Disclaimer: You already know! Also really sorry it has taken so long to write this and the following chapters!


Control

Chapter 28: Lady Mary

Sophie's P.O.V

"I've been here just as long as you. I don't know why they made you manager and not me." Tom muttered as he arranged food on the table as Alex sat with her back supported by the wall and her feet propped up on the table. Patsy had gone missing a day ago and Hal had been appointed acting manager until she returned or they found a permanent replacement for her. A lot of weird things had been going on in the hotel and it seemed they were going to continue.

"It's acting manager and I have no idea Tom. I wasn't privy to the deliberations." Hal replied as he fixed the arrangement of glasses while I arranged the seats in the room, some speaker of sorts was holding a conference here.

"There that. It's 'cause you say privy and you don't even mean the bogs."

"Tom it's not a promotion, he's simply stepping in while the search for Patsy continues, anyone of the staff could have been given the job it just so happens that they picked Hal." I defended Tom needed something to pick him up, all this job envy was getting him rather low and unhappy. "And besides all the paperwork looks boring."

"Exactly Tom it's just a title, it doesn't change a thing." Hal added before turning his head sternly to look at Alex. "Will you please stop that? It's unsanitary."

"I know, so what happened to that Patsy bird anyway. Did she just walk out?" Alex asked as she continued to annoy Hal with her feet propped up on the table touching all the food that was laid out.

"She was rather highly strung, clearly the pressure got too much for her, but I'm sure she'll be back soon and we can return to our original roles and responsibilities." Hal stated as he finished polishing another glass.

"Exactly, everything back to normal Tom, and it won't be such a drastic change." I added placing a reassuring hand on Tom's shoulder, Hal had once been such a people person…well he when he wasn't tearing out their jugular, but since he stopped drinking blood he had become more rigid and off with people…well people that he met anyway.

" I guess, but until then it's gonna be all; Tom can you help out on reception, Tom, Mrs Smith left her key in her room can you let her in?"

"You do know those are your actual jobs anyway." Hal sighed picking up some more cutlery and polishing it, however Tom continued with his little tirade.

"Cause I won't put up with it Hal! And for starters it's a full moon tonight so I'm having the night off. I'm just gonna walk out, go home and what are you gonna do about it eh?" Tom finished turning and smirking at Hal, he did have a point though, it would be dangerous for Tom to be around the hotel this evening, and we'd be leaving the guests in peril. And if anything did happen to any of the guests because of Tom's transformation, it would hurt him terribly.

"You can't."

"Hal, you can't do that. He needs to be able to transform safely, you also can't put the hotel guests in danger." I argued had he gone mad? Allowing Tom to work during the night or even close to the moon rising left everyone in the vicinity in danger of being turned or killed.

"I can't just let staff take off when they want to." He replied he had certainly lost his mind.

"Unbelievable."

"If the two of you would let me explain, I've already scheduled you the night off Tom." He stated I should have known that he'd be one step ahead and have already planned for this.

"Did you hear that then? And so it begins."

"This is going to be one long day." I sighed placing down the napkins in my hand and rubbing my forehead.

"And I think I'll leave you with these two idiots." Alex laughed getting up off of the table but as soon as she did so another person entered the room. All the talk of the full moon and any other supernatural beings were cut short as one of the guests walked through the door. However Tom, Hal and I sensed it immediately the guest wasn't anyone ordinary.

"Werewolf." Hal whispered turning on his heel to face the man, he didn't look like much but then again looks are always deceiving.

"Testing one two, a bit too much bass, but we can live with it. So what are the lighting choices?" The man who'd entered the room had approached the microphone that was set up in the room. He must have been the guest speaker that was presenting something or other about his life today at the hotel.

"Me?" Tom asked the man who then nodded making him run over to the light switch. "On."

"Okay."

"And off." Tom said flicking the switch back down again turning off the lights; this was definitely going to be a very dull and long day.

"Okay let's go with on." The man suggested and then came one of the longest and dullest monologues I had ever heard, and throughout the hundreds of years of my existence I had known many a man who loved to hear their own voice or boast about their lives, but this man certainly took the cake. "…the hotel door closed behind me didn't have a key locked out in the corridors of the Dorchester London not quite 'Full Monty', calm down ladies still had on my dressing gown on…"

Hal's P.O.V

The rest of the day had gone without any incident, no injuries and no sudden disappearances or deaths. However the day was not without its stress, I was about to visit Lady Mary much to the displeasure of Sophie.

"Are you seeing that lovely ghost again?" Sophie asked the question laced with sarcasm, she was not a fan of any of the woman that had anything to do with me in the past, especially Lady Mary. Back then she had a vicious jealous streak every time another woman would look my way and the younger me would always stoke the fire just to see how far she would really go…which nearly always ended up with death.

"She need company, she has no one."

"She should have passed on ages ago, you going to see her just makes her hold onto this world longer." She sighed getting up from her seated position on the bed and helping me with my cravat, without being able to see anything in a mirror made tying ties, bow ties and fixing cravats such a difficult task.

