by steve higgs
Tempest went forward to shake the man’s hand as he reached the bottom of the stairs. ‘Tempest Michaels. Thank you for the invitation.’
‘Goodness, no, thank you, young man. I fear your skills may be tested to the very limit this night. Are there more to join you yet, I count only five of the eight in your party.’
‘Yes, the other three will be along shortly, other commitments delayed their departure. May I please introduce the rest of my party?’ Tempest then turned to face his father, introducing him first, followed by everyone in the group one at a time. Lord Hale shook hands warmly with each of us.
When he got to Patience, she said, ‘What’s with the wifi in this place? I can’t get a signal on my phone.’
The old man chortled. ‘I’m terribly sorry, my dear. There’s no internet signal here. They offered to hook me up, but I refused. Blasted infernal modern technology. We’re better off without it if you ask me.’
Patience stared at her lifeless phone and started to hyperventilate. Then she stuck out a hand which flailed as it tried to grab me for support. ‘No phone. Amanda, there’s no phone. I think I need to lie down.’
Lord Hale eyed her quizzically. ‘Is your friend alright?’ he asked.
I cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘Compared to what?’ When I saw I had confused him further, I added, ‘She’ll be fine. She’s just a little dramatic. Where are our rooms please?’
‘Ah, yes. Travis will escort you to your accommodation where you can relax and change for dinner. Some of the other guests have congregated in the billiards room for pre-dinner drinks. Please join us there when you are ready. Dinner will be served sharply at eight.’
Lord Hale inclined his head with a smile and walked away across the room to disappear around a corner.
‘This way please, gentle folks,’ requested Travis, trying to scoop bags so he could carry them. Tempest and I quickly retrieved them from him; he moved slowly enough without being weighed down with extra items.
Like everyone else, I couldn’t help glancing about the grand house. It was enormous and the central hub we were now in stretched all the way up to a glass ceiling high above. I counted four stories above us and wondered how many houses in the country, or even the world, were bigger than this one.
Every wall was adorned with carved wood panels, oil paintings and tapestries. The floor was hard stone but most of it was covered by ornate rugs and there were candles everywhere though none of them were lit.
I expected to be led up the stairs to our rooms, but Travis walked toward a wall ahead of us instead. It was only when I was about to ask where he was taking us that I spotted the elevator. It was perfectly camouflaged in the wood panelling so only the button’s gentle glow at waist height gave it away. I might have walked by hundreds of times and never noticed it was there.
A press of a button and the doors slid open to reveal a shiny steel box inside. Travis led us inside but instead of pressing a button to take the elevator to its next destination, he entered a four-digit code on a panel. ‘You’re all on the first floor. You can access the house using the stairs.’
‘Why not the elevator?’ asked Tempest.
Travis turned slowly to make eye contact, his body creaking from the effort. ‘I’m afraid, sir, that it accesses private areas of the house. This is why we have a security code for its operation.’
I don’t think Travis’s answer did much for Tempest’s spidey-sense. He posed another question. ‘Why does every window have a set of shutters on it?’
This time Travis kept his eyes front as he answered so we couldn’t see the emotion on his face or read his facial cues. ‘We are close to the coast and very exposed here, sir. Storms can be violent.’ That seemed to be all the explanation he felt was necessary.
Tempest pressed on though. ‘How long does it take to shut them all?’
‘It’s an automated system, sir. The house has a control room from which the window shutters can be locked.’
‘You mean closed,’ Tempest confirmed. Travis didn’t reply and Tempest shot me his suspicious eyes.
When Travis pressed the button marked with a number one, I noted that the house had a basement and a sub-basement assuming that was what B1 and B2 meant. ‘What’s in the basements?’ I asked.
Travis didn’t answer, and it felt deliberate that he used the elevator’s arrival on the first floor to mask his lack of response. The doors opened and he shuffled off along a passageway with us following.
