Daddy's Angel (Weeping Willow Book 1)

by Steven Evans

  “Can’t we just get along and be friends? I would love to help you in any way I can that doesn’t involve losing my soul. Let me help you, please!”

  I started pleading with her, hoping that it would continue to bring back the feelings and emotions that had been burnt away and now lay buried under centuries of soot. She seemed to be letting go and to begin to understand that I was not the enemy. Her eyes continued to soften and there was an air of compassion twinkling in them now.

  “You would still be my friend, after everything I’ve put you through? You would still be my friend? How is that possible?”

  Suddenly, her evil nature resumed control and tossed me head over heels across the yard. I tried to stand, but she was on top of me before I could even look up. She grabbed my head and twisted it around so that we were looking eye to eye.

  “Did you really think that pep talk would change my heart?” She couldn’t contain her amusement. “You are such a fool! You don’t deserve your soul! I will possess it before this night is over. I promise you will be no more!”

  “But you said we would live together in eternity. What happened to that?”

  “Oh, my love, you will be with me forever…But you will be a mindless pet groveling at my feet. You will be begging for the leftover scraps I toss on the ground. I will be your master!”

  “So this was all just a deception, then? You used sexual antics and played me for a fool to get what you wanted? Well, I declare, Weeping Willow…the great magician! You put on an incredible show, but can you come through with an equally amazing finale?”

  That confused her a little, and she took a moment to answer back. “Call it whatever you want, but the fact remains that I have you right where I want you and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. So, the great magician or not, I get what I want!”

  I tried to argue my point but it was useless. What little headway I had made was clearly a mirage. She nodded and motioned for me to join her by the porch, but I tried to run. I saw the tree and the spring and made a dash for them. I got about two or three steps when I was lifted into the air and slung down onto the ground. I started crawling, I didn’t know why I was trying to reach the bench by the tree, but for some reason it was all I could think about. She moved in behind me and kicked me in the ribs.

  Mockingly she asked, “My love, why are you resisting? You won’t get away, there’s nowhere to run to. Well, nowhere to crawl to.” She almost couldn’t speak through the laughter, “You are so cute when you’re groveling on your hands and knees. See… You already have the basics down to be my pet. So let’s get this pesky business of retrieving your soul out of the way.”

  She waved her hand and I was slammed against the tree. Its branches nearly camouflaged us from the world. She moved in closer and I could feel her breath, so cold and thick. I believed she had me where she wanted me, but something about the tree and bench caught her attention and she stopped. With that little pause, her hold on me loosened, and I fell to the ground, but I still wasn’t able to move.

  “Please, don’t do this!” I begged. “I don’t deserve this fate! Look deep inside and you will see it’s true. I’m sorry you were treated cruelly and sentenced wrongfully, but that wasn’t me. I wasn’t there and I couldn’t stop it! None of it is my fault. What do you want from me? Please, please, set me free! I know I wasn’t there when my family died, but I wasn’t driving either vehicle and I couldn’t stop their fate any more than I could stop yours. I’m begging you, Katherine, please release me! Katherine, I know you’re still in there, listen to me!”

  She smirked. “You can’t reach her; Katherine no longer inhabits this vessel! There is only Weeping Willow now and I can’t be reasoned with or swayed from my path!”

  Her powers came back, along with her attention and once again I was lifted into the air and smashed against the tree. Some of its limbs wrapped around me and held me in place while the rest swung around violently, as if they were in the midst of a tornado. I noticed the sky was full of darkness. The clouds were full of lightning and thunder was echoing throughout the night. She was just prancing all about, enjoying her anticipated success.

  She skipped up to me with the biggest smile splattered on her face. She could almost taste her victory and she was going to relish the moment as long as she could.

  I wanted no part of her celebration. I may have been the guest of honor, but I wouldn’t give in to her easily.

  “Hey, Katherine…I know you’re still in there somewhere. You can stop this. She can’t fight you off. Remember your humanity, all the things that made us a free nation with rights and liberties can also set you free. Please, Katherine, please, help me. Fight her and win both our freedoms back.”

  “Those rights and liberties didn’t protect me from religious fanatics whose insecurities blinded them to their own humanity. I have been set free just as I’m about to set you free.”

  She was facing the spring now and a sense of something familiar overcame her. She was reliving an experience and her sorrow cascaded in the ripples of the spring.

  “I remember this. Of course, back then it was much deeper. It’s so cool and refreshing, until you’re lowered head first into it. The extreme cold of the water forces you to open your mouth and then it attacks your lungs, filling them until there’s no room for air. They wait until you’re giving up and gasping, when your body goes into shock and starts convulsing, and then they bring you up. They repeat this process over and over and over and over and…”

  As the memories poured out she couldn’t hold back her tears and as they fell, her eyes regressed to a gorgeous blue color.

  “They don’t stop until you tell them what they want to hear, until you confess sins you don’t own. It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or just a means to their ends, which leads to a woman’s death.”

