by Gillian Zane
“They don’t have the gift?”
“Well, not as a medium, no.” She frowned.
“And you are looking for me to be that medium?” I asked.
“Yes. Well, at least for the pilot episode, which will be filmed here.” That was mentioned in the file I had glanced over.
“The Saint James house.” I had read the name of the house in the file, but I could recall some of my own details about it. It was pretty well known in this area. It was one of the most haunted places in the South. A former orphanage and boys home, reputed to have been the home of experimentations and abuse for decades. Almost fifteen children died in the five years the Saint James Home for Wayward Boys was in operation, and countless more when it was an orphanage.
A few years back a contractor had bought the property and converted it into four posh condos, selling each one off for almost half a million.
“Yes, they’ll be filming at the Saint James location.” She frowned and cocked her head, confused about how I knew this information.
“I’ve been trying to gain access to that location for a long time, it’s the most haunted structure in the area,” I improvised.
“We’ll have full access. We have permission from all of the owners. They’ve had a few incidents and are hoping for some closure.”
“I can imagine,” I said.
“So, you’re interested?”
“Yes,” I stated plainly.
“The crew begins arriving tomorrow. Can I set up a lunch meeting with Roselle, Raul, and my boss Jerry?”
“I would be delighted.” I flashed the biggest fake smile ever.
9
Ladies’ Rooms Secrets
After we worked out a few more logistical details, the nervous girl left. I hadn't even gotten her name, only that she would be back tomorrow at noon to pick me up. I had nothing to do in the living world until lunch, so it was back to Karma for me. Drake wasn’t making much conversation, and had gone all contemplative and broody as we walked back to the diner and the entrance to Karma.
He finally spoke up when we reached the diner. His hand on the door to the women’s bathroom.
“So, that’s why you went to the hotel, and that condo? They were all access points to Karma?” he said it out loud, not like it was a question, but a passing thought. It must be all clicking in to place for him.
“It’s all making sense now?” I joked instead of answering his question. Keeping it light, instead of what I really wanted to do. Which was grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he remembered and we could end this stupid charade and find a bed somewhere and I could work off this tension horizontally. Typical selfish Cassandra thoughts.
“Everything I thought, it’s all turned upside down. I feel like…” he trailed off.
“Nothing is as it seems?”
“I don’t know. You were such a mystery to me, and now with the pieces falling into place, it seems only more questions are coming up.”
“I know exactly how you feel. That's why I went to you in the beginning. To find answers. Even if they weren’t the big answers, they were something.” He smiled at me and I felt my gullible heart putter a little faster.
“Let’s not talk about this here.” I glanced over his shoulder and noticed there was a woman sitting in the last booth and she was looking over at us curiously. We were a couple that looked like they were about to enter the women’s bathroom together. Nothing strange about that.
“Right,” he nodded his head. I tried to smile reassuringly. I wasn’t used to this Drake. This Drake wasn’t sure of himself, and didn’t believe he had all the answers. He was looking at me like I was the one who had the answers now, but I had nothing to offer him. I had to fix this. Even if things didn’t go back to exactly like it had been, like I wanted them to be, I had to do something.
Drake followed me into the bathroom and held the stall door open for me. I felt the telltale rush of energy as the portal recognized me and locked in on my location. I was pulled into Karma and the smell of unclean bathroom was washed away by the sweet aroma of pine.
“Did we get any answers? Before—” he said the moment we were in our own realm, letting the last part of his question remain unstated. Before he died was implied.
“Some I guess, really though, every time we got closer, something else would happen and then there were more questions. At least we scratched a suspect off the list,” I shrugged.
“Two. Suspects on my list,” he added.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. You thought I had something to do with it.” I shot him a look that wasn’t amused, but then my face softened when I saw how conflicted he looked. “I guess you were kind of right. I was involved.” His lips turned up in the barest of smiles.
“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t really think you were involved. I only knew you were lying.”
“By the end, you didn’t think I was involved either,” I said quietly.
“That must have been one hell of a last week,” he said thoughtfully. “That I can’t remember, of course.”
“Yeah.” I looked at my feet and hoped he wouldn’t push me. I didn’t want to tell him about it. I wanted him to remember.
“You have to tell me something,” he said, making me again wonder if he had the ability to read my mind. I looked at him and shook my head. I couldn’t.
“You saw me die? Who was it, did you see that?”
“I didn’t see it. I was there right after it happened. I wish I knew. It had to be the same person who killed me.”
“Pete?” he asked, naming my former boyfriend who was now confirmed dead. Confirmed by us, I had identified his body.
“No, we identified his body. That’s the suspect we crossed off. I can’t believe you forgot all this,” I sighed. I needed that vial. It would solve all of this. It would bring Drake back to normal. Fix things. It had to be here in Afterlife. Maybe back at my place. That sometimes happened to me. I would find some little treasure that I had picked up, but lost in manifestation, lying on my coffee table as though I had laid it there and forgotten about it. I figured it was the universe’s way of putting things back in their rightful places.
