by B. L. Morgan
The sound of sirens came in through the open door.
“They‘re coming for you Tor,” I told him. “They'll put you in a fucking cage where you belong.”
He laughed. “Not after I do this,” he said and drew another knife from the belt around his loincloth. He looked at Felicia.
“Time now,” Tor said.
I grabbed one of the oil lamps from its stand and hurled it at Tor. It struck him full in the face and his head exploded in flames.
Tor screamed and stepped backward away from Felicia. I grabbed another lamp and smashed him with that one too. He screamed again and ran toward the back of the house flaming from head to toe.
I quickly untied Felicia and threw my jacket on her.
“Get out front,” I told her.
I didn't have to repeat it. She moved fast outside.
Lisa was shaking as I picked her up and cradled her in my arms.
“It hurts,” she kept saying to me.
I carried her out the front door, out the gate, and sat down with her on the grass. She was laying in my arms.
The police cars were arrived and I yelled at the first cop that came to us to get an ambulance.
The rain had stopped.
Lisa reached up and touched my face.
“I helped didn't I?” she said.
“I couldn't have done it without you,” I told her. And it was no lie.
She was shaking in my arms.
“Do you think God will forgive me?” Lisa said.
“You earned it,” I told her. “He will.”
“Please hold me, I don't want to die alone.”
I held her tightly in my arms and whispered, “You're not gonna die.”
Lisa squeezed me back with her arms. Then her arms fell away and I felt the warmth leave from her face as I held her.
I started crying then and sometime later the ambulance crew made me let her go and they took her away.
Joe Briggs put his hand on my shoulder and I stood up.
“That was hard,” he said.
We both looked at the sky. Tor’s house was burning down around him. There was a rumbling from the clouds and a lightning bolt crashed down through the roof. The house exploded. The gods were not pleased with Tor.
CHAPTER 27
LOOSE ENDS
At the police department, Joe Briggs ushered me and Felicia to an office in the back of the station house. I gave Joe a quick rundown of what had happened that night.
Joe waited until Julia arrived before he got a statement from Felicia.
It took quite a while before Julia and Felicia could stop crying. When they did, Felicia, speaking to her mom, said that Tor told her he was her father. He got her to come out on the porch by showing her an old photo of him and Julia together. Then he forced her in a car.
Julia had never heard the name Tor Ambrose before, but she said she could not be sure that he wasn't Leroy Jones, her old boyfriend.
Joe took notes off of what we said, and then told us he had to make some arrangements. Then he left us alone in the room.
Julia and Felicia hugged each other and spoke in whispers.
Joe Briggs came back in about thirty minutes.
He looked directly at me and said he had made arrangements so I could walk away from the night clean.
“Our mutual acquaintance, Nash Graham, is going to take care of this,” Joe told me.
Nash Graham is the DEA chief who hires me on occasions to remove problems for him.
“Nash is going to send out a team to take credit for a very bloody drug bust. The head of that team is Nash’s son-in-law and the bust should get him the promotion he's been wanting,” Joe said, then he smiled. “While you'd come out of this looking like a murderous maniac, they'll come out of it looking like brave hero cops. Makes sense, don't it?”
“It's good enough for me,” I told him.
Joe turned to Julia then. “As far as the rest of the world knows,” Joe told her. “Felicia came home on her own. If you say anything else, John might go to prison.”
“She was with a cousin,” Julia said, “And if someone asks too many questions, I'll just tell them to mind their own business and go away. Is that all right with you baby?” she asked Felicia.
Felicia nodded her head. She wasn't speaking too much and probably wouldn't for a while.
* * *
Joe Briggs took me into another room so we could have privacy for a few minutes.
“About what you say you saw in those five bowls in Tor’s house, are you sure they were human hearts?” He asked me.
“That's what they looked like to me,” I told him. “But hell they could have been dog hearts for all I know. They could have been store bought livers. I wasn‘t in no position to make an up close examination.”
“Well,” Joe said. “Keep it under your hat but I think you solved my five murder cases. What we never released to the press was that each of the five victims had his heart cut out. We'll know when we're done sifting through the ashes if Tor Ambrose was responsible for those murders too.”
“In any case,” I told Joe. “The world is better off without him.
“You got that right,” he answered.
CHAPTER 28
A PROMISE OF REST
I walked Julia and Felicia up to their front door and stood there as Julia unlocked and opened the door. It was about four in the morning.
“You take it slow for a while,” I told Felicia and reached out to pat her head.
She cringed away from me.
“That's all right,” I told her and her mother.
“You go ahead inside,” Julia told Felicia and she did.
She turned to me and looked in my eyes.
“I'm sorry about what happened to your friend,” she said and I could see she meant it.
“Yeah, so am I,” I told Julia. “She was just a kid,” I said and then my voice broke and I couldn't help it. Tears ran down my face.
“I should have helped her a long time ago, but I didn't. I could of took her off the streets, but I didn't do anything.”
