Disclaimer: Crimson Peak is Guillermo Del Toro's property, Supernatural belongs to Eric Kripke, The Lodgers to Brian O'Malley. Emma, Constance and I are self-inserts. The old lady from Camden Market belongs to Chibimelodee.
Summary: Ghosts are real and everything happens for a reason. Is this why Marina and her friends find themselves trapped in Allerdale Hall a few days away from Christmas?
Author's note: This story was written for me by « Emma » and « Constance » from Chibimelodee as an Advent Calendar two years ago. Please note that all three of us are french and while we do know our way around English, we might still make some mistakes. Feel free to let us know! As the three girls are french and start to speak from this chapter, I'll put the translations of their sentences right next to them so you know what they say.
At the Candlelight
Chapter 10: Few answers, more questions
Everyone was in the living room, no one really knowing how to begin. Marina and Constance were sitten next to Bobby on an old dusty couch. Marina, blushing, couldn't stop staring Sean, lowering her gaze each time they made eye contact, which happened quite a lot, if not each time she looked at him. As for the angel, he couldn't take his eyes off of the young woman with a relieved and yet shy smile… He had succeeded to save her from this awful ghost and couldn't imagine what could have happened if he had arrived moments later. There was no way he would let Rachel's story repeat itself! By the way, Marina maybe wasn't the only one who needed his protection… If he had seen well, Constance was in this ghost's arms when he had appeared in the room… But, all had happened so fast… Maybe he hadn't seen right! He was certainly attacking this poor defenceless young woman at the very moment he had arrived and the ghost had had to stop his assault against her, fearing what the angel could do to him… And yet, the ghost had affectionately kissed Constance before disappearing… He had lovingly whispered her name before the hunters began to shoot him… And more important, Constance absolutely didn't seem scared by his presence and had even taken his defence against the hunters… Sean's eyes fell for a while on Constance. She was sitten next to the sweet Marina, still, her arms folded, trying to avoid looking at anyone, visibly angry. The angel sighed and looked around. He saw he wasn't the only one to be dazed by the reactions of the young woman. Sam stared at her with intensity, eyes full of questions and preoccupation. Bobby was sitten on an old armchair that seemed to be still comfortable, lost in his thoughts, his cap always fixed firmly on his head. By the way he was muttering, Sean could see that something was bothering the old hunter. But he couldn't say if it was the prophecy he had been the messenger of, the grimy house full of ghosts or something entirely else. Emma had run in Dean's arms as soon as she had seen him, probably finding his presence comforting which was worth a murdering glare of Constance…
The awkward silence was broken by the latter who didn't seem to hide her impatience anymore :
« So… What do you want to tell us ? ».
Sam jolted from his reverie and stared at her with uncertainty and confusion before he cleared his throat :
« Constance, right ? »
The young woman nodded and a huge grin appeared on Dean's face who exclaimed : « Constance ! Just like in the Disneyland ride with the bride ghost ? »
Constance looked at him with blasé eyes and Sam corrected his brother : « Yes… Or like in Gone with the Wind… » (AN: The name here has been changed for private life's reasons thus the joke falls flat)
Dean winked at his brother and added : « What's sure is she's too young to have been part of the Spice Girls ! »
The young woman glared hard at him before retorting :
« Oh alors je suis trop jeune pour avoir fait partie des Spice Girl mais pas pour avoir fait la Guerre de Sécession ! ».
(Oh,so I'm too young to have been a member of the Spice Girls but not young enough to not have participated in the Civil War?)
