The Trilogy of the Void: The Complete Boxed Set

by Peter Meredith

  "Hello, Will."

  "Hel..." he stopped in the middle of his greeting. The voice on the other end of the connection wasn't Lisa's.

  Like magic, the hangover was gone, as was the dull ache from his many injuries. The fingers of his left hand, so recently dislocated in his fight with the evil Talitha, went numb. His sternum, deeply bruised from a bullet, no longer throbbed with each breath and unaware, he rubbed the spot where he had been shot point-blank by the good Talitha. He had been saved only by the heavy pewter cross that he once wore and now he felt naked and vulnerable without it.

  "Who is this?" Will whispered into the phone.

  "What? You don't know remember me? I'm so hurt." The voice was light, airy, as if the owner of it was in the best of moods. It was a woman's voice and it wasn't the least bit familiar. It certainly wasn't a friend of his wife's. Lisa had no real friends. A few acquaintances perhaps, but in all the time they had lived in Bangor, she had made no lasting friendships.

  And it was no one Will knew.

  "I suppose it has been a while," the woman said vaguely, leaving the question of her name up in the air.

  "I'm sorry, but I don't know you...can you put Lisa on?" He didn't know why he bothered asking. He knew it wasn't going to happen. The woman's insincere laughter was about to come through the cheap piece of motel plastic next to his ear and she was going to add...

  "Ha, ha, ha, ha. No, I don't think so. She's...indisposed at the moment. And really, it's you and me that need to talk some things over."

  That fake laugh. That obnoxious sound. That was familiar. But with his mind being pulled between fear and confusion, he still couldn't place it. "Indisposed? I really should talk to...who is this?"

  To Will's left, a silent movement. His sister, Talitha, the good one...the only one now, walked in from the adjoining motel room. Her entire aspect was blackened and it looked as if she had just been pulled from a burning building. Beneath the soot, her normally tan face was white.

  "That's Amy Harris," Talitha whispered with a nod to the phone.

  "How do you...?" Will bit back the question.

  But he knew how. Talitha, from thirty feet away, through the thin motel room walls had heard and recognized the tinny sounding voice coming through the phone. Her hearing was amazing, beyond human, beyond anything.

  "Amy?" The word croaked from his throat.

  "Very good," she gushed. "It's been so long...tell me, how long has it been?"

  Her tone was still light, but her words were great blocks of stone that she hurled at him with the intent to cause pain. She knew how long it had been since they'd seen each other last. They both knew. It was two days after he'd stabbed her mother to death. That had been eight years previous, but it could've been a thousand years and he still wouldn't forget that day.

  How Amy had been able to connect her mother's disappearance with him, he hadn't a clue. However, two days after the corpse of Henny Harris had been burnt down to ashes; Will had run into Amy, an accident he had taken pains to avoid.

  Her eyes, red with sorrow, had locked onto his without the pretence of disguising her unspoken accusation. She knew. Somehow, she knew. After mumbling something to her, he couldn't remember what, he had practically run away, as if the ghost of her mother was at his heels.

  "It's been...a while," Will mouthed the words into the receiver, not knowing if actual sound had come from his moving lips. He had no strength in his lungs, or in his body for that matter and he sat down upon the room's only bed.

  Amy Harris was in his home.

  At any time that thought would've left him weak from guilt, but now, not even seven hours after confronting a demon, the same demon Amy's mother had unleashed so many years ago, Will lacked the strength to stand. This wasn't a coincidence.

  After a second, he added, "What are you doing there? And what do you mean, Lisa's indisposed?" Just asking the question aloud caused his fear to double and it made his insides tremble.

  "I think you know why I'm here, Will," she replied and now her voice lost the gaiety of a few moments before.

  "I don't..."

  "The sword! I want the sword, you idiot." Amy had lost control for a second and had practically screamed the words into the phone, but now she pulled herself together. "You do know what sword I'm talking about, right?"

  He knew. "Yes." So breathless was his response that Amy didn't hear it.

