Iron and Salt

by Calinda B

  Father Gillespie arched back and fell against Paul, knocking him to the ground.

  Father Gillespie slammed against Paul’s thighs.

  Paul let out a loud, “Oof.”

  He glanced around to find Anne.

  She’d been swallowed by the dark.

  Garda lights flashed from the parking lot on the other side of the building. A car door slammed. Then, another.

  “Help,” Paul yelled. “We’re out in the backfield.” He didn’t know if they could hear him.

  With uncharacteristic speed, Father Gillespie rolled to his side and scrambled into a crouch. “I’ll teach you to alter the Lord’s work. Anne is to be made a nun. She is to be made mine.”

  He lifted the blade and slashed at Paul’s face. The sharp knife stung as it sliced through his cheek. He struggled to sit up, then grabbed the priest’s collar and slugged him.

  Father Gillespie’s head whipped to the side. He roared in Gaelic, dark scowl in place, and his arm torqued back, ready to strike again.

  Paul kicked hard, aiming for Father Gillespie’s groin but connecting with his thigh, instead.

  Father Gillespie let out a crazed laugh.

  Suddenly, something grabbed the shoulders of Paul’s coat, lifted him into the air, and tossed him aside, as if he weighed nothing.

  He landed hard against the ground. His head smacked against the earth, and little stars fluttered in his vision. Blinking to clear his foggy brain, he looked over at Father Gillespie. A shudder shot up his spine.

  “Oh, God. Oh, no. It can’t be…It’s the Dearg-Due,” he cried.

  An unearthly creature pinned Father Gillespie to the ground. Her silvery hair streamed behind her, long and loose, as if in the wind. A tattered black dress hung from her bony frame. She flashed her attention at Paul. Red light shone from her eyes.

  Paul fell to his hands and knees and retched into the grass.

  Long fangs glinted as she bared her teeth. She arched back her head and struck Father Gillespie’s neck.

  Arms and legs flailing, Father Gillespie let out an inhuman cry of terror.

  “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God,” Paul whimpered as shivers of terror danced along his backbone.

  Familiar voices called to him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Bres, Lassi, Cillian, and… William? I thought he was in jail?

  William called to the vampire. “Maggie Strongbow. Stop your bloodlust.”

  She paused her bloody feast, lifted her head, and blinked at him.

  Father Gillespie groaned, not yet dead. He fumbled with his crucifix, righting it to the front, and yanked the chain over his head. Then, he gripped the cross firmly and stabbed it into the vampire’s heart.

  Maggie gasped. She scrambled away from him, screaming at the crucifix lodged in her heart.

  “What have you done? I’m burning.” She clawed at her chest, lurching to her feet. “I’m burning! Burning!” She staggered backward, her movements ungainly.

  A wet and naked William barreled toward her like a linebacker. Right as she fell backward, he caught her in his arms.

  The world spun and blurred around Paul. He knew he was about to faint. His last coherent thought, before darkness claimed him, sailed from his mind and swirled before his eyes. Why on earth is William naked, wearing nothing but a blood-soaked bandage?

  Chapter 21

  Tuesday evening and into the night – Marie

  Marie came to in a strange new form. She powered through the depths of the ocean, moving in liquid bliss. A glimmer of consciousness, reminding her of her human leanings, sparked in her brain. Something greater consumed her awareness…something large, undulating and tentacled…something that didn’t need air to breathe or earth to move upon.

  She’d done it. She’d transformed into a Leviathan.

  Like an underwater astronaut, she floated through her environment. Shapes blipped past her. Are they fish? Seals? She couldn’t see them through human eyes. Instead, she perceived them as glowing forms, some denser than others.

  Intense odors caught her attention, initiating in a place where her face should be. It seemed like the smells trickled through portals on either side of her cheeks and exploded through her brain, like smelling in stereo. She caught the scent of blood.

  And then, a throbbing pulse of energy slammed into her awareness. It’s William. Where is he? She undulated in a circle, searching for him.

