His mouth turned down, but he nodded. “Just go, Mae. And no matter what, don’t stop until you’re far away.” He grabbed her head and pulled her to him, pressing his lips against hers for what felt like the last time. He closed the door and took a step back as the engine roared to life.
Mae checked her mirrors, then backed out of the driveway and headed out of town. Streets and houses whizzed by. Her eyes were still a little blurry, but she pushed forward. Guilt warred inside of her. How could she leave her sister like this? Her hands gripped the steering wheel until they ached. She couldn’t turn back. She had to get help. If Wes was right, there was nothing she could do without help.
The 25mph speed limit sign whizzed past her and the needle on her odometer approach 60mph. Red and blue lights flashed behind her and a siren wailed. Her foot eased off of the gas pedal and her stomach dropped. Shit. She was just outside of the city, but not even to the motel. She pulled the truck over to the side of the road.
She didn’t have her purse, her license, or her insurance card. All of that was back at the big house. She pressed her lips together as her big eyes stared back at her from the rearview mirror. A sharp rap on the window made her jump before she moved to roll it down. However, the door opened and Isaac leaned an arm against the frame and flashed a bright smile.
“Now, Mae, stealing my brother’s truck after he went out of his way to help you and your sister today? How do you think that makes you look?”
Her mouth went dry. “He told me to take it.”
Isaac shook his head and tsked her. “Now you’re lying. Do you really think my brother would give away the very means by which he lives to some two-bit hussy, mere hours after meeting her?” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to have to take you in.”
Her mind spun. She glanced at the ignition, and faster than humanly possible, Isaac pulled the keys out and was back to standing like he never moved. “Don’t make this harder on yourself…and your sister.”
She undid her seatbelt slowly, scanning for anything that could help her. “Let me just get my purse.” She leaned over and reached for the passenger side floor where the crowbar had been. Her fingers curled around the cold smooth metal and she came up swinging, but he caught her wrist easily, taking the last of her hope away with the crowbar as he dragged her out of the truck and crushed her against his chest, pinning both arms to her side.
“It could have been nice for you. You could have enjoyed it.” He pressed a wet kiss to her neck and carried her back to the cruiser, tossing her in the backseat.
He whistled as he drove them back to town. When he got out of the car, Wes stepped down off the porch. Isaac tossed him his keys. “I always have to clean up your messes, little brother. How in the hell did she get away from you?”
Wes shrugged a shoulder, face blank. “She was throwing up and I went to get her some water, but when I came back, she and the truck were gone. Must have left my keys in the jacket.”
Mae ground her teeth as she stared at him, though he ignored her.
“Well, I got her. She was nearly out of town. Do you know what would have happened had she gotten away because you couldn’t close the deal?”
“That’s why you’re the savior and I’m the screw up.” Wes made a move toward the car, but Isaac stepped in his way.
“Not so fast. You’ve had your chance. I’ll take care of things from here on out. Besides, she belongs with me. You should have chosen the other one from the start.”
“She’s mine, Isaac. I claimed her, not you.”
“You let her go,” he said continuing to block the car.
“She escaped.”
Isaac shrugged. “She needs to be broken, Wes, and we both know you aren’t going to do that. She’s the one who is marked. By rights, she was mine from the start.”
“You were never going to let me have her,” Wes said so softly Mae almost didn’t hear him. “That’s why you made it here so fast. Where’s her sister?”
“She’s being prepped. You should either go and help them or go inside with mother. Mae and I need to become better acquainted.”
Isaac blocked Wes’s face from Mae’s sight, but sooner than she would have liked, she could see his back walking away.
Isaac opened the door and yanked her out of the car. His gaze sent ice cascading down her spine. His finger traced the birthmark on her neck, his eyes hungry as they took in her form. “It isn’t too late. This doesn’t have to hurt, Mae.”
“Why are you doing this? Just let me go. I promise I won’t tell anyone,” she whispered, heart pounding.
He leaned in close, breath hot and sticky against her cheek. “Do you know how many twins there are in the world? Roughly 2% of the population. Sure that sounds like a lot, but when you are waiting for them to stumble upon your sleepy little haven, it’s next to impossible. So why, now that I have you, would I ever let you go?” He ran his blunt fingers over her cheek, swiping away the tears that had leaked out. “You’re going to be the mother of my children. You have two choices before you: cooperate and live to see them grow and flourish, or fight against me and not live to see their first breath.”
His grip was like iron and her mind worked as fast as it possibly could. “Why do you need twins?”
“To fix a wrong and make amends with the goddess. So how ‘bout it, Mae? No more stalling? Easy or hard?”
She met his icy blue stare. “Easy,” she breathed.
His golden boy smile flashed across his handsome face. “See, I knew you were smart.” His lips jammed against hers so hard her teeth cut the inside of her lips. “Now go inside. Mother will help you prepare for the ceremony.”
Tears blinded her as she made her way up the porch steps, feeling his eyes on her the whole time. The tall, older woman waited just inside the door. Helena took her arm and patted it kindly as she led her up the stairs.
