horror effect

A year later, the war was over, and suddenly one day Collivan came to us and said that he had always buried a secret in his heart.

It turned out that after he dragged us away from the execution site, he went back alone.

The adults were searching the Moratov estate when he returned, and it seemed they must be looking for something of value.One of them found a document while rummaging through the contents of the safe. He read it to the others, and Collevin heard its contents.

In fact, Collivan told us, that document was enough to prove that Albert G was not a spy.

(They killed the wrong man! Stephen yelled.)

The adults were also very surprised, Collivan told us.Albert G was indeed a German, but he was not a fascist spy, on the contrary, he was a spy of the German Resistance.Those adults not only killed the wrong person, but also brutally killed two innocent people.This obviously freaked them all out.After discussing it, they decided to keep the secret strictly.Except for those few people, only Papa Collivan and our sisters knew about it.

When the white lion appeared we immediately realized what was going on.He is taking revenge. He tortured the murderers of the past to death one by one. The pain they suffered when they died was unimaginable, but now he is starting to destroy their descendants.The White Lion will not die again - the ghost will not be killed, and his vengeance may continue until everyone in this town is dead!It was a horrible sight.

When Sister Tofana stopped, Julian and Stephen looked at each other in disbelief, unable to imagine that this was actually true.Julian stroked his forehead, while Stephen bit his nails unconsciously.

Death always comes in a funny way, thought Julian, to make fun of weak human beings.When the seven murderers entered the door of Moratov's house, they must have thought in their hearts that they were messengers of justice, and it was only an hour later that they realized that they were despicable butchers.Killed the wrong person!How ridiculous!Killed the innocent!They would be sworn to secrecy and destroy evidence.

But what about the dead?

What about Albert G and Bernus Molatov?They chill, get buried, and rot.

//He's dead, ma'am,

he died;

On his head was a patch of green turf,

There is a stone under your feet. //

The murderer walked over their bones for more than 60 years.

If it were me, I would probably retaliate for this too.Julian couldn't help thinking.He twisted the corners of his mouth into a small, stern smile.

"So," Julian asked Sister Tofana, "can you tell us who those seven are?"

The twin sisters studied him carefully. "Well. They are our parents, Colleven's father, Ishak Theoros, Erin Mladenov, Robert Bovay, and Olga Antonova."

"They are all... dead now?" Stephen asked.

"Yes. Both our parents were seriously ill, Collivan's father died of liver cancer, Theoros had a hemangioma, Mladenov fell off a cliff while climbing and died, Bouai and Antono The children also died one after another.”

"Do descendants of these people know the secret as much as you do?" Julian asked.

"At that time, they all swore to keep the secret, and they should not tell their children. But it does not rule out that someone has said it."

"Where's Elena Theoros? She told me she knew something."

"..." Sister Tofana tightened her lips. "We don't know." "We don't know." They answered coldly.

"And what about Herbert Wernstein? He also seems to be..."

The two sisters looked at each other and said, "He only came to town a few years ago." "We don't know what happened to him." "But." "We've always suspected he had something to do with the whole thing."

Stepping out of the tattered gates of the twin sisters' home, Stephen threw Julian a string of questions.

"Why did you mention Mrs. Theoros? What did she tell you? What is your relationship?"

Julian didn't answer right away, he waved his hand, motioned for Stephen to lower his voice, and then led him to the room at the Cedar Hill Hotel.

"Irena was once my mistress," he said.

"once!"

"On the night of the Bowai couple's wedding banquet, you broke into my room rashly. The situation at that time should make you understand our relationship. But you may not have thought about why Irone wants to be my mistress. ?”

“Because you are handsome?” Stephen said with a sneer.

"wrong."

"Because you're a reporter?"

"Nor."

"Because you're from London?"

"Close. Well, I'll tell you. You caught us on a date at the cemetery, and we actually made a deal that night: I'll help Irene get out of this place and settle in England; on the condition that She will tell me secrets about Theoros' past."

"Why would she do this?" Stephen was a little puzzled.

"Guess what," Julian said with a smile.

Stephen blinked.

"I knew you didn't understand her behavior. It doesn't matter, actually, Irene never saw me after Theoros died anyway, I think she may not want to leave, and our agreement is one-sided Release."

"So she didn't say anything."

Julian nodded.

"But we might get her to talk. It's eleven o'clock at night, well, we're going to visit her tomorrow, and you'd better call Nicola first. And we need to tell Sister Tofana to us now." tidy things up."

Julian didn't ask the Tofana sisters why they wanted to tell them the secret. He could feel from their words that they told the secret in the hope that the two of them could prevent Bernus Molatov's revenge.

The dead cannot be resurrected, so it is meaningless to study the dead too much. It is better to focus on those who will be cursed by the white lion, and from the deaths of Theoros and Colliven, the white lion has begun to treat the dead. The descendants of the seven murderers did it.But Julian knew very well that he didn't know how to stop the white lion. It seemed to be the master of all things visible and invisible in this town, and all he and Stephen could do was to find the lion in danger. people, remind them.

In addition, they must find out the relationship between Herbert Wernstein and the white lion as soon as possible. If Herbert is indeed its accomplice, any of his actions should be stopped immediately.

In this regard, Julian found that they had encountered a big trouble - even if the evidence was seized, it would be impossible to hand Herbert over to the police, because the law does not believe in any ghosts and monsters, and they may think that Herbert is delusional He has a tendency to be sick, but he will never be imprisoned.