  A huge shape, reeking of blood, hovered many yards away. Its glow grew brighter, then waned, like a flickering light bulb. Its tentacles pulsed listlessly, then ceased. When it stopped moving, it began to sink.

  It’s my brother. He’s dying. She powered toward him, gliding through the water like a rocket in space. When she reached him, she wrapped her tentacles around him and pulled hard, seeking the surface.

  A glimmer of recognition passed between them. And she swore she felt gratitude or warmth or appreciation emanating from him.

  William relaxed, growing heavy in her grasp.

  Don’t die on me. Don’t you dare die on me. She wrapped herself tighter around him and struggled higher.

  As she approached the surface, she became aware of being in one shape and having to shift into another shape. How do I do it? How do I transform?

  Panic spread through her many limbs. Her grip loosened on her brother and he slid free of her grasp, sinking like a stone. A jolt of energy sent her shooting in his direction. She strained to grab him. She tugged whatever she could reach, pulling him close. Then, she wrapped him even tighter in her tentacles and wrestled her way to the surface.

  As they ascended, William seemed to stiffen. Fear consumed her thoughts. Is he dying? Is he dead? You can’t die, William, you can’t.

  A surge of what could only be described as magic pushed into her mind.

  Let go, sis.

  Let go of you? No! You’ll die.

  No, let go of this form. We’re about to surface, and you need to be human by the time you reach the top. People freak when they see monsters surface in the sea.

  She swore she sensed a chuckle.

  She didn’t know how she did it, but when her head broke the surface, she was a human staring at her very human brother with two human arms wrapped around his torso.

  He gave her a wan smile. “You did it, sis,” he said, weakly.

  “I did it,” she said.

  “I wanted to get stones to put on the grave. I thought maybe…you know… Mum and Dad might be right about civic responsibility.” His face appeared ghostly white.

  Guilt cinched at Marie’s insides. “That was…noble of you. I guess I should go get some now that we know I can shift.”

  He shook his head slowly. “Don’t leave me. Don’t let me go.”

  His words tugged fiercely at her heart. “I won’t let you go. I’ve got you.”

  “I guess I had to nearly die to get you to transform.” His eyes fluttered shut. “I still might, you know.” His head fell back, listlessly.

  “No, no, no, no, no,” she said. “You can’t die. I won’t let you.” She rolled to her belly, tucked her arm under his armpit and began to drag him on his back toward the shore.

  “We’re both naked, you know,” he said, opening his eyes to give her a cheeky grin.

  She startled, glancing at him, then her. “So we are.”

  “We haven’t played naked since we were kids.” Then, he winced and closed them again, floating on his back in her grip.

  “This isn’t playing,” she said, kicking her legs harder as she clutched him tightly. “So consider this the last time we play naked, ever. This is me saving your ass.”

  “Thank you,” he whispered.

  Shouts caught her ears. Ryan. The surge of waves propelled her toward the shore, then dragged her back toward the sea. She kicked harder.

  Finally, hands seized her, seized William and towed them onto the sand.

  “Sweet Jesus, you’re both all right,” Ryan said.

  “Define all right,” William mumbled
, eyes still closed. “I’ve lost a lot of blood through this hole in my shoulder.”

  “Shit,” Ryan said.

  And then everything became a blur as blankets were wrapped around them and they were hustled toward Ryan’s SUV.

  Finally, she sat next to Ryan in his Garda BMW, huddled in emergency blankets with the heat going full blast, in a state of shock and utter euphoria. Clouds had parted, leaving a sliver of a moon piercing the darkness.

  She couldn’t warm up. Her teeth chattered like tiny midget mice learning how to tap dance and making a poor showing of it. Her skin rippled with shivers and chill. But her heart made fluttering leaps.

  “I did it, Ryan, I did it,” she said, sneaking her arm out from underneath the blanket to squeeze his biceps. She quickly snatched it back, not wanting to lose any warmth.

  “Yeah, you did,” he said, flashing her a proper smile.

