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By contrast to the condition of the house we bought, the Bellefleur mansion looks impeccable. I didn’t bother calling before coming over. I didn’t want to give Mrs. Bellefleur the chance to disappear prior to my arrival and I’m not leaving until she answers my questions. I’m pissed off. Andy made it obvious that the family knew there was something potentially fucked up about our house and this leads me to wonder what the fuck else they didn’t bother to disclose prior to selling the house to us.

There should be a lemon law for houses.

What saves me from hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit against these assholes is the knowledge that I would just as soon cut ties with them. Since they didn’t know for absolutely certain that there was something wrong with the house, it would be damn hard to prove they knew anything since the former owner is now six feet under. I’m guessing old Mrs. Bellefleur won’t be able to tell me whose bones those are underneath the house. She’s old, but she’s not that old.

A servant answers the door when I ring the bell and I ask to speak with Mrs. Bellefleur. She invites me inside and shows me to a parlor decorated and furnished with antiques. The house feels like a goddamn museum, which is exactly what Sookie and I want to avoid if we ever feel comfortable enough to move back into our house. An old oil painting is hanging over the mantle and it depicts a man, woman and three children.

The man has dark hair that partially flops over one eye. The woman is dressed finely with a bonnet on her head. The children are all young. There is a boy that is no more than five, a girl of maybe seven and then a baby sitting on its mother’s knee. If I had to date the portrait I would assume it’s from the Civil War era and it makes my blood run cold.

Is this the woman that’s been terrorizing my wife since we moved in?

“That’s William and Caroline Compton,” a raspy voice says from behind me.

I turn around to see Mrs. Bellefleur entering the room, leaning on a cane as she walks to the sofa.

“Caroline Isabel Compton was my great-grandmother, which is where I get my namesake,” the old woman says as she sits. “You must be Mr. Northman. I’m sorry to hear your troubles at the house. We weren’t aware that a body had been buried under it.”

It’s no surprise that Caroline already knows, seeing as how her grandson was on the scene when the body was excavated.

“I would hope not.” I remain standing.

“Sit, young man. Sally will be bringing tea momentarily,” Caroline says, and just to appease her I sit down on the chintzy sofa that wasn’t at all designed for a man of my height. “Andrew tells me that you have experienced abnormalities in the house since acquiring it.”

“To put it politely, yes.”

It’s a damn good thing Sookie isn’t here or she would lose her patience really fast with Mrs. Bellefleur’s primness.

“My conversations with Jesse, toward the end were, at best, barely coherent. He was only lucid for a few hours each day and the medications he was on made his memory foggy. We honestly assumed his wild accusations of slamming doors, flickering lights and clanking noises could be attributed to his weakened state and the condition of his home. The caregiver had suggested there was something paranormal happening, but I never witnessed any of those occurrences myself so I brushed them off,” Mrs. Bellefleur explains.

“Well, my wife now has scars on her back thanks to the ghost you didn’t want to believe in,” I say bitterly. “I’ve seen what this spirit is capable of with my own two eyes. I need to know everything you know about who was living in that house during the Civil War.”

She lifts a bony finger and points to the painting. “William and Caroline lived there with Sarah, Thomas and Lee.We know from family records that Caroline fell ill for a time after the War ended. William was a soldier, you see, and she was forced to maintain the house, grounds, staff and children while he was away. He returned in the spring of 1865 and shortly after Lee was born, Caroline fell ill. These days it would probably be termed as that depression women get after childbirth. In those days it was simply diagnosed as consumption. She took to her bed where she remained for several months while she recovered.”

“And what about the servants?” I ask. “Are there records of them?”

“They aren’t blood to us, so no. There would be no reason to keep such records unless they were… freed,” she says in such a way as to suggest that the Compton family had been slave owners prior to it being made unlawful.

If that was the case there was no way of knowing who was buried under the house. It wasn’t at all unusual for a slave owner to use death as a punishment. Burying the body of a slave under the house didn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially since only one body had been found. The skull had suggested it belonged to a person of caucasian descent and the pelvis had indicated that the skeleton was female.

“Is it possible that Caroline was buried under the house?” I ask. “Could that have been a last wish of hers?”

“Caroline was laid to rest in the cemetery,” Mrs. Bellefleur says. She seems offended that I would even suggest such a thing. “Who that skeleton belongs to is anyone’s guess, Mr. Northman. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help to you on this matter.”

