Lair of the White Wyrm

By Lea Ryan

Sometimes when you run from your problems, they follow you.

Eric Duncan wants nothing more than to be an ordinary, sane guy. He believes he can escape his troubled past by leaving home. However, the voice in his head, that of his dead friend Benjamin, fights him every step of the way.

Eric finds his new home is a place filled with secrets far darker than his own. A monster prowls the grounds, and it wants to keep him close.

He will discover that his inner demons aren’t the only things he should fear. In order to confront the wyrm and survive, he must also face the worst parts of himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lea Ryan
• Release date: Feb 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466045668

Lea Ryan

Lea Ryan is an author of romance and paranormal fiction. She lives in Indiana with a husband and an equal ratio of cats to fish to human children. When she isn't writing, she can be found playing video games, drawing, or hiding in a quiet spot, dreaming of things improbable.

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Lair of the White Wyrm

Lea Ryan

Copyright 2012

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any format without prior written permission from the author, with the exception of short passages quoted for review purposes. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and places are used fictitiously.

Lair of the White Wyrm

Chapter 1

Eric couldn't get the image of Benjamin Frakes lying dead on the floor out of his head. In the four years since high school, he hadn’t cared about much of anything aside from getting high or drunk, but that - his friend with vomit on his face, eyes vicious red - that sight snapped him from the desire to carry on the way they had. The party was over.

The two of them were a balanced set, Benjamin’s charisma to Eric’s more reserved manner. They shared a cramped but nice enough apartment near a mall. Days meant waking and baking and landscape work arranged through Benny's cousin.

Nights meant cutting loose. Every night, they cut loose. Liquor, weed, occasional exotic treats like Ecstasy removed them from whatever they needed removed from, which was more often than not – boredom.

And there was always someone more damaged than them who was willing to pony up the cash to buy a round of whatever was on the menu. As long as Eric and Benjamin (especially Benjamin) participated, they were having a party rather than getting a fix. The boys coasted on their friends’ vices and had a grand time doing so. However, during the last few months of Benjamin’s life, their usual games weren’t so fun.

This is what happens when the party grabs control of you. He told Eric one night when their friend Lacey downed a ten-strip of acid, swam naked in the muck-infested apartment complex pond, and ended up spacing out on the ceiling for six hours.

They called her ‘Spacey’ from then on, a name that humiliated her. As many chemicals as they swallowed or smoked, snorted or injected, no one ever wanted to be known for losing control, not like that. The incident with Lacey happened a month before the party grabbed hold of Benny and dragged him under for good.

Eric got clean.

He moved back in with his mother, which he had hoped he would never have to do. She loved him; he knew that. But her keen attention to his mental state unnerved him. Bad enough that he was still dealing with the trauma of losing his best friend.

Her vigilance was completely understandable given the fact that she loved and married an unstable man – Eric’s father. She was terrified that her husband had passed his affliction on to his son.

Somehow his most-of-the-time-single mother found the resources to send him to therapy on a regular basis. Mental health becomes a priority when you already have to deal with an off-balance loved one.

Eric shared her fear, so he devoted a fair amount of effort to maintaining an outwardly normal persona. He kept a schedule. He went to work. He did household chores and went to the doctor appointments his mother made for him. He maintained.

Whenever he got the urge to touch anything remotely mind-altering, the image of his best friend shoved into his thoughts. He smelled the vomit and blood and the shit so potently that his nostrils stung, and he gagged.

The worst part was that Eric still heard Benjamin’s voice in his mind like an angry conscience, steering him ever farther from happiness and contentment. Every time he felt himself settling into some version of normalcy, a quiet dinner or talking to a girl, the voice of dead Benjamin drowned his inner world in anger.

The only way to get Benny out of his head was to move on, beyond his childhood home, into completely uncharted territory. He believed leaving would get him closer to normal, stop the flashbacks and the voice. The cab ride to his new home didn’t do much to quiet Benny.

"You won’t do a damn thing with your life. You’re twice the loser I ever was. You should’ve died, not me. I was always the one people liked. Always."

Eric took a deep breath and stared outside and willed himself to be calm. He cracked the window to let in some air.

City blocks shot by in a run of vacant buildings and dilapidated houses. The break in the cold weather had the residents of the neglected neighborhood out on the streets. They waited at bus stops in front of strip malls or hung out in small groups or walked the street carrying plastic bags from the convenience store on the corner. The locals watched the car as it passed, none of them looking especially friendly.

He always worried that people could tell he wasn’t quite in his right mind.

Eric shifted in his seat and looked at the floor. He told himself what his shrink had iterated and reiterated, that the stares he thought of as judgmental were more likely passive observation. He steered his thoughts toward the future, reminded himself that he now had purpose. The past no longer mattered because he wasn’t that person anymore.

His new chapter meant living with his uncle in a new city and attending college. He would do what he needed to do to be happy and make some kind of life for himself. He determined his destiny, voice in his head or not.

