Forsaken Repose: The Restless Dead Read Online Free Page A

guys who killed the Kleins?”
Jenna asks.
    Ian shrugs. “I can't say. They seemed to drop off the map.
The local police called the state police and told them what happened.
An APB was released, but turned up nothing.” Again, Ian shrugs.
“I honestly don't know how they got away or where they went.
Strangely, according to my research, the whole thing disappeared from
the news completely about two days later.”
    Jenna is silent for a moment. “Did the guy who bought the
house ever manage to rebuild the family?”
    “In a way,” Ian answers. “He allowed Derick to
possess his body so that Derick could seduce and impregnate women who
would give birth to new members of the family.”
    Jenna leans across the table and whispers to Ian. “That
thing inside the house can possess people?”
    Ian's eyes lock onto Jenna's. “That's what it does. It has
managed, over the decades, to impregnate a large number of women. It
won't be long before the family is back together.”
    “How?” Jenna inquires. “The guy who bought the
house back in the Sixties must be pretty old by now.”
    “Derick possesses the body of all his male heirs,” Ian
tells her.
    Jenna shoots straight up in her seat. “But you said that
you're Derick's son. That must mean that -”
    “...One of the people who Derick possessed is my father,”
Ian finishes.
    “No,” Jenna says, turning her head and waving a hand
though the air. “This is all too much. There is no way you'd be
able to remain sane if all that were true.”
    Ian nods toward the playground where Bryce rushes around happily.
“Despite all the crazy stuff you're saying you saw, Bryce seems
to be doing okay.” Ian looks directly at Jenna. “You seem
fine too.”
    Jenna looks over her shoulder out the window at Bryce. Turning
slowly to face Ian, she whispers, “You didn't come to save me.
You came to save Bryce.”
    Ian props his elbow on the table and rubs the bridge of his nose
between his index finger and thumb. “When Derick has control
over me, my body shifts and takes on his appearance. He looks a bit
older – roughly the same age as the woman he's pursuing –
but he still looks like him instead of me .”
    Her voice barely audible, Jenna asks, “What?”
    “When a woman is impregnated by someone who is possessed by
Derick, part of Derick is passed on to the child,” Ian
explains. “The part of Derick that is passed on makes the child
immune to the trauma of witnessing supernatural events. That's why
Bryce hasn't been rendered catatonic by what he's seen.” Ian
looks up at Jenna. “That's why you haven't been rendered
catatonic by what you've seen. I'm sure you were taken by
surprise at first, but you seem to have recovered nicely – and
rapidly.”
    Her throat nearly closed from shock, Jenna manages to push out,
“You're Bryce's father, aren't you?”
    Ian inhales deeply, then exhales sharply. “I don't have any
control over Derick when he's in possession of my body. All those
'business trips' he told you he had to go on were times when he
released control of my body.” Ian shakes his head. “I
can't say why, but Derick can't control a body indefinitely. He's
certainly grown stronger, though. Each child a woman bears for him
seems to increase his strength. Soon he'll have enough women and
children under his control that he can rebuild the family.” Ian
shakes his head. “I don't know what he's planning, but I
imagine it's not good. I don't have any proof, but I think he wants
revenge on the townsfolk who never found and punished the people who
killed his family.”
    “Wait,” Jenna says, raising a hand to scratch her
head. “You've already said that you're related to Derick. You
implied that I am, as well.” Jenna's eyes meet Ian's. “That
means you and I are related, right?”
    “Distantly,” Ian agrees. “Derick seems to know
just how far apart is far enough to avoid inbreeding.”
    “Let's stop him,” Jenna says, sliding out of the booth
and rising to