After Darkness Falls 2 - 10 Tales of Terror - Volume Two Read online

  He stood and stared at the coffins for what seemed like an age before the strength in his legs returned. He moved backwards as slowly and, for some reason, as quietly as he could. Just as he was closing the door, he could have sworn that he heard a noise from inside the room. It sounded like scraping of wood on wood as though something was opening.

  He ran back into the main house and didn’t stop until after several wrong turns later he found himself back in the main atrium, panting and sweating.

  “Is everything all right, Thomas?” A voice startled him from behind and he almost failed to catch the rising scream escaping his throat.

  He turned to see Dennison smiling graciously and waiting for a reply. “Yes, Mr. Dennison; I guess I just got turned around for a moment - this place is like a maze.” He tried to shake the sense of dread that he’d felt in the room below and desperately tried to assure himself that he hadn’t heard anything as he’d left.

  “Yes, it is something, isn’t it?” Dennison said, looking around the atrium with pride. “It’s been in my family for centuries you know, going back to my great-great…, Um.”

  “Great?”

  “Yes,” Dennison beamed. “Great-Grandfather Jeremiah Dennison.”

  “Must be worth a bit?” Tommy offered indelicately.

  “Priceless,” Dennison smiled.

  “I’m sorry for gate-crashing. Alison thought that the invite included partners,” Tommy said apologetically.

  “Nonsense, the more the merrier,” Dennison said warmly.

  For some reason, the boss man all of a sudden no longer seemed like the fool that Tommy had taken him for. Standing up close, the man seemed positively predatory and Tommy felt anxious standing so close to him when they were all alone. He knew that his self-esteem had taken a battering over the past few years under Alison’s tyrannical regime, but he was still a little shocked to find himself wilting under Dennison’s gaze, a man who had seemed ridiculous only hours earlier. Now the naff record producer from the 90’s was making him feel decidedly nervous.

  “Well I think I’d better turn in,” Tommy said, faking a yawn. “I’m sure that Alison’s looking for me.”

  “Yes,” Dennison grinned coldly, “I’m sure that she is.”

  Tommy positively ran up the stairs; his long dormant imagination was now starting to crank into life at the most inopportune moment. All he could think of as climbed the long winding staircase was just how white Dennison’s teeth had been and just how they had gleamed in the soft evening light.

  He found their room and gratefully closed the door behind him, disappointed to find that there was no lock. He heard the shower running and wondered how long Alison had been back in the room and, if he was honest, just how pissed she was going to be with him for ducking out on dinner.

  He headed towards the bathroom wondering if there might just be a little spark of romance in the air. It had been a while and he opened the bathroom door with a nervous hand but what he saw inside drained any thoughts from his mind.

  Alison was leaning heavily on the shower door as the scalding water hit her body but still she shivered. He went to her, full of concern. He reached into the shower and turned off the steaming water. He wrapped her carefully in a large fluffy bath towel and lifted her out. Normally she was a woman careful with her figure - trim and lithe but athletic and strong. Now she appeared to weigh next to nothing and he lifted her easily.

  “Tommy?” she murmured.

  “It’s ok, I’m here,” he said soothingly as she nestled her face into his neck.

  He laid her down on the bed and pulled the thick covers over her. He placed his hand carefully on her forehead, noticing that her skin was icy cold. “You’re not well Alison, maybe it’s food poisoning. Have you been throwing up?

  She shook her head lightly and her wet hair rustled on the clean pillow.

  “I’ll try and get some help,” he said worriedly.

  He hadn’t reached the door when there was a soft knock. He opened it quickly and found Dennison standing there with his hands behind his back.

  “I just thought that I’d check on the patient,” Dennison said kindly.

  “She’s in here,” Tommy answered, leading the way to the bed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her but she’s cold to the touch.”

  “Oh she’s not sick, Thomas, far from it,” Dennison replied cryptically.

  Tommy turned in surprise at the strange statement and also wondered how Dennison knew that Alison was feeling unwell before he had.

