Unwittingly Evil
Benny and Rory had stopped inching down the hall. They had realized it was unfair to leave Ethan behind as he climbed down those corkscrew stairs. Mostly because of where they were, not so much as to stop Ethan from being the last one out and therefore a Cylon.
But Ethan didn't get off the staircase, he found himself floating off his feet, tumbling upside down and being glued onto the ceiling with a thud as some of the plaster rained down around him.
"Benny!" he gasped.
"I didn't do anything" said Benny.
But now Benny and Rory found themselves floating, inverted, and soon stuck to the ceiling.
"I don't want to float again today" Rory complained.
The three yelled in terror . . . and to their credit, managed not to scream like girls.
The three were unstuck and then shot down the hall to a place above the stairs where they had first come into the attic. Thud again, as the three were forced against the wall as if they were tied against it with ropes. Or so Rory thought. Benny considered it more like being subject to a Sith using the dark side of the force against them.
Ethan, for his part, was reminded unpleasantly of the time he was seven and signed up for his public school's intermural soccer games. The jock who ran his team hung him up on a chainlink fence by the hood of his Pokemon jacket.
"What the frack's going on!" Benny yelled at Ethan.
"Why are you asking me?" said Ethan.
In desperation, Benny and Ethan looked at Rory.
"You guys are the spellmaster and the seer" Rory retorted. "I'm just an awesome monster hunting charter member of Team Sabre. I mean, we're all awesome monster hunting charter members of Team Sabre, but . . . .
"We get it Rory" said Ethan, then turned to Benny. "Is your magic acting up . . . sort of like my seeing power goes off by itself?"
"That would be cool" said Benny, thinking about how much power he'd have for that to happen. "I mean . . . but, no, dude, I'm sure it isn't me."
Ethan didn't reply, as before him now was a sight that drained every bit of colour from his face. Ethan now realized what had terrified him about Colby's house.
Coach Ed had suddenly disappeared from Whitechapel High School decades before. He was trapped in the school's only trophy, before Ethan accidentally freed him when he handled the relic. Ethan had, by his mere presence, also reactivated the possessed car of Manafort Brunner; and the evil vampire that possessed it.
That bloodsucking murderer of thousands, Colby V. Flood, was now truly dead. And Ethan had been wandering through the attic. Someone . . . or something . . . downstairs in the library had wanted Ethan to see what Colby had been like in life . . . as a human being before being twisted into an un-dead murderer. The phantom who had wanted Ethan to see Colby in a good light . . . be it one of the living Colby's friends or relatives . . . had probably left now there was no longer reason to stay in that miserable old house.
Now Colby's victims, those who had been trapped in their killer's souvenirs, were in charge.
It wasn't all of them. So far as Ethan could tell, only hundreds. Ethan could see now the disembodied souls, travelling white streams of light, streaming of the miscellanea in the attic. A frantic couple of glances at Benny and Rory proved that Ethan was the only one to see what was going on. And Ethan could barely talk in his fright.
Was this worse than being held a thousand feet in the air? Who asked questions like that? Being held by hundreds of probably very angry ghosts . . . being held by a few vampires about to drop you? Who could decide . . . right now?
What did Benny and Rory see? Well, they soon saw some of the items . . . a hat, a necktie, a scarf, a laptop bag, a purse, and several watches float in midair. What had happened? Well, the sprits imprisoned were claiming their property and erstwhile jails.
And in front, was a long pearl necklace.
"This place is haunted!" said Benny.
"Naa . . . really, Benny!" Ethan exclaimed frantically. "There are hundreds of them! All Colby's victims! They were stuck . . . until now!"
"That's cool" said Rory. "They can move on and up."
"Ghosts never take time to think logically!" cried Ethan, turning to Rory. "Dude, when has that ever worked! Girl in mirror . . . demon at my house . . . Coach Ed!"
Every section of hallway was filled with the ghosts. Too many for Ethan to count. A few university students of recent years, with laptop bags. A bespectacled brunette girl from the sixties, with the portable typewriter. A businessman or two with suits and tie. Well-dressed travellers with luggage. And at least a hundred blonde girls, usually in short skirts but of all walks of life and all looking murderous themselves.
