Witching Hour (Witching Hour Series Book 1)

by A. I. Nasser

  Helen cried harder, and it took her several minutes before she could finally pull away and gain some composure. Maureen gave her the towel and hurried to the coffee machine, switching it on as she rummaged through the cupboards for a mug.

  “How about we make you something to calm you down a bit, and then we can talk,” she said. Helen sniffed loudly, exhaling in a staccato of breaths and only nodding when Maureen looked over her shoulder at her. “Coffee?”

  Helen nodded again, and whispered a quick thank you as she used the towel to clean up the rest of her face.

  “Clean clothes, that’s what you need,” Maureen continued, setting the mugs down and turning to face Helen. “And a lot of rest.”

  “You said they were looking for me?” Helen asked.

  Maureen nodded and waved. “Forget about that,” she said. “Just Sheriff Gadge, probably gonna bombard you with a bunch of questions. You just get some sleep, and I’ll drive you down to the station in the morning myself. Don’t you worry about that.”

  Helen sniffed again, her eyes darting back and forth. Maureen walked to her and held the woman’s hands in her own, looking into her eyes. “You’ll get through this, I promise,” she said. “And I’m here to help you as long as you need me to. Let’s just take this all one step at a time.”

  Helen gave her a weak smile. “I’m sorry, Maureen, I just–”

  “You don’t have to apologize about a single thing, sweetie,” Maureen assured her. “I have a spare bedroom for you, and I’ll stay up all night with you if you need me to. Do you want me to call anyone? Your sister maybe?”

  Helen shook her head. “It’s too late to wake her up right now, especially since she won’t miraculously teleport here all the way from California,” she said. “I’ll call her in the morning.”

  “We’ll do that together,” Maureen said, squeezing Helen’s hands. “If you want, we can ask Sheriff Gadge to come here instead of driving down to the station. No need to move you around that much, especially after what you’ve been through.”

  “What I’ve been through?” A distant look took over Helen’s eyes, and for a brief moment, she looked confused.

  Maureen sighed. Poor girl’s gonna start losing it. “Sweetheart, do you know where you are?”

  Helen nodded.

  “And you know what happened last night?”

  Helen nodded again, but her eyes had lost their focus for a second there, and Maureen had to snap her fingers to get her attention again.

  “And you know who I am?”

  “Maureen,” Helen whispered, giving her a weak smile.

  Maureen nodded and smiled back. “Good girl,” she said. “Now let’s get you that coffee and put you to bed, eh?”

  Maureen turned to get up, but Helen’s hands tightened around her own and kept her in place.

  “Whose car is outside?” Helen asked.

  Maureen frowned. “Car?”

  “There are two cars outside,” Helen continued. “But only one’s yours.”

  “Oh, right, that’s Kyle’s,” Maureen smiled. “He’s up in the guest apartment with Aley.”

  Helen’s hands tightened and Maureen winced at the sudden grip. She felt a warmth race through her, a burning sensation from the uncomfortable grasp Helen had of her.

  “Actually, maybe I could call them down?” Maureen suggested. “I don’t think you’ve met Aley. You’re gonna love her.”

  “Kyle,” Helen whispered, her eyes losing focus again and her grip tightening.

  “Helen?” Maureen frowned. “Are you okay?”

  Helen blinked and looked at Maureen, a wide smile spreading on her face. “I’m great.”

  Maureen felt a chill race through her despite the heat coursing through her body from Helen’s touch. The woman’s smile widened even more.

  “You’re so nice to help me, Maureen,” Helen said, her voice deepening, “but I think I’ll be fine now. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

  “I don’t?” Maureen heard herself say, her voice sounding like it was coming from far away.

  “No, you don’t,” Helen said. “And I’ll take care of Sheriff Gadge.”

  Maureen tried to pull her hands away, but Helen only tightened her grip more. “What are you going to do?” Maureen stammered.

