Page 13 of Chillingham Castle

I cursed under my breath, and Trunk shook his head.

A scrape on the heavy door made the hair rise on the back of my neck. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard. I held a hand up as Trunk and Lich both swapped glances.

The scraping noise happened again, followed by tapping.

A taunting cackle filtered through the doorway, and goosebumps broke out over my body. That was pure evil.

“Let me in,” a voice hissed. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female.

None of us moved. Another knock sounded, and nails scraped again. A further laugh, filled with malicious glee, and then something struck the door forcefully. I jumped back when a hand appeared through it. It grasped at me, and Lucky leapt forward and slammed his cross into it. A shriek echoed as the hand disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded, a bit shaken.

“No idea, but it didn’t want to play nice,” Lucky replied.

I turned to Trunk. “What did you sense when you saw it?”

“Fear, cold, and a level of hate that made me feel sick,” Trunk said, shuddering.

“Male? Female?” I asked.

“Couldn’t tell. It didn’t strike me as overly tall, and although human-shaped, the features and details were hard to figure out.” Trunk frowned. “I can’t work out why it didn’t have a shape. I saw it clearly.”

“Maybe that’s the plan; that way we can’t pin down what it is,” Lucky replied.

I stuck my head outside and checked the corridor before radioing Lich to come back.

After that, everything was quiet, but the unease didn’t stop. Evidently, the entity had been messing with us. What the hell was it?

Haunt–the next day.

“Are we all okay for tonight?” I asked, sitting down to breakfast.

“Yeah. I watched some footage from the Pink Room. Other than the activity during our lunch break last night, there was nothing. Suga’s camera had picked up scratching, and Blue Boy did move things while we weren’t there, but no other movement was in the background,” Gizmo said.

“We really need help,” Dive said. “There’s so much footage to check.”

“Yeah, Jack pointed that out. I’m considering putting an advert out,” I replied.

“Haunt, I might have something; give me a couple of hours,” Dive mentioned, and I glanced at him.

“I keep up to date with the paranormal community. The Essex Ghost Society just split. There’s a lot of gossip, but Cammie, Jayna, and Lynnie aren’t commenting. Rumours are the guys were faking footage, and the girls found out and quit,” Dive said.

“Wow, they were pretty respected,” I replied.

“Yup. I can reach out and get the gist of what happened. See if they’d be interested in joining us for editing.”

I pursed my lips. “They’re all experienced hunters. To be honest, some women might prove beneficial. I wonder if we’d had them on board last night, would Blue Boy have appeared?”

“True. It is something we’re missing,” Gizmo replied. “Reach out. All three of them are respected.”

“I’ll do it after breakfast,” Dive said.

We may have found what we needed. The question was whether they’d be a good fit. I wanted the full story before hiring them. I caught Gizmo’s eye, and he nodded.

“Who’s taking what first?” Jack asked, capturing my attention.

“What do you feel like?” I replied.