Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (20 page)

Just like the frigging tooth?

“
Does knowin’ my name truly matter?” she replied. “Wouldn’t ya just rather enjoy yer fantasy of who I am and leave it at that?”

He reached out and touched her, caressing the curves of her ass before moving to the moist readiness between her legs. Her flesh cold, he assumed she had waited somewhere outside for much of the evening, maybe even lurking in the parking lot before sneaking inside when Troy left for the night. Perhaps some under-aged whore David picked up off East Colfax as a joke, and then paid to come up here and mess with him after their earlier discussion. He had always pictured his buddy as an uptight goody-goody, but David must’ve found out he took the peculiar little bag from him and then decided on a clever plan to pay him back for stealing it. Hell, David probably waited in the parking lot right now. Thinking along these lines, he wondered if he should put on some protection before pounding this girl’s pussy.

“‘
You’d best seize the moment, Norman, before what’s offered to ya’s pulled away,” she advised huskily, tilting her head to where he could see her gazing up at him through thick locks of hair hanging down over her face. “It’s not like you’ve felt the need to protect yerself before. Why don’t ya pull it out and show it to me? Maybe after we’re done I’ll slap another kind of wet one on ya!”

The way she addressed him, so sexy and full of heat, drove him nuts. And the accent, which sounded like it really came from the hills of the old South, made him believe his ultimate fantasy would soon be fulfilled. Though a little weird in the set up, David had come through in a way he never imagined possible. He planned a handsome payback for him, beginning with a nice steak dinner after the Broncos’ game on Sunday.

Norm hastily unzipped his pants, almost tearing his slacks and boxers when he pulled them down below his knees. Then he entered her.

“
Yeah, that’s right, you hillbilly wench!” he told her as her coolness gripped him. “I’m going to give you what you’re begging for!”

He moved in deeper, pulling on her pelvis to bring him in all the way. As he did, he felt an incredible sensation, like he reached an icy reservoir. His manhood pulsed harder from the freezing embrace, and exhilaration flowed through his entire being. His body began to shake, moving toward an orgasm unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.

Determined to make the most of this encounter, he began thrusting himself in a furious attempt to get even closer to the strange rawness within her and hang on as long as possible. Her soft moans also became more impassioned, rising to where she raised her voice to where he could hear what she said. If not so enraptured by his own pleasure, he might’ve asked her what she meant by the weird phrases she chanted.

“
Moonlight from the shadows hide…feed the solace of the night....”

“
Oh-h-h, this feels so goddamned
good!
”

“
Dust to life when death is nigh…warm flesh and blood whither and die....”

“
What the
hell
are you saying?” He spoke between gasps, knowing he couldn’t hold back his raging orgasm much longer. “Tell me you love my dick and how you’ve needed me to feed your hungry pussy—that nothing else satisfies you like I can!”

“
The soulless one will soon arrive…let us feed him, to not deny....”

“
Goddamn it girl, tell me what I want to hear!”
Norm shouted, but too late. His heated seed left him as exquisite ecstasy raced through his entire being.
“All right, bitch, I’m gonna deliver what you deserve, you sleazy whore!!”

“
What’d ya call me?”

She stood up, reaching behind to pull him out of her. Her dress dropped back down to her ankles, immediately concealing her nakedness. She held his member tight, and she surprised him by her grip’s strength.

“
Huh?
What the hell’s wrong with you??” he asked, angry that she prevented his full orgasm.

He couldn’t remember exactly what he said to piss her off, as often in the throes of passion he spit out the first thing that popped into his head. But he knew the words ‘bitch’, ‘sleazy’, and ‘whore’ came pouring out of his mouth at some point. Her sudden mood change wasn’t the first time he elicited such a response. But this particular female had a vise-like hold on the favorite part of his body, and the deepening coldness in her hand frightened him.

“
How ‘bout I fulfill my other offer to ya, Norman?”

Her tone was menacing, completely void of the sultry sweetness she addressed him with earlier. She turned to face him from the right, her profile beautiful as before. But she frowned, and the eye peering at him through her hair narrowed.

“
I really should be getting on home now, miss,” he said, placing his hand on her wrist to try and pry it off his aching dick. “I-I’m sorry if I offended you...maybe we can try this again sometime, and I promise to not be such an asshole.”

But she didn’t let go of his hard-on that had yet to shrink. He fought desperately to pry her fingers off but couldn’t budge them, clamped onto him like the jaws of a pit bull. Fear escalated into sheer panic, and he began to whimper.

“
No, I’ll
not
let go, Norman!”

“
Please!
I’ll do whatever you want!” He hated the way she drawled his name now and angry at himself for finding it alluring earlier. Something was so wrong…so dangerous about her. He couldn’t believe he let himself fall prey like this, grimly certain some psychopath had slipped into the building when Troy left, and it had nothing at all to do with David Hobbs.

“
Oh, but yer wrong about that!” she said, surprising him more by letting him know his thoughts lay open to her. She turned to face him entirely. “I’ve got a pendin’ appointment with Billy Ray, and he’s goin’ to learn firsthand all about what yer set to go through, darlin’.”

She began to push him backward, tightening her grip on his phallus.

“
You’ve enjoyed my sweet young pussy, and now it’s time for somethin’ else that’s wet and cold!”

At first, the form of a lovely girl stood before him, her beautiful hair shimmering like a halo in the colorful rays created by the streetlamp’s glow through the ornate window. Her face hidden in shadow, that changed as she pushed him further toward the banister, his boxers and slacks falling to his ankles while his shoes slid across the floor. For a mere instant he saw her face clearly.

