The Grand Hotel

Daphne's POV

“We’ve been expecting you,” says the woman named Debbie.

I smile at her weakly. "It seems as though I am hearing that a lot since I got here."

She pats my cheek affectionately and smiles without saying a word. She then turns to Gus. "Gus sweetie, there are some color books and crayons on my desk. Why don’t you draw grandma a pretty picture?"

He smiles at her widely. "Okay, Grandma."

Debbie takes hold of my hand and squeezes it tightly. "I am so glad you’re here. If you don’t mind I’m going to get more comfortable and we can have a cup of tea."

I smile at her and nod my head. "That would be lovely, thank you." Something about her is putting me at ease. I can feel the heat from her fire and the warmth seems to be healing my soul. I look over to the floor where Gus is coloring. He is lying on his stomach with his elbows propping him up and is coloring with a vengeance. He looks over to me and smiles, but there is a wicked gleam in his eyes for just a moment. Very much like the one Brian had earlier.

After a couple of minutes Debbie emerges from her bathroom dressed in a long, flowing, gypsy style nightgown that is a bright red color. She also is wearing a red silky scarf wrapped around her head. She holds her hand out to mine. "Come, let’s have some tea.” We sit down at a small table and there are already two cups sitting on the table with tea leaves in them. I look at her in confusion. "Were you expecting company?"

"Well you’re here aren’t you?" she says brashly and then chuckles while pouring the hot water.

I add a little cream and sugar to my tea and sip it carefully. My thoughts keep drifting to the moments before out in the small hallway. My skin crawls when I suddenly remember the sharp pain I felt when the entity had made a grab for me. I push up the sleeves of my shirt. Debbie looks at me questioningly and then gasps as do I when see the large gashes in my arms. The odd thing is they did not damage my shirt; only my skin

Debbie grabs hold of my arm tightly and examines the scratches. "Dear God, child, did that creature do this?" she points to the now locked door. I nod my head yes as I swallow hard. I can feel my heart start beating rapidly once again. She mutters under her breath. "Sweet Jesus, Mother Mary and Joseph. I was afraid this would happen."

Her words chill me to the bone and I hold onto my tea cup tightly, trying not to show my shaking hands. When I speak I can‘t hide the tremor in my voice. "You were afraid what would happen?”

She closes her eyes, not saying a word. After I’m done drinking my tea she takes hold of my cup and looks inside. She frowns and then looks up at me. "Would you like me to read your leaves?"

I nod my head hesitantly, and she continues. "You are not at this hotel by coincidence are you?"

I stare at her hard for a moment and shake head. "No.”

"You’re frightened for you friend Justin?"

I nod my head yes, feeling all the fear of the world on my shoulders. "Is he is danger?"

Sadness floods her eyes and her face softens as she grasps hold of my hand gently. "Yes, but you already knew it was a risk bringing him here didn’t you?"

"Yeah, I knew." I reply weakly.

She points to the locked door. "The spirit you were running from is growing stronger the longer Justin is here. You need to guard Justin and protect him the best you can. We all will." She freezes and grasps my hand even tighter. "Dear God!” The blood drains from her face. She looks at me but her eyes are glazed over. "Nothing is as it seems. Everything we have known is changed. Your presence here has changed everything."

I feel my body begin to get cold as fear starts to set in. I close my eyes and instantly I feel myself being pulled out of my chair. I gasp as I open my eyes and see the wall coming at me until white stucco engulfs me. I hold my breath as my spirit is thrust through walls from one room to another.

Through the hollow walls I can hear him calling to my spirit. I sense that it‘s Justin and the terror is growing inside him like an avalanche. He whimpers and then calls my name again. He’s whispering it under his breath, almost like a chant. There is so much power in his tone, but he is too scared to realize it. I remember what Debbie told me. I need to protect him and that is what I plan to do until he realizes his own inner force.

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Emmett’s POV

Ted lies beside me in bed babbling incoherently. He got smashed at the bar tonight and Michael and Ben helped bring him to my room to crash since there’s no way he could get himself home.

I’m just getting settled into my side of my cozy bed when Lindsay appears through the wall. “Hello, Emmett.”

“Good evening, Lindsay. How can I help you?”

“Have you seen Gus? I can’t find him anywhere.”

I hear a noise behind me and I see Ted cowering in fear with the covers pulled up to his neck. I pat him on the knee and turn back to the slightly distraught ghost. “No, I haven’t, honey. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere, though.”

She nods absently. “I’m sure you’re right. He’s probably hiding from me.”

