Page 5 of Chillingham Castle

“Okay, explain to us about that,” I said, sensing it was on their minds.

“Andrew, a room steward who talks to visitors and answers their questions, was in the Great Hall. He was locking up when he was shoved against the wall, and he felt hands around his throat. Andrew fought him off, but then the stand of pikes near the fireplace fell, and one stabbed his leg,” Evie said.

“Damn,” several of my guys exclaimed.

“Other things have happened, but that’s the worst,” Janice muttered, glancing about.

“Tell me the rest,” I ordered, and they nodded and settled in.

Reaver

This had to be one of the most haunted places we’d investigated. There was clearly activity here, and lots of it. Janice and Evie were scared and explained that most other staff refused to come in after Andrew’s incident. Who could blame them? How did anyone fight a ghost?

Evie offered to give us a tour, and we accepted, but wanted to explore a bit first. She gave Haunt her phone number and told us to call her.

“There’s a lot to unravel there,” I muttered finally. We were all lost in our thoughts.

“This one feels heavy. Evie and Janice were terrified. Something’s caused this,” Haunt replied.

“If this place is as famous as you claim, could other teams have investigated here?” Jack asked.

“Possible, and we don’t know what they’ve done. I’ll make a note to ask Evie,” Haunt responded.

We reached the SUV and the van, and I began passing out equipment. I handed a camera to Lich, kept one for myself, gave Jack an EMF meter, and passed the spirit box to Haunt.

“Should we bring anything else?” Dive asked.

“Take an Ovilus,” Haunt said.

I grabbed one and held it out to Suga.

“Bear in mind, this is still someone’s private home. Be respectful and mindful of what we say. I’ve a hunch there’s more to this than we realise, and that makes me worried,” Haunt said.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make sense that this place has gone nuts,” Gizmo replied.

“Wacko?” Lich said.

“Schizo,” Coffee agreed.

“Finished?” I asked.

“Flipped the fuck out!” Jack added for good measure.

“Why did we agree to take him?” I questioned Haunt, who shrugged.

“Felt sorry for him,” Haunt teased, and Jack laughed.

“You’re damn lucky to have me,” he retorted.

We’d never admit it, but we were. We were a motorbike club that investigated the paranormal. A rarity in our world. Last week we’d been investigating the Mermaid Inn and had to call people from the USA—the Ghost Seekers Inc., aka the GSI. Run by Callie Dixon, they were the best in the world. Callie flew over with several members of her team and helped us out. Jack had a dual passport and had stayed because none of us enjoyed the presenting side of a show, and he was a natural-born presenter.

Like GSI, we did TV episodes and quickly gained a name for ourselves. We’d not wanted to go that route, but we needed money to help those in need. The Spirit Chasers MC helped many people with normal homes that were haunted and desperate for help. The big investigations made it to the TV shows, and we kept the little ones confidential.

However, Callie had been impressed and had offered us private funding. To our total surprise, Callie had put a lump away, enough to cover us for thirty years. From that, we’d receive a monthly budget to keep investigating. She’d also agreed to send us top-range equipment and a tour bus, a command centre, and two new SUVs.

Her generosity had stunned us all, and we hadn’t quite accepted our good luck yet. She’d even promised to get onto the network and have us paid more and get us rebranded as Spirit Chasers MC–Ghost Seekers Inc. UK. Yeah, we weren’t turning that down, not when we also got merchandise rights and everything else.

It meant we could quit our day jobs and go full time at this. Callie Dixon had been our fairy godmother. Jack had been part of her team, but he’d wanted to stay here and learn more about the UK, as his mother had been English. This was his first investigation with us, and it promised to be a doozy.