by Hart, Jerry
“Honey, what’s on your mind?” Monica asked.
Don realized they were standing at an intersection, waiting for their chance to cross. “Nothing. I was just thinking about Ivy.”
“That poor woman. I’m just glad she didn’t get the death penalty. They have that in Georgia, don’t they?”
“Yeah.”
“They can’t kill a woman for protecting her child.” Monica sounded far away now, looking off into the light-strewn trees nearby.
Christmas was around the corner. The family planned to move after the holiday. It only seemed fitting to start their lives in the new house in the New Year.
“Honey,” said Don, “how have you been feeling?”
“Good, besides the headaches. Nothing major.”
“Anything else? Nightmares, sleepwalking?” He cursed himself for being so blunt.
She looked at him. “Maybe nightmares, but no sleepwalking. Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering. The other night, I thought somebody was standing at our bedroom door, and you were gone, so I figured it was you.”
“I don’t remember anything like that.”
The walk signal let them cross. They dined in a fancy Asian restaurant—Monica’s favorite—and then headed to the hotel a few blocks away. The room was dimly lit and quite large. Don felt nervous all of a sudden, as if he was hooking up with someone for the first time instead of his wife. He’d never felt this way when meeting the whores over the years to keep him “happy.” Just thinking of them nauseated him; he was a fool to think those women could make him feel any sort of happiness. But he had to keep the curse at bay if it still dwelled inside him.
Finding out Leper had killed all those people was morbidly assuring, but discovering Conner had killed Leper in turn dampened that assurance. Don had to take the good with the bad.
Besides, there was a chance Conner had nothing to do with that. Someone else could have grabbed his camera and filmed himself (or herself) killing their homicidal neighbor. Right?
“Don?”
He came back to himself once again and found his wife completely naked before him. “Oh my gentle Jesus,” he whispered, and she smiled.
* * *
Jordan and Erin went down into the den to talk. He closed all the vents he could find, not wanting Conner to hear from his room what they discussed. Erin watched him with a detached sense of curiosity. He explained and she nodded.
“I’m sorry about Travis,” he said, not knowing what else to offer.
“There has to be a way to undo it.”
“If there is, Conner doesn’t know. I already asked him.”
Erin looked distraught. “What is he doing to everybody? What is he?”
“I don’t know. We thought he was better, but something changed.”
“What changed?”
“I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was recent. He was fine until this week.” It suddenly hit Jordan. “I think something happened to our grandpa. We haven’t been able to get a hold of him. Maybe Conner found something out.”
“Are they close?”
“Yes. Grandpa helped him with his troubles.”
“Should we, you know, talk to him?” Erin didn’t sound excited about that idea.
“We won’t find anything out unless we do.”
They knocked on Conner’s door a few minutes later but he didn’t answer. The door was locked as well. Jordan and Erin went back downstairs, into the kitchen. She appeared to grow more anxious as the minutes passed. She’d ridden her bike all the way from her house nearly thirty minutes ago, a mere ten minutes after Mom and Dad left, and Jordan hoped his parents wouldn’t return while she was still there. Mom would flip out.
Priorities, he told himself. He had to help Travis the way he couldn’t help Leo. He had to find out what was wrong with Conner.
“There has to be a reason why Conner acts weird,” Erin suddenly said after a long moment of silence.
Jordan snapped to attention. “He definitely acts weird when he’s mad about something.”
She looked at him. “Really? That might be the trigger. Anger. Emotion.”
Jordan could see the wheels turning in her head. She was a smart girl, and he loved her for that. If she truly could figure out what was wrong with his cousin...
“Your mom’s a nurse, right?”
“Yes.”
“Does she have any estrogen pills or anything?”
Jordan narrowed his eyes. “Estrogen? You mean lady juice?”
Erin cringed, but smiled. “Don’t call it that. It sounds gross when you call it that.”
“I don’t think she does. Why?”
“Because I think Conner’s testosterone levels are too high. We need to get them down, or...make him think we’re getting them down.”
She started looking about the kitchen. She grabbed a carton of salt and a bottled water from the refrigerator. “Do you guys have syringes?”
“My mom does.”
“Grab one. I have an idea.”
* * *
Jordan watched as Erin brewed up some kind of concoction at the kitchen sink. She mixed salt with filtered water and then filled a syringe with it. She didn’t bother explaining while she worked.
“What is that?” Jordan finally asked.
“A saline mix. You said your grandpa convinced Conner that nothing was wrong with him just by telling him so. Well, I’m going to do the same thing. But with some additional help.”
Jordan looked at the syringe. “A cure?”
“Yep. I think I can convince him and maybe...maybe that hold he has on Travis will disappear.”
“Do you really think saline can cure him?”
“No. I’m not going to tell him it’s saline. I’m gonna call it something else.”
Jordan laughed. “Where did you learn this stuff?”
She looked at him. “Chemistry, fool. You never pay attention in class.”
“That I don’t. This won’t...hurt him, will it?”
