“Progress in discovering no antidote,” Rom said.
“Don’t be so negative. We’ll find it.”
Rom fixed his gaze on the road. “Vow to me,” he said after a few minutes. ”Vow you will end my suffering rather than see me mad.”
“You mean kill you?”
He nodded.
“No, Rom. That's not an option."
“Then I must end my own life.”
“That’s not an option either, mister,” I insisted, tears springing to my eyes. “The only option is finding a cure. Do you hear me?” The tears spilled over the rims of my eyes and slid down my cheeks before I could dash them away.
Rom’s refusal to respond spoke volumes.
* * * * *
Colonial Park Cemetery encompassed about six acres in the heart of the historic downtown and, during mid-afternoon, the place was chock full of tourists eager to see a cemetery that dated back to 1750 for its earliest burials. To me, if he were here at all, the ghoul would most likely lurk in one of the many burial vaults that rose like red brick pyramids out of the earth. At some point, probably during renovation of the cemetery, the entrance to each of the vaults had been cemented over.
Rom and I walked along the main path and found nothing out of the ordinary. So we headed for the vaults located in more secluded areas. At the back, near what was the old dueling ground, we found a vault with the name Macpherson carved into its plaque. Rom circled around one way and I went the other.
“A breach here,” Rom announced.
Sure enough, the cement blocking the entrance to the vault had been broken. Chunks lay at the base. Rom took a flashlight from the knapsack he carried, switched it on and stuck his upper body through the gap.
“Anything?” I asked after a few seconds.
“A smell most horrible,” Rom replied. “And evidence of recent movement in the tomb’s lid.” He pulled himself completely through the gap and sounds of scraping and jostling could be heard from inside. This wouldn’t have been a huge problem except for the pair of tourists, probably husband and wife, heading our way.
“Don’t come out until I tell you,” I called to him. “We’re going to have company soon.” A thought occurred to me. We were pretty sure from our research that the ghoul was inert during the day, but what if we were wrong? “Unless you have to come out," I said. "Because if the ghoul is awake or something...Anyway…” I trailed off.
Rom didn’t answer.
Mr. and Mrs. Nosey strolled up. I tried positioning myself in front of the vaults entrance. The couple wasn’t deceived and I saw Mrs. Nosey “noticing” the broken pieces of cement on the ground at my feet.
“Isn’t it a shame what vandals will do these days?” I shook my head and made a tisking sound.
Mrs. Nosey shot me a glare and pulled her clueless husband back the way they’d come. When they were almost out of sight and completely out of earshot, I stuck my head through the gap and couldn’t see a thing. The flashlight beam hit me in the eye, before Rom switched if off.
“The ghoul is here.” Rom pushed past me and stepped outside the vault. “He's unconscious, inside the tomb stretched atop the remains.”
“We still have about an hour until dusk," I said.
After contacting Zen for back up we waited sitting cross-legged under a hackberry tree within a few steps of the vault entrance. I’d pulled a peanut and chocolate candy bar out of my purse, broke it, and handed half to Rom.
“Mmm.” Rom chewed and then swallowed. “There is a treat similar in Augustinia, but not with this deliciousness.”
“Umhumm.” I nodded and chewed.
Mr. and Mrs. Nosey came into view again from around the corner of another vault to our right, just as I spotted Zen and Petra, to our left, heading up the path. Directing a narrowed stink eye expression on Mrs. Nosey caused her to stop and whisper to her husband. The two of them turned and scurried away. Good. We didn’t need witnesses for this.
Rom and I stood and greeted our backup. Zen pulled an oversized duffle on wheels, which he laid down in front of Rom. After unzipping the bag, he pulled its sides wide, revealing a leather strappy thing.
“Muzzle.” Zen lifted the leather thing to display it for us. “We don’t want any more ghoul bites.”
Thanks for reminding us about that little problem.
On the inside of the muzzle was a coating of something. “Silver,” Zen said. “To keep him incapacitated.”
He lifted a metal chain out of the bag. Iron with little somethings attached to it. Inspecting it closer I realized the little somethings were in cute shapes. Among them a unicorn, a peace sign, a four-leaf clover, and a horse.