  "You're going to pretend you don't remember?" she asked and now her tone was cruel. "It's the same sword you killed my mother with. How bout I describe it for you: it's broken, all black looking, really cold..."

  "I know the sword," he interrupted, sharper now. "What do you want it for?"

  There was a snort of laughter from the phone. "The same thing that Luke wanted with it. Oh, and thanks for taking care of that little problem for me."

  "Problem? I don't..." he trailed off feeling as if the room around him was dissolving. How did she know about Luke? Or the sword for that matter? He looked at his sister, but she didn't make eye contact, she just stepped a little closer concentrating on the phone.

  "Yes, Luke was an issue that I was going to have to deal with, and you took care of it. But you didn't use the sword last night." Amy paused as if thinking. "Tell me, how did you manage to send Ba'al back this time?"

  "Let me speak to Lisa first, and then I'll tell you everything you want to know." Again, he knew this wasn't going to fly, but he couldn't stop himself, he only hoped she didn't hear the whine in his voice as much as he did.

  "Oh, Willy J, that's not the way this is going to happen," Amy's voice came across very calm and she seemed far more mature, not to mention more intelligent than he remembered. "Unlike that fool Luke, I haven't come all this way, to this forgotten state, empty handed and without back-up. I'm the one who'll be telling you, not the other way around."

  Talitha leaned in closer and whispered, "She's not lying. I hear at least three people in the room with her. Lisa isn't one of them."

  "What was that, Will?" Amy asked sharply. "Is there someone with you? If there is, it'd be really smart of you to tell them to..."

  "Don't worry," Will cut across her. His headache had begun to thump again mildly and he knew more was coming. It added to his bad mood; fear always made him cranky. "It's just Talitha."

  "Talitha?" For a few seconds Amy seemed at a loss. "I thought..." Another longer pause followed those two words and then Amy said with evident disbelief, "Let me speak to her."

  "Sure." Will's blue eyes darted over to look questioningly into his sister's brown ones. Perplexed, she only shrugged slightly.

  "Hello Amy, this is Talitha," she said apprehensively into the phone, her brow furrowed showing three little lines between her eyebrows.

  Those little lines in the soot suddenly gave Talitha the appearance of age, or rather, she suddenly looked her age, twenty-five. Normally, she looked so amazingly young, that if she wished to, she could pass for a sophomore in high school. And despite everything that she had gone through in her rather horrible life, she had an innocent quality to her that on occasion made her look even younger, almost child-like.

  "Who did we have for science in the tenth grade?" Talitha repeated the question for Will's sake, his hearing was altogether normal and he hadn't heard Amy's question. "It was a biology class specifically and the teacher's name was Dwayne Sanders. Yes...yes. Certainly, but first...ok."

  Talitha shrugged again to her brother and handed back the phone. "Are you satisfied that was Talitha? It's just her and me, there's no one else here, ok? Do you believe me?" For a few moments, there was silence. "Amy?"

  "Right...right, of course I believe you," Amy replied slowly. "All you Jern's are all so honest that it's annoying really. It's just...I had it on good authority that Talitha was dead, yet there she is." Will began to worry who this authority could be. Was there someone here in Boston, spying on them? And for what purpose? The sword?

  "Amy, if you want the sword, I don't have it here with me,
but I can help get it for you..." Will started, but his sister dug a sharp elbow into him, shaking her head. He glared at her before continuing, "If...if you don't hurt Lisa."

  Talitha snaked out her hand in a flash and covering the mouthpiece of the phone, she hissed, "You can't do this! You know what she'll do with..." Will pulled the phone away from her and their eyes locked in a silent heated debate. The sword, an eighteen inch chunk of charred broken metal had somewhere upon its frozen length a pinpoint sized opening. It opened onto the Void.

  As far as Will knew, there were only two reasons to want the sword; to destroy it or to make that opening larger. Perhaps large enough to bring something from the Void into this world. It was patently obvious to both brother and sister, that this was what Amy wanted and Will understood Talitha's anger. But Lisa was in danger and so was his unborn child. That beautiful little girl that he had seen so often in his dreams, that little girl he was already madly in love with.

