by Sara Snow
We didn’t have time to discuss it, as we were interrupted by the abrupt sound of three sharp knocks on the front door. We practically jumped to our feet, everyone grabbing at something nearby that could be used as a weapon. Armed with an old beer bottle that had been left on the bar top, I slowly made my way down the stairs with Eli at my side.
I reached for the door handle, but Eli stuck his arm out, pushing me back. I moved to let him through and he cracked the door, peeking out to assess the danger. When he didn’t react, I started to worry and everyone behind me began to grow restless.
“There’s no one there,” he said.
“Be careful, it could be a trap,” Jacob said.
I was inclined to agree, but as I looked around him, I spotted something that made my heart sink. “I don’t think it’s a trap…”
On the ground sat a little cardboard box wrapped with a neat cord rope around it like a bow. There were red stains on the rope and I really didn’t want to guess what they were, fearing I already knew the answer.
Eli hesitantly reached for the package, bringing it over to a nearby table that we crowded around. My heart was racing and I was dizzy, my thoughts swirling in my head like a storm. I held my breath as Eli took his pocket knife and cut the cord, letting it all fall limply away. He took the lid off slowly and when I saw what was inside, I thought I would puke. I felt Olympia reach out and grab my shoulder in shock. Everyone was wide-eyed in horror.
Inside the box was Carter’s black trench coat, folded neatly despite being frayed and torn with stains over large portions of the surface that I would’ve guessed were blood. There was a small note pinned to the lapel.
One more day until the sun sets on Carter. Will you stop it, Georgia? -P
There was an address scrawled beneath the message. I saw Jose pull out his phone and type it in.
“It looks pretty big, like a complex. It’s an old factory site, but it doesn’t seem like it’s been in operation for years,” he said, scrolling down the search results.
I was shaking. Jacob reached out to gently hold my shoulder and when I finally looked up to meet his gaze, his eyes were kind and full of worry.
“We’ll get him, Georgia. Don’t worry,” he said. “Paimon is just trying to scare you.”
“Well he’s doing a great job of it, cause I’m pretty damn scared,” I spat. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but I was getting tired of everyone telling me things were going to be ok when they were clearly only getting worse. I pulled away from his and Olympia’s hands and headed toward my room. I needed to clear my head.
Olympia called out to me. “Georgia, wait!”
I paused, half turning. “No more waiting. Now we know where he is, and we have to go. Can you scry his location in that place, Olympia?”
“I can try.”
I grabbed her by the wrist, hurrying her up to Carter’s room.
“You need something with a connection to him, right? Will this do?” I asked as I pushed the door open.
“It should,” she said. “Let me do this, you guys wait outside. It’ll be faster if I’m alone.”
I moved with the others back up to the game room, sitting around in some of the chairs that had been dragged aside. We didn’t have to wait too long before Olympia came back in the room, clearly sensing the tension, keeping quiet until I prompted her.
“I couldn’t find his exact location. I could see the buildings, but it was hazy and I couldn’t get any specifics of anything, really. I’m sorry, Georgia,” she said, her eyes downcast.
“We should figure out a plan, then,” Eli said. “We can’t figure out the logistics quite yet since we don’t know where he is exactly, but we can assign roles and duties and decide who will carry what.”
I appreciated how hard Eli was trying to stay calm and plan-oriented, but it was becoming more and more clear that there was only one possible plan that would give us even a chance of success.
“There’s no need, I already have a plan,” I answered firmly. “I’ll go to Paimon and give him what he wants.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Jacob said, rising from his chair.
“It’ll be tricky, but I’ll have to make him believe my oath of loyalty. He’ll release Carter; I can get some insider knowledge on the nature of his plan, and then get out of there so we can kill his ass once and for all.”
Jacob ground his teeth. “That’s too risky. You know you can’t do that.”
“Why not? What better plan do you have? I won’t just let him kill Carter because of me.”
His volume began to rise. “So that he can do worse to you? Or better yet, so he can make you do worse to other people?”
My heart was racing, rage and fear intermingling in me. “I don’t know what will happen, but it’s better than letting Carter die to try to avoid the hypotheticals, Jacob! We don’t have Kingston anymore. Our access to his knowledge is gone, we don’t have his power, and these demons are strong. And there’s a fuck-ton of them waiting to tear us all to pieces! If pretending to join Paimon is the only way to get an advantage over him and save Carter, then I don’t see what else we could possibly do.”
“You guys can’t possibly think this is a good idea, right?” he said, looking at the others, who all stayed silent. That seemed like their answer.
“El Paso took two of our team members from us and drained you, me, and Olympia. We can’t afford another head-on confrontation. We’re just not strong enough right now,” I said.
It’s not like I was incredibly psyched to be putting myself in this position, but I knew if I showed any sign of hesitation, he’d pick up on it immediately and shoot my plan down even harder. He seemed to mull it over.
