The House

Minerva looked around for the owner of the voice but didn't see anyone.

"Oh fuck" she swore as she began to realize that there were things going on around her that had nothing to do with morphine but everything to do with the house and the woods. Why she didn't see it sooner she didn't know except that she had never really believed in the supernatural and at this point in time it really didn't matter. These woods, she realized were haunted and for whatever reason, they wanted her.

Minerva remembered that on some of the television shows that she watched, the investigators tried to talk to the spirits. She remembered laughing at them and calling them idiots because they really expected the spirits to answer. Until this very minute, Minerva would have denied believing in ghosts and spirits but too much weird shit had been happening and it got worse after she came into the woods that first time.

"Ummm, Mister or Miss Ghost?" Minerva said feeling silly. "I don't know what it is you want with me but I can't help you."

Minerva waited for a response of some kind, when none came, she continued.

"Can you hear me? I can't help you."

The entity standing in front of Minerva didn't reply. He wanted to hear what else she had to say. The others started to move closer but stopped when he looked at them.

"This is bullshit!" Minerva said out loud but she tried again. She was about to ask the unseen spirits how she could help them but something stopped her, she sensed that it would be the wrong thing to say instead she asked, "What do you want?"

*******

Dwight was on his way back to the house when he stopped.

"What in the hell am I doing?" he asked himself. He turned around and headed back in the direction that he had just come from. Minerva was in those woods and he sure as hell wasn't going to leave her there.

"Shit!" Henry swore as he watched Dwight turn around and head back toward the oddly shaped tree. He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on the tree several feet in front of Dwight and made the branch fall in front of him. It startled Dwight but only slowed him down for a moment, Henry vanished to the where Sadie and Aaron stood talking.

"Sir! The man, he's on his way back!"

Aaron, rolled his eyes, vanished and intercepted Dwight.

"Dwight! I am Aaron Richards lord of the house and these woods, I command you to go to the house and stay there until I call for you."

Aaron watched as Dwight tried to fight the command and then finally gave up. Aaron felt badly for him but he needed to concentrate all of his efforts on Minerva and getting her out of the woods. Aaron waited until he was sure that Dwight wasn't going to turn around again before going back to the misshapen tree, he couldn't afford any more distractions.

"Henry, what do you know about this place?" Aaron asked.

"Not much sir." Henry replied. "I don't come back here much but it's like Sadie here says, it's supposed to be an Indian burial ground and supposedly a place where they hung people black and white both."

As much as he wanted to get Minerva out, Aaron wasn't about to go rushing into the clearing without knowing who or what he was dealing with. He knew that he was going to have to go into the clearing at some point because he knew that calling whatever it was out wouldn't work unless it was going to benefit it somehow, but still he would try.

"My name is Aaron Richards, I am lord of the house and these woods, I command you to show yourself!"

********

The entity looked away from Minerva and looked toward the sound of Aaron's voice. After several seconds he chuckled and turned his attention back to Minerva who was still sitting on the ground in the same spot. He didn't speak to her again and commanded the others to maintain their silence as he had no desire for her to be driven insane just yet.

Millicent approached the entity with caution; he as well as Aaron could banish anyone that he wasn't pleased with. The only exception to that was Aaron and only because Aaron owned the woods and the house.

"Sebastian, may I speak?" she asked with a reverence that was rare for her.

"You may."

"I must warn you, do not underestimate Aaron Richards." Millicent said. "While it is true that he is new to his power, it is power that he has always had and never really cared about until the woman came along. He cares for her and that is his greatest strength, he just doesn't know it yet."

"Are you saying that he is more powerful than I that I need your warnings?"

"N...no." Millicent stammered. "I was just informing you." she added nervously.

"Since you seem to be full of so much information," Sebastian said, "what do you know about this woman? Why does he care for her so much?" he asked.

"Nothing really and why he cares for her? I don't know." Millicent replied. "I didn't think it important enough to concern you with."

Sebastian grabbed Millicent by her arms and shook her, "It isn't your place to determine what I would think of as being important!" he said and threw her on the ground.

