Just when Linda and her friends thought they were safe, they were hit once again by unknown, dark forces.
Chapter 37
They stepped outside into the sun. The town turned
dark with hovering black clouds. The mountain rumbled and shook. Trees began to
sway with their frightened leaves flying from their trembling branches. Loud blasts of thunder surrounded them from all sides. The sky above End House lit
up with bright flashes of red and orange lights. In the opposite direction,
above the dark mansion, sizzling lightning bolts were streaking across the blackened sky.
David said, “What now?” They
made a mad dash to their cars.
Todd said, “We will meet
at the mansion. That’s where the eye of the storm is focused.”
Their cars raced past the
estates, speeding along the dirt path by the bed and breakfast, spewing gravel
and dirt everywhere. The gingerbread house was lit up. People were streaming out the front door. Linda didn’t recognize any of
them, but suspected that they were Abe and Anna’s missing children.
They drove up to the
mansion, and the storm intensified even further until the entire sky was lit up with lights as bright and
colorful as a fireworks display. At each of the many windows, faces could be
seen grinning at them. They didn’t appear to be human faces. Their elongated,
white faces were stretched out like Silly Putty. Their oversized green eyes
were glowing in the darkness behind each open window.
Abe and his people caught
up to them at the mansion. They stood behind their group as they watched the
bizarre scene before them. They wore long overcoats over their dark clothes.
Linda was intrigued to see what they had on beneath their coats. Maybe they
were armed with special weapons.
“Those are the vampires
that we must now extinguish,” Abe said in a loud voice above the roaring storm.
“How are we going to
accomplish this feat?” Linda asked, skeptical of him and his family. Just what they needed now—a new gang of players thrown into the old,
uncertain mix.
“I’m waiting for the
priest, and then all will be explained.”
Linda wasn’t satisfied
with that answer, but kept silent and waited with the others.
Father John arrived soon
after. Abe walked over to him and they spoke for a while.
Linda said to Shana, “I
bet that’s where Natalie and Maxell hung out: in the deserted mansion with the demonic shadows
that stalked us in town.”
“Imagine. A whole
vampires’ nest right inside our own town. If I’d known about this, I would never have slept at night.”
