Grave Refrain: A Love/Ghost Story (62 page)

Dusty casks, nearly twelve feet in height, loomed ominously around them and cast massive shadows through which they passed. The farther they walked, the more sporadic the bulbs appeared; it would soon become entirely dark, their flashlights offering only spheres of light in the clammy blackness.

A growing sense of dread washed over her and sharpened her other senses as they passed deeper into the caves. The ground seemed to slope downward as they walked along, adding to Emily’s already blinding disorientation.

Several minutes later she heard Dwayne whisper, “Oh, shit.” He froze in his tracks, and she slammed into him.

“Why are you whispering?” she choked out.

“See those little dudes over there? Don’t want to get them pissed, I can tell you that.” He pointed to something in the pitch blackness.

From the darkness a strange sound seeped like hundreds of trembling wings. Peering harder, she saw it. Hanging from the cave walls were a thick line of pulsating blobs.

Bats.

Why hadn’t Clarence mentioned anything about bats? The blood rushed to her face and her palms began to sweat.

“We’re very deep within the caves now,” Clarence told them. “The Lady in White usually likes to hover around the last series of rows up ahead where we store all the old abandoned barrels. That is as far as we can safely go. Mind you, the rows run very long, so we don’t go near the far ends. The light is too poor there, and it’s too dangerous since we could fall into the other tunnels that lead deeper underground. And don’t make any loud noises, you’ll annoy the tenants.”

“Not a problem,” said Emily.

Clarence took the lead, followed by Buck and Egan. They were soon several yards ahead of Emily and Dwayne. She was shining her flashlight into the inky blackness, making sure she could see them, when suddenly a hand grabbed her arm. She jumped out of her skin but quickly realized it was only Dwayne clutching her elbow. His face was beaded in sweat, his pallor a sickening shade of green.

“You must be used to this,” she told him through numb lips. “Dealing with ghosts all the time, right?”

“Sure,” he squeaked. “Only problem is—I’m claustrophobic.”

“Why did you wait till now to tell me that?” she hissed at him. But he looked so much worse than she did that her heart softened at the sight of his trembling facial tattoos. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine, just keep taking deep breaths,” she tried to reassure him. But with every step they took, the worse off he appeared. Clarence was far ahead now, and they were forced to stumble along, arm-in-arm, their flashlights shaking oval pools of light at their feet.

“Clarence,” Emily shouted.

Her voice seemed to vibrate along the walls. With unsteady hands, she shined her flashlight slowly up the back cave wall. It seemed to spire upward, much, much higher on this side than they had seen before. Crags and ledges jutted forth from a monumental sheer face riddled with pockmarked cavities. From those charnel-like holes a fetid wind blew across their faces and a chill of horror shot down her spine. The crags and ledges seemed to be teeming, rippling in a grotesque unearthly way. The sinister pits were alive—they pulsated. They were infested with bats.

Terrified speechless, she staggered back a step, nearly dropping her flashlight. She had never seen so many in one place. They hung in a misshapen way, curled upward, their reptilian wings shrouded around their rat-like bodies. A macabre rustle pulsed through the air, and the ammonium stink of guano nearly made her gag.

Suddenly a shape seemed to sweep among them, setting them to stir like an infestation of rats. She frantically grabbed for Dwayne’s arm. Except he wasn’t there.

“Dwayne?” Emily hissed out, her voice echoing off the walls. The bats twitched, chittering in alarm; the nauseating thrumming from thousands of flesh-covered wings made her blood freeze in her veins. She turned around. Dwayne had passed out dead on the floor.

Fuck!
she thought in silent rage, bending down to see if she could shake him awake. “Dwayne?” she whispered as loud as she dared. “Dwayne? Wake up!”

It was then that she heard it. Another set of footsteps. Gratitude rushed through her; someone was here to help.

“Help,” she cried softly. “Clarence? Egan?” The bats rustled angrily.

