A low growl roused Zak from his thought coma. Looking in the vans rearview mirror, he saw Leo standing in the back seat next to Jess, (which was quite a feat

considering the cramped quarters) teeth bared, fur bristled, staring out the windshield. They'd arrived at the B&B.

Zak shot a look at Jess and saw she was pale and shaking. Nick also noticed and put an arm around her. Zak felt an unusual feeling in his stomach. He didn't like Nick

touching her.

"Jess if you don't want to stay here I'll pay for your hotel room for as long as you need." Zak offered turning in his seat to look directly at her. She shook her head

and shrugged off Nicks arm. Zak felt better immediately.

"I'm fine." She replied with a steely glint to her eye. Her face held no emotion, though she was still pale.

She's stronger than I thought. Zak thought to himself as he opened his door to exit the van. He looked up at the simple dark green clapboard building. Anyone who

didn't know the story would assume it was just another charming inn, with an old timey feel. But once you walked inside you were assaulted with the house's brutal

history. Crime scene photos a century old adorned the walls. The actual ax used in the murders all those years ago was encased in glass and hung on the wall in the

main sitting area above the fire place.

Zak expected to see police tape and what not around the building but there was none. It was like nothing had happened. Like a woman wasn't murdered there under

suspicious circumstances a week ago. The only difference was the sign said 'No Vacancy until Further Notice'. Zak was lucky enough to get rooms for him and the

GAC given the current situation. He had developed a close relationship with Valarie Borden, Jess' mom, during their previous investigation of the inn. Relieved that

there was no crowd of screaming fans, or reporters waiting for the Ghost Adventures Crew Zak let go of the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He didn't

think Jess could take the reporters and their questions again.

Zak immediately chastised himself for that thought. He didn't know Jess, it was arrogant to assume what she could, and couldn't handle. People automatically

assumed Zak was just another reality Tv douche bag with overly gelled hair and a need for attention, he'd seen the comments people made on the internet about him

and his team, and how they "faked" evidence just for ratings. The negative feedback used to make Zak's blood boil but now it just fueled his desire to prove everyone wrong.

Unloading the van proved to be a challenge, the equipment itself took at least 20 minutes to unpack and organize. Within that time Zak watched as a sky blue VW

bug pulled into the small parking lot, a blonde girl at the wheel. When she stepped out of the car Nick gave Zak a look, the girl was almost identical to Christina

except she was the girl next door version. She got out of her car and leaned against her door watching the GAC's every move. Zak couldn't help but notice she

watched him more than Nick, Aaron, Billy or Jay.

*/*

Jess watched from the top floor as Kira pulled into the lot in her blue Beetle. She'd had it as far back as Jess could remember. It was her aunts originally. They had

spent many a hour in the ancient car's front seat (before either of them could drive) debating their future. Kira had wanted to be a veterinarian, but ended up in law

school after she found that she excelled on the debate team in high school. Jess had always wanted to be writer or an archeologist, she loved history. The more she

had learned about it the more she wanted to build a time machine and go back to a time when men were honorable and women could surprise you at any given

moment.

Looking around her room, the one she had since she was twelve, she started to remember the horrible things that had happened to her. The eyes in the darkness in

the corner by her closet, the cold phantom hands wrapping around her throat when she told the eyes to go away. The feeling of her lungs burning for oxygen, her

breath being sucked out of her. All the while a pair of crimson eyes with white pupils stared at her. A black mass in the already dark night. But it was a different kind

of dark, inky, substantial in a way. When Jess had tried to fight back in the past her hand found a slight purchase but not much. The shadow looked solid but it

wasn't. There was nothing to fight. It had made her feel helpless. It was shy she had left. Well, one of the reasons. The other reason was why she had brought gloves

with her. Which she had put on immediately after getting out of the van. Everything she touched gave her a brief glimpse into the past. Considering where she was it

was best to keep her mitts covered. That had earned her a knowing grin from Zak that made her stomach flutter.

Jess unpacked her bag, a couple changes of clothes, a small cosmetics bag, her computer and a white box on the bottom that held the dress she was going to wear to

her mothers' funeral. Her room was small, but well lit it consisted of a double bed her dresser ( which still held her clothes from high school) and a desk with an

ancient computer and stereo. Hers was the only bedroom in the house with two windows. It was exactly the same as it did the day she had left eight years ago. Her

mom had kept it locked and allowed no one inside. It was like a memorial, except Jess wasn't dead. Her mother had understood why she had to go but that hadn't

meant that she liked it. Jess took a moment to remember her mother, to let all the emotions she had held in for days take her away for a moment….

