She crawled back into the darkness and closed the door, because that was what it was, behind her. She heard him open the closet door and reach back and try the door – of course he knew it was there, of course – and she held it shut as though it were latched. She thought her heart was going to explode -- how could he not hear it? – but he stopped, closed the closet door, and moved on.
Daphne sagged. Whatever she was on right now felt like concrete or stone. Would he come back? If he did, she couldn’t be here – she slid her hands out, and found the edges of what felt like stairs.
She crawled down the stairs on all fours, until she reached what seemed like the ground. She stood – this place smelled like damp and dust and rot – she reached out, trying to find a wall and hopefully a lightswitch.
Instead a pull-string batted her in the face. She screamed, swatted it away, and then finally realized what it was and yanked on it, not expecting anything to happen. But they must have repaired the power over night – a naked light bulb flickered overhead and she slowly turned around.
This was the dungeon. The place the Master had talked about with Becca – and where he’d brought her that one intense night.
It was cold. The floor was stone and the cracked leather furniture was covered in dust. The thing he’d bent her over was in the center of the room, it looked like a gymnast’s horse, and there were stains around it on the floor. She jumped back so as not to touch any of them – and then realized they were symbols. They formed a massive circle around the horse – and when she knelt down to see if she could read them, she realized they were painted in blood.
Whose? And how long ago? Had they been here when the Master had fucked her? She turned to look for other exits – and saw a pair of work boots behind a cross.
No. It couldn’t be – she didn’t want it to be -- but she had to know. Screwing her courage up, she crossed the floor, a hand ready to cover her eyes -- and spotted Jason’s corpse on the floor. He was the reason for the smell – and all the blood was his.
“Oh god –“ Daphne fell down, cupping a hand to her mouth in horror. She thought he’d escaped, and instead the Master had lured him down here for his perverse ceremony.
Daphne’s stomach dropped. She needed another way out.
There were stairs at the far end of the room and she ran to them as if she were being chased and raced up, only pausing to listen before opening the door, before emerging into another, empty, closet. She sat there for a moment, trying not to pant. There was every chance Richard would be waiting for her on the other side.
What if it really was him again? If the Master left him alone?
It didn’t matter. It was too late – she couldn’t trust him anymore, not until they were free.
She steeled her will and opened up the door and found herself alone in the green room that she’d been thinking of using for her nursery. The girl’s photo was still on the ground, glowing in the moonlight. She picked it up and now could clearly see the thing behind girl and her trophy looming – and knew it was the Master.
She put the photo down and crept out into the hall.
Without keys, she was stranded. But Beth’s phone number was down on the telephone stand. She tip-toed down, listening wildly, and carefully picked up the phone. Beth’s business card, with her cell phone number, peeked out from underneath Richard’s note taking ledger.
“Hello?”
“Beth – it’s Daphne.”
“What time is it?”
“I need you to come and pick me up. Please. I have to get away.”
“It’s three in the morning –“
“Everything your aunt told you was true. This place is haunted – I’m begging you, please, come get me.”
“Okay, okay,” Beth said.
“Don’t come inside the house. Just honk when you get outside and I’ll come out.”
“You’re twenty minutes away. More with this weather –“
“It doesn’t matter. You just have to come. I’ll be outside, waiting.” Daphne wished she’d had the presence of mind to pick up better shoes while she’d been inside her own damn closet. Had she tried to pack any earlier on? Fuck, fuck –
“Be safe – but hurry, please.”
“I will.”
Daphne carefully and quietly hung the phone up.
She sank down and trotted down the hall. The house was too big, the Master could be anywhere – all she had to do was get outside.
“Richard!”
Becca’s voice -- still from upstairs. Daphne put her hand on the door handle.
“Goddammit! Come back here, Richard!”
Could she just leave Becca alone here, with him? She hated the other woman, but no one deserved that fate.
Daphne waited, and then pulled her hand back with a curse, and turned towards the second floor.
She knew it could be a trap. Richard could be waiting right outside for her to come. But after what’d happened to Jason – she went slower, but she didn’t stop.
When she reached the room, she looked inside. Becca was thrashing on the bed, hands still tied.
“Shhhh –“ Daphne said, running into the room once she saw it was empty.
“What’s going on? What’d you do to him?”
Daphne worked at Becca’s knots. “That wasn’t him –“
“What are you saying?”
“He’s possessed.” She freed Becca’s first wrist, keeping an eye on the door. Becca started laughing at her.
“He’s right. You are insane.”
“How can you not notice how he’s talking right now?”
“He’s drunk is all. We woke up while you were sleeping and had a few and then he wanted to do all this to me.” Daphne freed her other hand so she grabbed and shook the rope. “It was just like he said online –“
“I thought that was me?” Daphne helped the other woman off the bed. She was drunk too and shaky.
“One of you. You’re both fucked up.” Becca swayed, and Daphne caught her.
“It doesn’t matter now, we need to leave.”
“I’m not fucking leaving –“
“Yes, you are.” Daphne started to drag her out of the room.
