Briefly searching both faces, Remy hesitated before placing her hand on top of Shane’s and then jerked it away. “Oh, hell no. I’m not into anything until I’ve heard the plan, so spill it.”
Shrugging, and dropping her hands to her sides, Shane answered, “It’s simple really. Just a minor expansion on Greg’s plan. The two of you are too equally matched. Although Greg’s physical strength is superior to yours, you make up for that with skill.” She glanced at her brother. “No offense intended of course.”
He winked. “Go on. No sore feelings here.”
When speaking, Shane’s hands moved in wide arcs as if directing a choir. “No matter which of you is infected first, it is highly improbable that the remaining sibling would be able to force the inoculation on the infected sibling. That’s why you need me. Now if I went in first, even with the supercharged strength I’d return with, the two of you should be able to take me. Then when each of you returns, I’d still have the residual psychic energy to hold you in place while you are inoculated. Greg’s plan is good, but with my plan there’s no chance you’ll kill each other.”
Shane watched as her sister processed the information. Seeing doubt flitter across her face, she continued, “And of course, I’m much better with hypnosis than either of you. Coupled with the fact that I can already do self hypnosis, we can’t lose.”
Remy’s eyebrows rose. “How you going to do self hypnosis? That’s a ridiculous concept.”
“Seriously? I’m the best hypnotherapist in this place. I’ll record a session, you play it for me, test me to make sure it worked, and then we’re in. After you’ve returned me to normal, I’ll hypnotize you and wah-la...we go get the shroud.”
Eyes darting between her siblings’ faces, a look of resignation came over Remy’s face. Sighing, she softly answered, “I’m in.”
Shane nodded. “Good. There’s just one catch I’m trying to iron out.”
“What’s that?” Greg asked.
“When our minds are wiped, we also have to wipe out all memory of each other. Once that’s accomplished I have to figure out how to get us all back outside. If we don’t remember we’re out there waiting, why would we go?”
Remy’s empty stomach rumbled.
“I guess it’s time for breakfast,” Greg laughed.
Giving them an apologetic look, she answered, “I’m starving, but it can wait. I’m not really in a big hurry to chow down on powdered eggs anyway.”
Patting her shoulder, Shane replied, “I totally get that. Mom would have a cow if she saw the way they run the kitchen here. Supper for breakfast and breakfast for supper, she’d have that changed in a heartbeat.”
Heart fluttering at the mention of their mother, Remy smiled and nodded.
It couldn’t have been any more obvious that Greg had an idea if light bulb had miraculously appeared over his head. His eyes grew wide as his smile broadened. “That’s it!”
“What’s it?” Shane asked.
Shaking his head he answered, “Duh. For someone so brilliant, you sure have your blonde moments. Mom. Home. You give us a compulsion to go home. After we’re infected, we have an overwhelming compulsion to go home. They’ll just think we’re trying to bring the rest of the family into the fold. But the other two will be waiting there, and when you get there you won’t be expecting us.”
Remy’s jaw dropped. “This could really work.”
Once again Shane placed her hand in the middle of their circle. “I’m in.”
Placing his massive hand over his little sister’s, Greg agreed, “Me too.”
Remy added hers to the top of the pile. “Abso-freakin-lutely.”
Chapter Four
“Name?” The man with glowing red eyes asked while peering into her face.
“Umm, I can’t remember,” the young raven haired girl answered.
Raising his eyebrows, he said, “That is irrational. Of course you must know your name.”
The girl knew not knowing who she was or how she got here should frighten her, but for some odd reason it didn’t. “I really don’t know. What is this place again?”
Head moving to the left a smidge, he closed his eyes for a moment before returning his gaze to the pale faced girl in front of him. “Wait here, please.”
The young girl nodded and allowed her eyes to wander over the two story home in front of her. Tall columns attached the roof to the base of the front porch. Long, rectangular, red window boxes adorned with burgundy and pink mums lined the edges of the porch, giving it a homey feel.
