“Do I know you? Why do you want to hurt me?” she asked, hoping to delay the assault until the police arrived.
“You want to know ‘why’…I get it. I really do,” Jake, the more talkative attacker, said. “I’d want to know too. Listen, little lady reporter, you’ve been stirring up the wrong pot of shit. It’s as simple as that. The stink has reached the heavens and the holiest father says it has to stop.”
“Nothing is ever that simple,” Alec said as he moved forward to stop the attack.
Neither Vivien nor the two men had known anyone else was around. The voice had instantaneously and magically materialized. It was unnerving and had different effects on each of them. To the men, the words he spoke roared like a freight train. To Vivien, the voice was soft and sweet, like milk and honey. There was music hidden inside the rumbles of thunder she heard. A bright light appeared next and she struggled to keep her eyes on it while fighting to get away from Randy. It occurred to her that it was the same light reported by the many witnesses. It would protect her, wouldn’t it? Jake and Randy had an entirely different reaction to the presence.
“It’s a goddamn devil! A fucking demon! Jesus fucking Christ!” They screamed out. At that point, Vivien couldn’t tell which one said what or if they yelled in unison. She was mesmerized by the brightness, wanting to see everything about its glory.
“Light,” she murmured reverently, trying to hold onto something positive, “light is safe. Dark is not.”
She sounded like a frightened child even to herself. She wanted to cry, to scream, to fall down and beg the light to cover her the way it had covered and protected Jenny, Thomas, and Latisha, but she couldn’t move or speak. Randy still held her firmly with the knife at her throat and his grasp had tightened in fear. Instead, she kept her eyes focused on the lights movements, holding onto a glimmer of hope that it had come to stop this atrocity. What she saw and heard next was bizarre and confusing.
“Get away from me, devil. Stay back, Satan! You won’t get me! I have absolution for all my sins. Stand back!” Jake screamed out hysterically while he fumbled a gun out of his back waistband. Then, he pointed the weapon at the light.
“Stop! Don’t hurt him,” Vivien screamed reflexively, no longer worried about the knife at her throat. She couldn’t bear to think that her protector would be injured. Randy, too enthralled with what he saw, didn’t bother to threaten or quiet her.
Jake fired the revolver rapidly; one shot after the other, until the barrel was empty and the firing pin gave off only soft clicking sounds as he continued to pull the trigger. Vivien’s screams were lost in the explosive gunfire. One of the bullets hit the demon, a first, and the roar of fury that followed could’ve been heard for six city blocks. The light quickly closed in on Jake, picking him up and flinging him through the air with such force that the action seemed surreal, an impossible feat, just as Latisha had described. Jake screamed out, even more terrified now, just before he violently slammed against the brick building. He was instantly silenced. The impact of his body with the mortared solidness made a sickening, splintering sound before it fell back to the ground with a thud. He was dead; his appearance was lifeless, flattened, and twisted in an unnatural position. All eyes were drawn to the body that lay as still as death itself before moving back to the newest attacker in the fray.
Now that Jake was no longer a threat, the demon turned his attention to Randy, moving closer. Vivien saw clear blue eyes, shining in a sea of light. She saw massive white wings, quivering slightly as the blue eyes flashed like lightening with rage and indignation.
“What the fuck! What are you? Are you Satan himself?”
“I am punishment,” the monster roared, sending tendrils of shock and trepidation through Randy. He and Jake had been assured that their sins were absolved before they even committed them, and yet, he now faced his greatest fear of damnation—the fiery flames of hell had come for him. Jake was already dead and he was next.
Vivien was confused by the crazed reactions of both Jake and Randy. They claimed to see a devil. She only saw the Angel of God. He was the most beautiful creature she’d ever seen. Her investigative mind took over. His body was made of light and she could understand how the bible described it as bronze. Brightness surrounded him; and it did resemble lightening. He also had amazing white wings. Although the light itself hid his physical features, his shape was that of a man. She instinctively trusted that what she saw was indeed a celestial being. Her tears turned from fear to hope. He had come to save her! He had also come to punish these wicked men, to stop them. She recalled Jenny’s statement and now knew why the young child had struggled with it so much.
