Malevolent Hall 1666AD

by Rosemary Lynch

  “Yes but worse. I lied the other day. I didn’t fall off the chair while changing a light bulb.”

  “What happened?” he asked, giving her a look. “The truth,” he pushed. He put his hand under her chin and tilted it so she was looking at him.

  “I fought a demon, a big, scary fucking demon. Eric helped me to kill it, and he said he is coming for me.”

  “Eric, who the hell is, Eric?” he asked, with a rise of his eyebrow.

  “The ghost I told you about,” she said. He leaned closer and lowered his voice.

  “Was that who you meant when you called me Eric?” he asked. “Were you calling for him?”

  “Mike, he is you, I think,” she said.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” he said, anger rising in his voice.

  “He said you are the same.”

  “And what does that mean, and who is coming?” he questioned, his voice raising even more in pitch.

  “Well, I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s the demon, the one that killed my family. He is coming for me now,” she said, her voice trembling, as she spoke the words. “Don’t be angry,” Matilda begged grasping at him.

  “I’m not angry, Tilly,” he replied, and his hands lifted to her face before sweeping back through her hair. “I just don’t understand, any of this.”

  “Neither do I, Mike,” she confessed.

  He pulled back the lock and opened the door. She inched towards the staircase and was about to go down when Mike grabbed her arm.

  “I’ll go first,” he said.

  She placed her hand on his shoulder, and he glanced at her. “I wasn’t thinking of him, I just wasn’t sure you were yourself.” He smiled at her.

  “I can assure you, it was me, Tilly.” She gave nervous chuckle, still not entirely convinced. They carried on down the stairs, and Mike hit the switch for the hall light as they reached the bottom. They glanced both ways.

  “Where did it come from?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. Mike there’s a book hidden somewhere in the Hall that should explain what’s going on, I have to find it.”

  “A book, what book and how do you know about this book?”

  “Eric told me,” she replied. He turned to her, placing his hand on her arm.

  “Tilly, how can you be sure you can trust this Eric, if he is a ghost.”

  “Because, I can, I know him.”

  “You know him, where from?” he asked.

  “Another life,” she replied, and she looked at his puzzled frown.

  “How did you know him?” Matilda swallowed, hesitant to answer.

  “Tilly” he pushed.

  “We were lovers,” she said.

  “Shit,” he groaned, and he held his hand to his head. “This just gets worse. So you thought upstairs that your deceased lover was using my body to make love to you?”

  “What! No, no, of course, not, I wanted sex with you not him, but he was there and ...”

  “What the fuck, he was there watching us!” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, dishevelling it.

  “No – yes - no I mean he was, and then he disappeared, and when we finished he was standing behind you, that’s when I said his name because he startled me.” He paced the hall.

  “So you thought, he whooshed into me,” he said, using his hands to demonstrate. “Used my body to make love to you, and then whooshed back out!”

  She threw her hands to her face and groaned.

  “No. He is you, Mike.” She broke down and cried in exasperation.

  “Hey, I’m sorry, Tilly, please don’t cry,” he said, and he pulled her into his arms.

  “Mike, he keeps saying you are the same. I don’t know what it means, and I don’t what to do. He said all of this was because of an enchantment that I had done in a previous life, he said he is coming and he calls him Richard.” She wiped her eyes. “I have to find the book before he comes or Richard is going to take me back to wherever the hell it is he comes from,” she said in a shaky voice.

  He swept the hair from her eyes and ran his knuckles down her cheek. “I won’t let him take you,” he rushed to reassure. “Let me take you away from here, come back to my house in Chelsea,” he offered. She shook her head.

  “I can’t, Mike, I have to end it, I can’t explain why, I just know I have too. I need to avenge my family and I want my home back. I think it’s going to happen tomorrow, it’s my birthday and Halloween, and the dead are at their strongest then.”

  “Then we will turn this place upside down until we find your book,” he insisted. “Starting back in the hidden room, I’m sure there is an energy force of some kind in there.” He cupped a hand to the side of her face.

