The Grey Girl, The Van Tassel Murders

Chloe was back on the settee. This time there were no tears. Picking up a length of fabric, she carefully wrapped the dried remains of her body, not looking at her own face. “There really wasn’t much left of me the first time.” She let out a mirthless laugh. “I mean, I was blown up after being hit by a truck and thrown down a well,” she muttered, shrugging her shoulders. “I guess, compared to that, this time was almost pleasant.” She spoke to the lifeless face and hollow eyes of her corpse before it disappeared into the wrappings. Henry opened a large steamer trunk as Chloe slowly approached. “This will be the closest thing to a coffin I will have seen.” She looked up at Henry. “Wait.” She pulled the bundle back. “I am not laying myself to rest. I don’t want to disappear. I want to live again.” She held tightly to the near weightless husk, panic rising with each word. She was silent for a moment before she spoke, the words barely above a whisper as they escaped her mouth. “Alex needs me.” She stared down into the trunk.

“This is nothing more than a trunk,” Henry stated calmly. “There is nothing special about it.” He held open the lid. “I also have no standing.” He took a moment. “You will not be laid to rest.” He reached into the trunk. Searching through the dusty contents, he finally pulled a skull from under some cloth. “If this could do that,” he sighed, “I would have disappeared long ago.”

Chloe nodded, slowly lowering her parcel. She kept staring even after Henry closed the lid. Finally, she looked up at him. “Well, I’m still here.” She backed slowly to the settee, her eyes never leaving the trunk. “Can they get to us?” she whispered.

“You will be safe here.” Henry was standing at the empty fireplace. “In all the long years I’ve been here, they have never been able to get in.” He laughed without humor. “It is the only thing I learned from them that didn’t turn out to be a lie.” Chloe was about to ask what he meant when they were interrupted.

Emily’s voice called from somewhere in the house. Seeming to come from every wall, as well as the floor and the ceiling, it echoed over itself. “Daddy, did you take my new friend away?”

Chloe and Henry ducked involuntarily at the rapid thudding of small feet sounded from upstairs.

“Mother says you took her.”

Chloe covered her ears, trying to block the horrid screech that overpowered even Emily’s magnified voice.

“Mommy is not happy.” Emily giggled as the din died down.

Chloe’s attention turned from the door to Henry. “How did I get here?” Her brow furrowed as her emotion built. “The last thing I remember before waking up on the floor was Emily”—Chloe shuddered, her face turning angry—“ripping me from my body.” She glared at the ceiling, stamping her foot as she shouted, “That little bitch. I know she is your daughter and all, but …”

“That thing is not my daughter,” Henry countered vehemently. “I doubt I had anything to do with her creation.”

“Wait. What?” Chloe’s attention was back on Henry in a second. They both backed away from the door. The sound of someone running down the stairs was like a thundering drum of approaching doom.

“Mother! Mother! I think Daddy is hiding,” Emily’s taunting voice called.

Henry and Chloe flinched as the air was pierced with a screech. They covered their ears, trying in vain to block the growing howl. At first it seemed to be coming from everywhere, filling Chloe with dread, but the longer the cry continued the more it felt like it was coming from behind the door.

Giggling now mixed with the howl. “Daddy, are you in there?”

The doorknob rattled terrifyingly. Chloe backed away.

“They can’t get in.” Chloe wasn’t sure if Henry’s words were a statement or a question. Silence followed his words.

Chloe watched the now-still knob. Her shoulders dropped as she began to relax. She leapt back. a small cry escaping her throat, when the door shuddered and rattled in its frame. A sound like a hundred hammers pelting the wood rang through the room.

“Help me,” Henry hissed in Chloe’s ear. She spun, seeing him fly to the trunk. They each grabbed an end. Henry pushed a green book at the end of the bookcase next to the fireplace. A loud thunk echoed from deep in the wall. He motioned for her to drop her end of the trunk on the hearth and then he was pushing the trunk deeper than seemed possible into the fireplace. The banging on the door grew louder by the second. The hinge pins began to rattle out of place. Green-gray fingers forced their way through a growing gap near the top of the door.

