I finally stopped rubbing my eyes then reached over to the passenger seat and rooted around in my backpack. After a moment I pulled out a small, point-and-shoot digital camera. I stuffed it into my jacket pocket then shoved my hand back into the pack and retrieved a fresh bottle of aspirin I had picked up earlier this morning.
My headache was bearable for the moment, but the persistent dull ache had started ramping up a few minutes ago and had gradually increased the closer we got to our destination. Since I had a minute I figured it might be a good idea to see if I could head some of it off at the pass. I had just broken the seal on the bottle when Doctor Rieth knocked on the window.
She was in her mid-fifties and stood average height. In truth, she looked much like the photograph on her book jacket. Shoulder-length hair that occupied a hue somewhere between blonde and strawberry. Her features were pretty, but her expression seemed to change little. Except for a quick smile upon our initial face-to-face meeting a little earlier, she had worn a sober mask that spoke to her academic ties. Still, her eyes betrayed untold wisdom that I suspected was born of experience, both good and bad.
I quickly tossed a few of the aspirin into my mouth and swallowed them dry, causing a lump to rise in my throat. Then, I left the bottle in the console and climbed out of my vehicle.
“Headache?” Doctor Rieth asked across the top of the car.
“Yeah,” I answered with a nod, choking the pills the rest of the way down.
“How many aspirin did you take?” she pressed.
“Probably not enough,” I told her as I hooked around the front of the rental and joined her on the sidewalk.
She shook her head. “You know, that probably isn’t very good for you.”
“Yeah. It says that right on the bottle.”
“All right then,” she replied. “I’m not your mother.”
“Thank you for recognizing that fact, Doctor Rieth. Most of my friends don’t.”
“I thought we had agreed to dispense with formality?”
“You’re right,” I said with a nod. “Thank you, Velvet.”
“For what it is worth,” she continued. “I would suspect their concern is what makes them your friends.”
“Uh-huh. That’s the argument they use too.”
She gave me a nod then turned and started walking down the sidewalk. The high walls surrounding the cemetery were rife with signs of their advanced age. However, it was also obvious that great care had been taken to maintain them over the years, and they even appeared to be an eternal work in progress.
The entrance itself was a gaping mouth, and its teeth were iron gates that were now propped open. There was something altogether eerie about the invitation they presented. I wondered if it was just me, or if Velvet viewed it in the same way. If she did, her expression didn’t let on.
We covered the relatively short distance between our vehicles and the entryway in a matter of a half-minute, both silent as we walked. I made the turn as we reached the gate, starting through without really slowing down. However, before I managed to cross the threshold, the good doctor’s arm shot across my path, barring my way. I stumbled against my momentum then caught myself and took a step back.
“What?” I asked.
“What are you doing?” she asked in reply.
“Well… I thought I was going into the cemetery, but I guess I was wrong?”
She shook her head. “You need to give them an offering first.”
“Oh,” I replied, unsure of what else to say.
She gave her head another shake then asked, “Do you have any change with you?”
I shoved my hand in my pocket then dug around and extracted all of the loose coins I managed to find. Holding them in my palm, I used my index finger to spread them out and display them to her. “This enough?”
“It’s really not as much about the amount as the effort and respect,” she told me as she nodded at my hand then showed me the similar pile in her own. “Just let them know you have a gift for them and ask permission to enter.”
“I can’t say that I’ve ever done this before,” I offered, a hint of embarrassment in my voice.
“Have you gone into cemeteries before?” she asked.
“Yeah, of course.”
She sighed. “Then I suspect you’ve offended a few ancestors.”
“Great.”
“Don’t worry about that now. You’ll all get over it,” she told me with a quick shake of her head. “Just do it right this time.”
“Anything special I’m supposed to say?”
“No, just speak from the heart. Tell them you’re bringing a gift and ask permission. It’s not hard. It’s like showing up at a dinner party with a bottle of wine and knocking on the door.”
“And then I just walk in?”
“You’ll know what to do,” she said and smiled for the second time since we’d officially met. “Believe me, if they don’t want you to come in, you’ll know it.”
“Okay,” I replied, unable to keep the apprehension out of my voice.
I stood next to her before the opening and tried to gather my thoughts. I had absolutely no idea what I should say, but after looking through at the closely arranged rows of tombs, I began to speak.
“Greetings…” I said then hesitated.
I glanced over at Velvet in search of reassurance but found little, as her eyes were closed and her lips were moving in a silent greeting to the spirits.
I turned back to the opening and started again, speaking softly but still aloud, though I’m not sure why. “Greetings. My name is Rowan, and I’ve come to visit you…for…well, for some very important reasons. I’ve brought you this token…”
I wasn’t sure quite what else to do at this point, so I held out my hand to display the coinage.
The day was pleasant with the temperature resting in the upper fifties. With the sun shining there had been no reason for anything more than the light jacket I had donned when I left the motel. However, a slight chill ran up the length of my spine causing me to shiver involuntarily. It lasted only a moment and was then followed by soothing warmth that flowed over my entire body. My anxiety was instantly replaced by comfort.
Just as Velvet had said, I knew in that moment that I was welcome.
