Haunted Devotion

5.

How can Gavin be a murderer? How can he kill someone? Enough to be cursed with their spirit? It just doesn't make sense. 

The whole time I walked the place, the more I saw the writings but it seemed more Latin than anything else. 

Yerlin wasn't wrong about it being complicated.

Going home to read some of my relics, I scanned every possibility but come up with just a regular haunting.

This is where I would call our personal priest but he's in Cancun performing an exorcism on a woman named Joann with a very colorful background.

She used to be a nun, started when she was young but life just fiddles you another way.

"Satan, I need you to look up the numbers 4, 1, 2 ,4 in that order with the place you sent me today, which was Gavin by the way," I order Yerlin as I have him on the receiver as I keep diving into my relics.

"You know you could just say my name," He says typing into his computer at HQ.

Shrugging, I say, "What's the fun in that?"

Scrolling through a whole bunch of dates, he stops on one and enlarges it.

"Think I got something," Sending it to my pager, I move over to my laptop beside me and type in the link to get shown a news article.

Reading it, I spot the date and the name underneath.

"Morgan Reign? Why is that name familiar?"

Searching more, I type in her name to get a better picture of her, along with information to her background.

"We worked with the Reign's before, didn't we?" I say to Yerlin as he's still locating information on his end.

Yerlin stops on a database log with names dated back to the 60's, Reign being one of them.

"Sending it now," He says then I instantly get it through a fax with everything in order.

Yanking it out the fax machine, I use a red pen to circle the names only with the surname Reign.

"Thanks Satan, I'll let you know if I need any more assistance," Hanging up, I buried myself down the Reign rabbit hole but got interrupted by Gerald knocking on the door frame to the ballroom entrance, as that's where I do most of my work.

"The same man is here to see you, Nolan he said his name was."

Putting the pen cap down from chewing on it as I was circling and noting things on the name log, I got up thanking Gerlad then seeing Nolan with his hands in his linen pockets, admiring the artwork in the small art display I have in the house.

"My father had gifted my mother that one on their third anniversary of marriage, both tied the knot when they were just teenagers," I say as Nolan keeps gaping at it.

"Would be rude to say I already knew that but hearing it from your lips made it sound better," He admits while turning around to see how disheveled I looked as I haven't had time to really get out of my work clothes and into something casual.

I chuckled low, "Right, we're connected. How could I forget?"

Sarcasm laced all over that comment, I pin my hair up with a hair clip, walking over to the kitchen wanting a drink to destress.

"Came over to invite you for dinner at my place, felt you needed a break."

Pouring a glass of wine I smiled low, "Because you felt I needed one or because you actually thought of the idea on your own?"

Now sipping the wine, he shrugs, "Does it really matter which is which? Either way you need a break and I'm here to give that to you."

Bowing my head low and letting my hands cross over on the counter, I looked up at him and said, "When are you going to tell me how to end this mistake I made and have you go back to the other side alone, without me." 

Nolan walks over doing the same thing, mimicking my stance, giving me direct eye contact.

"Why did you call on me if it was a mistake to begin with?"

Running my hands over my face I sighed heavily, "I didn't think it'll actually work, so how was I supposed to know you would show up?"

Gerald walks in with a chef to have them cook me something but before I could refuse, Nolan already informs both he's taking me out for dinner himself.

"Is that what you want Miss Relish?" Gerald asks seriously not liking Nolan being so dominant over me and showing up whenever he feels like it.

I looked at Nolan, who had that face that showed he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Yes, fine, I'm fine with it."

Gerald bows his head accepting that'll I'll be going but eyes Nolan grimly with a bit of protectiveness combined. 

Going to my room I showered then walked out in a burgundy red jumpsuit that made my curves show a little more while making my features stand out just as much.

"Astonishing," Nolan says, then takes my hand guiding me outside like I was the belle of the ball.

Once we stepped outside, we actually morphed inside his home as if we were transported somehow.

"Only dressed up for myself not for you by the way," I say as he gets drinks as he starts cooking.

"I know," He hands me a glass of chardonnay then keeps cooking in the kitchen, being extra careful as fire seems to be some type of enemy to him.

Sitting on the stretched out couch, I look to see the layout was changed, almost fitting the mood I was in.

Drapes laid flat by the window but hung in between the metal rod right above it with a long brown table with roses right in the middle just to have a sense of color to the room. Beside it was a bookshelf with what seemed like hundreds of old vintage books topped with a small statue of an angel holding a book upside down. Still gazing at the room, I see a painting of what looked like The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, but to its original form. "Is your name really Nolan?" I say feeling perturbed that I would even be comfortable with being in this home literally designed to fit my taste, with a ghost, supernatural human? To fit my every need and desire like it's a natural thing.

Nodding, he has a photo album appear in my lap with real old photos of him in different places as a child then the age he is now, which I'm guessing is in his mid twenties.

"Traveled a lot when you were alive I see," I say flipping through.

Stopping what he was doing, he looked up saying, "You don't know the half of it," Then turned pouring whatever he was mixing into the pot, having it sizzle tremendously.