The Trilogy of the Void: The Complete Boxed Set

by Peter Meredith

  Something was odd about his sister. Momentarily, her affect had changed from angry and fearful to something else. Embarrassment, or shame perhaps. He couldn't tell. There had been something in her eyes and he paused, staring at her, trying to fathom a sudden puzzlement within him, but she blushed and looked down.

  "Do you want to me to control my personalities or not?" Talitha asked, still keeping her eyes averted. "If so, I'm going to need some time alone."

  Before he got up and moved to the front of the plane, he smiled at her, warm and friendly. It was a dishonest smile however, one that was full of lies—just like her words had been. He knew it. She had lied to him about controlling her personality. But why?

  Chapter 18

  Talitha

  Talitha felt the excitement building in her chest and it was with the greatest effort that she put a lid on it. Though it didn't quite work—a part of her was eager and the car ride couldn't go fast enough for her liking.

  "You should be the one driving, Will," she commented. Her brother could drive like a bat out of hell when he needed to...or when he was forced to. She could make him drive. There was that option. The idea just popped into her head, fully formed, complete with visuals of her using her right elbow to crush...

  "Stop it!" she hissed the words under her breath. Only she couldn't stop it. There was a part of her that was beyond her ability, or in fact, beyond her desire to control anymore. Her other personality, her other self...soon to be her only self had begun to lust for the pain that they each knew was coming. The four gangbangers back in Maine had all died far too quickly. It wasn't their fault, she blamed herself and her brother. His was supposed to have been the slow death, only he had started in with his dull stories and she had quite forgotten herself. Next time...

  "Abe, can you please roll down the window?" she asked with a hint of desperation. "I need some air." In the back seat of a Ford Taurus, Talitha rode sandwiched between the leader of the unit and her brother.

  The slim soldier gave her a long look as if unsure of her motives before replying with a tight smile, "Sure thing, Miss Jern." Without taking his eyes from her, he rolled down the window.

  The desert air helped. It flowed over her open senses and she breathed in a thousand fragrances. There was more to the barren wasteland that most people realized, and she could smell the many animals hiding in and around the scrub. Even the scant vegetation was more varied than it appeared and in minutes she categorized thirteen native plants, though she knew not their names. And then there were the people. They were out there. Or perhaps they had been. She caught traces of human aromas: sweat, musk, sex, blood.

  "Do you mind?" Abraham asked practically in her ear. Only then did she notice that she had leaned over to get closer to the window and was almost in his lap. He wore a strained look.

  "Oh, sorry." Talitha retreated back to the middle and now her leg began jiggling again. Faster and faster, and she let it go. To try to stop it would be to have to deal with the reasons why it was going in the first place: fear and excitement. Though it was mostly excitement, there was so much blood to be had. She had been born in blood. There was so many screams to pull from so many throats. She had been born to the sound of screams. Misery was her reason for existence...her purpose. Pain was pleasure, and cruelty, her love.

  "Are we almost there yet?" She began to rock in her seat. Earlier, at the hospital, it had felt as if someone had been watching her. A stranger creeping around corners to spy on what she was doing, how she was acting. Then at the house, it felt like someone was always right behind her, trying to glance over her shoulder. But now that someone was in her, trying to see with her eyes and trying to use her hands for itself. She felt like a girl crossing an iced over pond. Every step brought more and more cracks which zigzagged away. Beneath her, under that thin ice, the water was dread black and deep and oh so cold. And the ice grew thinner with each step onwards. And she was there under the ice, waiting.

  "We'll be there in fifteen minutes. Are you ok?" Her brother peered his battered face at her. She had done that to him. It had been skillfully done, especially considering she had worked in complete darkness, striking blindly with nothing but the sound of his breathing to hone in on. It made her smile. She fought against the smile.

  "No. I'm...nervous, about what we're going to find out at mom and dad's house." This was true, but also there was an undercurrent of the fear of death. In a manner of speaking she wasn't really afraid to die, she was just afraid to die still as Talitha—as herself.

