Angel Manor (Lucifer Falls Book 1)
Page 20
Everyone took a seat, either on the wooden chairs or the stone bench sticking out of the wall on the other side of the table. Mr Norris got up to get everyone a pint. Terrence slipped his hands in his pockets and fished out two pounds and three fifty pence coins, scanning the room for a phone.
“Don’t worry, Terrence, drinks are on John and myself tonight. You boys deserve it.”
“Oh, thanks, Mr McLeod, but that’s not what I got the money out for. I was going to call Tyrell.”
“Oh, sure. I think I saw a phone over there.” Mr McLeod pointed in the direction of the toilets.
“Thanks.” Terrence got to his feet and slid past Gary, whose fingers fiddled with one of the cardboard coasters. “Move aside, you fat fuck.” His knee connected with Gary’s leg, and Gary made himself as small as he could, his eyes shooting daggers at Terrence. To make up for his rudeness, Terrence ruffled his friend’s hair as he walked past.
He spotted the phone from a distance, but was distracted by the lovely ladies at one of the tables he passed. There were three of them, a natural redhead, a dye-job blonde, and a girl with milk chocolate skin and bleached extensions. They wore tops that showed off their breasts, and Terrence was a man who admired female chests of all sizes, especially when they were on such lovely display. He gave the girls a smile, and to his satisfaction, they smiled back in a flirtatious way. After his phone call, he would have to see about buying these ladies a drink with the few bob he had in his pocket. His mind automatically went to Tyrell, who had always been his wing man, and he thought of what his brother had said in his nightmares. No way are you gay, T, Terrence thought. You’re better at pulling birds than I am.
He picked up the black receiver and pushed the coin into the slot, waited until there was a dial tone, and pressed Tyrell’s mobile phone number. After several rings, the phone went to voicemail.
“A pleasant evening to you, ladies and gentleman,” Tyrell sounded from the other side, a hint of laughter in his voice, imitating a posh accent. “I am presently unavailable to converse with you over the telephone…” he actually snorted when he said the word ‘telephone’, “… but if you would be so kind as to leave your name and number, I shall return your call at my earliest convenience. Otherwise, I would kindly ask you to go fuck yourself, you impatient cunt.” A sharp beep interrupted his laughter, and Terrence shook his head with a smile of his own.
“Yo, T-Dog. It’s your baby brother. My mobile doesn’t work in the house and I forgot to charge it before I came out, so I’m calling you from a payphone, but if you could drop me a line, send me a text or something… I’m a bit worried about you.” His ears felt hot when he said the words, and he pictured his brother laughing at him for saying them, but it was how he felt, and he would rather Tyrell call him back to mock him than not call him back at all.
With a sigh, he hung up the receiver and placed his head against the cold plastic of the phone. He knew that the ghostly image of Tyrell was just a dream, but he’d feel so much better if he could hear his brother’s voice for real, not just through voicemail. He took a deep breath to collect himself, then managed to conjure a smile.
On his way back, he stopped by the table with the three girls. He guessed them to be his age, maybe a year or so younger, and he slid onto the stone bench next to the dye-job.
“Evening, ladies. I thought I’d come and say hello.” He offered a toothy smile and a wink, and the girls giggled.
“Just a hello?” The blonde had a thick Scottish accent. Her eyes were dark blue and stared at him from under heavily made-up lids. Thick black lines made her eyes almond shaped, and the purple eye shadow brought out the blue of her irises nicely.
“Well, I’d ask you how you like your eggs, but I reckon we need to save that question for the morning.” He winked again, and she rewarded him with a crooked smile.
“Bless ye,” she giggled. “What’s yer name then?”
“Terrence.”
“Well, Terrence, ah’m Emma, this is Lindsey,” she tapped the black girl on the arm then pointed at the redhead, “and that wee lass over there is Bonnie.”
“Are you local girls?”
“Aye, that we are. And where are you from?”
“London.”
