Page 71 of Inhuman Nature

“That sounds like a good idea,” Rake said.

They traipsed back out into the hallway, making their way towards the front door. DJ stopped at another door that he’d missed on the way in. “Did either of you check this room?”

After simultaneous head shakes from Van and Sophie, DJ pulled on the handle. They all peered down at a stairway bathed in darkness.

Rake leaned over and flicked up a light switch that DJ hadn’t noticed. The overhead light lit up the entire stairway, illuminating an impressive door at the bottom.

“I think…” Rake trailed off, an uncomfortable expression on his face.

“What?” DJ asked.

“Shaun.” Rake’s response was barely a whisper, so quiet that Van and Sophie wouldn’t have heard it from where they’d backed away into the hall.

A shiver ran down DJ’s spine.

“I’m going,” Rake said.

“Have at it,” Van said. “You go down to the creepy murder basement and we’ll stay up here. Let us know how it goes.”

“Yeah,” Sophie agreed. “I’ve seen way too many horror movies. I like to think I’m a badass, but whatever that door opens to is giving off all sorts of bad juju.”

Without another word, Rake marched down the stairs with no fear.

DJ couldn’t let Rake do it alone. So—despite everything in DJ telling him that the basement should be avoided—he followed, each step deepening his sense of dread.

Once at the bottom, Rake pulled on the door handle,but it didn’t budge. “Christ, this is heavy.”

“Let me help,” DJ said, placing his hands beside Rake’s. Together, they yanked the door open.

Rake entered first, DJ sending a nervous glance backwards before doing the same.

The bulb from the stairwell cast the mostly empty room in shadows, but it was enough to see the sheer number of bloodstains on the floors and up the walls. Chains with thick metal links were strewn around the place, some attached to the wall, some not.

DJ tried not to think about how Shaun would have felt being stuck down there. “Shaun needs to get out of this unscathed,” he said. “Whatever we do. He can’t go back to living like this.”

“We’ll do what we can. Starting with getting anything useful off of that laptop.” Rake did a quick sweep of the basement, but it was clear to DJ that there was nothing to find but a sense of desolation.

They were almost at the hallway when there was the unmistakable sound of a wooden floorboard creaking from further upstairs. DJ looked to Rake in alarm, but Van and Sophie had already got the message. The women sprinted through the hallway, Rake shoving DJ ahead of him and towards the front door.

Sophie reached it first, wrenching it open and stumbling out into the daylight. DJ followed Van out next, Rake right behind him. The women ran to the car where David was waiting, but Rake and DJ stayed behind, looking up at the house for a few seconds. DJ would have sworn he caught sight of a twitch at the curtain of the upstairs bedroom. Rake grabbedhis hand and dragged him to the car, pushing DJ into the last vacant seat in the back before getting into the front.

David looked at them all, bewildered. “Time to go?” he asked.

“Drive,” Rake commanded.

“Please,” DJ added.

David did as he was told, even though he grumbled at Rake’s impoliteness. DJ turned to watch the house, heart thumping in his chest. But there was no angry vampire chasing them. He relaxed infinitesimally, catching Rake’s relieved expression in the wing mirror.

They’d done it. They’d broken into Lawrence’s house and lived to tell the tale.

When they piled into their flat for post-break-in drinks and charcuterie—because DJ insisted that it was only polite to provide wine and cheese after roping the others into committing burglary—Van pulled Lawrence’s laptop out and put it on the coffee table. She opened it with a sense of aplomb, but her face fell as fast as it had lit up.

“What?” DJ asked.

Van held up a faded Post-it. Rake took it from her with a frown, before his face smoothed out and he chuckled.

“What!” DJ asked again, displeased at being ignored.