Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
I was frustrated beyond belief. Why would this man not help me find who was trying to kill me but was more than willing to help me find love. The stupid fool. Both him and myself. I can’t believe I let him touch me at all. If he wasn’t so damn attractive I would have smacked that smirk off his face by now.
A loud bang threw my attention from the man beside me to the front door beyond.
“I hate this damned house!” Dorian screeched.
I hurried to her, throwing the library doors open excitedly. Catching sight of her cloak stuck to the door handle. Stiffing a laugh, I helped her get free. Her curses made the giggle harder and harder to contain. Her eyes were a storm of emotions but only one rang clear, sobering me instantly. Fear. Pure fear ran rampant through my best friend. Without hesitation, I wove my arms around her. Drawing her close. She froze immediately. Just as she did when anyone touched her. She softened slowly before crumbling into my embrace, dropping the hefty suitcase from her grip
“I want to go home, Vessie, I do not want to stay here,” She whispered, her plea piercing my heart.
“I know. You can soon. But I need you here with me for a while. Until all of this is sorted.” I pulled her tighter. Feeling the rise and fall of her chest against mine. Her breath came in short as if pained by trying to hold back her emotion.
I pulled away after a long while when she had finally calmed down.
“You’ll be in the room beside mine.”
“No.” Her voice was firmer than I had ever heard it.
I quirked a brow at her protest. Rolling my lips back to keep my words at bay.
“I need to be in your room. It isn’t safe to be apart,” She said. Her voice was determined. Demanding.
She had seen something. Something shifted in her, that much was obvious. What had she seen?
“Okay. Yeah, of course.” I shook my head, hoping to dislodge some of the fear taking root already that she had planted.
Dorian brushed past me, her suitcases back in hand. Leaving me with the remaining few bags to carry up to my room.
“Your bed or should I call for a spare?” She shouted from up the stairs.
“Whatever you please.” I called back.
“You cuddle up to me too much. Call for a spare.” Her voice drifted as she made her way to my room.
I puffed out a breath of amusement. This was going to be a long few weeks.
After Arthur and Maaier dragged the spare bed into the room, I sat on my bed and watched as Dorian made herself at home. The room was large enough to fit the two beds but that was about all. We had shifted mine beneath the window as Dorian had announced she hated the night. I had asked her since when, but she just shut down. Instead turning into the suitcases she piled on her bed. I tucked away my interrogation for later.
“You’re only here for two months, Dorian. Until your mother goes to France and brings you along with her.”
Dorian huffed but remained silent. Clearly unnerved by the thought of being here for two months let alone a day. Her eyes constantly flickering over every inch of the room. Making sure no ghosts or ghouls lined the corners. My own eyes rolled back in my head. I left her in peace.
How could a girl gifted by the paranormal be so afraid of the dark? I had long thought she was just scared of her own shadows but now my curiosity was getting the best of me. Would it be possible for her to see the ghosts too? Would she see my mother? Would she see any of the other Florians passed? Maybe I could test my theory.
I walked past each of the portraits in the halls. Looking at each Florian. Once a dynasty of great thinkers, now tainted with only murder and darkness. If only they could see what had become of their legacy. Grandmother still operated the trade of my grandfather's law firm under a false male name and it was sure to be passed down to me to handle. A gift I was willing to take on if needed from her. Even though I really didn't want to operate a law firm. If only I could survive that long. I had done well to push the attack to the back of my mind and not let it get to me. Only now, I wished I had embraced it ever so slightly, learnt more about the attacker rather than moving on. My body sagged.
There was one room in the house that had always been off limits. A room I had never dared enter. A single space filled with the grief and longing of lives lost too soon. I wandered back down the hall. To the room at the end just past Grandmother’s. Her soft snores drifted from the open room. I tiptoed past the door, careful not to wake her. I shut her door softly before facing the lost room.
The paint work had chipped from the wood leaving an abandoned look to the room. The bronze doorknob tarnished with lack of use. So it was true. No one was allowed to touch the room. With a quick glance over my shoulder, I turned the knob. The door creaked like a squealing cat as it pushed open. My body froze. Straining my hearing for Grandmother’s footsteps. Only to find her huff in her sleep and nothing more.
I slivered in between the cracks. Leaving the door only slightly open so I could get out when needed.
Light wisped its way through the room. The large back window reaching the ceiling lined with grime and mould. The smell of dust and mildew reeking in the air. Dust covered every surface, lining it like a thick blanket of snow. A room truly untouched in years.
My hands shook as I lifted my skirts. There was a single bed. Still made perfectly from the moment she left. Her night clothes folded neatly on the end of the bed like they always were. Memories of rushing in here in the morning to wake up my parents flooded through me. My eyes prickled with tears. My nose twitched with the onslaught. My heart clenched. God, I missed them. I wanted nothing more than to hold them both.
