Chapter Five.
Rosie
“I need the bathroom,” I muttered to Clio, who nodded.
“I saw a downstairs cloakroom earlier,” she replied.
I sighed, relieved. “Thank God, I didn’t want to go back to those bedrooms alone.”
“Come on, I’ll show you. Chance opened the door to it by accident,” Clio said, getting to her feet. She’d barely moved before Chance spun to face us.
“Where are you going?”
“The bathroom,” Clio replied, rolling her eyes. “Planning to watch us pee?”
“If I have to,” Chance snapped, and I made an ‘ew’ noise.
“Uncle Chance! You’re not watching me.”
“Hell, no!” Chance retorted as his cheeks reddened. Calamity laughed, and Chance sent him a dark glare.
“Dude, I’ll go with them, I need to use the ladies too,” Nanci said, and Inglorious now stood up. “Forget it, buster, I’m armed, and I bet Rosie is too.” “Yes, I am. Stay there. Calamity, we’ll all be fine,” I ordered Calamity, who looked torn.
Calamity sat back, unwilling to argue with me.
“Pussy whipped,” Chance drawled and blanched when Clio turned a beady eye on him.
“Problem?” she asked.
“None, babe,” Chance said, subsiding.
“Good. The three of us will be okay,” Nanci retorted with a sneer.
Without another word and ignoring the amused looks of those around us, we left the room and headed towards where Chance had discovered the bathroom.
We waited in pairs as each of us used the toilet.
I went first, and then Clio and Nanci. Slightly scared, I watched the small hallway we were in, feeling like someone was watching us.
I was surprised at how many hallways came off the main entrance.
This place must be huge, even bigger than Reading Hall, which Phoe owned.
As I stared, my mouth slowly began to drop open. In the dark recesses of an alcove, a shadow formed.
At first, I thought it was a trick of the light, but then I spotted a faint glow. Alarmed, I grabbed Clio, and she jumped as I pointed with a shaking hand.
“Tell me you see that,” I gasped.
Clio looked, and her jaw dropped as the two small, dim red dots became brighter.
“Those are eyes!” Clio howled, and I screamed. Nanci came rushing out of the bathroom and stared at what we were seeing.
A misshapen form started appearing, and I joined Clio in screaming.
Nanci gaped before a mew escaped her mouth.
The darkness began moving, and fear and dread crawled up my spine.
Almost against our will, the three of us shrieked again, and Nanci yanked out her gun.
I didn’t know how she was reacting, but she aimed and fired.
The bullet flew through the shadow, and now we all full-on screamed.
“Rosie!” Calamity bellowed my name.
“Here!” I wailed as the terrifying entity came closer.
“Nanci!” Inglorious roared, and we heard the pounding of feet. Chance didn’t bother calling Clio’s name as he raced around the corner and skidded to a halt. The dark figure turned, and Chance’s eyes bugged from his head before it faded.
“Chance!” Clio sobbed, and within seconds, Chance was on the move. He swept Clio into his arms and placed himself firmly between us and whatever we’d seen.
“Say you saw that!” I screeched as Calamity appeared and spotted me.
Inglorious arrived next and wrapped a pale-faced Nanci in his embrace. Calamity was rubbing my back as he soothed me, even though he had no idea why I was so scared.
“Who fired?” Drake commanded, appearing.
“Me,” Nanci said shakily.
“Did someone attack you?” Inglorious demanded as he rubbed her back.
The others arrived, and there was a babble as everyone spoke over one another.
“There was a shape with red eyes,” I blurted out.
The uproar subsided, and everyone turned to face me.
“There was something, a shadow, it began forming a misshapen creature, and then two red glowing eyes appeared,” I continued.
Drake and the others looked bemused.
“Maybe you imagined it? This is a spooky house,” Lucian suggested carefully.
Chance glowered. “Clio isn’t prone to hysterics. And I saw it too.”
“You did?” Drake asked, sounding amused.
“Yeah, I did. Exactly as Rosie claims,” Chance snapped.
“We need to leave. Should someone go and check if one of the routes is drivable?” Maggie inquired, looking scared.
Lucian dragged her into his arms and held her tightly. “We can, but that rain hasn’t eased; it’s pouring down. The roads will doubtless be worse,” he mused.
“Drake!” Phoe’s scream pierced the air, and Drake nearly shoved Daniel over as he rushed towards her.
We all ran behind him as we barrelled back into the entrance hall.
Phoe stood there with Kate, a look of absolute horror on her face.
Before our eyes, blood dripped down the wall covering the front door.
“That’s blood, real blood!” Phoe babbled. She began backing away, dragging Kate with her.