  There was no argument in his mind. "Do we have a deal?" he asked Amy.

  "Hmmm, nope. You see Willy J, I don't really need your help getting the sword. Lisa knows where it is. Sure, she's been reluctant to tell me where she's stashed it, but I have ways of getting information."

  "Like how you got the information that Talitha was dead?" Will threw that out there, hoping to jar her. He sounded far more in control than he actually was. "I think you need me."

  "No, what I need is a sharper knife," Amy scoffed. Will's heart froze at this, and though he wanted to beg Amy, just then his throat locked up tight and no sound came out. "The sword is around here someplace and I know for a fact that she'll tell me where in a few minutes. Here's what I want from you, Will. The incantations Luke stole from me; I want them back. They're very important to me. Can you get them?"

  "Yeah, but..."

  "No buts. Get them and be back up here to No-where's-ville, by...let's say five. And of course don't call the police or your wife and baby die, blah, blah, blah. I will know if you do. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

  "Yeah." He knew, or at least had a guess that Amy, perhaps through her gypsy mother had more spells at her disposal. However, she wasn't the only one. "Amy, I'll get the spells, but you should know that if you hurt her in the least way, I will know even before you even try, and..."

  "Right, you can see the future. I know," Amy sounded bored, which sent a separate distinct feeling of alarm running through him. How could she know? And if she did, why was she so calm about it? She continued, only now her tone turned braggadocios, "I have knowledge concerning all sorts of things. I know about the witch, Adrina and Father Alba...I know what he did to my mother, and everything that happened that night eight years ago. What I don't know just yet is what occurred last night. I know Luke is dead, perhaps worse than dead in fact. And I know that Ba'al Zubel crossed over from the Void, but was sent back. I just don't know how."

  She left the last sentence sort of hanging out there, clearly hoping that he'd answer. Will didn't know exactly what to say. Would it be wise to tell her? The only thing that seemed smart to hold back was the role Talitha played.

  "I'm not saying anything until I know that Lisa's safe."

  "Well that's going to be tough to do," Amy replied with a bit of a sigh. "You see, I've already threatened her. Not me of course, some of my men. They waved their guns and held knives up to her and told her how they were going to cut her baby out of her and hold it up for her to see..."

  "No!" Talitha interrupted with a scream. Will would've screamed as well, but he had been struck dumb by Amy's words.

  "Yeah, awful right?" Amy continued casually, seeming to enjoy her role as storyteller. "Pedro had this really big knife, he's just silly about knives sometimes, you know, and he's got this razor sharp blade right up to her little bulge and still she doesn't talk. You gotta hand it to her, she can be a pretty tough cookie. But I can see in her eyes also that she's scared, so you know what I tell Pedro?" She paused dramatically.

  Will found his tongue and his fear had him yelling, "What! Amy what did you do? Let me talk to Lisa right now!"

  "Chill-out, Will," she said still relaxed. "I'll finish telling you what happened to your wife, don't worry. But you have to tell me what happened last night, first."

  "It...it...I, uh," Will spluttered in a rush to get his story out. Suddenly the events of the previous night seemed like they'd been a long time in the past and he had trouble remembering everything, and what he did recall came to him like a puzzle fresh from the box. "I, uh, I saw where Luke was going to be and there were these boys and this girl...Terry. She died and then Jim died, but first we..."

  "Maybe Talitha should tell the story," Amy interjected.

  Talitha heard this and gently took the phone from Will's numb fingers, "I'll tell you what happened, I promise, but only after I know what's going on with Lisa." She had regained her composure and her tone was neutral. When after a few seconds Amy hadn't responded, Talitha added, "As you alluded to a few minutes ago, subterfuge isn't a fundamental aspect of our personalities."

  Amy paused now longer than before. "I suppose you're right, you guys aren't the lying types. So, I'll go first. I haven't hurt Lisa...yet. But I'm on a bit of a time crunch and when Lisa didn't immediately spill where she'd hid the sword, even with Pedro and his knife, I couldn't afford to waste time on torture. I mean people say all sorts of things when their being sliced into, right? She could've told me she threw it in a lake or some such and then I'd be all day trying to find the thing. You know what I mean?"

