Butcherbird

by Cassie Hart

  ‘I hope you get some sleep,’ he said over his shoulder.

  Jena laughed as he opened the door. ‘I hope we all do. Though I can’t see it happening.’

  Will closed the door behind him and then headed downstairs, unlocking the front door as he passed it. He was halfway down the hall before it opened.

  ‘Are you trying to make a move on my girl?’ Cade’s voice was rough and low, but Will didn’t turn around.

  ‘No, I went up to say goodnight, and when she said you’d gone for a walk, I came down to unlock the door. Didn’t realise you were still out there. Simple mistake, man.’

  ‘You were up there a while.’ Cade walked towards him, his shoulders curved forward, lips drawn tight in a menacing grin.

  Will took an unconscious step backwards, raising a hand. ‘I needed to take a leak and brush my teeth. Is that cool?’

  ‘Whatever.’ Cade cracked his knuckles and closed the distance between them. ‘I see the way you look at her, the way you protect Rose. Like you have some kind of right to them that I don’t. Well, let me tell you something, they’re mine. Mine.’ Cade gripped Will’s shirt and twisted the fabric, pulling him higher so that Will was on his tiptoes.

  Cade’s breath was hot and fetid against Will’s cheek. The smell was both familiar and unknown; it hit him in the gut, threw him back in time to when his mother was still alive, made his knees weak like he was just a gangly teen again. Powerless.

  Cade pushed him then, sending him crashing to the floor. His back hit the hallway table, the force bouncing its contents off, scattering pens and paper everywhere.

  ‘Dude, calm down. I’m just here to do my job.’ Will held a hand out as if it could stop Cade from coming closer, and he scrambled backwards, trying to get his feet under him, get up, get away. ‘I promise.’

  ‘Your words mean nothing to me. You mean nothing.’ Cade lunged, but Will managed to slide out of the way, turning and sprinting towards the kitchen. Cade caught his foot, sending Will sprawling again. Cade thumped down on top of him, landing on Will’s back and delivering a thwacking blow to his side.

  ‘Cade!’ Jena screamed.

  Will covered his head with his arms, trying to protect it from Cade, who landed another blow, this time to the other side of his body. He sucked in a breath, gasping from the pain.

  ‘Cade, stop it.’ Jena sounded closer now, and Cade stopped moving, sitting frozen on Will’s prone form.

  ‘Cade?’ Jena’s voice was shaky.

  Will turned his head, opened an eye. He could see her now. She looked petrified and her hand shook, but she was reaching for Cade, gripping his arm gently and tugging him.

  ‘Come on, Cade. Come upstairs. Please? Will didn’t do anything.’

  ‘I don’t want him in my house,’ Cade said, his voice devoid of emotion. ‘You hear me? Get the fuck out.’ Cade shoved against Will’s body, pushing himself off, letting Jena lead him away.

  Will sat up and watched them go, catching Jena’s gaze when she glanced back over her shoulder. He mouthed one word. Sorry.

  Cade stopped at the bottom of the stairs. ‘You can sleep in the barn,’ he said. ‘And when you come in tomorrow for Rose, you can clear your shit out of here or I’ll do it for you.’

  Then he was gone, up the stairs. Jena paused, as if torn about what to do, but then she followed Cade.

  Will could only think that even in the barn, he might be safer than she was tonight. He locked Rose’s door and headed outside.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  JENA

  Jena had never seen Cade act like that before. She’d told him to just relax, chill out in their room.

  And then she’d found one of Rose’s sleeping tablets in the bathroom, ground it up, and tipped that into the beer she’d offered to get him, making sure to mix it well. She did that for the next beer, and the one after as well, hoping that he’d stop pacing and pass out.

  Finally, around midnight, he lay back on the bed.

  ‘Time to sleep,’ he mumbled and flung an arm across her waist, pulling her against his body. She made herself relax, pretended like she was going to sleep too, and then once he’d started snoring, she slipped from his side and went to the wardrobe.

  She pulled the panel out, drew the laptop and files from the gap, and then left it open, not wanting to make any extra noise; not wanting to know what Cade might do if she pissed him off.

