The Unrequited

As evening fell over the crescent city, Doug, Snook and Skeeter wandered down their familiar cobblestone path of the French Quarter to Zeke's. Having slept all day after the eventful evening the night before they all were anxious to go to their favorite watering hole and compare notes with each other. Gus's party had been a blast and even the crazy Voodoo ceremony had been fun up until the point where Marie looked like she was having a heart attack. Spending the wee hours of the morning in the emergency room of Tulane Medical Center however turned out to be the ultimate buzzkill. After it appeared Marie would be alright they all went back to their respective homes, too tired to discuss what they had just witnessed. Now however was different and they were quite awake.

Entering the bar, Zeke warmly welcomed them as he was busy stringing up a set of Kwanzaa lights he had just received via UPS.

"Hey, Guys! The usual?"

"You know it Zeke!" Doug answered for them all as three drafts were poured and passed their way. Looking around the bar, it looked completely empty.

"Kind of slow tonight isn't it?" Snook asked as Zeke shrugged.

"Fairly typical for a Sunday night in summer. Who the fuck wants to deal with this heat and humidity at this time of year." Zeke replied as his face lit up when the light set turned on. Seeing the glowing lights, he was pleased. "Perfect, I think these go well with the Saint Patrick's Day decorations quite well don't you think?"

Shaking his head at witnessing yet another decoration added to the bar Skeeter said "You missed it last night man, you and Jasmine both. You two should have stayed longer at Gus's party. We have one crazy mother fucking story to tell you about."

Looking around the bar Doug asked "Where is Jasmine anyway?"

"I gave her the night off. She was exhausted."

"I bet she was not as exhausted as us. We did not get home until almost 10 am this morning."

"Jesus, why? That seems late even for YOU guys!" Zeke exclaimed.

Drinking his beer down quickly Doug began telling the story of what happened after Zeke had left. Hearing the story of the ritual, Marie's trance and the incident in front of the rosary wall Zeke looked unimpressed.

"Look guys, that is definitely an interesting story and sounds pretty cool, but you don't honestly believe in ghosts do you? You know the whole thing is either bullshit or self-induced hysteria, right? Hell I just had a similar conversation with Jasmine this morning so it seems everyone has ghosts on the brain today! After a night of good weed and lots of booze you can think you see anything. I don't buy any of it."

Grinning, Doug nodded his head as he triumphantly pulled out his cellphone. "You are a hard man Zeke and I know you are a basic cynic about pretty much everything, but I think I might just have the evidence here in my photo stream that will change your tune."

Crossing his tree trunk like arms over his chest Zeke smirked. "I doubt it, but hey, I don't mind seeing your little picture show."

"Pictures? What pictures did you take?" Snook asked as Skeeter nodded. They had been there with him and were amazed by what they had witnessed but neither of them had seen anything concrete enough to convince Zeke of anything.

"Oh I took a lot of pictures. I really did not expect to capture anything weird but once Marie started foaming at the mouth and her eyes rolled back in her head I thought it would definitely be worth snapping that scene. After all, you don't see that kind of thing every day. I will say up front right now, what I caught on film last night I did not notice at the time so I have no idea what caused it. Once you see what I got though, even you Zeke will have to admit, it is pretty fucking creepy."

Snook and Skeeter now looked quite intrigued and leaned forward as Doug started his slideshow on his phone. Rolling his eyes, Zeke muttered "this is all crap" under his breath but was a good sport and being kind of curious he watched too.

The first shot was a snap of Marie sitting alone inside the circle of salt with everyone sitting around her. She had not begun channeling yet but already the screen was filled with orbs of all sizes floating in the background. Some of the orbs were tiny, like someone had fired up a bubble machine while others were the size of a beach ball. "So" Doug smiled "What do you say about this?"

"You are going to have to do better than this, Doug. This just looks like a bunch of fucking dust floating around to me." Zeke said dismissively as the others studied the photo very carefully.

Flipping through a few more shots of orbs, he paused at a close-up he took of Marie when she was well into her trance. On the screen a long string of glowing goo appeared to be emerging from her mouth and forming into a mass that was floating in mid-air. Seeing this Snook yelled out.

"Holy fuck man, I don't remember that happening at all. What is that shit coming out of her mouth?"

