Chapter 15
Xander
“IT’S TRULY ONE OF THE most haunted locations you’ll ever come across.”
I shared a rather bland sideways look with Kendyll. Even with her silence and avoidance of my gaze, I knew she agreed with what I was thinking. Her tight professional smile couldn’t hide that as she addressed the woman leading her up the stairs.
“I appreciate you giving me a run down of the history and its lingering souls.”
The haunted tour guide of The Gilded Inn, Wendy, beamed at her. The woman was short, only reaching Kendyll’s chest. Despite the wrinkles on her face, her eyes shined with fascinated youth. A black t-shirt promoting the haunted inn hugged her round body, and she clasped her brightly painted nails.
“Of course! It was much shorter than my normal spiel, since Bethelma will know everything when she arrives. Such a remarkable medium! Still, I thought you might enjoy hearing some scary stories.” Wendy sighed and stared dreamily at the ceiling as we reached the top of the steps.
“We are truly so honored to have Bethelma and the rest of the Haunted Days and Nightmares team showcasing our ghostly establishment.”
“Ghostly,” I snorted. “Right.”
Kendyll ignored me. “Thank you for having us and for letting us buy out the inn for the week while our team is here. It makes filming much easier.”
“You’re here on your own for the first three days, right?”
“That’s right,” Kendyll answered as she followed the hobbling woman to a closed door with a plaque that read The Violet Room.
“We’ve found that having someone here prior to the real filming helps with productivity.
We can set up cameras and mics in active areas, as well as see what equipment the ghosts at every location prefer speaking through.
It makes it much easier to figure out the best shooting locations as far as paranormal activity goes.
I’m in charge of handling all of that so Bethelma can work without issue when she arrives. ”
“What a thought-out plan,” the woman gushed.
“Yes. What a thought-out excuse for the fake medium to get the real Ghost Speaker in early to obtain all the goods,” I praised, nudging Kendyll.
Kendyll jostled sideways from the force, and Wendy gaped excitedly upon seeing her off-balance. “Is it already starting? The spirits here really know how to welcome someone! Don’t be alarmed if they touch you. The Gilded Inn’s ghosts are very friendly.”
Kendyll forced an agreeable laugh, but the minute the woman turned away to unlock the door, she glared at me.
“Oops,” I shrugged innocently.
Kendyll faced forward again to follow Wendy into the bedroom. Wendy handed her some papers containing the inn’s history and reported ghost sightings while continuing her expressive fangirling. Eventually, the short and stubby woman left.
With the door closed, I shed the shadows that kept me hidden and sank onto the velvet purple chair in the corner of the room. “How unfortunate. It looks like the only ghosts you’ll be getting for this episode are the made-up ones.”
Kendyll groaned and tossed the binderclipped papers onto the lush bed. She placed her hands on her hips, which were hugged by ripped black jeans. A gray long-sleeve shirt pulled tight over her curvy torso, and those green eyes narrowed on me from behind her glasses. “Why are you here?”
“Because you are,” I answered with a wink.
“I told you we’d contact you when you were wanted.”
I placed a hand over my chest and gasped in mock hurt. “And here I thought my sweet Ghost always wanted me around. Does our bond mean so little to you, Kendyll? I’m wounded.”
She rubbed at her forehead, making me have to fight my laugh.
It was true she basically told me not to come for this shoot, but being told not to do something only made me want to do it more.
Since I knew she’d be here from our conversation the night prior, I’d popped over to the establishment right as Wendy was checking her in.
Kendyll’s wide-eyed stare upon seeing me appear would give me a good laugh for a long time.
“Aren’t you glad I’m here now?” I asked, getting to my feet to help her put her suitcase on the luggage rack. I waved off her efforts to do it, laying out her other bags, too. “I mean, there’s not a goddamn ghost here. You’d be utterly bored in this place for three whole days alone.”
She pursed her lips and flipped through the history papers she’d been given. “Maybe the ghosts are just hiding because they sensed a demon showing up.”
“Or maybe,” I started, snatching the papers from her. She glared at me while I waved them around out of her reach. “This whole place is fake. Fake history, fake ghost stories.”
She tried to take the papers back, but I raised my hand, holding them farther out of reach.
She huffed and shook her head before surveying the room.
True to its name, everything in it was purple.
Deep purple comforter on the canopy bed, violet padded furnishings, lavender curtains, purple carpet, and dark violet lamp shades.
