MOON FALL (33 page)

John sat on the little overstuffed sofa across from the old
lady in the rocker, a cup and saucer in his hands. Anxious to
get his questions answered, he'd tried to refuse the tea, but she
had insisted on the amenities and he'd found he didn't really
want to resist her. "Minerva, you said you still have some
relatives who come to see you now and then."

''Yes," she replied, her face unreadable.

"Would that be Mark and me?"

The mask evaporated into a broad smile. "You've done your
homework."

"You're named for Jeremiah Moonfall's wife. It wasn't too
difficult to figure out."

She chuckled softly. "Named for Jeremiah's wife. I've never
thought about it that way before."

''May I ask you a personal question?"

"Of course." She smiled. "I might even answer."

"Was your grandmother one of Emma Moonfall Lawson's
unmarried sisters?"

She rocked for a moment, then looked him in the eye. ''No."

"Then one of them must have been your mother."

"No. Neither girl bore children. My mother's identity isn't
important. What is
,
is whether you understand why I'm concerned
about Mark."

He nodded. He had briefly stopped by the cemetery on his
way to the cottage and now knew that all the young Lawsons
had died on October thirty-first. "Every twenty-four years an
adolescent Lawson child dies. This is the twenty-fourth year,
and my son is the only candidate."

"Exactly. I've tried to break the cycle, but I've been unsuccessful."

''You mean you tried when Greg died?"

''Yes, among others."

''Minerva," he said, sitting forward. ''I don't understand any
of this." He raised his hands helplessly. "I'm willing to listen,
I
want
to listen, but you're speaking in riddles. I think like a
cop. I need plain answers."

"Then you shall have them. More tea?" she asked, a twinkle
in her eye.

He didn't take the bait. "No, thanks. Are you telling me that
Greg's death wasn't an accident?"

"Nor were any of the others."

''Then you're alleging that the same murderer has been active
for nearly a century."

"Longer, and plural. But to understand, you must listen to
my story. Will you?" She fixed him with bird-bright eyes.

He settled back, resigned. "Yes, I'll listen."

"In 1876, shortly after the arrival of Jeremiah and Minerva
Moonfall, a son, Gerald, was born to them. He died on Halloween,
two weeks after his birth."

''Why isn't he in the cemetery, or mentioned in any histories
of the area?"

"Except for the nuns who had recently moved into the old
abbey, Minerva and Jeremiah were virtually the only people
on the mountain. Even Tobias and May Lawson wouldn't arrive
for nearly two years. There was no cemetery in those days,
John." The old lady's eyes glistened. "And even if there had
been, there was no body."

A tear ran down her wrinkled cheek. ''Gerald was carried
off by a nightflyer." She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief
.
"Ironic, isn't it? Generations of Moonfall children tell stories
about the nightflyers stealing babies to bring to me. Instead, they
took one away. From Minerva Moonfall," she added quickly.

Having seen the condition of Pete Parker's body, John had
no trouble believing such a thing could happen. ''Yes, but I
don't understand how this connects with my son."

''Blood ties and blood feuds
.
And friendships. The Lawsons
arrived here in 1878, and they quickly became close friends
with the Moonfalls. Tobias and May had two sons, Albert and
Joshua. Minerva and Jeremiah went on to have three daughters,
Emma, Leticia, and Desma, but no other sons. Emma was the
only one who inherited Minerva's gift. Perhaps that's what
helped keep her alive." She sat back, a faint smile on her
face as the chair rocked gently. "Emma Moonfall and Joshua
Lawson were a match from t
he time they were in diapers. Ti
me
passed, and hardships tested both families. Leticia drowned in
the falls, and Desma disappeared into the woods one day never
to be seen again. Then, in 1900, on Halloween night, Albert
Lawson disappeared. His body was found four days later in St.
Gertrude's woods. He was torn
limb from limb. That death was
attributed to a bear attack, but it was no bear that killed him.
He died because it was time for the sacrifice and he was chosen
because the murderers knew of the friendship between the two
families."

"Who were the murderers, and why were they out to hurt
the Moonfalls?"

"All in good time. You promised to listen."

John nodded, biting his tongue.

Minerva closed her eyes a long moment, then peered closely
at him. "Fortunately, Joshua and Emma lived. Minerva had
tried to use her powers-
witchcraft, magic, whatever you wish
to call them-
to save all the children from harm, but there was
too much evil for a solitary practitioner to control, and she
knew she was lucky that her own Emma and Joshua Lawson
both made it to adulthood.