  “And, I saved my brother.” She pivoted to look in the back seat, where William lay sleeping, wrapped in a blanket of his own. She twisted around and gently tugged the blanket away from his upper body. After fishing her phone free from her pocket, she turned on the little flashlight on her phone and pointed it at the bandaged wound on his shoulder—Ryan had dressed it in gauze and stuffed an occlusive dressing into the hole.

  William groaned and mumbled something incoherent, batting at her hand.

  Eying his bandage, she frowned. “I can’t tell if the bleeding has stopped. There’s a large stain of blood.”

  “Is it getting larger?” Ryan said. “The stain?”

  She kept her gaze pinned to the gauze binding his shoulder. “Doesn’t seem to be.”

  “Good. William’s strong. He’ll make it.” Ryan swerved to get out of the way of a car approaching from the opposite direction along the single lane road.

  She tucked the blanket around her brother.

  William burrowed deeper into the blanket and turned away from her, still mumbling in his sleep.

  “It was just so cool to turn into a Leviathan,” Marie said, facing forward again.

  Ryan glanced at her. “So you’ve been saying. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

  The smile he flashed her warmed her bones.

  “I thought I was a goner,” she said.

  “Me, too.” He reached across and squeezed her hand. “It broke my heart to not be able to find you in the frothing sea. I almost lost it. I was ready to call in Tech-Rescue and jump in the water before they arrived to find you. But this niggling thought in the back of my mind kept saying, ‘wait. She’s okay.’ I’ve always been able to sense your distress.”

  She laced her fingers with his, a warm, fuzzy feeling filling her chest.

  He didn’t pull away. Instead, he squeezed again, as if reassuring himself that she still lived.

  She stared out the window at the dark landscape. “Yeah, I was certain that I died. I started to go into hypothermic shock. I totally blacked out. But then, with my anxious mind out of the way, survival kicked in and, boom!”

  “Boom,” Ryan repeated.

  “And the next thing I knew, I was flowing in deep, dark water. It’s a wicked cool experience. I could see perfectly well in the darkness. My scales or my skin or whatever it is kept the cold out. And the water streamed all around me when I swam. And all these tentacles…” She chuckled, overjoyed with the memory. “That’s when I knew I’d done it…when water flowed around all these new appendages. I thought, ‘either I’m dead or transformed. I think I’m transformed. I don’t think heaven is underwater.’”

  Another chuckle left her throat.

  “It’s not,” Ryan said. “Heaven is right here in the car, sitting by my side.”

  She whipped around to face him. “Oh, my God. Did you really say that? Do you mean it?”

  He gave her a fierce side-eye. “Yes, I really mean it. When I thought I lost you…well…” He shook his head. “That’s not an experience I care to repeat.”

  High on adrenaline, Marie brought his hand to her lips and kissed it, refusing to acknowledge their rift. Then, she lowered their entwined fingers and continued re-living her transformation. “When I found William, I just knew…I felt this humming thread of consciousness that always binds us. It’s always there. But, without the human mind in the way, it thrummed like church bells on Sunday…clang, clang, clang…I knew all I had to do was follow the vibration. And when I found him…” She sucked in a breath and shook her head. “He seemed so weak. I could see blood trails seeping from his gunshot wound, staining the dark water. No way would I have been able to see that or sense him that way unless I’d transformed. No way.”

  Ryan stroked her hand with his thumb.

  The contact felt natural. Easy. Like breathing.

  “And you know what, Ryan?”

  “What?” he said.

  “William and I—we’re butt ugly when we’re transformed. I was down there, staring at this gaping mouth full of wicked teeth, and these glassy eyes staring at me like he was stunned to see me…Either that, or he was farting madly in the sea the way he used to do when we were seven or eight.” She let out a laugh. “It’s hard to discern facial expressions on a sea monster. I guess I’ll have to figure it out, won’t I?”

  Ryan nodded. “I guess you will.”

  “Anyway, I wrapped my tentacles around him. It’s so weird to have all these extra arms, Ryan. Totally weird.” She turned to smile at him.

