Weekend at Wilderhope Manor (6 page)

She lied through her teeth, of course, but she wasn't going to let their stalker

know that.

"We're going now, anyway. So you'll have to find someone else to try and scare,
all right?"

This time, the response was the sudden approaching sounds of heavy footsteps.

As one, they spun round and ran in the direction they'd headed as fast as they could.

The noises she and Jenny were making masked out any their assailant might have
produced, but she didn't care. She wanted out—now. She ran close behind Jenny,
thanking her lucky stars when she finally saw an opening in the hedge, which would
lead them back out of this godforsaken hole.

Jenny had obviously spotted it too, as she had a sudden burst of speed, taking
her right to the exit. Her girlfriend was almost on the grass when she suddenly
tripped—over nothing. Stephanie, having no time to react, ended up tripping over
Jenny, and they both sprawled on the grass in a heap. They hurriedly disentangled,
aware they were being followed, and about to come face-to-face with their pursuer.

Only they didn’t. Whoever it was, they didn't emerge. Puzzled, she got up and
helped Jenny, glancing toward the gap in the hedge to see what it was her lover had
fallen over. There was absolutely nothing there, but she'd gone over, almost as if
someone had stuck their leg over to crop her up. But neither of them had seen anything.

The hairs on the back of Stephanie's neck stood up and a thought formed in her
mind. She pushed it away forcefully, and after checking to see if Jenny was okay—physically, at least—she grabbed her hand and they made their way back to the house.

Once she'd safely installed Jenny in a comfy chair in the living room—or parlour,
as she supposed the proper name was—Stephanie went in search of some help. She
needed a first aid kit, but more importantly, alcohol. She quickly located a staff member
on Reception and gave the woman a heavily edited version of events. The woman was
suitably horrified and shooed her back into the parlour, promising to return with the
requested items.

When she got back to Jenny, she saw that her girlfriend had rolled up her trouser
legs to reveal mildly skinned knees. They looked sore, but her injuries didn’t appear to
be serious. Taking a minute to examine herself, Stephanie discovered her knees were
fine, except for a series of grass stains. She did, however, have a nasty scratch on her
forearm—from the hedge, no doubt—and a tiny cut on one palm.

"For fuck's sake," Stephanie muttered. "When I find out who that idiot is, I'm
going to kill him."

Jenny looked up, her eyebrows raised. "I think you might have a problem there."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?"

When she didn't reply, Jenny continued, "We're in a property well-known for its
hauntings on the creepiest day of the year. Steph, it was a ghost."

"You're very matter-of-fact all of a sudden."

"Well, I've had a few minutes to think. And it makes sense. Plus, I saw—that."

Raising an arm, Jenny pointed at something on the wall behind where Stephanie sat.

Standing, she turned to look at what Jenny had indicated. It was a photograph. A
v
ery
old one, in black and white. It depicted a man, standing just inside the entrance to the
maze. He wore gardening clothes and a scowl. In his hands was a hefty set of hedge
clippers.

She turned back to face Jenny and sat heavily. "Well," she said, "look on the
bright side. At least, we didn't see those clippers. I think I'd have wet myself—or

worse—there and then."

"Hmm," said Jenny, "me too. It's still weird, though. Why did he appear to us?"

Stephanie didn't get a chance to reply as the woman she’d spoken to earlier—her

n
ame
tag read “Ann”—entered the room with a tray. It was laden with several medical
supplies, and most importantly, a pot of tea and its various accompaniments.

"Well!" Ann exclaimed, catching sight of Jenny's knees. "Whatever did you two
do out there?"

Jenny gave a wry grin. "We had a little accident coming out of the maze."

"The maze? Whatever were you doing in there, you silly girls?"

Even Stephanie was lost for words. "Umm…whatever one usually does in mazes.

Trying to find our way out, I suppose."

Shaking her head, the woman said, "Didn't anyone tell you?"

"Tell us what?" they replied, simultaneously.

Ann sighed. Then she poured each of them a cup of tea, added milk and sugar as
per their requirements and handed them over. Only then did she take a seat beside

Stephanie and recount a tale.

"So," Stephanie said some time later when the story was told, and she'd had time

for it to sink in, "what you're saying is this place is full of ghosts, mostly harmless,
except for the one in the maze who gets seriously grumpy right about this time of year
and materializes?"

"That's it in a nutshell," Ann replied. "But we make sure we warn all patrons. I
can't understand why you weren’t told. It's usually mentioned in the evening briefing
before the murder mystery events."

Stephanie felt a blush threatening to overtake her cheeks. That had been round
about when she'd completely stopped taking notice of what was going on, so desperate
was she to get to sleuthing. And if anyone had mentioned it later in the evening, neither
of them would’ve heard about it, as she had dragged Jenny upstairs for her special
brand of “punishment.”

