by Sara Clancy
The appearance of detachment settled back onto Radu's features and he resumed his perusal. The questions that followed came quickly and asked for far more detail than Mihail had anticipated. Answering them depleted his knowledge. It left him with the unavoidable clarity of just how little he knew about his home, his family, his life. They moved from one diagram to the next until they were studying the edge of the battlements.
“This?” Radu asked, as he tapped a finger against the lookout closest to the drawbridge.
“It’s the wheelhouse,” Mihail said.
Radu skirted his eyes over to him, “How many people does it take to lower the bridge?”
“Just one, I think,” Mihail said.
“So only one of us needs to get in,” Radu said thoughtfully. He looked from Mihail to the diagram and back again.
Abe straightened, “Ya thinkin’ of sending him in alone?”
“He’s the one they’ve proven they want alive,” Radu said.
“For now,” Abe snapped. “He's either bait, insurance, or property. Hell, they could just wanna sacrifice him.”
“But they'll take him inside.”
“The place has a bloody dungeon! He won't get a chance to run around.”
“We’ll give him a weapon,” Radu assured. “Something that works against these sorts of things.”
“And if he can’t use it? This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard,” Abe grumbled.
“Really? It doesn’t beat out 'let's climb'?”
Abe growled as Radu narrowed his gaze.
“If we can’t use my suicidal plan, we ain’t gonna use yours,” Abe said at last.
“Maybe we should ask what Mihail thinks.”
They both turned abruptly, each wearing the same expectant expression. Mihail froze. Both plans sounded equally foolhardy and destined to fail. Of course, he couldn't say that to two giants that looked ready to rip something apart if they didn't like the next words out of his mouth. He longed to keep silent. They wouldn't allow it.
“Well, um, both have their merits, but I have questions.”
“Like?” Abe snarled.
“Like,” thoughts raced across his mind like a raging river and he blindly snatched at one, “I was thinking about if it was possible for ghosts to combine their energy.”
“What?” Radu asked.
Mihail rushed to explain, spitting out the words and hoping that the result was a full sentence. “Well, Abe told me how a lot of the friendlier ghosts vanished when the visitors showed up. They don't want the demon there, so they might be willing to help. I know that none of them are strong on their own but, if they worked together, is it possible that they could lower the drawbridge themselves?”
In an instant, Abe became the center of attention. Mihail liked it a lot better this way. The medium thought for a moment before shaking his head.
“If there are enough of them, maybe,” he said thoughtfully before cursing under his breath. “I feel like I should have thought of that.”
“So,” Radu said, “who's there that we can recruit?”
For the first time, Mihail was eager to hear about the spirits that haunted Castle Vaduva.
Chapter 11
The snowfall thinned during their trip back to the castle but the damage was done. A thick layer of loose powder swallowed the world, making it nearly impossible for Abe to avoid the hidden dips and valleys. Traveling by snowmobile reduced their time to the castle considerably. Abe knew a weaving trail that led them through the forest and up the mountainside almost independent of any road. Seated behind Abe, Mihail was able to hide from the worst of the lashing winds and clawing tree branches. He was still frozen and sore by the time Abe burst free of the plant life and brought them to a sudden stop.
Radu pulled up beside them a moment later. Without the constant rumble of the engines, the world quickly succumbed to an uneasy silence. One so dense that Mihail could hear the icy crust that had formed on their coats cracking as they moved.
Mihail handed Radu the bag and stood up. It was weird to be walking again after such a long ride; the task made more difficult as his feet sunk into the snow. His brow furrowed as he looked around. The storm had transformed the world into a pristine, delicate expanse. He couldn't spot anything that looked familiar. And, as he surveyed the layers of gray silhouettes that rose from behind the sea of evergreens, he could only see the tips of the castle towers.
“Are we walking in?” he asked.
Radu thumped his shoulder, “Best not to announce our arrival.”
“Right.” The idea of walking for at least a mile through this terrain left Mihail colder than the air did.
“Don't worry,” Abe said. “We're not going to make you carry anything.”
