CLAIRE DAVON

Excerpt

Her residences had been many, until she had to move on. There had been a place in what was now called Burkina Faso where the people had revered her as a goddess. It had been difficult to move on from that place, but eventually she had had to. Humans inevitably became too curious. That village was gone now, nothing but bones and ruin covered by the dirt of centuries. That happened when the blackness took hold.

No matter. There were plenty of places in the world. She would go before she acted on the growing impulse to rend and destroy. Or perhaps she would not.

For now, she would live in her too-large home on a hill in the town just outside of Boston. She’d found it easier to vanish in the cities than the country. Rural folk were more inclined to wonder about the reclusive woman in their midst. Eventually their questions would lead to flame and destruction. Here she could disappear into the pulse of the city, little more than a footnote to her neighbors. That the entrance to her house was two stories up from the street helped.

She varied her routine as much as possible, going to Star Market one day and Stop & Shop the next so she did not become too familiar at any one. She kept to herself. After many rebuffs her neighbors stayed away. The less familiarity she had with people, the better. She did not yet want to let the blackness loose and had to keep her interaction with others to a minimum to mitigate the risk. Once she let the darkness out it was impossible to know where the dust and ruin would stop.