“Put the coins over here,” Velvet told me, stepping forward and placing her own in a receptacle just past the gate.
I followed suit, and though she hadn’t verbally instructed me to do so, I mimicked her overt motion that made the coins clatter noisily. Still, I glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow.
She recognized the question in my face and immediately explained. “You want them to hear it. They need to know you are actually leaving the gift you promised.”
I simply nodded.
Apparently, she felt at home in the cemetery as it seemed to be loosening her staunch expression more than a little.
“Rowan,” she said with a slight smile. “You can talk here. It’s okay. Just keep your voice low.”
“Okay,” I answered with a nod. “I just wasn’t sure.”
“Well, you can. Oh, and in case I forget, don’t just walk out the gates. When we leave, we’ll say goodbye, thank them, and then back out.”
“Back out? Like walk backwards?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. You’re the expert.”
Velvet looked up and to the right, pointing as she mumbled something to herself. A second later she took hold of my arm and pulled gently to guide me.
“The tomb should be this way, near the back.”
With a nod I followed along, letting her lead the way down the narrow paths. We hadn’t been picking our way through for more than a minute or so when the pain in my head made a sudden leap in intensity. I stumbled but managed to catch myself as a hard stab of agony drove deep into the base of my skull.
“Are you all right?” Velvet asked, concern in her voice.
“Something’s wrong,” I told her, reaching up to rub the b
ack of my head.
“We’re almost there. Are you going to be able to handle this?”
I nodded carefully, the pain still clawing at my grey matter. “I have to.”
We started forward again, rounding the corner of a large family tomb. Velvet was in the lead, and she suddenly halted then looked back at me.
“Someone’s here,” she whispered.
I stepped forward then looked up and past Velvet. Standing thirty or so yards down the narrow row was a petite woman with fiery red hair cascading down the center of her back. She had her forehead pressed against the stone face of the tomb in front of her.
I stopped dead in my tracks and stared.
As if the woman could sense she was being watched, she pushed back from the tomb and slowly turned toward us.
There was the distance to consider, not to mention that there were oblique shadows falling across her from the closely spaced stone mausoleums. But, the resemblance was as beyond uncanny as it had been in the vision.
I had spoken to Felicity less than two hours ago, and I knew for a fact that she was still resting comfortably in Saint Louis, Missouri, under Helen Storm’s care. But, if I hadn’t known that, I would have sworn she was standing here now, staring directly at me.
A faint look of recognition flickered across the woman’s face, but was quickly obscured by the creased lines of abject fear.
“Is that…?” Velvet asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Annalise,” I replied, my own coming out as a dry croak.
I’m not sure how many heartbeats it took before the two of us were no longer frozen in place, but Annalise was the first to thaw. She turned and bolted down the alley, taking off like a sprinter from a starting line.
She had a healthy head start, but I was already in motion and closing the gap.
CHAPTER 13:
“Call the police!” I yelled over my shoulder to Velvet as I darted forward.
Annalise had everything on her side at the moment. Not only did she have a lead of several yards, but she had youth as well. She was also in better shape, which was obvious just by looking at her. Rounding out the advantages, it was a sure bet she was more familiar with this maze of tombs than I could ever hope to be, which was something that could play against me at any moment. All she had to do was duck between a stand of the structures or turn down an alley, and I could be lost.
However, I had something I was hoping would trump everything she had stacked in her hand. Determination.
I didn’t take time to look back and see if Velvet was doing as I asked. She knew the whole story about why I was here, and I had filled her in on Annalise when we had met for lunch earlier. She was well aware of how serious this was for all concerned, so I had to hope she was on top of it.
To my surprise, my quarry didn’t run very far, and she was now slowing suddenly as she veered left toward the outer wall of the cemetery. I was still too distant to understand why, but I pushed myself harder, intent on seizing the opportunity that had been presented. Another ten steps and her reasoning became clear. I could see an opening in the wall leading out to a side street. I hadn’t realized there were multiple entrances to the cemetery, but as I suspected, she knew her way around.
Or, so I thought.
Her own footsteps came to an abrupt halt as she literally slammed her body into the iron gate blocking the side entrance. I heard a creak combined with the heavy metallic rattle of a chain. As I continued running, I saw her push hard against the unyielding barrier then heard her shriek at the top of her lungs.
She threw her petite body against the gates yet again, making them bow outward. Wedging her shoulder into the newly formed gap, she tried to force her way through the small opening. The delay this caused gave me the break I needed, and I pumped my legs even harder, quickly covering the remaining fifteen or so yards.
I didn’t put on my own brakes until the last minute. Instead, I grabbed at the first thing I could reach which was the gate itself. I wrapped my hand around one of the upright bars and used my momentum to yank it back, narrowing the already slim gap with her still in it. The frame pivoted inward with a rusted groan, pinning her in place less than halfway through. She let out a pained yelp as the bars compressed across her forearm and wrist, driving in against her chest and shoulder.
Catching her breath, she glared at me then spit in my face before screaming, “Bastard! Va te faire, vous fils d’une chienne!”
I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand then glared back. Her voice was the same as I’d heard in the vision, however, there was no sweetness in her drawl this go around.
