The Raven Watcher

by Amy Cross

  I turn to get up, but suddenly I feel a bony hand grab my wrist.

  Turning, I look down and see that the emaciated woman is holding me tight. I instinctively try to pull away, but she's got more strength than I ever would have guessed, and her sandpaper-rough fingers are already squeezing harder.

  “I'm not going to leave you here!” I say firmly. “Don't worry, I swear I'm going to find a way out! Everything's going to be okay now, you're going to get help, but first I have to go and call someone.”

  Again she tries to say something, but it's clear that she's far too weak to get any words out. In fact, as I look down at her hand, I see that in places her skin has worn away entirely, revealing patches of pale bone along with blackened lines that I think maybe were once veins and arteries. It's hard to believe that the poor woman is still alive at all, but she must have been left down here a long time ago with no food or water. Until this moment, I was hoping that Jerry might simply be misguided, but now it's clear that he's completely out of his mind. He's some kind of monster.

  “Blood,” the woman whispers suddenly. “Blood.”

  “What was that?” I ask, convinced that I must have misheard.

  Her lips move again, but this time all that emerges is a very faint gasp.

  “You're going to be okay,” I tell her, even though I don't know whether that's true. I guess I have to try to keep her spirits up. “I'm going to get help for you, and you're going to be fine.”

  “Blood...”

  “I'm sure they'll give you blood,” I reply, as I reach down and start gently trying to move her fingers from around my wrist. “I can't fetch help while I'm sitting here. You understand that, don't you? I'm going to find a way through the basement door. I don't know how, but I got through this one, right? If I can get through one door, I can get through another. I won't let anything stop me.”

  I slip the last of her fingers away, but she immediately grabs me again.

  “Blood!” she croaks, sounding a little more agitated than before. “Blood! Blood!”

  “My name's Maddie,” I explain. “Maddie Harper. Can you tell me your name?”

  “Blood,” she groans. “Blood...”

  “I am going to get you out of here,” I continue, slipping my hand free and this time making sure that she can't grab me again. “I don't know what this sick bastard has been doing to you, but it's over now, and he's going to pay for it all. But first, you have to let me go and find a way through that door, or at least I need to come up with a plan so I can get a jump on him when he comes back. You understand that, don't you? I swear, I won't leave you behind.”

  “Blood...”

  “I'm just sorry I didn't realize sooner that you were here.”

  “Blood.” She reaches up toward my face, but I instinctively pull away and get to my feet. “Don't be scared,” I tell her, stepping away. “Stay calm and wait for me to get us out of here, and then -”

  Before I can finish, I hear a bumping sound coming from out in the main part of the basement, followed by the sound of the door opening. I hurry over to take a look, and sure enough I see that Jerry has come back down. My first instinct is to go over there and knock him out so I can get help, but I hesitate as I watch him shuffling into view. He can't have come down here unarmed like this, he must have some method he's going to use to stop me if I go on the offensive. Stepping over to the nearby table, I grab the largest knife I can find before turning to see that Jerry is watching me from a distance.

  I need to be smart about this.

  “Maddie,” he says, with a hint of awe in his voice, “what are you doing?”

  “I'm getting the hell out of here,” I reply, stepping toward him. My hand is trembling, but there's no way I'm going to back down now. My first thought is just to rush at him and overpower him, which shouldn't be too difficult, but I'm worried he might have some way of fighting back. After all, he might be an old man but he's already managed to spring a few surprises on me. “I found the woman in the other room,” I tell him. “It's over, Jerry. I don't know what kind of sick game you've been playing, but it has to stop now. The police are going to come and you're going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

  He sighs. “Maddie...”

  “Not to me!” I shout. “To the police! I don't want to hear a word you've got to say! You can tell it to them!”

  “Maddie -”

  “What have you got going on here?” I ask, as I try to pick the perfect moment to rush at him. I need to distract him, to maybe make him a little angry. “Do you kidnap people and leave them down here to die? Is that the sick game you're playing?”

  “You don't understand,” he replies, “but you will. Soon. It's okay to be upset but -”

  “It's okay?” I shout, barely believing what I heard. “Are you serious? After everything that's happen to me in this house, you're giving me permission to be upset?”

  “Calm down,” he continues, holding his hands up as if to silence me. “Everything's going to make sense. You just have to control your anger and wait until you understand. And you will understand, Maddie. All of this has been fated for over a century. You were drawn here so that you could fulfill a very special role.”

