by Joelle Ayers
An inter-office message.
I rolled my eyes. “For Pete’s sake, Tori, you just walked away. What now?”
I clicked the icon and up popped the message in a small, onscreen window. To my surprise the sender was a guest account.
Lifting out of my seat a few inches, I peered over the dividing wall of my cubicle to find our mostly-dark office was void of the pale-gray light of computer screens aside from mine and Tori’s. There was only us.
So, who was the guest?
I lowered into my seat again and opened the message, reading the one word that had been sent out loud.
“Shelter.”
That was it.
“Who is this?” I sent back, thinking someone might still be in the building where they could connect to our network, but just weren’t physically here in the office.
I waited a few seconds, peeking over my half-wall once again, but this time to make sure Tori hadn’t slipped out without my noticing. There was no way I’d stay in this building alone at night. Seeing the top of her head over her computer screen, I relaxed a bit.
My laptop dinged and I read the new message. OR… the same message sent for a second time: “Shelter.”
My heart raced as goosebumps dotted my skin. “What does that mean?” I typed next, wondering if I should have just ignored it altogether.
A few seconds passed and my question was answered with the same response I’d been given before. “Shelter.”
A chill crept up my spine as I ran down the facts, including that there was no one else still around except Tori and I. Bravery was the furthest thing from me at the moment, but I asked my next question anyway, questioning my sanity with each letter I pressed on the keyboard.
“What do you want from me?”
I sat.
I waited.
Several seconds passed. And just as I rested my fingers on the keys to ask again, the screen went black and the gentle mechanical whirring of the processor went silent.
It shut itself down. Or… someone shut it down.
I had my belongings in hand quicker than I think I ever had. Deciding to leave my laptop right where it was for the night, I hustled out of there, checking over my shoulder every step of the way.
Seemed I felt less and less secure with each passing day. Not only was I haunted in my dreams, but apparently while I was awake, too. Josh’s suggestion came to mind again and I decided something as I nearly ran to my car.
It was time to get some help.
—
Chapter Three —
Abandoning my laptop at The Chronicle last night meant I had to fire up Franken-puter to do research this morning. It was an old PC Josh and I grabbed from a pawn shop when we first moved into our apartment. We pieced it together on our own, hence the fond nickname.
I was on a mission, though. One that wouldn’t wait until later. I must’ve missed something. There was a reason Matthew Duggan kept visiting me and I had to figure out why.
Was there a loved one he needed me to reach out to?
A wrong he didn’t have the chance to make right?
I searched one article after the next, all repeating facts I already knew. Duggan was a soon-to-be divorced father of two, a successful doctor, and owner of a high-priced restaurant downtown I’d only ever heard good things about. On the night of the accident, he had guests over for a football game and had, apparently, gone on a beer run after having done enough drinking himself to cause the head-on collision that cost him his life.
And would’ve cost me mine, too, had it not been for Josh.
A chill ran down my back and my eyes shifted to the notepad beside the keyboard. On it, I’d written one word—shelter. It unnerved me to know I was no closer to knowing what message Duggan tried to convey with it.
Behind me, a set of footsteps prompted me to fix my sullen expression, forcing a smile when Josh approached at my right.
“Still nothing?”
With a heavy sigh as I reared back in my seat, I shook my head. “Nothing I don’t already know.”
His hand rested gently on my shoulder. “Don’t sweat it too much,” was his offering. “Hopefully the researchers with Tribe will be able to give us at least some insight into what’s happening with you.”
I knew I agreed to go meet with them today, but I wasn’t feeling all that hopeful that bringing more people in on this would change things for the better.
“They won’t be able to help with this,” I protested.
“Help with figuring out what this guy wants from you? No,” Josh answered. “But maybe they know how to make the dreams stop altogether.”
That idea rolled around inside my brain—stopping the visions I had while sleeping and, sometimes, while I was awake, too. While a normal, thinking person would jump at the chance to be free from the frightening and somewhat gruesome things I’m forced to see, I wasn’t sure this was the answer.
These people, these ghosts, were visiting me for a reason. I realized that after solving the Liz Hardy case. She needed help. And I was the only one who could give her that; was the only person in the vicinity with the ability to do so.
I hated the sense of obligation I was starting to carry with me in regards to being a beacon to those who’d crossed over into the afterlife, but I suppose that’s what was happening. If I didn’t do it, who would?
A long breath left my mouth and an outburst of laughter followed when Josh’s hands slipped beneath my arms, startling me right after I’d closed my eyes.
“What are you doing?” I asked while being lifted out of my seat.
“We’ve got thirty minutes to get to the diner, so I’m doing my best friend duties and saving you from yourself,” he reasoned. “If I don’t get you out of this chair, we’ll never make it in time.”
I played along, not bothering to move my arms or legs as he dragged me out through my bedroom door, down the hallway, and into the living room. With supernatural strength, it was no problem for him to move my dead weight from one room to the next. When I was placed on the couch, I watched with a big grin as he grabbed my sneakers from the mat beside the door and proceeded to put them on my feet. He didn’t hesitate to treat me like the defiant toddler that sometimes took over my twenty-year-old body.
