by Faulks, Kim
They didn’t know he was here, amongst them.
I stabbed the button and waited for the door to open as Mavi glanced around the lobby. “I can smell fear.”
The doors opened with a ding and I stepped inside. He was strange, this one, dark eyes and long dark hair, almost Cherokee in appearance. He was dangerous. That echo resounded inside me…dangerous just like me.
Lights flashed above us, climbing. It was barely two hours ago I stood here, waiting for the Senator to recognize the marks on my wrist. So full of damn hope, I could almost choke.
I turned my head as we came to a stop and watched Mavi step forward, and now here I was bringing another one of us.
A scream pierced the gaps in the elevator doors, growing louder as they opened. I took a step and turned toward the sound.
A woman stood with her back to the wall, her hand over her mouth staring through the open doors to a room. My heart lunged as I shot forward. The heavy thud of boots resounded. It was all I could hear, filling my head with the deafening sounds of thunder.
Blood was smeared across the doorway…splashes and marks along the ground, ending at a body. I knew who it was before I stepped inside, knew by his suit.
It was the same one the Senator’s bodyguard wore. Clean cut, blending into his surroundings.
There was no blending for him now. Mavi closed in behind me as I stepped inside to the room.
A chair was overturned, bullet holes embedded in the walls. The bed was a mess, the lamp smashed against the ground. Papers were scattered, faces and lists of credentials, along with the guard’s ID.
“Jesus Christ,” Mavi muttered. “He’s with the Senator, isn’t he?”
I turned and strode out the door. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Goddamnit. They were supposed to be fucking safe. The walls seemed to close in, wedging me harder into this nightmare.
The door beside this room was closed. I raised my hand, and knocked. “Senator Williams, you in there?”
I craned my head and listened. The handle gave way, the door swinging open as I pushed through. The place was abandoned: suitcases open on the bed, a woman’s suit jacket hanging over the end of a chair. I stepped closer and touched the soft woolen cashmere sweater. “They’re gone.”
“Taken you mean,” Mavi growled. “Fuck!”
I didn’t need to hear the words, they already crowded my head.
“How the Hell are we going to find her now?”
I swallowed hard, my mind racing until one simple thought stilled me. I waited to do things the right way, waited too goddamn long. My thoughts slipped to the concierge in the foyer as I turned and made for the door.
There was a crowd gathering outside the bodyguard’s room as I passed. “Someone call the concierge, tell them what’s happened.”
A man responded, shoving his hand into his pocket to draw out his phone. Mavi followed as I made for the elevators.
I hit the button and the doors opened. We were inside in a heartbeat, our reflection bouncing against the steel doors.
“What’s the plan?” Mavi crossed his arms. “How the Hell are you going to do this now.”
I stared at the blurred reflection and murmured. “Simple, I’m not.”
The image shifted, my features gone, morphing into someone older, someone with a perfect navy suit.
“Jesus,” Mavi muttered. “Neat party trick.”
I glanced sideways. “Almost as cool as your rain dance.”
There was a flicker of annoyance as the elevator doors opened. I prayed the guy upstairs had called, and prayed the damn concierge answered. The desk clerk’s head snapped up as I stepped out. “Everything okay?”
“No, it isn’t.” I made for the counter. “I think something’s happened to the Senator. I need her home address and phone number immediately.”
There was no hesitation, only a sly glance at Mavi behind me before he punched up the details on the computer. “We’ll need to call the authorities.”
I said nothing, only waited for him to press print. The machine whirled, and then coughed out the paper, one slide of his hand across the counter and details were mine. “Yes, call immediately.”
Mavi was already moving, heading toward the front doors as I turned. I glanced at the address and pushed through the front door. They’d take her alive. That was my only consolidation…
I grabbed my phone and dialed the number of the Senator’s cell. I expected it to go to voicemail.
But she answered, sounding breathless and strained. “Yes?”
My steps slowed as I flinched. “Senator, Senator it’s Finley, we met in the elevator at the Marriott a couple of hours ago.”
Silence greeted me on the other end of the line.
I took the chance. “I saw your bodyguard, Senator. Tell me where you are.”
“I’m fine.” Cold, dead words slipped through the line. “I don’t need any help. Please, don’t call me again.”
The line went dead. I yanked the cell from my ear to stare at the darkened screen.
“What?” Mavi glanced toward me.
“She said she was fine and then hung up on me.” A cold stab of fear carved my chest. “Something’s wrong…very wrong.”
I glanced to the address on the paper and then lifted my head to the beat up Camry as the wind howled and snowflakes fell from the afternoon sky. “We’re gonna need a faster ride.”
Pitch
2019
Thunder snarled from darkening clouds in the distance, desperate and hungry, brewing for release. Night was coming, night with its terror…night with its screams.
My eyes closed on their own—burning, weeping. Tears slipped free as I inhaled, drawing in the cold, earthy scent of the forest and that aching inside my chest spread.
Birds called in the tree above…water rushed in the stream not far from where I sat, and then deeper, in the dense undergrowth…a wolf hunted.
And that hollow ache inside my chest slipped from reach.