The maid brings in a pitcher of sweet tea and some cookies. To be polite I stick around long enough to drink my tea and listen to Mrs. Bellefleur yammer on about her family lineage. By the time she’s finished I feel like I’ve learned precious little of value to bring back to Sookie.

What a waste.

I excuse myself and thank her for the little I learned from her before I leave. The crew is at a standstill when I get back to the house. Alcide is taking with the foreman and as I walk by the crew they shoot me strange looks.

Bloody hell if there’s another Skelton under the house I’m pulling the plug on the renovation and having the whole fucking house demolished. End of story.

“What’s going on?” I ask when I approach Alcide.

“There were some… occurrences,” he says. “One of my guys got trapped in the crawl space and tools have been disappearing all day. I’m sorry, Eric, but I can’t have my guys getting hurt on a job like this.”

I sigh and run my hand through my hair.

“It’s okay, I understand. I don’t want anyone getting hurt either. Sookie and I are working on getting things fixed. We would really like you to come back and finish once we get shit straightened out.”

Alcide nods and says, “Absolutely. Give me a call when you’re good to go and we’ll get it going again.”

“Thanks. Apologize to your crew for us.”

“You got it.” Alcide claps me on the shoulder just as I see Sookie coming out of the woods with Ansel at her side.

He gets his crew packing things up and Sookie looks concerned. We’re still staying with Amelia and Tray, but I’m sure our welcome is wearing thin. It’s cool that they’re letting us stay with them instead of at the hotel, but I know both of us are anxious to get back in our own space. It’s only been a few days but the return of this… whatever she is has sucked the sex drive out of both of us and I like having sex with my wife. We’re good at it and I’m sure Sookie misses it too.

When she gets close enough to me I explain what’s going on. She looks like she might cry when I tell her about the crew member that got stuck in the crawl space. If it was just the tools being moved the guys might be able to laugh it off, but I don’t want anyone endangering themselves and I know Sookie would want that either.

“And talking to Mrs. Bellefleur was pretty much a bust,” I sigh. “All she could tell me was that William and Caroline Compton lived in the house at that time with their three children Thomas, Sarah and Lee. Caroline had some sort of illness that kept her in bed for a few months after Lee was born, but she insists that Caroline was buried in the cemetery. That’s all she could tell me.”

“Then who is under the house? A slave, maybe? Did they even own slaves?”

“She hinted that they did but she didn’t confirm it. I can’t imagine they would bury a slave under the house. I’m sure if they killed a slave the body would be left out as an example of what happens to disobedient workers.”

She frowns and then says, “This is so awful. What if we are never able to figure it out and help her move on?”

“I don’t know. Sell the house and move on? We can’t live here as long as this thing wants to hurt you. I don’t even want to think about what she would do to a baby.” I literally cringe at the horrific thought of this ghost suffocating our baby in the middle of the night while we are asleep. It would completely destroy Sookie if something like that happened.

“We won’t let that happen,” she says, and her hand settles over her stomach. “I’m not bringing my baby into that house as long as she’s still in it. But I don’t want to move on knowing she isn’t at peace. Amelia said something about maybe contacting a friend who’s a medium. We’ll ask her about it.”

“Good idea.” I agree as the trucks parked outside the house start up and begin to pull away. “I’m going to go inside. I need some stuff from the office. Do you want to come in with me?”

She eyes the house and hesitates for a second, then grabs my hand.

“Don’t you dare leave my side.”

“I won’t,” I promise. “I think she needs to know she’s not going to win and you’re not afraid of her.”

I remember what Amelia said about staying calm and I tell myself to relax before I unlock the kitchen door. The drywall has already been rehung and we can see where the new cabinets, appliances and the island are supposed to go.

“It looks so good already,” she sighs. “And I already ordered the cabinets so this chick better find her fucking peace.”

“Calm, remember?” I remind her but it’s too late.

Sookie’s small outburst earns us a series of loud thuds that sounds like someone is falling down the stairs. That’s a new one for me but I know she’s heard it before.

“I hate that sound,” she cringes.

“It’s not a pleasant one,” I agree.

A chill settles over us as we head for the stairs.

“Hello, Caroline,” I say. I don’t care what Mrs. Bellefleur said, this has to be Caroline Compton. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

“We’re talking to her now?” Sookie asks in a whisper.

“Maybe it’ll help,” I shrug. “We know you’re here. We’ll be leaving in a minute.”

