by Ariana Kenny
Chapter 18: Sam
Spinning around, we saw her, lounging on the roof of the car. She looked even more different than the last time I saw her. There was an unnatural shine in her eye, and she had her hair interspersed with plaits. She rested on one arm, and toyed with a lighter in the other, while one of her knee length lace up black boots tapped as tough impatient. The sound of the tapping on the roof of the car seemed to bellow out in the still night air. Her make up was dark, her lips a wet red shine against the matt of her skin. She regarded us like a cat regarded a fish swimming in a bowl, and a slight curve of her lips presented itself. It chilled me even more so when I realised she was staring right at me.
“Like what you see Samuel?” She grinned further before swinging her legs around and hoping off the roof, her boots landing resolutely on the grass next to the car and by the side of the dirt road.
“I’m here to talk shop. That’s all.” I said steadfastly. “We need your help, believe it or not.”
“Why would I?” Came the challenge. Now she was standing I saw what she was wearing. A tight leather shirt, black with slash marks across it, baring skin in all the right places. Similarly tight pants followed every inch of her from where her calves emerged from the business like boots to the definition of her hips. She took a step forward towards me. I was waiting for Sabian to say something, but he remained stunned, speechless.
“Because you owe us?” I had definitely meant that to be a statement, not a question, but my heart was beating faster, and I could feel beaded sweat on my temples.
Sabian finally pulled it together. “We used the token to summon you, to request your assistance.”
Rachael abandoned my fraught face and turned her attention to Sabian. “I thought you would use it to make up with dear Natasha, or wasn’t she worth the time and effort any more. Interesting!” She moved closer to me still and put a hand on my upper arm, rubbing it as though we were old friends and the touch was simply natural. My body felt as though it turned to heavy stone. She closed the distance between her face and mine, not quite touching, but far too close for comfort. “Sam, I’m flattered. I see you been working on that body of yours for me.”
Instinctively I recoiled and made a childish noise of disapproval like I had just been touched by a spider or slug. I wished some other noise of protest had come out, but I hardly had control of myself.
“Aww, lover. Don’t be like that.” But she smiled, and was clearly enjoying herself, not insulted. She crossed her arms and I took the chance to remind Sabian as to why we were here, try and get him to speed things up. “Sabian, maybe you need to ask her more specifically for what we want.” I pushed.
“Doesn’t matter how nice you ask, I might like you Sam, I did let you live after all, but don’t equate affection for a conscience.”
“I get that!” I snapped, which only seemed to serve to amuse her further. “How about because Sabian here has a token with your name on it.”
“Well, now that’s a currency I can appreciate.” Rachael said becoming more serious again. She walked back over to the car and leaned on the driver side door. “But do you know what you’re doing?”
Sabian snapped out of his haze. “We need you to help us safely and successfully find a resolution to our problem before you leave us in peace and return to your duties.” He announced it in a stilted and monotone voice as though he had rehearsed it a thousand times. Probably had.
“Gave that some thought now didn’t you?” Rachael replied, sounding impressed. “Well where to now?”
I dipped my head down the dark road and without hesitation she walked ahead. “To town it is.” She agreed, and took up the lead. Sabian and I both trailed her for a while, Rachael taking an jovial glimpse over her shoulder at us intermittently. “Anyone going to give me a rundown on what you need me to help with, or are we just playing follow the leader for the night?”
With reluctance, Sabian and I picked up pace and joined her, running her though the details we had thus far. By the time the lights of the town were within sight she was fully briefed.
“Do you know what it is?” I asked of her.
“Don’t insult me.” Rachael sneered. “What you have is Life Leech, also known as a Psychic Vampire. This one sounds like he has been sent to take out a specific group of people though – they don’t usually feed so often across a relatively small area.”
“How do we kill it.” I cut to the chase.
“Find the body it’s in, take the head. That easy.”
“Is there a way to save the host?”
“The body?” She asked as though surprised by the assertion.
“Yes, the human being it has taken.” I said angrily. Sabian gave me a look as if to silence me.
