by D. N. Leo
“So because you know nothing about them, you blame this spooky drug on them?”
Simon shrugged. “As I said, the drug is legit. Someone might have stolen it from their labs.”
Lorcan nodded. “Good point. So what are you suggesting regarding Riley?”
“Medically, with the strong dose he was given, it could keep him in a coma for a very long time. But given the spooky ingredients—to use your terminology—why don’t you ask Orla to try a spell or something to wake him.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said . . .”
“I heard you. Why Orla?”
“She’s into this supernatural stuff, isn’t she?”
“Now I’m offended.”
“Jesus Christ, don’t tell me you’ve been with her for twenty years and . . .”
“Twelve years.”
“Yeah, whatever. You can’t tell? Everyone can.”
“Now I’m really offended.”
“Anyway, that’s my suggestion for now. Try it. If it doesn’t work, get back to me, and I’ll try some other things. But to snap out of this, Riley needs some miracles! It’s ironic, but it’s the situation. Deal with it.”
Chapter 27
As soon as Lorcan reached the patio, Noah and Orla ran out to greet him. Noah’s eyes were wide with anticipation and anxiety. Lorcan could see tears welled up and ready to roll down his face. He ruffled Noah’s hair. “Uncle Simon said your father is going to be okay.” Lorcan glanced at Orla and said nothing. Orla could read the sign—he didn’t want to talk in front of Noah.
Later, they tucked the boy into bed. In the living room, Orla sat and played with the cat. “Now can you tell me what Simon really said?” Lorcan told Orla what was said at Simon’s place.
“Do you know what to do?” Lorcan asked at the conclusion of the story.
Orla nodded. “Sort of. In theory, at least. I told you before, I haven’t practiced for a long time. I had a good understanding, but that was about it. Because of my psychic abilities, my practice is very different from the rest of my family. I work with the subconscious level of the mind, and not so much in conjuring mythical creatures or summoning spirits.”
“You mean, you can hypnotize people?”
“Well, that’s the best way to describe it, I suppose.”
“Could you . . . I can’t believe I’m saying this . . . Can you somehow communicate with Riley?”
“I can try. But I have to perform the ritual and keep an eye on the surrounding environment just in case things go wrong, or we’re interrupted. I have to be here and awake. But I can send you.”
“Send me? Into Riley’s subconsciousness?”
Orla nodded. “I’m not physically sending you anywhere, but I can find a channel so that you can communicate with him.”
“Like tuning a radio?”
Orla smiled. “Yes, just like tuning a radio. Do you want to try?”
Lorcan nodded. “Sure.”
Orla laughed. “You don’t look so sure.”
He smiled. “I’d like to be in control of my own body.”
“Do you trust me or not?” She kissed him on the cheek.
Lorcan shrugged and nodded. She pushed him down on the sofa and put her thumbs on his temples, rubbing gently. “Close your eyes for me. Just relax. What do you see?”
“Nothing.”
“Try again, honey. Can you see anything yet?”
“Maybe. I don’t know what I am seeing.”
“Is it dark or light?”
“Dark.”
“Go to the light. You know where it is. You and Riley took Noah to a picnic once. Where was it? Think about the places that Riley wants to take Noah. He’d be there. Has he told you about the places he loved to go with Michelle? He might be there too,” Orla’s soothing voice whispered. Soon, Lorcan was no longer responding to her questions.
He was at the edge of a forest in a fairy tale land, where green grass carpeted rolling hills and flowers danced happily in the gentle wind while birds sang among the trees and the sun smiled down on a peaceful meadow. Lorcan saw Riley standing next to a gigantic and colorful mushroom. As Lorcan approached, Riley turned and smiled.
“Really, Riley! Fairy land? This is your favorite place?”
Riley chuckled. “When you have a wife and a kid, you’ll understand.”
“I don’t think you understand Noah as well as you think. The boy would much prefer a water pistol, a White Knight sword, or maybe some Star Wars gear . . . not Bambi or unicorns.” Lorcan gestured widely at the surrounding scenery.