  Or found out what she was planning. Because she was planning, now. They needed to end this. There was something wrong with him and she couldn’t deny it any longer. Not after what had happened tonight. Whoever had attacked Will, it wasn’t Cade.

  It had to be the Dark Man.

  Didn’t it?

  Closing the bedroom door behind her, she made for the stairs and then out into the night, picking her way across the gravel expanse between the house and the barn. Some of her fear of the place had faded, with the more real danger, here and now.

  The door creaked open and she called out. ‘Will?’

  ‘Jena?’ His voice was surprised, and then a light flashed to life on the mezzanine and she could see him peering over the side. ‘What are you doing here?’ He scanned around, presumably looking for Cade.

  ‘It’s just me,’ she assured him. ‘Can I come up?’

  He paused before nodding and disappearing from sight again.

  She rushed across the open expanse of the barn and climbed the stairs quickly, her mouth dropping open at the sight of Will. In the hour or so since he’d been kicked out of the house his bruises had developed, big and black on his cheek. She imagined there were more – worse – beneath his clothes.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, walking slowly towards him. ‘I’ve never seen him go off like that before. I don’t know what’s happening to him ….’

  Will barked out a laugh, bending and wincing in pain at the movement. ‘I think you do, Jena. He’s changing. Remind you of anyone else?’ He raised an eyebrow, but she pushed the question out of her mind. She didn’t want to think about her father, his possible possession.

  Didn’t want to think that Cade was possessed too.

  ‘I didn’t come here to talk about Dad,’ she said, sitting down next to him on the couch. She passed him the laptop. ‘I came to say sorry, and make sure you were okay. And to give you this.’

  He quirked an eyebrow, but took it from her. ‘Why the change of heart?’

  ‘I want to know what you have on it. I want to know what you think you know.’ She searched his eyes, looking for any trace of deception or sinister thoughts. Not that she should expect to see those; Will had been decent to her this whole time. It was she who’d made things hard.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  She nodded and he opened the laptop, keying in his password and then clicking on the icons, folder within folder. Even if she’d managed to guess his password, she’d never have found whatever it was he was looking for.

  He passed the laptop back to her. There was a video file waiting to be played. Her finger hovered. She looked at him once, and then hit play.

  The video took a second to start up, then Jena could see herself moving into the frame, the smoke, Will running down to try and wake her, the birds thudding against the roof and then streaming through the gap. It was all over in a matter of minutes. Jena gripped the laptop so hard she thought she might break it, but she didn’t say a thing, didn’t move when the clip reached the end. Just sat there for another minute trying to make her head work, trying to make herself breathe before she dragged the time bar backwards to when the smoke appeared, and paused it.

  ‘What is that? It’s here, on camera, but I thought it was all in my head because I was taken back to that night, could see it all clearer than I had in years, but you said you saw it too.’

  ‘Saw it, smelled it. It was like the real thing.’ Will shrugged. ‘It happened. It was real, and what’s happening to Cade is real too.’

  ‘He’s—’

  ‘Possessed, Jena. I know
you don’t want to admit it, but he is. He’s not the same man you brought here.’

  Will leaned his head on the back of the couch. She pressed the laptop closed and did the same. The roof was tin for the most part, and cobwebs cluttered the space, their thin threads visible in the lamp light.

  ‘If I said that I believed you …. What could we do about it?’ She didn’t look at him. Didn’t think she could meet his gaze.

  ‘If we destroy the watch, he should be free,’ he said. ‘I’ve done some research. You don’t have to do this alone.’

  Jena choked out a laugh. She was always alone, even when she wasn’t. And she had such bad luck with people, she didn’t know whether she could bring herself to trust Will; was sure that if she did, he’d screw her over as well.

  Just like everyone else had.

  Or she’d screw him over, because it felt like that’s what she’d done to Cade.

  ‘Okay. I’ll think. I’ll figure it out,’ she said. She felt stiff and clunky, like she could barely make herself agree. She certainly couldn’t say that word. Possessed.

  And now she had to make herself go back to bed and lie down next to the man who was no longer Cade. Not really.