She heard their footfalls coming toward her. Without warning, an icy breeze swept over her body, chilling her down to the marrow of her bones. She spun around. A shape moved in the blackness; she inched backward until she felt a cask pressed against her spine.

“Who’s there?” she said sharply. She knew something was out there, standing alone, listening to her voice. It darted from the faint beams of her flashlight.

“A Thomas alone,” a chilling voice cooed.

Out of the thick blackness overhead a phantom glided forth. The unearthly apparition of a woman shrouded in a long ivory gown floated before Emily. Her translucent amber eyes blazed beneath a pure white aura of light, holding Emily’s gaze in rapt attention. Emily pressed harder against the cask, trembling from head to toe.

“Are you—are you The Lady in White?” she mouthed, her lips barely able to move.

“A Thomas alone,” she repeated, the sound of her voice tinkling like broken glass. “No Chamberlain with her?”

The ghost suddenly swept around her, enveloping her body in a chilling embrace. “But there is a Chamberlain. Oh yes, there is a Chamberlain near,” her blue-black lips whispered against Emily’s goose-pimpled skin.

“Nick—he is a Chamberlain,” Emily sputtered out despite her fear. “Is he buried nearby? Can you tell me where he is?”

“Ah, Nick Chamberlain. The young man who did not believe.” She drew back, studying her, the temperature plummeting around them. Her glowing eyes hypnotized Emily; her spectral hair billowed in wild ringlets about her narrow face.

“Believe in what?”

“Fate.” Her astral shape swirled as the vapors of her face darkened into a caul of blackness.

“Do you know where Nick is laid to rest?”

“He is not at rest.”

Emily shut her eyes and tried to summon her courage, her inner Nora. It was easier to speak with her when she didn’t have to see those phantasmagorical black lips.

“Please, I need to find Nick Chamberlain’s body. I need to know what you told his mother.”

“You need much. I don’t know where his dust is. And I told his mother the truth, as tragic as it was. But the inescapable truth. The truth he chose to dismiss.”

“What truth?”

Suddenly she rose above Emily; her gowned arms flew open wide as though to engulf her.

“Run!” she commanded.

“What?”

“Someone wants to harm you!”

“I don’t understand!”

“Miss Thomas!” Clarence shouted as the group of men emerged from the darkness, taking in the twin shocks of the ghost and the prone body of Dwayne on the ground.

The Lady in White twisted in the air, her arms shielding her like a mother would a child. Emily stumbled backward.

“Emily! Emily, please!”

The voice paralyzed every nerve in her body. The horribly familiar voice.

“Who’s there?” shouted Clarence. “You shouldn’t be down here without an escort.”

“Don’t hide her from me.”

She knew that blunt accent.
Vandin.
How could Vandin be here?

“I don’t want to hurt you. I only want her.” His voice sounded frayed, unstable. “Emily, please, we have to get out of here, Emily.”

Vandin stepped into the ring of flashlights, his clothes disheveled, his hair on end, a gun held in his hands. “I can’t…stop her. She’s in my mind, Emily. It hurts—she hurts. We have to go. There’s no time.”

Dwayne had come to and was struggling to his legs. Vandin fired, missing him by inches.

At the sound of the shot, the bats pelted down from the cave walls like an avalanche, shrieking in rage. Emily bolted down the aisle, shouts of distress roaring all around her.

She stopped short. She had reached the end of the row and scrambled under the barrels to hide, dirt choking her throat.

A steady pair of footsteps stalked closer toward her. She pulled herself into a ball, slamming her hand over her mouth to silence her coughs. The footsteps slowed, then stopped directly in front of her. The only sound she could hear was that of labored and hoarse breathing. “Emily,” Vandin whispered, kneeling down to peer under the barrel. She whimpered, truly terrified. Her worst fears about this man had been realized. He had lost his mind after seeing Nora; he was insane.

“Come out, Emily. Don’t make her mad. You don’t want her mad. He’s going to kill you. You have to run, you have to come with me, now!”