Randy stepped away from the horrifying red-eyed devil. He didn’t want to drag the woman with him when he made his escape. It would slow him down. After what the monster had done to Jake, it was all he could think about. He wanted to run away as fast as he could. When he stepped away from her, Vivien was released. With that freedom, she ran toward the light and away from that dark, unholy place of death planned for her. Her spine still tingled in chilling alarm from the memory of the icy steel blade penetrating her back.
Randy continued to ever-so-slowly back away, cringing in fear, eyes wild and feral as they darted around the darkness, looking for other demons and monsters. He wanted to run more than anything, but feared there were more of them waiting for him. He still held the knife and made slashing motions, as a warning. His voice was very shaky and terrified.
“Stay away from me, Satan! I cast you off me, be gone! I rebuke you in the name of the Lord! I’m warning you!” he shouted several times, using everything he could remember about rebuffing the spawn of hell. When that didn’t work, he began again, “I’ll cut you! I’ll gut you…,” Randy screamed in panic, but the words were fearful, empty of conviction.
“I know, you’ll ‘gut me like a hog.’ Already heard that part,” the demon interrupted. Randy heard a deafening roar, while Vivien heard a faint hint of humor in his musical voice.
Vivien, unaware that the angel had already been shot, feared the assailant would cut him. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to call out, “Don’t! Stop! Don’t hurt him!” The words stuck in her throat, depriving her of air, and she cried helplessly that her rescuer might be harmed by the knife-wielding bastard. She couldn’t breathe and felt suffocated. It was too much and, after everything else that had happened, she fainted. As the night swallowed her, she was blissfully unaware of the events that followed. The monster demon ignored the threats and his roars of thunder shook nearby clapboard homes and shingles as he ripped the knife from Randy’s grasp. Even with all the loud, unnerving noises coming from the alley, the residents hid inside, waiting for the threat to end without their involvement.
Chapter 23
“My angel! My beautiful angel! Oh, my darling, precious angel! What have they done to you?” Catalina screamed out hysterically, sobbing unashamedly.
Medicated, as usual, from a nightly dose of haloperidol, she awakened from deep sleep with a start and in a cold sweat. Her slight body shook violently in fear and worry. The panic was so great; she didn’t even bother to grab a robe before racing from her room to the payphone in the center of the long, chilly corridor. Once there, she quickly dialed her mother’s number. The telephone rang only once before Cassidy answered it. Having been awakened by a sense of anxiety herself, she already knew something was terribly wrong. She’d been waiting for news, never suspecting Cat would be the one to deliver it.
“Mama, oh mama! Alec is hurt! He’s been shot! You must find him. Please, please, you must find him. Promise me that you will.”
It was the first time since her incarceration that Cat had called her mother. Cassidy knew that Alec and Catalina had a strong bond before Buck died, but it had become even stronger and more intense afterwards. Still, she couldn’t understand how her daughter knew Alec was injured. She suddenly realized the connection between brother and sister was psychically preserved from the shared exp
erience so long ago. If that was true, then Cat was far more lucid than anyone suspected. Cassidy inexplicably trusted that understanding. She made the promise and then, after the disturbing call ended, she quickly dressed. If Alec was injured, he’d either come home or find his way to Chaz. She searched the expansive home, but he wasn’t there.
Cat slid to the floor beside the phone and waited, shivering slightly with trepidation. She tried to see Alec again and closed her eyes to focus. The night guard stopped to check on her, but Cat held up her hand in a gesture to stop. She couldn’t bear to be interrupted as she followed her brother’s path. He staggered along in the darkness to avoid being seen. She was relieved to see that Grandfather Saguache accompanied him.
The kind guard returned to Catalina’s room and retrieved a blanket, laying it gently and compassionately over the inmate. Everyone knew that Catalina Winters didn’t come out of her room voluntarily. Other than required trips to therapy, the cafeteria, and occasional family visits in the common room, it was a first in all the time the guard had been assigned to the prison. Whatever had caused the anxiety and the frantic phone call in the middle of the night, now deserved to be honored.