  “We will find it, I promise.”

  “I know, thank you.” Matilda breathed out slowly, deeply trying to steady her heart. He drew her into his arms and hugged her. She froze and he did too. She slowly turned her head and looked up at him.

  “What the hell was that?” Mike whispered, and turning with her, they looked towards the stairs.

  “I think it’s my little brother,” she mumbled, as the sound of a giggling child grew louder.

  “That does not sound like a little boy,” Mike replied, taking hold of her hand. The giggle echoed as it came up the stairs. Mike and Matilda exchanged a glance, and took a step back.

  “He’s coming to get you,” the eerie voice said chillingly.

  “Mike,” she whispered, and he gripped her hand tighter as the doors along the hallway began to open and close.

  Slamming and banging!

  Slamming and banging!

  The lights went out, plunging them into darkness.

  “Mike!” Matilda cried, louder.

  “Run, Tilly,” he urged shoving her, and they darted for the stairs to the tower. He pushed her up first, and she scrambled to the top.

  “Shit, something’s got me!” he yelled. She spun around and Mike suddenly went down.

  “Mike!” she screamed, her hand pressing on the curve of stonewall as she felt her way back down.

  “Tilly,” he yelled. Something dug into the back of his leg, holding him.

  “Mike!” she screamed. “Lluminare,” she yelled, and she lifted her hand and guided the orb of light to see what had him.

  His eyes caught hers.

  “Shit!” he screamed. His face hit the step and he disappeared back down the stairs.

  “No - Mike!” Matilda screamed launching down the stairs after him. His hands reached out to her as he thudded down the stairs. She discarded the orb onto a stair, and grabbed at his hands, and anchoring down she heaved him back with all her might.

  “Fuck!” he yelled, and his forehead scrunched with the pain. “Tilly, get to the tower, bolt the door now!” he ordered.

  Her heart pounded, and the adrenaline coursed through her veins, she was not about to abandon him to save herself. Without another thought, she let go of his hands, flung herself on top of his back, and slid down his body.

  “Tilly, no, what the fuck are you doing!” he screamed. Her feet hit something, she kicked out furiously, and it growled at her.

  “Lluminare,” she cried, and her hand reached upwards desperately for her orb of light. As it reconnected with her it shot down the stairs to her, she caught it and spun around to see what had growled.

  “Oh – my – God!” she screamed. The child stopped pulling at Mike’s leg. He looked at her, tilted his head to one side, and grinned.

  “Silly Tilly, he is coming for you, coming for you, coming for you,” he sang.

  “Teddy,” she cried, “no, Edward, no!”

  The ‘child’ drew back and growled. It laughed as it scurried away on all fours like a monkey and disappeared down the stairs.

  The lights came back on.

  Matilda slid off Mike; she sat on the bottom step, and with a wave of her hand disbursed her orb. Her face fell into her hands, and she wept.

  “Tilly, my God, Tilly what did you do, wha
t was it?” Mike asked. Shimmering down next to her, he pulled her into his arms and held her.

  “Edward, it was Edward,” she mumbled. Her little brother, her darling little Teddy had been turned into a demon and seeing him like that had almost destroyed her.

  “Tilly, please come upstairs before it comes back,” Mike begged, urging her to her feet. Limp in his arms she allowed him to take her back upstairs. He slammed the door shut and bolted it, his eyes following her as she wandered aimlessly to the bed and sat down. Gathering a piece of fabric from her dress Matilda wiped her eyes.

  “Teddy,” she sobbed, her sweet, innocent little brother should have been in heaven with the angels, not turned into a monstrous demon and it was all her bloody fault.

  Mike sat and put his arm around her.

  “I’m so sorry, Tilly,” he said.

  “Eleven years ago I couldn’t save him, Mike, I just froze, I just sat there and let the fucking demon take him and turn him into that - that thing.” She leaned into him, and he gave her a gentle squeeze.

  “Matilda, it’s not your fault, there was nothing you could have done, you were only a kid yourself,” he assured.

