Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I am just borrowing them for this story.
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Authors Note: If anyone would like to read earlier parts, then they can be found at: .
E-mail: moonlight_12us@yahoo.com
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Rating: PG-13 for now, may change later on!!
Genre: Romance/Mystery
Summary: Buffy Summers is stuck staying at her Aunt Jenny's house for the summer. There she runs into a pile of mysterious happenings, and a tale that will shock her.
Title: A Strange House 9-10/15
Author: TK
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Part 9
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Buffy laid out on the beach chair the following morning reading through her Uncle's journal. It looked like he had pretty standard, know facts in there, nothing that would lead to his death or to Spike and Madeline's body.
"Miss Buffy," called Ryoko coming up from behind the eighteen year old with a fruit drink in hand. "To cool your thirst," she explained when Buffy looked at her surprised for a drink she didn't ask for.
"Thank you," returned Buffy moving her sun glasses to the top of her head. "Is my Aunt home?" she questioned. Buffy found it odd that her Aunt was gone once more. It seemed that every time Aunt Jenny would come home, she would turn around and leave again as if she didn't really want to be home.
"No, Miss, I believe Christine said that you Aunt has decided to stay in Omaha, Nebraska for the week to work on her project there," countered Ryoko. "She left a message for you the morning explaining, but I have yet to give it to you, I apologize," bowed Ryoko taking a white envelope out of her pocket and handed it to Buffy.
"Thank you, Ryoko," said Buffy once again. "Could you inform Christine that I will be eating out tonight, so she doesn't have to prepare any supper," claimed Buffy leaning back in the chair.
"Yes, Miss, right away," responded Ryoko smiling politely before leaving.
Turning back to the journal Buffy placed the drink down on the beach table beside her and adjusted her body so that she could now tan her back.
"Journal Entry 83," she began to read to herself. "This mystery is getting more and more mysterious," wrote her Uncle. "Compiling all the members of Maddy and Spike's family since and two generations before their birth, has gotten me know where. Which must make me think maybe the answer I am looking for didn't start just simply two generations ago, but many," Buffy stopped and thought about this idea for a moment.
It made since that maybe the family had acquired enemies, and Angelina worked for them, or possibly her family were the ones with the agenda.
Buffy read on," Journal Entry 84," she started taking off the sunglasses that threatened to fall down her face. "While reaching at the library and the town hall today, I have discovered a shocking revelation. Angelina's family, the Johnson, was one of the wealthiest families in Nebraska during the 1500's. They built Old Creek and much of the town itself. Highly respected and liked, Mr. Johnson was a prize citizenship, by day at least. According, to local myth, he was a bit of a gambler at heart. One night he played against a Mr. Poet, who long and behold is related to Spike and Maddy. There great-great-great grandfather must have ended up beating Mr. Johnson because a week after the game, Old Creek was turned over to Mr. Poet as well as the family fortune," finished Buffy.
'Angelina must have wanted to take back what was taken from her,' thought Buffy taking in the new information. 'Mr. Poet must of destroyed anything that could prove the land was originally her relatives to work for a living,' she anaylized.
"Hey, Buffy," greeted Willow as she and Tara bounced in front of her with huge grins on their faces. "What ya doing?" asked the red head.
"I found my Uncle's old journal and was reading through it," answered Buffy closing the book. She had some leads to look into. "What are you two up too?" she inquired.
"Your Aunt has us weeding her garden. She says it use to be a thing you two did together, but after your Uncle she just stopped doing it. Now that you're here she wants us to fix it up," countered Tara sitting down on the beach table.
"So you're reading your Uncle's journal ,huh?" directed Willow indicating the book Buffy had laid down beside her. "Anything interesting in there?" flipping her red ponytail hair behind her.
"Not really," confessed Buffy, she wasn't really ready to share with anyone her leads or what she was exactly looking for. If they thought her Uncle was crazy what was to stop them from thinking the same thing about her?
"You're coming to my pool party tomorrow night, right?" Willow wondered changing the subject to something more interesting.
"Yes, Angelus asked me the other day to go with him," smiled Buffy when she thought about Angelus. She couldn't wait for him to see her in her new summer bikini she had yet to wear. Bring three bath suits with you for the summer was something her mother thought she was crazy for doing, but she was glad she did. You never knew when you wanted to wear your best one to impress or when you wanted to wear your oldest one just to relax and tan.
