The Old House (Haunted Series Book 16) (31 page)

“I was admiring the woodwork,” Glenda said.

“My father put a lot of sweat into it.  I remember, even after a long day of plowing, he would return here and work on the finishing touches for my mother Mary.  It was his way of saying that he loved her.”

“That is so beautiful.  I’m surprised they chose to move away,” Glenda said.

“Me too.  I guess he wanted her to have the finer things.  She left us all too soon.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Glenda said.

“Thank you, ma’am. It is appreciated.”  William started to fade.  “I find myself in need of a rest, so if you will excuse me,” he said and disappeared.

Marilee said, “Make yourselves at home,” before she too faded from sight.

~

Mia moved higher, and Orion pulled up near her.  They moved with speed in the security of airspace that was rarely traveled.  Mia pointed out the lake, and the two dropped rapidly downward, and landed on the lakeside of an old house.  It wasn’t as well-kept as the large mansions that abutted the property lines, but it wasn’t abandoned.  Mia moved carefully towards the back patio where an old, weathered man with dark glasses sat at a table, staring out into the lake, enjoying a cool drink.

The man looked at the two petite people approaching him, lowered his glasses and squinted.  His yellow eyes evaluated the birdman and a woman, whom he could not classify but looked familiar.

“Wyatt, I’m sorry to just barge in on you.  I’m Mia Martin, and this is Orion.”

Wyatt nodded his greeting.  “Sit.” He indicated the chairs. “You live, or used to live, across the lake, didn’t you?”

Mia smiled.  “Yes, on the peninsula.”

“What can I do for you today?”

“It’s about the old house,” Mia started.

“There is no treasure. Leave the place alone.”

“We are not treasure seekers,” Orion said.  “You were once.”

“That folly almost cost me my earthly body.”

“I’m looking for permission to enter the home,” Mia said, flashing her yellow eyes.

Wyatt turned his head oddly, trying to get a read on this crossbreed.  “Why?”

“The house is calling to a child.  I fear for him,” she said.

“The house protects itself,” Wyatt said.  “As long as the child doesn’t deface it, he should be alright.”

“When did the house become sentient?”

“After my father sacrificed my brother and his family.”

“I don’t understand.  I was under the misconception that you killed them.”

“No, he killed them when he gave them the house.”

Mia took off her glove, laid her hand on the table, and opened it in supplication.

Orion was fearful of what she was doing.

The demon within Wyatt studied the situation before him.  He closed his eyes and laid his hand on top of hers.

They read each other with such speed that Orion barely had time to breathe before Wyatt withdrew his hand.

“Sticks,” he laughed.

Mia blushed.  She turned to Orion.  “Wyatt speaks the truth.  The house killed the Waynes.  It poisoned them.  The truth of it all is in the manuscript William wrote.”

“Mia, please take this in the spirit in which it is given,” Wyatt said.  “You can’t save everyone.  You’ll be defeated before you even get started.”

“How far are you into the Cynosura?” Orion asked Wyatt.

“I have no need of their power.  I’m an independent demon; I need no issue to make me whole.”

“If there is war…”

“I will weigh the pros and cons at that time.”

“I pray there is no need for either of us to make those choices,” Mia said.

“Am I going to be on a watchlist?” Wyatt asked Orion.

“No, as far as I’m concerned, Mia and I came here to ask you about the house, and you were very cooperative.”

“What are you going to do?” Wyatt asked.

“Try to save your family before I rip that house off the face of this earth,” Mia said through clenched teeth.

“Do you need help?” he asked, smiling.

“Why would you help me?”

“They were my family too.”

“There is a ley line that connects this house with the other.  You need to sever the line or the house will escape.”

Wyatt nodded.  “It will be done.  Mia, Two Face Tony was a thug.”

“Was?”

“He’s gone.  Disappeared a few days ago. Someone’s cleaning house,” he said and got up to go in.

Mia reached out once more, and the two shook hands.  She turned and left. Orion was amazed at the ease with which his granddaughter had dealt with the strongest demon he had seen in his career.

On the flight back, Mia asked him, “Angelo?”

