Darkroom

by Graham Masterton

  ‘Were there many of them?’

  ‘Twenty at least. We had to make a quick exit out a second-storey window.’

  ‘So where was this?’

  ‘An old animal hospital on Palimpsest. It looks like it’s been empty for years.’

  ‘You didn’t have time to destroy any of the plates?’

  Jim shook his head. ‘No – but we will. We’re going back later today.’

  ‘What about Vane himself?’

  The kettle boiled and Jim poured water into the cafetière. ‘My students asked me that. I don’t know what the answer is, not yet. But you know –’ he tapped his forehead – ‘I’m working on it.’

  ‘You’re not worried, when you go back, that Vane will try to stop you?’

  Jim looked at her. There was an expression on her face that he couldn’t read at all. Was she being provocative? Or was she trying to warn him?

  He said, cautiously, ‘He’ll have to get there somehow, if he’s going to stop us.’

  Eleanor said nothing, but she didn’t take her eyes off him and she didn’t blink.

  ‘He travels around in a van, advertising old-style photos. That’s how he gets people to pose for him. But if he’s going to stop us … first of all he has to know what we’re going to do, and second of all he has to arrange for his van to take him there.

  Still Eleanor said nothing. Jim slowly pushed down the plunger on the cafetière, and said, ‘Coffee?’

  ‘No, thank you. I find it difficult enough to sleep as it is.’

  Jim filled a large mug with a sepia picture of Harry Houdini on it. ‘The van … it’s driven by a woman. She was dressed all in black when we saw her last night. She reminded me of you, maybe taller. You wouldn’t have any idea who she is?’

  ‘None, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Maybe your friends the Benandanti might know?’

  ‘If they do, they’ve never mentioned her to me.’

  ‘It’s just that we can’t work out how Vane persuaded anybody to act as his assistant. What kind of a woman would agree to drive him around like that? We don’t know if he’s even capable of talking. He’s a living nightmare, after all.’

  Eleanor shrugged. ‘When you look around you, Jim, you can see strange relationships everywhere. But when you realize what each partner is looking for in those relationships – sometimes it’s love, sometimes it’s nothing more than sharing the same taste in music – they don’t seem nearly so strange after all.’

  Seventeen

  As Jim walked along the crowded corridor to Special Class II, he caught sight of Vinnie Boschetto coming the other way. Vinnie was wearing a red-and-yellow shirt with parrots on it, so he was hard to miss. He turned on his heel and tried to hurry out of the doors that led to the swimming pool, but Jim caught up with him and grabbed his belt at the back.

  ‘Where the hell are you going, Boschetto?’

  Vinnie raised both hands in surrender, dropping test papers all over the pathway. ‘Jim, believe me, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘You’re sorry? Two of my students were burned to death, right in front of my eyes!’

  ‘Jim, honestly, I never thought it would come to this. It’s tragic.’

  ‘For Christ’s sake, you knew what you were dealing with! You almost got me burned to death, too!’

  ‘We had no idea that Vane was going to get so angry! We thought that you would find a way to deal with him. Come on, Jim, you’ve handled stuff like this before! Spooks, demons, things that go arrggghh in the night …’

  Jim seized the lapels of Vinnie’s shirt and screwed them around so tight that he pulled off the two top buttons. ‘You bastard. You and your goddamned Benandantis. You deliberately offered me that apartment cheap, didn’t you, knowing that I was going to come face to face with a creature that could have cremated me? I could be dead by now – nothing but ashes, like Pinky and David.’

  ‘Jim … what could I do? We were desperate! Uncle Raymond died of a heart attack and we had nobody to keep Vane in check.’

  ‘Oh, yeah? Why didn’t you volunteer?’

  ‘I wouldn’t have known where to begin. I’m a history teacher, Jim, that’s all. I don’t have any knowledge of religious rituals, like Uncle Raymond, and I don’t have any psychic powers, like you. How was I supposed to deal with an invisible thing that hides in a painting and steals people’s souls?’

  ‘So you tricked me into doing it?’

