On the Far Side of Darkness by R. C. Graham Page A

recoils as if my touch would infect her with a virulent disease.
    “What’s, what’s happened?” I ask. The pain that crushes my chest makes my voice quaver.
    “I found out about you, you monster!” she growls back.
    Terror now wraps itself around my heart. If she knows what I am, she will die. Either I kill her myself or others of my kind will destroy her and me. We can’t have humans know of us.
    “You rapist!” she spits then.
    I can’t help but release a sigh of relief. My secret is safe. Hurt grows to replace my fear. There’s no reason why she would think such a thing.
    “That student of yours came by,” Diane goes on. “Mandy told me all about you. How you make them fuck you for a decent mark, how you degrade them, how you make them suffer. I can’t believe I was fooled by you!”
    Her words tear at me. Without thought I reach out and grip her arm. “You can’t be…” I start.
    Her reaction drops my jaw in astonishment. She pulls free with a jerk, falls to her knees and throws up. The sharp smell of stomach acid fills the air.
    “Don’t touch me!” Diane shrieks. She pauses for a second heave. “Don’t ever touch me again, you bastard!” Another wave of her stomach contents hits the floor. “Get out! Or I’ll call the police!” Her stomach expels yet more of her recent meals.
    Cold ice seems to form around my heart. It deadens the misery I feel. “ D’accord ,” I tell her in a tone as neutral as I can manage. I step back into the hall and close the door on the end of an important piece of my existence.
    An apartment opens down the hall and a small dog attached to a leash emerges. It gives a “Yipe!” at the sight of me and defecates. I’ve turned and headed for the stairs before the person at the other end of the leash can observe me.
    Before I emerge onto the street, I pull my emotions into a tight ball and slide my human face into place. Death and horror walk with me and there is only one person I wish them to be unleashed upon.
    I find a pay phone and dial the number Major Price had given me. “Yes?” a firm male voice answers.
    “I need a report,” I tell him.
    He draws in a quick breath at the sound of my voice. It seems I’m still not concealing myself well.
    The man’s a professional though and quickly gathers himself. “The team got here early. We had the subject under surveillance by 9:30 AM.”
    Yesterday Mandy went to classes, had dinner at a restaurant and returned home. Nothing unusual. The next part of his report catches my attention.
    “Last night, the subject left her house at 10:57 and drove out of town. She was followed to an old farmhouse. More correctly, the road to an old farmhouse. My operative wouldn’t travel any farther.
    “I gave him hell for that. But he told me he wouldn’t go near the place for all the money in the world. He said the place frightened him. That was a surprise. I’ve worked with him for three years and I didn’t think anything scared him.”
    My contact’s voice grows less professional, softer. “I did some digging. It turns out there was a multiple murder there, almost a century ago. Now the locals won’t go near the place. And people from elsewhere who have lived in it won’t stay more than a month or they never leave at all.
    “I went to check it myself. My operative was correct. There’s something not right about that place. I couldn’t get myself near it, even in the daytime.”
    A wonder creeps into his tone. “I always believed such places were just fairy tales. I never thought I would ever see such a thing.”
    I have and more than once, is the thought I keep to myself. “Continue your report,” I order him. My voice is normal now. I have myself under control.
    “Yes sir!” he barks. I can almost see his heels click together as he stands at attention. “Today the subject visited an apartment building.” The address he gives me is Diane’s. A savage snarl almost passes my lips at that piece of data. “After