I walked to Mother’s side of the bed. Looking down at her pillow. Golden vines embroidered into the white. Grandmother said the two sisters although only a year apart never dared to sleep in separate beds. They shared the same large bed until they were sixteen. When Magdelena passed, Mother was beside herself. She chose instead to sleep on the couch in the corner of the room. A couch where she still slept when nights were hard. Often curled up with me in her arms, sleepily reading a book on art. Her lips peppering my hair with adoring kisses. The couch still sat bare. Her art books litter the floor beside it. The room as untouched as the day she left the room to reside with my father in a room across the hall.
Thunder cracked outside the window. Causing a creak to run through the room. I shook the thought away. She was gone. She wasn’t here.
The air began to turn cold. A frigid sensation swirling over my skin. I exhaled slowly. My breath began to fog out in front of me.
A breeze skittered across the floor. Dust swirling in its wake. I watched in horror as the breeze circled the bed. Leaving a trail of disturbance in its wake. The breeze suddenly stopped. Just at the foot of the bed.
My heart leapt into my throat. Now dry with the pent up scream building there. My tears fell from my eyes. I clenched them closed. Willing all my strength to aid me.
I moved forward slowly. Not wanting to anger anything. I made it to the end of the bed. Nothing. Not a single mark remained. The dust was back to its usual place as if I and the breeze were never here. My brow furrowed. Did I imagine it? Surely I wouldn't have. I lowered myself to the ground. Squatting over the place the breeze stopped. I ran my fingers through the dust. Although soft. It did not move. I tried again. Harder this time only to achieve the same result. As if I were never here.
“What on earth?” I muttered before slapping the ground trying to elicit anything from the cold hard floor. Nothing. Terror ran through me. Was I a ghost too?
I stood slowly. Keeping my gaze on the strange dust. How curious. How could the dust not be disturbed by me? I was here. The spirits weren’t.
A tiny glimpse of shadow caught my eye. I looked at the small mirror on the wall. My heart thudded. The looking glass perched just between a portrait of Magdelena on the left and Mother on the right. I stepped toward it, squinting to look harder. The shadow swayed once more. No bigger than a moth before disappearing. Another step forward. No more movement. I exhaled slowly, letting the scream dissolve in my throat. This was silly. Nothing was here.
I turned back to the bed. Only something seemed different. At the base stood a single set of footprints. Set and facing me. I stepped back. A hand flying to my throat. The footsteps mirrored. I stepped again. The footsteps followed. The sound like a clunk of machinery followed. I opened my mouth to scream. No sound came. The footsteps hurried forward. I blinked once. Bracing for the impact as my back met the wall. Freezing in terror. Nowhere left to go.
My breath fogged around me. I clenched my eyes closed. No more sounds came. I waited on baited breath. Timidly, I tore my eyes open to a blank room. The only sound was my blood rushing in my ears before a screech sounded. A woman with flaming light hair reached for me. Her skin melted off her skull. The stench of decay and burnt flesh burying itself in my nose. The woman's flame covered hands reached for me. I dashed for the door. A scream tearing through my throat.
The door slammed shut. My hands twisted against the knob. It wouldn't budge.
“Please!” I begged over and over again. My fists wrapping against the door. Desperate to get out. The woman twisted like a snake, her limbs moving like a spider. She stalked toward me. A wicked smile covering her burnt face.
“Help me!'' I howled. Cowering against the door between the archway and the wall. Tears falling through my cheeks onto my gown. Pure and utter terror turning my blood cold. A woman's voice called through the room. Gentle but firm. The burnt woman stopped her advance. I couldn't make out what the other woman was saying. The burnt woman hissed before turning to me. The flames receded slightly. The burns on her face slowly healed. Like a spider weaving its web. Milky skin sewing itself back together.
“Death will come for you, child,” The now whole woman said as she tilted her head. Her dead eyes never left mine.
“No.” I pleaded. My whole body trembled.
“Run, Vespera.” The woman beyond called. I didn't wait to register the voice. The door swung open behind me and I took my chance. Sprinting through the opening and tumbling onto the floor. The door slammed shut. Shaking the entire manor. Tendrils of dust fell from the ceiling with the impact.
“What on God's green earth is going on over there!” Grandmother shouted as she drew near. I paid her no mind, rather sobbing into the floor. The entirety of my body still trembled with terror at the image of my aunt sewing herself together. The flames around her head dancing like snakes. I thought she was crushed to death out of the grounds. What was she doing trapped here? I convulsed on the floor with another sob. My body useless as emotions stormed through me.
“Oh my sweet winter child.” Grandmother soothed as she dropped down before me. I curled into her embrace. Lifting myself into her arms.
“I’m sorry.” I managed through sobs.
“I miss her too dear.” She soothed. Her hand ran over my hair.
She didn't know. Grandmother had no clue who or what lurked beyond the room. I pulled back. Looking into her misty grey eyes.
“I thought it would be too hard on the both of us to clean it out.” She admitted softly.
I said nothing, gasping for breath. I looked over her arm covering my neck. My eyes met Maaier who stood just out of everyone’s sight on the stairs. Victor’s arm stretched out before Dorian as if silently holding both himself and her back.