Page 135 of 1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Forty-Two

Descend to Darkness

A Krewe of Hunters Novella

By Heather Graham

Prologue

The night before Halloween

Oddly, it was the silence that Angela Hawkinsfirst noted as she slowly came to—having absolutely no idea where she was.

And worse.

She had no clue how she had gotten there.

There was always sound as she woke. The covers whispering ifJackson had risen before her. One of the kids shrieking or laughing from theirroom. A bird trilling from a tree, or even therustling of the branches outside their window.

But this...

It was so silent, the lack of noise seemed louder than themost horrific scream.

When she opened her eyes, she saw what she expected...

Nothing. Nothing because of the complete and total darkness.

She lay still for a few seconds. Then she reached out. Therewas nothing beside her, nothing above her. And below her... stone. Icy-coldstone.

She fought the sense of panic rising within her. She had tothink back. She needed to remember where she had been, what had been happening.

And how in God’s name she had come to be wherever she was.

Chapter 1

Three days before Halloween

The sun was already lowering, the dyingshades of gold and mauve in the sky touching the Gordon Town Cemetery as ifwith great reverence, creating soft crimson blushes on tombstones and agingmausoleums. The breeze in the air warned that winter was coming and held just atouch of chill. In minutes, the sun would drop farther, and eerie shades ofgray and shadow would creep over the place, enhancing all that was ancient anddecaying. While still in use, the cemetery was indeed old—and, naturally,deemed haunted.

And while it might well be, Angela Hawkins Crow knew it wasthe living who were deadly.

It was the week of Halloween.

Once upon a time, it had been one of Angela’s favorite timesof the year. Dress-up was fun. And with kids,trick-or-treating was great—even haunted houses could be entertaining.

And all that could still be true.

But, sadly, something about the holiday seemed to draw outthe scaries—and not the fun kind. The lethal ones.

Such as here.

The cemetery wasn’t highly visited, though it was on thenational register. Visitors to the DC and Virginia areas generally came tovisit Arlington and pay their respects to those who had fought for the country.They even went to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, where manyfrom the Civil War had been laid to rest.

Gordon Town Cemetery was comparatively small, and manystones and markers had been lost through the years. Old mausoleums decayed asthe growth of tree roots, and the simple fact that nature had taken over,chipped and broke the stones.

But as the sun fell, the cemetery was one of the mostatmospheric to be found. Its lichen and ivy-covered stones, moss-covered oaks,and beautiful statuary were enchanting. Here, stone angels knelt in prayer,cherubs wept over children’s graves, and intricately carved crosses rose hereand there. Personal adornments marked other sites, such as the carved dogs whogave comparatively new reverence to a woman who had spent her life savingrescue animals. There were no old and new sections.Families in the area owned small mausoleums or tombs or spaces in family plots.

While it wasn’t as popular a destination as many othergraveyards or cemeteries, it did become well visited during theholidays—especially Halloween.

At Thanksgiving, the living descendants of those buried atGordon Town decorated with fall leaves, plush turkeys, and other suchtraditional items. At Easter, they used baskets of colored eggs and bunnyrabbits. At Christmas, the place was beautiful. Those who remembered the deadbrought all manner of ornaments and even Nativity scenes. Flowers showed up nowand then, but in an article written about the cemetery that mentioned BenjaminRobertson, a descendant of the Revolutionary hero Ethan Robertson, it said thedecorating done by many of those with loved ones or antecedents was becausethey preferred the concept of sharing holidays to the tradition of bringingflowers. Benjamin Robertson had recently lost his father, now interred in thefamily crypt, and his dad had loved everything spooky at Halloween. So...