Haunted Souls

Chapter 9

"Nico." Will poked his head into the kitchen to find his husband cleaning up the remains of breakfast. "Can we talk?"

"Not if you're going to accuse me of hurting my baby." Nico turned the faucet on before starting to wash Ethan's plate. "I can't believe you'd ever think that of me."

"Nico...I was shocked..." Will sat on the cupboard beside the sink, his eyes trained on Nico's face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

Nico laughed without humor. "Sure you didn't."

"Neeks..." Will moved some hair out of Nico's face. "Please believe me. I love you and I trust you with our kids. I was just scared."

Nico glanced over at him. "Why? Do you know something?"

Will retracted his hand to scratch the back of his neck. "Um... That's what we need to talk about."

"You knew something was wrong with this place?" Nico dropped the plate and glared at Will. "You knew and you brought this family here?!"

"No!" Will defended. "Not like that! Just let me explain?"

Nico turned the faucet off. "I'm listening."

Will played with his wedding ring. "I...I... When I was a kid...probably around five...my grandma lived with us."

"The same grandma that owned this castle? I thought you said you never met her." Nico questioned. "Was that also a lie?"

Will flushed. "I don't ever remember meeting her. I only have one memory of her and I...I couldn't really talk to her or anything."

"What happened?" Nico asked. "Just get to the point because this keeps sounding worse and worse."

"Right. So I was five and...and she came to live with us. I don't know why. And Maria is with Bianca by the way. But Ethan-"

"Is playing outside so keep talking," Nico commanded.

"Right." Will gulped nervously. "So...so the first thing I remember is having all this anger. And I was five, Nico. Five. But I kept attacking my grandma every chance I could get. One day it was so bad they had to restrain me..."

Will took a deep breath before continuing. "That's all I remember. But my mom has told me the story... Whatever followed my grandma to our house, it possessed me. It was anything but good. They got it out and she left for Scotland because she didn't want it hurting anyone again."

"Let me get this straight." Nico looked into his husband's eyes. "You took our family to a place you knew was infested with something evil?"

"I didn't!" Will defended. "I thought it was gone. I really didn't know... I'm sorry, Nico."

Nico rolled his eyes. "What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do, now? We have no money! Nowhere to go! It attacked our baby!"

"We'll deal with it," Will promised, making Nico scoff. "I mean it. We can deal with it."

"How?" Nico demanded. "How could we ever deal with something like this? We're not exorcists!"

"Nico! Just stop yelling at me!" Will pleaded. "I'll figure it out! You just have to let me!"

Nico opened his mouth to retort, but no words came. How could they? His brain didn't know what to say, what to think. His kids were hurting, but so was his husband. Guilt. It was written all over Will's face. But there was also determination. He really thought he could do this, thought he could make everything work.

"Do you trust me?" Will finally asked, his voice soft.

Nico nodded. "You're my husband... Of course, I do."

"Then trust me to make this better." Will took Nico's hands in his own. "Okay? This might have been the best thing to ever happen to us."

Nico tried to focus on that trust, tried to focus on Will's smile. "Okay."