"Ectoplasm" Doug answered. "After I saw these pictures I did a little research on the internet and that is quite common during séances. Sometimes it is visible with the naked eye but most of the time it is not. Supposedly it is usually a sign of a high level of spirit activity going on in the environment and this is a particularly good example of it. I may post this to one of the blogs I saw when I was..."

Interrupting Zeke burst out laughing. "Which site? WWW.BADFLASHSETTING.COM? This is complete horseshit. Obviously your flash reflected off some dust and created this effect. This is not surprising at all, just a defect of your camera man." Smiling sarcastically, he continued "So, when do we get to the pictures of the Yetis and Unicorns?"

"OK Zeke, you are obviously one tough customer." Doug said as he took his phone back. Flipping through the photo stream he smiled when he came to the one he wanted. Placing the phone down on the bar he announced "So tough guy, I want to hear your explanation of THIS picture!"

Hearing Doug's words, Snook and Skeeter gathered around to look, their curiosity burning to see the pic. Seeing the snap, they all looked disappointed as from first glance there appeared to be nothing unusual about the picture at all. The scene captured was another shot of Marie in the center of the circle with all of the other guys sitting around her. Nothing else particularly seemed unusual, no orbs, no ectoplasm, no black mist, nothing.

"OK Doug, I give. What is so spooky about this picture? This is actually the most boring shot of the bunch. Frankly, it is also probably the worst as the flash gave Skeeter red eyes, and all we can see of Snook is his ass crack while he bends over to get his drink." The other guys seemed disappointed, having readied themselves to be impressed.

"I have to agree with Zeke on this one Doug." Skeeter laughed. "What is spooky about this shot?"

"Look at the doorway going into the main parlor in the back of the shot and tell me what you see."

Studying the picture with them he smiled as he heard Snook and Skeeter pull back and gasp. Looking up at his face they both simultaneously said "What in the fuck is that!!"

Looking at the shot they all saw the room as described by Zeke but in the background in the corner of an arched doorway was a wispy black figure that was easy to miss if you just glanced casually at the picture. Most creepy of all the mass appeared to be just barely peeking around the corner of the door in a willful desire to stay hidden. From the size and shape of the black mass it was obvious it was the same size and shape a person would be and once your attention was drawn to it you could never miss it again.

"Well, you really can't tell if that is a person or not." Zeke exclaimed, his tone definitely deflated in cockiness from before. "It must be some kind of trick of the light, or maybe car lights reflecting on a painting or something."

"Go ahead, blow it up. Frankly I did not notice the figure at first but once I did it freaked me the fuck out."

Motioning with his fingers Zeke enlarged the pixels until the screen was filled with the image of the dark form. Looking at it closely he gasped and jumped back. It was definitely human, and not a trick of the light, but it was out of focus. It definitely was a young woman, and from he could ascertain, it appeared to be a quite attractive young black girl but it was hard to tell. As opposed to everything else in the picture the features on the mass were all swirling and blurry, as if they were viewing it through water.

"Well? Explain that!" Doug cried.

"Holy fuck that is creepy! It is definitely looks like a person. I know we were all there and there was no one else in the house at that time!" Snook exclaimed as he bent over the phone.

Momentarily speechless Zeke shook his head. "Come on guys, is this some kind of fucking joke. It must have been Jasmine."

"It doesn't look like Jasmine does it?" Doug asked. "Look how blurry that thing is compared to everything else."

"Well, it must have been her. She must have been moving when you took the shot."

"Look Zeke, you know it was not Jasmine as she left the party before you did, and as you can see you aren't in this picture." Skeeter shot back as he looked at the enlarged image himself.

"Look, if it wasn't Jasmine, and no one else was in the house then who was it?" Zeke asked, his normal cynical shell slightly cracking under this new evidence.

"A ghost." Replied Doug.

Back at Magnolia Grove, Gus was dead to the world as he slept deeply in his large soft bed. Having been up for well over twenty-four hours he was exhausted and now hours after he fell asleep he still not moving at all.

Suddenly and very softly and slowly his top sheet began to slowly drag down his body. Gus made no motion or disturbance as the silky fabric pulled down his body as he was in a very deep sleep. Angeline too was sleeping deeply under the bed so did not sense any change, although she did curl up into a tight ball as the temperature in the room began to drop. Rolling over onto his back Gus started to snore.

