Charnel House (24 page)

Authors: Graham Masterton

BOOK: Charnel House

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She reached out her hand to me, and said softly, “John â¦ oh, John. I need you.â¦”

And then the sirens were warbling in the distance, and we heard the welcoming sound of running feet.

It was September before I could make it up to Round Valley Reservation again. I borrowed a slightly clapped-out Pacer, and Jane and I traveled up over the weekend, stopping the night at Willits, in Mendocino County. It was afternoon by the time we reached George Thousand Names's house, overlooking the valley, and we parked the car. We climbed the stairs to the balcony, and a stern, quiet, middle-aged Indian was there, Walter Running Cow, and he shook our hands ceremoniously.

We had some tea, and in gentle voices we told Walter Running Cow about everything that had happened at Pilarcitos Street, and the emergence of Coyote, and what George Thousand Names had done to help us destroy him. We told him, too, how George had succumbed to a massive coronary at the moment of Coyote's death. Walter Running Cow listened in silence, and nodded now and again, while the sunlight crossed the room and the birds called long and plaintive from the distant woods.

Finally, the Indian said, “It was a brave passing for George Thousand Names. By modern standards, you know, he was one of our greatest magicians. Maybe he could never have flown like an eagle, as the wonder workers did in days gone by, but he used his powers to their utmost, and I believe we can all be grateful for that.”

“I needed to tell someone who believed,” I said softly. “In San Francisco, it was treated as a straightforward homicide. The official explanation is that it was all the work of a maniac, and in the end he leaped off the bridge.”

“Well,” said Walter Running Cow, “I suppose that all cultures need their rationale. Even Indian magic has its blind spots.”

“Will Coyote ever return?”

He looked at me, and his face was quite serious. “Not in our lifetime, maybe. But sometime. I am not deprecating what you did, but one such as you could never dismiss a demon like Coyote forever. And Big Monster's hair still floats in the tides of the ocean.”

“Talking of hair,” I said, “there's one thing I want to do.”

I opened up the plastic shopping bag I'd brought with me and took out the dried bristly scalp of the denion Coyote. Walter Running Cow looked at it for a long time with a mixture of apprehension and respect, then said, “It is good that you have brought it here. George Thousand Names will thank you for this, in the skies.”

We went out on to the balcony in the last light of the day, and I tied Coyote's scalp to the rail, along with the pelts and the snowshoes. Then we stood in the vastness of the Indian evening, while the breeze ruffled the long grass and set the trophy that belonged to George Thousand Names spinning in the faded warmth of the year, in the Drying Grass Moon, the month after the Moon of the Demon.

About the Author

Graham Masterton was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1946. He worked as a newspaper reporter before taking over joint editorship of the British editions of
Penthouse
and
Penthouse Forum
magazines. His debut novel,
The Manitou
, was published in 1976 and sold over one million copies in its first six months. It was adapted into the 1978 film starring Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg, Stella Stevens, Michael Ansara, and Burgess Meredith. Since then, Masterton has written over seventy-five horror novels, thrillers, and historical sagas, as well as published four collections of short stories and edited
Scare Care
, an anthology of horror stories for the benefit of abused children. He and his wife, Wiescka, have three sons. They live in Cork, Ireland, where Masterton continues to write.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design by Kat Lee

ISBN: 978-1-4976-0342-4

This edition published in 2016 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

180 Maiden Lane

New York, NY 10038

www.openroadmedia.com