Now that I was so close to her in the flesh, I was even more taken aback by how much she resembled Felicity. There were definite differences, but they were far from glaring. I had assumed the vision had been filling in blanks using my conscious memory as a pattern, but I apparently hadn’t given the ethereal enough credit for its accuracy.
Unfortunately, that preciseness was about to become my downfall. Her appearance was literally so disconcerting that I not only hesitated, but also unconsciously eased up on the gate, which in effect allowed her freedom of movement. That was a mistake that cost me dearly.
I knew I was probably already too close to her, but as usual I hadn’t thought far enough ahead to even consider her response to being cornered. The moment the pressure against her forearm backed off, she jerked it free and twisted toward me. In a flash her hand was up to my face, and her nails were latched on, digging into my flesh with extreme prejudice. I let out my own yelp of pain as I could feel my skin starting to tear. I reached up to grab her wrist but was a half second behind. She ripped the sharp claws downward, taking a good hunk of the skin from my right cheek with them.
I staggered back, still clinging to the gate. I used my weight to yank on it but was again too far behind the curve. Unable to thread herself through the small opening, she pulled back out of the gap and twisted away before she could become trapped yet again.
Swinging forward, I grabbed at her as she continued turning in preparation to run. I managed to catch her upper arm but was unable to actually get a grasp on anything but the sleeve of her jacket, which slipped immediately from my fingers. Still, I managed to knock her off balance enough that it caused her to stumble against the corner of the opening in the wall.
Leaping, I half tackled her from behind, wrapping my arms around her torso. She screeched and struggled as I locked my forearms across her chest and fought to pin her arms.
“RAPE! HELP! RAPE! NINE-ONE-ONE! RAPE!” she screamed.
“Give it up, Annalise!” I shouted over her shrieking. “The cops are already looking for you. They know what you’ve done! It’s over!”
My comment only served to renew her vigor as she fought against me. Bending her knees, she pulled her lower half up at the waist and placed her feet against the wall in front of her. Kicking away from it hard, she caused me to stumble backward and careen into the opposite wall, still holding her in a tight clench. She continued to squirm, and I was thrown completely off balance. We both crashed onto the concrete, although given that she was on top of me along with the manner in which the air burst from my lungs, I am fairly certain I cushioned the majority of her fall. Still, I refused to let go as she struggled to break free.
However, the jarring impact had allowed her to slip farther down in my grasp, and while I was trying to deal with the burning pain in my cheek and the fresh ache running up and down my back, a brand new attack made itself known. Her elbow slammed hard against my ribcage as she fought to inflict as much damage as she could in her bid for escape. The sharp pain hit a second time as she drove it in again, kicking and screaming all the while. When she tried to bring the appendage in for a third strike, I twisted against her, which caused it to glance along my side instead of landing a direct hit. Unfortunately, although the move saved me from another blow to the ribs, it allowed her to wriggle down even more.
In an instant, crushing agony tor
e into the top of my left wrist, and I let out a scream. A muffled shriek came from her throat as she bit deeply into my arm. Once again I could feel my flesh tearing as her teeth sunk through skin and tendon. My hand jerked with a spasm, and my arms loosened out of reflex. She instantly scrambled upward, and through my watering eyes, I caught a glimpse of her mouth smeared red with my blood. I rolled and pulled myself to my feet as well, but she was already sprinting away.
I flashed a quick glance back to my right looking for help but didn’t see anyone. I had no idea where Velvet had gone, but apparently I was on my own. I started after Annalise, following her up one of the wider “alleys” toward the center of the graveyard. Once again, she was well in the lead.
Darting to the right, she disappeared, and I pressed myself even harder to catch up. Focusing on the point where she ducked from sight, I brought myself in closer to the row of tombs and veered in the same direction. Coming up on the opening, I thrust my hand outward and used it to buffer myself against the structures as I took the turn at a dead run. My wounded appendage thudded against the wall, and I felt a fresh twinge of pain shoot up my arm. I fought to ignore it, but I could feel myself wince as I let out a yelp.
I was starting to pant hard as I fought for breath, but I pushed forward, covering the short distance and hooking around the opposite end of the row of tombs. The area opened up; however, there were two wide alleys, one to the left and one to the right. Acting purely on instinct, I veered to the left and continued running. As I shot past a large crypt, I caught a glimpse of her in another passage to my right, running in the general direction of the front gate.
Skidding on the walkway, I changed my direction and took after her. We zigzagged between tombs, her managing to stay a few paces out of my reach, but with me gaining on her each step.
As we crossed a main alley, she continued straight on and slipped into a narrow gap between two crypts. I started to follow but could tell immediately that I would never be able to fit my frame through the opening, so I whipped to the left and shot around the end of the row. I could already hear her frantic footsteps ahead, so I didn’t even bother making the second 90º turn to go toward where she had cut through. Instead, I kept going forward. She was still ahead of me, but her shortcut hadn’t given her the edge she needed. In fact, it had worked just the opposite, and I was now barely within reach. Lunging, I launched myself through the short space between us and tackled her as she shot out in front of me.
The End Of Desire: A Rowan Gant Investigation Page 11