  "Me too," her brother replied evenly. His tone was calm yet his blue eyes held plenty of fear. A part of her was bothered to see him so afraid, mainly because of the way it affected her. It fed into her anticipation and she felt a little zing down low between her legs, involuntarily she rubbed herself against the seat cushion. Embarrassed, she turned away to look across Abe at the night speeding by, and wished again that she was riding with the priest. Father Vogel never seemed to show even the slightest fear. Excitement, yes, plenty of excitement, but not fear.

  "Does Father Vogel remind you of dad at all? The way he seems so fearless?" Talitha asked, feeling a sudden sense of loss. It had been a few years since she last had seen her father.

  For the first time since they had slid into the back of the car, Will took his eyes from his sister and glanced into the cooling desert. "No. Dad was...you can't even compare the two. First off, dad knew what he was fighting against and he still went after the demon. And when he was in the Coast Guard, he didn't just know the risks, he lived the risks. He had men swept overboard during storms, he saw helicopters crash and planes ditch in icy waters, but still he always went out. You ever see dad hesitate for a second?"

  She hadn't. "You're right about dad, but Father Vogel is an exorcist and he says he has gone up against two demons. That's pretty brave."

  "I'm sure it was and I'm not calling him shy. I'm just saying he's not in dad's league when it comes to bravery."

  "I miss dad," Talitha said, feeling an unexpected need to cry. "I miss mom too, but right now I need dad to tell me that everything will work out. I want him to say in that big voice of his, don't worry, Tal honey. I'll take care of this silly witch that's been bothering you. You know he was the only one that I didn't..." The tears that had been threatening, fled as she bit back the horrible words that had almost come tumbling out of her mouth.

  Talitha's eyes darted to her brother and her breath caught in her throat. He was peering at her with sharp intensity and his blue eyes were like drills, driving into her head, searching for her dreadful secrets. She turned away and looked across Abe toward the window yet she didn't see the desert night. She felt her brother's eyes still on her and the air from his nostrils blew across her thick dark hair. He wouldn't stop staring.

  Will had powers, and she wondered, fearfully, if he could see into her memories.

  Just then, she felt that someone else was looking too. That someone was looking at her secrets, looking at her crimes. Suddenly her mind opened up so that she could see herself, whipped bloody standing in the blackest dungeons, surrounded by horrible gibbering creatures. All their eyes were insane with a lust that hurt her to see. They cried out to her, urging her on. Hit him, hit him! They jeered and chanted, yet she didn't raise the whip that she held in her own hands. As she hesitated, a crack sounded across her back and she fell to the floor crying out from the pain.

  Ba'al Zubel was there. He was tremendous and horrid. An ill wind, rank beyond the vilest sewer or the greediest charnel house, swept forward wherever he turned his gaze and just then, it was upon Talitha. The demon raised his whip again and she flinched and trembled in fear. Her whip was nothing compared to his. Hers looked more like a buggy whip than anything that could be considered torturous, while his was heavy and branched into three barbed and metal bound heads. Each was sharp and glistened with her blood. Straggles of her flesh hung upon the barbs and the pain it caused was like fire and acid. The fiend Ba'al drew back the whip, fur
ther.

  It would fall upon her again, just as it had already to a number that was beyond count. Yet she could make it stop, if she wished. Her agony could end. All she had to do to stop the pain was to use the whip. It was very simple. Bring it back and let it fly. She had done it before.

  "No!"

  Talitha forced the memory away and that feeling of being watched and controlled from the inside, diminished. She saw that Abe stared at her quizzically and she realized she had spoken aloud. "Sorry. I uh, was just thinking of something." In response to her embarrassment, the capillaries in her cheeks dilated and her cheeks flushed a pretty pink.

  Quickly she glanced away and saw lights in the distance far down a long sloping hill. On the south side of the road, there were a smattering of them, well spaced, some as much as a mile from their nearest neighbor. On the north side, a single light shown well away from the rest. Her brother pointed at it.

