The figure stood at the base of a flat-topped house. Grace looked up at a second figure. A woman with shoulder-length dark hair.
They seemed to be having a conversation. But it was way too far away for Grace to hear what was being said. She looked hard at the figure. The moon wasn’t all that bright and now some cloud scudded in front of it, so the scene went from silvery radiance to deep shadow.
The figure Grace had followed through the wood was a woman. She had a head of long copper-colored hair. When the moon shone at its brightest, Grace saw metallic-red tints. Awesome hair.
Only, the body looked so thin as to be emaciated.
Legs like sticks, Grace told herself. Thin arms too. They held the still-silent baby to her chest.
There was some quality about the woman on the driveway that made Grace’s skin want to crawl off her bones. Something wrong about it.
Once when the moon flickered through the cloud, the figure had turned briefly as if to look at Grace.
She had recoiled.
That’s not a woman… that’s a dead body. She has no eyes, only empty sockets.
But a dead woman walking?
Surely a trick of the meager light?
And that baby. It never moved once. Never made a sound.
She shivered.
She didn’t like what she was seeing… leastways, she didn’t like what her imagination was telling her she was seeing.
Corpse of a woman carries dead baby to house in the middle of night.
Snap out of it, Grace Bucklan. You’ve gone through hell. You’re a teenage runaway. You’ve driven thousands of miles. You’ve been attacked. You’ve been forced to go down on a stranger at gunpoint. Now you’re out in some godforsaken canyon alone. You haven’t slept properly in days.
No wonder your mind is playing weird stunts on you.
That isn’t a dead woman—a dead naked woman—you see. It’s a woman in distress. Now somehow, she’s reached this house. The homeowner is talking to her from the roof.
Telling her to go away?
Driven by the sense of injustice in the world, and an overpowering desire to help someone in need tonight, Grace walked along the woodland path.
She’d do the right thing.
She’d help the half-starved woman and the infant.
Then her conscience would be clear.
April spoke softly to her caller. She knew they were still there below her on the drive.
“It’s late… I guess it must still be dark. Are you hungry? Thirsty?”
No reply.
“Surely you must be ready to rest after your walk all the way up here?”
April heard the crackle of gravel as her caller moved a foot. She interpreted that as them being tired.
“Why don’t you come in for a while? You can rest. Have a cold drink.” She fingered the soft fabric of her negligee. “There’s no hurry to leave, is there?”
Again a crackle of stones beneath feet. She interpreted this in the affirmative. She’d bring her caller into the house. They’d like her home. They’d like her. They’d want to stay. She was sure of it.
Her heart surged with happiness.
For a split second she could hear her father’s admonishment: “Now, now, April, you simply don’t invite strangers into the house just like that…”
You’re not as lonely as I am. You don’t know what it’s like. Lonely people don’t even feel the touch of another’s hand for so long, they fear they will go mad. Isolation is cancer. Loneliness, the death of spirit.
She patted the top of the wall in excitement. Anxiety too. She didn’t want her caller to retreat into the woods. Clearly they were incredibly shy.
“Just stay there. Please be patient. It will take me a little time to find my way downstairs and open the door. But please stay a while.”
Lifting the front of her negligee with one hand so she didn’t trip, she hurried for the doorway that led to the stairs.
In her heart she was certain. After tonight nothing would be the same ever again.
Cody glanced back at Pix. “What’s wrong?”
She stared at him. Her eyes were bright in the moonlight. Her expression looked… it looked… well, odd. Cody shifted uncomfortably. He’d just climbed onto the fallen trunk of a tree to see if he could get a better view. Perhaps spot the AWOL Grace.
His girlfriend had acted so weird. But then she’d suffered stress and a half over the last twenty-four hours.
Only now it was little sister’s turn.
She stood with her feet apart so the little skin was stretched tight. Her arms hung down by her side. Her shoulders were high, though, as if she was tense.
And worse?
It was that stare of hers. She stared right at him.
The moonlight’s falling on her… she’s turning into a werewolf…
Nope.
Worse than that.
“Cody?”
“What’s wrong? Do you feel ill?”
“I’ve been thinking. I’d like it if you kissed me.”
“What?”
“I can’t get it out of my head. I want you to kiss me.”
“Pix, stop fooling around.” He forced a grin… she was pulling his leg. She’d done plenty of that in the past. “We’re looking for your sister. She might be in trouble.” He jumped down from the log.
“She’s just using you, Cody. She wanted you to bring her here just so she could be in the movies. She doesn’t really love you. Not the way—”
“Pix.”
“I love you.”
“Pix. Stop fooling.”
But she didn’t seem to be fooling.
Not by a long shot. She lunged forward, grabbed his head in both hands, and yanked it down so her lips slammed against his.
“Pix. No. Stop it.” The words came out in a garble. Her tongue was already straining through his lips into his mouth. “S’not right, Pix. Grace…”
“Grace isn’t here. Hold me tight, Cody.”
