“But I won’t really be young, will I?”
“You’ll find a man who can retain his youthful appearance to be of greater interest. I will become that man.”
“I can’t imagine that, just now. I mean-I can’t even figure out how you breathe without a nose.”
“Can’t you?” he asked, staring at her in his unnerving way.
“Well, I suppose you breathe the way an insect does, perhaps through some sort of openings in your torso?”
“Yes, although I have the ability to breathe through my mouth as well. A dual system, for the moment. And you’ve confirmed, Amanda, that you are not as stupid as you seem to try to make me believe you are.”
She gave a start, because her parents suddenly appeared on either side of him. Shade growled, but to Amanda’s ears, it was a rather halfhearted growl.
“What is it?” Adrian asked nervously.
He’s an insect, she told herself. Think of him as an insect. Aloud she said, “It’s cold in here-don’t you think? Doesn’t the cold slow insects down?”
An instant later, the temperature of the basement dropped.
“You-you’ve summoned spirits of some sort!”
“Really, it has never been a matter of summoning my parents.”
“Ghosts-!” Daniel said, dropping the broom and backing away.
Adrian straightened. “Pay them no heed, Daniel. The dead can’t harm the living, for all they enjoy frightening them.”
Amanda said, “They can harm your kind, I’m told.”
“I advise you to take care, young lady. I would prefer a long-term companion in the years to come, but not at any price. Believe me, I’ve made do with temporary company from women. That would be preferable to living with a shrew.”
His stare was so hostile this time, she found herself taking another step back.
Amanda saw her father move to Tyler’s side, and saw that Tyler’s eyes were open. Her father gestured silence, and to her surprise Tyler seemed to be able to see him. Tyler glanced at Amanda, then as Adrian turned toward him, feigned unconsciousness.
Her mother, she saw, was pointing to a desk behind Adrian. No-to an object below the desk. A knife.
“Now,” Adrian said, unaware of the movements of the ghosts, “I believe I shall have that ring, and leave our courtship for a later hour.”
Suddenly he dropped to the floor, and she discovered that cold or no, Adrian down on all fours could move much faster than Adrian tottering upright. She screamed and tried to run, but took no more than two strides before he grabbed hold of her ankle. Horrified, she tried to kick him away, but he knocked her down. She fell hard, hitting her head as she hit the ground, and lay stunned for a moment as he crawled up over her.
He pinned her beneath his weight, holding her arms in his sharp claws, and she turned her face aside just in time to avoid his slime-covered lips from descending on hers. His kiss landed on her cheek instead, and he laughed as she tried uselessly to throw him off. She heard the sound of chains giving way across the room. Wraith circled them fretfully but did not attack Adrian. Beneath her, shards of pottery cut through her clothes and pierced her skin, and all around her desiccated frogs and salamanders covered the floor.
They were nothing to the horror above her, though. Adrian’s torso, covered in hard shell-like segments, like those of a lobster, cut into her as he pressed her against the floor.
She became aware of a movement above her-Tyler had risen from the table. His arms locked around Adrian’s throat. He pulled mercilessly, trying to force Adrian to free her.
Adrian growled in anger, but she could feel no lessening of his strength.
“He doesn’t breathe through his throat!” she shouted, realizing Tyler would never choke him in this way. Adrian rewarded her by pulling her right hand up and biting the ring off her hand, finger and all.
She screamed, even as Adrian released her. Tyler let go of Adrian’s throat, grabbed Daniel’s fallen broom, and used the broomstick to deliver a series of powerful blows to Adrian’s head. Dazed, Adrian turned his attention to Tyler.
Amanda cradled her injured hand and ran toward the desk, where her mother’s ghost waited. Daniel came rushing toward her, and she shrank back, then saw that he was standing guard over her, ready to use himself as a shield between Adrian and her.
She scrambled beneath the desk and felt for the knife with her left hand, her fingers curling around the handle just as Adrian grabbed the broomstick in a claw and broke it into splinters. He lunged after Tyler, but Shade caused him to stumble, allowing Tyler to dodge just in time to avoid the snapping claws.
Adrian cursed the dog, then said, “I’ve got the ring, Tyler! And your lover’s finger as well. Delicious!”
“Amanda, Daniel, leave while you can!” Tyler said.
“Utterly useless to think you can protect them, or that I won’t find them if they run,” Adrian said, grinning in delight. “You know that in a matter of moments, I’ll be able to kill you once and for all.”
“You’re still mortal, Adrian. The ring was false. Can’t you feel the truth of what I say to you?”
Adrian’s smile faltered. “It can’t be true,” he said. “I felt its power!”
“Really? Do you feel that power within yourself now?”
As he asked this, Tyler reached for a chair and threw it at Adrian. Adrian turned to the side to deflect the blow, and the chair smashed into the shell-like segments that made up his torso. Adrian screamed as one of the segments cracked, revealing a set of openings in his side.
Spiracles-the openings insects need to breathe, Amanda thought. Adrian was neither fully human nor insect, but-She saw a bag of cement, and whispered to Daniel, “Help me,” and gave him brief instructions. She discovered, to her surprise, that her right hand was no longer bleeding, and that it was not painful to hold the weapon with her remaining fingers.
Adrian rushed toward Tyler. Tyler fended him off with the fallen chair, using it to shield himself from Adrian’s claws. But Adrian was succeeding in breaking off pieces of the chair with each new onslaught.
Amanda slit the bag of cement with the knife, and Daniel lifted it. She could see he had little confidence in her plan, and she didn’t blame him.
“Now!” she shouted, and they rushed toward Adrian.
Adrian, all his attention on Tyler, didn’t see them approach. Amanda carefully aimed the knife and stabbed into one of the spiracles even as Daniel dumped the cement over Adrian, aiming it for his torso.
It raised a dust cloud in the confined space that caused them all to cough. Adrian got the worst of it, though. As the dust entered the openings through which he breathed, Adrian began trying to draw breath through his mouth, wheezing and choking. Amanda used the knife again-this time to cut off one of his claws.
Again he screamed and turned on her.
Aiming to stab her throat, his remaining claw hooked on the chain around her neck and, as he tried to pull free, broke it.
Rings spilled free.
“You! You bitch from hell!” In a fury, he stabbed his remaining claw through her chest, then turned to chase down the rings, which were rolling in every direction.
The knife fell to the floor as she reached over her heart. She felt warm blood streaming over her hand just before she collapsed. Wraith quickly lay beside her.
With a cry of anguish Tyler picked up the knife, turned, and slashed the blade across Adrian’s neck, nearly cutting his head off. Adrian rolled onto his back, his remaining legs and arm waving weakly before he fell still.
Tyler ran to Amanda and lifted her into his arms.
“No,” he said. “Please, God, no-”
I’m dying. Tyler.
“Amanda, no-” He began to weep.
Sorry, my love, at this point it’s not up to me.