by Elias Raven
“Tea everyone? I know Royston’s in!” I said out loud.
Everyone laughed. “We are fine, Rhianna, but Royston always wants tea,” Reid said, laughing still.
I poured three cups and put them on a serving tray, then grabbed sugar and cream and brought the whole ensemble out. Everyone was sitting at the dining room table. The house was getting dark so Royston stood up and flipped on the dining room lights.
“It’s not even late. This is ridiculous,” I protested.
“Yes, it is a bit like an Art Nouveau movie or something,” Royston, added.
Leave it to the Englishman for that comment.
Reid and Logan pulled out their notepads and a small handheld tape recorder. Royston and Misty looked at me and smiled. I pulled out a chair and sat down at the dining room table with them.
“So Rhianna, Royston told us a little bit about these weird dreams you’ve been having and how some of it might parallels a case we are working on? We will go through some basic questions first. That way we have them for later reference. Then we can dive more into the details after. Okay?” Logan asked me.
I nodded my head.
“Yeah, I don’t know what it has to do with what you are working on, but this poem is what caught Royston’s eye,” I said before reaching into my pocket to pull the poem out.
As I handed Reid the poem, that’s when the weirdness started again. That was when we all heard it. Everyone and everything stopped in an instant as we all just looked at each other. You couldn’t see shit outside the windows. You literally could cut the air with a knife since the fog was so thick and gray outside.
It was whistling. Hesitant at first, then it grew stronger, coming from outside the house. The sound seemed to be moving around the sides than the back. Reid and Logan quickly stood up and looked at me. Royston interjected before I could open my mouth.
“That sounds like that bloke at the restaurant. Same bloody song! Ring around the Rosy!” he exclaimed.
Reid nodded his agreement and looked over at Logan. I could tell they were trying to come up with a plan.
Both men reached into their jackets and motioned for us to stay put, undoing the leather strap that kept their guns in place. They both looked out the windows. The song moved toward the back door this time. It was like it was hovering. My heart was racing a mile a minute. I was freaking the fuck out! So was Misty. I reached into my pocket and felt my father's .38 sitting against the leather reassuring me. Reid went to open the door, and suddenly the song was moving again. This time it was going up the other side of the house and moving much quicker. It was almost like someone was running.
Logan held his hands up for silence and pointed at Royston. Royston nodded, understanding he was to stay with us. Misty’s eyes were bugging out of their sockets. We all listened as the sound came around to the front of the house and stopped right at the front door.
“Probably some kids messing around,” Reid suggested.
Both men went to the front door and took station on either side. The whistling continued. It was maddening. I stepped away from Misty and Royston and started walking toward the door. I pulled my gun out and waited, taking a shooter's stance. Reid looked back over his shoulder and signaled for me to put the gun away. I nodded. It was my fucking house, but I wasn’t going to argue.
Logan signaled and counted to three before flinging open the front door with his hand on his pistol ready to draw. Reid’s gun was already clearing the black leather holster. The music washed through the house. Both men looked down and saw an old portable boom box sitting on the porch. A tape was playing the tune, Ring Around The Rosy, over and over again as if it was looped.
Reid motioned for Logan to cover him. Logan nodded as they went outside to look around. We waited inside. I could hear them going along the sides and back. Eventually, there was a knock on the back door. Royston let Reid inside. He had a handkerchief in his hand and gently pushed against the doorframe so as not to disturb anything that might have been touched. Logan came through the front door after a minute and did the same shutting off the boom box. I started shaking uncontrollably. So did Misty.
“Do you have any practical jokers around here?” Reid asked.
I shook my head.
“I didn’t think so,” he replied, answering his own question.
As if reading Reid’s mind, Royston pulled a toothpick out of his pocket and handed it to Reid, pointing at the boom box.
“Thanks.” Reid took the toothpick and gently pressed the off button, plunging us into silence.
I turned toward the dining room window, and a cold chill ran up my spine.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked pointing at the window.
Everyone turned to look, and I heard my girl, Misty, gasp. Someone or something had written in large letters all over the dining room window.
Ashes, Ashes, We all fall down…
~To Be Continued~
Epilogue
~The Killer~
He was silent
A host of echoed
footfalls upon
the cobblestones
A deadly quiet
that struck the unaware
on the streets…
A face from the past
A voice from the present
Always
There was the laughter
No escape
Trapped
Arms raised
in supplication
Almost as if begging fornication
in lieu of a final
He was a weapon forged
from the lingering
Ashes that smoldered
around the city
Not a sound
did they utter
There was no pity
Some stuttered
Unable to comprehend
As the knife
made quick work
of their breathing
Rending flesh from bone
Spilled out
upon the pavement
The collective conscious
wanted answers
The act
Was a whisper
across the moors
Hideous in nature
What did he want?
He always struck
when the moon
was full
She was pregnant
Mother moon
Bleeding her light
upon the canyon
The owls feasted
on the
Far be it
for them to Passover
a free meal
He was the hunter
We were the prey
No one heard
their screams
The utterances
of the dearly departed
Ripping apart
at the seams
They were stacked
like cordwood
in the canyon
The missing
were just a statistic
A sadistic numeral
that danced
around the flames
Until someone reached out
Snuffed out the light
I can hear Mephistopheles
begging forgiveness
as the Faustian legend
is uttered from the pulpit
of hell
~Rhianna Raines~
A note from the author:
Want more of your favorite characters? Go check out the following to get more inside info about the cast of Shadow & Flame:
For more reading on Elias & Genevieve, check out Cain: Sins of the Father and Cain: Rage of Angels by Elias Raven. You can find them all on Elias’s Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Elias-Raven/e/B0160IV0A4
For more about Abel & Gia, see Gina Whitney’s Rocker Series (Books 1-3)- Saving Abel, Forgiving Gia, & Avenging Us. Gina can be found on her Amazon page as well: https://www.amazon.com/Gina-Whitney/e/B00DWDU1KG/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1494475408&sr=1-2-ent
And, of course, yo
u can see them in the rest of The Collective series’ books as well.