Relics

RELICS

She stiffened, her body quivering almost imperceptibly as if a high voltage charge were being pumped through it. She sucked in a breath but it seemed to stick in her throat, and for terrifying seconds she found she couldn’t breathe. The skin on her face and hands puckered into goose-pimples and a numbing chill enveloped her. A small gasp escaped her as she actually felt her hair rising, standing up like a cat’s hackles. She swayed uncertainly for a moment as the feeling seemed to spread through her whole body, through her very soul, and Kim clenched her teeth together, convinced she was going to faint. On the verge of panic, she screwed up her eyes until white stars danced before her. Her throat felt constricted, as though some invisible hand were gradually tightening around it. Her head seemed to be swelling, expanding to enormous proportions until it seemed it must burst.

And somewhere, perhaps in her imagination, she thought, she heard a sound. A noise which froze her blood as it throbbed in her ears.

Also by Shaun Hutson
:

ASSASSIN

BODY COUNT

BREEDING GROUND

CAPTIVES

COMPULSION

DEADHEAD

DEATH DAY

DYING WORDS

EPITAPH

EREBUS

EXIT WOUNDS

HEATHEN

HELL TO PAY

HYBRID

KNIFE EDGE

LAST RITES

LUCY'S CHILD

NECESSARY EVIL

NEMESIS

PURITY

RENEGADES

SHADOWS

SLUGS

SPAWN

STOLEN ANGELS

THE SKULL

TWISTED SOULS

UNMARKED GRAVES

VICTIMS

WARHOL'S PROPHECY

WHITE GHOST

Hammer Novelizations

TWINS OF EVIL

X THE UNKNOWN

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN

CAFFEINE NIGHTS PUBLISHING

SHAUN HUTSON

Relics

 Fiction to die for...

Published by Caffeine Nights Publishing 2013

Copyright © Shaun Hutson 1986, 2013

Shaun Hutson has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 to be identified as the author of this work

First published in Great Britain in 1987

by Star Books, a Division of W H Allen & Co Plc

CONDITIONS OF SALE

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher

This book has been sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental

Published in Great Britain by Caffeine Nights Publishing

www.caffeine-nights.com

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-907565-49-6

Cover design by

Mark (Wills) Williams

Everything else by

Default, Luck and Accident

Introduction by Shaun Hutson

RELICS was originally published in 1987 and was what might be termed my first “apocalyptic” novel. A book that might possibly entail the end of the world wasn't something I'd thought about before but when I was planning it I thought “why not?”

As I've said with other books the beginning of every novel is one central idea or scene and with RELICS it was the old Celtic festival of Samhain that caught my interest. I'd seen HALLOWEEN III and there's a scene where one of the characters is talking about Samhain and its slaughter of children and something just clicked in my mind and I began planning a book that would feature the ritualistic slaughter of kids as well as the awakening of some unspeakable creature from the dawn of time (as you do). One of the things with books then was that kids were usually spared the worst horrors so I thought I'd change that. Also, cruelty to animals didn't go down too well either so I decided to put in some very graphic stuff about dog fighting.

I also worked in sub-plots concerning drug addiction and satanism and was pretty pleased with myself. I still believe that RELICS is one of my best books. It contains so many elements of the classic horror novel in my humble opinion. It was written very quickly (about a month if I remember rightly) because I was so enthusiastic about the subject and I handed it over to my agent thinking what a wonderful job I'd done and hoped she'd agree once she'd read it.

She didn't. In fact she rang me and told me to come into the office as quick as possible because it looked as if the book was unpublishable! So much for my opinion of my own work!

Apparently there were holes in the plot, the characters didn't work and fuck knows what else. I was on the verge of abandoning the whole book and starting something else (and these were the days of manual typewriters don't forget, not computers, if something was wrong you couldn't just hit delete and type it again. The whole fucking page had to be re-done even if one line was shit). I looked at it again and changed some things (I can't actually remember what to be honest) and thank God everyone loved the second draft which was the one that you're about to read now.

