登陆注册
10476100000036

第36章

Edwin Pesh was having a tormented weekend. The All Spirit refused to leave him alone. No sleep had come on Saturday night; the voice in his head had continually asked for more, more, and the many responsibilities he still had to deal with on his own began to take a toll.

Beaten down and weary, he sat in one of the rooms on his second floor surrounded by cats. Cats of all shapes and varieties purred and tried to sit in his lap. There were at least ten of them in that room alone. Some stared out the windows. Others slept in corners or on the single bed, or they ate from one of the many food dishes available on the wooden floors.

Wanda Voles…the name of Wanda Voles was repeatedly mentioned by the All Spirit, so much so that Edwin knew what he had to do. Pick yourself up, he thought. Take care of the cats, walk the dogs, and then go back to Bentley and get Wanda Voles.

No! his mind screamed.

Yes! he screamed back.

A bark came from downstairs, and then multiple barks.

Instantly alert, Edwin stood up and looked out the windows.

The backyard was empty.

On the side of the house, someone was crouched behind his minivan.

Police, he thought.

An initial moment of fear slipped away from his thoughts and Edwin prepared to become the vessel of the All Spirit, a living body inhabited by a god.

Eyes closed, he took in a deep breath, opened his arms wide, and pressed his hands together above his head. A simple squat, performed three times, and he opened his eyes anew, lit by an internal fire.

In his mind, he imagined the All Spirit had taken control of him; the celestial being was inside of his body, forming his fists and directing his thoughts and actions.

I accept you wholeheartedly, he swore.

No traditional exercise had ever appealed to Edwin. Instead, he typically performed a series of hops, flips, and taut-muscle motions that had been mentally provided by the All Spirit to prepare him for hunts and in the event of an outside attack.

After years of practice within his home-and now with the All Spirit inside of him-Edwin was sure that he could overtake any foe.

They threaten our cause, the All Spirit moaned within Edwin's mind. We cannot allow them to thwart our plans. Go, my fledgling. Go…and hunt.

* * *

Dogs barked from inside the house. There had to be two or three of them. One was a large pit bull that kept appearing in the first floor window.

Shit, she thought. Move.

Crouched low, Avery ran into the backyard.

The dogs followed and barked.

A basement door was painted blue. She tried to open it. Locked. There was a porch and a back door. She shuffled up and peeked inside. Instantly, the pit bull's face appeared again. The barking turned ferocious. There were two other dogs, both tiny: a pug and what appeared to be a tea cup poodle. She also spotted numerous cats.

The back door was locked.

She hammered her gun onto one of the glass plates near the lock.

The glass shattered.

The muzzle of the pit bull snapped in the opening. Avery stood up and tracked the movements of all three dogs. When the way was clear, she reached in and unlocked the door.

A squat took her down low. With her back protected by the wooden door, Avery put one hand on the knob. The gun was in her other hand. She listened for the timing: the pit bull barked and jumped, stayed on the floor for a bit, then repeated the process.

When the pit bull was about to jump, Avery opened the door.

The dog rushed out. A light tap with her foot and the pit bull stumbled down the steps. The two other dogs appeared and grasped for footing so they could turn and reach Avery. She simply held the doorknob, spun inside the house, and closed the door.

Barking continued, but it no longer bothered her.

Avery was in.

A cat purred against her leg.

The kitchen was beside her. To her left was a small dining area, and straight ahead were a living room and two more cats. A few plants dotted the kitchen windowsills. They seemed like the easiest variety to maintain: cactus and pothos.

Gun held low, Avery moved through the house.

Stay alert, she thought. He has to know I'm here.

"Edwin Pesh!" she yelled. "This is the police. Make your hands visible and step into view. There are two other officers outside," she lied. "Backup is on the way. In a few minutes, this entire block will be crawling with cops. Edwin Pesh!"

Around a corner was the staircase to the second level. More cats lined the steps.

