by Tara Brown
Their eyes fill with tears and they hug me.
"Honey, don’t cry. You're making me cry."
"Rayne don’t cry. We'll go get Willow and you'll feel better."
I pull back and sniffle, "She isn’t my mom. Not my real mom. She is my guardian. She doesn’t want me to live with her anymore and dickface over there burned my house to the ground anyway. I have nowhere to go."
Mona looks at Wyatt and then me, "He said you needed us. He said you would say stuff like that. You're just tired Rayne."
Michelle looks at me, "A lot of freshmen crack the first year sweetie. It's a lot of pressure. You've always had such a sheltered life. The stress is probably more than you can take right now."
I stop sniffling and watch them both patronize me.
"You just need a few days of rest. You've been so down since we started school. We won't let you hurt yourself."
"No, we love you Rayne. Willow loves you. Everyone gets a little down now and then. It's so obvious with all the sleeping and stuff, I'm sorry we missed the cries for help."
I push away and look at him, "You told them I was fucking crazy? You're an asshole."
Michelle looks back at him, "He told us about how he was trying to help you and you kept pushing him away. His heart is broken Rayne."
Mona smiles softly, "He only ever wanted to help you. That’s why he tried to stop you from hooking up and tried to be there for you."
The world feels like it closes in on me. I walk past them both to the SUV. I walk slowly and watch his eyes, "So you've loved me all along?"
He gives a nod and watches Michelle and Mona.
"Why did you slap the shit out of me on the grass?"
He shakes his head, "She is hallucinating. I never hit her. I wouldn’t ever hurt her."
I look back at them, "You saw him manhandle me at the bar and Mona you threw a beer at him for Christ's sake."
"I was trying to save you from another meaningless one night stand." His voice has a hint of humor.
I laugh. It's bitter and full of spite.
I look at Mona and Michelle and raise an eyebrow, "You want proof? Fine." I break into a run. Wyatt is chasing me. I can hear his feet on the boardwalk. I run hard to the end of the pier and jump in. He follows me into the water this time. One of the water angel's things is there instantly. She glows and her pretty face turns to anger and pain. She screams at him and grabs him.
His eyes fill with fear as she drags him down. Her screams make my ears feel like they're bleeding. I dive under. I see her. I swim but she is faster. He is struggling and fighting her. He does something with his hands and sends her back. She is angry and frothing up the sea. She swirls around him, choking him with the white strands of her dress. He never stops fighting her. He pulls something from his back pocket and in the struggle he gets his arms free. His hands come up the way Willow's did with the knitting needle. He stabs into her eyes where the light shines.
She screams as she dies. I can see the lights coming. I swim to him and grab his arm. I pull but he fights. He's trying to take something. I pull him and look back. Panic fills me. He grabs my face and sucks the air from my lungs. He grins at me. He's using me as his own oxygen mask. I point. He turns and sees the line of white lights.
He mouths, 'fuck'
I nod. He swims fast and hard for the shore. When I look back I can see them. They're everywhere. His feet hit the rocks before mine. He drags me from the sea.
He runs to the car, "GET IN THE CAR!"
Mona and Michelle are standing on the pier watching in disbelief as a horde of white-garbed women climbed from the sea. When the air hits them, they move in the same odd way the one in my room moved.
Michelle screams and Mona drags her to the car, the same way Wyatt is dragging me.
"You killed her." I sputter. He pushes me into the SUV and starts it. Mona and Michelle barely make it into the car when he pulls away. He speeds through town.
He clenches his jaw, "You're an idiot."
I look at my stunned and sobbing friends, "Yeah well you're an asshole. You lied to them to get them to talk me into coming with you? What the hell?"
He pounds the steering wheel, "You ran. You ran and I didn’t know how to get you back. God dammed. I was trying to keep you safe."
"Prisoner. You were keeping me prisoner!"
He seethes, spitting on my face when he yells, "YOU WERE SAFE!"
