Edge of Shadows (Shadows #1) (33 page)

Linda leaned down, and David could smell the perfume at her neck. It smelled like lilacs, and David closed his eyes, drinking it in deeply.

“You may want to turn your chair around, sweet boy. These matters aren’t for you,” she whispered in his ear. “At least, not yet.”

Then she licked his ear and David felt a bolt of delicious electricity shoot through his body. Then she grabbed the sides of his chair and in one strong shove swung it around.

The energy coursing through his body left him dazed for a period of time and he couldn’t form a coherent thought, much less move. When he finally felt like himself again, and gained awareness of his surroundings, he broke out in a cold sweat. He didn’t dare make a move to brush the drops on his forehead away. He couldn’t remember a time in his life when he’d been so afraid. He didn’t know what was happening behind him, but the obscene noises were enough to ensure that he would never be the same again. Where was Ellie?

Ellie gazed at herself in the mirror. The dress was beautiful. It was a green silk sheath dress that fit like a glove and ended just above her ankles. It had a lace overlay that went right up her neck to right beneath her chin. Her hair was swept up in a loose ponytail at the base of her neck, and she wore a long strand of pale beads. She smiled and swished back and forth. This was just like her favorite dream.

Then she saw Linda’s face in the corner of the mirror. The edges of her dream faltered.

“You look lovely, Ellie. David will be so happy to see you again.” Linda smiled.

David. Ellie’s heart started to beat faster. She thought it was possible that she loved David Mitchell.

“Can I see him now?” she asked. Her voice was high and girlish.

“He’s waiting right outside.” Linda gestured toward the door.

Ellie finally took note of her surroundings. She was in Linda’s closet again. As she smoothed the dress down her hips with her hands, she felt something in the back of her mind nagging at her. But that was eclipsed by thoughts of David.

“You think he’ll like it?” she asked.

“Of course, darling. He’ll love it. Randall and I couldn’t be more thrilled about the two of you.” Linda put her hands on Ellie’s shoulders. “After all of this time, we can finally move forward.”

Ellie felt warm waves pulse through her body and she staggered. Linda’s hands were under her shoulders, helping her up.

“You are going to love it here, Ellie,” Linda said as she moved her across the room to the door. “It is so wonderful.”

Ellie was about to ask what she was babbling about, but then the door opened and she saw David standing in the middle of the room. He looked tired, but his face lit up when he saw her. Linda’s odd words flew right out of her mind.

“Ellie!”

“David!”

He met her in two strides as she rushed toward him. Then she was in his arms and he crushed her against him.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Ellie nodded, but could see more unspoken questions in his eyes. She wondered why he looked so frightened.

“What’s the matter, David?” She reached up and stroked his cheek.

“Don’t you remember, Ellie? Linda and Randall have been holding us hostage. You disappeared when we were both locked up in that closet,” he said. His eyes anxiously searched hers.

The nagging feeling was in the back of her head again. “Linda was right here, David. She helped me pick out this dress for you.” She took a step back and twirled in a circle for him. She looked at him hoping for approval, but found an expression of disbelief. “You don’t like it?” she said with a pout.

“Ellie,” David said. Then he stopped and appeared to be searching for the right words. “Ellie, there is something wrong here. With this house, with these people. We are in danger, Ellie.”

Ellie shook her head violently. She didn’t know why David was saying these things. She grabbed the sides of her head. It was like there were two voices in her head and she couldn’t keep out either one.

David tried to grab her arm but she pushed him away. Something was wrong. Her vision blurred and for just a moment Emma’s dark eyes floated over David’s shoulder.

Ellie looked up at David, the terror in her face now mirroring his. “You’re right. There is something evil here, and it wants us,” she said in a horrified whisper.

“How do you know that, Ellie?” he demanded.

“I saw it. Emma showed me,” she said. She started to glance around the room. She sensed that Linda and Randall were close.

“You remember I told you about my dreams?” she continued. “I realize now that Emma was asking me to help her. To help her escape. But I failed. Whatever these gifts are that I have, they aren’t strong enough.”

She could see that David was having a hard time processing this information. She stepped closer to him. “Linda and Randall, or Lillian and Joseph, are who they really are, somehow. And they aren’t the worst things here, David,” she said as she looked around the room.

“I’ve seen something too,” David said. “They killed Jenny and her baby. I think. God, Ellie, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I think they ate them.”

Ellie looked into David’s eyes and saw the truth there. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “We’ve got to get out of here, David.”

“I don’t think so” Randall’s booming voice filled the room. “The party is just getting started.”

Ellie watched in horror as Linda and Randall entered the room, one from the wall on the left and one from the wall on their right. Her jaw dropped. She heard Emma’s screams echoing in her mind.

Linda and Randall were ghosts.

As Linda and Randall slowly circled them, Ellie’s mind worked furiously. She was trying to process all the pieces that Emma had given her, knowing somewhere in those fragments was the answer to the puzzle.

She saw that Linda and Randall looked younger, much younger. David was trying to push her behind him, but the two spaced themselves far enough apart that there was always one of them right in front, ready to catch them if they made a move for the door. The room darkened, and then small drops of light appeared around the perimeter of the room. Something far darker had joined them.

“Ellie.” Linda’s tone was disapproving. “You speak so ill of our wonderful home. It takes care of us and gives us everything we could ever want or need. Youth. Riches. What it asks for is so small in comparison.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” David said, still moving to try to protect Ellie. “What are you? What do you want from us?”