Alec, bleeding badly, was indeed accompanied by his grandfather’s spirit while he struggled to stay off the main thoroughfares of the city. It was a dark path fraught with garbage cans and other debris, along with a few dead ends, but he didn’t have a choice. The buses and trolleys had already stopped their runs for the late hour and he couldn’t call a cab. He couldn’t risk questions or suspicions. Instead, he stayed to the back alleys that wound throughout the city with many a twist and turn. Martin Saguache didn’t speak at all. He simply puffed on his favorite vanilla-flavored pipe as he walked beside his grandson. On occasion, he pointed to a path or turn that would lead to their destination more quickly, but that was the extent of his involvement. He was there simply to watch over him. Alec didn’t need anything else from his grandfather. His company alone was comforting and encouraging as they finally arrived at Chaz Lambert’s stylish home located on Carondolet Street. It was where he lived with his girlfriend, Celina. He’d patch up the nasty wound.
Martin, not bound by physical properties, slipped through the doorway like the spirit he was. Anxious to get the ball rolling, he used kinetic energy, causing the lights to flicker on and off, hoping to get the couple’s attention as quickly as possible. Alec, bleeding badly now, leaned against the outside doorframe after pressing the buzzer. The passage of the bullet had nicked the axillary artery. His arm was numb and hung weakly by his side. He was faint from loss of blood and had a difficult time breathing, reeling slightly. Cassidy had already called to alert the household, but the static buzzing of electricity also got their attention. Chaz and Celina rushed to the entrance before the doorbell had completed its cycle. Chaz reached for Alec, pulling him quickly inside and to a backroom. His grandfather was already there, leaning against the wall to observe the procedure.
“Good lord, Alec. What the hell happened to you?” Chaz asked as he examined the injury.
“I got hit by a stray bullet from a drive-by,” Alec replied. It was a logical explanation.
“Have you been smoking?” Celina asked. “I smell vanilla tobacco.”
“No, it’s my grandfather,” Alec admitted weakly as the morphine Chaz had already administered, kicked in and he began to drift.
Celina only raised her eyebrows at Chaz and giggled softly. She had assisted him often enough to know that the wounded often talked out of their heads, especially after such a powerful drug was used to ease their pain. She found it comical, but Chaz found his friend’s comment unsettling and a little eerie. He recalled that Alec’s grandfather, dead now over twenty-five years, had smoked a vanilla scented pipe.
The bullet hole wasn’t a clean, through-and-through; it was lodged high up on the humerus, barely missing the ball and socket joint of his shoulder. He was lucky. If the bullet had hit his clavicle, it would have shattered the thin bone. If it had hit the shoulder joint, the recovery would’ve been ‘iffy’ and extensive. The young surgeon made a clean slice through the muscle and tissue. He tied off the artery first before digging diligently to remove the nasty missive from the solid, large arm bone.
At this point, Chaz had more practical experience than most ER doctors. He’d been using his skills for over twenty years and, even though what he did was illegal, he’d picked up quite a few tricks and tips along the way that helped his patients heal much more quickly. His expertise was also a great service to the community.
Cassidy was there before Chaz had finished stitching up her son. She took him home right away and then redialed the number that Cat had used to call. She was still sitting in the corridor waiting for the payphone to ring and visibly relieved to hear that, although Alec had indeed been injured, he was at home now and would recover.
“Send a car for me tomorrow, Mama. I must see him.”
In the meantime, Vivien awakened sitting inside her locked car. Even after her screams, the gunshots, and the loud thunderous roars and mayhem, no one had called the police. The street was still deserted. She gathered her wits, realizing that the angel had carried her to safety and away from the darkness. She felt overwhelmed with gratitude for that act of compassion, but she also felt deep regret that she’d missed awareness of his heroic kindness. He’d saved her and then taken her to safety. She longed to feel his soothing presence again, to bask in his light, to thank him, but he was gone.