Avery crept up the carpeted stairs, gun pointed straight ahead and above, where she could see a wraparound banister. Cats continued to get in her way. She gently nudged them aside.

The second floor was empty, but she found even more cats. No pictures lined the walls. No photos of any kind. Only two spartan bedrooms that were completely blanketed in cats. Every closet was opened. She looked under beds and in nooks. Edwin Pesh was nowhere.

The basement door was in the kitchen.

Beside the door was a phone.

Avery picked it up and dialed 911.

"This is emergency services," a woman said. "How can I help you?"

"My name is Avery Black. I'm with the Boston A1," she replied and offered her badge number. "I'm in the house of a possible serial killer and need support."

"Thank you for your call, Detective Black. Can you please…"

Avery left the phone hanging.

The basement was dark. A light switch to her right illuminated another door at the bottom of the steps. She made her way down. The walls were lined in bare wood.

At the bottom of the steps, she opened the second door.

Another hallway was perpendicular to the staircase. More dim lights hung from the wooden ceiling and lit the space. She turned left, and was forced to make another quick left into a much longer passageway.

Every square inch of the walls in the longer passage was lined in pictures, hundreds of pictures. The pictures seemed to be arranged horizontally. If she followed one all the way to the right, it told a story. A black cat was in one frame, just sitting on a ledge. In the next frame, the cat was seemingly dead on the ground. In the next, the cat was partially opened to reveal its interior. Each consecutive picture showed the cat in some stage of taxidermy.

Doors interrupted the walls on both sides.

It's like a maze, she thought.

"Edwin Pesh!" she yelled. "This is the police. Make yourself known! Put your hands where I can see them and step out into the hall."

She listened for a response.

Nothing, only dogs barking from a distance, and the motion of an orange cat that had followed her down into the basement.

The first door on her left was opened. Darkness obscured the room. Avery clicked on her flashlight, held it in line with her gun muzzle. She spun inside. Jars were visible along the back wall, row after row of jars with multicolored substances. A silver medical table was to her left, along with medical equipment and embalming fluid and tools.

Holy shit.

A cat rubbed against her leg.

Startled by the contact, Avery pointed her weapon down and nearly fired.

"Jesus," she whispered.

For a moment, her eyes closed.

Floorboards creaked behind her. In the second that it took for Avery to rouse herself and spin, she felt a sting in the back of her neck and heard someone run farther down the hall.

Shit!!

Wooziness spread through her.

Not like this, she fought. I can't go out like this.

Energized by the thought that she only had moments before some strange concoction took effect, Avery screamed a muted, barely perceptible howl and stumbled up the hall. She slammed against walls on her way. Pictures flew off and smashed to the floor. Every door she found was opened. The flashlight whipped from one side to the other.

Blindly, she fired.

Images appeared in a dreamy blur: a room that was more like a holding cell with bars and a straw floor; another room full of stuffed cats and dogs.

When she reached the last door, Avery sank to her knees.

The flashlight dropped from her hand.

She turned the doorknob and pushed it open.

Edwin Pesh could be seen on the outer edge of the flashlight's glow.

Avery sank to her chest. She held the gun ahead of her and prepared to fire. Suddenly, as light as a feather, Edwin hopped from one side of the room to the other, again and again, in fast, catlike bursts that made him difficult to target.

Woozy. Avery's mind was woozy and fading fast. The gun was heavy, too heavy to hold up. She lowered the weapon to the ground. Her cheek touched the cold floor but she continued to watch Edwin Pesh.

Edwin settled into his low crouch, yellow eyes illuminated from the flashlight.

Avery could feel herself slipping out of consciousness.

Edwin stood to his full height and walked toward her.

"Shhhhh," he whispered.

Not like this, Avery thought.

With great effort-and her wrist balanced on the ground-Avery raised the muzzle of her gun toward Edwin's groin and fired three times. Crack! Crack! Crack!

The gun dropped from her hand.

Edwin's feet were in front of her. She could see his legs buckle. Suddenly, he dropped down and sank to the side.

