Dance For The Devil Read Online Free PDF Page B

me.” He moved through the maze with skill and precision. The game appeared three-dimensional, allowing the player to feel he was truly inside. “Here’s one,” Jason said, striking out with the chainsaw. The demon fell instantly, his body severed in half, blood spurting. “Brilliant, huh?”
    “Uh huh,” Amy answered, feeling queasy. Blood was never her strong point, even fake blood on a screen. But she saw how much fun Jason was having so she stretched out on his bed and watched him play, carefully sucking in her stomach so she’d look thinner. After Jason killed a half-dozen more attackers, he flicked off the machine and joined her, and she flushed as he lay beside her.
    “It’s more fun playing with a partner. You go through the levels together but if you’re feeling really evil, you can stab him in the back.”
    “That’s not very loyal.”
    Jason grinned. “I know, but it’s fun, especially since you’ll never actually meet the person. That’s what I love about gamers: total anonymity. Sometimes I go on Internet chat rooms and make up a whole new identity. I can say whatever I want, no matter how outrageous, and no one will ever know it’s me.”
    “It sounds as if you like computers more than people.”
    Jason’s face turned serious. “Sometimes I do. Computers are predictable. They never do terrible things. Only people do.” He leaned closer to Amy. “I like you though, Amy. I know you’d never do anything awful to me, would you?”
    “No,” she whispered.
    He began to kiss her and Amy closed her eyes and let her lips fall open, and allowed Jason Vandercamp to lead her down the path to sweet oblivion.
    **
    “I don’t like them,” Skeeter complained on the ride home. He was sitting in the front seat with Jake, while Amy sat silently in the back, arms folded over her chest.
    “What’s that, Skeet?” Jake asked, taking his eyes off the winding road for a fraction of a second.
    “The Vandercamps. I don’t like them.”
    “You could have fooled me, looked like you were having a great time. Spent so much time in the water, I could have sworn you were half-fish.”
    “I never said I didn’t like their house. It’s them I don’t like. They’re creepy.”
    “Skeet? What’s this all about?”
    The boy shrugged and looked uncomfortable. “They’re phonies. Something doesn’t feel right. I can’t explain it better than that.”
    Jake frowned. Skeeter was doing a pretty good job of describing his feelings, and it twigged a response. Sometimes Jake felt the same way – like today, with Cynthia Blake. Nothing one could put a finger on... just a feeling. He’d chalked it up to the new environment. People were different on the West Coast, more open and laid back. Complete strangers talked like they were best friends and intimate details were disengaged without preamble. It was unsettling.
    “Mr. Vandercamp pretends he’s so great, like Santa Claus or something, and Mrs. Vandercamp is like a plastic doll. And Jason Vandercamp is creepy too.”
    “Shut your filthy mouth,” Amy shrieked from the backseat. “Shut your lying, filthy, disgusting mouth or I’ll kill you!”
    “Amy!”
    “Make him take it back! Jason Vandercamp is not creep y and neither is his family. They’re normal, can’t you see that? They’re the normal ones, not us. They’re normal and loving and the Vandercamps are a family. Can you say that about us?”
    Jake pulled the car over, shut off the ignition and turned to Amy. “Yes, I can. We are a family, Amy, and I love you very much.”
    Her yells had turned to sobs. “We’re a broken family.”
    “Maybe, but we’re strong enough to be put back together. That’s what love is, you know – glue. Our love will glue us back together.” Jake thought for a moment before continuing. “I know it’s been a rough year, a truly horrible year. Some of that is my fault, I admit it, but I’m trying to change. Sometimes I make mistakes –” He paused at Amy’s