Speaker 1: Calorogu Shark Media.
Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to Romance Weekly and Halloween Possession. This
is episode two Losing my Frequency.
Speaker 1: By the second week of October, I'd started timing my
day around when i'd see him. Pathetic, right, a grown
woman acting like a teenager. But that's what Ethan Blackwood
had reduced me to, someone who checked her reflection in
every window, who reapplied lip gloss for research meetings, who
felt her pulse spike at the sound of his text notification.
I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you about
that first night at the Witch Museum when I learned
exactly how dangerous touching him could be. Lily was already
there when I pulled up, standing under a street light
like she was auditioning for a horror movie. My baby's sister,
though at twenty eight she wasn't a baby anymore. Looked exhausted,
Her usually perfect blonde hair was frizzed with static, and
she kept pulling her sleeves down over her hands, don't
she said when I went to hug her, I'll shock you.
I've been shocking everyone. That's when Ethan appeared from the shadows,
Because of course he did and my body's reaction was
immediate and embarrassing. My nipples tightened, my breath caught, and
I felt that pull low in my belly that I'd
been trying to ignore for three days. You must be Lily,
he said, keeping his distance. Smart man, I'm Ethan. Your
sister's been helping me with the festival tours. Helping him?
Is that what we were calling it? Three days of
circling each other in old Salem houses, the air between
us so charged that tourists had started commenting on the
authentic atmospheric effects. Lily looked between us, and I saw
her notice everything, my flushed cheeks, the way I couldn't
quite meet her eyes. How Ethan and I stood exactly
far enough apart to avoid accidental touching. Oh my god,
she said, Mara has a crush. I do not. You're
literally glowing. She turned to Ethan with the wicked smile
that had gotten her in trouble since middle school. She
hasn't mentioned you at all, which means she's completely obsessed Lily.
It's the electromagnetic field, Ethan said, calmly, But I caught
the way his eyes darkened when he looked at me.
We both have it. It creates a visible charge when
we're near each other. My sister's smile faded. You have
it too, the static thing, among other things. He pulled
out his phone. There's someone you should meet. Marcus handles
the technical equipment for the festival. He's been monitoring electromagnetic
anomalies in Salem for years. Is he cute? Lily asked,
and for a moment she was just my boy, crazy
little sister again, not someone being hunted by something that
fed on women like us. Ethan's mouth quirked. He's intense.
Twenty minutes later, we were in the basement of the
Peabody Essex Museum, surrounded by what looked like ghost hunting
equipment from a sci fi channel show. Marcus turned out
to be exactly Lily's type, tall, lean, with sleeves of
tattoos and the kind of cheekbones that made her forget
about Derek entirely. Holy shit, he said. When we walked in.
Staring at the laptop screen, the readings just spiked. He
looked up, his green eyes fixing on Lily. You're putting
out more electromagnetic energy than a power substation. Charming, Lily said,
but she was already moving closer to him. Does that
line usually work? I stopped listening to their flirting because
Ethan had moved behind me, not touching, but close enough
that I could feel the heat from his body, every
nerve ending oriented toward him. Show her, Marcus said, without
looking up from Lily. Show her what happens when you
two make contact. That's not a good I need to understand,
I interrupted. My investigative instincts were the only thing keeping
me grounded. If this is connected to the disappearances, I
need to know how it works. Ethan came around to
face me in the basement's fluorescent lights. He looked younger,
more vulnerable. It's intense. I can handle intense, he laughed,
soft and dark. You think you can? Everyone does. Rebecca
thought she could. You were involved with Rebecca torres No.
His hand hovered near mine, but she felt the pull
just like you do. She thought. It meant something, doesn't it.
It means we're electromagnetically compatible. It means our abilities resonate
on the same frequent and see. It doesn't mean I
grabbed his hand. The world exploded? How do I describe it?
Have you ever been struck by lightning? While having an
orgasm during a religious experience. No, well, neither had I.
