Paranormal After Dark

by Rebecca Hamilton

  I summoned a binding spell and wrapped her in invisible threads of gold as she rose to her feet. “Speak Roberta. You have one minute. What do you want?”

  “Is this really necessary? After all, you’re so much more powerful than little old me.” She giggled and had the nerve to appear innocent, almost child-like. Her voice took on an angelic quality, sweet and deceiving at the same time.

  “Fifty seconds, bitch. Talk or die.”

  “Oh well, if you insist on being such a stickler, I’ll tell you.” She spoke in her librarian-ish voice, all prim and proper. “I want your powers. And you’re going to give them to me or I’ll kill you.” Her face twisted into a grotesque version of her former self. Yeah, she was ugly but this form was the shit nightmares were made of!

  She smiled as she flexed her arms, breaking the threads of gold as though they were made of nothing but air and sent me flying through the air. I landed on what used to be my roof just before she pounced on top of me. I rolled her over and grabbed ahold of her red-orange hair, slamming her head against the green metal roof, bashing her skull like a tiny piñata until I thought it’d pop. BAM! BAM! BAM! I could feel her tiny, demon brain sloshing around in her over-sized head. Still, she laughed and rolled her eyes, truly deranged beyond belief.

  “I gave you a chance to leave, Roberta. You should have listened.” I hissed, squeezing her ugly face between my fists as I shoved the back of her head onto the ridges of the metal sheeting.

  I felt my eyes change as my powers shot white-hot bolts of electricity through me and into the sides of Roberta’s head. Momentarily it shut her filthy mouth and I took the opportunity to punch her in the face, sending a spray of blood from her miniscule lips and bulbous snout. She looked at me with a maniacal, serial killer glare and before I could react, Roberta head-butted me, knocking me on my ass. I cradled my throbbing head between my hands just long enough to get my bearings before I launched myself away from her to get on my feet.

  “Wrong move Roberta.” I wiped the slow trickle of blood from my forehead before it ran into my eyes and I noticed I should’ve been exhausted but I’d felt more awake than I’d ever been. Each time I hit her, I felt more invincible. With every drop of her blood that spilled, I became intent on spilling more of it for her.

  Growling like a wild animal, I soared through the air and grabbed her by her bloody, tangled hair and threw her into the air again. She reappeared in front of me almost instantly.

  “Listen Selena, you’re all alone. No one is here to help you and I will destroy you. You’re no match for me. You may as well give up.” Roberta stood a few feet from me, attempting to flatten her matted hair.

  “I’m not going to give you my powers, Roberta. In fact, they won’t even be mine to give to anyone. The council will be here to take them because of Shawn and you. This is all because of you!”

  “Well, I do enjoy taking credit for such things, but this mess is your fault. Not mine. And when the council of elders gets here, they will put two and two together and you’ll be charged with more than ‘bunny murder’. Ironically, this crime scene looks just like what happened when your parents died. Oh, and you know that wolf friend of yours who lost his mother and brothers in a horrible ‘hunting accident’? It also looked like this.” She pointed all around us.

  “What? What wolf friend? I don’t have any ‘wolf friends’. And of course this scene looks like the accident scene where my parents died, their house exploded! “

  “Yes, it did. And you were the only survivor. Didn’t you ever find that to be odd? I’ve heard that the council sure did. And now they will reopen that case. I wonder what conclusion they will come to. And don’t play stupid, you know exactly what wolf I am talking about. Your soul mate, the one with fur and fangs.”

  “You crazy bitch! You knew this would happen? You killed my parents?”

  “Ding, ding, ding! You really are an idiot! Well, the truth, Selena is that Shawn killed them and made it look like you did it. I made you black out during the weeks that followed so you have no memory of the events. You were so easy to manipulate and like any normal human would, Shawn stepped in to help you through your grief.

  Haven’t you ever wondered why so many people abandoned you? They know your true nature, but they lack enough proof to ‘throw you to the wolves’, so to speak. I’m not surprised that it has taken you so long to catch up! You’ve always been a little slow on the uptake. No matter. The important thing is that you’re in a whole lot of trouble girlie. Now what are we going to do about that?”