Valerie Borden was a bright positive woman, some had even called her a social butterfly. She'd been involved with numerous charities and community groups before

they moved into the house when Jess was twelve. Valerie was institutional in organizing fundraisers for the children's after school program which she volunteered at

regularly. She loved hosting dinner parties, going to museums and libraries on the weekends, always with Jess. A couple months after the move she became a home

body. Never wanted to go anywhere or have people visit. She'd stay in her attic room for days even weeks sometimes. Jess worried about her but every time she had

asked what had changed her mother would get teary eyed and say nothing was wrong. For a while Jess thought it must have been something she'd done. So she had

buckled down at school, tried out for sports teams and plays. She did whatever she could to try to make her mom happy again. Jess would wake up early on

weekends to make her mother breakfast in bed before she went to soccer practice only to get to Valerie's door and find it locked. She'd cover the tray with a towel

and leave it just outside the door. Departing the house with tears in her eyes. When she got to high school and nothing had changed Jess got angry. Started skipping

classes and smoking. Detentions, meetings with the principle, not that her mother had showed any interest in her daughters sudden change from honor student to

delinquent. But the look on her mothers face the last time she saw her was what stuck in Jess' mind. Pushing the thoughts away Jess decided to change her clothes,

they smelled like airplane, or at least she thought they did. She traded her jeans and coat for a pair of black yoga pants and a white loose fitting t shirt. She just

wanted to be comfortable. Well as comfortable as she could be in the house that haunted her dreams.

She took her hair out of the pony tail and ran her hands through it taking deep, slow breaths. She had to pull herself together, get this house sold and get back to

Phoenix. The only problem with selling was who to sell it to. She knew why property manager wanted it, but she still hadn't heard Zak's reasons. The thought of that

conversation made her break out in goosebumps. The guy made her nervous, in every sense of the word. Which was strange considering he was so sweet. To her at

least. But she was getting ahead of herself. She didn't know Zak, sure she'd seen some of his memories and felt some emotions but if she had learned anything from

her gift it was that people had many different sides, and the most insane were the ones that were the most adept at hiding it.

She decided to Google him, and oh, the stuff she found. He was animal lover, bestselling author, produced music, was deathly afraid of snakes, dolls, heights and his

show had been the topic of a lot of controversy in the para normal world. When she stumbled across a YouTube channel entitled Aaron's Vlog she knew she had found

the mother lode. It was all 5 to 10 minute clips of the Ghost Adventures crew when they weren't filming for the show they were just filming for the fun of it. A lot of

them featured Zak heavily, Jess watched him chase invisible leprechauns, get scared by a donkey, eat clams, slip on ice, follow unsuspecting people down the street

and then hide behind the nearest object when the people he was stalking turned around. All in all the guy was a complete goof. He also had a girlfriend and had been

with her for the last two years. Jess didn't know how long she had been watching the clips, and was startled when someone knocked on her door. She quickly

slammed the laptop shut and opened her door. It was Kira.

"You know you have the entire Ghost Adventures Crew in your house right?" she asked breathlessly. Apparently Kira was familiar with pack of nerds that was invading

her house. But Jess was thankful Kira knew her well enough to not bring up her mom.

"Yea, I met them at the airport. They gave me ride here."

"They gave you ride! I'm so jealous, I'd love for Zak to give me ride." Kira purred.

"So you're a fan huh?"

"Obviously, I haven't talked to them yet though, I just came up here to find you."

"Zak's got a girlfriend, but you already knew that didn't you?"

"Of course I do, but she is in Vegas and he's here. So you never know what could happen." She fluffed her blonde hair in the mirror that was hanging on the back of

Jess' closet door. Jess smirked to herself, same old Kira. If there was a hot guy within 20 feet of her she wanted him. And Zak was definitely the definition of hot as

far as Jess was concerned. She'd seen his girlfriend, she was blonde stick thin and gorgeous. Just like Kira. The complete opposite of her. But if the last hour or so

was any indication Zak didn't find Jess unattractive, he stole glances at her the whole ride to her house even though she pretended not to notice.

Jess got up from the bed slowly. She didn't want to go downstairs. Granted all evidence of her mother's murder had been cleared out and cleaned up, but that didn't

make any difference to Jess. She knew if she sat down cleared her mind and listened she would be able to see what had happened to her mother in her mind. She

just wasn't ready for that yet.

Jess descended the stairs like she was walking to the gallows. She could hear Zak and Aaron in the living room talking about where they wanted to go in town for

dinner. Deciding to address the elephant in the room Jess walked in and asked Zak to gather the rest of his team in the living room. He came back about five minutes

later with Nick, Billy and Jay in tow. The all stood in a semi-circle around her and looked at her expectantly. Kira came in a second later, stood behind Jess and placed

a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I don't want to talk about my mom just yet, so if everyone could just act like nothing has happened, at least until tomorrow I would really, really appreciate it." She

said in a rush looking down at the carpet.

"Sure Jess whatever you say goes." Zak responded immediately. Jess relaxed a bit and introduced Kira to everyone. She watched as Kira batted her eyelashes at Zak

and told him how big of fan she was. Zak smiled at her politely and thanked her, but then his eyes flashed to Jess as if asking if it was okay that he was talking to

Kira. She found that odd, flattering, but odd. She had just met Zak, he didn't need her permission to do anything.

"Well, now that we got that out of the way, Zak, what exactly is the difference between an incubus and succubus?" Jess asked, and upon seeing his horrified

expression she cracked her first genuine smile in days.