The Grey Sight: An Erotic Novella

  The

  Grey

  Sight:

  A

  (Very)

  Erotic

  Ghost

  Story

  By Briony J. Lorien

  The Grey Sight – Chapter One

  Jess sighed and looked up at the cloudy grey sky.

  “I’m still not sure why we have to go to a graveyard, at midnight, on a weekday. Some of us have work in the morning”

  Lily shushed Jess, her long blond hair failing over her face. “You wouldn’t understand even if I told you. There’s just something about this place that calls to me.”

  Jess gave a grumble as she followed Lily through an arched stone gate. White curtains of moss hung down from the pocked stone wall on either side of the graveyard. As they entered the clearing, huge tombstones seemed to rise out of the darkness, tiny spires in a land of fog.

  Lily gave a content sigh. “I love this place.”

  Her flashlight illuminated her bright blue eyes and flushed pink cheeks. Jess, her gorgeous Italian friend, all dark hair and curves, gave a sigh. “This creeps me out Lil.”

  “Give it time. It will grow on you, I promise. Just look around! There is so much history here, so many unexplained things. Like this…” Lily bent over a crumbling tombstone, brushing some dust away with the palm of her hand.

  This was her special tombstone, the one that always drew her in.

  “Chase The Silver-Tongue Husher. Born, 1923, died 1955.”

  She rested her palm on the top of the stone. Lily always came here, to this particular grave, she wasn’t sure why. Through her hand, she could feel a radiating heat that pulsed under her fingertips, a drumming of something alive, something hungry and passionate.

  Jess frowned and rested her hand on her wide hip. “Yes, it’s fascinating. Lily, I know you are super invested in this graveyard thing, but I have to work in the morning, and I’m getting nervous.”

  The graveyard was indeed getting, well, weird. The mist had started to work itself into tiny tendrils that were slowly creeping up the walls and gates surrounding the tombs. The midnight sky gave a shudder in the blackness as Lily pulled her hand away from the grave, and the heat of her skin instantly chilled. Jess was walking backwards towards the gate, her flashlight bouncing over the hazy ground.

  “Yeah, I’m leaving. This freaks me out. I’ll be in the car if you need me.”

  Lily waved half-heartedly and pulled out her roll of paper and black chalk.

  “Just one etching…” she murmured. She heard the gate slam shut as Jess headed down the hill to the car, and suddenly she was alone, just her and Chase “Silver Tongue” Husher.

  Lily swept the white paper across the tombstone, taping it in place while holding the black chalk in her teeth. “And Chase, who exactly were you?” she murmured quietly. Ancestry was her job, yes, but it was also her passion. She loved playing detective with the past – finding out who was related to whom, what they did and how they lived. And how they loved. Mostly how they loved.

  Lily so longed for real love in her life, for a deep and real adoration to sweep her away. The relationships – and by default the sex in those relationships - had been easy, brainless and quick – but Lily wanted passion. Someone to live for, someone to die for. Was it so wrong to want something life-changing? She swept her chalk across the grave in long strong strokes.

  Chase “Silver Tongue” Husher’s name appeared on the paper, with a strange emblem after it. Lily ran her fingers over the symbol. It looked like a tiny pair of wings, connected by a single straight line. She was so fascinated by this grave. But why? She was a professional digger into the past, and yet, no matter how much she dug after Chase, she could never find any information about him, or any relatives. He was a complete mystery, his life a gaping hole where history should have been.

  Thunder rolled over the inky black sky, crackling through the clouds. The mist had become so thick that Lily was having a hard time seeing her etching. Rolling the paper quickly, she tucked it inside her trouser jacket. The air was oddly warm, and the thick grey air had risen to her shins. There was a charge in the air that made the hairs on her arms rise slowly. The graveyard was illuminated by sudden pops of flash as lightning reached its arms across the sky. Drops of rain pelted her forehead. It was time to leave. She walked quickly towards the parking lot, glancing longingly back at the grave. “Goodnight Chase” she whispered.

  Then, the world opened up in a steam of light.