  Something behind Helen’s eyes darkened, a sinister look overcame her, something that Maureen had never seen before. All of a sudden, she didn’t feel like she was holding Helen’s hands at all. She felt as if someone, or something, else was sitting in front of her, disguised as the woman she once knew. The tears were gone, almost as if they hadn’t been there to start with, and Maureen could hear a small voice in the back of her head laugh.

  She played you. From the minute she walked in.

  Helen’s smile widened even more, and when she opened her mouth, Maureen gazed into a dark abyss of nothingness. Helen’s face shifted, the lids under her eyes drooping as if her face were made of wax and was melting. Her eyes blazed a deep red, and her fingers dug into Maureen’s hands like talons, cutting through her skin. Her jaw dropped almost to her chest, and from within her throat erupted a flurry of screeches.

  “I’m going to burn it all down!” the voices cried in unison.

  Maureen screamed, and all around her, the kitchen burst into flames.

  Chapter 9

  “Kyle!”

  Kyle’s eyes were clenched closed. The heat around him was excruciating, and the smoke found its ways into his nose like tendrils trying to choke him. He could hear the sizzle of the fire around him, the crackle of timbers, the screams of the crucified. And in the midst of it all, Jennifer called for him.

  “Kyle, save him!”

  Kyle shook his head, unable to bring himself to open his eyes. The heat pressed against him like a second skin, scorching the hairs on his arms. He clenched his teeth, forcing back the scream of pain that begged to be released. He fought the agony that was embodying him, tearing at his insides and ripping him apart.

  Keep your eyes shut. Keep your eyes shut.

  He kept repeating the mantra over and over again, fighting the urge to look out unto the world around him. He knew what he was going to see. He could tell by the sheer volume of the screams around him that he was surrounded by burning, crucified bodies. He could smell the stench of burning flesh mixed in with the smoke filling his sinuses. He could hear more voices calling out his name, men and women, the sound of them coalescing until they screeched out in Jennifer’s voice.

  “Save him!”

  Flames licked at his hands, and although he knew he was dreaming, although he was certain that all of this was only in his head, the burn seemed real enough to make him flinch and his eyes to shoot open.

  Jennifer’s crucifix was only a few feet away from his, and he was forced to crane his neck so he could look up at her. He felt his heart being ripped from his chest at the sight of his burning wife, her hair sizzling with flames, her face deformed and her mouth open in an endless scream. Crows had found their way onto her flesh and were picking at her, despite the flames that surrounded her body, and blood streamed down her body and the flaming wood of her crucifix.

  “Save Michael!” she screamed in between cries of pain. A crow had found its way onto her head and picked at one of her eyes, the liquid bursting and flowing down her cheeks as flames exploded from the open socket. Kyle fell back and kicked away, putting as much distance between him and his burning wife as he possibly could. The crow on her head looked at him, and its eyes burning a bright red. It cawed, and Kyle felt his mind snap as he realized that it was actually smiling at him.

  “Michael!” Jennifer screamed, and through her open mouth, another crow snapped at her tongue, pulled back, and flew away with it. Blood poured out of her gaping mouth, gurgling with her dying screams, and the flames engulfed her completely.

  Kyle turned and pushed to his feet, tumbling and falling before jumping back up and running. The flames reached for him, like fiery hands longing to gr
ab him in a final embrace. He weaved through the carnage, windows exploding in millions of pieces that cut at his skin, one shard lodging in his leg and sending him sprawling to the ground.

  Kyle looked up, crying in pain as the flames surrounded him, and in the distance he could see the demon. It was walking away from him, hunched down and moving slowly, biding its time as it walked through the maze of flames and rubble. In one long hand it held his son, talons locked in Michael’s head as it dragged him along by his hair. Michael was screaming, arms outstretched, begging for help.

  Kyle pushed back onto his feet, forcing himself to give chase, the shard in his leg digging deeper into his flesh. He limped across the burning street, avoiding the fire as best he could. The demon disappeared into the open doorway of a building. It didn’t look back, didn’t even register that Kyle was following it. Michael kicked and screamed, trying to break free of the monster’s hold, helplessly imprisoned in its grasp.

