by Palvi Sharma
Rafe made no sign of moving from his place. He raised his arm and pointed to his right. “That’s where the sewage water comes out. Through that opening over there.”
Melissa looked at where he was pointing and squinted. Her hands reached the zipper of her jacket and pulled it down. It was already sweltering and even though she wasn’t wearing a watch, she guessed it was probably a little before ten
“You dragged me here?” she asked.
“Something like that.” Rafe said a little distractedly.
“Are you a vampire? Why don’t you come out into the light?” Melissa asked, all the while estimating what her chances were if she just dove into the lagoon right now and swum to the other side.
Rafe laughed half-heartedly and shuffled his feet but still didn’t step outside. “No, I’m just a little sensitive to sunlight.” he snickered.
“What are you?” Melissa asked. “You did say you weren’t a ghost or a demon.”
“How’s the cut on your thigh?” Rafe asked.
Melissa instinctively reached for her leg and moved her hand up her thigh very tenderly. She looked up at him then and her hands pressed into her skin.
“You’re welcome.” Rafe said and leaned against the tree. Melissa imagined seeing him smirking in the shadows.
“It’s not bleeding anymore.” She said.
“Actually it’s completely healed. I did it.” Rafe boasted.
Melissa turned to look back at the street and wondered where Mark was. Had he followed her trail to the sewers? Would he be able to guess she was not in the sewers anymore? Maybe she could throw her jacket in the waters so that he could spot it and come rescue her.
“Thinking about Mark?” Rafe said dryly. “He won’t be coming here.”
“Mark will find me.” Melissa said and clenched her hands into fists. “He will come save me.”
“If he wanted to save you, he would have never sent you here in the first place.”
“Mark said your spirit was focused on me and so only I could be used as bait to lure...”
Rafe started to laugh harder and Melissa wished her voice hadn’t wavered. She believed Mark and she definitely trusted him. “Where is Jennifer?”
“We’ll get to her later.” Rafe said. “Before that, you should be aware of some truths.”
Melissa stepped back towards where the islet slopped into the waters. “Help!” she screamed. “Mark!”
“Mark won’t come to save you.” Rafe said. “He’s offered you as a sacrifice.”
“Just shut-up!” Melissa said. “Mark said you’d try to trick me; try to confuse me. It won’t work. I know exactly what you are and Mark will come and get me.”
“Except Mark tricked you into believing he was telling the truth.” Rafe said. “He didn’t tell you what happened that night did he? That one…fateful night that started this all?”
Melissa considered picking up the rock and hurling at him, but what if that just went through him or worse, enraged him? “Let’s see, you said the riders burnt to death while Mark said that you and your friends crashed into each other after the cops set up a trap for you. I’m going to have to go with Mark’s version. You know, since it seems all the more plausible than your lies!”
“Well, well!” Rafe said and stood up straight. “Mark did tell you half the story. The truth is, the riders not only crashed but burnt to death in that accident along with some innocents.”
“Save it! I’m not going to trust a word that comes out of your mouth.” Melissa retorted. “Besides, who cares how you fiends died?”
“Not even if I tell you who the innocents were?” Rafe teased. “You may be surprised or...shocked. I’ll give you a hint- it’s something to do with Mark.”
“And now you’re going to tell me that Mark and his friends are demons.” Melissa said.
“Now, why in the world would I say that?” Rafe grinned and stepped closer towards her.
“Because you’re a liar?”
“The truth is...”he started to say and then walked towards her.
The trees were still shadowing him and Melissa felt her breath caught in her throat. His silhouette was bigger than yesterday. Had he morphed to his true self?
“That there were two others, innocents, who had died that night too.”
Rafe started to step into the sunlight and then hesitated. “They were Mark’s parents!”
“What?” she asked.
Rafe stepped out of his shadows then and Melissa felt her heart stop beating as she gazed at his face. She screamed as he drew closer; his hands reaching for her throat.
Chapter Seventeen
Melissa had only seen demons in books and movies and she had imagined that if they existed they too would have horns and fire breathing abilities along with scales all over their bodies. But the sight before her sent cold shivers all over her body.
She kept screaming without even realizing it and Rafe caught hold of her wrist, pulling her closer towards him. His face looked like it had been peeled off by a fork and stabbed several times thereafter. But it was his cold menacing eyes that made her want to scream. The eyes looked hollowed and rusty as if something had crawled up there and died several eons ago. Nevertheless they seeped into her soul, destroying every emotion inside her.
Rafe put a rough arm on her that felt like dry bark and pulled her into the shadows.
“Let me go!” she blubbered. “Please!” She willed herself to free herself, but her limbs felt like jelly and she couldn’t take her eyes from Rafe as they stepped into the shadows. His touch on her was searing and she imagined she would have burn marks on her skin for the rest of her life. If she did get to live that long.
