Read Online The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle by Len du Randt - Free Book Online Page B

against it? Her thoughts were interrupted by another scratching sound
at the door. Louder this time.
    ‘Justin?’ she
asked. Her voice emitted a hollow echo in the confines of the bathroom. ‘Is
that you?’
    No answer.
    Scratching
again.
    Longer. Slower.
More purposeful.
    ‘Justin?’ she
asked, loud enough for him to hear it from the kitchen. Rebecca’s heart bounced
around furiously in her chest as she reached her hand out to the handle.
Another scratch made her jerk her hand away. ‘This isn’t funny, Justin! Stop
it!’
    The scratching
stopped.
    Rebecca placed
her hand around the cold handle and pressed it down. She pulled the door back
hard and screamed when she saw a figure standing in front of her. The figure
grabbed her and she tried to fight back, but to no avail.
    ‘Becky, it’s
me,’ Justin said. ‘Calm down.’
    It took a while
for Rebecca to register that it was her husband holding her. ‘Let me go!’ She
screamed.
    ‘Geez,’ Justin
said and released her. ‘It was only a joke.’
    ‘Get away from
me!’
    Justin took a
step back. He could sense that he had crossed a line.
    Rebecca slammed
the door shut and, for the first time since they were married, locked it. She
stood in the corner of the bathroom and slid to the floor, her hands covering
her face.
    ‘I’m sorry,
Becky,’ Justin said from the other side of the door, but it was futile. His
voice was drowned out by the shower’s water and her sobs.
     
     
    *    -    -   
-    *
     
     
    The engineers at
Cybernetics Computers had a ritual where they would drop whatever they were
busy with each day at ten o’ clock, and meet each other in the lounge for a
smoke break. Those who didn’t smoke mingled in by making it their coffee break.
They would usually spend the next fifteen minutes complaining about management
or clients, or worse; management’s unrealistic promises to unforgiving clients.
There were no such qualms today. A new topic had slowly taken over the past two
weeks. Nightmares.
    ‘I had another
one last night,’ said Luke. He was outsourced as a site engineer to a major
communications company. ‘I can’t remember everything, but I do remember the
spiders.’
    ‘I had one too,’
Bill said. He had greasy hair that he slicked back and wore black thick-rimmed
glasses that almost gave him a Buddy Holly look. Bill was the company nerd. A
nerd’s nerd. Justin found it hard to imagine that this man would ever admit to
having nightmares. Too retro. Bill drained half his mug of coffee before
continuing. ‘I was trapped in a mental asylum with all these half-human
creatures running around and hunting us down. Eventually I was the only one
left.’ He finished the last half in one gulp. ‘Then I woke up.’
    They all looked
at Justin. ‘And you?’ Luke asked.
    Justin hated
being placed on the spot. He was the new guy. He didn’t want to share his
personal problems or experiences with them yet. He nodded. ‘Same as yours,
Luke, but with snakes instead of spiders.’
    ‘Had the snake
one last week,’ Bill said.
    The spotlight
was off Justin again and moved to Rupert. He shook his head even before the
question was asked. ‘No nightmares here.’
    ‘It’s because
you live so far,’ Luke said. ‘No reception there.’
    Everyone
chuckled.
    ‘You might be
onto something there, Luke,’ Bill said. ‘I can’t help but notice that all the
guys having nightmares live in more or less the same neighbourhood.’
    ‘It’s a
government conspiracy,’ Rupert said. ‘They’re testing their new brain-wave
manipulators, and you guys are the lab rats.’
    ‘Everything’s a
conspiracy with you, Rupert,’ Luke said.
    ‘Have you guys
listened to yourselves the last two weeks? You all have bad dreams. You all fight with your girlfriends or wives. You all have a low sex drives.’
    ‘That’s because
we’re techies,’ Luke said and everyone laughed.
    ‘And it all
started at around exactly the same time,’ Rupert