Millicent scooted back toward the other spirits and stood up. She had come to hate Sebastian as much as she had once loved him. The closer he came to getting what he wanted the crueler he had become but now he wanted Aaron's woman too. She saw it in the way he looked at her, he meant for the woman to replace her when he got what he wanted.

Sebastian looked at Minerva and sat down next to her, she would do well as a partner he thought as he reached to touch a braid that had worked its way loose from the ponytail that she had just fixed. He felt her sexuality and knew that she was a very passionate woman unlike Millicent who held still maintained the opinions of sex that were common for their day. He watched as his finger passed through the braid and tried to make his finger more solid so that he could feel it, becoming frustrated when he failed.

******

Minerva suddenly shuddered; she had just experienced the most repulsive feeling. She looked around again and decided that she was leaving the clearing, she couldn't stay here. She got up to her feet wincing at the pain in her ankle which had finally settled down some, her wrist however, was another matter; she would kill for a shot of morphine.

She headed in the direction that she thought she came from and stopped, it was completely overgrown. It didn't take her long to realize that she was trapped within the clearing. Minerva fought back her panic and wondered where Dwight was. It occurred to her once again that she wasn't hearing any of the nocturnal sounds of the woods; she sat down again, this time on a log to weigh her options.

******

Aaron stood in front of the tree debating what to do, he finally made a decision, he had to get rid of everything that was helping the entity that was holding Minerva. Once again he called them to him and as they appeared, he banished them to the worst places that he could think of on the spur of the moment. The last to appear was Millicent; she looked at Aaron and smiled at him.

"You don't have the power to send me anywhere other than where you send others." she said snidely and prepared to vanish.

"He don't but I does." Sadie said as she stepped forward.

"You?" Millicent laughed. "Even if that were true, you wouldn't have the gumption to do it."

Sadie moved closer to Millicent and smiled at her sadly.

"You really were my friend." she said before she began to speak the words that would send Millicent away powerless.

Millicent's eyes widened as she understood what was happening to her.

"Sadie, please don't.... I was only having some fun!"

"Wait!" Aaron said. "I want to know about the entity and what his plans are for Minerva."

Sadie stopped the spell, "Tell him." she demanded.

"Will you let me go if I do?" Millicent countered.

"No, but you will tell me because I demand it." Aaron said answering Sadie's unspoken question.

Millicent looked at Sadie and then back at Aaron.

"Let's talk about this." Millicent said smoothly. "I tell you what you want to know and you bind my powers for oh let's say 200 years and I swear to stay away from your damned woods and house."

"NO!" Aaron roared but not in anger, "YOU WILL TELL ME NOW!"

Sadie, Henry and every other spirit and being jumped at the command in Aaron's voice. Millicent lost the coy expression on her face and at that moment was more afraid of Aaron than she had ever been of Sebastian even though he couldn't hurt her in the way that Sadie could and would do.

Millicent looked at Sadie and said, "Finally, the little mouse comes out of her hidey hole."

Aaron felt himself losing patience and pulled himself back under control, the existence of Minerva and everyone and everything living in his woods depended on his maintaining control.

"Who has Minerva?" Aaron asked calmly.

*******

Sebastian whirled around just in time to see Millicent vanish and cursed. He needed her for one last task but no matter, he could do without her. Aaron, he realized was quite powerful in order to command so many spirits at one time and then to banish them all so quickly. He was quite certain that's what happened to them because it's what he would have done himself but he would have done it much sooner. Aaron was learning though and Millicent had been right in her warning, he shouldn't underestimate him, the key however was the woman. As long as he had the woman, he had some control over Aaron.

******

Dwight sat in the kitchen watching the clock; he had been waiting for exactly one hour. He had heard no other voice other than Aaron's and that had been almost two hours ago. He stood, walked to the back door, turned around and went back to the chair. He knew what Aaron demanded he do but he couldn't just wait here, Minerva could be lost or hurt again and even worse, dead. The desire and need to help Minerva was enough to override Aaron's command and Dwight's fear of the clearing.

