As her parents scrambled to get flashlights, Ana went to the window overlooking the front lawn. Night hummed in its darkness. All the kids had gone to bed, their bellies full of sweets. There was only one kind of person out now; the kind that lived to terrorize, and it was Halloween. It was the hour of tricking, of frightening those who were unsuspecting. Ana had a feeling it was going to be a long night as a dark figure lurched past the window.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ana
Riotous laughter filled the night. The sound of bottles striking the side of the house and shattering shook the quiet of the night. She watched from the window as ropes of toilet paper and silly string were strung from the trees and bushes.
“I’m going out there,” her father said, already at the door.
“And do what?” her mother hissed. “Call the police!”
“They cut the electricity,” he said. “The phones aren’t working.”
“Use your cell!”
“It doesn’t work inside!” he reminded her. “And I can’t just stand on the front porch and ask them to wait a minute while I phone the sheriff.”
“And whose fault is that?” her mother cried. “You brought us to this horrible place.”
As they bickered on the threshold of what was the worst moment Ana could ever remember, she turned to Rafe. “I have an idea.”
Leaving her parents shouting at each other in the sitting room, Ana led the way through the kitchen towards the back door. The door gave easily in her grasp as she slipped into the muggy night with Rafe at her heel. The cool grass tickled her bare feet as she tiptoed her way to the side of the house. She stopped when her feet caught the tangled mess that was the hose. She picked up the heavy duty pressure washer gun her dad used to hose down the truck and motioned for Rafe to keep quiet.
Rafe’s eyes went from narrowed slits of curiosity to wide horror as he realized what she was doing. He started to shake his head, but she wasn’t paying attention anymore. Quietly, she dragged the hose to the edge of the house and peeked around to make sure she had everyone in her sights before taking aim.
The spray struck one dead in the face as he’d pulled back his arm for another attack. The bottle clattered to the ground as he went sailing onto his backside. Drunk, it took a moment longer for the others to comprehend what was happening. But by the time they got their senses about them to act, Ana had them pinned, hosing them down until they were tripping over themselves trying to get away.
“Let’s get out of here!” one shouted.
“This is so not worth the fifty bucks!” another slurred, stumbling over his own feet in his haste to get out of the path of Ana’s high pressured jet.
Cussing and yelling, they slipped and slid their back to their car. It fishtailed violently as they swerved down the driveway and out of sight.
Laughing, Ana turned to Rafe, expecting him to accept the hand she raised for a high five.
“We did it!”
Rafe wasn’t smiling. His face was tense as he looked over the darkness stretching around them.
“Get inside.” His hand closed over her elbow.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, stumbling to keep up with his long strides. “They’re gone.”
But he didn’t slow his pass. On the back porch, he turned his head and did another scan of their surroundings before pushing her inside. He closed and locked the door behind them.
“I thought I saw something,” he said. “It could have been nothing, but…” He started towards the living room. “I would much rather if you—”
“Hello children.”
Rafe came to a skidding halt. His hand shot out and grabbed Ana before she could run to her parents. His fingers bit into her arm, hurting, but she didn’t notice. What was displayed before her was so much worse.
“Mom!”
“Let her go,” Rafe said, his voice shaking with anger.
Philip Andrews smiled at them indulgently while pressing a little harder with the blade in his hand. A thin ribbon of blood trickled from the slit it opened beneath her mom’s chin. Her mom whimpered, but remained as still as possible as a fine trail of blood ran down her throat.
“You son of a bitch!” her father roared, struggling to rise from his kneeling position next to his wife.
“Don’t move, Richard,” Andrews scolded almost playfully. “I’m sure you won’t like the mess she’ll make if my hand slips.”
Her father growled, but remained motionless.
Ana started to move forward, needing to get closer to her parents. Rafe stopped her, pulling her back.
“No, no, let her in,” Philip said. “It wouldn’t be a party without the whole family.”