  ‘I’m sorry. When I heard that you were coming back to West Grove I thought you were going to be the answer to all of our prayers. I’m sorry it all went so wrong. If only there was something I could do to make amends.’

  Jim released his grip on Vinnie’s shirt, although he was still shaking with anger. ‘I can’t even ask you to call on Pinky’s and David’s parents, can I, and tell them the real reason why they died. That would only make things worse.’

  ‘Jim – buddy – whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it. We had no way of knowing that Vane would attack you, or attack your students. He’s been trapped in that painting for more than thirty years … We just didn’t want him to get out and start taking pictures again.’

  ‘You mean you wanted me to take care of him for you, without even bothering to warn me what I was up against?’

  ‘I’m sorry!’ Vinnie repeated. ‘We simply thought that once you’d seen Vane appear, you’d work out for yourself what he was up to, and discover a way to stop him. Did you see the news? Those shadow-selves of his have been starting fires all over. Before we know it, they’re going to start forest fires and burn down half of Los Angeles County.’

  Jim shook his head in disbelief. ‘You know what I should do? I should just walk away from this, and let you handle it yourself.’

  ‘Jim, you can’t! We’re right on the brink of hell here. Not just us, but hundreds of people – thousands, even.’

  ‘I know,’ said Jim. ‘There’s no way I’m going to let Pinky and David die for nothing, and there’s no way I’m going to let Vane take any more pictures.’

  Vinnie watched him for a while, saying nothing. His test papers started to blow across the grass but he ignored them. ‘So what are you going to do?’

  ‘Last night we followed Vane – me and some of my students. We found his studio, where he’s hiding all of his daguerrotypes. We’re going around there later to trash them. You can come along if you like, as part of your penance.’

  ‘Jim, you don’t know how bad I feel.’

  ‘Vinnie, before this is over, I’m going to go out of my way to make sure that you feel a hell of a lot worse.’

  Jim’s first class was at 10 A.M. When he walked in, it was obvious that his A-Team had already told the rest of Special Class II what had happened last night, because they were all tense and expectant – and quiet, for a change. Raananah Washington came past the open door, stopped, and looked inside, just to make sure that Special Class II were actually there. Jim called out, ‘Good morning, Raananah!’

  When she had gone, he turned to the class and said, ‘It seems like you’ve all been updated. Last night we found out where Robert H. Vane hides his daguerrotypes. Today we’re going to hit back at him. The A-Team are coming back to Vane’s studio with me, and we’re going to be doing some serious damage. But that still won’t solve the problem permanently. We have to find a way to destroy Vane himself.’

  Ruby put up her hand. ‘Mr Rook, I was talking to my grandmother yesterday about evil spirits.’

  ‘Oh, yes?’

  ‘My grandmother told me that when she was a little girl in Dominica, in Santo Domingo, there was an undead spirit that used to walk around her neighborhood. It used to strangle cats and dogs and steal food and sometimes it stole children, too, and their bones were found in the forests, their bones all gnawed like they was eaten. My great-grandmother wouldn’t let my grandmother go out after dark, in case the undead spirit caught her. They used to call it El Espejo – the Mirror – because when it came after you, and you looked at its face, all
you could see was yourself.’

  ‘How creepy is that?’ said Jim. ‘Did they manage to exorcize it?’

  ‘My grandmother said that in the end two priests came from Rome and helped them to hunt him down. The priests carried a large mirror with them, and they caught El Espejo in a dead-end street, and they made him look in the mirror at his own face. My grandmother has a saying, you know? “Evil can’t bear to look at itself.” El Espejo fell down paralyzed and the priests buried him. Inside his casket, they fixed a mirror, so that if he opened his eyes he couldn’t see nothing but his own face.’

  ‘Maybe that would work with Robert H. Vane,’ said Jim.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Shadow, tilting back his chair. ‘Maybe it wouldn’t, either. That spirit your grandmother was talking about, that didn’t fry people alive, did it? Robert H. Vane could turn us into charcoal before we got within twenty yards of him, and that goes for any one of those doo-doo-type gooks, too.’

  ‘Anybody else got any ideas?’ asked Jim.

  ‘What about this reverse exorcism?’ suggested George. ‘Maybe Father Foley could help us.’

