by Eli Constant
“Wonderful, that’s not long at all.” Doctor Sherwin winks at Mei. “I suppose I’ll need to tip you.”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“Nonsense,” he says, pulling out his wallet once more and taking out a hundred this time. He stuffs it into the glass jar to the right of the register. The writing on it would have been cultural appropriation anywhere else, but here it just makes sense. “Tipping is not a country in China.” Sherwin laughs throatily when he reads the words out loud and then he’s turning and walking towards one of the chairs in the corner of the restaurant.
When he sits, he makes sure to position his body so that he can watch Mei. She’s not made a move for the money he’s put in the jar. I can feel she doesn’t want it.
I try to stand in my kitchen, still blinded with my eyes closed and my mind on Mei. I knock over my chair as I walk, fumbling towards where I know the coat rack and the door is. I half-hear Liam move behind me, but the sound is not important. Only focusing on Mei is important. I need to get to her.
“Tori, you can’t be in two places at once. You have to let go of her.”
“No,” I murmur, my voice sounding disembodied. “I need to watch what happens. I need to see.”
“Fine,” Liam says and his hands lift my hands to set against his shoulders. He’s in front of me with his back my direction. “Hold onto me. We’ll go together and I’ll drive.”
I nod, but the action feels even stranger than my speech sounded. It’s surreal, to see one thing, but be living another.
Making our way down the stairs is awkward. I feel like I am standing in one place, like I am just behind Mei, but I know that I’m really just behind Liam and he is trying to lead me down the stairs without me falling and breaking my neck.
When he touches my head, I know we are outside and he is lowering me so that I can move to sit on the passenger seat of the black business sedan.
In the faraway corner of my mind, I hear the car crank and I feel it begin to move.
But I only have eyes for Doctor Sherwin and Mei.
He’s taking his bag of takeout now, smiling and saying goodbye to Mei. Her body is relaxing, fraction by fraction, as he moves to walk out the door. When he is out of the building, I hear her breathing change. She’s glad he’s gone.
“Mei, delivery order ready!” Her mother’s voice calls from the back. Her mother is not so strict about using Chinese at home.
“Coming!” Mei calls back. She looks towards the front of the restaurant once more; making sure Doctor Sherwin isn’t coming back. The front windows have green and gold oriental-print window treatments and she can’t see the parking lot. I can’t either. I wish I could though, the lot would be bright and visible by the yellow glows from the tall lamps.
He has to be gone though. He already has a victim he hasn’t gotten rid of. He’s not ready for another girl. He can’t be.
“Ugh, not them again.” Mei groans, reading the delivery ticket. “They order so much and then tip me nothing.”
“Just do your job, Mei. You get paid more than most delivery drivers.” Her mother waves her off with a quick flap of her hand.
“You don’t even pay me minimum wage.” Mei protests, but it’s halfhearted. I know she’s had this whole wage conversation with her mom before and she’s never going to win the day over it, so she just lets it go. “Be back in about twenty.”
Her mom doesn’t respond. I would have, had I been the mother and this was my daughter. I would have told her to drive safe. I would have said I love you.
But nothing bad’s going to happen, I mentally urge, so she can hug her daughter when she returns.
“Liam, where are we? How much further?” I expel the words, and it’s still like speaking through a cloud.
“Two more blocks.”
“We’re not going to get there before she leaves.”
Mei is getting in her car. She’s set the delivery food on the seat next to her and even buckled it up so it won’t fall over. She told me a while back that she’d learned her lesson back in high school, when she’d dumped nearly a gallon of hot and sour soup all over her little Honda, to always secure the food. The Honda’s long gone, but I bet the smell is still there, to plague whatever poor sap bought it.
“She’s pulling away from the restaurant.”
“I see her.” Liam responds. My body feels the turning of the vehicle and the sensation is so very odd, because Mei is also turning her vehicle out of the parking lot. The actions are almost synchronized, but not. It nearly leaves me nauseous.