The wind rustled the bush on my left and as tears ran down my face, Julia took me in her arms and gently held me.
When I regained control of myself Julia told me, “John, you look tired. Why don't you come in and get a shower and sleep on the couch. You might need someone to talk to when you wake up.”
She was right. I couldn't remember ever feeling this tired. Every part of me ached. I had bruises on top of my bruises.
“I don't know,” I said. Then immediately I said. “Of course I will.”
Julia reached out and lightly ran her fingers over my cheek. She looked in my eyes. The wind rustled through the bush again.
She softly said, “When you let yourself be, you can be a really nice man.”
“Don‘t ruin my reputation for me, O.K.,” I told her.
Julia moved up against me and kissed me softly on my bruised tender lips.
A sharp, hot, searing pain erupted behind my left shoulder blade and I was thrown to the side.
A voice boomed in my ears, “She’s mine.”
My legs crumbled from beneath me and I found myself looking up at a very burned up, but very much alive Tor Ambrose. He held one of those black bladed knives in his hand. The blade was dripping with my blood.
Julia screamed, “Leroy, no!”
I tried to get to my feet and had no strength. Darkness washed over me. I tried to fight back the blackness that invaded my brain and I lost the fight.
Julia screamed again. Then I heard an explosion. I sank into darkness and silence.
* * *
Through a world of black I floated. Darkness was everywhere. I floated and drifted, going nowhere, not caring where I was or what was happening to me.
I wondered if maybe I would meet Kira here or maybe Lisa. But no one intruded upon my solitary dark world. Here I was alone.
CHAPTER 29
AWAKENING
Voices came to
me. First as distant whispers, then as people speaking. Familiar voices speaking.
I opened my eyes.
Julia was sitting in a chair beside the bed. So was Felicia and that kid who has the hots for her, Terry.
“He's awake!” Terry said and came to stand beside me. “How ya feelin man?” he asked and clapped me on the left shoulder.
Pain vibrated through my entire left side.
“Ow!” I said. “Damn, why don't you just go ahead and hit me with a chair?”
“Sorry,” Terry said.
Julia and Felicia came and stood around the bed beside me.
“Use your head boy,” Julia told Terry.
“I think I'll survive,” I told Terry. “Where am I?”
“St. Elizabeth's,” Julia said. “You've been out for two days but it was due more to exhaustion than blood loss.”
“Oh.” I said.
Julia nudged Felicia and she came forward and stood beside me.
“Mr. Dark,” she said. “I just want to thank you. You saved my life.”
“No problem,” I told her and stuck my hand up and she squeezed it, “Just a normal Tuesday night.”
Then I told her, “They tell me you play a good game of chess.”
Her smile was worth a million dollars.
“I'm OK,” she said.
“You'll have to be better than O.K. to beat me kid,” I told her, doing a rotten Humphrey Bogart imitation. “I'm the champ.”
“You are?” Felicia said, “Until you play me.” All three of them laughed and I knew that Felicia was going to come out of this all right.
A voice came from the other bed in the room.
“She is gonna beat ya. She's gonna beat you bad and I taught her everything she knows.”
The voice was Johnny's.
“Oh no,” I told the room. “I gotta share a room with him. I know I died and went to hell now.”
“That's right,” Johnny answered. “And I'm the boogie man. You ain’t never gonna get away from me.”
“Kids, I want to talk to John alone,” Julia told the two teenagers and they walked to the door holding hands.
“Hey, Terry,” I called out to him and he stopped and looked back at me.
“You better be good to her,” I told him.
“It's the only way to be,” he said as they went out the door.
“What happened at your front door?” I asked Julia and her face went serious.
“It was Leroy,” Julia said. “When he stabbed you, I had to kill him.”
“You certain he's dead?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Julia said. “I've carried a pistol for years. I put one right between his eyes.”
She was silent for a few moments.
“I'm sorry you had to do that," I told her.
“I'm not,” she said. “He was gonna kill my little baby.”
The door opened and a nurse came in.
She went to Johnny's bed.
“I am here to examine you,” she said and I recognized the voice. It was Sushi.
She turned and winked at me then pulled the curtain around Johnny's bed.
“Terry’s a good kid,” I said to Julia.
“I know,” she said. “He came to me respectfully like a man should. So I'm going to let him see Felicia.”
“He gets stars in his eyes when he talks about her,” I told Julia.
“Yeah,” she said, “I really like that too. It‘s hard for me to accept, but my little girl is looking more like a woman every day.”
We were silent for a moment or two.
From the next bed over, we heard Sushi's nurse uniform hit the floor.
“Oooh,” we heard her say, “What is this thing I am finding down here?” She giggled.
“I don't know,” Johnny said. “But it's growing.”
Julia stifled a laugh. Then she looked at me seriously.
“I just want you to know,” she said. “How much I appreciate what you did. Felicia is my life and you gave her back to me.”