  Dennison had now softly closed the door behind him and stood blocking the exit. Tommy squared up to the man, feeling trapped and nervous. There was a long full length dress mirror on the back of the door and just before Dennison struck him with lightning speed and his lights went out, Tommy couldn’t help but wonder why the boss man didn’t cast a reflection in the mirror.

  ----------

  When he came to, he was horrified to find himself in the basement room with the coffins. He had no idea just how long he had been out but he felt light-headed and nauseous. A quick check of his watch told him that it was mid-afternoon and he had been out since last night.

  He struggled to his feet on shaky legs and looked around the room. He moved slowly and quietly so as not to disturb his new neighbors. In the corner of the room, there was a large refuse bag that caught his eye and he tiptoed towards it.

  He carefully opened the bag and placed his hands inside. The room was only dimly lit by small shafts of dying light through slits in the outer wall; the flickering nature of the light told him that it was borne of flame and not sunlight.

  He drew the contents out of the bag and found several items. There were a few crucifixes and other medallions including a St Christopher’s medal. There were other pieces of jeweler that, whilst not religious in nature, looked to be made of silver. Also, inside the bag, were many other personal effects such as phones, wallets, and purses. A cursory check through some of the driving licenses and other IDs told him that they belonged to the employees of Dennison. He recognised some of the names as people that Alison had launched into bitter tirades against during many one-sided dinner conversations. He checked a few of the phones but could quickly see that there was no signal in the cellar. Also in the bag he found Alison’s vampire novel; it was not a genre that he was overly familiar with, outside of a few old movies. He normally hated her choice of fiction with a passion, a silent and unvoiced passion of course, but right now her dog-eared paperback might be the only thing that could keep him alive.

  Whilst he was not blessed with a great sense of imagination, he was a practical man at heart. Disappearing staff members, coffins in the basement and Dennison’s lack of reflection before he’d knocked him unconscious with a single blow made for only one ridiculous but obvious answer.

  He sat down with the book and used one of the phone’s backlit screens to start to read the novel, all the while checking his watch nervously as the afternoon ticked towards nightfall. It soon became apparent that the fading daylight was his friend, but he still needed more information. Not to mention the fact that the huge thick walls of the ancestral home blocked most of the natural light anyway, inside here it was permanent darkness.

  When he’d finished reading, he looked around for a plan. He checked the bag again and found amongst the items several indications that a company getaway brought out the worst in some people.

  He saw an old rusty looking tap in the corner of the room above a filthy sink. He opened up the condoms and added either a crucifix, medallion or silver chain to each and then filled them up with water from the tap. He tied the condoms off and placed the six balloons carefully into his pockets.

  His luck held as he tried the door and it opened without being locked. He could only guess that he was so low down on anyone’s threat list that he barely deserved a mention or even a thought.

  He headed in the opposite direction from when he’d first ventured down here. This way the hallway was deserted and
long; there was no natural light and only a dim glow from very low wattage lights that showed him a gloomy path. There were many doors along the hallway and he crept quietly past them all. At the end of the corridor there was a staircase leading up. He eased his way towards the stairs, praying silently that the steps would not creak in protest and reveal him.

  His head still throbbed monstrously from the knockout blow that he had taken and his stomach churned with long overdue rebellion and anger.

  He noticed the main fuse box under the staircase and also a glint of light underneath it on the floor that made him stoop to check. He found two new looking jerry cans secreted there next to an emergency generator. He lifted the first one and shook it. It was empty, but the second was heavier and sloshed with liquid. He unscrewed the top and immediately smelled the gasoline inside; he took the can and returned back down the hallway retracing his steps. He tipped the can and dribbled a trail of petrol along the corridor and up the stairs about half way to the top. He opened the fuse box as he passed and turned off the mains switch.

  The door at the top of the stairs was dark; he searched, feeling for a handle. His hands slipped across a lever and he pulled it downwards. The door opened easily and he hoped that his luck was finally on the change. He stepped out into a library and was amused, despite the situation, to find himself emerging through a secret door hidden behind a bookcase.