“There, there, dear. You made a good decision. It’s the same one I made many years ago. They’ll take care of you for the rest of your life, and you’ll get to raise your children into fine young men or women.” She directed Mae into the room Isaac had given her. On her bed lay a white gown, too plain to be a wedding dress. It was old fashioned with a high collar and lace.
Helena nodded to the dress. “Put it on.”
Mae took her arthritic hands. “Please, help me. Please. I don’t understand what is going on.”
Her face hardened. “Sniveling will never do. The Kotka family is respected and a leader of the community. You will conduct yourself accordingly. Pull yourself together and put on the dress now.” She pulled her hands away from Mae.
Mae’s tears disappeared as she looked at the woman. “You did this too?”
She nodded slowly. “It was a long time ago, but my sister and I came through town. It was an honor to be chosen.”
Mae began to unbutton her shirt. “Where is your sister now?”
Helena frowned and loss flickered in her eyes. “She escaped and angered the goddess. That was 1968. Another child has not been born in this town since my boys. Margret’s escape hurt us all.”
“How?” Mae asked, slipping the dress on over her head.
“The goddess was promised twins and they weren’t delivered. We need them to complete the ceremony. It is the circle of life. One to bring about new life and one to appease the afterlife.”
Mae sucked in a breath. “How will Mindy appease the afterlife?”
Helena fastened the buttons on the back of her dress. “Sacrifice, my dear.”
Her heart crashed against her chest as if it were going to break through at any moment. She had to save her sister, which meant she had to think—which meant she had to stall. “You people just sit around waiting for twins to wander into town? No wonder you’re cursed.”
“You’re lucky, even if you don’t feel it right now. You’ll get to remember this night. I didn’t recover from my dosage soon enough to remember what happened.”
Mae’s mouth was dry. Helena looked her
over with a critical eye.
“You are insolent now, but you will learn.” She tugged at the loose fabric. “I think I have some pins just over here. Don’t move a muscle.”
While the woman went through the drawer in the vanity, Mae slipped a letter opener off the dresser. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she looked like a child playing dress up.
“You’re lovely,” Isaac said from the doorway.
“Because that matters.” Mae held her breath as he slowly walked in, wearing all white. Her finger clenched harder, pressing the letter opener further up her sleeve.
His mother smiled at him like he walked on water. He hooked a finger under her chin. “I’m sorry there wasn’t more time.”
“Time for what?”
He flashed that winning smile again. “To get to know each other. Wes gets so moody. I wanted him to feel like he was a part of all of this. You’ll have the rest of your life with me. Isn’t that right, Mother?”
“There will be no happier bride on the planet,” she confirmed. “It’s time. I’ll walk her down.”
Isaac kissed her softly and left without a sound. All she had to do was find Mindy. She willingly followed Helena down the stairs and through the house to the backyard, where at least forty people were gathered. Helena stopped at the doorway. “I cannot continue. I’m not one of them.” She looked longingly out the window. “Enjoy the ceremony.”
Scanning the crowd as she put one foot in front of the other, Mae finally spotted her sister. She was strapped to a barren tree in the center of the yard, wearing a black dress that matched her white one exactly. She was barely able to hold her head erect. Two men flanked Mae and walked her forward like a prisoner on death row.
Mae was placed next to the bird bath, in a bed of red and white chrysanthemums, and a circle was drawn around the area that looked just like the one around her sister’s tree. She clutched the letter opener and tried to inconspicuously catch her sister’s eye. Wes moved into her line of sight. His face was blank as he held an ornate dagger loosely in his hand, but he almost seemed to nod at her, comforting her more than it should have. She focused on Isaac who commanded the attention of almost everyone.
“My people,” he called, holding his arms out wide. “It has been far too long since we have last honored the great goddess Diana. I know many of you had begun to lose hope, but tonight all will be set right.”
The crowd cheered.
“Shall we begin?”
His eyes sparkled and the people around him jerked and shimmered. One by one they dropped to the ground. Mae watched in horror as each and every one of them cracked and snapped into something smaller. Soon cats of every shape and size rose up from the remains of their human flesh and sat in a circle around the women.
Isaac made long, graceful strides toward Mae and nodded to Wes, who was the only other one not changed. Wes turned toward Mindy, but waited outside of the circle. When Isaac was in the same position as Wes, he stopped too.
Wes took a deep breath and said, “Goddess Diana, huntress and keeper of the night. We offer to you this sacrifice. With it, we honor your name and the bounty you have bestowed upon us.” He knelt to the ground and stabbed the knife in the line of the circle.
“Goddess Diana, mistress of childbirth and protector of the forest, tonight I pledge my allegiance to this woman and ask for the favor of a child so that we can continue to honor you for years to come.” Isaac dropped to his knees and repeated the same gesture as Wes did.
They stood in unison and synchronized their steps toward the two sisters. Isaac unzipped his pants and pulled Mae against him, gathering her dress in his hands. Wes pressed the tip of his knife against Mindy’s chest. They looked at each other, and Isaac nodded. Wes’s eyes darted to Mae. “Now,” he said.
Mae rammed the letter opener into Isaac’s throat. Blood spattered her face and dress as he stumbled backward, grabbing for his neck. Wes tossed Mindy over his shoulder, and they ran, cats yowling and biting and scratching at them as they went.
