Jared POV:

When we arrived at the foot of the stairs, I was mildly surprised to find April just down the hallway on our left. Eyeing her through the camera, I knew something was wrong. She was strangely still, quiet, standing in the doorway of the room that had been the children’s, glaring into the darkness.

Erin saw her, but didn’t catch onto the unease I was feeling. “Hey, April. What are you doing up here?”

Her head slowly turned in our direction. For half of a second, an annoyed expression of disgust flitted across her face. If I hadn’t been glued to my screen, my only reliable means of sight, I wouldn’t have seen it. But the expression quickly passed as she blinked, confusion coloring her features. “Erin? Jay? What’s...Where’s West? I was right behind him a second ago.”

What I had feared looked as if it was becoming more and more likely. Clearing my throat, I tried to fight down my worry. “You were in a trance, April,” I reported, causing her to stare at me as if I had another head.

“B-but I never—!” she rushed out, eyes wide. “I don’t get affected like that. It doesn’t happen,” she continued, voice much quieter and clearly afraid. “Ten years in the business and it’s never happened…”

Erin sounded a bit unnerved himself. April was our rock. Stern, a bit stoic at times, but we could depend on her to hold up anyone else under the effects of a spirit. “You sure that’s what it was, bro?”

I fought down the urge to snap at him. Of course I freaking do! “Yes. It was pretty clear she was in a trance brought on by what looked like a half-possession in the worse case. More likely it was just a short, very influential spirit attachment.” Even though I said the words, I was just as disturbed at the others. “I warned all of you that this was a bad idea,” I reminded them in a cold voice. “But did you want to listen to the psychic? No. Now, look at us.”

Erin cleared his throat as if he was trying to find some way to push away the negativity. But April beat him to the punch, her dark brown eyes wide and expression regretful. “I’m sorry, Jay. You were right. But West is...He’s different. When we started investigating downstairs…” Her voice trailed off and she looked away. “Jay, he hit me.”

Ice shot down my spine, clogging up the blood in my veins. “He what?” I gasped quietly, unable to believe it.

“April, West is an ass most of the time, but he doesn’t hit women,” Erin came to the defense of the man, shaking his head.

Sighing, April moved into the room she’d been glaring at just a few minutes ago, flipping the switch to turn on the light. “Turn the night-vision off,” she ordered stiffly.

Following her in, stomach twisting into knots, I did so, hearing the heavy footfalls of Erin behind me. On the screen of the camera, it was ridiculously easy to see the angry, red mark that took up the vast majority of her left cheek and along her left eye and jaw. “Holy shit!” I exclaimed, afraid to touch the still irritated skin.

“That bastard!” Erin rumbled out a low growl.

April quickly reached out and gripped Erin’s arm. “No, it’s not that. It’s this place. Ever since we split up, there’s been a dark presence and West has been different.” Her voice was broken, the tears beginning to leak past her eyes evident in her words alone. She sniffled, hiding her face as she wiped at her eyes. A few seconds of deep breathing and she had regained some of her composure. Her dark eyes were steely instead of watery and fragile. “We need to make contact with this bastard ghost and find out what he wants. Then we need to finish up this night and get the hell out of here.”

“Agreed,” Erin said.

“Personally, I feel we should just leave now,” I stated, trying to get them to see reason.

“Fuck that! I’m going to find out what the fuck this guy’s problem is,” April argued, stuck in her passion for revenge.

I shook my head heavily. “He’s dead, April. Before that, he was a killer that liked to torture women. What else do you need to know to ‘find out what his problem is’?”

She glowered at me, obviously not appreciating my sound reason attempting to put a stop to her unreasonable ambition.

“...Let’s just go downstairs and check on West. We’ll figure out what to do from there,” Erin offered a shaky truce.

Taking it reluctantly, I turned the night-vision back on my camera. “Fine,” I sighed deeply. “But none of you are allowed to say I never warned you if anything comes from this shit show.” With that, I started out of the room.

A few seconds later the light coming from the room behind me disappeared as the others followed my example. All three of us made our way downstairs, tension keeping the silence in a stranglehold.

God damn it, West! This is what you get for being a cocky fuck!

I couldn’t help it. The negative energy in this house was interwoven throughout each and every piece of furniture, every one of the walls. We were trapped in an elaborate, inescapable spider web of hate, rage, and perverse lust. I could see it all around us and my words of warning had done nothing for those blind to it.

...Or those who wished to pretend it wasn’t there and continue on their foolhardy path.

Shaking my head, I sucked in a deep breath. Hopefully, things have calmed down some from when April said he slapped her.

...Really, what nonsense was I thinking? What was I hoping for? I already knew the answer, whether I liked it or not.