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Christina Hinds and her sister Cassie Ryman were both fast asleep when the telephone rang in their flat in Reigate, they both struggled out of their hard bed within the pentagram but it was Cassie who got to the telephone first. As she picked up the telephone something told her that danger was very near to her. Cassie looked around nervously as she listened to the caller.
This is Sir Richard Willoughby Brown, I am afraid that I have some bad news for Mrs Hinds, her husband is dying, I cannot go into the reason why over the telephone but I have sent a car for you and your sister, it will be there in five minutes, I will tell you more when I see you.”
Her instincts told Cassie that she should put the telephone down immediately that something about the call was not right, but before she could do so Moira Bourbon had taken control of her mind, Moira had used the telephone to enable her to connect with Cassie who she saw as a potential threat to her plans. Without being able to do anything to stop herself she put the telephone down onto the table, but the telephone was still connected to the caller, Moira, and then she turned to her sister.
“Christina, Rob is hurt, that was Sir Willoughby Brown, he is sending a car for us, we must get dressed quickly for it will be here soon.” Cassie heard herself say, except that she had not said anything; she was too busy fighting for control of her mind, and of her body.
It took all of Christina`s strength not to break down and cry, this was something that she had long feared, for she knew that Rob had a dangerous job and especially when he was forced to go up against the queen bitch Moira Bourbon. Carrie found herself taking her sister in her arms and comforting her for a moment, and then the two young women parted and got dressed, and then went down stairs to wait for the car.
A car driven by a man normally residing in a mental institution arrived in front of their apartment building, he too was under the power of Moira, he then drove them to the haunted house. On arrival he silently opened the front door and allowed them to enter. When they were safely inside he slammed the door shut and drove back to the mental institution where he parked the car and then returned to his bed.
Christina and Cassie spun around to look at the closed door, Cassie now finding that control of her mind and body had been returned to her. Christina quickly reopened the front door sensing that she and her sister had been led into a trap, however when she attempted to leave she found that she could not do so, an invisible barrier was preventing them. Looking anxiously round at her sister she turned back to look into the large grim looking hallway of the house; with no other option open to them she began to edge forward into it.
“Sir Richard.” Christina called out hesitantly. “Are you there?”
She knew that they had been conned, probably by Moira Bourbon, and that meant that they were in dire trouble, but she had still called out, but no answering reply came back to them.
Cassie decided to say nothing about what had happened to her, maybe she would tell her sister when they had managed to escape from the haunted house, for she knew where they were from the researches that they had made regarding it. They stood still for only a moment, deciding upon which of two doors which led off the hallway to try first, one thing they had both subconsciously already decided upon, they were definitely not going to try the wooden staircase that climbed up to the next floor. They looked at each other, both seeing the fear in the other’s eyes.
“Let`s try the right hand door.” Christina decided to which Cassie simply nodded.
Hearing the front door slam, Rob hurried back through the sitting room, dragging a complaining Norma behind him, she being the last one to make the toilet run. He dropped her off at the protective circle and with Father Pritchard at his side he hurried to the entrance hall and the front door. Here he almost ran into Christina and Cassie who were still edging forward towards the door that led into the dining room, both of them were terrified and in tears. When they saw that Rob was alive they cried out in joy and rushed across to him, and while Christina threw her arms around his neck, Cassie threw her arms around Christina and Rob and hugged them both.
“Moira!” Rob cried out in anger, looking up at the ceiling.
Laughter rang out from the air above them making everyone within the house either cling or huddle together in fear.
Christina then told Rob of the telephone call, and of their fears for his life, Rob then told them an abridged version of all that had happened in the haunted house, and of his fears for the future. When he had done so Hillmore moved forward to ask a question.
“Tell me Mr Hinds, did you know that this would happen from the very start?” Hillmore demanded to know.
“No, Mr Hillmore, because as I told everyone, Moira Bourbon is dead, it was only after things began to happen that I realised that my most dangerous enemy, Moira Bourbon, was still bent on killing me, be it on Earth or from the hell dimension where I sent her black soul.” Rob replied. “Nearly everyone was warned about the dangers of coming to this house, the student group decided to risk their lives, so did you and your colleague, unfortunately you never told Mr Masters and Ms Lang of the dangers waiting for them, and they have both paid the price of your mistake.”
Hillmore paled under his attack and his woes did not end there. Maxine who had decided to stay close to Rob, for she had finally realised that she felt safer when he was about, had followed him out into the large entrance hall, hearing Hillmore verbally attack Rob she launched into her own attack.
“Mr Hillmore, how could anyone realise the dangers within this house, especially when posed by a dead woman?”
Hillmore turned on her, seeking another to vent his anger on. “You silly girl, don`t you realise anything yet, Moira Bourbon is not after us, we are mere playthings, it is Mr Hinds that she is after. He told me that he had twice come across this sort of thing before, he knew the dangers involved, he should have stopped us all from coming here.”
Colin Timpson had also followed Rob out, he too had felt the need to be by Rob`s side while danger threatened them all, and he also looked angrily at Hillmore. He thought that Hillmore`s remark had been grossly unfair, especially the ones made to Maxine, a young woman who he was beginning to have feelings for. With his blood pressure rising, he launched into Hillmore.
“Mr Hillmore, if Maxine is silly then so are the rest of us for insisting on coming to the house. You told Professor Inglis that you had been warned of the dangers of coming along, however none of us really believed in ghosts, and certainly not you, so stop complaining and leave Mr Hinds and Father Pritchard to do their job, namely to get the rest of us through this ordeal in one piece.”
Colin then counted slowly to ten and he finally felt his anger dissipating; even so he would have surely liked to have decked the stupid media man.
