Part 1

The shadowy figures sat perched on either side of the hanging lights in the old lecture room in Russell Hall. The light rocked slowly back and forth as if their ethereal weight had enough power to make it gently sway. As usual, the two ghostly figures argued back and forth, causing dust motes to fall from the top of the light.

"I am not betting you again. You have NEVER won and you won't win this time either," the first shimmering shadow hissed as she shook her boneless finger in the other entity's face.

"No way in Hades (is that where we are today?) will I lose this time. I know I'm right. I haven't had this strong a premonition since I predicted Jeanne Darc would rise to greatness. Look how she has gone down in history," remarked the second entity as she continued to rock back and forth.

"Well damn, as if being burned at the stake like poor Joan is anything to be proud of predicting. I hope you never predict anything about me. But heck, I guess it's too late to worry about what you can do to me since we exist only in this dimension anyway," mused the first figure aloud.

"Aw come on. What else do we have to do? A little nudge here and there, you and I can change the outcome any way we want. What do you say? I know we can make the least unlikely couple become attracted to one another. Pleaseeeeeeeee," begged the second entity again.

"Why do I always give in to you," sighed figure one as she rolled her eyes upward.

"Cause you love me, why else?" answered her ghostly partner.

"Gosh, darn it all. Shit. Okay, but I get to pick the couple," grumbled the first shadow knowing that she would never refuse her partner anything.

They turned outward looking down upon the milling crowd in the lecture hall. Two sets of red glowing eyes roamed over the room, looking for their intended targets.

Finally, the first entity laughed aloud, pointing toward the far corner of the room. "I want her, yep no one but her, as one of the person's for us to 'nudge'," she said as she narrowed her eyes to look closely at her choice.

Leaning against the wall propped a small figure that was covered nearly head to toe in clothing. She was wearing a baggy cable sweater that was at least 3 sizes larger than she should have been wearing. Her skirt was a simple unadorned A-line shape that dropped to the tops of her ankles. Her feet were covered with a pair of old well-worn brogans.

Her dark chestnut hair was pulled tightly back into a haphazard ponytail and pinned in an upswept fashion onto the back of her head. It looked as though it would tumble down at any moment.

Her face was void of makeup but her lips, even from this distance, were a luscious cherry red. Looking closely at her, one could see the most striking feature on her was her beautiful, brightly shimmering violet eyes.

Yet, her entire look led credence that she might be trying to hide her appearance from the general populace. She sloughed, hoping to hide from the crowd and not draw any attention to herself as she read through the material for the lecture that was coming up.

"Yes, that is my first choice. Do you have a problem with her," drawled the first ghostly figure.

"Gawd, no, but couldn't you have found someone a little more attractive to work with?" gnarled the second shadow.

"Humm, good point. Let me see. Who is my second choice," entity one contemplated as she continued to look around the room.

Near the door stood a group of women deeply engrossed in an animated conversation. Several were talking at the same time, wildly gesturing with their hands. The center of attention focused on one woman that appeared to be standing in the middle of the group.

She was striking. Her height placed her at least four inches taller than her closest companion. She had shoulder length wavy honey blonde hair that gleamed with vitality even from the distance where the shadowy figures were perched. Her face was classically cut with high cheekbones and beautifully formed mouth. Her mouth remained curved in a nearly perpetual smile as she nodded to one of the speakers. Her name was Theodora Lachlan, better known as Teddi Lachlan to all her friends.

Tiny wrinkles around her eyes gave credence to her love of laughter. Her eyes were a clear, tiger-eye brown, which shone with intelligence. Her neck was long and slender holding her perfectly proportioned head. Her figure was lithe and muscular; indicating that she cared for her appearance and took pains to keep it fit and trim. She radiated confidence and vitality.

"There. There, that one is my second choice," laughed entity one as she tossed back her head. "Now, let's see what you can do with such an unlikely pair."

"God damn , son of a bitch if you don't make my death hard," fumed entity two as her eyes narrowed to pinpoints while she pondered her next step.

"Wellll, what do you say? Are you going to accept my choices?," snickered entity one.

