This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of my imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead, business establishments, events, or places are coincidental.

Denver Paranormal Society

Chapter Six—Case No. 191 Part One

Edward

We spent the start of the New Year at home, and though I asked if Bella was interested in going somewhere, she politely declined. I wasn't one for clubs and parties, but if she wanted to go to one, I would have gone with her gladly. When I asked her why she didn't want to, I felt like an idiot for not thinking of it earlier.

She turned from the television of the New York broadcast of the ball drop, her brow furrowing under my gaze.

"I can't really go to parties or clubs, Edward," she murmured, frowning. "For one, there are so many people most of the time, though my empathetic abilities were barely growing at the time, I've always felt what others did, but subtler. I once went clubbing with a few friends and it was a huge mistake. I was drunk off the emotions of everyone around me without a drop of alcohol in my system. I woke up the next day in a stranger's bed with little recollection of the night before. I never want to go through something like that. It's the reason why I avoid big crowds. Since Hayley's crossing, my abilities have grown. You know this."

I rubbed a hand over her arm and kissed her cheek, apologizing. "I'm sorry, love," I whispered. "I don't want you to not to do things you love because of me. I know you love to dance, because I've seen you when you think I'm not looking."

She smiled, shrugging. "We can do that here."

We could, so I stood and walked over to the stereo, turning down the television and asked her to dance. With a beautiful smile, she took my offered hand and rose to her feet. I pulled her in close, clasping one of her hands in mine and sliding the other around her hip.

The music flowed around us, and the warmth of the fire in the hearth made it incredibly intimate as she looked up at me. I never thought that loving someone as I did her would feel so right. "I can't wait until you are officially mine."

That brought on another smile. "Neither can I and for more than one reason," she said with a roll of her eyes.

My mother had been driving Bella a little crazy with all the wedding plans, since we wanted to be married before Valentine's Day. With a little less than a month and a half to prepare, my mother and Bella were in full out wedding mode. Lauren and Alice were also helping with the plans for the small, intimate wedding along with Bella's agent Angela Weber, who was excited for my fiancée.

It was somewhat scary when they got together. Mom was usually piled with computer printouts, bridal and craft magazines, while the others breezed in and out of the house with items to make the centerpieces and other decorations. Since it was such short notice, a lot of that had to be handled personally. Mom didn't seem to mind one bit, though. Bella, on the other hand, always dragged her feet as she walked into our dining room; the room that had been designated Wedding Headquarters.

Besides wedding plans, in a few days, Bella had an appointment to find out for sure if she was pregnant and I couldn't wait for confirmation. I didn't doubt her for a second, and I had a hundred dollars on her. She encouraged the bet, so why not partake in a little wager with my father.

She snuggled a little closer to my chest, wrapping her arms around my neck. "All I want is to walk down the aisle toward you, take your hand in mine, and profess my undying love for you."

"You do that everyday," I said, rubbing my thumb along her jaw and cheek. "And I appreciate it. You make me happy."

As the slow song came to a stop, she wiggled her eyebrows as she danced toward the stereo to pop in her iPod. The music changed to a fast moving rhythm. When she returned to my side, she took my hands and she placed them on her hips. "Now, I hope after we dance to this, that you'll join me when you see me dancing."

By the end of the song, I knew I definitely join her the next time.

~oOo~

Case No. : 191

January 10th, 2011

Client Name: Tate's Tavern, owner Charlotte Williams, husband Peter Williams

Subject: The new owner of Tate's Tavern has come to us about the building she acquired from her late uncle. She and her husband want to open up the bar again. They would like a through investigation of the establishment before it opens in a few months. There had been a few unexplained incidents since they started remodeling this past October. Though the incidents have scared those involved, they are also curious to know the history.

Paranormal activity varies, from feeling as if someone was watching them in the kitchen, to sudden cold spots and restacking of glasses in the barroom. Besides the clients, there had been two other witnesses with similar experiences. They are willing to talk to us before we conclude our investigation.