After a few minutes a gentle tug started pulling on the pant legs of his boxers. Slowly, inch by inch his shorts were pulled down his legs, and when they reached his ankles they flung into the air. Gus still made no motion but a smile began to form on his mouth as he started enjoying the most erotic dream of his life.

In his dream Gus was lying face up on a large four poster oak bed. The room was dark with the exception of a few flickering candles on the side table. As he tried to sit up he realized his ankles and wrists were shackled to the bedposts. Becoming alarmed, the door to the bedroom opened and the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen walked inside.

She was gloriously naked, her warm cocoa skin shimmering in the flickering candlelight, her full breasts and wide hips instantly beckoning his lips to worship. Her long kinky black hair hung low on her back and she smirked as she saw him displayed so helplessly before him. Walking into the room her hips seductively swayed back and forth and he could feel his cock almost burst out of his skin at the sight of her. Despite being chained and helpless, he had no fear as he knew he wanted to be restrained. He wanted to feel her dark exotic lips on his flesh teasing and tormenting him for hours, forcing him to service her, enslaving his body and soul to her. Somehow he was aware that this was a game they had played thousands of times before and now that she was bending over the edge of the bottom of the bed he knew that no woman had ever or could ever satisfy him or excite him more than this delicious Goddess before him.

Crawling up onto the bed she sat between his legs and dragged her right big toe up his inner thigh. Seeing him struggle to get loose, driven more by a desire to get to her than to get away the dark Goddess grew wet. Reaching his helpless and exposed balls, she slowly drew circles over each testicle as she cooed.

" I love you Joues de Miel"

"I love you Justine."

Now awake from her long desired nap, Jasmine sat in the trolley car and watched as the dark streets of New Orleans zipped by. Grinning to herself she saw the Garden District come up and she rang the bell for the driver to stop. Walking off of the trolley she slowly started strolling up Chestnut street towards his house. The air was so thick with heat and humidity; despite the late hour it was still oppressively hot. Wiping her brow, she breathed in deep as she walked, enjoying the intoxicating smells of the Garden District, a potent mixture of Honeysuckle, Rose and Gardenia perfuming the air. Smelling the sweet scent of Magnolia now growing strong she smiled as she knew she was close. Turning a corner her eyes beheld Magnolia Grove in all its beauty at the end of the street, looking like a grand princess holding court with her ladies in waiting. In the slight bluish tint of the full moon it looked so inviting, and thinking of the surprise she had planned for Gus she felt her nipples grow hard.

Biting her lip, she reached into her purse and pulled out the spare key Gus had given her. "Get ready for a nice treat Gus!" she whispered to herself as she tiptoed up the steps and quietly opened the front door.

The house was completely still and the moonlight shining through the stained glass at the top of the landing looked beautiful. Hearing the click click click of Angeline's nails on the wooden floor, she smirked as she saw the dog peek around the top bannister and, recognizing her, put her ears down and start wagging her tail.

Walking up the steps, she bent down and patted her head. "Some guard dog you are! Although I suppose your daddy would not want to be guarded from what I have planned for him." Tiptoeing down the hall, she stood outside the cracked door of his bedroom and stripped off her clothes. Shimmying her already moist panties down her long legs she suppressed a giggle as she pushed the door open. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light she grew even wetter at the sight that opened up before her eyes. Gus was still asleep on the bed but was completely naked, his arms and legs spread out wide. Completely naked and with an impressive hard on, it was obvious that he was in the midst of one hell of an erotic dream. Writhing his hips against the mattress tiny moans emitted from his mouth as he ground his hard cock into the air.

Licking her lips, Jasmine snuck inside and knelt between his legs. Snaking her tongue out of her mouth she placed the tip at the base of his cock and slowly licked her way up to the head. Feeling real lips on his flesh, Gus woke and looking down between his legs he smiled.

"Well, this is a pleasant way to wake up!"

Placing a big wet kiss on his throbbing red cockhead she winked. "It seems you got a head start. So bad boy, what were you dreaming about?"

Gus said nothing but winked as she crawled her way up his chest and kissed his neck. Wriggling up his chest she now knelt over his face and she slowly stroked his hair. Lowering her body down onto his open mouth she said "You will have to tell me if your dream pussy tasted as good as this one does."