Page 21 of Ghost Hunters 2

Bane crossed his arms over his chest and regarded the scarred ghost with a blank expression on his face.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Dino asked.

“The four of us will never leave these walls,” George said. “Every year the Inn burns to the ground and every year it comes back from the flames of hell as if nothing has touched it. It’s been happening for forty years and it will happen again for the next forty years.” Then he looked at Bane, Dino and Jillian. “This year you will join us in the hell of burning to death but unlike us you will not be back. Your souls will be lost forever. You should have left when I told you to go Jillian. Now it’s too late for you and your friends.”

Jillian frowned. “You’re the one that wrote the messages?”

“What messages?” Dino asked.

“The first night I was here I found a message written in dust on the table and then I found one written in red lipstick on the mirror in my bedroom. I thought the warnings were from Claire.”

George sneered. “Yes, I wrote them but you were too stupid to listen to them, now the fire will take your life too. None of you are going to survive. No one can leave and no one else can get in.”

“George, you can’t let them die,” Tilly said. “That would be murder.”

George looked her in the eye and said, “It wouldn’t be the first murder I’ve committed.” He turned his head to stare at Claire. “Just ask Claire. Ask her about a certain letter she read a long time ago.”

“But I didn’t read the whole letter, only the first few paragraphs. I never killed anyone."

“But you stayed with me.” George laughed. “And you are all stuck here, so I guess we’re all going to hell, aren’t we?”

Bane snorted. “I’ll either beat you there or fucking meet you there.”

George looked over at him. “I do not know who you are. Why are you here?”

“For the same reason as you,” Bane replied. “I get bored and I just have to burn shit down until I feel better.”

Dino looked over at him and laughed. He then stared at George. “This guy has killed more people than you could count, asshole.”

“Is this a competition?” Matthew asked.

Dino shrugged. “Better not be because ole Georgie boy here could get fried.”

Bane reached into his shirt and pulled out the heavy silver cross.

They all stared at him while wondering what he meant to do with it.

He took it off and handed it to Jillian.

Pausing, she reached out and took it.

The lights in the kitchen suddenly dimmed.

The air went instantly cold as if they stood in a deep freeze. A visible frost fog came out of Dino, Bane and Jillian’s mouths.

Tilly and Claire gasped and clung to each other as they stared at ghouls that floated off the ground in fear.

Matthew stared at them too as they stood behind George.

Turning around, George saw a whole line of bigeyed, red-faced, semi-human men who were covered in blood. They almost looked like zombies except they were growling with a pure unadulterated fury.

George’s dark aura facade shrunk to nothing as he stumbled back. He shrieked like a girl and spun around to disappear through a wall.

“What the hell is happening?” Jillian asked. “What are they?” She stepped close to Dino in fear.

Bane reached over and took the cross back from her. He dropped it over his head and tucked it under his shirt.

“Neat trick, pops.” Dino snickered as he had his arm around a shivering Jillian.