Within minutes, a twenty-something blond woman with red eyes exited the front door and approached them. “What seems to be the trouble?” her musical voice asked.
The tall man answered, “This one’s been mind wiped. Says she doesn’t know her name or where she came from.”
Stepping forward, the woman placed her hand on the girls shoulder and peered into her eyes.
Still unreasonably calm, the girl felt the woman enter her mind. Remaining still, she allowed complete access to her thoughts.
“Hmm. Interesting. You’re right, it’s another wipe,” she said looking over her shoulder at the guard. “She looks very young. Probably another parent who is tired of seeing their child go hungry. Too bad they don’t just come in as a family. I hate to see the humans suffer unnecessarily. Did you do a print scan?”
“Not yet.”
Smiling, she ran her hand down the young girl’s arm. “Let me see your hand, pet. This won’t hurt a bit. We just need to find out who you are.”
Obligingly holding out her hand, the girl remained still and allowed the guard to take it in his. He placed it palm down on a hand held machine with a dark pad. A light flashed as the machine whirred.
“That’ll do, kiddo. Thanks for your cooperation,” he said as he released her.
Cocking his head to the side, he told the woman, “No matches found. Must have been in hiding for some time. Should she be questioned before she’s processed?”
“That wouldn’t do a bit of good. The wipe is clean and strong. She’s a tiny thing. It is unlikely that she is any sort of weapon. Besides, once she’s processed, whatever their intentions were will be of no consequence.” Sliding an arm around the girl’s shoulders, the woman began walking her up the sidewalk to the house. “This won’t take but a minute dear. Then we’ll have you out and fed in a jiffy. You look like you’ve nearly starved to death.”
***
The pretty blond with the glowing red eyes folded her arms across her chest. “Kaylyn, we need to find out where she comes from.”
Sitting in a chair across from her, the raven haired young girl spoke. “The wipe was too thorough. All I can tell you is that she wants to go home, but she’s not even sure where home is.”
“You’ve been in the shell for two hours and you haven’t managed to glean a thing from the poor girl’s mind?”
Shaking her head, she uncrossed her legs and leaned forward. “This child knows nothing, Sharelle. Whoever wiped her is an expert. There’s nothing here to find. Just nothing. Even with all the probing, I keep running into a steel door in her mind. Whatever is behind that door, I can’t access it.”
A frail grey-haired woman entered the room carrying a plate of sandwiches. Sharelle moved across the room, took the plate from her hands and dismissed her. “Eat. She looks starved.”
“This body doesn’t feel hungry. I think it might be her natural size.”
Holding the tray in front of her, she said, “Regardless, eat. The process surely weakened her somewhat.”
Kaylyn took a bite of a ham and cheese sandwich. “Disgusting. I don’t know how they can eat this crud. There was a time when humans feasted on roasted meat. I liked that better.”
“Humanity is not what it used to be. But I do enjoy their technology. Hot running water feels so good on their bodies.”
“Sharelle, when do get our bodies back? Are we ever going to be returned to our natural state?”
The bl
ond woman pulled at her bottom lip with her fingers. “I don’t know. I’m not privy to that information. They are doing what they can. Our bodies cannot live in this world. Not as it is right now. If we change things, then we lose the cattle.” Flipping her shoulder length hair behind her, she moved to the red couch across from Kaylyn’s matching wingback chair. “I kind of like the shells. They are so sensual. It’s as if every fiber of their being was designed for pure pleasure.”
“This one seems devoid of feeling. Not one ounce of emotion resides within her. I should be feeling her terror. Some form of torment at being invaded. Instead I feel nothing. Total absence of anything at all, except the desire to go home.”
Sharelle leaned forward. “Are you certain you retain total control of the body?”
Kaylyn nodded and shrugged. “I’m not certain that much of this entity remains in the body. I have control.”
