by H. P. Bayne
This time, Sully was the one receiving the sympathetic gaze. “Were they nice?”
Once again, he debated between truth and lie. In the end, she’d asked for the truth. Giving her anything else would feel wrong. He shook his head. “Jim Blake, my foster father, was an alcoholic. He got mean when he drank.”
“Mean how?” Lisa almost whispered it, as if uncertain whether asking was okay.
Sully had no problem telling her, not anymore. “He was physically abusive. His wife, Colleen, looked the other way. They had a son called Jimmy. When I knew him, he was sixteen or seventeen. He wasn’t any better than his father, only I was told he did worse with the girls.”
Lisa’s face had taken on an intensely sad expression as he’d talked. “I’m so sorry. That’s horrible.” She turned to Dez. “Were you there too?”
He shook his head. “Sully came to live with my family after the Blakes. After …” He trailed off, eyeing Sully.
Sully again opted for truth, picking up where Dez left off. “After a fire killed the Blakes. I’d imagine that’s why the lot was empty all this time. The property’s history isn’t very nice.”
One of Lisa’s hands shot to her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh my God, are you serious? A fire?”
“It was an arson,” Sully said. “Another foster kid who used to live here. She was abused and was really messed up over it.” Sully didn’t go further down that road, his own, more recent experience with the woman one he wished he could forget.
“The burning smell, it’s because of that, isn’t it? They’re trying to set fire to my house.”
Though Sully had considered it, he thought there might be a more innocent explanation. “If the fire department couldn’t find heat in your walls, I doubt that’s the problem. The smell is probably connected to the Blakes.”
“But what you said about them, it explains my injuries, right?”
Sully nodded slowly, with regret. “Yeah, I think it does. People who are jerks in life don’t stop being jerks when they’re dead.” Boy, did he know firsthand.
The statement had sparked something, a heaviness he suspected would lead to something more. He hated having Lisa around here if Jim was about to have a meltdown.
“Lisa, are you able to go somewhere for a couple of hours?” Sully asked. “I’m going to have to deal with this, and it might get worse before it gets better. I don’t want you around for it.”
“Ciaran would be upset if he knew I left the house with strangers.” Even as she said it, she sounded hopeful, as if praying one of them could convince to her do exactly as Sully had suggested.
Dez fielded her concern. “We’re licensed and required to get updated criminal record checks done. You can trust us to take care of the place. And Sully’s right. If things start happening, better you’re not around.”
Lisa was convinced, as evidenced by her heaving herself out of the chair and making for the front door. There, she stepped into slip-on boots and grabbed her coat. From a shelf, she retrieved her purse and car keys. With assurances they would call once it was over, she left.
Dez stood in the living room, watching through the window as Lisa backed out of the driveway and drove away. “So what’s the deal, Sully? Are things about to start happening?”
Sully stood in the centre of the room and focused. The energy was heavier, stronger—if he could slap a word on it, angrier.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Things are about to happen, all right.”
4
The first thing Sully wanted to do was to figure out how many entities he had to deal with.
As he’d expected, Dez didn’t like the sound of that. “You mean, they might all be here?”
“Maybe. Hard to tell with Blake’s energy coming in so strong. He was always overpowering. It’s possible I can’t sense anything else because he’s pushed himself so far forward.”
In Sully’s case, it wouldn’t matter. Even if Colleen and Jimmy were lost to him in feeling, if they were indeed here, he’d see them eventually.
To seek them out, he fell back on memory.
“Whenever Blake was about to fly into a rage, Colleen and Jimmy went to their rooms and stayed there.”
“And that’s what you’re feeling? An oncoming rage?” Dez asked. “I mean, I can feel something too, kind of. It’s heavy in here, almost hard to breathe.”
Sully had been visually searching the room. Now he turned to meet Dez’s eye. “That’s him. Once we put an end to this, the place will feel a lot different.”