“Nn—ghhh.” Her tongue shot into his mouth again, working with a muscular ferocity against his. Her hands went everywhere. Everywhere. Cody couldn’t believe it.
Was there madness in the Bucklan family? First Grace, now Pix?
“Pix, you mustn’t do that, it’s… Pix!”
She pushed herself forward against him. He felt her small, firm breasts against his midriff. She kissed like a demon. As much fury as passion.
He retreated.
Caught the heel of his cowboy boot on a branch. Fell heavily on his rear.
She pounced.
Trying to unbuckle his belt.
Tried to tug down his zipper.
All the time her mouth clamped on his.
“Pix… Pix, stop it!”
He reached up, grabbed her by the shoulders, and swung her down so she slammed back against the forest floor.
Even though he heard the “Uph!” of her breath knocked from her, still she didn’t let up.
He rolled on top of her, gripped her wrists.
That’s when she melted beneath him. “Okay,” she whispered. “You be on top. It’ll be nicer.”
“No, Pix. Listen, I don’t want you. I love your sister.”
“But I love you, Cody.” A little of the old whiny note returned.
“No, you only think you do.”
“But I can’t stop thinking about you. I keep imagining you kissing me. I imagine you—”
“Pix, no. It’s wrong.”
“Is not.”
“It is.”
“But I can’t get you out of my mind,” she whispered.
“When did all this start?” he asked.
“When we left the pickup.”
He looked at her, astounded. “You mean you’ve only started having…” He searched for the word. “Having feelings for me in the last few minutes?”
“Yes.” She nodded, solemn. “Now I can’t stop thinking about you.”
“Oh for Pete’s sake, Pix. You don’t fall in l
ove as quickly as that.”
“Love at first sight.”
“You’ve seen me plenty.”
“Cupid’s arrow.”
“Lack of sleep more like.” Still holding her wrists, he rose to his knees. “Now, I’m going to let you go. But no weird stuff. Okay?”
She looked up at him with big, gooey eyes. “Whatever you say, Cody.”
“All right.” Releasing her, he stood up, dusting off his pants as he did so. “Now you get up onto your feet. Then you’re going to follow me as we go look for Grace.”
“Whatever you say, Cody.”
Her meek voice made him uneasy, but at least she was no longer trying to suck the lips off his face.
She held up her hands.
“Help?”
“But no more wrestling me, all right?” He switched on the flashlight. “Now stick close, d’you hear?”
“I will.” She gave him a shy, girlish smile.
Dear God. This I don’t need.
They walked on through the trees. In a little while they reached a clearing that revealed a house.
“Sheesh,” Pix breathed. “If ever there was a haunted house, that’s the one.”
In the moonlight Cody could see a figure move cautiously through the open gates and along the driveway. He shook his head, puzzled. “There’s Grace. But what on earth is she doing?”
Pix slipped her hand into his. “Looks to me as if she’s paying a visit to the spook house.”
Grace reached the gates to the drive. They were old and rusted and didn’t look as if they were even capable of closing anymore. She moved quickly along the driveway in the direction of the house that stood perhaps fifty yards away.
The curve of the driveway meant she lost sight of the front of the house for a few seconds. She walked in deep shadow. The trees reached over her in a way that was nothing less than nightmarish.
What was she getting herself into?
This was trespassing now.
Might just get myself shot by a jittery householder.
The half-starved woman with the baby might already be inside. This could be her home.
But it had just looked so odd. How she’d stood there clutching the silent baby to her while the woman on the roof, dressed in nothing but a negligee, had talked.
Had to be something peculiar going on here. Mighty peculiar.
Grace glimpsed the roof of the house above the bushes. It was empty now. Whoever the occupant was had gone down into the main body of the house.
She rounded a bend in the drive, gravel crackling beneath her feet. Her heart was thumping. She was close to finding out exactly what was going on here. The urge to answer the mystery was more powerful than the urge to turn back and find Cody.
She needed closure on this. She had to know that the woman and baby would be safe.
But what if this was her home, and the home of her abuser? Grace might land herself in hot water. If she caught the woman’s husband, boyfriend, or whatever beating up on her, what would the man do to Grace to keep her silent?
Heart pounding, she paused behind the last bush before open ground. There was the lawn in front of her. The house. It seemed to tower above her now. A forbidding structure.
More like a castle than a home.
A castle with ghosts. She shivered.
Do it, Grace. Solve the mystery. If you’re satisfied the woman and baby are safe, leave. If not, call the cops.
She peered over the bush.
Nothing happening. There was the woman and baby. The woman’s copper hair cascaded down her back to below her buttocks.
Those thin dark legs. So stick-like.
Like bones without flesh.
As Grace tried to decide whether to approach the woman or wait, there came movement from the bottom of the house.
A door opened. A large one. It could have led to a basement garage.
That was all.
No one appeared to welcome the woman. The door opened and that was that.
For a second the woman with copper hair stood still. She faced the dark opening where the door had been.
Maybe she’s afraid to enter?
Wondering who’s in there?