As he had before, Dwight ran up the stairs and found a carry on bag and began to pack it with whatever first side supplies that he could find, warm socks and a pair of tennis shoes. He remembered that Minerva had been wearing bedroom slippers when they left his house.

He carried the bag back down to the kitchen and loaded it with water, a jar of peanut butter, crackers and canned fruit remembering to take spoons to eat it with. At the last minute, he picked up Minerva's cell phone and threw it in the bag as well.

On his way out, he grabbed the flashlight sitting on the counter. He checked to make sure that it was working and ran out of the door. The closer to the woods he got, the more nervous he became and braced himself for the onslaught of voices and was shocked when he didn't hear them. He urged himself to be cautious, that they could start speaking to him at anytime.

******

Millicent looked at Aaron and was going to try to bargain with him again but changed her mind, it would have been useless. Sadie, it seemed had found it within herself to break a rule, she had given Aaron a piece of information, that would explain the increased effort on his part to remain calm.

"I am only going to ask you this one more time." Aaron said calmly, "who has Minerva?"

"Sebastian Preston." Millicent replied.

Aaron stared at Millicent, "Sebastian Preston?" he asked.

"Yes." Millicent said softly.

Aaron remembered Sebastian, his family owned the house and land before he and his family did. The Preston's had fallen on hard times and sold the house and land to Aaron's family several years before the war and then moved to a more modest home. Over the years, the Preston's had managed to reverse their luck and offered to buy the house and property back offering more than it was worth but Selena, Aaron's mother liked the house and his father refused to sell. From that point on, there were numerous offers all of which had been rejected much to the ire of the Preston's.

Sebastian was the oldest of the Preston boys and the house had the family kept it was supposed to have been his legacy to pass on to his children and they to theirs. Aaron lost track of them when the war started but knew that Sebastian and all four of his brothers had enlisted. Of the five of them, Sebastian was the only one who made it home only to die a short time later from an infection.

In order for his spirit to be here and for him to have the power that he did, he had to have been buried here. Once again Aaron cursed himself for not knowing about his woods as it was becoming clear what was happening. Sebastian still wanted what he considered to be his and that also included Minerva since she was now a part of the house and he needed her to gain access.

"Does he plan to harm Minerva?" Aaron asked and braced himself for the answer.

"Not at this point, he needs her but.... He does want her." Millicent said.

Aaron didn't have to ask for clarification, he knew exactly what Sebastian wanted. It was the same thing that he wanted but with a major difference, Sebastian didn't care for Minerva and would hurt her. Another question had been answered as well; Sebastian was limited to this part of the woods. That's why he hadn't tried to gain control of the woods and the house earlier. Again, that's where Minerva came in, he needed her and as long as he needed her, she was relatively safe. Aaron also assumed that while Sebastian could talk to Minerva, he couldn't touch her so she was safe in that way as well. It gave him some time to decide how best to deal with Sebastian. Could he be banished like the others? Could Sebastian banish him? He suspected not but he had to know for certain.

"Sadie, can I banish Sebastian?" he asked.

"Yessir as long as he don't have the house and Minerva." Sadie replied.

"Is Minerva the only way that he can leave this area?"

"Yessir, but she has to be alive for him to use her." Sadie replied no longer worried about being punished.

Aaron turned back to Millicent, "What were you getting out of helping him?" he asked.

"I was supposed to rule the woods with him." Millicent replied. "But I know now that he lied, that was never his intent."

"What were his plans after he succeeded in getting to the house?" Aaron asked.

Millicent was more forthcoming with information since she had nothing left to gain or lose except a little mercy on the part of Aaron and now Sadie.

"He was going to banish you and claim the house, the woods and Minerva as his. Life as it is would have ended, anyone who disagreed with him would be banished and no human who ventured into these would be safe."

Aaron gave Millicent a thoughtful look and then looked at Sadie.

"How long can her powers be bound for?" he asked.

"For as long as you want." Sadie replied.

"Alright." Aaron said after several minutes, "Your powers are to be bound for eight-hundred years and you will be banished never to return to these woods or my home, the moment that you do, you will be sent to wherever Sadie decides to send you and your powers will be bound forever. Do you agree to my terms?"

