“I know this won't make sense, but you are in terrible danger. So am I. We're the last two survivors from the Murphy's Law fire from 1987.”
“So?” she said but put her hand on the door lock. There was a dream about the fire not too long ago…
As if reading her mind, he answered her: “Have you had nightmares about that night, things having to do with water and fire?”
“Maybe,” she answered lamely. The incident at the sink came to mind.
“Can I please come in and talk to you? Your neighbor is peeking out the window, and I'd hate to tell this story to the cops.”
She opened the door but put a hand up. “No funny stuff, got it? I don't know who you are.” She thought about it. “Show me your badge.”
“I'm no longer a cop.” He slowly pulled out his wallet and produced two pieces. “Here's my license, letting you know who I am.”
She looked at it. “Okay.”
He smiled and handed her the other one. “And my favorite piece for the wallet.”
She took it and turned it over, staring at the white placard with a number thirteen on it. “A White Castle line ticket?”
“A person really from New Jersey always carries their stolen White Castle thirteen card.”
She moved aside and let him in. “Trust me, with that accent, I had no doubt you were Jersey.”
“What accent?” he asked and sat down at the kitchen table.
“Something to drink?”
“No, thank you. I just need to talk with you.”
“Is that all?” Tammy asked and sat down across from him. She knew he was a gentleman when she realized she was in sweats and a tight T-shirt with no bra. He only glanced at her chest once before making steady eye contact.
“Actually, if you want to cut right to the chase, I need you to come back to New Jersey with me by Tuesday and help me stop a great evil before it kills both of us and gains power.”
“Wow, and I thought I was already having a fucked-up twenty-four hours.”
Manny looked at her questioningly.
“My husband…my ex-husband died yesterday.”
Manny sat back and placed his palms on the table. “Drowning?”
Tammy looked at him oddly. Who is this guy? “Yes. Did you see it on the news?”
“I dreamt about it.”
“Look, I have about an hour until my little girl wakes and I have to explain to her why her daddy didn't call and pick her up yesterday and why she missed seeing the fireworks with him.”
“You have a daughter? Shit. She's also in danger.”
“Why?” Tammy could see he wasn't kidding.
“Over the years, he's been able to seduce and draw relatives to Chelsea Avenue if he couldn't reach his intended victim. Children, mothers, fathers, anyone that was a step away from the person is chosen.”
“I have had some crazy dreams over the years.” Tammy got up and started making coffee as she spoke. “Once, I even got on a plane and flew out to New Jersey for no apparent reason.”
“What happened?” Manny said, nodding when she held up a second coffee cup.
“Nothing. Stephanie and I—this was a few years ago—ended up at the Marina Diner in Belford, met with a couple of old schoolmates, and then visited my mother. After that, we went home. The next time, I had to go back was because my mother died.”
“How'd she die?”
“Cancer.”
“Anything weird about it?”
“What do you mean?” Tammy asked, smiling when the coffee began to brew, filling the kitchen with its aroma.
“Did she die in the hospital?”
“Yes, why?”
“Good.” Manny squirmed. “I don't mean good she died, I mean good she didn't die on Chelsea Avenue. If she had, your part would be over, and I'd be the only one left to fight this.”
“Comforting.”
They paused and then small-talked until the coffee was done, both looking exhausted. Tammy kept looking at the clock, hoping for once Stephanie would sleep in.
“Delicious. Much better than diner coffee.”
“Especially around here. Nothing beats diner coffee at three in the morning in Jersey.”
“Marina Diner after a night of drinking in Sea Bright,” Manny said.
“Exactly. So weird we grew up so close.”
“No, weird is that we were both there that night and are the only two to get out with our lives.” He sipped his coffee. “Want to talk about your husband?”
“Ex,” Tammy said a bit defensively. If what Manny was saying was completely true and not some delusional madman bullshit, she was responsible for his death.
“Sorry.”
“Don't be. I'm sorry I snapped at you. Randy was the love of my life, the guy I was never going to get over. It's been years, but I'm still single, still married to the job and the kid and anything else that keeps me away from dating."
“Really? You're quite attractive.”
Tammy scrunched her nose at him, but he smiled and lifted his hand. “Not hitting on you. I'm married. Well, sort of.”
“Sort of? This should be interesting.”
Manny sat back and tapped on the coffee cup with a finger. “You want the long version or the short version?”
“Whichever one you're more comfortable with.”
Tammy stood to get another cup of coffee while he figured out what he was going to tell her when she heard the telltale door to Stephanie's room opening.
This is it, the hardest thing I'll ever have to say to my daughter.
Stephanie walked slowly into the kitchen, her face wet and her eyes puffy.
“What's the matter, baby?” Tammy said and ran and held her.
“Daddy is dead.”
Tammy squeezed her daughter tightly and never wanted to let go.
“You heard us talking? Baby, I'm sorry you had to hear it like that. I was going to talk to you.”
Stephanie pushed away from her and wiped her eyes. “I didn't hear that from you talking. The man on fire in my dream told me his brother drowned Daddy in the lake.”