“Where did you get—Petra,” I exclaimed. "Your silver charms.”
“Don’t get all emotional and shit.” Petra's face turned an embarrassed red. “I only sacrificed the ones I never particularly liked.”
"What about the four-leaf clover charm? You love that one. It’s from your Miss St. Patrick’s Day pageant last year.”
“I only got third place. Besides, I figured we could use all the luck we could get. After all this guy is a ghoul.”
“Oh Petra.” I choked down a bolder the size of tombstone and wrapped her in a tight hug.
“If you cry, I’ll cry too, so just don’t,” she said into my shoulder. “Besides I’ll expect you to replace them with some 18 karat gold charms after all this is over.”
“Deal." I kissed her cheek.
“Ladies,” Zen said. “Please. Can we get on with this?”
Zen and Rom climbed into the gap in the vault, while Petra and I fed them supplies from outside.
“The muzzle shall be my task alone,” Rom had said. He seemed determined that no one else get near the teeth of the ghoul.
After quite a bit of racket from inside, Zen poked his head back out the gap. “Duffle,” he demanded. Petra passed the bag in to him, pushing on the end to cram it the rest of the way through. Getting the duffle back out again ten minutes later required both Petra and me. Once the bag passed completely through the opening, the weight of it brought us to our knees.
As we scrambled out from under it, I saw the Mr. and Mrs. Nosey striding toward us down the path. Zen and Rom emerged from the vault just when Mrs. Nosey took out her cell phone. She punched in three numbers.
“Crap,” I said. “Let’s get out of here quick. That woman just called the cops.”
With Zen dragging the rolling duffle behind him, the four of us walked quickly toward the exit. Unfortunately, there was only one and we had to take a roundabout way to avoid going directly past the Noseys. My adrenaline didn’t calm until Zen had the duffle in his van.
“I’m sorry,” Petra said. “I’ve gotta run home and check in with my mom or she’ll have my hide. Honestly, I might as well be living in Sri Lanka.”
I laughed. “Sri Lanka’s where they punish by caning?”
“Yeah.” Petra nodded. She gave me a brief hug. “I’ll see you later. Text me.”
My breathing returned completely to normal once Rom and I were in his car driving toward the old hospital. This time nothing would stop us from shoving that ghoul through the vortex portal and getting Juliette back.
* * * * *
The ease of transporting the ghoul to the morgue’s vortex portal didn't worry me. After all, the silver encrusted muzzle and the silver charm chain incapacitated him. Besides, he was locked inside the duffle.
But what did worry me was that when we arrived at the morgue, Billy and Quinn were waiting for us. Billy had a stubborn defiance in his stance and expression. Quinn just looked blankly terrified as usual, as if he wouldn’t be here but for Billy’s bullying.
“I thought you said you were leaving us on our own, Billy,” I said.
"We saw you at the cemetery.” He sneered. “Took you pussies long enough to find the ghoul.”
“Why don’t you and your lapdog just go,” I said, nodding toward Quinn. “He seems so scared he’s gonna pee himself any seco
nd.”
“We’re not going anywhere.” Billy crossed his arms over his chest and took a wide-legged stance. “We’re gonna make certain we get Juliette this time without any of your screw-ups.”
“If Kizzy dictates your departure, you depart.” Rom stepped boldly forward into Billy’s face.
The two stood staring at one another and I expected fists to start flying.
“Enough arguing,” Zen said. “It’s getting late and this thing isn't smelling any fresher."
“Yeah enough arguing Taylor.” Billy cast me a smug smile. “We can always call the police to mediate our dispute.”
“Big words,” I said. “But then it always has been Quinn who’s the moron and you the jerk.”
“I said enough,” Zen shouted. “Let’s get this over with.”
Something about Billy’s swaggering attitude put me on edge. I couldn’t determine whether it was the average edge I always felt around a jerk or whether it was something more.
“Okay, I’ll open the vortex.” Pointing to Zen I said, ”Then you push the ghoul through, duffle and all.”
