An Erotic Ghost Story Ch. 06

Lilly was courageously determined to figure out a way to end the curse. This meant she'd have to get swallowed up into the mouth of the woods again and land in the square center into the belly of the beast; the graveyard. She'd have to pluck up every last morsel of nerve to revisit the place that haunted her nightmares, plagued her and toyed with her sanity.

****

Lilly walked to Kahn's burgeoning estate with Millie tagging behind later that afternoon. The dipping sun cast long shadows over the stately structure. Millie was furious. Lilly was out of bed jaunting out by herself to visit the estate of the man who'd asserted his claim over Lilly without even getting Mr. Taylor's permission to formally court her.

All the townspeople had been appalled by Kahn's aggressive and ungentlemanly behavior toward Miss Lillian Taylor. The maid insisted on chaperoning her young mistress so to protect her modesty. Millie was incensed a woman of Lilly's gentle breeding had little sense of propriety. The servant blamed her father who limitlessly indulged his youngest daughter, a daughter the spittin' image of his long ago lost wife.

An overwhelming sense of grief gripped Lilly as she gazed at the Kahn mansion. If things stayed the same, in the future, the house would be haunted, decayed and cursed, a dark and grim crumbling structure with a shroud of dread swirling around the property. Now the house was anything but grim. The palatial estate was brand new, majestic, bright, and resplendent. Lilly felt a sense of hope lift her spirits. A slight ray sunshine might slice through the accursed darkness should she break the curse. If she returned to the future would Edward's home still be this elegant and beautiful? Lilly then prayed it would.

A huge fountain centered on the newly sprouting front lawn was already spurting water from the top of a Cupid stone statue and was pooling into a large marble basin. The sounds of saws and hammers filled the warm summer air. A fresh spicy wood smell clung to the humidity.

Edward was a rich and powerful businessman. He was surely out tending to his mills and other business. Lilly prayed he wouldn't be here today. She'd missed him so much she feared if she saw him she might fall into his arms and beg to never be released.

Millie continued to bluster and stalk about the dusty path leading up to the mansion. She was horrified Lilly wanted to go into the haunted forest again. Mister Taylor would give her the sack for sure if she didn't try and stop her headstrong mistress.

"Evil walks 'long those paths Miss. The place is haunted and will rob ya soul! No one goes out there alone, especially now as night nears. I'm begging ya Miss stay away!"

"Nonsense Millie. We are the living. They are the dead. They can't harm us." Lilly tried to hide her fear with false bravado.

If you're not back in an hour I'm calling Thomas Kelly to fetch ya. Then your pa and brother will be sure to find out. Then I'll get the sack Miss Lilly!" Millie pleaded in earnest.

Lilly scanned the property looking for a path leading into the woods. That's when she saw a lanky, debonair salt and pepper haired man walking toward the woman.

"Good afternoon Miss Taylor, welcome to Mister Kahn's estate." The disguised man bowed slightly. He had a distinctive British accent, much like Edward's. Kahn's butler, Lilly assumed.

"I'm sorry sir but I'm at a disadvantage. I don't know your name." Lilly held out her hand but was dismissed with only a perfunctory bow. 'Right, he's a servant and doesn't do handshaking.' Lilly had to remind herself.

"Harrison, Miss Taylor, Mr. Kahn's butler. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance. Thank you for visiting us today. Please accept my apologies, as Mister Kahn is not at here presently. I would be happy to offer you a tour. Would you like to come in for some tea?"

He was full of the most proper manners but sounded like a telemarketer reading off from a script. He was a bit too chilly and stiff for Lilly to warm to anytime soon.

"Actually Harrison I was hoping to pick some wild berries I found growing out in the woods on your property yesterday." She lied. "It was getting too dark and I didn't have time to pick them. Would it be ok if I went back today?" Lilly smiled sweetly.

"I beg your pardon Miss Taylor but isn't picking berries a job best left for a servant? He eyeballed Millie with only a steely glint of a courteous smile. The maid blushed profusely at being scrutinized by such a smartly dressed and well-spoken servant.

"I appreciate your concern Harrison but I need the fresh air and sunshine and my father, Mr. Taylor, he strongly encourages it."

'It was best to defer to my rich and powerful father.' Lilly thought. If her foreboding father had seemingly given her permission maybe the tight ass servant would extract the rod wedge firmly up his alimentary canal and let her pick the damn berries already! Night would fall in a few hours and she didn't want to be in the forest at night.