I tracked him as he broke through the trees and pushed out into the open. Paws smashed the earth, timed with perfection…lub dub…lub dub…lub dub…like the echo of my pulse.
We were one in that moment.
One beast racing…one beast searching…
I wasn’t me, wasn’t wrung dry…wasn’t empty.
We were predatory…
Panting breaths swept me away. Driving my power out of the belly of the wolf. Movement in the distance, darting right and left, tiny claws scratching the earth as it leapt and bound…a rabbit…
Tightness in the back of my neck as my power narrowed in. My pulse throbbed in the back of my throat.
Nothing else mattered in this moment. Only the beast and I.
We were one and the same. Same frequency. Same life. Same sounds. The savage snarl echoed inside my ears. The hunter and the hunted.
Tick…tick…tick…
I flinched with the sound. But it wasn’t mine…it was hers.
The one who never left me, who’s voice I heard above all others.
If I was haunted by humans…then I was consumed by her.
The girl in the lightning. The one who whispered beast…
I soared then, rising from the chase on the ground to high in the trees and then out, to…them, those who weren’t one of us.
Car horns blared in the city, and the squeal of brakes followed.
Noise closed in.
Murmurs.
Screams.
Crying…
Why did you do this to me? Can’t you see I trusted you?
Happy birthday to yooouuu…happy birthday to yooouuu…
I pushed further into the distance.
Fuck yeah…fuck me harder…harder baby…that’s it…
I’m sorry. Your sister didn’t make it…she’s passed…
The spark of hate flared. I hated them. Their voices, their need. They gnawed me, always needing, taking pieces of me.
Until I hit nothing…utter stillness…a dead
space of sound.
No hum of life. No breath of the earth.
Nothing but a cold, empty void.
I stilled, inhaled, and then pushed harder.
A shockwave snapped back, slamming into me like a fist in my belly.
Like somehow I’d invaded.
Air ripped my lungs, burning all the way as I coughed and gasped. White sparks detonated behind my eyes as I doubled over, holding onto the hood of my car.
Power surged, stronger than I’d ever felt before. Stronger than I could’ve imagined. I jerked away, slamming my barriers closed. But I may as well have screamed into the wind. That void consumed my feeble attempt to protect myself and with a crystal clear voice the stranger snarled…Who are you?
A woman’s voice. Strong. Cautious…afraid.
My heart hammered, filling my ears with the thunderous sound. I’m sorry…I cast the words wide, praying she found them.
Who are you?
The words came back once more.
Pitch. I waited. My thoughts frantic.
WHO. ARE. YOU?
Pain exploded in my head. A thousand pinpricks followed, washing me out in a sea of grey. Feeble words, stranger’s thoughts bombarded me. Closed doors, hidden away…careful…careful…don’t let them find you…five zero zero zero…
Numbers in my head. I jerked my gaze to my wrist, black markings just a blur, but I didn’t need to see them…they weren’t just mine…they were me…Three two zero zero…I cast the numbers into the emptiness…into nothing and waited.
A flare of energy, like she flinched. Power pressed against me…testing my barrier. She swallowed me like a tsunami, washing over me in a heartbeat, and then she was gone…leaving me washed out and stranded.
“Hey Mister, Mom wanted to know if you would like some lunch?”
I jerked and lowered my gaze. A boy stood in front of me, holding up a plastic plate filled with a homemade burger.
“We have plenty, thought you might be hungry,” his Mom called and waved a pair of tongs in the air.
Sounds closed in. Families all around me, laughing, loving, playing in the reserve at the edge of the forest.
My fingers trembled as I raked my hair from my eyes and then slid from the bonnet of the car. “Thanks.”
The kid stepped closer and shoved the plastic plate into my hands before he turned and ran away. Still that cold fear raced, that feeling of dark power rippled.
I lifted my head, sending out a whisper…I’m sorry…
There was a flare of recognition. One small push against my energy, like an acknowledgement before the feeling was gone.
And in its place came pain…someone different, someone I knew.
Panic. Fear…anger…
What the fuck do you want from me? Her words cracked through my head, making me stumble…
The plate slipped from my hands, the burger fell.
No…no! she screamed, panic rising, swallowing me.
I stumbled forward, boots smashing into the bread roll on the ground, and lunged for the door. My fingers were trembling as I yanked open the driver’s door and climbed into the truck.
I don’t understand! she screamed, and the keys rattled in my hand. I stabbed the ignition, turned the key and the engine roared to life.
She was close…so damn close. Her screams shotgun blasts in my head.
I shoved the truck into reverse and punched the accelerator. Rocks kicked up and dust swallowed the front of the truck as I backed out of the reserve and then shot forward.
Pain flared, piercing my head in clusters…white lights followed with images, flash-bombs of the past…
A woman screaming. Blood, so much blood.
Lights flickered inside my head. Chills raced along my spine.
My fingers trembled. The steering wheel slipped from my grasp. I veered across the lane as lights flared, memories from that place. I gripped the wheel and held on. Sweat dripped along my brow, falling into my eyes. “Hold on,” I whispered.
MONSTER…
BEAST…
And above me dark clouds moved in.