Coughing to cover up her own laughter, shadow two declared, "By all means I accept. You may think that you have won before I even get started, but we'll see."

As the agreement was confirmed, shadow one, moved higher perching upon the arching rafters in the hall and watching her partner put into action her plan to win the bet.


Part 2

A bell rang out and the hall began to empty as the students scrambled to find seats before the professor entered the room. Teddi headed toward the front of the room, moving briskly to keep up with the surging crowd. As she neared the aisle of seats that was located closer to the podium, she felt a brushing against her shoulders, almost a nudge, which caused her to careen into a smaller figure nearly abreast of her. It was the woman describe earlier as the first choice in the bet.

Books flew out of the brunette's hands and clattered to a heap in front of Teddi's feet. Teddi reached out her hands to catch the young woman as she continued to fall forward. Her arms circled around the woman's waist, breaking her fall and pulling her back against her body. Teddi could feel the stranger's breath escape from her lungs as she hugged her body tightly to keep her from falling to the ground. She swung her arms slightly righting the woman as the fall stopped. The woman turned and looked directly into Teddi's eyes.

Electricity passed between their eyes as they stared, neither saying a word; both wondering to themselves what the heck was happening. Teddi dropped her eyes and stooped down, sweeping the spilled books and papers back up into her arms. She held the pile out the stranger in front of her as she continued to run her eyes over her facial features.

Teddi looked closely, feeling that she knew this woman from somewhere but she was not able to pull the knowledge out of her brain. The young woman reached out and lifted her books from Teddi's hands. Their fingers touched, causing a tingle to trickle back up their arms. They moved apart each saying "I'm sorry."

Teddi smiled at her and said, "No, I'm sorry. If I had been paying attention I would have seen you were next to me and could have avoided bumping into you."

The stranger replied in a soft, husky voice. "That's OK. Accidents happen. I'm just glad neither of us got hurt. Umm, well, Thanks." She turned away and continued walking toward the front of the room.

Teddi watched her retreating back as she dropped down into the vacant seat. As she noted the way she moved, she grumbled to herself that she wished she had at least gotten her name. Turning back to her backpack, she reached in and drew out her notepad in order to be ready for the upcoming lecture.

Meanwhile entity number two was floating around in front of number one, remarking how perfect her plan seemed to be going. The first shadowy figure stated, "Babe, you have a long way to go if you think that I am giving you credit for winning the bet at this stage. You have to bring that relationship a lot further along that just a greeting."

"Oh, no, you are mistaken. This is just the beginning. I am ready to really have some fun now," she called over her shoulder as she drifted back down to floor level.

Teddi looked back up toward the desk in the front of the room. She watched the young woman she had just about knocked out, placing her books on the desk that stood in front of the lecture hall. She shifted in her seat, sitting up taller, as she realized this must be the guest speaker they had been anticipating all month. She couldn't help laughing to herself when she thought that she single handedly nearly prevented the class from being held this evening had she not been able to catch this woman's fall.

Kristen Graham nervously sat her books on the table, attempting to stack them where they would not slip off onto the floor. She was still startled by her near fall and needed to regroup quickly before beginning her lecture. Taking several deep breaths, she turned to the room and stated, "Good evening, My name is Dr. Kristen Graham. I will be providing tonight's topic on Gaelic literature and its influence on modern romanticism."

Teddi snickered lightly to herself as she thought of the image that Dr. Graham portrayed. She was the least likely image of romanticism that she could imagine. Wait, on second thought maybe I'm wrong, thought Teddi as she looked more closely at the woman in front of her.

Teddi was stunned. She actually liked what she was seeing. As she watched Dr. Graham stroll back and forth, Teddi began to look more closely at the physical attributes she could see. She had a definite liking for shorter women, especially ones with dark chestnut hair and beautiful amethyst eyes.

The shadowy figure moved in closer to Kristen as she stood still making a particular point to the students. Reaching out with her slender hands she grasped the neck of the sweater Kristen was wearing and slowly pulled it in her direction. This caused the sweater to slide off one shoulder, exposing a perfectly formed collar to Teddi's eyes.