"I strongly discourage you Miss Taylor. I'm certain a groomsman can help you with such a rudimentary task." Clever man. Lilly thought, knowing she'd underestimated him.

"How gracious of you Harrison but I prefer to be out on my own, gives me time to think."

"I couldn't possibly send you out alone miss. Wild animals roam the woods and hunters and the forest gets so dense and then there is the graveyard..."

"...Where my relatives mostly all rest Harrison, I prefer to visit alone, grieving is a solitary act is it not? Besides I carry a small stocking handgun with me and I do know how to use it."

Both servants gasped when Lilly lifted her skirt at the ankle and showed off her a tiny derringer secured to her calf. Lilly smiled not caring a bit that she'd pushed the rules of propriety right out the window. Earlier that day Lilly found the firearm tucked in the bottom drawer of her dresser covered over with silky undergarments. The bullets were tucked away in the very back.

She smiled demurely at Harrison demurely then winked.

"Oh Mister Harrison, please forgive my mistress she is a lively one who needs proper taming by a her brother and father!" Millie glared at Lilly and bared her teeth.

"Quite alright Miss, I've heard Miss Taylor is a very charming lady and she certainly lives up to her lively personality. Please pick as many berries as you like but I urge you to pick quickly, night falls quicker in the dark forest." Harrison forced an unnatural, hesitant smile.

The servant was very suspicious of the hardheaded woman's motives. He had no other choice but to relent to the stubborn gentlewoman. He was a servant and knew his place. He hoped his master would be home soon. Once Mr. Kahn found out Miss Lilly was wandering alone in the haunted forest he would launch after her like a man possessed.

Kahn was clearly smitten with Miss Taylor. He talked about her with unbridled enthusiasm. He was after the servant every day for mail. When he found none from Miss Lilly his mood changed quickly. He would brood. His mood would become dark and unyielding. Harrison worried his besotted master was becoming obsessed with the stunning blonde. The more her family insisted he stay away from Miss Lilly the more infatuated he became.

Lilly set off into the dark, dim forest. Even though the late afternoon sun was still intently hot, once she ventured down the path a pervasive chill ran down the entire length of her body.

****

As Kahn's coach approached the estate Harrison darted out to greet his master. Edward thought it odd but he was too preoccupied to ponder it further. Pervasive thoughts of Lilly kept his head spinning during the day. Kahn had written many letters inquiring about her yet but she didn't respond to any. He missed her so much it pained him when he thought about her. Edward's soul was falling deeper each day into an abysmal chasm. He craved her more than all the opium he smoked in his younger days.

"Sir, Miss Lilly Taylor is in the woods." The butler began once the coach stopped. "She asked if she could pick berries in the forest sir, rather odd if you..."

"Miss Lilly, Miss Lilly is here, in the forest?" He cut his butler's word off at the quick.

"Yes, sir. She left about twenty minutes ago."

"Who is chaperoning her Harrison? She's been very ill of late and now she off traipsing through the forest?" His voice was filled with worry.

His nights were plagued with nightmares about ghosts and the haunted forest. His dreams followed the same plot night after night. Lilly and he were running away from some unspeakable evil, as if their lives depended on it. After his terrible foreboding dreams, the last place he wanted his precious Lilly to be was in that forest! Edward scanned the open dusty fields of his land searching for her. His heart soared knowing she was so close. God, he missed her, craved her, and needed her.

"I felt it best if I not require one sir as she is a lady. Her maid is waiting inside for her. She was quite adamant sir about going alone. Also, she was carrying a firearm and made a point of showing the weapon to me."

"Lillian Taylor is a never ending splitting headache wrapped in a beautiful shell." Edward muttered and groaned while raking his finger quickly through his thick black hair.

"Sir?" Harrison lifted a bushy, graying eyebrow.

"Never mind. Which directions did she go?" Kahn paced. A dusty cloud followed in his path.

"Toward the graveyard sir." Harrison said stiffly.

"The graveyard! God damn it!" Edward bellowed.

He felt cut off at the knees and punched in the gut simultaneously. The graveyard! The evil place that haunted his nights and was filled with pure evil? Edward rolled up his sleeves, tossed his waistcoat and hat to Harrison and sprinted toward the path Lilly had taken. He slipped though the dense brush and disappeared into the dank woods.