I closed the file I was reading, and helped Bella out of the truck. We joined Alice and Emmett who were waiting for us beside one of our vans. Jasper and Ben were nearby setting up their video and sound equipment, all of us bracing ourselves against the cold.

"Is everyone here?" I asked, wrapping my arm around Bella and pulling her close.

"Not yet," Jasper indicated as he propped his camera onto his shoulder. "Lauren and Eric had to go back to the office to grab some extra batteries for just about everything."

"What?" Bella asked, lifting her head from my chest.

"When they started to turn on their digital recorders, testing as usual, they were completely drained in a few minutes."

Bella whistled, cocking an eyebrow. Her eyes narrowed on the brown and red brick building behind my shoulder. "I do get a strong vibe from inside."

"Same here," Alice said softly, tugging her gloves higher so that not one inch of skin was exposed. "I only touched the handle with my bare hand and felt as if hundred souls passed through me."

Bella nodded beside me. "A lot of what we'll see or experience will likely be residual. From the history of the area, we may see a wide range of things, from confederate soldiers to the Prohibition Era. There's also a lot of history behind the original owners of the bar."

That time, Emmett whistled. "This one is going to be tough. Our central hub is going to be in a tiny storage room. The main bar area is where a lot of the activity is, so I can't set up there. I tried the kitchen but there was too much interference for some reason. "

"Probably electrical," I surmised. "The building is old and the owner said they had to do a lot of updating."

"We can set up cameras in the basement, on a shelf in the barroom, one overlooking the bar, too. The apartment upstairs and one pointing directly at the window where one of the witnesses said they'd seen the shadow of the man who hung himself."

I nodded at Emmett and slapped his back. "Thanks for taking point until we could arrive." Bella and I were running late, since we had dinner with our parents across town. Bella wanted to change before the investigation.

"No problem," he said, shrugging. "I knew the snow was going to be a bitch to get through. Plus, you're celebrating!"

The others joined us in our excitement. We were officially pregnant, with our baby's due date in late September. Of course, everyone assumed that Bella already knew what we were having and when we would have the baby. However, she was nervous because she could not see or sense anything that had to do with the baby's future. It scared her.

We grabbed the rest of the equipment, and walked inside the building. The door opened to a well lit bar, with warm wood paneling and matching floor. Jasper set his camera on the bar and called out the owners' names. "Peter, Charlotte, our boss is here."

Peter exited from a door behind the long curved bar that dominated the room, wiping his hands on a towel. He gave everyone a cursory glance before he walked over to Jasper.

"Edward, Bella," Jasper started, gesturing us over. "This is one of the owners, Peter." The man that held out his hand was taller than Jasper and myself by only an inch or so, leaner, though, as he gave us an easy smile. That was something he and Jasper seemed to have in common, an ability to put you at ease quickly.

"I'm not an owner, yet. It's only her name on the deed. I have to go along with what my wife wants until then," Peter offered with a wink, smiling as he shook my hand.

As we introduced Peter to Bella and the others he hadn't met yet, his wife appeared from the same doorway he had used earlier. Her dark blue eyes immediately fell on Bella. Her gaze remained on her as she walked over, seemingly unaware of her introduction by Jasper and Peter.

There was a few beats of silence as I waited with my hand extended for her to take it. Peter cleared his throat, snapping Charlotte of whatever thoughts she was in moments before. She smiled in the same manner as Peter. It led to me believe that they were putting up an act. The question was why.

Was the building and the spirits within taking more of a toll on them than they led us to believe? Being misinformed could be dangerous.

I knew I shouldn't have allowed Bella to talk me into her joining us. Before I could say anything to her, Alice led my fiancée away to help set up some equipment. Emmett had insisted that everyone on the team was familiar with our tech, and that meant lessons. Since Alice and Bella were not familiar with all of the devices, Emmett and the others were helping teach them.

"Don't lift anything heavy," I reminded her. Even though she wasn't facing me, I knew she was rolling her eyes. She accused me of coddling her, which I was. I did my best to keep her in my peripheral vision at all times.

