Chapter 22 Darkness Is Where The Monsters Live #2
The curtain wobbled again. “I guess I’ll just have to check the whole room, then.” I checked behind the couch and announced loudly, “No, not here.” Then I checked by another curtain. Billy giggled and I pulled back the curtain to his shrieks of laughter.
I laughed and ruffled his hair. “Found you. You can help me find Lottie.”
Grinning, he clutched my hand, and we walked through every remaining room. No Lottie. The only room we hadn’t checked was the basement. The slightly ajar door and the light filtering gave away where she went.
Something stirred in the back of my mind. Something cold and dark. I had always had a profound adverse reaction to basements. As if the walls were traps and the stale air carried terrible secrets.
I knew why. It always came back to the same old chestnut—darkness. My logical mind could process it all it wanted. I could tell myself there was nothing down there, but the subconscious would conjure images of the monsters lying in wait. Images were hard to defeat.
My heart battered against my chest as I leaned forward and pulled the door open. My eyes registered the shape as my body grew chillingly cold. The presence lurched up the stairs. Startled, I gasped and jumped back.
Challis smirked as he took my reaction in. His dark eyes were brighter than normal, and there was a warm glow around his pupils. He’d just fed.
Unease curled in my stomach. “Is Lottie down there?”
He shrugged as he stepped into the foyer. “I’m not willing to say. It’s called hide-and-seek, is it not?”
“Challis, don’t be an—” I stopped myself before I swore. “Is she down there or not?”
“I didn’t see her.” He would know; he’d smell her and hear her. His smirk grew as my eyes narrowed. “You will have to look for yourself.” He turned his attention to Billy. Billy stared at him with a scowl on his face. “That’s how the game works, isn’t it, buddy?” He winked.
“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath as he strode through the foyer.
I edged forward and stared at the stairwell, heavy gray brick winding down like a dark throat. There were no monsters there. They were childhood stories, the stuff of myth, not real. Still.
Billy tugged at my hand to move, but I remained glued to the spot. “She’s down there,” he whispered.
“Lottie,” I called out. “Lottie, come out, honey. Game’s over now. We know you’re in the basement.”
The sound of my voice chanted against the thick walls. Chanted seemed about right, as if a catastrophic urging to a grim prophecy. A warm squirm of panic churned through my stomach.
That’s where the monsters live, a voice whispered.
“Amy, let’s go.”
I licked my dry lips. I knew it was irrational—there were no monsters in the basement because they lurked on the streets. But I couldn’t help feeling that if I went down there, something bad—something horrible—would happen. I’d be strapped down, pinned, and—
Hands on my arms. Faceless figures rushing at me through the dark.
“Amy.” Billy tugged my hand. The images fled and I was back hovering at the edge of the stairs. Was it a memory? No, I realized immediately, it was a nightmare rearing its ugly head in the broad light of day, as if having them at night wasn’t fucking bad enough.
“Lottie,” I called out louder.
“Come on,” Billy said, then letting go of my hand, he began to step down.
“No.” I grasped his arm, stopping him mid-step.
He frowned up at me. “She’s there though.”
I didn’t want to go down. But I couldn’t let him go alone; what sort of person would that make me? What sort of warrior would that make me? I was so fucked.
I gave him a tight smile. “You wait here. There’s adult stuff down there young children shouldn’t see.”
Like blood in fridges. God, I hoped she didn’t open the fridges.
He nodded and leaned against the wall.
Heart beating fast, palms sweaty and clenched, I stepped down. One. I counted the steps to distract me. Breathe. I sucked in a sharp breath.
Two, three, four, five. The walls came to life and shifted, closed in, as if perched, ready to slap against my body. The air thickened, closing in all around me. I couldn’t breathe.
Breathe and count. Breathe and count. My breath burned against the cold, musky air. Was that rot I could smell? Don’t be silly, I told myself, it’s just how basements smell. Unless the vampires had a dead body down here?
Six.
My legs trembled so badly I had to reach out a hand against the wall to steady myself. “Lottie,” I called out, my voice sounding small against the towering walls. “Game’s over. You need to answer me.”
Nothing but cold, hard silence.
She had to be okay, of course she was okay.
I would find her curled up on the couch asleep.
Most basements had couches, pool tables, and loads of useless shit stored.
So many fucking places to hide. I gnawed on my bottom lip.
She was asleep, that’s why she wasn’t responding.
That made sense, she was bound to be exhausted.
“Lottie!” I cried. A few more steps and the darkness would swarm all over me. The floor shifted under my feet. My vision blurred. My breath rattled against my throat.
Eig—
The hairs on the back of my neck rose. A warning—
A cold, ghastly hand clasped my shoulder.
I shrieked and jumped, and as I spun back, my foot landed on the edge of the stair and I lost balance.
My soul shot from my body as I began to fall.
Time slowed. There was only the stairs that kept moving, and they were rushing at my face.
And if I fell—helpless. I’d be helpless to the monsters.
A half-shriek, half-whimper fell from my lips as the darkness stormed in.