Recent Titles by Graham Masterton from Severn House
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DOORKEEPER
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INNOCENT BLOOD
Graham Masterton
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First world edition published in Great Britain 2005 by
SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of
915 High Street, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1DF.
Copyright 2011 by Graham Masterton.
All rights reserved.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Masterton, Graham.
Innocent Blood
1. Motion picture industry California Los Angeles Fiction
2. Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.) Fiction
3. Horror tales
I. Title
823.914 [F]
ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-118-7 (epub)
ISBN-13: 0-7278-6189-1 (cased)
ISBN-13: 0-7278-9136-7 (paper)
Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.
This ebook produced by
Palimpsest Book Production Limited,
Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.
Wednesday, September 22, 8:34 A.M.
As usual, the school gateway was jammed with mothers awkwardly trying to maneuver their oversized SUVs in and out, so Lynn steered her Explorer over to the opposite side of the street and parked it with two wheels mounted on the grass.
Remember its your dance class today, she told Kathy, turning around in her seat. That means no dawdling after school, OK?
I dont feel good, Kathy protested, flopping in her seat.
Nonsense. Ive never seen you look healthier. Just because you have a math test.
I think Im going to barf. I know Im going to barf. I can feel all of those mushed-up pancakes in my tummy, and they dont like it down there.
Lynn snapped her seat-belt buckle back into place. OK, then. If you feel so bad, Ill just have to take you back home to bed and cancel your dance class.
Not my dance class! Thats not till three thirty! Ill be better by then!
No, Ill have to cancel it. You cant jet with a tummy full of mutinous pancakes.
But I want to be an actress like you. Why do I have to learn math? You dont have to know math to be an actress, do you?
You dont think so? Supposing youre an actress and you make squillions and squillions of dollars like Julia Roberts and your agent takes three and a quarter percent more than hes supposed to? How are you going to know?
Because all agents take more than theyre supposed to. Agents are chiselers and shysters and they all work for Satan.
Oh for goodness sake! Who told you that?
You did.
Come on, said Lynn, unbuckling her seat belt again. Lets get you into school before Ms Redmond gives you another demerit for being late.
Kathy climbed out and tugged on her beret. She was a small girl for ten years old, with blonde braids and a pale, elfin face like her mothers. Her eyes were that same luminous green as her mothers, too, like pieces of a glass bottle found on the seashore. Her legs were so skinny that she kept having to pull up her long white socks.
What do you want to do after your dance class? We could go to De Lunghis for spaghetti if you like.
So long as Gene doesnt have to come with us.
I thought you liked Gene.
I dont like his nose. He looks like an anteater.
He does not. Youre just being obnoxious.
He does too. Every time he has soup the end of his nose dips right into it.
They crossed Franklin Avenue to the school gates. The Cedars private elementary school didnt look like a school at all: although it had no religious affiliations, it shared the First Methodist Church building, with its tall square tower and its gray stone walls, and several of the classrooms, even though they were large and airy, had stained-glass windows, with scenes of Christ surrounded by little children.
You wont forget to bring home your hockey kit, will you? asked Lynn. But at that moment Kathy caught sight of her friend Terra, and waved, and jumped, and immediately skipped off. Terras mother, Sidne, came up to Lynn and the two of them watched their daughters run through the school gates and into the yard, where thirty or forty other children were jumping and screaming and tearing around in circles.
Some tummy ache, said Lynn.
Oh, the math test, smiled Sidne. Terra said she had leprosy.
Leprosy?
Thats right. On the spur of the moment, it was the only illness she could think of. At least it shows shes reading her Bible.
They really kill you sometimes, dont they? I love Terras braids.
Janie did them. I dont know how she has the patience.
They walked back to Sidnes car together. Did you hear from George Lowenstein? Lynn asked her.
No, nothing. If you want to know the truth, I think hes looking for somebody younger.
But youd be perfect as Corinne, you know you would!
I dont know. Maybe. I used to wonder when I would have to stop playing wayward daughters and start to play harassed mothers, and maybe its now. I think Ill go to Miskas and have a massage and a pedicure. And then Ill go to Freddies and order a treble strawberry sundae with extra cream.
Id join you, believe me, if we didnt have a read-through.
Lynn said goodbye to Sidne and crossed the street. A short, crop-haired man with a neck like a stovepipe and a maroon polyester shirt was waiting beside her Explorer. His face was the same maroon as his shirt, and beaded with sweat.
What the fuck do you call this? he demanded.
What the fuck do I call what? Lynn didnt want to show that she was the slightest bit afraid of him.
What, youre blind? Wheres your goddamned guide dog? You parked on the goddamned grass, for Christs sake.
Well, Im sorry, but there was no parking space anyplace else.
Oh, and you think thats some kind of excuse? If there was no parking space anyplace else you shouldve gone around the block again until there was. Youre all the same, you women. You think you can do whatever you damn well like and say whatever you damn well like and park wherever you damn well like and you dont give squat for nobody else.
Lynn opened the Explorers door and climbed into the drivers seat, but the man clung on to the door to prevent her from closing it.
Listen, lady, I dont even have to take care of this piece of grass, but I do, because its outside of my house and Im proud of my house, and then somebody like you comes along and drives their goddamned vehicle all over it. How would you like it if I came around to your house and drove my goddamned vehicle all over