Sully headed for the stairs, turning to make sure Dez was with him before making any attempt to head up. Though determined to face this down, he wasn’t stupid enough to think doing it alone was a good idea. He’d been there, done that, and had nearly lost his life more than once because of it.
Dez had been a police officer. It took guts to walk into a dangerous situation. Having a partner with you didn’t make you any less brave; it made you less likely to get your head shot off.
Even if Blake’s spirit wasn’t in control of any firearms, he was dangerous enough all on his own and in his own way. If Sully had learned anything about dealing with malevolent spirits, it was that cockiness came before the fall.
“You doing okay?” Dez asked.
Sully nodded and turned back to the stairs. “Yeah. Just stay with me.”
“Every step, Sull.”
Sully managed a grateful smile before heading up.
The lower floor had been on the chilly side, which Sully had put down to the season and to the fact a woman carrying the extra weight Lisa was might choose to keep the heat down. But when he reached the upper floor, it felt almost as bad as stepping outside.
“Did they leave a window open or something?” Dez asked.
Sully shook his head. “I think it’s Blake.”
“I don’t get it. It’s like one massive cold spot.”
“I think he’s sucking energy from the place.”
Dez didn’t answer immediately, and when Sully turned to see why, he discovered Dez had gone stock-still, eyes wide. “He’s going to pull some poltergeist shit, isn’t he?”
“I think he’s going to try. If he’s able to move objects from one place to the next and cause injuries to Lisa, he’s not helpless.”
One of the bitter pills about the paranormal world was that negative emotions, like anger and fear, most often gave the strongest boost to ghosts. Sully hadn’t encountered many happy poltergeists in his life. Fortunately, he came with power all his own—one he’d learned to use over time.
Dez knew it. “You going to do your whole reverse possession thing?”
Sully tipped his head as he listened to the silence around them. “I’d rather not. The idea of sucking in that man’s energy isn’t my idea of a good time.”
Even so, the possibility was there if he needed it.
Deciding they’d stood here long enough, Sully led the way down the hall to a set of double doors that had to belong to the master bedroom. No sign of any spirits in here, nor did he find any in the nursery, ready to go right across the hall.
“Anything?” Dez asked.
“Good news is I don’t see or sense Colleen or Jimmy anywhere.”
“So you think they crossed over already?”
“They must have.”
Dez tilted his head. “So why not Blake? Why’d he stick around if his family left?”
“Maybe he’s scared to go because he thinks he won’t be going anywhere good.”
“Yeah, okay, but given what you told me about them, wouldn’t they be scared to go too?”
Sully considered the thought. “Jimmy was young. Could be he hadn’t grasped how bad it was, the stuff he did. And Colleen, much as I hated the way she never helped me or anyone else, I guess I can kind of see another possibility now. Maybe when Blake wasn’t beating the foster kids, he was beating her or Jimmy. If so, we were an outlet for him, making her safer. I guess I can’t blame her for that.”
Dez cros
sed his arms. “Yeah, well, my sympathy remains at level zero. Lady could have called and reported him. God knows you had the injuries to prove what you’d been through. If she’d said something, they would have shut him down and removed all of you.”
“And who’s to say where we would have ended up? Dez, some of my injuries came from those other homes. Blake wasn’t the only one to abuse the kids in his care.” Sully faced Dez fully. “I don’t regret anything, okay? If I hadn’t been where I was the night of the fire, I wouldn’t have met Dad. I wouldn’t have ended up coming to live with you guys. There’s a reason for everything. You don’t have to like it, and I love that you’re pissed off for me, bro, but I’ve mainly come to terms with my past.”
Dez held his eye for a few long seconds. His face didn’t soften. “Sorry, Sull. I’m proud of you for being big enough to forgive the bastards, but I’m not. I remember what you were like when you came to us, how scared you were, how uncertain of yourself. They made you that way. All of them. I’m not about to let that go.”
No point arguing, so Sully settled for patting Dez on his outermost crossed arm.
