A screech filled the air as Lucy charged toward Leah, kicking the woman square in the lower back. Leah cried out, and rolled away from Lucy. Wielding the torch, Lucy swung the branch at Leah. A split second before making contact with the side of Leah’s head, Leah rolled to the side and the torch struck her in the shoulder. Embers flew, lighting up the night.
Ryan pushed herself up to her knees, and taking several deep breaths, managed to stand. Her legs felt weak and she thought her feet might slide out from under her as she stumbled toward Lucy and Leah.
“Aunt Lucy, stop!” Ryan squared her shoulders as she stared down her aunt.
Lucy turned, her eyes wide, her mouth skewed in a scowl as she glared at her niece. “This started long before you, Ryan. Leave now if you don’t have the stomach for it.”
Ryan took a step toward Lucy. Her throat was dry and her body ached. She looked at Leah, who lay clutching her shoulder on the ground. Ryan couldn’t believe the carnage her family had wrought upon themselves, Leah, and her. “You can’t think I would just walk away and let you kill someone I love.”
“You should love me more!” Lucy screamed. “Our family, the generations before us - they’re who we owe everything to.”
Ryan shook her head. “I - we - don’t owe anybody anything, Aunt Lucy.” She wanted the woman to see that, to know her life was whatever she made of it, not what a history of half-truths and lies dictated.
Shaking her head, Lucy reached into her back pocket, revealing a knife identical to Derek’s. She held it out for Ryan to see. “She’s an abomination, Ryan. Help me destroy her.”
“I’ve lost you then?”
Ryan’s question triggered a softening of Lucy’s hardened expression, and she lowered the knife. “No, sweetie. That’s the whole point.” Lucy took a step toward Ryan. “We’re family, and that’s forever.”
Ryan knew in that moment her aunt was gone. Whatever hope she had of convincing the woman murder was not the answer was beyond either of them. Ryan looked past her aunt, toward Leah who had managed to get to her knees, blood trickling from the right corner of her mouth. The two women’s eyes met, and Ryan nodded her head. A pained expression crossed Leah’s face, her eyes filling with tears as she raised her hand.
Lucy’s mouth opened, her eyes widening as the moisture in the air around her was superheated by Leah. The woman dropped the knife and grabbed at her throat as the scalding air scorched and burned its way down into her lungs. The fringes of her shawl and dark blonde hair singed from the heat.
Lucy collapsed to her knees. Her eyes bulged and her pale skin reddened as she stared, unseeing, into the distance. Falling forward, Lucy lay dead.
A sob escaped Leah as she sank down into a seated position on the ground, her legs bent under her. Her shoulders hung as she stared at Lucy’s lifeless body. Ryan stood motionless. Time seemed to have slowed down, and she wondered if she were going into some type of shock as her body felt almost numb.
Then Leah was behind Ryan. Her hands trembled as she struggled to untie Ryan’s wrists. Blood rushed back into Ryan’s hands as Leah dropped the rope to the ground. Turning around, Ryan and Leah’s eyes met. Each woman was crying, and neither was able to speak.
Leah finally took Ryan’s hands in hers. Examining the deep cuts the rope had made in her wrists, Leah winced. “Are you okay? Do we need to get you to a hospital?” Leah’s voice was weak, uncertain.
Ryan shook her head, still feeling as if everything were moving in slow motion. “I – I think I’m okay. Are you? I mean are you okay?”
Leah began to cry, her shoulders shaking as she was consumed with sobbing. “No – my god, I’ve just killed three people!”
Leah collapsed to the ground again. Ryan knelt in front of her, pulling her close. “They were trying to kill you.”
Leah shook her head, her breath hot against the side of Ryan’s face. “I should have run, I should have left this place before it came to this.”
Ryan leaned back, holding Leah by the shoulders. “Don’t say that! They came after you, not the other way around.”
Leah sniffled, her sobs giving way to a constant stream of tears. “What do we do now?”