  “What else do you remember?”

  “Do you think by getting me to talk that I’ll forget about you? That I will just walk away and leave you alone…? Is that what you really believe? I’m enjoying the moment. I am not relapsing on my plan. One old memory won’t keep me from taking your soul. By the way, Katherine doesn’t live here anymore.”

  She glided through the air like she was a part of it and was standing in front of me. Though her eyes were still looking calm and a bit soothing, her odor told a different story. There was a hunger, a need for evil that was expelled through her pores. She was living on hatred and it had rotted her insides out. There was no goodness left in her. Her mercy went up in flames and the embers still fueled her rage. She grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground.

  “Are you ready, my love? The time has arrived. I grow tired of the wait and wish for it to end.” She didn’t want an answer. It was more of a statement to let me know I was about to inhale my last breath of life.

  She waved her hand and the water in the spring began to swirl and splash against the rocks of the banks. The leaves floated through the air like little daggers. The trees branches were dancing in the torrent now, circulating around us. One limb wrapped all the way around my knees and another wrapped around my waist. Finally, a limb crawled around my neck and pulled all the slack out. If I struggled, it only grew tighter. I was pulled so close to the tree that I could feel the nutrients surging through its roots. The chanting started up again as she swam through the air. The branches kept curling around me until only my chest was left uncovered.

  I could tell that she was near me from the faint odor of smoldering wood. She tore my shirt off, revealing my bare chest. The scars from previous encounters looked like a road map leading to nowhere, but shone brilliantly against the dark of the night. My heart was pounding, nearly jumping out of my body. I could sense the mark beginning to inflame and pulse, because its mate was near. I closed my eyes, believing that might lessen the reality of my situation, but her chanting forced them open.

  “Damn! God, please!”

  Her nails were ripping patches of flesh from my chest and blood was
draining down my pants and filling my boots. Her laughter did little to hide her pleasure.

  “Please, stop the pain! Please! My soul is mine… You can’t have it. God, please help me! Ahhhh!”

  “Praying to a God who left you and now you are forsaken and forgotten! Your soul is damned! You will find no help or peace by worshipping a false idol. See… As I tear and rip your flesh, no one cares. There is no thunder from the Heavens, no quakes in the Earth and no tidal waves to wash the evil from before you. I am your God now and your soul is mine!”

  “No!” You can’t have it. Even if you peel every ounce of flesh from my bones, you will not gain my soul. So get on with your sacrifice, demon bitch!”

  Another layer of skin fell to the ground and my blood was running thin. I saw my soul sparkling in the moonlight as she tried to unhinge it from my body. The pain was becoming overwhelming and my eyes were closing. I didn’t know how much more I could take before I surrendered. I was past being weak, I didn’t have the strength to breathe. I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep…Sleep would be good. I wanted to sleep! More flesh was stripped and discarded like trash on the highway. I was growing numb, I was so tired. She saw my eyes drooping and mocked me with her actions.

  “It won’t be long now, my love, and you will greet your fate. Just a little longer, my love. You can do it.”

  “I’m not your love and you won’t get my soul.”

  “Now, how does that saying go? Oh yes, I remember…Famous last words of a fool.”

  Her laughter cut into the night and the shadows began to dance. I was spent, there was no more fight left in me, no energy to struggle, or even a desire to continue. I just wanted to sleep. Let me sleep! God please have mercy and let me sleep!

  She slapped me across the face and demanded that I pay attention, but I couldn’t. I was at the brink of forever, and I was ready to take the plunge into nothingness. My blood no longer dripped. She rammed both hands straight into my chest and started pulling my rib cage apart. I heard popping and cracking, bones snapping, and I knew she almost had her prize. My lungs inflated for the last time and as I exhaled, a bright light appeared. It was a blinding all-encompassing light. I thought I heard some whispers carried by the wind and they sang…

  “You must live! You must live! Daddy, you must live!”

  She burst in between us, knocking Weeping Willow backward toward the spring and causing the limbs to shrivel and die. One gentle touch and my wounds regenerated and start repairing themselves. Blood started pumping through my veins. She gave me a quick hug and said,

  “This is to force back the tears and pain and to make your smile return to your face.”

  I tried to speak, but I was still too weak and drained. I couldn’t even raise my arms to embrace her as she hugged me.

  My angel turned to Weeping Willow… “Your darkness can’t endure the light. My absolute love, a pure love, full of compassion and tenderness is the most powerful energy ever created. Your evil is weak and pathetic in the eyes of the universe and the omnipotent beings that rule over both darkness and light. So, now, are you prepared for love?”

  Weeping Willow jumped to her feet and continued her chanting. Her arms were spread apart and her head was tilted backwards, aimed directly at the moon. She was calling on her powers to give her strength and endurance. As she was standing there drawing energy from the moon and stars, my Little Angel gave me a quick glance and morphed into a ball of light.

