Full Moon House

Understanding seemed to dawn on his face and he moved, turned towards the door and with his eyes, asked me to follow him. He took me to the library, a place I hadn't spent much time in. It was filled with books on witchcraft, moon magic mostly and he touched one reverently. I took it from the shelf, opened it and saw that it was a book of personal spells written by Brenna Wallace. When I looked up, he was gone.

I knew what he wanted of me, but I couldn't help him. I didn't know any magic, wasn't a witch or even special in any way. How could I turn a man from ghost to human again? And did I even want to try only to be disappointed?

The next day I slept late and ignored the phone when it rang. I knew Michael had wanted to come over and do more work but I just wasn't ready, too tired to do more than sleep and lay around. I felt drained and I knew I hadn't slept well the night before.

The book lay next to me on the couch and I picked it up, as I had a hundred times before that day and stared at the cover. I still hadn't managed to get up the courage to open it and see what I might discover inside. It was almost too overwhelming.

As I made dinner that night, I stared out at the rising moon and wondered why he was here in the house, why he hadn't 'moved on' like other people when they die. Had someone killed him? Was he waiting for someone to help him finish something important so he could 'cross over'? I didn't have the answers I needed if I was going to make a decision on whether or not I should help him. What if he was someone bad and I helped him back into this world? I would never be able to forgive myself. I needed more information.

The next day I went to the library, the county courthouse and the city building. I gathered as much information as I could on Gordon's history, events, births and deaths as I could find. I also found the original plans for the house at the county courthouse with the names of the original owners. The information I gathered would aid my internet search for the man of my dreams and the history of Full Moon House.

I spent the next week doing research on the house and the people who had lived there. The original owners of the home had named it Full Moon House. The couple, David William Wallace and his wife, Brenna Scott Wallace, had designed Full Moon House the way they did because of Brenna's love of the moon. The family was from Ireland, immigrated to America sometime after 1905 and had come into money in their early twenties. No one really knew where the money came from because they were new to Gordon and had not spoken to many people since moving there.

Later reports listed Brenna Wallace as a witch and healer with cures for anything and everything. For a price of course. She worked out of the library of her house, using the hundreds of books on spells and potions to help the people of Gordon with their ailments. The town seemed to take her powers in stride and welcomed her and her spells. Apparently the library had remained untouched since her time, all her books were still in residence.

Of David Wallace there wasn't much in any records that I could find. He seemed to be a rather quiet man who kept to himself and worked in his gardens on nice days. He was the designer of the gardens and the porches, an addition that was done almost five years after the original house was built.

All in all I didn't find much to lead me anywhere closer to finding out who my ghost was. There were lots more places on the internet to check out but I found I was too tired to continue. I don't know if the ghost returned to me that night, I slept so deeply. I woke up feeling better than I had in days. Clearer. I put thoughts of ghosts and magic spells out of my head and went to work with a smile on my face.

I didn't see him again for a couple of weeks. Honestly, I thought that maybe I had imagined the whole thing. Got carried away with the new place and all the moving excitement. Or maybe I'd had some kind of bug that had made me hallucinate. Either way it was over and I was glad.

Unfortunately, I was also wrong. That night as I drifted off to sleep I felt something move at the foot of my bed. I sat up and there he was, sitting there, watching me with eyes like black obsidian. He didn't seem angry, just sad, defeated even. He didn't move towards me, didn't try to touch me like before. He seemed lighter, more transparent than the last few times and despite the fact that I thought I might be losing my mind, I was worried about him.

That was the last time I saw him until after Christmas. As I was taking down the decorations he appeared to me beside the now bare Christmas tree, his mouth moving quickly as if he were trying to tell me something very important. I couldn't hear him or read his lips and he faded away before I could do anything.

Michael and I went on several dates before and after Christmas. I was beginning to like him more and more, but still, there was something missing. He'd finished the renovations in November and since then I'd been wary about letting him into the house. I wasn't sure why but I didn't want him in there.

Despite how much I liked him, I was also reluctant to take our relationship to a more intimate place. We often kissed, touching each other through our clothes but I never let it go any further than that. I knew that he was getting frustrated by my reluctance to make love with him, that he might think I was a tease but I just couldn't seem to want more. At least, not with Michael.

I'd begun to have dreams of my ghost at night. Dreams that made me wake aching and needy, my body physically reaching for him. I never saw him again the way I had before and I wondered if my dreams were just a way of telling me that I should take Michael to my bed and forget someone who could never love me physically.

By the summer I was so frustrated and stressed out that I began to lash out at the people around me. I dreamed of the man every night. Dreamed of him touching me in ways that I'd never let another man touch me. Every morning I woke, hot, aching and wanting in a way I'd never wanted another man. Ever. I feared I was falling in love with a man who could never exist.

By fall I was certain that I had lost my mind. I often left work early and went to bed in order to have more time with my dream man. My Dad worried that I had some kind of illness and begged me daily to see a doctor. I refused and told him that I was perfectly healthy, just tired and stressed out. I wasn't so sure of that myself but it was the lie I told.

October came quickly that year and it was nearing my birthday when he showed himself to me again, his ghostly image so transparent that I could see the entire bedroom through him. Still, I was so happy to see him that I threw back the covers of my bed and tried to throw my arms around him. I cried out in frustration when I grasped nothing but air and fell back to the bed face first.

