My Ghost Named Merlin

Chapter 2: A Vampire?

"AHHHHHHHHH!"screamed Morgana at the top of her lungs as she suddenly froze on the spot, unable to look away from the tall, lanky man standing in front of the mirror.

She let go of the neckerchief and it gently fluttered to the floor. After a few seconds (but it felt like ages to Morgana) Arthur crashed through the attic door holding a torch and the other hand gripping the eagle head poker, ready to swing it at whatever scared the living daylights of his half sister and caused her to scream like a banshee which woke him up from a pleasant dream.

"Get away from her!" Arthur cried out.

But he saw nothing. No mice, no spider, no murderer and definitely not the blue eyed man Morgana saw. All he saw was Morgana with her emerald green eyes wide open, sweat beaded all over her forehead and her face so white like she saw a ghost.

Just as Arthur entered the room with his blond hair all wild and messy from sleep with the poker Morgana snapped from her self induced paralysis and scrambled toward Arthur to hide behind his back. She clutched onto this shirt so tightly Arthur was sure that her nails would be leaving ten marks on his back (which he regretted thinking that particular thought an instant later for it sounded highly inappropriate).

"Ow. Morgana let go," complained Arthur, trying to prevent those nail marks arising on his back.

Morgana didn't let go. Instead she held on to him tighter. Arthur just stood there and didn't move. He didn't ask the stranger why he was in the attic or how he got in here. Or whether if he was a vampire since he didn't have a reflection. After a moment Morgana stood up to peep over Arthur's shoulder to see if the man was still there since Arthur still didn't do anything.

She saw no one. No strangely dressed man with the brilliant blue eyes. She didn't hear a melodic baritone voice. Nothing. Zilch.

Only then did she relent her grip on Arthur's shirt, yet she still hid behind him. Arthur's shoulders slumped and he turned around to face his younger sister who looked white as death but a little more composed.

"Ok, what is it? Did you see a spider? A mouse? Or was this some horrible prank to get me back for all the slaving around we did today?" he asked in a teasing manner.

Morgana remained silent and then slowly replied, "I saw a man standing by the mirror. He was some tall, skinny guy with black messy hair and bright blue eyes."

Arthur raised an eyebrow because he saw nobody when he entered the room. Also the idea that a random stranger would wandering in a house much less an attic in the middle of nowhere sounded absurd.

Morgana frowned at him, she then quickly continued wildly, "But that wasn't it. He didn't have a reflection. He was standing right in front of the mirror and there was no bloody reflection!"

"Like a vampire?" asked Arthur seriously.

"Yeah exactly like a vampire," she agreed fervently and then added, "Just not the Twilight vampires."

Arthur stared at her and threw his back in fit of laughter. It went on for a while. Morgana stood there dumbstruck and feeling betrayed.

When Arthur was finally able to calm down, except for the few chortles he couldn't reign in he managed to say, "Wow Morgana! This is probably the best or worst prank you ever pulled so far."

Morgana looked at him with an aghast expression, "It's not a prank," she insisted.

"Really? Did you really think I would believe some wildly spun tale of a man wandering in our attic and has no reflection? I'm pretty sure you just saw a mouse and screamed. Though I must say that was some pretty good acting on your count."

"I'm not lying Arthur!" she persisted, "There was a man here!"

"A vampire," Arthur teased with a grin.

"Well no," Morgana paused, "But a humanoid."

He laughed again. "Yes a vampire," he proceeded with a chuckle, "A fast vampire like Edward Cullen."

"No. This is not funny Arthur. I really did see someone here," she said again.

By this stage Arthur was still internally laughing at his sister's attempt to convince him that this house was haunted or something. Then he suggested, "You stand there and I'll look around the room to see if anyone is hiding behind the the furniture. There is only one way in and out of the attic and the obviously couldn't have gone through that. So if the so called blue eyed man is here he'll be hiding."

Arthur was about to step away from Morgana but then her hand shot out and dislodged the eagle head poker from his hand and held it protectively in front of her. Arthur rolled his eyes at the action but was impressed at the effort Morgana was putting into scare him.

Arthur looked around the some of the chairs, behind some old paintings, the book shelf in which he shuffled some of the literature around. He checked behind the trunks and opened them. They contained more books, magazines, records and what appeared an old army uniform complete with medals. All the while Morgana stood in the centre of the dimly lit room with the poker poised to hit something.

"There's no one here Morgana," said Arthur when he looked behind the curtains covering the circular window at the far end of the attic.

"You haven't checked behind the mirror," stammered Morgana.

Arthur sighed and headed to the mirror and examined around the old ornate object. The mirror was very elegant, its frame was of twining flowers and vines that were painted old, albeit a bit dusty. Morgana watched in anticipation as Arthur began to move behind the mirror to check behind. He took a step behind it and half his body disappeared behind it. Then a hand grabbed him and yanked him behind the mirror.

"ARRRGHH!" he screamed and suddenly it became silent.

Thump. It sounded like a body hitting the floor and then Arthur's torch rolled out.

"AHHHHHH!" screamed Morgana as she ran toward the mirror and behind. Swinging the poker wildly blindly in the dark.

