CHAPTER 9
Selena walked in to her small apartment and threw her keys on the coffee table. Rosie was gone, but she’d left her a note. Selena left it unopened; she simply didn’t have the heart to forgive her friend at that moment.
She walked back to her room and stared at the bed. How would she be able to sleep on it now that Eric wasn’t there to provide the warmth she so cherished? She could not do it; the couch would have to do.
She would just have to move. The thought of spending more time there than was necessary was more than she could bear. If she had more money she would live in a hotel while she found a new place, but as it was she had a strict budget she had to abide by. She was stuck here for now, but soon she would be away from anything that reminded her of ghostly kisses, and ghostly touches.
Well shit, she thought, she would have to leave New Orleans after all.
“Selena,” the faint whisper in her ear startled her out of her sleep. She squinted into her moonlit living room. “Selena,” she heard it again and she sat bolt upright.
The room was so cold she could see her breath. She fumbled with the lamp set beside the sofa but it would not turn on. Still, the happiness she felt at his return was enough to light up an entire city.
“Eric!” she called out to him. Slowly his figure emerged, becoming more solid as he drew more and more energy from the room. For the first time ever she felt him take from her as well and it made her feel drunk. But she shrugged off the feeling and got to her wobbly feet.
Selena walked to him and opened her arms in welcome. “Oh, Eric, how I’ve missed you. Please don’t ever leave me again,” she said when he walked to her and took her in his arms. She squeezed him with all her might.
He kissed her then, roughly. At first she responded with the same passion, but slowly, as her own mind cleared she realized it wasn’t passion he was kissing her with. His kiss was demanding and angry. Punishing in a mean way. There was no love in it.
Selena tried to pull away but he held her to him. He grabbed her by the back of the head and forced his kisses on her. She tried to scream but he smothered the sound with his mouth. It seemed that the harder she fought the more energy he drew from her. She was becoming weaker by the minute.
She fell to the floor with him on top. He’s going to rape me. Rosie had been right. He fumbled with her long shirt as she begged him to stop. “Please, Eric, don’t do this. What’s happened to you?”
He was relentless. He had her arms pinned above her head and used his free hand to pull her panties aside. This was it, she thought and closed her eyes.
“Damn it! Damn it all to hell!” he cursed. “What does he have that I don’t? How is it he can do this but I can’t?” he demanded and she opened her eyes. “Tell me bitch!” He lifted himself off her and she quickly stood and backed away.
“W-what?” Selena stammered. “Oh my God!” Her eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re not Eric!”
She’d seen his faint image in the dark and had been so happy to see him she’d failed to see the differences. Though he could pass for Eric’s twin, this man was thinner, perhaps a little shorter, and his voice wasn’t as deep.
Eric never used her own life force for himself, but had simply made her sleepy to get her to go to bed. She didn’t even know he could do that. And by the hard look of frustration that now marred his beautiful face she could tell that he obviously didn’t have the connection she had with Eric that allowed them to be intimate.
“Étienne?” she asked. Selena knew that Eric had had a younger brother who’d died before he did. She knew also that he had looked very much like Eric.
Étienne’s eyes flashed when she said his name. “So, you know of me. Good, it will make this so much easier.” He walked towards her threateningly and she backed away.
“Eric will be here any minute,” she lied. “He won’t be happy to know you tried to hurt me.”
Étienne laughed, the sound so full of malice that it chilled her to the bone. “He won’t be here. I made sure of that.”
“How?” she frowned.
“You have a lovely friend, Selena. I enjoyed messing with her little head while she slept. It was quite easy, too, she’s so impressionable. All I had to do was say a few phrases that would ensure she would snoop around in the Mercier family history.”
Selena swallowed hard. How long had he been around, manipulating her and her friend? And how is it that Eric never sensed him around?
“Why are you doing this?” she asked almost in tears now. She hated to admit it, but she was afraid. Terrified in fact.
“Because he had it all in life. Father gave him everything and constantly reminded me of how much he preferred Eric over me. Women loved him. I had to pay for my whores while he had to fend them off with a stick. And now, even in death he has it all, and just as I did then, I plan to take it all away.” With those last words Étienne slapped her so hard she fell back onto the coffee table.
She went to get up but he held her down by the throat cutting off her air supply. She wondered then if a ghost could take her life, and believed it could when her vision blurred and blackness overtook her.
Eric felt a sudden pain in his chest that felt like he was dying all over again. Something was wrong, he knew it with every fiber of his being. “Selena!”
Eric closed his eyes and pictured her tiny apartment, pictured her beautiful face, making every effort to take himself there.