Up front were four of the oldest there. Colby hadn't graduated to blondes yet. Three were empty-eyed young men, two in fedora and suit, another in tie and blazer. They were strangely bruised and battered.
In front, was the girl Laura. The one whom Colby had dated, driven in his roaster, and had subjected him to a ukelele-destroying-whack-on-the-head.
Laura hadn't any pupils either. Still, she managed to give Ethan an icy look, and nodded to one of the pupil-less, un-dead young men at her side.
The one in the blazer adjusted his tie, stepped forward and introduced himself. Ethan's eyes watched the ghost teen fearfully . . . for that bruised phantom spoke without moving a ectoplasmic muscle on his pallid ectoplasmic face or a blink of hollow ectoplasmic eyes.
The fact that the ghost's ectoplasmic hair was matted with his ectoplasmic blood put things at their ectoplasmic worst.
"Arthur Killins" explained the teen in the blazer. "We three were Colby's closest friends. Even under Jesse's thumb, it took a few months for him to be completely depraved. If we had known . . . well, back in '29, you didn't stick your neck out for pals . . . especially if his father had lost your family a lot of money in market. We had been a few of Colby's closest friends before the crash . . . the stock market crash. Some months after becoming a vampire, Colby had the idea to sell his former friends on being un-dead. Jesse let him, probably guessing what would happen and what we would say. So, we went along on a trip to New York with Colby while he explained . . . and demonstrated. We, of course, refused . . . so Colby went to Plan B. He crashed the car and killed us. Then he took our blood and his souvenirs. This is my school tie."
"Can those two see us?" demanded Laura, pointing to Benny and Rory.
She didn't move her lips neither.
"No . . . no, they can't" said Ethan.
Laura looked to the two teens in the fedoras. The two duly put their icy dead hands on the shoulders of Ethan's living pals. And this time, neither Benny nor Rory could help themselves. They didn't give a proper yell. They screamed as the bloody, pupil-less ghosts suddenly appeared at their sides, and the vast crowd of spirits came into view.
Even Benny wasn't cool enough to take the appearance of the blondes in the background as much of consolation, with those old and very angry spirits in front. Although, under ordinary circumstances, Laura was hot, the long-dead flapper was terrifying now.
"I am the late, lamented Laura Powers" said she. "Colby told me he unexpectedly came into what an inheritance, thereby saving his home and fortune. You needn't guess how I died?"
"No . . . we know" said Benny fearfully.
"We're released" continued Laura. "That's all very good. But why have you locked the doors and barred Colby and his friends from meeting their end at our hands?"
"We didn't know anyone was here" said Ethan.
"Anything?" put in Benny uncertainly.
Benny was conscious of many glowering eyes.
"Anyone" said Ethan hastily. "He means anyone."
"Sylvester?" said Laura.
"Sylvester?!" echoed Benny. "What the heck kind of name is that?"
The austere, blood-splattered ghost with the grip on Benny's shoulder also spoke without moving his lips. This one had the old high-brow Canadian accent, but spoke with a hoarse voice. As if he had been shouting for help when he died. Shouting himself hoarse ever-after.
"Sylvester Gainsborough III" he said, and Benny was again shook up. "Why are you protecting Colby? Do you have idea how many people those vampires have killed over the years? Do you know what a fella becomes when he signs up as to be a vampire?"
"Colby's as dead as you are now" Benny objected. "Not un-dead, but dead. We got him with our Jedi light sabres."
A few of the "younger" ghosts in the background looked intrigued, but Sylvester Gainsborough III asked what was a "Jed-eye" was as he tightened his icy grip.
Rory pulled his sabre out and irresponsibly passed it the ghost holding him prisoner.
"These are awesome" he said. "Benny and Ethan invented it. I couldn't use one until just a couple months ago, but you see they're made of ultra-violet tanning bed lights and they kill vamps good and dead because they can't take too much UV rays."