“Hold on, I’m coming.” I cast the words as far as I could.
Her voice was savage and raw. That’s not…that’s not my name.
I flinched with the words. “Can you hear me? Please, tell me you can hear me.”
Her whimpers carved deep like fangs in my chest. I strangled the wheel and searched. Pain and terror echoed back to me. I glanced at the sign as I flew past. Stonebrooke 150, Lakeside 189 and hit the indicator.
Instinct made me turn the wheel.
Hope flared for a second as I slowed the pickup and then turned.
I’d find her. This time I’d find her, and pray I wasn’t too late.
Spark
“You don’t want them.” My palm slipped against the tiles. “I’m the one you came for, right? Do whatever you want with me, but leave my parents alone.”
A throb beat at the base of my skull.
Sledgehammer blows punched through the drugs.
And with it came that sickening sound.
Tick…tick…TICK…
“She’ll stop. She’ll stop if I tell her to stop.” I pushed to stand. “She’ll stop if she understands…”
“It’s too late for that,” he murmured and picked at piece of lint as he recrossed his legs. “About twenty years too late, and one private jet to get home to you.”
Cold blue eyes met mine.
Eyes I’d seen a thousand times in the mirror.
“You call yourself a fucking father?” I grasped the end of the counter. “You’re a liar and a murderer.”
“Force,” he murmured.
TICK…tick…TI-
Pain exploded, cracking open my skull to travel down my arms. I tried to stand, tried to hold on. The ticking in my head swallowed by the roar of pain.
I’d take it.
I’d take it all if it meant silence.
If it meant that desperate urge to hurt was gone.
My knees buckled. I clawed for a hold and thunder growled in the distance…calling me.
I lifted my head, not the man who called himself father, but to her.
One of us…
She sat on Dad’s favorite chair, swinging her legs back and forth…watching me.
I sucked in a breath and then whispered, “I remember you.”
The agony dulled for a heartbeat. “I remember how they’d come to your bed. How they’d wake you at night to do those things to us. You used to cry, remember that? You used to call out for us and cry. You didn’t want to hurt us then, and you don’t want to hurt us now.”
Something flickered in those bottomless eyes as she swung her feet. Still, she never stopped, never slowed. Only stared.
“I do remember. Unlike you, I remember everything.” She swung her feet, back and forth…back and forth. “Did you come for me?”
Agony pierced my temple like a needle, driving…deeper…deeper…deeper.
“No, you didn’t,” she answered. “No one did.”
Tick…TICK…TICK…
A whimper slipped from my lips.
That need rose with the faint sound of an engine. I wrenched open my eyes, my body pulsing. “Fuck. You”
Above the house, thunder roared. “I’ll kill you, if you hurt them. There’ll be nothing left of you when I’m done.”
Headlights cut though the kitchen. The crunch of gravel under the tires before silence…cold, lonely silence of the night.
Until finally doors opened and closed with a thud.
Heels clacked against stone.
“Spark? Spark!”
Mom stumbled through the doorway.
The movement blurred under a sheen of tears. “Mom!” I shoved from the counter and ran.
Her eyes were wide, filled with panic, lingering on me for a heartbeat before she scanned the house. There was blood on her white shirt. Splattered across the front. My stomach clenched tight, my pulse booming inside my ears.
BEAST.
“I’m fine.” Tears welled in my eyes as he searched my body. “Dad, I’m fine.”
He stepped away then, dropping his hand to stride toward the dining room. “Goddamn bastard!”
ANIMAL.
I swallowed the pain as Mom pulled me close, her hands pressing against my back. I breathed in the ozone and blood. “I thought they hurt you sweetheart…Jesus, I thought they…”
KILL…
My bones shuddered with merciless need.
“We tried to do this the easy way, Senator.” Stony words filled the air behind me, as through the doorway, more gunmen came. I stared into their cold eyes. They were dead inside. I glanced to their wrists, to their bare, perfect skin as the bastard kept talking behind me. “We’ve been patient, hoping you’ll come around. But we can see now that’s not going to happen.”
“I’m calling the police.” She strode forward, eyes blazing. She lifted her phone, punched the button on the screen. He never said a word, only waited. The phone trembled in her hand. Hate and desperation raged in her eyes.
“Are you that stupid, Leah? I don’t think so. Who do you think is going to come to save you? Leah Blasewater. Went to Harvard to study law in the class of 1997. There you met Christopher Bishop.”
Her chest rose with a breath, and there it stayed.
My body shuddered, rocked with the ticking in my head. Dad glanced to Mom as the crisp scent of ozone filled the air.
“I’ve never heard of him,” she snarled and lifted her phone. The cell trembled in her hand. “Now, I’m giving you one last chance to get the fuck out of my home.”
“What happened with you two?” The killer took a step and Dad moved in response, pushing in front of us. “Did he cheat? Fall out of love, or was it you who broke his heart?”
Dad reached behind, fingers outstretched…seeking.
Mom stepped close and grasped his hand.
It was always the two of them…two against the world.
In this moment she wasn’t a Senator, or a lawyer. She was a wife, and a mom.