“We don’t want to hurt you, and we don’t want you to hurt us,” Sookie says.

The crawl space door starts to rattle and it’s too much for Sookie.

“I can’t,” she says, and starts backing towards the door.

“It’s okay. I’ll be out in a minute.” I kiss her head and the door bursts open.

“No, come with me,” she says after letting out a small scream. “Please, Eric.”

I sigh but I can’t say no to her; not when Sookie looks so scared.

“I’ll come back later with Tray, okay?” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and she clings to my waist. The crawl space door slams shut and then bursts open again.

“Okay, let’s just go,” she says, and starts pulling me towards the door.

As we walk out of the house the door keeps opening and closing all on its own. I won’t be the least bit surprised if Sookie doesn’t sleep well tonight.

SPOV

I’ve always disliked the image of a door opening and closing on its own. It’s one of the scariest things in ghost shows and movies. Now that I’ve seen it happen to that extent in person, I’m fairly certain that freaking ghost just shaved a few years off my life. I even break down on the way back to Amelia and Tray’s house. I hate that our home is being controlled by someone we can’t even see. Eric wraps me in his arms and does his best to comfort me, but I know that even he can’t protect me from a ghost.

When we get inside Amelia is making dinner. She’s a great cook, and I’ve really enjoyed staying with her, but I miss being in my own space. I’m sure she and Tray would like to have their house to themselves again too. It’s time to talk to her about contacting her friend. I don’t know if they’re local or not, and we need to get this done.

“Amelia, can we talk?” I ask her as I sit at the kitchen table.

“Of course. How’d the walk in the cemetery go? Find anything good?”

“Just some names. We know who lived in the house at the time the body was put under it, but we don’t know who the body is. Our best guess is someone named Caroline Compton, the wife of the man living there, but Mrs. Bellefluer swears she was buried in the cemetery.”

“Interesting,” she says.

“But some serious things just happened,” I say. “The crew had to leave because one of the guys got trapped in the crawl space. And then we were just there and…” I trail off and look to Eric. I don’t even want to think about it.

“We heard thuds coming down the stairs, there was the chill in the air and then the crawl space door was rattling until it started to open and close violently,” Eric tells her for me.

“Oh boy,” Amelia says. “That’s no good.”

“Is there anything your medium friend can do to help us get our home back?” I ask.

“I’ll give him a call after supper and see if he could maybe come meet us at your house,” she says.

“Is he local?” I ask.

“He is,” she smiles. “You know the sassy chef at Merlotte’s?”

“The one whose burger I could eat for every meal every day of my life?”

“That would be him. Lafayette likes to keep it quiet that he can commune with the dead but since I’m not exactly normal we have something in common.”

“Wow,” I say. “I never would have guessed. Do you think he’ll want to do this for us?”

“I think so. He had to clear a spirit out of here you know?” she says, and it’s a surprise to me.

“What? Who?”

“His name was Mitchell,” she says with a knowing smile. “He was stuck here looking for Adele. He used to leave coins on the nightstand.”

My eyes fill with tears, and I don’t even try to stop them. I never knew much of my grandfather, but that my gran loved him dearly even long after he was gone. It warms my heart to know that he loved her so much that he stayed to keep an eye on her.

“Does that mean he’s at peace with her now?” I ask, and wipe the tears off my face with a napkin Eric handed me.

“Yes, it does. He was never bothersome, other than the presence started to bug me after a while. He never acted out like your ghost has,” Amelia says.

“From what my Gran always said, he was the perfect gentleman,” I smile. “I’ll have to thank Lafayette for helping him move on.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

I smile over at Eric and take a deep breath.

“I think I’m going to go clean my face off,” I say. “Thank you, Ames.”

“You’re welcome, sugar,” she says.

I get up and kiss Eric on the cheek, then head to the bathroom to wash my face. Knowing that Lafayette helped my grandfather move on makes me have faith that he can help us with the ghost in our house.

♦ ♦ ♦

After dinner Amelia calls Lafayette as promised, and he agrees to come out and meet with us. I don’t know if we’ll be going to our house tonight as well, but for now he’d like to talk to us about what’s been going on.

When he arrives he smells like his delicious burgers, and it makes me hungry. It probably doesn’t smell nearly as good to him, but I plan to tell Eric that we need to go back to Merlotte’s as soon as possible. Lafayette is about as sassy as they come, and the way he dresses reminds me of something a little girl would put on playing dress up and feel fabulous in. There’s sparkles and a cut off sweater, an actual skirt with leggings underneath, colorful high tops, and all kinds of jewelry.