"We'll get out of your way," Charlotte said, her eyes now on me. There was something strange about her gaze. It was too bad we couldn't insist on drug testing, because Peter's wife looked as if she was under the influence of something. "Peter can show you where the breaker is and finish giving you the tour. I was on my way home."

Peter's eyes narrowed as Charlotte quickly threw on her jacket, gloves and scarf before leaving. I suspected that her behavior wasn't normal for her.

"I'm sorry. We came in separate cars," Peter stated, but shook his head. "I have no idea what has gotten into her." He turned toward Jasper and me again, apologizing.

I hoped that whatever was wrong with his wife, that it wasn't directly linked to the investigation. If it was, there was a good chance we'd see her again before the night was over.

"She's probably nervous about we're doing here," I offered and asked him to give me the tour he'd already given to Emmett and Eric, and Bella joined me. Jasper and Ben followed close behind to record the tour since they arrived after Emmett's walkthrough.

An hour later, the entire bar and upstairs rooms went dark.

Here we go.

~oOo~

"This is Edward Cullen," I said loud enough for the digital recorder and cameras to pick up. Bella and I were moving on from the kitchen to the bar. Lauren and Eric headed upstairs after spending the last couple of hours in the basement. Emmett and Alice were at command central, watching all the camera coverage live.

Bella and I found nothing in the kitchen but we got false readings in a lot of our equipment due to some kind of electrical interference. As per custom, we didn't discuss any experiences when we switched rooms, since it could influence our minds. Unless there was trouble of some kind, we usually didn't talk about it until we started packing up for the night.

"It is January tenth, approximately 1:53 am. I am currently sitting at one of the tables in the main area of Tate's Tavern, in perfect view of the bar. There are five shot glasses in a row, placed there in the hopes to coax the recreation of the event one of the workers had experienced."

Bella sat beside me, rubbing her arms, as the room was colder than the rest of the building. Some of the memorabilia on the walls and over the bar were old racing and sports photos and jerseys. I could see some newer pieces woven with the older items. A set of boxing gloves that belonged to a champion in the early 1930's, hanging over the bar, spotlighted from above.

They belonged to the original owner of the bar. It was his son, Tate Buchman, that hung himself from the rafters, according to the records. The reasons behind his suicide seemed unclear in all the newspaper clippings Alice had gone through.

"What are the claims about this room?" Bella asked, her voice a whisper. Jasper and Ben were set up nearby with the perfect view of our faces as we sat together.

"There were reports of unexplained voices, scents and the rearranging of glassware, and even the bottles of alcohol."

Bella nodded, looking over her shoulder for a second toward the hallway that led to the bathrooms. "Is there history about the property this bar is on?"

"According to what records we could find, the basement is the original to a building that housed a speakeasy during the prohibition."

"What happened to the original building?"

"Some of this is original, but there was a fire that burned more than half of it." A sound from the bathroom alerted us, causing Bella's eyes to narrow. "What is it?" I asked.

"You heard that, right?"

I nodded, but the tightening of her lips had me wondering if there was more.

"Something about Charlotte was bothering me," she whispered, startling when the sound increased. I rose to my feet and slowly walked toward the sounds from the men's bathroom. Jasper and Ben started to follow me, but I stopped them. Bella realized I was about to ask them to stay with her, she cut me off.

"I'm going, too. You're wasting time," she grumbled, leading us for a bit before I put her behind me. She was angry, but she had to understand that she came first, before the success of any damn investigation.

I opened the door cautiously, feeling the immediate drop in temperature. "The window is open," I growled and ran to close it. The hair along the back of my stood on end as one of the stall doors slammed against my back, a scream tore through Bella.

I whirled around to find Charlotte's hands wrapped around Bella's throat. Jasper cursed and placed the camera on the floor as he tried to get them. In three quick strides, I was there, pulling Bella against my chest and Jasper tried to pry off Charlotte.

Bella hissed at the bite of the other woman's nails on her neck and shoulders, as Jasper pulled her away. Bella exhaled sharply, her hands lifting to her neck.

