Haunted Mansion

[Neale]

Peter

Peter laughed a harsh bark, "Hah! You and your damned toys, Greska! You just don't fucking get it, do you? This is the real deal, boys and girls... There are real live dead people running amok all through this place!"

He stopped, and stared wildly at them, one by one, before turning back to Greska. "Yeah, you just play with your toys, little boy. I've got some research to do..." and he picked up a book to show them the title, Necronomicon, by Abdul al Hazred

 

[Vivid]

Greska

"Sam's missing?" Dimitri was taken aback somewhat.

He scowled when Yarrow held the book up. "Looks like someone's played a little too much 'Call of Cthulu' (tm) in his younger days." There was anger in his voice.

"We need facts, Peter, not fairy tales. Now, is all her stuff still in your room? The model and photographer's stuff dissapeared with them as if they were never here."

Damnit, they needed answers. Dimitri could beleive the model and photographer were plants who's 'mysterious dissapearance' were orchestrated to give a haunting credibility to the house, but not Sam. Not her.

Dimitri fingered the keys that opened the tape ports of the recording devices set up outside. He'd had crucial tapes stolen before. You didn't know who to trust when it came to games of deception. His eyes set on Lorna and grew softer. No, what they had shared was real. He shook off offending thoughts.

"You can tell us on the way, Yarrow. Let's get those tapes." He stood quickly and looked to the others.

 

[Isolde]

Lorna

I looked at each of my companions and swallowed hard. What was going on here? I didnt really know if I wanted an answer to that.

Looking at the book that the actor held up, my eyebrows rose. Call of Cathulu was something I had read when I was younger along with many many other horror, mystery and ghost stories in fact many of my earlier works were based on things I had read. Some of them I had believed but in the end they were only stories and I had proved that time and again in my research for my later books.

And we would prove that this 'haunting' was just the same as the others. Wouldnt we? The question echoed in my mind as I followed Damitri outside to check on his equiptment.

 

[BadForm]

Tatunka: The Long Walk

It was a long walk from the dining room to the first of Dimitri's cameras, and not because of any physical distance. Rather it was a long walk due to shame. Tat felt embarrassed about his the fear he felt regarding what had happened to him in the spirit world, and Peter had shamed him into facing that. True, there might be a scientific explanation for what had happened to the others, it was possible and certainly worth checking, but after his sojourn to the spirit world with Mercy, that seemed unlikely. The prospect of going back there was not one which sat easy with Tat, though.

The Sioux woman's spirit was the strongest he had come across in all his years. He knew that, if she wanted him dead, then any time he walked that path she could take him. On the other hand, he and Peter may well be the best chance any of them had of finding out what was happening. He, because he most likely had the greatest ability to go into the realm of spirit, and take another with him. Peter, because he was the only one who had a relative there, if what Tat suspected was true.

It would take a while to go over the tapes Dimitri had recorded, and, while Tat was still not sure any of the spirits in the house would have harmed any of the guests, he no longer felt he had time to play with that possibility. Therefore he turned back as Dimitri began unloading the tapes.

"Dimitri, Lorna, please, if you find anything come immediately to my room. Peter and I will be there. Do anything you need to wake us, for we may well be in a deep trance." He saw the look of skepticism on their faces, and shook his head. "We all have skills, and must rely on each other now. Peter and I shall do what we can."

With that he began to lead Peter into the house. "You shamed me, Peter." He said. "You are right that there are ghosts here, and they are powerful. More powerful than I by far. I can get you to the spiritual realm, but I cannot say what will happen then. To either of us."

 

[Imoen]

Samantha

One last look at myself in the mirror and I was ready. The lemon yellow of the sleeveless sweater and matching floral skirt were the picture of a sunny spring day. I smiled in spite of myself. Even with the phone incident this was probably going to turn out to be one of my most favorite vacations. I felt so rested! I wish I could say the same for my husband.

My gaze drifted to the bed reflected in the mirror. The one I had shared with my husband, Peter, last night. I slept like a babe despite his tossing and turning. My brow furrowed slightly in frustration. He was acting so differently as of late. Why he practically ingnored me completely last night! So much for the new lacy bit of fluff from Victoria's, I thought with a wry grin. I shrugged off the troublesome thoughts, determined not to let his actions - or lack there of - spoil the moment.

Turning on my heel, I left the room in search for Peter, literally skipping down the stairs as my good spirits were returning. Catching sight of him and Tatunka in the hall, I waved cheerfully.

"Good morning, darling! I tell you, I simply adore this place! I sincerely believe I've never slept better in my life." I smiled brightly as I hurried to his side, leaning up on tiptoes and brushing my lips against his. Slipping my arm through his, I glanced up at him and blinked in shock. "Peter? What's wrong? You look as if you've seen a ghost."