The girls made ‘whoooo’ noise and turned to each other with meaningful glances.
“Eh, and what’s a Londoner doing on our little isle, then?” It was Lindsey who spoke, and her dark eyes gleamed at him. He liked how the red of her lipstick stood out against her beautiful skin, and he imagined running his hands through her extensions and pulling them slightly.
“Well, I’ve been living in Edinburgh for the last eight years.”
She cocked her head and gave him a wry smile. “Why come to Skye then?”
“I’m here on a job.”
“A job, eh?” Her eyebrow raised slightly, the corner of her mouth curled in an attractive manner.
“Yeah, I’m one of the construction workers in this house called Angel Manor.”
The girls stared at him.
“You mean Lucifer’s Lot?” The dark girl’s mouth twisted in an amused sneer.
“What?”
“That creepy old house on Lucifer Falls. We call that Lucifer’s Lot.”
“Have ye seen any ghosts yet?” It was Bonnie who spoke up now, her accent so thick he could hardly understand her. She had a very soft lisp, which was most apparent when she said the word ‘ghosts’. Terrence didn’t like where this conversation was going. It had taken a lot of energy to convince himself that he hadn’t seen anything supernatural, and now these three girls were telling him that maybe he had. He lost control of his thoughts for a few seconds, but then the sight of Angus snapped him back. Angus had spotted him too, and he sat down on one of the empty chairs.
“Hello then. What’s this, Terrence? Been keeping these lovely ladies all to yourself, have you?” Angus grinned at the women, who looked a little startled at first, but then broke out into smiles and giggles.
“Angus, meet Emma, Bonnie and Lindsey. Ladies, meet Angus.” They shook hands and exchanged smiles.
“What were you talking about then?”
“Ghosts.” Emma cocked her head at Angus and fluttered her eyelashes.
“Eh?”
“Angel Manor… apparently the house has another name.” Terrence raised one eyebrow and touched the side of his nose with an index finger. “And it’s a real fucking charming one too.”
“Do tell?”
“Lucifer’s Lot. You know because of Lucifer Falls.” Lindsey smiled.
“Well, ye know that tha place used ta be a convent about two hundred years ago, right? They took care of little orphan children. Until one o’ tha nuns burned it doon.” Emma looked around the table and smiled at her captive audience. Terrence liked the way she smiled, and he was tempted to put his hand on her knee under the table.
“Only two people survived: a nun and a wee girl. They thought tha nun might’a torched tha place, but no one knows tha real story. Ye know how things go; people talk an truth turns in’te urban myths.”
“Emma loves her myths,” Lindsey giggled, and took a sip from her pint of cider.
“It’s an interesting place.” Emma focused her gaze on her glass, her finger moving around its rim in a circular motion. Terrence could see the excitement in her face. “Years after tha convent burned doon, tha wee girl came back. She’d been an orphan, but this rich family adopted her, so she had a lot o’ coin. Her adoptive parents died or something. There’s stories that say she killed them, and tha t’was tha little girl who set fire ta tha convent.” She put her lips to her glass and took a sip, allowing her audience to mull the words over. “Whatever happened, tha nun and tha child built tha house and called it Angel Manor, in honour of tha burned down convent, because tha t’was called tha Holy Angels Convent, see? They used to call tha nuns tha Angels.”
“Aye, only they weren’t angels at all, were they, Emma?” Lindsey raised her eyebrows.
“I don’t know. I think in this case, ‘ignorance is bliss’ works fine for me,” Angus muttered. “I’ve got to sleep in that house, you know? I’m already happy no one died in the house itself, just in that convent.”
“Are ye kidding? Lots of people died in that house.” It was Bonnie who spoke now, her soft voice cutting through the background noises of the other customers. “Some of them even died in our lifetime.”
“Aye, like the previous owner and her three children. Everyone who’s ever lived in that house has been a complete recluse, but apparently two o’ tha old lady’s children tried ta run away from tha house a few years ago, both adults mind ye. One o’ them fell in love and wanted ta get married and have kids, tha other just followed. Both died within four days of leaving.”