Ryan pulled the woman back into her arms, and scanned the horrific scene. The fire continued to cast the clearing in both light and shadow. The ice casing around Derek had begun to melt from its heat, and Andrew lay lifeless near the tree line, his hands still clutched to his charred throat.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Ryan finally managed to speak. “We could call the police, but I don’t know what we could tell them that wouldn’t risk your safety.”
Leah pushed back from Ryan, stood up, and turned away. “That doesn’t matter. People have died. Let them come.”
Ryan got up, and cringed, the muscles of her back tightening in a series of spasms from where she had been kicked and tackled. “Don’t be naïve. This isn’t just about you.” Ryan took Leah’s hand and turned her around. “You can’t be the only one, and once this is out, what happens to everyone else like you?”
Leah chewed nervously on the inside of her lower lip, her eyes darting back and forth as she considered Ryan’s words. “Then what do you suggest?”
“Where exactly are we?” Ryan looked up at the night sky. The stars were fairly pronounced, and she imagined they must be some distance from Baltimore.
“They had me in the trunk of their car.” Leah crossed her arms over her chest and shivered. “So I’m not sure.”
A fresh wave of disgust and disbelief with her family washed over Ryan as she realized Leah had been in the trunk of the Lincoln when she had driven past the parked vehicle near Leah’s house. Pushing past the almost overwhelming desire to go fetal, Ryan walked quickly toward Lucy’s body.
Turning the lifeless woman over, Ryan began going through the woman’s pockets. Leah walked up behind her. “What are you doing?”
“My phone is dead, and I don’t suppose they let you keep yours.” Ryan pulled her aunt’s iPhone from the back pocket of her slacks. “First, let’s use the GPS on her phone to figure out where we’re at, and then we can go from there.”
Ryan stood up, and powered the phone on. “Crap.”
Leah stepped next to her, peering at the illuminated screen. “What?”
“It’s password protected.” Ryan’s hands dropped to her sides in defeat.
“You have no idea what it might be?” Leah took the phone from Ryan’s hand.
Ryan started to say no, but then a thought, a memory popped into her mind. She took the phone back from Leah, and tapped the screen. “Got it.”
“What – how did you know?” Leah asked in amazement.
Ryan shrugged. “I know my aunt, and more importantly I know what my aunt values – valued.” Ryan frowned at the past tense. “Allerton – all caps.”
Leah wrapped her arm around Ryan’s waist, looking over the younger woman’s shoulder as she navigated to the map application.
“We’re in Patapsco Valley State Park; so not quite as close to your house as I had thought.” Ryan held the phone up so Leah could better see the screen. “So about four miles north of Oella.” Ryan studied the map closely, committing the route they needed to get back to Leah’s house to memory. Kneeling next to Lucy’s body, Ryan slipped the phone back into the woman’s pocket.
“Now what?” Leah shivered. Even though it was May, she was in a thin t-shirt and shorts, and the cold was getting to her.
Ryan pulled Leah close, and rubbed her hands up and down the woman’s back in an effort to warm her. “As she did, she felt heat begin to radiate off of Leah’s body. “Are you okay?” Ryan held Leah at arm’s length while looking her up and down.
“I can self-regulate my body temperature.” Leah shrugged. “Comes in handy every once in a while.”
Ryan’s eyes widened. “That’s a neat trick, but do you know where the car is?”
Leah chuckled. “About thirty yards through the trees. They must have left the main r
oad, and driven down one of the dirt service roads.”
Ryan nodded. “We need to get all of them back into the car.”
Leah pulled away from Ryan, a shocked expression on her dirt streaked face. “Why?!”
“We can’t just leave them out here. Whatever people think happened to them, it has to look like an accident, and there can be no ties to you or me.” Ryan felt a wave of grief crash over her, and she struggled to stay focused on what needed to be done. She grieved for her family, and her heart broke for Carol, who had lost her parents and her brother in one horrific night – and didn’t even know it.
Leah hung her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “You can’t do this. You can’t protect me.”
