The Crockworthy Sisters Box Set - Parts 1-3

by Marcus Brown

  Their recuperation would take a long time, if not physically, but mentally. They knew Abigail was still bound to the room, but hadn’t stepped foot inside since.

  That same day, the sisters made their pact.

  Chapter Four

  She could hear the wheezing noises coming from the other side of the room.

  “Mother,” Tabitha called hesitantly.

  There was no response, but the wheezing sound seemed to be closer than it was moments before.

  “Mother, answer me,” Tabitha demanded.

  There was still no response.

  Tabitha clicked her fingers and seconds later, a candle from the room at the end of the corridor flew into her hands.

  “Illuminate,” she commanded, and the candle flickered to life.

  Abigail Crockworthy was standing inches from her, her grotesque face too close for Tabitha’s liking.

  She jumped back and screamed as her mother smiled, her blackened and broken teeth made worse only by her mother’s putrid breath.

  The eyes were the same, but her hair was snow white and matted with dirt and cobwebs. The long grey skirt she wore looked ragged.

  Tabitha shuddered as Abigail cackled, the sound of a mad old witch.

  “Did I scare you, daughter?”

  Tabitha’s heart banged inside her chest.

  “No,” she replied, lying.

  “You never could lie to me, Tabitha,” Abigail croaked.

  “I need your help,” Tabitha replied, reluctantly.

  Abigail cackled again, and without warning a black tar like substance spilled from her mouth and ran down her chin.

  Tabitha turned away, the sight making her nauseous.

  “So,” she said, rubbing her gnarled hands, “what I predicted has finally come to pass, and after all these years of being imprisoned in this filthy place, you come to me, the woman that gave birth to you, begging for my help.”

  “I’d let you rot in here for eternity if I had my way.”

  “Then get out of my sight, ungrateful bitch and leave me in peace.”

  “I need your help,” Tabitha said again. “We all do.”

  “Then spit it out, daughter.” Abigail grinned. “It hasn’t escaped my attention that your sisters do not accompany you.”

  “They’re in trouble, Mother.”

  “Ah, Daughter,” she said, sucking the air in between her teeth, “it soothes my soul to hear you refer to me as your mother after all these years. The situation must indeed be dire.”

  “You don’t have a soul.”

  “Oh yes. And whose fault is that?” Abigail hissed.

  “Ours, and we will never forgive ourselves for what we did to you.”

  “You were always the most stubborn and headstrong of my children and should have known what would happen.”

  “I’m my mother’s daughter,” she spat. “Would you have done anything different in my shoes?”

  Abigail edged closer and pointed a crooked finger at her daughter. “It matters not. You cannot change what you and your sisters did so long ago.”

  “Will you help me?”

  “Only if you give me what I want.”

  “If I do, we’ll have no way of containing you. The last time we gave you freedom, you turned us over to the Nazis.”

  “Would you have done anything different in my shoes?” she mimicked.

  “We would never have turned you over to our enemies.”

  “Ah, that’s where we differ. You have your souls intact, whereas I do not.”

  Tabitha felt immense guilt.

  “If we’d known what would happen, we would never have brought you back.”

  “You and your sisters meddled with time. Despite my many warnings, you stepped beyond the laws of nature and tried to stop my death.”

  “We missed you. It had been over two hundred years. We thought we could change what happened and bring you back.”

  “And bring me back you did, but my soul had already left my body and what remains is what you see now – a shell with a heart and mind, but no soul.”

  “If we could change what we did, we would, but we can’t cross our own timeline again. The ramifications could be catastrophic.”

  “You learn your lesson too late, Daughter.”

  “Will you help me?” Tabitha asked again.

  “You know my terms.”

  “I can’t let you go again, Mother. We can’t risk you exposing us again.”

  “Then you have a big decision to make.” Abigail smirked. “For the first time in many years, it seems I hold the upper hand.”

  She shuffled away from her daughter and dropped the silver chains she held in her hand. They were attached to the irons clamped around her ankles.

  Tabitha rushed out of the room and closed the door behind her. She leant against the door and breathed deeply, thankful she hadn’t lost her composure in front of her mother.

  “Bring the book to me,” Abigail called out in her raspy voice.

  Chapter Five

  Trey banged on the oak cathedral door.

  He’d been calling Tabitha all morning and hadn’t gotten an answer. He was concerned and decided to drive to Moonlight Manor and see how she was for himself.

  Trey knew Tabitha well enough to know she’d been going through hell.

  The door opened and he could immediately see she’d been crying.

  “Can I come in?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she said, blowing her nose on her handkerchief, “but I won’t be much company right now.”

  He side stepped her and watched as she closed the door.

  “Have you eaten?”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever eat again.”

  Trey wasn’t going to agree with her, but since they’d made the gruesome discovery in the pies, he’d had little appetite left.

  Thinking she would feel better away from the manor, he put a proposition to her. “How about I drive you down to the Dee and you can buy us a bag of chips to share?”