The pause didn’t last long. The woman with copper hair moved forward to be swallowed by the doorway.
Now Grace was alone in the dark. And she was still none the wiser about what had happened to the woman with the baby in her arms.
What would become of them?
There was no movement, but something was happening. Grace heard a thin squeaking. A mechanism maybe.
Metallic clanking. Not loud, but definitely coming from the house. Then a rattle, as if a shutter had been lowered.
But still the mystery.
What was happening to the woman and her baby?
Now Grace knew she couldn’t turn and walk away.
She was involved now. That meant acting decisively. A life might have to be saved.
Without hesitating she ran lightly across the lawn, avoiding the noisy gravel. Her feet whispered on grass.
She was at the doorway.
Then she was inside.
Darkness. She could see nothing but the pale opening of the doorway behind her. Finding a wall, she followed it, running her fingers across its hardness, into the depths of the house.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
“What did Grace go into the spook house for?”
Cody glanced across at Pix. She stood there in the moonlight. Her arms were folded and a mystified expression creased her face.
“I don’t know. She had to have had a reason, I guess.”
“Reason, huh? She’s gone crazy, that’s reason enough.”
“Come on,” he told her. “We’ve got to get her out of there.”
“Somehow.” Her expression showed she didn’t like this.
“We’ve got to do it, Pix. She might be in danger.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.” She shook her head. “I guess that means we’ll be in danger, too.”
“Pix, come on.”
“Better not be another guy who wants to put his dick in my mouth. That’s really gonna send me over the edge this time.”
He gave her a reassuring smile and held out his hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you.”
She looked delighted that he’d offered her his hand. Taking it, she walked with him, keeping up with his brisk pace down through the woods in the direction of the house.
Spook house. The words came to him as he looked down on the lonesome place. Yeah, Pix might not be far from the mark at that.
Grace tripped on some object in the dark. Why hadn’t the owner of the house turned on any damn lights?
She hit her knee on the floor. Bare concrete. Ouch. That stuff’s pretty unyielding.
Keeping her lips pressed together, she got to her feet. Now she kept her back to the wall as she moved on. This was smooth and slippery, almost a wood texture, but her fingertips felt a myriad of small holes too.
Just what was this place? It seemed way too big for an underground garage. She heard clanks of metal on metal. The sound didn’t echo back as she’d expect in a garage. It died instantly, as if something swallowed the echo.
This smooth material under her fingers perhaps.
Even as she slid along it, she felt fabric. It yielded slightly, as if there were a layer of stuffing under it.
Smooth hard walls? Now walls that yielded under fabric. Who’d fix padding to the inside of their garage? She frowned. If only someone would switch on the lights.
This wasn’t just weird.
It was frightening.
All she wanted was to see if the emaciated woman and her baby were safe. Now this had taken a whole more sinister turn.
She was in a strange underground room.
A bunker?
There was total darkness. Yet sounds of activity. Clanks, rattles, scraping sounds. The squeal of a mechanism in need of some lube. And the sounds were swallowed up somehow a
s soon as they were made.
Her hip knocked against an obstruction. Racks of some kind? Her hands reached out. Touched objects. Files? Books?
She realized the racks and the wall made a kind of gully. Quickly she slotted herself in. Crouched. If the lights came on, she might not be seen.
Not right away anyway.
And suddenly it seemed safer to be out of sight.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
The deep masculine voice boomed out of the darkness. “Lake… Lake. Move up to the platform. Present yourself. Do it quickly.” A breathless panting filled the room. It sounded amplified. “Obey, Lake. You will be punished if you do not hurry.”
Grace hunkered down between the racks and the wall.
Holy Christ. What kind of place was this? What was that voice?
Whose was that voice!
It thundered from every direction. She looked around. But could see nothing in that absolute dark.
And where were the woman and child?
Shit. She wanted out. Wanted out now. Before…
Before what?
Before something BAD happens.
She didn’t even like the smell of this place. Disinfectant odors hung in the air. Those were mingled with something like the smell of stale herbs and onions. A musty unpleasant smell that worked its way into her nostrils. The kind of smell that made you want to go shower.
“Lake, onto the platform. Present yourself. Hurry!”
Who’s Lake? That bass voice was commanding him to go to a certain place. A platform?
And to do what?
Present himself. That’s what it sounded like. Present himself for what?
Grace scrunched herself down between the shelving and the wall.
Didn’t want the lights on now.
Didn’t want to be seen.
Because this was a bad place.
A mad place too.
Something terrible had happened here.
Right then she knew: Something terrible was going to happen again. Soon… real soon.
“Lake… Lake, move up onto the platform. Present yourself. Do it quickly.”
The moment Ed Lake heard the words, he thought: All right. Let’s roll!
Knowing that his captor—his Sex Queen—could see him through the nightscope goggles she must wear, he moved across the cage in a hunched walk, feeling the sharpened stake beneath the leg of his pants. Its cold, hard shaft pressed against his bare thigh.
TO WAKE THE DEAD Page 30