"She will pass on, but for now I owe it to her to keep her company." I replied making her scoff and tug the cravat slightly too hard. I grabbed her hands making her look up at me and away from what she was doing. "Please calm down."

"Don't be gone long." She murmured dropping her gaze down to the floor I let go of one of her hands to caress her cheek making her look at me once more.

"Don't worry, it will be a matter of minutes and I'll be back here." I reassured her kissing her lightly and pulling her closer to me. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes before we ventured downstairs where Alex and Tom were waiting.

"He's visiting a girl." Tom stated to which Alex seemed rather interested looking me up and down.

"And judging from that get up she's got a very good sense of humour." she laughed however she had a more serious expression when she turned to look at Sophie. "Hey do you know about this girl he's seeing?"

"All too much, the lovely Lady Mary." Sophie answered her aggravated tone back once more again, it would be a continuous cycle of this argument until the day I stopped seeing her or she passed on.

"You don't sound happy at all, what is he seeing her behind your back?"

"Lady Mary is simply an acquaintance of mine nothing more." I stated which then peaked Tom's interest in the conversation.

"No hanging round with fangs Hal, the rules." He stated pointing accusingly between Sophie and I, although it was a fair assumption that most of our acquaintances were vampires, did he forget about Leo and Pearl?

"Please don't call us that." I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose; I did not need an argument to occur that would go all around the houses before it would be resolved.

"Besides you can hardly call her that, she may be dead but she is no vampire. Though she has a habit of sucking your soul away." Sophie scoffed

"Please don't talk about her like that. She's merely a ghost." I insisted now Alex became more invested into the conversation, after all she hadn't met many other ghosts.

"Wait a minute, you know a ghost? Another female ghost, and what, you didn't tell me?" she accused crossing her arms and glaring at me, maybe I should have told her about Lady Mary but she simply was not the sort of person who Mary would socialize with.

"Because I knew there was no point. You really wouldn't get on."

"Oh well, I think that's for me and my new best mate, Mary, to decide, don't you?" she stated walking over to the front door as if she was going to go with me to meet her…preposterous.

"Absolutely not. Lady Mary is a shy, fragile creature, with an innocence I am determined to protect." I stated firmly earning a scoff off of Sophie who had since sat down on one of the sofas.

"What, you think I would corrupt her?" Alex questioned with all her vulgar language and her lack of manners she could corrupt even the devil himself.

"I think you'd corrupt Keith Richards. So if you don't mind?" And with that I left the place without any of them to make the journey more tasking.

"It is a pleasure to receive you as always Lord Harry, since your last visit we have gained several invigorating new exhibits including an enchanting selection of pottery from the colonies." Mary explained as we walked up to the doors of the manor which now housed a museum dedicated to the lives of the former inhabitants.

"Wonderful, I shall look forward to perusing them in due course." And as we approached the staircase the day took an unhappy turn as Alex popped up in front of us.

"Boo! His face shut you right up…Alex how's it going?" she began to introduce herself until I took her by the arm and turned her back around and walked her towards the door. "Oh hold that thought…"

"I thought we decided you were staying at home." I whispered however Alex simply smiled or more accurately smirked at me.

"Oh you decided I was staying at home but I decided to ignore you." She stated I rolled my eyes and sighed she was really testing my patience. "Oh come on Hal, stop being all…Hal about this. I've got no one to talk to about ghost stuff and I swear I won't swear."

"Fine," I sighed turning the both of us back round to face Mary. "Lady Mary allow me to introduce Alex, a new ghost of my acquaintance."

"I see and I take it you two are um…I'm not sure what the modern parlance is…" She began before Alex cut her off…this wasn't a good idea at all.

"What shagging? God no! Are you serious? No way!" Alex answered quickly scoffing at the mere idea.

"Nothing of the sort. I assure you friends and nothing more."

"I mean he irons his socks…and of course there's…" Alex continued however I cut her off before she could mention Sophie, Lady Mary and I may simply be acquaintances but she despised Sophie like Sophie despised her, and it all had to do with Sophie killing her.

"In fact we share our abode with a lycanthrope."

We moved through the rest of the manor Alex ahead of us touching all of the exhibitions and muttering away excitedly about the various bits and bobs.

"Lady Mary, I must offer my sincerest apologies." I apologised however she merely waved her hand to dismiss the thought.

"Not at all, no she has, um, a boisterous charm that has awoken the teacher in me. I almost wish my finishing school was still open." She mused looking at Alex as if she were a project to complete.

"I fear she is beyond the help of even your profound talents."

"Then I accept your wager." She murmured quietly, I'm sure I misheard her she surely wasn't talking about betting on something.

"My what?" I asked however she simply avoided answering the question and moved on to looking at some of the furniture adorning the room. "No seriously what?"

"Mistress Alex, I feel we have so much to learn from one another though we've hardly conversed."

"Yeah totally." Alex answered however she didn't look too impressed, she should have listened to me, and the two of them were simply from two very different periods.

"And as it seems that Lord Harry has other urgent business to attend to, it appears we shall have that chance." Mary proposed I look at her for a second as if she had completely and utterly lost her mind, however she looked determined to change Alex I presumed.