  I launched myself at her and sent us both tumbling through the leaves and dirt. I smashed her face over and over again. When that wasn’t enough to satisfy my desire, I shot more of my power into her skull, lighting the bitch up like a holiday tree. Volt after volt shot through her and still she laughed!

  “Shit!” I launched myself off of her and landed on my feet a few yards away. Panting and soaked with rain and sweat, I stood there waiting for her next move. This was getting us nowhere. As soon as she pounced, I planned on slicing her in half. I was done playing games and I didn’t have time for this redundant shit!

  “Ha, ha, ha. You truly crack me up, Selena. We should do this more often.”

  Her hair stuck out in a jowl length mass of orange frizz and I had to suppress a laugh. She was truly disgusting and I couldn’t wait to kill her. Unfortunately, she vanished and reappeared behind me. Sneaky bitch!

  “I’ve had so much fun with you dear, but I really have to be going.” She whispered in my ear. I spun around a second too late, sending a shot of sparks from my hand into empty space.

  “You’ll be having more visitors soon, coward. I’ll be in touch. Until then, go find your wolf and tell him I’m coming for the rest of his family. Unless you think you can stop me, Selena. Take special care of that crystal. I’ll be picking it up next time.” Swirls of vipers surrounded her, slithering in and out of her until she disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving her laughter echoing through the canyon.

  Was the entire town full of snake demons? What the hell had I been missing? I knew I was more than a fool and had no idea what to do. All I knew was Roberta was definitely more than a simple, easy-to-deal-with troll. She seemed to suck the magic out of me and into her own body. My head was spinning with an insane amount of disbelief.

  “What a crazy bitch.”

  Chapter 9

  IT WAS STILL raining, but the downpour had slowed to a sprinkle. I scooped Sterling up into my arms and we headed towards town. Luckily, we didn’t run into any more trouble before getting there. We had no neighbors up on our hill, and those who lived closer to town were already at their jobs. Sometimes, I was very grateful for our seclusion. This was one of those times. At least no one had witnessed my meltdown or the sparring match with Roberta.

  “Everything outside of our property appears to be unscathed, Selena. That’s a good sign. The less people who know about the incident, the better. Thank the goddess for the rain. If the fire had kept burning, the damage would have been much worse. And you would have had a lot more explaining to do.”

  “I think people are going to know something is wrong when I show up at the bank looking like this. I’m a mess!”

  “Say nothing. Just go in and withdraw the money. If you need to use a spell on them to keep them from seeing your current state, go ahead. It won’t really matter at this point.”

  “True. Are you going in with me or are you waiting outside?”

  “Outside. I’ll hide by the back door.”

  I set him down on the sidewalk.

  “Whistle for me when you are ready, Mistress.”

  “Love you, Sterling.”

  He winked as he scampered off, chasing a butterfly for show.

  Thank the goddess there weren’t any other customers inside the bank. Dawn Jasper waved as I approached her window.

  “Hi Selena. Haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “Hi Dawn. I’ve been a bit, um, busy.”


  “I can see that. Are you okay? You seem…” I knew my disheveled appearance wouldn’t go unnoticed.

  “No worries, I’ve been working outside this morning. With the warmer than usual spring weather, I figured I would get a jump on the dead-heading and weed pulling. There is a ton of debris left over from last year. It’s a never ending job.”

  “I can see that. And in the rain, too?” she laughed. “So what can I do for you today?”

  “I need to withdraw some money please?”

  “Sure. Just fill out this slip and I’ll get you on your way.”

  When I handed it back to her, I saw the look of shock flitter across her face.

  “Wow! You must be planning one heck of a shindig! It’s for the wedding, right?”

  “Um…yeah. Everyone wants their money today or there’ll be no wedding. Florist, bakery, band and all of them say today is the deadline. And you know how temperamental the florist and bakery can be.” I laughed, averting my eyes. I hated lying and I felt like crap for doing so.