The trunk was hung up on something. Chloe rushed to assist Henry’s frantic pushing, both glancing over their shoulders, praying they weren’t spotted. Chloe yelped, falling forward as the trunk disappeared into the darkness. Henry pulled her from the stone hearth with a force that sent her flailing across the room. He pulled the green book and a snapping thunk resounded in the room like the crack of a whip from an angry coachman.

The howl that had been piercing them with terror turned to a screech of fear. Chloe yelled in surprise as Henry called out in panic. A black pit opened in the floor. Smoke and sulfur swirled out from the pit. Deep red flame shot to the ceiling. A clawed hand appeared at the edge of the abyss. Chloe found herself pushed to the wall behind Henry. The tips of black wings slowly emerged, followed by horns. The pointed face with a black goatee and sharp, pointed teeth grinned maliciously at them.

“Oh, it just you.” Chloe exhaled in relief, pushing past Henry.

Kerlvin frowned. “I am intimidating and terrifying.”

“Yeah, not really. More disgusting than terrifying,” she replied as the sounds beyond the wall stilled.

“Is that any way to treat an old friend?”

“Friend?” Chloe laughed. She noticed a silver medallion hanging from a fine chain that ran from spikes on the tips of Kerlvin’s wings. The wings draped over him like a cloak as a huge shadow began to grow behind the demon.

Henry gasped in horror, pointing. He pulled on Chloe’s sleeve while ducking behind the settee.

“Hello, Edgar,” Chloe said, trying to keep the disgust from her voice.

Edgar stepped from the flames. He looked around as if trying to identify who had addressed him. He was larger than she remembered. His barrel chest was covered in spikes and chains that had been thrust into his body. Painful-looking wounds still seeped blood around the rusting metal. She could see his eyes were covered in steel mesh, dried blood crusted around the edges. Small horns were beginning to show through his scalp.

“This is Edgar or, as I call him, Minion. I doubt he barely understands your language now,” Kerlvin explained, unconcerned.

“Master,” the Edgar hulk’s guttural voice hissed.

“So.” Chloe tried to ignore the behemoth. “How’s his brother?” she asked.

Kerlvin smiled his evil grin while Edgar made a deep sound that betrayed amusement. The sound of his laugh crept slowly and uncomfortably up Chloe’s spine.

“Master lets me hurt brother.” The huge ax Edgar had been shouldering when he emerged embedded itself in the floor. “Satisfying.” The laugh returned.

“Well, enough of this tearful reunion.” Kerlvin clapped his hands together. “There is someone I want you to meet.” He moved his wing.

Henry gasped again while Chloe attempted to turn the sound she made into something other than a laugh. Standing next to Kerlvin was what could only be described as a very angry ball with tiny arms and legs. If it noticed Chloe’s reaction, it did not seem to care. “I have waited a long time,” the angry ball hissed.” A debt has come due, and Lord Kerlvin believes we can assist each other.”

“Old family friend,” Kerlvin stage whispered. “Not the best at collecting his debts.”

“I am aware of my …”

“Oh God, please don’t say shortcomings.” Chloe fought to keep her laughter in. Henry desperately tried to hush her.

“I was going to say inabilities.” The creature turned to face Kerlvin. “Are you sure I need this wretched girl?”

“She is quite resourceful. Especially in her current condition.” Kerlvin advanced to wave a hand through Chloe’s chest.

“Hey!” she yelped, swatting at his hand while trying to cover herself.

Kerlvin gave her a look of contempt. “This is Simon. Simon, Chloe. Now that we are all friends, Minion and I have other business to attend to.” Edgar was already lumbering back to the flames. “I leave it to you to work through the details.” Kerlvin waved dismissively at the little demon and the ghosts. Edgar disappeared in a flash of fire, but Kerlvin paused at the edge of the abyss. “Try not to destroy each other.” He pretended to wipe a tear from his glassy black eyes. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to my two favorite …”—a vicious smile spread across his features—“… entities.” Another flash and burst of flame and he was gone, as was the pit.

Simon, which was in fact the name the rotund demon chose to use, waddled forward, a look of pure disgust on his face. “Let us discuss how we can get through this as quickly as possible,” he grunted. “I am not accustomed to dealing with”—he waved his hand around like he was trying to brush off a slow lazy fly—“spirits, the living, in-betweeners, or whatever you are.” He held his hand palm up, indicating Chloe. The gesture was flippant and annoyed Chloe tremendously.