The Ancestral Home

Damn did the view from up here at the top, of the town and the forest, take your breath away. So beautiful. So spectacular. The reds and browns covered most of the forest, except where it gave way to the deep green of the spruce, pines, walnut, and maple trees, the leaves a magnificent display of orange, crimson, and vermillion. From above, it was a gorgeous, breathtaking sea of gold, a sea that stretched all the way over the low-hanging hills, surrounding this place like a barrier or a prison. The rolling hills made the hills visible through a layer of mist that descended down and drowned everything else in gray. A gray cloud as a foreboding message for the future.

My fingers softly gripped the smooth railing as the wind swayed gently in my direction, blowing my shirt backward and cool air brushed against my neck. I sighed. It was truly beautiful up here, a peace and serenity I hadn't expected. I could understand why royalty enjoyed having towers like this up high in their castles, the birds the closest neighbors. I could even look as far as out to where the crypt was, a small roof emanating from the forest on an opposite hilltop. But the foreboding sensation I had about the crypt was quelled slightly from the amazing panorama, if but for a fleeting moment.

I reached for my camera and angled my arms the correct way to capture as much of the panorama as I could. Several clicks in all directions, and soon my camera memory was full of landscapes. However, soon my gaze was once again drawn to the crypt, like I had been drawn to the statue last night. Even at this distance could I feel as if someone was staring back at me. Right into my eyes, even though there had to be two miles between me and that damn crypt. I couldn't escape it, and as I continued to look, silence once again crept up on me. The wind blew quietly in my face, but there were no birds, no leaves, no whispers in the wind.

I put the camera down and took a deep, strenuous inhale. Fuck! What was up with this place and that crypt?!

The red sun began setting behind the forest and an invisible weight of the world was placed back down on my shoulder as I slowly walked down the stairs. With each slit I passed it only grew darker and darker around me. By the time I had reached the bottom of the steps, night had fallen upon the castle. I had lost track of the hours and now it would be the first time since I came here that I had to cover such a great distance during the night; the bedroom I stayed in was all the way down three floors and down a corridor.

While normally I would not mind, as most of my workdays ended and started either when the light was bright, the castle felt way more alive now that it was nighttime. It didn't really feel safe walking through its mazes alone, or at all actually.

Every hallway and shadow took a completely different and more sinister meaning in the darkness, even a couple of small lanterns I'd set up beforehand were now distant lights far and few between. But what took me off guard, though, was the new presence that inhabited the halls and corridors.

It was an unexplainable sense of living and breathing. Not in the way you could hear a distant voice talking or steps creaking.

But in a way, you felt something move with you in the darkness. You could not explain or hear, but a heavy and cold sensation, a presence, one with its own voice and will. Something that shared its thoughts and willed you to act.

In a way, it felt alive. In control. It felt like the darkness itself had a life and a consciousness of its own, but nothing more than that. I got the feeling you get when someone you don't want to run into stands behind you and calls your name, except there was no one behind me, no one calling for me. It just got bigger and denser, filling my senses completely as I walked through the halls and dark corridors. I felt it all the way through me, all the way up through my chest and through the crown of my head, and down through my feet.

Then it disappeared. It had crept up on me, and festered in my very soul, but now it was gone. Just like that. I hadn't even fully realized I had reached the top of the stairs, looking down at the first floor where my bed chambers were. I slowly descended the stairs, carefully not making a single sound, as crazy as that was. Something was different, the energy that permeated everything felt muted or maybe, hidden, or shielded.

I turned the corner and looked down the hallway and for the first time since I had come here, I saw something else than me truly move. An orange dim light shone from one of the rooms near that fucking cellar door. And I did what everyone screams for you not to do, I slowly started to make my way down the hallway towards the light. I hugged the wall closest to the door as if I didn't want to be seen, yet I moved closer despite my better instincts and how the goosebumps in my body were racing to get all out.

As I peered out from behind the door opening. The fire in the stove in the fireplace was going strong and healthy. An old, worn-down armchair was pushed back against the opposite wall of the hearth, and as I took a few steps inside the room and moved closer I could make out more and more. It looked as if someone had been reading there, an open book lying in the cushions and there were some dishes lying on the floor by the chair, but... No people.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing was in the room. The whole room was lit and no one was present.