Suddenly the most horrific sense of dread washes over me just as the lights go out again. It feels so tangible I can almost smell it, like raw sewage. I quickly light the candle I keep by my bed and Lindsay is still standing there as if in shock. “Oh my God,” she exclaims. “I’ve got to find Gus!” She leaves just as quickly as she came.

Ted is still sitting there staring at the wall where Lindsay just left, his lips moving soundlessly. I push him down in the bed. “Here, honey, take one of these,” I slip him one of my Ambien pills. “It’ll make you forget all about these crazy things you think you’re seeing.” He seems to accept this and takes the pill. He docilely lies down and closes his eyes.

I’m sure it’s not ethical to drug your best friend right after you got him drunk, but a boy’s gotta do what a boy’s gotta do, if you catch my drift. Besides, it’s for Teddy’s own good, anyway. What he doesn’t know can’t kill him. I hope.

As soon as I know he’s asleep I grab my leopard print robe and head down to Ben and Michael’s apartment.

They're both in the hall with their candles, wearing their own hastily donned robes as well. “Did you feel…?” I trail off.

They both nod. “We better go see Deb,” Ben says. “There’s something bad going down and I get the feeling it’s not only our spirit friends who are in danger.”

I nod and hear Michael mutter under his breath, “fucking Justin.” I don’t bother with a retort. We’ve got more important things to deal with than misplaced blame and petty jealousy.

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Justin’s POV

My head is spinning from everything Brian has just told me. None of it makes sense to me. How can he and Lindsay both be dead? I can feel Brian’s warm skin against mine and it looks like he’s breathing. It was the same with Lindsay. She breathed, gasped, laughed, but then there was the blood. Oh God! This is too much for me to handle.

I think of my conversation with Lindsay. She was so frightened of the dark. How could a ghost really be afraid of the dark? Unless there is something horrific on the other side. I remember her asking me to make it stop. Do I have the power to do that? She seemed to think I did. Fuck!

Suddenly the room darkens once again. An icy breeze floods through the room, making my teeth chatter, and causing a heavy pall of dread to flow through me.

The sensation of eyes watching us is all around me and I felt like I did out in the hall when Brian found me earlier this evening. It feels as if something awful is seeping into my soul and looking into every crevasse of my inner being.

I close my eyes tight, too scared to look and see what’s around me. I hear whispering and I can recognize my name. I open my eyes again to see who is calling me. It seems to be coming from the black haze that has formed in the room. Brian wraps his arms around me in a tight embrace as thought he is trying to protect me from someone or something.

A gushing wind whirls around us screeching with animalistic cries which penetrate through my soul. I can feel the chaotic anguish and pain that lurks inside of the dark mass.

Instantly I think of Daphne and how I wish she was here to protect me from this nightmare, as she has done so many times before.

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Brian’s POV

Justin’s body trembles in my arms and I know he must be so fucking scared. He only just learned that Lindsay and I are both dead and now this. I can’t imaging how fucked up he is right now.

The dark force that has been lurking in this domain since the day Justin left, is now circling us, taunting him. I know its plan. To break him down, and break me down at any cost. I feel the entity around us growing stronger with anger. The wind picks up around us. I can hear Justin’s name being whispered through the winds.

Other than holding him in my arms I am unable to help my lover. My soul is thrown back through the massive darkness where my spirit shivers in pain and dread; where I was lurking before Justin returned. I was living in a continuous nightmare with no beginning and no end.

Suddenly I see a gleam of light pierce the darkness and my soul leaps in hope. Then I am confused when I see Daphne; her spirit illuminating everything around us. She seems to have an instant calming effect on Justin. I sigh with relief as she wraps her arms tenderly around him. "It’s okay. I’m here now, Justin, there’s no reason to be afraid. We will get through this like we do everything else."

I hear him cry out in pain. "I don’t understand. Why is this happening? I don’t understand."

She looks at me with pleading eyes, but I have no idea how to comfort him, or how to make him remember or even understand. She looks back down at Justin and smoothes his hair back. "I know you don’t but soon you will, you will."

I kiss Justin on the cheek and stand up against the dark force circling around us. "What do you want?” I yell.

I hear a voice laugh back in mockery. "You know what I want!" Thunder begins to crash around me as the winds pick up. I pull together all of my nerve and despite my fear, summon up as much anger as I can.

The winds die down as I walk toward the entity and I can now recognize the laughter as that of my own father. I choke back my emotions as all the memories of pain and heartache pour through my soul.

