Dark Rapture

by Hauf, Michele

  “Wow, you look hot!”

  This remark caused both Scarlet and Gary to stop and stare at Vince.

  “Uh, I mean, well, you know . . . you look great, Scarlet.” The color quickly reddened his face. Vince pushed Gary’s spying flashlight away and he shone it back on Scarlet. “Hey, check this out.” He held up a pearl necklace whose diamond clasp sparkled in the bright light.

  “I found this in another box with a couple more pieces of junk jewelry. Ha! Some treasure. This was the best piece. Why don’t you try it on, Scarlet? I think it would look cool with the dress.”

  “Sure Vince, but why don’t you put it on for me.” She turned and held up her hair, glancing over her shoulder to see the lovesick puppy dog look on Vince’s face. Turning away, she tried to keep from giggling.

  “Here, hang on to these.” He secured his mirrored shades atop her head then Vince’s cool fingers slipped around Scarlet’s neck, sending shivers down her chest and arms so that the silk felt like ice on her skin and again she felt the strange caress as the dress seemed to squeeze tightly.

  “I’m sorry.” Vince fumbled with the clasp. “My hands are cold and they’re dirty from digging in the boxes. Whoops.”

  He brushed his arms across her shoulder, trying to clean away the dirt, and then walked around in front of her where Gary’s flashlight shadowed her face and glinted off the diamonds that hung snug in the hollow of her neck.

  “So, what do you think?”

  The flush came to his face again and he whispered, “If I had lived in the time that this dress was made, I could only wish that you would have been there too.”

  What was this? Mister Sweet-and-Shy offering such lovely words? He had said so little to her since she’d met him, and now he was sweeping her off her feet. Ignoring Gary, who had backed off and stood examining the mangled boxes, Scarlet slid her hand against Vince’s cheek and gave him a kiss.

  He reciprocated setting her body ablaze with the innocent fire that comes with a stranger’s kiss. Her heart pounded madly against the restraining bodice and she wished that she dared pull him closer so he could feel it too.

  Gary cleared his throat, bringing their flirtation to a halt.

  “Umm, yeah.” Vince looked to Gary and stepped away, motioning that Scarlet should turn and show her brother.

  Goose bumps rose on her arms as she turned away from him. Did one kiss from Vince do that? Scarlet shivered, catching a wave of cool air that breezed through the room, and the dress seemed to pull taut, causing her to gasp as her breath was stolen away. Her teeth chattered. “Damn, it’s cold in here.”

  “Heck, I’m getting used to it now, it’s not so bad.” Gary shrugged and pointed to another box as Vince scanned the floor, wondering which one they should check next.

  “I think I’m going to take that one up with me.” He picked up the leather-bound diary. “My family name is on a few pages, it does look like a diary. Maybe Scarlet can interpret it for me.”

  “Guys!” Though she found it growing colder by the second, Scarlet felt her muscles suddenly go limp and she couldn’t help but let her head fall to her shoulder. “Something weird is happening. Don’t you feel it?” A breeze pushed through her hair and rustled her skirts.

  “Huh?” Vince looked up and dropped the diary on the floor, where it landed face open. “Gary, something is wrong with Scarlet.”

  Pushing one of the metal drawers shut, Gary crossed the room and the two men stood before her. “What the hell? Scarlet, what’s wrong?” Gary reached out to touch her face. “You’re as cold as ice!”

  Her head had rolled back and with an abrupt jerk to land it on center, Scarlet smiled an evil sneer and pushed Gary’s hand away. “Who are you?” she inquired. Her voice had changed and it was as though she were speaking a different language, though the two men were able to understand.

  “What? Scarlet, would you quit it, you’re starting to scare me.”

  “Whoa, this is really freaky. Check this out, Gary.” Vince pulled his hair out to the side and let it drop to his shoulders, and then pointed to Scarlet’s dark tresses, which had started to blow gently about her face. “It’s like there’s some sort of wind just around her.”

  Gary grabbed his sister by the arms and cringed upon feeling how cold she had become. “Scarlet, stop this! What are you doing?”

