Cold air smacked against my back. I silently cursed myself for not wearing a jacket. Payton pulled me closer to him. I could feel goose bumps on his arms as well. His thin dress shirt was providing him little protection from the night air.
"It’s late, and you’re cold," he said, as he pulled back from me a little.
I glanced around and recognized nothing. The buildings all looked the same purplish-gray color as moonlight. The street was narrow, only one car width, which was odd for the center of the city. I’d lost track of walking relatively quickly while remembering my dream, and by the look on Payton’s face, he hadn’t been keeping track either.
"I don’t suppose you know where we are," he said, looking around at the neighborhood we were standing in.
I shook my head no and looked around too. The buildings near us were in desperate need of upkeep. The one closest to us had a couch sitting on the front porch along with half dozen or so kitchen chairs, none of which matched or had a table to accompany them. I looked at the other homes and saw a similar scene replayed at each one.
Headlights appeared from around the corner. Payton and I both stood, still holding each other as the car slowly approached. Payton let go of me.
"Maybe we should ask for directions." He suggested. I grabbed hold of his belt, pulling him to me. The man was obviously raised in a suburban setting. I had no clue where I’d been brought up at, but I knew enough to not go flagging a car down in the middle of the night.
The car pulled up close to us. I looked in at the occupants reluctantly. From what I could tell, the large old car held at least five people. I glanced at the young men in the vehicle. They didn’t look to be a day over eighteen. Babies out for a joy ride with trouble on their mind was never a good sign. The driver looked over at me and nodded his head.
"You ain’t from around here, are you?" It was definitely more of a statement than a question.
"No ... no, we seem to have gotten turned around," Payton said. I turned and released my hold on him. The car came to a stop. The two long doors opened and the men slowly spilled out of the car. Each one looked more dangerous than the next. The driver’s short-sleeved shirt left his heavily tattooed forearms exposed. I liked tattoos, but he made them seem scary, even menacing. I looked up at him. The tiniest of black goatees graced his young face.
"So, I take it that you’re lost," he said.
Payton stepped forward. Two men advanced on him and came within striking distance before stopping. Another man stepped out. He looked at me and grinned.
"You shouldn’t be wanderin’ round here at night by yourself." He said looking directly at me. Payton stepped closer to me and took a protective stance.
"She’s not by herself."
I flinched when I heard Payton rise to their obvious challenge. The two men closest to him pulled out weapons. One had a silver gun and the other a knife. Payton sucked in his breath. It took him long enough, but I think he finally understood the severity of our situation.
"What business do you got down here?" the driver asked.
The short one looked over at him. "Tomas, doesn’t matter what they say. We’ve got to protect our own--our families. They might be the reason things are the way they are."
Tomas, shot a nasty look over at his friend. The other man backed away quietly. Payton shifted his weight toward me. The already unnerved boy with the gun fired. I heard a loud popping noise, and time came to a halt. I put my arm out and shouted the word "Venire." I watched the bullet change its course from Payton’s chest to my extended arm.
"Manere," I said, breathlessly as I felt the impact of the bullet in my lower arm. It came to a grinding stop. Shouts sounded around us.
The boys scrambled to get back into their car. Tomas didn’t move. They shouted at him to come, but he didn’t budge. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his keys, and tossed them into the car. He said something that I didn’t quite understand to the others, and the car sped away.
Payton grabbed hold of my arm and panted. "Oh, shit, Valerie." I looked down at the source of his concern. There was a large hole just under my elbow. He turned it over slowly and let out a gasp.
"This kind of bullet should’ve come out. Hell, it should’ve blown your arm off," he said. I looked closer at it. It hadn’t blown my arm off, and it hadn’t come out the other side. If it would have then it would have gone straight into Payton’s body.
"What the fuck?" Payton shouted at Tomas.
I really didn’t think it was wise to provoke Tomas, he was obviously into the shadier side of life, but Payton kept on shouting. Tomas made eye contact with me and held it.
"La bruja oscura," he said softly.
"What?" I asked.
"He called you the dark witch." Payton said. Tomas and I both turned to him.
"You speak Spanish?" I asked.
He smiled at me and shrugged his shoulders. "Surprise."
Tomas came over and removed his shirt. He handed it over and bowed his head down slightly. "Here, you should wrap your arm up, and I’ll get you to a doctor."
"No, I’m fine. He’s one," I said, moving my head toward Payton. "I’ll be fine. How about you?"
Tomas stopped and looked at me. He was surprised to see my concern for him. I understood that he might be in hot water with his friends for staying. He looked down the road, in the direction that the car had left and back to me. My arm was now bleeding everywhere. Payton had long since been applying pressure to it, but it wasn’t doing much but getting him soaked with my blood.
"Valerie, we need to get you to the hospital," he said.
"No, I’m fine."
"Fine! You have a bullet in your arm. How exactly is that fine?"
"Doc, I said no."
Tomas looked at me, and then down the street. He motioned for us to follow him. I tried to, but Payton held tight to my arm.
"Valerie, you need to go to the hospital."
"She doesn’t want to go to the hospital, man..." Tomas said coming at Payton. I brought my other hand up and Tomas froze.
