very active imagination. Did you know that? And what you were just picturing about me and Richard would make even Richard blush all over.”

  Eleanor’s smile faltered. “You can read my thoughts.” She made it a statement.

  “Yes,” she said hesitantly. “Can’t you? Can’t the others do that?”

  “No,” she answered, a frown replacing her smile. “And I know only a handful of ghosts who can. Henry was right; there is something very different about you.”

  Now Clarissa frowned. “I can’t stand these cryptic comments. No one ever explains what they really mean when they say things like that to me. I’m just an ordinary ghost like all of you. I look like you, don’t I? There is absolutely nothing different or odd about me.”

  Even as Clarissa spoke these words she knew they weren’t true.

  Eleanor looked like she wanted to start another battle of friendship. Clarissa re
ally wasn’t in the mood to engage in any more clashing of pros. She just wanted to have a normal day with her equally normal group of ghost friends. For now, she would forget about the flesh-eaters and there would be no more talk about her being a freak in the paranormal world. This time Clarissa pulled Eleanor along as they walked together down the street.

  Clarissa was looking through a rack of dresses and skirts, trying to pick something out to wear. Eleanor had explained the concept of clothes to her and that ghosts had the luxury of changing out of their death garbs if they wanted. The death garb was permanent, but the new clothes would have to be changed. Because they were magick meant that they didn’t last forever. She would pick an item out and then Lizzy, Mrs. Elizabeth Sands, formally speaking, would duplicate the design to Clarissa’s form. Like the indulgence of food, the creation of clothes for their otherworldly bodies required magick as well as knowledge of the art. It was a luxury to the community to have talents like Mrs. Sands or everyone would be forced to continually wear the outfits from the time period each of them died in.

  “What the hell is taking you two so long?” a voice barked out, followed by the appearance of Richard who popped into the shop right next to the rack of clothes Clarissa was perusing through.

  It was such a surprise to see him pop in like that Clarissa almost screamed. She had forgotten that they could do that, shift through space. Clarissa did, however, clutch her chest and take a sudden step back before she was able to compose herself.

  “Don’t do that,” Clarissa hissed. She would have to remember that she wasn’t a normal human being anymore and that the world of the dead was different, were people could just skip through the atmosphere. So far she hadn’t used much of her new talents as a ghost. She should think about exploring them more fully in the future because if she had Richard wouldn’t have surprised her, she would have sensed his approach.