  With one guttural cry, Gary flew backward and landed across a box of ancient clothes.

  Amazed, Vince stepped back. “I don’t think she’s kosher anymore, man. There’s something wrong with her.”

  “You!” she screamed in the strange double voice, a mixture of French and English.

  Vince stabbed his chest in wonder. “Me?"

  “Shit,” Gary muttered from the corner. “She’s speaking two languages. At the same time!”

  “You are Alexander Lyons.”

  Backing away, Vince bumped into Gary, who had righted himself. He gulped before speaking. “No, I’m not! What’s going on, Scarlet? Why are you talking so funny?”

  “You are the Alexander Lyons who murdered Marie Elisabeth Debonet!” She spoke fiercely in a voice and manner totally unlike Scarlet. And while Gary and Vince were able to understand, her words were an otherworldly blend of English and French. “You are the man who so frequently rests in that coffin?” She turned and pointed to the first coffin that Vince had inspected.

  “Gary, I don’t know what she’s talking about, but whatever it is, I don’t think that is Scarlet talking to us anymore.”

  “You’re telling me,” Gary added as he gazed over Vince’s shoulder.

  “My name is Marie Elisabeth Debonet.” She walked slowly forward bringing a cold wind with her. “And you are the man who murdered me!”

  “No!” Vince yelled, shielding his body with both hands. “No, that’s not my coffin. I’m alive! I’ve never killed anyone. I’m Vince. Not Alexander. That coffin belongs to one of my relatives.”

  “Oh yes!” The more she spoke, the more ravaged Scarlet’s features became. Her hair blew in a great mane about her face and her eyes colored to a deep emerald that captured the light like molten heat and flashed lasers back out. “You are the seed of the Lyons family! The seed that must be punished for his forefather’s murderous deeds. You have the golden mane and the wicked eyes of the man who stole my life from me. You shall suffer, Vince Lyons!”

  Scarlet’s eyes narrowed to slits and she nodded slowly as the spirit decided her next step. “If this woman whose feeble body I possess is yours than I shall take her from you so that you will know the loss of a lover, you shall know the pain of betrayal, and you shall never have her back!”

  “No! She’s not—” Gary jumped around Vince but was stopped by a tremendous rush of air.

  A massive wind swirled before them, turning solid in its speed, forming a tornado of whiteness about Scarlet, pushing Gary and Vince farther away, and scattering the pages of the ancient diaries about the room.

  Tiny pearls flew out from the wind tunnel, scattering about the room and hitting Gary and Vince in the face and body. And then a scream pierced the crypt as Scarlet cried out, and the tornado disappeared, leaving behind . . . nothing.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sebastian sat up in his bed.

  Something was wrong. His body trembled. He pressed his hands to his temples but couldn’t stop the shock waves that shot through his head, dilating his pupils, compressing his veins.

  And then it stopped abruptly.

  He looked about the room. What had just happened? So strange, it had never occurred before.

  “Oh, my God.” He jumped from the bed and threw on a shirt as he ran down the stairs. “She’s gone.”

  ***

  The crypt was silent and cold. A cocoon of yellow light beaming from the crossed flashlights coddled Gary in the smothering darkness.

  “Don’t panic,” Vince said as he stepped into the light beam.

  “Panic? My sister just disappeared before my very eyes,” Gary muttered. “
And I’m not supposed to panic?”

  He rushed to the spot where she had last stood and fell to the floor, scraping his fingers through the dust, trying to find clues, traces.

  “This is some kind of trick. A joke, I know it.” Vince shuddered and scanned the darkness around him, but there were no signs of Scarlet. “She’s got to be around here somewhere.”

  Vince knelt beside him. “Stop it!” He clutched his friend’s hands and tried to see past the insanity in his eyes. He was shaking, a body of uncontrollable vibration. “Scarlet could not have disappeared into thin air! Now get a grip, man. I’ll help you find her.”

  “Yeah,” Gary agreed with manic eyes. “That’s good. Maybe we should check the house. You’re right, she’s got to be around here somewhere.” He stood and Vince grabbed both flashlights. “Vince, that wasn’t what we thought it was? There was no spirit or supernatural force in here. Right?”