Ryan grabbed Leah by the upper arms. Her words were quick and breathless as she spoke. “Listen to me! I don’t want to keep having this debate with you while I have to stage a car accident so people think my family died while sightseeing in Maryland.” Ryan didn’t realize it until she paused to take a breath that she was crying. “So I need you to help me, not keep straying back to the guilt.” Ryan released Leah. “I won’t lose you on top of everything else.”
Leah’s eyes were wide as Ryan’s words slammed into her. “I – how can you – why would you –”
Ryan took a step back from Leah, and using the sleeve of her dirtied and tattered blouse, wiped at her face. “I love you.”
Sniffling, Ryan looked up at the clear night sky, taking a deep breath. “My mother, my aunt, uncle, cousin – Carol. There’s been too many sacrifices for the sanctity of the Myers family causes.” Ryan leveled her gaze on Leah, a sudden and unexpected calm wrapping around her. “I won’t sacrifice you too.”
Leah stood speechless. The dimming light of the fire was making it difficult for Ryan to see her expression, but Leah didn’t run screaming. Instead Leah walked over to the fire, and with a slow wave of her hand over the flames, the clearing was plunged into relative darkness.
“We should move the men first, they’re the heaviest.” Leah said flatly as she walked toward Andrew’s body.
Chapter 17
Ryan and Leah walked into Leah’s house a little after three in the morning. Both women were exhausted. After putting Lucy, Derek and Andrew’s bodies into the Lincoln, they had driven the car back onto the Baltimore National Pike, the state park’s main road.
Based on the map Ryan had seen, she navigated the car to the Miller Run Bridge. While Leah waited on the side of the road, Ryan, sitting half in and half out of the car with Derek’s body leaning against her, managed to get the vehicle into drive. She jumped clear of the Lincoln before it went off the road, careened over the retaining wall, and landed upside down at the point where Miller Run Creek merged with the Patapsco River.
Ryan had watched countless films where a car was sent over a cliff or off a bridge, the driver diving from the vehicle at the last minute. The actual act was far less lavish. The late hour and the relative remoteness of the bridge, had left the night eerily quiet. The silence had been broken by the low hum of the car’s engine, and its subsequent crash through the guardrail and into the river bed below.
The true cinematics had come as Leah had stepped to the bridge railing. Holding her hands out in front of her, Leah heated the air around the vehicle and the water in the creek bed until the car’s gas tank exploded, and the car was engulfed in flames.
Leah and Ryan had taken off in a full sprint from the bridge, neither sure how much attention the explosion would draw. Leah’s bare feet had made a faint slapping sound as they hit the dark concrete, both women breathing heavy as they ran for nearly a half mile.
Ryan and Leah then jogged and walked the remaining four miles back to Leah’s house in silence, neither having any small talk in reserve for what had been a horrific and unreal night.
“Do you want to take a shower?” Leah asked. Standing in her kitchen, she handed Ryan a bottled water.
Ryan drank the entire bottle in one long gulp before answering. “Yes. Do you have clothes I can borrow?”
Leah nodded. “Sure.”
The two women went into Leah’s bedroom, and Leah pulled a pair of black sweat pants and an Orioles t-shirt from the bottom drawer of her dresser. She turned to hand Ryan the clothes, but then hesitated. “Ryan, you know the police will be able to tell they didn’t die from the car wreck.”
Ryan took the clothes from Leah. “I know, but let the police try to sort the discrepancies out. The fire will help mask some of the injuries.” Ryan started toward the bathroom, and then stopped. “Are you going to be okay?”
Leah looked up at Ryan. “I should be asking you that question, considering what I just did.”
Ryan tossed the clothes on the bed, and took Leah’s hands in hers. “Please stop. I don’t blame you.”
Leah squeezed Ryan’s hands gently. “Don’t you see? I have to live with it either way.”
Ryan wrapped her arms around Leah, and it seemed no matter how close she held her, it was not enough to take the pain they both felt away. “I love you so much.”
Leah lifted her head from Ryan’s shoulder, and kissed Ryan softly on the lips. “I love you.”
Ryan led Leah into the bathroom. Though the house itself was small, the master bathroom was sizable with a large walk-in shower that boasted wall to wall mounted showerheads. The tile throughout the space was slate gray, with deep blue accent tiles throughout.