"How are things with Angelus?" prompted Willow leaning back in the chair she was sitting in.
"They're great actually," replied Buffy blushing. "He and I went horse back riding yesterday, and then he took me to a meadow where he gave me plenty of mind blowing kisses," she told them all the while keeping the bright shiny smile on her face.
"Awe…," Willow and Tara said in unison. "How sweet."
"I was taking to Xander last night," said Tara," and he was telling me that Angelus had pretty much decided on UCLA for college, now we all know why."
"He seriously is going?" asked Buffy thrilled to hear the news.
"Yeap," affirmed Tara laughing at the golden blonde's glee.
"Willow, Tara, don't bother Miss Buffy," scowled Ryoko coming outside. "Mrs. Jenny wants that garden done by tonight, now hop to it," she encouraged causing the eighteen year old girls to share a look of boredom.
"We'll talk to you later, Buffy," Willow said excusing herself and Tara.
"Miss Buffy, you have a visitor," informed Ryoko once the young woman was alone.
"Okay, who is it?" inquired Buffy placing her sunglasses back on her head and picked up the journal.
"It's a Mr. Angelus," spoke Ryoko sweetly.
Buffy's grin grew at hearing those words," Thanks," she said before heading back inside.
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Part 10
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"Hey," greeted Angelus the minute he saw Buffy walk out the door onto the porch. "How's my girl?" he wondered wrapping his arms around Buffy without any thought to it at all.
Buffy wrapped her arms around Angelus's neck and grinned up at him," Your girl, huh?" she played. "What if I don't want to be your girl," she added running her finger gently down his chest wearing a teasing smile.
"Then I'll have to show you, how much I would like for you to be my girl, as in girlfriend," he amended quickly once he though how my girl sounded so passive.
"Angelus, are you asking me to only be yours?" flirted Buffy enjoying herself. It had been so long since she had met a boy who wanted her for her and not her beauty or family name.
"I would like that," confessed Angelus," but only if you want that," he went on sincerely. "Since you came here at the begin of this week all I can think about is being with you," he admitted slowly pulling Buffy up his body so they were face to face.
"I know the feeling," agreed Buffy brushing her lips against his. She knew that Angelus wasn't the only one who care for her, as she found out today. Spike care for her as well, yet the feelings she got around Spike wasn't' the same she got when Angelus was near her. With Spike it was like a friendship kind of feeling, but with Angelus she wanted to be with him all the time too.
Placing Buffy down, Angelus brushed her silky cheek," So does that mean you'll be my girlfriend?" he spoke full of hope.
"Yes," promised Buffy, and she never felt happier about a decision before in her life. "Do you want to go somewhere with me?" she asked giving him an innocent look that he found hard to refuse, not that he wanted too.
"Of course," declared Angelus taking her hand into his. "Where might we be going?" he wondered as Buffy lead him off the porch and down the side walk.
"I want to go get ice-cream," she revealed stepping back under his arm. She layed her head on his shoulder as the two of them made their way to the ice-cream shop.
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"So you're telling me that you want to research your Aunt's home?" asked Angelus two hours later as the two came upon the public library. "You really are an aerologist daughter," he complemented earning a expressive yes from his girlfriend. 'Girlfriend! I like the sound of that,' he decided kissing the top of Buffy's head as the two of them entered the old brown library.
"Excuse me," called Buffy as she and Angelus came up to the front desks.
"Hello, Dear," spoke the nice elderly librarian. "May I help you with something?" she inquired putting down the romance novel she was reading.
"I was wondering if you had anything on Old Creek House?" Buffy replied politely. "My Aunt lives there and I'm curious about it."
"Ah, yes, now I remember you," the Liberian responded giving Angelus an up and down look, to which Buffy did not like one bit.
"I'm Jenny's niece," Buffy finished for the old lady while she leaned back into Angelus's arms. "Do you have anything that has to do with the house when it was built," she narrowed down following the Liberian back to an old stack of files.
"Everything that we have on any of the old building are in the files, and if you don't find anything there, the town hall might have something," explained the old lady.