The taxi carried him to the edge of the metropolitan area, the border where the population was sparse. Wooded areas pushed against abandoned warehouses and industrial buildings. Parking lots bristled with dead weeds.

His new home, Ducat Tower, loomed over the woods like a forbidding castle. With its gray exterior and Gothic arch windows, the tower belonged alone out there, surrounded by the wild. It wouldn’t fit in anywhere else, not without casting a melancholic shadow over its surroundings.

The only part of the building that acknowledged the sunlight was a glass dome on the roof. It seemed out of place, almost retro-futuristic in a way, like a moon base in an old sci-fi flick. The light shifted from panel to panel of the glass as they approached.

The taxi crossed from pothole punctured road onto the wet blacktop driveway just after four in the afternoon. Thick trees lined the sides of the road like sentinels, their almost leafless branches weaving an intricate web.

The cab emerged from the trees and circled to the right where the driveway ringed a patch of dead grass. Three police cruisers and a couple of other cars sat parked in a line in front of the building.

Eric’s Uncle Nate and two officers were engaged in an intense conversation. A few feet away, a guy in his early twenties in a hooded sweatshirt stood with a middle-aged woman who had her dark hair haphazardly clipped back from her face. His arms were crossed, and his face was an angry red.

"This looks like your speed." Benjamin started singing as he often did when Eric grew tense. That time it was the theme to a reality show about stupid criminals they used to watch together when they got high. Get a little closer to your uniformed friends. I’m sure they could find something to arrest you for. What’s the statute of limitations on assault? They’ll let you off easy if you confess.

The driver told Eric, Look, I’m not trying to get mixed up in whatever this drama is, so I’m stopping here.

The air outside was humid, not hot but it was relief from an especially frigid winter. The smell of leaves blended with the exhaust of a few of the cars that were left with the engines running. The driver removed a camera bag and duffel from the trunk, then got back into the taxi without another word.

Eric hauled his stuff past his uncle, the cops and the unhappy people. Police never liked him. Sometimes he swore they could smell the imprint of past sins on him. He took the long way around, putting the cars between him and them. Whatever this scene was about, he didn’t want any part of it either.

He stood in the shaded archway of a porch that spanned almost the entire ground floor. Benches lined the far walls under faded graffiti. One unfinished piece looked fresher than the rest. The outline of a spray can was partially filled in with primary red.

He wondered if that’s what the conversation was about. The angry guy looked the type – the right age for stupid stunts like that. His pants hung low on his ass, and his sneakers probably cost what Eric made in a week on the lawn crew back home.

A uniformed cop spoke, We appreciate your cooperation. If you happen to find any sign of him, please call us right away.

This is bullshit! The guy in the sweatshirt burst out. Jimmy was here. He was in that stairway! Somebody murdered my brother.

I understand your concern, son, but there’s nothing here.

Nate said, If you punks stayed where you were supposed to, you wouldn’t have this problem, would you? That brat was probably just pulling a prank.

No. The brother shook his head emphatically, No! He wouldn’t do that. You know something. You know what killed him.

He stormed closer.

The officer put out an arm to hold him at bay, Calm down, Danny. There’s no evidence of any crime. Let your mom take you home.

You’ll be lucky if I don’t press trespassing and vandalism charges. This is private property. Eric’s uncle served as the building manager. Any damage the vandals caused was his problem.

Danny pushed the cop’s arm out of his way, and the officer next to him grabbed his arms.

Take it easy, son.

Why won’t you do anything? He might still be alive somewhere. Danny broke down in tears.

His mother demanded, You need to do your damn job. Find my kid or I’ll sue every last one of you. Her voice cracked, Why the hell don’t you have any cameras out here? Where’s your security?

They won’t find that boy, said a voice from the shadow of the porch, He’s dead.

Eric turned to find a dark-skinned woman with gray hair and a yellow sweater sitting at a folding table. She placed the queen of clubs on a stack of cards, then peered at him over bifocals.

How do you know?

Heard him last night. Only the dying scream that way.

You didn’t call the cops?

She chuckled and shook her head. Cops can’t help when you’re already dead. They wouldn’t believe me anyway. She put two more cards down on the table. You Nate’s nephew?

Yeah, I start the photography program at Restin next week. I’m staying with him for a while.

He talks about you and your mama and your daddy too. She smiled to reveal stained teeth. I’m Zelda.

Whatever his uncle told her about his family dysfunction wasn’t enough to keep her from being friendly.

Would you like a chocolate? I make them myself. She nodded toward a pile of what looked like oversized Raisinettes.

No thanks. I had a candy bar in the car. He liked chocolate well enough, but hers looked questionable. The lumps of candy sat directly on the dirty folding table, no plate. A black hair protruded from one of them.

A man after my own heart. Sugar is good for the soul. Maybe soothe that angry boy messing around in your head.

"Tell that old bitch to mind her business." Benjamin cut in.