  Electric and blinding hot, the light pierced her eyes and threw her violently backwards against several overturned tombstones. A roar, louder than any sound she had ever heard echoed around the graveyard. The white light was all around her, pulsating with its electric charge. Lily couldn’t move. The lightning was snaking down in a circle that surrounded her completely. A wide bolt pinned her facedown to the ground, its blistering sword searing its way through her belly. She was being burned alive. I’m dying, thought Lily, as a heat raged in her eyes. It was a blinding, pure white heat, the most intense pain she had ever felt. Lily let out a painful scream. My eyes are burning, she thought, they must be on fire! Her body trembled and shook as the lightning crawled down her skin with pulses of light.

  Then, as suddenly as it came, the light was gone and she was plunged back into a deep blackness.

  A minute passed before she could even think. Am I dead? Was that death? She curled her hands. Dirt. I feel dirt. Palms shaking, she pushed herself over until she was facing the sky. The storm had passed, and she could see the stars so clearly Oh my God. Lily sat up. Every inch of her body tingled with something potent and excited. She felt drunk and deliciously disoriented.

  Shakily, she rose to her feet. Where she had been standing before was nothing more than a dark, scorched hole in the earth. Black soil radiated out where she had been laying, her figure outlined in singed earth. No one is that lucky, she thought. “Lily?” asked a deep male voice behind her. Lily let out a tiny scream before whirling around.

  His hair was dark, the color of richest chocolate. Locks of thick curly hair curled behind his ears, and fell bewitchingly over his eyes, which shimmered a strange onyx black. Dressed sharply in a vintage grey suit, he stalked towards her like a cat.

  His wide eyes were trained on her, his face fascinated. Lily was both terrified and mesmerized at the same time by his easy elegance, the way he seemed to be drifting over the ground. She took a step back.

  “Who are you?”

  Suddenly he was next to her, his full lips open with curiosity as he inspected her face.

  “I can’t believe this…” he murmured. He pushed a lock of her blond hair behind her ear as he trailed his fingers down her chin with the other. Lily’s eyes met his, and she found herself paralyzed with yearning for this odd stranger. She KNEW him. Deeper she seemed to fall into his black eyes, until the graveyard and all the earth faded away. All she could see was him. His breath smelled like clean wind.

  Lily’s knees buckled, and she grabbed a hold of his arm to steady herself. He was lean and hard underneath all those clothes. An uncomfortable passion for this man was clawing its way through her chest. His red lips beckoned her closer.

  “Maybe I should have asked WHAT you are…” she murmured as she reached for him.

  “Lily? Oh my god, Lily?”

  Jess’s shrill voice broke through Lily’s spell.

  “LILY??” Lily looked up. The man’s face broke into a bemused smile.

  “She’s worried about you.”

  “I don’t want to go.” Lily whispered. “Who are you?”

  He grinned. “I think you know.” He winked at her before stepping back from Lily, though she could see
it pained him to do so. Jess came bursting through the tombstones. “LILY! Oh my god! Did you see it?? Did it hit you?”

  Jess grabbed Lily’s face, checking her hair and limbs.

  “I was sitting in the car, and then all the sudden there was this lightning everywhere! Were you close to it? It hit right where you were standing!” Lily looked back over at the man, who was leaning sexily against a tombstone, watching Jess with amusement. Lily realized with a start that Jess couldn’t see him.

  “Who were you talking to?” she asked Lily.

  “No one…I was just confused, I think.”

  She trailed off as Jess grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the gate. “We are LEAVING. I hate this place. You could have DIED, Lily. Why didn’t you come in when it started drizzling? NEVER AGAIN, DO YOU HEAR ME? Why do you care about that STUPID grave so much? You drive me crazy!”

  Lily let herself be dragged away; never letting her eyes drift from the stranger’s beautiful face. “Will I see you again?” she mouthed. The man gave a silent nod, his black eyes never leaving hers. Just before the gate closed behind them, Lily looked back at the tombstone she had been etching on. It was cracked in half, the beautiful symbol shattered in two. Chase. She did know who he was. The man was Chase. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did, instinctively. Chase “Silver Tongue” Husher, in the flesh. Sort of. Jess pushed her into the car and climbed into the driver’s side.

