She rose painfully from the couch and took another pain pill. Lately, the pills seemed to lose their effectiveness She took another pill and returned to the couch. She was asleep in moments.
'Nellie,' the voice whispered to her.
She stirred on the couch.
Her nose wrinkled at the sudden and thick smell that seemed to permeate the den. In her sleep, the smell was scented, but the scent only covered the real odor of burning sulphur.
In her drug-induced sleep, she thought she felt a hand lifting her gown. She thought it was Joe and she mumbled irritably. But the hand persisted. She felt its warmth—almost hot—on the bare flesh of her lower belly.
Then the hand withdrew and for the first time in months, she was free of pain.
She stretched until her bones popped and creaked, something she had been unable to do in months because of the pain it caused. It was a luxurious feeling.
'Isn't that nice, Nellie?' the dark-sounding voice entered her head.
'Oh, my, yes,' she murmured.
'As compared to this.'
Intense pain doubled her up on the couch. The pain was so hot and hard she cried out. It was more pain than she had ever experienced.
As quickly as the nightmarish anguish struck, it stopped, leaving her body. She sighed with relief. Sweat dotted her face and body.
'That's ever so much better, isn't it, darling?' the voice asked.
'Yes,' she murmured. The harshness of the agony had dulled the effects of the drugs in her system. She was in a state of semiconsciousness.
'How would you like to live forever, forever free of pain?'
She giggled, enjoying her dream.
'Would you like that, Nellie?'
'Yes,' she whispered.
'And you would give anything for that privilege?'
'Yes.'
'Yes.'
'Well,' the voice held a smugness. 'I think we are going to get along just fine, Nellie. Oh, my, yes.'
'I don't like this place, Jon,' Patsy said, holding very tightly to his hand. 'It's spooky.'
The young couple stood several hundred yards from the Giddon mansion, looming dark in the wet night. Not one light shone through the thin drizzle.
'It'll be all right,' Jon assured her. But he was not that sure himself.
'Do not be afraid,' the mysterious voice once more spoke to him. 'I can assure you that soon you will have all that you have dreamed of.'
Patsy stood as if in a trance. She was hearing none of the conversation.
'And Patsy?' Jon asked. 'What about her?'
'She had her dreams as well, young man. She combated them, but they were there. Soon she will have them fulfilled.'
'When do we go in?'
'Now,' the voice said, then faded.
'Let's go,' Patsy said. 'I'm ready.'
The heavy iron gates leading to the curving driveway opened as the young couple approached them. Neither Jon nor Patsy questioned how the gates opened, even though no one could be seen nearby. As they walked up the drive, they were conscious of red eyes watching them from the gloom on the wet hedges and shrubbery on both sides of the concrete. They were aware of a foul odor surrounding them, but somehow the odor never left the grounds of the estate. They did not know how that could be, but they did not question it.
They looked back only once, as the massive gates closed behind them. They heard the snick of a lock. It was as if they had entered another world, another time, another land, cut off from the outside. They could not see past the gates.
The huge oak and iron doors to the mansion swung open. Norman Giddon stood smiling at the boy and girl. The man was dressed in black robes.
'Welcome,' he said. 'Welcome and enter the kingdom of the Prince of Darkness. Welcome and embrace your new life.'
Jon and Patsy stepped inside.
The doors closed behind them.
Patsy clutched at his arm.
