Chapter 9

Hong Kong – Leon
Canada – Matthew
USA – Alfred
Seychelles – Shelly
Australia – Kyle
England – Arthur /Artie
France – Fran / Francis
Denmark –Mathias Norman
Norway – Lukas Norman

After having driven through the country side for a long time past trees and trees and other trees, Mathias gives a content sigh as they finally approach the white mansion. Everything around it is beginning to be painted in the colours of autumn and the leaves rustle under their feet as Lukas and Mathias get out of the car. They step up the wooden porch and as they wait that somebody opens the door after having rang the doorbell, Mathias sneaks a kiss on Lukas' cheek. Earning a light stare, warning him to not do such things during their job, Mathias only grins and whips up and down on his feet. As the door opens, Mathias quickly steps back into professionalism and smiles confidently at Francis, who they got to know on the parking lot.

The man in front of the couple motions them tiredly to step inside, shoulders hanging and hair slightly greasy as it doesn't seem to have been washed in the last few days. Mathias steps in and shakes hands with the man, nodding at him. His look quickly scans the hallway and immediately notices presumably Francis' husband crossing the hallway towards them. The man is even smaller than Francis but got a similar tired look on him that does not suit him at all. But despite everything, his clothes are tidy and the look in his emerald green eyes is more curious and determinate. Mathias has to hold himself back to not comment on the colossal eyebrows this stranger possesses and instead reaches out his hand to greet him properly:
"Mathias Norman"

"Nice to meet you, Arthur Bonnefoy"
Arthur acknowledges the firm handshake, having expected more church like men. A priest that surely couldn't have lived on a monk's diet or a strange occult man with haunted eyes, seeing demons in every corner. Instead he gets greeted by a man with gravity defying hair and a warm smile plastered on his face. He presumably visits the gym regularly, almost hitting the description of being "buff" perfectly. The other man behind is more calm and reserved, wearing a hard glare and his expression is unreadable. At least such a man, Arthur expected to be scrawnier, nerd like. But quite opposite he could see that the body must be athletic under the perfect fitting blue shirt.

Lukas, after having nodded at Francis and Arthur, looks around and notices whispering at his left side. He turns and walks to the open door in that direction and sees all the five children almost standing in line in the living room. Francis notices the sudden shift of interest in the silent man and hurries quickly to the children.
"Those are our adopted children." He points from one to another, following the age.
"Leon, Matthew, Alfred, Kyle and our only daughter Shelly."
Lukas nods and looks at every single one of them, memorizing who is who and taking in their apparent personalities. He looks at the whole picture and stiffens almost unnoticeably for the family. But Mathias, standing right behind him,notices the short tension in Lukas' neck and how his jaw is clenching.

The tension passes as soon as Francis turns some, now standing between the kids and the visitors. He smiles at his children and raises his hand to motion in a brief hand movement towards the men:
"These are Mathias and Lukas Norman."
Shelly, standing in front of them gives them a bright smile, holding the music box in her hands. Matthew gives a shy look, averting his eyes some whilst Leon, standing right behind him looks unimpressed at Mathias and then at Lukas. Kyle and Alfred smile but yawn almost simultaneously. Every single one of them has large circles around their eyes and shift weight from one foot to another, as if their own body weight is too much to bear whilst standing still.

Lukas still studies them but gets snapped back to the adults as Mathias steps at his side and Francis starts to collect something from the ground. Lukas blinks and only registers now that the whole living room floor is covered in a mess of pillows, cuddle toys and pyjamas. Mattresses are lying right beside the wall, cramped and near the heater. Lukas observes how Francis tries to tidy the room in picking up the pyjamas and pillows and throwing them on one of the mattresses whilst explaining:
"We're all sleeping down here now." He straightens up again and strokes a strand of hair out of his face and behind his ear.
"The children feel safer and it's warmer." He sighs and rubs his arms covered by a warm wool jacket. "I'm constantly turning up the heat but the house is always freezing."