Millicent wept with relief, she had heard about some of the places that witches were sent to, they were places that nightmares were based on.

"I agree!" she exclaimed eagerly not believing her luck.

Aaron nodded at Sadie who began the spell to bind Millicent's powers, moments later it was done. A moment later, Millicent was gone banished to a battlefield hospital. Where she sent from there was up to her just so it wasn't Aaron's woods.

******

Dwight readjusted the overnight bag on his shoulder and looked around, there wouldn't be any pieces of bright pink yarn to follow this time but he didn't need it, he knew exactly where Minerva was. He was surprised that he still hadn't heard the voices and wondered what it meant; he like Minerva had come to realize that there were supernatural forces at work but unlike Minerva, he had always believed in such things; that was why the woods had always frightened him.

With a dry mouth and a pounding heart, Dwight started walking again and didn't stop until he was standing in front of the misshapen tree next to Aaron.

******

Aaron knew that Dwight was coming but decided not to stop him. Most of the danger to him had been eliminated when the spirits aiding Sebastian had been banished and he would be needed to help Minerva once she was freed from Sebastian.

Aaron didn't know if Sebastian would hear him when he spoke to Minerva but he decided that it wouldn't matter, either way he had to get Minerva out of the clearing.

"Minerva." Aaron said softly. "Try not to be afraid, I am coming for you." he wanted to say more but didn't.

Sadie threw her hands up in the air and resisted the urge to smack him. All he had to do was say what was in his heart, what was so hard about that? She wondered.

*****

Minerva was getting cold, she was hungry and thirsty and more than a little frightened. She hadn't heard any voices for a while now and was on the way to convincing herself that she had imagined the whole thing when Aaron spoke to her.

"Damn!" she cursed, "I almost had myself convinced." she muttered. She still didn't understand everything that was happening but knew that somehow she was at the center of it, her and the house. She thought about Dwight and hoped that he was somewhere safe. When this thing was over, they had to talk about them and what he thought was going to happen. As for herself, she was a realist, what she felt for Dwight wasn't the issue but what he felt for her was; that and his kids. She had never wanted to have children and that included someone else's kids but then again, Dwight's kids were almost adults and that made a difference. His ex was another matter, she could make life very difficult and Minerva wasn't about to spend the rest of her life fighting with a psycho ex no matter how much she might love the man.

Minerva moved to a more comfortable position and closed her eyes. There was nothing else that she could do until morning when she could see where she was going. As she nodded off she heard Aaron in her head again assuring her that he was coming for her. The picture of Aaron flashed in her mind and she sat up, "no fucking way!" she exclaimed.

*******

Sebastian watched Minerva as she began putting the pieces together; he had to get her to offer to help him. That was where Millicent was going to be helpful but she was gone.

He moved closer to Minerva and spoke in what he considered to be a seductive voice.

"Minerva, I am Sebastian Preston. I am the lord and master of these woods."

For the first time since she first entered the woods, Minerva talked with a spirit.

"Now wait a goddamned minute! I own the house and these damned woods not Aaron Richards and sure as hell not you!" she said her voice filled with anger.

A piece of the puzzle clicked into place for Sebastian, neither he or Aaron had full control of anything without the woman. She belonged here and she had just claimed the woods and the house as hers. One of them had to fuck her in order to take full control and not only that, if he Sebastian was the one to do it, he couldn't kill her, if he did; he would lose everything. There was another major problem, how did a ghost fuck a human? Then it came to him, the human male.

"Dwight, come to me." Sebastian whispered.

******

All of them heard Dwight being called. Aaron cursed and moved to reassert his control over Dwight. He had just figured out what he needed to do to save Minerva and maintain control of the house and woods but Sebastian had also figured out what he needed in order to take control but he was missing one key element, he didn't care about or care for Minerva, to him, she was just a piece of the puzzle that he needed to complete the picture. Aaron hoped that even if Sebastian managed to have sex with Minerva that that one detail would be enough to keep him from taking control. It was clear that Sebastian knew that he himself was physically unable to fuck Minerva, which was why he was calling Dwight.