Mihail didn't dare show offense at the comment in case they changed their minds. Trying to keep out of the way, he jumped on the spot for warmth as Radu and Abe prepared for the trip. Absently, he scratched his palms. The blessed bandages Abe had wrapped around his hands and up his arms itched horribly. And every attempt to move them only made it worse. How does Abe put up with these?
Abe swung his duffel bag over his broad shoulders. With a few hard tugs on the strap, he secured it to his back, then tugged restlessly at the edge of his bulletproof vest. It was clear he didn't like wearing it.
“Well, this is the last chance to back out.” He spoke loud enough for them both to hear.
“That's not true,” Radu grinned. “I can abandon you guys whenever I feel like it.”
“That’s reassuring,” Abe muttered.
“Hey, I’m not your mama,” Radu said. After a moment of hesitation, he ventured. “How big is the chance that this is going to turn violent?”
“Closer to a certainty than a chance,” Abe said.
“And these things are going to come after you?” Radu said.
“Probably,” he shrugged. “Although, they have been wanting Mihail fiercely lately.”
Abe only got a few steps before Radu caught his arm.
“Can these things kill you?”
Arching an eyebrow, Abe glanced at Mihail, looked to him to make sense of the question. Mihail could only shrug. He had thought that the risks had been made clear by the doll attack.
“Yeah.”
“And they can possess you?”
“Yeah,” Abe said.
“I'd feel a bit better if any of this worried you,” Radu said.
Abe's sudden burst of laughter caught everyone off guard.
“Ya gotta be kidding me. Radu, I'm a medium. Death's an old friend and I won't have ya besmirching his character.”
Still chuckling, Abe roughly patted Radu on the shoulder as he passed him.
“Ya ready to go?” he said happily.
“Let’s go save the day,” Mihail said.
The words felt strange on his tongue. It was still new to be one of the saviors rather than the one getting saved. Abe seemed to find it amusing. A smirk crossed his face at the words. Although, he was kind enough not to voice whatever he was thinking.
Forgoing any further discussion, they started the last of their journey. The mountain roads were built slim, carving a small path through the unyielding forest. It was hard to see the way in the best conditions. Now, the snow blurred the line beyond recognition. Mihail was lost. But Abe was there, and each of his steps had an unshakable certainty. He knew where he was going. So Mihail followed and found himself looking around the alien landscape, searching for something that could spark the slightest hint of recognition. It was unsettling to learn how little he knew about the only road he could tread to freedom. If I ever had to flee on my own, I'd die in the woods.
A strange darkness lingered around the castle. Not one that existed as only a play of light and shadows, although there was that as well. This kind of darkness felt like a touch. He could feel the shadows sinking through his skin to settle within his bones – oppressive, heavy, and unbearably cold. It was something Mihail had never experienced anywhere
else. And, as the dark feeling burrowed into him again, growing denser with every step they took, he couldn’t keep his mind from speaking one conclusion. This is what evil feels like. He kept a close eye on the others but wasn't brave enough to ask if they felt it too.
There was no sign of unease in Abe's confident, purposeful stride. He was a man wholly dedicated to a task, and God help anyone who tried to stop him. A part of Mihail wished that he could feel that same level of divine purpose. At the same time, Mihail feared having to survive what Abe did for that kind of certainty.
Radu, however, made it very clear that he felt the shift in energy. His shoulder’s tensed and his eyes searched the encroaching trees. Observing this for a moment, Mihail realized that he was looking for a physical threat, an animal, or man to explain away his sense of unease. He has no idea what he's getting into, Mihail thought.
Fire crackled up Mihail's legs, depositing their embers into his lungs. Despite this, he was able to keep up with the others. That was until Abe left the relatively stable path in favor of the denser underbrush. The canopy had protected the forest ground from the worst of the storm. Here and there, clumps of damp, rich earth dotted the earth. Tangled roots arched up to catch their feet, and the pine branches made it hard to see anything farther into the distance. The morning light, already dulled by the slate gray clouds, struggled to penetrate the trees. Around them, the darkest parts of night gathered in shadows, refusing to dissipate.