A voice. It was calling out for me. "Steven...?"

Something touched my back, a breeze that smelled of roses and musk. My heart hammered away as a grip, no not a grip, something, someone grabbed my hips, both hands grabbing them tightly, swirled me around, and yanked me into the room, slamming me forward and sending me face-first into the worn cushions of the couch. A cloud of dust rose up from the impact, filling my nose and throat. Before I even managed to react, two knees planted themselves beside my own, driving the springs down into the cushions with a muffled shriek of rusty metal.

"Hhmmh!?" My surprised yell was muffled as my mouth was half-buried in the cushion, but I quickly pushed up, but then hands grabbed me.

Two soft, silky hands firmly and confidently digging into my wrists. With ease, they pulled me backward into a seated position, and a woman's giggle crept into my ears from behind me and made my body freeze as I felt my assailant's embracing body pressed into me from behind, a delicate breath tickling my exposed neck.

Her delicate, yet firm hands snaked around my waist and thighs and moved sensually over the front of my chest as she sat perched against me, hugging me like some possessive animal. She sat nestled right behind me, like two puzzle pieces coming together. And even without seeing her, I was under her spell and could not speak, as a subtle wave of nauseating power radiated from her, I could smell the intoxicating perfume in the air. The same sweet and rosy scent from yesterday when looking upon the beautiful statue on the terrace. But stronger than the scent, was the feel of her body pressing into me. The seductive and possessive embrace I found myself in sent shivers through my body, yet fear ran rampant in my mind as she teased me, toying with me.

I heard how she chuckled as she suddenly flung herself off me. I looked up, but the light went out. The fireplace and whatever candles that had been lit were no longer aflame. Darkness spread and enveloped the entire room, all the furniture in the room disappeared. She stood on the opposite end, partially hidden in the shadows, and simply giggled, the silhouette of the feminine goddess seeming so incredibly relaxed. Then her giggle faded into a distant echo and I knew she had left the room.

*

I suddenly jerked up from the sofa and it was not dark anymore. The morning sun gleamed in from the open balcony doors and the room had taken a completely different view, or at least that is what I told myself. My hands were still pressed to the cushions and for a few seconds I just sat still, but once my mind was up and going the events flooded back and the shock soon changed into a blush of embarrassment, from my apparent daydream and how I could react that strongly to an illusion or something like that.

I wiped my face. A single teardrop had formed. What was going on with me? Had it all been a dream? Had I walked into this room, fallen asleep on the couch, and dreamed about a dangerous beauty pinning me down to it and doing wicked things to me?

But no, there was no way, right? The details had felt far too realistic. Her seductive gaze had felt too... real. I quickly stood and took stock of the room. It was one of the rooms facing towards the forest, with balcony doors leading out to the terrace where the statue was... I mean that could at least be why I dreamt of her. I'd probably looked out and seen her, drawn her into my subconsciousness, and thusly fallen asleep.

There was the faint taste of copper in the air too. I lifted my hand up and licked it. Iron. Not sure why my hand tasted of blood, but I brushed the thought aside. The taste would be something the dream might conjure to make it believable, I suppose. After all, dreams are not a separate reality. They have their own rules. Even when you are aware that you are dreaming, the dream has the rules. So it's fine, no harm no foul. No damage done. Except for my mind. I think it was clear that the lack of normal food was starting to screw around with my head and the loneliness of this damned castle was starting to creep in as well.

I had so far worked fast and diligently, but for some reason, the thought of leaving this place became less tantalizing. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was like the castle that had been so inhospitable was now calling for me to stay a bit more. In the end, was I really in such a hurry to go back to my ordinary life back in Indiana? Or go out and start working with something new in Italy? Was a life in Italy more rewarding than a haunted castle somewhere in a lonely mountainside? Am I going nuts up here in the Transylvanian hillsides?

Well, whatever the case was I had work to do if nothing else. With all the measuring and mapping I'd done, I now had a fairly solid map of the property to bring with me back home. I've already made plenty of observations and taken plenty of pictures for an advert, but even so, I had two days and nights still.

