The Morning a Ghost Climbed Into Bed With Me
My husband and I built a house in northwest Atlanta in 1989. You’d think I’d be safe from ghosts in a new house, right?
That’s what I once believed, too.
About six months into living there, my husband got up one Saturday morning at 2:30 AM to go fish a bass tournament. I sat that one out because I had a wall mural to paint that day (this was back before I ever thought of writing a book). He was great about being quiet while he got ready, even though he knew I always woke up the minute he got out of the bed. I remember him kissing me goodbye and shutting the bedroom door on his way out as if I wouldn’t hear him opening cabinets in the kitchen to get what he needed for a day on the lake.
I lay there in the middle of the bed where I’d stretched out on my stomach, thinking about what I had to do that day. I heard the garage door groan its way up, then back down five minutes later after he pulled the boat out and left.
It was during that next minute or so while I lay there in the dark and the house settled back into silence that I had a feeling someone was in the room with me.
My senses sharpened. I could hear each deep breath he drew (I just knew the intruder was a him). But how could that be? I would have heard the door open or some sound to indicate someone had gotten into the house and my bedroom. My heart raced so fast I struggled to breathe, but I was trying to hide that while I played possum and pretended to be asleep. I kept telling myself to stay calm and think. We had a S&W .357 magnum in the nightstand on my husband’s side of the bed. I was shaking at this point, but I thought, I’ll just stretch as though I’m still sleeping and get another foot closer, so I can lunge for the nightstand drawer. It sounded like a good plan, but I had a bone-deep fear that I would not reach the gun.
As I steeled myself to make the move, the breathing at the side of the bed grew deeper and all of a sudden the extra foot of mattress between me and the edge of the bed depressed, rocking me backwards. I jumped up and hit the light and looked around.
There was no one there. The bedroom door was still closed. The breathing stopped.
I sat there trying to get my stomach back down out of my throat and had an immediate feeling of just who and what had been in the room. I had this strong sense that it was a Civil War soldier’s spirit, and that he felt bad about scaring me.
The land they’d built our subdivision on was very close to the Civil War battlefields. We’d met the guy who owned the land before the subdivision was built, because he also owned a building ten miles away that we rented from one of his sons. The son told us the land had been in their family many years and they’d found all sorts of artifacts from the Civil War era– from when battles had taken place on the land.
Once I calmed down and realized whose spirit it might be, I recalled reading somewhere once that if you don’t want ghosts to come around you, that you have to tell them. I ignored how foolish it looked and spoke to the empty room. I told him that I was sorry his spirit was still trapped there, but I did not want to have contact. I wished him peace and for his spirit—and any other spirits–to move on.
I never had contact with a spirit in that house again.
But I have had a lot of unexplained things happen in my life, which was part of the inspiration for creating the Beladors, and Evalle Kincaid in particular. She has unusual powers, which sounds good on the surface but in truth they have caused her a great amount of misery.
As an Alterant – part Belador and part unknown – she’s an outcast among her own people, but she gave an oath to protect mankind from supernatural predators and she puts her life on the line to fulfill that commitment.
Evalle never knows what she’s going to face when she steps onto the streets at night as a Belador warrior. Will the next unknown being she encounters wish her harm or good? Only one way to find out, and Evalle’s motto is “Bring it on.”
BLOOD TRINITY is the first book of the new urban fantasy series about the Beladors, and is the newest collaboration by me and Sherrilyn Kenyon. BLOOD TRINITY comes out October 19, 2010. To celebrate the release, stop by my new page on Facebook—the Dianna Love Fan Page – and “LIKE” me to be entered in an ongoing contest for T-shirts, books, a Kindle, a Nook and an iPad.
For an excerpt of BLOOD TRINITY and a peek at the characters go to www.AuthorDiannaLove.com
“… new Belador series explodes onto the urban fantasy scene with a fresh concept, complex world and unique characters wrapped into an emotionally engaging story full of twists.”~~ Barbara Vey, Publishers Weekly
BLOOD TRINITY is a fantastic start to a new Urban Fantasy series. The VIPER organization and the world built by Kenyon and Love are intriguing, but the characters populating that world are irresistible….I am finding it difficult to wait for the next book to find out what happens next in their lives. ~~Fresh Fiction
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