Dread Softly by Caryn Larrinaga

Author:Caryn Larrinaga [Larrinaga, Caryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780999020067
Publisher: Twisted Tree Press

I’d nearly finished sniffing my way around the baseboards in the kitchen when the front doorknob rattled a few hours later. Hoping Fiona had returned with something containing tuna, I hustled into the living room to sniff at the crack beneath the door.

I skidded to a stop halfway across the rug. All three Watchers had congregated above the front door, their shadowy forms undulating in rhythm with one another. Their eighteen collective eyes were locked on to the doorknob, which rotated slowly from left to right and back again.

Even at a distance of several feet, I could smell the thick ropes of noxious fumes that crept through the crack beneath the door. The odor reminded me of an amplified version of too-old fish. The sickening stench overpowered my senses in an instant, and the fur on my neck rose. I shot across the room and onto the TV set. The knob rattled again, just as I made it up to my hiding spot atop the bookcase.

The door creaked open.

It wasn’t Fiona.

The figure in the doorway stood two heads taller than she did, and he scraped the sides of the frame as he stepped through. His body looked similar to that of a human male, but this man-thing lacked any facial features and wore no clothes. His gait was slow and lumbering, and his trunk-like feet left soggy footprints on the hardwood floor as he lurched toward the coffee table.

The many eyes of each Watcher stalked his steps.

I flattened myself against the top of the bookcase. My ears swept backward, and apart from an uncontrollable tremble in my whiskers, I held as still as possible. Everything about this creature screamed danger!

The wet figure moaned as he leaned over the coffee table and picked up the odd black stone from the gift basket with a swollen hand. He brought it to his featureless face, which split horizontally and formed a dripping maw. The stone disappeared inside, and his skin oozed back together, erasing any evidence of where his mouth had been. With a thundering moan that rattled the bookcase against the wall, the beast made for the kitchen.

As the thing passed me, I suppressed a shudder, wishing I could retract my whiskers into my face to make myself even smaller. His lack of eyes unnerved me. There was no way to know if he saw me. I’d just have to be ready to hurtle past him if he reached for me.

Meanwhile, the Watchers had more than enough eyes between them. They slouched along the ceiling and followed the intruder into the hallway. The temptation to join their parade was strong, especially when I heard the stairs to the cellar creak beneath the thing’s weight. What was it looking for? Was it searching for the source of that terrible smell? Was the stink in the cellar its food or its mate?

I crept forward to the edge of the bookcase and teetered there. I was very small…. Surely it wouldn’t notice me if I sneaked—

The staircase creaked again, and I shook myself.

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