Lukas only gives a brief nod before starting to walk around the living room, studying the bookshelves and dressers. The kids either follow with their eyes the mysterious looking man. The one with misty eyes and light blonde hair that gets held back on one side by a golden cross pin, but covers on the right side of his face almost one of his eyes. Or the kids follow the continuation of the conversation:
"It's not the problem with the furnace though. I mean, not that I can find," explains Arthur and earns an understanding nod from Mathias. The tall proceeds then to walk out of the living room and finds himself again in the hallway. Francis follows:
"It's gotten a lot worse the past few nights. There's this...awful smell, like rotting meat, that moves around the house." He wrinkles his nose some and looks at Mathias to see if he understands, if it makes any sense to him. Mathias looks at Francis with an understanding expression and turns his head then to his approaching husband, Lukas. He steps to them, speaking with Mathias through his eyes and pursed lips. Mathias gives out a slow "uh" and looks at Francis with new worry in his eyes.
Francis of course notices the long stare the two experts exchanged and as he sees the obvious concern in the others face, he has to ask:
"What is it?"
Mathias takes a deep breath and stems the palm of his hands on his hipbones:
"Well, rancid smells could indicate some type of demonic activity." Mathias' eyebrows are furrowed slightly and his eyes are always looking around, only fixating on Francis when he speaks, as he contemplates all the evidences they already could gather in this short amount of time.
"Oh my god…" Francis exclaims whispering and searches the eyes of Arthur, who is standing in the hallway too, to find some reassurance. His search is futile as Arthur's forehead is slightly wrinkled and his jaw tense as Arthur tries to calm himself from overreacting thoughts.

In the meantime, Mathias studies the double winged door right beside him and sees both handles tied together with a rope. He tries to open it but all he gets is the doors banging on each other as they fall back in place, the ropes preventing them from opening. Arthur steps forward, his hands in his pockets.
"That's to keep those doors from banging at night." He steps to the wall and places a hand on the old beige painted wall: "Otherwise it's like..." He smacks the wall three times in a regular rhythm. "All night long"
Mathias and Lukas observe him closely and Mathias nods upwards at Arthur:
"Does it come in threes?"
Arthur nods.
"Stops at dawn?"
Again, Arthur nods and shifts his weight on both foots again and straightens himself. The long exchange through the eyes between Mathias and Lukas does not get unnoticed, and slowly it unnerves him, that they do not seem to be able to communicate normally through words. Arthur cannot decide on whom he should fix his eyes, until it is Mathias that raises his voice:
"Well, sometimes it's meant as an insult to the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."
Arthur nods, still not quite understanding the situation.

As the four adults walk upstairs, leaving the kids down to occupy themselves, Arthur continues to explain all the strange happenings around and inside their house:
"It's the damnest thing, but we also get all kinds of birds that will just fly against the side of the house and break their necks."
"And the clocks stop at 3:07 in the morning," continues Francis as they arrive at the top of the stairs.
"All of them?" asks Mathias as they gather in front of the stairs.
"Every one." Francis steps farther down the hallway but as he turns around, he sees Lukas standing on front of a table on which they stapled framed pictures in different sizes. Lukas leans down and carefully takes the top picture in his hands and regards it. Francis observes Lukas closely and steps to him, leaving the two other walk in one of the rooms. Francis points at the pictures still on the chair:
"We were hanging those along the stairs. Something just kept knocking them down, so we stopped hanging them up." Francis sighs and looks over the arm of Lukas on the framed family picture. The whole family is smiling in the camera. Lukas only hums in understanding and gently places the picture back on its place, to not scratch the glass of the framed picture underneath.

"That's what I was talking about." Francis leans against the wall, tired eyes looking at the ancient looking wardrobe in Leon's room. "It was here when we moved in. There is also a lot of stuff in the cellar." Francis almost glares into the room, having nightmares that something might suddenly jump out of it and hurt his children. Lukas and Mathias step into the room to have a better look on the wardrobe but Lukas suddenly tense posture lets Mathias not walk entirely towards it. Lukas turns his head towards Francis and speaks his first whole sentence since his arriving with his deep and undeviating voice:
"Show me the cellar."

The group of men quickly walks down the stairs again and Arthur leads the way to the door leading into the cellar. Francis, having memories of being trapped in the dark with something unknown and potentially dangerous, stays in the brightly lighted hallway. Mathias motions with a raised hand, palm facing Arthur, that they'd rather be alone in that cellar. Arthur, who sees how Lukas' body already disappears down the dark stairs, only nods and sighs relived. As Mathias quickly follows his husband, Arthur steps to his and finds Francis hand and squeezes it reassuringly.

Lukas stands in the middle of the cellar, eyes closed and hands relaxed at his sides. He listens. He listens to the whispering around him. Sometimes he turns his head to one side, tilts it to the other, and twitches with his hand when something louder than expected whispers in his ear. Wailing, sobbing, screaming and begging. And all throughout a female voice whispers:
"Look what she made me do!"

"You sense anything, hon?" Mathias words come sudden even though he kept his voice calm. Lukas eyes flutter open again, staring at nothing. For once his façade got cracks as his lips are pressed together and his hands are clenched into fists. His brows are furrowed and light wrinkles appear on his nose bridge. Slowly, he turns towards his lover and states with an apprehensive voice and lost eyes.
"Something awful happened here, Mathias."

Summer vacation is over and I'll be able to update again more regularly~
Thank you all so much for reviews and follows! This really is motivating!