A Shiver At Twilight (5 page)

He glanced back at her again then leaned close, putting his lips to her ear. “Wait here,” he said.

She clutched his hand tightly and shook her head. Her eyes had gone all big again and her face looked very pale in the muted light. He glanced down at her white knuckled grip on his fingers and then back to her white face. He didn’t argue. He shut off the flashlight and the black shadows greedily closed in.

They took careful steps down, but the old wood still creaked, announcing their descent. At the landing, JD peered around the corner into the room with the fireplace. He cursed softly. Standing on tip-toes on the step behind him, Carly leaned in and peered around his shoulders.

A fire burned cheerfully in the grate and a woman sat in the rocking chair. The runners were still broken, but somehow she made a smooth rocking motion. Back and forth, back and forth. An uneasy feeling settled in his gut as he watched her.

“Hello,” he said, his voice sounding over-loud in the tomb-like quiet. Every nerve in his body on alert, he entered the room. Carly scooted around to stand at his side, but she didn’t let go of his hand. He’d probably lose all feeling in it if she didn’t lighten up a bit, but he didn't say anything.

“I’m JD Dover,” he said, tilting his head to see the woman better as he approached. “I used to live not too far from here.”

The woman turned and smiled at them both. At first, JD thought she looked like a sweet little old lady. She had light brown hair, streaked heavily with white. Half of her face remained in deep shadow, but he could make out the features on the other half and thought she must have been a beautiful woman in her youth. Pale, though wrinkled, she reminded him of a china doll. Even in the gloom, the fire gave enough light that he could see her eyes. They were the color of a summer sky, her lips a muted pink. She wore a house dress like his grandma used to, with big pockets on either hip and a plaid pattern of woven gray, black and red.

“Are you Sissy’s friends?” she asked. “She didn’t tell me you were coming, but that’s okay. I always make too much for dinner.” As she spoke the air filled with a warm, rich scent.

“Fried chicken,” Carly said under her breath.

The woman stood then and faced them and JD’s astonishment at finding her there turned to horror. Beside him, Carly staggered back, pulling JD with her as she recoiled. He stumbled, righted himself, but never took his eyes off the woman. Carly couldn’t look away either. It was like a nightmare that grew and morphed, chased relentlessly through the dark valleys of slumber.

He wanted to believe the woman wasn’t real. He wanted it to be a gruesome but fantastic vision his overtaxed imagination had conjured up and spit out. But Carly’s horror-filled gasp left no doubt that she saw the same thing.

“What is it, dear?” the woman asked, cocking her head to the side and smiling.

But it wasn’t a smile. A terrible grimace, wide and ghastly, stretched her lips. The side of her face they hadn’t been able to see at first was battered, caved in from skull to throat, showing bits of carnage that made JD’s stomach roll. Her eye was missing completely and teeth showed through a ragged tear in her jaw. The pale china face was shattered, destroyed with no hope of ever being whole again.

Chapter Eight

The terror locked inside Carly finally ripped free. She screamed and turned into JD. His arms came up around her, but he didn't make a sound. She could feel his heart pounding wild and hard beneath her ear, though. Feel the breath struggle in and out of his lungs.

It was too much—first Jillian, then the storm, the hurling drop into the canyon, and now this—this inexplicable atrocity. What had happened? How could she possibly be speaking to them when her face . . . her face . . .

“She’s gone,” JD said, his voice stony. “It’s okay, she’s gone.”

Gone? She was gone? Carly slowly looked up from his chest and braced herself for the grisly visage and its terrible smile, but JD had spoken the truth. What she saw was no less chilling, though. Once again, the fire had disappeared, leaving not even the glow of ash in its wake. The chair stood still and empty. And the woman had vanished.

She made a sound deep in her throat, looking at every dark corner, fearing what might pop out next. What was this place, where people appeared and vanished, where doors opened and closed on their own, where something shocking waited in every corner?

“You saw her, right?” JD asked, as if he’d already convinced himself that he’d imagined the woman.

“And the fire,” she whispered.

She felt him swallow, felt the effort it took to keep his cool. His hands skimmed up her back to her shoulders and he peeled Carly off his chest to look into her face. They’d both seen the woman. They’d both seen the fire.

“I don’t want to be here,” she said. “I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t care if it’s a hundred miles, let’s go. Let’s walk.”

She tried to pull away and head for the door but JD kept hold of her, while waves of fear and panic washed over her. What did they do now? Where could they go in this storm? They had to get out . . . .

JD cupped her cheeks with his hands and tilted her face until he could look into her eyes. “Carly, calm down. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

“Calm down?” she repeated, her voice rising. “You saw her. She was—She couldn’t—Her face—”

He made soft hushing sounds and shook his head. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”

Carly saw that reassuring steadiness in his gaze, the confidence that came with size and strength. It made her suddenly and inexplicably angry. Men always thought things would work themselves out—that they could fix anything that didn't. Her father had been that kind of man—the kind other men respected and women loved. And then some drunk had run him down one evening after work, leaving Carly and her mom on their own with the realization that he hadn’t been super human. He’d only made them feel that way.

“How can you promise that?” she asked, trying to pull free of him. But he held on.

He didn't answer her rage. Instead he simply repeated, “I promise.”

And despite everything, he somehow made her believe him. “Do you think you’re indestructible?” she asked.

“Nah,” he answered. “I know it.”