I had a light breakfast with a little bread, cheese, and pickled eggs back in my bedchamber. Then it was time to get back at work, back out in the yard. I'm not sure if you could call it a yard as there was no real garden. No grass, nothing, but I would at the very least see a nice path that followed along the forest edge. I had already mapped all of the exteriors as much as necessary, now I was more trying to look for the possibilities one might have with the immediate grounds surrounding the castle. Perhaps one could have a hedge maze here or something to add color and life. Maybe even have a small apple orchard or some herbs to the side, although I guess the sun was at the wrong angle for that. Not that I'm a professional gardener, but being a successful realtor I knew what to look for to some extent.

I noticed some peonies on the other side, beneath the terrace where the statue was. Knowing that they grew where the sun was most favorable. Unfortunately, they didn't bloom until spring, but I jotted it down regardless. But there were other types of flowers to be seen in bloom right now.

Along the terrace and other areas, there were loads and loads of red, orange, and yellow tulips everywhere. I remember I had seen an empty patch the other day, in one of the corners facing the woods. If nothing else, the soil seemed fertile enough for garden flowers and whatnot. Perhaps having a wild rose garden here on the terrace wouldn't look so bad either. And this path leading out into the forest could look really nice with some extra work. My immediate thoughts went to white limestone gravel, but I guess chipped marble would stick more to the older works on the grounds. Way more expensive though.

As I thought the gravel crunched beneath the soles of my shoes as I stepped. There was a wind blowing against me. Nothing like last night's gales though, thankfully, just the nice warm and sunny fall wind seducing me to the forest's allure. Even I could get used to a place like this, out here in the woods of a mountainous forest like this. It felt like the air and everything else was way better somehow, way more wholesome. That first day it felt brisk and cold, uninviting, shadows lurking and giving me the spooks, but now that I'm used to the grounds it was less menacing.

But I had that sneaky suspicion that when it all became dark again and the shadows spread as they did, it all changed and reverted to the paranoid self. I wish I knew a little more about Transylvania. I hadn't read Bram Stocker. I watched Sir Christopher Lee's version of Dracula. Never watched the others, especially not the one with Anthony Hopkins. How I loathed that one-dimensional fool.

Once again I had sort of blinked out. I mean, more like I was walking without thinking. But it had now landed me right in front of the crypts, as I stared up at the huge mausoleum. The only reason I suspected it to be a crypt was its elevated position on a hill, and below that hill was what looked like a graveyard. And besides, what else would a mausoleum be on top of?

It was impressive for sure. So intimidatingly beautiful that you'd feel uneasy or unworthy of taking in the magnificence of the complex building. The stone building stood 50 yards in every direction, built with four domineering columns lining the walkway leading inside, a path illuminated by the sun that rose high above it all. Despite the seemingly random way each individual marble tile sat atop its neighbor, everything felt perfectly uniform. All the arches, cornices, and decorative trim lined with golden highlights on the gray marble, and a huge carving depicting a man and a winged woman or angel hanging out behind the pillars.

While I turned around and looked back at the castle. It was as if each structure sat on each hilltop and stared at each other.

I leaned back, crossed my arms, and stood for a few minutes just eyeing the two buildings. One of the mysteries of the place. I started to wonder if all these mysteries would let the place ever be sold, and I doubted I had been the first one to try. Maybe no one knew the contents or story of the estate. I could understand that much. It seemed quite old. An old forgotten memory, some relic of another time, like the ruins you'd see on an episode of National Geographic or something. Or maybe I was too critical of the matter, as some might consider it an interesting riddle for an unknown puzzle.

Eventually, as the sun was setting at the end of yet another day, I started to move back towards the castle. I didn't much look forward to a restless night of terrors, especially when it could be so nice in the daytime. Especially after last night. I swore I had been manhandled by something, but then again it felt almost like a dream, didn't it? But the warm hands on my body didn't really feel like a dream, not how I remembered.

