The Curse of Arnford Manor

By Mythical Traveller
[mythmanxvi (at) hotmail.com]

CHAPTER VI: Toxic


Residence of Mr. D. Fielding, Holliston, NC
July 15th, 1931, 6:57pm.
Dean paraded down his front porch with his usual cocky stride. He approached the 
swing seat at the end, preparing to have a good smoke. This was a habit of his. It was 
his way of winding down after work. The porch seat faced towards the sunset, but 
Dean chose to sit there for less romantic reasons. He liked it because it was 
comfortable, and because it was out in the fresh air.

Dean had just finished filling his cherrywood pipe and had retrieved the matchbook 
from his back pocket when an icy breeze suddenly rushed past him. He looked up, 
towards the street-side corner of the porch. He was certain he mustve been mistaken, 
but he could swear the shadow in the corner was getting darker... much, much darker. 
Looking around, Dean could see that everything else had an appropriate dusky glow. 
No cloud had drifted in front of the sun. But that corner was becoming as black as 
midnight!

Then, when it seemed the shadow could grow no stronger, Dean saw something 
stirring within  something big. The shadow lady rose from the darkness, though 
Dean could not fathom how she had gotten there. She advanced on him in a calm, 
graceful manner. Dean quickly realized the stranger was a woman, with a superb 
hourglass figure. For the most part, all he could make out was her silhouette, as the 
sun was behind her. But there were two things he was acutely aware of: her long, 
shiny hair and her absolute nudity! As she came within arms reach, Dean was also 
able to see that her breasts were full and very firm. Not as large as his fiancees, but 
still incredibly desirable.

He was totally paralyzed. A potent mix of arousal and shock rushed through his veins, 
making him tremble. He was mortified by the way his anatomy responded to the 
womans presence.

The shadow lady seemed to relish the mans helplessness. She gently took one of his 
limp hands and placed it against her smooth navel. She brushed his fingers over the 
surface of her breast and stroked his palm a single time with her erect nipple. Then 
she raised his hand to her mouth and laid a soft kiss upon the tip of his index finger. 
After a brief pause, the shadow lady put his finger between her tepid lips once more. 
Only this time, she began to gently suck on it.

Deans pipe slipped from his mouth and fell to the floor, breaking in two. 


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Albright Road, Holliston, NC
July 15th, 1931, 7:04pm.
Theresa Colby moseyed merrily along the footpath, admiring the picturesque orange 
sky above the distant hills. She was on her way to invite her fiance to join her and her 
father for dinner.

Soon arriving at the familiar home, which she would soon call her own, she stepped 
through the picketed white gate and started up the front path. But after a just a few 
steps, she saw something very odd. Her fianc, Dean, was sitting in the swing seat on 
the front porch, tightly gripping the back of the seat with both hands. His gaze was 
turned towards the porch ceiling and he had a bizarre look of great urgency on his 
face. At first, Theresa assumed he was having some kind of seizure and was about to 
race to his side, until she caught sight of a head cloaked in raven hair bobbing up and 
down between his legs.

Her heart shattered into a million pieces. Theresa had never performed fellatio, but 
she knew what it was, thanks to a lewd young lady at her finishing school who often 
boasted about her expertise in the act. She looked on, shuddering, snivelling in 
despair. When she could stand it no longer, Theresa fled from the sickening spectacle 
as fast as her legs could carry her.

Oblivious to what his fiance had seen, Dean winced as his mysterious partner bought 
him to climax. His solid maleness throbbed over and over, with mighty ejaculations. 
But a brief instant of bittersweet ecstasy quickly became a horrific end. Deans lungs 
failed, leaving him unable to breathe. His muscles froze permanently in their tense 
state, like petrified wood. He could actually feel his health and vitality leaving him 
through his cock. Finally, the world became dark and so very cold and then he was 
gone.

Deans skin contracted closer to his bones and turned a jaundiced yellow. His face 
froze in a distorted moan of coital triumph. The flies wasted no time in settling on his 
lifeless meat.

