The Haunted Halls (20 page)

Chapter Nine

Standing in the hallway, Timothy raised his arms out to his sides and struck his best Jesus Christ pose. He’d never felt so powerful, so perfect, so right. There were more warm bodies to ruin and release to
her
salvation, but the one he desired most had vanished down the stairwell. Flexing his powers, the lights flickering at his command, he moved forward, admiring his trick and feeling an immense gratitude for his true love. Before Sarah, he lived a lie. Denying his urges, constantly thinking those near him could see the truth, could see Shannon and Beth–dead, broken, and buried. All the years of trying to fit in, conforming to the drones walking blindly through painfully hopeless lives, hiding his razor-sharp longing to become more, his desire to live uninhibited, free to feed his darker urges, but fearing the status quo and their condemnation of things they did not understand. Those days led to this–liberation from all the trappings of the dying world outside. Sarah had opened the door to his cellar of crimson dreams. It was time to realize his potential.

  The eyes of men and women in the black and white photographs hanging like silent sentries along the pulsing lights of the hall began to fill with blood. Walking down the corridor, Timothy’s thoughts were of blood too–the blood of numerous victims of his Ice Queen. She showed him all the death she had produced. Through her, he
knew
the blood reigning down now and where it came from; the blood of her father and his bimbo; of Gordon McDonough; of Jason Perry; the blood of the last two days…so much life, gone. Timothy inhaled the intoxicating scent of so many fallen, his eyes rolling back, a wave of black ecstasy trickling through his veins.

Placing one leather dress shoe before the other, he followed the path of the pretty young thing who had danced to the death with Kenneth. He stopped before room 209, glancing in at the boy’s dead body. He wasn’t sure how she was able to kill Kenneth; the obedient servant’s death was unfortunate, but at least this little girl was proving to be fun. He sensed her strength, and could feel a mild sympathy that such an undaunted soul should be snuffed out.

She will run, but she will not get far. Her swan song, like all great curtain calls, will be one of legend.

He would make certain of it.

Chapter Ten

Rhiannon stood at the bottom of the stairs, her heart hammering, thoughts glazing over, body swinging into shock. She collapsed in a heap into the corner of the stairwell, afraid, ashamed even, to step into the lobby. She tried to urge her body to get up and move, to get the fuck out of this madhouse. She trembled.  Her cousin Jack had told her about the time he hydroplaned completely horizontal on the interstate in a heavy rain storm. She remembered him saying that after the car straightened out, he pulled over and cried while his body shivered uncontrollably for fifteen minutes. The aftermath of her encounter with Kenneth McGowan had slipped deep under skin. Something had inhabited his body. She knew with her heart of hearts that he was not the same shoelace-staring, frail, and awkward guy that had been living here for the past month. His eyes…she saw the black orbs that flashed with sinister glee before she smashed his skull in.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

The male voice from around the corner called out, bringing her back from the ledge of sanity. She grabbed the railing above her head and pulled herself back to her feet. The lights in the staircase died. The fine hairs covering her body stood at attention, her stomach dropping.

“Hello?” the man in the lobby said again.

Rhiannon ran into the lit area.

“Oh, hi, I was wondering if anyone–” the man said.

“Get out,” she said.

“Excuse me?” The man in the green t-shirt and Bermuda hat looked her over. She was still half-naked. “Ma’am, are you in some kind of trouble?”

Before she could answer, his pale blue eyes looked behind her. The sliver of dread worming its way inside her like a parasite told her all she needed to know.

Rhiannon ran toward the guest in the Bermuda hat, shoved him, and said, “Go! We need to get out of here!”

The guy attempted to grab her by the arms. She swatted him off, moving past him. She turned to find the man with long blond hair, dressed all in black, standing by the lobby doors with his hands behind his back. He was leering at her. She suddenly felt faint, like her thoughts were being stirred.

Bermuda Hat stepped forward, putting one arm out as if to block the man in black from her. “Is this the man who attacked you?” he said.  She couldn’t answer. “Sir,” Bermuda Hat said, taking another step toward the man. “I think you and the miss here are done for the night. Why don’t you–”

The man in black’s eyes released her and turned to Bermuda Hat. Rhiannon felt the swimming feeling in her head sweep away.

She grabbed Bermuda Hat by his t-shirt. “Never mind, we need to get out of here. Come on.” She pulled at him.

“He’s not going anywhere, Ms. Jenner–”

He knows my name.

“I know many things,” he said. “This chivalrous gentleman is not leaving, and neither are you.”

Bermuda Hat made a gurgling sound.

“Come here, sir,” the man in black said.

