With this newly come realisation, that the unfittingly dressed—yet seemingly most authoritative out of those among the group of two police officers and a priest—man known as Siegfried would bring some kind of unprecedented value by his presence, Lars did not attempt to argue or deny his bold statement of remaining in his residence. He instead agreed to this ordeal in tacit silence and eagerly awaited chances to glean more knowledge pertaining to the hidden threats or potential boons that would come of this.

Siegfried left the room without further explanation, seemingly to go find an empty room to take as his own. Bennett and Mitchell showed greater respect by giving their farewells and apologising for the rudeness; they hoped the master of the house, Lars, would be understanding, even despite how suddenly the situation had turned into something else entirely.

“I know it’s not easy to accept at face value,” Mitchell started, “But this is more for your own safety than anyone else's. Especially for the safety of your family, which we can’t dismiss.”

He then sighed and continued, breaking the long, blatantly wrong ignorance, explaining, “You’ll encounter many things in the coming days. If you come to question the world around you, speaking to Siegfried is an option… but there may be better comfort in praying to your chosen faith or visiting the nearby churches. That’s the only way you could find solace when facing preternatural horrors.”

Bennett held onto Lars’ shoulder, “Stay strong, Lars. You don’t seem like a bad guy—so, for your family’s sake, remain steadfast and don’t let anything get the better of you. Okay?”

Lars thanked them both, “Yes. Thank you for your help.”

He took off to find his family, only waiting for when the police officers and priest had left first. Unfortunately, Siegfried didn’t seem to want to find him and have a conversation, as anyone else other than that man would have done in such an abrupt circumstance; in fact, Lars couldn’t find Siegfried even in passing. He had no idea where the man had run off to even while he had kept such a steady pace.

Regardless, finding his family came before finding Siegfried. Somehow, he needed to explain what was happening now without telling Vanessa, or Damien, or Charles too much; and at the same time, he also wondered how much to tell Leonard. Lars realised that Leonard was more commensurable than he initially came off to be—he had been privy to the affair beforehand, seen the morphed corpse of Victoria, and handled things before the police arrived.

Lars was starting to become suspicious at this point. He considered that it might be interesting to gauge Leonard’s reaction, telling mostly the truth about why these developments were occurring. It was like the voice had said: it may be wise to ‘let them know’. Although, he was more hesitant to speak about the voice to Leonard than he was simply speaking of the supernatural—or preternatural, as Mitchell had put it.

With this idea in mind, Lars decided to visit Vanessa first. He wanted to soothe her of any worries; so that when it came to speaking with Leonard, there would be no interruptions. If he really planned on letting him know, a long conversation would ensue. So he quickly searched for his wife who was most likely confused and worried from not seeing him the whole day.

But when he approached Vanessa, he wasn’t expecting to find out that she already knew more than she should.

“Victoria was your mistress, wasn’t she, Lars?” She introduced, “Leonard told me about it after I pushed him. But please don’t blame him, he was concerned that the constant stress was affecting my health.”

Leonard—again? His name is coming up too often... Lars couldn’t help but pay notice to the coincidental point which, once again, his assistant was connected. It was a shame that he couldn’t dig out the origin of their meeting from his memories.

He could, however, ask those likely to know. “Sorry, Vanessa, I need to stray off topic briefly. Do you know how we met Leonard—or, more specifically, how I met him?”

Vanessa mulled over it, “Hm… I don’t think it was too strange or memorable… So, I’m not entirely sure. It was some years back now, and you brought him in yourself as your assistant. He had the credentials for it...

"I don’t know the specifics of how you two met—is there a reason you’re asking me?”

“No, there isn’t—thanks for telling me what you know. It’s helped me,” Lars stated solemnly.

Vanessa smiled, “You don’t need to thank me. I’ll always be here for you, whatever is troubling you.”

Lars saw Vanessa’s expression and wasn’t too sure if it was correct; she had been cheated on, but there was a visible lack of anger or vitriol in her eyes as she looked at him. Her tone was too gentle too, not completely calm, but it didn’t quite have what a wife should hold towards her unfaithful husband.

Finally, he couldn’t resist and asked, “Aren’t you angry? I’ve done terrible things and betrayed your trust.”

“Victoria, she…” Vanessa looked downwards, a tinge of pain and grief in her eyes. “I was told about the circumstances. You weren’t willingly participating, it’s not your own fault.”

Lars' eyes widened in shock. When he discovered that Leonard had told her about what happened, he thought it only to be about the affair and other relevant details. Had he actually gone so far as to tell her about Victoria’s true identity? Doing so was too far and completely unnecessary.

It was hard to believe—why would he…?