Wes produced the keys to Isaac’s cruiser and tossed Mindy into the backseat. Mae flung open the door and climbed into the passenger side as cats bombarded the vehicle, digging their claws into the metal and thumping against the doors. Wes got in the driver’s side and started the engine, causing another yowl that made his jaw tighten.
No one spoke all the way back to the highway. Mindy slept in the backseat, and Wes focused on the road in front of him, face blank, but breathing heavily.
“Why did you help us?” Mae asked between shaking breaths as her mind reeled.
“It’s not right, what they do. It isn’t right.” He shook his head. “We took other people’s lives to extend our own.”
“But they’re your family.”
He finally looked at her. “I may have been born there, but I was as much of an outsider as you were.”
“Tonight was the first ceremony since you…were born?” Mae chewed on her fingernail.
“It was the first full ceremony with twins, but they have still made sacrifices as people came into town, trying to win favor with the goddess again.”
Mae thought about what he was saying. She understood that he didn’t have much of a choice, but he still helped them kill people. “You mean people you brought to them.”
He frowned, his gorgeous eyes haunted and withdrawn. “It was always their choice. I tried to talk them out of coming here when I could. If they weren’t willing, it wouldn’t work.”
“Why didn’t you just leave?”
“As you said, they were my family.” He glanced out the window, the passing headlights haloing his face. “I needed the right motivation.”
She was torn between wanting to comfort him and thinking he was as much a monster as the rest of them. But he saved her. That had to mean something. “Why was I the one?”
“For me or Isaac?”
“Either. Both.”
“Isaac saw your birthmark. It’s a sign of strength for our people.”
“My birthmark. That’s practical.” She pressed her lips together, mind still reeling. “What about you? Did you like me for my birthmark too?”
He smiled a little. “No. You smell nice. I like talking to you. You treat others with respect.” His eyes reflected the lights. “I don’t know. Is that reason enough?”
She resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes shut and try to wake up from this nightmare of a day. Instead, she thought about why she liked him. She hardly knew him, but he gave up everything to save her and her sister—and that was really all she needed to know for now.
“It will never work,” she said. “I’m allergic to cats.”
Wes’s laughter filled the car and everything felt like it was going to be all right.
Life’s a Gas
Kory M. Shrum
Worst Tuesday ever.
One minute I was standing in front of my office on Broadway, chatting it up with my new assistant, drinking my Starbucks, and so on. The next minute, something slammed into the side of my head with the force of a brick.
Oh wait, it was a brick. Or at least, it was a chunk of concrete the size of my fist.
I cried out as the side of my head exploded in pain. My grip on the Starbucks cup tightened and the top popped off. Coffee splashed over the rim and ran across my knuckles. Thank god it was an iced latte to combat this awful summer heat, or I would’ve been burned too.
My head reeled. I stumbled into someone’s arms.
“Oh my god,” my new assistant screamed, and tried to prop me up. This was her first week on the job, and I just knew she thought protect boss from flying bricks was definitely not in her job description. “Jesse? You’re bleeding!”
“Ow,” I wailed, reaching up to touch the side of my face. Fire bloomed there and I stopped trying to inspect the damage. My fingers came away red, warm, and sticky. “Jesus Christ, ow.”
I looked up at the sky. Maybe some rubble fell off the top of the building. Nope, it was clear an
d blue without any sign of flying concrete. So I searched the street around me for evidence as to what the hell just happened.
Then I saw them.
Three guys stood in the back of a moving truck wearing matching camo. They were cheering and laughing, and if I had any doubt they were the jerks who’d just thrown the brick, they quickly removed it. One of the guys threw another rock, but it didn’t make it across the street this time, as they’d already driven too far away from me. This chunk of concrete busted up in the middle of the wide avenue, before being demolished by oncoming tires.
Ally, the new assistant, pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed 911. I heard her saying something about the address to my office and what’d happened, but none of it was clear. The ringing in my ears made me feel sick and nauseated. I didn’t realize I was falling over again until someone lifted me up.
“Thank you, thank you. I think she has a concussion.”
“Bring her inside until the ambulance comes.”
“Thank you, thank you.”
“Jesse,” a man said. I didn’t recognize the voice. “I’m going to lay you down here so you don’t fall, but don’t go to sleep, OK? You have to stay awake until the ambulance comes.”
“Sweet, Jesus. There’s so much blood. I’m going to get some towels from the bathroom,” Ally said.
“Did someone just throw a big rock at my head?” I asked, tasting blood on my lips.
“Fucking asshole,” was the only reply I heard, again from the male voice I didn’t recognize. Of course, I hadn’t been in Nashville long. My handler had just relocated me from Saint Louis because he thought the city was too dangerous. Just wait until he saw this hole in my head.
“Is this how people act in Nashville?” I asked him. I imitated a thick Southern accent. “Let’s put on the camo and throw bricks out of the back of our—OW.”
“I’m sorry,” Ally said. “I’m just trying to clean up some of the blood. It’s in your eyes and everything. And this shirt is ruined.”
“What else is new,” I grumbled.
“Maybe we can get it dry-cleaned?” she offered.
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