Carved in Stone: Monochrome Destiny (27 page)

Douglas’s
eyes lit up at Robyn’s discomfort and he tightened his grip, making her
wince.  He pulled her closer and held her, as this time his thin tongue
snaked out from his smile and licked across her mouth, one side to the other.

She
couldn’t get away, even when his tongue slowly retraced its path and left a
wet, sickly sweet trail over her mouth.  Robyn wanted to scream but she
didn’t dare open her lips.

She
could hear a commotion beside her.  Andrew was rocking his chair on the
floor, struggling with his bindings, but she couldn’t look, didn’t dare. 
Her vision was filled with greedy, evil, eyes.

“Get
away from her,” Andrew shouted, “I’m going to kill you for this.  Do you
hear me?”

A
hand gripped her leg, hard, gouging.  Bone-like appendages slid up her
thigh, their destination obvious. 
No, no, no,
she wanted to scream
but she was held tight unable to utter a word.  She couldn’t even look
away.  Every whimper or move she made only increased Sanger’s pleasure.

Andrew
struggled as she sat frozen, praying that she would not feel the disgusting
sensation of that slimy thin tongue slithering over her lips again, hoping that
the hand slowly climbing her thigh would stop its relentless assault on her
skin before it found folds that were too personal, too delicate to be touched.

Andrew
was shouting, swearing.  His chair banging as he struggled to free himself
but still Robyn couldn’t look away.

Sanger’s
slick tongue washed over her lips once more, desperately looking for a way to
penetrate, and the hand rose up her leg to where she held her thighs tightly
clenched.

“Enough.” 
A voice boomed making Robyn jump.

The
commotion ceased, as the slithering tongue disappeared and the hand released
its grip.

“Step
back, Doctor Sanger.”

Douglas
Sanger dropped his shoulders and submitted to the command immediately. 
Stepping backwards to prop himself at the wall, he moved out of Robyn’s view
and revealed Andrew, one arm free, tense in his seat.

Andrew’s
back was straight and his head was tilted backwards, exposing his throat. 
His body was pulsing in the chair, stiff and clearly in agony.  Against
his neck was a black object, box like and hand held.

Although
she’d never seen one before, Robyn knew from Andrew’s reaction what it was.

Stood
in front of Andrew, but staring at Sanger, was the portly figure of James
Truscott.  In his outstretched arm he held a Taser to his grandson’s
throat.

Robyn stared at
James.  He stood in front of the fire, the look on his face all business;
no emotion, just calculating authority.  Andrew, retied by Jane, sat next
to her, their two chairs positioned as if this was a meeting.  Two small
burn marks, red and angry, showed on his neck.  He had innumerable ties,
at least double the previous number, strapping his arms down, but despite the
overkill on bindings, James was taking no chances and Jane currently stood over
Andrew, Taser threatening and ready.

She
and Andrew were in a dire situation, Robyn knew that, but it was the lack of
sentiment from James towards his grandson that bothered her the most. 
Andrew could have been anybody. 

James
walked nonchalantly to the fireplace, reached down his pipe and lit it. 
Smoke billowed hiding James’s face.  Not that there was much to see. 
Whatever he was thinking or feeling was very carefully hidden by the practiced
and perfected persona that he put on, like a mask, every day.

James
stepped forwards.  “I must apologise for Douglas.” His polite tone only
served to deepen Robyn’s fear.  “The good Doctor has some, passions, shall
we say, that sometimes get the better of him.”

Jane
laughed but James shot her a warning glance and she quickly returned her focus
to Andrew.

“Now,
Robyn, I do apologise for the way that we needed to get you here and for the
circumstance in which you now find yourself, but I assure you that it was and
is necessary.  If you would be so kind as to answer a few of my questions,
then we can sort this matter out quickly and be getting along with our
day.”  James stood casually, puffing on his pipe.  He wore his
customary casual, light coloured shirt and overstretched jumper, but he was no
longer the slightly eccentric lord of the manor.  James was the mastermind
behind all of this.  He held their future in his hands.  And his
hands were uncaring in the extreme.

Robyn
couldn’t allow her body to tremble.  She needed to react to James politely
and without fear.  She swallowed hard, lifted her chin and forced herself
to look directly at him before replying.  “What would you like to know
James?  I’m finding it a little difficult to concentrate and I have a
thumping headache, but I will try.”

“Ah,
yes, sorry about that.  Perhaps we should give you more time for the
effects to wear off.”  He stepped forwards to look closely into her eyes.

The effects?
  Robyn
recalled the white masked person, the sweet, sickly smell that had filled her
airways.  She exhaled a sigh. 
“Chloroform.”