While putting together the story told by Sister Tofana, Julian and Stephen found something interesting:

First of all, among the descendants of the seven murderers, the two sons of Mladenov were the first to die. In fact, they died on the same day as their father. When Erin Mladenov fell from the cliff, he His two sons went to look for him, but unfortunately there was an avalanche, and the three of them died one after another.

Secondly, the four sons and daughters of Ishak Theoros have all died one after another, because they are all in other places, and the cause of death is not clear, and two of the descendants of these four sons and daughters, including the logging factory owner Theoros, have also died .

In the end, Robert Boai's son, the banker Mikhail Boai, was alive and well, but his son-in-law, Anton Hostatov, also a relative of Theoros, was alive and well. Died in the Bosnian War.

For this situation, Julian and Stephen felt a little at a loss.None of this many strings of deaths could qualify as "premeditated injuries."

Avalanches, diseases, wars happen by accident, but there may also be the intervention of white lions.For example, the avalanche that killed three members of the Mladenov family is an accidental manifestation of the harshness of nature, but who knows if the white lion once deliberately let a piece of snow slide down?They can't prove it.

The only trace of the White Lion is the paw print on Theoros' chest when he died, but everyone present at the time had a chance to create one.

As the research continued, the two of them discovered a problem: among the seven murderers, the offspring of Olga Antonova had never been found, as if they had disappeared from the world.The official records had been lost in the war, and Stephen called and asked some people, but they didn't know, not even Sister Tofana.

But Julian felt intuitively that Olga Antonova's descendants must still be alive.

"Could it be Herbert Wernstein?" Stephen asked.

"No," Julian shook his head, "If that's the case, Herbert should be the one to be killed, but he's obviously fine."

"Maybe the white lion is using him?"

"Well... that's possible. By the way, I want to ask you, Stephen, how do you feel about the story told by Sister Tofana?"

"I thought the windows would be covered with black cloth when the seven murderers were sentenced, the room would be lit only by flames, and Albert G and Bernus Molatov would die at the stake." Stephen pretended to be serious said like.

"Flame court! It's a good idea."

"That will be a very spectacular ceremony." Stephen said happily, with a hint of longing in his eyes.

Elena Theolos sat by the window, thinking about the future.

At the funeral of Theoros, she met Mikhail Boyai, who said that the money borrowed by the Theoros family would not be repaid, even if he gave it to them.It makes her happy.

Some money was spent on the funeral, and after paying off the debts, there was still some left over, which could be used for Nicholas to go to school and get a doctor's qualification;She once learned simple sewing, and later went to a big city to study some short-term courses so that she could open a tailor shop.

Elena doesn't expect to live a luxurious life, that dream has been shattered, and now she only hopes to live a stable life.

Yes, when Nikolai and she both had their own jobs, they could end their bloodless lives and get out of this cold, terrible place.

It doesn't take long, two or three years is enough, and then she will be alone again.Would she still be married then?Elena didn't know.Will she love again?She gave her best years to the land and mountains here.

Besides, Irone thought, she was not so concerned about relationships anymore.The change occurred around the time of Theolos' serious illness. Being with a living dead who lost his soul every day made her see a lot of things clearly, and she realized that she wasted so much time.

Everything will start all over again, she will move to another city and forget everything here...

Irene turned pale when she saw Julian and Stephen approaching through the window, got up and ran to her room.

She didn't want to see Julian, both because she was ashamed of what she had done before, and because she was afraid that if she saw him, she would uncontrollably beg him to take her away.The doorbell rang, and Elena hid behind the door trembling, and the doorbell continued to ring.After what seemed like a long time, the ringing finally stopped.

She thought she heard Julian's voice say "Leave."

leave!she thinks.

leave!

She slammed the door of her room open, rushed to the door, and flung it open.Julian and Stephen were already eight or nine meters away.

"Hey!" she yelled, before realizing the trill in her voice and forcing herself to calm down.

"It's you... are you looking for me?"

Julian and Stephen looked back at her.

"Oh, sorry, Mrs. Theoros, we thought Nikolai had told you."

"Ah... yes, yes, I was behind and didn't hear the bell. Come in, come in." Irene had an unnaturally excessive smile on her face, which confused Julian.

As soon as she entered the door, Elena began to talk about all kinds of news in the town, such as Mrs. Barnin who fell into a coma because she ate cakes, the oysters in the Cedar Hill Inn were not kept properly and were forced to be thrown as garbage, Europe The heavy snowfall in the central country, the drop in interest rates on bank deposits, etc., made Stephen look impatient with Julian several times.

Then she was suddenly concerned about what Julian and Stephen drank and what they ate.

"Tea? Wine? Juice? Or soda? It's cold in this season, so drink hot tea. And what do you like with tea? I'm afraid I only have small cakes, but I have all kinds of jams, citrus, lingonberry." , lime, or melon? Oh, maybe you want some biscuits?"

"Ms. Theolos." Julian had to stop her. "We've walked all the way, just hot tea. Thank you."

Elena smiled awkwardly, turned and walked into the kitchen.Julian found her somewhat disappointed.

When the hot tea was served, Julian and Stephen discussed the purpose of their visit.

After their explanation, Irene sighed deeply, stared at her glass for a while, lost in thought, and then stared at Julian motionless, with a dazed expression on her face.When Stephen began to wonder if she would be able to tell them the secret, Irene said, "Okay. I know it's impossible to escape the day."