“No.” Billy shook his head. “First of all, how do I know the ghoul is even in there? Second, if he’s unconscious or crippled in there, how do we know Juliette won’t be when she comes back.”
“Show him the ghoul.” I sighed. “But we aren’t taking him out of the duffle.”
Zen laid the bag flat before unzipping it. Pulling open the sides of the black canvas revealed a very awake and a very pissed off ghoul. His yellow eyes snapped wide open and blazed at us with the intensity of his anger. But even though he struggled against the chain, the muzzle and the charms seemed to be keeping him in check.
“Happy now?” I said to Billy before turning to Zen. “Cut me.” I held out my palm...the previously uninjured one.
When he’d sliced a shallow but effective cut, I watched the blood well up and marveled at how little pain I felt this time around. The process of opening inter-dimensional portals was becoming old hat.
After proceeding to the floor design, I concentrated on my anger toward Billy as I poured out the droplets of blood onto its center. The sonic boom, I’d expected came right on schedule. The blackish violet glow rose and hovered over the design. The rotation accompanied by jet engine sound began just as I’d anticipated. As the velocity of the vortex increased, the vacuuming effect sucked at the remaining debris in the tunnel. The vortex quickly expanded to a size large enough to handle the ghoul.
I backed away so I didn’t get swept in.
“Okay, push the duffle this way.” I turned back and motioned to Zen.
“Not so fast.” Billy halted me.
While I’d been opening the vortex, he and Quinn had each been pulling a revolver. Billy’s was pointed at me and Quinn had his trained on Rom.
“What are you doing?” Zen demanded.
“I’m taking control of this situation,” Billy snarled. “Take Stephan out of the bag.” He directed Zen. “Now, or I’ll shoot Kizzy.”
“And I’ll shoot Rom,” Quinn said in an uncertain trembling voice.
“Now!” Billy shouted.
“Come on Billy.” I held up a hand. “Just let us push him through and we’ll have Juliette back.”
The mutinous expression on Billy’s face didn’t change.
“Just let him shoot,” I said to Zen “Push the duffle in.”
But by then Zen had already reached into the duffle and had his hands under the ghoul’s armpits.
“No. He’ll do it,” Zen replied, pulling the ghoul upright.
I thought of something Billy had said. “Stephan? How do you know the ghoul’s name is Stephan?”
“We’ve had a conversation.” Billy gestured for Quinn to go to the ghoul. As Quinn unwound the chain from around the ghoul, Billy continued. “Stephan and I made a deal. I help him and he’ll return Juliette.”
The chain was half off when Rom moved as if to rush at Quinn. Billy pivoted and fired. The bullet hit the ground just in front of Rom’s feet.
“No,” I screamed.
“Stay back.” Billy waved the gun back and forth between us.” I don’t want anything ruining this deal.”
“Don’t be a fool,” I cried. “It doesn’t work that way. The ghoul has to go back through the vortex for Juliette to return.”
Billy laughed. “Oh, he’ll go back all right. He just wants to take you with him.”
By this point, the chain had been unwrapped about two-thirds of the way, with only the upper third of the ghoul still held captive. The ghoul’s hands were free of the chain but constrained by the fact that the chain wrapped from the forearm upward. Quinn had to lay the revolver on the ground to work it the rest of the way off.
Just then, Zen charged at Billy. The gun went off and Zen grunted but continued forward and brought Billy down in a tackle. Zen managed to wrestle the gun from Billy and trained the weapon on the jerk with one hand as he held a bleeding wound on his side with the other.
As Zen tackled Billy, Rom took advantage and rushed at Quinn. Rom grasped his shoulder and brought Quinn around. Rom struck Quinn with a punch to the nose. I grabbed the edges of the chain and used it to drag the ghoul stumbling toward the vortex.
“Get the ghoul, Quinn,” Billy shouted.
“Shut up.” Zen jabbed Billy with the gun. “I’d love to have an excuse to shoot you.”