A crazed scream severed the serenity. All men instantly crouched, each glancing frantically around, expecting a monster to come charging towards them.
“What the hell is that?” Radu bellowed over the shrill cry. His hand had already snaked around his back to clutch at the hidden handgun.
“That’s the ghost I was telling ya about,” Abe called back. “Tereza.”
Radu considered that for a moment, “The one we want to make sure is contained with all the murderous, kiddy ghosts?”
“Essentially,” Mihail nodded.
“They ain’t kids anymore,” Abe cut in. “They’re demons, only smaller.”
They had told him everything before they had set out. But a vast wasteland stood between hearing a concept and witnessing it. As the shriek ebbed away, Radu was able to pry his hand from his gun. There was no dislodging the tension in his shoulders, however.
Silence once more rose up to encase them. Mihail had always hated the way Tereza screamed. The silence that followed, however, was so much worse. It was the anticipation. Like swimming in murky water, aware that a shark was somewhere under you. All you could do was wait for it to strike.
Abe straightened. There was no need to say a word. Where he went, Radu and Mihail were to follow. Mihail found a kind of comfort in that. Everything was easier when he knew precisely what was expected of him. When he had a course of action set before him and only needed to follow it. There was a peculiar kind of freedom in it. And now, it gave him the strength to keep moving forward while everything within him yearned to run the other way.
The shrill wailing came again and again. No matter how many times he heard it, Mihail couldn't force himself to grow accustomed to the sound. Each time brought a new, painful cut. Despite their desire to move swiftly, their progress was slow. Battling against the clustered bushes and roots wasn't an easy task. One further complicated by ever-deepening dips that quickly created a honeycomb of pits, their openings covered by moss and broken twigs. One wrong step and they would plummet into the cold earth.
Instinctively, they shifted into a single line, with Abe leading the procession and Mihail trailing behind. Like this, they could retrace the steps that they knew were on solid ground. As they neared, the sound changed. The screams were still shrill and manic, but there was an underlying noise that hadn't been audible before. A childish giggle that made Mihail's skin crawl over his bones. It was a revolting welcome, and Mihail worried that the commotion would warn those in the castle. This fight has been going on for a month, he reminded himself. Longer than that. Surely, they'll be used to it by now.
Abe only needed to lift his hand to bring their convoy to a halt. Unable to properly see around Radu's bulk and remain upright, Mihail grabbed a tree branch for balance. It helped. Placing himself at a sharp angle, he was able to see that Abe stood on the edge of a tiny meadow. One that had been haunting Mihail's dreams. In the center, hidden by fallen leaves and thick blankets of moss, was the opening of the catacomb that served as a makeshift prison.
It was where Tereza had left the children to starve to death. The place where he and Abe had almost died. There had been no time for Mihail to count how many victims she had accumulated. It was something Mihail didn't have the stomach to learn anyway. They had been children, victims, but now they had no intention of remaining either. They wanted to be demons themselves. Abe promised that they'd never be like Frank, Mihail reminded himself. Even the passing thought of Frank made the purest terror Mihail had ever known, simmer through his veins. Frank was the only demon Mihail had ever seen. God, I hope he's also the last. He cringed, forcing his mind to go blank, unable to stand the possibilities that bubbled up to answer the thought.
A sudden, thunderous crackle made Mihail flinch. The air buzzed like an electric live wire as hands spewed forth from the pit. One pair was thin, long and bony, with skin that was like peeling paint stuck to bones. The tree bark splintered into Mihail's palms as he squeezed. Tereza. Abe rolled his shoulders as if preparing himself to both attack and defend at once. Not much time had passed since those hands had carved deep gouges into Abe’s back and shoulders.
Smaller arms squirmed their way around Tereza's limbs. They clawed at the earth and each other, torn between the drive for freedom and the thirst for vengeance. This battle kept all of them contained.
“Oh my God,” Radu breathed.