As we passed a window, Tempest caught sight of the front of the grounds outside. ‘Look,’ he said, pointing. ‘Caterer’s vans. I guess that’s how one cook can manage to feed all the guests.’ As we looked down, Big Ben’s unmistakable enormous black utility vehicle swung into a parking spot next to a van with a slew of gravel as he pulled on his handbrake.
Travis had shuffled down the corridor ahead of us, but Tempest wasn’t one for asking permission ever. He reached up to open the window, and despite the rain he leaned out to shout at his friend.
Big Ben looked up at his name being called. ‘Alright, bender,’ Big Ben’s voice echoed back; he was always so loud and gregarious.
‘Yes, hello, Ben,’ replied Tempest. ‘We’re on the first floor. Where are the newlyweds?’
‘They broke down and had to call for a mechanic. Actually, they broke down, couldn’t get a signal and I had to drive back two miles until I got a signal and then call a mechanic. I offered to bring Alice here with me rather than leave her stuck in the cold and wet, but Jagjit made like he didn’t trust me with his wife.’
‘I can’t think why,’ I said at normal volume so Big Ben wouldn’t hear. Tempest just grinned at me.
‘Anyway, they won’t stop touching each other and saying nice things to each other. It was making me feel a bit sick. I need to distract myself, send me some pictures of Amanda getting changed. That should do it.’
‘Yes, Ben, Amanda is standing next to me and can hear you,’ Tempest sighed.
I put a finger to my lips to keep Patience quiet and then stepped up to the window and called out, ‘Hi, Ben.’
‘Hey, everyone,’ Big Ben called back unconcerned that he had just asked my boyfriend to send him naked pictures of me. Tempest’s mother tutted. She did not approve of Tempest’s large friend and I could understand why. Big Ben was a walking mountain of testosterone. At six feet seven inches tall he had a face that could have made him a Hollywood film star and a muscular body that would have made him the greatest warrior in ancient Rome. ‘The rain just got even harder,’ Big Ben shouted up to us. ‘I’ll catch up shortly.’ Then he was gone, and silence returned as Tempest pulled the window shut once more.
‘Big Ben’s here,’ said Tempest unnecessarily.
Travis had stopped walking and was waiting for us to catch up. When we reached him, he announced that we had reached the first of our rooms. They were all the same and all huge. We took a look inside the first one as Tempest’s parents filed in. It had to be sixty feet in each direction and contained a four-poster bed. I shot Patience a look and got a grin in return.
The next room was for Tempest and me, but I dropped my bags at the door and went with Patience to her room. ‘How are you going to surprise him?’ I asked her as she threw her dress on the bed.
‘I haven’t decided yet, but that boy had better be pleased to see me or there’s gonna be trouble.’ I laughed at her. Big Ben and Patience were very much alike in their approach to relationships; neither one wanted one, but they were both very happy to fool around. Patience climbed onto the bed. ‘Maybe I should…’
I held up my hand to silence her. ‘I don’t want to know. Just have fun okay. It’s more than two hours until dinner, but try not to be late, eh?’
‘Two hours, huh?’ Patience thought about that. ‘I might have time to get the cuffs out.’
I put my hands over my ears and made a, ‘lalalala,’ sound to drown out anything else she might say. Back in my room, Tempest had unpacked his dinner jacket and my dress a
nd had them both hung up to let any creases fall out. He had also shucked his shirt and was looking quite delicious.
I needed to do my hair and makeup and shave my legs but… well, we had two hours.
Guest List. Saturday, December 10th 1947hrs
I sent Patience a text message saying I would meet her downstairs and hoped things had gone according to plan with Big Ben, then realised she wouldn’t get it only when it failed to send. I had a tiny clutch bag that would carry a phone and a lipstick and nothing else unless it was very small, but there seemed little point in carrying my phone if I couldn’t use it. I threw it in at the last moment anyway and stood up ready to go.
‘Shall we?’ asked Tempest. Like a typical man, getting ready had taken him about five minutes, three of which was trying to tie his bow tie. His short hair dried in minutes and needed only the gentlest persuasion to form a suitable style. For the last half an hour, while I had scrubbed and tidied and crimped and worked my way through the two dozen stages I required for a night in a ball gown, he sat quietly reading a book.
