Edwin leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and looked directly at me. His face was angular, his cheekbones high. His lips were a little too full, even for me. He said, "Maybe we can be friends on Facebook. "
"Maybe," I said. "Depends how friendly you are. "
He laughed and sat back.
"I just love Facebook," said Allison.
"Just last week a friend of mine sent me this cat video. . . I swear to God that little booger was clapping. Clapping! A kitten! Can you believe it?"
Apparently, no one could. Or they were too dumbfounded to speak. Junior shifted his considerable gaze from me to her. The president of Thurman Hotels was also, apparently, the leader of the family, too. "And how do you know our Tari?"
"Oh, I'm just here for the ride," said Allison, sitting back and kicking her Uggs comfortably. She snapped her gum. "I'm with Sammie here. Where she goes, I go. "
"Cute," said Patricia.
Time to change the subject. "This is a beautiful home," I said.
The older couple sitting near the roaring fireplace sat forward. Elaine Thurman, sister of the deceased. She smiled brightly. Her aura, I saw, was bluish and yellow, which told me she was a woman very much at peace with herself.
Her aura also had a black thread woven through it. Grieving, obviously. This was, after all, the one-year anniversary of her brother's drowning. She said, "The home has been in my family for generations.
We've all been coming out to Skull Island for over seventy-five years. "
"Why is it called Skull Island?" asked Allison.
Edwin leaned forward again. "There's a Native American burial ground on the other side of the island. It's supposedly cursed. "
"Skull Island and curses," said Allison, elbowing him. "Where's Scooby- Doo and Shaggy, too?"
Which had been, of course, my exact thought.
"Well, the curses are just legends,"
said Calvin Thurman, or Cal, one of the uncles. He was, I suspected, dying of a cancer. I knew this because of the dark spot of his kidney, a dark spot that was, literally, like a black hole, sucking in the color of his surrounding aura. Indeed, he leaned away from it, taking pressure off it.
He doesn't even know, I thought.
He held my gaze closely, and something seemed to pass between us. His eyes, I was certain, were trying to communicate something to me. He said, "Although there have been a few cases of unfortunate deaths. "
"We don't talk about those," snapped Junior. "Not to strangers. "
"Nonsense," said Cal, apparently not intimidated at all by his wife's nephew, president of the company or not. He looked again at me. "It's in all the papers.
Anyone can find that. "
He continued looking at me. I looked at him. His eyes, I was certain, were pleading with me.
"Tell me about the deaths," I said uncomfortably. I had, of course, come across three such deaths in my own research of Skull Island. Were there some that I had missed?
But Junior's glowering stare finally cowered old Cal. He sighed deeply and winked at me. "Catch me later after I've had a few of these" - and he held up his Scotch - "and I'll tell you all. "
He laughed. I laughed. No one else laughed.
Instead, Junior Thurman announced that tomorrow we would hold a memorial for his late father, George Thurman, whose death I had, unknown to the family, been hired to investigate. Junior went on: His late father had passed at this time last year, and he wanted to have a ceremony at the chapel located in the mausoleum.
Next, the conversation quickly turned to business. Tara turned and talked to me about my kids. All the while, I was aware of glances from various family members.
Of course, some weren't glancing. Some were openly staring. Like Edwin Thurman. Edwin with his perpetual grin.
Patricia, not so much.
Outside, the trees continued to sway and bend and appeared ready to snap, all while a sheet of rain swept over the grounds.
Welcome to Skull Island.
Chapter Sixteen
We were back at the bungalow.
Just two college chums and their annoying new friend, all supposedly catching up - and most definitely not talking about murder.
Supposedly.
"You think they bought it?" asked Allison.
"Hard to say," said Tara. She'd brought a bottle of wine with her, of which we were all partaking. Some of us more vigorously than others.
"I think they bought it," said Allison, pouring herself yet another glass of wine.
"Tell me more about Edwin," I said to Tara.
"He's Junior's only son. "
"Your cousin," I said.
"Right. " Outside, rain slapped against the bungalow's windows. Tree branches groaned overhead, as the bungalows were closer to the surrounding forest. "He was never much interested in the family's business. "
"But I bet he's interested in the family money," said Allison, laughing. "Oops, sorry. Was that inappropriate?"
"No," said Tara. "Of course not. You guys are here to find answers to my grandfather's death. I'm not sure, at this point, if anything could be inappropriate, or if I would even care. And to answer your question. . . I'm not so sure about his desire for money. "
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"He lives fairly simply. In fact, he often lives here. "
"Living here isn't living simply," said Allison.
"True, but even while he's here, he lives simply. In fact, he prefers sleeping in the basement. On a cot, of all things. "
"He's here a lot?" I asked.
"Often. In fact, he's rarely not here. "
"What does he do here?"
"Nothing, as far as anyone knows. "
"How did he take your grandfather's death?" I asked.
"That's the strange part," said Tara, looking up from her glass. "He didn't seem to take it hard at all. "
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean just that. He didn't appear overly distraught. "
"No tears?" asked Allison, piping in.