"You're crazy. She isn’t crazy, you are. You're a son of a bitch. You had us convinced we were the worst friends, that we let her get depressed and become a danger to herself."
Michelle leans forward and slaps him on the top of the head, "You son of a bitch. You god dammed son of a bitch."
He swats at her, "Stop. Just stop."
Mona looks at me, "I'm sorry."
I shiver from anger and the cold water. "No I'm sorry. I've dragged you into something and I'm sorry for it."
Michelle wipes her eyes and shakes her head, "What were those?"
"Nixie."
The three of us mouth the word and look confused.
"Water Sprites. Water Witches. They have incredible power in the water. Very hard to kill. Unless you happen to have a silver dagger. Their essence is a healer for people."
He speaks as if the woman in my room is nothing but a good source of faerie dust.
"You killed her."
He frowns, "She was trying to kill me."
I raise an eyebrow, "She was trying to save me."
He rolls his eyes, "Yeah, same thing I guess."
"So water sprites are real?" Mona looks like she is about to laugh.
I nod, "You would beg for death if I told you about the things that are real. That’s how I felt anyway."
Wyatt cranks the heat when he sees how much I'm shivering.
"So those things looked pretty angry back there. That was some scary shit. Watching them crawl out of the water like an army made of chiffon. They seemed like they hated you."
Wyatt nods, "Nothing new there. Everything hates me." His eyes flicker at me. I envy them their true hate. On some level I still really like him. It's a dirty level where my inner whore lives. I don’t like to let her have opinions or sway over what me and the common sense bitch are doing.
He continues coldly, "They can sense the death of their sisters from miles. They can smell the death of other sisters on me."
Through my chattering teeth I grimace, "You’ve killed them before?"
He gives me a blank stare, "When I've needed to."
"Were they attacking you?"
"No, I needed the essence."
I knew the answer. I just wanted to hear him say it. It fuels the fire I need to hate him properly. Even then, when I don’t think I can.
"They helped me escape you. Why would they do that? They seem to have my best interest at heart."
He shakes his head, "I don’t know. The fact they're helping you is weird. Fire Witches, Earth Witches and now the Nixie. It's unprecedented."
"So they're the Water Witches?"
He nods.
I want to ask him a million questions, but I don’t want to traumatize Mona and Michelle.
He glances at me again, "You saved me."
I realize I did.
"Thanks."
"It was an accident. I panicked. They looked scary swimming like that at us in a wall of lights."
He chuckles, "That they did."
"It's probably going to haunt my dreams forever."
Mona passes me my phone. I take it and see the texts and flashing lights.
"Willow has been sending messages non stop. She phones and texts every half an hour."
I look at the messages and frown.
"She never wrote these."
I glance back at Mona. She frowns, "What do you mean?"
"Someone must have her phone. She never calls me Rayne unless she is really upset or really angry. And she never calls herself mom."
I look up at Wyatt. He bites his lip.
> "Did you do this?"
He shakes his head, "No but they might have her phone."
"Who are they?"
He looks at me and laughs, "Who isn't right now? Everyone seems either willing to help you or hurt you, for whatever reason."
I think for a second, "How do I know they don’t have her?"
He laughs a rich fully belly laugh. "The only reason we weren’t struck dead upon entering their yard is because they were expecting us. I came unarmed and you were with me. You think for a second they couldn’t have killed us, instantly?"
I frown, "You said they couldn’t kill you."
He looks over at me and frowns, "Her, she, one singular witch. She cannot kill me, they is another story. I can't fight them all off and you don’t seem to have any ability at all."
"I can eat evil with my mouth. Very special talent in fact."
He rolls his eyes, "Yeah well thus far it's proven pathetic. You ate a guy on the grass."
I gulp. He raises an eyebrow, "Who else?"
I look down, "A man in a garage. I'm ashamed."
Had a cricket been in the backseat you could have picked out the notes he played.
I look back to see their ghostly white faces covered in horrified expressions. My eyes widen instantly, "I never ate them like chewed and swallowed."
