Colton Manor (14 page)

It was far too dark to see what the letters spelt out, but when he stood up again he seemed satisfied with the answer he’d received. “I’ll need thre
e strong pieces of rope and an axe to cut them down,” he muttered to himself. Ursula’s blood froze in her veins, and she felt Bonnie stiffen beside her, but she didn’t dare turn to look at her. Any movement was dangerous as it could attract his attention, setting him off again.

             
Without even giving them another glance he strode up the steps and then closed the door loudly behind him. Ursula heard the key turn in the lock. He could be back at any second and they had to do something quickly, otherwise they had no hope of surviving.

             
“Untie me,” called Yvette. Bonnie rushed across the room and pulled her into a sitting position.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so.”

             
Bonnie’s concern quickly turned to anger. “I hope you’re satisfied,” she said as she worked on the knots tying Yvette’s hands. “You know this is your fault.”

             
“What do you mean my fault? The man is a psychopath. He ambushed me as soon as I set foot in the house.”

             
“This is not Damien, he’s been possessed by the ghost of Edward Stanton. He didn’t even know what a mobile phone was. It’s this house doing something to him the way it has done strange things to every person who has ever stayed here.”

             
“Don’t try and make excuses for him. He’s lost his mind and it has nothing to do with this house. Everyone said he took the divorce far too well.”

             
“You would say that, wouldn’t you, Yvette. We know the reason you were so anxious for Ursula to stay here is because you’re the owner. I can’t believe you could be so sneaky and underhanded.”

             
“Can we leave this conversation till later, please? At the moment we need to think about what we’re going to do,” said Ursula. She was desperately trying to come up with a way to get them out of this situation alive, but the only option was to overpower him. “Listen. When he comes back downstairs we’re going to have to try to get him onto the ground so we can tie him up. There are three of us against one, so we might stand a chance,” she said.

             
“But he has a knife with him,” said Yvette, “and he’ll use it too.”

             
“We have to take the risk. You heard what he said; if we don’t try then he’ll kill us anyway.” 

She
scanned the cramped space for weapons when her eye fell on the Ouija board. At first she thought she was seeing things when the planchette seemed to wobble and then move on its own, but she stepped closer to take a better look. There was no draft at all in the sealed room, and she knew she couldn’t be mistaken when it shook and then moved half an inch across the board. She put her finger gently on top and was stunned when it flew to the other side of the board and landed on the letter A. It then moved to three more letters as it spelt the word Anna.

Bonnie had finished untying Yvette and they
both came over to watch.

“
What’s going on?” whispered Bonnie.

             
“It just spelt out the name Anna. I think she’s trying to talk to us.” She didn’t get a chance to say anymore because the planchette began flying across the board very quickly and she had to focus on the letters. First it spelt Mary and then Rebecca, in quick succession, and then, more cryptically, the words “help us remember.” She was about to ask what it meant when the door flew open and Damien re-entered the cellar. He came down the first couple of steps carrying rope and an axe, but he stopped abruptly when he saw them standing around the board. Before they could react he lunged down the stairs towards them, and Bonnie and Yvette screamed in Ursula’s ears, almost bursting her eardrums.

Although things were happening quickly, it all seemed
to move in slow motion for Ursula as she tried to work out what do to. There had to be a reason why Stanton’s wives had contacted them and asked for help, and why they had used the word ‘remember.’ She recalled the strange painting and the dream where she was being chased by a scary man. When she and the other two little girls in her dream began playing Ring Around the Rosie he had disappeared. Ursula knew she was grasping at straws as she reached for Bonnie and Yvette’s hands, but as soon as her fingers closed around theirs a bolt of energy shot through the three of them and radiated outwards like an explosion. Sparks flew off them just as they had in her dream and for a couple of seconds the dark cellar was illuminated with what looked like fireworks. The force was so strong it knocked Damien off his feet and sent him backwards up the stairs. He landed with a loud crash, dropping the axe which fell back down the stairs and landed at Ursula’s feet. He didn’t get up but just lay were he had fallen.

When
Ursula turned to look at the other women it was not Bonnie and Yvette she saw but Mary and Rebecca. For those moments she could see everything through their eyes, and she lived and understood all three of their stories at the same time. She knew they’d been unable to escape from Colton Manor because Edward Stanton’s occult practices had kept their spirits earthbound while he was still alive, and then after he died his hold over them had grown even stronger. He had fed off their energy like a vampire, and the only way they could overpower him was for the three of them to unite with the energy of three living women. Only the combined force would give them the strength they needed to move on, hence the significance of three hands with the number six inside them in her painting.

Somehow everything
had aligned that day to provide the perfect opportunity for them to conquer him. Because of the strange series of events Stanton’s tragic wives could finally leave the house behind forever and move forward on their spiritual journey. Anna was the one she’d felt the strongest connection with of the three, and Ursula wasn’t surprised that she’d united with her spirit for the attack on her tormentor. She could feel Anna’s exhilaration and her intense gratitude as she began to separate from her body. She looked on in awe as Mary and Rebecca also left Bonnie and Yvette, their spirits literally lifting up and floating towards the ceiling. Then they just disappeared, and silence fell over the cellar. Bonnie and Yvette had witnessed the whole thing too and they could only stare at each other with their mouths hanging open.