“I don't know how I'll ever pay you back,” she leaned over and kissed me lightly on the forehead.
Someone moaned from the next bed and Sushi breathed, “I think I'm getting to the root of the problem.”
Johnny said, “You definitely got the root.”
We both laughed.
“That give you any ideas?” I asked Julia.
“No,” she said. “I could never do that.”
But she did have a smile on her face.
“I have to take the kids home,” Julia told me. Then she leaned over and kissed me softly on the lips.
Julia walked to the door. Just before she left she turned and looked at me.
“Keep trying,” she said.
Johnny moaned and said, “But I am trying.”
“You shut up in there,” Julia told him.
“Yeah,” Sushi said. “You shut up and pay attention to me.”
“Dominant women,” Johnny said, “Oooh I love em.”Then I had to lay there and try to sleep. There wasn't too much sleep to be had in that room that night.
CHAPTER 30
JULIA'S HOUSE
Three Weeks Later
Teddy Pendergrass is on the stereo.
Felicia is sitting across from me at the dining room table. A chess set is between us.
We are both drinking lemonade.
I reach out to touch my Bishop.
Felicia draws in her breath, hissing it between her teeth.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” She asks me.
I freeze then look into her eyes with mock seriousness, “Of course I want to do this,” I tell her. “I'm beginning my final attack. I am going to begin a sequence now that spells total doom for your army.”
I move my Bishop and grin at Felicia.
“Read it and weep,” I say.
“You can take your move back if you want to,” Felicia says.
“No way,” I tell her. “You ain’t gonna fool me. I can see you shiverin in your boots.”
“OK,” Felicia says. She moves her Knight and then says, “Checkmate in four moves.”
“What?" I ask, I look closely at the board.
Felicia calmly explains the combination she has set up. I see there was no escape.
“Well, you cheated,” I tell Felicia.
“No, I didn't,” She says.
“Yeah,” I said. “You're only supposed to use half your brain when you play me or it just ain’t fair.
Felicia giggled.
“And now you laugh at me, too,” I tell her. “That's great!”
Julia walked in the room and sat down at the table.
Felicia grins.
“You should take up child abuse,” I tell Julia.
* * *
Later That Night
It's clear and cold. A light powdery snow is falling.
The black wrought iron gate screeched loud as I pushed it open. The air is chilly but there is no wind.
Funny, I think as I walk to Kira’s grave, how the stars are out bright tonight and it's snowing.
The stars looked like jewels in the sky. Flickering points of light.
I walk across the graveyard and see the desolation. I see the remains of people that the world has forgotten. I carry two roses.
I would never forget.
I kneel down at Kira’s grave and read the inscription: Kira Brooks, Rest in Peace.
I lay one of the roses on Kira’s grave.
“Hello, Babe,” I tell her. “Hope you don't mind me leaving a rose on Lisa’s grave, but she was a good kid.”
I look at the words on Kira’s headstone again.
“I miss you so much,” I tell her. “You know I never listened to you when you were alive. And I never really believed in God or angels or ghosts or anything like that. But I promise I'd listen now if you say anything at all. I'm ready now to listen. Really I am.”
BOOK TWO
PART I
DEAD MEN
A
ND
GHOSTS
Caligula publicly expressed his
horror at what he called,
"This most bloody Murder."
- From Gladiators by Michael Grant
Do not attempt to see order
In this world.
All is Chaos.
All is Chaos.
From the largest star
Down to the tiniest ant
All things are
In the end
Devourers.
- The Mad Arab
CHAPTER 31
FEBRUARY 4, FRIDAY
The world is just full of surprises. Flowers bloom, birds sing and wonderful things just seem to spring up in front of you without any warning. At least that's what they tell me.
This morning as the phone rang and the sun shined, birds must have been singing somewhere. If I'd seen those little bastards they would have chirped their last note.
I had a roaring headache. The sun was like torture. The flowers could kiss my ass for all I cared. I felt like shooting the phone.
Maybe I'll just go and shoot whoever's calling me, I thought.
Last night I had a fight with Jack Daniels.
Jack won.
He always does.
I forced myself to get off the couch and stumbled over to the phone. On the way over I reached inside my boxer shorts and scratched my balls. My hangover was so bad even they hurt. I had to stop and think for a moment and try to remember if my sore balls were the result of some carnal adventure I'd had last night.
No, I didn't fuck anybody last night. It was a shame because I'd been going through a long dry spell and even if I couldn't remember last night, hell she might still be asleep in my bad. I'd give her a morning sausage breakfast before she knew what she was being fed.
Well, no sense in thinking about that. The way my head was pounding I wouldn't give a shit if Miss America was in my bed. I'd just fart in her face and tell her to hit the bricks.
I picked up the phone.
"This better be fucking good," I said to whoever was on the other end of the line.
"This is Graham Nash," the gravelly voice came back. "Sounds like you‘re having a good morning."
