Was End House really gone for good? Linda wasn't so sure.
Their cars raced to End House, taking with them Abe and his family of warriors. At the house, they watched as sections of
the beautiful house were ripped off by the vicious winds and flung into the
ocean below. The trapped vampires were clawing through the remaining walls of
the raging house.
“We must help them escape,
and once they’re freed we’ll be able to destroy them,” Abe said, staring up at the house with his family members standing around him. Their tall figures stood
steady in the heavy gusts of the increasing storm, their long coats billowing
in the wind. In each hand, they held a long sword. Linda noticed more
ammunition beneath their coats. They stood ready for battle. At least they are on our side.
Once again, Father John
gathered everyone in a semicircle. While the Father and Abe chanted, everyone grasped
each others’ hands. The house slowly rose up from its foundation—with its
imprisoned vampires still trapped inside—and then ever so slowly toppled over
into the water below. As soon as it hit the water, the house disintegrated into
nothingness.
From deep within the
raging waters rose the dark shadows of the freed vampires—who appeared more
than ready to return to town to continue with their reign of terror. However, once
the chanting resumed, the shadows were stopped in their tracks and then
violently ripped apart in mid-air, their cries echoing eerily as their dark
light was extinguished forever. Their remains were burnt up in a cloud of
smoke, with their ashes scattering across the foaming waves of the ocean.
Almost immediately, the ground began to fill in the deep hole left behind by the destroyed house, covering it with grass
and trees. Even the metal fence rearranged itself, leaving behind a narrower
precipice. The next house built on that spot wouldn’t need to be so close to the
edge, but it could be located further back in the forest. However, she didn’t
believe that another house would ever be built on that spot.
As the ground closed up, Linda noticed that the left section of the house remained standing for a few moments before
it also dissolved into the ground. She didn’t know if she had imagined it or if
that section had survived in a transparent form before it had gone underground.
She thought back and tried to remember if she had ever entered that side of the
house. She realized that the answer was no; she didn’t even know what had been
there.
She turned to Todd and
asked, “Did you happen to see anything unusual with the left side of the
house?”
Todd look confused. “No.
What did you see?”
“The left side lingered
for a while in a shadowy form, before melting into the ground. What was on that
side?”
“Nothing much—the first
floor had an empty ballroom, and the upstairs had two empty bedrooms. And…oh. There was a locked door leading down to the tunnels beneath the house.”
“What was in those
tunnels? And where did they lead?”
“I haven’t heard anything
recently about the tunnels. I don’t think anyone has gone down there for quite some
years. There have been many rumors about the tunnels being dungeons where people were trapped and tortured. I
do remember hearing that the door wouldn’t open for anyone.”
“Well, the left side of
the house is now also underground in these tunnels. The dungeons could hold any
number of evils. Maybe Tom and Edward—and possibly others, who’ve disappeared
from town—could be down in those dungeons. Remember, we visited the tunnels
when the stairs extended themselves below End House. It was terrifying down there
with all those ghoulish creatures grabbing at us.”
“Let’s not worry about
this now. Maybe nothing will come of it—and if it does, we can deal with it in
the future. I don’t want to frighten the others more than they have been
already.”
Linda nodded her head in
agreement. Great, more secrets to add to our ever-growing
list. She wasn’t going to sweep
this secret under the rug. If Tom and Edward were trapped down there, then she
was going to find a way to free them. She wasn’t going to allow demons to
control her town and her friends any longer.
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