“There,” he said with a triumphant look on his face once my laces were tied. “Now, am I gonna have to carry you or are you walking today.”
My smile grew. “Let me think on it and get back to you.”
I thought he was reaching in to pick me up again, but instead, his fingertips dug into my sides and a loud, unladylike snort exploded from my nostrils when I laughed. On cue, Cody walked through the front door carrying donuts and a tray of coffee for the three of us. The “attack” Josh had just launched on me ceased and I did my best to erase the big grin on my face.
Cody stared us down with that look he’d been giving Josh and I for years. Before the words even left his mouth, I knew what he was going to say.
“Wish you two would just freakin’ hook up already and stop with the whole… ‘we’re just friends’ charade.”
He walked into the kitchen, smirking, leaving Josh and I behind to deal with the awkwardness he’d just released into the atmosphere. Cody was one of many who couldn’t grasp the concept of a guy and a girl just hanging out without it being anything more to it.
Rolling my eyes, I fixed my shirt where Josh had bunched it up and followed the scent of fresh-baked donuts right to the kitchen table. I didn’t miss Josh checking the time on his watch when we got there and neither did Cody as he sat with chocolate on his mouth, not caring if he looked like an absolute slob while he ate.
“You two heading out?” he gathered, glancing down at my sneaker-clad feet.
I grabbed a glazed bowtie from the box of goodies before answering. “We’ve gotta meet up with some people,” was all I felt comfortable saying. Granted, Cody was aware of my newfound link to the other side, but I couldn’t fathom telling him who, exactly, Josh a
nd I were going to meet.
A bunch of paranormal researchers? Yeah, it sounded completely crazy.
“And we’re gonna be late,” Josh chimed in, “so you’ll have to bring that with you,” he added, pointing toward the pastry in my hand.
With that, I was escorted by my hand toward the front door. I shoved my food in my mouth and waved goodbye to Cody.
*****
The two seated across the table from Josh and I were strangers. Strangers who, in two-point-five seconds, would know me and Josh’s deepest secrets. He might’ve been okay with that, but I wasn’t.
Not so much because of what I was hiding, but because of what he was hiding.
“Okay, so let’s review the facts.”
The one who spoke introduced himself as Ivan. He looked exactly like I expected him to after listening to he and Josh converse on the way over when he called to say he and one member of his team consisting of eight were in route. Dark framed glasses rested on his narrow nose. He was tall and thin, pale from lack of sunlight I assumed to be the result of countless hours spent indoors on his laptop conducting research.
Beside him, a small girl with a burgundy-tinted, pixie cut named Willow. She too wore glasses, but they were of the quirky variety—purple, cat-eye frames. A plaid button-down was rolled to her elbows and the length of it nearly hid the jean cutoff shorts she wore altogether.
Ivan stared at his notebook before continuing. So far, we told him about my dreams, about Liz, but hadn’t gotten into much more than that. However, he was beyond intrigued when we revealed how all of this tied to the, now infamous, Cody Cicero case.
“So, if I have this right, Liz Hardy… spoke to you?” he asked.
I shook my head because that wasn’t quite right. “She didn’t ‘speak’ to me in the traditional sense. It was more like feelings. Intuition,” I clarified, pushing my hair behind my ear when I got nervous. Josh noticed and, beneath the table, he gripped my hand. On contact, I relaxed a bit.
Ivan wrote more notes, smiling the entire time. “This is wild.”
I smiled back when he finally looked up from his paper to meet my gaze, but mine was tense and forced. I didn’t come here to entertain a couple paranormal enthusiasts. I came here because I needed to know how to handle this, how to stop being afraid to go to sleep on my own.
“When did this all start? Was it like this when you were a kid?” Willow asked, her inquisitive expression making my stomach flip.
My eyes shifted to Josh because, in order to explain things to these two, I’d eventually have to reveal things about him I wasn’t comfortable revealing. I guess, in a way, I wanted to protect him.
A gentle squeeze of my hand as it rested against his thigh let me know I was free to go on.
“Well… we were in an accident a couple months ago and, after that, it started.”
Willow nodded. “Did you have some sort of head trauma?”
That would have been the likely cause of something like this, but… it wasn’t. My nerves got the best of me and I turned to stare out the window at the mostly empty parking lot instead of answering.
“No,” Josh chimed in. My head whipped in his direction at the sound of his voice. “We were forced off the bridge and into the river below,” he explained. “Violet was unconscious and I managed to pull her back up onto the bridge.”
Willow smiled at him. “I’m sure that made you boyfriend of the year.”
“Um—”
“We’re not—”
Josh and I canceled one another’s sentences out when we both jumped to correct Willow’s assumption.
Her head tilted a bit. “Oh! I just thought that… I mean…” Her eyes flitted back and forth between Josh and I. “I just thought I was getting a romantic vibe from you two, but I must’ve misread it.”
I simply shook my head, but was more aware of my hand in Josh’s as he continued.