Emma hid her grin before translating what her sister had said to Dean's stared at her with mischief and retorted :
« You got it right, doll ! I bet it's your « Civil War » side which attracted you ghost of a boyfriend ! You'll be a charming couple of spooks… You'll have to tell us the adress of your mausoleum when you'll move together… For us to organise a blazing house-warming! »
Before things could go worst, Sam interrupted :
« Well, Dean and I inspected the house. It's clear for the moment ! No ghost ! You are safe… »
« It's wonderfull ! Totally wonderfull… How lucky we are ! » Constance exclaimed, not hiding her sacarsme at all. « Tu n'es pas d'accord avec moi, Em ? C'est un tel soulagement d'avoir à faire à de vrais professionnels… des experts dans leur domaine… de vrais génies ! Comment avons-nous fait pour survivre aussi longtemps sans eux ? Je devrais peut-être aller prévenir Thomas qu'il n'y a plus aucun fantôme chez lui et que tout est rentré dans l'ordre !... Oh mais attends, c'est vrai, j'allais oublier, c'est un fantôme ! The exit is right here, gentlemen ! Goodbye ! It was a real pleasure to meet you ! ».
(Don't you agree, Em? It's such a relief to face such professionals, experts in their field, true geniuses! How did we manage to survive for that long without them? I should go and warn Thomas that there are no ghosts in his house anymore and that everything came back to normal... Oh, but wait, I almost forgot, he's a ghost!)
Constance rose from her seat and went to the stairs, under the consternation stares of all… Some because they had understood what she had just said, the others because they hadn't…Emma barely had time to catch her wrist and whispered sharply to her sister :
« Tu vas arrêter ton cirque, oui ! Retourne tout de suite t'asseoir ! ».
(Will your stop your charade? Go back and sit down! Now!)
Constance glared hard at her and sat back on the couch.
« Je suis au regret de vous annoncer que vous avez commis une légère erreur… Il y a encore des fantômes dans cette maison ! Je ne sais pas trop ce que vous avez cherché à faire, tout à l'heure, avec votre revolver et votre barre de métal mais… ça n'a pas fonctionné ! Il est encore là ! » she announced with a sly smirk.
(I'm sorry to announce to you that you committed a small mistake... There are still ghosts in this house! I don't really know what you tried to do earlier with your revolver and your iron rod but it did not work! He's still here!)
Dean and Sam exchanged perplexed looks before turning to the angel and asked in sync :
« What did she say ? »
Sean lowered his gaze, troubled, like this situation was entirely his fault, and took a deep breath before whispering with a waving voice :
« She just said that… that you… well, there are still ghosts here… At least, one ! He was about to attack them when I arrived ! I came in just in time, you see… »
« What ? Which ghost ? Our sensors had not indicated a single thing ! You sure of what you saw, Lucky Charms ? » Dean exclaimed, a playful grin on his lips
« Yes ! The Baronet ghost is still here ! » Marina retorted, taking Sean's defence before adding with more reserve : « Well he didn't really… »
« The what ? » Dean interrupted, incomprehension written all over his face.
« Baronet… It's a kind of « little Baron » in fact ! A sort of aristocrat ! » Emma intervened.
« Hear that, Sammy ? Our ghost's noble ! Did we ever have a ghost with blue blood? » Dean asked, pride shining in his green eyes.
« Err ! I don't think so… So, Sean, you were telling us he was attacking… » Sam answered, clearly more interested by the angel than by his brother's antic.
« Oh yes ! » Emma interrupted, taking refuge again in Dean's arms. « He's completely nuts… a real madman! He's angry… against me ! Just because I might accidentally have ruined his sheets ! »
« Accidentellement ? » Constance exclaimed. « Tu as coupé dans ses draps pour te déguiser en fantôme ! Ça n'a rien d'accidentel, Em ! »
(Accidentally ? You cut his sheets to disguise yourself as a ghost, this is no accident, Em!)
« Ce ne sont que des draps ! » Emma screamed. « Ce n'était pas une raison pour vouloir me tuer ! »
(They're only sheets ! Not a valid reason to want to kill me!)
« Oh, arrête avec ton mélodrame ! » Constance interrupted while Dean was gently stroking her sister's hair to comfort her.
(Oh, stop with your drama!)
He had absolutely no idea what was happening between the two women but Emma seemed to need support.
