He followed it into the hall. He was still naked, but embarrassment was the least of his concerns, and, grunting, he swung the bat low, as hard as he could, hoping the doll had not gotten too far away and that he’d be able to hit it.

No such luck.

Still laughing, the figure hurried down the dark hallway, blending in with the shadows against the sideboard, disappearing into the gloom.

“Damn!” he said.

He looked up, and on the far wall, in a dim half circle of what appeared to be reflected moonlight, he thought he saw a shadow.

The shadow of a girl.

Doneen.

Beckoning him.

He’d gone back into his room after that, locking his door, and although he dozed off eventually, he tried to stay awake all night, and what little sleep he did get was troubled and intermittent. He was as tired when he woke up as he had been the night before.

Daniel walked into the dining room. Billingsly smiled cheerfully at him and, lifting a silver pot, said, “Coffee?”

The butler had laid out an elaborate breakfast on the oversized banquet table, and Daniel sat down at its foot, nodding his acknowledgment.

He felt like shit. Billingsly, by contrast, was in peak condition. If yesterday he had accentuated the spookiness of the House with his pale, cadaverous appearance, today he complemented it with his visible robustness. He was no less creepy for his newfound vigor, however, and improved health only served to emphasize those things that were so disturbing about him in the first place.

Daniel looked from the rejuvenated Billingsly to his own enervated reflection in a mirror above the sideboard. The dichotomy was too striking not to notice.

Maybe Billingsly was a vampire. Maybe the butler was feeding off him, sucking the life out of him for his own nourishment.

No. More likely, the butler’s health was connected with that of the House. And now that the House was getting charged back up, old Billingsly was receiving a power boost as well.

Billingsly smirked at him as he poured his coffee. “I trust you had a pleasant evening?”

Daniel smiled sweetly up at him. “Couldn’t have been better.” He sipped the hot drink. It tasted wonderful. “So why didn’t you recruit new people to live in the House? I assume that’s what you did before. I know my family didn’t live here for generations.”