  ‘Jena,’ Will said. ‘I’ve been there before. I know what it’s like to have someone you care about taken over. I want to save him for you, with you.’ His eyes were dark and sorrowful – they reminded her of the photo in his file. The photo of herself.

  She nodded, pressed her lips together, unable to think of anything else to say. And then she headed back to the house.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  JENA

  ‘Wake up, Jena. Get out of bed.’

  ‘Hmm?’ She opened her eyes to find sunlight streaming into the room. How had that happened? She’d been so sure she wouldn’t fall asleep, not after last night.

  Not after seeing Cade so thoroughly lose his shit. Not after finally accepting the situation.

  ‘What time is it?’ she asked.

  ‘After nine. You looked like you could do with a sleep in.’ Cade smiled at her softly, and for a moment she could pretend he was just himself.

  ‘Thanks, I did. Still can’t believe I managed that long, though.’ Jena scraped her hair back into a ponytail, and tied it with the band from around her wrist. ‘How are you feeling today?’

  Cade sat back, and managed to look a little bashful. ‘You mean after I almost beat the crap out of Will?’ He scratched the back of his head and shrugged. ‘I guess I was jealous.’

  It was Jena’s turn to frown. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because he knows more about your family than I do. We never talk about that stuff, and that was never a problem until we came here and I realised just how much I didn’t know.’

  ‘He doesn’t know me, Cade.’ She sat up, scooting over to sit beside him and cupping his cheek. She had to believe that her Cade was in there, somewhere. She wanted it so desperately. ‘He knows about what happened, he knows my grandmother. I’m not either of those things.’

  He shrugged, slipping away from her and standing. ‘Either way, sorry I acted like a jerk. I’ll go and apologise to him. We can do the last of the garden and tomorrow the agent will come. We can start fresh.’

  ‘Yeah, that sounds good.’ Jena nodded as she stood, brushing her fingers over his cheek and smiling at him. He seemed like his old self, like the Cade she knew, and it made her gut ache to think he wasn’t. Not really. ‘Have I ever told you that I love you?’ she asked, feeling a tug in her chest.

  ‘I don’t think it’s a thing we say, is it?’ A wry smile tugged at his lips.

  And it wasn’t. They’d stayed away from such big words. She wasn’t even sure if she meant it, but she felt like she needed to say it, hoped that it might help Cade cling to himself, to stay strong. Until she could find a way to save him.

  ‘Maybe it should be. Maybe it’s a thing I’ve been scared of, but I can’t spend my whole life being afraid.’

  Loving people put you at risk, meant they could hurt you, or die and leave you lonely, sad. She knew all about that. Love wasn’t a safety blanket; it was a blank cheque for pain. And she knew this wasn’t really love, but she did care about Cade, she didn’t want him to be possessed and changed, couldn’t bear thinking about him taking the life of another or doing despicable things.

  Worse things than he’d already done ….

  When it came down to it, she had no idea what he might be capable of, infected by the watch.

  ‘Well, in that case, I think I love you too.’ He kissed her and she kissed him back, closing her eyes and leaning into it. It felt just like Cade, maybe it was still Cade, and yet she knew it wasn’t just him in there. Something else lurked, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to try not to cry, because she didn’t want to lose him too. Even if he was an asshole sometimes. Even if he was greedy and selfish, he had still made her life better and she owed him for that.

  He pulled away. She watched him leave the room and cursed herself for hoping that he was still there, that she could save him. Because that hope would probably lead to her destruction. But she had to try.

  The knot in her stomach told her that even if they made it through this, Cade might not be the man for her, but she had to use that small sliver of hope, a life rope between them, to try and draw him back to himself.

  Jena sighed and then got out of bed, pulling on her jeans and tee. She needed coffee and some toast, and then she had to go and lock herself in the room with Rose to get to the bottom of things once and for all. She’d been waiting a lifetime for this, and soon she’d know it all.

  She rushed through her morning routine and took a steaming mug of coffee with her to Rose’s room. The door was unlocked, but she locked it behind her, the click making Rose turn to face her.

  ‘He said you’d come.’