Finally ready to go, he offered me his arm so I could hook a hand into his elbow, then we locked up and knocked for his parents. There was no answer from them. ‘I guess they went down already,’ he said. ‘Let’s go find them.’
It was easy to track them down thankfully. Though I had been concerned we might roam the enormous house aimlessly looking for the other guests, we were drawn by noise and light. Most of the passageways were not lit, so we followed the ones that were, the sound of conversation growing louder ahead of us. When we found an open door and heard a roar of laughter, we knew we had found the right place. Inside, someone was telling a funny tale.
The person, it turned out, was Tempest’s dad. He had the room’s attention as he regaled them with a story. Tempest’s mum had a grumpy expression on her face and the look of someone that wanted her husband to stop talking. He was clearly winding up for the big finish when we walked in. ‘…and then he said, I bet you can get twice that for it in Bangkok!’
I had no idea what story he had told but everyone in the room was laughing. Everyone except Tempest’s mum, that is, probably because she had heard the story a dozen or more times before. I spotted Frank just as he spotted us, but other than Tempest’s parents, I didn’t recognise anyone else in the room.
Frank was crossing the room to greet us; he seemed in fine mood, a broad grin on his face. ‘Hello, Amanda. Good evening, Tempest.’ He shook Tempest’s hand and kissed my cheek.
‘Where’s Dr Parrish?’ Tempest asked.
‘He just stepped out. He’ll be back soon.’
‘Tempest Michaels,’ a woman’s voice called across the room.
Our heads swung in her direction just as a petite African woman detached herself from a small group to come our way. Tempest clearly knew her from somewhere.
They embraced briefly, a quick air-kiss, then he turned to me. ‘This is Gina. I met her in Cornwall in October when I was trying to work out what the pirates were.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ I said as she shook my hand. ‘Are you connected with the paranormal?’
Tempest answered for her. ‘Gina hails from the scientific discovery end of the spectrum.’
‘I have some of my colleagues with me actually.’ She turned to welcome three men who were coming across the room to join her. All three had beards and were in their fifties or sixties. ‘I would like to introduce Professors Wiseman, Larkin and Pope.’
More hands were shaken as Tempest and I met the three men and then Dr Lyndon Parrish rejoined the room. ‘Dr Parrish,’ Tempest acknowledged as the two men locked eyes. Their relationship was adversarial or would be if Tempest considered Dr Parrish to be worth competing against.
‘Mr Michaels,’ replied Dr Parrish with a brief nod of his head. He made sure to accentuate the word mister to differentiate himself as a doctor. I knew Tempest thought the man was an idiot and doubted anything would change his mind tonight. I never met him when his rival firm was in operation. It opened just as I was leaving the police but was gone so quickly that our paths never crossed. He and Tempest sat in distinctly different camps on the belief system.
The room was filled with an eclectic mix of people; some looked to be by themselves where others were in groups like Gina and her professors. One man looked like a magician, another like a spy or a detective from a fifty’s noir movie. Scanning around, I next spotted a very attractive woman in her mid-forties sat in one corner ignoring everyone as she sipped a Bloody Mary while watching the dynamics of the room like a hawk scanning for prey. I asked who she was, and though Tempest didn’t know, Frank leaned in to tell me her name was Lady Emily Pinkerton and that she was a vampire. Tempest shot me an amused smile and inside my head I joked that it probably wasn’t a Bloody Mary she was drinking after all.
I continued to scan the room. As someone moved, I spotted a short person. I didn’t want to label him as a dwarf, but he had a bushy beard and long hair tied into braids that flowed over his shoulders and he was a shade over four feet tall. All he needed was some armour and he could walk onto a Lord of the Rings filmset ready to go. Then there were five women, dressed in earthy colours and wearing necklaces of braided flowers and lots of silver. If I had to guess, I was going to say they were witches of some kind. It was quite the guest list and they were all here for the same reason; to save Lord Hale from the monster he believed was going to kill him this weekend.
