Charlie looked into his eyes and saw the sadness there. He wouldn’t have let her do it. Wouldn’t put that between her and Meg, though she knew her sister understood. “Is Brittany okay?”
“Scared to death, but still alive,” Meg told her.
“You two stay with her and I’ll go back and lead the cops here. They’ll never find this place unless I do.”
They watched him disappear into the shadows. “Oh, Meg,” Charlie said with a long drawn out sigh. “Thank God you’re okay!”
“I sort of had things under control…at least until that last part. I thought Devon and I could get Brittany out of there before Old Thumper arrived. But it didn’t turn out that way.”
“Let’s see what we can do for Brittany. She must be scared out of her mind.”
“Who wouldn’t be?” Meg exclaimed.
“Who indeed.”
***
The police came and went. Ambulances roared in and out. Devon was taken to the morgue and Brittany to the hospital. Zack, Meg and Charlie headed back to the house with Freddie sticking close to Meg. He had hid during most of the excitement and seemed to be trying to make up for it. Charlie made coffee and they sat around the kitchen table waiting for Chief Beasely to stop by. He had some last minute questions. Most of which they wouldn’t answer. He had his man. He was incapable of believing the real truth.
“What made Old Thumper the evil being he became?” Meg asked tiredly
Zack looked at her for a moment before he replied, “I’m not a psychologist, but Jung believed each of us has a ‘shadow aspect’ capable of the darkest thoughts…fantasies…dreams. Most of us don't act on our darkest impulses…we have control and can sublimate them…but your Old Thumper had lost control a long time ago and became the beast of his own worst imaginings. For him the biggest taboo was incest so he held the line at raping his own daughter, but made up for it by raping and killing the others. Used his cane…the symbol of Hensley power…because he was impotent. And because Devon believed he was his son, it allowed him power over him…opened a portal to his own ‘shadow aspect’ and you saw the result.”
“Incapable of incest, but more than willing to rape and murder substitutes for his supposed daughter. A hideous twist,” Charlie said wryly.
“He was deranged and possibly possessed by his own ancestors. Look at the evil that ran through the whole Hensley male line,” Meg added.
“Too bad Devon’s mother didn’t tell him the truth about his father. Perhaps it would have saved him,” Charlie said, as she poured a second round
“Perhaps. At least it would have prevented what happened to Brittany and you, Meg,” Zack replied.
Meg was quiet for a moment, then said, “What could he have been, if things had been different?”
“That’s true of most of us, isn’t it?” Charlie asked quietly, then rose to answer the front door.
More than an hour later, they wearily climbed the stairs to their rooms. Zack said good night to Meg and waited till she closed her door, then turned to Charlie. “I’m leaving in the morning. I’ll be gone by the time you wake up. I wish you would wake up now, Charlie and not bury yourself with Paul. He’d be the first one to tell you that, if he could.”
He pulled her into his arms, then, and kissed her fiercely, hungrily as though he could never get enough. She felt a rush of sensation sweep over her like a hot, dark wave. Suddenly, she was afraid…very afraid… that her next step would carry her over the edge… into? “I don’t know if I’m safe with you, ” she murmured breathlessly.
“You’ll never be safe with me,” he whispered savagely, as his lips found the curve of her neck.
A hot melting kind of madness engulfed her, as he pushed open the door to her room. He swept her into his arms and carried her across the room, then tossed her into the middle of the bed, where she lay quietly watching him watching her. Her skin seemed to heat up and tingles of sensation coiled and flexed and then ignited, as she watched him in the moonlight.
“Hell!” he muttered hoarsely as he began unbuttoning his shirt, “I’ve tried not to touch you when every part of me wanted to do just that. I’ve tried to be patient, when I’m not a patient man. I know you want me and, by God, I want you!”
She felt swollen and wet with need for this man and her eyes grew enormous, as he worked on his second button, then, swearing profanely, he ripped his shirt off and flung it across the room. She wanted him to take her…sweep her away from coherent thought, from guilt, and her unrelenting memories
It seemed he could read her thoughts. “I will not rape you, though it has crossed my mind. I won’t let you take the easy way out…say I forced you against your will so you can live comfortably with that misplaced conscience of yours. Tell me that you want me, Charlie. Me…Zack!”
He was so beautiful in the moonlight…so heart stoppingly male…so very beguiling, she found herself unable to say anything at all. Instead, she lifted his hand and placed it on her breast, then smiled up into his eyes. He groaned and cursed at the same time, then bent down and scorched her lips with his hot mouth…then his tongue, as he slowly invaded her, bit by bit, until…
Bam! Bam! Bam! “Charlie, are you all right in there?" Meg called, then hammered on the wall three more times. "I hear noises! I’m coming over!”
A cold shower couldn't have been more effective! A shudder passed through Charlie and she pushed Zack away. “Go! I can’t…not now….not here!”
For a long moment he looked at her, studying the play of emotions in saw in her eyes, then, cursing under his breath he snatched his shoes off the floor and headed out the door.