"It’s okay. Can you help us find our way back to Sixth Street? Our cars are parked there."
Tomas smiled wide at me and nodded his head. "Yeah, it’s back this way. It’s not too far a walk. You sure you’re up to it, bruja?"
"Yeah, I’m up to it," I said, looking down at my arm.
Chapter 4
"I can’t believe I let you talk me into this." Payton said, as he dug into my arm with a pair of elongated pliers. He had been adamant that I go to the hospital. I had been equally adamant that I not. In the end we’d agreed to split the difference. So here I was, sitting on the edge of the examination table while he dug out the bullet.
Tiny beads of sweat formed on his forehead. It was clear that he was in deep thought. I winced a little as he dug into my arm.
"I didn’t know you spoke Latin," he said, never bothering to look up. He just concentrated on the task before him.
I quailed, and then forced a smile to my face. "I don’t."
"Well, you could’ve fooled me." There was an odd feeling of pressure, and then nothing. Payton pulled the prize out of my arm. He dropped the bullet into a tiny puke pan, started dousing my arm with antiseptic, and moved over to get a piece of gauze. "I heard you ... I heard you speaking in Latin ... and I felt..."
He looked up at me. His blue eyes said more with one look than he could have said in a lifetime. I wondered what kind of struggle was taking place within him. He had dedicated his life to science and medicine, and he’d just witnessed what some would call a miracle. His head shook slightly. I’m sure this was his way of clearing his thoughts.
He reached behind him and pulled out a curved pair of scissors and some black thread. "What’s that for?" I asked.
"You need stitches."
"No I don’t."
"Umm ... yes, you do. We could stand here all damn night arguing if you want, but the fact remains that you need stitches."
I touched his forearm. H
is muscles tightened. Was he flexing? The thought of Payton being worried about impressing me made me smile. I looked once more at his arsenal of emergency supplies. I had the option of letting him fix me up the way he thought was best or I could tell him the way I knew was best.
"Are you going to tell me what you thought of tonight?" I asked. I had to hear it from his lips. I had to know what he was thinking.
He took a step back from me and looked up at me. "I think that Tomas might be onto something."
"What do you mean?"
"He called you the dark witch. I think he’s right."
I sat there with my mouth open. I wanted to deny these charges, and call Tomas superstitious. I wanted to pretend like none of this had happened, but it had. I knew for sure that I wasn’t normal. I hadn’t really considered the possibility that I might be a witch. I had first assumed that I was insane. The dreams, the nightmares, the other bizarre occurrences all led me to think that I was slowly coming unglued.
"So, what? You think I’m a witch?" I attempted to get down from the exam table. Payton put his hand up and touched my knee. "That’s absurd. I’m not green, I don’t have warts..." I wanted to keep listing all the reasons I couldn’t be a witch.
"Valerie, I thought, no--I’ve known, since the moment I laid eyes on you that you were different. Strange things happened when I was alone with you, checking on you in the hospital ... things in your room, they would move on their own. At first I thought it was sleep deprivation on my part, but then I realized that it was you ... you were doing it." I protested. He put his hand up and stopped me. "No, I’m not saying you did it on purpose, but I’m sure you were doing it." He put his head down and looked ashamed. "I used to hold your hand ... when you first came in, and you were unconscious... I’d sit by your bedside and touch your hand. Heat rose up from your body, I checked you over, you had no fever, yet I could feel the heat rising up off you." He cleared his throat and continued. "I put a chair up against the door. I didn’t want anyone to walk in, and I ... I sat and watched you for hours."
"What happened?" I asked.
"You spoke in tongues. I was able to understand bits and pieces of it. I recognized some French, German, and Italian, but some were languages I’d never heard before. That wasn’t all of it. The flowers that Molly had brought in for you lifted out of the vase and stayed suspended in mid-air for several minutes. I touched them, and they didn’t fall to the floor. You kept mumbling things under your breath and the machines started beeping." He looked around the room, carefully avoiding my gaze.
"I had to run around and unplug everything, for fear you’d bring in the entire nursing staff. Some part of me knew not to let them see what was going on. As soon as it had started, it ended. I checked you over and found that you had begun to heal yourself. I stayed with you every night after that. Once you were alert enough I told Molly about what I’d seen. She didn’t believe me at first, then she stayed with me one night and watched you. After that, she was a believer. Between the two of us, we managed to keep an eye on you, until it was time for you to leave."
I sat there looking like someone had just announced the arrival of Elvis. "That’s why Molly pushed for me to move in with her. She wanted to keep tabs on me?"
"No, no that’s not it at all. She and I talked about what would happen if others found out about you. I knew that they’d lock you away and study you. Neither one of us could bear the thought of that happening to you." He leaned back against the white wall. "It was only supposed to be temporary. Just until you got your memory back, but..."
"But, I didn’t get my memory back, and Molly and I became friends." I answered for him. I’d known them both for five years now and suddenly it seemed like I didn’t really know them at all. "Guess, I don’t have to hide this from you anymore then."
