Dancing with a ghost

Chapter 2

"Please... Please let me go." A man said to Mr March.

His hands and foot were tied. He was crying. He look terrified. James loved it.

"Beg for your life as long as you want. Perhaps my poor little heart will be touched." He smirked.

He took a long knife. With his apron, he looked like a butcher. He was a butcher. By now, his beautiful brown eyes were black as the night.

His eyes stopped on the two little crimson holes on his neck. Elizabeth... Then in a professional gesture, the knife penetrated the throat of the poor man. The blood immediately came out, like a river of red wine. The psychopath was into a trance. His pale skin was now covered by the warm and red liquid, and when it touched his lips, he licked them slowly.

"Delightful." He whispered. "Miss Evers !" He said loudly.

The woman came in the room. She did not seem surprised or afraid by the scene in front of her.

"Clean that for me, you'll be an angel."

James went out of the bedroom. He was walking in the long corridor, his own walls, his own creation. Suddenly he stopped in front of the ornated door on which there was the number 64 written in gold.

He knew that Lacy Harper was inside, plunged in a deep sleep. He had asked to his maids to take her there.

He opened the door slowly and came in the room. He stepped closer to the bed noticing the little shape resting in it. He looked at the chest of the girl, which gently rosed up and down. He imagined himself squeezing her fragile human heart from his hand.

He delicately brought his fingers to her naked arm, where there were some cuts, and touched them. He could do so much damage to her skin, he could make a masterpiece.

Then his hands encircled the thin neck of the young woman, and he pressed it. He could take his life right now. He wished it so bad. But a part of him wanted to wait. At the same time he noticed the tattoo on her left collarbone, a little red rose which was bleeding. Interesting. 

"Mhh..." She muttered.

At the sound she did, he understood he was holding her neck too tightly. He, finally removed his hands leaving a mark on her soft skin. Of course she was still sleeping because of the drug he had put in her glass. 

His glance reached her face now. She looked peaceful, lying and thinking that she was out of danger. The first thing he had noticed was the little diamond on her nose, shining with the first rays of dawn. She had a piercing. James could not deny it, she had an angelic beauty. 

Few hours later, Lacy's eyes were wide opened. She went to the shower and luckily a maid had given her some pieces of clothes. She wondered how did those clothes came into their possession. Some people had forgotten their things perhaps ? She also did not understand why the clothes the staff worn looked so old. 

She finally went out of her luxurious bedroom. The corridor was ravishing as the room in which she had slept. The walls were decorated with a crimson tapestry and golden patterns on it. While searching the good way to go downstairs, she had noticed some residents of the hotel, who were staring a her. They were probably curious to see a new face here. She tried to ignore them, that was a really difficult task.

Downstairs she met the receptionist of yesterday.

"Hi miss, I am sorry to bother you again, but I need to know...Did you call police yesterday ?" Lacy enquired.

"Yes of course. The police said they would send a patrol as soon as possible."

Lacy felt reassured. "Thank you so much. I think my phone fell on the floor during my race in the forest. I was incredibly lucky to find this hotel."

"Oh yes." The receptionist simply replied.

"By the way, I think I should go now. Can you tell me the amount for one night."

After paying, Lacy went out of the hotel. She had given to the receptionnist her contact details just in case the pollice needed to contact her.  It was a beautiful day, and the place looked so much more peaceful than last night. But even if the police was surely now investigating, she could not stop thinking about the woman.

She had not said goodbye to the owner of the hotel. Who would have cared ? Definitively not him.

However, the farther she got from the hotel, the more uncomfortable she felt. She had not eaten since many hours, perhaps it was the reason. Besides that, the receptionist had told her that a taxi agency was not far from the hotel, she only had to stay on the path.

Suddenly, she heard steps behind her. Her blood froze. She turned around, but nobody was there.

It was probably her imagination.

When she turned again to continue her walk, her heart skipped a beat.

A poor woman was crying. The only thing Lacy noticed was her backpack before she crossed the dirt road and disappeared between the trees.

"Hey wait !" Lacy exclaimed.

She could not let that poor woman alone. She had to know what was the problem.

She could hear the sniffles of the woman. She was finally there, sitting on the branch of a tree, the tears like a torrent.

"Hey what's happen to you ?" Lacy asked. She was not really good at starting a conversation.

The woman did not reply. The following seconds, she took off the gold ring from her finger and threw it.

Her tears stooped and her eyes were now expressing something else than sadness. Determination.

Lacy wanted to come closer to the branch but she had to face an horrible vision now. The woman was hanged, her body trembling due to the lack of air.

Lacy stepped back, the tears blurred her vision. The woman was staring at Lacy, the sparkle of life leaving her eyes seconds after seconds.

Lacy returned on the path and ran to the hotel. She could not believe what had just happened.

It took her few minutes to come in the hotel. When she entered in, her body hit someone else's. She raised her head to plunge in the deep brown eyes she had already seen yesterday.

"Mr March I apologize." She burst into tears.

"It's okay don't worry my dear. Why are you crying ? Do you have any problem?" He wondered with a calm and caring voice.

"I...I saw a woman..." Lacy could not talking correctly. "Hanged... She was hanged !"

"To be honnest, I think you are traumatized and it's normal, someone tried to attack you."

"So you think I am lying ! I know what I have seen, I am not mad !" Lacy raised her voice.

Some residents of the hotel opened  their mouths. Never someone had talked in that way to mister March.

You will have a good reason to yell when I will kill you, James thought.

Lacy felt guilty. Mr March had just tried to comfort her.

"I am so sorry." She sniffled. "Maybe you are right, but it looked so real."

"You are forgiven, but you need to change your mind. What about a diner with me ?" He proposed, sweeping her tears by his fingers.

Lacy was lost in his eyes. It was the second time James was touching her skin. Did he act like that with all his customers ? Or was he really trying to flirt with her ?

James smiled. He knew he didn't leave her indifferent.

"I'm still waiting for your answer my dear."

"I'm sorry but I think i need to rest." That was the truth, her race seemed to have an important impact on her. 

"Oh okay." 

Never someone had refused him something. He felt angry but she did not perceived that emotion in his eyes.