The haunting of Corbitt house

Part 3

Despite the impression caused by seeing the scene, he manages to observe a threatening glow that comes from the room they left behind.

"Get down!" Without questioning the blond, he crouches immediately, barely avoiding the new trajectory of that dirty dagger. William backs away a little with the appearance of the moving corpse, he has to dodge the dagger that, having missed the attack against Sherlock, now attacks him as the body begins to descend from the platform. He immediately draws the sword from his cane to attack Corbitt, making a slash that crosses his entire chest but the entity tries to catch him with its long nails but fails again.

A shot crosses the room and hits the body squarely in the back.

"Get away from him!" Sherlock looks upset for the first time since they arrived to that house. William maintains a defensive posture, aware of the dagger that is lost in the darkness of the ceiling and the body in front of him. Then, he sees its eyes. Burning eyes... He fleetingly remembers those drawings he took from the children's room and understands why Mr. Macario was so terrified of those eyes.

"Brother" William feels as if he's waking up from one of his usual naps. He is back in the mansion and, in front of him, is Lewis, with his back turned. "Bother, wake up" There is a person in front of his brother. He has to go a little bit around it to see that it's Sherlock... pointing right at Lewis. His younger brother maintains a calm look although he can see how nervous he is.

"Shery, what are you...?" He watches in horror as Sherlock is about to shoot Lewis and immediately jumps in front of his brother, aiming his usual rapier at him. "Stop it!"

"Liam, what are you doing?! Back off!"

Hearing Sherlock call for him brings him back immediately. The well-lit and comfortable living room is replaced by the dark and smelly basement. He gets out of Sherlock's way and sees that Lewis isn't there, only that aberration. Although he always hides his emotions, at that moment he can't help but show how disturbed he is by such a sudden sight.

With the free path, he shoots the body again while aiming at the center of the strange necklace he is wearing; he thinks it may be an important part of whatever they are using to manipulate him. He takes a couple of steps closer to William to cover him now that he sees he's so disoriented, though he has to push him away a bit when the dagger hurtles back towards them from the ceiling. The force with which it hits the dirt floor of the room is enough for it to sink a couple of centimeters and remain apparently still.

Seeing the dagger, again, it seems that William reacts, especially because he remembers Vitorio's words.

"The devil will be defeated by its own weapons!"

He doesn't have to think about it too much; he separates from Sherlock to take the dagger that does not offer resistance at the moment. He wields it with both hands and in one agile movement he reaches out to stab the necklace, thinking the same as Sherlock, although he slips from the reach of the blade and ends up sinking the blade into his chest before walking away still with the dagger in hand. The creature squirms a little at the new wound; it seems that his own weapon manages to hurt him more than the bullets or the rapier.

Sherlock continues to fire while William holds tight to the dagger that seems to be moving on its own with such force that it escapes from his grip and to try to hurt Sherlock, who is caught off guard by the proximity but manages to deflect it by hitting it with the weapon.

As he reaches for his rapier again, an idea occurs to him. He picks up the oil lantern they were carrying and throws it at Corbitt's dry corpse, which immediately catches on fire. The body seems to be trying to scream, reeling and moving towards them, whereas the dagger's frantically traveling back and forth, trying to hit either of them. Sherlock and William manage to dodge most of the attacks as they back towards the exit although they take a few slashes from the filthy blade until eventually it falls to the ground just like the corpse do which keeps burning for a few moments before giving in and turning into a pile of burning ashes.