Riley nodded. “Agreed. This is more like Michelle.” Then he looked down, pressing his foot to the grass.
“Right, Michelle it is. So that’s the reason you’re here, letting your son cry his eyes out in the real world? And she’s not even here.”
Riley shook his head. “She was here. I saw her.”
“You can’t see her. She passed away ten years ago.”
“No she didn’t. She was waiting for me. She lingered. That’s what the witch told me.”
“What witch?”
“Witch or demon, I don’t know. I saw a woman in a temple. She was trying to trick me. She said if I wanted to go back to Noah, I had to let go of Michelle. Sort of like a spiritual divorce. Like I would do that to Michelle. Dead or alive, she’s my wife, and nothing’s going to change that.”
“Nothing, including Noah?”
“What are you talking about? I’m going to say goodbye to Michelle here, and then I’ll come back to Noah. I made the witch explode. I sent her to where her brother was. What are you worried about?”
“All right. Okay then. So just say goodbye and come back. Where is she?”
“She was just here.”
“We don’t have forever.”
Riley walked around. “I saw her here.”
From the corner of his eye, Lorcan saw the sky darken, black smoke creeping up from the ground and forming into strange shapes. Evil chants hovered in the air. Riley whirled around. “What is this? Why is this happening? I swear I saw Michelle here.”
“I don’t think you sent the witch to where she should be. She was outside your house, back in the world that you abandoned, trying to claim Noah.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What did you do at Fossey Way?” Lorcan asked as the wind grew stronger by the second and the stench of dead bodies engulfed the air.
Chapter 28
Inside the house, a strong and strange wind smashed the glass windows and swirled around the living room. “Oh no,” Orla muttered. “Lorcan, come back to me. Whatever you and Riley are doing, wrap it up and come back right now.” She touched Lorcan and felt him burning with fever. “Oh God.” She ran to Riley’s bedroom. Riley started seizing again. The wind broke the window in Riley’s room. She tried to hold Riley. He wasn’t responding.
“Noah!” Orla yelled, and Noah rushed in from his bedroom. “Hold your father.” Riley calmed instantly at Noah’s touch. “He responds to you. So just keep him calm, okay?” Noah nodded. Orla hurried back to the living room. On the sofa, a stream of blood ran from Lorcan’s mouth.
In the field, the forest and the meadow had caught on fire. Lorcan stood after rolling on ground from the impact of a hit. He wiped the blood from his mouth. In front of Lorcan and Riley were a dozen creatures from hell, and they heard the rumble of more footsteps. “More are coming. Do you know how to get back to reality? You won’t see Michelle now. It’s better to stay alive,” Lorcan said.
“Get the hell out of there, Lorcan.” Orla’s voice sang in Lorcan’s mind.
“Orla called” Lorcan said to Riley. “We have to go back.”
“I don’t know how,” Riley said.
“How, Orla, how?” Lorcan wasn’t sure if it was going to work, but he spoke it out loud. A creature that looked oddly like a buffalo charged at Lorcan, knocking him to the ground once again. Riley grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at the creature.
“How, Orla? We’re being attacked from all sides by creatures from Hell!” Lorcan shouted.
“How do you know they’re from Hell?” Orla asked.
“Because they’re fucking ugly.”
Another creature knocked Riley down as Lorcan jumped to his feet.
“Ask them what they want,” Orla said.
Lorcan wasn’t sure if they could speak, but he asked anyway. As soon as he did, the creatures stopped. A large demon with horns cast its red eyes on Riley. Then it pointed at him. “If he releases what belongs to us, we’ll let you go.”
“What? What is it you want?” Riley asked as his blood ran cold.
“You spell bound our brother and sister. We want a soul in your family to release them.”
“Hell if I will give you that,” Riley said.
The creature swung its arms, and Riley was flung several feet away, crashing down onto a rock. The creatures approached him. Lorcan grabbed a tree branch and attacked them. They threw Lorcan away like a rag doll. He crawled over and dragged Riley away from the crushing foot stomp of the buffalo-like creature.