“Well good. Then give the child what she wants. It’s possible that her family, or whoever wiped her, still remains in that location. Take her home and bring anyone there to me. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“How am I supposed to do that? She doesn’t even know where home is.”
“She’ll know when she sees it. Take a walk.”
Kaylyn rose from her seat and stretched. “Would it have been too difficult for you to acquire a shell that had more strength? This one is so puny.”
Snorting, Sharelle answered, “You’ve had several good, strong bodies. Quit getting them killed. You’re wasting cattle.”
***
Remy paced the living room while Greg watched out the front window. Every so often she’d glance at her watch. “It’s been four hours. What if she’s not coming back? We shouldn’t have agreed to this.”
Looking over his shoulder, he answered, “She’s coming. Give it some time. After they figure out they can’t get any information from her, they’ll send her looking. They’re going to want to know who did such a clean wipe. And they’ll want that person in custody as quickly as possible.”
“We should’ve had the house’s location instilled in her mind.”
“That wouldn’t have worked. They’d have smelled a trap.”
Terror threatened to consume her as bile rose in her throat. Swallowing, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. “She’s out there all alone. We shouldn’t have left her alone.”
Greg returned his gaze out the window. “She’s not alone, Rem. By now she has an extremely capable demon inside her. Right now, she’s in no danger at all. And she won’t be until she gets here. Just focus. When she arrives, we have to be fast.”
***
Kaylyn stood outside the green two story home looking for any signs of life within. Although evening had settled, there were no lights in the house. Glancing first to the left, and then to the right, the demon noted that lights twinkled from several of the homes lining the street. The child locked deep in the core of this shell strained and pushed wanting to move forward. But something didn’t feel right. Why would this girl so desperately want to return to an empty house? She opened a link to her supervisor. “Sharelle? There is no sign of life at this location. The house looks empty.”
“What does the child want to do?”
“She wants to go in. She desperately wants to go in.”
“Well then take her in. There must be something in there she needs. Be certain to take a good look around. Someone had to have left traces of something. I want that wiper in our ranks by morning.”
Closing the link, she moved to the front door.
***
“She’s here,” Greg whispered.
Remy moved behind the kitchen door as he sped across the living room and stepped inside the downstairs bathroom just outside the kitchen. Concealed in the darkness, they both listened for the opening of the front door. After a few minutes, there was a soft swoosh of air moving through the house.
Kaylyn stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Now that they were in the house, Shane’s essence fought against Kaylyn. Adrenaline filled the body as the young girl tried to regain control and move further into the house. With little effort, Kaylyn squelched the girl back into the recesses of her mind. “Tut, tut. Now is not the time for that nonsense. What is it you want here?”
Moving toward the dining room, she listened for any sign of life. Ahead in the kitchen came a faint sound of shuffling. Tensed and ready to pounce, Kaylyn moved closer. A small streak of yellow bolted past her. Spinning, she watched as it shot up the stairway. “So that’s it? You want your cat? And what will we do with a cat?” she laughed. Shaking her head, she took a step toward the stairway. “If it will please you, we’ll take it home with us. But first, I need to have a look around.”
She spun as a loud clank resounded from the kitchen. “Two cats? Now that’s asking a lot young lady. We aren’t going to have time for that.” Certain only animals resided in the house, Kaylyn moved towards the kitchen.
Greg waited until she’d almost passed the bathroom door, then stepped behind her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, effectively pinning her body to his. The point of a blade gently pressed against her neck. “Don’t move. I’ll slit your throat and you can go back to standing in line with the others.”
Before she could answer, Remy raced to Shane’s side and slid a needle into her arm. As the serum entered the body, the demon howled in rage. Slamming her head into Greg’s shoulder, she caused his arm to tighten. The knife sliced neatly into the young girl’s neck. Hot, sticky blood poured over his hand. “Shit. Oh shit! Remy, help!”
Shane’s body began to convulse before going limp in his arms. As he lowered her frail body to the ground, Remy ripped the table cloth from the dining room table. Pressing it against her sister’s neck, she said, “Shane? Shane, stay with me.”
