Vision of Serpents

by Vincent Morrone

  As we left, I could tell that Dante felt stunned. I was unnerved myself, and I’d been living with this madness for months now.

  “What are the chances that Ian is just off his rocker?” Dante asked as he started to drive. “I mean, that’s some crazy stuff.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “So says the guy driving with the girl who talks to ghosts. You’ve seen what Payne can do. I told you about the Shadow Creatures.”

  “But,” Dante began. He couldn’t seem to find the words to argue.

  “Look,” I interrupted. “It makes sense. Much more sense than I care to admit. Little pieces fit.”

  “Such as?” Dante asked.

  “Well, part of what Ian said was that there was some unseen force that is manipulating the families. I’ve never told Ian about the Shadow Creatures. From what I’ve heard them say, they’d fit. A few months ago, when I first came out to my family because of everything that was happening, we talked about why they want me dead. It has to be because I can expose them. They get something out of this feud. The fact that I had made friends by two McKnights by that point didn’t help.”

  “Okay,” Dante said. “What else?”

  “You need more?” I asked.

  “I’d like it,” Dante said.

  “Fine,” I said. “It matches up with something my grandfather told me.”

  “Wait. I thought you said your grandpa was a loon.”

  “He is,” I said. “But he’s a smart loon when it comes to this stuff. He knew there was something strange about me the moment I walked in the house. He told me that story about Tristan and Annabelle. And he said that the McKnight family made a deal with some sort of demonic force. The Blackburns followed suit. Now even he admitted that the McKnights may tell it differently. Maybe they think we made the deal first, but it probably doesn’t matter. The Shadow Creatures were probably around then too. It’s like they feed on the hatred between our families.”

  “So they want you dead because you might somehow end the feud?” Dante asked. “By bringing the families together?”

  “I guess,” I said. It sounded a little egotistical, but it was the best theory I had.

  “Okay,” Dante said. “Has it occurred to you that you shouldn’t?”

  I looked over, not getting the joke. When Dante pulled off the road to someplace more private, I realized he wasn’t joking.

  “You’re serious?” I asked.

  “Damn straight,” Dante said.

  Next thing I know we were outside of his car. Dante was pacing and mumbling to himself. It was actually kind of cute.

  “Bristol,” Dante finally said to me. “You try a man’s soul. You’ve got these dark varmints after you, and you think ending some dumb feud is more important than those things putting your head up on a wall like a prized buck.”

  I actually pictured my head up on a wall, just staring down above the living room couch. The boys were sitting on either side of Grandpa, eating chips and watching football. I didn’t like the image.

  “I can’t just do what they want,” I said.

  Dante stared at me like I had ten heads.

  “Why not? If they don’t want you being with a McKnight, and you haven’t committed to Payne yet, then I say great. Just write them all off. You’re better off without them.”

  “Dante,” I said. “It’s not that simple. You can’t just choose the easy way as opposed to what’s right.”

  “Yes,” Dante insisted, “you can. You can walk away from them if it means you’re safe. Look, Hunter seems like a nice enough girl, but she’s got plenty of cousins. You don’t spend that much time with Chase, Toby, or Archer, let alone with their legion of younger relatives. And you don’t need Payne.”

  I had a sort of amused look on my face until he mentioned Payne’s name.

  He must have noticed. He started to sound aggravated.

  “Even after everything he’s done, and everything that we’ve been through together, you still want him back. Don’t you remember what happened at my house with Priscilla?”

  “I remember,” I snapped. “There may have been more going on than what we saw. Strange things happen in Spirit.”

  Dante crossed his arms and glared at me.

  “Now you’re making excuses for him.”

  “No,” I said. “I’m still mad. I haven’t decided to forgive him yet. I haven’t decided anything yet, but I’m not running away. Do you not get it? These creatures have killed people. Simon and Zach have no mother because of them. Aunt Breanne lost her son because of them. Who knows how many other people have lost their lives because of them? Maybe Payne’s mother? Maybe my parents?”

  Dante looked like he wanted to argue, but I didn’t give him the chance.

  “Did you hear the part about not leaving Spirit?” I asked. “My parents left when I was born. They seemed to think that since I was a girl, they were spared. At the first sign that I wasn’t normal, they flipped out. We went from being close to being three strangers who just lived together. Now I’m wondering if something in this curse affected how they acted. And you want me to just walk away from the things that are responsible?”

  “Yes,” Dante said without hesitation. “I do. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t know how to fight these things, and I know they deserve to pay, but Bristol, we’re talking about your life.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “It’s my life. I’m not going to let my life be dictated by fear.”

  Dante stared at me as if willing me to change my mind.

  “What about by love?”

  “Love?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”

  Dante rushed up to me and grabbed my hand and gently placed it over his heart.

  “Say you love me. Bristol, I love you. And I know that you could love me. You just have to let yourself. Let yourself love me—that’s it. I’ll take good care of you. I’ll be yours, just love me.”

