The Hathaway

Cleansing

Everything seemed to be normal as we entered the house, but Andi took no chances. She immediately pulled out a smudge stick and proceeded to surround each of us with smoke. She then led the way up the stairs, smudging as she went. We proceeded through every room of our apartment with the goal to end at the study. “I've been here many times as you've been working on the place, and I never once sensed a presence here.” She turned to Ben, “How about you?”

“Never,” he agreed. “Even after we moved in. Not until last night.”

“Sometimes construction on a building can disturb latent spirits, but I would have expected odd occurrences during the renovation. None of the workers reported anything odd, did they?”

“Nothing, “ I answered.

As we continued, she called to the four winds in each room, asking them to sweep away negative energy and fill the space with a clean and powerful light. When we reached the study I stopped everyone. “I don't remember closing that door,” I said. Indeed, the doors to all the other rooms had been wide open.

“Well it's shut now,” Helmut said dryly. “Let's see what's behind door number one.” Before anyone could stop him he reached over, flung the door wide, and reached inside to turn on the lights. We all stood in disbelief. Every piece of furniture had been piled in the center of the room, and the carpet had been draped over it all.

After a long moment of silence Sylvia ventured, “I don't know about this.”

Miss M. put her arm around her and encouraged her, “Be brave. We can do this together, just like we did last time.”

Andi agreed, “Don't worry, right now it's showing off, trying to frighten us.” Just then the lights in the whole house went out and we were plunged into darkness.

“It's doing a pretty good job,” Sylvia laughed.

Andi pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. “Can you sense his location, Ben?” She entered the room and began to circle the construction in the center. “All I can get is a vague sense of presence, but nothing specific.

Ben followed her and said, “He's in here someplace. I thought he was at the heart of this pile of furniture, but now...I don't know. It's like he's moving.”

“He may well be,” Andi answered. “For now, it's enough to know that he's in the room.” By now we had all entered, and were huddled just inside the door.

Andi turned to me and instructed, “You are the one who invited him in. Only you can drive him out. As we go on I want you to put yourself into the same frame of mind you used when you opened yourself to him. You need to be able to see and feel the part of yourself that you exposed to him.” She pulled out a bag of salt and poured a large circle around me. Turning to everyone else she continued, “ We need to fill the room with light. Shadows lose their strength when exposed to light. I think that's why he piled everything up like this, to gather as much shadow into one place as possible.” She pulled a handful of white candles from her bag and gave one to everyone, lighting mine before she handed it to me. “Your job is to close the door you opened. Last night. When the spirit comes close you need to slam that door shut as hard as possible.”

Turning to Ben, she said, “You and Helmut start deconstructing this pile of furniture. It is his safe place. He may be able to hide in temporary shadows for a time, but he will have no sanctuary.” As soon as they removed the rug from the top of the pile, I heard a quiet but distinct growl reverberate through the building.

“Did you hear that?” Sylvia jumped and moved closer to Miss. M.

“You two, come here,” Andi ordered. She had them each stand just outside the circle of salt and reach in to light their candles from mine. The three of them formed a semi-circle around me, jointly holding a candle between them. She called to Ben and Helmut, “As soon as you're done, come join the circle.”

They were careful not to break anything as they disassembled the pile, and the sounds of moving furniture was regularly punctuated with unearthly rumblings. As Helmut removed the last piece from the pile, the room shook slightly, and a loud growl emanated from the spot where the pile had been. Helmut and Ben ran to the circle and quickly lit their candles from mine.

“Hoc circum lumen.” Andi chanted and invited everyone to repeat. “Lux nostris lucem.” Again everyone repeated. She signaled for them to continue repeating these chants, and told me to begin the task she had given me.

As they held hands around me I tried to remember the candor with which I had welcomed the ghost. Suddenly I could feel his intention. He saw himself as a victim, and he saw me as a villain. To him I represented pure evil, and he saw it as his calling to drive that evil out. He was concerned with righteousness and he had no doubt that what he was doing was divine retribution.

I heard Ben whisper, “He's right here. He's circling us.”