The black mass turns into gray clouds as sparks of lightning glisten and thunder booms in our midst. My father walks out of the gray haze and stands before me. He curls up one side of his mouth and there is a wicked glimmer in his eyes. "Hi, Sonny Boy."

I clear my throat and stand my ground. There is something extremely disquieting about my father’s presence here. It doesn’t seem right, and I know there is some new and ominous power here. Something that is darker than any of us could possibly imagine. "Get the fuck out of here," I say to this entity that is, or at the very least, is pretending to be my father.

He laughs maliciously. "You telling me what to do boy?"

“I said get the fuck out of here. NOW!” I feel my anger boiling over and suddenly Justin is standing at my side.

The image of Jack suddenly shifts again.

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Justin’s POV

Daphne’s warm embrace is comforting to me. I look into her deep brown eyes and see something there I have never seen before,. I am unable to pin point the emotion and I reach my hand up to her face. “Daphne, are you ok?”

She nods her head yes and chokes back a tear as she tenderly caresses my cheek. She kisses my forehead and I feel a jolt of adrenalin course through me. I am confused when I stand up and walk to Brian.

None of this makes sense. I feel like I don’t even make sense anymore. I look at the man protruding from the clouds and it doesn’t seem real. It can’t be real. Things like this just don’t happen. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I am jolted back when I hear an ominous growling sound. I take hold of Brian’s hand and for some odd reason I feel completely connected to him, as though I’m holding on to a lifeline.

The entity laughs maliciously. “I will not leave until I have the boy. “ It looks at me and I feel my blood run cold and a spear of pain stabs through my heart. There is something awfully familiar about the entity itself. It’s difficult to puzzle it out with the loud growling and the winds starting to pick up around us again,

I feel Brian’s hand tighten around mine. “You can’t have the boy. You have Lindsay and you have me. That is more than enough lost souls to quench your thirst. As long as I am here you will not have Justin.”

Then it all floods to me. The boy is me? What the fuck? Why the fuck does it want me? I’m not a boy, I’m a man. A young man, but a man none the less. For some reason this really pisses me off and I yell it out loud in anger. “I’m not a boy you fucking coward! I am a man!” I dare a glance at Brian and he raises a surprised brow at me.

The being laughs spitefully and the sound breaches my ears in a loud shriek. My head begins to spin while white fog spills into the room. Five black wolves emerge from it. Their eyes glow a beady red and blood drips from the tongues. They look at us with pure hunger in their eyes. They begin to advance on us and I am absolutely terrified as I cling to Brian.

The wolves stop a few feet short of us as if sizing us up. Brian and I both back up slowly until we run into Daphne and all three of us are pressed against the wall. “Daphne, what the fuck do we do?” Brian asks in a whisper.

She shrugs desperately. “I’ve never seen anything like this, Brian. I don’t know.”

Brian and Daphne subtly move in front of me. “Stay behind us, Sunshine. It’s you they want.”

“Why, Brian? Why do they want…?”

“Look out!” yell Brian and Daphne as the wolves charge at us.

Suddenly the room is engulfed in a bright white light and the wolves begin to make a high pitched keening noise as if in pain. They all dissolve back into the entity, which disappears from the room.

The white light fades away. “Is everyone all right?” Brian asks us.

“Yeah,” Daphne and I reply.

“What was that light?” I ask Brian. “How did it chase them away?”

“If I had to venture a guess, I’d say it was probably something Deb cooked up,” Brian answers as Daphne nods in agreement.

I swallow audibly and move closer to Brian. “Then what was that other thing?” I ask shakily.

Brian pulls me to him and leans his forehead down to rest against mine. “That was the person that killed me and Lindsay,” he states softly.

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Debbie’s POV

Justin’s desperate whisper of Daphne’s name echoes through the walls. My heart clenches as I hear the panic in his voice. I watch in horror as Daphne’s spirit is literally dragged through the walls. I stand up quickly and call to Gus.

He walks over to me. “Grandma, is everything okay?”

I shake my head no. “Come on, let’s go to the kitchen. Grandma has something to do.”

He looks at me with his huge hazel eyes. “I’m scared, Grandma.”

I can hear the screeching penetrating through the walls and Gus’ chin begins to quiver. I stoop down to talk at his level placing my hand on his cheek. “You’ll be safe with Grandma. We’re not safe here, okay? “ He nods his head and then takes hold of my hand.

All the fucking lights are out again so we make our way by candlelight. I am frightened for everyone’s well being. I have Gus hop up on one of the stools at the kitchen island. I pour him a glass of milk and grab him some cookies. He smiles at me and begins to eat.