  Father Foley was the priest who ministered to the needs of West Grove’s Roman Catholic students. Jim hadn’t talked to him in a long time – not since one of his students had been haunted by night terrors about demons from hell – and he remembered that he was very skeptical when it came to the supernatural. ‘Demons are nothing but our own guilt, Jim.’

  Jim said, ‘I guess I could try … But I don’t think Father Foley is very enthusiastic about exorcisms. In fact, I don’t think the Roman Catholic Church as a whole is very enthusiastic about exorcisms, not these days. You need to show them at least one of the five proofs of demonic possession, and before we can do that we have to show them Robert H. Vane himself.’

  ‘So what are the five proofs of demonic possession?’ asked Edward.

  Jim counted them on his fingers. ‘One, you have to talk in unknown languages. Two, you have to know things that are distant or hidden. Three, you have to be able to predict future events. Four, you have to have an abhorrence of all things holy. Five, you have to show unusual physical strength.’

  ‘That sounds like Freddy,’ said Edward. ‘You can’t understand a word he’s talking about and he knows if you have money, even if you’ve hidden it in your locker.’

  ‘No, but his socks are holey,’ said Roosevelt.

  They left West Grove in two cars shortly after 1 P.M. Jim took Vinnie in his Lincoln, along with Sue-Marie and Edward, while Shadow followed close behind in his shiny black Ford Explorer, with Randy, Freddy and Philip, who had volunteered to join them. There was a forest fire burning up in the canyons, and the day was gloomy with smoke and fine particles of ash. There was a strong smell of burning in the air, too, and Jim hoped that it wasn’t an omen.

  Vinnie kept shaking his head, saying, ‘I never thought it would come to this.’

  Jim said, ‘It’s too late now, Vinnie. You can’t turn the clock back. Let’s just see what we can salvage.’

  He could hear the bottles of concentrated sulfuric acid rattling in their plastic milk crate in the trunk. ‘This is what happens when you allow yourself to take evil for granted,’ he added. ‘So long as Vane was safely trapped in that painting, the Benandanti forgot about him, didn’t they? But all these years they should have been scouring every religious library in the world, searching for a sure-fire way to get rid of him for good.’

  Vinnie reached inside his shirt and lifted out a small brass cylinder, hanging on a chain. ‘It’s not they, Jim. It’s us. I’m a member of the Benandanti, too. This is the caul I was born with, all rolled up.’

  Jim glanced at it, and wrinkled up his nose.

  Vinnie said, ‘You’d be amazed how many Benandanti there are. Politicians, businessmen, top people in the entertainment business. We’re all devoted to stamping out evil, wherever it is.’

  ‘Except that you grew complacent, didn’t you, when it came to Robert H. Vane. And because of that, God knows how many people have been burned to death.’

  ‘Yes,’ Vinnie admitted.

  Jim drew up outside the DeLancey Animal Hospital on Palimpsest Street and Shadow pulled up close behind him. Jim and Vinnie and the A-Team all climbed out of their vehicles. They looked up and down the street to make sure that there were no police cars around, and then Freddy climbed the steps to the front door of the hospital and took out his lock-pick. Meanwhile Randy lifted the crate of sulfuric acid out of Jim’s trunk, while Shadow carried the canvas bag full of hammers and screwdrivers that Jim had borrowed from Walter the janitor, and Sue-Marie carried a shopping bag full of bright-red industrial gloves.

  It took Freddy less than a minute to pick all three locks. He pushed the door open and said, ‘Ver-wull-ah, as they say in France. Beats climbing through windows.’

  Jim checked the street again for any police cars, and then they trooped inside, closing the door behind them.

  ‘Hell of a place,’ said Vinnie, with a shiver. After the warmth of the midday sun, the animal hospital was distinctly chilly, and it smelled even more unpleasant than it had last night. They had brought five flashlights with them, and their beams criss-crossed the hallway and illuminated the reception desk and the picture of the happy German shepherd.

  ‘Hell of a place is exactly right,’ said Jim, and started to climb the stairs.