 

[Neale]

Peter Yarrow

Peter heard his wife's voice first, and it startled him enough to make him jump up from his chair. He turned, and saw her walking towards him, as though nothing had happened... As he whitened, he turned very, very pale, and sat down in his chair, hard.

"Y... y... you! Where where you!" Peter leapt from his chair and grabbed his wife up in a bear hug, weeping and laughing at the same time. "I was terrified! You vanished before my eyes last night! I've been searching the house, quietly, ever since! Oh, honey!"

 

[Imoen]

Samantha Yarrow

"Peter!! What is wrong with you! Put me down!"

I pushed back against his shoulders, giving myself some leverage to try to wiggle my way out of his tight embrace.

"What are you talking about? Where was I?!" An expression of complete bafflement rest upon my face. "Don't be ridiculous! You know exactly where I was! I was with you.. in our room, in our bed. Competely ignored I might add, but all night no less!"

I stepped away as he released me, my brows nearly shooting up to my hairline. "If anyone should be accused of 'vanishing' it should be you. You got up rather early this morning and didn't even bother to wake me to tell me you were leaving. Just where did you run off to?!"

Standing so close to Peter, I am overcome with the distinct odor of alcohol. My gaze narrows angrily.
"You have been drinking again, haven't you!?" Taking in his haggard appearance and blood-shot eyes, its the only conclusion that makes the least bit of sense as to the strange way he's acting. "Dammit Peter, You're drunk!!"

 

[Vivid]

Greska

Dimitri only nodded when Tatunka lead Yarrow away. The stage magician had been silent despite Dimitri's request at breakfast for details. He was lost in thought himself.

He went through the motions: checking the recording devices for tampering - movement, scratches of lockpicks trying get inside their covers, anything not as he left it last night. He proceeded to collect the tapes in silence, lost in thought. He shook his head to clear it.

He looked over at Lorna with an air of a subject change in a conversation no one else heard.

"What's the oddest thing you can imagine us finding on these tapes?" The question seemed to jar her out of her own thoughts. Dimitri continued, "I mean, I never know what I'll find on these tapes but I try to imagine the oddest thing I can think of so that, though I may find some strange things captured on video, I'm never surprised at how wierd it is. So, Lorna, what's the oddest thing?"

 

[Isolde]

Lorna

I smiled and thought about all the surprise endings I had put in the books I wrote in my earlier years. Nothing was ever as it seemed. And what was the only thing that they never found? The answer was simple."

"I would be most surprised if we found answers to what we were looking for,"I said with a small smile,"That is the one thing I dont expect to find on those tapes of yours."

 

[BadForm]

Tatunka: Gone but not Forgotten

Tat glanced from Peter to Samantha Yarrow and tried to prevent the argument he could see looming. "He's not drunk, Mrs. Yarrow. Something very strange is happening here. You were not the only one to go missing last night, and several of our companions have still not returned."

He thought about what had happened with him and Mercy. He had been in her room to begin with, when they had both entered the spirit world. Then, he had been drawn away by the spirit of the Sioux warrior woman. When he awoke he was back in his room. Mercy was still missing. Could it possibly be that those who were drawn into the spirit realm here vanished from the mundane world? Even if that was true, how did it explain her photographer's disappearance? In the end there was only one way he could test this. He turned to the Yarrows and spoke.

"I must beg your indulgence. This may sound a little strange, but I need you to watch me as I meditate. See if anything strange happens."

Peter, still holding his wife in fear, looked at Tat and nodded. Obviously, anything which could help identify what had happened to his wife was more than welcome.

Tat sat down on the floor cross legged. He stilled his mind, reaching out in prayer to the ancestral spirits. Then he began to chant. A long, mystic, keening chant of power. He called to ancestors to protect him. He called to totems to guide him. And he called to the warrior woman to welcome him. He felt the room begin to fade from his awareness, replaced now by the great grasslands. His chanting was joined by a vigorous drumming. And he was there. In the spirit realm.

 

[Vivid]

Dimitri

Dimitri had to laugh at the sheer truth of it. They walked the perimeter of the considerable mansion and collected the twelve recording tapes, replacing them with fresh ones.

A few moment of the familiar routine and Dimitri's anxiety lessened greatly. He even took up explaining the equipment.

Dimitri explained to Lorna how the infrared recorders could use the same tapes as the video recorders but not the electrostatic recorders. The Kirillian recorders used something else entirely.

"I still think it's only detecting a mix of subtle electrical signals and low level radiation, but it does have it's uses. There's quite a controversy over it." He turned away somewhat. "But that probably makes me sound like a big geek."

 

[Isolde]

Lorna

Lorna reached out to stop Damitri from turning from her. Stepping in to wrap her arms about his waist, she came up close pressing her body against his.

"After last night how can I think of you as anything but a kind, gentle and sensitive man?" She said in a soft voice. Smiling at him and giving him a wink, she added,"Remember, you are my Greek God. I wouldnt dare call a Greek God a Geek."