  “I don’t wanna go out. What if there’s news about my sisters?” She choked on the words and the tears ran down her cheeks. “I don’t want to be stuffing my face with chips if they’re found.”

  Trey rushed over and pulled her into his arms, trying to console her.

  Her whole body shook as long, racking sobs poured out of her.

  “Come on, Tabitha, let’s go in the sitting room.”

  He led her into the room and sat beside her.

  “What if he’s hurting them?”

  “I can’t answer that, but I believe he’s playing games with you. If he follows the usual pattern, they’ll turn up within a few weeks, but I think he’ll use them as leverage before. If he wanted them dead, then they would be by now, if only to prove a point. He latched onto you, played the game and lost. I believe he took your sisters to punish you, and to swing the game back in his favour.”

  Deep down, he knew there was a possibility the sisters were already dead, but he didn’t want Tabitha to feel any worse than she already did. Little did he know that Tabitha and her sisters were immortal and couldn’t die or be killed by conventional methods.

  “It’s definitely a man then? Miriam’s partner, I mean? You know that for sure?”

  “Without a doubt. We searched her home and found men’s clothes and all sorts of other stuff. It could only be a man. She never spoke about her private life to her staff, but we’re convinced whoever he is lived there with her.”

  “But how did he get in here and take my sisters?”

  Trey couldn’t answer her, but he had an uneasy feeling something more was going on than he was privy to.

  “Anything back from the labs yet?” she asked.

  “Preliminary results definitely show human DNA present in the pies our John Doe left here. They did come from the same batch that was discovered at both Miriam’s home and business addresses.”

  “Oh, my Goddess, this couldn’t get any worse.”

  Her face cracked
and she dissolved once again into tears.

  *

  Trey stayed for a few hours, but duty called and he was forced to leave.

  Tabitha felt much better having him there, but once alone again, she had that unshakable gnawing feeling in her stomach.

  Chapter Six

  Tabitha nervously made her way down the stone cellar steps and stood outside the door on the left-hand side of the corridor.

  There was still no sign of her sisters and she had to do everything within her power to find them.

  She didn’t feel any better knowing Miriam had an accomplice. It just meant that whoever it was, was still out there, watching and waiting.

  Tabitha couldn’t bear to think what he was doing to her sisters.

  However, she knew they were still alive because she could sense them.

  Their witch bond was strengthened by the familial bond, but it didn’t give any clues as to where her sisters had been taken to.

  It had only been just over a day and neither she nor her colleagues had heard anything in regard to their disappearance.

  No ransom demand as she’d been expecting.

  It was no secret the Crockworthy sisters and their ancestors had amassed a vast fortune over the last three hundred years, and many times Tabitha had been asked why she carried on working for a pittance when the family had billions stashed away in banks all over the world.

  “Because I love my job,” she would tell them every time.

  There had been no sign of forced entry. The only thing amiss was the two uneaten pies left in the kitchen.

  Miriam and her accomplice were harvesting organs from their victims and using them in pies that were being bought and consumed by the general public.

  “Where are you?” she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “Tabitha, I’m still waiting,” her mother called out, obviously hearing her in the corridor.

  Tabitha pushed the door open and clicked her fingers. The candle once again came to her.

  “Illuminate,” she commanded, and the flame appeared.

  Abigail was stood in the centre of the room, looking as haggard as she had before.

  “So, have you made a decision?”

  “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t,” Tabitha answered.

  “Then spit it out,” Abigail ordered. “I’m anxious to get out of here.”

  “I will set you free, but with conditions.”

  “You’re not in any position to dictate conditions.”

  “It’s my way, or no deal, Mother. We let you out once before and look what happened to us. I will set you free, but I won’t allow you to take the book.”

  “But…”

  Tabitha interrupted. “It’s the source of our power, not yours and I won’t let you use it to command the dark. Doing so would be catastrophic. You told us that many times, do you not remember?”

  “Without the book, my own powers are limited, as would yours be.”

  “And that’s a blessing as far as you’re concerned. My sisters and I would have our combined powers at our disposal if need be, but you will cause little harm with what power remains within you. Your powers are long gone and they will never return.”

  “Then no deal, Daughter. You know your sisters are immortal, and can suffer for eternity for all I care.”

  “As you wish, but you don’t hold all the cards, this time,” Tabitha replied, blowing out the candle and turning her back to exit the room.”

  “Wait,” Abigail called out, sounding desperate. “Okay, you win, but give me something. I cannot make my way in this world looking as I do now.”

  “Illuminate,” Tabitha whispered as the flame came to life once more. She turned around and looked at her once beautiful mother.

  “Please, Tabitha. If you have any love left in your heart for me, do this one thing and once we have located your sisters and made certain they are safe, you will never see or hear from me again.”

  “Tell me what I need to know, and I swear an oath, I will release you, and give you enough of my own power so that you may survive on your own. You’ll be free to take whatever form you choose.”

  “How do I know you’ll honour the terms once I help you?”

  “Book,” Tabitha called out. Moments later, the book was sat in her hands.