  Fire exploded around Kyle and forced him to duck, more glass spraying around him, more shards finding their way into his flesh. He felt the stinging pain everywhere, and in the back of his mind, a small voice was telling him to just let go. Just lay down here, amidst the flames, and give up. There would be no salvation for him. This was his hell. He would die here, listening to the screams of his wife and son, while the demon watched him burn.

  Something inside his head snapped, and he quickly shook the fear away. He pushed forward, fighting through the pain until he stumbled through the doorway. His foot caught on the threshold, and he fell in a heap onto the floor. His head hit the solid ground with a thump, and the world went dark around him for a few seconds.

  When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the building. He looked around him quickly, trying to register where he was, and only then realized that his leg was fine. He waited for his eyes to adjust before he finally understood where he was, and his heart jumped to his throat. His bedroom never looked more menacing.

  Kyle stood up, slowly, his arms stretched out around him as his eyes darted left and right, searching the shadows for anything that might jump for him.

  I’m still dreaming. This makes no sense. I never came back home. I’m sleeping on Aley’s couch.

  His senses failed to comply, and the bedroom felt far too real for his mind to fully agree with what he was telling himself. His bed was made, and the blinds were drawn, the way he always left them before heading out.

  Was it all a dream? Did I even leave the house this morning?

  He shook his head quickly. No, he was definitely still dreaming. He had seen the library burn to the ground. He had talked to Fegan at the inn, of that he was sure. There was no possible way that the entire day had just been in his head.

  A click sounded to his right, and he snapped his head around just as the bathroom door began to open. It creaked as it swung slowly outwards, the darkness behind it like a block of obsidian. There was nothing there, no outlines, no shadows cast by the dim moonlight seeping through the breaks between the blinds. It was almost as if the light wasn’t allowed in.

  “He found you, daddy,” a voice whispered from the darkness.

  Kyle felt a cold finger trace lines down his spine, and his throat locked, as if an invisible hand were wrapped around his neck, squeezing. Michael stepped forward, his face half hidden in the darkness.

  “He found you,” his son repeated, and as he stepped out of the bathroom completely, Kyle bit down on his fist to stop himself from screaming. The skin on Michael’s face hung from his head like pieces of thread, the flesh beneath it glistening. Half of his jaw showed through where the fire had eaten away at him completely, and what remained of his hair fell with every step the boy took. His pajamas were scorched from the fire, and one of his feet was missing a couple of toes.

  Michael raised both hands to his mouth, giggling behind them as his eyes rolled around in their sockets. “He found you,” he said. “He found you. He found you. He found you!”

  Kyle cringed at the final screaming threat, and from behind Michael twin red eyes lit up like flames in the dark.

  Kyle screamed as the demon lunged for him.

  ***

  Kyle sat up with a start, his screams mirrored by Aley’s as she fell back and away from him.

  The stinging in his eyes lingered, and he coughed repeatedly, choking on the overwhelming feeling of smoke filling up his lungs. He gasped for air, found none, and coughed again. Clenching his chest, he rolled off the couch onto the ground just as Aley crawled up next to him.

  “Get up!” she was screaming, her voice muffled by the ringing in his ears.

  He shook his head violently, trying to shake away the lingering nightmare. He could still smell the smoke, could still hear wood creaking under the strain of flames. He felt his lungs clench, his throat closing up as he fought for breaths that wouldn’t come. Every time he opened his mouth, he took in a lungful of smoke that only made him cough harder.

  Aley was tugging at him, trying to bring him to his feet, but his head was spinning and he couldn’t find his balance. He fell over onto the couch, the heat pushing down on him like heavy hands that were trying to keep him down.

  He opened his eyes, his vision blurry, and the ringing in his ears only intensifying. Aley grabbed at him again, and he tried to help her in her efforts to steady him.

  “We have to get out of here!” she was screaming.

  Confusion hit him hard, and for the life of him, he couldn’t comprehend how his nightmares and the real world had found a way to intertwine like this. He wanted to tell Aley to let him go, suddenly afraid that the rules had stopped applying, and that somehow, in some sick and twisted way, he might actually pull her into the world of fire he was trying to escape.

