Balustrade (11 page)
Authors: Mark Henry
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Erotica, #Horror, #Paranormal
Shadows crept up the walls of the passage and the couple gripped the other’s hand with a desperation so total, so nearly forgotten, only fear could have produced it. The woman ahead of them had been silent since greeting them at the door, and now the only sound she made came from the train of her dress shirring across the stone floor. They’d passed only one other in the massive courtyard, a man named Jack, who’d watched them intently, eyes drilling into them as though searching for meaning, or something else, a lack of it, the source of them, their pleasure. The woman couldn’t help but think he’d been undressing her with his eyes, imagining her prone, straddled, penetrated.
They were led into an office, where the woman sat behind a small writing
desk, producing two packets of documents and beautiful pens for their signing.
“
These are for your protection as much as ours, they imply your consent for both the retreat and your subsequent community service commitment. I assume Dr. Madrigal has gone over the details.
Nods from the couple. The woman watched over them as their pens scrolled and flicked. Signatures done, she withdrew the pads quickly and filed them.
“I’m certain you’d like to settle in,” she said and swept from the room, gesturing for the couple to follow.
They stood, keeping close to her stride. At his wife’s urging, the man asked,
“Do you have a name?”
“
Of course,” Hilary said, pressing the ornate glasses she wore further up the bridge of her nose. “But you can call me Chantal.”
Coming Soon
In October 2014, catch the next installment in the Carnal Staircase series…
SPINDLE
The Amanda Feral Series
A Night to Dismember (Coming August 2014)
Ship of Ghouls (Coming December 2014)
OTHER BOOKS
Velveteen
(as Daniel Marks)
Carniepunk
: The Sweeter the Juice (story)
Kiss Me Deadly
: Vermillion (story, as Daniel Marks)
Erotica
Stocking Full of Coal
(story, as Amanda Feral)
The Prosthetist (Coming Soon)
As always, first and foremost, I have to thank my lovely wife Caroline for putting up with the crazy that is me during the drafting and revision stages of any book, but particularly this one, which seemed to come so quickly (no pun intended).
I’m equally indebted to my good friends Renee George and Michele Bardsley who heave me up when I’m wallowing in the gutter. Michele provided me with some awesome editing on this book and I owe her. Renee is a graphics goddess. That I have marketing in place for this book at all, is a miracle from Missouri.
As always, to the Glamazombies, you guys never cease to amaze me. I appreciate all your hard work. May it never go flaccid.
::snerk::
Mark Henry traded a career in the helping profession to scar minds with his fiction. He attributes his ideas to premature exposure to horror movies, and/or witnessing adult cocktail parties in the '70s. His development has been further skewed by surviving earthquakes, typhoons, and two volcanic eruptions. Despite being disaster prone, he somehow continues to live and breathe. Residing in the oft maligned, yet not nearly as soggy as you'd think, Pacific Northwest, with his wife and two furry monsters that think they're children.
