The Macabre Tales of Young Edgar

Lightning struck again, and brought their creation to life.

Frankenstein and monster, Jekyll and Hyde, beauty and beast; they were two bodies in a restless storm, rolling over and under each other to the tune of thunder. Outside, the sea lurched in time with their bed, dark and brooding. Seaweed thrashed, ropey and rubbery. As the sea breathed fervently and clung to the rocks, Lord Edmund clung to the pillars of his canopied four-poster as though it were a ship that was sinking in the present. The waves heaved as his chest heaved. Their spray was his sweat.

Lightning flashed and split the sky, meticulous in its design. Like Edgar, it thrust with fury, finding its conductor in water. It was determined to forge an abomination.

Eventually, the storm died, and a subdued rain pattered against the window. It slid down the glass where the curtains had been thrown back, tracing the cold surface as Lord Edmund's finger trailed along Edgar's firm jaw. The rainwater blurred the view, obscuring the outside world. It shifted every focus inward.

The only light now came from a single kerosene lamp, whose flame danced sultry and winking. These were moments trapped in amber. The seconds were prehistoric, preceding thought, and time, and ordinary need.

The Viscount lay on his side, admiring young Edgar, who was on his back, hands folded over his chest, as if for burial.

The boy was perfectly white and scarlet, like blood on a handkerchief. He was morbidly beautiful. Laid out on the ivory sheets, he had a contemplative stillness, which lent him a classical pose. The planes of his face were angular; a prism for refracting thoughts. He had the cool detachment of a marble carving. He stared lifelessly at the canopied ceiling. Or at least, his stare was unperturbed. It brimmed with latent life, like the tranquil surface of a pond.

Lord Edmund sighed. 'I have a theory,' he said, letting his finger return so that he could clasp his own hands.

'I think that I should like to hear it,' replied Edgar, unblinkingly.

'The curse in this house prevents anyone from aging. The papers pass it off as illness and accident- feeble children, tuberculosis, drowning, tragic falls from cliff tops. That is not really the case. We die, I think, so that we can serve some great horror. The Vile family cemetery is not a place of final rest.'

'Why have you not died?' asked Edgar, perceptively. He was determined to focus, now that he was thoroughly invested, and at least one part of his was played. This was the question he had badly wanted to ask, ever since he had seen the corridors full of childhood portraits, and nowhere an elderly face.

'Because in living I serve some other purpose of which I have no knowledge.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'My brother had an idea, as did your father. My brother's was that the Manor needed new blood, for, ah, sacrifices. I have since dismissed this as impossible. Often, you see, the members of my house grow old enough to marry. If they did not, there would be no continuation of our line. Yet...'

'You are currently the last surviving Vile,' Edgar supplied.

'Indeed. I can only conclude, therefore, that the beast has no more need of my family. It is growing closer to something else it wants. Something it has slowly been acquiring, through us.'

'There is a beast, then?' Edgar rolled over, propping himself upright on a skinny elbow. His face was more interested than haunted this time. He looked stricken, but keen to peer beyond the veil. In all his pallor, and with the bed sheet knotted about his waist, he was imperiously thoughtful.

'Yes,' Lord Edmund admitted, hesitating before he gave a curt nod. 'You see, before my brother died, he made some progress with his investigations. He would never tell me precisely what he found. He kept his records secret, and always on his person. Indeed, I imagine that they were buried with him, because I could not find them when I later searched. He had a notion that, through ignorance, he could somehow save me. I must confess that it seems to have worked.'

Edgar nodded, urging him on.

'My brother found at least one thing of interest before his death,' Lord Edmund said. 'Along with your father, who was his dear friend, he stalked the creature that speaks to you in your dreams. What they uncovered was eventually the death of him, through raving madness. It sent your father to the new world, where he pursued a career with the navy, and dared not correspond with me until the day I finally persuaded him to return.'

'What did they find?' asked Edgar eagerly, creeping forward so that his face was inches from Lord Vile's.

He ignored the agonising pang that accompanied the news of his father's involvement. Edmund, whose sweat now caked his skin and whose taste was in his mouth, was, if only indirectly, the cause of his own family's destruction. He pushed the thought away, focusing on the revelation he knew was about to be made. It pended so immediately that it was tangible, as a sickly smell upon the air.

He could not permit anything, not even his own feelings, to distract him. He was so close.

'He found its lair- as too, I fear, have you.'

Edgar's heart performed a victory somersault, and then rammed itself into his throat like a fist punching skywards.

'Are you... are you sure?'

'Yes,' replied Lord Edmund, solemnly. He did not share Edgar's enthusiasm. 'There is an actual monster, and it has made its home beneath the cliffs of Whirlpool Manor. I would not doubt that my family serve it as physical corpses. I have not found the entrance to its den in my lifetime, nor have I dared to run away, lest sickness follow me. However, I think that, through your latest performance, we have had a glimpse of where it might lie. All that remains now is to discover a method of slaying the beast...'

The Viscount trailed off thoughtfully. His eyes swept down from Edgar's face to his bare chest, and then onto the sheets. They came to rest at a blank point directly underneath his nose, which was now red between his blushing cheeks.

'I am afraid I have one more confession to make,' he said.