This time when his mouth moved I could hear his voice in my head. It was smooth and deep like a fine whiskey mixed with cream. I had the power to make him real, he told me. All I had to do was read the spell on Halloween and he could return to this world and take back his life. It was all there in her book. Read the spell and return his life. Make him real so we could be together. I knew what I had to do.

That year, Halloween and my birthday fell on a Saturday. I had all day to prepare for the ritual I would perform to return my lover to his body. The spell had to be done on a waning moon. I checked to make sure I had what I needed and waited for the moon to start rising.

At dusk I went out onto the back deck and set up my things exactly as it showed in Brenna's book of spells. I lit the candles, poured my salt and waited for exactly ten minutes after the moon appeared in the sky above the northern star and spoke the words that Brenna had written. As I spoke my ghostly lover appeared before me, becoming more solid with each word. By the time I had finished he was whole, smiling and holding out his arms for me.

His voice was just as I'd heard it in my head. He held me close and I could hear the beating of his heart. He was truly alive. His eyes were no longer black, but a wonderful and warm shade of chocolate.

In a halting and cautious voice he told me his name was Liam Collins and how he'd come to America to find Brenna and bring her home with him. He found her married to the man who'd stolen his money, his life and his love.

When David had found him in his house, talking to Brenna and trying to get her to come with him, he had turned him into a Shade. You see, David was a warlock and quite powerful. He'd bewitched Brenna and turned her away from everyone she'd loved.

He hadn't completely turned Brenna against him, however. When she discovered what David had done, she'd written a spell for him that would allow him to be returned to his mortal self. The only problem was that she didn't love him enough to be the one to cast the spell. Only true love could do that for him.

I was completely enthralled. I believed every word he said. He seemed so true and so honestly happy to be alive. We sat on the deck and talked for hours. I felt as if I'd known him my entire life. He told me about the other owners of the house and how they'd tried to help him, only the attempts took too much energy from them and they fell ill. He felt badly about their illnesses and that was why he had stopped coming to me for so long. He'd feared I too would fall ill and leave him alone again.

At some point I found the courage to ask about the terrifying scar on his back and how much it looked like a demon holding the moon hostage. He explained to me that the scar was how David had turned him to a Shade, by branding the symbol of the Demon of the Shades on his back with a hot knife. It had been excruciatingly painful and had nearly killed him before it was done. I felt my heart breaking for his losses and yet, so happy that I had been the one to return him to his life.

Still, I did not have the courage to ask him where he would go now that he was alive again. I found it hurt me to think that he might leave me to return to Ireland or move on to another life without me. He must have read my thoughts or maybe it was clearly written on my face, because he assured me that he was staying there with me for the rest of his mortal life.

Sometime before dawn he took my hand and led me inside and up the stairs to my bedroom. He took such care to hold me close, kiss me gently, touching me slowly as if he were memorizing the feel of my flesh against his. When it became more than I could bear I moved him closer to the bed and lay down, pulling him down with me.

His body was so warm, his breath hot against my neck. He caressed me with such tenderness, removing my clothing slowly, my pulse racing in my head. When I was fully nude he removed his clothing quickly, lying down by my side and kissing me softly. I wanted him so badly, my body ready for his, still he waited, teasing, touching, kissing me everywhere. By the time he moved over me I was writhing with need of him. I called his name and begged for him to take me.

I stiffened at the first touch of his body to mine. I knew I was ready for him but I also knew it would hurt a little. Liam sensed that something was wrong and pulled back, his eyes questioning. I didn't know how to tell him that I was a virgin, didn't know how to broach the subject at all. He smiled down at me and I knew that he understood.

I remember him telling me he would do it quick, that the pain would sharp but only for a moment. I even remember that first twinge of pain inside me easing before being overtaken by the searing much more intense pain on my back. I remember the look of triumph mixed with regret on his face as his body moved inside mine over and over. I can sometimes even vaguely remember the sound of his shout as his body poured its seed into mine. After that there is little. I did not return to any kind of consciousness until much, much later.

The first time I manifested Liam was older, a child with eyes of melted chocolate bouncing on his knee. Pictures of his perfect family littered my living room. My anger and confusion were alive in the air. I stood in front of him and demanded an explanation, afraid that I already knew all the answers.

I will never forget his words that day. "I am most sorry for what I had to do my dear Amelia. You see, it was the only way I could get my mortal life back. To make a virgin fall in love with you is the most powerful magic in all the universe. For a Shade, it means a return to the body you lost, the life you lost. A Shade can never be truly set free. It can only exchange its existence for another. And so it will be for you to now find another to replace yours. I am afraid it will be a lonely existence until then. You can feed off the energy of those around you but in time they will weaken and fall ill or die. I wish you great luck in finding your replacement and I thank you for becoming mine."

Liam took his family and left me that day and never returned. I have learned a lot since that day. Once a Shade attaches itself to someone and feeds from their energy it makes them stronger. But a Shade attached to someone is also vulnerable to that person's emotions. If they fall in love with another then the Shade weakens and fades away.

That is why Liam faded when Michael came into my life. If I had taken that chance and let Michael into my life I would have been safe from Liam's influence. I was stupid. I chose to believe that love was something that would overwhelm instead of support.

You see, I let true love slip away while the moon was shining in my eyes.