“
What the hell are you??”
he cried out, and with both hands tearing at her fingers that grew much colder.
“Let me go—PLEASE!!”

She pushed him until his naked backside touched the coolness of the handcrafted banister behind him, and then she stopped. For the moment, her face disappeared in shadow. He glanced over the edge, listening to the water splash in the fountain some twenty feet below. A gurgling noise erupted from where her neck should be, and as he turned back to look at her, a stream of blood poured down the left side of her dress.

“
Would ya like to truly become one with me, Norman?” she asked, her voice a mixture of sarcasm and amusement punctuated by the gurgling noise coming from her open throat. “Or, how ‘bout we settle instead for a lil’ ole kiss to send ya off right proper-r-r-r??”

He pushed himself as hard as he could against the banister. When he looked up he saw her face again, eerily aglow from the security lamps’ soft illumination. He shrieked while she moved to embrace him with her free hand. Her other hand held his favorite organ fast, now dark purple from blood not allowed to flow back through his body.

She raised him off the floor, his pants and belt dangling below his ankles as his knees cleared the banister. He scarcely believed her strength, though by now he knew she wasn’t human.

“
No, no…
No, don’t do it!! I beg you
…
PLEASE DON’T HURT ME
ANYMORE!!!”

Consumed by terrible fear, Norm began to lose control of his bladder and bowels. His eyes blurred as tears flowed down his face. The girl who only moments ago fulfilled his fantasy like no other woman could, giggled. His tears obscured much of her hideousness, but not enough to hide her dreadful smile.

“
Good bye, Nor-r-r-m-a-a-a-n-n!” she told him sweetly, and then launched him off the landing.

He screamed, flailing his arms to try and turn over as he headed for the ground floor, but his bound ankles kept him from being able to right himself. An incredible sharp pain ripped through his torso when he stopped falling. He landed on top of the fountain and it pierced him, slicing through his liver while crushing other vital organs in his midsection. Impaled upon the fountain’s decorative spire now covered with his blood, he looked down and saw the water around him turn dark. He tried to reach for his pants so that whoever found his body wouldn’t see him like this. But he couldn’t move without incurring far greater pain. Waiting for the end to come, he turned his gaze up toward the landing.

Her form had changed. The gorgeous hair that captured his fancy when he first saw her billowed around the silhouette of her face. An immense shadow drifting over the edge of the banister absorbed the rest of her body. Her gurgled voice echoed around him as the shadow descended toward the fountain.

Norm gulped once and closed his eyes. Death couldn’t get here soon enough.

Chapter Twenty-one

“
Honey…Ned’s on the phone,” said Miriam.

David had just finished taking a shower in the guest bathroom of Janice’s townhouse. He quickly toweled himself dry and stepped into his bathrobe, tying it at his waist while he opened the door. She held the phone out to him, covering the receiver until he could take it from her.

“
How did he get this number?” he asked. He glanced at his watch on the bathroom counter, which read 6:40 a.m. “I wonder what the hell couldn’t wait until eight o’clock.”

He smiled at her until he saw the tears welling in her eyes. Her bottom lip quivered as she handed him the phone. He started to pursue her out of the bathroom, but she motioned for him to first take the call. Janice stood nearby, and also looked upset.

“
Hey, Ned,” he said into the receiver, stepping back inside the bathroom and closing the door most of the way.

“
Hello, David,” said Ned. Often serious, he sounded unusually somber. “Sorry to bother you so early and calling you at this number. It’s the one that was left on the voicemail at your home.”

“
Is something wrong?” He wondered immediately if he miscalculated the final figures on the Applewood report he gave him last night.

“
Yeah, there is.”

The line quiet for almost a full minute, David wondered if Ned had set the phone down. He could tell his boss had arrived at the office already, and other voices made it sound like the normal Friday morning bustle started a few hours earlier than normal. He thought he heard him gasp and struggle to breathe.

“
Ned, are you okay?”

“
I’m here…I wish to God I wasn’t the one to have to tell you this.”

“
Tell me what?” David’s worry turned to alarm as Ned wept. “Did I really screw something up on the reports?”

“
Oh, no,” he assured him. “If only that were it.”

“
Are Martha and your boys okay?”

Maybe this was it, given Miriam and Janice’s upset behavior.

“
They’re fine. Thanks for asking.”

“
Well, whatever you’ve got to tell me can’t be
that
bad, can it?”

“
David…Norm is dead.”

“
What??”
He almost dropped the phone. His knees buckled beneath him before he could close the toilet lid for a place to sit down.
“What did you just say?”
His voice choking up, he knew full well what he heard but wanted desperately that it not be true.

“
Norm was killed here sometime last night after Troy left. I’m so sorry.”

“
How can this be??”
sobbed David. Miriam pushed open the door and rushed into the bathroom to join him at his side, throwing her arms around him as she wept with him.
“I just spoke to him last night! Oh my God, he can’t be gone!!”

“
I wish it wasn’t true. Nancy gave a positive ID to the police once Johnny discovered his body. They’re both having such a hard time dealing with this too….” Ned’s voice trailed off, and he began to cry again. “We all loved Norm, David. He and I’ve known each other for more than ten years. It’s gotta be so much worse for you. I’m so, so very sorry.”

He cried harder, and as David and Miriam shared his pain, Janice and the kids soon crowded their way into the bathroom, trying to console their father and finding it impossible not to cry themselves. It wasn’t until almost 7:30 a.m. that David calmed down enough to talk again. Ned remained on the line and Miriam at his side. Janice finished getting the kids ready for school.

“
How did it happen?” David hated asking, but needed to know.

“
The police aren’t sure, yet,” said Ned.