I spent the last hours of the day translating the curse, and summarised it for Theresa when I was done while she sat on the edge of the bed and I sat on the edge of the chair before her.

'Basically, Lord Blackfire meant to take your lifetime and that of the other servants to extend his own, thereby becoming virtually immortal. He'd just have to steal from other people again when he'd run out of years.'

She nodded in understanding.

'The agreement he had with the dark ones linked his success to pouring his life into the diary, thereby draining his soul slowly to be claimed later by the demon he contracted with.'

She nodded again.

'He tried to break his bond to the diary by substituting his own soul for yours but he made a mistake during the incantation, gaining your lifetimes only partially and erasing your presences only in part as well. He did not break the bond and did not keep his full life, but he still gains wealth and sort of lives as long as he finds victims to feed the diary.'

She shuddered.

'Now, the only way to lift this curse is to destroy the diary, and for that we need a ghostly dagger, as it's called in the text.'

She tilted her head and I nodded. 'I don't know yet what's meant by that but I'll look for references.' I leaned forward and took her hands in mine. 'I'll save you. I swear upon my life.'

She shook a little and tears glistened as they ran down her cheeks. I went down on my knees. She spread her legs and pulled me closer in a tight hug which I returned, leaning my head against her chest. Her heartbeat resonated against my ear and I had never before felt the urge to protect something, someone, so much.

'I'll do what it takes to give you the peace you deserve.' I whispered, caressing her back.

She stroked the back of my head slowly, then cupped my cheeks to hold my head up and placed her lips softly against mine.

Any restraints from logical reasoning were gone. It didn't matter that she was a ghost. I wanted her as close as possible.

I returned the kiss, pressing gently more against her cool lips, so soft and round. My hand moved up along the strings tightening her uniform at the back, between her shoulder blades and into the back of her neck where I touched her hair.

She moved back as I moved up on the bed, our kiss unbroken and increasing in intensity. She straddled me as I sat down on my knees, our lips parting and our tongues reaching out for each other in natural instinct.

Her hands ran along my back, pulling me tight. Second thoughts about her feelings for me were unnecessary. Our tongues embraced one another to pull us into a deeper kiss and we let them take the lead.

Our fingers crawled along our bodies, clawing in hunger for the emotion to fill an emptiness inside us. I wanted, no, needed to satisfy the most important moment in a person's life to let her go without regret. She couldn't speak, but she didn't need to to express her desires.

Her hands moved to my front and unbuttoned my vest and blouse, this time with more urgency than before. I let go of her without breaking our hungry kiss and she slid my clothing down my shoulders and arms, casting them beside the bed. My trousers and undergarments followed quickly, unbuttoned in a flash by her nimble fingers.

Those fingers found me below and embraced me, gently yet urgently leading me to her heavenly place between her thighs. The touch of her cool and moist ghostly flesh did not reign in my arousal like cold water would. It made it even stronger.

With her guidance I slid carefully inside her, her cool depths engulfing me tightly while her body tensed in my embrace, shivering in ecstasy. I could not see her apart from the way her uniform stretched and folded, or hear her, but the way she moved and touched was all the more clear. I could feel her breath on our kiss even if it wasn't there. She took me in completely, pressing herself against me while gripping me tight below and in her arms.

I gave her and myself a moment to fully experience this special time, then moved gently back and forth inside her.

I pushed and she gasped, biting slightly on my tongue or lip, releasing along with her breath when I pulled back. I groaned deep holding back the tension inside me, she shivered all over. I pressed against her depths, she squeezed tighter around me. I stroked her thigh, she pressed her cool skin against my hand. I slid my thumb under the bust of her uniform, she pushed her chest up.

The tension below reached explosive levels. I groaned harder, tensed every muscle in my body and she pressed her mouth harder against me, clawing at my back to pull me even deeper inside her. I gave in. The sudden release of pressure forced a deep and long groan out of my throat, she trembled hard and nearly pulled the skin from my back, then let go while her chest heaved hard against me.

As if possessed, my desire flared up higher. So did hers. I bent forward, pulling down the fabric still covering one breast and seeking out that one magical hardened feature with my lips and tongue to explore it fully by touch. She wrapped her arms around my head and pressed her firm softness against me. My hands moved down along her sides and gripped her other firm curves of her body through the soft layers of her skirt.

Her hips pressed down and ground against me, squeezing me at every push. She could cause me to explode from the blood pressure she enticed. I moved my mouth to her other breast, caressing her chest in between with my lips, and treated her again with the pleasure I could provide with my tongue and lips. She moved back one arm from my head and pulled on the knot of the uniform's string at her back, loosening the tight hold of her uniform to her body. I pulled back long enough to slip my hands underneath her skirt and pull it up over her head. She took my head between her arms again and ground herself against me again while I returned to encircle and etch every curve of her chest in my memory with my lips.

My hands found their way along her back and behind on their own. I'd never see it, but I learned every slight curve of her spine, the tiniest of bumps from moles, the curvature of her shoulder blades, the valley of her behind, and even the shape of that shameful part hidden in it and which she rubbed against my fingers as I massaged it.

I pulled back from her chest and our mouths found each other without hesitation. My body burned hot against her fresh skin and we could have steamed up the whole manor. Her full lips sucked the life out of me if she'd been a vampire. And I'd let her gladly. Her cool and light body pressed tight against mine would yank me back to life from the deepest places of hell any time.

She pulled back when I needed to breath again, slipped off of me, turned around on her knees, and slid herself back over me, pressing her firm roundness against my lower abdomen. I pulled her back tight against my chest and let my hands find their way along the curves of her front.

She pressed herself down in slow rhythm with me pushing my hips up and myself deep inside her. My lips covered the back of her neck with kisses and when I bit gently into the side she trembled with pleasure. I could feel goosebumps forming on her skin with my lips.

She kept up her tight grip on me, milking me for more and the urgent itch building up in me would soon reach its breaking point. I moved one hand to her chest, massaging her sensitive tips while the other slid down her abdomen and between her thighs. Her hips pressed hard back and forth when I massaged her down below, my fingers turning slick instantly from how wet she was.

My mind was filled with the desire to push myself into her depths and satisfy my primordial urge. I groaned in her neck, biting her as I rubbed her wet mound hard between her thighs. She clawed her fingers into the front of my thighs, pulling back her head. I'd take her with me over the edge.

Her body pressed harder with my increased thrust in her. She could tear back my skin with her tight hold on me but I still would not stop until we'd find our bliss. She lost her grip for a split second, then forced it tighter as her whole body tensed and trembled. That broke my limit and with a final forceful thrust into her innermost depths I returned to the harsh nature of times long past, groaning my satisfaction in carnal desires.

Our chests heaved hard with our heavy breath while her pulsing and my throbbing below played out their rhythms together. I kissed her neck softly, barely moving my fingers on her breast and between her thighs. She turned her head and I nibbled on her ear and jaw.