"What? Yes I have business urgent business to go and do but it is my fervent hope that you will both become better acquainted."

"A sentiment I echo Lord Harry." She stated with a large smile adorning her face as she turned to look at Alex.

Alex's P.O.V

Hal turned to look at me giving me a sort of look that I guess he meant as 'Don't fuck this up, or your dead.' Which to a ghost is quite laughable, there was no way I could be more dead than I was now. However true to his word he left Lady Mary and I alone to do whatever the hell she was about to teach me or talk to me about.

"God, haunting a stately home shit that must be brilliant. I mean sorry not shit, um, bums? You alright?" I asked as she kept peering out of the window and doors, was she that eager for Hal to leave or to return or what?

"Yes I am curious Lord Harry has he…" she asked she was wondering if had left.

"Oh yeah, yeah he's gone." I replied as I looked out of the window seeing the retreating figure of Hal further down the path.

"Oh thank fuck for that." She sighed relaxing completely, this was a hundred percent not what I was expecting from this woman. From everything she had been doing around Hal, I'd expected her to look down her nose at me as a commoner or whatever the hell she would think of someone like me. "God! It's just such hard work keeping it up you know? All that thee and thou bollocks it gets on my tits."

"You're not…you're not posh?" I asked completely and utterly confused at what was going on, was Hal pulling my leg or did he not know what she was truly like. She laughed and grabbed my arm leading me out of the room and out of the building.

"Oh let's get out of here. This place bores me to frigging tears even when I was alive but now I have a playmate come on lets go have some fun."

Sophie's P.O.V

Hal had been back for a couple of hours and had already cleaned up half of the house and was now solving one of his many puzzles that he had found around the place, to keep himself in control. He hadn't really spoken much about his trip to the manor to see the ever lovely Lady Mary, he was fooling himself if he thought she was angel that he needed to keep 'innocent' and away from Alex, however from the sounds of it Lady Mary was all too pleased to teach Alex the ways of being a ghost.

"So exactly what happened?" I asked sitting down opposite Hal as he placed two more pieces together.

"Alex appeared, I introduced her to Mary and then she took an interest and is teaching how to be a better person." He replied finding more pieces that fit together, it seemed a bit too strange to actually be true.

"And by better you mean prim and proper." Speak of the devil and he shall emerge, just as we talked about her Alex appeared in the room, looking like she really needed to say something, maybe she had found out how mad Mary really was.

"We need to talk about Mary." She stated Hal stopped placing pieces and looked over at her as she took the next adjacent seat.

"I did say you'd find her a little dull."

"Dull is not the word I would use, erm; crazy, sordid, bat-shit shocking is more the flavour." She replied Hal looked confused, after years upon years of being 'prim and proper' it had made Lady Mary a bit…'wild'. She may appear to be the perfect woman to all the men in the world but her true colours shone when she was alone with someone she really disliked. Making the decision to kill her even easier.

"I'm sorry is this some new youth slang for boring? I do try to keep up." Hal asked he really didn't want to think that Lady Mary was anything other than the stereotypical proper English lady that he had always thought she was.

"Mary is not who you think she is Hal the whole posh totty thing it's just an act." She stated looking over at me. "Sophie you know Mary is a complete and utter nutter back me up."

"I've tried telling him before, but he always says my opinion is biased."

"Biased is taking it lightly, you were jealous and you killed her, you're opinion of her was never very high." Hal stated causing Alex to stare at me for a while.

"You killed her?" she asked I sighed this was not the time to talk about murdering Lady Mary.

"It's a long story."

"Regardless, why on Earth would Lady Mary put on an act?" Hal questioned Alex however shrugged and picked up one of the puzzle pieces only for Hal to take it from her.

"I don't know and I don't care but what I'm worried about is the fact that's she been stuck here for two hundred years and it's turned her into a total frothing lob. Is that what's going to happen to me?" she asked I guess that's what every ghost's fear is, not moving on and going insane because they cannot pass on.

"Look…even if you don't pass over for a while. I'm sure you'd cope with it admirably you and Mary are completely different people after all." I reassured her there was no point in worrying about something that may not happen. Tom just so happen to walk by looking quite happy and chipper he stood directly in front of the front door, was he waiting for someone?

"You alright tom?" Alex asked as everyone looked over to him, he nodded enthusiastically before going to open the front door.

"I'm fine are you? Oh is that somebody at the door?"

"Tom, my young apprentice." Larry Chrysler the man who had given the amazingly boring talk this morning and who also happened to be a werewolf came bustling through into the front room accompanied by Tom.

"Alex, Sophie, Hal; this is Larry the werewolf from the talk."


Author's notes:

Hey really sorry that I haven't updated in well…an age it seems. One thing led to another and I just didn't seem to have time to sit down and write much, but I really need to start back at writing once more, so hopefully from here on out there will be more regular updates to this. I have really missed writing this story as have I missed watching Being Human still can't believe it's been cancelled! Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and once again thank you for all the support and advice. There will be a lot more to come so don't worry and hopefully it will be online at reasonable times.