Page 91 of The House Guest

‘Go on and check they’re ready,’ Brittany said to Nick.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked after he’d left. ‘I heard something about a ceremony. What does that mean?’

‘You’ll see.’

Nick came back. ‘They’re ready.’

Brittany led me down the corridor and opened the door.

She pushed me inside and hands grabbed at me. There were people all around me, as if I’d entered a crowded nightclub, minus the pounding music. There were a hundred people here, give or take, and I wondered if this was all of them, the whole cult, or just a portion. I looked around to see if there were any other faces I recognised and caught a glimpse of the model, Jade Thomson, whose picture I’d looked up after Callum and Wanda told me about her. Emilio was there too, plus the driver of the van who had brought me here. There was no sign of Eden, though. Or Ruth.

I was pushed through the throng and into a space where the crowd had parted. They encircled me. The men were in dinner jackets, the women in cocktail dresses, dripping with jewellery. I stood there and tried not to show how scared I was.

One side of the circle – the side furthest from the door – parted to reveal the full extent of the room. It was a huge space, with a glass wall stretching its entire length, the glowing lights of New York beyond; the same view I’d had from the smaller room in which I’d been kept. Around the perimeter, dozens of white candles flickered. On one wall hung a massive portrait of Gabriel, looking every inch the cult leader.

And here he was, in the flesh.

He stepped into the gap that had opened when the crowd had moved aside, framed by the glass wall and the city, his flattering portrait to his right. Like the others, he was wearing expensive eveningwear, including a black velvet jacket that appeared to shimmer in the low light. Mona stood beside him, wearing a red dress. I tried to catch her eye but she ignored me, like I wasn’t worthy of her attention.

‘This,’ Gabriel said in a booming voice, a hand pointed in my direction, ‘is the one who has caused us so much trouble. The one who killed Dennis.’

‘But I didn’t—’

My voice was drowned out by a great hissing noise, as if a giant serpent had slithered into the room. I looked around me at the faces, all those beautiful faces made ugly by hatred. Somebody spat at my feet and a man tried to get to me, to land a punch, but another held him back. A hundred nameless strangers glared at me. But they all hated me.

‘He’s lying to all of you,’ I shouted.

‘Quiet!’ a dark-haired woman snapped, and the people around her echoed her. A man bared his teeth at me and drew a finger across his throat.

Gabriel spoke again, hushing the throng. ‘Tonight – together – we will show this man what we are all about. And we will show him what happens when you attempt to hurt us.’

So that’s why Gabriel hadn’t killed me yet. I was part of this display of power.

A whisper of excitement ran through the crowd.

‘Protect one, protect all,’ somebody shouted, and the chant went up.

Protect one, protect all.

Gabriel let them chant for a minute, basking in the din, and then raised a hand. Instantly, the mob fell silent.

‘Take him,’ he said, and Brittany and Emilio stepped forward, grabbed hold of me and dragged me past Gabriel to the far end of the room, near the glass wall. I checked over my shoulder and saw Nick standing behind me, his rifle still slung over his back.

‘Now you’re going to see,’ Brittany whispered in my ear before aiming a subtle jab into my kidneys.

She gripped my arm just above the elbow and Emilio did the same on the other side. ‘You’re going to enjoy this,’ he said. He wore the grin of a raver whose ecstasy tablet was starting to kick in.

The crowd was hushed now. All I could hear was breathing.

‘Now, let’s forget this unpleasantness,’ said Gabriel. ‘Tonight we have two new members to welcome. Two beautiful young souls. Are you ready?’

A cheer went up, a chorus of yeses.

The door opened and two people came in. One of them was a red-haired woman, clad like all the others in a designer dress. She held the hand of a blond man in his mid-twenties, with a dimple on his chin and cheekbones to kill for. He was wearing a long white robe with a hood.

Gabriel approached the young man and embraced him for a few seconds before turning back to the crowd. ‘This, as many of you already know, is Danny.’

There was a chorus of ‘Welcome, Danny!’

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