I dreaded the night as I stepped into the castle, the sun finally reaching past the hills and disappearing out of view. Maybe it was insane to step back in with the things I had experienced, but at the same time, I couldn't exactly sleep outdoors either, even if today was reported to have a full moon.

*

I woke up in the middle of the night, jolting up like someone had touched me. A gasp escaped me and a sweat was flowing from me like rainwater in a storm. It was completely dark except for the full moonlight shining in through one of the windows.

This time I knew for certain that this wasn't a dream. This was a living nightmare. Something had been there with me, while I was unconscious. My shirt was torn. Ripped clean off me. Just discarded pieces of clothing around and on the bed. The bedsheets had been tossed and kicked across the floor, and to make matters worse there was someone sitting at the side of the canopy bed looking down at me. I was about to scream, but the silhouette took a finger to dark, red lips and hushed me. Terrified I obeyed, my mind and heart still racing.

The woman, as far as I could tell it was indeed a woman, didn't seem hostile towards me. She simply watched me, an amused smile stretching her full red lips. Even seated and smiling warmly at me she seemed tall and slender. Just like that statue. Smelling of roses and sweetness, also just like the statue. Voluptuous and dangerously beautiful, like the statue. And as I trailed up to finally gaze upon her face, it was her face, but not the statue.

Long, auburn hair tumbled in wavy strands across the slender shoulders of eyes and cheekbones that were filled with lust and an unhealthy desire. Lush and red, pouting lips in a grin, sending shudders through me as that delicate visage of a goddess parted, showing canine teeth that seemed longer and whiter than anything human should be. A pair of gleeful amber-brown orbs stared down at me.

I couldn't help but stare back, even as fear still welled up inside me. I was paralyzed and I was in awe.

Her bright, and narrow pupils focused intensely upon me. It wasn't till my jaw fell loose that her smile widened further and a blush rose to her pale face. As the redness spread across her soft, young-looking cheeks the sensuous haze lifted from her eyes.

She moved across the mattress in a slow, swaying motion, not unlike an apex predator closing in on its prey, keeping her eyes fixated. Every shift of her body reflected in her beautiful features. Her dark silk robe hung loosely from her body, offering me a magnificent view of her deep cleavage and every curve of the hidden and oh-so-seductive figure beneath it. I shivered as the heat between my thighs burned strong, and an uncomfortable sense of shame took hold of me. Why was I letting myself get swept up like this, just as before, when I knew how terrified I had been?

She continued, swinging her long and shapely legs across my lap until she had situated herself firmly. "Like what you see?" she asked in a low, husky voice.

I found my mouth going dry in an instant. Words wouldn't come. I did, she was stunning. What was I thinking?!

But with her hands resting on my thighs she slid closer and her moist lips almost touched mine. "Cat got your tongue? Or have I?"

Her words felt like honey against my lips and sent a shiver of pleasure through my entire body. Her fingertips danced across my body, as she leaned, over and moved down. They made slow circles around my nipples and down my chest, brushing her nose lightly against the skin of my neck. Each time she exhaled it was a sweet sigh and I gasped quietly as a sensation rippled through my nerves, following the trail she drew across my chest. Her long fingernails, which had appeared sharp a minute ago, were nothing but silky soft against my flesh. She hummed contentedly, and with a content smile across her lips and a knowing glint in her eyes, the seductress seemed amused by how easy it was to bring me to a state of complete and utter complacency.

I raised my eyes to hers. The heat radiating off her body was suddenly impossible to ignore, and her pupils seemed almost dilated. I could barely keep my breathing under control. Her breasts swayed ever so slightly every time she shifted, a piece of stray red hair danced around the sharp outlines of her jaw as she tilted her head ever so slightly and sunk her head towards me.

All I could do was lie still and wait for what came next. The heavy scent of her rosy perfume swirled around us. A shiver ran through me. She must have smelled it. Her nose dipped to the crook of my neck, a smile spreading over her red lips, then her eyes flashed open and an unfamiliar grin twisted her features as she slowly looked up at me. In a flash, her gaze had become predatory and threatening. Her hand wrapped around my throat and pushed me into the bed frame as her mouth opened just the slightest bit, letting me glimpse her dangerous sharp canines.