Vanessa continued as tears formed at the corners of her eyes, “She used a drug, stripping you of your right to consent. This has been happening for so long… and no one noticed—of course you would struggle to tell others about it. You’re the victim here Lars, and I want to support you in any way I can, alright?”

Lars became completely speechless. It was clear now that his assistant, Leonard, hadn’t been overcome by stress, guilt, or had a momentary lapse of his cognitive thinking skills, but had actually told her an abridged version of the story that exchanged the mystical elements for real world alternatives. However, this in itself was hard to accept.

I’m now a victim of rape…? Lars didn’t know what opinion to have towards this. In the past, it was around him—an unfortunate thing done unto innocent, vulnerable people by depraved and disturbed individuals. But he was never concerned about it happening to him. Even now, given his circumstances of being an entirely different Lars, he naturally wasn’t to be classified as such, but from the outside perspective…

“Right… Thank you, Vanessa,” he responded awkwardly. Lars then finished his conversation with her after some small talk, going to find Leonard next. He had a lot to discuss when it came to the next few days. Furthermore, the number of topics to address had suddenly increased now that he had spoken with his wife.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

You better not give me an excuse to punch you, Leonard… Lars warned inwardly as he sought out his assistant.

A man stood facing a window. The evening glow graced the inside of the room, casting a shadow over his rear as he faced the desk covered in papers. There was a notebook with a distinct leather cover placed conspicuously among the white sheets.

The door to Lars’ office opened and he walked in; as the back of Leonard met him, he looked around the room before returning his gaze towards him again. The assistant was already facing Lars before he could watch him turn around. It was an innocent, welcoming look that Leonard held.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Lars asked. He had no idea where Leonard usually stayed.

Leonard smiled, “Right. Where else would I be?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s strange.”

“It is.”

Leonard’s tone never changed. He was calm, as if oblivious to Lars’ suspicions.

“How much do you know?” Lars asked.

“Very little.”

“Then I suppose I’m going to have to tell you,” Lars lamented as he walked forward. He passed Leonard by, not sparing a glance his way as he did, sitting down on the chair behind his desk. “But first… You told Vanessa, didn’t you?”

“I was concerned about her...”

“Health,” Lars cut off.

“Right.”

Lars paused, then stated, “Victoria isn’t the last of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s still something in the mansion, which hasn’t been uncovered. I don’t know what the consequence of finding it will be—but we’re probably going to find it soon.”

Leonard passed a confused look. “What makes you say that?”

Lars explained why clashing with the abnormality was inevitable:

“That man—Siegfried—is staying with us the next few days. Whatever is lurking in the darkness, he’s going to sniff it out. Unless it goes after him first.”

Leonard blinked twice. “No, not that… What makes you say that there’s still something in the mansion?”

Lars pressed his lips together. They remained sealed, until he opened them again and uttered two words, “A voice.”

This time, Leonard shut his own mouth and kept it closed. He then smiled unnervingly, “Care to elaborate?”

I don’t know if he’s playing dumb, if he’s not connected, or if he’s actually ignorant… Lars considered the variables as he planned a response at his own leisure. When he decided how to respond, he then, as asked, elaborated, “A voice alerted me to Victoria’s presence in the middle of the night. Earlier, when speaking with the police officers, Bennett and Mitchell, it spoke to me again. It said three words, “Let them know.””

“About itself?”

“That’s what I assumed.”

“And does ‘them’… include me?”

“I don’t know.”

Leonard cleared his throat. He smiled knowingly, commenting, “This is a big risk you’re taking. Are you sure you should be acting on so little information?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Then why…?”

“Because, if I don’t act at all, I’ll get nowhere,” Lars stated.

Leonard chuckled in response. “You’ve gotten braver.”

Was the other me cowardly? No, he might be, albeit unintentionally, speaking to me too. I wouldn’t have taken this risk in the past either… Lars nodded as if to agree. He then decided it was time to be even more bold.

“About how we met,” Lars introduced. “Can you recall it?”

“How we met...? No, I don’t think so…” Leonard massaged his temples, putting on a performance of trying to remember. This was a surprising sight; he hadn’t been so expressive the entire conversation, but now he was acting in such a whimsical manner?

“What do you mean, you don’t think so? How couldn’t you…” Lars tried to point out the obvious fault, that it didn’t make sense for him to not know, but then cut himself off. After all, the reason he was asking was because he himself didn’t know under what circumstances they met.

Leonard hit the nail on the head, “Are you able to remember?”

Lars kept quiet. He didn’t want to answer because it would be obvious what the truth was, but the silence also gave away too much. Consequently, he was in a dilemma. Leonard then answered in an unprecedented fashion.

“There’s no way we could. After all, we never did meet.”

“What?” Lars exclaimed.

Leonard sat on the desk. He looked away, placing his hand on the notebook, “No beginning, no end. I’ve always been your assistant.”