Disclaimer: Crimson Peak belongs to Guillermo del Toro and The Lodgers belongs to Brian O'Malley.

Summary: Sean Nally was supposed to die that fateful night when he tried to help Rachel escape her fate. He was supposed to be the price of her freedom. So why and how did he find himself in Allerdale Hall, far from home, serving the Sharpes?

Author's note: Please note that my first language is not English, it's French. If you find any mistakes or weird sentence, let me know, so I can better myself. While I know I am almost fluent and while I do read after myself and use Grammarly to help, sometimes, a mistake can pass by.

Entwined Souls

Chapter 10

Thomas groaned as his sister was shaking him up, urging him to wake up. Her hands were cold and her eyes clearly agitated. This was enough to take him away from sleep's embrace. Lucille was never scared. He couldn't even remember a time where she was. She wasn't scared when she made sure their father punished her instead of him, even if it meant being beaten. She wasn't scared when she made the first move on him, making their relationship go beyond a brotherly bond. She wasn't scared when she murdered their mother with an axe while she was in her bath, to protect what they were. She wasn't scared when she had hatched her plot and then effectively saw his first wife die so they could get her money. Nothing had seemed to frighten her until this night. She was pale, nervous and seeking his comfort.

"Wake up, for Heaven's sake!" She pleaded angrily

"I'm up, I'm up! What is it?" He asked

"There's a ghost!"

He looked at her, confused. He was well aware of their manor being haunted. Why was it such a surprise for her, all of a sudden? It wasn't as if she didn't know about their mother's ghost being here and still she carried on with their affair.

"And this is why you wake me up in the middle of the night? You know the place is haunted!"

"Do you take me for an idiot?!" She hissed

"Then, for God's sake, woman! What is it?!" He shouted

"We need to get rid of Sean."

"Not this nonsense again!" Thomas whined

"The man is haunted!"

The baronet froze and his sister could see she had captured his attention.

"I brought Rachel tea. And when I entered, I saw a ghost. Clearly different from the ones we have here. It vanished as soon as I entered but not fast enough for me to not see it. It had seemed to fuse with him. He saved Rachel back in Loftus Hall and came through our tanks. I don't know how he managed it but he brought one of the banned Sharpe's souls in our walls. He needs to go! The ghosts here are bad enough, we don't need to deal with yet another one!"

"And what would you have me do?"

Thomas' calm startled her. She had expected him to side with her immediately, no questions asked. She knew he had grown fond of Sean and she admitted herself that he had good reasons. He was hardworking, knew his place, didn't take much space, was discrete, was straight forwards and he had kept his mouth shut to this day. But she was worried, worried that this shade he carried inside of him would interact with their mother's ethereal being. Shortly before she killed her, Beatrice had received a letter from Sarah, Rachel's mother, begging them for an allowance of some sort, their money getting so short the manor was falling apart, despite them living modestly. Lucille herself had read the letter and could remember it well. Their heartless genitor had burnt it, stating they had gone mad because of the inbreeding. If they were poor, they had to go out and work.

"Are you sure of what you saw?" Her brother carefully inquired

"I'm not mad!" She snapped. "I saw a ghost and not one of our ghosts!"

"The thing is, Sean is popular around here. I can't just throw him out! That would raise questions. Rachel would be going too."

"Thank God! I wouldn't have to feed four mouths instead of two anymore!"

"Besides, was it being dangerous? Aggressive?"

"Actually no... I heard voices. It was as if it was having a conversation, a civilized talk. Maybe heated but polite. I saw no signs of a fight."

"If it's indeed a ghost from Loftus Hall, Rachel may be the only one to calm it down."

"Do you think it could be what caused this sudden illness?"

"It's a possibility. Right now, there is nothing we can do. We know nothing of that spirit and our hands are tied. I suspect Rachel of knowing things. She was researching her family history. Maybe try and talk to her, gently."

"Aren't I gentle?" She pouted

He smirked.

"You can be the sweetest. Please, Lucille. Calm yourself down and go to bed. The only thing we can do now is watching over the situation and gather information."

He pushed himself further in his bed, taking out a part of the sheet, allowing her to come near him, nestled between the layers of fabric. It was a rare occurrence for Thomas to console his sister. He was happy he could do it once in a while.

The fire in the fireplace flickered again and Rachel felt coldness surrounding her once more as Edward reappeared under her eyes.