“Richard!” Becca shouted at the top of her lungs – and Daphne heard stumbling footsteps coming up the stairs again.
Daphne yanked Becca towards the door – being caught in the hallway would be slightly better than being caught in a room.
Richard had reached the top stair by the time they were free. If they rushed him now, could they push him down the stairs together? What if it killed Richard, but not the Master?
“Richard – you’re still in there, I know it. You remember me.” She held Becca back, as the other woman struggled. “You don’t want to hurt us. You can push him out and be yourself again, Richard. It doesn’t have to be like this.”
His hands clutched at the railing, and she thought he was fighting for himself. “Please – Richard, you’ve got to try. For me. For us. For our baby.”
Richard thrashed, his whole body doing a herky-jerky dance, like he was on fire. It distracted Daphne for half a second – long enough for Becca to break free.
“She’s the one that untied me. I was willing to wait for you.” Becca clung to his side, pointing to Daphne in accusation. “I didn’t want to leave – I wanted to stay here with you.”
Richard stilled again, and when he next spoke Daphne knew the battle had been lost. “You will,” the Master moaned, with Richard’s mouth.
“Really?” Becca sounded impossibly hopeful. The statues at the top of the stair behind Richard watched everything, implacable.
“I don’t want her,” he said, in seeming response. But Daphne could still see his face by the moonlight and knew the Master was talking to her, not Becca. She watched him bring his arms up, higher than they ought to be for a hug, and she knew what he was about to do.
“Don’t!” she screamed, as he broke Becca’s neck.
“I only wan
t you,” he moaned.
She flew past him for the stairs and he lumbered after her.
Daphne reached the front door and getting out of the house felt like resurfacing from a sinking boat – she took huge gulps of air, like she’d never tasted it before. Then she started trotting down the stairs and towards the main driveway.
The road was open and the trees were low – Richard would be able to see precisely where she was and come for her. She could out run him, but for how long?
Then Daphne saw lightning strike a tall tree. It lit up the pre-dawn dark, sizzling down, Daphne could hear it, and the smell of ozone cut through the air like a knife. Thunder rumbled so loud she almost dropped to her knees.
It was like the sky itself was chasing her back inside – she couldn’t run down the driveway now, exposed to the elements and to Richard.
The only other place she could think of to go was the stable.
Daphne took off her heels once she reached grass and raced along one of the many paths that Jason had tended. Jason – poor Jason – he was dead because of her. Because the house had turned her into some crazy beast in heat for anyone – tears streaked down her face as she ran, terrified and ashamed.
She reached the stable and huddled inside of it, finally protected from the rain. She’d hear Beth’s horn and run out and reach the car before he did somehow and Beth would take her away from here – she could come back with police and sort everything out under the safe bright light of day.
A branch broke nearby – and she heard the shuffle of an unsteady foot being dragged through mud.
She stepped back into the darkness of the stable as Richard appeared.
“Pet,” he croaked with a voice not his own. “I know you’re in here.”
Daphne held her breath as her heart raced. He lumbered in. “I can smell your pussy, pet. Ready for me, again.”
She took another step back – and kicked a rake, betraying her. His head tilted and he took two more steps into the darkness with her. Lightning flashed close behind him, and she threw up an arm against the light.
“Richard – please – stop this –“
“There’s no Richard in here anymore.” He took another step forward, closing the gap between them. He spoke with slurred deliberation. Daphne swallowed – and ran for the stairs to the workshop.
He was faster now – as she reached the top stair, he grabbed hold of her ankle and almost dragged her down, but she kicked free. She scrabbled out onto the workshop’s wooden floor, feeling splinters shove inside her hands, as she got to her feet, and Richard came up through the door. Water dripped through the ceiling in places, and moonlight shone through wide cracks.
“There’s no where you can run, pet.” He lumbered to standing, blocking her only route of escape.
“How are you doing this?”
The Master chuckled. “I am as willful in death as I was in life. I only needed blood, sex, and an opportune form to become whole.”
Daphne looked around for exits. There was a rope hanging from the ceiling, perhaps it brought a ladder to an attic down.
“What – what happened to the girl?”
“For years she was too young, I had to bide my time. Then, when she was old enough, she rebuked me.”
“And the horse?”
“Horses can always sense spirits. I merely went to say hello, and it spilled her and all her brains.”
“That’s awful –“
“Is it? Is it worse than being trapped here, watching people live lives that I cannot for decades?”
Every other word he moved closer to her, and she moved back, like they were dancing.
“Why me?” Daphne asked, her voice rising in fear.
“I had given up hope, until I saw you, Daphne, the imprint of you in this foolish man’s mind. You’re the kind of woman that needs fucking, that craves it. You were wasted on him. You wouldn’t be on me.” His voice became more smooth as his control of Richard improved, and he flashed her a wicked smile. “Do you know what you do to men? What it’s like being in the same room as you? No man sees you and doesn’t wonder how you taste, how you smell, envision your legs around his waist and his cock thrust deep. A woman like you comes along once in a century, pet. I should know.”
The workshop table was at her back. There was no place else to hide.
