“Yeah, but why are you here in the first place?” George asked her.
“Why am I here? For an unrelated reason. I came to help your brother with the lizard…”
Amber lowered her voice when Ruth came to drop off their drinks.
When Ruth was gone, Amber finished.
“The weird lizard vampire things are why I came, not because of the demon.”
“But why were you involved with the lizard vampire things?” George asked. “You and my brother have those in common, but it’s probably because of the other thing you have in common, which was his blood demon and your house demon. You were both touched by this other realm. We all were for that matter. So if we assume that the vampires are attracted to that touch, then everything makes perfect sense.”
Amber sat back in her seat and unfolded her napkin.
“I don’t know,” Amber said. “Feels like circular logic. You’re proving each thing with the other.”
“Maybe,” George said, turning up his hands. “Time will tell, right?”
# # #
Amber pulled halfway up the driveway and paused, looking up at the house. It as just as Alan had described, but she still wasn’t ready for it. The white farmhouse looked enormous, perched up on the little hill when she first saw it. Then, when she started up the driveway, she saw the long shed that connected the house to a red barn that was so huge it looked three houses would fit inside it. Until she saw Alan, coming through the shed door waving to her, she almost wanted to turn around and leave.
“Swing over there, would you?”
Amber turned the wheel and parked near a screened in building that was called “The Cookhouse” according to the sign over the door.
Alan stood with his hands on his hips, smiling.
“So? What do you think of spring in Maine?” he asked.
Amber raised her eyebrows and glanced around at the giant, dirty piles of snow that were melting in the cool sun.
“Beautiful.”
Alan laughed. “Come on inside.”
He led her through the shed door and Amber was reminded of another house. When she had moved up to take care of her Uncle Bill’s estate, the neighbor down the road had a similar shed connecting the house to the barn. It was easy to understand why when she saw how much snow was piled up outside—who would want to slog through a mountain of snow to do barn chores every morning?
Alan opened the door and she entered into a cozy kitchen. The cabinets were finished in blond maple and had a kind of rural class to them. Amber took the chair that Alan offered.
“What can I get you to drink?”
“Just a water, I guess. We had lunch over at the Grill.”
“Oh,” he said, nodding. “Sorry to hear that.”
Amber laughed. “Everyone kept warning me, but I didn’t think the food was that bad. My sandwich was a little dry maybe. Not bad though.”
“It’s the worst place we all still go. Would you rather have a terrible restaurant that’s open all winter or none at all. Those are the only two choices, apparently.”
Amber shrugged.
Alan delivered water for her. He sat down with a can of soda.
“So? What brings you to Maine?”
Amber sighed and folded her hands around her glass.
“Things just got… I don’t know, messy I guess down there. I got the house cleaned up and ready for the market. Plus, I figured you guys might need my help.”
“How much did Ricky tell you about the interviews we’ve been doing?”
“Very little,” Amber said. “I heard a bit about some guy who was the only survivor of a suicide cult.”
Alan nodded. “Believe it or not, I think that crazy hermit was the most sane person we’ve talked to. After him, Ricky got a tip that there’s a connection to this other group. They worship some imaginary power that supposedly organizes everything in the universe. We went up to try to talk to some of the members, but nobody was home. Then, we were poking around the little settlement near there and it seemed like everyone we talked to was a believer. It was surreal.”
“And connected to the creatures that came after us?” Amber asked.
“Great question—who knows?” Alan said with a laugh. “We went to see the hermit because of the creatures that attacked his cult and then we followed the thread to the Orgone people. Ricky says that ninety-nine percent of detective work is eliminating false leads. If that’s true, then we have a long road ahead of us.”
Amber sat back and folded her arms across her chest.
“I know that look,” Alan said. “Liz has that same look when I try to talk to her about this stuff. You’re getting close to fed up with all this. You’re ready to throw in the towel and just stay away from weddings and mountain hotels for the rest of your life.”
Amber smiled.
“Actually, it’s almost the exact opposite,” she said. “I’m not going to bother with skepticism. I tried that and it came back twice as hard to bite me. In fact, I’ve tried that a couple of times in my life. I think I’m reinvesting in the idea that it’s possible to get back to a clean slate. If we can just figure out this one thing, maybe we don’t have to hide anymore.”
Alan glanced around his kitchen and then looked back to Amber.
“There’s always something to hide from.”
“Okay,” Amber said. “Maybe that’s true. My point is just that I’m back here and I’m determined to figure things out. What’s our next step?”
Alan leaned back and folded his arms too.
“Well, that’s a good question. I’ve been mostly letting Ricky lead the investigation, but there are one or two things that I haven’t been able to talk him into. He’s an extremely careful individual.”
“From what I gather, he and his family have seen some dark things.”
“We all have,” Alan said.
She nodded.
“What kinds of things are you talking about?”
“You want to go for a walk?” Alan asked.
“Sure.”
“What size shoe do you wear?”
# # #
Amber grabbed a
