The Captain of the Manor Read Free

go in the water? I'm sure it's freezing out there."
    "The waters run a little warmer down here than up north, not as much as Florida, but I'm amazed the amount of out-of-state guests who enjoy the water and beach."
    Aiden shuddered. "No thanks. I'm not a beach goer."
    "Perhaps the bath, nap, and visit to the library are in order. Dinner is served promptly at six for those guests who wish to join. The dining room is down the stairs, turn around the short hallway behind the counter, and it will take you to the double doors. Brunch is also served there, buffet style, from eight am to eleven am. Lunch is on your own, there are several decent places to visit within a walk."
    "Thank you for the options. I'm sure I'll figure something out."
    "Very well, enjoy your stay, Aiden," Edmund said. Since Aiden didn't take the folder from the counter, he held it and the card to him.
    "Oh, thank you, I forgot to take this." Aiden shuffled his bags until he had a hand free. He took the card, looked at it, and swiped it through the lock. The light turned green on his first time.
    "You're lucky, most people fight with those cards. I prefer keys myself, but security insisted on the change," Edmund said with a shrug. He stepped away as if to head downstairs.
    "Will I be seeing you around?"
    Edmund turned at Aiden's question. "I'll be around the rest of the week. All Saints' Day is when another family member will take over as manager."
    "Oh, you're not here full time."
    "No. This is one of my rare visits to the manor. I don't prefer staying here at Trident's Rest, you know the ghosts and haunting and all that nonsense," he said with a flap of his fingers.
    Aiden chuckled at the quiet joke. "Perhaps we'll meet again at dinner."
    "Perhaps."
    With a grin, Aiden fixed his glasses, and entered the room. He dropped down the bags. "Crap… Forgot to ask about a car." He opened the door and stepped into the opening. "Excuse me, Mr…"
    The hallway was empty.
    "He's fast," Aiden said as he went back to the room.
    * * *
    Having to relinquish his corporeal form and returning to ghost form, Edmund leaned against the wall to hide the wavering shadow he sometimes left behind which people said was the Carslyle pirate ghost.
    He never was a damn pirate. He was a privateer with rights to plunder under the care of the newly formed Americas. With a scroll as proof, he could attack all ships sailing under different flags and plunder their goods for the benefit of the Americas, him, and his crew. Pirates were a bloodthirsty lot who made their berths in the Caribbean. Edmund preferred berthing around his family's home and lighthouse as he patrolled the waters.
    After watching the bewitching young man, Edmund disappeared through the walls until he stood within the master suite which hadn't changed since his last voyage. The voyage he didn't return from, at least not in the normal fashion.
    Lacing fingers behind his back, Edmund paced across the thick Turkish rug he plundered from a ship. His knee-high polished black boots didn't make a sound. Neither did his tight pants, loose silk shirt, and long black coat with polished silver buttons. These were the clothes he disappeared off his ship centuries ago. Every time he returned to this insignificant cursed form, these clothes appeared upon his body.
    Not quite a ghost, not quite immortal, he was something completely utterly different. He was cursed. He was forced to take this ghost form throughout the year except from the night of the Autumnal Equinox to the evening of All Saints' Day. Those few weeks he could partake a more corporeal form with various clothing and interact with humans, eat, enjoy sex, but unable to step into direct sunlight. Sunlight would shine right through his form and reveal his secret. Taking this form was taxing and he couldn't hold it for long hours before returning to his ghost form.
    All of his troubles started after crossing the eerie ship, Calypso's Mystery, and her pirate captain, Bartolomeo de