“When I got her out, she was in bad shape,” he explained. For a moment, he lost his train of thought or maybe got lost in the horrid memory just like I did. “If I didn’t act quickly,” he went on, “…she wouldn’t have made it.”
Willow and Ivan were both completely engrossed in the story. “When you say act,” Ivan inquired, “what does that mean exactly?”
My stomach did another somersault as heat crept up my neck to my face. This was it—the moment Josh and I would either lay all our cards bare or keep them close and leave the diner with our secret intact. However, there really wasn’t much of a question how Josh would play this. Because he was so adamant about getting me help, I knew he wouldn’t hesitate.
“I know you two are heavy into this paranormal research thing, but… do you mostly just dabble in ghosts?” he asked. “Or… are you openminded to other things?”
At his question, Willow’s chin slowly rose from where she had it resting on her fist. She and Ivan eyed each other.
“I mean, most of the calls we respond to are from people who believe they’re being haunted by spirits, but…” She paused and, from the looks of it, she was trying to contain her excitement. “…we believe in a lot of things most people think don’t exist,” she shared.
“Why?” Ivan asked with the same light in his eyes. “Whatcha got?”
I held my breath and Josh flashed me a look, one I was sure meant ‘prepare yourself’. The next second, he closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, the beautiful blue I’d always thought of as gentle and kind was no longer there. In their place, even filling the whites of his eyes, was a deep crimson that startled me to the point that my body naturally moved away from his, scooting closer toward the window.
“Dude!” Ivan nearly shrieked.
Willow stood from the booth like she’d take off running.
Josh blinked and the deep red was gone, like it’d never been there. As the two who joined us thinking this would be another, run-of-the-mill haunting case tried to gather their wits, I did my best to steady my racing heart.
I’d never seen Josh like that before—in any other form than human. Granted, only his eyes had changed, but I had a feeling he was only sparing us the rest of his truth, revealing what he could easily conceal in this semi-crowded diner.
He seemed kind of nervous when he glanced over to make sure I was okay. Our hands were still linked, but my grip was noticeably looser. However, when I saw what I thought might be insecurity creeping into his expression, I fixed that, holding him tight again. The last thing he needed was me flaking out on him, being afraid of what he’d always been. Yes, this was new to me, but it wasn’t new to him. And I had to know and trust he was the same Josh now that I’d always known him to be.
Smart. Kind. Funny. Trustworthy.
And above all that, he was my best friend.
I knew the moment he was sure I was still with him because the confidence returned. He faced Ivan and Willow again and told them more.
“I’m a dhampir,” he admitted. “My mother was human and my father… let’s just say he’s not… human.”
Slowly, with her mouth wide open just like her eyes, Willow dropped down into her seat again.
“You’re half… vampire,” she said aloud, maybe just needing to wrap her mind around it.
Josh nodded. “And the only way for me to save Vi that night was to bite her, turn her.”
Willow’s gaze shifted to me. “So, it started when you became a vampire?” she asked, thinking I’d confirm her theory, but she became confused when I shook my head.
“No. That’s the thing, I never did turn. I’m still just as human today as I was before.”
Ivan’s brow tensed and he started jotting more notes at lightning speed.
Willow turned to Josh again. “Has that ever happened before? Have you ever bitten anyone else and they didn’t turn?”
Josh almost seemed insulted by the question. “Seeing as how I don’t go around biting random people, I’d have to say no.”
Willow missed the frustration in his tone completely and w
ent in with another question. “So, now you’re not sure if this is typical because there’s no baseline to compare it to?” She looked at me again. “Or if you didn’t turn because there’s something different about you.”
I didn’t nod, but she’d hit the nail on the head.
“I just don’t think being bitten should’ve opened her up to the supernatural world like it has,” Josh added. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Which leads me to believe my latter theory is correct—that there’s something different about Vi that somehow prevented her from turning, but, instead, kicked a door to the other side wide open.”
She and Ivan stared at Josh and I like they’d just hit a supernatural goldmine. I guess, considering all the weirdness we had going on, they kinda did.
“We’ve got a lot of info here,” Ivan concluded, closing his notebook while he spoke. “Give us some time to look into a few things and we’ll get back with you both. In the meantime, keep track of any changes you experience. The more info we have to go on, the more likely our chances of figuring this out.”
They stood and Willow cast a kind smile my way. “Hang in there, Vi. You have our word you’ve just become our number one priority.”
I believed her fully. “Thank you. I need all the help I can get.”
—
Chapter Four —
‘When all else fails, jump in headfirst and hope for the best.’
This was terrible advice I’d never give anyone else, but I always seemed to follow myself. Like today, as I searched for an address I had no business searching for, on a street I had no business being on.
Matthew Duggan’s.
I dreamed about the accident again the night before and now, here I was, looking for clues.
A large, two-story home on my right matched the address I’d put into my car’s GPS. This one had more bells and whistles than the one totaled in the accident, but I shouldn’t have been shocked. Josh’s father, upon finding out what his son did to save me, seemed almost apologetic. In his words, I’d been robbed of my choice to decide. While he maintained that Josh had done the right thing in his eyes, he still wished it hadn’t come to that. For me, it was either life or death.