“There is no way. But if you really want, console yourself with the fact the person you are killing would likely have taken the life of someone they loved by the sound of our friend. You’re sparing them the horror, and the life of the person they would have killed. That should keep you warm and cozy at night.” Rachael gave me another look, inquisitive. “You think of me at night lover?”
“Don’t call me that.” I commanded, for what it was worth.
“You shouldn’t be so uptight. Look how far you’ve come – you should be grateful, embrace your new skills, new strengths.” As soon as she spoke I felt a rising tension, and explosion of fury taking me.
Sabian must have seen it to because before I had a chance to do something I regret, he interjected. “Rachael, we’re at the town, now what? Where do we start?”
We had approached the first buildings of the town and Rachael marched up to a tree on the side of the road. Placing her hand on it, the leaves rustled, and the bark peeled in places. She appeared to be drawing energy from it. After a moment her look of concentration faded and she stood back. “This way.” Rachael declared and strode into the town.
A few minutes later we found ourselves standing outside a bar, on the corner of two near-deserted streets. The place was on the corner, opposite a park and fairly dingy looking down to the unpromising looking flashing florescent cocktail glass outline.
Inside was just as seedy, dark wooden paneling, darker wood chairs and tables, second rate lighting and a handful of local individuals giving skeazy new definition.
Rachael seemed in her element though, practically gliding across the unpolished wooden floor to the bar. She propped herself us, took the bartender’s wrist and looked him directly in the eye. A moment later he was pouring three shots for us and walked away. Rachael downed one and turned to face the room. There wasn’t a single person not watching her with at least one eye. I ignored my drink, Sabian took his.
“The table in the far right.” I attuned to that space of the room. Two beefish looking men and a girl with long red hair and a myriad of tattoos and a red jacket handing off her chair sat with a kingly air. A younger, more weaselly man hovered around them, sitting, then standing, looking as though he was on some kind of upper. “They know what the link is between the people dying.”
“How do you know that?” Sabian asked before she gave a ridiculing huffing sound, and walked straight over to the table. As she advanced, two other tables got up and fled. Everyone at the table we approached stared her down. Rachael pulled a chair from an adjoining table without even breaking the rhythm of her walk, then twisted it around before straddling it, and the people on the other side of the table showed the first flicker of being unnerved.
“So I’m looking for the answers to some questions my friends have.” Rachael started.
The group looked up at Sam and I, standing either of her, and a smug look fixed upon their faces.
The man in the middle, sporting a graying beard, but balding on top leaned forward and raised his eyebrows. “I hope they aren’t supposed to be your bodyguards girly, or you are going to be sorely sorry.”
“Don’t need bodyguards friend.” She replied cooly.
The man’s face fell in to a
displeased look. “Don’t call me friend girly.”
Rachael snatched his hand from across the table and broke his middle finger. “Don’t call me girlie!” The other big guy at the table pulled out a gun and held it to Rachael, though she never flinched. The big guy in the middle yelled in response to the pain, and the younger guy took a step back. The woman stood to her feet. “Sit down!” Rachael said pushing back the next digit on the man’s hand. He nodded and made a gurgling sound. The woman sat back down. The young guy just continued sweating as he stood.
Rachael took a satisfied breath. “Now where were we? I am tracking something you might know as a Life Leech. And don’t bother denying it, you reek of spells and magic.”
“Then you should know to fear us.” The woman bit out.
“Don’t try me lady. You don’t know anything. Just a freaking tag along.” Rachael said, briefly drawing her attention from the man whose hand she held. Turning back to him she let his hand go, and he retracted it, holding it close. He glared at Rachael, and she lost patience. “Speak!” She yelled at him and slammed her fists into the table. Cracks developed across the wood grain. I looked around and saw Sabian on edge, fists clenched, and not another soul aside from ours left in the bar.
Rachael gathered her composure again, and smiled pleasantly. “Not wanting to talk. I get that, but unfortunately you stand between myself and my freedom. I got called here from one of the single most debaucherous, sinful get togethers in LA. I want back to my life, as it were, so you are going to start talking.”
