by Gary Jonas
“No, don’t!” I said.
Persephone grinned but there was no humor there. The grin was one of anger and vengeance and retaliation.
I couldn’t just stand here and do nothing. Direct magic does not affect me. Her force field wouldn’t stop me. I had to save Kelly.
I raced forward and leaped at Persephone.
She didn’t expect an attack.
I crashed into her and took her to the deck. We slid through Brand’s blood and guts. I punched Persephone in the nose, then in the jaw, then in the throat.
She laughed and tossed me away. I crashed into the safety fence then hit the deck hard. I scrambled to attack her again, but this time she was ready and she caught me by the throat. She shoved me against the fence. I pounded on her forearm and wrist but couldn’t break free.
She motioned with her other hand, and Kelly floated closer.
I know there are no gods. There are beings people have mistaken for gods, but religion is a construct of man. I wanted to believe in a god at that moment. I wanted to pray for Sharon to show up and stop this.
“Tell your friend good-bye,” Persephone said.
I met Kelly’s gaze. She couldn’t vocalize but she mouthed the words, “It’s OK.”
But it wasn’t OK.
I kicked and scratched and punched, but it was no use.
Persephone snapped her fingers.
Kelly exploded in a shower of blood, guts, and bones. Gore slammed into my face and mouth as I screamed.
Persephone released me and I dropped to my knees in a puddle of blood. Fragments of bone cut into my flesh. I could feel scratches and cuts on my face, and I knew that some of the blood dripping from my body was mine, but most of it was Kelly’s.
“You had your chance, Jonathan Shade. You squandered it and your stupidity cost your friends their lives. My lover is gone, but like me, you have no one. If I could grant you immortality, I would, just so you’d have to carry the events of this day forever. Instead, you’ll eventually die. But not today. All of this”—she gestured at the gore that covered the bridge—“is your fault.”
She opened a rift and stepped through, leaving me alone in the bloody remains of my friends.
I cried out but no one came near. I let myself fall to the deck and lay there, blood and tears staining my cheeks. It couldn’t possibly get worse. After a time, I pushed myself to a sitting position with my back against the fence. It was still hard to breathe.
I expected Sharon to step through a rift at any moment. But I sat there alone.
I bowed my head.
I don’t know how long I sat there.
Eventually, a familiar voice said, “Jonathan?”
I looked up and saw Esther. She was staring at the mess.
“Oh my God,” she said. “You...Are you...?”
“I’m alive,” I said, and my voice sounded like it came from a faraway tunnel.
“Where are Kelly, Brand, and Darla?”
I couldn’t speak the words, so I just gestured at the blood that dripped through the planks of the deck and dropped 1,053 feet to the Arkansas River.
“Oh, no,” Esther said. “What did you do?”
I cleared my throat, still tasting blood in my mouth. When I spoke, my voice was soft as the whisper of a forgotten spirit. “I got them killed.”
She stared at me as if I’d betrayed her. “No!” She spun in a circle. “No no no no no.”
Then she popped away.
I wondered if I’d ever see her again.
I didn’t have the energy to rise.
The sun was low now, and the sky grew dark. I stared up.
And then it hit me.
It was after four.
I looked around and found my phone. I wiped blood and flesh from the screen and pressed the button to light up the time: 6:17.
When I thought it couldn’t get worse, I was wrong.
I dropped the phone.
Sharon never showed up.
I bowed my head, surprised I could even draw breath.
She never arrived.
She had abandoned me.
I
was
alone.
CHAPTER THIRTY
I don’t remember how I got home.
The hours following the massacre were a blur at best. I half recall getting into Kelly’s SUV, thinking life would never be the same. I knew I was in shock. Somehow I managed to get back to I-25, and I made the drive to Denver. I parked at my apartment and glanced at the clock on the dashboard radio before I shut off the engine: 8:59 p.m.
In a daze, I walked to my apartment.
A white sheet of paper was taped to the door. The wind made it flap about, and the fluttering sounded like a tattered wanted poster in a movie ghost town. The temperature had dropped into the twenties, but I didn’t feel it.
I flattened the note against the door and read the words in the soft light from the exterior fixture. It took a moment for the words to register in my brain.
The note read, I’m sure you’ve seen the movie The Godfather. —P.
My fingers were amazingly steady as I shoved the key into the lock and twisted. I pushed the door open, stepped into my apartment, and clicked on the light.
At first, it seemed normal, but then I noticed Miranda’s purse perched on the arm of the sofa.
Why was her purse here?
I moved down the hall to the bedroom and turned on the light.
Mostly what I saw was red.
Red splashed on the walls, floor, ceiling, unmade bedsheets, and blankets. Something sat on the pillow. Blonde hair matted with brown and crimson. The image took a moment to reach my brain.
Miranda’s head.
Just her head.
I blinked a few times. I knew I should feel something, but my body was numb. Was Persephone framing me for murder now on top of everything else?
“It’s about time you got here!”