"None that I saw. "
"Is there a room in the basement?" I asked.
"Of course, but it's so cold down there. Drafty. Miserable. "
"Well, maybe he just wants to stay out of the way," said Allison. "You know, since he's here all the time. "
"Maybe," said Tara.
Or maybe the cold doesn't bother him, I thought, sending it over to Allison.
A vampire? she thought back.
Yes. I thought. I think. I can see his aura, so that's a problem.
Problem, why?
I can't see vampires' auras.
Gotcha. So, is that why you had me shield my thoughts back at dinner? I nodded and turned my attention back to Tara. "Were you here on the night of your grandfather's death?"
"Yes," she said. "We all were. "
Tara next asked Allison for some more wine, who was only too willing to comply, and shortly, my friend and witness were both gone for the night.
I sighed, and made notes in my case file, all while the girls giggled and talked and got drunker and drunker. I made a mental note to fire Allison.
Rhetorically, of course.
Chapter Seventeen
It was late.
Both Allison and Tara had drunk themselves into oblivion. Me, not so much. Other than a mild upset stomach, my two glasses of wine had had no effect.
I wasn't hungry yet, either. Two nights ago, I had drunk deeply from Allison's punctured wrist, as she'd looked away, winced, shuddered and broken out into a sweat. The wound had healed instantly, and by the time I had finished, she was no longer sweating. She had been grinning ghoulishly to herself. The act of me drinking from her gave her some sort of high.
Two sick puppies, I thought, as I pulled on a light jacket and flipped up the hood. My tennis shoes were already
on, along with my jeans. I stood at the open door. The rain and wind had let up a little.
It also gave her more than a high, I knew. It sharpened her psychic abilities, of which she was already quite proficient.
The act of me drinking from her had now made her into a sort of super psychic.
It was in much the same way that my own daughter's telepathic powers had increased due to her connection and proximity to me. And, for that matter, perhaps anyone connected to me.
I exited the bungalow, and hung a left toward the big house. It was 3:00 a. m. , and I was alone in the night.
I couldn't have been happier.
Today had been a bit overwhelming to me. Too many people, too many introductions, too many handshakes, too many times I had apologized for my cold hands, too many times I had pretended to be normal.
I continued along the stone path, through the manicured gardens, past the epic barbeque and headed toward the pool. I paused at the surrounding gate and took in the scene around me. Trees lined the far edge of the massive estate. The bungalows dotted the perimeter of the grass, near the trees. The massive edifice of the Thurman home rose high into the night sky, like something medieval and ominous. The pool fence itself was only about six feet high. Tall enough to keep the kids out. I unlatched the gate.
The pool itself wasn't overtly big, perhaps slightly bigger than the standard pools. In the winter, I suspected the pool was covered. It wasn't winter. It was the beginning of summer, so all the pool toys were near: floating inner tubes, floating killer whales, floating rubber deck chair.
The water rippled with the light rain and wind.
How could a grown man drown in his own pool?
I studied the area, noting the layout.
There was a balcony directly above the pool. A part of me had suspected that George Thurman might have accidentally fallen into the pool - or been pushed. The balcony suggested that the possibility was still there.
The autopsy had been thorough. No drugs or alcohol, no blunt force. Skin clear, no lesions or scrapes or bruises.
Blood tests came back negative, too. No poisoning. No sign of foul play.
Just a dead man in the water.
As I slowly circled the oval-shaped pool, my inner alarm began ringing a little louder. The sound was followed by footsteps, and then the appearance of a man.
A smiling man.
Chapter Eighteen
It was Edwin, of course.
"Good evening, Samantha," he said.
He came closer and I saw that his hands were covered in dirt. Dirt was also under his fingernails. And it wasn't just dirt, but something else. Clay?
"Pardon my appearance. I was on an emergency dig. "
"Digging what?" I asked, and was all too aware that my inner alarm was ringing even louder.
He came closer, grinning macabrely.
He looked, quite frankly, insane. "Tell you what, Samantha. I will show you someday.
How does that sound?"
"Weird as hell," I said.
He laughed. "Yes, I suppose it does sound sort of odd. "
His aura, like that of Tara and old Cal, rippled with a dark thread-like energy.
Except in Edwin, the darkness was more evident. I had assumed the darkness was a result of grief. . . now, I wasn't sure what to think.
"Why do you keep smiling like that?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm just a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Made even happier now that you're here. "
My inner alarm blared loudly. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Oh, nothing. We just so rarely get visitors here on our little island. "
"I'm beginning to see why," I said, and found myself inching away from him.
He laughed. "Yes, we are an odd lot.
Not exactly your typical family. And like most families, we have our hidden demons. "
His words hit home. "You're one of them. "
The young man continued grinning bizarrely. "One of whom, Samantha Moon?" He used my full name.
"You're a Dark Master," I said, using the term for the thing that lived in me, the thing that had mastered immortality, the thing that lived on through me using the darkest of magicks.
"Dark Master? I like that. I'm very flattered, Sam. "
He flashed me another crazy smile, and now I saw something else within him.