“Fuck you” The man spat. Without warning Rachael rose to her feet, kicking the table into the hand of the man holding the gun, causing it to blast into the roof, and the holder to fall to the ground. Simultaneously, she took the man across the table by the throat and dug her nails in so hard blood trickled from the wounds. The young guy finally panicked, ran out the back, presumably to get back up. The man struggled for breath and I drew my gun, and pointed it at the other on the floor, keeping him from searching for his gun. The woman continued to sit on the chair, hands n the air and trembling.
“Can we do this without killing anyone?” I shouted at Rachael, but all she did was give me a disgusted look over her shoulder, never releasing her hold on the man. Through her revolted expression she looked legitimately surprised I would have asked such a thing of her – not to kill these people.
“What do you think I am? Honestly! Have you even thought this through?” And with that she crushed the man’s trachea and let him slump over what was left of the table on the floor.
“What the fuck!” I cried out.
“I thought we needed them?” Sabian called, confused from the spot he was rooted to.
“They all meet once a month.” The man who had been holding the gun yelled. Rachael smiled and walked over to him. He crouched, occasionally eyeing his gun lying there on the floor. The woman in the chair started to make a whimpering sound. I saw Sabian shush her, aware Rachael would quite happily end her rather than hear the invasive sound.
“Tell me more.” She demanded, bringing herself down to his eye level, and the man complied. I lowered my gun and packed it away.
“They are part of a coven, they meet monthly here on full moon or other dates. They made a pact and now they are being hunted. They pissed him off.”
“Who?” I asked unable to contain my curiosity.
“Lormorian.”
“No joke!” Rachael laughed. “The leech was contracted by Lor?! I’ll be damned.”
“Is that a good thing?” Sabian asked.
“It’s not a problem. Lor wont mind me taking one of his minions.” She stood before looking back down on the man below. “Who’s next?”
“The next person I know of is in the next town over, Patrick East. But there are others – not sure where they’re from. They only come in with the locals for supplies when they need to.”
“What do you supply them with?” I questioned.
“Whatever they need, but nothing sick, you know…..only herbs and shit, a couple like to take some light acid to help them – you know….fly.”
Rachael had a look wash over her face. “Rachael.” I called her name, I knew what she was thinking, what she was going to do. “Rachael. Let’s go.” She stood her ground.
After a short pause Rachael moved the gun with her boot, closer to the man. He shook his head. “Take it.” She said of the gun. “Go ahead.” Her voice altered, deepened and sounded demonic: “I’ll kill you if you don’t.”
Shaking, the man reached as fast as he could, but she took his hand as he slid his fingers around it. Feigning effort, playing with him, she slowly turned the gun to his face, and pulled the trigger with his own hand. The woman, still sitting on the chair sobbing made a half shriek for which she used both her hands to cover her mouth as blood spattered everywhere.
Rachael stepped past her, but hesitated and took a step back. My stomach lurched. I should have been frightened but as it was, I had let Rachael manage the situation for a reason. She had got results, but at an unacceptable cost. As it was, Rachael simply reached over the woman and pulled the red jacket from the back of the chair behind her, then walked out of the bar, with Sabian and I in tow.
“What is Lormorian Rachael?”
“A relative legend in my realm. He creates us, recruits us. Amazing, ageless, but not without his flaws.” At my inquisitive look she continued. “He falls for humans every once in a while – at least until he tears them apart….but as I hear, one of them got under his skin and managed to evade him. It’s kept him off the radar for the last few centuries. Anyway – you piss him off, you don’t get to live. Stupid primates probably tried to invoke him or something. Good fucking luck to them.”
“You’ll help us anyway – thank you.” Sabian offered.
“Don’t thank me, I’ll pay for this, but a deal is a deal. I am held to my word, so I’ll take on this leech of his, and try and explain things if and when I come across him. Debt paid.” She continued walking with purpose, but this time towards a car across the road.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Well I’m not walking to the next town. I still have a party I might catch the end of.” With a wry smile she pulled the door open and started the car by placing her hand on the dash.