  “I sure do. They’re a bunch of divas. Sit tight. I have to get this approved before I can go into the vault to get your money, sweetie. I’ve never gotten to do that before.” Amusement lit her eyes and she smiled as she walked into the vault. After the bank manager oversaw my withdrawal amount, Dawn returned to the counter with a green zippered money pouch.

  Dawn counted it out for me, gave me a new balance receipt and said “There you go. Good luck and best wishes.” One of the town busy-bodies, Mrs. Bladdon, walked in and Dawn lowered her voice.

  “Um…Selena, I know a lot of people have given you grief over your decisions after your parents died. And I know many of them don’t like Shawn, but I’m not one of them. I’m here if you ever need anything. Okay? Don’t listen to them, just be happy. I wish you all the best, sweetie.”

  “Thank you Dawn.” Though I had tears in my eyes, they weren’t tears of sadness. Having someone speak so kindly to me was something new and right then, I needed it. I couldn’t tell her the truth and I couldn’t think of anything else to say right then. I could only hope I’d get another chance to talk to her when my visit with the council was over.

  “See you later.”

  I walked out of the bank to find the sun was shining and I whistled for my familiar. We walked through town quickly and managed to make it to a cute little store with only minimal stares from the townspeople who were out and about.

  Leaving Sterling on the front step, I walked into Unique Ladies, a trendy and for lack of a better word, unique store for women. Their inventory varied, consisting of retro style dishes and relics to modern day clothing and jewelry. The owner, Mrs. Bladdon, was still at the bank, so I knew I had a bit of time to pick out at least an outfit and a few necessities.

  There were items on every available surface, so I did my best to scan the room quickly, hoping my eyes would land on something, anything I could or would wear. Sure the racks contained tons of pants, shirts and skirts but finding my size, however, turned out to be a difficult task. I picked out ten items and each one I tried on was too big, short, or ugly. I realized I had to lower my standards, a lot. Exasperated, I selected the only things I could tolerate wearing, at least until I was able to drive to a store that offered more age-appropriate attire for me.

  I chose and completed my purchases without one iota of drama unfolding. I was quite sure my outfit would cause enough drama of its own when Sterling saw it and I exited the store with trepidation. When I stepped outside in my pedal pushers and polo shirt, the look on my cat’s face said it all.

  “Cute duds.” Sterling winked just before falling on the ground in a fit of laughter. To the non-paranormal passersby, Sterling appeared to be rolling on the sidewalk, perhaps scratching that one place he couldn’t quite reach. But I knew what he was doing and my already bruised self-esteem couldn’t take anymore. I pretended to ignore his antics and straightened my spine with indifference to the stares from the curious onlookers.

  “Yeah, yeah, let’s get a move on. You’re causing a scene. We need to find a car and get to the airport. I didn’t ask Dawn if I could use her computer, I chickened out. So we will arrange our flight when we get to the Salem Ridge airfield office.”

  “Me? Causing a scene? Ha! Have did you look in a mirror before you bought those clothes?” Again with the laughter, Sterling trotted beside me giggling.

  “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” I squinted my eyes against the sun as we walked under the different sized trees lining Main Street. Stray shafts of light broke through the branches in varying stages of growth.

  “You’re right, Selena. I’m sorry. You know how I feel about dogs, and I hate to bring this up, but I think we need to talk to the wolf.”

  “She lied. That’s what demons do, Sterling. I don’t know any wolf.”

  “You do. I smelled him on you yesterday.”

  “You smelled dog hair because of Janice, I told you that.”

  “Selena, wake up! Keith is your wolf.”

  “I think I’d know if Keith were a wolf. I’ve known his family, my entire life.”

  He placed his paws on my leg, begging me with his eyes. “Fine. Just go see him. He will help us, whether he is a wolf or not. I know he will. He has to.”

  Chapter 10

  AS WE WALKED to Tooth & Nail, I was full of conflicting emotions. After the way I defended Shawn to Keith yesterday, I felt stupid and ashamed.

  “Does Kelly think I killed her mom and brothers? Is that why she hates me? Could she believe I’m some evil, horrible person who would go around killing the people I know and love? What if I did kill them and I just don’t remember?”