Quickly I grab all the supplies I will need. I fill five pots with water and set them on the counter. Grabbing five apples I wash them quickly and cut each one, dropping them into the pans, seeds and all.

I take a deep breath focusing my mind and soul on the protection spell I am working on. I invoke Goddess Durga and envision a white light circulating around Daphne and our boys. I add two tablespoons of basil leaves, cinnamon, nutmeg and drop five whole allspice into each pan. I turn on the large industrial stove top and set the pans on the burners to let them simmer.

Gus looks over at me. “It’s going to be okay now, right grandma?”

I smile at him weakly and walk over to pat him on the cheek. “I hope so honey. I hope so.”

I smile to myself when I hear and feel the monster upstairs shriek in pain. I center myself again. There’s someone I need to talk to.

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Brian's POV

"Come on, lets go," I say to Daphne and Justin as I move to herd them out the door.

"Where are we going?" asks Justin. I can tell he really doesn't want to go anywhere with anyone right at the moment.

Daphne senses it as well. She looks at me sadly then takes hold of his hands and looks him directly in the eyes. She speaks to him calmly. "Justin, I need you to go with Brian. You should be safe with him."

" I…I don’t feel very safe right now, Daphne."

Justin’s words cause my soul to ache. I feel completely helpless seeing the desperation surface in his eyes. Daphne caresses his cheek . "Justin, you’ll be safe with Brian. I left something in the other room and I need to go get it." She glances over to me and I see the anxiety in her eyes. "Brian, please take care of him."

I nod my head at her and clear my throat. "Yeah. You know I always will." I wrap my arm around Justin. I know he is not completely comfortable around me yet, but he’s starting to come around. I lead Justin out into the hall making sure he is unable to see back into the room. I know he’s not ready to see Daphne walking through walls yet. That will bring up too many questions too soon.

Daphne smiles at me. "Thank you for looking after him, Brian." I see a tear trickle down her cheek. “He’s not used to all this. It‘s just been him and me for so long now that…" she shrugs her shoulders. “I guess we’re just used to taking care of each other."

I smile at her encouragingly. "You’re welcome. I should be thanking you for taking such good care of him. You know I only want what’s best for all of us."

She swallows hard. "Yeah, I know."

"We’ll meet you in the kitchen. I’m pretty sure Deb is there and she can help us explain things to Justin." She nods her head in agreement and I watch as she leaves the room exactly how she entered.

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Daphne’s POV.

I close my eyes and return back to Debbie’s room in the same manner I left. Opening my eyes I gasp out a breath and stand weakly from the chair I had been previously sitting in.

I feel completely disoriented and weak. I rub my hands over my face and walk over to where Gus had been coloring.

I gasp in horror as I pick up the paper and notice three gaping holes that looked like claw marks. My eyes begin to burn when I take in the details of the dark drawing of black wolves with red eyes. I look closer and see that behind them are ghost-like white wolves with blue piercing eyes. The slashes cross over the paper and I look down to the floor where sweet Gus was only moments before. I stare at the uprooted carpet with claw marks embedded into the wood and hope that he and Deb are okay.

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Michael's POV

Ma’s not in her room, but as we leave and shut the door we're all startled to hear a loud scratching sound echo through the walls. When the high pitching screeching starts we all look at each other with wide eyes and walk away really fast.

It’s not as if we’re not used to weird noises here, but this is a little bit different from before. This hotel is haunted, but it was always fairly benign stuff. It used to be a hospital so there was always the odd suffering soul still lurking in the hallways. Brian would call me back in Pittsburgh and tell me all about it. He always thought it was funny and great for business. Ma was almost going out of her mind wanting to come and visit.

Then ‘it’ happened. Justin and Daphne came to stay one summer and because of him and his relationship with Brian, my best friend is now amongst the other spirits here. Since that time there’s been something considerably darker here. Ma felt it as soon as we moved in. Ben and Emmett feel it too. Since Justin’s been back it’s almost been oppressive. I’m truly scared of this place for the first time ever. Hopefully my mother hasn’t been added to the list of spirits.

We finally make it down to the kitchen and Ben pushes the door open. “Deb, are you in here?” he calls out.

“Right here!” We all sigh in relief to hear her booming voice.

The three of us make our way back by the stove and see Ma and Gus perched on stools. “Hey, Gus,“ says Emmett.

“Hey, Auntie Em. Hi Uncle Ben and Uncle Mikey,” replies the little boy. I have to smile at the way he calls me the name his dad always used.

Another figure steps out of the shadows and I gasp in surprise. “Uncle Vic?”

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