“I know,” he closed his eyes in frustration.
“I was told the dead have to forget, so they can have a productive afterlife,” I sighed.
“Technically, I’m not one of the dead.” He ran his fingers along the long leaf of the decorative plants that lined the walkway, his forehead crinkled in annoyance.
“Look, I have something that might fix this. I’ll meet you in your office.”
“Wait? Fix this, how?” He grabbed for my arm as I turned quickly to leave. He only managed to graze me, but I still stopped and met his questioning gaze.
“It might, I don’t know. If it works, it will be worth it. Let me go so I can try.” He dropped his arm and nodded that dejected nod that he was doing all too often now. He didn’t look like he had any hope that I could fix this. Or maybe I was imagining it. I headed in the direction of my little house, sure that this would make everything clear. The vials had to be there. Things like that didn’t just disappear into the ether. Right?
10
Side Effects May Vary
The vials weren’t in my house. They weren’t sitting there conveniently on my coffee table. I didn’t expect them to be. I tore through the place. I even looked under the unused bed. There was nothing. No vials, no little purse. No salvation in a little vial of liquid that said “drink me.”
I heard the front door open. It must be Drake. He probably got tired of waiting for me and came to find me. I glanced at my watch. I had been looking for almost an hour.
“I’m back here, Drake,” I called, realizing too late that I was in the bedroom. He might read something into that. Not that it mattered to me, but it might…well, he might think I was inviting him back here for a reason. If I came on strong when he wasn’t ready, who knew if that would turn him off. Shit, I was thinking too much into this. It was o
nly a bedroom. I was looking for something. That was it. I needed to get out of here.
I hurried around the bed to meet him at the door. But when I opened the door, there was no one there.
“Drake?” I called. No answer.
I was sure I had heard the front door. I padded down the hallway on bare feet, listening for anything that would clue me in to who was in my house. I heard a clatter from the front room and rounded the corner slowly.
I froze in my tracks, the smile on my face lost forever. She sat on my sofa like it belonged to her, which I guess, technically it did. This entire realm belonged to her. Even the energy we collected from the living belonged to her.
She had toned down her goddess look from when I saw her earlier. Now she appeared in her glamoured human form. Her hair was pulled back in an elaborate up-do, her slim figure clad in a power suit. She stood maybe 5 feet 10 inches at most.
“Persephone,” I said, trying to tamp down my aggravation at her intrusion.
“Calanthe,” she responded.
“Cassandra,” I corrected.
“Does it matter?” she retorted.
“Why do you do that? I would think petty tactics would be beneath a goddess.”
“I do not know what you mean.”
“Right.” I shook my head in disgust, so done with this conversation before it even started. I knew I wouldn’t like what she came here to say.
“Remembering the names of peons is beneath me.” She blinked a slow, lazy response and looked away from me like I was a chore, but her acknowledgment that she knew what I referenced proved she did it intentionally. But why did she do it?
“Can I help you with something?” I decided not to acknowledge her contrived insult.
“I wondered why you were back here. Shouldn’t you be on your case?”
“I have a lunch tomorrow, which is where I’ll be introduced to the targets. Nothing else is needed before that. I was going to do research.”
“I disagree. Something might happen at your office. Oversight put a lot of effort into establishing your cover. You should at least immerse yourself in that persona. I don’t want to see you back here until your case is closed.”
“Excuse me?”
“What part of this must I excuse you from?” She stood, light leaking out from behind her as the glamour slipped.
“You’re saying I can’t come back here at all? What if…” I couldn’t think of a scenario that would require me to return home.
“That is exactly what I am saying.” The light faded from around her, she was back in order. She brushed at an imaginary piece of lint on the front of her suit.
“Honestly, I can see why you are so eager to be back here. Drake, he is quite a fine specimen. Even if I had not produced him, I would have to admit he was exceptional. It is why I relinquished control of this place. For him.”
“It’s not about Drake, it’s–” She held up a hand cutting me off.
“I know what happened. They thought they could keep it from me, how Brandon gave you Drake’s information. How you two tried to solve your own murder. How you two might have connected during the process.” She smiled a condensing little smirk. “Brandon told me all of it.”
“I don’t think it’s any of your business,” I bit out.
“Everything in this realm is my business, human. In case you have forgotten, I am Queen. I know it is a concept Americans cannot seem to get their egotistical brains around, but it does translate to one simple fact: I rule, you have no vote.” She smiled. I didn’t smile back.
“And I thought I might let you in on another little secret before you get silly notions in your head,” she continued.
“What’s that?” I asked, even though I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear anything else she had to say.