The moment our skin touched, I could feel everything, not
just my own response, the way my body lit up
like a switchboard, every nerve singing, but his too. I
could feel his desire like a physical weight, could taste
his want in the back of my throat. I knew
exactly what he wanted to do to me, could feel
his struggle for control like it was my own. But
underneath that was something else, Memories that weren't mine. Rebecca
Torres in this same basement, reaching for him, Emma Martinez
before her, Sarah Kim, all of them drawn like moths
to flame, all of them consumed. I tried to pull back,
but our hands were locked together, the connections cycling between
us in waves. Each wave brought more his loneliness, his guilt,
The way he'd forced himself not to think about me
at night, the dreams he'd had anyway, God, the dreams
I saw myself through his eyes, saw what he wanted,
felt my own body respond to fantasies I was experiencing
second hand. Stop. I gasped, or maybe he did. Our
boundaries were dissolving. Marcus grabbed something, a grounding rod, and
forced it between us. We flew apart, both breathing hard.
I stumbled back against the wall, my whole body shaking.
Thirty seconds, Marcus said, clinical and fascinated. You maintained connection
for thirty seconds. That's unprecedented, Mara, Ethan's voice was wrecked.
I'm sorry. I should have warned you better. You felt them,
I said, the other women through me. You felt them.
He nodded, and I saw the weight he carried, the guilt.
They're not gone, not exactly. They're scattered. Their electromagnetic signatures
got pulled apart and dispersed. I can feel pieces of
them in October when the veil, when the veil is thin,
I finished your grandmother's expression. Lily was staring at us.
That's what's going to happen to us. We're going to
get dispersed. No, Marcus spoke up, his hand, finding Lily's shoulder.
She didn't shock him. I noticed. Interesting, that's why we're here.
The festival isn't just a tourist trap. It's a grid
electromagnetic protection surrounding Salem during October. But it's not perfect.
Ethan added. Things get through and women with your level
of ability, You're like beacons. I could still feel him
on my skin. In my skin, the memory of his
desires mixed with mine until I couldn't separate them. My
underwear was soaked through, and I hated that everyone probably
knew it. The electromagnetic charge affected everything, arousal, fear, adrenaline,
all of it amplified and shared. I need air, I said.
I made it to the alley before Ethan caught up.
He was careful not to touch me, but he didn't
need to now that we'd connected. Once I could feel
him from three feet away, it gets easier, he said, quietly,
the connection. You learn to control it, do you. I
turned to face him, and the look in his eyes
made my knees weak, because from where I'm standing, your
control is hanging by a thread. You have no idea,
he said, roughly, what I'm controlling right now. The air
between us crackled, literally, sparks of static electricity danced in
the space separating our bodies. I can feel what you want,
I whispered, Is that real or is it just the
electromagnetic thing both. He stepped closer, still not touching. The
ability amplifies what's already there. It doesn't create something from nothing.
So you wanted me before the moment you walked into
that Victorian house, trying to look professional while your whole
body sang with sensitivity. His voice dropped low. You glowed, Mara,
You literally glowed with it. And I knew I was
in trouble. Rebecca, wasn't you. He was close enough now
that I could see the gold flex in his dark eyes,
could smell that cedar and lightning scent. I tried to help, Rebecca.
I failed. But what I feel for you, that's not guilt,
that's not obligation. What is it? Instead of answering, he
raised his hand between us, palm out an invitation. I
knew I shouldn't. I knew it was dangerous, but my
hand was already moving, mirroring his position, our palms an
inch apart. The air between our hands shimmered without touching.
I could feel him, the texture of his skin, the
lines of his palm, his pulse racing to match mine.
It was intimate, beyond description. He was touching me everywhere
at once. This is what you do to me, he said,
and through our connection I felt it. The constant effort
it took not to reach for me, the way he'd
been tracking my movements through the electromagnetic grid without meaning to,
how he'd stood outside my hotel last night, making sure
nothing supernatural came near. I felt his hunger, and it
wasn't just physical. It was the loneliness of being the
only one of his kind in Salem, of spending every
October trying to save women who thought he was crazy.
Until me ethan I breathed and his control cracked. Our
palms touched, the alley dissolved. We were in his apartment.
