Chapter Twelve
Eleanor watched silently and held open the kitchen door leading outside. Gregory carried the unconscious Georgina in his arms. At first he thought he wouldn't be able to manage but he was surprised by how little she weighed. Looking down, he saw her face troubled even in sleep. And despite his true feeling about her, knowing the atrocities her family had caused for the past 400 hundred years, he couldn't help but to pity her.
"Watch this step," Eleanor said cautiously.
Not only could he see the step clearly, he practically grew up in his house with Eleanor's son. He could tell she was anxious about Georgina so he held his tongue. The cold night air blew through the open door and ruffled Georgina's blouse. It showed the burn mark. He was intrigued by Georgina and her family. And he knew that this curiosity would eventually get him in trouble.
"I'll open the door," Eleanor added as Gregory stepped off the kitchen porch step.
He followed Eleanor as she quickly walked to his car. She had just reached it when a headlight beamed through the forest. She watched as it got closer to the driveway she was standing on.
"Are you expecting anyone?" Gregory asked quietly, looking at the moving light in dread.
"No."
Eleanor shared a quick look of panic with Gregory before she opened the backdoor to his BMW. She swiftly helped lift her into the car and put her down gently. The car approached them and they saw who it was.
"It's the boys," Gregory sighed slightly in relief.
"They still can't see her," Eleanor replied out of the corner of her mouth. She smiled at the boys as they drove up and stopped a few meters away from Gregory's car. Before they all got out, Gregory closed the door on the sleeping Georgina. The tinted windows kept their eyes from learning who was in the car.
"Dad?"
Tyler got out of the car with the others and looked at his father questioningly. Even though Caleb and Pogue had plans with Kate and Sarah, they wanted to know who was using and what they were doing to make them all feel it.
Gregory smiled at his son and held the confused Tyler in a light embrace. Tyler's frown stayed in place as he looked up at his aged father. It didn't matter how many times he saw him, he looked older each time. Gregory had the body of a 70 year old. He was only 39.
"What are you doing here?" Tyler asked when they stepped apart.
"I had to pull him away from the city for the weekend," Eleanor replied. "I needed help with some papers."
The Sons respected Eleanor too much to question the excuse. Instead Caleb, Pogue and Reid walked up to the pair and shook hands with Gregory.
"Hello, Mr. Simms," Caleb smiled at the gentleman, and shook his hand last. Caleb's eye's flicked to the darkened car and to Gregory's hands.
"Good evening, boys," he replied letting go of Caleb's hand.
"What brings you all here? I'm sure you all have someplace a lot more fun to be?" Eleanor smiled, as she crossed her knit jumper tighter around herself.
"Actually we just wanted to check in," Caleb said to his grandmother. "We all felt something earlier-"
"And we wondered who could be using," Tyler interrupted giving his father a hard look. His eyes, like Caleb's, saw the new age spot's on his hands.
They were all aware of Gregory and his power. He was the oldest in his generation and had to watch two of his best friends, Pogue's and Reid's father's, die young. As much as he tried to help his friends, the temptation was too great. He was there when they died and was there to see their family's struggle with the loss. He swore that he wouldn't let it happen to him. And Tyler fiercely held him to that promise.
"I, uh, had something-" Gregory started.
"Is that blood?" questioned Tyler. His looked at his father's bloodied shirt cuff with wide eyes and searched his father for answers.
"Again," Eleanor said, seeing Gregory's struggle to come up with an excuse. "That was my doing. I was cutting some flowers and nicked my hand. It was only small."
Tyler frowned at her then looked at his father. His face betrayed nothing.
"If you boys are staying," Eleanor said cutting the tension between the father and son. "Maybe we should head inside where there's warmth and hot chocolate."
Rubbing her arms from the cold, she nodded her head sideways to the open door. She led the way as the three other boys gave Tyler and his father a wide berth. When they disappeared into the Manor, Gregory looked back down at his son.
"Dad, you promised you were going to limit what you were using," Tyler said, stepping closer to his father.
"I know. I had to this time," Gregory stated trying to stand in front of the car.
"What we felt wasn't just a small healing power. We all felt it. What did-" Tyler insisted.
"Enough," Gregory said sharply, then hammered down his anger when he saw his son's concerned face close down. "I get you're worried. Don't you think I know that? It is all I think about. You don't know what it feels like yet. To have this immense power that is undeniably tempting in you, that you can't touch for fear of losing yourself to it."
Tyler averted his eyes from his father's intense eyes. They had often spoken of the promise he made, but this was the first time he had heard him talk like this. So candidly open. If he was honest, it scared him a little.
"I'm trying my best," Gregory whispered lowering his head to make his son look at him. "I need to you know that."
Tyler looked into his father's open eyes. Though the whites had yellowed with age and the skin around them, sagged. He saw the man that raised him. The man he looked up to above anyone else.
"I know," Tyler replied quietly.
Gregory let it sink in for a few moments. Grabbing his son's neck, he pulled him into another hug. Tyler held on tightly. They let go and Tyler headed towards the door. Only turning back when he realized his father wasn't following him.
