Page 83 of For Love & Torture
Chapter 37
Grant
Holding Bell in the complete darkness, one worried thought filters into my head.
Bart Mason…
Could he have cut off our power from outside? Could he have made some plan to ruin the Halloween Ball? Or does he know we’re getting married soon and wants to ruin that?
“We need to get some clothes on, Bell.” I pull the shower curtain back and step out of the tub before helping her to do the same.
“I’m so cold, Grant. How did it get so cold so fast?” the words barely leave her mouth when we both realize exactly why that is.
“Something’s here.” Holding her hand, I pull her along with me. Feeling my way with my free hand, I make it out of the bathroom and to the side of the bed, moving along it and up to the nightstand where my cell is.
Light streams out of it as I turn on the flashlight app and point it at the closet where our clothes are. The door is standing wide open, and we should be seeing her big white dress and my black suit inside, but instead we’re staring at an empty closet.
“Did you move our clothes, Grant?” Her teeth chatter as she lets my hand go to wrap her arms around herself.
I grab the blanket off the bed and wrap it around her then take the sheet and wrap it around me. “No.” I put my arm around her, holding her close, and walk toward the closet.
Looking inside, I find it’s completely empty. The shoes are gone too. We left the clothes we took off earlier on a chair in the room and I point the light at that and find they’re still draped where we left them.
“Oh, good. We can put those back on,” Isabel says with relief. “I’m sure we’ll find the other clothes in the living room or something. We’ll look everywhere. There’s no way anything could’ve taken them out of this room. Right?”
I don’t know about anything right now, but I don’t want my worry to become hers. “I’m sure you’re right. Whatever has gotten in probably came through the portal in your office. There’s no way a ghost could move those clothes through rooms full of people without being noticed.”
Hurrying to get dressed in the jeans and t-shirts we wore to help set the club up for the ball, we slip on our running shoes last, and I wrap my arm around Bell again. Heading into the living room, I see I was right about a ghost not being able to take our clothes much further than the small apartment. But it seems it’s made short work of them anyway.
Bell’s hands go to cover her mouth. “They’re ruined!” she gasps.
Nothing but tattered shreds remain of our wedding clothes. Her gown is torn into pieces and the suit I was going to wear looks like Edward Scissorhands has gotten a hold of it. “This has to be the work of that dark spirit that rules Bart Mason. There’s no doubt in my mind.” I pick up a piece of her dress and sniff it, finding it smells like rotten eggs.
Bell puts her fingers up to her face, holding her nose. “Sulphur. Yuk.”
The phone in my hand rings and I see it’s Tad. “Hey, man.”
“We’ve lost power,” he informs me. “I’m sure you’re aware of that. We sent security outside to see what’s happened and I called the electric company. They said there’s no outage in this area. We have the emergency generators, but our men can’t seem to get them started.”
“And our members and guests?” I ask, as I have no idea what kind of chaos may be occurring inside the main club.
“They’re spooked. It’s pitch black inside the club. But quite a few people have their cellphones out and are using them as flashlights.” He’s quiet for a minute, and we can hear something in the background. Someone’s screaming. “I should go see what that’s about. And you two should get to your offices if possible. With the power out, the doors can be opened by anyone, and we can’t have someone taking one of our computers and gaining all the confidential information we have saved on them.”
“We’ll get there,” I tell him then end the call.
Bell’s trembling as she clings to me. “Grant, I have a terrible feeling about this.”
“I’ve got you, baby. Trust me, nothing will get to you. I’ll make sure of that.” Heading to the door, we get out into the hallway and head toward the main room, which we’ll have to go through to get to the offices.
We have to go through the corridor where the private rooms are. The normal sounds aren’t there. Only hushed voices that sound worried. One door opens, and my flashlight catches a man, clad only in black pants, with a woman in a leather corset. “What happened?” he asks as he shields his eyes with his hand.
“The power went out. Nothing to worry about,” I say, trying to ease his mind. “You know, I think it would be a good idea for everyone to clear out of these private rooms. Head to the main room, okay?”
With a nod, the couple walks in front of us. Isabel adds, “We should knock on the doors and make sure everyone is out.”
The other couple helps us round up the people in the rooms and our group heads into the main room. When we come out the door, we find it eerily quiet. Cell phones are lighting up certain areas, and others remain cloaked in darkness.
“We’re working on getting the generators going, guys. Things should be back to normal shortly.” I take Bell and head to the other side of the room to the door that leads to the area with our offices.