Bermuda Hat moved forward. Rhiannon backed away, watching in horror as darkness swallowed the whites of the man in black’s eyes. Bermuda Hat stopped in front of him. The man in black glanced at Rhiannon, his black eyes exuding a coldness that sunk into her marrow. Not wanting to see what was coming, she turned and fled. A series of sickly wet sounds like the ones her old dog, Wolf, would make when he ate a can of Alpo were followed by something that sounded like jelly slapping on the floor, and then a thud. She didn’t have to look behind her to know it was Bermuda Hat hitting the floor.

She ran down the hall reaching the halfway point of the first floor. The girl, Sarah, who had sent her to the room with Kenneth, stood at the end of the corridor, smiling, the light of the Exit sign above her shadowing her pale face in red. The elevator was on Rhiannon’s right. She had no choice. She hit the up arrow, watched the door slide open and ducked inside tapping the number two with her fingers like a woodpecker on speed. Footfalls clicked down the hall, closing in. The chrome door slid before her, the elevator began its ascent.

VOLUME VI

Days Gone By

The girl had finished him and fled the room. The darkness inside the one called Kenneth faded into nothing. It was gone, and so was he. Christina moved over his empty vessel. So young… just like… just like… Looking around the room, she was hit by a feed from days gone by.

The haze lifted, the memories began rolling back. The hotel…they were at the hotel,
this
hotel. She remembered the room–big bed, color TV, the mini-fridge full of drinks. Laughter, smiling eyes…and then the horrors. She saw the men–one had tried to hurt her, the other…. She saw the blood and remembered the lies, the death. She saw the girl…she saw
her
.  Sarah.

The pool…

Back in the room, she sensed something else–one of
them–
was approaching.  The cold was coming closer like an awful blackness closing in, devouring all of the light in its wake. She moved into the bathroom and hid out of sight. Hoping it would pass.

The deathly entity stopped. She felt a heavy presence just outside the door, and then, it moved on.

Something bad was happening. And it was only just beginning. She had to find a way to help. Find a way to stop it. To stop
her
. She had failed once, long ago, but she had to be here for a reason. She’d been given another chance to put an end to Sarah’s lust for death and destruction.

Chapter One

“Stop,” Lee said. He pulled Jeff to the side, their backs facing the building.  Another hard rain had begun to fall.

“What is it?” Jeff said, raising his voice over the deluge. Lee turned his head, wicker basket in hand, and peeked in the window of the inn’s back entrance.

“I saw a girl,” Lee said. “It was the girl from the vision I had the other night–the one haunting my spirit.” He turned back to Jeff. “And I suspect the one you saw in yours.”

Jeff swallowed hard and held his hand to his brow shielding his eyes from the rain. “She’s the ghost?”

“Yes, but I think she’s something more than that.”

Jeff didn’t respond. A ghost was bad enough. He didn’t want to think about something worse.

The night howled as the angry storm whipped the trees behind the inn from side to side.

Lee moved his face back to the window. “She’s gone, come on.” He reached for the door handle.

“That’s not going to work. We need a key to–” Jeff said, stopping as the door opened.  

Lee looked over his shoulder, “Looks like we’re expected.”

Jeff shivered in the cold, but it wasn’t the storm freezing the blood in his veins, he knew whatever was waiting for them was not going to be so welcoming once they found it.

“Stay behind me,” Lee said.

“Holy shit, it’s cold in here.” Jeff tried to will the warmth back into his arms by rubbing them. He and Lee were drenched.

“It’s the spirit,” Lee said.

“Did you see where it went?”

“No, it was just there, walking away,” Lee pointed down the hallway. “Then, it was gone.”

“We have to find Rhiannon and Meghan. Can’t you project yourself, like a spirit or something,” Jeff said, stepping past Lee. He wanted to get in and get the fuck out.

“Not so fast,” Lee said, grabbing him by the sleeve. “It’s watching us.”

“Well, can you?”

“Can I what?”

Jeff jerked his arm free and said, “Can you do that power animal stuff, and I don’t know what they call it…put your spirit out, like a lookout?”

“I think what you’re referring to is astral projection. I have the ability, but I’d rather not expose myself to our friend here. It’s dangerous, especially when you’re not sure what you’re dealing with.”

“Then how do you know it’s watching us?”

“It left the door open. It wants us here. Think about it.”

Jeff didn’t want to think about it. Thinking about this whole fucked up situation was giving him an ulcer.

“Where would your friend be, the one that works here. At the front desk?” Lee said.

“Yeah, down at the other end.” Jeff pointed ahead.

“And the other one?”

“She should be up in her room. I hope.” Jeff glanced up the stairwell to his right.

