by Kenny Soward
Sparks of red electric danced along her arms.
Steph peeled backwards, crossing herself. The operatives who could see what was happening gasped.
Selix repeated the line, this time with more urgency as she pressed one hand over the man’s heart while the other rested against his cheek. The air changed around them. Lonnie's ears popped, sound compressed into a thimble, except for Selix’s voice.
Dread filled Lonnie’s gut, but he couldn’t move. Even if he could separate her from her task, it might kill them both. She was charging up. Funneling energy from Hell with whatever drugs remained in her body.
Storing the power like a battery.
The electricity sizzled across her arms and fingers, pricking at Mark Winters’s skin.
The air grew tense as ECC operators sat wide-eyed in their seats, mouths hanging open, some biting their nails in anticipation. Chances were, none of them had ever seen real magic, even though they’d heard what fade rippers could do. Their only experience with the supernatural came by way of those invisible miracles their god blessed them with. The kinds of things you needed faith to see.
Lonnie didn’t need faith to believe in miracles. His miracle was right here.
Selix sung a final phrase.
There was a pop.
A spark leapt from her hands into Mark Winters, dancing across his chest, causing the lights in the room to flare and fizzle out, some of them bursting and raining glass everywhere.
Selix slumped back with a sigh.
Whatever spell was holding Lonnie broke, and he rushed past Steph, stopping cold when Mark Winters’s eyes snapped open, eyelids blinking rapidly before fixing them on his astonished daughter.
“Bess?”
“Dad. Oh, God, thank you. Oh, Dad!”
“Bess, is that really you? Is that my baby?”
“Yeah.” Bess felt his face as if she were blind and needed to touch it to believe he was alive. “It’s me, Dad.”
The room, stunned for the last ten minutes, murmured excitedly, then erupted with a cheer.
“Praise God!”
“Hallelujah!”
“Oh, Jesus. Yes, Sweet Jesus. He’s alive!”
Steph stood there crying, hand covering her mouth in awe.
Lonnie scowled, reaching for Selix. “Heya. I’m here.”
Selix’s face rose with a smile. Her secret smile. Smug. She was proud of herself, and she damn well should be. He understood it. Bess had put her life on the line for them, so Selix had returned the favor.
Now they needed to hightail it out of here. He didn't want any more favors from Bess or the ECC. He'd be happy with the keys to the van and a five minute head start.
"Time to go." Lonnie offered his hand. Selix started to reach, but her arm fell, smile slipping. Her face grew ashen, eyes glazing over. She slid onto her ass and leaned against a partition wall.
“Selix? Hey!”
Lonnie dropped to his knees beside her, put his palm to her forehead. It was cool, but not just physically. Her magic had gone, too. The electric pulse of her life force seemed to have completely disappeared. She clutched her chest, gripping it like she wanted to dig her own heart out. Her face twisted in pain, eyes searching Lonnie’s in panic.
“Selix, what's happening? What can I do?”
She shook her head, cold sweating now, gasping for breath and unable to speak. Her fingers massaged in quick circles while foam formed on her lips. Lonnie shot Bess a look from where she lay over her father. The `Venger stared back at him, the ecstasy of a few seconds ago dissolving. Her eyes ticked to Selix, recognizing the trouble. “Steph, get medical here now.”
“They’re—”
Lonnie closed his eyes and drew Selix in.
He was vaguely aware of Bess standing, arguing with someone. Feet ran into the room. There was a fuss and a tousle. Lonnie didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, it was just the two of them.
Selix brought her knees up, curling in his arms.
He encircled her, tried to transfer his heat to her body.
She gasped, repeating his name. “Lonnie-Lonnie-Lon—”
Lonnie nodded, enraged at her pain. “I know. They’re coming. Help is on the way.”
Selix fell slack, eyes rolling up in her head. The hand that had been clutching her chest dropped into her lap. Lonnie could do nothing. Not a godamn thing.
One of the ECC medical technicians moved around Mark Winters’ cot and got on Selix’s other side. He reached for her, and Lonnie drew back his fist. The man hesitated, but someone touched Lonnie’s shoulder.