  “You haven’t killed anyone, Selena. Don’t let that lying bitch, Roberta get to you. She’s a demon. They lie. You said so yourself.”

  “Some of the things she said were true.”

  “You’re no murderer. I’ve never been whammied or glamoured by you and I know what the truth is. I will tell the council everything I know and they will listen to me.” He did his best to calm my overactive mind, but I could only feign belief. My entire world has spun out of control.

  “Sterling, I hope so. You’re all I’ve got. I blew up whatever proof I had of Shawn and Roberta on my computer. I have nothing to show the elders and no one else on my side.”

  I’d never felt so lost, confused and scared. I was sure the council would fry me as soon as they had the opportunity. I’d go down in history as the witch the elders had to kill for the safety of man and paranormal kind. I was so screwed.

  “I told you I will help and Keith will, too. We’ll figure out something together. I promise.”

  He rubbed against my leg in a reassuring and loving gesture, reminding me he wasn’t just my cat. Sterling was so much more than that he was my best friend and my better, often smarter half.

  “You’re right. Let’s do this.”

  Picking Sterling up, I held him in my arms as I pushed open the door to the pub. Once again, I was grateful to see there weren’t many people inside at this early hour. Keith was just coming out of the back and our eyes met.

  “Selena?” He rushed to set down a box of whiskey he was carrying. “Great goddess! Are you alright?”

  Immediately tears poured down my face. He was in front of me before I could sniffle. Keith ushered us to a table, eased me into the booth and then he walked away. When he returned, he placed a bowl of cream in front of Sterling and glass of water in front of me.

  “I…think…I need…something…a bit stronger than that.” I tried to smile, but it only caused more tears to flow.

  What the hell was wrong with me? Where had those tears come from? I didn’t cry when I’d seen the photos of Shawn screwing Roberta. Not one saline drop could be summoned. So, why was I suddenly a ball of waterworks as soon as I’d set eyes on Keith? I’d obviously lost my marbles.

  “You’re a mess! What happened?” His eyes, full of an emotion I couldn’t decipher, scanned me from head to
toe. I couldn’t tell if he was afraid or angry or both, but mentioning how horrible I looked didn’t help. No wonder he was still single.

  “Thanks, way to make a girl feel better, cowboy.” I tried to off-set the mood with some humor as I rolled my eyes and attempted a half-hearted smile, feigning offense at his comment.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you, but look at yourself. You’re wearing peach pedal-pushers and a neon green polo shirt! Where’d those clothes come from? The Salem Ridge Golf Store? So not your usual style. Not to mention, your hair is standing on end and you have dirt all over your face. And why are do have dried blood in your hair?” He reached for my hand. “Please tell me what’s going on?”

  I didn’t know what to say about the fact that he knew what ‘pedal-pushers’ were. I’d store that tidbit away for a later date. And I hadn’t even thought about my face and hair. Looking at Sterling, he confirmed with a little shrug what Keith had said. Great! I walked in carrying my cat while looking like a murderous street urchin! Yes, even at that moment, my shallow side reared its ugly head. I laid my head on the table and howled, crying like an injured hyena. I’m sure the few customers that were there, were annoyed by my behavior and I didn’t care. I just bawled and bawled.

  “Okay, sit tight. I’ll be right back.” As if I really had a choice? I couldn’t go out in public looking like this again. Where would I have gone anyways?

  This time, he brought a bottle of silver Tequila and a glass of ice. Pouring me a very liberal shot, he said “Drink.”

  I held the ice back with my left index finger and tipped the glass with my right, downing the shot like an old pro. After pouring me three more shots and watching as I sucked them down, Keith sat back with his arms crossed over his middle.

  “Ready to talk now?”

  What came out of my mouth was a story that began with Janice most likely eating her poodle, quickly slurred into a jabbering mess of demons humping, my cabin exploding, dogs as soul-mates and ending with me crying; “I’m a bunny murderer!” Then I promptly collapsed with my head on the table, passing out.