Before any of them could utter a sound
Damien began to stir. Ursula prayed that Edward Stanton had been driven from his body by whatever supernatural event had just taken place, but when he raised his head she saw murderous fury in his eyes and she quickly picked up the axe from where it had fallen at her feet. It seemed it would not be so easy to break his spell after all. Damien stood up and focused his glare on Ursula. Ignoring the other two women he came down the stairs and advanced towards her. She backed away from him with the axe raised to defend herself, but she just couldn’t bring herself to use it against him when it was Damien she would hurt, not Edward Stanton. He ripped it from her hands and she stumbled backwards, falling over a crate. In desperation she picked up the crate and held it in front of her for protection.

“You, this is all
your doing,” he said as he swung the axe, slicing through the wood as if it were flimsiest piece of paper. She threw what was left of the crate to the side and scrambled across the floor, but there was nowhere to hide. She could only cower against the wall as he loomed over her. He raised the axe again and she looked up at it in terror, truly believing that she was about to die, but before he could swing it Bonnie came up behind him and smashed the other crate into his back. The blow caused him to lose his balance and he fell forward. The axe hit the hard stone wall and then bounced off, broken. He threw the handle to one side and knocked Bonnie out of the way like she was a rag doll. His hands closed around Ursula’s throat gently, as if he was savouring the moment.

“Tell him he has to fight,” said a voice in her head, “but he must first accept that this is real.” Anna’s face flashed before her
eyes.

“Damien you have to fi
ght him and force him out of your body. It’s the only way. All of this is real and until you admit that to yourself he’ll have complete control over you.” He was squeezing harder now and she feared she would not be able to get through to him in time. She suddenly remembered the conversation they’d had on the beach and it gave her an idea. “Damien, didn’t anyone ever tell you there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy?” she said with her last breath.

For
the first time she saw a flicker of awareness in his eyes. It was his denial that had enabled Edward Stanton to hold the upper hand for so long, but now she could see that Damien was beginning to come back. He would have to be quick if he wanted to save her life. Her vision was dimming and she was about to pass out when he let go suddenly and slumped onto the floor beside her.

He
took a deep shuddering breath and buried his face in her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Ursula,” he whispered into her hair, “I’m so sorry for hurting you. Are you okay?”

“I think so,” she s
aid hoarsely, raising her hand to her neck. She could still breathe, which was a good sign, and although she would have some nasty bruises, the damage didn’t seem to be permanent. She looked around the cellar to make sure Bonnie wasn’t hurt. She was on the ground where Damien had pushed her and Yvette was standing over her. Although they both looked shell shocked they seemed to be okay. For a few moments they all just remained frozen to the spot, unable to move or speak.

“W
hat did I tell you about throwing Shakespeare at me, young lady?” said Damien finally as he raised his head to look at her. To Ursula’s amazement she actually managed to laugh.

“At least I’ve lived to regret it,”
she replied. This time it was Damien’s turn to smile, and she was so relieved to see the familiar crinkle at the corner of his eyes that a sob rose up in her throat. He pulled her into a tight embrace and held her for a very long time.

****

“I’d better get Yvette home,” said Bonnie. “She needs to take a valium before she loses it completely. I might take one myself. It’s either that or a bottle of Scotch. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I
won’t be far behind you,” said Ursula. “I’m just going to get my stuff together, and then both of us will probably book into a motel in town for the night.”

“You’re always welcome to stay a
t my place for the night, but we only have room for one of you on the sofa bed in the study.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Ursu
la, giving Damien a quick glance.

“Oh,” said Bonnie, looking a little confused before she understood Ursula’s meaning. “Oh, it’s like that between you is it? And all this time
you never said a word to me. How could you keep something like that a secret?”

“You must admit we’ve been
a little preoccupied.”

“That’s true
, but I want to hear about everything, in detail. I really have to get out of here now though, so I’ll see you both at my place later?”

“That would be great, thanks Bon,
but are you sure Yvette is okay?” said Damien, looking over towards Bonnie’s car where the real estate agent sat motionless in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead. She’d barely said a word since the four of them had hobbled out of the cellar like battle-weary survivors.

“She’ll be
fine, she just needs some time to get over it. Don’t worry, she’s not going to make any reports to the police after what she saw here today. I don’t think there’s any doubt in her mind that Colton Manor is haunted, or was haunted. Hopefully we’ve seen the last of those ghosts.”

“I hope so,” said Ursula, but I don’t really want t
o stick around here to find out.” After they’d seen Bonnie off, she squeezed Damien’s arm as they walked back into the house. “Let’s get this over with, and if you start to feel like he’s coming back please let me know straight away.”

“He won’t be back. I know how to keep him out now
and it’s so simple. If only I’d listened to you from the start, but I really couldn’t accept that any of it was real. I kept expecting to wake up at any minute.”

“
You must have been trying to fight him when you had that fever, but because you refused to admit what was happening he got the upper hand. At least something good came out of it though,” she replied. “Stanton’s wives finally got away from here and if you ask me it was worth it.”

“I guess, but it’s not an experience I’m keen to repeat in a hurry.”

Upstairs in her room she didn’t bother to fold anything but just threw all of her clothes and other belongings into her bags and hauled them to the top of the stairs. It took her less than ten minutes, but Damien was even quicker and he was already waiting for her. He carried her bags down to her car and he was loading them into the trunk when a long black sedan pulled into the drive and made its way slowly towards them. The windows were heavily tinted and they couldn’t see the driver. Ursula felt a stab of fear as they waited for the car to stop. Who could it possibly be?