  ‘And he said why?’ Jena raised an eyebrow. She crossed the room and sat in the chair next to the bed. ‘You know it’s bad when someone outside your family has to make you sit down and talk. Not that I haven’t tried, or thought about it. Seems he was a little more convincing than I was.’

  ‘Jena, it wasn’t like that.’ Rose sat up a little more, scooting back so that she was propped against the pillows padding the headboard. ‘I was trying to protect you—’

  ‘Will said. He made it really clear that was your main intention and I get that. Okay? So, let’s skip right to the bit where you tell me what’s going on and we figure out how to save Cade and get the hell out of here with our lives intact.’

  Rose’s mouth opened in shock, then her lips moved, but no sound came out, as if she were trying to figure out how to respond. Jena almost smiled at having put Rose on the back foot. It felt good to stand up to her and have this response, but it didn’t really get her closer to her goal.

  ‘You did something to me. What?’ Jena sipped from her mug and watched Rose.

  ‘Our people held some deep spiritual beliefs.’

  ‘But not Christian ones, I know that much. So, what were they?’ Jena’s skin tingled, her nerves alight, waiting for Rose to speak.

  ‘We have Druidic heritage, and while most of those things haven’t been carried on, we’ve always had a deep respect for nature and all things in it. This … spirit, this evil that’s latched onto the pocket watch, it’s not natural. He wanted to manipulate the world to get what he wanted, to fulfil his hungers.’

  ‘And he hungered for you.’ Jena pursed her lips. ‘You killed him too, didn’t you? He was the first to be possessed by this man?’

  Rose nodded. ‘I loved him. Ronaldo. But I couldn’t save him.’ The old woman looked into Jena’s eyes then. ‘You can’t save Cade, either. You know that, don’t you?’

  ‘I have to try. So, tell me. Tell me what you know. Tell me what you did to me.’

  Rose pursed her lips, and then finally nodded.

  ‘I cobbled together the bits of my Druidic heritage, the things that had been passed down to me. I had to … I had to make it up becau
se I didn’t know enough and had no way to search. I’d left our family spell book when I moved here. Hoped I’d left it all behind …. But the spirit followed me.’ Rose sighed, looking sad and old. ‘There was no one I could talk to. After Ernest, I kept the girls close, kept them from having a life among others. I tried to keep them safe too. Your aunt left as soon as she could, but your mother found a man who was happy to take over the farm, and so they started a life here.’

  Rose paused and reached for her glass of water. A slight tremor made her hand shake, but Jena couldn’t tell if it was from emotion or just old age. Jena resisted the urge to help; Rose was a strong woman, it was bad enough she was stuck in bed for the most part; Jena knew that must grate something awful.

  ‘I thought I’d dealt with it, that I could just bury that damn watch and it would be okay. But on the off chance that it wasn’t, I took what I knew and I called on all the magic I could to protect you. Old gods and new, anyone who would listen.’

  The hairs on Jena’s arms prickled and stood on end, and she couldn’t breathe for the anticipation.

  ‘Something happened,’ Rose continued. ‘I wasn’t imagining it. Your mother was there too, of course, she wanted to keep you safe as well. The birds came, they swarmed the sky above us, landed on the ground, and there was an incredible noise, a cacophony. I knew it had been done. I just didn’t know what it was. I always had the feeling, though, that when you needed it, whatever was inside you would come out; it would help you. The birds will help you.’

  Jena laughed, though it came out choked and hysterical. ‘So, you don’t even know. You can’t be sure what you did to me, just that something happened.’

  Rose looked up at her then, her gaze firm and steady. ‘I did what I could. And I had to trust it would be enough. You’re still here, aren’t you?’

  ‘And you didn’t think to protect my brother and sister too?’

  ‘We tried, trust me. It wasn’t the same, though. I don’t know what was different. Maybe it’s that you were the firstborn, they are always more powerful, but it was only you.’ Rose licked her lips before continuing. ‘I didn’t even know your father had the watch. Not until it was too late. At first, he just seemed stressed. Money had been a bit tight, but it was lean for everyone back then, and I had some cash stockpiled for those times. And then he started getting violent. Your mother brushed it off as stress. I tried to make her believe that it was more than that. And then the barn happened. And it was too late. They were all gone.’