Chapter Five.
Haunt
I couldn’t believe Chauncey and Gloria were stalking us.
There was no doubt they’d screwed with the Inn somehow, and I felt awful.
Angela was suffering because of two maniacs.
Sometimes they made me want to quit, but then I’d give them what they wanted, and they’d have taken something I love away.
However, at times like this, I felt their pressure.
“Come on. Haunt, need to sort out who’s where tonight,” Reaver said.
“Yeah. After last night, I don’t think it’s worth investigating the rooms, but we need to show due diligence.
“Agreed. I suspect we won’t see much activity. Almost as if the entity is stifling the ghosts,” Reaver stated.
That was interesting. Several times, I’d seen ghosts feed off others and use their energy to power themselves. Was that happening here? While the idea was solid, something seemed off. Even so, no idea was a bad one, so I’d let the others know what Reaver had suggested.
“Where is everyone?” I asked Callie, returning to just her and Michelle in the dining room. “Gone to check the bedrooms that Chauncey and Gloria stayed in. Sorry to hear about your trouble,” Callie said.
“In pairs?” I demanded, alarmed.
“Yeah. They’ll be back soon. I’ve an inkling they won’t find anything. This Chauncey and Gloria appear quite subtle. They’re rather frightening.” Michelle shook her head.
“What are you two planning to do?” I asked, seeing they’d gathered their laptops.
“Research, if that’s okay with you. Lich has emailed us everything you have on the Inn, and we’ve got the website and leaflets that Angela put together. Did you know Rye put all the archived material online? [i] It dates back centuries!” Callie exclaimed, looking gleeful.
“Yeah. We’ve combed through it before. What are you looking for?”
“A needle in a haystack. Anything related to the Inn that might stand out,” Michelle replied.
“Makes me wish we had Harry. This is his strength, but we’ll manage,” Callie complained.
Despite my mood, a laugh escaped me. Some investigators absolutely loved research, and others hated it. It was easy to guess where Callie fell.
“I’m also going to investigate what type of spirit this is. It’s not fitting into demon or poltergeist, but I’m wondering if it’s a filament,” Michelle muttered as she tapped her leg.
“What’s that?” I asked, interested, and grabbed their bags as they rose to head to the snug.
“A filament is scraps of ghosts that form together to become stronger. The weak spirits who are usually ignored and overlooked—it’s rare, but it happens.
Only the filament has something like schizophrenia because the distinct personalities are still present,” Michelle explained as we entered the snug.
Reaver and I moved some tables close to some cosy armchairs in front of the fire. The ladies settled down as we placed their laptops on top and searched for sockets to plug them into.
“Never heard of that,” I stated, taking a seat opposite. Reaver left to organise the others.
“No, it’s incredibly rare. Only thirty-one have ever been recorded. Out of them, only eleven had detailed records. Their hauntings are spite filled and they gain strength because they capture weaker spirits and force them to merge.”
“You suppose that’s happening here?” I asked, wondering whether to mention my thoughts.
“I’m not sure. The entity has many facets, typical demon and poltergeist activity, which makes me think filament, but they are just that rare. It’s probably something else; I was using a filament as an example,” Michelle nodded.
“You’ve studied them?” Where had she got this information from? Fifteen years doing this, yet I was unaware of this type of haunting.
“Haunt, I have access to books you probably don’t.
But yes, I’ve studied many obscure spirits and entities.
Most people deal with residuals, interactive, poltergeist and demon.
There are more classifications than that.
There are orbs, vengeance spirits, mimics, doppelgangers, banshees, roving, and so on. ”
“The majority of those I’ve met. But yeah, there is shit out there I’m unaware of. I did have a thought,” I replied and described it.
“That actually fits in a certain way, but you’re right, it’s not one hundred per cent. It rings a bell.” Michelle frowned. “Gah, I should know this.”
“Only a fool presumes he knows everything,” I teased, and Michelle grinned.
“Like your friend Chauncey. His website is illuminating around his ego and self-confidence,” Callie muttered, scowling at the screen.
“Ain’t no friend of mine, darlin’, I’d sooner piss on him.” Callie laughed, and her face lit up. In that instant, I recognised why Sunny was head over heels for her. A spike of jealousy lanced through me. I’d love a relationship like that.
“Well, Chauncey’s set himself up as the grandaddy of the paranormal society, but there’s a load of testimonials complaining about his methods. Sure, there are some good reviews, but overall, I’d say he’s not very well-regarded,” Callie replied.