“I don’t know.  It could be Sariel or even Roumain.  All are that powerful, but, Mia, there is a wild card.”

“I have a feeling I’m going to need to have terra firma under my feet for this,” she said and landed.

Orion evaluated the forest glade and the privacy it offered before speaking. “You have a half-blood uncle out there.  He would be older than Charles.  His father was someone so powerful that he took your uncle away from your grandmother and shielded him from all her seeking spells.  She never saw him again in her lifetime.”

“Why would my uncle help me?”

“You heard the demon.  You’re family.”

Burt backed out of the kitchen with the camera.  He slowly panned it around, focusing it on the crumbling plaster which wasn’t really that bad.  Actually, it was covered in a faded but rich wallpaper that matched the curtains.  The lacey sheers rippled from the warm breeze that moved through the room.  Burt stepped carefully so he wouldn’t knock off any of the mementos that adorned the highly polished tables.

Two boys sat playing with cars on the braided rug.  Burt knelt down and focused in on the eldest child.

“What are you doing?” Timmy asked.

“Filming you.”

Timmy smiled and mugged for the camera.  Jimmy put his hand up behind his brother and gave him rabbit ears.

“Burt, would you like to play with us?” Timmy asked.

In the kitchen, Glenda ran her hand along the long enamel sink.  She remembered seeing sinks like this when she was a girl.  This one was free of chips.  Pots and pans rested there upside down, air drying.  She smelled something and turned to see a pot bubbling over on the stove.  She lifted the lid and reduced the fire.  There was a teapot covered by a crochet cosy.  She took a cup from the cupboard and poured herself a cup of tea.  The aroma of the tea reminded her of the day she met Mike’s father.

He was a handsome man.  Mike got his looks from him.  There wasn’t a day that she didn’t see more and more of his dad in Mike.  She looked around, puzzled.  Wasn’t Mike here a moment ago?

Mike and Murphy moved stealthily along the airing porch.  They were going to investigate the cellar.  Burt wanted to do it live, but Mike remembered, all too well, his own insistence on investigating Murphy’s cellar live had resulted in him falling into an icy well.  The house gave Mike a queasy stomach, or was it the copious amounts of whiskey he had drunk last night?  Ted’s revelation and Burt’s drunken remembrances were weighing on the investigator’s mind.  Mia whom he’d initially thought was a selfish little bitch was anything but.  The more time he spent with her, the more he admired the courage she had.  Here she was, changing at an alarming rate, but still, she was insecure and fought for a marriage that he felt was doomed from the start.  Mia moved too quickly into the arms of a man-child, a man who lost his virginity to her.  Ted must wonder what other women were like.  No wonder he was swayed by Beth’s attention.  He too must have pondered the
what ifs
in his life.

Mike sympathized with Murphy, although he’d never tell him that.  How could he be with Mia day and night and not touch her?  Not want to pull her hair or kiss those full lips of hers?  Mike shook the feelings away, lit a light disc, and concentrated on quietly exploring the cellar.

Murphy studied the rusted tins against the wall.  It wasn’t unusual for people to have cookie and cracker tins, but so many?  Maybe they were gifts, or mementos, or the lady of the house had a severe hoarding problem.  He turned and looked deeper into the cellar, saw all the bits of broken furniture hung from the ceiling, and thought that the gentleman of the house, too, had a problem with throwing anything away.

He watched Mike move through the bits and bobs. Mike picked up a broken mop handle and tossed it in the corner.

“There is a lot of crap down here,” Mike said.

Murphy tapped his axe in commiseration.

Mike saw the raised wellhead.  It and the cover were made of cast iron.  “This, Murphy old man, is a very expensive installation.”  He unlocked the lid, hefted it upwards and looked inside.  “Water level is pretty high here.  Must be that pond over yonder.”

There was a creak of floorboards overhead.  Mike walked over to investigate.

Murphy felt an odd pull.  It reminded him of something, but what, he couldn’t put his finger on.  He followed the pull and turned the corner to see a vortex of some kind.  This had to be the entrance or exit of the demon spur that he and Orion had theorized.  To have a vortex in the cellar of a house was most extraordinary.  What came first, the spur or the house?

