by Su Williams
“That was—really weird,” she said.
“Weird doesn’t even come close.” She had no idea of the battles that raged unnoticed in this world.
“No. I mean it was intense.” She waved her hands as though to erase her words. “When you caught me…something…weird happened.”
I arched my brows at her. “Uh, what part of me being a Dream Weaver do you not find ‘weird’?”
She pierced me with a volatile glare and softly growled. “I mean…oh, I don’t know what I mean. When your body came down on mine—it was like—like you were a part of me. Like you’d crawled right into my skin with me. But then, when you were solid again, you just squished me. Does that make sense?”
I scrubbed my face with my palm. Nick told me months ago that for a Caphar’s ethereal body to come in contact with a corporeal human was a very intimate thing. Heat flushed my face.
“Are you saying you didn’t like being squished by me?” I teased. “Because I could’ve just let you fall and smash to smithereens on the road.” She growled again, and her mouth worked frantically to find the right words. I reached over and patted her hand. “I get it, Ives.” How much of this should I tell her? And could I find the words that wouldn’t freak her out?
“Do you remember how you felt the first time someone kissed you?” she asked. Her eyes avoided mine and her fingers danced a jig in her lap.
“Um—yeah. I guess.”
“Well—that’s kind of how it made me feel. I mean, after I got over the initial terror of falling.”
“I see. Is that bad?” I asked.
“No, it just…I don’t know…”
I wasn’t sure what was bugging her so I squeezed her hand. “Ives? You know I love you, right?” She nodded. “And that I’d do anything for you, right?” Another nod. “You mean more to me than anyone. What happened up there was an act of love from one person to another. If my spirit touched yours, it only makes us both stronger, closer than before. Do you get it?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes still dodged mine. “But I could never do that for you.”
“What, you mean, save me?” She nodded again and I thought I saw tears on her lashes. I pulled under the carport and shut off the car. “Ivy. You have saved me before. Remember? Back after Mom and Dad were killed? And you continue to do it every single day.”
“Really?” Hope sparked in her eyes.
“Really.”
She smiled then, one of her truly happy smiles. But it faded fast. “Doesn’t all of this scare the hell out of you?”
“Yeah. Pretty much. But it’s what I am now. And actually, all of the super cool stuff far outweighs the crap we have to deal with.”
She thought about that a moment in her ditzy contemplative way and seemed to come to terms with my answer. “So—are you rummaging around in my head all the time now?”
I closed my eyes with an exasperated sigh. “Molly asked me that same question. I’ll give you the same answer. No. I’m not a creeper. I only trespass in cases of emergency. The only time I visit without your permission is when you’re asleep, so I can absorb your sleeping brainwaves to keep myself healthy.”
“You do that?” Her face read appalled, but she couldn’t hide the tiny twitch of a smile at the corners of her mouth.
“Yes,” I said and put on my best goofy stalking vampire face. “I vant to suck your brainwaves.” I poked my fingers into her neck. “Glirk. Glirk. Glirk.” Ivy squealed, giggled and lunged out of the car. To add to the gag, I phased from the car and into her path. She ran headlong into me and stumbled back.
“That’s not funny,” she pouted and planted her fists on her hips like a recalcitrant child. “And. It’s not fair either.”
“Who told you life was fair?” I said as I grabbed her hand and towed her back to the house. Eddy dug at the window beside the back door, then mauled us both, with bays, licks and sniffs, when we went inside. Ivy folded herself to the floor of the living room with Eddy’s favorite rope toy, where they played tug of war, and she dragged him across the floor on his belly with the toy in his mouth. I smiled at them fondly and squelched the ache in my chest. I loved them both so deeply. But still, that tiny gremlin of jealousy clawed at my insides, envied their liberty—envied their freedom from the darkness and fear that had become such an integral part of my life.