"Thank you," announced Buffy opening the file cabinet," Sweetie, can you help me," she directed grabbing Angelus hand.
The librarian got the message, and left the two young loves alone.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Angelus put forth taking the vanialla folder Buffy handed him.
"According to a story my Aunt once told me," made up Buffy," there was this rumor going around that Old Creek use to belong to a family named the Johnson's. Well anyway, Mr. Johnson was suppose to of lost the house to a Mr. Poet, and I was wondering what ever happen to his family," she continued sitting down on the ground beside Angelus.
"Any particular reason?" maintained Angelus draping his arm around Buffy's shoulders.
"I'm not sure," delivered Buffy truthfully. "We'll see."
Angelus sensed there was something more to all this, but he let it go. He was in love with Buffy and if she didn't want to tell him right away what she was looking for then he was going to be a good boyfriend and understand. Eventually she would tell him.
Flipping open the black file she began to look at it contents. There was really nothing out of the ordinary until she came to the last page. This one was of a family tree, but it had more generations then the one in her Uncle's journal.
"What's that?" questioned Angelus looking over at the family tree Buffy was studying.
"It's a family tree of the people who lived in Old Creek before Spike's family did," answered Buffy without thinking.
"Who's Spike?" directed Angelus causing Buffy to look over at him.
"He's…a…Mr. Poet's son," improvised Buffy not knowing really what to say.
"Buffy, didn't the Poet family die a long time ago?" added Angelus with a session look on his face. The name Poet had been well know in Old Creek they were the owners of Old Creek House for many generations, but according to everything he grew up hearing throw ghost stories and legends their family had died out. The last members were killed in some kind of fire, was it?
Sitting there Buffy nodded," They did, but I think that if I start with a familiar name in my research then, it'll move it along," she rambled not sure if she was making sense or not.
"Buffy, have you seen something that you're not telling me?" prompted Angelus. Something was up and he had a feeling Buffy wasn't reaching Old Creek just for the fun of it.
'Maybe I should tell him,' she thought," What if I said that since I arrived at Old Creek there have been some strange things happening?" she wondered glancing back down at the files.
"I would say that it wouldn't be the first time someone has sense something weird about your Aunt's. It's a beautiful place, but your Uncle use to say that every now and then he would feel sadness in it," concluded Angelus giving her a smile.
Buffy took a deep breath," Angelus, I've heard that my Uncle saw two particular ghost in the house and everyone thought he was crazy," she went on.
"Yeah, the whole town though he had gone mad. Though they couldn't figure why. Your uncle always seemed to be the ideal citizenship, at least, until he started talking about this little girl Megan…Melissa…Mandy. Or something like that, and her big brother Snake…Sniper…Sam… or….Spike," that last name dawned in Angleus's head. "You've seen them haven't you?" he questioned seriously.
"Yeah," announced Buffy looking back up at him. "Please, don't think I'm crazy," she pleaded.
"I don't," promised Angleus. "I'll admit that it's a shocker to hear you confirm seeing the ghost as well, and while I am unsure if they exists or not," reasoned Angelus taking Buffy's hand into his. "What I do know though is that I love you, and if you say you saw them, then I believe you," he finished smiling at the honey blond in front of him.
"I love you," confessed Buffy throwing her arms around Angelus's neck. "I'm glad you believe me," she whimpered into his ear.
"Always," vowed Angelus wrapping his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a warm long passionate kiss that almost got them thrown out of the library.
Once they pulled apart, Buffy snuggled into Angleus arms as they continued to look thought he folders. For an hour they didn't find anything, and was about ready to go get something to eat when Angelus hand landed upon something Buffy thought was interesting.
"Wait a minute," instructed Buffy pulling a standing Angelus back down beside her. "This looks interesting."
"What's it say?" asked Angelus sitting back down.
"It's looks to be history on the Johnson's who owned the property before the Poets. Let's see… the Johnson's was a wealth family…the father lost the property to Poet…all stuff I knew from Uncle's William's journal," stated Buffy flipping the page.
"What about this?" questioned Angelus pointing at the bottom of the third page. "Mr. Johnson's family was set to be servants of the Poet's. If any of them disobeyed it was agreed upon that they would be put out or sold to the slave market," he read.