“Help me!” a child’s voice screamed.

Murphy turned around to see what looked to be the eldest child being carried by an unseen force.  He moved quickly to intercede but was slowed by the pull of the vortex.  He broke free of the pull and rushed to see the child tossed into the well.  Murphy knew the toll, just being near, the ironized water would take, but he could not stand by and watch the boy perish.  He ran over and looked down.  The boy was just out of reach, floundering in the water.  Murphy bent over, but still, he couldn’t reach him.  He gripped the base of the blade of his axe and extended the handle deep into the water.

He didn’t hear the feet of the other boy, nor realize that the boy wasn’t actually in the well at all until he felt himself being tipped into the deadly water and heard the well cap come crashing down.

Mike heard the well cap and walked over to investigate.  “Murphy, is that you?”

Silence.

“Come on, Murphy, this is no time for games,” he complained.  Still there was no response.  He, however, did hear a rustling behind him.  “If that’s you, I’m so going to salt you,” he threatened.

He followed the sound.  He had to crawl under the low-hanging furniture.  He lit an extra light disc to illuminate the corner he had found himself in.  It seemed to be a hidey-hole of some kind or a fort built by the boys of the house.  He’d had one in the attic.  It was a great place to play with his friends on rainy afternoons.  He looked at the accumulation of old shoes and leather belts and puzzled at how an apparently poor household had so much castoff junk?

Mike didn’t see the belt that was stretched across the floor until it had wound in and out of his legs and pulled him off his feet.  He came crashing down, hitting his head on an old steamer trunk.  He sat up and fought to release his ankles when another belt encircled his right hand and yanked it upwards.  Mike felt a tear in his shoulder, and he fought the unseen force with his free hand.

“Murphy, help me!” he called.  A chair was pulled off its hook and hit him hard on the back of his head.  He fought the blackness as long as he could, but a second hit from the chair stilled his protest.  Mike felt his other wrist being pulled tight by the belt, and before he could call out again, a smelly rag was stuffed into his mouth.  Mike had lost the fight and, with it, his ability to stay awake.  He sunk quickly into oblivion.

~

Mia and Orion walked back towards the house.  “When you look at it now, what do you see?” Orion asked.

“A parasite, which we’ve been feeding our energy to.”

“Do you believe Wyatt?” Orion asked.

“I saw the truth in his mind.  At least, he believes this to be the truth.”

“What’s a demon’s mind like?”

“Like the inside of a castle.  Cold, clammy and sad.”

“They used to be angels before they fell,” Orion told her.  “But then they evolved.  I imagine a few still have the true bloodline, but it would be rare.”

“As rare as birdmen?” Mia asked.

Orion raised an eyebrow.  “There are no pureblood birdmen left.”

“It may be the way you choose to procreate?”

Orion roared with laughter.  “If you were a tot, I’d turn you over my knee.”

Mia ran towards the command post.  She tapped on the side and opened the door.  The cool air was a treat, but the welcome-home kiss she received was far better.

“You weren’t gone long,” Ted said. “How’d it go?”

“Surprising.  Wyatt Wayne isn’t dead, and he didn’t kill his brother and family.”

“No?”

“The house did.  Let’s get anyone who’s inside investigating out of there,” Mia advised.

“Burt, come in, over,” Ted called.

Silence

“Mike, Glenda, come in, over.”

Silence.

“The camera is still moving.” Ted pointed to the video feed.  “Maybe the audio is just out.”

The camera moved by the window, and Mia did a quick size calculation.  “It’s being held by a child.  I’m going in there,” she said, placing a fingertip kiss on Brian’s sleeping head and a full one on Ted’s.

Mia turned around and grabbed a coil of mountaineering rope before leaving the command center.

“Ted, checking my com,” she said.

“Loud and clear.”

Mia waved Cid over.  “There’s a problem inside,” she said, tying the rope around her middle.  “If I lose communication with Ted, I’m going to want you to pull me out of there.”  She handed him the rest of the rope.

“Ted, Mia’s got a bondage thing going on,” Cid said.  “Permission to participate, over.”