“Wait.” My physical body lifts my left arm and slams my hand into Liam’s chest. I feel the car roll to a stop. My ethereal self, the blood self that is hanging onto Mei’s every move, changes perspective so that I can see through the rear window.
He’s there. I’d seen the bright white car, just the glimpse of it, in the rear view mirror, but I hadn’t been sure. Now I am.
“He’s following her, Liam.”
“I see him.”
“Hold back, let him go first. If we stop him now, he’s going to go home, fly away with his wife, and he won’t get caught. He’ll get away with killing four people.”
Liam sounds uncertain. “You want to use Mei as bait?”
When he says it like that, says the blatant truth of it, my nausea increases. “Oh my God, no. Fuck.” The shock I feel at even thinking of doing something so awful loosens my hold on Mei’s blood and I fall back into the full reality of my body. “Dammit, I’ve lost her.”
“Just take a deep breath and refocus. Or,” Liam points, “look ahead with your physical eyes.”
I do and there I see Doctor Sherwin’s Mercedes following Mei’s delivery vehicle. He’s staying several car lengths behind. She has to have noticed him. Anyone would have noticed him.
Pushing hard, with all the power I can muster, I reach for her blood again. Thankfully, the memory of it is still fresh that I am rocketed forward until my mind is once again in the car near her.
She’s turned the radio on, nineties pre-war classics. And she’s singing, loudly and off key. So carefree, so alive, so close to a serial killer. Come on, Mei. Look in your mirrors. See him behind you. I urge her without words and I know she will not hear me. She won’t look in the mirrors, not for a long time yet. I remember taking driver’s ed with her. She failed twice.
“She’s getting ready to turn,” Liam says, his voice once again flowing to me through thick air. I don’t need him to tell me though; I can see that she’s activated her blinker. Even that little bit of traffic safety is a one in a thousand chance of Mei doing.
I see the road sign as she turns. And it’s not good. The road goes in a wide ‘C’ to rejoin the main drag. It’s about ten miles long and there are no street lights. It’s also not well traveled and I’m worried that it’s going to be a hell of a lot more obvious that we’re following Doctor Sherwin... following Mei.
“Liam, do you think you can keep up on foot?” I’m back in the seat beside him, watching with eyes through windshield. I feel spent, like the magic inside of me is waning. I didn’t know that could happen.
“Tracking people is taxing. I’m surprised you’ve been strong enough to last this long,” Liam answers my unspoken question. “And, yes, I can keep up on foot.” Before I can tell him to, he turns onto Briar Road, headlights off, and he pulls over to the roadside, so far over that the car is angled towards the ditch. The door is open and he is gone in a flash, my mouth hanging upon to tell him to keep me informed.
I can hear his car. I’ll be in seeing distance in a moment.
Thank you, Liam.
He doesn’t respond. I push up the middle arm rest and slide across the now flat surface of the front seat. Liam’s left the car running and I shift into drive. I’m far enough behind now, I can drive and not be seen.
Or do I back up and wait at the other end of the road?
The other end of the road, I decide, shifting down from drive to reverse. No one�
�s on the main road and I flip my lights on so I can see and not miss the opposite end of Briar Road.
Can you see him yet?
No. Liam’s voice sounds frustrated.
You have to be close, Liam. You said you could keep up.
I can keep up, dammit. Tori, everything’s dark. You need to listen for her. Where is Mei, Tori?
I close my eyes and call on the power, but it is a thin, flighty thread. It is a bird’s fluttering heartbeat, in the last throes of death. I push and I push and I force the failing heart forward. And I see Mei, for a brief second, slumped against the body of Doctor Sherwin. She’s being carried to his car, which has slammed into the back of Mei’s delivery vehicle and pushed her into the ditch. He’s still on the road though.
And he can pull out quickly to drive.
His lights are off too. The white car should be bright against the darkness of the night, but it’s not. Because the moon is still a sliver in the sky that is suffocated by the snowy clouds above.
