She didn’t know the time. She guessed late afternoon from the long shadows. She tried not to think about how foolhardy the trip had been. Too late now to get back out of the woods before dark.
Was Gregory even alive and still in the forest? And even if he were, would he befriend her? What about Sharp? Was he dead?
Tala tried to put the questions out of her mind to concentrate on her goal—finding Gregory. With each step, she winced with the pain in her foot, the wet boot even heavier than before. She steeled herself, though, and forged on, determined not to give up. After what seemed like hours of trekking through the trees, dusk hovered. Wolves howled, and a cold chill went up her back. Tala passed a large rock formation. She walked around it and noticed a cave.
She considered stopping there for the night but decided against it. The black maw of an opening didn’t welcome her. And no telling who might be a resident. Tala called out Gregory’s name with no response.
An owl up on a tree branch filled her with a sense of foreboding. Only one owl, though. A good omen, maybe. Or at least, not such a bad sign. Tala continued walking, trying to ignore the pain.
Then as if it had appeared out of nowhere, a cottage stood in front of her. The door’s painting had faded to just the slightest suggestion of birds. A lamp lit the inside, and the window held a silhouette. Her breath caught. For one insane moment, she contemplated running away. But then she came to her senses and walked to the door. “Gregory,” she called out and then knocked.
Footsteps inside walked toward her.
Chapter Eleven
The door opened.
An upraised arm held a glinting Bowie knife.
She froze. Then Tala stepped back. “Please, don’t hurt me.”
Wildness ran through the sinews of the man’s body, clothed in animal skins and reeking of musk. His crazed goat eyes bore into her. A mane of red hair circled his head like fire. His mouth opened, revealing teeth, sharp and predatory. The same amulet as Tala’s hung from his neck.
“Uncle Greg—”
“Who are you?” he roared.
“Your niece, Tala.”
“What do you want?” His feral eyes darted around and past Tala, and then he slowly lowered the knife.
“I have to talk to you about many things—our family, the man I love, and Willis Sharp.”
His eyes flashed, and he raised the knife. “I ran into the woods to get away from all that.”
“Please, Gregory. You’re my only hope. I can’t go on living like this. And Matt needs help. You might be the only one who can save him…so he and I can stay together.”
He clenched his teeth and then spat on the porch. “Why do you think I can help?”
“Because I read my grandmother’s diary, and I found this.” She took the amulet out from under her T-shirt.
He lowered the knife. “Then you really are one of us. He nodded toward the inside of the cabin.”
Trembling, she walked through the doorway. A gamey smell pierced her nostrils, churning her stomach. “Who are we, Gregory?”
He motioned for her to sit down on a rough-hewn pine bench. Animal heads on the walls stared at her. Tawny, black, and white fur rugs covered the dark wide-plank floor. Hides of variegated brown shades hung on wooden frames and crowded the room. A chandelier of antlers loomed over a primitive oak table. In the middle lay a pile of bones, half of them picked clean, the other half draining bloody juices into its surface.
Gregory sat on a bench across from her. “We are the ones of the night, the ones of the wild. Some of us are wild ourselves, and others bring out the wild. Which one are you?”
“I’ve never been violent, but the people around me have been.”
He bolted up. “Then you can’t stay here.” His eyes turned savage again, and the hearth flames leaped higher.
Tala flattened herself against the back of the bench. “I-I just want to learn what Matt and I can do to break this…this…spell or whatever it is.”
Gregory paced, running his fingers though his mane. He shook his head. “It goes much deeper than a spell, and most of us think the only way to break it is through death.”
“Death!” She leaned forward and swallowed hard. “Gregory, there must be another way.”
“Perhaps, but it’s a gamble.”
She jumped up and hurried over to him “It’s a gamble I have to take.” She touched his arm. Will you help me?”
His eyes softened. “Yes, but I must warn you again it’s very dangerous.”
“Gregory, I’m willing to risk everything if I can get back with Matt.”
“I can’t change Matt.”
She hung her head. “But I thought...” Tears flowed down her cheeks.
He put his hand under her chin and raised it until she looked into his eyes. “But I can change you…so you’ll never have the effect on any of us again.”
“Thank you. Thank you, Gregory.” She touched his arm again. “Do any people exist who could change Matt?”
“I’ve heard they do, but I don’t know where. And I’m not exactly sure they’re…people.”
“Then please, change me. At least Matt and I will have a chance of being together.”
“All right. You’ll need to destroy the amulet.”
She was glad she had found the other amulet. “Okay. How?”
“In the fire, in the dark, in a trance.”
“Can you put me in the trance?”
“Yes, I’m one of the Violents that can only be affected by a Violent Maker in the dark.” He frowned. “There’s a danger I might react to you if you don’t change quickly enough.”
“It’s getting dark now.”
“Yes, I’ll build the fire.”
