Cleo Richmond took a deep breath and faced the phantom that haunted her nightmares for so many years. Shade house didn't look as foreboding as she remembered. In fact, the three story Victorian home's yellow façade and blue trim felt inviting. Her Great Aunt Fay had recently remodeled the bed and breakfast which boasted nine guest rooms, a large parlor, music room, a wrap-around porch, large gardens and an updated kitchen. Cleo had an open invitation to visit the Bed and Breakfast whenever she wanted but she declined and not just because Fay was her least favorite relative.

Something was wrong with the house.

The nightmares started ten years ago—the last time Cleo visited her Great Aunt. Unfortunately, she could never remember the dream. Flutters of dread niggled at the back of her mind whenever she awoke from the nightmare. The only thing she could recall was the warning: Stay away from Shade house.

But now she owned it.

Her Great Aunt Fay died three months ago leaving Cleo the house. Cleo didn't want it and Fay knew that. Even dead her aunt figured out a way to make her life a living nightmare. Well it didn't help that she chose Halloween of all days to move into the creepy place.  What was she thinking? Cleo bit her bottom lip and picked up her suitcase. She couldn't go back now. The sooner she dealt with the place the sooner she could sell it, she thought as she headed up the walkway to the house.

As Cleo stepped closer to the verandah she realized that she wasn't alone. A couple stood on the side porch. Trees which were more than a century old hid the couple from the view of passerby's which is why Cleo didn't notice them at first.

The man's dark head was bent low as he whispered in the ear of a young blonde. The girl looked about Cleo's age maybe a bit younger. If Cleo had to guess she'd say about 22. But there was something off about her. Shadows fell on her face where light should have been. The man who hovered over her seemed sinister. He was substantially older. His dark hair was showing signs of frost.

"I don't want to. It's cold." The young woman whimpered as Cleo inched closer to where they stood.

"Can I help you?" Cleo asked setting her luggage down next to her feet on the verandah.

The man whipped his head up to look at Cleo. She shuddered at the sight of his cold blue eyes. "We were having a private conversation." He grumbled.

"You're trespassing." Cleo stood her ground.

The woman's green eyes went wide. "I'm not trespassing." She drawled. "I'm a guest at this inn."

"That's impossible." Cleo said placing her hand on her hip. "The B&B has been closed for three months now." The hotel shut its doors to the public when her aunt died and Cleo had no intention of opening those doors back up.

"Like that is going to stop your guests." The woman said before flouncing away.

The stranger turned right before she reached the front door. "That man is not a guest. Keep him away from me." She demanded before she walked into the house.

"So you're the new Shadow Guide." The man sneered before Cleo could follow her unwanted guest into the hotel.

"I'm the new what?"

The man's lips formed a sly smile that didn't quite reach his cold eyes and he took a step closer to Cleo, eyeing her as if she were a diamond and he the jeweler looking for the tiny imperfections. He circled her and Cleo felt a cold tingle shoot through her body when he came closer. Cleo followed him with her eyes.

She didn't trust him.

"You don't belong here." He whispered in her ear. "If you know what is good for you, you would sell this place and be done with it."

"Is that a threat?" Cleo asked her voice low and controlled.

"No, it's an offer." The man took a card out of his wallet and handed it to Cleo.

His Popsicle fingers brushed Cleo's as she took the card from him. She snatched her hand away sure that the minimal contact would cause frost bite. Less than a second later her fingers felt normal again. Was the cold she felt just her imagination?

She read his card. The man's name was Harm. Kind of fitting Cleo thought.

"I'd like to buy this place." Harm continued. "I'd be willing to pay more than the market value." He smiled.

Cleo bit her bottom lip. She needed to unload the house and quickly but she didn't want to do business with Harm.

"I'm not sure." Cleo stammered.

"Who better to sell this place to but an old friend." Harm cajoled.

"Old friend? I've never met you before."