"That would explain Angelina's hatred of the Poets," Buffy pieced together.
"Who's Angelina?" questioned Angelus once more.
"She was the maid who was suppose to watch over Spike and Madeline when they were younger. Well when their parents died she thought she would get all the inhertance for being such a loyal servant, but the will left it to Spike," explained Buffy telling Angelus everything Spike had told her. It felt good to be able to share this with someone, and he didn't think she was crazy. However, the best part would have to be that he loved her.
"So the fire that was started was started by Angelina," assumed Angelus trying to follow along with Buffy's story.
"Right," confirmed Buffy with a firm nod. "Well as it turned out Spike and Maddy were able to get out of the room she trapped them in, which is now my room, and made there way through this secret passage way in my room. However, when they went to climb out the exist, it was blocked by a tree, so they suffocated from all the smoke seeping through," she gave him the fly by version. "Well by the time they came back, their bodies were gone, and Spike thinks that Angelina had something to do with it," she finished taking a much needed breath.
"Okay," responded Angelus," does that mean this Spike and Madeline can't rest until their bodies are found?"
"That's the theory," affirmed Buffy," now the challenge comes with trying to find where their bodies are buried."
"Have you thought maybe their buried on your Aunt's property somewhere," suggested Angelus trying to be helpful.
"They probably are," agreed Buffy," the question is where though?" continued Buffy leaning back into Angleus's arms. "Plus there's more then one mystery going on here."
"More then one?" asked Angelus confused. "What else is there to find out."
"Maddy, said that my Uncle was pushed by a red headed person, and that everything that people thought about his death wasn't true," related Buffy with a touch of sadness at the thought of her dead Uncle.
"Wait a minute," halted Angelus trying to take this new information in on top of the information that he had just gotten. "You're telling me that you think your Uncle was murdered."
"Yes," returned Buffy honestly," and I figured it had something to do with this mystery of Spike and Maddy. I think, that someone from Angelina's line doesn't want to secret to come out, so they killed him," she put forth into words what had been running through her head since the second night she talked to Spike.
"Your Aunt had PI's checking into the murdered they didn't find anything concert though," Angelus pointed out.
"What if they weren't looking for the right things?" clarified Buffy looking back down at her folder. "I mean why would they look into Angelina's family, when she has been dead for such a long time?"
"They wouldn't," replied Angleus sitting back against the wall. "You know the PI's did take statements from all of your Aunt's house employees, it's a long shot, but maybe one of them is related to Angelina, and wanted to keep their family's secret save."
"Do know how to get the records?" spoke Buffy scanning the fourth page to the file.
"My Uncle's the police chief, I think I can get them," he said with confidence.
"Angelus, look," Buffy told her boyfriend as her eyes landed upon something knew. "The money that Spike was to inherited went to Angelina after his death, but later on the town's people began to get suspious of her, and started questioning her. In fact, the questions got so bad, that the town decided to put her on trial for Spike and Maddy's murder, as it turns out Judge Carlson the judge at the time was a dear friend of Spike's father," recited Buffy as she went along the page and flipped it to the back," the night before she was to start her trial she escaped leaving the money and everything else behind.
It was rumored that she had boarded one of the cargo ships that night and left the country," she stopped and shared a look with Angleus. "Something tells me one of her relatives are back, and doesn't want their good name to go through the mud either that or they want the money that should have been theirs."
"What happen to the money afterwards?" Angelus looked for anther clue.
"It was given to the state and used for whatever needed to be done. The new owners of Old Creek rebuilt the place and it's been sold thirty times before my Aunt bought it," informed Buffy scanning the last page of the file. "I think, we should go through those servant files, and see if we can connect any of them to Angelina," put forth Buffy standing up.
"Good plan," commented Angelus. "I'll drop you off and then go to the police station myself," he promised standing up beside her. "Then I'll bring the files to you."
"I love you," said Buffy giving him a grin followed by a kiss. She was really lucky to have him in her life.
"…and I you, Love," countered Angelus pulling Buffy up to kiss her deeper.
TBC_______________________With feedback. Let me know what you think of this story. My writing muses love hearing what you have to say or suggest.
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