****

The forest was chilly and would've been a wonderful respite from the heat if it weren't so creepy and dark. A stillness and quite hung so heavily Lilly felt it bearing down on her body like a corpses deathly grip. No birds or any other forest creature made a peep. In the distance she heard, just ever so slightly, the ocean waves crashing onto the bright, sunny beach. She wished that beachy bright sun was warming her now. Lilly was so cold she shook and wrapped her arms around her body.

As the forest swallowed her into its epicenter, the dusty path became denser, covered with reaching, clawing tress limbs and thick hairy underbrush. Lilly brushed away stinging braches that slapped her face as she crept onward. Her heart beat so loud the sound was pumping in her ears. Lilly had to make sure she didn't get lost. She'd been notching small nicks into the trees every few feet. She wasn't taking any chances this time.

An eerie mist appeared and slowly crawled and clawed at her feet. The fog swished and dissipated as her skirts swirled in the vaporous haze. Something behind her snapped and cracked. Lilly whipped her head around, long loose blonde curls bounced on her shoulder. She trembled. The branches continued to snap. Then a low moaning came up from the fog-covered forest's floor. Lilly picked up her skirts and ran as the mist swirled violently entombing her in a misty, icy cocoon. Suddenly, icy solid hands reached out and grabbed for her.

In her haste to escape whatever evil was taking shape in the fog, Lilly tripped and fell flat into the dense rotten soil She seemed to have been captured into sticky, pliable spider web like net. She struggled to free herself but managed to get more tangled. Lilly screamed. She felt like a spongy corpse being lowering into the arachnid's abyss.

Every nerve in her body told her to keep her eyes tightly shut but she didn't heed the warnings of her survival instincts. As soon as she opened her eyes, she was face to face with a nightmarish and soulless entity so evil the nauseating scent of the demons foul stench made her retch. The creature's wispy cloudy mouth opened to reveal an all-consuming inhuman black hole. The entity roared an inhuman wail like all the damned souls trapped within the ghoul were screaming for salvation. The stench of rotting flesh filled the air.

Lilly opened her mouth to scream but her voice was raw with terrified nothingness. The creature grabbed Lilly and tried to pull her body into the earth. The entities icy cold grip burned her flesh. She couldn't pull away. The sticky web held her fast. The creature wrapped its putrid rotting and dripping off flesh around her body. The ghoul was trying to drag her into the moldy earth. Lilly screamed in excruciating pain as the creature kept pulling her unyielding body into the solid dirt. Her bones began to crack, her back arched in a horrific, unnatural angle. Then Lilly was able to scream so loud her ears were ringing. The noise was deafening and filling the deathly, silent forest.

Something from above her then yanked her up and she was finally released from the grasp of the inhuman, putrid smelling creature and it's web. She landed in the arms of Edward Kahn.

Lilly was so stunned and petrified she couldn't move. She blinked and her head lolled back until she collapsed in his arms. Lilly didn't recognize him at first. Edward shook her violently then grabbed her chin in his chilly grip and pulled her face into his.

Lilly gazed up and shook violently as a cold pervasive chill clung to her. She saw the outline of Edward, but it was blurry and ghostly. She tried to pull free afraid he was a ghoul again all rotting and bloated.

"Lillian, listen to me and follow my voice. It's me, Edward!" Edward shook her as he shouted into his beloveds face.

Kahn's face became clearer and she blinked a few times and finally knew it was Edward, living and breathing. His dark chocolate eyes were filled with concern and love. His face was handsome and dark. She wrapped her arms tightly around him. Edward literally grabbed her from the clutches of pure evil.

"Edward, did you see that, that creature? It was trying to drag me into the ground." Lilly trembled violently in his arms and he held her tighter.

"You were writhing around on the ground Lilly. I didn't see any creature. I kept calling after you but you kept running. Why were you running from me?

"All I heard were branches snapping and cracking." Lillian muttered and her voice trailed off as she struggled to remember exactly what had happened.

"What the hell where you thinking running out here alone? You know this place is dangerous. Did you really believe a gun would protect you against the evil that lurks in this foul place!

Edward was filled with such conflicting emotions. He wanted to spank her ass raw and then pin her down and ravish her. Mostly he was elated she was here and alone with him.

"I came to look for clues." She muttered almost incoherently.