I was seeing through his memory, and I was underneath
him on his bed. No, that hadn't happened yet. This
was what he wanted, what he was inagining right now.
As our hands pressed together in the alley, I could
feel both versions of my body, the one standing in
the alley and the phantom one in his fantasy, responding
to his imagined touch, his mouth on my throat, his
hands sliding under my sweater, the weight of him pressing
me into the mattress. I experienced it all from both perspectives.
What he wanted to do and how he imagined I
would feel. It was overwhelming, invasive, the most erotic thing
I'd ever experienced. Stop, I gasped, but I was pressing closer,
my other hand reaching for his chest. He caught my
wrist before I could make contact. Don't if you touch
me with both hands, I won't be able to to
what to stop. We stood there, one palm pressed to his,
my wrist caught in his other hand, both of us
shaking with want and restraint. This is insane, I said, Yes,
I don't do this. I don't lose control like this.
I know I have a story to investigate. Women are missing. Yes,
I can't afford to get pulled into whatever this is.
His thumb stroked the inside of my wrist, and even
that small touch sent shock waves through me. I know
that too, so let go you first. But I couldn't.
My palm felt welded to his, the connections cycling between
us like a circuit. Through it, I felt something shift,
a presence, ancient and hungry, turning its attention towards Salem,
toward us. We both gasped and pulled apart at the
same moment. Did you feel that, I asked, It knows
you're here. His face was grim, both of you. That's
why Lily was followed from Boston. It's been waiting for
someone with your level of ability. What does it want
to feed to add your electromagnetic signature to its collection,
he paused, And it uses desire as bait. The stronger
the connection between people like us, the easier we are
to find I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly cold.
So this thing between us makes you a target, makes
you shine like a beacon. He stepped back, and the
loss of proximity was physically painful. I should stay away
from you, should you, Yes? But neither of us move.
We stood in that alley, three feet apart, while the
air between us literally sparked with possibility and danger. My
phone buzzed, Lily, where are you? Marcus is showing me
the electromagnetic map of Salem, and I'm freaking out. There's
something moving toward us. We need to get back, I said, Mara.
The way he said my name made me stop. What
you saw, what you felt when we touched, That's only
a fraction of what I'm holding back. Is that supposed
to scare me? Yes, it should have. Instead, it made
me want to press every inch of my body against his,
and damn the consequences. We went back inside to find
Lily and Marcus huddled over his equipment. On the screen
was a map of Salem covered in pulsing dots of light.
We were the brightest spots of intense white in a
sea of dim amber. Look at this, Marcus said, pointing
to a dark shape moving through the grid. It started
moving the moment you two connected outside, The shadow on
the screen circled our location like a shark. It's hunting,
Ethan said, testing our defenses. What happens on Halloween, I asked,
though I already knew the answer. The grid goes down
for three hours midnight to three am, Salem tradition, letting
the spirits walk free on all Hallow's Eve. Lily grabbed
my hand, and for once the static shock between us
was comforting instead of painful. We should leave, get out
of Salem. Running makes it worse, Marcus said gently. The
thing feeds on isolation, women alone, separated from others like them.
That's why it takes them one at a time, always
in October, always when they're vulnerable. So what do we do,
I asked? Ethan and Marcus exchanged a look. You stay
close to us, Ethan said. The connection might be dangerous,
but it also makes you stronger, harder to separate and disperse,
and we have two weeks to figure out how to
kill it. Marcus added two weeks. Two weeks of this
electromagnetic pull getting stronger every day, two weeks of feeling
Ethan's presence like a second heartbeat, two weeks of wanting
what I couldn't have without becoming a target. Lily squeezed
my hand. At least the guy's hot, she whispered. I
looked at Ethan, who was studying the screen, but whose
awareness of me hummed through the air like a plucked string.
Two weeks might as well have been two years or
two minutes. Time moves differently when you're being hunted, when
every touch could be your last, when desire and danger
become the same thing. Okay, I said, we do this together.
Ethan's eyes met mine across the room, and the promise
in them made my whole body flush with heat. Together.
The word had never sounded so dangerous or so inevitable.