Between his legs, the shadow ladys throat undulated as every last drop of Deans 
thick, salty load descended into her unholy stomach.  


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Residence of Mr. G. Colby, Holliston, NC
July 15th, 1931, 8:30pm
Alone in her dark bedroom, Theresa had been laying on her bed, weeping into her 
pillow for over an hour. She had no tears left in her, though she still couldnt stop 
crying.

How could he do this to her? She had never so much as thought of other men since he 
began wooing her. She had kept her body pure and she wouldve eagerly given herself 
to him on their wedding night, if he had only waited...

The closed door to her room had not moved, yet Theresa suddenly felt like she was no 
longer alone. She lifted her head from her pillow and immediately saw the shadow 
lady standing near her wardrobe, buck-naked. Theresa was too emotionally exhausted 
to be afraid of the intruder, or to scream for help, so she just stared at her, quizzically. 
Theresa hadnt gotten a good look at Deans illicit partner, so she didnt even suspect 
that the stranger before her was the same woman.

The shadow lady smiled at Theresa and walked over to her side. She kneeled by the 
bedside, reached over and began gently stroking Theresas hair. At first, Theresa was 
wary of the uninvited intruder. But in her deeply depressed state, it wasnt long before 
she welcomed the shadow ladys comfort. Theresa scooched over closer and the 
shadow lady embraced her. It bought back fond memories of the way her late mother 
used to hold her whenever she was upset. She nuzzled the shadow ladys supple 
bosom and stopped sobbing all together after a just few minutes.

Being coddled in such an intimate way awoke nascent instincts in Theresa. Without 
even thinking about it, she lifted her lips to the shadow ladys teat and began to 
suckle, only lightly at first. Within seconds, Theresa was actually drinking from her 
breast.

The substance the shadow lady secreted was icy cold and so bitter it seared Theresas 
tongue like vomit. Yet, trickling down her throat, it felt wonderfully refreshing, like a 
glass of ice water on the hottest day of summer. It was a powerfully addictive 
sensation, which only made Theresa crave her mysterious wet nurses milk even 
more. She wrapped her arms around the shadow ladys back and held her hungrily. 
The shadow lady grinned and pulled Theresas head tighter against her breast with 
one hand, while gently petting her own nether regions with the other.

Both women began to moan  louder, louder, louder... 


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Room 4, Redford Inn, Holliston, NC
July 15th, 1931, 8:41pm
The four witches and Swift Coyote were gathered around the main bedroom 
discussing the discoveries they had made that afternoon. Swift Coyote, who had 
eagerly removed his chafing shirt and jacket upon returning to the room, sat on the 
double bed alongside Nina. Levinia was seated on a stiff wooden chair nearby and 
Nerine was leaning comfortably against the bathroom doorframe. Demi was 
uncharacteristically distanced from the others. She was stretched out upon the single 
bed, engrossed in the leather journal she had so shrewdly recovered from the church.

...As for the priests, Nina continued, The first one just dropped dead one day, with 
no apparent cause. His replacement hanged himself about a year later and the second 
replacement fell out a glass window and died of his injuries. Though Im sure that 
the word fell is just a kind euphemism for hurled himself.

By then, the proper church in the town had been built, so it was decided that the 
manor house no longer needed an exclusive chaplain.

These priests are starting to sound more and more like early victims of the curse, 
rather than the ones who cast it, Levinia opined.

We got the same impression from their graves, Nerine stated. We also made an 
interesting discovery at the cemetery. We found the graves of four of the men who 
suffered the unusual deaths. At each one there was a... what did you call it?

A spiritual void, Swift Coyote responded. It means that their spiritual journey has 
been interfered with. Their spirits are not where they are supposed to be.

Yes, said Nerine, but in particular, the void around one of those graves was 
connected to the manifestation we fought in Applebury. Now, we worked it out and if 
were right about these men fathering the babies abandoned at the Arnford, then the 
man in that grave is the father of the orphan Katherine.

Katherine? Nina exclaimed in surprise.

Yes, the one whose body was never found.

Not only that, but it was in her bedroom that the manifestation first took physical 
form, Nina clarified.