"You don't remember me?" He said. "I'm hurt." A mock sad expression covered Harm's face. "But you were fifteen the last time I saw you. I suppose I could forgive your lapse in memory."

Cleo felt the color drain from her face. She didn't remember him. Hell she didn't remember most of her visit to Shade house when she was fifteen. She had repressed the memories. If Harm was a part of those repressed memories, then it was imperative that she avoid him. Her subconscious repressed that visit for a reason.

"I think you need to leave." Cleo said. She heard a rustling sound coming from behind her back. She made the mistake of  taking her eyes off of Harm. She quickly turned to check the source of the noise and when she turned back around Harm had vanished.

"Good Riddance." She said under her breath reaching down to grab her luggage. That was one problem down and two more to go. Except Harm would be back. She would need to find a more permanent solution to that particular problem but first she had an unwelcome guest to deal with.

Cleo stepped into the grand foyer and put her luggage down on the hardwood floor just inside the door. She wanted to unpack her bag but first she had to find the woman.

Cleo went from room to room of the hotel looking for her. Each of the guest rooms had the door open. They were all decorated differently. Some rooms were vintage and others modern. Cleo found something to love in every one. Well the room with the clown collection kind of creeped her out. Cleo shut that door right away. The strange girl wasn't in any of the guest rooms and she wasn't in any of the common rooms of the house either. Cleo sighed, perhaps the woman left. Maybe she was the one who made the strange rustling sound that distracted her earlier.

Ten minutes later, Cleo was unpacking her bag in the small private guest room on the resident portion of the hotel. She couldn't bring herself to stay in Aunt Fay's room even though it was more spacious. Instead she opted to take the room she used when she visited in her youth.

If she really got tired of the small space or the twin bed she could always take one of the guest rooms, but not the clown one. Cleo was hanging one of her dresses in the closest when she heard a woman's voice behind her.

"That's a lovely dress." The stranger drawled startling Cleo.

Cleo hugged the dress to her chest and watched as the stranger crossed the room to sit on Cleo's bed. Something was off about the girl. Shadows fell across her face even though the room was bright with sunshine. "How did you get in here? I looked all over the place for you." The words rushed from Cleo's mouth.

"I like the flowers on the dress." The woman continued as if Cleo never spoke. "My mamma likes flowers too, I recon. But I don't know why. Do you like flowers?"

Cleo unwrapped herself from the dress and hung it in the closet. "Is that a lily on your dress? My mamma likes lily's." The woman continued as if she never asked Cleo a question. Or perhaps she just didn't care to wait for the answer.

"They're roses." Cleo informed the girl.

"No! No. No." The girl said. "My name is not Jane Doe."

"I didn't say your name was Jane Doe." Cleo said taken aback by the new turn in conversation. "Is that the name you registered under?"

"I don't know." Not Jane Doe said.

"Who was that man that you were talking to." Cleo tried another tactic.

"My name is not Jane Doe."

Cleo stepped closer to the disturbed woman not sure what she should do. Maybe call the police. "Did he mistake you for someone else?" Cleo asked. "Did he hurt you."

"He's cold." She said. "I don't want to go with him but my name's not Jane Doe." Then the woman disappeared from the spot on the bed where she was sitting.

Cleo blinked. "Impossible." She said aloud and then walked to the bed and lifted up the comforter to check underneath. People don't just vanish out of nowhere she told herself. But a strange thought niggled at her.

They do at Shade house.

Cleo knew it was a mistake to come here. She rummaged through her pockets for the card that Harm gave her. If he wanted the house, he could have it and its disappearing residents.

She grabbed the cellphone that she placed on the dresser earlier and began to dial the number on the card.

"Over my dead body." A stern voice admonished. Cleo pushed the end call button but didn't turn around to face the new voice—a voice that she recognized.

"Well considering the fact that you are already dead, Aunt Fay, I don't see the problem." Cleo said.

"You don't see the problem. You want to sell my house to a Darkling and you don't see the problem with that?"