Liam, he’s got her. Liam! I yell in my head and I slam on my brakes as I almost miss Briar Rd. I turn, like a bat out of hell, to race forward. He has to be coming this way with her. He has to. I’ll ruin my only other vehicle if I have to. I’ll slam into him and stop him. I’ll do whatever I have to.
God, how could I ever consider using her as bait? Why didn’t I have Liam speed up and scare Sherwin off?
I drive and I drive, but I see nothing. My headlights are on the brightest setting. Yet, there is still nothing.
He has to have come this way. There’s no other way in or out.
As soon as I think about the absence of another exit, my entire body goes cold, like icy hands have run the length of it. There is another road. Through the closed-down lumber yard, the gates of which has stood open for god knows how long.
That’s where he must have gone.
And that road leads miles away and then it’s only a few minutes to the highway.
And we’ve let him take Mei.
God, we’ve let him take Mei.
Liam, how could you let him? God, how could I let him? You said you were fast enough.
Tori, I...
But Liam’s voice trails off. He has no excuse. There is no excuse.
We’ve failed.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
And now, I do call Terrance.
I don’t care if he’s probably had a long day with his wife and kids. I don’t care that he’s probably in bed sleeping and I’m going to wake him up, for the second time this week. I don’t care. I just want to find Mei and I want her to be safe.
Terrance doesn’t answer, so I leave a frantic message. “Terrance, it’s Tori. He’s got Mei, Terrance. The bastard has Mei. He took her, Terrance. Doctor Sherwin took her.” I take a deep, steadying breath that I hope will calm my voice. “And I’m going after him. So if you get this message, you might want to come help me so I don’t get killed.”
When I hang up, I call Kyle. “Hey, Tori, I’m back at your place, but you’re not—”
“I’m with Liam. Do you know that case I’ve been helping Terrance with?”
“The one involving the body in the lake. Yeah. What about it?”
“The fucking killer just took Mei.”
Silence greets my words.
“Did you hear me, Kyle?”
“Yeah, I heard you.” There’s a marriage of fear and anger in his voice. “I’m coming.”
“There isn’t time to wait for you, Kyle.”
“I’m not letting you do this without me.”
“There. Is. Not. Time.” I force the words out, make him understand that I can’t just sit here waiting for my beau to arrive whilst my best friend is being dragged away in a murderer’s Mercedes. “He’s going to kill her, Kyle. That psycho doctor is going to kill her.”
“Do you know where they’re going?” Kyle understands, but he’s also not giving up. Not easily.
“His,” I search for another word, but lair is the only thing that comes to mind and that sounds so villain cheesy, “lair is underneath his house, but he already has a body there and it didn’t look like a place where he could do the work on the women.”
“He’s a doctor...” Kyle’s voice trails off. “What about his practice?”
His practice, I think. All the equipment he’d need. Operating tables, surgical wire, probably even a bone drill. “Jesus, that has to be it, Kyle. That has to be it. Doctor Sherwin... we have to look up the address.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“We’ll be there sooner.”
“Tori, be careful. Plea—”
I hang up before he can get the ‘please’ out. I hang up before we can say ‘I love you’. I hang up before I can think about dying at the hands of a psychopathic doctor.
I nearly scream as Liam opens the passenger door and slides in.
I do scream when the passenger rear door opens and Mordecai fucking Jones seats himself in the back.
“What the hell is he doing here?” I stutter. I’ve been sitting on the side of Briar road, going crazy and making calls and hoping we’d be in time, before Sherwin hurt Mei.
“I have asked Mr. Jones to join us.” Liam said, with a note of finality that made it clear that I wasn’t to argue. I do though, of course I do.
“Kyle’s already meeting us, we have plenty of help.” In my mind though, I wonder if it will be enough, even with the addition of Mr. Mordecai Jones, the once Dwarf King.