Shane’s red eyes glowed before erupting in a mass of dark smoke.
“Please stay with me,” Remy screamed.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Shane?” Greg bellowed.
The last of the smoke dissipated and the young girl’s eyes became blue again. Reaching up, she placed her hand over Remy’s, and tried to sit up. “I’m okay. Seriously, I’m okay.”
Remy pushed her back down to the floor. “Your throat’s been cut.”
Greg’s voice shook with raw emotion. “Oh God, I’m so sorry!”
This time Shane shoved her sister’s hand away. “I told you, I’m fine. Turn the lights on and look for yourself. It’s not deep, I can feel it.” Then looking through the dark at the place where the light switch should be, she said, “Never mind. I’ll do it myself.”
Bright light filled the dining room. Shane pulled the table cloth away from her neck to show them the damage. Just as she’d proclaimed, the wound was not even deep enough for stitches. As they watched, it healed completely. “H-how did you do that?” Remy asked.
Shane winked. “I’m guessing the devils don’t understand or have never heard about psychic healing. If they knew, we’d be in even worse trouble.”
Both the older siblings exhaled strongly.
“Jeez, Shane. It’d be nice if you’d share some information with us once in a while. I thought I’d killed you,” Greg said.
“You almost did. I had to wait to begin the healing process until it left my body. I couldn’t take the chance of it finding out and telling the others. Luckily, I was right.”
Still shaking, Remy stood and walked into the bathroom. Unshed tears threatened to spill over as she furiously scrubbed her hands. A sob caught in her throat as she realized her sister’s blood had pooled and dried around her finger nails.
“Here, let me help,” Greg said. Producing a small nail brush from some unknown drawer or pocket, he took her hands and gently went over each nail.
Her body shuddered with the effort of keeping her tears from flowing. Greg’s unusually gentle kindness had been almost more than she could stand. She took a deep breath, and cupping her hands, splashed her face.
&nb
sp; Greg stood quietly to the side, waiting his turn. Stepping back, she allowed him to take her place while watching him in the mirror. “We can’t do this. We can’t move ahead with this. If she hadn’t thought of that, she’d be dead right now and it’s all our fault. You and I will have more body strength than she does. On top of that, even if we go to different processing houses, how can we be certain that the same demon won’t be inserted into one of us? The minute he sees our reflections in a mirror, he’ll know who we are. This was a bad idea.”
Without looking up, Greg continued washing his hands. When he finished, he wiped his hands on the legs of his jeans. He glanced at Shane standing in the doorway. “Are you back with us? Everything’s back?”
She nodded and pointed to her head. “Yep. It’s all here. As soon as I felt the demon leave my body, everything snapped into place.”
Shifting his eyes to Remy, he said, “We don’t have a choice. You know we don’t have a choice. It will be easier next time. We won’t have to use a knife. Shane can hold us in place.”
Running her fingers through her hair, Remy shook her head. “Okay, so who goes next?”
Shane almost whispered as she spoke. “It should be you, Rem. It’s going to take both of us to hold Greg. Any demon who acquires his body will already have the upper hand.”
“And what if we get the same demon?” she asked.
Scratching her head, she thought for a moment. “I don’t think it works like that. Once they are terminated here, they have to wait in line for another chance to return. Sharelle said something about it to Kaylyn. And something about Kaylyn having many strong bodies before this. She was bitching about getting stuck with my body. Can you believe she called me puny?”
***
Remy waited in line with the others. The fingers of her left hand seemed to have a will of their own. No matter how hard she tried to remain still, they worked in continuous motion rubbing against the palm of her hand. She had no idea why she was here, only that she needed to be. The red-eyed guard at the gate kept meeting her eyes. She must look as nervous as she felt, but she had no idea why she was nervous. How did I get here? She knew who she was. Kind of. But that was about it.
Oceans of Red Volume One Page 4