Chapter 31 Losing Grip
Twenty-four hours a day, we sat on pins and needles. Every backfire of a car or startle of birds from the trees sent my adrenalin coursing. The guys were far less skittish than me. They’d been through the hurry up and wait for Thomas to make an appearance. We all kept our bodies and skills tuned for that day—or night when he finally showed up to wreak havoc on our minds, strip us of our gifts and leave us for dead. But Thomas wasn’t aware of the extended abilities I possessed, or that Ari and her magical gifts were part of our arsenal. And he may not have been aware that Sabre absorbed William’s gifts and memories from the Rephaim’s dying blood. Maybe that was just the thing we needed to tip the scales in our favor.
Late in June, on a crisp dark night, I drove home from an especially grueling session with Sabre. The sky over my cottage glowed orange and I drifted the corner off Highway 206 to find flames shooting from the roof. Inside, I could hear Eddy’s howls of terror. I broadcast the images to Nick and Sabre. Call 911! I gotta get Eddyson! I didn’t wait for a response, but dived through the smoke and drifting ash to the front door. The heat swelled the door in its frame and no matter how I banged and slammed it, the door would not budge. Inside, the pup’s bitter wails fell into silence and echoed in my heart. If I broke a window, the oxygen would feed the flames and cause an explosive burst. With a hand to my forehead, I paced the porch, looking for a rock or brick or anything I could use to bust out a window. Good god! What am I thinking? Are you a little mouse or a mighty Caphar? I phased inside beside Eddy’s crate. The pup lay still, breathing slow, shallow breaths. My fingertips singed on the metal door of his crate, where the little guy had stuffed his growing body for safety. I swung the door wide, dragged the wilted pup into my arms and tucked my body around his as ceiling joists popped and whined overhead. The smoke sapped every ounce of strength within me, and we huddled in the midst of the inferno.
“Emari?!”
Nick? Here! Help me with Eddy!
“Emari? Honey, look at me.”
No! We have to get Eddy out!
“Emari. It’s not real. Latch on to my voice and I’ll get you out.”
No…it’s…Was it possible that this was all just in my head? The heat scorched my skin and smoke gnawed at my lungs. Sweat beaded and trailed down my face and back. Fire crackled around me as the glass from my built-ins shattered from the heat and the wood popped and moaned.
It’s not real, Em. You’re sitting on your front porch. Eddyson is safe inside your car.
Not real? You’d think I’d have figured out by then how to tell a lie from the truth, but Thomas was still able to deceive Nick and Sabre after all those years. No. It is not real.
All at once, the cool evening breeze lapped at my cheeks and I choked on the smoke-that-wasn’t. Nick’s dark, shining eyes peered up into my face as he crouched beside me, a smile crinkled them at the corners.
“Hey, Sweets,” his voice was alluring.
“Eddy’s okay?”
He swung his arm toward the CX9. “See? He’s in the car.” Sure enough, Eddy stood at the front passenger window, tail wagging like a metronome, and baying his fool head off.
I nodded. “Yeah. I see.”
Nick helped me to my feet but I staggered against him as the memory of a memory groped its way out of its grave.
Searing heat and the horror of looking into the faces of my mother and father as the flames devour them, forces me to turn away. My body finally crumbles onto the cold freeway, in exhausted agony. I crush my ears with my hands to block out the maelstrom. Their haunting screams reverberate in my ears, echoes of the torment resounding throughout my body.
> The reality of my own screams awoke me. I bolted upright and clutched my head. My body trembled and rocked, soaked in sweat, as I manically searched for a thread of truth. My breath rasped from my lungs that thrashed against the smoke-that-wasn’t.
“Holy crap!” I gasped and pressed myself against the reassurance of safety in his arms. I forced the memory into Nick’s head. “That was him! Wasn’t it? Giving me nightmares after the crash.”
Nick’s brow corrugated in dismay. “That one? Yes.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?” I demanded.
“It would only have made matters worse. If Thomas had known I was watching over you, he’d have killed you—after driving you mad. And then—he’d have tortured me with the memories.” His heart beat out a mortified rhythm beneath my hand. “I did what I could to repair the damage after he left.” His head hung. “Kind of makes me sound like a coward, huh?”
“No. Kind of makes you my knight in shining armor. And I didn’t believe in those anymore.”
