Chapter Four.
Haunt
Everyone disagreed about where the scream came from.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up in warning.
This was a trap. The entity was demanding attention, but the question was why?
If we all rushed mindlessly around, did it intend to harm us?
I glanced across at Reaper standing beside Callie and saw the same thoughts reflected on his face.
“Lich, go with Sunny, Callie, Dive, and Gizmo; take the first floor,” I ordered, giving Callie the scrappiest fighters in my club.
Lich lifted his chin. “I protect you.”
“You protect the pregnant old lady,” I ordered, and he nodded instantly.
He’d not considered Callie’s pregnancy. It was the only time they’d put someone else before me.
A baby trumped me. “Jack, take Michelle, Ghoul, Suga, and Trunk; you’ve got the second floor.
Lucky, Coffee and Reaver are with me; we’ll search down here… ”
A second scream ripped through the Inn. I waited calmly. If this wanted to make us panic, tough shit.
“If you find anything, use the radios, and don’t split up. I’ve got a bad feeling that this is what the ghost wants,” I ordered.
Head nods met me as everyone geared up with radios, lights, and protective gear. I watched the two teams head off, then turned to my team.
“My guess is the screams came from this area. That’s why I sent the GSI off. Be on guard. I think we’re going to find some shit,” I warned.
Exiting the upper dining room, we walked downstairs into the smaller lower dining room.
There was nothing unusual here. The main dining area showed the same.
The chairs and tables were neatly set, with nothing out of the ordinary.
We headed out and down a hallway and checked the snug next to it.
Happy that it was okay, we checked out the larger lounge before heading into the bar.
There we stopped dead as Coffee whipped out a camera and began filming. It was something I’d come across before, but it made shivers run down my spine. The tables and chairs got stacked haphazardly on top of one another. One stiff breeze and they’d all come tumbling down.
“That’s new,” Reaver muttered.
“Not one of the usual ghosts,” Coffee agreed.
Lucky walked around the stack of furniture. “Prez. This is literally balancing on a leg,” he called. A frisson of warning ran down my spine.
“Get back!” I yelled, and Lucky reacted instantly. He leapt back as the stack fell towards him. It crashed to the floor, and for a sickening moment I thought Lucky had been caught, and then I saw him standing plastered against the huge fireplace.
“Holy shit! That was a trap!” Reaver muttered.
“Warn the others,” I snapped as I strode over to Lucky. I patted him down even as he batted at my hands.
“Prez, I’m fine!” he said. Finally reassured, I stepped back.
“Coffee, did you get that?”
“Yeah. This thing’s trying to harm us?”
“I don’t know. As we all reacted, I felt a surge of satisfaction,” Lucky replied.
Coffee cocked his head. “Like it got off on our emotions?”
“Yeah, weird,” Lucky replied. Reaver and I began picking up the fallen furniture. Given how solid it was, we were damn fortunate that it hadn’t hit Lucky. Surprisingly, none of it had broken either.
“It’s getting stronger,” Reaver muttered.
“Yeah. It’s going to dig in.”
“I can’t exorcise it unless I know what it is,” Lucky said, and I nodded. That was the million-dollar question—what the hell was this thing?
Sunny
I wanted to pack Callie up and run. Whatever was in this Inn was bad, really evil. Callie wanted to identify it. Me? I wanted to protect my woman. These ghosts appeared more frightening than those from home. Did their older age make a difference? Didn’t know and didn’t care.
“Are you okay?” Lich murmured as I growled.
“Yeah,” I growled out. I didn’t know him well enough to talk about my concerns.
“Don’t blame you for being worried about Callie. Will she continue this after she has given birth?
“Yup.” That grated. Callie was my fucking life.
She was my be-all and end-all, my ride-or-die.
If anything happened to her, I wouldn’t live.
Everything I’d gone through led me to the most beautiful woman in the world.
Others might see Callie differently, but I understood and loved her. I was beyond obsessed with my old lady.
And I’d break my back to give her what she needed and desired.
I didn’t really like her doing investigations when they turned dark.
But we’d discussed this; Callie was one of the safest people out there.
She knew how to handle danger and dark spirits, and her empathic nature prevented her from leaving people in trouble.
Callie had talked me through their protections and procedures many times, and now that I did them with her, I understood even more.
However, spirits were able to attack and indeed did.
Damn, listen to me. I’d been a complete sceptic before I fell for Callie.
But watching her programme and knowing who she was, I’d become a believer.