Surprised it worked, it took his mind a moment to decipher what his eyes were witnessing. Selena was draped over the coffee table, her arms and legs limply hanging over the sides. Straddling her was a dark haired man, his large hands around her throat, strangling her.
Another spirit, he thought. A strong one from the looks of it. He could feel the pull, the drain of energy that was coming from him.
Using all of his own strength he pulled the man off Selena and flung him across the room. He hurriedly looked over her, cradling her head in his shaking hands.
“Selena, please, mon amour, say something.” Selena coughed and took in a few ragged breaths before she looked up at him.
“Eric?” she said in a raspy voice.
“Yes, I’m here, you’re all right now.”
Selena flung her arms around his neck and sobbed. “Eric,” she cried. “Please don’t ever leave me again. I love you!”
Eric held her in his arms in disbelief. “But you’re friend said…”
“She lied! I would never have said those things. It was all your brother’s doing,” she exclaimed.
“My brother?” he asked. In that instant a pair of strong hands jerked him out of her arms and threw him against the wall. He’d been so upset to see Selena in such a condition that he’d completely forgotten about the man. He quickly stood to face his opponent.
“Hello, big brother. So nice to see you again.”
Eric’s mouth went dry. “Étienne?” he asked unable to believe his own eyes. The room was dark, but there was enough light coming in from outside that he could make out his little brother’s features. “What are you doing?”
“Well, I thought it would be obvious that I came to take your little woman for my own, but apparently that’s not possible. Tell me, mon frère, how do you do it?”
“What are you talking about?” Eric was truly confused, first by his brother’s appearance, then by his behavior.
“How do you get off with her? I tried, but it seems my…equipment, doesn’t work with her.”
It dawned on him then what Étienne was referring to and anger filled his veins with fire. He looked over at the bedraggled Selena, “Did he hurt you?” he asked, his nostrils flaring.
“No,” she responded. He hadn’t violated her, but he could tell he’d hit her. Once he’d heard rumors of his brother beating women at the brothels, the house madams going as far as to ban him from their establishments, but Étienne had denied it and Eric had been fool enough to believe him.
“I want you to leave, Étienne, and
never return,” Eric demanded in a cold voice he hoped instilled enough fear in his brother that he would listen.
“I am afraid I cannot. At least, not without telling your lovely lady what really happened.” Étienne smiled wickedly.
“Étienne,” Eric warned but his brother continued.
Étienne faced towards Selena. “Tell me, ma chère, has your lover told you how I died.”
“Save your breath, Étienne, nothing you say will take me away from Eric.” At those words Eric’s heart swelled. How wrong he’d been to leave without giving her a chance to tell him in person what she felt. Instead he made them both suffer needlessly.
“We’ll see about that,” Étienne continued. “Did you know that Eric could have prevented my death? I begged for his help, help that was in his power to give, but he refused. Instead he allowed the men to take payment with my life and watched as they did so.”
“I fought as hard as I could, Étienne, you know that!”
“All I know is that you could have saved me. And Father. Tell me something, mon frère, did you stand by and do nothing when he died, too?”
That hit Eric hard. He’d forgiven himself for the things that he’d had no control over, but remnants of guilt still lingered. Étienne saw this and took advantage. “Did Eric tell you that he drank himself into a stupor every night? He was a coward; even now he simply lingers here without moving on to the next life.”
“I don’t deny that I handled things poorly when you died. The guilt was more than I could bear. But I have forgiven myself now because I’ve realized that there was nothing I could do. I warned you many times, Étienne, not to gamble. I did my best as a brother and simply thought I was doing so then. I was obviously wrong and hope you can forgive me, too, but I won’t allow this to come between me and happiness any longer. I want you to leave.”
“No! Since 1843 I have waited. I will not leave until you give her up and move on as well. If you do not I will haunt her for the rest of her life and there will be nothing you can do to stop me. I won’t let her sleep until she goes mad.”
Étienne was the one that had gone mad, Eric realized. Unfortunately he was also right. There would be nothing he could do to stop his brother from bringing misery into Selena’s life. He could fight him, true, but would he have to do it every second of every day?
Eric looked over at Selena, into her beautiful deep blue eyes. He couldn’t do that to her. He’d have to give her up so that she could be happy even though he would be in hell no matter if he ended up in Heaven.
“Selena…” he started but she walked up to him and cut him off.
“Don’t you dare say it! I won’t give you up, I won’t!” she cried and pounded on his chest with her small fists. It felt as though his world was ending.
“Selena, he will not leave us in peace! You will eventually hate us both.”
“No! Don’t you see what he’s doing? He’s envious of what you have and wants to take it away all over again.”
Eric frowned. “What do you mean again?”