It was then that Rafe suddenly transformed into a human being. He looked as he had appeared to her three nights ago. His face was almost handsome now. His eyes no longer held any power, they were soft and brown and Melissa found herself falling to the ground. It was just a mask. She now knew what Rafe really looked like.
“Sorry you had to see that.” Rafe said and kneeled towards her. “That’s why I never walk into sunlight. The sun reveals my true self.”
“What are you going to do to me?” Melissa asked and wiped her nose with the side of her palm.
“Relax, will you? If I wanted to kill you I would have done so last night.” Rafe got up and picked up a twig from nearby. He threw it into the water and watched as it created ripples.
Melissa felt her panic disappearing as she stared at the ripples. It seemed to have a calming effect on her and she took a deep breath to fill her lungs.
“I’m a demonic soul.” Rafe said after a while. “No surprise there. I’m here because of what Mark did.”
Melissa hugged her knees. She had so many questions, but all she could do was keep telling herself again and again that she was in the presence of a monster.
Rafe took a deep breath. “Three years ago, five riders were riding down the street. The cops had laid a trap for them and the plan was in motion. But they made one tiny little mistake. They had overlooked one of the roads that intersected and the riders skidded and hit the car that was coming in the opposite direction. It was all very careless, but the engine blew up, there was a fire and the riders and Mark’s parents perished in the fire.”
Melissa tried to remember everything she knew about Mark. He did have parents, he did live in a house and he had never told her about any such incident. But, she had only known Mark for a year.
“How is all this Mark’s fault?” Melissa said. “He’s the victim here. Your story has a major flaw. I know Mark and I have met his parents.”
Rafe picked up a pebble and threw it into the water. He grinned as the pebble bounced several times on the water surface before sinking. “I miss doing regular things like these, you know, when I used to be a human too. That was a very long time ago.”
Melissa moistened her lips and took off her jacket. She pulled up her hair and leaned her head against the tree trunk, studying Rafe. He r
eally didn’t appear very threatening now. She could see his eyes moistening as he was talking to her and she found herself feeling sorry for him. She shook herself from that thought. What had gotten into her? Rafe was a demon!
“And then I did some pretty bad stuff, got sent to hell. But my work was really appreciated and I was given charge of a section of cursed souls.”
Melissa shuddered. She didn’t want to believe Rafe, it all seemed too ludicrous, but how could she forget that she had just seen his true self?
“How does Mark into fit all this?” Melissa asked.
“Oh, coming back to your earlier accusation, did Mark really introduce those people as his parents or his uncle and aunt?”
Melissa thought back to that day. Mark had usually avoided inviting her home and she had thought nothing of it until now. But there was this one time when Mark had sprained his ankle and couldn’t come to school. She had gone to his home then to give his homework assignments. And what had he said then?
“Melissa, these are my...”
“Mr. and Mrs. Stone!” she had smiled, eager to impress them. “How nice to meet you!”
She put her head in her hands and stared at the ground. Couldn’t she just have stayed quiet for two seconds and let Mark introduce them? But how could Mark let her keep thinking that they were her parents?
“Anyway,” Rafe continued. “Mark came here with his uncle when he found out. The police of course wanted to keep this quiet, but when Mark’s uncle started to delve further into this matter, the cops told him that the riders were drunk and had crashed into the car.”
“It must be so awful for him.” Melissa said.
“It was!” Rafe said. “After he got over his grief, he started to realize that it was entirely the riders fault. So he cursed them. Wished that they were right in front of him so that he could kill them all.”
“He was angry.” she said. “Who wouldn’t think of those things?”
“Usually, in my business, a curse such as this would mean more terrible years in hell, but the riders were wrongfully cursed. You see, it was actually the cops who had screwed up, but Mark didn’t know that. So his curse gave these souls the power to escape every year at that very month until they find justice or until someone breaks the curse.” Rafe explained.
“But you’re one of the souls and...”
Rafe slapped his forehead and frowned at her. “I was never one of the riders. I was in charge of them. There are five demonic souls out there that even Mark can’t identify. Still. You’d think they would send someone capable enough…”
“Then tell him. Tell Mark everything you told me. If he knew that he made the mistake...”
“Mark already knows.” Rafe said. “He found out a year later when the souls showed up the first time. He was just visiting the city and overheard a rookie cop talking about it. He couldn’t believe it so I told him the whole story.”
Melissa traced a finger on her thigh where she had cut herself. She couldn’t feel any pain or discomfort and she resisted the urge to actually tear off the cloth and see if there really wasn’t a mark. She took a deep breath. No, what she really wanted to do was ask Mark why he hadn’t told her any of these things. He knew she loved him and that she had left everything to come to him.
A part of her reminded her that Rafe couldn’t be trusted, but the truth was that she had stabbed herself so that Mark could find her and now here she was, with no Mark standing by her side and mysteriously healing wounds.