« Il n'a jamais essayé de te tuer ! Et puis, après tout, il y tenait peut-être beaucoup à ses draps… Ils avaient certainement une valeur sentimentale… »
(He never tried to kill you ! And, after all, maybe he did care a lot about his sheets, maybe they had a sentimental value!)
« Oh et bien une chose est sûre, c'est qu'il ne tient pas du tout aux vases de cette maison et que tu peux continuer à me les balancer en pleine figure ! La prochaine fois que tu verras ton amoureux, pense à lui demander une liste de ce qu'on a le droit d'abîmer dans cette foutue baraque qui tombe en ruine… Il fait tout un drame pour deux trous dans un drap alors qu'il y en a un immense dans le toit ! Il va peut-être dire que c'est de ma faute, ça aussi ! » Emma sobbed.
(Oh well, one thing's certain, he does not care one bit about the vases in this house and you can throw them at my face ! Next time you see your boyfriend, think of asking him to draw a list of what we can damage in this bloody falling in ruins house ! He's all dramatic for two holes in sheets while there's a huge one on the ceiling!)
« Je ne t'ai pas lancé ce vase en pleine figure ! Je t'ai juste dit que c'est ce que je ferai la prochaine fois ! Et je pense que la prochaine fois arrive à grands pas… Ça te remettra certainement les idées en place ! » Constance retorted calmly, staring at the nearest vase.
(I did not throw that vase right in your face ! I simply told you that the next time, I'll do it ! And I think it's coming up real fast, it'll knock some sense into you !)
« Il nous a attaquées dans le grenier ! » her sibling whined, hiding her head in the firm chest of the hunter, listening carefully at his heartbeats, trying to synchronise her breathing to the calming sound.
(He attacked us in the attic!)
« Oh ne recommence pas avec ça ! Il ne vous a pas attaquées, il a essayé de vous protéger de… Pamela ! » Constance sighed.
(Oh don't start again with that, he did not attack you, he was trying to protect you from Pamela!)
« Parce que tu parles aussi à cette Pamela maintenant ! Comment tu sais qu'elle s'appelle Pamela d'abord ? Elle ne ressemblait absolument pas à une Pamela ! » Emma retorted, looking with suspiscion at her eldest.
(Because now you are also speaking to this Pamela ! How do you know her name's Pamela in the first place ? She absolutely did not look like a Pamela !)
« Parce que Thomas m'a dit qu'elle s'appelait Pamela ! » Constance said, rolling her eyes, clearly exasperacted.
(Because Thomas told me her name was Pamela!)
« Mais bien sûr ! Si le « petit Baron » te l'a dit… » Emma retorted bitterly.
(Of course, if the little baron said so...)
« You two are sisters » Bobby promptly interrupted, pointing at Emma and Constance before turning to Marina. « But you aren't, right ? You're not their sister ? »
« I'm not » Marina answered, confused. « I'm their friend, not their sister… Why do you ask ? »
« The prophecy » Sean answered quietly, the sound of his voice sending goosebumps to Marina. « It mentions a sister… »
« Well, I am one… » she answered, uneased, looking down, not wanting to face Sean's look. « I do have a brother, back home… His name is Sam… »
Dean snickered and turned to his brother with a sly smirk and a wink
« You forgot to tell me something, dear brother of mine ? ».
« It's clearly not me she left back home, silly brother of mine ! » Sam sighed, putting his large hand in front of his face to hide his amusement.
« Jerk… » Dean mumbled, quickly followed by Sam's answer : « Bitch… »
« Stop with you bullshits ! » Bobby grumbled, taking his cap off to ruffle his short hair. He sighed, looking defeated and resumed : « So, you three are, what we can call, sisters… Sam and Dean are in fact, brothers… »
« I'm a brother, too » Sean said with a small voice. « When I was human, I had a younger sister… And now, as an Angel, I have a lot of brothers and sisters… »
« So, it's three sisters for three brothers… » the old man sighed.