I spun toward the voice behind me and saw the translucent image of Walter standing there. He cast glances behind himself and tried not to look at what remained of Miranda. I didn’t blame him.
Walter was my friend.
Why could I see through him?
“Walter? Are you OK?”
“Fuck no, Shade. I’m dead.”
“You’re a ghost?”
“Not exactly,” he said and took another glance over his shoulder then to the other side. His eyes darted about as if he expected an attack.
My voice sounded hollow as I spoke. “What happened?”
“You know those dark, shadowy creatures in the ether I mentioned? The demons? They’re after me.”
I barely remembered them. I wondered if I was still on the bridge. Was I dreaming? I idly scratched an itch on my left hand, and flakes of Kelly’s blood fluttered to the carpet and stuck beneath my fingernails. Nope. Not a dream.
Walter leaned and twisted his shoulder a bit to show me what looked like a scratch, but I realized that it was like a negative image or something. Where his spirit body was slashed, there was nothing. The lines made by claws dragging through his spirit were like deep gouges with nothing there.
“They can touch me now, and it feels like they ripped out part of my soul.”
“Things in the ether?”
“They’re not far behind me. I don’t have much time.”
“Time for what?”
“To let you know you got me killed.”
“What?”
“I was outside my body when I felt something pull at my spirit. I didn’t know what it was, so I followed it and found myself back in my basement room. Only where my body had been, there was just the nastiest blood-and-guts image you can imagine. I moved through the wall and saw that Cynthia was blown to bits too.”
“My fault?”
“That’s the impression that came to me when I tried to follow the trail through the ether. Then the demon things came at me, and I’ve been on the run ever since. What happened?”
“Everyon
e died.”
“But how?” He spun around and I saw shadowy figures flow through my wall. The figures had long claws and malevolent smiles. Their eyes were empty patches in the shadow. Ten or twelve of them converged on Walter’s spirit. He tried to run but they grabbed him and slashed at his body.
As their claws raked through his spirit, pieces of his soul tore free and disappeared in puffs of smoke. They kept hacking and slashing until there was nothing left.
One of them darted toward me, and its face hovered inches from mine. It raised a claw and tapped at my forehead, but I didn’t feel anything. It tilted its head to the side, nodded to me, then dissipated, and the shadowy tendrils drifted out of sight like cigarette smoke swirling in the wind.
I considered how I felt. I knew I was still in shock and that sometime soon I’d have to deal with what I’d seen and experienced. I glanced back at Miranda’s face, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. If I’d been a normal man, I could have been happy with someone like her.
That was why Persephone gave me that night. It could play as a gift if I’d been true to her, but now it was a curse because it was a bloody reminder of what could never be.
Walter was dead.
My fault.
Darla, someone I barely knew, but once again, if not for me, she’d be alive right now.
Brand.
Kelly.
I staggered into the living room and collapsed on the sofa. When I landed, Miranda’s purse toppled to the floor, and the contents spilled out. I stared at the keys, tissues, cash, and a roll of Mentos. Normal things in a normal apartment.
But nothing was normal.
Not anymore.
I closed my eyes and hoped to die.
#
I woke to the sound of a car alarm in the parking lot. It wailed for a time then chirped and went silent. I sat up and my head pounded. I still wore the same clothes from the day before. I knew none of it was a dream because my coat was caked with dried blood.
I sat there and focused on breathing.
My phone rang.
I fumbled in my pocket and took it out. The screen had blood and gunk smeared across its face. The caller ID read Mike Ender. I answered.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Shade. Mike Ender. Are you at home?”
I nodded then realized he wouldn’t be able to see that. I cleared my throat and said, “Yeah.”
“Stay there.”
The call ended and I dropped the phone on the sofa. It wasn’t as if I had anywhere to go.
I got up and glanced in the bedroom to see that the mess remained along with Miranda’s head. My eyesight seemed blurry, so I rubbed at my eyes and felt tears streaming over my filthy fingers. I looked at the dried blood with smears of wetness on my hands.
I shrugged out of my coat and clothes and padded into the restroom. I started the shower, cranked the water to steaming hot, and stood under it. I watched the clear water crash against my skin and turn red as it spilled to the tub and swirled down the drain.
If only it could take me with it.
After a time, I got out, toweled myself dry, and put on clean clothes. I went back into the bathroom, ran my hand across the steamy mirror, and stared at my reflection. It looked like I was an automaton going through the motions of getting ready for work in the morning.
It occurred to me that I should let Patrick O’Malley know about Miranda’s death. He could make sure the police came over and were respectful. I wasn’t sure I wanted respect from them, but Miranda certainly deserved it. My phone was still on the couch, but I looked all over before I found it. I scrolled through my contact list, noting that most of the people there were already dead because they were foolish enough to call me friend. Should I call them all to be certain they were among the dead? I didn’t know if I could because every call would be another knife in my heart.
I called O’Malley. The call went directly to voice mail. That made no sense. He always answered at this hour unless he was at a crime scene. Maybe that was it. I called back, got voice mail again, but didn’t know what to leave as a message, so I hung up and called the police station.