He hadn’t told anyone about the voice (including his shrink) for fear that his mother might cart him off to the nearest funny farm. Hearing voices went beyond his father’s most extreme mood swings. Admitting to his delusions would land him so deep in the realm of mental health crisis that no one would ever let him out. Padded cell crazy town, straight jacket population – him.

He did a mental replay of every step he’d taken since leaving the taxi. Had there been some aspect of his behavior or demeanor that revealed his secret? A weird look on his face or had he spoken aloud when he hadn’t meant to?

Zelda hummed and placed another card on the table, He’s so loud and ill-mannered. She clucked her tongue disapprovingly. Anyone with certain sensitivities would hear him from a mile away. He won’t leave until you make him go.

Had he heard wrong?

To keep from revealing how far his grip on reality might have slipped, he said simply, I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard you correctly. What did you say?

He’s not going to leave, She emphasized, until you force him out.

How? He still couldn’t bring himself to admit to the voice, even to the woman who seemed able to hear it.

"This isn’t over, asshole. I will be back and sooner than you think. My brother had better turn up in one piece." Danny insisted. His mother urged him to a waiting car behind the police cruisers. He glowered through the passenger side window as they passed.

Eric’s uncle took a business card from a uniformed officer and promised to call immediately if he saw any sign of the missing man. Then the caravan of black and white filed around the driveway, then into the trees.

Nate sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

Eric asked, Everything okay?

Nate’s hair had turned a wispy pepper-gray since the last time they’d seen each other. Of course, such changes happen when eight years pass between visits.

Nothing I can’t handle. Good morning, nephew. He hugged Eric and slapped him on the back heartily. Let’s get you settled in. He took the duffel bag from Eric. They passed through a forest of thick support columns and benches.

They used to have parties down here, back when Ducat Tower was in its heyday. It’s looking a little dirty these days. We’ll fix that now that the weather is warming up.

They entered an alcove through a locked door. A staircase rose high into the building. Nate pushed the button for the elevator.

That reminds me, here are your keys. This silver one is for that door and the bronze one is for the elevator. I recommend that you keep them with you at all times.

The elevator key looked antique. The bow was an intricate scrollwork with a round, pearl disc marked with an infinity symbol in the middle.

He went on, That’s a copy of the master key. You can select any floor in the building with that. Don’t lose it because I only have two and it’s not like I can just take it to the hardware store and have them cut a copy.

The elevator door opened to a gleaming brass interior.

This is how it works. Put the key here under the panel, turn, then push the button for the floor you want to go to. We live on the second floor. The other residents’ keys only allow them access to their own floors.

The elevator lurched upward.

This is a good gig. I live here rent-free, and the place ain’t too shabby.

The building looks pretty high-class from the outside.

Oh yeah, this used to be the place to live. In the fifties, the richest people in the area lived here. Rumor is one of them was a movie star.

Cool. Who was it?

Nate shrugged. I’m not sure. Vivienne something.

They reached the second floor apartment.

Embossed tin-plated ceilings rose high overhead on dark wood framed, cream-colored walls. The carpet was a regal red, faded in the middle where the floor sagged slightly.

This is nice. And the place was nice in a haunted house sort of way.

Your room is back here. I’m giving you the master. He continued to a second short hall. About the key, don’t just go barging in on random floors. Each floor is a residence. When you enter one, you’re technically in someone else’s house.

Good to know.

You have to buzz visitors in if you decide to have anyone over.

Got it.

And make sure you stay off the empty floors six, eight, and nine. The owner doesn’t like anyone on those, including me. My job is to maintain the rest of the property, which is easier said than done when you’re only one old man. As payment for your rent, you’ll help me out. In return, you get room and board, and you can use my van to drive to your classes.

They passed a bachelor bare but clean living room to enter a second, short hallway. Nate opened the last door for Eric to walk in.

Here you are.

A twin bed was centered on the wall to his right. A matching chest of four drawers stood against the far wall. The average furniture was humbled further by the fit-for-a-king architecture.

The ceilings in the bedroom were as high as they were in the hallway. Massive gothic arch windows, like those he’d seen on the front of the building, offered an expansive view of the land behind Ducat Tower.

Eric went to the window and opened a panel at the sill. Gray clouds spanned the sky as far as he could see. Between the tower and a forest, the earth was split wide open in a white pit. Water gathered in the bottom like a pond.

Nate stood next to his nephew.

Great view, isn’t it? That’s an old mine, china clay. You can go down and check it out if you want. I wouldn’t spend too much time down there, though. I heard the clay contains uranium. They haven’t mined in years.

Because of the uranium?

"They discovered the clay was contaminated back

Reviews for Lair of the White Wyrm

[darcia_10 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a wonderfully creepy story that mixes paranormal, horror, suspense and mystery. You won't find any gore or overly descriptive bloody scenes to make you cringe. Lea Ryan relies more on a psychological edge to get readers on the edge of their seats. And I was definitely on edge! The characters have tremendous depth and the plot kept me involved from start to finish. I enjoyed everything about this one.