He was teasing her and she wanted to be mad about that, too. But his thumbs brushed against her cheeks, warm and gentle, reassuring. Her hands lay flat against the hard muscles of his chest and beneath them, she could feel the rhythm of his pounding heart, slower now. She thought about the way his kiss had shaken her to her soul. Never before had something so simple had such an impact on her. Even now, despite her fear, despite everything, she wanted to feel his mouth against hers once more.

“It’ll be okay,” he said again, softer this time, making her look up and into his eyes.

“How can you say that?” she asked. “How can you say that when she . . . she . . .”

Her voice rose again as that feeling of hysteria crowded in. She clamped down on it, fighting not to lose control. She wasn’t some immature little girl afraid of the dark, some weak and pliable woman who needed a man to protect her. Hold her hand, yes. Her trembling body, sure. But she wasn’t going to melt down into a blubbering panic-stricken mess.

At least not until she was home and safe and alone.

JD still watched her, gauging what she’d do next. He still held her face, cupped in his big hands, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles against her cheekbones. Then suddenly he moved closer and pressed his mouth to hers in a hard, fierce, possessive kiss that zinged through her blood like a drug. It shouldn’t have felt so right, this kiss from a man she hardly knew, but it did.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” he said, resting his forehead against hers. “I promise.” How could she doubt the whispered pledge when she saw the truth of it in his beautiful eyes?

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “You kiss pretty good for a boy scout,” she said, forcing a smile that surely looked as fake as it felt.

His eyes crinkled at the corners and he smiled back. “First badge I earned.”

He pulled her against him once more, letting her bury her fake smile in the comforting warmth and scent of him. She held on tight, knowing in a minute he’d release her and she’d be forced to act like she wasn’t scared out of her wits. She wrapped her arms around the hard muscles layered over his ribs and let her hands slide up his broad back. He radiated heat and she let it seep beneath her skin, wishing she could slip her hands beneath his sweatshirt and touch his skin. She was far too aware of him, far too attracted to him…to his beautiful eyes and that smile that probably broke hearts wherever he went. And then there was all that strong and steady maleness pouring off of him. What female could be immune to that?

She forced her thoughts from the avenue they desperately wanted to travel. One that involved putting this terrifying house out of their minds as they shucked their clothes and lost themselves in one another.

“This place is haunted,” she said.

She waited for him to scoff but he didn’t. How could he? What they’d seen was unfathomable.

“The woman we saw. She was Sissy’s mother, wasn’t she?” Carly asked.

Again, he said nothing. She was glad. She couldn’t have swallowed a lie anymore than she could handle the truth.

Outside the wind howled fiercely, whistling through the gaps at the windows and the shattered glass in the kitchen. It brandished its icy power and sliced through them. A shudder traveled her entire body, but it wasn’t just the cold that caused it. Carly was scared. Really scared.

“We need to start a fire,” JD said. “One that’s going to stay lit.”

He tugged on her hand and led her to the front door without waiting for her answer—not that she would have argued. It was a plan, a purpose. Something beyond waiting for whatever would come next.

Chapter Nine

JD opened the front door. In the space of time it had taken to explore upstairs, the world outside had become a blizzard of white. With a sinking feeling, she watched the snow plunge from clouds that looked close enough to touch. The trees sagged beneath the weight of it and the brown, muddied earth lay cleansed by the crystalline flakes. It would have been beautiful if it hadn’t felt so deadly.

She thought of Jillian, out there in this storm. Had she been able to see a way up before darkness fell? Had she made it back to the highway? Flagged down someone to take her to the police? Carly prayed Jillian had found someplace safe and warm to wait out the storm. She couldn’t let herself consider the alternative.

“How far away did your family live from here?” she asked, remembering what he’d said to the woman with the broken face.

“Eight, nine miles. On the other side of the highway.” He shook his head, once again hearing her unspoken question. “It’s up the same damn road and it’s too far to walk tonight. Not in this. Right now we need to find some wood. We’re stuck here, Carly, like it or not.”

The words felt as ominous as the hissing snow. She looked at the blizzard of white, the crushed pick up, the dark and silent house. How would they make it through the night?

Before they went outside, JD insisted on giving her his coat, but Carly refused, just as she had his directive to wait in the house where she’d be warmer. She wasn’t being stubborn on either count. She knew JD’s clothes were dry beneath his jacket and if he gave her the coat now, he’d be just as wet and miserable as she was. What good would that do either one of them?

Besides, she refused to spend a minute alone in that house. She told him so.

Shaking his head, he peeled off his fleece jacket and pulled the sweatshirt over his head. Beneath it he wore a t-shirt that said coach across the chest. He handed Carly the sweatshirt, raising his brows when she didn't take it right away. He was such a gentlemen, unlike anyone she’d ever met. For a moment, treacherous tears burned her eyes again, but she fought them. JD probably already thought her a big baby. No need to belabor the point.

She glanced at him as she pulled her sodden hoodie off and caught him watching her with a look that made her temperature rise as quickly as the cold had made it plunge. His eyes moved over her and she feared he’d see the shiver that his hot look caused. Self-consciously she glanced down, aware of how her breasts swelled against her ancient bra. It was too small but it was her favorite and she couldn’t seem to let it go. No one but Carly ever saw it anyway—until now, that was. The mounds of flesh strained against the scraps of lace, clearly defined through her damp and semi-transparent t-shirt. It clung greedily to her skin, sloped down over her ribs, her belly, over the low waist of her jeans.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

“It’s okay,” she said. She turned her back and pulled off the wet t-shirt, quickly tugging on his sweatshirt. It hung down to her knees and was so blissfully warm that it made a shudder go through her. “Thank you,” she said over her shoulder as it penetrated the iciness of her skin.