  “Mike, if I kill it, will it save him, will my brother go to heaven and be at peace,” she asked, looking up at him with hope. He nodded.

  “Yes, I’m sure he will.”

  “Then I’m going to fucking kill that demon,” Matilda cursed. “Even if it is the last thing I ever do.”

  His hand lifted to her face, and he wiped her tears with his thumb. Her heart lifted at the love she saw in his eyes for her. His lips skimmed her face, and brushed her mouth, before settling on her lips. As they kissed, she felt a wave of familiarity wash over her, as if they had done this before, as if they had been together before, many, many years ago.

  She looked at the four-poster and saw red, velvet drapes, she glanced to the window, and there were red velvet curtains. Her eyes turned to the panelling on the wall beside the door.

  “Holy shit, I remember,” she yelled, making poor Mike jump.

  “What, you remember what?” he asked.

  “You, me, and Eric,” she replied.

  “Oh no,” he groaned, with a shake of his head. “Please don’t tell me we were a threesome, because I’m so not into that.” She laughed back her tears and shoved him off her.

  “No. I mean, you are Eric now and then. I get what he means. You are Eric reincarnated and I’m Tilly of the past.”

  “Okay,” he said. “So Eric died, and I’m him reborn, is that what you mean?”

  “Yes, your ghost from the past is trying to help us, trying to warn us about Richard.”

  “So why don’t you have a ghost?” he asked.

  “Well, I’m not sure, maybe it has something to do with the enchantment.”

  “Who is Richard, this isn’t making any sense?”

  “I know it isn’t.” She turned to him, and lifted her hand to his cheek.

  “Mike, the first time I met you all those years ago, I felt something, an incredible attraction that I fought so hard to ignore.”

  He went to speak but she placed her finger on his lips to silence him.

  “Let me finish first. We have been in this room together before today. You thought you recognised it.”

  He went to speak, but she shook her head, and pressed her finger harder on his lips.

  “Tilly and Eric were lovers, but they were in a forbidden relationship, and he used to come here, to Tilly’s tower in secret. How, you ask.”

  “Well, I would if you took your finger off my mouth,” he mumbled sarcastically.

  “Sorry,” she said, removing it.

  “Okay, how?” he asked. Matilda pointed to the left side of the door. She got off the bed and walked over to it.

  “Ready?” she asked, and he shimmied over the bed towards her and stood.

  “Okay,” he said, joining her.

  Matilda pushed on one of the panels and it clicked. She pushed again and a secret door squealed open.

  “Shit,” he mumbled, staring into the darkness beyond.

  “Just then as we kissed, I saw it and the whole room was different, as it was in Tilly’s time. I wanted to tell you the other day what I found out on my family tree,” she added.

  “What?” he asked.

  “In 1666 an Eric Tovenaar was hung by his brother, Richard for the murder of Richard’s bride to be, Matilda Rhiamon.”

  “You’re not serious?” he said, and he frowned.

  “I am, it’s true, and Richard went onto marry Matilda’s sister and they had a Toveneer son and a Rhiamon daughter. I’m sure your line of Tovenners connects to the son and mine to the daughter.”

  “So we’re related?”

  “Well, yes but hundreds of years ago, like a lot of people are.”

  “So where does this go?” he asked.

  “To the chamber we found. He must have come through the secret entrance in the fireplace. The story written says that Eric killed Matilda but I don’t think that’s true. I believe they placed a protective shield on this room to stop someone, or something from finding out what they were doing.”

  “Richard,” he said, and she replied with a nod.

  “Richard must have found out about their affair and killed her, but he couldn’t kill Eric as they are blood related somehow and blood can’t kill blood. I still don’t know what this enchantment is, but it is something to go on.” She glanced down at the floor and saw blood.

  “Mike is that coming from you?” she asked, and she pointed to the floor.

  He looked down.

  “Shit,” he mumbled, pulling up his trouser leg. Blood ran down his calf, across his ankles and onto the wooden floor. “That fucking thing got me,” he cursed. Then he admonished himself, that thing was her brother. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

  “It’s okay, you’re right it is a thing, it’s not my brother anymore. You’d better take those off and let me have a look.”