She hit nothing in her frantic swinging. Then an abrupt flash of light shone into eyes, blinding her for a second. When her eyes adjusted she was met with Arthur trying to hold onto the laughter that was trying to escape his lips. In his hand was the torch and his other hand clutching the front of his shirt. He glanced up at Morgana whose mouth was wide open. The dam burst and he laughed like a maniac with tears forming in the corners of his eyes whilst he rolled around on the floor.

She was glad that Arthur was very much alive but in an instant her face went from stunned to a raging fury.

"Arrghh! You stupid, immature imbecile!" she yelled and began kicking him. Now he was rolling on the floor in pain. "I thought you were dead!"

Arthur managed to evade her kicks this time and got up. Morgana then started to thump him with her fists, dropping the poker on the floor. He grabbed her shoulders and looked straight at her.

"Morgana." She looked up and into Arthur's icy blue eyes. "Chill. I donno whether your joking around or not any more. But as you can see nobody is here. I think it has been a long night." At that moment light began seeping through the curtain.

"And I think we should go to town to have some breakfast since we still have no electricity here," he finished.

Morgana looked at her older half brother and nodded. Together the exited the attic leaving the eagle head poker and the red neckerchief there.

**M**

For the next couple of days the siblings continued cleaning the house and organising their various belongings into the proper rooms. Throughout that whole time Morgana clung onto Arthur fearing that she would see the blue eyed man again. But after a week she saw nothing and began to forget the encounter.

Morgana exited the bathroom in search for her hairbrush which seemed to go missing everyday and entered her bedroom (the one she called dibs on when she first arrived in here). And there was the hairbrush in front of her dressing mirror again. She began brushing her hair so she would at least look marginally presentable when Uther arrives in an hour to see the hard work Arthur and her did over the past week or two. Though the garden was still in a disarray.

She went downstairs and saw Arthur putting on his sunglasses and holding his car keys.

"Where are you going?" she inquired, "Father is going to be here soon."

"Yeah, his meant to but his car broke down in town so I'm going have to pick him up. I'll be back in an hour and a half," stated Arthur while he slipped his wallet in his back pocket. "Maybe you can light the the fireplace o master fire starter," teased Arthur, "You know how Father likes the grand look. By the way nice flowers. I see they match your top," he complimented as he exited the house.

Morgana grinned at the master fire started quip but then became confused about the flowers. Morgana looked around any saw on the mahogany table in the grand hall a crystal vase filled with purple flowers that did match her lavender blouse. But she placed the vase with daisies from the overgrown garden last night instead.

The vampire! But she quickly pushed that thought aside for it was probably her being stupid. Morgana then began to get ready to light the fire until she realised the poker was left in the attic.

Morgana went up to the attic, the only place that has yet to be cleaned and retrieve the poker. She bent down and picked the poker up. She also saw the red silk neckerchief too lying there delicately on the floor. She picked that too and examined it further and saw opposite of the eagle and M was two dragons, a gold and white one.

"Knew you were going to come back and get the poker. I've been waiting all week. You didn't seem to respond to moving hairbrushes or changing flowers," said a baritone voice.

Morgana's eyes snapped upward from the neckerchief. Her delusional thoughts from the past week weren't delusional. There was a tall, lanky man with the brilliant blue eyes was standing by the mirror in a oversized blue shirt, brown pants, boots. Yet what stood out most was the neckerchief tied around his neck. It was identical to the one she was currently holding.

"Stay away from me vampire," she said in her most authoritative voice while she held the poker toward him but it was quivering for her hands were shaking.

The man looked offended and wrinkled his elegant nose. "Me a vampire? I have never been so insulted in my life. Who would want to be a blood sucking monster?"

Morgana was baffled at the statement. She peered behind him and still there was no reflection.

"You don't have a reflection," she replied, feeling slightly stupid because for all she knew this was a figment of her imagination.

"Well I'm a spirit, so of course I don't have a reflection," he scoffed.

She frowned and answered, "So a ghost?"

The spirit crossed his arms across his chest. He appeared to very lithe yet well muscled in a skinny way. "I suppose that what you people call spirits these days, but yes a ghost. Nice to meet you by the way," he greeted and held his hand out for her to shake.

Morgana wasn't sure whether to take it or not because ghosts can de-materialise right? Either way Morgana reached out with her hand to grab his. She was sort of half expecting a solid hand to grab it but her delicate hand went right through his instead.

He laughed in a surprisingly jolly way in response and yelled out, "Gotcha!"

Morgana looked really pissed and through the poker at him but since he was a ghost it went right through him and hit the mirror. But it didn't shatter.

"Sorry, sorry. Old habits die hard. But really nice to meet you. Merlin at your service My Lady," he bowed, his jolly facade instantly became more respectful.

Morgana felt a little flattered at being called a lady and replied in turn with a curtsey, "Morgana Pendragon at yours."

"Well that's all the formalities done and Lady Morgana I think life is suddenly going to become a lot more interesting from now on," he smiled.


Author's Notes

Wow! I didn't expect so much positive feedback to this little side project; a few alerts, favourites and reviews. It inflated my head so much I decided to update. This is now a friendship story as of now (I think) as I am trying to improve my humour. Thoughts on my attempts of humour (or lack thereof) is highly appreciated.