The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (5 page)

*    -    -   
-    *

The first thing
Rebecca did when they got home was call her parents. Both her and Justin’s
parents were equally thrilled to hear that they were going to be grandparents,
and immediately felt the need to take charge and start planning everything.

Although most of
the tension had been placed on temporary hold by the potential job that Justin
could get, he still felt a hollow feeling in his gut. There was a constant
gnawing at the back of his mind that he was forgetting something; that he
wasn’t ready to be a father just yet. He figured it best to keep his feelings
to himself for now and pretend to be happy; for now at least. Justin waited
until Rebecca put down the phone. ‘I’m going to update my résumé,’ he said and
pointed in the direction of the study.

‘Enjoy it,
Love,’ Rebecca said and snuck in a kiss. ‘I’m going to call Tanya and tell her.
She’ll be so excited.’

‘I’m sure she
will,’ Justin said as he made his way to the study.

‘Do you want
something to drink?’ she called after him.

‘Maybe later,
thanks.’ He stopped short of the study door and frowned. ‘Becky,’ he called
down the hallway, ‘please remember to keep this door closed.’

She was too
immersed in her conversation with her best friend to worry about something as
trivial as a door, so she just waved him off.

Justin took a
deep breath and wondered if he would ever hear from that Simon guy or his
employer. ‘All I can do is hope,’ he sighed as he switched on his computer.

*    -    -   
-    *

Simon thoroughly
enjoyed the movie. After stopping for a quick snack, he headed to the park
where he would spend the next few hours reading. Searching for the best spot
which has just enough sun and shade, Simon finally found the ideal location to
be underneath a huge oak tree. He positioned himself comfortably on the soft
grass and opened the novel at the book-marked spot.

‘Mary wondered
how many of them also came to the sudden—and unmistakably divine—realization
that Victor Yoshe was evil,’ Simon read aloud, ‘and most importantly of all,
that Jesus was in fact the Christ.’

Simon smiled.
The story was getting interesting. He was about to continue when a soft
chirping behind the tree distracted him. Simon closed the book and placed it
down on the grass. He stood up and slowly made his way around the base of the
huge oak. On the ground, a bird lay in an awkward position next to the tree.

‘Hi there,
little fellow,’ Simon said and slowly took a step closer to the bird. ‘Are you
all right?’

The bird just
chirped softly. It was obvious to Simon that its wing was broken. When he was
close enough, Simon extended his hands slowly toward the bird and carefully
scooped it up. It was badly wounded, and bleeding from its neck.

‘This is bad,’
Simon said as he gently stroked the bird’s head. He realized that the bird
didn’t have much longer to live. Cradling the bird in his arms he dropped to a
kneeling position and covered it completely with his body.

‘Please, Lord,’
Simon prayed. ‘Please heal this bird. Jesus, don’t let her die.’ Simon covered
the bird for a moment longer and then straightened up again.

He held his
breath.

At first nothing
happened. Then the bird twitched and then turned its head. The wound in its
neck was gone. The bird then shook itself and spread its wings before flying
off.

‘Thank you,
Lord,’ Simon said and sighed out loud. He was relieved that his prayer was
heard, but why the Creator of the heavens and Earth would listen to him still
eluded him. He looked at the bird as it flew off in the distance. ‘Thank
you...’

Simon got up and
stretched. He then walked back around the tree, sat down, and continued reading
his book.

*    -    -   
-    *

Something was
wrong. Justin didn’t know what yet, but he could sense it in the darkness. He
looked around the apartment, scanning his eyes over the dark shapes in the
living room to see if he could spot anything out of place. He saw a man
standing in the corner and then realized that it was merely a chair. As his
eyes adjusted to the overwhelming darkness, he could see more shapes more
clearly.

‘What’s wrong?’
Rebecca asked next to him and he jumped.

‘Don’t scare me
like that,’ he said with a mild irritation in his voice.

‘I’m sorry,’ she
said, then lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘What are we looking for?’

‘I don’t know,’
Justin whispered back. ‘But something feels...wrong.’

A tingle ran
down Rebecca’s spine. ‘What is it?’

‘I just told
you,
I-don’t-know!
’ Justin snapped. ‘What the hell do you think I’m
doing?’ He looked away from her and clenched his teeth. He wasn’t intentionally
rude to her, but for some reason, he couldn’t help it. It just exploded without
his control.

Both jumped when
they heard someone knocking on a neighbour’s door somewhere down the passage
outside.

‘Who would be
out there at two in the morning?’ Rebecca asked softly.

‘
Keep quiet!
’
Justin snapped again.

Someone knocked
again, but this time it was louder and closer, almost as if whomever it was
moved from door to door.

Rebecca clutched
Justin’s arm. Through the stained window pane next to their door they could see
the silhouette of a man, illuminated by the dim light outside.

‘Who’s that?’
Rebecca asked and tightened her grip around Justin’s arm.

Justin didn’t
answer. He was nervous himself and didn’t want to make it obvious to her. He
was supposed to be her protector, and if he displayed fear, how could he ever
make her feel safe again? Justin swallowed hard; his heart pounded heavily in
his chest.

The knock on
their door was unexpectedly loud; more of a threatening bang that echoed out
loud through their apartment.

Justin had a bad
feeling in his gut and held his breath. Each heartbeat exploded loudly in his
own ears and he was afraid that the unwanted visitor outside would be able to
hear it and thus know that they weren’t asleep. The silhouette at the glass
pane moved again, and then moved closer. Justin suddenly realized that the
person was inside their apartment, advancing toward them with a long knife
raised in the air, ready to slash down.