I think I had more abusive mail and reactions to RELICS than to any other book I've ever written and the reason was the dog-fighting scenes. No one seemed to bother that there were kids being horribly murdered but the thought that dogs were being injured in the book was too much! I also got a call from the police for the dog-fighting stuff. I answered the door one morning to find a uniformed Policeman standing there with a copy of the book in his hand and wanting to know where I'd got my information about dog-fighting. It seems I'd been a little too accurate for someone's liking and the boys in blue wanted to know if my information extended beyond just research. Ah, well, I always did pride myself on realism!

Anyway, enjoy RELICS and for the animal lovers among you, no dogs were hurt during the writing of this book.

Shaun Hutson 2013

As with any book I'd like to thank Brie Burkeman my agent and my publishers obviously and, as ever, Graeme Sayer.

I also have to thank all the management and staff at Cineworld Milton Keynes for continuing to put up with me on an almost daily basis. So I will say a big hello and a big thank you to Mark (MJ), Barry, Adam, Nick, Alex, Jamie, Alun (got the spelling right), Tammy, Darren, Daryl, Phil, Phillip, Mel, Lucia, Dani,Vicki, Luke, Paula, Annika, Caroline, Marc, Kirsty, Neville and Christ knows how many others who's names I've neglected to mention or who are no longer there. It could be worse guys, I could be a proper customer!

I always did and I always will thank my readers for their loyalty and support.

And of course I thank my Mum, who never ceases to amaze me and my daughter, Kelly who makes me proud of her every single day in some way shape or form.

Shaun Hutson 2013

For my wonderful precious daughter, Kelly, with all my love.

She's taught me more than I've ever managed to teach her.

Maybe someday a real rain really will come. Let's hope so.

‘The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.’

H.P. Lovecraft

‘Beware of night, for we all know he’s loose again . . . ’

Queensrÿche

The knife felt cold against her flesh.

As if some icy forger were tracing a pattern over her skin, the girl felt the blade being drawn softly across her cheek.

The point brushed her lips, nudging against them for a moment as if seeking access to the warm moistness beyond. She opened her mouth slightly and, for fleeting seconds, she tasted steel. Then the knife was gone.

The girl’s eyes were closed, but as she felt the point gliding down towards the hollow of her throat she finally allowed herself to gaze upon the one who wielded the blade.

He was almost invisible in the darkness but she knew that, like her, he was naked.

As were the others who stood close by, little more than pale outlines beneath the dense canopy of trees whose gnarled branches twisted and curled together, rattled by the chill October wind which whistled tunelessly through the wood. It also ruffled the girl’s long dark hair, causing the silky tresses to writhe like reptilian tails.

She was barely seventeen but her body was shapely and belied her youth. Her breasts in particular seemed over-developed, the nipples coaxed to stiffness by the cold air. She shuddered involuntarily as she felt the knife being moved in a circular pattern around her aureola, brushing the puckered skin for a moment before prodding the nipple. This time she felt not only the needle-sharp point of the blade but the actual cutting edge too as it rested against the swollen bud of flesh. She closed her eyes again as the same movements were repeated on her other breast.

The pressure increased and she gritted her teeth, waiting for the cut.

But she felt only an icy tickle as the cold blade was drawn between her breasts, down to her navel and then towards the dark bush of hair between her legs. It parted the tightly curled down, guided with unfaltering skill by the powerful hand which grasped it.

She let out a low sigh, her breath clouding in the cold air, as the knife was pressed slightly harder against that most sensitive area. She opened her legs wider, as if to welcome the blade like some kind of steel penis.

For what seemed an eternity it remained there; then she exhaled slowly as it was eased aside.

Opening her eyes once more, she saw the one who held the blade turn slightly, until he was facing a youth no more than a few months older than herself. He was powerfully built, his head supported by a thick bull neck which he offered willingly to the wielder of the knife. The cutting edge left an almost invisible white mark as it was pressed against the boy’s throat. But after a second the pressure eased and the blade found its way to his chest before plunging deeper towards his limp penis. He tensed as the cold steel brushed his organ, tracing the course of the thick veins before gliding over his contracted testicles.