He jerked a chin for them to have a seat on the sofa, a sofa already occupied. Ana hadn’t seen the other man until they rounded the sofa and found him reclined there as though he belonged. But nothing about him belonged, not in her house, not on her sofa.
Nathan Finnegan grinned at them.
Ana stared at him, disgusted. “You’re a principal of a school for children. How are you okay with this?”
“He’s okay because he has no choice,” Andrews answered. “Nathan has as much at stake as I do. We’re both very well loved in this community. We both have jobs that put us in a position of extreme power. We really can’t have you ruining everything we worked years to accomplish.”
“We won’t tell anyone,” Ana said pleadingly, her gaze fixed on the crimson stain marring her mother’s slender throat. “Please, let her go.”
Andrews frowned. “I would love to, but I just don’t believe you. Nathan and I have thought long and hard about this. We considered just letting you and your family leave, but what of his family?” He gestured with his chin towards Rafe. “Plus, we know how morally aware people think. The secret would eventually eat at you and compel you to tell. Kind of the way it did for Randy. Only difference is that no one ever believes the ravings of a drunk. You, on the other hand, Ana, have proven to be annoyingly stubborn. We can’t have that.”
“I swear,” Ana begged. “We will never talk to anyone about you. Just let us go.”
“Which would you pick?”
The question was so unexpected that Ana could only stare for a moment as she tried to piece it together.
“What?” she finally said, her voice hoarse.
“Which do you pick?” Andrews repeated. “Your mother or your father, which would you like me to spare?”
Ana started to rock her head from side to side. Tears welled and spilled down her face.
“No, please—”
“Choose!” Andrews snarled, making Ana jump.
Trembling all over, she looked from her mother’s wide, gray eyes to her father’s soft, mossy green eyes. Both stared back at her with love and understanding.
“It’s okay, baby,” her dad murmured.
How could he say that? There was nothing okay about what was happening.
“Choose, Ana, or I will choose for you,” Andrews said in a bored tone. “One. Two. Thr—”
“Mom!” Ana blurted. Eyes she had no recollection of closing flew open, swinging to her father, expecting to see betrayal and anger.
But he smiled at her. “Good girl.”
Moving with lightning fast reflexes, Andrews grabbed her father by the hair, yanked his head back and plunged the blade deep into his gut. Blood flew in an arch as the blade was torn out viciously from his body. Ana screamed as her entire world rocked off its axis. The half-animal wail coiled with her mother’s shriek of despair as Dad slumped over clutching his midsection. Mom threw herself on him, pressing both hands over his wound and begging for him not to let go. Ana sunk to the floor, slipping out of the hold Rafe had on her. Glass and debris cut into her palms and knees as she crawled to where her father lay, gasping. A fine trickle of blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth as he opened and closed his lips.
I … I love you,” he rasped.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she
sobbed.
“No…” he choked out. “Right choice.”
“Aw isn’t this beautiful?” Andrews looked over to where Finnegan was sitting, watching the show with an unnaturally blank expression.
“Bastard!” Ana threw herself at Andrews, nails bared.
She caught his left cheek, cutting four angry gashes across his handsome face before she was backhanded to the ground. The world rang, a summersault of voices and colors too loud for her hurting brain. The right side of her face throbbed as though she’d been too close to an open flame and that side had begun to melt off. The taste of blood filled her mouth. She spat it out, a thick splotch of crimson across her mother’s floor.
Five cruel fingers curled into the back of her neck and she was hoisted none-too-gently to her feet. Something cold and sharp bit into her throat.
“Take another step, boy, and we’ll see just what color her insides are.”
The blur across her vision lifted and Ana blinked at the world she stood in.
Her father was on the ground, still alive, but barely. Her mother was holding the wound, blood covering her arms to the elbows. She was quietly sobbing, something Ana hadn’t ever seen her mother do, while her father consoled her softly. And Rafe … Rafe had his arms pinned to his back by Finnegan. His lip was bleeding and there was a hatred in his eyes that would have scared her had it been aimed at her.