"That was close!" He sighed

"Too close!" She berated him. "This place is haunted too! I have no idea if Lucille and Thomas know but I don't want them to freak out! If they throw me out, I'm homeless!"

Still asleep, Sean shivered. She went by his side and adjusted the sheets once more before reviving the heat.

"You love him, don't you?" Her twin quietly inquired

"I don't know if you could call it love." She replied as she finished her business. "Before he drowned in the cellar, we had known each other for three days. There was a spark, an attraction, true. Especially on his side. When he saw me, I reminded him of someone. Of my three years old self when he accompanied Maura once to help with the sheets. Our hurt brought us together. Now, it has been a few weeks. I can't say it's love, I don't know if it is. What I know is that I do care for him, a lot. I can't bear to see him unwell, sad, unhappy. He's the only man outside of the family for whom I've felt this way. Besides, you know his side of the story. You certainly heard when he confessed to me he couldn't stop loving me even if he tried."

Her eyes fell upon his neck, the marks having almost completely faded.

"What happened to you, after you died?" She asked in a soft voice

"My soul left my body."

"Is it... still there?"

Rachel did her hardest not to picture her brother's corpse slowly decaying in their parents' bedroom. It was too much to bear.

"Sean's sister came."

She froze. Kay had entered the house?!

"Please tell me they spared her!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"They did. They told me so. They tell me everything that is going on with the house." He smiled. "She was scared, of course. Our place is rumoured to be haunted. So she shouted loud and clear before she entered that she was here only to check on me if I was alive. If I was, then she'd leave me be and if I was dead, then she was here to give me a proper grave. Which she did, to the best of her abilities. She also buried your locket in a box near Mother's grave so robbers would not steal it. I'm pretty sure she disobeyed her mother, she kept repeating "sorry Mom"."

The young woman sighed in relief. Edward wouldn't rot hidden away and forgotten.

"Bermingham's body was given back by them. People found it floating on the lake's surface. They all think he killed himself because you had run away and I was missing, so he wasn't able to collect our debts." He added

"I've started to pay them back." She informed him. "I do seamstress' repairs so I am not a financial burden for our cousins. Edward... I plan on selling Loftus Hall."

To her surprise, his expression didn't change, calm as ever.

"It's the best thing to do." He admitted. "There is no point in it standing as the curse is broken."

She wondered if it really was. Her brother was haunting Sean. If she gave herself to him, wasn't she giving herself to her sibling as well, recreating the vicious circle she fought so hard to break? Technically, Sean and her weren't related by blood, so it wouldn't be a problem but Fate could be twisted. She knew that all too well.

"I'll have priests come there and purify the place. But... Will it affect you?" She worried

As much as she had been angry with him, he still was her brother and she loved him. She didn't want to hurt him or be a cause of his death once again.

"Sean's a vessel to me. I'm bound to the water he swallowed under. It infused in his blood. I won't be harmed by the exorcism. I'll be able to reach Heaven or Hell once my soul here will be at peace and it won't be until I know you will be well."

"I can take care of myself. You don't have to do all of this."

"I have to. It's my penance. I made your life harder than it should have been."

"You know how I feel about Sean and you know him from inside. You know everything there is to know. Why are you still haunting him?"

His gaze became harder and darker.

"Because you aren't safe here. There is something dangerous about this place. And as long as I am not sure of Sean's loyalty and undying feelings for you, I cannot leave you."

"But you can make his life easier!" She pleaded. "If you have to stay, then stay but don't make him suffer! I'm sure you can communicate with him with other means than headaches or fevers!"

"I can talk to him easily." He confessed. "But when I want to materialize myself, it takes a toll on him, his body isn't strong enough to just shrug it off. No human being's body can."

Rachel took his hand, she could feel her fingers going through his, yet she could swear Edward's warmth was still there somehow.

"Please, don't be so harsh on him." She asked him. "You know what he's made of. You know what's in his head. If you two have to coexist, for the time being, be his friend rather than his poison."

Edward didn't reply as he slowly vanished. However, she heard a small moan coming from Sean's mouth. His traits were softening, his body letting go of the tension, the pain fading away. He finally seemed at peace, sleeping off. She touched his forehead. While still hot, the fever was losing its battle. She smiled.

"Thank you, Edward." She whispered as she kissed the man's cheek.

She hoped her twin could feel it through him.

To Be Continued