Dez seemed to take the gesture as his cue to let loose, shouting loud enough to be heard in the deepest corners of the house. “You hear me, you prick? You think you’re a big man, hurting women and kids? Huh? Let’s see what you’ve got! Come at me, asshole!”
Sully gave Dez a shove. “Dez, quit it! What the hell are you doing?”
“You’re trying to find him, aren’t you?”
“I want him targeting me, not you.”
Dez glared down at Sully. “Tough. Not happening. He’s targeted you enough for one lifetime. Now he’s going to deal with me.”
Something showed behind Dez, and Sully shifted to see the ghost of Jim Blake standing, glaring at Dez. But something else showed in his face.
Focus.
Thoughts of Lisa and Ciaran came to Sully, the thought of Ciaran being influenced or even partially possessed Blake.
Now it seemed the spirit’s target had transferred.
Sully grasped Dez’s arms. “Dez, listen to me. This anger, it’s not all yours.”
“Like hell.”
“It’s not. I need you to take a breath and try to relax. Focus on me, all right? We’re going to walk out of here, go take a break or something.”
“I’m not leaving, not until I deal with that asshole! Quit fucking arguing with me!” Dez’s voice shook with rage. A bad sign.
“You can’t. Not like this. You and Blake, you’re feeding off each other, okay? You have to—” He stopped abruptly as another glance to the side revealed no further sign of Blake. For a moment, Sully relaxed. The air was warmer, the atmosphere in the hallway lighter, as if the house had been successfully exorcised.
Then it occurred to him. The reason Blake wasn’t in the house anymore was because he’d gone somewhere else.
Dez.
Sully turned his eyes back up to his brother’s face. “Oh shit.”
Dez’s face, but not. This Dez’s expression was dark, twisted. Furious.
Worse, it was directed at Sully.
“You know your problem?” Dez snarled. “You’re weak. You’ve always been weak. I protected you, always did, still do.”
“Dez, this isn’t you. I need you to—”
“You know what? Fuck you. You don’t like the way I deal with shit, you handle it. I’m gone.”
It dawned on Sully what Dez meant. He was going to leave—and unwittingly take Blake with him.
As Dez turned toward the stairs, Sully stepped in front of him. “You can’t leave. We need to deal with this.”
Dez shoved Sully aside. “Go to hell.”
Sully grabbed Dez’s nearest arm—his left. Unfortunately, this kept his dominant right free to take a swing.
And he did. A good one.
The blow caught Sully on the side of the head, spinning and dropping him all in the same motion. He lay there, head reeling, and opened his eyes to a swirling image of Dez looming over him. Sully sensed the assault coming, and he struggled to crawl away, at least far enough he could try to climb to his feet.
Dez—or rather, Blake—wasn’t allowing it.
Only he didn’t hit him again. Dez’s large, solid hands shot out and clamped around Sully’s throat. Dez said nothing more, voice given over to furious grunts Sully recognized not as his brother’s but his once-foster father’s. Fighting for breath as he clawed at Dez’s hands, Sully could get nothing past the fingers compressing his windpipe. When Blake shook him, Sully’s oxygen-starved brain flashed back to a time when he was seven, to this exact scenario. His throat in Blake’s grip, head whipping back and forth as he was shaken like a rag doll.
He’d barely escaped death that day. He wasn’t going to be as lucky today.
Attempts to break Dez’s grip having failed, his body and brain edging dangerously close to unconsciousness, he did the only thing he could think of. He went limp.
It didn’t help. Blake kept squeezing, kept shaking him.
Desperation faded as unconsciousness enveloped him.
5
Consciousness returned slowly, a piece at a time.
The sensation of something solid beneath his body. The smell of fresh carpet. A sound of a door slamming, the rumble of an engine.
Sully pried open one eye, waiting a few seconds for the ceiling above him to quit whirling before he opened the other.