According to the briefing Wendy gave Kendyll that I eavesdropped on, the room belonged to Violet Wisenberg, the original owner of the inn when it was an estate, but I called bullshit.
While standing in the main hall, check-in area, and the second floor, I hadn’t caught one glimpse of the alleged spirit who supposedly floated through the inn, greeting people into her home from beyond the grave.
“I haven’t looked around the whole place yet, so there’s still a chance someone’s here,” Kendyll argued like the stubborn woman she was. She gently pushed me aside to grab a camera and spiral bound notebook and pen. “So if you’ll excuse me, I have ghosts to find and talk to.”
She left the bedroom, so I blended back into the shadows and trailed after her. When she noticed me tagging along, she rolled her eyes. “If the spirits are hiding because of you, they aren’t going to come out with you following me.”
“What should we get for lunch?”
She whipped her head around to stare at me. “Are you ignoring me?”
“In the same way you’ll be ignored by the ‘ghosts’ here. Just making sure you get used to it.” I gestured around the dimly lit carpeted hallway connecting the five bedrooms of the second floor. “So what’s our mission as the pre-show ghost hunters?”
She must’ve realized shaking me off was futile because she blew out a weary breath and flipped open her notebook about halfway. Writing in every color littered the pages she passed before she landed on a mostly clean sheet. “The Gilded Inn” was scrawled at the top of this one in purple ink.
“To start, I walk around and find any spirits that are lingering around the location. I talk to them and jot down their stories, which I use to build my information report for Bethelma. I also snap photos and videos of the ones who are okay with being used in the show.”
I snorted. “No wonder Haunted Days and Nightmares is renowned for having the best physical evidence in paranormal history. You know exactly where ghosts are to capture them on film and make little pacts with them, too.”
A proud smile curled the corner of her lip. “They are some pretty cool pictures. I always let the ghosts see the shots and retake them if they think they can gain more energy to do it better. We have fun with our little phantom photo shoots.”
The Scarlet Room was across from The Violet Room, and that was where Kendyll headed first. And wouldn’t you know it? It was red. The creativity of the inn owners astounded me.
While I scrutinized the red rose painting hanging on the wall, Kendyll made a slow walk of the room.
I glanced at her, noting her serious expression as she closed her eyes as though trying to sense any potential occupants.
Her frown deepened, and wordlessly, she moved onto the next location—The Emerald Room.
“Green bed, carpet, and furniture?” I gaped. “I’m shocked.”
Her lip twitched, but she bit it to fight the grin.
She ran a hand over the foot of the bed like she was searching and waiting to feel something.
She called out softly for any spirits that might be here to come out, promising that it was okay.
Nothing happened. The Azure Room was just the same in both color theme and lack of energy.
We reached the final bedroom, which read The Gold Room on the golden plaque on the door. I leaned against the doorframe and nodded my chin at the sign. “I bet you’ll never guess what color the room is. It’s truly a mystery. The biggest mystery of the whole damn place.”
She couldn’t hide the small chuckle under her breath, but she attempted to disguise it with a cough and opening of the door.
My grin fell as I looked around at the silver furnishings, bedding, decor, and floor.
Kendyll shifted to look over her shoulder at me, and this time, she didn’t hide her laugh.
I whipped my head every direction, on the hunt for the fucking gold.
“You’re shitting me,” I remarked in outrage, coming up with nothing but silver at every angle. “I didn’t think I could hate this inn more, yet here we are. I’m gonna burn it down.”
She threw her head back on another laugh and placed her hand on my chest to move me aside so that she could search the area I crowded. “You’ll do no such thing.”
“Why would they do that?” I groaned.
Instead of feeding into my misgivings, she grumbled. “I still don’t feel or see anyone.”
“Because there’s no one here to feel or see,” I told her. Closing the space between us, I wore a wide fanged grin as I grabbed her hand and placed it back on my chest. “Unless you count me. Feel me all you want to.”
She sucked in a hard breath before going rigid. Her wide-eyed stare slowly brightened, and a grin stretched across her face. “I sense it now.”
I craned my neck around and scanned the room. “I don’t sense shit.”
“Nope. It’s crystal clear.” The hand on my chest fisted my shirt, and she yanked me closer. “I found the entity who haunts The Gilded Inn.”
My smile fell. “Oh, no.”