Mia raised an eyebrow, shook her head and walked towards the house.

“Permission granted.  Remember your safe word, Cid, over.”

“Dude, I forgot my safe word.”

Mia walked quickly into the house and located the floating camera.  “Hello, Jimmy, what’s going on?” she asked.

“We’re playing hide-and-seek,” he said, handing Mia the camera.

“Have you found anyone yet?” Mia asked, setting the camera outside on the porch.

“No.  Timmy hid the grownups, and I can’t find them.”

“Why don’t we find them together?”

“Mee ah’s it!” Jimmy called out and ran up the stairs.

Mia moved to follow but changed her mind.  She pushed into the kitchen and found Glenda propped up against the wall holding a chipped tea cup, talking to someone Mia couldn’t see.  She carefully took the cup from the woman and guided her back through the great room and out onto the porch.

“Pickup!” she shouted and went back in.

The room wavered, but Mia shook it off.  “Ted, the house is trying to fool me.  Talk me through it.”

“Mia, you should see an empty room with busted out windows.”

“There’s graffiti on the inner wall.  I’ve just now noticed it. It says…”

“No time for reading, sweet pea, get up those stairs!” Ted said sternly.  “Cid, be prepared, we may be losing her.”

Cid held on to the line, keeping it taut.

“Mee ah,” Jimmy said from the top of the stairs.

“I’m coming.  I already found Glenda.  Who have you found?”

Jimmy disappeared.

“Going up the stairs.  I need a bit more play in the rope, Cid.”

“You have thirty more feet, then I’m reeling you in,” Cid responded.

“K.”  Mia reached the landing and quickly looked into the parents’ room and found it empty.  She turned and walked into the empty sitting room, across the floor, and into the boys’ room.  There, laying on one of the beds, was Burt.  “I’ve found Burt,” Mia said.  “Wake up, Burt, it’s time to go to school,” she said, shaking him.

Burt’s eyes opened, and he gave Mia a look she was all too familiar with.  She backed up.  “Burt, you need to come with me.”

“Bebe, why don’t you come sit down,” he said, indicating his lap.

“That sounds like an invitation, Mia,” Ted said, concerned.

“Burt, I need you to come with me,” Mia tried again.

“I know you need me, bebe,” he said, getting up.

Mia walked quickly towards the stairs.  Burt caught her and pinned her up against the wall of the stairwell.  He turned her to him before he lifted her up, pushed between her legs, and whispered in her ear, “Let me fill you.”

Mia brought down both hands on either shoulder in a hard, chopping motion, causing him to drop her.  While he cursed, she made for the stairs.  “Come on, Burt, it’s too hot up there,” she called.

“Mia, I’m going to send Orion and Sam in,” Ted said.

Burt stared down at her and wiggled his fingers for her to come to him.

“No, he’s on the stairs.  He’s a big guy.  Someone’s going to get seriously hurt.   I’ve got this,” she said.

Mia bit her lip and lifted her top, exposing her breasts.

Burt smiled and started down the stairs.  She couldn’t risk losing him, so she stood there until his hands were upon her.  He was so loving that Mia started crying.  She backed into the main room, leading him.  He bent down and kissed her.  Mia fought the past that was clouding her present situation.  She backed him towards the door and out onto the porch, tugging her shirt over his searching fingers.  As they crossed the threshold, Mia felt something jar loose inside her.  All the emotions Angelo had taken from her rushed in, pushing at the levees of her self-control.  She pushed Burt to regain her hold on reality.

“Cid, grab him, and ice the fucker down,” she said as she turned around and adjusted her clothing. Her face awash with tears.  She untied the rope.

“Ted, Mike’s not in the house, over,” she said, gulping for air, trying to stop the sobs of hurt from the emotions that had finally been given back to her.

“That means…”

“He’s under the house.”

“Come in, Mia, I can tell you’re upset.  I’ve sent the bots to the other side of the house.  If he’s there, they will find him.”

Mia turned and looked at Orion, Audrey and Cid trying to cope with bringing Glenda and Burt around.  Mark ran over.  “Let me help,” he said.