Chapter 22
July 6th 2003
Tammy spent Sunday morning calling Randy's family back home in New Jersey and being the bearer of bad news. By the time lunch rolled around and Manny was back, she was exhausted and didn't feel like going out to eat.
Stephanie, after her nightmare yesterday morning, had spent the rest of the day in front of the television, watching cartoons, and Tammy didn't stop her.
“How about we order a pizza?” Manny said, awkwardly standing in the kitchen.
“We had pizza the other night.”
“So? I once had pizza six nights in a row,” Manny said and smiled.
“I'm sure Stephanie wouldn't mind.” Tammy went to the doorway to the living room. “Baby, I know we just had pizza the other day, but Mister Santiago was wondering—“
“Pepperoni and extra cheese,” she said without taking her eyes off the TV. “And breadsticks, if you're ordering from Nikki's.”
“Yes, ma'am," Tammy said with a laugh. "She's unreal.”
“How's she holding up?”
“Better than I am. I spent yesterday talking to the police and trying to make sense out of this. Then I had to talk to Kitty, which wasn't pleasant. She said he ditched her at the place they were staying and took off but ended up dead a half a mile away in the lake. Unreal. She actually got to ID his body because she was waiting on a cab when she heard the sirens."
“What did the coroner say?”
“They won't even get to him until Tuesday morning for the autopsy. They don't suspect foul play, but how could it not be?”
“You know what happened. It got to him.”
Tammy shook her head. “Enough with this bullshit. Who the fuck are you?”
“I told you.” Manny sat down at the table and folded his hands before him. “I know this is hard to swallow. Believe me, it's taken me all these years to get to this point. I don't exp
ect you to just take my word for it, but I think you already know the truth.” He pointed toward the living room. “She knows the truth; she's been having the same dreams.”
“I need to stay here.”
“And do what? He'll force you to come to him, don't you see? I say we fight him.”
“There's no one to watch Stephanie. Her sitter is away for a few days. I can't go.”
“You don't want to go.” Manny stood. “On Tuesday, it will be the anniversary again, and there are only two of us left.”
“If we stay here and hide?” Tammy asked, her thoughts jumbled. She needed to protect her daughter now more than ever.
“There's no hiding from a creature that can reach across a thousand miles and drown someone, and you know it. I suggest you watch Stephanie in the bathroom, near the sink, near a glass of water."
“Tuesday is also Mister Santiago's birthday,” Stephanie said from the doorway.
What she'd said didn’t register at first because Tammy was upset that she'd heard part of their conversation. “Baby, go sit back down and watch TV. I'm ordering us lunch.”
Manny stood up. “How do you know it's going to be my birthday?”
“The flaming man told me. He said we're going to fly back to New Jersey tomorrow, and when this is all done, we can get you a cake.” She turned to her mother. “Should I pack my bags?”
Chapter 23
July 7th 2003
It took six hours to fly to New Jersey. Tammy was all raw nerves as she took that time to rethink several key parts of her life. She was on a plane, flying back to her home state, leaving her dead ex-husband behind, bringing her daughter into a dangerous situation, and not mentally prepared for any of this.
She thought of her dad and the things she should have said to him before he died and the things she could have said to her mom as well. All the wasted time and the growing regret gnawed at her.
Mark Dowd was a nice guy, good-looking if she were being honest, and he took an immediate liking to Stephanie, letting her be in charge of the radio on their drive from Newark Airport. She sat up front and scanned through the radio stations for that elusive good song.
They made small talk, Manny and Tammy sitting in the backseat and staring out their respective windows. They stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike and got hamburgers at a rest area before heading south to Long Branch.
Tammy took a fitful catnap, waking when they pulled into the driveway of Mark's house.
“Get any sleep?” she asked Manny, who got out and stretched.
“Who could sleep with you snoring so much?”
“Funny.” Tammy helped with all the bags and entered his small but cozy house.
“Where's my room?" Stephanie asked.
Mark tapped a finger on his chin and pretended to be thinking hard. He winked at Tammy. “You have three choices. You can sleep on the couch.”
“Not happening. Choice two?” Stephanie said with a laugh.
“There's also the couch.”
“Choice three?” she said and put her hands on her hips.
Mark looked around. “Oh, yeah, the couch.”
“How about you get the couch and mommy and me get the bedroom?”
Tammy shook her head at her daughter. “Don't be rude.”
Mark waved Tammy off with a hand. “I was planning on it. I washed and changed the sheets in there already. Plus, I have my PlayStation hooked up to the TV for you.” He took Stephanie by the hand. “Let me show you.”
Tammy sat down on the couch and felt lost. She watched Manny as he paced across the floor. She stared at him and wondered what he was going through. She'd heard about him throwing his life away, his wife, his job, his everything. He was younger than he looked, and Manny had told her about his battle with alcohol and self-loathing.
The guy had lost everything in that fire, literally and figuratively.
“What do you think?” she asked him.