“Sir, please step aside. We can help her.”
Lonnie nodded. Got to his feet fighting buckling knees.
A set of arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him away. Elsa’s iron-heavy scent of blood washed over him. “Lons, no.”
He watched helplessly as they stretched Selix out and worked on her. He had to admit they knew what they were doing. Professional. Efficient. Lonnie’s hopes rose.
One tech said, “Sorry to ask this, sir, but is she on anything? Any drugs?”
Lonnie sputter-laughed through tears. “Yeah, uh, heroin. We took that probably an hour ago.”
The tech nodded and continued working. It didn’t take but a few seconds for them to bring out the defibrillator. One tech ripped her KENTUCKY shirt open, exposing her breasts and prepping the area with a conductive gel.
“Clear,” the one with the paddles said. He placed the metal against Selix’s chest and discharged the defibrillator. Selix lifted off the floor and slammed down, and Lonnie felt the punch.
The near technician checked her vital signs—pulse, breathing—and he shined a tiny flashlight into her eyes.
Withdrawing, he said, “Again.”
“Clear.”
Another punch, and Selix’s chest spasmed upward again.
They repeated the procedure two more times before one of the techs shook his head.
Lonnie waited for her to move, waited for her to catch her breath and jolt awake like they did in the movies. Their life together flashed before his eyes, rapid fire inside his brain. The things he remembered, and some new stuff piling in.
Lonnie shrugged Elsa off and collapsed at Selix's feet, eyes too wet to see.
He stared. Waited. But she was gone. He felt it as surely as if she'd gotten up and walked out of the room. He took his dragon lighter and pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
“Sir,” Steph said, her voice gentle but insistent, “You can’t smoke in here.”
Lonnie put the cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Dragged deep and stared at the skinny girl with the blond mohawk. He let the gray mist roll from his nose like the breath of a dragon.
“No offense, Steph. But fuck you."
"I'll give you a moment," Steph said, backing up.
The techs packed up their things.
Chapter 38
“Hey,” Bess said as Lonnie approached.
“Hey,” Lonnie said back, stopping a few feet away.
They’d agreed to meet in an open field a mile from the Citadel. Turned out Bess’s friends, namely that big fucker, Alex Rios, weren’t thrilled to have the gang stick around longer than they needed to. No surprise there. Lonnie was fine with that, carrying Selix’s body out of the Citadel and down the road a couple miles to the van, flanked by Elsa and Crash as God's commandos stared.
They say a person’s corpse is much heavier than it looks, but Selix weighed next to nothing.
It had been a numb journey on a brisk morning. Ironic that the sun was coming up, casting bright life over the Kentucky countryside. A second chance. A positive omen for the ECC as they regrouped.
Lonnie avoided looking Bess in the eye. Reached into his jacket to grab his cigarettes. Honestly, he never expected to see Bess again after what happened, but one of the ECC guys had found them just as Jedi was hot-wiring the van. Told them Bess wanted to talk.
Lonnie agreed to hear what she had to say. They still had to live. St
ill had to survive. Well, Lonnie didn’t, but Crash, Elsa, and Ingrid had plenty to look forward to, and Bess might offer them help he couldn't refuse. If it hadn’t been for the gang, he would have done something self-destructive already. Thoughts of putting a gun to his head crossed his mind every few seconds, and it was all he could do to keep himself distracted enough not to do it.
“Man, I’m so fucking sorry.”
Lonnie shrugged, feigning nonchalance, hands shaking as he lit his cigarette (his last damn one), thumb running over the dragon lighter “It happens.”
“No. Not to her. She saved my dad. I mean…” Bess crossed her arms over her chest and gazed across the field to a horse farm a mile distant. White picket fences, and a small herd of equines nipped at the grass. Lonnie followed her gaze, taking in the landscape as if seeing it for the first time. Wanting it to be beautiful. Wanting to believe in it.
But everything he believed in lay in a blanket in the back seat of the van.