I barely held back a smirk; that appeased me more than it should.
“Okay, I’ll go join the others. You going to be okay down here?” I asked, getting up.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Callie murmured, her eyes on the laptop screen.
A smile crossed my lips as I headed out.
Good job my ego didn’t need attention. I wasn’t bad-looking and kept myself fit.
I wasn’t a supermodel, yet women looked at least once and sometimes twice.
The lack of interest from Callie and Michelle amused me.
Callie
The Mermaid Inn’s records contained an overwhelming amount of information.
There were inventory lists and even a grocery delivery receipt detailing the items. This was serious history.
I reviewed a ledger dating back hundreds of years.
Several deaths were connected to the Inn, and there were tons of documents relating to the smugglers.
A name jumped out as I was reading a random report. Jeremy.
It wasn’t a far stretch from Jeremiah[ii] to Jeremy.
Tracing the name down the rabbit hole, I tracked it back to a detail for Jeremiah Bellowes.
Friends had shortened his name to Jeremy.
He’d been a prominent member of the smugglers and then disappeared.
The report stated that rumours claimed he’d been killed by someone in the gang and his body hidden.
Members of the gang were questioned, including the main suspect Thomas Kingsmill[iii]but no evidence was found.
Jeremiah’s body had disappeared, and over time he became forgotten.
“Michelle, I’ve got something.”
Michelle shunted forward and read the report. “That might be him,” she agreed.
“I’ll keep digging,” I said.
Before we ate, I discovered no other associated with the Inn.
“Do you think you found the entity?” Haunt asked as we ate.
“He’s a likely option,” I agreed.
“Can’t say I’ve ever been made aware of him. But if Jeremiah was murdered here and then stuck here, yeah, it fits. Plus, if no one ever saw him, or mistook his actions for another spirit…” Coffee pursed his lips.
“Gonna be a lot of anger in that,” Dive agreed.
Lucky nodded. “That would make sense. A murder victim, perhaps killed here, and the killer escaped?”
“That would cause a shitload of resentment,” Ghoul agreed. “If the spirit wasn’t strong enough to manifest…”
I sat up straight as something tickled my mind. “Say that again.”
Ghoul frowned, but repeated his words.
“Energy ghoul,” I gasped.
Everyone frowned, but Michelle’s expression cleared as she opened her laptop and began typing. “How uncommon would that be?”
“But it fits, right? The sudden gain in strength, the poltergeist activity, the silence of the other ghosts, the hate, the violence, it adds up,” I replied.
“God, yes. They need a trigger object to manifest,” Michelle added, scouring whatever she was looking at.
“It will get stronger now it’s been noticed.”
“Yes, until it’s uncontrollable,” Michelle agreed.
“Would someone like to explain?” Haunt drawled as everyone else looked on in amusement.
“An energy ghoul has to be one of the rarest types of haunting. It’s kind of like a filament but worse.
A lot worse. Basically, it’s the spirit of someone who experienced a traumatic death.
But they were so shocked that they returned weak.
Nobody can see or hear them; they can’t move items and are literally ignored.
“The Ghoul tragically goes through life like this unless they get a shock of energy or someone notices them. A trigger object might also give them a jolt of energy. But once they get that, and if it’s strong enough, they can begin draining energy from the surrounding spirits.
When they’ve done that, those spirits become like the former state of the energy ghoul.
But that doesn’t bother the ghoul, it’s focus is on surviving,” Michelle said.
Callie pursed her lips. “It will feed on human energy, so strong emotions strengthen it. Fear, terror, hate, shock, all feed it and make it grow further. Finally, it will become virtually unstoppable. There was an instance in Rome when priests encountered a fully fledged energy ghoul. It took forty of them to stop it and move it over; thirteen died from the effort.”
Haunt
“What?” I gasped, not liking those odds.
“This is worse than some demons,” Michelle agreed.
“This can kill people?” I demanded.
“Yeah. And won’t hold back.”
“And you think this is what we have?” Lich growled out, looking worried.
“Yes. The entity fits all descriptions of one,” Callie stated.
“How do we defeat this? We can’t let it roam free,” I asked without hesitation.
Approval shone in Callie’s eyes. That’s right, darlin’, we’re up for a fight.
“First off, we need to understand how it was triggered. Did someone spot something and transfer energy to it, or did they find a trigger object?” Michelle answered.