“I told you earlier, David,” Linda said, “every living thing needs nourishment. What exists here has been here so much longer than us. We were lucky that it saw our potential, otherwise, yes, it would likely have used us up too. There are many ways to feed it, but nothing gives it more strength than love. Isn’t that the most beautiful thing?”

“Nothing nourishes like the power of love,” Randall agreed. “What you feel here around you is powerful beyond your imagination. When you are chosen, you become a God.”

“You’re no gods,” Ellie said. “You are nothing but sick people.”

“Ellie,” Linda admonished in that motherly tone that Ellie hated. “You of all people I would think could appreciate what this house is all about.”

“What do you mean?” Ellie asked.

“Let’s just say, our home has a special appetite for people who themselves are special,” Linda said with a knowing grin.

Ellie realized that Linda had known about her all along. She had been targeted. Linda and Randall had been playing her like a puppet, maneuvering her into this time and this place.

“How?” she asked.

Linda clucked her tongue. “I’m surprised at you, Ellie. For such a smart girl, you are pretty slow sometimes.”

Ellie realized the link that she had been missing. “It was Jake, wasn’t it?” For just a moment she was transported back to the basement of their house, just days before she had left Jake for good. Jake had put black paper over all of the windows and the area was dank and dark. It stank with some kind of herbs that he had been burning, and in the back, Ellie had found that Jake had converted his old workbench into something resembling an altar. It had dead flowers and candles strewn over the surface. And in the middle there was a picture of Ellie.

Linda nodded. “Of course it was Jake. I almost feel bad for the poor boy. In his pathetic little attempts to understand his own condition, he awakened something else that scared the dickens out of him.”

“You came after me because of Jake,” Ellie said, still trying to wrap her mind around the idea. “Why me and not him? I mean, he was the one that did all of it.  He was ‘special’ too.”

Linda and Randall laughed. “Jake wasn’t exactly what we were looking for,” Randall said. “Although we should thank him again for sending us that special treat.” Randall licked his lips.

Ellie didn’t know what Randall was talking about, and then David answered, “Jenny and her baby.”

Linda’s face lit up. “A mother and child’s love is truly sweet and pure. It is second only to that one other love.”

“What is that?” Ellie asked.

“Silly Ellie.” Linda shook her head. “Have I taught you nothing in the last few months?”

They stopped circling now. Ellie stood facing Linda, and David faced Randall. Their backs touched, and Ellie grabbed behind her for David’s hand. The touch of his skin was reassuring.

The answer burst into Ellie’s mind. “True love,” she whispered.

Her emotions threatened to overwhelm her, and she turned to find David had turned as well and was gazing down into her eyes. She saw the truth that she had suspected there.

“True love,” Linda said behind her. “So rare a gift that it can keep our benefactor strong for decades.”

Linda’s words connected more dots for Ellie. “You stole it. You stole it from Emma and Henry.”

“We stole nothing,” Linda scoffed. “I once had plans for Emma too. But she went off and died before I could convince her to join us. Henry was devastated. It was unfortunate.” Linda chuckled. “But I did my best to comfort him in his last moments.”

The candles flickered for a moment, and Ellie saw Randall’s eyes narrow over David’s shoulder. “I thought you said you had her under control,” he said to Linda.

“Get these two ready,” Linda hissed at him. “I’ll deal with her.”

Linda vanished, leaving Ellie and David with Randall.

“I am not going to get used to that,” David murmured as he pulled her close to him.

Randall stared at the wall so long that Ellie thought he might have forgotten they were there. Then his face changed and Ellie screamed.

“This should be nearly painless,” he said as his jaws widened. His arms seemed to elongate to encircle them. The last thing Ellie saw was his red eyes as she and David sank to the floor in each other’s arms. The edges of reality went blurry again.

David never fully lost consciousness. He felt his body being lifted up and stretched out on a table. He swung his head to the side and saw Ellie was lying beside him. She was staring back at him, but her face was slack. Randall’s head emerged from beside her, and David knew that he had been “feeding” on her. He didn’t really understand why Ellie had been so important to them, but it was clear that whatever special abilities they possessed, it was something that the couple found irresistible.

He didn’t see anything in Ellie’s eyes, and this scared him badly. He had to hold out hope that they would get out of this.

“Why her?” he managed to ask.

Randall chuckled. “My dear boy, you’re asking the wrong question. The question is really, why you?”

“What are you talking about?” David said. He felt sick. Was it possible that this was all his fault somehow? What had happened to Jenny Marks and her baby? What had happened to Ellie?

“We already told you that Jake would have been a perfect match what with his own abilities, but in this case, we needed something else, or more appropriate, someone else. We needed a woman. Lucky for us, Jake led us right to Ellie. So that when the time came and we sent you out into the world to meet your match and fall in love we’d know right where to put you. Then all’s you had to do was bring your true love home, which you did just like we knew you would,” Randall said. Randall had moved to Ellie’s feet.

“You didn’t have any children.” Ellie’s voice rang out. “Lillian was barren.”

Randall’s face contorted in pain. “A minor detail. One that was corrected easily enough,” he said.

David felt Ellie’s hand crawl into his. He looked back at her, and this time saw a look of alarm and pity in her eyes. “David. I think you are Emma and Henry’s son,” she whispered.

His stomach clutched. “That’s not possible,” he sputtered. “They died over a hundred years ago.”

“Time means little here. The house slumbers as do we, until it is time to feed.” Linda reappeared behind Ellie’s head. She was watching Ellie thoughtfully. “You are quite the perceptive one, aren’t you, dear?”

“You let that get out of control.” Randall was looking at Linda. “You have caused a mess. What with that agent and now you can’t keep that little menace from putting her nose in where it doesn’t belong. That is your fault.”