« What is this all about ? » Marina asked, both she and Emma confused by Bobby.
The old hunter waved at the Angel, silently telling him to take it from here. Awkwardly standing tall, his shyness transpired off his entire being, he recited the prophecy again.
« We haven't figured everything out… » Sam whispered. « You three are definitively the « three pure-hearted women » but who… What is she doing ? » he exclaimed, looking at Constance with surprise.
The young woman, who had gone to sit on the couch near Bobby, looked as if she was desperately searching for something, looking under the pillows, under the couch, on the coffee table, clearly not paying attention to the important conversation that was currently taking place.
« Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? » Emma asked, a little worried about her sibling's behaviour.
(What are you doing?)
« Je cherche la télécommande » she replied with a shrug like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
(Searching for the TV remote controller.)
The confusion on Emma and Marina's faces was really comical, but neither Sam nor Dean would dare to laugh out them as the situation between the three French friends seemed quite tensed.
« La télécommande de quoi ? » Emma asked again to her still-searching sister. « Pour faire quoi ? »
(What remote ? For what?)
« Pour sous-titrer, bien sûr ! Je comprends rien du tout… » Constance shrugged.
(To get the subtitles, of course! I can't understand anything!=
Her sister burst out of laughter, Marina tried to hide her amusement and, to the hunters' astonishment, even Sean chuckled like he understood what had been said.
« On est en train d'essayer de décrypter la prophétie… » Marina succeeded to say without laughing.
(We're trying to decipher the prophecy.)
« Quelle prophétie ? » Constance asked, confused.
(What prophecy?)
« Celle qui parle de nous… d'eux… de cette horrible maison ! » Emma retorted, staring stunned at her sister…
(The one about us, them and this horrible house!)
She could have made an effort in focusing and trying to understand at least some words… But, obviously, if it wasn't about this sneaky « Petit Baron », why would she do an effort ?
« Oh ! Donc, ce que Sean a récité, c'était une prophétie ? » Constance concluded dully.
(Oh , so what Sean said was a prophecy?)
« Oui ! Et que pensais-tu que c'était ? » her sister asked, starting to lose patience.
(Yes, what did you think that was?)
« J'en sais rien… Je pensais qu'il récitait une poésie ! » the young woman answered, shrugging.
(I don't know... I thought he was reciting a poem!)
« Parce que tu pensais vraiment qu'on était tous réunis ici pour l'écouter réciter de la poésie ! » Emma flared up.
(Because you truly believed we were all gathered here to listen to him recite a poem?)
« Pourquoi pas… C'est très bien la poésie ! Les récitals étaient très en vogue jadis… C'est dommage qu'on en fasse plus de nos jours quand on se réunit entre amis… Non pas qu'on puisse dire que nous sommes entre amis ici… Et puis, je ne comprends absolument pas ce que tu as contre la poésie, Emma !... Enfin, puisque, apparemment, il ne s'agit pas d'une poésie, est-ce que quelqu'un aurait la gentillesse de me répéter cette prophétie plus lentement, afin que je puisse participer à la conversation ? » Constance asked, turning to face Sean, a ploite smile on her lips.
(Why not? Poetry's great! Recitals were very popular back then! Too bad we don't do that anymore when friends gather... Not that I can say we are friends and I absolutely don't understand why you're against poetry, Emma! Well, since it appears it's not a poem, would someone be kind enough to tell this prophecy slower so I could participate in this conversation?)
« Bien sûr, Mademoiselle… » Sean aswered shyly. « Je m'excuse de ne pas m'être rendu compte plus tôt que nous parlions trop vite… Donc voici comment la prophétie débute :
(Of course, Miss, I'm sorry I did not notice we were speaking too fast sooner. Here's how the prophecy starts.)
The souls of two siblings
who killed for their forbidden love… »
« We haven't indentified the « two siblings » yet… » Sam precised.
« Thomas a été tué par sa sœur… Mais il ne peut pas s'agir de lui… Je suis presque sûre qu'il n'a jamais tué personne… » Constance whispered, more for herself than for evryone else, lost in her thoughts.