Tala stared hard at Gregory. “Did you kill my grandmother, your aunt?”
“No, but another one of us must have been in the woods. By the time I followed her screams, she was already dead.”
“Hurry with the fire, Gregory.”
***
Willis Sharp relished the dark. The concealment suited him. Even though he still ached from the fall, he made his footsteps silent. For the second time, he felt for his gun. Again, it reassured him. Moonlit red eyes peered out of the underbrush. In the trees the yellow eyes of owls glowed as they repeated their haunting question.
He expected to be at the cottage soon. The last thing he wanted was for Gregory to sap Tala’s power. He needed to kill her so the power would never leave him. He’d torture her first. The greater her pain, the more power would be his. And there were so many things he’d recently read about he wanted to try. Sharp had collected books on torture for at least twenty years. The antique ones always had the best methods. He’d amused himself with transients. He laughed to himself as he thought of the last one. He’d enjoyed her screams. And had no worries about detection in his soundproof basement.
He shook his head. Amazing what that old geezer Gunther had told him—and how much he could piece together for himself.
***
The moon was out, and Gregory’s movements were erratic as he threw some more wood on the bonfire. “It only works with blackthorn,” he said in a monotone.
“Now, Gregory. Put me in the trance now.” She pleaded with her eyes.
“I’m not sure it will work,” he said as he stared at her. Then he chanted words in a deep, sonorous voice that Tala didn’t understand. He stopped chanting. “Throw the amulet in the fire.”
The bushes rustled. Tala held the amulet, but froze. Howling broke out near them, the sounds of many wolves. She concentrated on Matt. Finally, she could move. She threw the amulet in the fire, and all at once, the howling stopped. The flames licked the amulet, and it transformed into a purple and red incandescence.
Gregory looked at Tala again. “Your eyes are lighter. And they’re glowing.”
She backed up and ran into the forest. Were the wolves still near? She tripped but got up as Gregory approached. Then his footsteps pounded right behind her. Tala screamed
and turned. Strength surged through her, the power of loving Matt.
Gregory stopped. He had a blank expression. He started chanting again until the words came out more slowly, and then his mouth stopped moving. He hung his head. “It’s done. I feel no more aggression toward you.”
“Oh Gregory, thank you.” She hugged him, and he awkwardly hugged her back. “Look at the moon. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“I’ve been afraid to look at it for so many years, even though it has no real effect on me. But I still can’t go back into society. Not while there are more like you out there.”
Sadness filled Tala. “I’ll always be grateful for what you’ve done.”
He stared into the distance. “At least now I’ve done one good thing in my life. When I die, at least I’ll have that assurance.”
“Maybe we can figure something out, Gregory.”
He didn’t answer, but his eyes held disbelief and resignation. They walked together toward the cottage.
About thirty feet from the door, a shot rang out. She screamed as Gregory fell, blood gushing from the wound in his back.
“Don’t move, or I’ll shoot you, Tala.” Sharp ran toward her, the gun aimed at her chest.
She could barely breathe.
Sharp sneered. “I don’t need this gun. I’d much rather do the work with my teeth, the way I did Jenny Bolton. I just used the knife to make sure she was dead. But of course, I’m going to torture you first.”
Tala’s breath caught.
“Surprised about Jenny? Or the torture. Both, I’d guess. Her mistake was to reject me, and her misfortune was to be like you, one of the Violent Makers. And your mistake was...well, just being you.”
Light-headed, she almost fell. “You’ll-you’ll never get away with this.”
“Why not? I got away with it with your neighbor, didn’t I?”
“You’re dirt!” Tala kicked him, but he grabbed her hair and used it to pull her head back. She screamed in pain.
“And your grandmother.”
“You bastard!” Tala tried to punch him, but he caught her arm.
“And Tala, whatever the death certificate said, there was nothing natural about your mother’s death.”
She trembled. “It’s impossible. I don’t believe it.”
“She threatened to reveal certain things. But if it gives you any consolation, I didn’t get any pleasure from killing her. Certain nothing like the kind I got from killing the Violent Maker in Boston last week. And as you well know, your mother wasn’t a Violent Maker but a pure Violent. She would have killed you if you hadn’t moved away.”
“I’ll get you for all of this, even if I have to come back from the grave.” She spat in his face, and he slapped her.
“I’ve saved the best for last.” He rocked on his heels and chuckled.
She fisted her hands. “What is it, you despicable piece of garbage?”
He sneered. “Now is that any way to speak to your father, Tala?”
“My father?” Her heart sank, and she struggled to breathe. “No, you can’t… You’re ly-lying. It can’t be true.”
“It is and it’s time.” Sharp stared into her eyes. “Now I get to kill you.”
Then Sharp looked confused.
“He changed you, didn’t he? You’re not a Violent Maker anymore.” He shook her.
She glared at him. “That’s right.”