He reached for his gun again. Behind him now, Mihail could see the man's white-knuckled grip and the quiver of uncertainty that ran along his arm. Mihail knew that dilemma. When your logical mind clashes against reality, when you know that no weapon could help you, but you reach for one anyway.
“I’m guessin’ that ya both are seeing this,” Abe said.
Radu swallowed thickly and turned to Abe with wide eyes. “This is what you see all the time?”
A smirk flickered across Abe's face. While not exactly a happy expression, it was broad enough to flash his fangs.
“Amateur,” he taunted. Biting his tongue between his teeth, he watched the scene before them for a moment longer. “Well, we're screwed.”
Mihail's grip almost failed at the words. Unable to see Abe's face, he pressed himself against the truck and peeked between Radu and the wood. He needn't have bothered. Abe was already walking away, leaving Mihail to search his back for answers. Hurrying to catch up, he and Radu closed in on Abe, torn before demanding more and keeping an eye on the precarious ground.
“Abe, I’m new, remember?” Radu pressed. “You need to spell things out for me. I thought we wanted Tereza and the kids stuck in there.”
“I was hopin' that you guys wouldn’t see it,” Abe said without turning around.
Radu shot Mihail an expectant look, as if the smaller man would make sense of this riddle. At first, Mihail found the silent accusation annoying. Then it hit him.
“It takes a lot of energy for ghosts to become visible,” Mihail said. “All that fighting should have drained them.”
“I could see them just fine,” Radu said.
“Which means that they're feedin' off of somethin',” Abe cut in. “Drawin' energy from a more powerful source. If I had to guess, I'd say that the demon is still around.”
Abe scanned the area around them with renewed interest. That scared Mihail more than the groping hands or the screams that followed them. There was no telling what Abe saw. An entire world of people could be around them right now. Monsters, and demons, and a host of other creatures, all hidden from Mihail's eyes.
“That sounds bad,” Radu tried to
sound casual. He failed.
“That's because it is,” Abe dismissed. Radu’s annoyed grunt prodded the medium into elaborating. “Ok, how to explain this. Um,” he sucked on a tooth absently. “Ok. Think of evil spirits like sharks. They come in all shapes and sizes and the vast majority can do little more than give you an annoying bite. But then there are the big ones. The monsters.”
“I’m with you so far,” Radu said. “Although, I don't think that bit about the sharks is completely accurate.”
“Well,” Abe said, as though Radu hadn't spoken, “the big ones come with their own kind of energy that effects the others.”
Radu rolled his eyes, “You suck at analogies.”
Pausing in his stride, Abe turned to meet his gaze. “Fine, how about I dumb it down. We’re swimming with sharks and someone just threw a whole world of chum into the water. These ghosts are gonna be strong, angry, and searching for something to rip apart. We’re walking into a damn feeding frenzy. That any better?”
“I think I understand,” Radu said softly.
The tension was broken slightly as Abe offered a reassuring smile and smacked Radu on the shoulder with one beefy hand. “Ya worked riot patrol. Ya can do this.” The ease waned somewhat when he added to Mihail in a whisper, “Stick close.”
Mihail nodded.
Minding every step, they snaked their way back into the thickest parts of the woods, leaving the horrible pit behind. Her screams followed them though, piercing and cruel. In between the shrieks, all sound was narrowed down to the crunch of snow under boots and the snap of twigs. Both were little distraction from the growing sense of immeasurable darkness. Mihail could feel it wrap around him, settling against his skin as if it had always belonged there. Mihail couldn’t stop himself from thinking that maybe it did. I was born in a castle of death. It's where I took my first breaths. I lived there, grew up there, I've always been a part of it. It's always been a part of me. Like a poison in my blood.
The first glimpse of the castle through the bushes shattered his thoughts. Ducking behind one of the last, sturdy trees before the clearing, Mihail tried to hide from the sight of the watchtowers. Abe and Radu were a few inches before him, crouching low to keep their bulk hidden. All of their carefully laid plans were rendered useless in a single glance. The drawbridge was down. Instead of relief, new tendrils of fear slithered under Mihail's skin.