The witching hour - By Anne Rice Page 0,264

harm, but it has a devil of a time doing it.” He smiled. “No pun intended there,” he said. “What I’m trying to say is, Lasher kills largely through trickery. He can certainly cause physical effects—move objects, cause tree limbs to fall, rocks to fly—that sort of thing. But he wields this power awkwardly and often sluggishly. Trickery and illusion are his strongest weapons.”

“He forced Petyr van Abel into a tomb,” Michael said.

“No, Petyr was found trapped in a tomb. What likely happened was that he went into it himself in a state of madness in which he could no longer distinguish illusion from reality.”

“But why would Petyr do that when he was terrified of … ”

“Oh, come now, Michael, men are often irresistibly drawn to the very thing they fear.”

Michael didn’t say anything. He drew on the cigarette again, seeing in his mind’s eye the surf crashing on the rocks off Ocean Beach. And remembering the moment of standing there, his scarf blowing in the wind, his fingers frozen.

“To put it bluntly,” Aaron said, “never overestimate this spirit. It’s weak. If it wasn’t it wouldn’t need the Mayfair family.”

Michael looked up. “Say that again.”

“If it wasn’t weak, it wouldn’t need the Mayfair family,” Aaron said. “It needs their energy. And when it attacks, it uses the victim’s energy.”

“You just reminded me of something I said to Rowan. When she asked whether or not these spirits I saw had caused me to fall from the rock into the ocean, I told her they couldn’t do something like that. They weren’t that strong. If they were strong enough to knock a man into the sea and cause him to drown, they wouldn’t need to come to people in visions. They wouldn’t need to give me a crucial mission.”

Aaron didn’t reply.

“You see my point?” Michael asked.

“Yes, I do. But I see the point of her question also.”

“She asked me why I assumed that they were good, these spirits. I was shocked by that. But she thought it was a logical question.”

“Maybe it is.”

“Oh, but I know they are good.” Michael stubbed out the cigarette. “I know. I know that it was Deborah I saw. And that she wants me to oppose that spirit, Lasher. I know that as surely as I know … who I am. Remember what Llewellyn told you? I just finished reading it. Llewellyn told you that when Julien came to him in a dream Julien was different. Julien was wiser than he had been when he was alive. Well, that’s how it was with Deborah in my vision. Deborah wants to stop this thing that she and Suzanne brought into the world and into this family!”

“Then comes the question. Why has Lasher shown himself to you?”

“Yes. We’re going in a circle.”

Aaron switched off the light in the corner, and then the lamp on the desk. This left only the lamp on the bedside table. “I’ll have them call you at eight. I think you can finish the entire file by late afternoon, perhaps a little sooner. Then we can talk, and you can come to some sort of … well … decision.”

“Have them call me at seven. That’s one good thing about being this age. I get sleepy but I sleep less. I’ll be fine if they ring me at seven. And Aaron … ”

“Yes?”

“You never really answered me about last night. Did you see that thing when he was standing right in front of me on the other side of the fence! Did you or didn’t you?”

Aaron opened the door. He seemed reluctant to speak. Then he said, “Yes, Michael. I saw him. I saw him very clearly and distinctly. More clearly and distinctly than ever before. And he was smiling at you. It even seemed he was … reaching out for you. I would say from what I saw that he was welcoming you. Now, I must go, and you must go to sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“Wait a minute.”

“Lights out, Michael.”

The phone woke him up. The sunlight was pouring through the windows on either side of the head of the bed. For one moment he was completely disoriented. Rowan had just been talking to him, saying something about how she wanted him to be there before they closed the lid. What lid. He saw a dead white hand lying against black silk.

Then he sat up, and he saw the desk, and the briefcase, and the folders heaped there, and he whispered: “The