“Very
astute of you,” the wiry man, Sanger, answered.  Lifting his gaze from the
floor but swiftly returning it with one sharp look from James.

Chloroform
was a banned substance that Robyn knew to be carcinogenic as well as damaging
to both the liver and the kidneys.  She could have been killed by its use.

It
was still used in industry as a precursor to the manufacture of other
chemicals, but could not be purchased without special permits.  She’d seen
a bottle though, old and forgotten, in the back of a fume cupboard during one of
her teacher training placements.  Not only did she know that you could
therefore get hold of it, but she also knew how to make her own and had access
to the chemicals to do so.

“That
explains why I feel sick anyway.” She stared at Sanger.  He knew exactly
why she felt sick and it had nothing to do with the drug.

“Do
you sweetie,” Jane chimed in, “Do you feel sick?” Her feigned look of concern
broadened into a large smile and she all but danced around the room. 
“Sick, sick, sick, she feels sick.”

Robyn
frowned.  She wanted to punch the smile right off of Jane’s face.

“You
should co-operate, Robyn.  It will be so much easier if you do. 
Because if you won’t talk to me, I’m certain that you will talk to the
Doctor.”  James nodded towards the wiry man leaning against the wall. “And
believe me, he will make you talk.”

Robyn
had no doubts that Dr Sanger would make her talk.  It was the other things
that he would make her do that had the icy tendrils of fear creeping up her
spine.

Andrew
lunged forwards in his chair, fighting the bonds, “Don’t you dare threaten
her,” he shouted before Jane quickly held out the stun gun. 

Sanger
had taken two footsteps forwards, eager to be given his opportunity to use his
particular kind of persuasion to make Robyn talk.  His eyes held a
poisonous joy, but one look from James stopped him in his tracks. 

Andrew
sat back, unwilling to once again feel the pain of a high voltage shock. 
He looked to Robyn in anguish.

Guilt
left a hard lump to swallow.  Robyn knew it was her fault Andrew was
there.  The situation was her doing and it was up to her to put it right.

“Andrew
has nothing to do with this.  It was all me.  Let him go.”

“No,”
Andrew grunted as he tried the bonds again.

James
stepped between them.  “It’s a little late for that don’t you think? 
Besides, I have a feeling that you will me more willing to cooperate with him
here.”  He nodded at Jane and she pressed the button.

Two
metal prongs touched Andrew’s chest and his body reared up in the chair. 
His back arched and his head bent backwards over the back of the frame. 
Andrew’s body straightened rigid within the confines of his bonds.

“No,”
Robyn screamed as she watched the electricity tense Andrew’s every muscle to
breaking point.  “No. Stop.  Stop. 
STOP.”
 
She struggled in her chair, trying to reach out, trying to stop Jane, but it
was no use.  She watched helplessly as Andrew’s body pulsed with wave
after wave of current and Jane stood over him laughing and basking in his pain.

James
gave a nod to Jane and she pulled the wicked machine from Andrew’s skin. 
He dropped into his seat as his muscles loosened and his head slumped to one
side.  Robyn stared at him, desperate for signs of life, tears flowing
freely down her cheek, until he took two long, deep, breaths and lifted his
head defiantly.

Jane
reached forwards with the stun gun again.

There
were already two angry welts on Andrew’s left pectoral muscle and minute beads
of sweat across his skin.  Robyn would do anything to stop him having to
go through that pain again.  Andrew may be acting like he could take it,
but his body was stating otherwise.

“No,
don’t.  I’ll talk.  I’ll tell you everything I know.  Please
don’t.  Please don’t hurt him again.” She sobbed.

Jane
had her arm stretched toward Andrew, but her eyes were now focused on James.

James
took a moment, his expression remaining nonchalant and then he commanded Jane
back.  Jane’s hand dropped reluctantly.

Robyn
sat trembling with fear.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered to Andrew, emotion
stifling the tone of her voice, “I never should have gotten you involved. 
I should have listened.”

“I
was involved the first moment I saw you, Robyn.  But I should have done
something about this a long time ago.”  His crooked smile, forced and
meant to reassure her, nearly broke her.

“Touching,”
James laughed and stepped forwards, taking Robyn’s attention from Andrew. 
“I’ll deal with you later,” he spat at his grandson. 

Andrew
returned James’s stare with piercing hatred.

James
chose to ignore Andrew’s clear rage and continued to puff on his pipe. 
The noxious smoke irritated Robyn’s nose and brought her nausea back.  She
recoiled instinctively, pulling her head back but James bent forwards and
purposefully blew the smoke into her face.  His smug, half smile belied
the pleasure he was taking in her unease and finally Robyn glimpsed the real
man inside the carefully crafted illusion.  James had a calmness and
authority in all circumstances that made him a good leader, but he overly
enjoyed the power that he held and he would do anything to get what he
wanted.  A shiver rushed up Robyn’s spine.