“How can you even say that? You loved her, right?”
Lonnie paused. “Yeah, I did. But, I realize something now.”
“What’s that?”
“We took her for granted. All of us. She was the one who kept us together. She made us more, and we figured she was invincible. That she’d always be there. That—”
“She’d live forever?”
“Yeah. And we piled it on her, man. Piled on the responsibility and worry. Especially me.” Lonnie choked on his words.
“You are still more, Lonnie. You’ve shown me things, changed me in ways I could never have imagined. I mean, I’m fucked up, man. Everything I knew, everything I believed in, is upside down. I feel broken, but I'm not. I'm as whole as I've ever been.”
Lonnie nodded, shook ashes from his cigarette. “I’m glad your dad’s okay.” He finally met Bess’s eyes. “He is okay, right?”
Bess looked like she’d been crying for an eternity. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. And I’ll make damn sure he doesn’t forget who saved his ass. These guys have a tendency to be assholes to anyone outside the organization. Man, I was an asshole. And I’ve been asking the Lord why this happened. Been asking why Selix had to die because I asked for my dad to live. Why this misery when we were doing His will?” Bess hugged herself. “Shit, if He wants me to do something else then He should tell me.”
Lonnie’s chuckle was flat. “No reply from that god of yours?”
Bess’ hard, bloodshot eyes softened. A laugh busted out of her. “He didn’t say shit,” she said, still laughing, face twisting into a grimace until tears streaked to her chin.
“Hey now.” Lonnie wanted to offer a hug or some consolation, but he didn’t. His compassion was husked out and scorched.
Bess got it together, the storm on her face clearing. “Selix performed a miracle for me, but I don’t understand why. Why did she do it?”
“Because she was better than all of us put together.”
Bess nodded. Sniffed. Wiped her nose with the sleeve of her hoodie. “I knew that when I walked in on you two holding each other back in the Under River."
"You looked disgusted."
"I was jealous."
Lonnie squeezed his eyes shut hard. "Yeah."
"I’ll never forget what Selix did. Or you. You’re good people.”
“Good people, huh? Think your friends would agree?”
“I don’t care what they think. I know what I know. I know what I saw.”
“Your vision?"
“Yeah. You're not like the other rippers. You've got a different glow. And my godsight wouldn’t lie.”
“Maybe it’s exaggerating.”
“No, God has blessed you.”
Lonnie didn’t have the strength to laugh.
“You think that's stupid.”
Lonnie put his hands in his pockets and gave Bess a polite smile. Shit, she was trying, at least. “Yeah, that is pretty stupid.”
They shared a chuckle.
“What are you going to do?”
Lonnie shrugged. “No clue. Find someplace safe. Get in touch with our contacts up north.”
“That makes sense. Fly under the radar for a while. Keep a low profile. You won’t get any trouble from us. I’ll make sure of it. And here.” Bess bent and heaved a satchel off the ground, dropping it at Lonnie’s feet. He didn’t have to ask to know it was full of guns and ammo.
“Thanks.”
“Yep. It’s the least I can do.”
Lonnie nodded, genuinely thankful.
“There’s money in there, too. Should be enough to set you up somewhere. Try to stay out of trouble. Especially Elsa. You know how she is.”
“Yes, I do.” And then he remembered. “Hey, you can have Jedi as we agreed. Little shit’s just going to be a pain in my ass.”
Bess shook her head. “Keep Jedi and Makare both. We got what we wanted out of them. And we're on the trail of their hacker, some chick named Angie. Going after her as we speak. Once we snatch her, we’ll be able to find out how they infiltrated our network. We’ll find out who this Turu Tukte is.”
Lonnie nodded, anxious to be away now. Anxious to get back to her.
“Here.” Bess held out a flip phone. “I can trust you, Lonnie. And we might need each other someday. A war is coming.”
Lonnie accepted the phone. “Thanks, but we’re getting out of the game. What’s left of us, anyway.”
Bess handed him the keys to the church van. “You guys are going to look insane driving that thing.”
“Always.”
“Don’t get pulled over.”
