The Demon of Mansfeld Manor Read online

  “Why would you swear not to call me?” I asked.

  There were a few seconds of silence. I didn’t know what to say. Without thinking I just said the only thing that I truly felt.

  “Katherine, I love you!”

  “Don’t say that!” she yelled. “Just don’t! You don’t know me!”

  “No, you stop!” I yelled back. “I love you, Katherine. I don’t care who you are or what you have done. That doesn’t matter. I just love you, and unless you can honestly say you don’t love me, just stop.”

  She said nothing. The only sounds were sniffles.

  “I will be there in a couple minutes, and we can talk. If you really want nothing to do with me, then I will leave, and you will never hear from me again. But I need to hear you say that. I need to see you look at me when you tell me that.”

  A moment later, the line went dead again. I threw the phone across the inside of the truck and slammed my fist into the passenger seat. I couldn’t drive. I pulled over on the side of the road and put my truck in park. I was furious with myself. I had no idea where my words even came from. It sounded like the perfect way to ensure I’d never see her again. I spent about ten minutes screaming at myself. I was trying to compose myself. After taking a few deep breaths, I pulled out onto the road again. At the very least, I had to stay the course at that point. I hadn’t lied to her. Granted, I certainly hadn’t expected to say what I did, but I couldn’t for a second pretend it wasn’t true. There. I’d set the table. Now, it was her move.

  She was sitting on a bench next to the front door of the house as I pulled up. She was curled up in a large hooded sweatshirt. The image of her reminded me of that last night in my apartment. My heart sank seeing her like that. I took a deep breath and walked out of the truck. I walked up to the house. When I got within a few feet of her, she looked at me. Her eyes were bloodshot. She wiped the tears from her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt and then looked back at me with this half smile. It was the kind of smile that says, ‘I am horribly depressed and kinda wanna kill myself, but seeing you still brings me some joy.’

  She stood up and wrapped her arms around me. Her body trembled. I felt her crying on my shoulder. We stood there for minutes until her body relaxed and the tears stopped. There was a large sniffle, and she let go of me wiping off her face again.

  “Well, if you want to tell me to fuck off, you are missing your opportunity,” I said.

  “Come in and talk to my mom. Then, you can decide to do what you want.” The tone of her voice was depressed.

  She led me into the house and up the stairs to her mother’s room. We walked in and her mom was sitting up looking far more alert and more spry than she had the last time I’d seen her.

  “James, thank you for coming,” she said.

  She welcomed me over to the side of her bed. Kat stood behind me and rested her hand on my shoulder.

  “You know why I asked you here?” she asked.

  “No ma’am, I don’t,” I replied.

  She nodded. “I see. Well, Katherine asked me a question, and I realized you needed to be here to hear the answer too. You remember the letter that was given to you with the will?”

  “Of course,” I replied.

  “That letter was kept safe in this family for you. It was never opened. There were implicit instructions from my great-grandfather to deliver it to you and only to you. That story you know, I’m sure.”

  I nodded my head in agreement.

  She leaned back and sighed. There was a bit of a mischievous grin on her face.

  “What you don’t know…” She paused and looked at Kat. “Well, what neither of you know, is that there were actually two letters passed down from him.”

  There was a slight pause.

  “Unlike the one you received, the second one had less specific instructions. The instructions on that one simply said to be opened when necessary. Katherine told me about your friend. She shared with me her concerns about who she was and how it may hurt you.”

  “Ma’am, please do not read into that,” I said. “I assure you his comment was not intended to cause any stress.”

  She raised her hand with her palm facing me, signaling for me to stop talking.

  “Let me tell you my story before you foolishly jump to any conclusions for yourself,” she said in a stern tone. “I would consider my life to have been normal. I was raised in a family surrounded by love. My grandmother would always share stories of that house. Like is the case with most families, we had stories that were like folklore within our house. She spoke very fondly of the lavish estate her father once worked at. They were just stories. Then, when my father passed, I was next in line to carry on this task of caring for the letters. I hadn’t put much thought into them. My grandmother was long gone, and her stories were just a simple memory. But I was curious. Then one day, curiosity got the best of me. It was just after I found out that I was carrying Katherine. Her father was at work, and I was bored. The maternal instinct in me wanted to pass down to Katherine our family’s story. I don’t remember why, but that day I felt I needed to see it for myself. So, I drove out to the estate.”

  She stopped to take a drink of water and then adjusted herself in the bed before continuing.

  “I stepped out of my car in front of the house, and the sky turned black. A cold wind blew, and rain began to poor. I never got any closer. Of course, I didn’t need to then. I knew I was not welcome there. It was as if the house itself had pushed me away. I was scared and drove straight home. Now, I suppose most of this probably sounds as if I am just some old lady telling ghost stories. But you… well… both of you I think, can relate to this a bit more than most.”

  I nodded my head, and I could feel Kat’s grip on my shoulder tighten.

  “I drove straight home and locked myself in my bedroom. I had never felt a fear like I had that day. Katherine, your father came home, and I refused to open the door. I think he eventually assumed it was pregnancy hormones or something. But I stayed in that room for hours sobbing and hiding under my blanket like a child. It was then I decided to open that letter.”

