Authors: Bryan Smith
She entered the apartment and closed and locked the door behind her. After setting her purse on the dining-room table, she went into the kitchen and grabbed a cold beer from the refrigerator. She pried the cap off and took a deep swig. It was beyond refreshing. She carried the bottle out to the living room, curled up on the sofa, and turned on the TV. The local news was all over the story about Rob’s plea deal, but on CNN and Fox, at least at the moment, it only rated a two-sentence ticker alert. Which figured. The cable outlets were way more interested in the girls.
Good.
Her hope was that Rob’s story would continue to fade into the background over time. Then, when he got out, they could spend a relatively normal life together.
And again, it would be a life in which he could never forget or fully repay his debt to her. She would wait for him. She would see to his affairs. And she’d be loyal to him, with the small possible exception of the occasional one-night stand. Five years or whatever was a long time to go without getting laid, after all. Still, she wouldn’t give her heart to anyone else
during that time and would be there for him when he got out.
Her eyes grew wet.
She’d waited so long for this chance. He belonged to her now. She saw it in the desperate longing evident in his eyes every time she visited him. Heard it in his voice every time he told her how much he loved her. It filled her with an intoxicating sense of power. She had a strong hold on him now and she would never, ever relinquish it. In fact, she meant to exploit it to the fullest. Among other things, he’d never be allowed to forget what a mistake he’d made in ignoring her all those years.
She finished off the beer, stretched, and yawned. Maybe she should take a short nap before heading out to one of the parties. She returned to the kitchen and dumped the empty bottle in the trash can. The beer had made her feel a little tingly. Pleasantly so. Maybe she’d hook up with some guy later. It’d been more than a month since the last time.
She was smiling as she entered Rob’s room.
That changed when she sensed the movement behind her and felt the hand at the small of her back.
She let out a yelp as she was shoved forward. The bedroom door slammed shut as she stumbled a few steps and dropped to her knees. Panic gripped her, made her heart race and her breath come fast. Someone had broken in while she was gone. She hoped she wasn’t about to be raped.
She bounced back to her feet and turned around.
It was
her.
“You.”
Missy Wallace smiled. “Yes.”
Lindsey moved backward, retreating until her back met the wall. She looked different from the last pictures that had circulated. The computer-enhanced ones that showed her with blonde, spiky hair. Her hair was longer now and black again. But there was no mistaking that face. Lindsey glanced
at the bed and noticed a discarded ball cap and oversized black sunglasses. A very minimalist disguise, but apparently it worked.
“Please don’t hurt me.”
Missy laughed. “So you’re Lindsey. Rob talked a lot about you.”
Despite a terror level escalating by the second, Lindsey was interested. “He…did?”
Missy nodded. “He did. He said you guys were bestest pals and had been since you were kids. I thought he had to be fucking you, but he denied it. And I guess I believed him. Rob’s a sincere motherfucker.”
“He was telling the truth.”
Missy smiled again as she moved a slow step closer. Her hands were clasped behind her back and Lindsey had to wonder what she was hiding. “But here’s the sticky point. I knew you had to have some interest in him. And I guess I was right, huh? You see, I’ve been watching you a while. I know you visit him. I even found your blog online. So he says he’s in love with you?”
She moved another step closer.
Lindsey scrunched up harder against the wall. There was nowhere to go. Nowhere to run without having to get around Missy. The room’s lone window was on the opposite side of the room. Even if she could get to it and take a leap through it, she was three stories up. Her fingernails clawed at the wall as she took a step sideways. Her skin crawled as Missy’s eyes roved over her body, frankly appraising her the way a man would. Scoping out the competition.
She whimpered. “Please don’t hurt me.”
“You already said that, you stupid bitch. Now answer my question. Is Rob in love with you?”
Hot tears streamed down Lindsey’s cheeks. “He is.”
Missy nodded and came another step closer. “Well, that’s too bad. I have this thing. Personal quirk, I guess you
could call it. I don’t like to share. But it’s okay. We’ll get past it. I know he’ll come back around in time. I guess I won’t see him for a while, but that’s okay, too. I’ve forgiven him for letting me down. I’m gonna give him a pass on that. But you, Lindsey?”
Her hands came away from her back.
One of them grasped a big knife with a serrated blade.
Lindsey sucked in air and opened her mouth to scream.
But Missy was too fast.
“You I’m gonna kill.”