  The house was dark without the electricity. He checked his watch. The sun would be setting now and they would be waking. He could run; the exit door at the end of this hallway was unobstructed and in plain sight. But he thought of those that had already been lost. If he ran, then the rest of the world would all be in danger. These monsters would be let loose tonight and by morning they would all be dead, in one way or another. He made his choice.

  He slid the hidden door shut behind him and watched for the book lever to move on the shelf. He spotted the book in question; it was Bram Stoker’s Dracula and he couldn’t help but smile sourly.

  He pulled the book and opened the door again, flipping open the lighter from his pocket and dropping it onto the liquid trail a few steps down. The flames leapt up eagerly, devouring the wooden staircase and rushing downwards. He heard doors crashing open and shouts from below as the sleeping quarters emptied and monsters charged forth.

  Using the palm of his hand, he thumped the book back into place and beyond to close the door. He snatched up a heavy looking lamp from a nearby desk and used the sturdy base to pound the book in further, jamming the opening mechanism and thus sealing the door shut.

  The whole thing was ludicrous; it would have been laughable if not for the screaming monsters pounding at the blocked door behind him.

  Suddenly, he could hear rushing pounding footsteps tearing towards him from behind. He took out a condom balloon in his right hand. He walked slowly and carefully out of the library, darting his head from side to side, awaiting his greeters.

  One suddenly appeared to his right and flew at him; he flicked his right wrist and loosed the balloon. The weapon exploded on impact and the infused water soaked the vampire's face, destroying most of it, and the thing collapsed screaming to the floor. Tommy reached into his pocket and took another balloon. He inched his way along towards the main atrium of the house.

  There was a large sweeping double staircase that dominated the area. A figure suddenly leapt from the darkness. Tommy was snatched around the throat and driven back hard into the wall behind him, the impact reigniting Dennison’s earlier wound on his head. His leg twisted in an awkward direction and he felt his ankle snap under him as the thing drove him backwards at an unnatural angle. Rancid foul breath filled his face as the vampire leaned in close. He vaguely placed the man as being Stan something, a sales rep, he vaguely recalled.

  The monster’s clawed hand dug painfully into his throat and Tommy felt his flesh shred under the thing’s sharp talons. He looked into the eyes of a rabid animal as far removed from the romanticized fictional characters as one could imagine. This thing had no soul and it had no pity, only ravenous hunger.

  Stan, the ex salesman and now vampire, flicked out a sharp nail and Tommy felt the skin split open above his eyes. Stan leaned in closer and licked the flowing blood with a rough sandpaper tongue.

  Tommy tried to lift his right hand that still held the condom balloon but Stan saw it coming and grasped his wrist in a painful vice. Tommy’s wrist shattered under the steel grip and he dropped the balloon, feeling it burst on the floor. He desperately tried to reach into his pocket with trembling fingers as the thing crushed his windpipe. Just as the monster’s fanged mouth was closing in on his throat, Tommy managed to snag another balloon and swung his arm up. The condom burst as it snagged on sharp fangs.

  Stan staggered back, clutching and clawing violently at his throat as the water ran down it; he choked and gagged as he fell backwards. The vampire thrashed fiercely on the floor, bucking and spasming as though filled with a million volts. Tommy watched on in disgust, as the silver infused holy water filled the vampire’s veins and worked its way viciously through his body. His skin began to split open and blister from the inside and his face knotted in screaming agony.

  Tommy staggered away as quickly as he could, as the noise would no doubt soon be attracting an audience. The smoke from the basement was growing, pushing its way dangerously under the door, and invading the house. The screams had now stopped and the pounding on the door had dwindled to soft brushes of despair.

  Tommy knew that the fire on the lower level would consume the whole house before too long.

  “DENNISON!” he roared, limping into the open atrium. His right hand hung useless, and his wrist felt broken and loose. His breathing was hitched and awkward, the cut on his face stung and leaked, and his senses still rung from the head wound. “DENNISON!” he roared again. “I’VE TAKEN ALL OF YOUR PETS, NOW IT’S JUST YOU AND ME LEFT!”

  “Not all of them,” Dennison’s voice drifted over the banister and down the stairs. “I’ve still got one left.”