“Okay, first we need to do something.” Lee crouched down next to his wicker basket (the outside of which was dripping wet). He pulled the lid off. Jeff expected the contents to be soggy and ruined, but they seemed to be perfectly dry. Lee hauled out another smudge stick and a fat piece of chalk.

“What’s that for?”

“We have to block this exit. We’re going to bind it within this building.”

“Bind it? You mean lock it in here…with us?” Another icy wave went through Jeff’s stomach.

“That’s exactly what I mean. This is its home. More than likely, it won’t want to leave, but in the scenario where we’re running like hell for our lives, I don’t want the fucking thing following me. Plus…” Lee looked down the hallway. The lights along the corridor dimmed. “I don’t think we have much time.”

…..

Sarah watched the half-hearted magic man draw his useless little lines. He was right about one thing, this was her home. This was her heritage. She wouldn’t be going anywhere and neither would they. It was time to have a little fun.

She pulled back within the body of Meghan Murphy and opened her eyes. Standing before the mirror hanging over the bathroom sink, she watched her reflection. Her hair went limp–the bouncy brown curls returning to Meghan Murphy’s perfectly straight, black locks. She wondered if Jeff had missed her. She would have to get him alone and find out.

…..

“Help,” yelled the voice.

Jeff recognized it instantly. “Meghan?” He rose from his dripping perch next to Lee.

“
Jeff?
Is that you?
Thank God.”

“Meghan–”

“That’s not her,” Lee said from behind him. Jeff was already on the move, but stopped a few feet away, and turned back to Lee.

“You don’t know that. You said so yourself.” Doubts about Lee’s abilities suddenly flooded his thoughts, washing over the small amount of trust built on the ride over.

“I’m telling you, that’s not her,” Lee said, replacing the lid on his basket and standing up.

“
Jeff?”
She sounded much closer.

Jeff spun around and saw Meghan Murphy hobbling toward him, using the wall for support. His heart made the choice. “Meghan, stay right there.”

“Jeff!” Lee said.

Jeff ran toward her, no longer listening to what Lee had to say. He scanned her body for injuries. Outside of the wounded expression on her face and the slumped shoulders, she looked amazing. Her brown eyes met his, filling his head with water, his thoughts swimming accordingly. Faint footfalls approached as if from a dream. The world around him shrank–Meghan was in his arms.

“Are you all right?”

Her eyes flashed from red to black, then back to brown, the visual display nearly knocking him from his trance. She laid her freezing head upon his shoulder.

Lee shouted from the outskirts of the dream, “Jeff, get the fuck away from her.”

“You were supposed to come back to check on me,” she whispered in his ear.

Jeff tried to turn his head back, tried to look at her again, but couldn’t. The door to the room behind her flew open and she pulled him inside.

“Jeff, don’t–” Lee’s voice was silenced as the heavy door slammed shut.

…..

Lee tried the handle. To his surprise, it opened. Only the light from the dimmed hallway penetrated the darkness within. Cold air wrapped around him. His nostril hairs threatened to freeze. Lee slipped his hand inside, searching the wall for the light switch and pulling back at the touch of frost in its place.

“Why don’t you come in and join us,” the demon spoke.

“Jeff, are you all right?”

“He’s just fine. Come see for yourself.”

Lee peered inside trying to spot them. There was a closed door to the right, maybe the bathroom, maybe a closet. The black beyond was impenetrable.  He stepped back glancing down the hall and cursed himself for leaving his basket at the back entrance. If he could get to his tools he could–

“You could try, but do you really want to leave your friend alone with me?”

It could read his mind.

“Yes, I can. I can also taste your fear.”

His grandfather had taught him exorcises for such spirits. He only hoped he could remember the techniques. Lee hung his head, clenched his fists, and cleared his thoughts. The hallway was relatively warm–the cold was in the room with this thing and Jeff.

“What have you done to my friend?”

“I told you to come in and find out.”

The TV in the room came to life, illuminating the form sitting on the bed. Lee gasped. The thing dressed in the girl’s body held a ball in its arm. Lee’s eyes dropped to the body lying motionless on the floor. He looked back up at her. Two blood-red orbs stared back.

“Jeffrey should have listened to you.” It rose to its feet. Lee watched, clutching at the wooden pendent around his neck. Praying his grandmother’s gift would protect him. The thing inside rolled the prize in its arms toward the doorway.

After what he’d seen in the parking lot when they arrived, Lee was afraid he knew what was coming.

Jeff’s dead eyes stared up at him from the severed head. Lee stumbled backward, his lips trembling as he hit the wall. He looked away unwilling to believe the horror at his feet, unable to accept the evil. After a few quick breaths, he dared a glance back into the TV-lit room for the monster responsible–it was gone, and so was Jeff.