“What does that have to do with the house though? They didn’t even die there.” Angus lifted his hands in front of him as if he were defending himself against blows, and Terrence snorted.
Emma ran her fingers through her hair, her eyes dark. “They say that once tha house has ye in its grasp, it won’t let ye go.”
“That’s comforting.” Terrence felt the blood drain from his cheeks, and he thought of the dreams he’d had about his brother again. They’d been so realistic.
“Anyway, tha old lady and tha last son died in tha house itself. He went first. Killed himself he did.”
“Nice.” Angus pulled a face.
“That whole house is built on blood,” Emma said. “It started with tha construction. At least four men died during tha building o’ tha house, an’ another two disappeared without a trace.”
Terrence and Angus exchanged a look, and Terrence saw his own worry reflected in his friend’s eyes.
“Disappeared? Two guys disappeared?” Terrence stared hard at Emma. “Two?”
“Aye, two… why?”
“Fuck, mate… we had two guys disappear from our group. The coaches think they ran away, but I’m not so sure now.”
“Ye’re having me on.” She leaned back a little, an incredulous smile on her face.
“Nope. Go ask if you don’t believe me. We called the police and everything.”
“What did tha police say?”
“Well, the guys who ran away are notorious for sodding off. They contacted the boys’ parents and stuff, so I guess if they don’t show up sooner or later, they’ll make a case out of it.”
“Could just be them then, not tha house.”
“Yeah, could be. But it just struck me as odd, them leaving like that.”
“Maybe the house ate them.” Lindsey said and laughed. Bonnie giggled along, but there was an eager gaze in Emma’s eyes.
“Ah’ve always wanted to see that house from tha inside.” She looked directly at Terrence now. “Do ye think ye could sneak us in?”
“Eh…”
“It sounds like a right scary place. And ah always get really horny when ah’m scared.” Her bottom lip pouted a little and she fluttered her eyelashes.
“Yeah, we can sneak you in,” Angus said. He clapped his hands together with anticipation. “How about tonight? Unless Sunday night isn’t convenient for you. Don’t know if you have school in the morning or something.”
“We’ll be fine, right girls?” Emma looked at the other two, and Terrence saw that Bonnie looked a little frightened. He didn’t like the idea of the girls going to Angel Manor, but at the same time, the thought of having horny girls to play with in the dark cancelled out any fears he might have had.
“You can’t ride with us. The coaches won’t have it. Do you have a ride?”
“Aye, I got a car.” Lindsey lifted her hand, the action almost childlike, and they all laughed a little.
“Well, if you go to the house after one o’clock, that’s when everyone’s usually asleep. We can sneak out and let you in through the back door. Make sure you park your car out of sight.”
The girls nodded.
“This is gonna be so cool,” Emma said, and something about her keenness made Terrence’s heart sink.
***
Freya squinted at the letters on the page, but they were difficult to read and she felt like flinging the notebook across the room. Instead, she let out a stifled scream and punched the armrest of the chair.
“Why did this person write in chicken scratches?”
“Found nothing, eh?” Logan looked up from his own study with a weak smile. He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. “I can’t really concentrate on mine.”
“Can you at least read it?”
“Yes, but…” His green eyes sought hers, but Freya looked away. “Damn it, Freya, should we talk about what happened in the attic?”
She raised her eyebrows. “The ghosts? We talked about that, and now we’re trying to find out who they are.”
“No, not the ghosts…” He put the book down, got up from his seat and crouched down next to her, his hands on either side of her, gripping her arm rests. She couldn’t look away from him; he was too close. “Freya, we had sex. Very weird sex… we should talk about this.”
“What’s there to talk about?” Her cheeks burned.
“I don’t know… maybe just what you think about all this. I mean, I know I wanted to have sex with you, but I’m not even sure if you had voluntary sex with me or if… if…” He looked from side to side, desperately trying to find the words.