  Vince shrugged and scanned the room, his eyes falling on Gary, who had lost all color in his face.

  What had happened? Christ, whatever or whoever had been speaking from Scarlet’s mouth had said she was someone else, A dead someone else. “I don’t know, man. It’s too weird to imagine. But what the hell, I mean, we both saw what happened.”

  Gary nodded and looked over the scattered diary pages and toppled boxes. Something had taken Scarlet away from them. But what?

  They checked the entire house. No Scarlet.

  Vince leaned against the open crypt door, his arms crossed as he racked his brain for an answer as to what might have occurred. Gary slumped down on the couch and blew out an exhausted breath, but the slam of the front door brought him to his feet.

  “Where is she!” shouted a man’s angry voice.

  Gary joined Vince in the hall and saw the rage that their visitor was in.

  Sebastian was frantic. “She’s gone! Where is she?”

  “Who?”

  Sebastian grabbed Gary by the collar. “Scarlet, your sister. What has happened to her? I can feel it. She’s gone far away.”

  Vince shoved Sebastian away and Gary straightened his shirt. “How the hell do you know that?” Vince asked. “Did you have something to do with this, DelaCourte?”

  “Vince.” Gary shook his head as a signal to lay off, then jumped nervously when the phone rang. “Would you get that?”

  Vince sped into the kitchen, leaving the two alone.

  “What’s going on? I don’t know where Scarlet is, but I sense . . .” Sebastian paused, knowing that he could never explain the intense connection between two vampires to Gary, who had no idea of his identity. “What just happened here?”

  Letting out a defeated sigh and eyeing him curiously, Gary motioned toward the crypt and started into the darkness with Sebastian close on his heels.

  ***

  “Sounds like possession.”

  Sebastian toed the scattered diary pages, ignoring Gary’s bewildered stare. Gary had explained everything, the wind, the coldness, Scarlet’s weird actions and how she had spoken a strange sort of French and English combined. And how she had spoken to Vince as if she knew him to be another person, a dead person. Finally, he had described her disappearance. Gary found it nearly impossible to leave the spot where Scarlet last stood but Sebastian’s words brought him across the room to the man’s face.

  “Possession?” He jabbed a finger into Sebastian’s breathing space. “You’re fucked man. Things like that don’t happen in real life.”

  “Then how would you explain your sister’s disappearance?”

  Taking a breath to speak, Gary thought about it, and kept silent.

  “It does happen in real life, Gary.” Sebastian bent and picked up a piece of yellowed paper. “Just like a lot of other so-called myths, like witches and vampires.”

  “Witches and vampires?” Gary punched the air with a fist and stomped the ground. “Would you cut the crap? What am I going to do? How am I going to get my sister back? Vince and I have searched the whole house. I don’t know where she is!”

  Picking up the leather-bound diary, which lay open before him, Sebastian trailed his finger along the French words. Marie Elisabeth had not expected me to react so savagely. . . . The poor woman . . . There were smudges and water stains in spots and he was unable to read the next few lines. She perished by my hands. I shall suffer endless torments.

  “Gary, what did you say was the name that Scarlet, er . . . the spirit used? Was it Marie Elisabeth?”

  Vince interrupted as his footsteps came barreling down the last steps. “Marie Elisabeth, yeah, that was it. What’s it to you, DelaCourte?”

  “Who was on the phone?” Gary asked.

  “Oh, man, it’s my mom.” Vince looked to Sebastian and winced as he looked back at his friend. “I’ll tell you about it in a sec.”

  Seeing that Vince obviously didn’t want him around, Sebastian stood and closed the book. “Would you mind if I took this home with me?”

  “It’s a family diary. What interest would it be to you?”

  “It might provide us with some answers. Please, Vince, it’s worth a try.”

  Vince sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Fine, but don’t ruin it, I’m sure it’s old.”

  Sebastian started for the stairs. “Don’t worry, I’ve experience handling old things.”

  “Where are you going?” Gary rushed after him.