‘
No!
’
Justin screamed as he woke up.

‘Justin?’
Rebecca asked through the darkness. ‘Are you all right?’

Justin sat up
and waited for his eyes to adjust. His body was drenched in sweat and his heart
beat furiously in his chest.

Light flooded
the room as Rebecca switched on the bed lamp. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Bad dream,’
Justin said and took a few deep breaths to regulate his breathing.

‘What was it
about?’

‘What’s the
time?’ Justin asked.

Rebecca took her
cell phone from the bed stand and pressed a button. ‘It’s ten past two,’ she
said.

Justin swallowed
hard. ‘I was rude to you,’ he said. His throat was dry and his voice coarse.
‘Someone came into our apartment...attacked us with a knife...’

‘And then?’

Justin swung his
legs over the edge of the bed and rubbed his face. He took another deep breath.
‘And then I woke up.’

Rebecca just
looked at him as he walked from the room to drink some water. She heard him
mumble something about keeping the study door closed before she slumbered off
again.

*    -    -   
-    *

The phone rang
for quite some time before Justin woke up. Rebecca had left for work already,
so it would have to be after eight. He stumbled from bed and cursed as he banged
his toe against something hard on his way to the phone.

‘Hello?’ Justin
said, trying to make his voice sound like he had been awake for quite some
time.

‘Good morning,’
someone said from the other end of the line. ‘Is this Justin Greene?’

‘Yes,’ Justin
said. ‘Who’s this?’

‘My name is Ian
Robertson from Cybernetics Computers.’ He paused for a moment, and Justin
thought it best to let the man continue without interruption. ‘An employee
recommended you for a technician position with our firm.’

‘Oh yes,’ Justin
said. He allowed the man to continue speaking.

‘When would you
be able to come in for an interview?’

Justin was
completely caught off guard. ‘I...erm...I can make it tomorrow if that’s okay
with you.’

‘That would be
fine,’ the man confirmed as he flipped through the pages of his diary. ‘How
would eight thirty suit you?’

‘That would be
perfect,’ Justin said.

The caller gave
Justin some basic directions to the premises of Cybernetics Computers and
Justin wrote them down without interrupting. He would rather consult the
Internet or a map book later than appear to be incompetent before he even met
the man. After confirming the time, the man hung up, leaving a stunned Justin
looking at the phone as if he had just won the lottery. He finally put the
phone down and went back into the bedroom.

‘Perfect,’ he
said and went to the kitchen and flipped the kettle’s switch. He had the best
news in the world and not a soul to tell, so he merely chuckled and shook his
head in disbelief. ‘Just perfect.’

*    -    -   
-    *

‘How do I look?’
Justin asked.

‘Like some big,
fancy exec,’ Rebecca said and straightened his tie. She took a step back and
admired her well-groomed husband. It had been a while since he dressed up for
anything, and it was a visual treat to her. ‘Nervous?’

‘A little,’ he
said. ‘But I have a good feeling about this one.’

She smiled. ‘So
do I.’

‘Are you sure
Tanya’s okay with picking you up for work?’

‘She’s fine
about it. Just remember to fetch me after work, okay?’

‘Deal,’ he said
and hugged her tightly. He then kissed her passionately and Rebecca wished that
the moment would last forever. ‘See you soon, hun,’ he said. ‘Wish me luck.’

She waited at
the kitchen window as he got into the car. He waved to her as he drove off.
‘Lord, please be with him during the interview,’ she prayed as she boiled water
to make herself some tea. ‘He really needs this. Please let him get the job.’

Once the tea had
been made, she put it aside on the coffee table in the lounge and switched on
the television. It would be another twenty minutes before Tanya would be there
to pick her up. Justin’s interview wasn’t for another while still, but he
didn’t know the neighbourhood that the company was based in too well. He had a
rule where he would rather be an hour early than two minutes late.

‘So let me get
this straight. Your mother is married to a convicted killer, and now
you’re
pregnant with his baby?’

The crowd
cheered.

Another
stupid talk show
, Rebecca thought and pressed the
button on the remote. The television flipped to another channel. It was the
weather report.
Dull
, she thought,
but at least better than the
claptrap on the previous channel.

She scanned her
eyes across the screen as the names and temperatures of various South African
cities and suburbs scrolled from bottom to top. Finally Kelwick scrolled up.

‘Oh dear,’
Rebecca said aloud. ‘That’s warm for this time of the year.’ It was, in fact,
unusually warm even for summer in the tiny Gauteng suburb. Where rain was
expected, the weatherman predicted an unexpected heat wave.

There was a
fumbling at the front door.

Rebecca got up
and as she neared the door, it opened. Justin walked in and smiled.

‘Forgot
something,’ he said and walked briskly past her into the bedroom. He rummaged
through a few drawers, pulled out a file, flipped through it, and then walked
past her to the door again. ‘See you later, love,’ he said and stole a quick
kiss.

Rebecca walked
to the kitchen to wave him off through the window again, but he was already
backing off into the road. When the car pulled away, her heart skipped a beat.

There’s
someone with him!
She thought. It wasn’t as much
the fact that there was someone with him that bothered her, but the fact that
he had neglected to mention anything to her about picking anyone up before the
interview. She shrugged and made a mental note to ask him about it when she saw
him again. Less than a minute later she was back at her tea and, for some
unexplained reason, watching the talk show.