“You’ll have to let Michelle go, Riley. If you die here, Noah will be on his own. Do you think that’s what Michelle would want?”
A small army of creatures approached in the distance.
“It’s not just releasing her. It’s killing her. They’ll drag her to hell for eternity. She waited for years because of me. She couldn’t pass on to the next plane because of me, and now you expect me to send her to Hell?”
The creatures moved closer.
“I know this is hard. But it’s between her and your son—which one will you choose?”
“They can take me. Don’t make me choose.”
“That’s what they’re doing. They’re forcing you to be a coward. But are you sure they won’t go after Noah after they take you? Can Michelle protect Noah? You know he’s special. He has a gift. They will all want him.”
A thought dawned in Riley’s mind. Michelle knew Noah was special. She had asked him to take care of their son. Riley nodded. Tears rolled down his face.
The creature with horns croaked out its demand, “Repeat after me. I shall release the spell I placed. I shall denounce the love I have for my wife. I shall take back what I had given her before. If anyone prevents me from doing so, I will curse that person.”
Riley repeated. They heard a scream tearing through the air. Michelle was dragged by the demon into a bottomless fiery hole, her white dress tattered, her face smeared with blood. She looked at Riley. Amid the pain and desperation, her eyes were full of love. Michelle and the creature vanished into the Hellhole.
Chapter 29
Both Lorcan and Riley gasped and woke at the same time. On top of his being completely dazed by the experience, something in Lorcan’s eyes bothered Orla. Noah called out from the bedroom, letting her know that Riley was up as well. She touched Lorcan’s face.
“Darling, talk to me. How are you feeling?” she wiped a strand of hair from Lorcan’s forehead and a teardrop fell from the corner of his eye. His striking blue eyes looked at her, and she saw pain, fear, and a tangled web of inexplicable emotions. She kissed him, and he kissed her back lightly. But he didn’t pull her into his arms and deepen the kiss as he always did. He touched her face, and looked into her eyes, gazing at her as if storing every plane and angle of her face, as if she might vanish right in front of him.
“What’s this?” she asked. Lorcan didn’t say anything. He got to his feet, but his body swayed, so he sat back down.
“Give me a couple of minutes,” he said.
Noah’s horrible scream reached them from the bedroom, sending Orla and Lorcan racing to it. Riley sat up, squeezing his son in his arms, tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Son,” he whispered into Noah’s ear as the boy cried. Riley looked up at Lorcan and Orla when they entered the room.
“He saw what we saw. He hugged me, and he saw what I saw. He heard what I said.” Riley looked at Lorcan, devastated. Lorcan withdrew from the room. He went back to the living room, flopped down on the sofa, and put his head in his hands. Orla came sit next to him.
“Can you tell me what happened?” she asked. For a while, Lorcan looked up at Orla. He pulled her into his arms and rocked with her.
“Oh God.”
“It’s okay, Lorcan. Just tell me.”
Then he told her. He told her about how he had talked his friend into sending his wife to Hell, about the look on Michelle’s face before she disappeared into the flames, and about the sound of Michelle’s scream. Now Noah had seen and heard all of that. Lorcan wasn’t sure how Riley was going to be able to live with himself.
“There’s no point beating yourself up. The same goes for Riley. Noah will understand. You didn’t have any other choice.”
Lorcan stood up, looked around, and saw the damage the wind had done to the house. He stared at the broken windows, at the broken glass on the floor. “How am I going to handle it when it’s your turn to be dragged into Hell? Isn’t that what the curse is going to do to you? Isn’t that what you said before—that death would be an easier solution?”
“Lorcan!”
“Tell me. Don’t lie to me, Orla. Is that what you meant?” Lorcan grunted out the words, his eyes sparking with fury.
Orla nodded. Lorcan ran his hand through his hair. Riley stood at the door way.
“How’s Noah?” Lorcan asked.
“Asleep now,” Riley said. “Thanks for being here, for helping out.”
“You’re thanking me?” Lorcan exclaimed.
“Lorcan!” Orla growled.