  He looks past me, toward the open door, and I swear I can see a hint of concern in his eyes. Just as I'm about to try to rush past him, however, I hear a faint scratching sound coming from over my shoulder. I glance back, and I'm shocked to see that the frail, emaciated old woman is not only on her feet now, but she's actually tottering very slowly and very carefully out of the back room. She reaches out and grabs the door, using the frame to support herself, and a moment later she starts letting out a slow, rasping gurgle.

  “She's finally free,” Jerry says. “After all this time, after all these years, she was there all along. Waiting patiently for her time to be freed.”

  I turn to him.

  “It had to be you,” he adds, turning to me. “No-one else could do it, she wouldn't have let them. I knew that all along, right from the start. It had to be blood.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask, backing against the wall and then starting to slowly edge toward the open door that leads up into the hallway. I'm still trying to figure out a way to escape, but my mind is racing and I'm scared that Jerry might be able to stop me. “What's going on in this place?”

  “All those years waiting,” he continues. “Generation after generation persisting out there in the world, but each time producing more madness. She knew the line would clear eventually, that there'd come one with the clarity to find his or her way back here. It was only a matter of time but I think it took longer than she expected for the cloud to clear. For the madness to fade. I suppose that's to be expected, really. Blood takes such a long time to dilute and ordinary people could never be expected to -”

  Suddenly the old woman stumbles forward and trips, falling and letting out a cry as she lands hard against the concrete floor. She sounds like she's in agony.

  I instinctively run over to help her. Dropping down to my knees, I reach out and take hold of her arm so I can steady her. As I hold her, I can feel not only her withered and stretched skin, about also patches of bare bone. She stinks too, but all I can think about right now is that she's trapped here like me, and that I have to find a way for us both to get out. If I don't think of something soon, she's going to die down here in the dirt.

  “It's okay,” I tell her, “we're getting out of here now and then everything is going to be okay. You just have to trust me.”

  Slowly, she reaches out toward me with her other hand, touching the side of my face. I flinch, but if anything her touch seems tender, almost concerned. At the same time, I can feel sharp sections of bare bone brushing against my skin, almost tearing through.

  “Blood,” she gasps, and her lips curl to form a smile that reveals her blackened, rotten teeth. “Blood has come.”

  I feel a shudder pass through my chest.

  “What do you mean?” I ask,
before realizing that it doesn't even matter right now. “We'll figure that all out once we're safe, okay? First we have to get out of here and call the police, they'll -”

  Suddenly I hear a distinct thudding sound in the distance, and then another. Then a creaking sound, followed by another thud.

  Turning, I look across the basement, and I realize I can hear somebody slowly, carefully making their way down the stairs from the hallway. Jerry turns to look too, and as we wait I realize that there's nobody else who should be here in the house right now. Everyone's accounted for, everyone's either down here in the basement or dead. Whoever's coming, they don't sound as if they're in too much of a hurry, but after a moment I see a shadow coming into view, followed by the start of a pair of legs.

  And those legs look like...

  No, it can't be...

  “Blood!” the old woman gasps, grabbing my shoulder.

  I turn to her.

  “Blood of mine,” she continues, staring at me with an expression of pure wonder. “I knew you'd come. I knew you wouldn't leave me down here forever. The blood called you. The blood showed you the way to find me.”

  “I don't know what you're talking about,” I reply, before turning to look back over at the steps.

  It can't be who I think it is.

  The figure is now almost completely in view, and I feel a thud of shock in my chest as I realize that I definitely recognize her. At first I can't believe what I'm seeing; I tell myself that I'm wrong, that this is another hallucination, that I've finally lost my mind. All of those possibilities are preferable to what I'm seeing. But then she steps fully into view, stopping for a moment next to Jerry and staring at me. There are tears in her eyes, and she looks terrified, but at the same time she seems to have walked down here without being forced. And it's her. It's really her, I can't deny that. She's trembling as she stares at me and she looks truly horrified, almost as if she doesn't quite know where she is. All I can do is remain frozen in place until finally one solitary word slips from my lips:

  “Mum?”

  It's her.

  My mother's here.

  Coming Soon

  THE FINAL ACT

  (THE HOUSE OF JACK THE RIPPER BOOK 8)

  In the final book in the series, Maddie faces a desperate fight for survival as a century-old plan comes together. Trapped alone in the house with a terrible creature, she realizes her only option might be to sacrifice herself so that the rest of the world is protected.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE ASH HOUSE

  Why would anyone ever return to a haunted house?

  For Diane Mercer the answer is simple. She's dying of cancer, and she wants to know once and for all whether ghosts are real.