  He rolled onto the ground, blinking repeatedly, his eyes registering a flashing red light on the ceiling above him. Aley blocked his vision as she shook him, her mouth moving in words he could not make out. Behind her, dark smoke collected against the walls. Red and orange hues danced across the ceiling, and it took him a few seconds to realize that he was, in fact, awake, and that the nightmares had not followed him after all.

  The apartment was on fire.

  A sudden panic took over him, and he quickly pushed himself up, his head turning from side to side as he tried to understand what was going on. The ringing continued, and he looked up at the blinking red light of the smoke detector, its shrill sound piercing through the apartment in one long siren of warning.

  “What the hell happened?” he managed to say between coughs.

  “The house is on fire!” Aley yelled over the continuous beeping from above their heads. “The smoke’s filling up the apartment. We need to get out before the fire makes its way here and traps us inside.”

  Kyle grabbed her hand and let her lead him towards the door. He watched as she tentatively tested the knob, then pulled her hand back in pain. “It’s scorching hot!”

  “Kick down the door!” Kyle yelled.

  “What?”

  Not bothering to repeat himself, Kyle took a step back, raised his leg, and slammed his foot against the knob. The door swung open with a crack, and a cold wind rushed in, bringing with it more smoke.

  “Down, now!” Aley yelled, pulling him with her.

  He raced out of the apartment, his eyes watering and his heart pounding. He took the stairs by two, grabbing onto the banister for dear life as he followed her down and to the car.

  Maureen’s house was completely ablaze, the fire climbing out through the broken windows and racing up along its walls. Flames licked at the night sky, illuminating the world around them in an eerie orange glow that raged with its inferno. Kyle raced to the passenger’s side and hurried in, closing the door just as Aley took the keys out of the glove compartment and fumbled with the ignition.

  Kyle looked out at the raging flames. They looked like they had a life of their own, swirling in circles and crawling across every inch of the house that was not yet ablaze. The fire seeme
d to twirl into slender fingers, reaching out for them, threatening to grab them and lock them in their burning grips. He could feel the fire screaming at him, and he covered his ears against the imaginary sounds in his head.

  The engine roared into life, and Kyle braced himself as Aley screeched out of the driveway in reverse. She hit something on the way out, the car lurching for a second before falling back onto all four wheels, and Aley fought to control the wheel as the vehicle swerved dangerously into the middle of the street.

  “What the hell is the deal with this town and fires?” Aley shouted, cursing as she tried to shift gears, the car refusing to cooperate. She switched on the headlights, and screamed.

  Kyle turned his attention away from the flames and looked at the street ahead of them. A dozen yards ahead of them stood a woman, her torso contorted in such a way that she hung to one side while her head remained perfectly still. Her hair covered most of her face, but in the headlights, Kyle immediately recognized the woman from the library.

  The woman trudged towards them, her mouth in a wide smile, her fingers snapping and locking as she dragged her feet. Her shirt hung loose from her body, burnt and torn, and her head twitched with every movement. But that wasn’t what scared Kyle. That wasn’t the reason for the sudden chill that took over him, and the silent scream that had lodged in his throat.

  What caught his attention were her eyes. Blazing red eyes that locked onto him, and him alone.

  The woman approached the car slowly, taking her time, both Aley and Kyle frozen as they watched her come. Kyle could almost see her body hunching over, unfolding in its frame until the demon from his nightmares burst out from beneath the flesh. As if the woman were nothing more than a flesh suit. He could see the skin on her arms fall down in strands, and blood gushed out from wounds that seemed to open on their own all across her body.

  “What the hell is that?” Aley screamed.

  Kyle couldn’t answer her. Deep down he knew what he was looking at, but his mind was doing summersaults in his head trying to process it all. The cold chill that was coursing through him had found its way around his bones, and he began to shake in his seat, his teeth clattering against each other. Small flames danced across the woman’s arms, and the smile on her face widened until her lips cracked and her cheeks tore open, revealing her jaw as she snapped her mouth at them.