He looked up at me. I didn’t wait for him to reply. I looked down at my arm and willed it to be whole again. I closed my eyes and drew in a large amount of air. This was more to keep from throwing up than anything else. My nerves were shot. I looked back down at my arm and exhaled slowly. My skin pulled back in and sealed smoothly. There was not a trace of injury there.
Payton backed up against the wall even further. If he were a mole, he’d be able to burrow right out of there and away from me. I put my hand out to him, and he looked at my healed arm with an odd fascination, followed closely by fear. I’d shared too much with him, too soon. He’d thought that he’d been prepared to deal with what I was, hell, I wasn’t even sure what to call me.
I slid down off the exam table and headed for the door.
"Valerie?"
"Thanks, but I’m leaving."
"Leaving? You mean you’re leaving for good, don’t you?" he asked, pain evident in his voice.
I turned and looked at him. He was still huddled against the far wall. I scared the shit out of him that much was clear. "Look at yourself, Payton. You act like I’m going to turn you into a frog."
"That’d likely be an improvement over a coward," he said, pushing himself toward me. I turned to leave, and he grabbed my shoulders. "Don’t go Valerie... I’m sorry... It’s just different, that’s all."
"I’m scared of it too, Doc, but I can’t stand to see the fear in your eyes when you look at me. Good-bye."
Chapter 5
I sat down and listened to Molly talk about her date with Joey. I was only half paying attention to what she was saying. It’s not that I didn’t care. It’s just that she and Joey were going out every night now, and I was tired of hearing the same details.
It’d been two months since I’d talked to Payton. He’d called me the morning after our little witch-office-revival to see how I was feeling, and I hadn’t talked with him since. It was my fault. He’d left plenty of messages for me, but I hadn’t returned even one. He’d even shown up at my front door wanting to talk. I pretended like I wasn’t home and waited for him to leave. I couldn’t bear to see the look of fear on his face again.
Molly had given up trying to act as a go-between. She’d seen where trying to get Dillon and me back together had gotten her, so she knew to stay out of it. Payton wasn’t the problem. I was the problem. In no way was I ready to come to terms with my demons, so how could I expect him to? My nightmares were getting worse. I now had them almost nightly. My lack of sleep, combined with the knowledge that I might be a real live witch made me a real sweetie.
"So, what do you think?" Molly asked. I looked at her light blue eyes and wondered what it was that she’d been talking about. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders at her.
"What? You mean to tell me that you don’t have an opinion on me moving in with Joey?"
My stomach clamped into a knot. I knew that this day would come. I just didn’t expect it so soon. "You guys have only been dating seriously now for two months."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Valerie, we’ve been into each other for six years. You know that. Besides, I’m pretty sure that he’s going to propose."
"Okay, dish," I said, leaning back against the sofa’s edge.
"Well, Vivian told me that she saw Joey down at Baker’s Jewelers. She said that he was looking at their rings. Now, I’m not holding my breath or anything, but he told me that he has something special that he’s planning, and I’d better be thinking long term."
I thought about how much the two of them cared for each other. I knew that Molly loved him. She’d been in love with Joey since the day she’d met him. As much as I hated to admit it, they were perfect for each other, and she would be leaving soon.
"Why would you want to move into Joey’s? It’s half the size of this house." Before I was done saying it, I knew why. Me. "No, Mol, you two can stay here. I’ll find a place. I should’ve found one a long time ago." I stood up and headed for the kitchen. "I’ll start looking tomorrow. Do you want to help me?"
"Valerie, no, I can’t ... we can’t let you just go. Joey and I talked about it and we both want you to stay. I couldn’t stand having you far away from me."
"Geesh, Molly, I was thinking about finding a place on the outskirts of town, not Egypt." This made her start to laugh. She came over and gave me a big hug.
"You’re such a brat."
"You wouldn’t have me any other way," I said, sticking my tongue out at her.
"Call Payton," Molly said, catching me off guard. I gave her questioning look and she smiled.
"Umm, weren’t you supposed to say ‘no, Val, you’re not a brat’?"
Molly shook her head vigorously. "No, my job as your best friend isn’t to soften the blow, it’s to point out the obvious. And, the obvious thing here is that you should call Payton." She tossed me a pleading look. "Call him, please."
"Maybe."
Chapter 6
"Why don’t you come and stay with me?" Payton asked as he slid his hand under the sheet. He ran his fingers down my stomach, heading toward a very sore spot. I pushed his hand away gently and put my fingers on his chest.
"No, no more of that." I shifted in the bed to face him. "I don’t think I can handle any more."
"Me either, but you can’t blame a guy for trying." He leaned up and kissed my forehead. "I still can’t believe that we did it." He sounded like he was sixteen years old again. I laughed and kissed his forehead.
Payton moved his hands up and caressed my arms gently. "You know, you’ll be healed in a few minutes, and well, I’m thinking that I could suffer through some more pain, if you’re up to it."
"Suffer?"
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. His tongue traced the edges of my lips before darting into my mouth. Cream soaked my inner thighs. How I could be ready to take him again was beyond me. The man was a machine. He was bordering on more than I could take, both size and stamina. Doc wasn’t as innocent as he looked. No, he was a tiger between the sheets.
The Valkyrie Page 3