Teddi watched as she noted one side of Dr. Graham's sweater slide from her shoulder to expose her collar to her view. She had beautiful well-formed shoulders by what little Teddi could see. They were slender and clean cut, pale golden in color. The bulky sweater had been hiding a very sexy body beneath its weight.

As Teddi watched, the ethereal figure drifted in front of Kristen and reached toward the front of her sweater. This time, she grasped a button, causing it to pop off, resulting in the sweater opening to just below Kristen's breast line.

Teddi drooled. Dr. Graham had a bust line to die for. The skintight sleeveless undershirt that was visible through the sweater highlighted the curve of Kristen's breasts. They were well defined and perky. Teddi could feel her hands tingling with the urge to reach out and run her hands over Dr. Graham's breasts. Her breath quickened as her mind began to drift into a waking erotic dream involving Dr. Graham.

Meanwhile, Kristen found her attention returning again and again to the tall blonde woman who had held her closely just minutes ago. She was exactly the type of woman that Kristen preferred. She epitomized all the characteristics of the romantic female that Kristen had spent the last several years studying. Her classical features and blonde coloring drew Kristen to her. She couldn't keep her eyes off of her sitting in the row directly in front of where she was pacing during her lecture.

Occasionally, Kristen would look up and stare directly into her brown eyes, seeing a glint in her eyes that made Kristen wonder what she was thinking. She knew already that her body was firm and trim from when she had been held tight against her during her fall earlier. Her heart picked up speed as she remembered the way her arms wrapped around her and the smell of her body as she was pulled back against her. This was someone she would love to know more about.

The shimmering figure moved around behind Kristen as she continued her lecture. Reaching out she pulled the pins from her hair, letting the ponytail drop back down long her neck. Wanting to see more, she reached out with her slender fingers and slid her razor sharp nails under the rubber banding, slicing it, and allowing the chestnut hair to tumble free.

Kristen shook her head as she felt her hair coming loose from its ponytail. Her hair fanned out, dropping below her shoulders. Teddi looked up and noted how much softer this made Dr. Graham's facial features look. In fact, a fine beauty began to show as the stern look began to fade replaced by a disheveled look, which gave Kristen the appearance of someone who had just been well loved. Teddi's heart raced as she realized she desired this woman, this stranger.

The ghostly figure climbed back up to the rafters, calling to her partner as she did so.

"Do you concede the bet to me or do I need to play it out more? They desire each other now. What more do you want to see? I met the terms so declare me the winner," gloated figure two as she wrapped an arm around her partner's shoulders.

"Give me ten more minutes. I want to be sure this is not just a fleeting look or two before I concede that you win," stated the first shadowy figure.

"Sure babe, you take all the time in this world that you need," she whispered gleefully.

The lecture concluded well within the allotted time. The students moved down to the stage to meet with Kristen and ask her more specific questions. Teddi hung back, waiting for the crowd to clear. As the hall began to empty, she moved forward to speak with Dr. Graham.

Teddi reached out her hand and introduced herself. "Hello, Dr. Graham, my name is Teddi Lachlan. I certainly enjoyed your lecture this evening. Thank you for taking time to share your work with us."

Kristen lifted her hand and took Teddi's in her grasp. Again, there was the burning surge of electricity that passed between their hands as she said in return, "Please, call me Kristen. It was my pleasure to be here. I love this topic and find great pleasure in talking about it."

Teddi looked down at their clasped hands, and then back up into Kristen's eyes saying, "Would you like to go have a cup of coffee with me?"

Kristen, wanting to see what this attraction was between them, stated, "I would love to."

Both shadows drifted toward the window and out into the beckoning night. As they left the hall, the first shadow turned to her partner saying in a contrite manner, "Alright, I concede, you won the bet. You had better enjoy it since I doubt a fluke like this ever happens again."

"Oh, I wouldn't be to sure about that," she replied. "In fact, I bet you that these two fall in love with each other."

"Hell no, you are not going to talk me into betting with you again," could be heard as the ghostly figures drifted off into the night.

The End

Read the sequel: Ghostly Night