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“Hey, Darklings,” Brea said, “As you can see, we’re having a cozy snowed-in night. There’s enough snow here that everybody’s just stuck where they are in town, so we thought we’d take advantage of it before our hunt tonight to do a little Q&A. We’ve got the phone in front of us, so as you type in questions, we’ll answer what we can. I know as usual that we won’t be able to get to them all, but we appreciate everyone for throwing anything you’ve got at us.”
“The first question is, what’s with the onesies?” Ben asked, nudging me with his elbow.
“That was all me,” I said, taking credit for where it was due. “I thought it would liven up our evening, plus they’re extra warm.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Ben said, laughing a little to himself, “This is the first time I haven’t been shivering in this drafty castle.”
“Have you had any experiences off-camera?” Ryker asked the group, picking the next question.
“Aside from me nearly being shoved over a balcony by something,” Lincoln said in a dry tone before picking something a little less serious. “I think Brea has had the most, but that’s not unusual.”
“They want to know more about what Brea has seen,” I said.
She tapped her chin for a moment before answering. “After we did our investigation here in the library last time, Lincoln and I saw what looked like bloody footprints. We followed them into this long servants’ hall that runs between all the rooms down here. It was definitely unsettling.”
“We’ll post the pictures, though they’re hard to see,” Lincoln admitted. “It was a lot more intense in person.”
Ryker checked for the next question. Usually these lives were fast paced so we could get to as many questions as possible.
“What’s it like living in a castle, even if it’s temporary?” he asked.
“Amazing,” I said. “We’re getting spoiled here. The Bellmores already have a chef, a caretaker, and some maids on staff, so we haven’t had to worry about cooking for ourselves or anything like that. It’s been a true vacation on top of an investigation. There won’t be another one like this.”
“Are you going to be sad leaving?” Ben asked, laughing a little to himself. “Oh yeah, we are. Chef Logan’s cooking is impressive.”
“What have you guys found on the history of Bellmore Castle?” Ben asked, reading the next question.
“This one’s all you, Ben,” I said.
He shook his head, but once he started talking, he was using his hands and giving them a full rundown. The man lived for history. He covered everything from the family line, to the building of the castle, to its various occupants. A lot of it was stuff that they could have looked up themselves, but I swear the way Ben spoke made it feel like you were getting a personal lesson from a historian.
“And then it all comes down to the last death, which was Patrick Bellmore. His daughter is now the only surviving heir of Bellmore Castle, and ever since his death, the activity here has tripled, according to our sources.”
“Do you think Patrick Bellmore is haunting the castle?” Ryker asked for the viewers.
“I do,” Brea said, nodding her head, “Something here feels really possessive, as if they have a claim on this place. I don’t know who else other than him would have that sort of claim, especially if it’s out of the ordinary.”
“Aside from Lincoln’s encounter with near-death, do you feel safe while you’re investigating there?” Ben asked, reading the next question.
“For the most part, we do,” I offered. “There are moments where things feel heavy in the air, unsettled, but overall, we’re safe in our wing. We have some witchy stuff we’ve worked with before. As you know, you can tune into Astrid anytime you want to see a little bit about the crystals and herbs that we use.”
Brea nodded. “We always protect ourselves and carry it with us as well. We don’t take unnecessary chances.”
Lincoln held up his wrist to show off his bracelet, Brea a necklace, and Ben unzipped his hoodie enough to show off his belt clip with charms. I couldn’t exactly pull out the rocks that I kept in my pocket, so I just held up my bracelet as well.
We showed them off before I finished.
“No one is truly fully safe if an entity has strong enough energy. Not everything we encounter is wholesome. In fact, most of the things we encounter during our investigations are the opposite. The best we can do is to be vigilant and watch each other’s backs, which is why we never investigate alone, and you shouldn’t, either.”
“Well said,” Lincoln agreed, nodding in approval. “And the night that I was almost pushed over the balcony, I noticed that I forgot to put my bracelet back on after my shower that day.”
“I have a feeling Astrid’s shop is going to blow up tonight,” Brea chuckled, “But I swear by her stuff,” she tacked on.
“Oh interesting, there’s a local investigator who said he’s been dying to get a peek at the castle. He’s heard some good stories,” Ben said.
“Send us a message,” Brea said. “We have a contact thing on the website for investigators. Use that, and we’ll look into it. I’m not making any promises, but maybe if the snowstorm blows over, there will be a night we can investigate together.”
She looked at us for approval, and we all nodded. We were never afraid to work with other investigators or to give our advice. That’s why we put the contact form specifically for them on our site.
