Page 40 of The Haunting
“You called me,” I replied, and Drake sat up. I admired his bare chest, but it was soon covered as he pulled his Henley on.
“Is shit happening?” Drake demanded as he rolled to the edge of the mattress and yanked his boots on.
Daniel grumbled in his sleep but sat up too. Gradually, everyone was waking up.
“I didn’t hear anyone call your name,” Chance stated, looking at me.
“Mine was called,” Sabine disagreed, and those who’d awakened with me said they’d heard the same.
“The creature was trying to tempt one of you out,” Daniel surmised, and nods met his statement.
“Should we be concerned?” I inquired.
“Not sure,” Chance replied. We were all dressing or getting up. Loud screeches came from outside the sitting room door, and we froze as a group.
“They sound human, like someone’s in trouble,” Clio worried as she bit her nails.
“Those are inhuman,” Vladimir stated so firmly that I didn’t doubt him.
“Chance,” Drake said, pointing to the door Chance was near.
Chance hissed and shifted as I gaped at the frozen door. The ice began spreading before our eyes, and I leapt to my feet with fear lodged in my throat. Daniel raced forward, holding a log that was on fire. He waved it, and the ice retreated.
“Keep the flames stoked,” Daniel said to Lucian, who nodded and moved towards the fireplace. As Lucian busied himself there, the rest of us looked around.
“Move back from the walls,” James choked out as blood began dripping down them. Kate squealed and leapt across the mattress to curl into James’s lap.
I backed toward Drake as a chill sank into my bones. “Drake,” I whispered, scared.
Drake drew me into his embrace as we all watched for the next thing to happen. The blood slowly trickled down the walls and began seeping into the floorboards.
“Crap!” Lucian exclaimed, and we all spun to face him. Over the shutters, a sickly green goo appeared.
“What the heck is that?” Maggie cried.
“Ectoplasm,” Vladimir replied.
“What ghosts produce?” I inquired.
Vladimir nodded.
“So, we’re facing a ghost? A poltergeist?”
“No. This being is way beyond that. I’ve been thinking; this is more demonic. And I think it’s after a soul so that it can stay here,” Vladimir explained.
“You’ve just realised this?” Drake asked incredulously.
“I’m not a damn expert!” Vladimir snapped in return. “But from the little I know, this situation points to a demon. And it wants a soul. The purer, the better.”
As one, the group turned to look at me, Clio, Maggie, Kate, Sabine, and Calamity.
“Yeah, I’d call them pure souls,” James drawled.
“Shut the fuck up!” Calamity cursed him.
“I’m not pure,” Nanci declared and swapped a glance with Inglorious. There was a story there I wanted, but not now.
“I said the purer the better, but anyone’s soul would do in a pinch, I guess,” Valdimir replied, and Nanci subsided.