  She looked at Kat and asked her to open the safe and bring her the letter. Kat silently let go of my shoulder and walked over to the closet. A minute later she came back and handed the letter to her mother.

  “Let me read this to you,” she said.

  To whom it may concern:

  I fear I cannot address this letter to anyone in particular as I do not know when or by whom it will be read. I only hope that it is being read by some descendant of mine in a time period in which this letter serves as nothing but historical information, which has no effect on their life.

  My name is Edgar Ludwig Stein. For many years, I was the butler and head of staff at the Villa Ortenberg estate. When my employer, Ida Mansfeld, left the estate for the last time, she left me several strict instructions to ensure that, in her passing, the estate would end up in the hands of the proper heir. In addition to that, she also requested that I take a child to raise as my own.

  Jeanine Ida Stein, my beloved daughter. She is not my daughter in blood. However, I formally adopted her and raised her as if she was my own. The fact of her bloodline is a matter in which Ida Mansfeld had sworn me to secrecy. It was her belief that the bloodline alone could define who she became. I have learned this to be untrue. I have loved and cared for Jeanine and watched her grow up to be loving, caring, and respectful in her own right. For that reason, I am writing this. To explain the circumstances in which I was entrusted to care for her and her own true heritage.

  During my tenure at the Villa, I had much interaction with both Ida and her former husband Samuel. Samuel was a despicable being. He seemed to live only for his own benefit. He only came to the Villa, in the later years, to drink and wreak havoc. It was on one of these nights when he sought the company of a female. Lucinda Mary Rosenberg was a maid at the Villa. She became his victim that evening, as he forced her to be his companion for the nigh
t.

  Being an unwed, soon-to-be mother whose only employ was that of an estate soon to be shuttered, she had no option but to give the child up. This was when, at the request of Ida, I adopted her child. She lived only knowing me as her father and the lie that her mother had passed in childbirth. The truth of the matter is that she was born of Muller blood.

  Please understand the reasons for which I kept this truth silent. Samuel was an evil man, and I sought to break that curse. Even though Muller blood runs through your veins, I believe the love and compassion in which you were raised overshadows that.

  Today, I shuttered the Villa for the foreseeable future. In that act, I left a token reaffirming my vow to the estate. Enclosed in this letter is the same token for you, my descendant. It is to be a reminder of the vow I made to you to protect you from the evil of that home and the Muller bloodline. I lived my life serving first the Villa and then Jeanine. In both rights, my purpose was to protect from the evil that lurks around every corner. Let this token serve as a reminder that I am always there protecting you.

  Love Always,

  Edgar.

  She folded up the letter and handed it to Kat.

  “Katherine, the token he spoke of is the penny I gave you. While I admit, I was far too logically minded to submit to the ideas of curses and ghosts, there was a power I felt at the Villa, unlike anything I have ever experienced. There is no doubt in my mind that it was nothing but pure evil. That night, when I held the penny in my hand, I felt peace. That is why I kept it with you throughout your life,” she said.

  “Mother, what difference does any of this make anymore?” Kat asked.

  “Logically nothing. You are my daughter. You are exactly who you should be. Just as I was. I saw evil at the Villa that day. I fear that there is something there that knows the truth of our bloodline.”

  She looked over at me for a moment, then continued.

  “James, your friend said he felt a connection between Katherine and the Villa. Is this correct?”

  “Yes, it is,” I replied.

  “There you have it. This is our connection. I know not what it means or the effect it will have on anything. But it is there, and I fear it cannot be denied or hidden on a piece of paper any longer. James, you were sent here to right the wrongs of the past. Please do your part and lift this curse which runs through our veins.”

  After we finished the conversation with Kat’s mom, we went downstairs to the kitchen. For the longest time, we just sat there not talking. Her swollen eyes were just staring off into the distance. I tried to decide what I was feeling. The fact was, I cared for Kat no matter what her last name was.

  “You know, none of that matters, right?” I looked into her eyes.

  She looked back at me shaking her head. Her eyes looked confused.

  “How can you say that?” she asked.

  “Because nothing in that conversation changes who you are or what you mean to me. I met you and knew nothing about you, and I was attracted to you… the you that is sitting here. Nothing changes that.”

  “Tell that to David!” she snapped.

  I stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her up.

  “I will tell him that, and you know what, you will be there with me. Let’s go and tell him that now.”

  “I can’t,” she said.

  “You can’t, or you won’t?” I asked.

  She just stood there staring at me. She was clearly on the verge of tears again.

  “You don’t understand Jim…,” she started.

  “No, you don’t understand. I don’t care what David says or thinks. I want to show you that. I want you to see that it doesn’t matter to me. If your presence angers spirits or whatever, so be it. There is no point in me doing any of this if you are not with me.”

  She sat back down and buried her head in her hands.