"Ah, well," she said, eager to steer away from that line of inquiry, "no real harm
done. We'll live, won't we?"

Jenny nodded and took a sip of her tea, which to Stephanie was an obvious
technique to avoid actually saying anything. "We'll be fine. We'll get cleaned up and
bring what we don't use back down to you, is that okay?"

The woman gave a small frown, but conceded. "Well, if you're sure. You know
where to find one of us if you need anything." Ann smiled and took her leave.
They watched her go, then turned back to one another. Stephanie got in first.

"Don't say it."

"What?"

"You were going to say, 'I told you so.'"

"Hmm, well. I did. I
told
you this place was haunted."

Stephanie groaned. She'd never hear the end of this.

"Come on," she said tiredly, getting up. "Let's go back upstairs and get cleaned
up. Then we can chill out for a bit before we get ready for tonight's party."

"What, you still want to go?"

"Why shouldn't I? You heard what she said. The only ghost that does anything
more than creep people out is in the maze. And I'm sure as hell not going out there in
the dark. Or at all, for that matter."

She grabbed a handful of the plasters and antiseptic wipes off the tea tray and
headed back up to their room. For once, Jenny didn't even attempt to have the last
word.

* * *

Several hours later, the girls were over their fright. In fact, they were now the
ones doing the scaring. In an entirely more overt manner, of course. They revelled in
showing their bloodied fangs to people, their cackles becoming more and more inane
the greater quantity of champagne they quaffed. The brides of Dracula were most
certainly on form tonight. Stephanie had no idea whether the other guests had put two
and two together. In most tales of the popular story, the brides liked one another as
much as they did their victims, and to be truthful, Stephanie didn't care. She was just
glad to have a little fun after their unpleasant morning.

She was also glad of the excuse to stay by Jenny's side. Their outfits were long,

floaty affairs, but that didn't stop Stephanie from having a cheeky grope of her
girlfriend's ass every now and again. On one particularly brazen occasion, she even
slipped her hand inside Jenny's gaping neckline and gave her nipple a pinch.

"Ooh," Jenny squealed, the sound barely noticed due to the pounding music
filling the room, "are you getting frisky with me again, young lady?"

"Would you like me to be?" Stephanie replied, really hoping the answer was yes.

"What do you think?" Jenny asked. Putting her champagne glass to her lips, she
drained the remainder of the golden liquid and put it down on a table. Stephanie had

discarded hers some time ago, so after taking a surreptitious look around the room to
make sure nobody was taking notice of them, the two of them slipped out.

When they were about halfway up the corridor, Stephanie let out an exasperated
sigh. "Hang on!" she said, putting a hand against the wall to prop her up while she used
the other to remove her shoes. "I'm not cut out for heels, let alone running in them!"

Her lover did the same, yanking off her strappy shoes and dangling them from
one hand. Then Jenny yelled, "Last one to the room is a rotten egg!"

Both of them ran down the hallways and up the carpeted stairs, giggling inanely.
A creaky floorboard and an obvious cold spot on the landing made them hesitate
slightly, but then, her girlfriend piped up. "Not now, ghosty!" Jenny yelled, her slight
inebriation making her brave and mouthy. "We got places to be…fuckin' to do!"

The race forgotten, Stephanie howled with laughter, the blatant statement
coming out of Jenny's mouth really tickling her funny bone for some reason. They
scurried up the corridor and she got the room key out of her clutch bag, fumbling
slightly as she tried to put it in the lock. Finally, the door swung open and they piled in,
slamming it behind them and dropping all their belongings on the floor.

Then an unspoken command had them both undressing and tugging out their
fake fangs. Stephanie's lust burned through her alcohol-induced haze, meaning she was
naked in seconds and clambering eagerly up onto the four-poster. Jenny was there
slightly quicker, and her lover flopped onto her back, her arms open wide.
She wasted no time straddling Jenny and leaning down to kiss her, crushing
their breasts and tummies together. Bearing down with her hips, Stephanie pressed her
pubic bone into Jenny's, stimulating both their pussies as their tongues slipped and slid
together.

"Fuck," said Jenny, pulling away from their kiss and gasping for air. "That feels
good. I reckon I could come just from you doing that, I'm so horny."

"That might be true, my darling, but it's not going to happen. I want to taste your
sweet pussy on my face."

"Well, I'm not going to argue with that!" As the words left her mouth, Stephanie
had already shifted around into their favourite sixty-nine position. She felt Jenny tense
as her mouth crept closer to her pussy. Feeling like a tease, Stephanie grabbed her lover
and rolled them both over so Jenny was on top.

"Fancied a change of scenery, did you, honey?" Jenny asked, her playful
comment quickly cut off as Stephanie delved her agile tongue into Jenny's dewy pout.