The Dark Rites of Cthulhu by Brian Sammons

Author:Brian Sammons [Sammons, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: April Moon Books
Published: 2014-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

The Dogs

By Jeffrey Thomas

There were two conditions March needed fulfilled when he entered into his search for a new apartment. One, was that pets be permitted. Some places, he had found, allowed dogs under a certain weight, or only of certain types, excluding such breeds as pit bulls, Akitas, and so on. This apartment building, a former factory in the heart of the city, followed the latter policy, but fortunately March’s dog was a three-year-old retired greyhound, Snow, white mottled with faint brown. His wife had stayed on in their house. She had let him take the dog.

To determine the second condition, March took a sheet of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and held it against the brick walls of the apartment he was shown in the old factory, which like his dog had outlived its original purpose. He placed the sheet against one spot, spread flat under his palm, then another. Progressing from room to room, though the third-floor loft was mostly all one large room. The worn boards creaked under his feet as he shifted about.

“Is that a witchcraft symbol or something?” his prospective landlord asked as he watched March, chuckling nervously as he tried to make his apprehension sound like a joke.

“I’m an artist,” March lied, though he had spent quite a lot of time getting the complex geometric figure on his sheet of paper just right. “This is one of my designs. I was just trying to get a feel for how my work would look hanging in here. I love the look of artwork hanging on brick walls.” He turned to smile at the older man, to allay his fears. “It’s great that you haven’t over-gentrified this place. I love these old exposed pipes, the original wood ceiling and support beams.” He gestured around him.

“They give the loft character, yes,” the landlord said. “You wouldn’t be the only artist who lives in this building.”

March resumed pressing his sheet of paper to various places on the rough walls. The bricks had been painted over thickly, white, looking like scales in the flank of some immense reptile. Then, when he held the intricate design he had drawn against a windowless stretch of wall in the sprawling main room, he sucked in his breath sharply. He hoped the man standing behind him hadn’t heard his little gasp, wouldn’t ask if something were wrong. March could feel a current vibrating up his arm…spreading down into his chest and up his neck, as though some heavy piece of factory machinery – left behind, forgotten – still thrummed with power on the other side of this wall.

He snatched the paper away from the spot quickly, before the vibration could spread up into his head. He wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

March looked around to smile at the landlord again. “I’ll take it.”

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