They look at each other and try to smile. Michelle tucks her hair behind her ear and laughs, "Of course not." She giggles nervously and looks at Mona.
I'm not certain of the course of action I should be taking. I close my eyes and try to remember how Willow put it in the green house.
"I'm something called a Sin Eater. I eat evil. Right now there is too much evil on the earth. When I've eaten enough evil and put the earth back in balance, I am to be sacrificed and I take the evil to hell with my soul. I have been born three times, the same soul every time. When the balance tips and the world is smothered in darkness, it's time for me to be born again. It happened once in the beginning when the earth was young. Once in the dark ages. Once now. When I'm born I live roughly twenty-one years. In that time I live like a normal person until the last two years. In those last two years, I fill with the sickness of the earth. Black Angels, angels of death, bring me the evil of the world. They put it in me. It makes me sick. Then I have to be crucified and burned on the cross and beheaded, I think." I glance at Wyatt.
He smiles and nods, "Weirdest conversation ever."
I laugh at him, "Hardly. Your uncle actually said the words seed, spilling and womb in one sentence."
He rolls his eyes, "Oh my god, he was telling the story from the bible."
I sneer, "Anyway, then my soul returns to hell and I take the evil with me."
Their eyes dart between Wyatt and I. Neither believes what they are being told. I don’t blame them.
"Willow was my guardian. They don’t know exactly how I'm born but I'm born without life. I'm born dead."
Mona raises an eyebrow, "Like a still born?"
I nod, "Sorta. I guess. I still don’t have a full explanation on it all. But when I sleep, I am with the dead. I'm a vessel for death. That’s all I know."
Michelle nods, "I have tried waking you tons of times. It never works."
"You can't wake me. I'm dead every morning until I wake. I wake when the dead let me come back. Apparently they take me somewhere. Like my dreams aren’t dreams, but something else."
Wyatt puts a hand on mine and squeezes. I like the feel of him. Regardless of everything else, he seems to one of the few people I can count on. Even if his evil family has every intention of hurting me.
Mona watches him and glares, "And him? Where does he fit into this trip down the rabbit's hole?"
I laugh and the corners of Wyatt's mouth lift.
He clears his throat, "I'm a Van Helsing. My family has been battling the things her family made since the beginning of time."
I grin, "Yes, Van Helsing from Dracula."
Michelle laughs, "This is the shit. You guys need to write this down and make a novel. Maybe not for kids though. The white ladies in the water are too scary. The movie version would have them peeing their pants. Damn near peed mine."
"So you are here to kill her?"
He shrugs and looks at Mona in the rearview, "Haven't decided on that yet."
I watch his dark blue eyes and wait for him to smile but he doesn’t. I guess he isn’t kidding. Great. I pull my hand away.
"Asshole."
Chapter Fifteen
Three of us in a king bed is too many. I'm cramped and uncomfortable. I hate being in the middle. I climb out of the bed and walk to the door.
I turn the handle but it's locked. I close my eyes and calm my mind.
"Are you here?" I ask to no one. No one anyone else could see or hear. I haven’t properly talked to them in a long time. I remember being a kid and they could do stuff. Lift things and play dolls with me.
The air whispers and sparkles with energy.
I smile when I hear their whispers.
"Can you unlock the door please?"
I hear the whispers, like children's giggles from a distance.
"Please. I won't block you out anymore."
The lock clicks. I turn the handle slowly and wander out into the night.
They touch me and beg me to wait. They don’t like the house either.
I slip down the stairs, making no more noise than a feather would. I almost float across the floor, I am so fast and quiet. I open the buffet and turn the piece of silver.
The latch clicks. It's the most noise I've made yet.
I push the wall and creep down the winding stairs.
The headlamp is the only thing I see when I reach the bottom.
He is bent over his books and alone in the dark.
I creep to him. He looks up as I stand next to him. He jumps and shines his headlamp in my eyes.
"You scared me!" He whispers sharply.