"They married and officially mingled the bloodlines, bringing
Edward and your grandfather, A
u
gustus, into this world. And
on Halloween night, exactly twenty-four years after Albert's
death, Edward disappeared. The next day, his body was found
in a ditch by Apple Hill Road
-
it was just a dirt track back
then
.
It was decided he'd been run over by a horse-drawn apple
cart belonging to a local drunk
.
" She shook her head
.
"But it
wasn't true. The drunk wasn't even in town that night. The body
had other wounds that couldn't be explained. Knife wounds. But
he was buried and that was tha
t
.
''A month later, a final blow was struck to Jeremiah and
Minerva. Emma was found dead, a rope around her neck, in
an old oak that used to stand where my vegetable garden is
now. It was widely believed that she killed herself out of grief
over her son's death." Anger sparked in her eyes. "But she
was murdered for nothing but spite."

"How do you know all this?"

''I
know.
The deaths of the daughters were deaths-in-effigy.
Minerva was the one who was supposed to die, but they could
not touch her."

"Who are 'they'?"

"Patience, young man. A
u
gustus married and produced your
father, Henry, and his brother, Howard, who died Halloween,
1948, another sacrifice. Supposedly, he died in a thresher accident,
although why he was operating one in the middle of the
night was something the sheriff never investigated." She
paused. ''There are, as you may already realize, powers that
fog the mind."

"What
-
"

"Hush. Finally, you came along. Then Greg. Probably, you
were the one meant to die-
you were the preferred age. Instead,
Greg drowned. It was no accident, John, and you couldn't have
prevented it."

"Are you saying you know what happened to him?"

''Only in so far that what happened to him was what happened
to the other boys. He was a sacrifice. I don't know the
details .
.
. but you do."

"I
do?"

"It's in here," she tapped her forehead. "Waiting for you
to find it."

"Well, do you think you could give me a clue as to who
these immortal murderers are?" He couldn't keep the sarcasm
out of his voice.

"The si
s
ters of St. Gertrude's."

"The nuns?" he asked, incredulous.

"You know it in your heart,"

"You want me to believe that my brother died because of
some century-old feud carried on in the name of nuns and a
woman
, all of whom
must be dust by now?"

"And they killed your father, for delving into things. He
was a good man. He never believed his brother died by accident,
and that's what made him become a sheriff
.
It's the same with
you, isn't it?"

''I-"

''And Gus," she continued. ''What I have told you, he was
going to tell you. He never wanted to because he knew the
knowledge would put you in jeopardy, as it did your father.
He felt it was his fault your father died."

"He told me that," John said, nodding. "But even assuming
this is true, how could nuns do such grisly things? Why?"

"First, no one suspects them. Second, they are brides not of
Christ, but of Lucifer."

"Satanic nuns?"
he asked.

"They used to call themselves the Order of Lilith. Named
for the night demon-
the original succubus
-
mentioned in the
bible. They've been around for centuries. They came to America
before the Revolution and settled in Massachusetts, not far
from the old Moonfall homestead. They didn't wear the garb
of nuns then, but they were a sisterhood responsible for much
of the witchcraft hysteria.

''Minerva had been aware of them, had even been persecuted
by them, before she married Jeremiah. She knew what they
were, and when the sisterhood left Massachusetts
,
Minerva
convinced Jeremiah to come here and settle. It may have been
a foolish decision, but she felt that it was the only one she
could make-
to follow them and continue to try to diffuse
their evil as best she could." She shook her head sadly.
''A
s
many deaths as there have been, there might have been even
more if she hadn't come."

''If I understand you correctly, these nuns have been responsible
for many deaths besides the ones on Halloween
.
" He was
again wondering if she was senile or bad a sick sense of humor,
but he decided to play along for now.

''Of course. The twenty-four-year cycle is a high ritual sacrifice
to their god
.
That's when they need a child's soul, a young
male, preferably on the verge of manhood, yet still pure. They
have procured them for centuries from here and there. It is a
personal vendetta that has caused them to pick those of the
Lawson-Moonfall bloodline. That and the fact that Minerva's
power has been passed down to several of them, including you
and Mark."

"You said they meant to kill me, not Greg?"

"Yes, but don't feel guilty
.
You have the gift and you've
passed it on to your son. Greg did not have it. Because you
did, along with your age, you were the more desirable sacrifice."

"Caspar Parker said his uncle was killed by a bear," John
began, unwilling to think about Greg any longer.

''Yes. A
t least, that was the story. In truth, a
ni
ghtflyer
got
him."

"So they don't just prey on Lawsons." For the moment, at
least, John realized he was buying her story.

"Of course not. The sisters are subtler now than they once
were, but they prey freely, usually on those with whom they
have no quarrel."

"I had a friend, Doug Buckman-"

"Yes. They said he committed suicide, but it was murder."

John nodded. "I've always suspected it. Doug was sure we
went to St. Gertrude's Halloween night. The rest of us didn't
quite believe it."