Lilly was still in shock. The horrifying figure wanted to consume her, tear her flesh off as it dragged her into the earth. Hadn't he seen it, the creature, that ghoul? Why hadn't he seen it!

"Clues? For the love of...! What clues? Where have you been? I've written to you everyday. I've sent an equal numbers of letters to your family inquiring about your health. I only get curt responses. Now you finally sprout up running wild in these spooky woods after weeks of tormenting me with your absence? You're babbling about creatures trying to drag you into the ground. Lilly, sweet, beloved Lilly I fear for you, for us both." He caressed her dirty cheek.

"I don't babble Edward!" She shouted and swatted his hand away. "Don't speak to me like I'm some insane person! I'm out here looking for my mother." She tried to wriggle from his arms but his grip was too strong.

"Lillian...your mother? Dear god woman you drive me utterly insane!"

Edward couldn't take it anymore. She was driving him mad. He missed her so much. He grabbed her chin and pulled her toward his mouth and latched onto her, devouring her lips with his. Lillian resisted at first then she finally relaxed in his arms while he lustily consumed her fleshy moist mouth.

He forced himself to pull away. Complete wanting of her made his cock grew too hard and urgent. Edward wanted to shove himself into her sweet wet heat like a depraved madman. He was greedy and wanted to fuck all of himself into her. What was stopping him from yanking up her skirts and taking her hard on this hidden, cold and creepy forest floor? He managed to scramble to his feet and yanked Lilly upright. She looked disappointed and seemed to be left wanting. Like the carnal act he was pushing towards moments earlier were as primal, needful and natural as the nature that surrounded them.

"I've missed you so much darling" were the only words Edward could force out.

If he kept blathering on he'd only be repeating out loud all the thoughts and dreams he had for their future, the ones that kept churning in his head day and night. "Why didn't you ask for my help?" He sighed.

"I have to do this on my own. I need to find the clues, find the key. I need to find the key to save you."

She couldn't possibly explain to him everything that was happening. She could barely understand it.

"Lillian, you're not making any sense. What key, what clues?"

"I can't tell you." Lilly hung her head so he couldn't read her eyes.

Edward could read her thoughts. She knew he could. They were like one person.

"You've been having the dreams too haven't you?" Edward asked solemnly.

"Yes, yes. Cursed dreams! I can't sleep, I can barely eat, I'm haunted day and night. I can break the curse Edward. I just need to find my mother." She sounded crazy, she knew it but just didn't care anymore.

Lilly walked toward the mist, like it was enticing her and beckoning her toward the mysterious and spooky graveyard. Edward began to fade into the background like wallpaper.

As the mist enveloped her Edward grabbed her arm to pull her back to him. When she resisted he gripped tighter.

"Stop pulling away from me right now!" He barked, "Your mother left with another man. I'm sorry to be so indelicate but I know you've heard the unhappy rumors. She is gone.

"You no nothing about my family Edward Khan!" Lillian cried. "Her disappearance and death is directly linked to us. I know things that'd make your skin crawl. If you only knew the terrible burden I carry with me!" Lillian paused knowing she'd already said too much. "My mother wouldn't have left her family!

Patrick Kelly killed her! He buried her body in the woods somewhere near the graveyard."

"What? That's sheer madness! Patrick Kelly! Where's your proof?"

"Millie told me she saw them together, Patrick Kelly and my mother. She was pleading with him to end the affair."

"Millie is a simple, superstitious fool, Lilly." Edward barked.

"I don't care if you believe me or not. I don't need your help."

Lilly moved forward but Edward refused to release her. If Lilly insisted upon acting like an insolent child he would treat her as such.

"Lilly, I want your family to like me maybe even embrace me. Being here in the forest alone together will not help my cause."

"What cause?" Lilly managed too wiggle her arm out of his grip.

"Lilly, I prefer to wait." Edward was serious almost grim.

"Just tell me Edward!" She clutched her head in her hands. The constant headache made her whole head throb even deeper.

"I'm in love with you. From the moment I saw you on those stairs." He paused and paced through the ground mist, whipping it up into a frenzy.

"Dear god, I'm one of those idiotic fools I relished poking fun at when I was a young man! I understand all too well how love can make you weak with need. I just can't live without you Lilly.

Each day that passes without you I'm in shear and utter torment!" He blurted out.