“Or if it was the house?” She finished the sentence for him, her confidence blossoming from his insecurity. His face lifted, the expression he wore either hopeful or tormented, Freya couldn’t tell. “It wasn’t the house. Though perhaps the house sped up the process a little.” She put a hand in front of her mouth to hide her smile, but it soon turned into a laugh. Logan’s face cleared up with obvious relief, and he joined her laughter.
“It was certainly intense.” He shook his head, still laughing.
“Oh God, and the spiders. That was just… horrifying.”
“Yeah, that’s a night I won’t soon forget. I wish it could have been different though. I would have liked it to have been a bit more… special.” He leaned forward and pulled her hand away from her mouth.
“Protection would have been a good idea too.”
Logan recoiled a little. “I didn’t even think of that. Holy shit, are we in trouble here?”
“No, I’m on the pill, and I’m pretty sure I have no icky diseases. I hope you don’t.”
“Clean.” His face was stern. “I’ve been tested recently. I… I… like to be safe.”
She nodded, her eyes averted. “That’s good then. I think we should be okay. Just… if we’re ever going to do this again… maybe better safe than sorry?”
“So…” He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, offering her a crooked smile. “There’s a chance we might do this again?”
Chapter 22
“Ah can’t believe we’re doing this.” Bonnie shuddered and pulled her coat close around her. The end of summer was still warm, but the nights were getting chillier. “Noo, ah don’t mind going inside that spooky house, but do we have to do it at one in the bloody morning?”
“Ach, where’s yer sense o’ adventure?” Emma pushed her hip against Bonnie, who had to take a step to the side in order to keep her balance. “What if we see a real ghost?”
“What if the house eats us?”
“Dinnae be daft.” Emma made a ‘pshhh’ sound and waved her hand at her friend. Her mind was wrapped in a happy fuzz from the alcohol, and Lindsey, the only sober one, clung on to her arm as they made their way up the hill towards the old Manor.
“Are ye sure we needed to park the car all the way down there in the bushes? Ah don’t think anyone is expecting us, ye know?” Bonnie glared down the steep hill to where the vehicle was parked, but it was impossible to see it in the moonlight. “Ah think we might be being a bit too James Bond about this.”
“Better safe than sorry.” Lindsey winked at Emma, who nodded in agreement.
“Always wanted ta see tha inside of that house.” Emma slurred. She added as an afterthought, “Jesus, this hill is a wee bit steep, isn’t it? Ah wish ah wasn’t wearing heels. Ah’m too pissed for this bollocks.”
“Oh please, ah’ve seen ye a lot worse than this.” Bonnie giggled, and Lindsey laughed along. Emma just shrugged and rolled her eyes. The three girls climbed the steep hill and carefully made their way towards the building.
“Look at those angels,” Bonnie said with a deep sigh.
“Those survived tha fire,” Emma said. “They cleaned them up apparently. T’was a miracle they didn’t burn with tha rest o’ tha stuff.”
“Does stone even burn?”
Emma shrugged. “Ah don’t know, ah guess it does, considering tha convent burned ta tha ground.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Lindsey shook her head. “Stone doesn’t burn. The convent burned to the ground because buildings often have wooden structures inside. They burn, and then the stone collapses, usually breaking when it does.”
“Oh.” Emma felt a bit sheepish. “Well, there ye have it then. Tha angels miraculously survived tha falling stones.”
“Can we go look at them up close?” Bonnie inched forward.
“They’re right in front o’ tha front entrance. Ah’m not sure if that’s such a good idea. We’re supposed ta meet tha guys round back or something.”
“Psst.” The harsh whisper cut through the darkness, and the three girls froze in their tracks. Emma felt Lindsey’s fingers dig into her skin and she hissed with pain.
“Ladies?”
The voice came from the shadows, and it was Emma who first moved towards the sound. Lindsey trailed one step behind, her hand still around Emma’s arm. Two guys were standing near some bushes, and one waved at them.