Five Chapter
Back to Tartarus
A plume of red smoke began to form on the landing of the staircase, and within it a ghostly phantom appeared, as the figure of the phantom gained substance Rob could see that it was Moira Bourbon. However, she had not appeared in body, only as a phantom, she was too afraid to appear in person, for she knew that Rob would fire upon her, and even while she believed that he could not harm her, there was still that little bit of doubt that remained.
Moira waved an arm and everyone in the house fell asleep, except Rob and Father Pritchard, perhaps the amount of protection that they were carrying saved them from Moira`s power, although Moira wanted Rob to stay awake in any case, so she could taunt him.
“Surprise, surprise, eh Rob, you thought that you had me safely out of the way, but as always you under estimate the power that I have, the power to crush you where you stand.” Moira cried out angrily. “Ah, I see that the family have arrived safely?” She sneered. “However, they will only stay that way Rob if you do exactly as I say.”
“What is it this time Moira, missing the good life as an evil mortal?” Rob replied keeping a hold of his temper until he found a weakness that he could exploit.
“Did you need to meet up with old friends and am I the closest thing that you have to a friend?”
Anger immediately engulfed Moira. “You killed my father and me, you bastard, you`re lucky that I do not tear you and your two sweet loved ones into tiny little pieces.”
“Then you had better do it right, otherwise I will come looking for you again Moira, and you know how that always finishes.” Rob retorted angrily, forgetting for a moment that in doing so he was putting everyone in even more danger.
Moira managed with some difficulty to gain control of her feelings, she told herself that she would revenge herself later, and it would be so sweet. “My father ended up in Tartarus, and you and I are going to break him out and take him to my fortress for some R&R.” Moira said sweetly, not mentioning how the two of them, her father and herself, would then look for payback.
Behind Rob, Father Pritchard had unscrewed the lid on his bottle of holy water, he now moved clear of Rob and prepared to throw it at the image of Moira Bourbon, however a twitch of Moira`s right eye stopped him, leaving him frozen in time.
“Let him go Moira.” Rob ordered taking the bottle of holy water from his friend`s hand and screwing the lid back on. “I will vouch for his good behaviour.” Rob promised looking angrily at the beautiful Satanist. “Do it, now.” Rod ordered.
Moira merely waved her hand and Father Pritchard came back to life, stumbling forward and looking for the bottle of holy water that he had been about to throw.
“She froze you in time David; she only released you when I gave my word that you would not try anything like that again.” Rob explained.
“Not just anything like that Rob, neither of you will attempt anything against me, swear Rob, swear it on sweet Christina`s soul.” Moira demanded.
“OK, Moira, as long as you do not attempt any action against any us, then I hereby swear on Christina`s soul that neither of us will attempt anything against you, instead we will help you free your father. Are we done so that we can move on to other things, such as Christina, Cassie, and the others that you have been playing with?” Rob replied.
Now many would think it odd in the extreme that he had agreed to venture into the most dangerous of all the hell dimensions, and then to attempt to rescue someone who deserved to be there, but then he had survived a trip to Tartarus before, and anyway, what choice did he have, if he was to ensure the safety of those he loved.
With her anger back under control, Moira was once again her usual evil self. Looking at Rob, and feeling very smug, Moira quickly thought over his demands, although she knew that she was holding all the aces, she decided that what Rob had offered was worth accepting until the time came to tell him of her final place for him in her plans.
“I was going to take them all back to my fortress Rob, but OK, it is a deal, their freedom for your word of honour that you will leave here with me now and that you will assist me in freeing my father.” Moira replied graciously.
Father Pritchard immediately moved forward and grabbed one of Rob`s arms. “I am coming with you Rob; you will need someone to watch your back.”
“Not this time David, I need you here to watch over the two girls, no one else is capable of it.” Rob replied earnestly.
Father Pritchard looked his friend in the eye and nodded. “All right my friend, but watch out for yourself, she will stab you in the back if it serves her ends, and remember she will never keep a promise.”
Rob collected all the protective paraphernalia that they had given to the ghost seekers and put it in his overnight bag, because he was sure that he would need it where he was going. Included in the bag were two children`s large capacity water pistols, the sort that looked like space age weapons, they were both filled with holy water and should prove effective weapons against the forces of hell. He then turned back to Moira.
“Wake them now and drop the barrier, they go first, only then will I assist you to free your father.” Rob stated firmly to the Satanist.
“Ah, Rob, you do not trust me, and here we are going to be travel buddies.” Moira replied in a hurt voice.
Moira waved her arm and the sleepers woke up. Father Pritchard hurriedly ushered them all from the house, although they hardly needed too much urging. Even Marchmount decided that he needed a break; he could always call on the beautiful Satanist when he had recovered his strength, and his nerve.
After hearing about the deal that Rob had agreed to, Christina knew that she and Cassie must also leave, even if it broke their hearts to do so, but then Christina had to think not only of her sister`s life but also of the others who had been forced to participate in Moira`s charade, even so she had one demand to make.
“Rob, I will only consent to this if you take David with you, Cassie and I both know how to keep the pentagram in working order, but you need someone to watch your back. Take him or you take us, you choose.” Christina demanded and Cassie backed her up.
“Please, Rob, do as Christina asks, or else I promise you that you will be saddled with us.” Cassie said stressing the latter part of her demand and looking very determined.
Rob could only agree, in any case he knew that Christina and Cassie would now be on their guard, and he could sure use his friend. Therefore, he agreed to their demands, and after they had kissed him and hugged him, they followed the others out of the house.
Outside they met two SIS agents who had finally awoken, looking very sheepish they took Christina and Cassie to the house of Sir Willoughby Brown who was also looking rather guilty, however when Christina told him why he and his agents had fallen asleep, he understood that no one was to blame, except for Moira Bourbon.