“I am here at the behest of the God Stones,” Mordecai says, shifting his body in the backseat and buckling. “I do not answer to fairies.”
“Yet you come willingly when fairy arrives and you even touched a fairy to move across the land quickly.”
I can see Mordecai’s face, by the interior ceiling light of the car, go crimson. “You will not speak of that, fairy.” He says the words harshly.
Liam turns to me, an amused look on his face. “Dwarfs think it’s beneath them to work with fairies. Even now, when their kingdoms have all but crumbled.”
“Do not mock me. I am the keeper of the God Stones and you have no kingdom. Banished and rejected.” Mordecai is unbuckling, and I shift into drive quickly, jolting the car forward.
“No, we don’t have time for this pissing contest. My best friend, my best friend in the entire fucking world, is in the hands of a serial killer. You two can fight later, to the death if you like. I wouldn’t give a flying fuck at this point.” I drive faster, whipping around a curve in the road like I have a death wish. I see the old lumber yard ahead and I turn into the gates. There are fresh tire marks on the ground, ruining the snow that has been untouched and pristine here.
The headlights illuminate my path. Every few miles, I reach for Mei with my weak power, but I do not have enough energy yet. I feel broken, small, useless. What good is being the damn Blood Queen if I can’t even use the status and magic to save my best friend?
I try at first to obey the speed limit once we hit the highway. It doesn’t last long and I pray there are no cops on the road when I sneak up to fifteen miles over, my patience wearing thin. It’s nearly an hour’s drive to Georgetown and from there we have to find Sherwin’s practice.
“Liam, get out my phone and search the internet for the address of his office.” I realize as I say it that the phone is tucked into my butt pocket. On the right side at least so its within Liam’s easy reach.
“Where is it?”
I hesitate, but then decide the address is more important than Liam momentarily touching my ass. “It’s in my back pocket, right side.”
I’m glad that I’m driving and I can’t look away from the road, and the arc of light on the dark pavement, to see Liam’s expression. He says nothing though, so that’s a relief, as he moves his hand behind my back and slides it down to find the pocket of my jeans. It takes him a few moments to wiggle the phone out and I lean forward a bit, trying to give him a little more room to work.
The glow of the phon
e’s backlight in my peripheral vision tells me that Liam has it on and is searching.
“1450 Bodega Drive.”
“Great, now hit the little blue arrow that will start the navigation.”
“Done.”
I glance at Mordecai in the back seat. He’s looking down at something that is glowing, almost like the phone’s screen, but that’s not it. It only takes me a second to put two and two together. He’s holding a God Stone.
“She’s still alive.” The once Dwarf King says after a moment.
“How do you know?” I say, panic warring with optimism in my voice. Once again, I push with my power, reaching for Mei. And, once again, it falters and dies before I can even taste the barest hint of her blood.
Mordecai lifts the stone a fraction and bobs his head slightly toward it.
“Can it tell you more? Where are they now? Are they already at his practice? They can’t be that far ahead of us. Maybe fifteen minutes at most.” I slam my palms against the steering wheel when Mordecai doesn’t answer me immediately.
His eyes widen a fraction, but he doesn’t comment. I know the absence of commentary is due to his compassion. He feels for me, for my fear. That, more than anything he could have done, causes sincere ‘like’ towards the dwarf to grow within me.
I grip the steering wheel, take a deep breath, and I ask him again. “Please, Mordecai. Can the stone tell you anything else?”
“No,” he shakes his head solemnly, “they could, if I had the capacity to understand. She is alive though. You must cling to that hope.”
“You’re going to want to take the next exit.” Liam breaks in, pointing to the green and white sign mounted over the highway.
Not bothering with a turn signal and barely giving my mirrors a cursory glance, I speed onto the ramp and down into the less developed outskirts of Georgetown.
“How much further, Liam?” I knew it couldn’t be in this area, with its ramshackle houses, less-than-subtle ‘massage’ houses and liquor stores on every corner.