“Fine.” Jacob said. It wasn’t an admission of agreement, it was an admission of defeat. I didn’t like it, but I had to take it. “Eli and I are coming with you, though. There’s no guarantee that he’ll hold up his end of the bargain and release Carter, and if we have to change tack at the last second, you’re not going to be alone. That’s my compromise.”
“That’s nice of you to offer, but it’s too dangerous. Paimon doesn’t have any use for you guys, if he catches you, he’ll kill you,” I told them.
“I have a potion I can give them that will make them invisible,” Olympia piped up. “If they drink it, Paimon and his goons won’t be able to see them and they’ll be able to safely keep watch outside! They might have to drink a little more than I’d usually recommend for it to last long enough, but I think that if they can stay out of sight it should be safer for all of you.”
I thought about it for a moment, knowing that even though Olympia was making this seem like a magical answer to this issue, it would still be dangerous. As much as I wanted to refuse and insist that they stay back, I knew that having them there backing me up would make everything much easier.
My heart swelled at everyone’s concern, and despite my big talk of selfless sacrifice for my team, I was terrified and secretly glad I wouldn’t be going entirely alone. The idea of seeing Paimon again chilled my blood in my veins, but the knowledge that they were going to be nearby calmed a bit of that fear. Though if I was being realistic, I knew that it just meant that at least we’d all die together. Paimon and his henchmen were so strong now, and I didn’t think we’d stand much of a chance as we were.
“Alright, then. It’s settled,” I said. “Let’s all get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow.”
As if I’ll be able to sleep at all.
4
Jacob
“Alright, then. It’s settled. Let’s all get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow,” Georgia said with more confidence than I believed she felt.
Everyone meandered off to their respective rooms, but Georgia lingered. I couldn’t tell if she noticed me or not—she seemed so lost in her own thoughts as soon as she thought no one was looking. Her beautiful raven hair fell around her face, and I could see the blank stare in her amethyst eyes.
“Georgia,” I said qui
etly, trying not to startle her.
She turned to me, though she didn’t say anything. She was chewing on the skin of her soft pink lip, worrying at it like it would ease the tension if she bit it right off.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said. My voice wavered and I regretted it.
“I do, Jacob. If it were me in Carter’s place and you in mine, wouldn’t you do the same?”
Yes. Yes, of fucking course I would because… Because…
Because I still have feelings for you.
God damn it. I’d done such a good job of ignoring them until now. Even in the car on the drive back when we were all so vulnerable and scared and an admission would have made sense, I held them back. I thought I could be the utilitarian friend to help her get her vampire boyfriend back, but looking into her stunning eyes now, feeling her soft skin as I reached out to gently take her hands in mine, I knew I couldn’t be that. Not right now.
She could tell there was something on my mind, a knowing look in her eye. I had to say something.
“I care about you, Georgia. I just lost my dad, and if I lose you too, I don’t know what I’ll do. I would do anything to protect you,” I said.
“You’re coming with me to back me up,” she said, smiling like she was trying to be reassuring. “That’s enough for me.”
She wasn’t getting it. “Georgia, I know you and Carter made a commitment to each other. I just can’t help but think that if things were different, we could really be something special, you know?”
I paused to let her jump in, but her face went stoic. Not great.
“We’re both getting stronger. If we were together, we could be something… profound,” I said.
“Jacob…”
“I’m not trying to tear you apart here. I know that’s not going to happen. I just think you deserve to know how I feel.”
She started chewing at her lip again, but all it did was drive my gaze to her mouth.
“I care about you, Jacob. I really do, it’s just…”
“Please, Georgia. We’re probably going to die tomorrow, don’t feel like you need to let me down easy,” I joked, laughing even though it didn’t feel very funny.
She squeezed my hands, averting her eyes. “I don’t want to let you down at all…”
I wished that she wouldn’t. I was starting to feel more and more as though she was slipping through my fingers, but I still couldn’t pull my eyes from her pink lips. I decided with little foresight that it was now or never.
I stepped toward her, taking her chin delicately in one hand to tilt her face toward mine. For a second she was mine—in my arms, absolutely radiant, her sparkling eyes meeting mine, flickering down to my mouth as I leaned in to prove my love to her. And for a second, I really, truly believed that we could work.
My heart sank when she pulled away. I didn’t try to stop her.
“I think I need to go to sleep,” she said. “You should too. Tomorrow’s—”
“Yeah, it’s a big day,” I cut in. “Goodnight, Georgia.”
“Goodnight,” she said as I left the game room.
I tried not to get my feathers too ruffled over this. After all, what the hell did I expect? For her to say “Forget about Carter, I love you, and you’re right, we’d be great together,” or some garbage like that? I mean, it would’ve been nice. But what could I do?
I could hear Eli and Jose chatting downstairs and decided that the best way to prepare for tomorrow would be to catch up on what we missed while we were in El Paso. I made my way back down to find them talking, gathered around the package with Carter’s coat.
“You ready for tomorrow, big guy?” Eli asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” I said with a shrug. “Hey listen, you said you had some visions while we were gone, right, Jose? Was there anything else you saw that could be helpful?”