"I need answers Fitz. Willow recently told me about you and her. The great love of her life."
I sit at the chair next to him and smirk.
He looks sad. He pulls off the headlamp and places it facing upward on the table, to light up the area we are in.
The rest of the room is dark until my eyes adjust.
"Your eyes."
"They can see no matter where I am. I can see in the dark and in the ocean. When they do this, I can see really far too. Like nothing can hide from me."
He looks grim, "Except your heart."
"What?"
"You aren’t supposed to love Rayne. You shouldn’t be able to love him the way you do. It isn’t natural."
I have guarded the secret so close, I never even let myself see it. Not fully. "Please don’t tell him."
He frowns, "I would never. I thought at first it was the way we attract all of the things you are. But I see you don’t feel that way about the rest of us. Things like you can't help but want us. All of us. But you are different. Your heart belongs to him."
My skin shivers, "I try so hard to hate him. He has been nothing but cruel to me."
He nods toward the wall of swords and wooden stakes, "He was trained to despise all that you are. He dislikes all of you, naturally. It goes against his nature to even be kind to you."
I shake my head, "He's been kind to the others. I've seen it. There was a witch, he never hurt her."
He smiles and I can see regret everywhere, "He is biding his time my dear."
"But he promised her…"
"He lied." Panic rises in me. I have to warn her. I watch his eyes. I might not get a chance to warn her. I wish someone had warned me.
"You hate me don’t you?"
He nods once as his eyes dart around the room, "I don’t mean to. I know what you are is not your fault but I don’t have the ability to be kind to you, not without plotting your death. You shouldn’t have come back here. The Nixie tried to warn you."
The air sparkles and my skin twitches, "You will betray me then? You will make su
re they get me? That’s why the Nixies came. They came to warn me about you and the rest of your family. Not him. It never was him I was in danger of. But the rest of you, you'll kill me. You'll betray Willow, even though you once found yourself in the same predicament as me?"
His eyes fill with tears. He whispers, "I'm sorry," just as there is a rush of hands and darkness. I feel instant pain and burning everywhere. I scream but it's cut short.
xxxx
I wake to pain. Writhing pain, it's everywhere. I scream. Tears instantly spring from my eyes. The air doesn’t sparkle with the dead but I can feel them. They took me when I slept.
I am in chains, hanging so my toes just touch the ground. I'm stripped to the bandeau and granny panties I bought in Warwick. My arms and shoulders are in pain, ridiculous amounts of pain.
"HELP ME." I cry out, but by the echo and the draft, I can tell I am somewhere old. The walls look like a dungeon, an ancient dungeon. My wrists burn from the shackles.
I cry out again and again, but no one answers me.
"Wyatt." I sob. My dark hair is matted around my face and neck. The tears have been flowing long enough to soak my neck. I can feel them trickling down my stomach and in between my breasts.
Fear grips me as I realize what is happening. His family wants me to be filled with the sin and evil. They want me to take it to hell with me. They will keep me here until the five devils come and fill me up. They know far more than they have let on.
I hang and suffer and I don’t know how long it's been. I see the light of the morning moving across the stone and brick floor. It starts its journey back as it crests the house I'm in and moves toward nightfall. My hands are burning and I'm certain one of my shoulders has dislocated. The pain almost knocked me out, but I managed to stay awake. Hanging from a dislocated shoulder is excruciating.
I can feel craziness lurking behind my regular thoughts. I hear a noise as the sun sets. A voice. A man maybe. I try to keep my eyes open but the problem with sleeping with the dead every night is simple. When I need to sleep, I sleep. No matter what, I sleep. Like the dead. With the dead.
I wake to a stabbing pain in my stomach. My feet lift and push me up. I think both shoulders are dislocated now. The pain doesn’t register with me for a minute. When it does, a scream tries to leave my throat but it's so dry there is nothing. Air wheezes through the wind tunnel. My feet both touch the ground now. I have stretched out my arms by sleeping with dislocated shoulders.