The Amulet of Tenebrae

Kendra pulled the picture a little bit closer to her face so she could look at the amulet a bit closer. She touched the photo with her finger trying to figure out why that amulet looked so familiar to her.

A strong wind suddenly blew up and made her drop the photo. She yelped and held onto her hat and closed her eyes. The windows flew open and a bunch of papers swarmed her feet. "What was that?" She said as she opened her eyes and looked down at the papers. "This place just gets more and more weird...but also interesting. I wonder if it is haunted?"

She picked up the papers and took them over to the desk to look over. Maybe there were some answers in those documents.

There was drawings of the amulet but it...looked different. The spots where the indents were had two purple stone in their place, they looked similar to the earrings her uncle sent her for her birthday last year.

There were side notes on the images, 'note to self, check over last weeks experiment results. Should be in the shelf back in the lab.'

"That's the amulet from the photo!" She picked up the photo from the floor and compared it with the drawing she found on one of the documents. "I wonder if my uncle made all these?" She looked over the documents and the drawings closely.

"Hmm, those two stones in the middle of the amulet look like the earrings Uncle Terrence sent me for my birthday not too long ago." She reached into her cross body bag and pulled out the small box that contained the earrings. She compared them with the drawing.

"They are almost identical." She looked at the side notes near the drawings. "Experiments results? In the lab? I wonder?" She took the earrings with her and went to find this so called "lab". It had to be in the mansion somewhere.

The other papers were not saying much else to where the lab was located.

'....Ken....dra......." a whisper spoke her name, the door was open and there was a short moment there was a shadow moving away from the door.

Kendra walked back up the east hallway until she came to the staircase again. "Hmm, where to now." The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. She turned back around to face down the east hallway and heard someone whisper her name in a shallow voice. At the corner of her eye, she swore she saw a shadow moving away from the door.

"Wh-who's there? How do you know my name?" She approached the door slowly and reached out to open it a bit more. Her hands were shaking.

No one answered her and the wind was picking up outside, seemed like a storm was coming her way out of no where. But when she opened the door, There was no one in sight, but the shadow she just saw before, was heading downstairs, "Ken......dra......." the voice spoke again.

Kendra pushed the door open and found nothing but an empty room. "H-Hello?" Just then she heard her name again. She turned around and saw the shadow going downstairs. "Hey! Wait!" She went after it wanting to see what this thing wanted. She went down the stairs too fast and stumbled over her feet as she approached the bottom. She fell down the rest of the way and dropped the earrings on the floor. They rolled out of the box and onto the floor.

"Ugh...Ooouch..." She sat up slowly and rubbed her head. She scrambled to get the earrings and put them back in the box holding it close to her heart. She looked around frantically for the shadow and listened for her name again.

One of the earrings's hooks snapped off when hey hit the floor, but the gem stayed in tact.

The shadow had vanished when she landed at the bottom of the stairs, but not long after, 'This way..' it spoke differently, sounding out to her from a door heading west of the stairs.

Kendra perked up when she heard the voice again. She followed it heading deeper into the bottom floor of the house. It was dark and the storm outside seemed to be getting worse.

The voice had brought her to the study room, where many books lined the walls, and piles of read books on the tables and papers all over the the place. An old leather arm chair sat by a fireplace was was.....lit for some reason.

The earrings began to vibrate slightly.

She followed the voice into what looked like a study or small library. "Wow...this is amazing." There were books all over the desk and papers strown about. The fireplace was lit which was very odd. "How did-" The small box containing the earrings began to vibrate in her bag. "What's going on?!" She opened the box and noticed one of the books on the earring had come off. "Oh no!" She picked up the broken earring and felt it vibrating in her palm. She gasped and dropped it and the box containing the other earring to the floor.

It seemed to be the only room that was not in the public view of guests or what not in the manor, like only her Uncle was ever inside this room. There was even a smoking pipe on the old leather chair, and a box of tobacco on the side table.

There were drawings on the desk, of...odd looking people, with pale skin and dark hair; one had an intense stare and a rather saucy expression.

The errings then began to glow a little now as well, like they were sensing something close to them.

Kendra followed the familiar smell toward the arm chair near the fireplace. There was a little pipe sitting on an ash tray. She inhaled the familiar smell, "Uncle..." She whispered. He always smelt of pipe tobacco. That was the one thing she remembered about him most.

She walked over to the desk and saw more drawings scattered across the table top. Odd looking humanoid creatures caught her attention.

"What are these? Demons?" She asked herself aloud as she leaned in closer to look at them. The earrings in her hand began to vibrate a bit more and even began to glower faintly. Whenever she moved, the intensity would get brighter or fade. "They are looking for something..." She followed the glow of the earrings as they led her around the room.

Arriving back to her room, the amulet was found glowing AS WELL as the earrings and they both synchronised the glow effect, as Kendra stepped closer to the pendant.

Following the intensity of the glow led her back to where she started and she found the amulet beginning to react as well. She moved closer to the pendent and saw that it was missing something in the middle. "The earrings..."

She took the broken one out and placed it in one of the empty slots. "It fits!" She looked at the other earring and saw the reaction getting stronger.

Removing the hook off the other earring so it could fit and they both snapped into place and the amulet glowed brightly! Then the amulet began to release a pulse of energy, floating right before her.

Then just as it suddenly started, the amulet stopped glowing and it stayed there floating in front of her, spinning slowly, waiting for her to take it.

Kendra stepped back when the amulet shined bright once it was fully assembled. Once the light dispursed, she looked at it and saw it floating. A pulsating energy came from it drawing her to it. She slowly approached the amulet and hesitantly reached out her and to take a hold of it.

The amulet, still warm to the touch, laid in her hands but looked like any normal piece of jewellery now, "Pretty little gem isn't it?" spoke a smooth voice.

The amulet rested in the palm of her hand and returned to normal. "What was that?" She asked herself aloud. She suddenly gasped when a new voice spoke to her. She gripped the amulet and looked around. "Who said that?" She knew it wasn't the sound of her uncles voice.

The voice chuckled, "You followed my shadow didn't you?"

"Go to the study again. And look for 'Demones ad Tenebrae' and you'll find out more." he had a teasing tone to his words.

Kendra looked around the room trying to pinpoint where tje voice was coming from. It was different than the voice she heard before that called her name.

"Where are you? Show yourself?" She said before she left the room to follow the voices instructions.

"Go to the study and Look for the book 'Demones ad Tenebrae' and you'll find me soon enough." it teased a little bit more, giving a little snigger.

"Unless you are nothing but a wimpy little mouse?" the voice goaded.

Kendra could sense something in the room with her, but she just wasn't sure exactly what it was. The voice started to provoke her and call her out.

"I am not afraid." She said simply and squeezed the amulet in her hand before running out to go back to the study. Once inside, she scanned the desk and the drawers looking for a book with something about Tenebrae or anything about demons. An old looking thick book was at the bottom of the top drawer hidden under a bunch of papers. It was just as the voice described. In bold letters across the cover it read, 'Demons of Tenebrae'.

"This is it!" She cleared the desk top and opened the book carefully to see if anything stuck out to her as she flipped through the pages.

The moment she pulled it out, a click sounded off behind the bookcase and a secret door opened up, showing a secret set of stairs that was leading down UNDER the manor.

Kendra's eyes widened when a secret door suddenly opened after she took the book from the shelf. "Ok...this just got a lot more intense." She took out her cell phone and turned the flashlight on before she started down the stairs into the darkness. She put the book in her bag along with the amulet and began walking. The passage door closed behind her. "No turning back now..." She said with a gulp.