  "We're down on the right. You can just see it now." For half a minute, he stared at the lights and then with a long tired sigh he faced his sister. "Really, are you going to be ok? You seem so...on the edge." She didn't answer him right away. Her death was down that hill. It will be tonight. Her mouth went dry at the thought and she swallowed and stared at the innocent twinkling lights with growing dread. Will took her hesitation to mean that she wasn't going to answer, "Tal, hey? Will I be able to count on you? Are you going to be able to control yourself?"

  Her voice was a little thing, "Yes." She would keep herself under control until the timing was right. That was her biggest fear; that the timing would be off. "I'll be ok, only I don't think it would be advisable for me to be too involved in death. In light of...you know."

  "I know." Will's face turned sour in the dim light. "I'm scared for you, Tal. I thought after last night, you'd be ok. But it's like the demon never left you."

  She felt the presence in her mind flare up and it stared through her eyes. It made her world feel hazy and out of sorts. She had to blink a few times before her vision cleared. "There's no demon in me, but it doesn't mean I'll be ok."

  "I get it. Can you please do me a favor? If we get out of this ok, will you at least try the hypno-therapy?"

  To lie was a sin, but it was a sin that she could live with or more accurately, it was a sin she could die with. "I will. You should consider turning off your headlights, soon or they'll see you coming from miles away." This she added just to change the subject.

  Will nodded. "Zeke, in about a mile there'll be a road heading off to your left. When you get to it slow down and turn off your headlights."

  Zeke flashed his eyes to the rearview mirror and gave a little nod. Beside Talitha, Abe blew out a long breath and sat up straighter. Everyone became more tense and the silence of the next couple of minutes grew heavier than it had been. At the junction, Zeke slowed and flicked off his lights. Behind them, the glare of the following car disappeared and now the two-car parade traveled on slower. Yet still the lonely looking house on the right seemed to come closer faster than Talitha wanted. The closer they came to it, the harder her heart beat and she had to actively work to keep it at its normal thirty beats a minute.

  When they were half a mile away the road sank into a trough and Will spoke up, "Ok, this is good. Pull over, Zeke." Little was said for the next few minutes as the soldiers piled out of the cars and checked their weapons. Will went back to the other car to look in on Lisa while Talitha stared up at the stars. She loved the stars and already she began to miss them. A part of her hoped to see a shooting star and if she did, she would wish upon it just as she and Will had done on so many nights in their youth. As they stood there, a wind sprang up and blew her hair back.

  "A strong wind, that's a good sign," Zeke said with a nervous smile.

  For some reason this bothered Talitha. "Is the wind a sign from God? Or is it just a phenomenon derived from the unequal heating of the earth's surface?"

  Zeke's brows came down and his eyes showed a touch of anger, but his leader stepped in between the two quickly. Abe gave her a tight little smile and had his hands out as if to make peace. "We're just happy for it, because it will mask the sound of our guns. See those houses way down there? Because of the hills and the wind, they won't hear a thing."

  Talitha knew this. She knew how far the sound of gunshots carried, just like she knew how far screams would carry and she didn't need to be told this by some stupid grunt. "Whatever," she replied and was about to turn away when she saw the hands that Abe held out to her shook a little. She also saw Zeke swallowing, like he was about to be sick. Jake was working the bolt of his CAR 15 back and forth as if it were a compulsion and Timothy sweated in the cool night and darted his black eyes all over the landscape.

  They were anxious, if not downright afraid. The stranger within her surged at the knowledge and she wanted to scoff at them and spit in their faces. An unholy malevolent smile split her face wide and showed all her hungry teeth. She was so close that she could kill them all in seconds and the first that would die would be Zeke. She would send those pretty blue eyes of his deep into his skull and then...

  A light, like a line in the sky, etched in a blaze across the heavens. It was there and gone again in a fraction of a second and it stopped her breath in her throat. A shooting star. The thing inside of her seemed to retreat from the sight and her mind was her own again. It was her turn to shake.