“Denver P.D.,” a woman’s voice said.
“Patrick O’Malley, please.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but Detective O’Malley was murdered last night. Is there someone else you’d like to speak with?”
“Murdered?”
A knock sounded on my door, and I dropped the phone.
I heard the dispatcher saying, “Sir? Are you there?”
But I simply stared at the door. Who could be here? Who did I know who was still alive?
Another knock, louder.
I shook the cobwebs from my head and answered the door.
A man and woman stood there in business suits, and a large man in a leather trench coat and long hair stood behind them. A Sekutar warrior, of course. That meant they were from DGI.
“Jonathan Shade?”
I nodded, thinking the world seemed so surreal. How could things keep going when Kelly and everyone I cared about no longer drew breath?
“May we come inside?”
I stepped back and let them in.
They looked at Miranda’s purse. “You have company?”
“Not anymore,” I said. “Who are you?”
“My name is Ralph Westin. This is my associate Catherine Meyer. We’re here to escort you to DGI for a hearing.”
“Excuse me?”
The woman stepped toward me. “We have a seer on her way to the office, Mr. Shade. You were with Darla Stevenson yesterday. She never returned from her assignment with you.”
“She’s dead.”
“We know.”
“They’re all dead.”
“We realize that. We’d like you to accompany us to DGI for a hearing. The seer will pull up images of what transpired at the Royal Gorge bridge yesterday. If we determine that you are at fault for Darla Stevenson’s death, you will face the consequences.”
I blinked, thinking it couldn’t get worse. “Consequences?”
Ralph broke in. “We realize you’re not a wizard, but you have been heavily involved with the magical community, so our laws do apply to you.”
“I’m not sure I follow you.”
“Simply put, we’re going to review what happened. We’ll allow you to tell your side of the story, and then we’ll pass judgment. If you’re exonerated, you’ll be free to go. If you’re found guilty…”
“What?”
Catherine gave me a serious look. “You’ll be put to death.”
“Just like that.”
She nodded. “Sentence to be carried out immediately.”
“I’m not sure Persephone will allow that.”
“I’m sorry,” Ralph said. “Persephone?”
“She’s the one who actually killed Darla and everyone else. She was using Miranda Hammond’s body to get around.” I cocked my thumb toward the bedroom.
Ralph glanced at the purse again. “Miranda is here?”
“What’s left of her.”
Ralph looked at Catherine. “Will you be all right for a moment?”
She glanced at the silent Sekutar who stood behind her. “I believe so.”
Ralph crept down the hall and peeked into the bedroom. He stared for a moment then made a beeline for the restroom. I heard retching and coughing.
“You don’t want to go in there,” I said to Catherine.
A minute later, the toilet flushed. When Ralph returned to the living room, the color had drained from his face.
“Did you...did you do that?” He pointed toward the bedroom.
I shook my head. “No, but it was my fault.”
“You’re coming with us.”
Thoughts finally started to form, and I knew I didn’t want to go with them. “If I go with you, I could get more people killed. Persephone wants me alive. I accept full responsibility for Darla’s death. If she hadn’t been with me, she’d still be alive. Of that, there’s no do
ubt.”
“We’ll look at what happened,” Catherine said. “If someone else is ultimately responsible, you’ll be released.”
“Ms. Meyer, do you want to die?”
“Are you threatening her?” Ralph asked.
“I’m simply asking her a question.”
“No one wants to die, Mr. Shade.”
I gave a half laugh. “That’s not true. Some of us probably deserve to die. I’d recommend you go back to DGI. You can have your seer pull up whatever she can pull up. You can make whatever determinations you like, and you can put out a death warrant for me if you want, but for the safety of everyone at Dragon Gate Industries, I’m going to bow out of that hearing.”
“We’ll find you.”
“I know. Go take a look and make your decision. Either way, I have a few things to handle today, and it’s safer for everyone if I do these things alone.”
Catherine looked deep into my eyes. “Are you all right?” she asked. I could see the concern on her face.
“No,” I said.
She started to reach for me, but I stepped back. I knew she just wanted to place a hand on my arm in a gesture of kindness, but my life no longer had any room for such things.
“Please go.”
“If you’re innocent, we can help you,” Catherine said.
“You wouldn’t say that if you saw what he did to Miranda Hammond,” Ralph said.
Catherine shook her head. “Whatever you saw in there, I don’t think Mr. Shade did it. He’s clearly been through an extremely traumatic experience. I don’t need my magic to see that.”
“He admits responsibility.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s guilty. Go wait in the car.”
“But—”
“Go!” She pointed toward the door. She turned to the warrior. “You too.”
“As you wish,” the warrior said. He gave me a nod. “We may get to dance soon after all.”
I realized he was the warrior I’d had words with at the elevator a few days ago. I think his name was Drake. I didn’t say anything. I just watched him go.
When we were alone, Catherine motioned for the sofa. “Let’s sit down for a moment.”
