A Family Affair: A Novel of Horror by V. J. Banis Read Free Book Online Page A

last, unable to contain herself any longer, she bolted to a sitting position, her eyes springing open. The room was empty! She was alone!
    She stared about in confusion and fright, doubting her own senses, but the room was really empty. She pinched herself once to determine that she was awake.
    With the diminishing of her fear, she became suddenly angry.
    â€œThat is the limit,” she said aloud, not caring if anyone heard. She almost hoped they did hear, in fact, even if it did hurt their feelings. She was not accustomed to having strangers parading through her bedroom, pawing over her, to say nothing of frightening her to death.
    Bounding noisily from the bed, she marched across the room to the door and switched on the light. The lock in the door was complete with key. She turned it angrily, locking herself in, and any intruders out. So much for moonlight visitors. Aunt Christine would hear about quite a few things in the morning, and if she offended them that was just too bad. There was a limit to what they could expect a person to tolerate without complaint
    She reached for the light switch; then, changing her mind, she left the light burning and returned to bed. At least if there were anything further in store, she would not be in the dark.
    This time it took longer for her to go to sleep. She listened for a time, thinking that her visitor might return and try the door, in which case she would tell someone a thing or two without waiting for morning.
    As it happened, though, there was no further disturbance. At length she fell asleep, this time rather fitfully.
    When she awoke again, it was morning. And her visitor had returned. At least, there was someone in her room. An elderly lady, looking older even than Aunt Christine, stood by the dresser. A tiny, birdlike creature with silver white hair and sparkling blackbird’s eyes, the woman was humming to herself, a sad, hauntingly familiar melody. She wore the same peculiar white robes that Aunt Christine had worn the night before and her hands, like twin doves in flight fluttered about in the air over an empty vase on the dresser.
    â€œOh, good morning,” the stranger greeted her when she saw Jennifer’s open eyes. “I hope I didn’t startle you.”
    â€œYes, you did,” Jennifer said, and at once wondered sleepily if she had been too blunt. The memory of her nightly intrusion came back to her then, and with that memory came some of her previous annoyance. “Not nearly so much as you did last night” she added, more sharply.
    â€œOh, did I see you last night? Were you on the lawn for the rites?”
    â€œThe rites?” It took Jennifer a moment to grasp the fact that the woman was referring to the strange goings-on she had seen on the lawn when she arrived.
    â€œNo, I was not,” she replied coolly.
    The stranger took no apparent notice of the coolness.
    Her hands, as she spoke, continued to flutter about the empty vase, tugging at the air, patting it.
    â€œWell then I couldn’t have seen you last night. I left the rites early, only because Aunt Christine told me it would be all right, mind you. Let me see—oh yes, then I brought a dinner tray up here. After that I went straight to bed. I always retire early.”
    Jennifer hesitated to argue the matter. There was not really any evidence that it had been the same woman in her room the night before, and perhaps she was rash to make that assumption. They all seemed to wear the same robes. Better to take that matter up with Aunt Christine who, so far as she knew, was the mistress of the household.
    Nonetheless, it was certainly disconcerting to find people wandering in and out of her room at will.
    â€œHow did you get in here?” she asked, suddenly remembering the locked door.
    â€œThrough the door,” her visitor answered, quite as though it should have been obvious to anyone. As indeed, Jennifer told herself, it should have been. She opened her mouth