  “We are going home, and I’m going to fix you some tea and make sure that you’re not hurt.” Jess let out a huge gasp and yanked Lily’s chin up.

  “Let me look at your face!” Lily made a face.

  “You’re hurting me, what?”

  Jess’s face was frozen in shock. “Lily…your eyes are GREY.”

  Chapter Two

  The next morning, Lily opened her newly grey eyes and stared at the ceiling.

  Chase had been in her dreams . At first, he had been chasing her through the graveyard as lightning bolts struck the ground all around them. He took her hand and they knelt on the ground. With the bright illumination of light snaking down all around them, Chase had lifted her effortlessly onto his lap, while at the same time running his strong hands up the outside of her thighs. His lips had opened in delight as he found her warm core….Lily blinked, back on the bed, her hands behind her head.

  There was no use in replaying the dream. He wasn’t here. She wasn’t sure he was even real – more likely he was some sort of mental delusion or wishful fantasy on her part, caused by a near-death experience. It was wishful thinking based on the fact that she had never felt longing like had when she had looked into his black eyes.

  She crawled out of the covers and limped to the bathroom. Her eyes gave her a jolt of surprise in the mirror. She leaned forward. Still there. Her once sapphire irises now shone with a foggy pale grey, the color of a stormy morning. Grey light was radiating out from them as they changed and shifted in the sun. Lily blinked twice and shook her head. Letting out a confused sigh, she pulled her curly blond hair up into a loose ponytail and wandered into the living room.

  Jess was in the kitchen, looking stunning, as always. Jess was every man’s fantasy – curvy, dark and naughty. Her hourglass figure filled out every item of clothing – she had a large, high bouncy chest, a flat stomach, and round hips.

  Thick dark hair flowed over her shoulders, framing a dramatic, heart-shaped face. Her long fringe lashes blinked rapidly at Lily.

  “You’re up! Any change in the eyes?”

  Lily shook her head and sat down on the kitchen stool. “I feel normal, but…different. It’s hard to explain. And my dreams…” She trailed off again. Jess set down her steaming mug of tea and wrapped her arms around Lily.

  “I’m so glad you are okay. When I saw the lightning flash, I just thought…”

  “That I was dead.” I thought I was dying too. Then I saw Chase. And he saw me.

  Jess pulled Lily’s face close to her own. Her wet pink lips brushed Lily’s, her tongue lightly teasing against Lily’s mouth.

  “It scared me. What would I do without you?” Jess trailed her fingers through Lily’s messy morning hair.

  Lily turned away. Though she viewed Jess as a good friend, she was always aware that Jess wanted more from her, and that she was just waiting for Lily to wear down enough to let Jess pounce on her. Jess was possessive of Lily at parties, and curious about what Lily was doing at all times. She had caught Jess going through her journal, twice. Not that there was anything interesting there, just notes detailing her graveyard etchings, sketches of an imaginary handsome stranger and poems that highlighted her own sexual yearnings. The journal was pathetic really, but that didn’t mean she wanted Jess reading it.

  Other than that, Jess was a thoughtful friend and excellent pub companion, and so Lily forgave her jealousies. She did worry, however, about when she met someone, and how Jess’s jealously would deal with that.

  And she had indeed met someone. Not someone. Everyone.

  Lily closed her eyes as she remembered the way the mist had curled around him, almost as if he controlled it. She remembered his strange black eyes, the way they had seen to the very core of her. Her fingertips tingled, tracing the muscles that she had felt under his shirt. More than his physical being – which was splendid! – it was the intimate way he knew her, in that moment, more than anyone had ever known her. Was he a fantasy?

  In her mind, Lily thrust her hips against Chase’s hungry body as thoughts and fantasies swirled about. He was real. She knew it. And she had never known passion like she had in those few seconds with the man in the graveyard who had barely touched her.

  Jess stared at Lily in the morning light, her eyes tracing the outline of Lily’s pert breasts, resting just beneath her sheer tank top.