(Thomas was killed by his sister but it can't be him, I'm almost certain he never killed anyone.)
« Parce qu'il te l'a dit, c'est ça ? » Emma interrupted, couldn't stop to smile wickedly.
(Because he told you so?)
« Euh, non ! Il ne m'a jamais dit qu'il n'avait jamais tué personne… Et moi non plus, d'ailleurs ! Ce qui ne signifie pas que je suis une meurtrière sans pitié... Imagine un peu : « Bonjour ! Je m'appelle Thomas et je n'ai pas encore commis de meurtre ! »… Ça fait un peu bizarre, non… » Constance justified herself.
(Err, no he never told me he never killed anyone and never did I for that instance ! Which does not mean I'm a merciless killer ! Image : « Hi, I'm Thomas and I haven't committed any murder yet » ! It's a bit weird, don't you think?)
« Oh pas plus que : « Salut ! Je m'appelle Thomas et je suis un psychopathe qui déshabille des femmes la nuit pour leur mettre une chemise de nuit ! » Emma retorted, burtsing out of laughter.
(Not more than "Hi, I'm Thomas and I'm a psychopath who undresses women at night to put them in nightgowns!")
Marina availed the fact that Constance was rendered speechless by Emma's sentence and by the fact her friend was trying to catch her breath to glimpse at the three hunters who were watching the scene, ostensibly lost.
« She doesn't think it's about Thomas… » she explained shyly.
Dean frowned and looked sceptically at Sam. Bobby just mumbled, not really convinced. The eldest of the two brothers glared for a while at Constance before asking to Marina with mischief :
« I'm wondering how she's gonna explain the « forbidden love » ? »
Sean took a step forward, ready to explain this point. After all, if he had been sending here, it would probably mean incest… Sam, seeing the angel ready to intervene and knowing the reaction that could result from such a revelation, especially if, like he feared, Constance felt more than sympathy for this Baronet, grabbed Sean's wrist discreetly and look at him, silently begging him to :
« Shut up ! ».
The angel didn't seem to understand and the hunter had just the time to interrupt him before he could say a word :
« It's a little early to be able to explain this part… We need to continue to investigate before we could even have a theory about that… Don't you agree, Dean ? » His brother just shrugged.
« What about the rest of the prophecy… » Sam proposed then.
Sean, not convinced, continued :
« will be reunited in hate when three pure-hearted women
will trespass the mansion on the hill. »
« We think you are the « three pure-hearted women » and the fact that this house is on a hill comes to shore our theory. » Sam explained, coming closer to Constance. « And there' also this part that speaks of Dean, Sean and I... »
Sean fixed Sam for a while, probably asking himself if it was his turn to speak. The hunter confirmed his impression with a nod and the angel finally spoke :
« Brothers will come from a faraway land.
One whose soul had been lost.
One who was chosen by Angels.
A broken Guardian will find
what he thought he had lost forever. »
Remained to know which one of these two idiots had been chosen by angels and which one had lost his soul, Constance wondered. And, what could have ever « broken » Sean ? She didn't know him but he seemed to be someone nice and mostly, Marina seemed to like him.
« Donc maintenant que nous avons deviné les protagonistes principaux, que nous annonce cette prophétie ? » the young woman asked.
(So, now that we guessed the main characters, what does this prophecy announce?)
« Several things » Sean answered with a hint of sadness and fatalism. « First of all, the prophecy is quite clear concerning your fate, misses…
One will be cured.
One will be saved.
One will be murdered. »
« I think I know about the first one » Marina finally said in a whisper after a long moment of silence. « The one whose cured. Emma couldn't walk ! Now she can ! »
« What do you mean she couldn't walk? » Dean worried, tightening his grip on Emma's waist. He dived his eyes on hers, searching for any injuries. « Are you hurt ? Is everything okay ? »
« I'm fine... » the young woman whispered, quite shocked by the way the hunter had reacted. « I have this rare disease that only allows me to walk less than 250 meters, I also have a hyper photosensitivity and a single brush on my arms and thighs hurts me... It's called the Gardner Diamond Syndrom... ».