“Now
Robyn, you will tell me why you were snooping around the abattoir last night
and you will tell me what you discovered.”  James blew another cloud of
smoke into her face, this time he timed it perfectly with her intake of breath
and the acrid gas quickly made its way into her lungs.  Robyn choked out
the hateful vapour.

“How?”
Was all she
managed between splutters, but James caught her meaning.

“CCTV.
 We are
not as backwards thinking as you seem to think we are.  The abattoir is
covered by CCTV and we have some very interesting footage of the two of you
searching around inside.” He leaned towards her so that his breath was upon her
face.  “You have got yourself into a pickle haven’t you?”

“Leave.
Her.
Alone.” Andrew’s low, calculated voice was
strained through clenched teeth and his face was full of fury.  James
looked at him and Robyn was sure that she even saw a flash of fear on James’s
face as he sidestepped to confront Andrew.  Jane quickly stepped forwards
threateningly with the stun gun and Andrew backed down. 

“What
do you think you’re going to do about it?” James said sarcastically.  “You
had your opportunity.  I gave you your chance.  But you couldn’t stop
her looking, could you.  You couldn’t stop her meddling.”  His words
were callous.  He delivered them in a flat monotone, matter of fact. 
“I gave you your chance and you blew it.  Now I have to deal with her.”

James
stood inches from Andrew, leaning over him.  He showed no emotion. 
Dr Sanger scared her, chilled her to the bone because she knew, without a
doubt, that he had no boundaries, not when it came to women.  But James,
his manner with Andrew, his calm persona hiding an evil core, he worried her
more.  The Doctor was almost predictable in his sickness.  James, on
the other hand, would do anything and everything to reach his goal, and he was
clever.

James
turned back to Robyn.  “Why were you at the abattoir?”  He expected
an immediate answer.

“It
was my last
lead,
” she said honestly, “Kat mentioned
it just before she left.”

Suddenly
James’s eyes lit up and his stare intensified. “Katherine Harris mentioned the
abattoir to you?”

“Yes.” 
Her heart pounded.  His sudden interest in Kat confirmed that these people
were responsible for her disappearance.

“Exactly
what did she say?”  His stare was intense and his words delivered quickly,
giving away his sudden interest.

“She
saw a lot of people queuing up to get in, while on one of her runs.  She
joked that it might be a rave.”

“Joked?” 
His eyes narrowed.

“Yes.
 She saw the Head Teacher and other older people, so she joked about a
rave.  She didn’t mean it, it was just a joke.  Neither of us could think
of a sensible reason why so many people would be at the abattoir at night.”

“Did
she tell anyone else about this?”  James’s stare was unwaveringly intense
and as he stepped towards her, Robyn slunk back in her chair.

“No. 
Who was she going to tell?  She left the next day.”  The words rushed
out and Robyn’s voice began to betray her fear.

A
small smile spread across James’s lips.  “And what did you find in the
abattoir?”

“Dead
things,” she answered flippantly.  
Too flippantly.
 
A sudden pain flashed across Robyn’s face as James slapped her across the left
cheek.  Her head was knocked to the side and the pain burned.  Her
anger however, would not allow him satisfaction of seeing her cry and she
raised her head to stare back at him in defiance.

“You bastard!”
Andrew
struggled in his chair. “You fucking bastard!”

Jane
hit him with the Taser again and his body
strained,
muscles taut, pulsating in agony.  When the voltage was removed he dropped
back into his seat, his breathing ragged but he did not slump into recovery as
before, he looked straight at Jane.

“What
did you see at the abattoir?” James repeated the question.

“Blood.”

“Don’t
play me, Robyn.  If you want any hope of getting out of here, don’t play
me.”

She
didn’t think there was any hope.  After drugging, kidnapping and
torturing, Robyn couldn’t believe that James had any intention of letting
either of them go.  But knowledge was power, her power and it was all she
had left to use.

“I
know the people are sick, James.  I know that they drink blood to survive
and I know that this town once believed that they were plagued by demonic blood
suckers.”

Andrew
turned, startled.

“We
thought you were Satanists, but you’re not are you?”

“Well,
well, well, you have been busy haven’t you?” James narrowed his eyes.

“More
than you could possibly know.” She twisted in her chair in order to sit
tall.  “The children get sick.  I’ve seen it myself; the lethargy and
exhaustion.  That’s the start isn’t
it.
 
They grow pale and gaunt and years ago they probably died.  Somehow,
nearly two hundred years ago, someone discovered that drinking blood or
something similar helped them.  I think the people of this town drink what
was in those bottles to survive.”