I opened my eyes and could see a slight movement of shadow making its way around my friends. I followed it, turning my body to keep it in my line of sight. As I stared it down the chanting grew louder and stronger, and the candle light seemed to grow brighter. I imagined myself as an open door, waiting for him to enter, and I could sense him trying to reach past the circle of light to pass judgment on me. I slammed the door in my head as hard as I could and shouted, “Get out!”

Somehow everyone had know to shout with me at that very moment. The chanting stopped and the lights came on immediately. We stood unsure for a moment before Andi asked Ben, “Can you feel him?”

“No.” He seemed to be reaching out with all his senses. “I think he's gone.”

“I can't feel him either,” Andi added. She looked at me and smiled, “I think you did it.”

We all breathed a sigh of relief as we blew out our candles and handed them back to Andi. “Should I come in and smudge the rest of the building tomorrow?” she asked.

Ben and I agreed enthusiastically. “Please do,” I said, and gave her a quick hug. I invited everyone to the kitchen for a quick nightcap before they headed back to the boarding house. We were all aware of Helmut's presence and, without a word being spoken, we all limited ourselves to non-alcoholic options.

Ben and I soon found ourselves alone. We settled on the couch for a quick cuddle before bed, and I asked, “So, is this our last night together for a while? Am I going to be taking care of my own needs for the next two weeks?”

“What? you wouldn't just wait for me to return and shower me with buckets of cum when I got home?” He laughed. “Miss M. has a way about her, doesn't she? She doesn't seem to say anything much, and yet five minutes with her and everything falls into place.” He leaned forward and kissed me. “No need for blue balls just yet. I called while you were talking to Helmut and gave my resignation over the phone. Not how I would usually do things, but they deserve no better.”

“No they don't,” I agreed, and leaned forward to kiss him. “Good choice.” It wasn't all that late, but we were both exhausted from the events of the day. As we headed toward bed, I told him, “Helmut has accepted the job and is coming in tomorrow to survey the fencing and look over the out buildings more thoroughly. He thinks it would be wise to have a security presence on the grounds around the clock, and I'm inclined to agree.”

“Great.” He thought for a moment and added, “Maybe I'll join him and think about the landscaping. I have nothing else to do, and I could look at where the property might benefit from some carefully planted trees, sort of a mini forest of our own.”

“I like it,” I said. “But are you going to be alright working with him? You've never been the best of friends.”

“True, but I have no problem with him and I think he's fine with me. I mean, he doesn't get naked in front of me like he does with you, and I think he kind of resents that I'm not as easily visually stimulated as you are, but that shouldn't be a problem.”

“Visually stimulated?” I tried to look baffled.

“Don't play coy,” he smiled, starting to take off his shirt. “You like your eye candy. Admit it.” He rubbed his hand across his perfect chest and followed the orange trail of hair to the top of his pants, slipping the tips of his fingers under the waistband. I was transfixed. After a moment I shook myself awake from the anticipation of sharing a bed with this beautiful man tonight, and realized I was almost drooling. He chuckled, “See?”

I smiled. He was right. Sexy men had always caught my eye, and even Helmut understood that, while I would not respond to his flirtatious shows, I did enjoy watching. “Yeah? Well, what's wrong with that? You like to look too.”

“I do,” he admitted, “But not as much as you.”

“So just what is it that 'stimulates' you? Would you mind sharing?”

“Not at all,” he said as he slowly backed me up against the wall and pressed his body against mine. “Intelligence.” He kissed one side of my jaw line. “Compassion.” He kissed the other side. “Creativity.” He kissed the tip of my nose. Then, looking deep into my eyes he finished with, “And that cute little butt of yours when you walk into the shower each morning.” With that he grabbed my ass with both hands and kissed me passionately on the mouth.

He literally took my breath away and I was left speechless. Without removing his tongue from my mouth, he picked me up by the ass. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, lost in the intensity of his embrace. He carried me to the bed and laid himself on top of me, grinding his raging boner against mine, and continued to kiss me as we removed each others' clothes. Our hands found every button, clasp and buckle without the aid of our eyes. “At least tonight we can still make as much noise as we want,” he whispered. “And I think I want to hear you scream.” I had no idea of how he planned to do this, but I couldn't wait to find out.