He flashed a mollifying smile and cupped my cheek in his palm. “I’ll be whatever you need me to be,” he whispered and his mouth lowered toward mine—until a deafening pop, like a blast from a shotgun, made us both duck. With the tremor of an earthquake, the ancient blue spruce at the corner of the yard rumbled down on top of us. We dived for cover and barely made it to the porch before the tree crashed down on the exact spot we’d been standing.
“Geezus!” My heart hammered so hard all I could manage was a whisper.
“And so it begins,” Nick muttered. And I didn’t need to ask what he meant. All this time we’d been waiting for Thomas to strike. And now, it was upon us.
“I’ve got weapons in the trunk. Is Eddy safer loose or confined in the car?”
Nick hauled me back up to my feet. “I don’t think it matters much. If Thomas wants him, he’ll get at him either way. Probably better loose so at least he has a chance to defend himself. Come on. Let’s get to the car.”
Hand in hand, we skirted the felled spruce. It made me sad to see the ancient tree destroyed. It sat on this land for over an hundred years and I hadn’t realized till that moment how fond of it I was. But our lives were more important, so I couldn’t grieve long.
Eddy gouged at the door frame trying to get out of the car. Nick swung the rear lift gate up and the pup bounded over the seats and nearly bowled me over in his exuberance. I stroked his ears for reassurance and coaxed him onto the ground. Nick opened the storage compartment to reveal my stash of weapons. He chuckled approvingly.
I’d grown quite comfortable with the sai. Nearly as good as the masked Magic Babe Ning, the gorgeous female magician I’d watched on YouTube. But not quite. Her moves were mostly for show. I aimed to maim. Or better yet, kill. I wrapped a weapons belt around my waist and shoved a sai through each of my hip belt loops. Like a pro, I checked and loaded my pearl-handled .45, and chambered a specialized lye round. After holstering the gun, I donned Pinky, my taser gun, a handful of throwing stars, my butterfly knife and, just as a last resort, one of Sabre’s lye grenades. It wouldn’t kill the Wraith. But it would make it hard for him to regenerate—maybe slow him down enough for one of us to finish him off.
A morbid chuckle bubbled up before I could rein it in.
“What?” Nick asked, all stern and serious.
“You know, just a couple of months ago, I was questioning you on the morality of killing another living being. Now? I got no qualms with ripping his head off and feeding him to the ravens and magpies.”
“I’m sorry for that.”
“What? What do you mean? I thought you’d be happy I finally saw the light.” I scanned the darkness around us, watching for Thomas.
Nick shook his head. “No. It doesn’t make me happy that you’ve had to learn to kill to survive.” His eyes darted around the compound. His breaths, fast and shallow.
I raked my fingers through my hair. “Yeah. There is that.” Nick reached up to arrange a spike of hair I’d mussed. “Hey,” I teased, “at least I’ll be prepared for the zombie apocalypse.”
Nick shook his head and a small smile quirked his lips. “Yeah. There is that,” he said with a sigh and slammed a nine-round clip into his .357 Reuger. “You ready?”
The halogen floods that lit the driveway and out-buildings flickered. “As I’ll ever be.” The floodlights detonated like bombs and thrust the compound into darkness. Eddy. At my heal. The pup melded with my shadow, his fur gently tickled my ankle so I could feel him at my side.
Slow and stealthy, Nick and I prowled the darkness, wondering if this was just another of Thomas’ hit and runs. Geez, I was ready to have this over and done. Eddy’s fur suddenly bristled against my leg, a feral growl in his throat, and Ari flared to life against my breast. Thomas dropped from nowhere between us and swiftly delivered a driving kick to Nick’s midsection and a roundhouse kick to my side. Each of us phased on the fly to heal the damage and came back at him strong. I almost felt guilty ganging up on him—two against one. But then I remembered all the pilfered abilities he’d taken from other Caphar. It made him as lethal as a dozen Rephaim.
We phased back in, just like in training. Nick pounded him with a scissor kick and I followed with a shin kick. Thomas crashed to the ground, while Nick and I drew our weapons. But the Wraith just chortled and phased from our sight. We moved back to back in preparation of the next attack.