"Are you all right?" I asked, turning her to face me. I lifted her chin up with one hand, the other skimming her throat.

She breathed deeply, nodding. Her voice was raw and hoarse as she spoke, "Yes."

Bella's voice was a whisper, but mine was loud and echoing in the bathroom. "What is going on here? You want to explain why you just tried to kill my Bella?"

Jasper held Charlotte's arms behind her back, her wrists clasped tightly in one of his hands. Her blue eyes darted from left to right, yet appeared glazed under my penlight. Bella tried to move past me, but a look over my shoulder stopped her.

"She's under the influence of a spirit," Bella said, coughing a few times after. Emmett silently walked into the room and took over for Jasper. I was grateful he had been watching the cameras at control hub down the hall. The woman fought his hold, but was futile; she was no match for his size.

I spun toward Bella again, clasping her arms in my hands. "Are you telling me she's possessed by something?"

Bella shook her head, her eyes wide and luminescent under the night vision on Jasper's camera. "The spirit is influencing her, making suggestions that she can't resist following. It hasn't taken over her completely."

"How do we stop it?" Alice asked, stepping into the small room and shivering when her eyes landed on her Jasper. Clipped on his jacket was an EMF reader, the needle was all over the place. There was something in the room with us. Her eyes met mine, widening with fear. Did she feel the presence, too?

"We have to find out who it is," Bella said, shrugging. "Then I'll try to cross him or her over." Her brow furrowed. "That is, if it wants to." She touched her throat again, and I pulled her against me fully. When she tried to turn to Charlotte, I pushed her behind me.

"Edward," she hissed.

"You are pregnant with our child," I stated firmly. "You can't put yourself in harm's way. Do you understand that?"

"Hey, Doc," Jasper stated, with an edge in his voice, "Want to lay off on the grip there?"

I closed my eyes, using the momentary reprieve to gather control. "I'm sorry," I said, loosening my grip as he asked. I looked at her again, shaking my head. "Please, Bella."

She sighed, nodding. "I'm sorry, too, but I was going to say that I think she's okay now."

"How can you know that?" I asked, pulling her to my side again and turning toward the others.

"She stopped struggling," she said sweetly, smiling up at me. It was the classic "duh" look, and I deserved it, because she was right. "Charlotte, can you hear me?"

"I'm sorry," the petite woman replied. "I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that." Her breathing was shallow as her eyes fell from Bella's face to the ground. "They won't leave me alone."

"Who won't?" I asked.

Alice, who stood by me, tapped my shoulder as Bella talked with Charlotte. "Take a look at this," she whispered. She help up a thermal camera, a device that gave us readings based on temperature and displayed the images in a wide array of colors. I watched as she moved the small camera toward Jasper and he appeared in the traditional colors expected of a person; oranges and reds and a few blues where he had colder items in his pockets.

It wasn't until she moved the camera toward Bella that I saw what she was referring to, emanating from Bella's head and the center of her chest was a wealth of colors, like a rainbow. That wasn't all; right beside Charlotte, there was an indistinct image of a person, but it was absent of any warmth.

I pointed it out, and Alice gasped as the figure lunged for Bella. "Damn it!" I roared, grabbing her and pulling her against me. "Whatever is in here with us, wants Bella."

Bella shuddered in my arms. "What is it, baby?" I whispered, pulling her away enough to look into her eyes.

"There's two spirits here. One is a woman and she's the reason Tate killed himself," she said, gasping her breath. Her eyes snapped closed, as if she didn't want to see something. Was the spirit showing her memories? "But that wasn't who attacked me. It was Tate's father," she gasped as she shook in my arms. "He didn't approve of her."

"Why?" Alice asked, slipping her glove off to touch Bella. Her eyes closed for several moments, but the tightness of her lips said everything. Ever since Bella became pregnant, Alice could no longer "receive" anything from touching Bella or any of her things. It was a disturbing thought for some reason.

Bella's tear-glazed eyes lifted to meet mine. "She was African-American."

AN: The conclusion of this case will be posted next week. Thank you.