“It shouldn’t. It’s just saline; doctors put this stuff in people at the hospital all the time.”
“Should I go and get him now?”
She studied the syringe again and said, “Yeah. It’s now or never.”
Jordan went upstairs and knocked on Conner’s door again. This time his cousin opened up. “Hey. I told Erin about what’s going on with you and...she thinks she found a cure. I trust her, but we don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. I think you should give her a chance, though. She’s really smart.”
Conner stood there, staring blankly. Finally, he said, “I’m willing to try anything at this point, even your girlfriend’s cure.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Oh, well, never mind then.”
Conner closed the door, leaving Jordan stunned. The door opened again, and Conner came out of the room smiling. “I was kidding.”
He followed Jordan to the kitchen, where Erin waited with the syringe in hand. The milky water looked toxic to Jordan. He hoped it didn’t frighten Conner away.
“Conner,” said Erin, “I think I know what keeps triggering your fits. It’s the testosterone levels in your body. I’ve come up with something that will level those out and return you to normal. Hopefully this one injection should be all you need.”
“What is it?”
“Do you really want to know? I promise you it’ll work.”
“Tell me.”
“It’s estrogen.”
Conner screwed up his face in thought. “You mean lady juice?”
Jordan covered his laugh before it could escape his lips. Erin shook her head, grinning. “In a way, yes. But it won’t turn you into a lady or anything. Males have estrogen in them already, just very low levels. In your case, it’s extremely low.”
“I didn’t know that.” He sounded intrigued.
“Wanna give it a shot?” Erin raised the syringe. “No pun intended.”
“You talk funny.” Conne
r raised his shirt sleeve. “Fix me.”
Erin reached into the kit Jordan had given her. Inside were syringes, sterilizing pads, and arm straps. Erin grabbed a strap and tied it around Conner’s bicep. She then prompted a vein and injected the saline. Jordan kept a close eye on his cousin. He was worried about playing around with stuff like this. He’d taken pills he’d found in his parents’ medicine cabinet when he was five and that hadn’t turned out well. He chewed on the capsules, causing horrible-tasting black foam to spill from his mouth. His mother had been terrified.
And now Jordan was terrified for Conner. Though he trusted Erin, this seemed like something an adult should be doing.
Erin removed the strap and let the saline course through Conner’s veins. The trio waited a minute in silence. Conner’s eyes were closed the entire time.
Jordan couldn’t take it anymore. “Conner, how do you feel?”
Conner’s eyes snapped open at that instant. Erin and Jordan jumped back in surprise. His eyes appeared normal. “I feel good,” he replied. “Less weird, I guess.”
“We’ll give it some time, but I think I just cured you,” Erin said proudly.
“Cool. I’m going back to my room now.” Conner left the kitchen and went back upstairs.
“Do you really think it’ll work?” Jordan asked.
“Maybe not forever, but I think I just gave him hope.”
“Or he’s just fooling with us. Do you think real estrogen would’ve worked?”
“I don’t know. If he changes again, we can try it. I’ll get some later, just in case. I’m going to call Travis’s dad and see if there’s any change.”
She started to leave the kitchen and head for the den when Jordan stopped her. “Erin, thank you. For helping.”
They stared at each other for a moment. They were standing very close. He could feel her breath on his face; it smelled like mint.
“I want to kiss you right now,” he found himself saying.
“I want you to kiss me,” she said back.
He kissed her. Just lightly at first, and then more enthusiastically.
* * *
Don laid his wife down on the bed and kissed her. It had been so long since he’d kissed her this way that it felt almost like the first time again. He missed being close to her, to loving her the way she deserved to be loved.
At that instant, he forgot about his suspicions of her. No woman this lovely could ever be associated with a demon. “I love you,” he whispered.
“I know,” she replied in kind.
* * *
Jordan and Erin made their way down into the den, nearly missing the couch as they fell onto it blindly. They hadn’t stopped kissing since leaving the kitchen. Jordan could barely catch his breath; Erin refused to come up for air. Jordan just kept kissing her. Who needed air?
A throat clearing startled the two love birds. They looked to the steps leading from the living room and saw Conner standing there, grinning. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said.
Jordan and Erin looked at each other, clearly embarrassed. “No problem,” said Jordan. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. I just got bored hanging out with myself and wondered if I could hang out with you.”
“Oh. Um, sure.” Jordan turned on the TV.
Conner, who was standing next to it, turned it off at the base.
“You have something else in mind?” Jordan asked.
Conner placed himself on the floor, on the other side of the coffee table from his cousin. “I just want to talk.”
“Okay. About what?”
“Something bad is going to happen tonight. I can feel it.” His grin was gone. He started to look nauseated.
Jordan sat closer to him. “Does this have anything to do with Grandpa?”
“Or Travis?” Erin added.
Conner looked at her. “Yes and yes.”
“Tell us,” Jordan said eagerly. He felt like his cousin was finally about to open up to him. “Tell me so I can help, bro.”