  “Lily! Hello? I’m still talking to you! Where did you go? Did lightning strike twice?”

  Lily gave a weary nod and Jess leaned forward to rest her mouth against her temple, her hand running down Lily’s shoulder, and then to her collarbone. “I’m so glad you are safe.” She whispered.

  I wish you were Chase, Lily thought. She gently pushed Jess away.

  “You can’t keep doing this.” she said to Jess, working to catch her breath. “We’re supposed to be roommates. You can’t keep hoping that one day I’ll be attracted to you. You are gorgeous, and there are lots of girls who would be lucky to have you. We’ve talked about this.”

  Jess shrugged like it was no big deal as she settled back down to read the morning paper in her tiny nightgown. “What can I say? I like your grey eyes, although I still think you should go to the hospital. Also, I get horny in the mornings. As you know.” Lily rolled her eyes. “You’re like a man.” Jess gave a satisfied smirk. “Better than one in the sack, probably.”

  Not better than Chase would be, thought Lily. Hesitantly, she gave Jess a quick peck on the cheek, snuck a sip of her tea and took her leave.

  “I’m taking a shower” she said over her shoulder.

  Jess’s hungry green eyes lit up. “Need a buddy?”

  Lily laughed. “NO. But maybe when I’m done, you should take a cold one.”

  Jess waved her away, distracted by the Arts and Culture page.

  In the shower, Lily lingered. The warm water felt so good pouring over her, cleaning off all the dirt and grime from the graveyard and massaging her sore muscles. Straddling the marble bench in their walk-in, Lily let the olive oil soap slide over her pale skin and slipped her fingers down between her inner folds, rubbing gently upwards between her legs as her thoughts lingered on Chase. Her pink nipples grew flush and swollen as she thought of his lips, and the way the curls of hair had fallen over his eyes. Chase, unhooking her bra. Chase, licking up her spine. Chase, Chase, Chase, inside of her, all around her. Her climax was sudden and extreme, and her entire body shuddered in its aftermath, the shower water pouring down her shaking legs. As Lily leaned her head back in the stream, the water tracing over her long lashes and coral lips, all s
he could think was:

  Please be real.

  Chapter Three

  It was a dreary day to be outside.

  Lily clasped her umbrella tightly to her chest as she locked the door to Jess’s townhome. Her work, The National Ancestry Database, was a twenty minute walk to the train station, and was pleasant on most days. Today was not likely to be one of those days. Gloomy clouds loomed overhead. Just what I need, she thought, more lightning. She cinched her black trench coat tightly around her waist, her red boots clicking on the damp pavement.

  Lily stopped in at her favorite bakery, grabbing a quick coffee and a turnover. The warmth of the bakery enveloped her and she wished she could stay all morning. Work sounded unbearable. Life had lost its flavor a long time ago. Ever since the graveyard incident a week ago, Lily had felt a bit out of touch with reality. She was waiting for something, but what?

  In Lily’s life, she had always felt that there was something just beyond her understanding happening. It was more clear than ever now, but nothing had changed. It was frustrating. After two bites of her pastry, she threw it in the trash. What she was craving was not sugar. It was him. Chase. She took a long sip of coffee, the dark espresso roast pouring down her throat in a welcome rush of heat. It had all been a delusion, she reasoned. Wishful thinking after a traumatic event. I should be grateful to be alive, not thinking of some name on a tombstone. And his black eyes. She continued walking.

  Lily felt a strange feeling creeping up her spine, the feeling of being watched. She spun around. There was no one. She often felt like that these days.

  The train station finally appeared at the top of a hill, a long, low horn accompanying it as it pulled into the station. Shit. She was late. Lily began running, her satchel bouncing against her hip. Her grey eyes were focused intensely on the train, so much so that she ran straight into the first grey-walker.

  They tumbled to the ground together. Robust arms wrapped around her waist. Lily, confused, found herself pressed uncomfortably against a stiff white collared shirt.

  “Sir, I’m so sorry, excuse me, I wasn’t watching…” Lily pulled her head back. “I was trying to make the train, I was…”