Chapter 7:

"Too late?" Leo echoed, the dread in his pit growing, as he looked at the seemingly paler ghost -how pale a ghost now could get. "What's too late?!"

"Shh!" Bree exclaimed, her eyes wide as she glanced around frightened. Her breathing picked up as the footsteps grew louder, causing Leo and Adam to exchange a worried glance. Adam frowned as a laugh was heard from above. It was definitely his little brother's laugh, but he had never before heard it sound so... evil?

"That's adorable, Bree." Chase's voice cooed and it felt like a punch to her face. "But we've already been over this, I'm your brother now. Which means I've got his hearing and know exactly where you're hiding."

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Bree mumbled frantically as she looked around in the hallway, her eyes suddenly widened and she became paler as her gaze landed on -or rather through- James. Her mouth fell open in horror.

"No, no, it's okay, Bree. It's okay, it's just James. He's... He's a good ghost." Leo quickly explained, trying to not freak the girl out anymore than she already was.

"Ah, James David!" Their brother's voice cheered, almost as if greeting an old friend. "I was wondering when you would show yourself. You know, usually people leave when die. They move on. Though who am I to judge, but then again, I have no reason to. I can go on just like I did before I died. But you? You just watch people get slaughtered, and you don't even enjoy it. Say, do you really think these teens will be different? They might be superhuman, or well, two of them are, but do you really think they're ready to kill their own brother?"

The three siblings shared a horrified look as a few more tears rolled down Bree's cheeks. Adam rubbed her back soothingly as he felt his own panic grow; just what the heck was going on here?! Leo turned back to James, not really knowing what to ask, but knowing he needed answers. Though before he could open his mouth his brother's voice traveled down the stairs again, even louder this time; he was getting closer...

"Do you even know who they are? What they are? Bionic superhumans..." he let out a laugh as he seemed to taste the term on his lips. "We really did live in the boring lifetime, huh. Superhuman strength, superhuman speed and superhuman intelligence. Plus so many more abilities, all stuck in such pathetic and naive children."

He laughed again and the sound sent a shiver down Bree's spine.

"I've never felt more alive than I do right now! Such a powerful mind, and to think he's still just a kid. I can't say I'm all that happy about the size, but you take what you get right, and I'll actually miss this body. I really will. You shouldn't underestimate and neglect your brother or his abilities as much as you do. It's a shame he'll never see his full potential... But I'll tell you what, I'm going to take my time on you, and I'll even be generous enough to give you a three-second head start. You better start running."

Bree didn't even waste a second to breathe as she grabbed hold of her brothers and zoomed down the stairs. She didn't stop until they were back by the front door. There she collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily as she fought against the tears that once again threatened to fall. How could this be happening?

Leo and Adam exchanged yet another worried look, none of them sure what to do or say. Leo was finally and unwillingly starting to understand what was happening; it wasn't really that hard to get if you just thought about it. No, understanding it wasn't hard; it was accepting it that was. Haunted houses, ghosts and homicidal possessions? Even how cool, yet overall terrifying, those things sounded, they didn't exist in real life! ...Right?

"I tried to warn you about this. I tried to get you to leave." a defeated voice sounded from behind and three siblings looked back to see James watching them sadly; it almost looked as if he was watching a grave and not very much still alive human beings. "But you just wouldn't..."

"We wouldn't?" Adam echoed, his voice leaning towards angry. "That might be true, but even if we'd wanted, we couldn't! The door freaking locked itself!"

"Yeah," James said and sighed, not the slightest bothered by the tall boy's outburst. "Michael has learned his way around those things lately. Locking the doors and opening the trapdoors. Even deceiving people with illusions, causing them to get lost and confused."

The siblings looked at each other again as Bree pushed herself up on her feet, "Who-... Who is he anyways?"

"Michael?" James asked and the three teens nodded. He looked up at the ceiling, seemingly remembering a time years ago. "He used to be the owner of this house, the master of the mansion. He was a serial killer as well, and during my short 'visit' here I had the great misfortune to run into him. He didn't get angry that I had snuck into his home as you might think he would, on the contrary, he seemed rather pleased about it. He asked if I was lost and needed help to find my way out. Fully knowing I wouldn't find my way out on my own and actually too ashamed to deny, I accepted his help. That turned out to be a fatal mistake.

"He did help me out, guided me to a secret tunnel straight to the middle of the cornfield. That's when I started to realize something was wrong. Why would he take me there and not to the front door and the gate from his properties. But I realized it too late and he-... Well, I'll spare you the details. He killed me. Though karma can be quite effective and bite you in the ass rather quickly, because not a week later he fell down the stairs and died himself.

"After the third new owner died, unknowingly to the public by Michael's ghost, the house was called uninhabitable and it was left as it was. I was relieved. If nobody lived here then Michael couldn't kill anybody else. Though-"

"Couldn't you just stop him? I mean you're a ghost too." Adam interrupted, but James just shook his head.

"Michael is stronger than me, for some reason. Plus he's already dead, what else can I do?"

"Well, you're a good ghost and he's a bad one, shouldn't you be able to, I don't know, cancel out his evil or something?" Leo couldn't help but ask. "Erase you both from existence? They do that all the time in movies, and although it sounds pretty bad, I think that option sounds a lot better than watching him kill people."

"I don't know... If I had found a way we wouldn't really have a problem here in the first place, would we?" James continued, thinking about the boy's suggestion closely. "Anyway, where was I? Yes, nobody lived here, the mansion was doomed to root alone in the woods. But that didn't stop curious and stupid kids like you to seek the place up and 'investigate' it. So sadly Michael continued with his killings and now... Now he's possessed your brother, which means he is going to kill you too. Just like everyone else..."

The teens shared yet another frightened look before Leo swallowed thickly.

"So what-... What can we do?" he asked and James made a gesture towards the exit, causing the previously locked door to fly open with a loud creek.

"Run like hell?" the ghost suggested and Leo stared at the open door, frowning as the meaning of the words sunk in. Run? He couldn't be serious?! He couldn't really mean that they would-... Could he?

"We are NOT leaving our brother!" Bree exclaimed exasperated as she glared at the man.

"Yeah, no way!" Adam quickly agreed, shaking his head fiercely in both disbelief and horror.

"Never." Leo added as he shook his head as well. The very thought of it made him sick. How could he think they would just leave Chase like that? He was their brother! Besides, he wouldn't even be there if it wasn't for them; he had been against the idea the whole time!

"Well, then there's nothing you can do." James said and Leo really started to dislike the guy as he once more looked at them as if they were already dead. "He's going to kill you."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Ooh, what are they going to do now? (I know! ;P) Okay, light teasing aside, hope you liked it and I'll see you in the next chapter! :D /Libra