If he had hoped to get away unseen, it was too late. A sleep tousled Meg ran squarely into him, as he was leaving. Round eyed, she stared at his bare chest…the shoes dangling from one hand…and managed to say, “Oh my!” to his cold smile and nod. She stood, watching him until he disappeared into the darkness at the end of the hall, then opened Charlie’s door just wide enough to say, “Sorry. I didn’t know I was interrupting something. I thought you were having a nightmare or…something,” she finished lamely.
Charlie groaned and rolled off the bed, trying to ignore the residual ache that remained to taunt her. She opened the door only a few more inches, then said, “It’s okay, Meg. Zack’s leaving in the morning and I’m staying here just as I promised you I would.”
Meg noticed the tremor in her sister’s voice, “Need company?”
“No, not tonight…not now. See you in the morning, Meg. I love you. Always remember that. The Ravynne sisters have a B&B to get ready,” she told her with a smile she was far from feeling.
She closed the door and walked across the room. Touching her lips, she could still feel the bruising imprint of his kiss. Some part of her wanted to go after him…wanted it fiercely. He had taken care of her. Had been the first person she had ever allowed herself to lean on. He was what she had thought she'd always wanted, but he was right. If Meg hadn't stopped them, she would have. There was a ghost between them. But she would miss him. So very much!
She picked up the shirt he'd left lying on the floor and carried it over to the window. Burying her face in it, she breathed in his scent, then let the tears escape she'd been holding back forever. She cried for Paul…for Zack…and for the what might have beens had things been different. Had she been different. It was just after dawn when she heard his car start up.
EPILOGUE - SIX MONTHS LATER
With Freddie racing on ahead, Meg entered Charlie’s tower room, carrying the morning mail and a cup of coffee. She shoved the mug at her sister, who was sitting behind her oversized mahogany desk, struggling with their woeful finances. She looked up and smiled, “We might just make it, Meg. We should have enough to cover the IRS and we’re getting more Internet bookings than we expected with Rayne’s haunted B&B angle. We even have one from Cornwall of all places. A place called Mor Alys Manor. Seems they have their own haunted B&B and wish us luck. Oh! And I heard they are starting to sell
ghost souvenirs to the tourists in town. We’re a success or close to it.”
“That’s beyond great!” Meg told her enthusiastically. “Here’s a package for you…no return address…I already looked. And two letters for me. Well, one’s actually for us both, but I’ll open it. You first. I want to see what’s inside. Maybe a bomb? Nothing would surprise me any more!”
Charlie smiled and put it next to her ear, “Doesn’t tick. Feels like a book”
“Or a bomb cleverly disguised as a Book,” Meg murmured.
Shaking her head, Charlie undid the brown paper wrapping and something fluttered to the desk. It was a postcard of Madrid. On the back was written in a bold masculine scrawl: Hope this helps with the haunted angle. You’ll be seeing me later. It was signed with a ‘Z’.
“I have to assume that’s not Zorro. So what did Zack send you?”
“Did any of this have ‘Meg’ on it? Read your letters and quit snooping.”
With a loud huff, Meg opened her first letter and began to read, while Charlie turned the book over in her hands. It was titled, A Haunting at Hensley Hall. She gasped when she saw the author’s name. Zack’s pen name. Flipping it open, she began to read.
Her “oh!” snared Meg’s attention and she looked up from her own reading, her eyes bright with curiosity. “It’s about us, about Hensely Hall, and you’ll never guess Zack’s pen name in a million years!” Charlie told her.
“Give that to me,” Meg cried, trying to grab the book from her sister’s hands without any luck. “Well, fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll find out the sneaky way, when I steal it from your room. I, on the other hand, am willing to share. Our parents write they will be here on Saturday and send their love. Dad has cleared his slate so he can start his new series…the one that’s going to…”
“Scare the poop out of the kids. I remember. Can’t wait to see them both. I am really glad we could keep them out of our mess, both figuratively and literally, until we got things cleaned up,” Charlie told her with a smile, as she made sure she kept Zack’s book safely out of her reach. Meg could be tricky. And quick!
Meg studied her chances for a quick grab and gave up, then held up her second letter and scrutinized it from all angles. “It's post marked Scotland and it looks like Allyn’s handwriting. What do you suppose he’s doing there?”
“Only one way to find out. Open it, Meg!”
So, she did. Her eyes grew wide...then wider… until finally she said, “It seems our little brother has managed to get himself engaged to a vampire and her father disapproves.”
Charlie cursed under her breath. “You aren’t, kidding are you?”
“No, says right here. You can read it for yourself.”
Charlie grimaced and snatched the letter from Meg’s hand. She read it quickly, mumbling under her breath the entire time. “You’ll have to handle things here for awhile” she began, but Meg stopped her cold.
“Dad and Sage can manage things here, and Freddie…she’ll love Freddie. I’m going with you. And don’t you dare try and stop me!”
Charlie sighed then laughed, “I know. The Ravynne sisters can handle anything, right?”
“Yep, and we have experience with vampires, remember?”
Charlie thought about telling Meg the truth about her vampire, but decided against it. "How could I forget," she muttered instead.
###
This book is dedicated, with many thanks, to my treasured sister, Susan, who incorporates all the best qualities of the Ravynne sisters!
A Haunting at Hensley Hall (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery) Page 23