The Blackham Mansion Haunting (The Downwinders Book 4) by Michael Richan Page A

they left, and was a little surprised to find that he
wasn’t nearly as irritated with him now, as they returned. A football player,
David was plenty heavy — but Winn wasn’t minding. He tapped the door with his
foot, and in a few moments Deem opened it, letting them in.
    “How’d it go?” Deem asked.
    “Let me get him up to bed,” Winn replied, carrying David past
her and up the stairs. Deem saw that Winn hadn’t been able to close the door on
his Jeep, so she walked outside and shut it, noticing the bats flying overhead.
Then she walked back inside.
    Carma was waiting inside the entryway. “How’s David?” she
asked.
    “Winn took him straight up to bed,” Deem replied. “He wasn’t
awake.”
    “Oh, this isn’t good,” Carma said, wringing her hands. “Not
good at all.”
    Winn returned after another minute and the three of them made
their way into the drawing room. It was dusk, and the large hill beyond the
back yard was perfectly framed by the large windows of the room, looking almost
black and white in the fading light.
    “How’s he doing?” Deem asked.
    “Pulse is fine, breathing seems normal,” Winn replied. “But
the blackouts are increasing, and each time he recovers from one, he seems a
lot weaker. Tells the same story each time, about his chest being pierced or
stabbed by something that crawls on top of him.”
    “When you called with the diagnosis,” Carma said, “I did some
studying in my medical books. There’s clear precedent for eliminating the
infection by killing the source.”
    “Is that what this is?” Deem asked. “An infection?”
    “Winston called it a poison,” Winn replied. “Like a spider
bite, designed to paralyze the victim.”
    “Except that there’s an ongoing connection between the spider
and David that’s making it worse,” Carma said. “The spider continues to draw
energy from him. In this case, you can kill the spider, and David will recover
because the energy drain will stop.”
    “I went back into the house,” Deem said.
    Winn looked at her, shocked. “You did what?”
    “I went back in,” she replied. “I needed to find that glass
from the mirror. I did.”
    “By yourself?” Winn asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Come on!” Winn replied, irritated. “When did we start doing
stupid shit?”
    “I had to do something!” she replied. “I couldn’t just sit on
my ass down here waiting for you two, doing nothing.”
    “You’re lucky you’re not up in bed, like David.”
    “I found the glass, and it made some kind of connection to
Lorenzo,” Deem said. “I can talk to him. Through the book.”
    Winn shook his head, attempting to clear it. “You did what?”
    “I made my way through the houses until I found one that had
some of the mirror intact. I found a piece of it, big enough to look at. I
could see something in it. And when I dropped out, the drawing in the book had
changed. It was glowing, and I was able to speak to Lorenzo. It was only for a
minute. He’s trapped there. He wants us to release him.”
    “Does he?” Winn said, exasperated. He turned to Carma. “Any
of this sound bad to you?”
    “Very bad,” Carma said. “And there’s more. Tell him, Deem.”
    Winn turned back to look at Deem. She had a sheepish look, as
though she didn’t want to talk, but knew she had to.
    “When I found the glass, I was forced to drop out,” she said.
“I was cornered in the room, and something was coming in. I don’t know if it
was Willard Bingham or not.”
    Winn saw Carma shudder. “You know of Bingham?” Winn asked
her.
    “I remember the news stories about him,” Carma replied. “Very
violent and brutal. The entire Wasatch front was quaking in their boots until
he was caught. If that’s him in the house, you’re lucky to be alive, Deem.”
    “And there’s more,” Deem said.
    “More?” Winn asked.
    “Something was in the room with me,” she replied. “At first I
thought I might have imagined it, but I’m sure I didn’t. It