Edwin lay there, collapsed, beside her. His face was but inches away from hers. The two of them lay beside each other, each frozen, each dying, eyes locked on each other's.

His eyes locked on hers. In the dreamy haze of whatever drug had poisoned her system, his eyes appeared incredibly large, wide open pools of darkness. A smile curled on his lips.

"More," he whispered. "More."

Nothing else came out of him, nothing else moved. The lips remained in a partial curl, and his eyes, fully open, burned into her soul.

In her mind, Avery heard, More. MORE!

A male voice resounded through the halls.

"Avery!?"

A hand touched her neck and checked for a pulse. Someone cursed and then spoke in a warped, barely recognizable voice: "Talk to me, Black. Can you hear me? Try to stay alive. Help is on the way."

But she felt herself weakening.

His voice came again, this time panic in it.

"Shit, Black, don't die on me now!"

同类推荐
  • Then We Take Berlin
  • The Caddie Was a Reindeer
  • The Skeleton Road
  • Dam Busters
  • The Steep and Thorny Way

    The Steep and Thorny Way

    A thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare's Hamlet, The Steep and Thorny Way tells the story of a murder most foul and the mighty power of love and acceptance in a state gone terribly rotten. ?1920s Oregon is not a welcoming place for Hanalee Denney, the daughter of a white woman and an African-American man. She has almost no rights by law, and the Ku Klux Klan breeds fear and hatred in even Hanalee's oldest friendships. Plus, her father, Hank Denney, died a year ago, hit by a drunk-driving teenager. Now her father's killer is out of jail and back in town, and he claims that Hanalee's father wasn't killed by the accident at all but, instead, was poisoned by the doctor who looked after him—who happens to be Hanalee's new stepfather. ?The only way for Hanalee to get the answers she needs is to ask Hank himself, a "haint" wandering the roads at night.
热门推荐
  • 寺内贯太郎一家

    寺内贯太郎一家

    《寺内贯太郎一家》是日本上世纪七十年代红极一时的电视连续剧,剧作家向田邦子以父亲为原型,生动描绘了日本下町一个三代同堂家庭的日常生活,并将生老病死、爱与孤独等等话题贯穿其中。小说《寺内贯太郎一家》即根剧本改编而来,在絮絮叨叨的生活推进中让读者亲历着家庭的煦暖温情与人生的几多无奈,生活的悲喜愁苦跃然纸上,更让读者在感同身受的同时悄然领悟到逗趣言语下的生活智慧与哲理。
  • 名门盛爱:冷少的契约情人

    名门盛爱:冷少的契约情人

    生活在单亲家庭,有一个嗜赌成性的妈妈,每天被不同的人上门追债,这是顾婉言来到江家之前的人生,那样的日子,她也从来没有觉得自己低人一等,直到她捧着契约进入江家的一刻,她的人生观就这样瞬间崩塌,江夫人只是动了动她尖酸刻薄的嘴唇,她就立刻成为了只配匍匐在她脚下认错的下等人。手被那双温暖的大手包裹住的一刻,有那么一瞬间,顾婉言心中生出一抹幻想,她多么希望,眼前的这个男人,带她逃离的不只是一场难堪,而是她无法自拔的水深火热。然而...
  • 学校文化建设的理论与实践

    学校文化建设的理论与实践

    一所学校是一部历史,沉积着各个历史时期的校园文化生活,记载和延续着学校的学术传统和文化精神。从某种意义上说,学校的发展可视为对历史文化的传承和开拓。
  • 倾世丑妃:将军,这厢有礼了