Cleo faced her aunt. The woman wasn't quite see through but seemed like a shadow of her former self. "A dark what?" She asked.

"A Darkling. Don't you know nothing child? A demon that prevents spirits from crossing over by eating them."

"What the what?" Cleo asked. Was she really standing there talking to her dead aunt about ghost eating Demons?

"Keep up girl." Fay chided. "I've worked hard to make this the best ghost hotel in the state and I will not have you selling it to a Darkling."

"Ghost Hotel? You left me a ghost hotel?" Cleo sputtered. This was a dream it had to be. She would wake up and not remember it. She pinched herself. It hurt. You're not supposed to feel pain in a dream. Cleo reminded herself.

"Of course I left you a ghost hotel. You're a Shadow Guide, Ain't you."

Shadow Guide? Harm had called her that earlier. "I need some air." Cleo said walking over to the small window. She opened it hoping that when she turned back around her dead aunt would be gone—A figment of her imagination.

But when she looked out the window, Cleo spotted Harm and he was with the girl whose name wasn't Jane Doe. He looked like he was about to kiss her.

Not again! Cleo thought and covered her mouth as the memory returned. She had lost someone to him when she was fifteen. A ghost that she was trying to help. That is why she had the dreams and why she repressed the memory. It was her first assignment as a Shadow Guide and she failed. An innocent paid the price.

But never again.

Cleo raced down the stairs and went to the backyard. Her Aunt hovered in the kitchen just inside the screen door. Cleo knew that Fay faced Harm several times when she was alive but Fay couldn't face him now that she was dead.

"Let her go Harm." Cleo called through gritted teeth.

"She doesn't want me to. Do you darling." Harm said to the ghost girl.

"I have to stay with him because my name isn't Jane Doe."

"No you don't." Cleo said. It was her responsibility to help the girl move on to the next phase of existence and Cleo wasn't about to let the innocent girl, a shadow of her former self really, get eaten by a Darkling.

"You're lying." The ghost said.

Who knew how long the Darkling was eating away at the shadow's soul before Cleo even arrived. But to save her Cleo needed to figure out what was keeping the shadow here.

Her Name.

The girl kept insisting that her name wasn't Jane Doe. She probably just wanted to make sure that her family knew what happened to her. Knew she was dead.

"You don't have to go with him." Cleo said with more conviction. "I can tell the morgue your real name." Cleo offered even though she was pretty sure that would be an awkward conversation.

"How can you tell them when I can't even remember my own name?"

"I'll help you remember." Cleo said.

"It's too late." Harm said around an evil smile. "Jane here wants to be with me and there is nothing you can do to stop us."

"Her name is not Jane." Cleo shouted.

"What is her name then?" Harm laughed.

How the hell should Cleo know. She only had one conversation with the girl and she didn't make very much sense. Then Cleo remembered something that the girl said earlier.

"Lily." Cleo called. "Your name is Lily." She hoped that she was right.

The ghost stepped away from Harm. "That's right." She said. "My name is Lily. Lilian Michaels. Will you tell them that my name is Lilian Michaels?" The ghost asked.

"I will." Cleo said.

Lilian flickered and disappeared. A few leaves floated down from the tree she was standing under and fell to the ground.

"Who the hell do you think you are." Harm yelled, "To keep a tasty treat from me!"

Cleo looked into the man's ice eyes. "I'm a Shadow Guide." Cleo said before turning on her heel and returning to the safety of the Victorian home.

"You did okay." Fay said as Cleo walked in the back door. "But that won't be the last you see of him."

"I know." Cleo said.

"You have to protect this place." Fay told her.

"I know."

"More shadows are on their way."

"I know."

"You'll have to introduce yourself to the Grim Reaper."

Cleo looked at her aunt. "You're not serious."

Fay smiled sweetly. "Of course I am, little miss Shadow Guide."

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A/N I hope you enjoyed this snippet of ghost hotel. So please leave a comment and if you enjoyed this story don't forget to click on the star. Thank you.