Lonnie chuckled. “We won’t.”
“Don’t kill any cops either.”
“I’ll make sure we don’t. Not even Elsa.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah.”
They stood in silence for a minute. Hell, he might have initiated a good-bye hug if he thought it would do either of them any good.
It wouldn’t.
Lonnie gave her a final nod, picked up the satchel, and walked away.
Chapter 39
Lonnie stood at the edge of the Ohio River, wondering if what they were about to do was right. Waves lapped at the toes of his boots and a shred of moonlight bathed them it its tepid glow. He looked north towards the lights of the city, lights that danced on the river’s surface.
Selix rested in his arms. They’d stripped away her bloody clothes, cleaned her skin, and drew the symbol of the Eighth Street Gang—the spear piercing the circle—on her stomach with lipstick.
The night was warm.
The air was still.
It was a night she would have liked.
They were near the Coke cooler where they’d first entered the Under River. The hoses were gone, snatched back by the things lurking in the depths. Lonnie remembered Selix coaxing him to take one of those nasty hoses in his mouth, and he laughed.
No, this felt right. Something she would have appreciated. Something that might have made her smile.
Besides, they had no better ideas. They hadn’t even buried the Brit properly, and who knew if he still rotted in the basement of the apartment on Eighth Street. Lonnie felt terrible about that. They all did, but the Brit would understand they couldn’t retrieve his corpse. Also that Selix deserved something better.
So here they were.
Now Lonnie had to find the balls to do it.
He’d spent an hour or more in the rear seat of the van with her head in his lap, pushing her hair behind her ears and thinking of what they’d been through. Back in Hell, their crossing to Earth, their manipulation of time itself by keeping Lonnie’s memories subdued.
He remembered Woodstock and Coney Island and festivals and times when they’d been happy. Yet, the best times were these last times. Coming out of the icing only to realize the beautiful, distant girl of his dreams was actually in love with him. How their old feeling rekindled as they struggled through the Under River. Their hot passion on a makeshift bed in a tunnel made of mud.
&nbs
p; He wouldn’t change any of that.
Not even his decision to help Bess, or to fight that last time in the ECC Citadel. No, those had been Selix's decisions, too.
Still. Sorry Bess, but I'd trade Selix for your father any day.
“Do you think they’ll still be here?” Ingrid, on his left, holding one of Selix’s feet, brushing the top of the dead woman's toes with her thumb. She’d been so distraught at Selix’s death that she taken a knife to her hair, chopping it into a wild bob that circled her head. Crash patiently calmed her, and soon she'd cried like the rest of them.
On his right, Elsa brushed her clawed nails through Selix’s hair until it shined. As for herself, she'd tried to look presentable for the funeral. The whorchal with repaired clothing, having cut off the tatters and even salvaging the shredded Perfect Princess T-shirt. Her knee-high boots were missing three or four buckles. She’d combed her own hair through until it, too, shined, pulling it over one shoulder and locking it with a clip. She almost looked majestic but for the angry cuts of her eyebrows and her deathly wicked eyes.
Lonnie looked askance at Crash who stood next to Ingrid, his arm swallowing her waist. He had on a white T-shirt they’d purchased with Bess’s money at a truck stop on the way back to Cincinnati.
Lonnie wore the same thing beneath his leather jacket.
They looked respectable, for monsters.
“Hey man. Can you…?” Lonnie’s voice cracked. “Can you take us home?”
Crash nodded. “Sure, my brother. I can.” He cleared his throat.
“You going to leave us here?” Jedi shouted from the shore. “You think that’s smart? We could run.”
Lonnie peered over his shoulder where Jedi and his sister stood, both of them without shoes now. His sister had been a good girl so far although Lonnie knew she was plotting something. He’d have to be ready for her when she made her move. And if he had any doubt, he’d kill her.
“Go ahead. Run.”
Lonnie found his courage and led them into the lapping waves. Crash clapped his hands and began his spoken word chant, a monster prayer for their dead.
“Okay, people. We’re going to do this, huh?”