Death Becomes Him - 29

It was closing in on two in the morning when Trent and Rory decided to call it a night. They’d hit two other bars, danced a lot, drank a little, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. In the process they ran into another of their friends from before Rory had disappeared. He was a nice man, the polar opposite of Jamie, and the three of them spent a quarter of an hour happily hashing over old times.

As they walked back to where they’d parked the car, they passed the small building that had once been the home for Rory’s ‘Ghost and Vampire’ tour company. It had a ‘For Rent’ sign in the dusty window on the ground floor.

“Boy that brings back memories,” Rory said, pausing in front of it. “It looks as if it’s been vacant for a while which is strange. It’s a good location.”

“If you really want to start up doing that again, maybe you should see how much they’re asking per month.”

Rory nodded. “Maybe I will. The rent’s probably through the roof, which is why no one’s there now.”

Trent chuckled. “Or maybe it’s haunted and the ghost scared the last tenants off.”

“Wouldn’t that be a laugh? It wasn’t before though, at least not that I felt.”

Slinging an arm over Rory’s shoulders, Trent urged him to keep walking. “You really could sense them?”

“I thought so. Could have been my over-active imagination but still… Yeah there were places that I knew were haunted.” He smiled, glancing at Trent. “You always thought I was crazy when it came to that, didn’t you?”

“As you said, too much imagination on your part.”

Rory grinned devilishly. “Want to test that theory?”

“Now?”

“Why not?”

“Umm, okay, I guess.”

“Come on.” Lifting Trent’s arm off his shoulders, Rory took his hand, walking back the way they’d come, then past Bourbon, heading toward Rampart. Half way there they turned again, ending up in front of a small, two-story house. 

“It definitely looks as if it could be haunted,” Trent said.

It was, by Quarter standards, fairly ramshackle. The wood was painted gray and  was fading where sun hit it. A narrow balcony across the second story had a rusted iron railing around it. Only the white painted frames around the windows and the front door looked new.

“Is someone refurbishing it?” Trent wondered aloud.

“Looks like. Last time I was here it was broken up into small apartments.”

“Was it part of one of the tours?”

“Yep. About a hundred years ago someone broke in and killed the owner and his wife. The wife moved on but the man still hangs around in what was the back parlor. He may be waiting to find out who his killer was.”

“A bit late for that now,” Trent said.

“True enough. Anyway, the few times I brought groups here I could sense he was watching and not too happy about it.”

“Was the parlor part of an apartment when you brought tours here?”

Rory shook his head. “If it had been, do you think the renters would have let us tramp through? The guy who owns the house set it aside and actually played off the fact it was supposedly haunted. That didn’t seem to bother the tenants. Hell, some of them probably rented here just so they could see the ghost if he decided to show his face.”

“Did he ever do that?”

“Not to my knowledge. The owner brought in one of those ghost busting companies. They said they caught him on film.” He chuckled. “I saw the film and it was about as real as…”—he grinned at Trent—“werewolves.”

Trent flipped him off before asking, “How do we get inside so I can meet and greet your ghost?”

“We could ring someone’s bell but they probably wouldn’t appreciate it at this late hour. Come on.” Rory opened a shaky gate between the house and the one next door, taking Trent’s hand to lead the way into the backyard since his eyesight was attuned to the dark, which Trent’s wasn’t. “That’s the room,” he said, pointing to a pair of windows. Going over to them, he stood with his head tilted, his eyes closed in concentration. “Not there,” he finally said, shaking his head remorsefully. “Now you’ll never believe me.”

“Maybe he has moved on. It’s been well over four years since you felt him.”

“I suppose so. We should probably go home where I can pout about no being able to prove my ‘powers’ to you.”

Trent grinned wickedly. “I think you’ve done that several times in the last couple of weeks, but I wouldn’t mind another demonstration.”

“Oh for the gift to fly the way Emily does,” Rory said, grinning back.

“Well you can’t so were relegated to my car.”

“I’d race you to it, but I’d beat you there hands down.”

“Too true, all things considered, so we will walk at a gentlemanly pace.”

Rory arched one eyebrow. “Well that would leave both of us out, but if you insist…”

Laughing, they paused long enough to kiss, “For inspiration,” Trent said, and then proceeded on their way home and to bed.