“The big mystery around you was always why you weren’t generating as much negative energy as your counterparts. It is why I have been so interested in you. Your cases were more intense, but you were returning very little energy. A paradox.” She sighed and steepled her fingers. “I hate paradoxes. But the mystery was solved the moment Brandon revealed your secret. When Brandon let me know about your connection with Drake, it all became clear.”
“I don’t understand.” I fell for her bait, hook, line and sinker. She smiled when she saw that the mystery had me hooked too.
“Drake is part god, a demigod. Gods feed off the energy produced by humans, negative and positive. As a living demi, he did not need the energy to live, not until his human part was eradicated. But as a living demi he could still feed off of it. I have never been part human, so I do not know the feeling, but from what I have been told it is an unbelievable sensation. When a demi feeds off energy it is like…” She trailed off searching for the right words.
“Like being more alive,” I said in a whisper, a sudden horrific realization pooling in my stomach.
“It makes a demi more god, not more human.” Persephone frowned at me, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Powerful.”
“So, the energy I collected?” I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear the answer. But needing to know.
“Drake was feeding off your energy, without knowing it. When your type become flush with the energy, you become irresistible to demis and even sometimes to gods and goddesses. Like their deepest, darkest craving in a walking, talking, flesh package.” Her smile widened when she saw the horror on my face. “It’s why we watch our Karma operatives so closely. Energy can be addictive. There are some that target the dead that collect the energy from the living.”
All those times I siphoned off the negative energy and Drake would become fixated on me. It had happened on too many occasions for me to deny it. Every time he had kissed me, when we had finally come together — all of it had been after I had recently “fixed” someone’s karma. My mind flashed to the time at the diner when I took the woman’s addiction and I felt like I wanted to vomit.
“I see you are understanding. I hope this dispels any expectations you might have had.”
“I don’t know–,” I didn’t know what to think, what to respond with. I’m sorry? I didn’t know? I’m a fucking idiot?
“You don’t have to know anything. All you have to know is how to do your job.” She emphasized know. “Already you are too informed. None of the other operatives know about the energy. Keep it to yourself. And don’t come back to Karma until you have completed your case. For some reason Oversight has taken great pains in getting this case set up, and they want it to succeed, which in turn means they will pester me until it is complete. I do not like to be pestered.”
“Sure.” What other choice did I have?
“You are rather agreeable when you fall in line, Cassandra.” She smiled with my name on her lips. I wanted to punch her. I’m pretty sure she knew it too.
11
Run and Hide
I couldn’t face him. I couldn’t look him in the eye and know what we shared was all a trick of the gods. I was nothing more than a battery. Meant only to recharge their power. And the only reason he had wanted me, been with me, was because that power I held was irresistible and he didn’t realize that lust was from a different place. Mistaking one hunger for another more carnal need.
The worst part was that it wasn’t his fault. I couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t hold it against him. He was as much a pawn in this game as I was. At the time he hadn’t even known what he was. He had sensed the difference in me, but he had no way of knowing why I was different, or why he was drawn to me.
What a blow it must be to die and find out the truth was everything you believed to be false?
I took the coward’s way out and I slipped into the living world without going to find him. There was no way I could face him right now. I was an emotional mess, and I wouldn’t be able to explain any of it to him. I wiped at the tears that were dripping down my cheeks as I threw the door open to the bathroom in the diner.
As usual, I was being selfish. But what was I supposed t
o do? Go to him sobbing? Lie to him again? Or just tell him everything, tell him why I can’t even look at him.
I’m sorry, Drake, I can’t look at you. Yeah, because you know those weeks you can’t remember? Well, in those weeks we had some of the most unbelievable sex I had ever had, but I just found out it was only because you were feeding off me like some energy vampire. Only hot for me because I was like an irresistible piece of chocolate cake.
Ugh.
There was no way that was going to happen. I would finish my case, and then I would get another one. And then maybe another one. I would do this until they promote me and I then I wouldn’t have to face Drake anymore.
Wow. That was a bleak future.
It was late night in the living world when I walked out of the bathroom in the diner. The place was locked up tight, closed for the night. I prayed they didn’t have an alarm system as I let myself out of the back door and tried to be inconspicuous. I still had the keys to my new office in my pocket and they rattled irritatingly against my leg.
The only place I had to go was the psychic store front. I sighed, not looking forward to it. Even though the Karma complex wasn’t the best of environments, it was technically my home and it was the place I had to go when there wasn’t anywhere else. Now I didn’t even have that. I felt trapped within this case. Trapped in this persona as some quack psychic medium, with a weird name, Castalia Rosso. Usually I had time to prepare, to settle myself into the role I would be playing, but now there was nothing. I had only this case, this odd case that didn’t make sense. Why was Oversight so interested in these twins?
I didn’t even have access to my computer so I could do the necessary research on my targets. I had planned on doing that tonight. At this point I couldn’t tell you the difference between a ghost and a poltergeist, and I certainly knew nothing about mediums.