“I told him then and there that he would have to find a way to stop this.” Rafe continued. “At first he didn’t seem to care much, but when the riders started to hurt everyone around the city, even kill them, Mark finally relented and called me.
“The next year, he told them he was sorry and that he forgives them and the city. But that didn’t work. The souls didn’t seem to care much about that. After a few days, they weakened and I dragged them to hell, but they gained strange powers and broke free yet again. Something keeps bringing them back here.”
Mark had come here before? Melissa took a deep breath to calm herself down. Why did Mark lie to her? “So what was the master plan?” Melissa asked. “You convinced the people of the city to barricade the streets, but what I don’t understand is why trap Jennifer and me here?”
Rafe broke of a leaf from the tree and idly stroked his palm over it. “Mark really didn’t want you there, but he got desperate. He came up with the plan to convince everyone that some sort of sacrifice would send the souls away for good. Even made up a convincing story, probably the one he already told you.”
“Everyone believed him?” Melissa asked. “How gullible can people be?”
“When you find yourself in the midst of a nightmare, people sometimes tend to make the most terrible choices.” Rafe said. “Even a week of this, destroyed the whole city and filled their hearts with terror. Everyone was ready to do anything to stop the demonic souls from killing and destroying their beloved home.”
Melissa put her hand on her forehead so that Rafe couldn’t see that she was crying. Mark wasn’t using her as bait, her mind screamed. He was just offering her as sacrifice to the demonic souls.
“The sacrifice of two innocents would then end the curse, for you see Mark had cursed them when he had thought that they had killed their parents...”
“I get it!” Melissa cried. “If they actually killed Jennifer and me then Mark’s curse would be enforced on them and they would be sent off to where they belong. But why am I still alive? Is Jennifer still alive?”
“Jennifer is with me!” Rafe said. “But we can’t use her.”
“You can’t use her?” Melissa asked. “Do you need to earn a special degree to qualify as sacrifice?”
“No, we can’t use her because she isn’t an innocent.” Rafe said solemnly. “She was the reason behind her sister’s death.”
Chapter Eighteen
“The demon may try to trick you!” Mark had said. “But don’t believe him. Don’t believe a word that comes out of his venomous mouth!”
Melissa looked at her jacket that was lying on the soft sand. There were granola bars in there and even a small bottle of water that Mark had given her. She should probably eat something, but the thought of food started to make her feel nauseous. Her head felt feverish and her nose felt stuffed up. The abrupt change in temperatures in the last few days was making her feel sick.
She looked at Rafe who was now sitting under a tree and looking up at the sky, probably waiting for the sun to set so that he could go out. He seemed to feel her eyes on her and looked at her. Melissa instinctively hugged herself and turned the other way. He had dropped a bombshell and he knew he had gotten her curious.
Don’t give in to the temptation! She told herself firmly. No matter what, she had to stay strong if she wanted to get out of this alive. Rafe was toying with her. Why wouldn’t he? He was evil after all. This had to be some elaborate plan of his to weaken her until she broke down completely and submitted herself to his evilness. It had to be!
First he had tried to brainwash her against Mark and half succeeded. Next he would tell her that Jennifer was evil and had murdered her sister. Jennifer would never do that. She was too timid and scared to even consider killing an ant.
“Aren’t you going to ask me how Jennifer did it?” Rafe teased.
Melissa pulled her jacket closed to her and decided she wanted to eat the granola bar after all.
“Jennifer was seventeen and Lucia was eighteen.” Rafe said.
Melissa peeled off the foil from the bar and smiled. “Her name was Lucy, not Lucia. You made a huge...”
“She was born Lucia Karen Greene.”
Melissa took a small bite of the bar and gagged. She took a few sips from the small bottle as Rafe waited patiently for her to reply.
When the feeling had passed, she leaned her head and stared at the bar, wanting to know what Rafe was going to tell her but resisting the urge to ask him herself.
; “They were sitting by the pool in their house.” Rafe continued. “They had an argument about a boy...I believe his name was Peter? Anyway, Jennifer was secretly in love with him, but Lucia asked him out. When Jennifer told her of her feelings, Lucia said she had known all along and didn’t care. She also said that Jennifer would be a loser for the rest of her life. To cut a short story shorter, Jennifer picked up a steel rod and hit her sister with it.”
“That’s not true.” Melissa said. “Lucy was like that, I agree, but never in her wildest dreams would Jennifer ever kill her own sister.”
“She didn’t mean to.” Rafe said quickly. “That was the first and last time that Jennifer got angry. She was so scared that she pushed her into the water, trying to cover her tracks, assuming that she had killed her. Unfortunately what she didn’t know was that Lucia had only passed out. If she hadn’t been thrown into the pool, she would have survived.”