Trying to be careful not to get too close to the vortex, I circled to the back of the ghoul and pushed him forward. He teetered for a few seconds on the edge of the rotating whirlpool center and the expanding edges of the vortex began to pull him in. The ghoul’s right leg disappeared to the ankle. I scanned the surface of the vortex for Juliette’s corresponding right foot. Nothing. The ghoul quickly sank and his body, now trapped to the waist, began to circle moving ever closer to the center of the vortex.
Still no sign of Juliette. My stepsister’s lower half should be visible. Why wasn’t she coming through the portal?
The ghoul’s upper half seeped away. As the top of his head vanished through the portal, wrapped with the chain and the silver four-leaf clover charm attached to it, I knew with certainty Juliette wasn’t coming through. Somehow the entanglement between my stepsister and the prince’s ghoul had been broken.
Now what were we going to do? With the ghoul gone, we had nothing to trade for Juliette.
Chapter Sixteen
“Nooooo,” Billy shouted. He threw Zen off and leaped to his feet before running head long toward the vortex. “Juliette. Juliette. Where are you?”
“Stop,” I cried.
He was getting too close.
The vortex expanded and began to nip at my feet, forcing me to backpedal away. Unfortunately, this took me further not only from the whirlpool but also from Billy. There was no way for me to block him without getting caught in the whirlpool myself.
Rom tossed Quinn to the side and ran at Billy.
“No,” I yelled to Rom. “It’s too late.”
Billy’s running front foot hit the whirlpool. When it did, he sunk like a stone hitting a pond and was gone. Immediately, an ethereal feminine figure catapulted from the vortex in a running stride. I only had time to note the long whitish blonde hair and the flash of yellow eyes before she dashed away.
Rom made a grab for her but the figure evaded Rom’s reach. Zen, still lying wounded, rolled to try to block her but she flew over him like a track runner over a hurdle and then disappeared down the tunnel.
White hair. Yellow eyes. Just like the demon-angel my father talked about.
* * * * *
Zen leaned across his kitchen table as Rom tended to his wound. The bullet had merely nicked Zen’s side. Thank goodness for Zen’s medical supplies. We wouldn’t want this gunshot reported.
I called home. Mom answered on the first ring. She questioned the noise she heard in the background
“Yeah, Mom,” I said into my cell phone. “I’m not alone. I’m with Rom. We’re—um—studying.”
Rom glanced over his shoulder and shot me a quirky smile.
“Honey, keep to the studying and no more umming.”
Obviously, she thought we were making out. If only that were true. I’d love to be umming with Rom rather than whatever it was we were facing.
“Remember our talk about the birds and the bees,” Mom continued. “You’re too young a bird to have to worry about the bee’s stinger.”
“Ugh, Mom. Gross,” I moaned. “I’m not doing any of that.”
“Good,” she said. “How did the hearing go? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine and the hearing was fine." After a moment's hesitation, I continued, “Well, there wasn’t a hearing because it got postponed.”
“Was your dad there? Did you see him?”
“Let’s not talk about that right now, Mom. I’ll be home by curfew.” Or not, I thought as I ended the call.
Rom applied tape to the edges of the gauze and stepped away from Zen.
“Now let’s see your arm.” Zen stood.
Rom shook his head. “There is no usefulness to this.”
"Really," I pleaded. "We need to see it."
After another moment of hesitation, Rom offered his arm to me.
The angry lines were now red and purple and had expanded outside the confines of the Band-Aid. With trembling fingers, I peeled back the covering and saw the wound still had not closed over. A greenish puss mixed with the blood oozed from the site of the bite.
“Omigod, Rom.” The words rushed out of me before I could stop them.
“We’ll pour some more of this heavy duty antiseptic wound cleaner in there and apply a bigger bandage.” Zen turned away but not before I saw the expression of shock and fear that crossed his face.
“Yeah,” I said, trying for a calm tone. “Take more antibiotics too.”
“These efforts are no use, I fear.” Rom’s face had gone white. Even his lips lacked color.
“You don’t know that.” I took his hand. “That book was written before modern medicine. So how do we know antibiotics won’t work?”
Paranormal Realities Box Set Page 15