  They went directly into the room where Robert H. Vane kept his filing cabinets. Jim pulled the first drawer right out and lowered it on to the brown linoleum floor. ‘Take out every drawer, go through every single daguerrotype one by one. Break the glass frame, and then pour acid over the surface. Tilt the plate from side to side, so that the whole image is burned off. When you’ve done that, pass the plates to Roosevelt and Mr Boschetto here, and they’ll cut them up with shears so that they can’t be re-plated and reused.’

  Sue-Marie hunkered down next to the drawerful of daguerrotypes in her very short fringed leather skirt. She took a plate out of its envelope and peered at it closely. ‘Sir, I can’t see no picture on this one.’

  ‘You have to hold it at an angle,’ Jim explained.

  She squinted at it one way, and then the other. ‘I still can’t see nothing.’

  Jim went across and looked at the plate, too. He shone his flashlight across it, at a diagonal, but Sue-Marie was right. The murky silver surface had no image on it at all. ‘Odd,’ he said, and took another plate out of its envelope. That, too, was blank.

  He was suddenly filled with an overwhelming feeling of dread. ‘Pull all of these drawers out!’ he barked. ‘Check all of these daguerrotypes!’

  The A-Team took out plate after plate.

  ‘Blank!’ said Edward.

  ‘Blank!’ said Randy.

  ‘Nothing on this one, neither!’ said Shadow.

  Jim found an envelope with a name he recognized. He opened it up and took out the daguerrotype, but that was blank, too. Soon the floor was strewn with empty brown envelopes, and blank daguerrotypes were scattered all around them.

  ‘What?’ asked Vinnie apprehensively.

  ‘They’re not here,’ said Jim. ‘The shadow-selves, whatever you want to call them. We can’t destroy them because their images are out and about someplace.’

  ‘I thought they could only go out at night,’ said Roosevelt. ‘You know, like vampires.’

  ‘Out, yes,’ said Jim. He slowly stood up, listening. Edward noisily took another plate out of its envelope. Jim put his finger to his lips and said, ‘Ssshh!’

  ‘What is it?’ asked Philip. He looked even paler than usual, which made his spots look even redder.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Jim. He was sure he had heard the faintest of rustling noises, the same noise that he had once heard in a darkened attic, when the rafters were clustered with bats. He moved cautiously toward the half-open door, opened it a few inches wider, and listened again.

  ‘They’re downstairs,’ he said.

  ‘You mean the shadow-
selves?’

  ‘Can’t you hear them? They can’t go out during the day – the sunlight would fade them away to nothing – but it’s dark in here. All the windows are blacked out.’

  ‘Oh, Jesus,’ said Freddy. ‘We’re going to get barbecued.’

  ‘They must have known we were coming!’ said Vinnie. ‘How the hell did they know we were coming?’

  ‘I’m not sure. But we have to get out of here, and quick.’

  He went out on to the landing. There was nobody on the stairs, but he could definitely hear shuffling and breathing. He crossed over to the banisters and looked down into the hallway.

  He hardly ever swore. He had always believed that swearing was the sign of somebody who didn’t know how to express themselves. But he swore then, even though he did it under his breath.

  The hallway was crowded with silvery-black faces, all looking up at him with foggy white eyes. There must have been over a hundred of them, spilling out of the doors of every downstairs room – the waiting room, the surgery, the reception area. There was no way for Jim and his A-Team to get to the doors. They wouldn’t even be able to make it halfway down the stairs before they were incinerated.

  He turned around. His A-Team were standing right behind him. ‘We’ll have to do what we did last night – climb out of the window!’

  Vinnie said, ‘What? What is it, Jim? What’s down there?’

  ‘Look for yourself.’

  Vinnie peered over the banisters. He said nothing, but when he looked back at Jim his face was aghast.

  ‘Satisfied?’ Jim asked him. ‘Now let’s get out of here!’

  Shadow went over to the opposite door and opened it. As he did so, however, five or six silvery-black people appeared inside the room. Shadow immediately slammed the door shut. ‘Mr Rook, we can’t get out that way! It’s cramful of gooks!’

  ‘Let’s try the back of the house!’