His throat hurt, and he rubbed at it a moment before forcing himself to sitting. Though his head spun for a few seconds, and the change in position led to a throbbing in his head, he kept himself upright.
He wasn’t dead, which he was grateful for. But that was it.
Dez was gone. And the dangerous ghost of Jim Blake had gone with him.
Sully propped himself up on one arm, using the opposite hand to pat himself down for his cellphone. It was where he’d placed it, in the pocket of his hoodie, and he pulled it free.
He stared at it, deciding best to break this to Eva. Finally, he gave up searching for the right words and dialled. No correct way for telling someone her husband had been possessed by an evil spirit.
“Everything okay?” Eva asked upon answering.
Sully’s response was immediate. “Why?”
“Because Dez texted me a while ago, telling me you guys were headed to McCoy Falls. He said you were going to meet a client at the house you used to live in.”
Eva knew about Sully’s childhood. Her concern was for him right now, not Dez.
Boy, was she in for a surprise.
“Not the same house,” Sully corrected weakly. “Same property. The house was destroyed.”
“Okay, so how’s it going?”
“Uh, not so good.” Sully leaned up against the nearest wall and massaged at the ache in his neck. “Dez kind of attacked me.”
A pause. “What do you mean, he attacked you?”
“He choked me out. Right out. I mean, it wasn’t him. It isn’t him. He’s not himself right now. I need to warn you, in case he comes back to your place. Maybe you and Kayleigh should go somewhere else for a while, just until I can find him and sort this out.”
“Hold on. What are you talking about?” Controlled worry laced her voice, the kind born of a decade in policing.
Taking a breath, Sully pulled himself to his feet. He’d need to make sure Dez was gone rather than somewhere in the house arming himself and preparing to finish the job. He headed carefully down the stairs, explaining the situation to Eva on the way.
“Where is he now?” she asked as Sully reached the front door.
“I don’t know. His coat and boots are gone.” Sully peered out a tall, thin window to the side of the door. His heart sank. “And so is the SUV.”
“Yours or ours?”
“Yours. He picked me up this morning.”
“Okay. Okay, that’s good. The vehicle’s equipped with a GPS system. I’ve got an app to help me track it. Give me a sec.”
&nb
sp; Sully stepped into his boots and laced them up while he waited on Eva, wondering why he even bothered. He had no vehicle, after all, and no immediate way to get into the city from here.
“I’ve got an address,” Eva said. She groaned. “Liquor store. Sounds about right for the man you described. God, it’s bad enough Dez being possessed. I don’t want him drinking and driving besides. What if he hurts someone?”
“Where’s the liquor store?”
“Main Street. Stay where you are. I’m coming.”
Sully pulled on his coat while balancing the phone between his jaw and shoulder. “No way. I need to find him. I’m heading over to Main. Meet me there.”
“Watch yourself, all right? He’s already attacked you once. Don’t give him another chance.”
“What choice do I have? It’s Dez.”
Eva sighed. “Be careful, all right? I need to drop Kayleigh off at a friend’s place before I come out there. Keep me posted.”
They disconnected, and Sully dropped the phone into the front pocket of his coat. Then he zipped it up, ensured the knob lock was on, and ran out the door.
During the sprint to Main Street, Sully put in a quick, breathless call to Lisa, warning her against going home yet. Until he was certain Blake wasn’t taking Dez back to the house, he didn’t want to risk their heavily pregnant client being in the way.
“When can I go home?” she asked.
Sully huffed out a reply. “Give me a few minutes. I’ll get back to you about that. Which way is the liquor store once I hit Main?”
“What? Why?”
“Trust me. Which way?”
“If you’re coming from Christopher, it’s left.”
Sully checked, relieved to see the sign for Christopher Avenue. He paused for a quick breather, realizing he’d need to pass along a more detailed warning. “Thank you. And, hey, if you see Dez anywhere, don’t try to talk to him, all right? What you said the ghost was doing to Ciaran, he’s doing now to Dez. I need to find him and deal with it.”