  “Kat, I care about you. Hell, I love you. I need you with me. I need you to stand next to me through this no matter what that means.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “Look, I am driving to Tennessee to meet with him. I cannot force you to come, but I want you to. I want you there with me so we can deal with this together. Besides, it gives us a hell of a drive where we can talk this all out.”

  I sat down next to her and gently grabbed her hand. She looked up at me sadly.

  “Please come with me, Kat.”

  14

  After some time, Kat reluctantly agreed to come with me. She went upstairs to pack and clean up, and shortly after that, we hit the road. The first hour was excruciating. We sat in silence, with her blankly staring out the window. What concerned me most was that I really had no clue why she was reacting so strongly about any of this.

  I teetered back and forth from being mad at her to being mad at myself. On one hand, I was still completely pissed at myself over what I’d said to her earlier. Sure, I might have been rough in my conversation with her, but the part that really pissed me off was that I dropped the ‘L’ word. Hell, I said it a couple times even. It wasn’t that I didn’t mean it. It was that I’d said it. I remembered how a friend had once told me the loneliest feeling in the world was to say that and to not have it said back to you. Just as I would start to feel sorry for myself, anger at her would kick in. I mean fuck, she could at the very least respond with something, or even acknowledge that I said it in the first place. Just when I would be done condemning her, then I would look over at her sitting there.

  It broke my heart to see her like that. So completely upset, and the best I could do at consoling her was to keep my mouth shut. I hated overthinking shit like that. That was one of the things I liked about her in the first place. I had always just been me around her. With her, I never overthought anything. We just kinda fit together without thought. Yet, here I sat.

  We had just turned onto I-65 and had what felt like a million miles to a drive south with absolutely nothing to distract me. Kat hadn’t moved. The silence was killing me. I weighed my options, which were minimal as I really sucked at dealing with stuff like that. I could turn on some really angry music, or I could try talking to her. Granted, talking to her was the scariest option, especially in my current mindset. I could see myself lashing out at her, saying too much again, or something else. Really, that option seemed just plain stupid… and was probably exactly why it was the option I chose.

  “I’m worried about you Kat,” I said while I placed my hand on her leg.

  She closed her eyes and slowly shifted in the seat until she was looking at me.

  “You know…you can talk to me,” I stated.

  “What do you want me to say, Jim?” she asked.

  “I just want you to let me in. Even if I can’t help, maybe just saying it would make you feel better. I just want to know what is going on.”

  “I just care about you, okay?” She struggled to speak. “I care about you, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

  My heart dropped. I was convinced the next sentence out of her mouth was going to be something about being friends. Jeez. I didn’t know how I would survive another eight hours of driving with her if she was going to say that.

  “Holy shit, are you seriously breaking it off with me right now?” I blurted.

  “Stop! That isn’t what this about,” she said. “Look, it’s just been rough with my mom, then all this stuff with the house and that letter. I mean, think about it. Everything everybody has been focused on is in the past, and I am directly connected to that past in a pretty shitty way. Then there is you. You come out of nowhere into my life, and yet I feel like I have been with you forever. I wasn’t supposed to meet someone at the will reading. I was supposed to hand the cursed house over and be done. But it’s you, and no matter what I do, you are there with me in my heart.”

  Now she was crying again. I was pretty sure I was about to cry. I focused on the road as it was the only way I knew to keep my composure.

  “I don’t care about the house, not if it is going to upset you like this,” I said.

 
“That’s what you don’t see. You can’t. You cannot escape it. Listen to my mom, hell my whole family. The house is cursed. My ticket out was finally passing it along. Not only did I mess that up, but I tied you to it. If I had any clue…”

  “Any clue of what?” I didn’t give her a chance to respond. “It doesn’t matter. You did exactly what you needed to do. I get this house has been hanging over your family's heads, but it isn’t going to hang over mine. It’s a house. I am not going to let it take me down. I will fight it, even if I have to burn the fucking place down, and I am sure as hell not going to let a house come between you and me.”

  She stopped crying and looked at me with hopeful eyes, grabbing my hand.

  “Seriously, you think a stupid curse is gonna keep me down?” I smiled.

  “I hope you’re right, Jim.”

  Following that conversation, I gave up on thinking. I didn’t know if she loved me or not, and I couldn’t think any more about it. I was curious about the way she spoke, as if there was some master plan that I’d stepped into. It was all just too much for me to wrap my head around. I just stopped thinking. I turned on the radio to break up the silence and then just tried to talk about nothing. The last thing I could handle was any more talk of the house or the curse or whatever.

  It took a bit of time, but soon Kat loosened up. Eventually, we were just enjoying each other’s company again like we had before. It still felt as though there was a cloud hanging over us. The way she’d spoken earlier unsettled me in a strange way. I began to wonder if there was something I didn’t know about her, as if I had been too quick to trust her as much as I had. I fought to push those thoughts away. If anything, I knew that the only way questions like that would be answered was in time, and right now, I needed to try to hang on to what I had.

  Soon, we were about halfway through the trip. The sun had set, and the road was wearing on me. I looked over at Kat, and despite the chipper turn our conversation had taken, she looked exhausted.