“You okay?” Nick asked.
“Yup. You?”
“Fine.”
Again our eyes scanned the darkness. And again Eddyson and Ari warned us of Thomas’ return. Somewhere between ethereal and corporeal, Thomas whorled around us like a cyclone—filled with razor wire. He slashed and sliced, and backed us to the little barn. Nick couldn’t pull himself out of the fray, but I managed to phase from the fight. I entangled my incorporeal body with Thomas’ and shifted to non-tangible combat.
In the flashes of a strobe light, I saw my parents crash and burn. I saw the rape—the violence and brutality. Emari! Nick was screaming my name. Every nightmare and daymare I’d ever had bombarded my mind in sadistic, scorching flashes of motion. But with the energy the Wraith used to barrage my mind, he left his own memories unguarded. I plucked them one by one—the most vile, most agonizing, most destructive —and assailed his brain until he turned me loose. I phased into a crouch at Nick’s side. He stood sentry over me, poised for battle, while my breath and the bedlam subsided.
“All right?” he murmured over his shoulder.
“Yeah. I’m all right.” I ferreted the darkness for a glimpse of Eddy’s splashes of white. “Where’s Eddy?” I gasped.
“He was here a second ago.” Nick joined in my search, while I stretched my mind to find the pup’s.
“Oh god!” I croaked. “He’s luring him to the highway.”
“Are you sure? Could it just be a weave to get us separated?” he asked.
“I don’t know!” I whined. “Can I take that chance? He’s almost there.”
“Call him. With your mind.”
Eddy! Wait! Come come, little one. But the pup continued his trek toward the busy highway that skirted my land.
“Go get him!” Nick ordered.
“But…” How could I leave Nick to face this Rephaim alone, even for a moment, to go and save a dog? He was just a dog.
“No. He’s not. Now. Go.”
With a repentant gaze, I phased to Eddy just as his front paws crossed the solid white line on the shoulder of the highway. Halogen lights glared down at us as I scooped the pup into my arms and lunged away from traffic that blared outraged horns as they ripped past. Tucking Eddy against my chest, I phased us back to the compound, careless if anyone saw. I stowed him in the back of the car and scanned the darkness for Nick. All I found was dusky shadows, and an odd vibrating current that shimmied the air around me in ascending and descending waves.
Once again, I was torn whether to keep my beagle boy with me or lock him in the car. Neither alternative felt
better than the other. ‘Six of one. Half dozen of the other,’ my mom used to say of equally weighted decisions. Keeping him with me hadn’t saved him from Thomas’ clutches before, but I didn’t think leaving him behind would be any better choice. And, it seemed like Thomas was capable of being two places at once. Finally, I stroked and kissed his soft domed head and shut him in the car to go find Nick.
The woods around my cottage had never felt so villainous. I’d wandered through these trees countless times, accompanied only by moonlight. Tonight, the moon only shared half its light. The crickets had silenced their song, and even the bullfrogs were hushed in anticipation. The air continued to vibrate around me as though charged with electrical current. In violent waves, the sensation washed over and through me. Then, at the crest of a flaring pulse, a scream echoed through the night and rattled down my spine. The wave receded and flared again, punctuated by another scream. Nick’s scream. My feet grew wings. I raced through the brush, that lashed my skin and tore at my clothes, and dodged hulking Ponderosas until I spilled out of the woods onto Yale Road. All fell silent. The crunch of gravel under my feet was the only sound to puncture the night.
The mountains of rock at the quarry loomed in the near distance, white and glowing in the half-light of the moon. Nick’s screams began again, closer together and growing more primal. I had to find him. I lit out across the quarry and phased mid-leap to get an aerial view. Splashes of light fanned out across the sky from the furthest corner of the quarry. Each flash preceded Nick’s waning wails, so I dived in that direction. As I circled the quarry like a vulture in search of carrion, I spotted them. Thomas towered over Nick’s prone body that convulsed and writhed in torment. With the ferocity of a hurricane, I whorled in behind him.