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I was already dealing with a curse on the women in my family. Long ago, in Ireland, my great-great-grandma Ellen had been cursed by a neighbor—the grandfather of a vampire I knew. All the women in Ellen’s family line were cursed to die young. Granted, given we were witchblood our lives were easily longer than a normal human, but it still meant our time was cut short. My paternal grandmother and I knew the name and whereabouts of the witch that cast the curse, but we hadn’t had a chance to plan out how to force her to remove the hex.
Esmara sighed.Remember, I died early because of Gretchen’s curse. The last thingIwant is for you to be facing yet another hex. What about returning the gown? That would get the ghost out of your house.
I sat on the bed, mulling over her suggestion. I could return it and find a different dress. But I loved this one. It was perfect for me. And now that I knew a ghost was bound to the gown, I felt a certain level of responsibility in helping free her of the curse. If I didn’t do it, who would?
“No,” I said, with a sigh. “Not unless I find that I can’t help free her.But to help her, I need to talk to her!” I raised my voice, trying to catch Janet’s attention.
Sure enough, a moment later, Janet appeared again. This time, I took a longer look at her. She was wearing my wedding dress, all right, but I noticed more about her. She had dark hair like mine and was about my size, only shorter. She was also human. But then I noticed the dark bruises around her neck. They resembled fingerprints, and her head looked slightly askew.
“Janet, please stick around. I want to talk to you.” I cautiously stood. “Do you know how you died?”
She snorted.Well, isn’t it obvious? Somebody strangled me and broke my neck.
“Yeah, I was noticing the fingerprints. So, do you know who did it?” I circled her slowly, keeping a polite distance. Her hair was in an upswept chignon. The marks on the front of her throat looked like fingerprints, while on the back the bruising was different. Which meant…
I was choked from behind. I tried to get a look at my attacker, but I couldn’t see anything.She deflated, sitting on the vanity stool. Again, it was always so odd to watch ghosts when they sat on furniture, because they either went partway through it or, if they managed to sit on the cushion properly, I could still see through them. But I was getting used to the whole spirit-thing.
“Do you know if you’re here because you’re cursed or because…” I wasn’t sure how to phrase it. It seemed stupid to ask her if she was here because of the method of her death. Violent deaths often led to spirits hanging around, although some of them were able to move on once they realized they were dead. Not in Janet’s case, obviously. She knew she was dead.
Frowning, she said,I want to move on. I don’t want to be tied to this dress. Since you bought it, while I wouldn’t complain about attending your wedding—after all, I never made it to mine—I’d rather not spend eternity hanging around in your closet after you tuck the dress away.
She paused.Okay, I’ll quit being the bitch. I don’t know why I’m stuck here. I don’t know who killed me or why. All I remember is I was waiting for my father to come walk me down the aisle. My bridesmaids and maid of honor had gone ahead.
I worried my lip, dreading the rest of the story. She had never made it to the altar, meaning her love story had a tragic ending.
And I decided to have one little drinkie to calm my nerves. I was standing by the wet bar in the hotel room. I was getting married in the arboretum that was in the basement. The next moment, somebody had his hands around my throat. I fought, but I wasn’t strong enough and I couldn’t get a look at him. I blacked out and when I woke up, it took me awhile to figure out what had happened. By the time I realized I was dead, I found myself sitting on a trunk in my mother’s attic. She had packed away the dress, and I couldn’t leave the attic while it was there. I seem to be limited to about a circle around ten feet in diameter from it.
“Hold on, let me get something to take notes.” I jumped up and dashed over to the small writing desk in my room. I found a notebook and a pen. “All right, let me write all of this down.” A few moments later, I said, “Okay. Do you remember what date you were getting married?”
Yes, actually. My wedding day was supposed to be June 7, 1966. I had the wedding dress custom made. Nobody had ever seen anything like it.
The wistful tone in her voice made me sad. I felt like hugging her, but there was no way I could do that. However, Esmara seemed to feel the same thing because she walked over and gave Janet a hug. Janet looked up at her and gave her an uncertain smile, but she didn’t flinch.
Thank you. It’s been a long time since anybody’s comforted me. Not since I was alive. I haven’t met many spirits who wanted to talk, and even then, most of them left before long and I couldn’t follow them.
“How old were you, Janet?” I realized I was growing more invested in her story. She seemed sincere, and I didn’t get any warning bells off of her.
I was twenty-three. My fiancé, Sirus Barker, was a puma shifter. I suppose he’s still alive, given he would have lived a lot longer than me. What’s the date? I know decades have passed, but I don’t have a way of knowing how long.She looked around.My parents died, and the house…I don’t know who owns it but the dress was put on commission in the bridal shop a few weeks ago.
“You mean you’ve been sitting in that attic since 1966?”
She nodded.
“I’msosorry. It’s 2023. You were there for fifty-seven years, then.” That meant she would have turned eighty this year, if she had lived. I sat the notebook and pen on the bed and looked at Janet. I couldn’t imagine being locked away in a stuffy attic with nothing to do for almost six decades. “What did you do there? You said occasionally other ghosts would come through?”
I had a lot of time to think. I tried to figure out who could have wanted to kill me, but after a while, it seemed fruitless. I always felt like…if I knew who killed me, maybe I could leave. I also tried to figure out what bound me to the dress. I mean, I love this dress, but it’s not like I was marryingit.
I took down some more info—her parents’ names, where she had lived, what she could remember about her fiancé, and then set down the notebook. “Okay. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try to help. Meanwhile, I’m going to move my wedding dress into the guest room closet. That way you won’t have to stay in my bedroom.” I didn’t add that the last thing I wanted was for her watching Killian and me make love, or even to watch us sleep. I always found the idea of someone watching me sleep rather creepy. It was entirely too voyeuristic.
Thank you, she said.
At the moment, Xi and Klaus bounded into the room.
Oh, cats! I love cats! I’ve missed being around them. I had a cat and after I died, she used to come up to the attic. She knew I was there, and she’d sit beside me and I’d talk to her. I know she must have heard me. But one day she just…didn’t show up and I never saw her again. I don’t know whatever happened to her.Janet sounded so sad that my heart went out to her.
“You can talk to my babies, if they don’t mind.” I turned to Xi. “Can you see Janet?”
The spirit?Xi asked.
