Lacybourne Manor (67 page)

The blade was at her throat and
any second it would tear across it and he would lose her.

He knew it.

He felt it.

The agony of the thought shot
through him, searing to his very soul.

He opened his mouth, just like
he did in the dream, to roar his denial.

Then, in that moment, the
strangest thing happened.

* * * * *

Old Lady Griffin dashed
into the clearing, wielding her cane like a battle axe and
screaming like a banshee.

Everyone, even the figure
standing and watching, even Royce himself, stopped what they were
doing and turned to stare at her in stupefaction.

With an almighty swoop of her
arms that was borne half out of fury, half out of terror, she
crashed the cane against the face of one of Royce’s attackers.

Instantly smashing his jaw and
his cheekbone, sending shards of bone into his brain.

Instantly breaking the dark
soul’s dark spell.

From the other side of the
clearing, the town’s midwife and resident witch, Esmeralda Crane
bounded forward and moved her arm before her in a downward slash.
With a flash of green-white light, the watching figure flew across
the clearing and slammed against the trunk of a tree. There it
stayed frozen, invisibly pinned.

Royce broke out of his stunned
freeze and dispatched two more attackers, one with a blade to the
heart then he whirled expertly and took out the other one with a
slice across the throat.

Then Beatrice surged into the
clearing with what could have been credited as a pretty decent war
cry (if Royce hadn’t been so infuriated by her very presence) and
she jumped on the back of the last of the attackers. She pulled at
his hair as he blundered about in vicious circles, trying to
dislodge her.

Royce, with immense patience
and controlled anger, strolled up behind them. He grasped Beatrice
by hooking an arm about her waist and pulled her from the man,
calmly setting her down behind him.

He then buried his blade in the
man’s gut and yanked it savagely upward.

Before the attacker had fully
fallen to the ground, Royce whipped around to Beatrice. “I thought
I told you to go to the witch’s cottage!” he barked.

“I couldn’t leave you out here
by yourself!” she flashed back, her eyes, even in the darkened,
rainy evening, he could see were emerald green.

He looked to the heavens,
praying to the good Lord above for patience.

* * * * *

The wraith slashed the blade
against Sibyl’s throat and Colin let out a ferocious roar as Sibyl
emitted a blood-chilling scream.

But instead of penetrating, the
blade glanced off her throat in a magical shower of green-white
sparks, leaving Sibyl untouched and alive.

Then Bran flew from the curtain
rod, a low, frightening, continuous growl rolling from his feline
throat. He landed on the spectre that held Sibyl. The phantom gave
a start at this turn of events, its hold loosened on Sibyl and she
tore free.

Hissing and spitting, Bran
slashed at the spectre with his claws and the ghost struggled to
fight back against this strange, unexpected aggressor.

Then, the figure that Sibyl had
seen watching from the doorway all of a sudden, with a flash of
green-white light, flew across the room. It slammed against the
opposite wall and was pinned there, frozen and held captive by
invisible shackles. Marian, her arm lifted and pointing at the
figure, calmly walked in the room.

Then, all of a sudden, the
bedroom was flooded with people.

First came Rick, roaring in
like a bull and, without even noticing he was battling a corporeal
ghost, he simply started to beat the living (or not-so-living)
daylights out of it.

Then came Kyle, who jogged in
and took a look around, his brows lifting momentarily, he then
swooped down on one of the two wraiths with whom Colin was still
struggling and pulled him away.

Then another man, who Sibyl had
never seen before, came tearing into the room and stopped dead,
immobile at what he saw. Then, with nothing for it, he surged
forward and spelled Bran who dropped from his ghost and ran from
the room.

Then, with a strange, eerie,
final-sounding pop, Rick’s spectre just disappeared with Rick in
mid-swing.

Then, not a few seconds later,
Kyle’s did the same.

Then, the other one went with
another pop, leaving the unknown man literally spinning on his
feet

And finally, Colin threw off
the last and as it flew through the air of the room, there was a
final crack and one moment they all saw it flying and less than a
second later, it was gone.