"Aren't you coming in?"
"No," Gregory smiled. "I better head back to the house. I've got a lot of, erm, papers, to look through."
Tyler nodded and turned back around, closing the door behind him. The smile slipped off Gregory's face. With a heavy breath, he got into the car. He moved the rear view mirror to look at the still form of Georgina. Putting the keys into the ignition, he drove off.
Twenty minutes later, Gregory placed Georgina down on the boathouse bed. He suggested that she stayed in the manor. But Eleanor shook her head, explaining that Georgina wouldn't want to wake up in surroundings she wasn't familiar with. Grabbing the fleece blanket from the chair Gregory placed it over Georgina.
He had to move some of her belongings on the bed before he put he down. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed an open sketchbook lying at the end of the bed. He recognised the sketch. It was of Eleanor. The talent was remarkable. Flicking through the rest of the book, he was astounded at some of the pictures. A vibrating noise sounded from his coat pocket. He closed the sketchbook and put it back on the bed.
Taking out the phone, he checked his incoming message from Eleanor.
The boys are about to leave. Everything okay your end?
Giving Georgina a finally look, he texted his reply and quietly closed the door. He was walking down the deserted dock when one of the windows in the room where Georgina was sleeping burst open. It slammed against the wall, luckily without breaking the glass. Gregory was too far away by then to hear. The curtains billowed around a gust of sea air that blew into the bedroom. Yet the only thing it disturbed was the closed sketchbook sitting at the end of Georgina's bed. It blew open and pages streamed in the wind. As quick as it started, it settled.
The double page it stilled on, was a dark and menacing portrait. The charcoal lines were heavy and smudged. Like it was drawn in heavy emotion. With the eyes instantly drawing you in. Though it was in black and white, they looked real. Terrifyingly real.
Georgina shifted slightly in her sleep. But settled back into unconsciousness. Everything else in the room was still.
"Are you sure I can't tempt you with another?"
Eleanor looked at the boys sat around the kitchen bar table. Big empty mugs with chocolate stained inside were in front of them. She had sent the message when her back was turned moments before. Her heard it vibrate on the counter. But ignored it.
"As much as we all love your famous hot chocolate," Caleb smiled at his grandmother. "It's late. We really should be getting back and leave you in peace."
Tyler was using his finger to clean up the rest of the chocolate inside his mug.
"I never did find out what the secret ingredient was what you put inside it," he said licking his finger.
"Whiskey," they all replied in unison.
"Oh," he said. Not much of a drinker, he wouldn't have been able to tell anyway.
"Don't worry. I never put a lot it. It was just enough to get you boys to sleep when you were younger," Eleanor said as she smiled at the boys.
They smiled as they stood up to get their coats.
"Eleanor," Reid said as they rest were about to leave. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Was there ever a time that you know of when someone's power didn't work?"
The others heard the question and quietened down to hear the response.
"Didn't work? Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. She tenderly touched Reid's shoulder.
"No, I'm okay. It happened earlier and I was wondering if you knew anything?"
Eleanor frowned and crossed her arms, "Is it okay now?"
"Yeah," he nodded. "It was just that one time."
"I think he's just sore because he lost to that chick in pool," Pogue said, leaning on the kitchen counter. He smiled at Reid who tossed him a dark look.
"Well, nothing comes to mind at the moment. If it was just the one time, there might be simple reasons. But if it happens again, you should come to me. I could look into it for you, just in case."
"Thanks, Eleanor," Reid replied softly. She was the only person in his life that he would speak to like this. His mother split when his father died, so kindness was not something he was truly used to.
Eleanor saw the boys to their car and watched as it disappeared down the forest road. A noise bought her attention to the darkened forest. It sounded like a twig snap. Though she scanned the area, she couldn't see anything. Returning to her house, she began to turn off the lights. With a glass of water she walked through the dark sitting room. The moonlight shone through the open curtains.
She was taking a sip of water when a shadow in the mirror caught her eye. Jumping in fright she dropped the glass. Shattering, the water spilled over the hardwood floors. But her attention was on the mirror. She saw her startled expression in the reflection. The shadow had gone. Turning to look at the window where she saw it, she saw that there was nothing there. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Something felt wrong.
Her wide, frightened eyes tried to take in anything that was different. Careful not to stand on the broken glass she rushed over to the wall and her hands found the light switch. Nothing happened. The empty clicking sounded and the lights remained dark. As she slowly backup away from the now eerie sitting room, she felt herself enter the foyer.
Feeling for the mobile, she realized she left it in the kitchen. There was a landline on the table next to the front door. Turning, she looked up at the front door and froze. A man stood there. She couldn't see his face. Every part of him was shadow. Her first thought was darkling. But he wasn't corporeal. It was as if he was a shadow himself.
Her eyes shifted to the phone. Only she never even managed a step before the shadow moved. The shadow rushed over her. Her piercing scream could be heard all over the property. The last thing she saw, was his eyes. Those terrifying eyes.