And that was the same room where they found the first victim, as well, wasnt it? 
The young man, Daniel, who had also come from The Arnford? Nerine asked. Nina 
nodded. Then I think I understand how the manifestation came to be. Bear with me 
here:

All living things have a life force that is created by a melding of their mother and 
fathers life forces, yes? But these babies have an abnormal parentage. Their fathers 
seem to be ordinary men, but their maternal heritage... is something very dark. I 
suspect that the essence of those children is a balanced fusion of life-force and death-
force, or corrupt energy. 

I think that on the night that the manifestation appeared, one of those offspring, 
Daniel, donated the corrupt half of his soul to another offspring, Katherine. When it 
combined with her own corrupt half, it produced a full body of corrupt energy. 
Katherine was the manifestation!

But how could Daniel donate his corrupt energy to Katherine? Swift Coyote asked.

How does a man usually donate his essence to a woman? Nerine responded with a 
facetious smile.

Oh. Right, Swift Coyote sheepishly acknowledged that hed understood.

I expect that they were all of a sudden drawn to each other, once theyd both reached 
maturity... like a sort of biological clock. These offspring would have powerful 
instincts to unite their energies and create a manifestation if ever the opportunity came 
about. Nerine theorized.

Do you think the man knew that she would kill him afterwards? Swift Coyote 
asked.

I dont think she did. I think he died the instant he came, Nerine answered. 
Nothing can survive with only half a soul. Once his dark half had been passed over 
to Katherine, his body would have been destroyed. But to answer your question, I 
wouldnt be surprised if he knew the deed would be a self-sacrifice. Many creatures 
willingly sacrifice themselves to serve their life cycle. The male black-widow spider 
deliberately impales itself on the fangs of its mate, during sex. Such is the power of 
instinct.

Of course all this is only a theory... But even if Im right, it still only leads us back to 
the bigger question: who is the shadow lady?

I think her name might be Marcia Arnford, Nina offered.

So do I, Levinia agreed. Marcia Arnford lived in the manor during the late 18th 
century. She was the wife of the local landowner. According to the records I read 
today, she had an extremely dark temper. She was reputed to be very abusive to at 
least one of her children. She used to have furious outbursts where she would scream 
about her intentions to, Escape Gods judgement. She flagrantly shunned the 
religious beliefs of the rest of the family and had some kind of conflict with the manor 
chaplain, the first of those three priests you investigated, Levinia explained, nodding 
at Nina.
 
Then in 1799, she suddenly committed suicide and shortly after that, the manor 
suffered a long series of misfortunes, she continued.

Like it had been cursed? Swift Coyote hinted.

Indeed, Levinia replied. Three years later, one of her daughters disappeared 
without trace, never to be seen again. Within five years of her suicide, the manor 
chaplains started dying in quick succession. The crop yield for the plantation began to 
decline over the years, though the yields of every other farm in the region fluctuated 
normally. By 1830, the manor had been abandoned by the Arnford family all 
together.

Gerald Colby told me that Marcia Arnford was supposed to be buried somewhere 
close to the manor, Nina said. But when the hotel extensions were built around the 
original house, they never found any trace of her. Its possible that her grave was in an 
area where no renovation was done. But the work was extensive, so thats not likely. 
The other possibility... is that Marcia Arnford didnt stay buried.

Youre thinking that her body is still walking around? Levinia guessed.

Our lore makes mention of several forbidden spells that can make a person immortal. 
If she was a dark sorceress and tried to perform such a spell upon herself... a ritual 
suicide would have been required, Nerine said. The caster rests until theyve gone 
through rigor mortis, then they awaken. By that time, the family may have already 
buried her. The entire process would have imbued her with dark powers.

Powers like the shadow ladys? Nina asked.

Possibly, yes, Nerine answered.

Then that might be the answer, said Nina. But theres only one way to be sure: we 
need to go back to the Arnford and find that grave.

I dont think so! Demi proclaimed, looking up from her musty old book with 
excitement in her eyes. Listen to this...