“I don’t like hurting people,” Andrews said evenly. “I just want to live the rest of my life with my wife and son. I don’t know why that’s such a hard thing to understand.”
No one missed the odd line in his remark, that single word that just wasn’t right in the picture he was trying to paint.
“Your son is dead!” Rafe pointed out.
Even Finnegan looked puzzled as he stared over Rafe’s head at his partner.
“Okay, Phil?”
Andrews’ arm tightened around Ana’s throat, making her squirm. “Of course I’m okay! What’s wrong with you?”
“What are you going to do with us?” Ana asked, unable to keep the fear steady in her voice.
“There’s going to be an accident,” he answered. “A bunch of punk kids broke in and, in a fit of rage over what happened to Vinny, killed everyone inside. Then they set fire to the place. Poor Mr. Ramirez, who happened to be spending the night, was also tragically murdered.”
Ana gasped. “You can’t do that!”
“Sure I can. It’s tragic, but I think we’ll build a park here for children in your honor, after we finish building the rest of the town. This will all be an apartment building. What do you think?”
“I think you’re bat-shit crazy,” Rafe answered, struggling against the hold Finnegan had on him.
Andrews pressed harder with the blade he held under Ana’s chin. She whimpered and Rafe ceased his fighting.
“It’s never a good idea to piss off the guy holding the weapon and the girl you care about. Didn’t your crime novels teach you that?”
“Let my parents and Rafe go,” Ana pleaded. “Please, they don’t know anything. It’s all me. Just take me.”
“Ana, no!” Rafe growled.
“Shut up, Rafe!” she growled back. “You need to shut up!” She turned her attention back to the maniac with the knife. “Please. I never told them. Your secret will die with me.”
Andrews laughed. “Do you think I don’t have eyes and ears all over this town? I knew the minute you walked into the library and made copies of that old article. I was on the phone when you visited Peter. I know you went to see Randy and I know you…” he broke inexplicably.
The blade was still pushing into the soft tissues of her throat, hindering her from turning her head, but she didn’t need to see Andrews’ face. She knew exactly what had caught the mayor’s attention.
Illuminating the doorway, Johnny stared back at them. His blue eyes bore into Andrews with the biting promise of death. Finnegan and Rafe turned and Finnegan swore. He released Rafe and stumbled back, his eyes enormous against his stark expression.
“J … Johnny?” he stammered, hitting the wall.
Ignoring him completely, Johnny moved a step deeper into the room. His loafers made no sound against the hardwood.
“Stop right there!” Andrews shouted. “I’ll cut her. I’ll slit her throat. I don’t care!”
To Ana’s amazement, Johnny stopped, but his eyes narrowed. The room was suddenly unbearably cold. Ana gasped as the cutting temperatures gnawed through her clothes to sink into her flesh.
“How is this possible?” Finnegan gasped, as he half sunk to the ground. “You’re dead. I saw you die!”
Johnny never spared him a glance. All his attention was focused on the man cutting shallow nicks into Ana’s skin with his unsteady hand.
He took a step.
“I said stop!” Andrews barked.
Without a word of warning, the dagger flew out of Andrews’ hand. No one knew what happened until a low, pitiful squeak had their attentions turning to Finnegan as he slowly sunk to the ground, the hunting dagger protruding from the center of his chest.
Ana wanted to scream, but there was no time when Andrews was unexpectedly grabbed from behind and slammed face first into the ground as though someone had yanked his feet out from under him. His nose struck the hardwood with a crunch that would haunt Ana for the rest of her life. Blood left a long, thick smear as he was snatched up around the ankles and dragged out of the room. They heard the thud of a body rolling down the basement stairs, the door slamming shut, and then silence.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ana
The night was beautiful, clear and warm with a million stars dancing against a cloudless sky. The moon hung pale and full in the distance, spilling golden light across the pond surface. Flowers swayed in the breeze, filling it with their sweet scent. Ana closed her eyes and breathed it in deep. The cool grass tickled her bare feet as she crossed to stand next to the boy waiting for her.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured when she joined him. “I never meant for you to get hurt.”
