The Dead Man and Other Horror Stories by Gene Wolfe

Author:Gene Wolfe [Wolfe, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781645241218
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Published: 2023-06-14T21:00:00+00:00

And found himself in a deep, soft bed, with sheets and blankets and a puffy comforter over him. Each bedpost was a black candle, and all four candles were lit, sending up smoky flames as long as his forearm, about which the bats who clung to the arched vault above stirred and chittered in complaint. Something cold lay beside him, and for hours he dared not look.

“You were fatigued. I let you rest. Let us see if you are well rested.”

He felt her fingers and smiled despite himself, trembling.

“Perhaps you would like food? I would.”

“No,” he said; and she kissed him on the lips, covering his eyes with her hand.

“Am I so cold? Do I seem a dead thing?” She warmed him between her thighs.

“No,” he said again.

She laughed with delight, her laughter like church bells far away. “Nor am I. Do you recall what I taught you in the carriage? Here I lie. It is your turn.”

He pressed himself to the face he could scarcely see, and she licked, and tore him with her teeth until her pillow was wet everywhere with his blood. It frightened and sickened him, and yet there was something beyond them both that shone like a gem, turning and beckoning to him—something he seemed about to grasp at each moment.

“These are the pleasures of Hell, you see, man-child. In Hell they are not punished by pain alone, because pain alone can never be punishment enough. Now do as I taught, and show me that you still live, and I as well.” Her hands upon his hips directed his motions, and with each she grew more real, a living woman whose naked body rose from the bloodsoaked sheet, bright as morning and white as alabaster. “For the blood is the life,” she said.

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