Jose sighed. “Eli recorded them, but I don’t really remember any of them.”
“He started seizing; they were pretty major. I have them in my journal,” Eli said, pulling a small notebook from his pocket. He flipped to the most recent few pages and began scanning. “Let’s see here… There was something about the clouds in the sky turning black before being engulfed in flames. Sounded pretty apocalyptic.”
“Bugs,” I said. “They were swarms of bugs, not clouds, like a biblical plague. Georgia roasted them with her pyrokinesis.”
“Shit, so that came true already? Well, I’m glad you guys got that one under control. Let’s see here. Oh, there were a few with a similar motif—a woman seemingly ruling over demons. She kept appearing, sort of like a queen. I don’t have much context for those—a lot of the voices that came through in that one were in Latin, and Kingston had already left to help you guys. I was thinking about it and wondering if that’s Paimon’s wife? Maybe he has an evil demon queen at his side? Or if not already, maybe it’s a warning that he will soon.” Eli mused, guessing at an interpretation.
“Where was she, in the visions?” I asked.
“I don’t remember much, but I could see her surrounded by fire. It looked like Hell, maybe,” Jose said.
I nodded, though I was afraid they were misinterpreting. A fear overtook me for a moment, as I had a theory of my own manifest into my brain. There was only one possible person I could think of being represented in these visions shrouded by fire.
Georgia.
5
Carter
I hadn’t been able to hear any sounds or signs of the outside world for a long time. Not since I’d been locked away in a cold, dank room. I assumed the quiet and the cold meant I was underground, but that was just an educated guess. There wasn’t much I could do to gauge my surroundings from where I was, shackled to a chair in the middle of the room with that same irritating burlap bag over my head, only to be removed when some vile creature wanted to watch the look on my face when they cut me or broke a bone or even just taunted me.
If they were going to be torturing me in a hellhole like this, at least they had the decency to place a bucket below me to catch the blood draining from where they slit my wrists to weaken me. Now I was hungry enough to drain someone, but hey, at least no one would get my blood on their shoes. Apparently even demons had standards.
I tried asking my captors any questions that would help me escape, but each question was met with a punch, a slash, or some other horrific pain. Ordinarily I’d have considered myself lucky to be immortal, but right now that fact only made the possibility of relief from the pain even more intangible, knowing that even death wouldn’t be a release from it. I tried to stay strong, but at some points, I almost envied the mortally inclined.
When I was younger, my mother had told me stories of our vampiric ancestors being tortured and killed. She was never very good at bedtime stories. Down here, I felt closer to them than I ever had before, even though I’d been hesitant to embrace my relationship to her, and thus, by extension, her ancestors. I supposed that now I could understand them a bit better, at least. Except in those stories, they had escaped and wreaked havoc on their tormentors. I wished I could follow in their footsteps, but there were still some differences between them and me—firstly, that they had the ability to transform into bats, snakes, even fog or smoke. Admittedly, that part sounded like bullshit to me, especially with my mother’s tendency to romanticize our history. But maybe it was just because they were full vampires. The second difference was that they were held by humans who didn’t stand a chance against them once they were free. My captor was a bit more difficult.
I couldn’t tell how long it had been. Time seemed to manifest differently down here and it felt simultaneously long and short at the same time. The only events I had to gauge the passage of time were the seemingly routine visits from Paimon who had come twice already to tell me what horrible things he planned to do when Georgia turned herself over to him. He loved to tell me in detail how he’d tear all of us limb from limb in front of her, forcing her to watch him dismember everyone she
loves. He assured me I’d be saved for last, and after he had used me for whatever sick plan he had, he’d take his sweet time in doing it, knowing I’d be able to survive more of his torture than anyone else before he finally drove a stake through my heart and ended me.
I could handle the physical torture. No matter how many times his ugly minions beat me or stabbed me, it didn’t matter. But the way Paimon took complete and utter pleasure in the pain he’d inflict on Georgia was sickening. The graphic descriptions of how he’d dissect and deconstruct me did nothing to faze me, but when he reveled in Georgia’s pleas and tears that he described, I didn’t know if I could hold myself together. If there was a Hell, I was in it. It was this room, where I had to hear about the soon-to-be anguish of the woman I loved, helpless to stop it.
The quiet moments weren’t much better. If I got any sleep, I dreamt of Georgia. When I woke up again, my thoughts went straight back to her. I longed for her, wanting to hold her in my arms again, to see the light in her violet eyes. I wanted to smooth her obsidian hair and tell her that I loved her. I craved her smile when she heard the words. My last memory of her was all I had to get me through my time down here. She looked so afraid, and I knew I needed to hang on so that I could assure her that everything was okay. I wanted to comfort her desperately.
I craved her touch more than anything else—even food, water, or blood. I hadn’t consumed anything in days and it was starting to take its toll. I could feel my body growing weaker. But in my dark moments where my psyche betrayed me with pessimism, I reached out into the dark of my mind and found Georgia there and she brought the glow of light back.