"They're alright" said the other ghost in the fedora, who while not moving his lips to talk or even blinking his pupil-less eyes, did at least take off his hat to scratch his head. A head that was badly dented in his fatal collision.
"But why are they called Jed-eye sabres?" that ghost asked, as he gave it back to Rory.
"Because the Jedi use them . . . in the Galactic Republic in a galaxy far, far away" said Rory.
This confused the ghosts for a moment.
"Tim, think the comic strips and serials" replied Arthur. "Amazing Stories. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. War of the Worlds. They're still young enough for that sort of kids' stuff."
"Put your hat back on, Tim" said Sylvester Gainsborough III, relaxing his grip on Benny. "We look bad enough without showing off our bashed-in skulls."
"The movies with the Jedi were called Star Wars, guys" said Benny, who was starting to hope the ghosts weren't all angry. "And they aren't just kid's stuff. I don't know what sci-fi was like when you were alive, but everybody knows Star Wars."
But Laura wasn't convinced of the trio's intentions. And she didn't care about Star Wars one way or the other.
"Don't let them fool you, fellas" she said. "You and I've been locked up a long, long time. Why would these three be wandering around a vampire's house if they weren't confederates?"
At once, Ethan, Benny and Rory gave long and garbled explanations of their hopes to lock out Harlow and Gus. It didn't sound too convincing.
At a signal from Laura, Sylvester, Tim and Arthur shouted "Shut UP!"
Anyone who hasn't been ordered to shut up by the spectres of three dead teenagers can't possibly know how frightening that is.
"As I see it" Laura said, "before we move on we must ensure that this house of horrors ends here. And that includes any of Colby's supporters. Like these three."
"Have you ever got the wrong idea" Ethan objected. "We've been trying to get rid of these vamps. It's because of us Colby's dead!
"Can they be believed?" asked a blonde in a swimsuit and life preserver, from way down the hall.
"We'll take care of this" said Laura. "We'll need you to take the downstairs windows and doors. For when the other vampires return."
Rory breathed a sigh of relief. Even though Laura and the pupil-less teens were still around, the rest of the ghosts vanished into moving white lights and left to other parts of the house.
Ethan, however, felt his throat tighten up. Unless he could convince these ghosts, especially Laura, that Team Sabre minus Sarah were the good guys, they were all done for.
Benny was even more frightened than Ethan. How was it that these four had control over all the other ghosts . . . or leastways how was it that Colby's other victims listened to them without objection? Benny suddenly remembered something from his spell book, something his Grandmother Evelyn had taught him. Something even Ethan didn't know or didn't realize. These were no ordinary ghosts . . . .
"These are Colby's confederates" said Laura. "I'm sure of it. Why else would they be here? Haven't we heard enough? Well, fellas!"
"There is only one thing to do with a murderer" observed Sylvester. The penalty under the law. You will be taken to the place of execution and there hanged by the neck until you are dead. There's a handy oak tree out back, overlooking the ravine"
Ethan, Benny and Rory's eyes focussed on the dead Arthur. He was holding a hangman's noose.
And now all four of the ghosts' eyes began to glow a fluorescent green. Which was, at least, different than the bloodsucker's yellow. But now Benny was sure he knew what was going on.
"Harlow tries to impale us" Rory cried out frantically. "Then he wants to splat us. Now you want to hang us! Dudes, really bogus! really gnarly! Really, really uncool guys!"
"You're making a big mistake" insisted Ethan.
"If we're making a mistake" said Tim, "it won't be so bad. If you've lived a good life, you have nothing to fear."
"Besides, hanging works fast as lightning" said Sylvester. "I slowly died, pinned under Colby's 1930 Viking. You wouldn't believe how long it seemed. We'll make it quick."
Ethan was astounded by their casualness . . . but he supposed it made sense to them. They'd been dead and trapped so long they didn't realize what they were saying.
"You need to think back to when you were killed" Ethan tried. "You wouldn't have wanted to die before your time. And you wouldn't have just shrugged it off."