“All I need to do is fuck you one last time as him, and this body will be mine.”
Daphne took a deep inhale. This was her superpower. It was the reason her mother had kept her locked inside for her own protection, like a modern day Rapunzel, and – on some level – why Richard had hidden her away out here. People who met her wanted her – and then they didn’t want to share. “Okay.” She hopped up onto the workshop table, feeling the sharp tips of rusty woodworking tools poke against her thighs. She pulled up her skirt, and felt in control again. “Take me.”
“Yes,” the Master said, his voice a hiss. He opened Richard’s robe, revealing the erection pushing out.
She squirmed backwards, as if afraid. “Be gentle –“
“That’s not what you want, pet – and we both know it.” He brought himself up to the front of the table, and grabbed her hips to pull her towards him. He was staring down, looking for the moment when his cock would enter her and seal his devil’s deal – which was why he didn’t see her grab up an awl and plunge it into Richard’s right ear.
The Master made an unholy sound, swatting at her hand, as Daphne scooted back again, knocking tools to the side as she skittered on crab legs down the table and away from him, hopping off at its far end to run for the rope hanging down. Two tugs like she was ringing a giant bell, and the dusty ladder to the roof fell down. She scampered up it to stand on top of the stable, exposed to the storm.
Chapter Twenty-eight
She huddled down, bare feet and knees scraping against the rough wet shingles, trying to hang on. She saw a hand appear at the edge of the hole with horror, as the Master hauled himself up, the awl still poking out of one ear.
“I’m so sorry Richard. This is all my fault – I’m so sorry!” she shouted at him, hoping her husband could somehow hear her.
“Did you think you could kill me?” The Master said, pulling himself to stand on the roof’s flat center. He took three more steps towards her as she scooted back, looking over her shoulder. Soon, death would be her only escape, just as it’d been the girl’s.
“Come here and let me fuck you –“ he crooned, blood spilling out of his ear and down the side of his neck.
She didn’t want to die. But she didn’t want to live here, forever, with him.
Daphne stood, trying to swallow down the bile of her fear and praying for strength. “I give up. I’ll come back with you.” She patted the air between them as if attempting to calm a rabid dog. “You’ve won.”
Richard stood straight, triumphant – and she looked over her shoulder one last time. The fall would kill her, wouldn’t it? It had to –
Thunder boomed just as lightning struck. Daphne screamed at the nearness of the sound, as the roof beneath both of them shook like an earthquake. She whirled – and saw lightning hitting Richard, the tallest thing for miles, sparks shooting away from the awl in his ear. He danced like a spastic marionette until the lightning was done and he crumpled down to slide off the roof.
Daphne crawled over, profile low, and tried to see him. Richard was dead now – but how did you kill a ghost?
In the distance, she heard a car horn honk.
Daphne ran on shaking legs back to the ladder and then down the stairs and out the stable’s door. It was on the other side of Richard’s body – she didn’t want to see what the Master had done to him – and she raced through the woods again until she reached the front of the house, where Beth was standing on the porch, about to knock on the door.
“Don’t!” Daphne shouted.
Beth turned, saw her, and jumped. “Daphne? Are you okay?”
Daphne caught the other woman’s arms. �
��Don’t knock. Don’t let it know you’re here – take us away.” She pulled Beth towards her car and reached for the passenger door handle.
“What the hell happened to you?” Beth asked, turning the engine over as Daphne fumbled with her seatbelt. The engine coughed, once, twice, but the finally took, and she sagged.
“Just drive – I’ll tell you everything later.”
“Okay.” Beth took them around the roundabout and then back down the driveway.
“Faster –“
“It’s raining –“
“Faster!” Daphne pleaded, and Beth pushed the gas pedal down.
The car sent up tails of water from puddles in the driveway’s worn ruts, and Daphne could see the gates coming up – they just had to reach them in time, before the Master tried to drag them back – Beth slowed down to take the final turn onto the main road – and the car was full of a sensation of heat, as though it were being cupped by the hand of an angry god.
“It’s too late for you, Daphne -- you’ll never get away from me!” The Master’s voice rang inside her head. Beth hit the gas again and the car strained forward, but the rear fishtailed as though someone were trying to hold it back.
“What the –“ Beth protested.
“Go! Go!” Daphne shouted, covering her ears with both hands, trying to keep the Master’s voice out. He was laughing now, an awful sound, and it echoed inside of her head – then the car broke loose and leapt through the gates.
“Oh my God,” Daphne said, reacting to the sudden silence. She twisted to look back, and saw a dark figure standing just inside the metal bars, the same one that was visible in the picture of the poor horse-girl. “We’re free. Take me to the nearest police station, please.”
“What the hell happened?” Beth asked.
Daphne inhaled. How could she ever explain things? Jason and Becca and Richard were dead – would the police make her go back? She couldn’t. If she ever went back, the Master would never let her leave --
The bile rose in her stomach until it couldn’t be denied. She rolled down the window and barely leaned out of it in time, puking outside, and then sagged back into the car.
The Haunted (Sleeping with Monsters Book 1) Page 17