  Tommy watched as Dennison stepped out onto the top of the majestic staircase like Scarlett O’Hara.

  Dennison began his grand descent. As he moved closer, Tommy could suddenly see his willing captive; it was Alison.

  “Alison?” Tommy shouted.

  “Oh, she can’t hear you,” Dennison laughed. “Not where she is.”

  Alison was dragged as though drugged. She shuffled forward; her expression was vacant and distant, her eyes were glazed, and her mouth drooled.

  “Is she....? Did you...?” Tommy left the question hanging.

  “Oh yes,” Dennison replied, his eyes lighting up in wild anticipation and excitement.

  “I’ll kill you,” Tommy hissed through sorrowful pain.

  Dennison threw back his head and roared with laughter, “That’s been tried before,” he laughed manically.

  “Then this time I’ll make sure it takes,” Tommy whispered low. He threw the water balloon with his left hand and charged limply up the stairs.

  Dennison dodged the balloon easily but dropped Alison’s chain as he did so. Despite all of his carefully laid plans and schemes, his primal mind took over and the monster loosed.

  Tommy saw Alison’s release just before Dennison flew into him smashing them both to the floor. He desperately tried to raise his hands in self-defense but the blows were just too quick for him. There seemed to be a hundred fists and claws that hit him from every angle at once. He felt his flesh shred and his blood flow from a dozen wounds and Dennison’s face flashed at him with fangs and rage. He struggled and tried to cover his face with his hands but to no avail. Abruptly and mercifully, the assault ended.

  “NOOOOOO!” Dennison howled, stepping away forcefully as he fought for self-control. “It will not end this way; you will not cheat me of my vengeance!”

  His gaze bore into Tommy’s face, and he could feel the burning rage within the vampire now. He coughed and spat dark blood onto the floor beside him. “Ve
ngeance? What the hell did I ever do to you?” he asked, hoping to prolong the conversation for a little respite.

  “Not you little man. I offered her the world,” he said nodding towards Alison. “I wooed her like no man has ever sought love before. I have waited an eternity to find my soul mate and when the night finally fell, she would not have me. She chose you instead,” he spat. “She chose a pathetic worm over a god.”

  Tommy dragged himself into a sitting position against the bottom stair. The carpeting was soft underneath him, and he leant against the banister. He looked up past Dennison to Alison, who was lying face down about halfway up the staircase. They locked eyes for the first time. “How exactly is she supposed to beg for anything, she looks catatonic?”

  Dennison stood over him and looked back towards the prone body of Alison; “Oh, she’s going to beg when you drive a stake through her black heart,” he smiled.

  “The fuck I am,” Tommy panted through the pain.

  “The fuck you are,” Dennison confirmed.

  “I won’t do it.”

  “I think that you’re going to change your mind when she wakes up. You’re going to find that she’s a whole different person now,” Dennison laughed.

  “What about the rest of them?”

  “Think about it, what better employee than a mindless minion,” Dennison grinned. “No salaries, no pension or holidays, no unions to worry about, just an eternal devoted workforce all at my command. You have no idea what it’s like trying to run a company these days.”

  “Is that how you really see people, you arrogant prick, some snot nosed children kneeling at the whims of a father? Is that really what got under your skin, ungrateful children? And Alison? She had the temerity to turn you down so you slaughter everyone else in a hissy fit. ”

  “SHE MADE ME BEG!” Dennison suddenly screamed. “SHE MADE ME PLEAD FOR HER LOVE AND THEN SHE SPAT IT BACK IN MY FACE.”

  “So you struck out with a girl, boo-hoo,” Tommy laughed.

  He saw the talon slashing before it caught him and knew that he could do nothing other than grit his teeth against the impact. The razor sharp nails sliced through his shirt making four long red lines appear and there was the briefest moment before the pain struck. He rolled back in agony, fearing that the end was fast approaching. He looked around desperately, but there was no cavalry coming. There was only the slow juggernaut reckoning of a crazy CEO approaching over the horizon. “Alison,” he pleaded softly, as he looked up the stairs.