  I was stunned. He meant every word of it. I could feel it pouring out from him. It was sweet and sincere and passionate and so much more.

  When Dante leaned in to kiss me, I was tempted to let him—to let that vision come true.

  I took a step back instead.

  He looked heartbroken.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  Dante’s eyes bore through me as he reached out and tenderly touched my cheek.

  “I knew what I was getting into when I fell for you,” Dante said. “And you’ll lie if I press you, but you’re getting closer and closer to succumbing to my charms.”

  I felt myself blush. “Why would you say that?”

  “Sugar,” Dante said with a grin, dropping his hand, “it’s written all over your pretty face. Let’s get out of here.”

  I didn’t object.

  On the way home I kept going over what had Ian had said.

  I would be trapped in love with Payne once I committed to loving him.

  It was strange to think of it that way. It sounded like a bad country song. Was that the reason why I was holding back? Was my psychic ability warning me? Love Payne and die? Because it seemed like if I did, the Shadow Creatures would stop at nothing to kill me. Not that they weren’t trying hard enough already.

  Something else occurred to me. Payne loved me. He’d said so. He’d proven it. Was he already trapped? If I decided to walk away, would he ever be able to get on with his life?

  The thought of it hurt my heart.

  Dante was driving down a dirt road, humming along to a country song about a girl taking a Louisville Slugger to some sad sap’s car. If I were really with him, I knew I’d be begging him to change the station.

  I looked out the window. I knew the area. For a moment, it looked like we were going to Payne’s house. We were deep in McKnight territory. But after a few minutes, we ended up right at the edge of McKnight land, in a parking lot near a tennis court that Varick had built some years ago. I’d passed by it a few times, but had never
stopped there. I didn’t play tennis. I knew that Scarlett did, so for a moment I thought Dante was picking her up, but then I remembered that it was past eleven on a Sunday night.

  Dante parked the car, cut the engine and got out, just as someone else pulled into the lot. It took me a moment to recognize the car. It was Payne.

  What was he doing here?

  In the blink of an eye, I was no longer in the car, but next to Dante as Payne got out and walked over. The look of him still made my heart hitch.

  Payne looked tired and worried, like he’d been unable to sleep. He also didn’t look happy.

  “I’m here,” he said. “Make it quick.”

  Dante leaned against the front of his truck.

  “Look. I’m not here to fight with you. I’m here because of Bristol.”

  Payne stopped in his tracks.

  “She sent you?”

  “No,” Dante said. “And she probably wouldn’t be happy if she found out that I came here to talk to you about this. So I was hoping in the spirit of things, we could keep this between the two of us.”

  I saw Payne grin.

  “You trying to keep secrets from her?”

  “Not as a habit,” Dante said. “You gonna rat me out?”

  Payne smiled a little more as he looked around. I swear for a second he looked right at me.

  “She won’t hear a word from me. Assuming what you’re about to tell me isn’t something she should know.”

  Dante stepped forward.

  “Fair enough,” he said. “I want to tell you about something that happened yesterday. Since Bristol was there, she already knows, but she’s probably not going to tell you herself.”

  I saw Payne brace himself.

  “Relax,” Dante said. “It’s nothing like that. We spent a little time talking with your pal Ian.”

  “Ian?”

  “Yeah,” Dante said. “Dude has a thing for charts.”

  Payne smiled.

  “You aware that he’s been studying this feud between you and Bristol’s kin?” Dante asked.

  “He’s mentioned it,” Payne said. “One or two billion times.”

  Where was Dante going with this?

  “It’s some crazy stuff,” Dante said. “Normally, I’d say he’s been spending way too much time watching Twilight Zone re-runs. But since I know about you and Bristol and those shadow varmints, well . . . let’s just say that what he says makes a little too much sense. How much has Ian explained to you?”

  “Not too much,” Payne admitted. “I think he’s afraid to upset me. I’ve answered a bunch of questions for him. He’s told me some. He’s a lot closer than he realizes.”

  “Did he talk to you about divorce rates and such?” Dante asked.

  “Divorce rates?” Payne said. “No, that never came up.”

  Dante hesitated a moment, like he realized how cruel a thing he was about to do. But he did it anyway.

  “According to Ian, once a McKnight or a Blackburn says I love you to someone, and means it, they can’t ever take it back.”

  “Take it back?” Payne asked. “What are you talking about?”

  Dante shifted over to stand next to Payne. It was an almost friendly gesture.

  “What I mean,” he explained, “is that there are consequences to having her fall in love with you, and to having her say it. Look, I think that you’re a decent enough guy. I don’t know what happened with Priscilla, and I don’t care. But I believe that you care for Bristol. You love her. Am I right?”

  “Yeah,” Payne said. “I’d do anything for Bristol.”

  Dante let that hang in the air a moment.

  “I know what you did for her a few months ago. That took guts. She thinks that you didn’t bet on surviving that fire. Nobody else would have. So I’ll say right now: I respect that. And I can’t imagine you would be putting her in the position that you are—”

  “What are you talking about?” Payne interrupted. “C’mon, spit it out.”