“I hear you’re the man I need to thank for helping my grandfather move on from this house,” I say when Amelia introduces us.

“You’s welcome, baby girl,” he says. “He was a stubborn one. Kep’ on insistin’ yo’ granny was comin’ back any minute,” Lafayette says.

I smile and say, “At least he wasn’t aware that she’d passed. That might have been worse, him being stuck here knowing she had died.”

“Baby girl, I done dealt with worse,” Lafayette says with sass. “So tell me about this feisty ass bitch up in yo’ house.”

I take a deep breath and gesture to the living room when Amelia heads that way. We follow her in and all sit down as Eric and I proceed to fill Lafayette completely in on everything strange that we’ve experienced, alone, and together. Hearing and recounting it all over again is exhausting, but it makes me feel even more determined to get my house back from this woman.

“So that’s where we’re at now,” I say, and put my hand on Eric’s knee when he rubs my back comfortingly. “Please tell me there’s something you can do to help us.”

“Sounds like I need to serve this bitch her eviction notice,” he says, and looks to Amelia. “You got the sage and salt?”

“Of course,” she nods.

“Then lets go send Captain Howdy back where she belong,” Lafayette stands up.

“Now?” Eric looks surprised.

“Unless you wanted me to sleep on it… next you,” Lafayette looks Eric up and down, and hums approvingly.

“Down girl, he’s married,” Amelia says.

“Bitch, you don’t even know how many times I done heard that,” he smirks.

I laugh and nudge Eric’s side. “You do like to be adventurous.”

“Not that adventurous,” Eric says and quickly adds, “No offense, Lafayette.”

“None taken, sugar. Now let’s get Casper out yo’ house so this one can get laid,” he gestures to Amelia.

“Okay,” I stand up with a smile at Amelia, and reach for Eric’s hand as he stands too. “Is there anything we need to know before we go in?”

“Just try to stay calm and don’t agitate her if you can help it,” Lafayette says.

“I’ll do my best, but sometimes just being in a room doing nothing sets her off.”

Lafayette lifts an eyebrow and says, “I guess that means she ain’t like you. At least she got good taste.” Again he’s checking Eric out.

“Yeah, well she can’t have him,” I say, and wrap my arm around his waist. “I don’t think he’s into banging ghosts anyway.”

“Not since college,” Eric jokes.

“Come on,” I laugh, and we all head out of the house.

Tray stays behind with Ansel, and the rest of us pile into mine and Eric’s vehicle after Amelia grabs some supplies. It’s a short drive, but I want to get this over with. It would be nice to be able to finish our home up before the baby comes, and to get back to that whole sex life thing. I’m sure Amelia and Tray would like to have theirs back too. They’re wonderful friends for letting us stay with them, but we’ve worn out our welcome.

When we get to the house I get a creepy feeling just looking at it, and goosebumps rise on my skin. I remember what Lafayette and Amelia both said about staying calm so I take a couple deep breaths. It would probably be easier to walk into the house if I believed she couldn’t hurt me, but I know that’s not true. And now I have more than just myself to worry about.

“Ready?” I ask Lafayette.

He nods and Eric unlocks the door for us. The second we step in all of the lights go on and begin to flicker.

“Girl, you need to knock that shit off,” Lafayette says in a tone of warning.

Amelia lights her sage and starts to wave it around the entryway. The lights keep flickering and the door slams behind Eric and me.

“What’s with the temper tantrum? Ain’t you a lil old for that hot mess?” Lafayette looks around.

My grip on Eric’s hand gets so tight I’m sure I’ll end up cutting his circulation off, but he doesn’t protest. It does feel a little easier having Lafayette here with his no-nonsense attitude. I just hope he doesn’t really piss her off.

Eric wraps an arm around me and that’s when I feel the cold at my back.

“She’s here,” I whisper.

Lafayette turns to face me to get a look at her and just as he’s opening his mouth the cold passes over me. Lafayette jerks and then stumbles back toward the stairs.

“Lafayette!” Amelia runs over to help him up.

His face different, softer somehow, and in a much more feminine voice he says, “The name’s Lorena, not Caroline. Get out of my house.”

I suck in a breath and look up at Eric.

Did Lafayette just get possessed?

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