Of Lord Hale, the eccentric, enigmatic host, there was no sign, until just before eight o’clock when Travis reappeared in the bar with a small gong. He hit it with a soft hammer. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, your host, Lord Hale.’ A polite smattering of applause rippled around the room even as Lord Hale waved for it to stop.
‘I want to thank you all for coming. In a few short hours, the clock will strike midnight and it will be my eightieth birthday. I do not expect to survive the day and have known for most of my life that it would be the day on which I would die. The legend of my family is one that stretches back centuries, but I do not know what event, what treachery or evil was perpetrated to have caused such a curse to befall my family. That is why I have asked you all here tonight. When the monster strikes, when it comes for me, it is my hope that the greatest minds in the paranormal community will be able to prevent the beast from dragging me to my doom. My hope is that between you, you will be able to isolate the monster, or determine what motivates it so that the curse can be undone.’
As if on cue, lighting flashed across the window behind him. Then the gong sounded again, and, like a ghoul, Travis appeared from a dark shadow by the doorway. ‘Dinner is served, sir.’
‘Patience and Big Ben aren’t here yet. Neither are Jagjit and Alice,’ I hissed at Tempest. He just shrugged. I guess he was right in that there wasn’t much we could do about it. Mercifully, Big Ben and Patience appeared as we got to the door, Big Ben still tying his bow tie and looking flustered for a change.
Patience winked at me. She had been having a good time then. She snuck in next to me as the guests all filed after Lord Hale and Travis. ‘Girl, I need some food. I am starving. I worked up such an appetite.’
‘How did he take it?’
‘Girl, listen to you getting all personal about my sex life. Well, don’t you worry, sugar, because I got all kinds of details to share with you.’
‘No, I mean, how did he take the surprise that you were here. Tempest basically lied to him about the whole thing.’ I had no desire to hear what Patience got up to with Big Ben. I suspected it would scare me.
‘Well, you know Big Ben; he comes around pretty quick when there’s some action to be had. I was on the bed waiting for him, so when he came in, I let him know what was on offer and that was that. He just kinda shrugged and said he was gonna kill Tempest later.’
‘Are you feeling better about being here now?’ I asked as we filed into the dining hall. It was a huge vaulted room with a long table running down the entire length of it. Thirty seats
were set up, fifteen along each side with one at the very end for Lord Hale. There was some shuffling around for people to find their seats as each place had a little name card next to it. Our first course, which appeared to be a cold ham hock salad was already served and there were platters of fresh bread and bottles of wine on the table.
‘That looks a bit small,’ Patience commented, eyeing the delicate portion on her plate. ‘Do you think they’ll be some chicken to follow? I could eat me some fried chicken right now.’ I doubted the cook was planning to serve fried chicken. I also wondered what decorum we would need to follow tonight. Was Lord Hale about to say grace? Would there be staff to serve food? We knew there were caterers here, but were they doubling as wait staff?
Just as everyone lined up behind their chairs and gentlemen moved to pull out chairs for the ladies, all the lights went out. Patience shrieked right next to me, which made me jump, my hands grabbing the chair so I had something steady to anchor myself. The room was still lit by a row of candles down the centre of the table but the flickering light from them did little to keep back the gloom. The room had no windows, but it did have a fireplace and from it, a low moan began to emanate.
The fireplace was directly behind Lord Hale. I saw the old man turn to face the sound as it grew in volume. ‘You are early!’ he cried. The moaning noise was unnerving; it sounded like a voice.
‘Tempest, what’s happening?’ shouted his mother. His parents were on the opposite side of the table, his father with an arm around his wife to comfort her but I could see they were just as disturbed by the turn of events as I was.
Next to me Patience was going nuts. ‘Arrrrgh! There’s a monster coming. I knew I should have stayed home. This is God punishing me for enjoying the company of men. Tomorrow, if I get out of this, I swear I am going to church and I’m gonna pray. And that money I was gonna use to get a wax. I’m gonna put that money in the collection box.’