Conner started breathing heavily. His head was down.
“Conner, what’s happening?”
“Erin,” Conner said quietly, “I don’t think your cure worked.”
* * *
Don and Monica lay in bed, sweaty and happy. His foot was hanging off the side of the bed, but he was too spent to pull it up. He was comfortable, however, and therefore content.
“Well,” said Monica, “that was something.”
Don laughed. “Indeed it was.”
“Just what we needed.”
Don was exhausted. What he needed now was a nap, but he didn’t want to fall asleep on his wife, not during their special night together. Nevertheless, he succumbed to his exhaustion and found himself dreaming of a terrible, familiar place. If hell existed, this was it.
He was in a dark tunnel, surrounded by shadowy arms that reached out to him from the walls. He tried to stay away from them but they managed to touch him anyway. Their touch was cold and evil. Don ran forward, where a dim light shone on him. He had to keep going forward, because there was nothing but blackness behind.
When he got there, he saw he was in an immense cavern. There were stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. Despite seeing it before in another dream long ago, he couldn’t believe the size of the place. There were no light sources, yet much of the area before him was visible. He found himself standing on the edge of a cliff. When he looked down, he could not see the ground.
“Lovely place, isn’t it?” a voice asked from behind him.
When Don spun around, he saw nothing but a dog. An English bulldog.
The demon.
Don smiled, despite his fear. “This is your prison, isn’t it?”
“This is my home.”
“Am I really here? Or is this a dream?”
“Let’s just say...I am talking to you, in some form.”
“As the dog?”
The bulldog cocked its head to the right. “Is that how you’re seeing me now? That must be the way you want to see me.”
Don looked around. “This is the place you want to escape. How am I here?”
“The link your ancestors passed to you has allowed you to visit.”
Don didn’t know whether to believe he was physically here. “No wonder you want to leave so badly. You’ve seen the good life—my life—and now you see yours as inferior.”
Suddenly the dog turned into a black, man-sized bat and took flight, soaring past Don and around the large stalactites. It gripped one in particular and began clawing inside a hole. “We’ve gotten a taste of a real life and we want more.”
It pulled its large, bony arm out of the hole. In its claw was a small red bug the size of a baseball. The demon ate it, lime-green blood oozing from its large pink lips. It then smeared the goo over its chest; the lips that covered it opened and closed hungrily.
“We?” Don asked, disgusted by the sight. He hadn’t seen one since for years, and even then he’d gotten brief glimpses as it attacked him.
The creature looked in the throes of ecstasy. At the sound of Don’s voice, it suddenly came back to itself and looked at him. “My brothers and sisters.”
Don looked around the cavern. “I didn’t know you have a family.”
“How could you not? You killed my brother, after all.”
Don found that puzzling. “Your brother?”
“The one who tried to take over your brother Ethan.”
Too many thoughts raced through Don’s head at that moment. “That wasn’t you?”
“Of course not. Dead is dead.”
“But...you said you were trying to come back.”
The creature looked at him from beside the stalactite, its glossy eyes narrowed. Then it laughed. “That must have been my other brother Mothello. He likes to play tricks.”
“But...how? I don’t understand what’s happening.”
The demon leaped from the stalactite and landed in front of Don, who backed away to give it room. The creature
stood face to face with him, all of six feet tall. “My brother, the one you killed, found a way for us to escape this place and live among your kind. He kept it secret, however. He was always selfish. Shortly after his death, we discovered his secret. We found a way to communicate through his victims.”
“Everyone he infected,” Don guessed. “You can’t possess them forever, though, can you?”
“No, we can’t. Not yet, anyway.”
“What do you mean, ‘not yet’?”
“We have a plan in effect.” It laughed.
“Are you going to tell me this plan?”
“And spoil the surprise? Of course not.”
“Why have you told me anything at all, then?”
“Because there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”
Noise began to filter through the cavern. Don saw dozens, maybe hundreds of black shapes flying toward him from a far corner, where darkness was strong. The sound of flapping wings made his blood run cold.
“Help me!” a male voice called from the direction of the creatures. It sounded so familiar, but it couldn’t be Travis Hooper.
Suddenly, Don was jerked from the cavern, back into the tunnel, and into a blindingly white sky.
He was waking up, and not a moment too soon.
* * *
Monica was next to him, in the hotel’s bed. She’d had her back to him, but she turned when he groaned. “Bad dream?” she asked.
“Yeah. But it’s better now.” Though his heart was still racing and the covers were now under him instead of on top like they’d been before, he began kissing her.
Chapter 13
“What makes you think the cure isn’t working?” Erin asked Conner.
The den was so silent Jordan could swear he heard his cousin’s racing heart.
“I’m sorry about what happened to Travis,” Conner finally said. “When I first realized I loved him, I couldn’t stand being in the same room with him. My heart always skipped a beat. At the same time, I hated being near him because I knew I couldn’t be with him.