Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

I opened the w indow a fr action, not wanting to let too much of the cold in but hoping to
catch a scent on the air of bur ning w ood, a favour ite ar oma of mine. Ther e was no smell
but ther e was a sound. The sound of music coming faintly fr om the lighted field. I closed
the w indow and thought no mor e of it that night.
Helped by the chur chwar den, I was able to find boar d for the night w hich was adequate. I
w oke the next mor ning for br eakfast and found that my host had pr epar ed a bow l of hot
por r idge w ith honey and bananas for me and a mug of fr eshly gr ound coffee. I sat at the
table w ith my notes ar ound me; not to go over anything for ther e was little of inter est, but
mor e to give the impr ession of industr y on my behalf, to encour age my host to keep his
distance. I have always pr efer r ed to eat alone and never w ish to talk dur ing meals.
I ar r ived back in the little office w ith a low feeling, as I was sur e this day w ould be as
unedifying as the pr evious one. For the fir st hour or so I was entir ely cor r ect. Gr eat lists
that w ent on for days of the lunches and dinner s enjoyed by the vicar. Snippets of r eceipts
for clothing and such. Then, just as I was beginning to despair , the vicar suddenly r evealed
an inter esting hobby. He kept mentioning books he had pr ocur ed or was attempting to.
Titles such as Mortuous Suscitare Opera, Dirae Mortis Mittentes,and A rs Incantandi jumped
fr om the page at me. It soon became clear that the pr ovincial vicar had sadly succumbed to
the evils of necr omancy, an unfor tunately common occur r ence in the cler gy of the time, as
they per ceived the unknow n and unseen w or ld of the spir its as being inextr icably linked
w ith their faith.
The thought that these lost tomes had been pr esent and r ead thr ough w ithin this building
excited me no end. That they may still be her e was unlikely but w or th pur suing. I decided
to keep r eading thr ough the paper s to see if any clues as to the pr esent w her eabouts of the
books could be gleaned. Alas, ther e was nothing else. Scant details of some late-night
meetings held betw een the vicar and inhabitants of the village. Ear ly mor ning r etur ns
fr om elsew her e in the East Anglian countr yside. Some r isible attempts at bucolia. But
nothing about the w her eabouts of the incr edibly r ar e w or ks he had mentioned ear lier. The
paper s ended abr uptly w ith a final diar y entr y that r ead: I grow stronger. And so do they.
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