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it, and the way the gypsy girl looked at him started to make him nervous. But
he didn't want to admit the fact.
After Connie had gone rather sulkily out into the heat of the day, the two
prisoners, alternately sitting in the living room and hunched over the kitchen
table, talked things over in whispers between themselves. They agreed that Mr.
Graves in contrast to Connie seemed a perfect gentleman when he was not
actually in the act of kidnapping people. He was also considerably more
frightening.
Radcliffe said to his wife: "You know what the truly scary thing about these
people is?"
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"I can think of several."
"What I had in mind is that there are long stretches when what they're saying
and doing almost seems to make sense. Or is it just me? Am I getting
brainwashed?
Junie, I tell you, minutes go by, even hours, when everything they tell us
seems so reasonable, and they don't sound like crazy cultists. I mean Graves
has a way of putting things that makes them sound convincing. But if you
listen close and think about what he says& especially on that tape& "
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June was frowning. "Do you think that all this all this about vampires and so
on
can be only symbolic
? I mean that we're not meant to take it literally?"
Phil thought about it. But he didn't have to think very long. "No. No, I don't
think that at all."
While cleaning up the remains of another snack so far the milk and cereal were
holding out the pair conferred between themselves. Now, with several hours of
sleep behind them, it seemed at least possible that they would be able to
think clearly about their situation, and maybe attain some useful insight.
But anything of the kind eluded them, at least at first.
"Phil, what are we going to do?"
"I don't see what we can do, except watch their silly tape over and over
again, and play along with their ideas. Next time we see Graves, well have to
tell him we've seen the whole tape and we understand it. We're ready to have
discussions with him and believe anything he tells us. Meanwhile we look for a
chance to get away, though it doesn't seem likely that they're going to give
us one."
This time they watched the whole tape, almost three hours of content, all the
way to the end, in one continuous session. It was a sobering experience, but
when they had completed the chore, they still didn't know what to think.
Except that
Mr. Graves might know a lot about a great many subjects, but he was no ball of
fire when it came to making a media presentation.
Just sitting around and waiting quickly became unendurable. Radcliffe, when he
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felt reasonably sure that no one was looking, stalked through the house,
quietly testing the locks and heavy bars on both doors, then examining the
grill-work on all the windows. He discovered no weak points. The only real
result was that now, having proven to himself that he was in a small and
doubtless not fireproof building with all the exits locked, he began to feel a
touch of claustrophobia.
Once or twice, during the morning and afternoon of their second day of
confinement, the two were invited out, by two or three of the masked monsters,
for a walk. On these occasions they were always closely watched.
June was nagged by the idea that there might be some significance in the
identities of the individuals portrayed in the masks most of Graves's
assistants had chosen to put on. They were plastic or rubber creations that
covered the entire head, Halloween-costume imitations of various imaginary
monsters of the
Hollywood variety. Both prisoners got the impression that there were more
masks than people, suggesting a deliberate attempt at preventing
identification, for the same people didn't always wear the same mask.
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June could not entirely rid herself of the idea that some deep meaning might
be found in the individual choices, and she began to jot down little
descriptive notes on all their jailers. Then she decided this was a bad idea,
tore up the sheets from the note pad, and burned them in the sink. Phil saw
the assumed identities as purely accidental.
Then June turned away from the sink with a quick motion, almost a little jump.
"Something just occurred to me."
"What?"
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"We've seen Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, right? And the Mummy, if I'm
interpreting that funny-looking one correctly. I mean the one who looks like a
bad case of sunburn, peeling."
"Right. Plus a whole lot of others who I have no idea who they are. So?"
"Well, it just occurred to me Count Dracula is missing."
Connie appeared more restless than usual the next time she showed up, around
noon on the following day. The gypsy-looking girl made little or no effort to
conceal the fact that she found it definitely boring simply to sit around all
night and all day, especially when she was forbidden to taste this young
breather's blood; she thought there ought to be some fun in this kidnapping
business for her.
Then the gypsy girl wistfully asked June how her hair looked. Even as she
asked the question, she was twisting the dark curly strands around her finger,
pulling them forward while she frowned up toward them with her eyes crossed.
"It's not really long enough for me to see."
"Why don't you go and look in the mirror?"
Connie only giggled, as if the idea were somehow painful.
By this time Philip and June had had the idea of vampires thoroughly drummed
into their heads by the videotape. Now June asked their visitor point-blank if
she was a vampire. Connie answered simply that she was.
The other woman pursued the point. "And when Mr. Graves on the tape talks
about a woman named Constantia, who is doing all these things in France, two
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hundred years ago& "
"Oh, he means me. Oh yes, absolutely." Connie smiled, a cheerful conspirator.
"Not that everything he says about me on the tape is necessarily strictly
true."
The captives, not knowing how to respond to this declaration, looked at each
other. It sounded to them like this girl really believed what she was saying.
"If you're a vampire," Radcliffe proceeded cautiously, "is there some way you
can demonstrate the fact I mean short of actually biting someone and drinking
blood?"
"I could, sweetie. Oh, it would be very easy. But Via& Mr. Graves doesn't want
me to do anything like that yet."
Nervously Connie looked around. June was staring at her in an unsettling way.
She was also afraid of Vlad's anger, and admitted as much to the prisoners.
Spontaneously Connie added, in the manner of one impulsively giving good
advice: "I wouldn't make him mad at me, if I were you."
Graves had never uttered any threats, but Radcliffe found himself in full
agreement. "Is he really five hundred years old?" he asked on impulse.
"Just about." Constantia smiled; her look had undertones of wickedness. "
I'm years younger than 'Mr. Graves.'" This time she pronounced the name with
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