  She could see Abigail staring at it -- her eyes shining.

  “Give it to me,” Abigail begged.

  “Never, but in good faith, I will ask the book to harness a small amount of my power. Once you’ve given me what I want, they will transfer to you. Deal?”

  “Agreed.”

  “Tell me what you know. How were my sisters taken from here?”

  Chapter Seven

  He walked around them full circle.

  They were both on their knees, their heads and hands locked into the stocks he’d built, just for them. One place remained empty and he looked forward to the day Tabitha would take her place.

  The auburn-haired witch had sobbed constantly, but the blonde appeared steadfast in her resolve, he could see that.

  Looking upon them, he felt a mixture of revulsion and excitement being this close to them, but another part of him felt anger. He hadn’t yet managed to snare the eldest of them, but all in good time he thought.

  “Are you ready to eat?” he asked.

  “You can shove your food up your arse,” Talia replied.

  “Tally, please,” Tamara sobbed. “Don’t antagonise him anymore.”

  “Your sister is right, Talia. We have a few more things to do before you die and I can spend a lot of that time making you wish you were dead.”

  “Screw you,” Talia replied.

  “All in good time, Witch,” he responded.

  “Who are you, and what do you want from us?” Tamara asked.

  “Do you not recognise me?” he asked. “From our village in Salem, so long ago.”

  “If she did, she wouldn’t have asked, Dickhead,” Talia hissed. “You’re not the sharpest tool in the box, are you?”

  “Shut your mouth, Witch, or I’ll cut your tongue out. After all, you don’t need it for me to strip you of your powers.”

  “Tally, please,” Tamara begged.

  “You wouldn’t know how to take our powers, even if you tried. If you were strong enough to do it, we wouldn’t be in stocks.”

  He walked around the back of the sisters.

  There was a loud cracking noise and he smiled as Talia screamed out in pain.

  “My ankle,” Talia cried, as he stamped down upon it, breaking the bone.

  “Oh, please don’t hurt her,” Tamara sobbed.

  “Perhaps your sister will learn her lesson now and keep her filthy mouth closed. She has many other bones I can break should she fail to remember her place.”

  Tears fell down Talia’s face.

  He knew she couldn’t move out of the kneeling position she was locked into and that pleased him all the more.

  “Tally, he’ll hurt you if you don’t keep quiet. Please, if only for me.”

  “Now, let me ask you again, are you ready to eat?”

  “Yes,” Tamara replied, hastily.

  “And your sister?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Talia grunted.

  “I didn’t quite hear you, Witch,” he taunted.

  “I said, yes,” Talia answered, louder, but through gritted teeth.

  “Good. We will have a much nicer time if we can all get along. Now, I’m going to secure your feet and then release you from the stocks. You won’t get far clamped in irons, but any funny business and I’ll chop your feet off.”

  “Please, can you take the chains off of us?” Tamara asked. “They burn our skin.”

  “Do you think I’m that foolish? The chains have been enchanted and will stay fastened, so you and your sister can’t blink out of here.”

  He clamped them in irons and Talia shrieked as he attached the clamp to her broken ankle.

  Once their feet were secured, he released th
em from the stocks.

  “Help your sister,” he ordered Tamara.

  He watched as Talia wrapped her arm around Tamara’s neck. She grimaced as she stood up. He was excited to see her in pain.

  With Tamara’s help, she hopped over to the bed with the dirty mattress.

  “Now sit,” he ordered. “I’ll be back with a couple of tasty pies in a short while.”

  Chapter Eight

  The lifeless body of Miriam Donaldson lay on the metal table in the state of the art morgue.

  Trey Dembélé shook his head as he looked at her skin. In some places, she’d been scrubbed down to her flesh.

  He picked up the Dictaphone.

  “Finds from the external examination.” He paused. “I believe the deceased suffered from some form of anxiety and or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Skin has been scrubbed from the neck downwards. A second person, unidentified at present, must have assisted with parts the deceased was unable to reach. Various brands of bleach with varying degrees of strength were discovered at the deceased’s home and business addresses and I surmise this was used to scrub the skin.”

  He clicked off the Dictaphone.

  Inspector Nathan Rigby stepped forward. He was wearing protective clothing and his face covered with a mask.

  “Have you ever seen anything like this before, Trey?”

  “Nope. This woman must have been in agony every single day. Forget the fact she was suffocated, then crucified -- every movement must have brought her immense pain. I don’t know whether to feel sorry for her, or not.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Rigby stated. “This nut-job was partly responsible for the deaths of at least five people that we know of.”

  “She was a victim too, Nathan, and whilst you’re in my morgue, show some respect and watch your mouth.”

  “Sorry, Doc, but I’m finding it pretty hard to have any sympathy for that.” He pointed to Miriam.

  “The most important thing is finding out as much as I can. The dead will always speak if there is somebody willing to listen.”

  “Well, if that bitch can speak, perhaps she’ll tell you where the boss’ sisters are.”

  Trey glowered at him.

  “Still no leads then?”