Without hesitation, Colin
whirled on Sibyl. “I thought I told you to go to the sanctuary!” he
barked.

“I couldn’t leave you here to
fight them alone!” she snapped.

He stared at her angrily for a
moment and then lifted his eyes toward the ceiling and she was
relatively certain he was praying for patience.

* * * * *

With a menacing stride, Royce
walked toward the figure pinned to the trunk of the tree.

The witch still had her
arm lifted. Royce knew, even though he didn’t want to believe, that
the woman was holding the figure captive using something Royce
refused to believe existed.

Magic.

Royce approached the tree and
he felt Beatrice close behind him and when he stopped, he made sure
she stayed well behind him by roughly pushing her there with his
arm.

The figure was cloaked, the
hood hiding his face.

“Who are you?” Royce
demanded.

With a flick of her hand, the
Esmeralda Crane unmasked the figure.

Royce drew in his breath as he
heard Beatrice gasp behind him.

* * * * *

Colin stalked with menacing
strides toward the figure pinned to the wall.

Marian was clearly
holding it there with her arm still aloft. Colin didn’t even want
to think what
that
meant.

He felt Sibyl close
behind him and when he stopped, he made sure she stayed behind him
by pushing her there with his arm.

The figure was hooded somehow,
its face masked.

“Who the fuck are you?” Colin
demanded.

With a flick of her hand,
Marian tore the glamour away from the figure.

Colin drew in his breath as he
heard Sibyl ask from behind him, “Who the heck is that?”

In a low voice, Colin answered,
“Mrs. Manning.”

“
Mrs. Man…
the invisible
housekeeper?
” Sibyl burst out.

“You killed my son!” the woman
screamed, her voice, Colin realised, used to sound old, damaged and
scratchy. Now it was just old.

He should have thought of that
earlier when Robert told him about the voice their attackers from
the Centre had described. But he didn’t. He would have never
suspected his efficient, mostly unseen housekeeper of plotting his
murder. Now he stared at the woman who had not only kept his house
but kept his aunt and uncle’s house before him.

“You killed her son?” Sibyl
breathed.

Colin whirled with disbelief on
his fiancée. “I didn’t kill her son,” he exploded.

“You killed my son,” Mrs.
Manning shouted.

“
She
says you killed her son,” Sibyl stated and
turned her eyes to Mrs. Manning. “You are a crazy lady,” she noted
angrily, sidestepped Colin and started to approach the housekeeper,
would have done if Colin hadn’t again hooked his arm at her waist
and yanked her back hard against his body. Even though he did so,
he could actually
feel
Sibyl’s fury boiling inside her. “You nearly
killed us!” Sibyl yelled.

“He killed my son,” Mrs.
Manning spat.

“
He didn’t kill your son,
you silly cow,” Sibyl spat right back and Colin would have grinned
at Sibyl’s defence of him if it all wasn’t so bizarre and, of
course, he wasn’t so
fucking
angry.

Mrs. Manning turned her
malevolent eyes to Colin.

“
He was your squire. You
took him into battle. He died at your side.” She was talking,
glaring, hatred oozing from every pore and not making a lick of
sense. “He was so
honoured
to be your squire. To be
the squire of the great knight, Royce Morgan. And then he died. And
his blood will
forever
be on your hands.”

Colin felt Sibyl’s body
freeze.

At the same time, Marian
whispered, “You’re an eternal.”

“What?” Colin, Sibyl, and Colin
could swear at least two, possibly three, other male voices said at
the same time.

“An eternal, she’s used dark
magic to live for centuries, to stay alive throughout time to exact
vengeance, knowing Esmeralda had set her spell to restore true
love,” Marian explained to her audience and then turned back to
Mrs. Manning. “You killed Royce and Beatrice nearly five hundred
years ago, it was you.”

“
I did but now
she
saved
them, the filthy witch whore,” Mrs. Manning spit, her eyes moving
to Sibyl.

