Chapter 31

We were still reeling from the disturbing EVP session that we heard. I could not believe what we heard “Vampire.” That was clear as day. What could that mean? Surely there were cultural  superstitions that were being referenced, not like drinking blood type of vampires. They were the stuff of fiction, mythical folklore and Hollywood imagination. That couldn’t be real, could it?

“Do you think that was real? Or is that just some vintage cultural reference.?” I asked Judith.

“Katherine, how can you believe in skin walkers yet, deny the existence of other devilish creatures?” she said shaking her head. “there’s physical proof of walkers in Tennessee” I said in defense.

You think there’s none of vampires? There’s historical proof”

“That proof has been debunked by historians, science, and scholars.”

“Or maybe they’re very good at blending in and hiding?” she said in an angry tone.

“To answer your question, yes, I believe it.” I looked at her with a dubious look.

“The dead don’t lie Katherine. These are flashes, ghosts whispering their own tales of memories from times past. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the ghost is directly here with us just, shadows of their memories. When something horrific, it imprints on the room or house in a negative way.” I was nodding in understanding of everything that she was saying. I knew a little about paranormal investigation. I watch Ghost Hunters and The Dead Files.

“Something really bad happened here. The memories of that event are stained into this place. I don’t think it was in this room though.”

“How can you tell?” I asked her.

“Something is telling me so. When we were in the tunnel, I felt very heavy by one of the chambers. I think that woman was taken in there and murdered there.” Judith said.

“How do we know?”

“Black light, it doesn’t matter, how old a blood stain is, even if it was cleaned up. Blood doesn’t’ lie, and it leaves its mark.” Suddenly there was a roar outside and what sounded like boulders crashing. I heard someone scream “RUN, GET OUT!” We looked at each other in panic. We heard the sound of boulders crashing again. Then from a side hallway leading to the grand ballroom area, we saw the large bay window suddenly smash through. Two figures were crashing through it like a bolt lightning. We were stunned in fear at the chaos. Snarls erupted around us.

“GET OUT!” I heard the voice bellow again, the sounds of bodies smashing into walls and loud roars filled the house. We scrambled to our feet in fear. Suddenly, a room off the to the side opened like someone granting us safety. We ran towards the room in fear.

“WHAT IS GOING ON!” Judith screamed. We covered our ears as the sound of a battle raged around us. I felt the walls of house shake like it could self-destruct at any moment. The sealing groaned and fell right in back of us. The remnants of someone’s bedroom that was long forgotten about crashed around us.

We screamed in terror. I was beginning to fear the house was going to fall down on us. We continued to hear the sound of slamming and fighting happening through the house. I was clawing at everything to try and find an escape. Out of nowhere, a book dropped in my lap. It was old. It looked like it used to be cream colored with purple lace. This matches Gabrielle’s style. I saw a key lock. Suddenly, a key dropped from the binding of the book. It was a diary of some kind. I think Gabrielle’s spirit or someone wants me to have this. I shoved it into my bag and peaked out the door.  I could tell it was still not safe to run out there but, we couldn’t stay where we were. I looked up and thought I saw the image of someone standing by the bookshelf. Am I seeing ghosts now? She was a black woman in vintage African dress, she stood by the bookshelf for a second then walked through it, and as she glided through, I saw a door open.

‘There, look at that!” I shouted towards Judith. We saw the door and ran for it. The passage led us into very tight hallway. This must be a servants passage. We came out into another room that looked like a luxury office. There were also shelves of encyclopedia’s and other books that were ancient.

“This would have been called the smoking room” Judith said.

“This is no doubt where Gabrielle’s father would have conducted business” I said to her.

“It was a lounge for men only; women rarely came in here.” She said in repulsion. Judith was all about women’s rights, the idea of how little rights women had during that time repulsed her.  

“I think we’re safe for right now, we need to get out of here, that one man was telling us to run. We need to get back to the tunnels.” I said to her. She nodded in agreement.

Right outside, I heard the sound of someone dropping hard onto the floor. I opened the door to peak. There was this savage looking man. He had dark hair and handsome features but rugged looking. Like he could have been a handsome lumberjack. He was moving at inhuman speed. With inhuman strength he picked up the other person and dropped them to the floor, hard enough to continue denting the stone.

“Found her didn’t you Rudolph!” he spat. “You didn’t think I would find her too. You don’t think I lead her here! To finally finish it.!” Rudolph snarled in fury.

“Never again!” Rudolph screamed. He jumped up with impossible strength and slammed the savage looking man into the wall cracking it.

I felt like a deer caught in the headlights, somehow I knew they were talking about me. “Rudolph locked eyes with me as the other man threw him into the wall right outside our door. He jumped up and flew directly into the other man. They went through a window.

“Screw this! I am gone!” Judith said as she ran from the room. Snarling paused taking on a new direction.

“JUDITH NO!”  I screamed as she started running out of the room and down the hallway. I was following her out of the room intending to stop her. I wanted to try taking the servants tunnel to the kitchen before she made a daring dash down the hall.