Chapter 1

Shelbyville County, New Mexico 1997

Tara Maclay stepped out of the school and looked around. She wasn't certain whether she was disappointed or relieved that her brother wasn't there to pick her up. On one hand, it meant she had to walk, but on the other Tara was more then happy to have time to herself.

She looked up at the blue sky and took a deep breath as she started out of the school yard. 'At least It's the last day of school', she thought to herself. Home was about a mile outside of town, less then two miles of a walk from where she was now. All and all it wasn't a long walk, though Tara figured she might drag it out a little bit if she could.

As she started her walk home she had a feeling that someone was watching her. Picking up her pace she turned around to see if anyone was behind her. To her relief no one was there. As she walked into a more rural area a wave of nausea hit her.

Dropping her books that she had clutching to her chest, she fell to the ground and began to vomit. After what seemed to be forever, but was actually a few minutes, the nausea subsided and she began to stand.

"Awww.... it looks like the freak is sick." a voice said from behind her. Turning she saw that it was the highschool bully Danny Myers. For years he's been taking little kids lunch money and personal belongings. Including Tara's.

"H..h...hi Danny." Tara said, her momentary sickness turning into fear.

"H...h...hi Danny." The buck toothed bully mimicked as he stepped closer to Tara.

"Where da hell is my money, Tara?" he asked as he got in her face. He used his bulk and height to intimidate her, which worked because she was shaking with fear.

"I...I.. d....don't have your money Danny." She stammered out as she began to walk backwards.

"Then ye going ta have ta pay me another way." Danny said with a grin as he unzipped his pants. Tara got on her knees and began to stroke Danny's cock. Making the boy in question moan in pleasure. Inches away from putting the boys cock in her mouth something flashed in Tara's eyes.

Letting go of the boy's dick she reared back and punched him in the balls. As the boy doubled over in pain, Tara stood and punched him in the face. The force of the blow sent blood flying from his nose. Looking down at the boy in disgust, Tara came to her senses.

'What did I just do?' she thought to herself as she slowly inched away from the boy's crumpled body. Taking one last look at the bully, she quickly gathered her books and ran home.

"Tara what the hell took ye so long getting home?" Jed Maclay asked his daughter.

"I'm s..s... sorry daddy. I...I.. It'll never happen again." Tara said nervously, glancing at her brother who was supposed to pick her up.

"It better not happen again!" her dad shouted. "Now get in the kitchen and fix supper. I have to go out of town in a few hours." he ordered.

"I... have to us...use the bathroom first." Tara replied.

"Go ahead. But make it quick." her dad replied. With that Tara scampered off.

Putting her books in her bedroom Tara went to the Bathroom. After using it, she went to wash her hands in the sink. As the water flowed in her hands she splashed a little on her face and looked in the mirror.

But the face staring back at her wasn't hers, but that of a man's. With a shriek she ran from the bathroom and into the hands of her hateful father.

"What the hell is going on Tara?" Jed asked his now shaking daughter. "What the hell were ye screaming about?"

Tara just cryed a little more and pointed to the bathroom, muttering about a man being in there. Jed pushed his daughter away roughly and entered the bathroom. A moment later he emerged looking upset.

"Tara I don't know what's going on with you today." her father spat out as he grabbed her roughly by the arm. "But I want you to cut out the nonsense, and go fix supper. I'm hungry." he stated as he let go of her and returned to the living room.

Tara looked from the retreating back of her father to the bathroom. With some amount of force she returned to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Only to see her own reflection. With a sigh, she walked out of the bathroom and started supper.

After dinner Tara went in her room and locked the door. (Even though her father and brother left and she wouldn't have to endure him coming into her room berating her. She locked the door out of force habit.) As she sat on the bed she began to think about today's events.

As she rolled over in bed, she came face to face with the man she saw in the mirror. Tara let out a blood curdling scream as she jumped off the bed.

"St...st...stay away from me." she stuttered as she ran to her door. Cursing herself for locking it.

"It's all right. I'm not going to hurt you." the man said with an Irish sounding accent. For some odd reason the door seemed to be stuck. Trapping Tara in the room with the stranger. Not knowing what else to do she turned around to face him.