As always, thanks to my wife, Rachael, for all the usual reasons, and extra special bonus points for making last year’s Hypericon party a smash success despite being very sick. Thanks to my brothers, Jeff and Eric, who rock hard. Thanks to my longtime friends, Shannon Turbeville and Keith Ashley, who also rock. Hmm, rocking seems to be the theme this time around. Anyway…thanks to my family, especially my mom, Cherie Smith, for all the love and support, and my grandmother, Dorothy C. May, as well as Jay and Helene Wise, my in-laws. Thanks to all the following for various reasons: Brian Keene, everybody at the Keenedom, Don D’Auria, Tod Clark, Kent Gowran, Mark Hickerson, Joe Howe, Derek Tatum, Paul Legerski, Paul Synuria, Ben and Tracey Eller (
www.worldofstrange.com
), Mark Sylva, Brittany Crass, Blake Conley, John Everson, Rhonda Wilson, John Barcus, Shane Ryan Staley, Elizabeth Rowell, Kim Myers, David Wilbanks, Fred and Stephania Grimm, whoever it was who invented beer way back in the long, long ago, and all the people who bought
Soultaker
and
Depraved
last year. It should go without saying that you all rock harder than a drunken 80’s metal band with its amps perpetually on 11—but I’m saying it anyway.
“…a blood soaked journey into a backwoods town with some of the most despicable people ever put to the written word…It is violent, decadently twisted…If you are a fan of white-knuckle, in-your-face, over-the-top horror, this is a must for your collection and I highly recommend it.”
—Famous Monsters of Filmland
“Bryan Smith’s
Depraved
is everything you want in a novel: black-humored, violent and nasty…Gotta love it.”
—Bookgasm
“
Depraved
is graphic, foul, smutty, trashy, and probably everything your mama told you never to read as a kid, but that’s what makes it so great…This is a must for fans of extreme horror.”
—Monster Librarian
“
Depraved
is a jet-fueled tale that begins fast and mean and never lets up. Smith blends multiple plotlines together seamlessly, pulling readers into his characters’ sprints for survival…Smith crafts characters that provoke empathy, pity, even disgust…which pulls readers even deeper down this dark and twisted hole.”
—
Shroud Magazine
“This is a classic tale of a small-town haunting.”
—
Fangoria
“Bryan Smith is an immensely talented writer and has the ability to write some very scary stuff…If you love horror with in-your-face gore, no-holds-barred violence and sex you will love this book.”
—Famous Monsters of Filmland
“This book encompasses everything good about the horror paperbacks from the 1990s…Filled with sex, violence, and atmosphere, rolling along at a frantic pace that never lets you rest, this book is good old-fashioned horror.”
—Fear Zone
“I can’t see any fan of 80s-style pulp horror novels not leaving this one with a huge, gory grin on their face.”
—
The Horror Fiction Review
“
Queen of Blood
is a great follow-up…taking all the elements that worked so well in the first book and ramping them up. He has weaved a very intricate tale with multiple levels of deception and sadism and managed to have it all make sense and be a helluva lot of fun at the same time.”
—Dread Central
“A nonstop thrill ride…
Queen of Blood
is flying off the shelves. Bryan Smith seems poised for a major career explosion, and if you want to be trendy, read him now, before he becomes a household name.”
—Skullring
“Smith promises unimaginable brutality, bile-inducing fear, and unfathomable despair; and then delivers monumentally!”
—Horror Web
“Bryan Smith is a force to be reckoned with!”
—Douglas Clegg, author of
The Attraction
“A feast of good old-fashioned horror. Don’t pass this one up!”
—Brian Keene, author of
Darkness on the Edge of Town
“Smith really shines with his latest example of no-holds-barred horror fiction…I highly recommend
The Freakshow
to anyone who loves an intense ride through a truly dark and terrifying novel.”
—Horror World
“The action kicks in literally from the first page and doesn’t let up for the entire book. The pacing is dead on and the horror is exceptional. Good characters, a good story and some nasty imagery combine to make
The Freakshow
one of the most fun reads I’ve had in a long time.”
—Dread Central
DEPRAVED
SOULTAKER
QUEEN OF BLOOD
THE FREAKSHOW
DEATHBRINGER
HOUSE OF BLOOD
A LEISURE BOOK
®
July 2010
Published by
Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
200 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Copyright © 2010 by Bryan Smith
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E-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0893-4
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.