He stopped and stared at her. She thought he might cry. He simply shrugged.
“Is our plan to go to the lot and…and do what?” she asked.
“All the dreams take me to this spot, showing me that I need to get you here and then the two of us walk to Chelsea Avenue in the morning.”
“Walk? Now I need to exercise before this?”
Manny laughed. “I actually saw us running in a couple of dreams. I'm starting to remember them all now, but there were so many, and they varied so much that it's a jumble.”
“I can only picture small pieces of mine, but none of it makes sense. Sometimes, it's like watching a movie filmed with washed-out film; other times, I can remember vivid, short bursts of dialogue or a person as if I were still back in Murphy's Law in 1987.”
“Where were you when it started?”
“My friend Amy and I were near the front doors.”
Manny sat down on the couch. “You were friends with Amy?”
“Not great friends, but I knew her. I used to hang out with her older sister, and I remember a bunch of us were going that night, but only Amy and I actually made it. The rest of the girls stayed in Ichabod's in Sea Bright and got drunk.”
“I knew her.” Manny shook his head. “I was talking to her right before the fire started.”
“Holy shit. You're the reason we were there.”
“What?” he said, his head snapping.
Tammy felt bad for the poor choice of words. “I mean, she was talking about this cute guy from school that liked her and was going to be there. Said he worked at the club, now that I'm thinking. I can still picture standing a few feet away from her and watching her talking to this guy… Wow, that was you. How weird.”
“Do you remember the guy in the trench coat?”
Tammy felt her hair stand on end as she pictured him, angry eyes and an aura of raw power. He'd frightened her deeply that night but only for a brief second before he was gone. She'd never thought about him since. “Yes. Is that…?”
“Wiy of the Water, the monster who tried, that night, to lead everyone in that club to their deaths at once so he could Ascend.”
“How do you know that?”
Manny smiled. “Stephanie isn't the only one the flame dude talks to.”
While Tammy took a nap on the couch and Stephanie began going through video games, Manny and Mark went to get food.
“Last meal?” Mark asked and smiled.
“Glad to see you're such a compassionate person in these situations.”
Mark pulled into the parking lot of the Windmill. “If I showed any compassion, wouldn't you think an alien had taken me over?”
“True.” Manny got out. “Besides, a last meal of Windmill hotdogs isn't a bad way to go.”
The place was packed with the line for takeout ten deep into the parking lot.
Mark said hello to a couple standing in front of them, and Manny laughed.
“What's so funny?” Mark said.
“You.”
“Can you be more specific?” Mark asked and shuffled a foot forward in line.
“I remember training you out here, which I didn't think you'd last a week on these mean streets, and all you did was bitch about how you hated Long Branch, and you always asked me what I was doing wasting my time out here.”
“I don't remember that at all. These are my people; this is my home,” Mark said, but he laughed. “Yeah, I forgot about that.”
“Well, I didn't.”
“You know what they say? Elephants don't forget.”
Manny punched his friend. “You are still such a dick.”
“I missed you, too, buddy.” Mark turned to Manny. “After this is said and done, you need to straighten up your shit. I'm sure there are ninety hoops to jump through to get your badge back, but the Santiago name still means something in Long Branch. You have enough backers to get you where you belong.”
“I appreciate that. I think I'm going to kiss you now.”
Mark put his fists up. “You'll be battling your demon friend wit
h a fat lip if you do.”
Manny moved up in the line and thought about his future. He'd sold his childhood home but still had money in the bank and investments. He hadn't wasted everything on alcohol but still too much. “I think I'll stay with you for a bit until I get back on my feet.”
“Enjoy sleeping on the couch.”
“You gave Tammy your bed? You've known her six hours. You've known me for years.”
Mark grinned. “Have you seen the chest on her? My God. She is one hot momma.”
“She just lost her husband,” Manny said.
“I know that. I'm not going to hit on her, and I've been very good so far. However, if there does come a time in the future where she and I are both available, I am so asking her out.”
“You're wasting your time.”
“Why?”
“Because she likes handsome guys that don't have small dicks.”
Mark took a mock step away. “You staring at my dick again? No wonder you haven't hit on her. You've been into me this whole time.”
Manny ignored him, but he was laughing. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed and had a good time without worrying or being drunk.
They stepped up to the counter, and Manny pointed at Mark. “It's your turn to pay.”
“Still a cheap bastard.”
Chapter 24
July 8th 2003
It was time.
They were so close, almost taunting his power. He'd probed the girl three hours ago in anticipation and knew how easy it would be to summon the small child.
She would make a nice snack before he took Manny Santiago. It would also eliminate the woman at the same time.
He knew if he did nothing, they would come with their ideals and fear and hope to stand and do battle with an immortal such as he.
“Come, my child. Come to me.” She was his child; they were all his children, and he could not wait to control and discipline them. This world would be his alone, and he'd take his time drowning each human in turn.
He felt her stir and easily locked onto her mind and controlled her, so easy. She was less than a mile away, and he could see what she saw.
Chelsea Avenue Page 19