A flashlight shone into her eyes, blinding her.

Vandin lunged and seized her, dragging her to her feet. She screamed again. His hand slapped hard over her mouth, his fetid breath hot against her ear.

“We need to get out of here. Emily, don’t fight me. He’ll hear you, he’ll break your neck. Do you understand me?”

She shook her head vigorously.

Abruptly, from faraway a clear voice rang out. “Emily!”

“Andrew!” she screamed, wrestling to break free. Vandin slapped her hard across the face and yanked her by her hair.

“Emily!” Andrew hollered. “Emily!”

Vandin hauled her down toward the wall of bats, heading straight to the cave tunnels Clarence had warned them about. One hand was clamped over her mouth and his other pressed the gun into her side.

“Faster! Run faster!”

They were almost at the wall; it was like diving into a swarm of bats. Vandin didn’t care. He knew where he was going and where he would take her.

“If you’d only listened. It’s all your fault, Emily. All your fault, all your fault. All your fault,” he whimpered, his face a twisted mask as he lurched forward.

“Emily!” Andrew screamed. “Christ! Emily!”

Vandin was grunting and growling as they neared a dark fissure in the rock. She knew what would be waiting inside; thousands of bats, and they would swarm them, tear their skin, devour them alive. She fought against him with all her strength.

He slammed her body against a cask and shoved the muzzle of the gun against her breast. “If I shoot him, you’ll live. She told me.” His black eyes bore into hers, all sanity gone. “You are beautiful, so, so beautiful.” He trailed the cold barrel along her cheekbone. She turned away from him, unable to look at the horrible fascination in his eyes. “So, so soft.”

She felt his body relax. The gun lowered slowly, and she could feel his eyes find hers. She forced her body to wait. She waited until he moved closer, and closer and closer…

In one fierce move, she thrust her knee as hard as she could into his groin.

He doubled over, writhing in agony. “No!” he spat out. “No!”

She struggled out of his grip and catapulted herself into the darkness, running as fast as her legs could move.

“Emily!” Andrew cried. “Emily!”

“Andrew! Help!” She ran toward his voice. Footsteps thundered behind her. Grappling her hands in the dark like a blind man, she flung herself down another row.

“Emily!” Simon’s voice cut through the darkness on her left.

“Simon!” she yelled, praying he could find her, and groped frantically around another corner in the vain hope of reaching someone. She kept yelling Andrew’s name as she lumbered ahead, becoming more and more desperate with each step. She clawed at the darkness when suddenly a pair of hands reached out and snatched her. She screamed.

Arms crushed her. A sweating, trembling body clenched her tight. “Oh God, Emily!”

“Andrew!” She clung to him, panting. “Andrew!”

Lips tore at her cheeks, her hair, and back to her lips. Gasping, he plastered her against a barrel and cupped her face in his hands. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Sweet girl, oh bloody hell.” He pressed his forehead against hers and fought to breathe.

Amidst the mad swirl of passion and desire, the stark cold fear of reality shot through her. “Andrew—Vandin!”

Andrew grasped her by the shoulders so hard that she could feel his pulse hammer inside his fingers. “Stay with me. Don’t let go.”

With that, he took off into the darkness. They ran hand-in-hand down endless rows. All around people were shouting now, bats swooping down from overhead. Emily stumbled, but Andrew caught her and wrapped his arm around her before he sprinted ahead. They whipped around a corner. A body nearly crashed into them. Andrew threw her behind him.

“It’s us!” Simon’s voice cried from the darkness. She barely made out the hulking outlines of Simon and Christian, their shoulders heaving in exertion.

“He’s here,” Andrew hissed at them.

“Was that his gun?” Simon asked.

“Emily, luv, did he…did you see?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” said Christian. “We can’t take him if he has a gun. We need the cops.”

“Miss Thomas!” Clarence yelled from behind them. “Are you there?”

The shapes of Clarence and the others materialized from the dark.