“Orla’s right. It’s not your fault,” Riley said.
“Do you know how you got that puncture mark on your neck?” Lorcan asked.
“What?”
Lorcan pointed. “A puncture mark on your neck. Do you know how you got it?”
Riley touched his neck, then shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
“All right. Call Simon. He’ll tell you. Orla, I’m taking you home.”
Riley nodded, looking around at his trashed house.
“Talk to you tomorrow. Take care, Riley,” Orla said and followed Lorcan. All the way home, Lorcan said nothing. His expression suggested that conversation was not a good idea. Orla said nothing and went to bed as soon as they got home.
A strong wind flung open the door, smashing it into the door frame and sending a vase crashing to the floor. Orla sprung up from the bed, panting. The apartment was empty. She looked around the room. Lorcan was nowhere to be found. She didn’t know if he’d been gone all night or not. It was five in the morning. Where was he?
She sat down, trying to stay calm, and waited. Two hours later, Lorcan walked through the door.
“Where have you been? Why . . .” Orla trailed off when she saw his face. He was as pale as a ghost. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. A strange smell lingered on his clothes—the smell of wood, trees, wildflowers, and ashes.
She nudged him down onto the bed. “Take an hour or so.” Lorcan didn’t need an invitation—he was already halfway to a very deep sleep.
Three hours later, Lorcan surfaced. He sniffed and awoke to the mug of coffee Orla put in front of him. He grinned up at her. As he sipped the coffee in bed, she asked. “Where were you all night?”
He shrugged. “Out for a bit of fresh air. Thinking. That’s all.”
She arched an eyebrow. She knew he was lying, or at least withholding information from her. But unlike him, she wouldn’t throw a tantrum and pry for the truth. If he had decided to lie to her, forcing him would merely give her another lie on top of the previous one. Then there would be too many lies to keep up with. He’d tell her the truth when he was ready.
Orla left for the kitchen to make her coffee. She spoke from the kitchen. “The computer beeped while you were asleep.” She took a long time making her coffee and drank almost half of it before she returned to the living room. If he needed time and sp
ace, she’d give him just that.
Back in the living room, she found Lorcan hunched over the computer. His fingers flew on the keyboard.
“The money’s in. I’m going to trace and figure out the name of William’s boss. Once I have it, I’ll give Ciaran and Madeline the name so they know who they’re dealing with. Zen is just a pawn in this, and the kidnapping is a decoy,” Lorcan muttered and worked at the same time.
Orla’s phone rang. She picked up, took notes, and hung up the phone. She said nothing and sat down next to Lorcan. Then she got up, taking her on-the-job purse out of a cabinet. It looked like the other purses she owned, but this one had specially-designed compartments and levers that she needed for her jobs.
“William call?” Lorcan asked, his eyes still glued to the computer screen.
“We got the location where Zen is keeping Jo. He changed hotels a couple of times, but he seems settled now,” Orla said.
Lorcan finished a command on the computer and let it run. He turned toward Orla. “Before we do this, I want you to promise me one thing.”
“And what would that be?”
“We don’t know Jo, Madeline, the LeBlancs, William and his gang—they might all be bad guys. We need to settle your curse.”
“You want me to kill one of them to free myself?”
“I can’t lose you. I can’t let you be dragged to Hell the way Michelle was.”
“But I can’t just kill . . .”
“I’m not asking you to kill someone just to save yourself. I’m asking you to consider it should the opportunity arise.”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think I can do that.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?”
“I won’t.”
Lorcan nodded.
“What, you’re not mad at me?” Orla asked.
He smiled. “If you had said yes, I would probably doubt myself for loving you for all these years and not knowing you were capable of killing in cold blood. Let’s just do this job, then we’ll figure out how to get out of this. Deal?”
She smiled and nodded. Lorcan darted at her, lying her back on the sofa. He kissed her. He trailed his lips along her jawline, his hands busy on her body. Her blouse was on the floor now, followed by his shirt and jeans. Their bodies tangled on the sofa, moving to the rhythm of love until they were both sated.