"They're ghouls" Benny finally said. "Or they've been slowly turning into ghouls over the years.
The ghouls' eyes went from green to their ordinary vacant state. Laura's stared angrily, which was no mean feat without pupils.
"Who are you calling a graverobber?" she asked.
"Who's a ghoul?" objected Tim. "I've never even been able to visit my grave, let alone be able to . . . or want to . . .steal from it or other people's."
"Man!" said Benny. "Not that type of ghoul.
"Could they be good ghouls?" asked Rory.
Benny explained to the group that certain evil spirits feed on the corpses of the dead, dark energy in the environment or ectoplasmic energy from other ghosts. Ghouls were a combination of zombie, skeleton and ghost.
"You guys look exactly like you did the moment you died" Benny explained to the ghouls. "You don't even have pupils in your eyes. You don't move your lips when you talk. You're way more powerful than ghosts. And you can make us see you . . . you can even be as solid as if you're alive if you want to."
"You four were the first victims trapped here" said Ethan, awkwardly. "I guess you've been picking up the energy. By accident."
The four ghouls would have looked concerned, if they could. But they merely looked at one another with their vacant eyeballs.
"Does this mean we don't get to move on?" asked Arthur.
"Not as ghouls" said Benny. "But it's easy to go back to being ghosts. You just let the ectoplasm drain. In a way you're just amped up ghosts. It's usually due to serious black magic or a seriously evil attitude that ghouls become ghouls."
"It's not their fault they've been stuck in a bloodsucker's house" said Rory.
"Because ghouls are usually willing parasites, like vampires, they don't let their energy drain" Benny explained, awkwardly giving what he was explaining and to whom he was explaining it. "But as soon as your friends leave . . . and if you don't try to feed on us . . . you'll go back to normal. I mean, I'm, uh, sorry, just plain dead. But you're not cursed . . . you're just, uh, dead. It's . . . er . . . natural to be dead, not evil.
"Don't tell them that feeding on us is an option!" hissed Ethan.
The ghouls looked at one another again.
"We'll have a meeting" Laura told the three (living) friends.
The ghouls went into a huddle, leaving Ethan, Benny and Rory glued to the wall. Finally, the one named Sylvester Gainsborough III disappeared down the stairs.
"We've decided our friends may as well move on now" said Laura. "Irregardless of whether what you say is true, there's no reason to hold everybody here any longer. We do appear to have the power to deal with Colby and his un-dead friends . . . or only his friends, if Colby is dead."
"As for you" said Tim. "We'll hold onto you for a while longer. It couldn't hurt . . . ."
The ghoul was interrupted by a crash outside.
Ethan, Benny and Rory were let down with a thump as the ghouls floated to the nearest window.
Oddly enough, the ghouls needed to open the window to see out the rain-drenched glass panes and beyond the reflection from the electric lights. If Ethan hadn't fallen so awkwardly, he might have been pleased to know that at least some scientific rules still held firm, even when things were at their weirdest!
Rory, ever curious, ran after the dead trio without thinking. What was that crash?
"Dude, don't run after the ghouls!" said Benny, running after Rory and the ghouls.
Ethan had fallen directly onto his back. He groaned as he was helped up. Ethan groaned again when he realized that it was by Sylvester Gainsborough III. But Ethan ran alongside the battered apparition to the window as well.
It was a funny thing. Harlow and Gus couldn't stop a Cadillac DTS at full throttle, but they could roll a stationary one onto its roof, totalling it. Not to mention breaking in through the car windows and deactivating the car alarm.
The fact that Gus was drenched in the renewed storm didn't surprise Ethan as much as it might. But Ethan was astonished to see that Harlow was bedecked in an old school . . . a really, really old school . . . metal helmet, great coat, breastplate, sword and scabbard.
"SEER!" bellowed Harlow. "SPELL-MASTER! TRAITOR to THE VAMPIRE COUNCIL! Come out and fight like men!"
"OR else we'll just have to burn down the house with you in it" added Gus. "It's the only way to operate."