  Mike slipped off his trousers and lay face down on the bed.

  “It looks like claws, and they have gone deep into your calves. I will need to put something on it,” she said, and she walked over to her chest. Opening it, she took out a number of different vials, a small mixing bowl, and a bandage.

  Mike sat up and watched her as she mixed a concoction into a paste.

  “Tilly,” he said her name in a whisper. She glanced up at him.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m feeling just a tad scared,” he admitted. She smiled at him, stood, and walked to him.

  “Mike, I’m fucking shitting my pants, but I don’t know what else to do. I can’t run away, and, well I understand if you want to leave.” He pulled her down on to the bed.

  “Tilly, I would never leave you. I know we have to fight this demon. It has something to do with both of us, and well, like you I need to know but it doesn’t stop me feeling scared. I’m not scared at what may happen to me, I’m scared he’s going to take you away from me, Tilly.”

  “Never,” she whispered, and as his lips met hers, she knew she had found her soul mate in Mike. They were destined to be together no matter what, and no demon was going to part them.

  Mike pulled back and listened.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s Parker, he’s barking,” he said. Matilda looked towards the door.

  “You don’t think - another demon maybe?”

  “I should go down and check on him,” he said. She nodded and they stood together. Mike unlocked the door and cautiously headed downstairs.

  As Matilda put away her lotions and herbs, she could hear Parker through the open door, and he sounded like he was going crazy.

  “Tilly, go quickly he needs you,” a ghostly voice whispered in her ear. She glanced over her shoulder, but there was no one there. A sudden shiver rippled through her body, a bad feeling, an unnerving vibe.

  “Mike,” she yelled and she ran down the stairs after him.

 
Mike opened the door to the kitchen and Parker stood growling.

  “Parker, what’s up boy?” he asked, and he crouched down to fuss him. As he did, the dog launched itself at him. Mike screeched as he fell backwards and Parker’s teeth bore down on him. Mike lifted his arms to protect his face as the dog tore into him.

  “Parker, stop, get off! What the fuck are you doing?” he screamed as he wrestled against his dog, his teeth snapping at him. He was going berserk; froth poured from his mouth, his eyes were red and he seemed to Mike that he was double his usual size.

  On hearing Mike scream, Matilda increased her speed down the stairs and she shot across the foyer. She screamed as she saw Mike on the floor, blood pouring from his arms as Parker savaged him.

  “Mike!” she screamed.

  “Get out, Tilly, he’s gone crazy,” Mike screamed back at her. Her eyes darted around the kitchen; she shot forward, grabbed her rolling pin off the kitchen worktop, and whacked Parker across the head. The dog merely stopped snapping at Mike, and turned to look at her.

  “Fucking hell, what it is?” she screamed. The dog’s face was distorted and full of menace. It growled and turned its attention back to Mike, bearing down on him again trying to get to his throat.

  “Get off him!” she screamed, and she whacked at it in a frenzy with the rolling pin.

  His lips pulled back over his teeth as he turned towards her, his eyes glowering at her. Leaping off Mike, Parker flew at her. Matilda screamed and bringing the rolling pin up in defence, she hit the dog with such force that he ricocheted backwards and hit the wall. Parker dropped to the floor and whimpered. Mike scrambled to his feet.

  “Mike,” she cried running to him. He swept her in his bloody arms and held her. Tears poured from his eyes as he looked at Parker. Now back to his normal self, the dog lay, still.

  “Mike, I’m sorry, but I had to stop him,” Matilda wept.

  “It’s okay, I know. I don’t understand what happened,” Mike sobbed. Releasing Matilda, he ventured towards his dog. He crouched down and touched him. He was dead.

  “Parker, oh God,” he wept, pulling his hand to his mouth as tears streamed down his face.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Matilda cried, throwing the bloodied rolling pin to the floor. “I thought he was going to kill you.”