  Weeping Willow cried out. “You will not defeat me! I draw my powers from the Stygian recesses of hate and despair. I exist where only sorrow grows, in places you can’t imagine. Dark matter is my realm and it gives me life beyond death. You little bitch! You don’t stand a chance… His soul will be mine! I have survived more than you are capable of comprehending and my power will live forever. Are you really so anxious to test my vengeance?”

  I was standing there, not able to help or move, but praying my daughter was strong enough for this. Without a word or notice of any kind, the wondrous light expanded until it was taller than the tree and wider than the creek. In a split second, the light condensed until its point was as small as a needle. My daughter, her Daddy’s Angel, soared through the air as straight as an arrow. On impact, the light surrounded and engulfed Weeping Willow. In a thunderous spark of light, they both vanished into the night. My Angel’s perfect light had come to save me once again.

  She had rescued me time and time again, but was this really over? Weeping Willow always returned! Could my daughter’s light consume the darkness and imprison Weeping Willow…? I didn’t have those answers, but only time would tell. As I walked away, I rubbed my chest, wondering if the mark had left with its giver or if it remained just beneath the surface, waiting to be awakened one day in the future. Should I continue to look for answers or assume my trials were over? Should I let myself believe again that it was over?

  I still couldn’t remember their smiles or their laughs. Their memories continued to elude me. Shouldn’t I feel something? The nightmare might have been over, but… the scars remained! When I closed my eyes, I could hear her words filling the emptiness and living on in the darkness…

  “For centuries I have suffered alone. My hatred gives me life beyond death. My death, which fuels my rage, was unwarranted. I searched for a soul that was similar to mine believing it to be nonexistent. Then, from the darkness… I heard your anguish, tasted your tears, and felt your heart break. Your sorrow, so sweet, captivated me. It was a temptation even I couldn’t resist. So, I searched you out, across the big empty Heavens, traveling through space and time to find you. We are kindred spirits brought together by death, our souls bound by sorrow, and where only one once dwelled, two hearts shall beat the same.”

  With that, she gently laid her hand on my chest closed her eyes, and after a few moments she said…

  “I place upon your soul my mark, it can neither be seen nor washed away. You may not remember today or tomorrow but someday you will come to understand its full ramifications, and on that day I will return for you. For now, you need your rest.”

  Then she whispered softly… “Sleep, sleep… Sleeeep.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Steven Evans writes just what is on his mind or in his heart — no more, no less. Maybe anyone can do that … but it takes a special person, such as Evans, to write it with such depth and feeling, yet without over-sentimentality or pretentiousness. Form is his servant, not his master: he likes to rhyme, and (for the most part) uses rhythm to good effect, but he refuses to let meter or syllable count interfere with his expressing himself honestly and clearly. Errors? Sure: “had of known” for “had known,” “wreaked” for “reeked.” We can live with that, in exchange for his spontaneity. He needs a proofreader, but emphatically not an editor. Evans avoids the traps of being too loose or folksy, too Southern or Western, too urban or cool. He doesn’t have a “shtick.” As well as telling his own story, he has an unexpected empathy with others, women as much as men (or more). He writes from experience and truth, not from others’ expectations. “What you see is what you get” has seldom been truer of a writer. Take it or leave it. I’ll take it.

  — John Ambury, Canadian poet and reviewer.

  ALSO FROM ZOMBIE CUPCAKE PRESS

  Just Things

  Erin Lee

  Sometimes, the cravings just take over.

  Jimmie Putnam is an ordinary man by any measure. By day, he works as a law clerk. At night, when he can’t fight the cravings, he becomes a collector. He takes great care of his human Things; buying them cherry lipstick and reading to them from his journal. When they’ve been on their best behavior, he even takes them out of his freezers…

  Sometimes, the need is just too deep.

  Florel Ross has been mostly invisible since the death of her twin, who died twenty years ago at the hands of a serial killer. Obsessed with justice, Florel is willing to risk anything for the answers she craves: What goes on in the mind of a serial killer?


  When the two yearnings collide, will it be justice or just Things?

  zombiecupcakepress.com

  ALSO FROM ZOMBIE CUPCAKE PRESS

  Sweet Nightmares

  Zizi Cole

  Nightmares aren’t always figments of our imagination.

  Alexandrea Cooper moves back to her hometown, Ravensville, after a ten-year absence.

  She starts adjusting to life back home again, when her parents are brutally murdered.

  There are no suspects and Alexandrea tries to cope with the grief of what has happened, when suddenly her sleep becomes plagued with nightmares of her parent’s killer.

  She quickly realizes that there’s more to her world than she originally believed.

  She’s reunited with her high school sweetheart, Jake, and the nightmares intensify. Attempts on Alexandrea’s life twist her life as she knows it.

  In a race against time, can they stop the killer before it’s too late?

  zombiecupcakepress.com

  Table of Contents

  Also By Steven Evans

  Opening

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18