“What do you mean?” asked Marc.
“A priest visited him, a priest from the Tsardom of Russia. He said he was experienced in such matters and knew that the chieftain was ill. He said the only way to cure him would be to empty his body of his tainted blood and refill it with fresh blood. But it had to be special blood. There were circumstances that needed to be met.”
“What kind of circumstances?” asked Wes.
“The victim had to be of a certain age, be of a certain size and coloring. A child of his own would be best but he had none and wouldn’t live to produce one that would be alive in sixteen years.”
“What was this priest like?” asked Rory.
“As evil as the chieftain himself. While he visited, more than twenty village girls were brought to him for his pleasure. None lived to return home.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“We desperately need a body to examine,” said Marc. “I know his bones are in that tower but if we could just get something to send to the labs we might be able to figure out what this man had that he was trying to cure.” Luke, Hex, and Eric nodded at him.
“Is there any possibility of getting up there and stealing it? I mean, I know he’s strong enough to push someone or hit someone but if you’re all up there he can’t possibly fight off all of you.”
“I don’t know, Luke,” said Fitz. “Whatever attacked me was damn strong and the fact that you can’t see it coming only makes it all the worse. The time period is wrong for the Russian priest to be Rasputin but maybe it was someone like him.”
“That’s a good thought,” nodded Eric. “Rasputin believed he could cure the prince’s hemophilia and he was known for unusual and often violent tactics. But it doesn’t mean that he was the first. We’ll ask the team to look into it and see if we can find someone in the right dates.”
“I almost hate to ask this,” said Dom, “but is there anything our own ghosts can tell us? Maybe Matthew and Irene especially?”
“We did ask,” said Luke. “All Grandpa said was that the spirit you’re dealing with is strong, evil, and very real.”
“We already knew that,” frowned Wes. “The knot on Fitz’s head tells us he’s real.”
“Conor? Sean? We appreciate all the help you’re giving the team but if this entity is as strong as Grandpa believes, you might be in danger,” said Luke.
“Wiest! You insult me, Luke. Yer friends and we’ll be with you until the very end. Besides, it was about time someone dealt with whatever is there. I know it’s hard for Americans to believe but we are worried that it is surrounded by all the wee creatures we’re told to avoid.”
“It’s not hard to believe,” said Hex. “You forget we have more than a dozen ghosts traipsing our property daily. We know it’s real. But I’ve never heard stories of the fae, selkies, or ghosts being evil for no reason. As we know it, none of the victims intentionally disturbed them.”
“That’s true,” frowned Joseph. “I haven’t read of one person stealing anything, disturbing the fairy mounds, or anything. If they’re in that location maybe they’re trying to protect, not harm. After all, Sherilyn McKamey survived. I know she was the right age, but she had leukemia. He obviously could have killed her and did not.”
“Were there other cases of survival?” asked Hex.
“That’s a good question,” frowned Joseph. “We’ve been so busy finding the dead, we didn’t focus on the living other than Sherilyn. We’ll start searching the records for that today.” Eric stared at the screen and nodded to them.
“If I were you, I’d start with the mental hospital Sherilyn was placed in. If there was one, there are more.”
The screen went black and the men all stared at one another. Julia and Rose entered the room staring at all the men.
“Have you found something else?” asked Liffey.
“Yes and it’s something we didn’t think to investigate before. We went back through the journals that were in the library and there are three stories of people who got away,” said Julia.
“That’s timely,” smirked Wes. “Eric just asked us to check into that.”
“We didn’t see it because we just thought they were lucky. But as we read further we don’t think it was luck at all. In the mid-1800’s a rich Englishman wanted to buy the property and turn it into his summer home.”
“Okay. An Englishman probably wasn’t welcomed at all,” said Rory.
“That’s just it. He didn’t tour the castle at all. He sent his right-hand man, an artist, to go in draw all the details. The man returned and said he wasn’t bothered at all. No one touched him. He didn’t have any strange experiences, and he drew all of the rooms that the Englishman was interested in.”
“So, he wasn’t touched. I don’t get it,” said Joseph.
“He was from India,” said Rose. “The two other cases were similar. One man was a Spaniard and one was Moroccan. Their skin was dark.”