Ana peered into his blue eyes and shook her head. “I’m glad I could help.”
“You did.” He smiled. “I can finally let it go.”
“Let what go?”
He looked at her. “The anger. I’ve lived with it for so long. I didn’t think I would ever be without it.” His eyes shone in the moonlight. “You freed me from myself.”
“I’m just so happy it’s over.” She hesitated. “It is over, isn’t it?”
Johnny nodded. “Yes, I have had my revenge. Those responsible are dead.”
Ana shook her head. “Not Randy Dicen,” she said.
He sighed, turning his head to peer over the pond. “There are many forms of death. I have seen him and he is not living. I watched him die years ago. Sometimes, I wonder if maybe he died with me that night.”
“He asked if you would forgive him,” she said, remembering Randy Dicen’s final words to her.
Johnny shook his head. “No.”
“But it’s been—”
He looked at her, the slivers of ice carving into her. “He must never stop suffering for what he did.”
Ana shuddered. “You killed Vinny. Should you suffer—?”
“I have already paid my due!” he barked. “That boy should never have been here. I mistook him for his father. He had the knife.” He paused to look out over the pond. “I regret hurting Kristen, but nothing else.”
Ana frowned. “Why would Vinny come with the knife on him?”
Johnny’s lips curled back over his teeth in a sneer. “Because he is his father’s son and it is in him to flaunt materialistic garbage. I take no blame for what happened to him.”
Ana gasped. “He had done nothing wrong. He was innocent.”
“None of them are innocent, Ana. The entire town is infested with venomous snakes just waiting to strike.”
She stared at him, not believing what she heard. “You’re from this town.”
&n
bsp; “Yes, and not a single person lifted a finger to search for me. Not one of them questioned why I would leave when my whole life was here. They accepted my disappearance and went on to live their lives.”
“Then why didn’t you kill them sooner?” she demanded. “You can clearly leave the house, why didn’t you just push Andrews down the stairs or something? Or better yet, why didn’t you come to me like this instead of scaring the shit out of me?”
“I couldn’t. My powers were limited and I could only use them in short bursts. It took most of my strength to show you my memories. My encounter with the younger Andrews was even worse. I would have been there sooner had my display to your parents not zapped me. And I have no power outside of the house. On the outside, I can show myself only to the people of the house. It’s how no one but you could see me. I am tied here.”
“But you showed yourself to my parents,” she reminded him.
He nodded. “To help you. I couldn’t risk having you leave when you were so close. I hoped that by showing myself to your parents, you could stay and finish. But I wouldn’t have been able to do that outside these walls.”
“But the yard—”
“Is part of the house,” he interrupted.
Ana sighed. “So what happens now?”
Johnny turned his body to fully face her. “Now I leave. This home and this place are no longer mine. I am no longer tethered to it.” He leaned in and lightly brushed his lips to her cheek. “Thank you, Ana French, for believing in me.”
Ana bolted upright, the fading linger of Johnny’s kiss still tingling on her cheek. Her neck panged in protest as she straightened in her seat, rubbing the spot his cold lips had touched. The weight she’d felt since the move no longer stooped her shoulders and she inhaled deeply for the first time. And grimaced when, instead of freedom and flowers, all she smelled was pine floor cleaner and disinfectant.
“Ana?” Beside her, Rafe touched her knee, drawing her fully back to the present and the cramped little waiting room at the hospital.
She straightened in her chair, the icy cold grip of fear reclaiming her. She turned her head towards the opening, hoping someone would be there to tell her how her father was. No one was there. Nurses and doctors rushed by but not one of them knew.
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