He was a white male, probably in his late twenties, Tara guessed. He wore all dark colors and had dark spikey hair.

He was a perfectly normal looking guy, but that didn't make him any less terrifying. He was in her room after all.

"Wh...who are you?" Tara asked through her own fear. She began to whimper as the man tried to approach her but walked through her bed.

"I don't know who I am." the man stated standing in front of her. "Will you please help me?" He asked taking a step back. He noticed he was scaring her by standing so close.

"H..how can I help?" Tara asked. "You're a g..g..ghost."

The man looked at her funny for a moment before he replied.

"I've been in your room, for awhile now." he started. "And through some effort, I was able to move some of your books."

"My books!" Tara almost shouted. "What did you do to them?"

The man just looked at her, surprised at her outburst. 'So there's a tiger hidden under that shy girl exterior' he thought to himself.

"I didn't hurt your books." the man stated taking a few steps back. "I was bored and I tried to read something. I accidently stumbled unto some magic books and I thought you could help me."

To his surprise the girl looked down at her feet.

"I'm s..s...sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." the man said as he stepped closer to her. "I had no right going through your things." After a moment Tara met his gaze, but was still shaking with fear.

"H...h...how can I help you?" she asked.

"You can help me by using magic." He stated as he walked over to her bookshelf.

"I was able to find a spell that I think will help me move on to the after-life." he finished as he turned to face her. Only to find her looking back at her feet.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Tara looked up at the older man and quickly told him. "M... m... magic i... is bad."

"Who told you magic was bad?" he asked as he calmed down a bit.

"My daddy..." She said meekly.

"Why would he tell you something like that?" the ghost asked.

"Be....be...because of my...my...mom. S....she was b....b..bad"

"Did she hurt someone by using magic ?"

"S... she... she tried to..."

"Who?" he asked hating to have to ask the question.

"D... daddy."

"Did you see it happen?" he asked, his heart heavy as he sympathized with the young girl.

"N... no..."

He frowned. Something just wasn't right. "How did you know?"

"Daddy... he told me... after... she ..w..w..went away."

"Left? Or..." He hesitated, stopping and looking at the small blond. "Tara, did your mother die?"

Tara just nodded.

He frowned, what kind of man tells his daughter that her dead mother tried to hurt him? Tara didn't need that kind of weight on her shoulders at this age.

"What happened?"

"T... the d.. Demon in her... w... w... woke up... and it tried t... t... to k... k... k... kill daddy."

"Demon?" he asked , now knowing that someone had beaten Tara down to such a point that she was meekly following any person who wanted to order her around.

While those thoughts ran through his head, Tara began speaking. She was telling him things that he knew she didn't want to.

"T... the women in m... m... my family h.. Have a demon in them. T... that's where the Magic comes from..."

"What!?" the ghost exploded, making Tara take a few steps back. "Listen to me Tara." he continued in more gentle tones.

"I was in your body earlier today..."

"I....in my body?" Tara asked shocked.

"Ye...Yes." the man now stuttered. "I saw that you were in trouble, so I decided to help." he said as he smiled at her sheepishly. It only took Tara a second to know what he was talking about.

"Th...Thank you." she said looking up at him with a half smile. If ghosts could blush, the stranger would be turning red as we speak.

"You're welcome Tara." he replied after a second. "Now like I was saying. I've been in your body for a few hours and there isn't a demon in there."

She looked up at him at that. "No demon?" she asked in a child-like voice.

"No demon." he confirmed. The ghost let that sink in with her for a moment before he spoke.

"Now as for the spell we'll do it tomorrow."

"Wh...Why not now?" Tara dared to ask. The ghost looked at her fondly. 'She just got the shock of her life and she's still willing to help me. This girl is truly special, unlike her fucked up father.' The ghost thought bitterly to himself.

"Because you are very emotional right now." he started. "If you try the spell right now you could hurt yourself. So get some sleep and we will start tomorrow."

"Ok." Tara replied as she looked over at her new friend. Sitting back on the bed, she layed down and fell asleep. The man looked at her with a smile on his face. Walking over to her bed he raised her comforter up and tucked her in.

tbc...