Something human. It was in his eyes, and it made a brief appearance. I saw the young man. The real Edwin Thurman.
Hidden. Pushed aside. Suffocated. But as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared again, like flotsam rising briefly to the ocean surface, only to be sucked under the dark waters again.
Edwin - or whoever was before me - stepped around me, clasping his hands behind his back. I got a very powerful psychic hit, and one that I knew was true.
"You're not like the others," I said.
He glanced at me, arching an eyebrow.
"Oh? Do tell?"
"You are, if I'm correct, permanently present. You're not hidden in the background, not like the others, not like the thing within me. "
"Not a thing, Sam. " His annoyance surprised me. He paused, held my gaze, and added, "My sister. "
I gasped and backed away some more.
"And I'm not saying that metaphorically, Samantha Moon. Residing within you is my sister, and someday soon - very, very soon - she and I will be together again. "
Chapter Nineteen
A low fog hung over the dark ocean.
The particles of light that only I could see seemed to disappear into the fog, to be absorbed by the mist. I might have gained a lot of gifts since becoming the thing that I am, but one of them, apparently, was not the ability to see into fog.
I was sitting at the edge of a small cliff. Waves crashed thirty feet or so below. Some of the spray reached me, sprinkling my skin and lips. I didn't lick my lips. Even salt spray would upset my stomach.
The path from the house was a well- maintained one, as I suspected this cliff side retreat was a favorite hangout for the family. During the daytime, I was sure one could see for miles and miles. Now, not so much, even to my eyes.
To say that the conversation with Edwin had shaken me was an understatement.
His sister?
Obviously, not a Thurman sister, for I hadn't been talking to the real Edwin Thurman. No, I had been talking to something ancient and evil. Another dark master who sought entry back into our world.
And not just any dark master, I suspected.
No, he didn't have to hide in the shadows of the living, like that which had entered Kingsley and me. . . and now Fang.
No, whoever he was, he had taken over the real Edwin Thurman - completely and totally.
Who he was, I didn't know. But he was powerful.
Perhaps even the most powerful of all.
And his sister was in me.
Jesus.
I suddenly wished I wasn't sitting on the cliff's edge, in the cold and rain and wind, but sleeping with my kids, one on either side of me, their warm bodies giving me warmth in return. I could almost smell Tammy's hair. I could almost even smell Anthony's stinky feet.
As the wind and rain picked up, drenching me to the bone, I did the only thing this middle-aged divorcee mother of two could do: I took off my clothes.
And stepped to the edge of the cliff.
I summoned the single flame in my thoughts.
Held it.
Saw the image of the beast.
The beast I would become.
And then I leaped out as far and wide as I could, arching up and over the pounding surf.
The transformation was instant, taking hold of me before I plunged into the rocks below.
I was soon flying. High above the island. High above the fog. High above, even, the snoring Allison.
It was up here where I found my sanc
tuary, my peace, my escape. I was all too aware that it was the thing that lived within me that gave me this very ability.
The thing I could never escape.
We'll see, I thought, and began flapping my wings.
Chapter Twenty
Allison and I were sitting together at breakfast.
I'd managed about three hours of sleep before Allison literally woke me from the dead. Now, we sat with the other Thurmans - or a few of them at least - on a wide balcony that overlooked the grounds. As Allison ate and I drank water, I caught her up to speed on the night's events. When I was finished, I said, "Your mouth's hanging open. "
"It tends to do that when I'm shocked shitless. "
I shushed her. Although we were alone at our little patio table, there were still other Thurmans eating nearby. The morning had been shockingly clear and warm, so much so that breakfast had been served outside. There was a nearby table filled with heaps of eggs and breakfast meats and pancakes. Someone had cooked up a storm. Many nodded at us as we sat and talked. Noticeably absent was Edwin Thurman and our hostess, Tara.
"And where is the man of the hour?"
asked Allison. She was, of course, talking about Edwin.
"In his room," I said.
"You mean, the basement?"
"Right," I said.
"And you know this how?"
"I've got mad skills," I said. Although Allison was a close friend, she was still a new friend. She didn't know the extent of what I could do. Truth was, I didn't know the extent of what I could do either. So, for an explanation, I gave her a glimpse now into my memory, showing her what I'd done - and what I had seen.
She blinked after a moment. "You can remote sense?"
"I guess so, yes. "
"Geez, the government's been training psychics for decades trying to get them to do what you can do. "
"Well, I can't see very far, maybe only a few hundred feet or so. "
"Far enough. I saw the image of him lying there on his little cot, sleeping. Very clear image. Very precise. "
"Very weird," I said.
"Well, weird or not, it's helpful. . . and why the hell is he lying on a cot, in the basement, in this beautiful home?"
"Maybe they ran out of beds," I said.
"Or maybe it's because he's a vampire. "
I shook my head and lowered my voice. "No. Not a vampire. He's something else. He's different. "
"Different, how?"
"Greater. More powerful. "
She caught the meaning of my words and also caught my own vaguely formulated thought. "Sam," she said. "Do you really think he might be the greatest of them all?"