Callie wouldn’t fake footage. Everything that made it to screen was genuine.
There was a shitload that didn’t get aired.
Callie judged certain things as not safe for public view.
That was because they’d cause panic, disbelief, or, on the other side of the coin, negative acceptance.
Untrained, ignorant ghost hunters might easily harass the spirits or ghosts filmed or bullies desiring a reaction. There were small-minded assholes who faked footage and screamed abuse and insults at ghosts. Several of that type appeared on TV, including Callie’s nemesis.
But the real ghosts Callie filmed, she protected from that exposure. Callie owned a secret archive featuring footage of ghosts we caught on camera, and a vault where haunted or possessed items were locked up.
Anyone looking at me would wonder what the hell a biker was doing in this world.
It’s simple. She’s my old lady; after a lifetime of eating shit, what Callie wanted, Callie got.
Truthfully, though I wished Callie would stop this work after childbirth, but I wouldn’t force her.
This was Callie’s life, and she was living her best version of it.
I’d never break her heart and force her to quit. I couldn’t.
The paranormal world was in her blood. Callie had a curious, inquisitive mind, and asking her to quit would be a travesty. Yup, I’d suck it up and watch her back, because this was something she loved and I refused to deny it to her.
“I sent you down a spiral,” Lich said.
“Nah. It’s something we discussed. The paranormal world would suffer immensely without Callie Dixon. I couldn’t do it to her. And our RV is a lot nicer than most people’s homes. But I’m always gonna worry.”
“What will you do when the kid needs school?” Lich asked, and I sensed his genuine curiosity.
“Hire a teacher to travel with us. We’ll end up looking like a carnival soon,” I chuckled.
I went to answer, but Callie opened a door and cocked her head. “Well, now,” she muttered. I shoved her to the side and peered over her head.
“If you find any furniture stacked up, be careful; it’s a trap. A load just fell on Lucky,” Haunt’s voice came over the radio. I hauled Callie back immediately as Dive moved forward.
“There is bedroom furniture stacked in Adlington. It looks precarious,” he replied.
“Back away and shut the door. As soon as Lucky approached, it all came tumbling down, and it was heavy shit.”
“Got ya, Haunt. We’ll take pictures and leave it alone.”
Gizmo took some footage, and then we backed off.
“If it’s trying to hurt people, then we're narrowing down what it might be,” Callie muttered. I’d take her word for it. She was the expert here, while I was the expert in guarding her!
Jack
I could hear what was happening over the radio, but the second floor hadn’t been disturbed. The screams had clearly been designed to draw our attention, and it had worked.
“This thing is clever,” Suga murmured.
“Yeah. It’s drawing attention but not giving away what it is,” Michelle agreed.
“Is it a demon?” Trunk asked.
Michelle shook her head as we all looked at her. “I’m not getting demon vibes, but it certainly is as dark as one. I’m not convinced it’s a poltergeist either. It’s violent, strong and growing.”
“That’s disturbing,” Suga muttered.
“What’s more of an issue is the way it draws attention. I sense envy behind this. Almost as if it’s jealous of us investigating the other spirits,” Ghoul said, frowning.
“That’s unusual,” I said with a frown, and they all nodded.
“Any idea what this is?” Suga asked.
“No, it’s one for the books. I mean, we’ve faced some real nasty stuff, but this seems on a different level. It’s perplexing,” I replied.
“Bro, I saw the Penitentiary episode. You guys specialise in weird,” Trunk commented.
I laughed. “You didn’t see half of what we captured on TV. More existed that was not shown.”
“I wish I could see that sometime,” Trunk stated.
“The footage isn’t available. It’s locked in a secure vault. Callie can show it to you,” I replied, trying not to offend.
Ghoul grinned. “No worries. We’ve got our own secure lock-up with stuff we don’t show.”
“Glad you understand.”
“Yeah, we get it. I can imagine how hounded some of those ghosts would be. It’s bad enough when they’re suspected to exist, but to have actual evidence? They’d not get a moment’s peace,” Suga agreed.
Michelle and I swapped glances, both thinking the same thing.
It was nice to finally deal with someone who respected the paranormal as we did.
Nine times out of ten, investigators wanted the shock factor, the fright and reactions.
They showed no concern about hurting a spirit or anything.
Such behaviour was rude and ignorant; a hyped spirit might turn nasty, forcing those remaining to manage the consequences.
“Did Angela have any teams in lately?” I asked.
“She didn’t say anything,” Ghoul said, but his mind headed down the same road mine had.