The House on Blackstone Moor (The Blackstone Vampires) Read Free Page A

pieces?
    I did hear breathing. Not even breathing either, but heavy breathing—a man’s breathing.
    I shall just lie here and not open my eyes. Not challenge him , perhaps he’ll go out…
    I heard him move. That is, I heard a footstep, then another. The breathing became louder—he was closer.
    No! Please go away. Don’t hurt me.
    Was this lunatic holding a knife or a razor perhaps? When would I feel the slashing?
    Suddenly, I felt fingers upon my neck. Not in a grip but softly touching me. No, not me , I realized—they were touching the collar of my shift to draw it down!
    And as it was pulled down I felt the chill in the air as my body became exposed. A hand then—hot, probably with misplaced passion, touched my breast, held it and squeezed it.
    Go away! Please, I don’t want your hand there!
    But the touch grew more ardent and the breathing more labored. And then he grunted. “Mmmm!”
    No don’t, please.
    But there was more, much more . I felt his hand begin to reach under my shift.
    That was when I screamed. I screamed like I never screamed before. I yelled with all the strength I could summon and didn’t stop.
    An unending cacophony of shouts of anger and hurt, of grief and fear—all of it fueling my shrieks as if to bring the place down around me.
    Many people came in—attendants and even Dr. Bannion, disheveled and breathless, who said he was working late, came in. “What happened?”
    I told him. “Please sit with me. I cannot be alone!”
    He sat and told me how sorry he was. “I shall have a thorough search done. Now I shall give you something to calm you.”
    He did, the familiar sting and the sensation of something warm began coursing through my agitated body, calming me. It was like heaven.
    I allowed myself to smile and , I thought, at least it was a stranger. At least it wasn’t my father.
     

Chapter 3
    I have shocked you . My father did more than murder my family. He murdered me slowly over many years, murdered my hopes and dreams of a normal life.
    I often wondered if my mother knew, I decided she couldn’t have. But as something appeared to have died in her too, perhaps she did know.
    Please do not judge her harshly, for it is difficult to live with madness and sin. No one can say how they would be affected.
    If she did know, she did perhaps have a final thought before she died—perhaps she was even relieved.
    As for me, I knew I would have to unburden myself to Dr. Bannion. I knew I would have to show him the horror and the terror that I had grown up with.
    An attendant woke me. “You’ve missed breakfast! Get up now. You’ll be eating with the others.”
    Why was everything said so brusquely, so uncaringly? Was it I or was this stony-faced woman nasty when there was no cause?
    I got up quickly. She flung another shift at me. “You get two for the week. Sundays you get another for chapel.”
    “Do we attend chapel then?”
    She looked at me as though I had asked her if Queen Victoria had ever been a squirrel.
    I bit my lip , determined not to speak unless spoken to, an old adage perhaps but a good one to remember in this place.
    “Well! Come along.”
    I would have wanted to wash my face but there was no chance. I knew enough now to hurry along as fast as I could.
    More sad faces and lost ones, too. If a person wasn’t crazy when they arrived they might soon become so , I thought.
    I detected the smell of food and the sound of crockery. Had I felt able to I would have asked if we were going to the dining room but I did not.
    At last we were there. She motioned with her head . “Through there.”
    It was the dining room. Huge it was with long tables lined up in perfect symmetry. There were attendants patrolling (the best word to describe it) the center and side aisles.
    “This is for women. The men are separate. Go on, march.”
    I stepped inside. “But where should I go?”
    I had the distinct feeling she would have been thrilled to tell me in no uncertain terms.
    “Over