CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
David never fully lost consciousness. He felt his body being lifted up and stretched out on a table. He swung his head to the side and saw Ellie was lying beside him. She was staring back at him, but her face was slack. Randall’s head emerged from beside her, and David knew that he had been “feeding” on her. He didn’t really understand why Ellie had been so important to them, but it was clear that whatever special abilities they possessed, it was something that the couple found irresistible.
He didn’t see anything in Ellie’s eyes, and this scared him badly. He had to hold out hope that they would get out of this.
“Why her?” he managed to ask.
Randall chuckled. “My dear boy, you’re asking the wrong question. The question is really, why you?”
“What are you talking about?” David said. He felt sick. Was it possible that this was all his fault somehow? What had happened to Jenny Marks and her baby? What had happened to Ellie?
“We already told you that Jake would have been a perfect match what with his own abilities, but in this case, we needed something else, or more appropriate, someone else. We needed a woman. Lucky for us, Jake led us right to Ellie. So that when the time came and we sent you out into the world to meet your match and fall in love we’d know right where to put you. Then all’s you had to do was bring your true love home, which you did just like we knew you would,” Randall said. Randall had moved to Ellie’s feet.
“You didn’t have any children.” Ellie’s voice rang out. “Lillian was barren.”
Randall’s face contorted in pain. “A minor detail. One that was corrected easily enough,” he said.
David felt Ellie’s hand crawl into his. He looked back at her, and this time saw a look of alarm and pity in her eyes. “David. I think you are Emma and Henry’s son,” she whispered.
His stomach clutched. “That’s not possible,” he sputtered. “They died over a hundred years ago.”
“Time means little here. The house slumbers as do we, until it is time to feed.” Linda reappeared behind Ellie’s head. She was watching Ellie thoughtfully. “You are quite the perceptive one, aren’t you, dear?”
“You let that get out of control.” Randall was looking at Linda. “You have caused a mess. What with that agent and now you can’t keep that little menace from putting her nose in where it doesn’t belong. That is your fault.”
“It is taken care of,” Linda replied. She jabbed a finger in Randall’s direction. “You worry about your part and let me worry about mine.”
Ellie moaned and closed her eyes. David looked at her with alarm. His thoughts were all messed up. He felt around at his memories of early childhood. They were fuzzy and if he was honest with himself, there was a sense of falseness in them. Like if he poked at them long enough, they would disappear.
“How?” he asked. He had to know.
Linda looked at him and smiled indulgently. “We were so proud of you. Wanting to become a doctor. It is very simple, darling. As I said, time has no meaning in this place. So we sent you out at the time we needed you. It has been so long since someone had been here. We needed you. The house needed you.”
“But my life, are you saying it’s all false?” he said.
“Oh, my poor Jack.” Linda came around the table and placed her hand on his arm. “I know this is confusing for you, but you did exactly what you were supposed to do. We picked a girl for you and you fell in love. True love.”
“No, no, no.” He whipped his head from side to side. “This isn’t real.”
“David,” Ellie said to him. “It’s okay. I love you anyway. And I’m supposed to tell you that Emma loves you too.”
Linda reached over David and slapped Ellie hard across the face.
Even as she felt the pain of Linda’s strike, Ellie heard a whisper in her head. It was a voice she had heard before, but had blocked out of her mind. The voice told her what Linda and Randall had planned for her. It told her what they had done to Emma and Henry. It was the voice of the Third, as it told her it called itself. It was the voice of the figure she had seen in the basement with Lillian and Joseph the night they murdered Emma and Henry. And then it offered her a deal.
Her chest heaved as she considered it. She had to make a decision quickly. Images flashed through her mind. No matter what Linda said, there was no way she was going to let Ellie live. They may let David live, but only to wipe his mind clean and use him again like they were using him now.
Ellie chose. Her binds fell to the side and she sat up.
“I told you to bind them,” Linda spat at Randall.
“I did,” Randall said. There was a note of fear in his voice as he studied Ellie’s face. “Lillian, I think we have a problem.”
Linda whirled and looked at Ellie, who had taken those few moments to swing her legs off the table and now stood facing them.
“I’m amazed my Jack ever wanted you,” Linda said. “You were so broken. So weak. You almost ruined everything because you were so self-absorbed. You don’t deserve him.” Linda rushed at her and hit a wall of resistance just a few inches from her. “What’s going on?”
“You are the one who is broken, Linda, or should I just go ahead and call you Lillian?” Ellie said.
Linda stepped back but Ellie could see the fear on her face. “You have the chance of a lifetime at your fingertips, you silly girl. Don’t pretend to think that you have the upper hand here. I’ve lived a century longer than you. Don’t make the same mistake Emma did.”
“She didn’t want anything but to live her life with her husband and her son,” Ellie said. “She had no use for your riches or grand schemes of wanting to live forever.”
“Everyone wants what I have,” Linda said, shaking her head. “Everyone wants to live forever.”
“This isn’t living, Lillian,” Ellie said. “In the end, you don’t have the upper hand either. You are nothing but a slave to the darkness of this place.”
“That’s not true,” Linda cried out and tried to rush at her again. Ellie put up her hands and Linda was propelled backward. She felt a rush of cool air that brought goose bumps to her arms, and she saw a dark figure step beside her. The Third had arrived. And Ellie knew now that this was the creature of evil who found her when Jake tried to shield her with the safety spell and who wiped her memory of the incident so its evil plan could be set in motion.
“It has no use for you anymore. You and Joseph are the weak ones. Your love is tainted and dark. That is why it convinced you to release David. You and Joseph weren’t cutting it anymore.” Ellie’s voice rose.
“No,” Linda moaned.
Randall slowly backed away from Ellie and bumped into the wall.
“It is releasing you now. Releasing you to hell, where you belong.” The Third’s hands flung out and a wave of energy hit Linda and Randall full force. Their shrieks were deafening and Ellie felt sick watching their bodies go up in flames. Ellie felt an intense wave of heat hit her and she stumbled backward, overwhelmed by the smell of burning flesh. Then suddenly they were gone and the room was silent.