Panicked, Dean quickly took a step back, releasing his grip on her. Hurt clearly written on her round face in front of such a rejection, Emma stared at the ground and tried her best not to sob.
« It's not contagious ! »
The realisation of the meaning of what he just did hit Dean in the face, knocking the air out of his lungs. The hunter took a step near her and tried to catch her gaze. Seeing her so hurt made him feel uncomfortable. It made him feel like the bad guy. And he didn't want to be the bad guy of her story. He wanted to be here for her, not against her.
« No, no, no, no, no... I didn't wanna... It's not... I'm just afraid to hurt you... I don't want you to feel any pain or... »
« That's the thing... » Emma interrupted softly, so softly he had to bend to hear her. « When you touch me, I don't feel any pain... There's no fire in my veins of cramps or any other things... Just the feeling of your skin against mine... »
Her faint smile gracing her full lips after her little speech made Dean's heart raced and he was finally able to breathe when she dived her eyes in his. Gently, he put a fallen lock of hair behind her ear and let his hand fell on her arms, faintly brushing the soft skin. It was only then he saw the red little marks she had on her arms, proof of her saying. His long fingers trailed lazily on them while he carefully watched her face for any sign of pain. But she was staring right back at him, no hurt in her eyes, just... what was exactly this sparkle in her eyes ?
« Donc si je résume, Marina ou moi sommes en danger de mort… » Constance sighed.
(So, to sum it up, Marina or I am in mortal danger.)
« What is she saying ? » Sam asked softly to Marina.
« She concluded that we both in mortal danger… »
« Don't worry, I will not let anything happen to her ! » Sam winked at a very perplexed Marina.
Did he just imply he would not do a thing if it was her and not Constance who would perhaps die?
« And you are safe with me… » the sudden singing Irish voice purred to her ear, making her jump.
Marina hadn't seen the Angel came near her.
« Once everyone will stop being all touchy-feely, maybe will can get back to stopping fucking Lucifer to be free again ! I clearly don't want him in Sam anytime sooner ! » Bobby grumbled.
« Sorry, what ? » Marina asked, perplexed. « Lucifer ? »
« Yes » whispered Sean. « C'est la fin de la prophétie… »
(That's the end of the prophecy.)
If the sister pushed the brother away,
than the Gates of Hell will open
in the House of Lies and Betrayal,
unleashing the Demon himself.
On the hill, where snow becomes blood,
the deads come alive at the candlelight. »
A shiver ran down the young women's spines and Marina dares to ask :
« Which sister and brother is it ? Why did Bobby say in Sam ? »
« For the first question, we don't have a single clue for now… And for the second one, it' a long story… » Dean sighed, never stopping the slight brush of his fingers on Emma's bare arm. « In short, Sam's Lucifer vehicle… And I'm Micheal's. Every archangel have some distinct people they can go inside to have a flesh suit. »
« So, if I get it right, angels need to control a human body in order to walk the Earth ? » the youngest woman asked.
« Only the Angels born in Heaven… » Sean said, his head low. « Some humans became Angels after their deaths… These ones don't need a vehicle… »
« And you ? » Emma stared at the Angel criticalizedly. « Do you need a « flesh suit » ? »
« No, I'm not this kind of Angel… I once was a human. » Sean sighed, uneased.
Seeing him turning so vulnerable, Marina softly went near him and grabbed his cold hand, squeezing it tightly. Constance waved at her sister to come closer and whispered at her ear :
« A ton avis, c'est quoi ce « Forbidden Love »… Il faudra que je pose la question à Thomas… Il pourra certainement nous aider… »
(What do you think this Forbidden Love could be? I'll have to ask Thomas, he'll be able to help us!)