by steve higgs
I wondered what decorum we would need to follow tonight. Was Lord Hale about to say grace? Would there be staff to serve food? Surely the three staff Travis named earlier couldn’t be enough to have prepared this spread.
Just as everyone lined up behind their chairs and gentlemen moved to pull out chairs for the ladies, all the lights went out.
Patience shrieked right next to me, which made me jump, my hands grabbing the chair so I had something steady to anchor myself. The room was still lit by a row of candles down the centre of the table but the flickering light from them did little to keep back the gloom. The room had no windows, but it did have a fireplace and from it, a low moan began to emanate.
The fireplace was directly behind Lord Hale. I saw the old man turn to face the sound as it grew in volume. ‘You are early!’ he cried. The moaning noise was unnerving; it sounded like a voice.
‘Tempest, what’s happening?’ shouted his mother.
His parents were on the opposite side of the table, his father with an arm around his wife to comfort her but I could see they were just as disturbed by the turn of events as I was.
Next to me Patience was going nuts. ‘Arrrrgh! There’ a monster coming. I knew I should have stayed home. This is God punishing me for enjoying the company of men. Tomorrow, if I get out of this, I swear I am going to church and I’m gonna pray. And that money I was gonna use to get a wax. I’m gonna put that money in the collection box.’
Then the table began to rattle. Only a little at first, the gentle sound of the crockery and cutlery knocking together, but then with more vigour and a wine bottle fell over, Patience catching it before I could spill and taking a deep swig to calm her nerves. It was like being in an earthquake, I imagined, but the floor wasn’t shaking, just the table.
To the other side of me, Tempest was calm but he looked unhappy. I had no idea what was going on and I couldn’t imagine he did either. However, he refused to believe in anything he couldn’t see or touch so I wasn’t sure what he would make of this. I held onto my chair still. It was solid and stable which was good because I had to admit I was getting a little freaked out now. Then the moan from the fireplace, which had sounded like an onrushing wind, reached a deafening crescendo and burst forth carrying soot and dirt with it. The candles all went out instantly and Lord Hale screamed.
The room was thrown into utter blackness but only for a second as people touched their phones and little pools of light appeared followed by bright swathes of light as the torch functions came on.
I managed to fumble mine out the little clutch bad too and that was when I saw a sight that would stay with me for the rest of my life. Looking down the table as cries of fear tore from the throats of men and women alike, a huge monster had Lord Hale in its grip. I was rooted to the spot, but the dinner guests at that end of the table were coming my way, all of them trying to get away from the creature attacking our host.
Like a bear crossed with a spider it had a large body and walked upright but its limbs were spindly and long. On its head, eyes glowed a deep orange like traffic lights fitted with a low wattage bulb and blue light spilled from its mouth like warm breath on a cold morning. It was grotesque.
Then, as it lifted Lord Hale into the air by his throat, it spoke. ‘All will perish here tonight.’ The sound of its voice was like no sound I had ever heard before. A rasping noise like metal being filed mixed with a lion’s deep roar.
Everyone in the room was frozen in fright or trying to get away from it. With a final snarl, which elicited a fresh round of gasps and squeals, the monster turned and ran, reached the wall behind it and clambered up to disappear through a hole in the ceiling.
Torch light tracked it as it fled and then there was nothing but silence.
Lord Hale’s Monster will be out soon. Look for it in your local Amazon store