  "Certainly, torture is an ineffective tool when trying to ascertain information," Talitha replied. She shared a silent look of relief with her brother, whose ear was inches from the phone.

  "Ineffective?" Amy grunted out the word, disdainfully. "Wrong. It's only ineffective when you don't have a lot of time. Give me a few hours and Lisa will be telling me everything...but like I said, I have places to be, so I had just started this little incantation..."

  "A spell?" Will broke in, fear causing his voice to crack. "What's it going to do? Will it hurt her?"

  "Damn it, Will. Stop interrupting, jeeze!" Amy cried, put out. "Not every spell is designed to hurt someone. This one will just allow me to browse her memory of the last day or so. There'll be no lasting damage at all, but like I said, I had just started it when you called, so she's out like a light and can't talk. That's it, that's the truth. Now, I told you about Lisa. It's your turn."

  Will took the phone from his sister, but waited to proceed. Could he really trust a woman like Amy Harris? She had been a nasty piece of work as a teenager and clearly she'd only become more so. The answer was obviously no; nevertheless, with Lisa as her hostage he saw no alternative and began his narrative. He told her everything concerning the painful day and the terrifying night confronting the demon, with only one exception. Talitha. The very casual way in which Amy had spoke to Talitha, made Will think she didn't know as much as she thought she did. After all, it wasn't too long ago that her attitude might have put his sister in a killing mood. Her role, he left extremely vague and in the telling she came off more as an advisor than the central figure she really had been.

  The reason for this was simple. The Talitha that Amy had known years before, though smart and pretty, had been unexceptional physically. Now however, despite not looking to have changed a whit in eight years, she possessed herculean strength. This, coupled with her cheetah like speed made her easily the most formidable person on earth. And if Amy knew none of this the element of surprise could make his sister all but unstoppable.

  Amy took a long time in replying, "You two and some big guy, took on Luke, a gypsy witch and the demon?" She sounded skeptical.

  "I told you I had a gun and I shot Luke...and it wasn't easy, if that's what you think. And..." Talitha sent him a little frown and put a finger to his lips to keep him from saying anymore.

  Amy took her time, pausing for a minute considering. "Did you find out the witch's name?"

  Unexp
ectedly, Will felt a heavy weight of guilt over this. "It was late...I mean it was like two in the morning." He didn't know what else to say, the battle had left them barely able to stand.

  "I suppose, but before you come up, find out the name of that gypsy," Amy commanded. She sounded as if she was well used to her orders being carried out without question, and so authoritative was her voice that Will found himself nodding in acceptance.

  "Okay, sure."

  "And be here by five. It's getting dark so early and I don't want any surprises. You and your sister, come alone, come unarmed and know that any hero shit will just get your wife and baby killed, understood?"

  Chapter 2

  Amy

  The woman set the phone in its cradle and stood thinking, her dark brown eyes staring at the ivory colored carpet. The Amy Harris that Will had known in high school had never once been accused of thinking. She hadn't been considered smart by anyone's standards, but this was a fiction that she had cultivated, purposely. Boys weren't interested in smart girls. She didn't have to look further than Talitha Jern for proof of that. Talitha had been pretty despite herself, and yet had never gone out with a boy of any merit. While raven-haired Amy, who acted the ditz to perfection could have any boy she chose.

  Almost any boy. Not Will Jern. For some reason he had turned up his nose at her advances, and instead, went after the dull twig of a girl that was currently lying upon the floor at her feet. To be passed up that way had been quite a slap in the face for Amy and she had hated him for as long as she could remember, though she had hid that fact as well. Even when she was coming on to him, throwing herself at him, Amy had hated Will. She had so wanted to humiliate him, to hurt him, and it hadn't been an easy thing to do to keep up that fake smile.

  But then her mother had disappeared.

  Back then, she didn't blame Will as he suspected. That last time they'd seen each other, it was the pure hate for him that had finally shown through that he saw. No, she didn't blame Will back then, but she did now.