“Kate!” James yelled from the sitting room. He’d not been able to follow them, I guessed.
“James!” Kate sobbed and fled towards him.
Drake and Chance swapped dark looks, and Drake moved forward. He reached out a finger and touched it before bringing it to his nose.
“It’s real,” he whispered, staring in horror. The blood, which had been slowly but steadily dripping down the door, grew thicker, and I could smell the copper in the air.
Vladimir hissed beside us and pulled Emmaline away. “We need to leave. Now! This house is unsafe for everyone.”
Chance moved to open the door, an expression of distaste on his face.
I clung to Calamity. I didn’t understand any of this. Nothing made sense.
Then Chance reached out to take the handle, and a loud slam made us all jump. Shocked, I gaped as the shutters on the window next to the entrance closed abruptly.
“What the fuck?” Nanci demanded in shock. Nobody had been near enough to close them, and there’d been no wind.
The sense of dread I’d felt in the hallway returned, and my head twisted around trying to spot something, anything to explain it.
A dark chuckle echoed as Chance squared his shoulders and moved towards the door handle again.
Before our eyes, the drip of blood became a waterfall, and Chance backed away as it hit the ground and began crawling outwards.
“Somebody doesn’t want us to leave,” Daniel murmured, Sabine clinging to him in fright.
Another shutter slammed, making my hand fly to my chest, and we glanced towards the window on the other side of the door. The wooden shutters vibrated with the force with which they’d been closed.
“Drake!” Phoe whispered, fear in her voice.
“Chance, move,” Drake said and stomped forward. With a grimace, he shoved his arm through the pouring blood and groped for the handle. He withdrew after several moments and looked down at his arm in horror.
“The handle’s gone.”
“What? Don’t be stupid,” Chance declared. He repeated Drake’s actions as the sticky blood washed over his arm. He pulled back, pale.
“There’s no handle. In fact, I can’t even feel a door,” Chance said. As he spoke, the blood slowed its torrent, and to our horror, we saw an untainted, simple wall, no exit at all.
“What the hell?” Daniel demanded. His unshakable air was finally shaken.
“Calamity,” I murmured, and he held me tighter. Frightened, I shook in his arms. We were actually living a real-life horror movie.
“Let’s find a window we can open,” Vladimir said, and as he uttered the fateful words, slams bounded throughout the house as the shutters slammed shut over every window in the entrance hall, or so I guessed.
I could only watch in horror. Kate’s squeal of fright told me the same was happening in the sitting room.
Lucian and Inglorious swapped glances and stormed forward. Together, they tried wrestling one of the shutters open, but it was locked tight.
“Let’s try another,” Inglorious suggested, and they moved to the next one. For several minutes, they wrestled, trying to find an opening, but to no avail.
“We’re trapped,” James called out, and I noted that the sitting-room door was open, so James could hear what was happening.
“There has to be an exit,” Drake muttered.
“Nobody goes out alone,” Chance snapped, and Drake nodded.
“Who’s staying with the women?” Lucian asked.
As much as I wished to be an independent, strong woman, I wanted a couple of the guys to stay. Our men would break their backs protecting us.
“Obviously, me,” James called out.
“No offence, but it should be at least two who are able to walk. One would need to carry James if the need arises,” Inglorious muttered.
“Heard that asshole,” James shouted irately.
“I’ll stay,” Vladimir offered.
“Me too,” Daniel said after swapping a glance with Lucian.
Drake, Calamity, Inglorious, and Chance swapped glances. I knew what they were thinking. They wanted one of them to remain, too. Chance pointed to Inglorious, who looked grumpy but nodded in response.
I relaxed knowing that we had one of the presidents with us. Inglorious would lay his life to protect the old ladies. He’d never stand for a woman being hurt in front of him.
“Break into teams. I’ll go with Calamity and Daniel,” Drake offered.
“Leaves me and you,” Lucian said to Chance.
“Not a problem,” Chance replied.
They escorted us back into the sitting room, where James was sitting upright with Kate next to him.
“Go find an exit,” James ordered.
Drake nodded. “We will.”
Jacques
The screams from the part of the house where we’d left our unexpected guests died down, and I guessed their men had found them.
I gritted my teeth. The enemy was gaining strength.
As night closed in, he grew stronger. If he were able to sacrifice those below me, he’d be alive again, and his evil would know no bounds.
I reached out searching for any loose ally and found none.
I couldn’t even sense a Vam’pir or vampire nearby.
“He’s locked them all in,” Eden said, approaching.
“Yes, I guessed. He needs to kill and feast on them to regenerate,” I replied.
“We’ll stop him,” my sweet wife agreed.