    倾世丑妃:将军,这厢有礼了

    她身世迷离,貌若天仙,身逢乱世,为保清白,自毁容颜。即便如此,她也逃不开纠缠在皇帝和将军之间的命运安排。爱着将军的她,成了闻名的‘丑妃’,爱上皇帝的前一刻,她心如死灰。记得她被废妃位,下嫁将军那天,皇帝亲手将她带到将军面前。他对将军说“如果你亏待小樱,朕将不择手段让你生不如死。”将军回道:”请你放心,即便死亡,也不能阻止我带她逍遥一世,纵横四海。”小樱看着将军坚定道:”我力保清白,不惜毁颜,只为与你并肩策马,红尘相伴。”如此誓言犹在耳边,不易得来的婚礼,却成了终将分离的预言。本想放弃命运,却又被卷入更多浪潮。最终她与将军还能否终成眷?
  • 夜落闻声来

    夜落闻声来

    【红袖读书首届全球征文大赛·最佳短篇奖】 温时卿的生命中,曾出现过一段歌声。在他读研的瓶颈期间,这段歌声治愈了他的失眠和烦郁。当他下定决心要寻出这支声音的主人时,它却忽然随着他的那些不快一起销声匿迹了。从那以后,他每夜都会打开那名叫“闻声来”网络主播的电台,盼望着那段歌声的复出。……年复一年。直到有一天,姜芥无意间打开了他当时录下的那段歌声,诧异:“咦?你什么时候偷偷录得我的声音?”……高冷古板外科医生VS活力四射天籁小仙女……让你感受一下,什么叫歌声撩人。
  • 万妖之王

    万妖之王

    原本平静的小山村迎来了史无前例的灾难,本是平凡的王平却有九尾仙狐守护,几经辗转入得仙门,却遭受天下围杀,是人、是妖、还是魔,都在他一念之间。人生沉浮辗转,却逃不脱宿命的安排,他是魔道大圣,他是正道领袖,他更是万妖之王。天下群雄,豪起纷争,枭雄末路,匹夫逆袭,且看他如何一步步走上大道巅峰。
  • 当祝宸遇上了于穗

    当祝宸遇上了于穗

    在一起的第69天#“于穗,你有没有想过放弃我。”说出这话的时候祝宸身体微颤。于穗环住他的脖子,笑眯眯回答:“有那么一天想过。”祝宸眉头紧蹙,双手禁锢住于穗的下巴,厉声威胁的语气中带有一丝慌乱:“你说什么?”于穗神色自若,轻轻拿下祝宸的手,蜻蜓点水般亲了他一口。在他还没反应过来时,一个个字如山间清流般传来:“想过放弃你的那一天,会在61分,会在25小时,会在星期八,会在13月。”在一起的第369天#"于穗,你什么时候答应嫁给我。"电话里的祝宸问她。可电话那头只剩下呼吸声。"为什么不说话,你回答我啊。"祝宸手心的汗出了一层一层。"我...我在点头。"于穗已经哽咽的说不出话来。
  • 童年 在人间 我的大学

    童年 在人间 我的大学

    《童年 在人间 我的大学》是高尔基著名的自传体小说三部曲,它是高尔基根据自己的生活道路,和俄罗斯19世纪70—80年代的社会生活所描绘的一幅多彩的历史画卷,是一部卓越的艺术珍品。作品中的主人公阿廖沙不仅是高尔基早年生活的写照,同时也是俄国劳动人民经过艰苦复杂的磨炼后走向新生活道路的具有概括性意义的艺术典型。
  • 傅斯年讲国学

    傅斯年讲国学

    本书收纳了傅斯年在诗经、《史记》以及对于诸子百家的研究论述,重新解读诗经,更深层次地理解《史记》的价值,以及了解春秋战国时期文化争鸣现象的历史根源。本书以简体横排的方式,方便读者阅读,对于晦涩难懂的部分给予读者注释。
  • 魅世

    魅世

    以新浪微小说为依托,精选青年编辑、作家刘颖创作的微小说108篇,用140字创造出富有想象力和表现力的场景和意境,作者用细腻妖冶之笔法塑造出一个个非典型人物,看似荒诞虚妄,细思则汗出如渖。诡异离奇,善恶难分,魑魅魍魉,皆现魅世。