There was blood on her shoulder and after discovering that it wasn’t hers, she feared the worst. Had the angel been injured or killed while protecting her? She cried, sobbing from a place deep inside, unable to explain how mysteriously connected she felt to her protector.
When she’d recovered somewhat, Vivien called Lieutenant Albright’s private number and then waited for his arrival. It was now almost dawn. She had plenty of time to think about what she would say before he got there with the cavalry. She cautiously used a wet wipe to remove the blood from her shoulder, wondering if an angel could bleed. She was admittedly confused. Like Jenny Worth, she’d seen an angel. His description matched the biblical references perfectly. The brilliant light distorted and hid his features, but still, she remembered thinking he was in the shape of a man. She attributed her salvation to that celestial being. The men who had attacked her, however, were terrified by his sight. They only saw something that scared the bejesus out of them. She couldn’t say exactly what they saw, but she had a definite feeling that, whatever it was, Bill Worth and Father Maddox had seen it as well. That insight gave her a sense of satisfaction that couldn’t easily be explained either. None of it could.
“Was her protector both an angel and a demon?” she silently mused. “Was that possible?” It would certainly explain her assailants’ terror and her own sense of wonderment. Still, she wasn’t sure what to think. It was the same dichotomy she’d wrestled with earlier.
When he arrived and noticed how uncomfortable she felt, struggling to hold up her clothing as a shield, Albright gave Vivien his jacket. The EMT who arrived with the ambulance cared for the knife wound on her back. It was cleaned and required three stitches and a bandage. She recalled Randy’s words to Jake, ‘I already poked her a little,’ and was grateful that he hadn’t poked her a lot.
After that was finished, Bright and Davis had already walked the crime scene. Bright invited her to walk it again with him as she explained what happened from the time she got to her car. She included the description of seeing one of her attackers thrown through the air and landing against the building. She didn’t, however, admit anything about the angel. She didn’t think Bright would believe her and she was too shattered to handle his ridicule right then. She vividly recalled the mockery at Jenny Worth’s description. After her statement was notated and the bodies were reexamined, Bright had only a few questions.
“I know both of these men, Vivien. They’re the darkest of the dark…the scum of the city with a lengthy rap shee
t. They should’ve been in prison years ago, but each time the charges were dismissed on a technicality or the evidence was misplaced. Now, I’m beginning to wonder if they didn’t have a little help from the church. It’s certainly suspicious after what you’ve just told me. Still, you could’ve been murdered tonight. How the hell did you get away from them and, how in God’s name, did they end up like this?”
Jake, the one that had landed against the brick building was flattened, almost as if he’d been mashed by a steam roller. She briefly wondered if the impact had caused the extensive damage or if her rescuer had added more injury to the already broken body. Coroner Davis commented that it was the result when nearly every bone in a body is crushed. “Could the force with which he’d been thrown through the air have resulted in this?” she silently mused.
The second one…well, his murder was the worst of the two—terrifying, and gruesome—he was sliced from sternum to pelvis with his own knife, leaving his throat intact and allowing him to breathe after the deed was done. In essence, Randy had witnessed his intestines and organs spill out onto the pavement beside him before he went down. It was the purest definition of ‘gutted’—a grisly and ghastly sight.
Again, Davis added his perspective about the body. He admitted that he couldn’t imagine the strength required to hack through a body in that way, especially with a blade barely seven inches long. The coroner explained that he used rib cutters and bone saws to get the same effect and that it required focused strength even with the proper tools.
Bright and Davis looked to Vivien for answers.
“All I can tell you is that I must’ve made it to my car before I fainted,” Vivien avowed before her tone took on a higher pitch. “They planned to kill me, Bright. They pulled me into this darkened area to end my life. I was terrified. All I could think about was getting away from them and, although I know how crazy this must sound, the truth is that I ran and passed out from sheer terror. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful…I honestly don’t know what happened other than what I’ve already stated. I do know that I’ll now have more compassion for other witnesses when they try to give their statements.”
Crescent City (An Alec Winters Series Book 1) Page 13