Selena furrowed her brows then lifted them as if though she’d just made some important discovery. “Oh my God!” She ran to kitchen and he could hear her digging in through a drawer. She finally came back with a piece of paper.
“What year did you die?” she demanded of him. Why was she angry?
“1843,” he replied.
“It says here you died in 1845.”
“It must be a misprint.”
“I don’t believe so,” she said, then looking and Étienne said, “Is it?”
Eric looked at his brother. “What is she referring to? Why did she say you want to take it all away from me again?
Étienne simply shrugged. “I have no idea. Perhaps she’s already gone mad.”
“It all makes sense now,” Selena said, her eyes so wild with fury that Eric feared she actually may have lost it. “Eric, have you ever been to brothels?”
“No,” he replied. “I detested them.”
“That’s what I thought. You see, Étienne said that he had to pay for his love and you didn’t.” Étienne visibly cringed. “The information that Rosie found said that after his Father’s death, Eric spent all of his time in taverns and brothels. Étienne’s body was never found and yours was found in 1845 in Pirates Alley.”
His body had been found? “But that makes no sense, I was there. All they found was blood.”
“All they found in 1843 was blood. It was Étienne’s body in 1845,” Selena said. “They thought Étienne was you.”
“But… Mon Dieu! What did you do Étienne?” He really wasn’t sure why he even bothered to ask since it was pretty obvious. Étienne had faked his death.
Étienne laughed. “You are very intelligent, Selena, I will give you that much. So, it is true, what can I say? I’m sorry?” More laughter.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Eric asked.
“Why else? That was the only way I could ensure I inherited it all. I’d already lost all of my money and neither Father nor you would give me more. I knew that if I became you I would get it all, the wealth, Father’s love.”
“He loved you! I loved you!”
“No! He loved only you. He was proud of only you. He told me once that he wished I was just like you, and so I decided to make his wish come true. But the only way I could do that was to kill Étienne, to fake my death. I believe I did so quite convincingly. I hid, waiting for the right time to strike.
“I meant to let Father live, but when I visited him one night pretending to be you, he recognized me for who I really was. He was so angry with me that he slapped me and called me filth and wished I’d never been born. He said he was ashamed to call me his son. I lost myself. When I came to I hovered over his bloodied body. I ran, afraid. Believe me when I say that I never expected you to be blamed for it. I certainly didn’t want that since I wanted to take your place.
“And then the day came when I would take my rightful place as heir to the Mercier fortune. I had to kill you and dispose of your body so that I could take your place. Did you recognize the two men who attacked you? They were the same who’d pretended to kill me, that day in the study. I thought that was witty on my part. Had I known how easy you would make it for them I would have saved myself the money and done it myself. But what’s done is done.”
Eric couldn’t believe his ears. How could anyone do such horrible things to their own brother?
“You’re a monster,” Selena said to him.
He smiled at her. “Perhaps, perhaps not. It was certainly easy to take Eric’s place. No one questioned me.”
“Was it worth your soul?” Selena asked. “It’s obvious you were killed only two years later. How ironic that it was in the same place you’d stabbed your brother in the back.”
Étienne sighed. “Alas, it does seem so, doesn’t it? And it was the same two men who killed me. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who hired them.” Étienne turned to Eric then. “I grow weary of this conversation. Make your choice.”
Eric pulled Selena into his arms but she shoved away. “No! I won’t let you do this.”
“What choice do I have? I love you more than my own life. I will not be the reason for your unhappiness.” She shook her head and tears streaked her soft skin. Accepting his decision she clung to him and he murmured all that he felt for her even though he knew she didn’t understand the words but he hoped she’d know in her heart. “Je t'aime. Je ne vous oublierai jamais.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
He turned to his brother. “Do I have your word then?”
“You have my word.”
Eric reached out with his mind and slowly a light appeared in his peripheral vision. It was incredibly bright, but even that didn’t compare to the light that emanated from Selena. He took in her beautiful face knowing it would be the last time he’d see it until she joined him, but by then she would have had more chances to love. She would have forgotten him though he would ne
ver forget her.
Just as he was about to turn into the light he felt another presence in the room. Just as the light had its own presence, so did the darkness that appeared on his other side. It wasn’t exactly darkness however, more like it was devoid of all light and warmth. Instead of feeling a pull he felt a rejection. Something that said “Don’t look this way.”
He knew then that the void was there for his brother, and he would not go into it, of that he was sure. He’d wait for Eric to go to the light, then harass Selena for the rest of her life. He hated him that much. Eric couldn’t allow that.
Without a moment’s hesitation Eric turned to Étienne, wrapped his arms around him and threw himself into the void. The last thing he heard was Selena’s scream as she realized he’d flung himself into the very pits of Hell.