  Dante sighed.

  “According to your friend, once someone from one of either of your families says those words to someone they care about, they can never love anyone else. That’s why your mom never left your dad. That’s why no Blackburn or McKnight has ever left a husband or wife. Have you ever heard of a divorce in either family?”

  Payne took a moment to think about it. Then he shook his head.

  “So what? So what if she falls in love with me? I’m in love with her. I love her, Dante.”

  Dante shifted so he was looking right into Payne’s eyes.

  “I know that,” Dante said. “I believe that. But she hasn’t committed to you. I know that’s been a point of contention between the two of you, but it may be a good thing for her.”

  “For her?” Payne asked. “Or for you?”

  Dante scratched the back of his head and nodded.

  “I’m not going to pretend that I don’t have a vested interest in seeing you back down,” Dante admitted. “I swear to you, I didn’t go looking for it, but I’m in love with her.”

  Payne crossed his arms. He’d already figured that part out.

  “Here’s the thing,” Dante continued. “Ian had drawers full of charts. One of them showed that you and Bristol aren’t the first ones from both families to be a couple. Now, some of them just split up on their own, but as for the rest? Something bad always happens to them.”

  Payne frowned as he tried to figure out what Dante meant.

  “They die,” Dante said bluntly. “If they get to the point where they are fully in love, and won’t be able to move on without each other, one or both of them get killed. Then, the surviving one’s stuck, and isn’t ever able to love again.”

  Payne considered what he was being told for a moment before he moved away and started to pace. My heart broke for him.

  “You’re telling me that if Bristol were to tell me she loves me, and mean it—”

  “You know that she won’t say those words unless she means them,” Dante interrupted.

  Payne nodded.

  “Then she can’t ever break up with me,” Payne continued, “and somehow she’ll be killed?”

  Dante nodded. He explained Ian’s research in a little more detail. As he did, I saw agony flash behind Payne’s eyes.

  “You can call Ian,” Dante said. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I would. But think about it: these things want her dead. They’ve tried to kill her already, because they see her getting together with you. Look, I know it hurts. I’m not trying to be cold, but if you love her the way you say you do—”

  “All right!” Payne turned his back on Dante for a moment, walking towards the dark part of the lot. I followed. From behind he looked angry and stubborn, but when I caught up to him I could see the anguish on his face.

  Finally, he composed himself and faced Dante again.

  “I’m going to talk with Ian. I’ll speak to him first thing in the morning, before I get to school. If he tells me anything you said is bull . . . ”

  “It’s not,” Dante said. “He won’t.”

  Payne was silent for a moment.

  “I can’t let anything happen to her. It would kill me. So, I need you to make me a promise.”

  Dante considered his words carefully.

  “I can’t promise you anything if I don’t know what you want.”

  “You promise me,” Payne began, “that you will do everything and anything to protect her. You promise me that no matter how hard, you stick by her and keep her safe. If you need me to help, you call. Don’t let your pride get in your way, and don’t let her make you promise to do or not do something that compromises her safety. If you need my help, I’ll come. No questions.”

  Dante held his hand out. “I promise. On my mother’s soul.”

  Payne took it and they shook.

  “I’ll back off for now. If I hear that you lied, I’m coming back, and if Ian tells me he was w
rong, I’m coming back.”

  “Sounds fair,” Dante said. “What about Bristol? How do we let her know you’re out?”

  “And that you’re in?” Payne asked.

  Dante just shrugged and raised his eyebrows.

  “You’re on your own there,” Payne said.

  “Got it,” Dante replied. “And you won’t tell her we talked? She won’t know about tonight?”

  Payne gave a strained smile, as he walked back to his car.

  “I give you my word,” He opened the driver’s side door. “She won’t hear it from me.”

  With that, Payne drove away.

  I woke up, and the first thing that occurred to me was that I was going to kill them both.

  - fifteen -

  Cutting Class

  I smiled at Dante when he picked me up the next morning. I giggled a little when he made jokes, and I hung on every word that he said while we drove to school. When we got there, I asked Scarlett if I could have a few minutes alone with her brother, giving them both a sly little grin that seemed to please her to no end.

  I waited until Scarlett was far enough away before I turned to Dante, ready to listen to whatever I had to say with rapt attention. I smiled again, sweetly.

  “So,” I said. “What did you do last night?”

  “Last night?” Dante asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Last night. After you left my place. You do anything special? Go anywhere? See anyone?”

  I watched as Dante blinked many, many times.

  “Well . . . ” He looked like he was thinking hard. “I may have gone out a bit. Run into someone. Y’know.”

  “Yeah,” I said with a very bright smile. “I know how that can go. So, do I have anything to worry about?”

  “What now?” Dante said. “Come again?”

  “Do I have,” I said, as I leaned closer with every word, “anything at all to make me worried?”

  Dante looked like a deer caught in headlights.