  "Tal."

  She jumped at her name, her body momentarily out of control. With a feeling of intense guilt she looked back to see her brother right next to her.

  "Are you still ok?" He gave her an inquisitive look and it helped her mind to see that he wasn't nervous. He had his game face on and his eyes were the color of steel.

  "I'm...good."

  "Great. I need you to do a spot of reconnaissance. We need to know if it's really just Amy and three goons, got it?"

  She nodded, but Abe stepped forward. "I want to send Jake with her. He has tons experience at this sort of thing."

  It was an idea. She could bring Jake and leave his body in one of the fissures that had been ripped into the land by the hand of God...

  "No. He won't be able to keep up, sorry but all he'll do is slow me down." And piss me off, and die with my fist in his chest, these words she bit back. Her hands clenched with such force that her nails dug into her palms. She had to hold on for only a while longer.

  "No offence, but I think we need to keep an eye on you." Despite being far older and the actual leader of the unit, Abe looked to Will for a reply.

  "No, she goes alone." The men of the unit grumbled in silence sending angry looks back and forth between themselves. Will ignored them. "Just circle the place at a distance and find out what you can. Don't try to go in; your other personality is too unstable." With a sudden move, Will sent his arms out to grab her and she was within a twitch of crushing his sternum, when she realized that he was just going to give her a hug. She felt like a cat being hugged by a wolf and it was all she could do to let it happen. "Good luck," he whispered.

  "Thanks." For a moment, she was too much in shock to do much more than look at her brother. It felt like a lifetime since she had been hugged by him. It was odd. He nodded at her as way of telling her to get going and she didn't need a second invite. She ran off into the desert, happy to be away from them. Her emotions were all over the place and having to deal with Will and the unit was making it very difficult to concentrate on being herself.

  The night helped. Talitha stretched out her stride, feeling better as the air flowed over and around her and in seconds, she was a hundred yards away and virtually invisible. The moon would be almost full when it rose for the evening, but that was an hour from happening and without it, the night was a dark one. Had she been anyone else, she would have stumbled a dozen times already. The land was hard baked and rugged, filled with sudden drops and sharp rocks, cacti and low thorny shrubs. Her bare feet flew by all this with nary a twinge. Though Maine was a far more gentle state, it had been year
s since she wore shoes to run through the woods, something that she dearly loved to do. On these runs, clothing was generally disregarded, but she kept hers on that night.

  After a minute, she slowed and crossed the road to keep it between her and her parent's house. The two-lane black asphalt was too close and anyone with any sense would have posted at least a lookout facing in the direction of the road. She moved away from it, giving herself plenty of room and as she drew closer to the house, she began dodging from shrub to shrub, until she found a good vantage. To all appearances, the ranch home looked empty, it was early in the evening, yet no lights burned within it and no noise could be heard, even by Talitha.

  However, she wasn't in the least way fooled. She knelt peering through a heavy bush and within a minute her eagle like eyes picked out movement in two areas of the house. There were more of them than that, only the wind that the soldiers were so happy about was playing havoc with her sense of smell. She ducked low and scurried a hundred yards further on. Here the wind ran over the house and blew directly in her face. It took a few minutes of studied breathing to pick out the scents of at least nine people for certain in the house, and one maybe.

  Two were her parents and seven were unknown males, but the last, the scent of Katie was harder to judge. Her aroma came at Talitha, but though it was strong, it should've been stronger, like that of her parents. Of course, there was a chance that Katie was locked away, or perhaps hiding, or maybe buried nearby. Amazingly, Talitha had to stop and think about how she felt about the idea that her little sister could be dead.

  "That's bad...or is it sad?" she asked the mute night sky. It should be both, she decided. "But why? Am I sad for her or for me?" This was harder to answer. Both were based on emotion and that was one thing that was slipping right away from her.

  "You are sad because we didn't get to kill her."