I’ve had some time to regroup after meeting my first ghost. I was going to start from the start wasn’t I?

Simone informed me that I had been invited to a party at the old Victorian on Chestnut Street. It’s a beautiful house. A bit tatty these days, showing its age but it still retains a sense of what it used to be in its glory days. The traditional seven colors of paint in hues of sienna reds and hunter greens that are faded now, Queen Anne architecture with a tile missing here and there, turrets, and decadent ornateness.

The house was owned by Arthur, a local vampire who was mostly known in the vamp community for his soirées and not much else. He’s been here longer than my family but no one really knows him. He holds these parties once every few months but only makes an appearance at the end of the evening before all good vampire boys and girls must go to bed. It’s all very mysterious but quite an honor to be invited.

I’m not much for parties, but I couldn’t very well refuse the invite. My family is um, sort of famous I guess and to refuse to go would ruffle some feathers we don’t particularly want to ruffle. Basically, you just don’t piss off the vampires and Arthur had decided it was time he met me.

Whatever. It was an excuse to get away and try to forget about the zombies I’d had to uh, disassemble recently. I put on my dancing shoes, convinced Liam to wear something other than his usual jeans and hoodie, hooked up with Simone and off we went.

At first everything was going well. Arthur had hired a local cover band to play and I convinced Liam to dance a couple of times (he’s so broody most of the time. It’s just nice to get him to smile.) I ran into a lot of folks who usually help me out at the rallies and despite my desire to forget about that for a while, they would pepper me with questions about the next one.

And then it happened. I was returning to the main room from the bathroom when the ghost appeared as if stepping from one of the rooms off the staircase. Like I said before, I assumed it was another activist friend, until I looked at her.  God, she was beautiful. She seemed quite young, perhaps late teens early twenties. She wore a tattered, old-fashioned dress like she was from a time when the house was brand new. But it wasn’t the sort of dress the lady of the house would have worn. It was more like that of a servant in the household. It was faded and worn in spots. The hem was ragged from dragging along the floor. But the girl… She wore her thick, blonde hair in a long plait and wound into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. Wispy tendrils of it framed her lovely pale face. Despite her opaqueness, her eyes seemed a clear bright blue and when she smiled, that grin reached her eyes. She’d been happy in life, it seemed.

I followed her into the library, mesmerized. She pointed at a chair near the fireplace and I sat down. She… drifted I guess you could say until she was standing by the mantle.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you a moment ago.”  she said. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s okay. I’ve just never… well I didn’t even know ghosts existed. I’m not afraid though, if you were worried about that. I was just startled.” I replied. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

“I’m surprised. I would have thought the daughter of a powerful necromancer like Desmond McGee would have met her fair share of ghosts by now.”

“I was just thinking the same thing. Believe me, I’ll be grilling dad about that later. Er, wait a minute. How do you now who I am?” I asked.

She smiled. “There’s very little I do not know living in this house. I am bound to it. The present owner - Arthur, you call him - was very excited that you’d accepted his invitation.”

“I see.”

“I don’t mean to appear rude Miss McGee, but I do not have much time.” She glanced nervously at the door. “Arthur will have learned I’m gone by now and will be looking for me. I… I need your help. You see, I would very much like to move on from this existence. But I am trapped.”

“Trapped?”

She cocked her head, listening for a moment. “Yes. I’m afraid it’s a rather long story and Arthur will find me any moment. Will you help me?”

I didn’t know what to say. What if she was lying? What if she was being kept in this world against her will? What kind of vampire was Arthur anyway? Why would he hold a ghost against its will? Was he a bad guy? Was she a good guy?

“I’m afraid I need more info to go on before I can jump into the mix here.”

The ghost clenched her jaw and frowned. “I see.” She stiffened and I heard footsteps on the stairs outside the door. “I must go. Please… Come back when you can. I’ll find you and tell you my story.” And with that, she shimmered and was gone just as the door opened and Arthur himself stepped into the room.

It was a bit of a close call. I was still a bit thrown by the whole ghost encounter but I just acted flustered as if lost in the big house and he showed me the way back to the main room. The rest of the party was a blur to me, my head spun so much from my encounter. Liam and I dropped Simone off at dawn and went home.
Now I just need to find a way to get back.