Ash by Herbert James

Author:Herbert, James [Herbert, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9780230764873
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers UK
Published: 2012-08-29T22:00:00+00:00

48

‘David! David, turn the light away from him!’

Delphine rushed past Ash, knocking him sideways roughly as she ran through the doorway and fell to her knees, her arm sweeping over the hooded creature’s back as if to protect it.

Ash thought he heard a faint whimper as the hunched form on the floor huddled itself into the psychologist’s embrace.

‘Turn on one of the lamps – the light’s softer.’ Delphine’s voice was calmer now, but firm, as she called back to the shocked investigator.

Numbly, Ash shone the torch around the semi-circular room and found the nearest lamp set on a small cabinet less than two feet from him. He quickly reached beneath the shade and switched on the lamp; the room was instantly bathed in a soft light. He looked towards the two figures crouched beside the small, comfortable-looking bed. Delphine’s head was close to the cloaked figure’s and she was making soft crooning noises to as she cuddled it.

‘I’m sorry, Delphine . . .’ Ash began to say as he snapped off the torch, but she silenced him with a brief look back over her shoulder.

‘It’s all right, David,’ she said, her voice still low, ‘you weren’t to know. Perhaps I should have explained, but there’s been no time today.’

‘Is . . .’ he took a chance and guessed, ‘is he all right? I didn’t mean to . . .’

‘It isn’t your fault. But you frightened him more than he frightened you.’ She gently helped the figure sit on the edge of the bed.

She stroked his back gently. ‘It’s all right, Lewis. This is David, a friend of mine. He means you no harm.’

For a second, the bent figure looked past Delphine at Ash, who caught just a glimpse of one staring eye of the palest blue he’d ever seen. Even though pallid, there was a youthful clearness about it that told the investigator his first impression of old age had been wrong. The figure had seemed almost spindly as he’d chased after it. Apart from brightness, the eye was filled with the electricity of fright.

Delphine tenderly pulled back the hood so that Ash could see more of the trembling but docile young man. Now he observed the whole head and had to suppress the nausea that rose in his throat.

It was like looking at an X-ray, for the tight skin was translucent, almost indistinguishable from the skull. It was as shocking as it was pitiful, and the investigator had to force himself not to look away. Delphine sat on the bed next to the strange creature, who shuddered every few seconds, her arm around his shoulders, the other reaching across his chest to the top of his elbow so that he was embraced like a child.

‘What – ’ Ash stopped himself. ‘Who is he?’ he asked Delphine.

The psychologist looked up at him, her expression showing no pity, just a firm pragmatism. ‘His name is Lewis. He was here when I first arrived at Comraich. Apparently he’d been taken into the castle’s medical unit as a baby.

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