It was Colin’s turn to freeze
and then he poised to strike.

“No, Colin,” Marian warned and
at her tone, Colin’s eyes shifted to the older lady. To his
surprise, she smiled smugly at him. Then she said something even
more bizarre than any of the events of this night. “Let Royce take
care of this.”

“Royce!” Mrs. Manning screamed,
her voice hysterical and utterly, completely mad. “He nearly killed
me before but he didn’t do it,” she crowed. “He cut my throat but
he didn’t sever it.”

“There is no scar,” Marian
informed her, the smile never leaving her face. “Not yet, at
least.”

Mrs. Manning’s eyes
widened.

“Royce didn’t kill your son,”
Sibyl, still seething with rage, butted in. “You shouldn’t have
blamed him. I’m certain your son died with honour. He wouldn’t have
thanked you for killing Royce and Beatrice.”

“You don’t know,” Mrs. Manning
snapped.

“
I
do
know. My Dad’s a
professor of Medieval History,
of course
I know! A squire would
be honoured to train under a knight of Royce Morgan’s reputation,
his strength, his character, it would be learning from a
master.”

“
You don’t
know!
” Mrs. Manning screamed. “He was
stupid. Royce felt such guilt at Henry’s death, he let me into his
home, he gave me food, clothing, he took care of me. Miss Beatrice
told me he cared for my son, in his way, he loved him.” She shook
her head, her eyes narrowing malevolently and she spat out, “Bah!
He didn’t love him, he
murdered
him. It wasn’t his blade
that brought Henry down but it might just as well have been. All
the while I was at Lacybourne, I plotted their deaths. All the
while I waited for the perfect moment when his guard would be down.
When I came out of those trees on the night of their wedding, Royce
smiled at me and bade me good eve right before he watched his bride
snatched from his arms and her throat slit.” Her face split in a
hideous grin. “It was the most beautiful moment of my
life.”

At these words, Sibyl reared,
tore from Colin’s arms and rushed forward.

* * * * *

“She will not stop.”

Royce was holding Beatrice back
as the venom poured out of Mistress Manning’s mouth. His new bride
was furious; he could feel it emanating from her body. Contrarily,
regardless of her bloody-minded temper, Beatrice was the most
gentle of creatures, had a heart so full of love, he worried it
would burst. It definitely got her in a serious number of even more
serious muddles.

But now, he knew, she could
commit murder.

“She will not stop,” Esmeralda
repeated. “She will hunt you for eternity. She will haunt your
line. She will never stop.”

Royce thought of Sibyl, the
woman from another time and just as he did, Esmeralda continued,
“You were supposed to die this night. There is powerful magic in
the air. I don’t know how it happened but you have been saved.
Someone, somewhere, saved you both. You may live a peaceful life
but this woman will be avenged. It might not be you and Miss
Beatrice but it will be someone in your line somewhere along time.
She will stop at nothing. She will have her vengeance.”

Royce’s mind filled with
the golden-haired vision of Beatrice. He heard her words about her
lover named Colin, a lover that was
him
in her time. He saw her
passion-filled eyes realising belatedly that somewhere else, they
were experiencing the profound beauty of the union he shared
earlier with Beatrice. Her Colin had asked her to marry him that
very day.

Then he remembered her
beautiful smile.

And wherever she was, she was
in danger.

“
If you don’t do it, I
will,” Old Lady Griffin threatened, standing amongst their group
and holding her cane menacingly.

He ignored the old woman and
realised Sibyl had saved his life and Beatrice’s by warning him. He
didn’t wish to believe it but he did.

For that, Royce didn’t
hesitate.

He moved forward with deadly
intent.

Beatrice didn’t utter a single
word in protest.

* * * * *

Before Sibyl could arrive at
Mrs. Manning, the vengeful old woman threw back her head in
surprise and pain, let out a shrill scream and then she just simply
disappeared.

Safe

“
What is that
smell
?”
Rick asked, sniffing the air with a comical expression of distaste
on his face.