“Where’s your amulet?”
“You’re too late. I threw it in the fire. Destroyed it.”
“Hmm. So I can’t take power directly from you, and I can’t get your amulet now. But it doesn’t matter, because I’ll get an amulet. Even if I have to rip apart your house to find one.
“You’ll never find one.”
“Oh yes I— Willis slapped his forehead. “What am I thinking? I’ll just filch Gregory’s. Then I can search your house at my leisure. I’m still going to kill you, though.” He put the gun back in the holster and then put his hands around her neck. “Hands on is always so much more pleasurable.”
She struggled, but he wrapped his hands around her neck and started squeezing. His face contorted into a demonic grin, and he opened his mouth, showing his teeth.
“Stop!” a male voice said.
“Matt!”
Sharp let go of her, and she dropped to the ground. She rubbed her neck and coughed.
He barreled toward Matt, who just stood there. Sharp leaped for him, but Matt aimed a gun at Sharp, shooting him when he was in midair. Sharp fell without any more movement.
Matt sprinted to him, crouched, and put two fingers to his neck. Then he checked Gregory. He ran to Tala, who was getting up unsteadily.
“Matt!”
“Both of them, no pulse.” He gave her a bear hug, and she returned the embrace.
Tala sobbed. “He killed my grandmother and Debbie. And Edgar’s daughter.” She put her face in her hands. “He even killed my mother. And tonight he killed my Uncle Gregory.”
“Shh,” he said while holding her. “He can’t kill anyone else now.”
“Matt, he even told me he’s my real father.”
“Maybe he was lying. Don’t even think about it right now.”
“How did you know where to find me?” She sniffed.
“Vanessa called me. She said she couldn’t reach you on the cell phone. She was frantic.”
Tala nodded. “I dropped it when I fell in the water.”
Matt wiped the tears from her face. “We went to the hospital, and Edgar drew a map for me.”
“They let you see him?”
“Well, I said it was an emergency.” He sighed. “Let’s sit down for a minute. I think I ran the whole way.”
“How is Edgar?”
“Still seems weak, but the nurse said he’s doing a little better.” He smiled. “Edgar made me promise I’d find you.”
“I’m not looking forward to telling him Sharp killed his daughter. In fact, I don’t think we should tell him.”
Matt nodded. Then he stared at her. “I’m feeling a little strange right now. Your eyes don’t seem lighter, though.”
She gave him a half smile and touched his face. “No, Matt. Don’t worry. It’s just from all the excitement. Gregory changed me before he died. I won’t be setting anyone off anymore.” Tala shrugged. “Feeling normal with me feels strange to you, that’s all.”
“But what if there are others like the way you were?”
Tala put her hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Then we’ll figure out a way to deal with it. Maybe Gregory isn’t the only one who can change people like I was. He also said he’d heard of...those who could change you, but he didn’t know where they were.”
Matt kissed her lightly on her forehead. “Tala, I want to face all this with you. I know we can solve this together.”
“I’ve been waiting so long to hear you say those words.” She hugged him. “Should we call the police?”
“Yes, I’ll notify headquarters. There’s no sense in telling them about the paranormal stuff, though. They wouldn’t believe it, and we’d be marked as crackpots. I’m sure I’d lose my job. Still, I’d rather stay here tonight with you in the cottage. We have a lot of catching up to do.”
Tala smiled. “We have our whole lives for that now.”
***
Sharp floated in a haze of knowing and unknowing, but aware of Tala’s and Matt’s words. Gregory’s body lay next to him. Excruciating pain shot through him, but he moved slowly, reaching for the amulet. If he survived, he’d make sure they wouldn’t have their whole lives for anything.
About the Author
Originally from New York City, Patricia La Barbera moved to Oklahoma with her husband when they were newlyweds. She spent eleven years of discovery there and developed a deep respect for Native Americans.
When they moved to Florida, she went back to college and received a BA and an MFA in creative writing. Besides being an author, Patricia’s a freelance editor, specializing in genre novels and
short stories. She’s a member of the HWA and MWA and has had fiction and poetry published in a variety of journals and three anthologies. Patricia’s also a writing-contest judge.
In addition to the first three books in The Tala Chronicles, she’s written a mystery novella, The Celtic Crow Murders.
Patricia’s grateful to her hometown fire department who sponsored the first writing contest she won for her fire-prevention essay when she was in the third grade. And she forgives the teacher who told her in front of the class that she must have had a brain tumor when she wrote a story about a cat from outer space. But she does wonder what that teacher would think about her paranormal romance novels.
Patricia now lives on the west coast of Florida with her husband and her mews, Maeve. She loves the sunshine and swimming in the gulf.
Patricia hopes her readers enjoy her stories as much as she enjoys writing them. She’s working on the fourth book of The Tala Chronicles. Learn more about the author by visiting her website. www.patricialabarbera.com
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