  “Home. There’s nothing I can do here, and until I’ve read what these pages hold we’ll know nothing.” He paused at the entrance to the crypt, noticing the dried blood on Gary’s hands. “You should get some rest, Gary. I’ll give you a call if I discover anything.”

  “Yeah, but don’t expect me to sleep. Shit, I feel like the living dead after everything that has happened today.”

  Sebastian paused. No. He decided not to comment on that remark, and left as quickly as he’d come.

  Gary massaged his temples, though the tension was engraved too deeply for it to do any good. Vince appeared behind him and he remembered the phone call. “So what’s up with you? What’s this about your mom?”

  Vince blew out a deep breath and explained everything. “She’s in the hospital again. That was my aunt who just called. I have to go back to Minnesota, man. My aunt said that the doctors are worried about mom, sounds like she doesn’t have much longer.”

  Gary swung an arm around Vince’s shoulder and walked him to the stairway. “Don’t think like that, she’s going to be okay.” He knew Vince’s mother had battled bravely with lung cancer for over two years. It had been a hard decision for Vince to come to California and leave his mother behind, but when he had left her a few weeks ago she had been feeling much better. His mother was all he had left. His father had disappeared right after he was born, and with no siblings, he and his mother had been close.

  “You stay for as long as you need to. Wild Child will get along fine without you for a while.”

  “You’re sure?” Vince gripped Gary’s arm. “But what about your sister? God, I can’t believe this. I can’t leave you now after what happened.”

  “No, it’s going to be fine, Vince. I don’t know where she is, but your staying here isn’t going to help either. You go to your mother, and tell her I love her and I’m thinking of her.”

  “I will.” Vince rushed upstairs to pack.

  “Hey, Vince,” Gary yelled behind him. “If you’re going to be spending some time in the hospital you should see a doctor yourself.”

  “Not!”

  Gary slumped down on the bottom step. He fingered a bent nail that he had pounded into the red carpeting in an attempt to hide it. He wished Vince would see a doctor, because he was sure that there was something seriously wrong with his health, and he hoped that his mother’s cancer wasn’t hereditary.

  He stretched his arms over his head and a tiny white pearl fell from the folds of his sleeve and skittered across the floor of the grand room.

  Where the hell was Scarlet?

  Part Two


  Chapter Seventeen

  He watched until Vince was a good distance away from the mansion, and then Francesco gave the driver his cue. They followed the car to the airport, where Francesco purchased a plane ticket to Minneapolis and found himself sitting right next to a very disturbed young singer.

  He observed out of the corner of his eye as Vince checked the window, running his forefinger along the inside edges, checking for a good seal, and then pulled the shade so he was unable to see the luggage handlers tossing bags into the plane. Resting his head on the seat, Vince toyed with the switches above him, his fingers shaking. Then he found the fan, which seemed to provide some comfort, so he left it on.

  “Visiting friends?” Francesco asked as he watched the stewardess demonstrate proper exit procedures should they crash.

  “My mother is in the hospital.” Vince tilted his head toward the window.

  Sensing his unwillingness for small talk, Francesco decided not to pursue the conversation. He could wait.

  ***

  Subdued lighting in the pristine white hallway provided a gray shadow along the edge of the wall for Francesco to slither along. The night shift at St. Margaret’s Hospital was sparse and he’d easily slipped past the dozing receptionist. Now to find Mrs. Lyons.

  Finding her chart outside the second door to the end of the hall, Francesco checked the corridors for signs of movement, and seeing none, slipped inside. The steady beep from the various machines that were hooked to her inert body alerted him and he took a few minutes to examine and perceive their possible uses. He couldn’t tell whether the clear liquid was being pumped in or out of her body as he patiently surveyed the flexible tubes. Unable to determine their functions, he looked to Mrs. Lyons.

  Her breathing was shallow and her skin pasty, haloed by wisps of dying blonde hairs. She looked dead to him, but he could hear the slow passage of blood tunneling through her veins in a weak attempt to prolong life. He could also sense the blackness, the cancer eating away at her body like a ravenous worm.