  “I should think so,” he said, returning the smile.

  “And my magic and monster nature gave me a homing signal to follow. We were deep. I don’t know how deep, but it took a long time to swim to the surface. And William grew weaker by the second. So, we get to the shallows, and I felt this bizarre surge of magic. It wasn’t me. It freaked me out. Then, I realized, it was William, pushing his magic into me, guiding me back to human. And then there we were—me staring into the eyes of my human brother and him staring back at me. And then, you want to know what he said to me?” She shook her head.

  “What did he say?”

  “‘It figures I had to nearly die to get you to come around, sis.’ He’s such a wanker. But, I love him to bits.”

  “Love you too,” William murmured from the back seat. “Even though you’re a brat. Now be quiet so I can get some rest.”

  “Asshole,” she said to him.

  “Sodding twat,” he said to her. “Now shut the fuck up.”

  She let her head fall back into the headrest. With her brother safe behind her and Ryan by her side, a measure of comfort settled in her soul. She closed her eyes.

  We still have all the murders to contend with, though.

  She let that thought sail into the future as fatigue claimed her.

  The slam of a car door startled her awake. Her eyelids flew open in time to see William streaking away from the SUV, completely naked. He headed for the football field at St. Christopher’s. In the distance, people seemed to be fighting, but she couldn’t really tell. Night cloaked her surroundings. Dead tired, her head a muzzy mess, she closed her eyes again. I must be dreaming. That’s it—it’s only a dream. William’s in the back, sleeping. And I turned into a Leviathan tonight.

  She jerked awake when intrusive lights lit the inside of the car. Wiping her face with her hand, she managed to tear free from her dream-state, coming into what had to be a nightmare.

  An ambulance pulled up to a stop next to Ryan’s vehicle, and two medics emerged from either side.

  Police lights flashed from two other nearby Garda vehicles.

  Ryan was nowhere to be seen. And William…

  Had he really gone streaking into the night, naked? She sat up, glancing around, trying to get her bearings. We’re at St. Christopher’s. In the parking lot.

  William stood wrapped in a blanket next to one of the Garda BMWs a couple of meters away.

  Medics stood nearby trying to tend to his wound.

  He pushed them away.

  And there stood Mum nearby, tearing into him. Dad stayed a sa
fe but supportive distance away.

  Her mum caught Marie’s eye and stormed over to the BMW. She yanked open the passenger door and leaned forward to give Marie a full view of her raging expression. “You listen to me, Marie Ward. You and your brother nearly killed me.”

  “Ma, we almost died ourselves,” Marie began, putting her hands before her, but Mum continued in a stream of full metal fury.

  “I thought I lost you—the both of you. I’d have died if anything happened to either of you.” She wagged her finger at Marie.

  Marie glanced beyond Mum’s shoulder toward her brother.

  He shrugged. “This is how Mum shows she cares.”

  His eyes slid away from her. He frowned.

  Marie followed his gaze.

  Her father now crouched over a figure lying on the ground several yards away.

  Her head swiveled in every direction. Is it Ryan? Did something happen to him? Where is he? Oh, dear, God, please don’t let it be Ryan. Her gaze made a frantic sweep of all the people milling about the parking lot. Where’s Ryan? I can’t see him. Shit, shit, shit. Her heart began to pound in her chest. She swung her legs from the vehicle, eager to get away.

  Mum blocked her exit.

  Marie unfolded from the seat until she stood nose to nose with her furious mother. “Ma. Enough, already. Get back on William’s case.”

  Ryan’s voice came from the right, sending a flood of relief through her body.

  “Stop scolding Marie, Lassi,” he said.

  Marie exhaled a long breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

  Mum turned on him.

  “This isn’t your fight, Ryan Conway,” she snapped.

  Ryan shook his head. “Sorry, Lassi, but it’s my job to interfere with the wonderful, amazing, brave, gutsy, tough woman I love. Do you know she saved William by finally transforming into a Leviathan?”