  Heading home with her young son, Diane is determined to find out whether the stories are real. After all, everyone else claimed to see and hear strange things in the house over the years. Everyone except Diane had some kind of experience in the house, or in the little ash house in the yard.

  As Diane explores the house where she grew up, however, her son is exploring the yard and the forest. And while his mother might be struggling to come to terms with her own impending death, Daniel Mercer is puzzled by fleeting appearances of a strange little girl who seems drawn to the ash house, and by strange, rasping coughs that he keeps hearing at night.

  The Ash House is a horror novel about a woman who desperately wants to know what will happen to her when she dies, and about a boy who uncovers the shocking truth about a young girl's murder.

  Also by Amy Cross

  HAUNTED

  Twenty years ago, the ghost of a dead little girl drove Sheriff Michael Blaine to his death.

  Now, that same ghost is coming for his daughter.

  Returning to the small town where she grew up, Alex Roberts is determined to live a normal, quiet life. For the residents of Railham, however, she's an unwelcome reminder of the town's darkest hour.

  Twenty years ago, nine-year-old Mo Garvey was found brutally murdered in a nearby forest. Everyone thinks that Alex's father was responsible, but if the killer was brought to justice, why is the ghost of Mo Garvey still after revenge?

  And how far will the real killer go to protect his secret, when Alex starts getting closer to the truth?

  Haunted is a horror novel about a woman who has to face her past, about a town that would rather forget, and about a little girl who refuses to let death stand in her way.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BRIDE OF ASHBYRN HOUSE

  “I have waited so long for your return.”

  In the English countryside, miles from the nearest town, there stands an old stone house. Nobody has set foot in the house for years. Nobody has dared. For it is said that even though the lady of the house is long dead, a face can sometimes be seen at one of the windows. A pale, dead face that waits patiently behind a silk wedding veil.

  Seeking an escape from his life in London, Owen Stone purchases Ashbyrn House without waiting to find out about its history. As far as Owen is concerned, ghosts aren't real and his only company in the house will be the thin-legged spiders that lurk on the walls. Even after he moves in, and after he starts hearing strange noises in the night, Owen insists that Ashbyrn House can't possibly be haunted.

  But Owen knows nothing about the ghostly figure that is said to haunt the house. Or about the mysterious church bells that ring out across the lawn at night. Or about the terrible fate that befell the house's previous inhabitants when they dared defy the bride. Even as Owen starts to understand the horrific truth about Ashbyrn House's past, he might be too late to escape the clutches of the presence that watches his every move.

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House is a ghost story about a man who believes the past can't hurt him, and about a woman whose search for a husband has survived even her own tragic death.

  Also by Amy Cross

  THE BODY AT AUERCLIFF

  “We'll bury her so deep, even her ghost will have a mouth full of dirt!”

  When Rebecca Wallace arrives at Auercliff to check on her aged aunt, she's in for a shock. Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms.

  A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from.

  The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die.

  Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum?

  The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.

  OTHER BOOKS

  BY AMY CROSS INCLUDE

  Horror

  The Soul Auction

  Stephen

  The Ash House

  The Camera Man

  The Bride of Ashbyrn House

  The Body at Auercliff

  Haunted

  B&B

  Laura

  Asylum

  Meds (Asylum 2)

  Annie's Room

  The Farm

  The Ghost of Molly Holt

  The Curse of Wetherley House

  The Ghosts of Lakeforth Hotel

  The Haunting of Blackwych Grange

  The Ghosts of Hexley Airport

  The Devil, the Witch and the Whore (The Deal book 1)

  Darper Danver: The Complete First Series

  The Disappearance of Katie Wren

  The Horror of Devil's Root Lake

  The Printer From Hell

  The Nurse

 
; American Coven

  Eli's Town

  The Night Girl

  Devil's Briar

  The Cabin

  After the Cabin

  Last Wrong Turn

  The Ghost of Shapley Hall

  A House in London

  The Blood House

  The Priest Hole (Nykolas Freeman book 1)

  Battlefield (Nykolas Freeman book 2)

  The Border

  Short Story Collections

  Perfect Little Monsters and Other Stories

  Twisted Little Things and Other Stories

  The Ghost of Longthorn Manor and Other Stories

  The Vampire of Downing Street and Other Stories

  Thrillers

  The Murder at Skellin Cottage (Jo Mason book 1)

  The Return of Rachel Stone (Jo Mason book 2)

  The Girl Who Never Came Back

  Other People's Bodies

  Dystopian / Science Fiction

  The Dog

  The Island (The Island book 1)

  Persona (The Island book 2)

  The Abyss (The Island book 3)