Leah turned the shower on. She pulled the torn and muddied t-shirt over her head, and threw it directly in the small stainless steel trash can next to the toilet. Pulling her shorts off, she paused to find Ryan looking at her with an unreadable expression.
“What is it?” Leah asked, her voice a whisper mingled with the sound of running water.
Ryan hadn’t realized she’d been staring. She was surprised in spite of the evening, and the utter exhaustion that threatened to consume her at any moment, the telltale heat of desire still stirred in her as she looked at a very beautiful and naked Leah.
“I – you’re beautiful, and I can’t even put it into words.” Ryan rubbed her eyes. “I’m so tired.”
Leah tossed her shorts into the trash can, and reached for Ryan. Pulling her closer, Leah unbuttoned Ryan’s blouse, and pulled it off her shoulders. “Trash can, and then everything in the fire pit in the morning?”
Ryan nodded. “I like that shirt.” She watched as Leah unceremoniously threw it away. “I bought that when I was interviewing.” Ryan wasn’t sure why she was talking about this, as there seemed so many more important things to talk about. She chalked the nonsensical chatter about her attire up to being tired, and in the last pangs of shock.
Leah pointed down at Ryan’s waist. “Pants.”
Without a word, Ryan peeled the muddied and torn slacks off, and folding them, walked over and pushed them down into the trash can. Ryan unhooked her bra and removed her underwear, regretfully tossing them into the trash.
In the light of the bathroom, Ryan leaned over and looked at the cut near Leah’s hairline. “At least that’s stopped bleeding.” Ryan opened the medicine cabinet over the sink, and caught a glimpse of herself in the cabinet’s mirror. She stifled a gasp at the cuts across her face, and the puckering welts along her jawline. “Do you have some iodine or peroxide?”
Ryan felt Leah’s warm hand move along the small of her back. “You have bruises already.”
Ryan shifted, and meant to twist so she could see her back in the mirror, but thought better of it when a sharp pain shot up her left side.
Seeing Ryan flinch, Leah slowly turned the woman around. They both stepped into the shower stall. The heat of the water soothed Ryan’s back, and she could feel the muscles relaxing.
Leah moved Ryan back until she was standing under one of the shower heads. Ryan tilted her head back, the water turning a light brown as it washed the mud and blood out of her hair and off her body. Ryan stepped forward, and Leah moved around her until she was under the water. As she let the water ru
n over her, Ryan poured liquid bath soap onto a wash cloth and cleaned around Leah’s ears and neck.
Leah did the same for Ryan, and then the two women washed each other’s hair before they rinsed off, turned the water off, and toweled off.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” Leah asked as they stood in the bathroom wrapped in towels.
“Yes.” Ryan smiled, and taking the towel off, hung it on the hook next to the door before walking into the bedroom.
Leah followed, and standing on either side of the bed, each woman pulled their side of the quilt back. Ryan folded the quilt over, and noticing the inlaid blues and golds of the floret pattern, wondered if one of the residents at St. Martin’s had made it for Leah.
Slipping under the sheet and blanket, Leah turned to Ryan, and the two women wrapped themselves in each other’s arms. Ryan was exhausted, but unable to sleep. Her mind raced through the events of the night, uncertain what it meant for her and Leah’s future.
“Leah, are you still awake?” Ryan whispered the words into the top of Leah’s still damp hair.
“Yes.” Leah said, her voice sounding thick with sleep.
“What were your parents like?” Ryan wasn’t sure if she should ask the question, but it occurred to her that Leah knew so much about her family, and Ryan knew so little about hers.
“They were good parents. Henry and Cecilia. I loved them.” Leah shifted, and brought her leg up to rest on Ryan’s bare thigh.
“Did they both have your abilities?” Ryan’s body responded to the nearness of Leah, and she shifted, drawing the woman even closer to her.
“No. Men can pass the abilities on, but they never have them.” Leah said plainly.
“Your mother then?” Ryan breathed deep. Leah smelled of vanilla and soap that filled Ryan’s senses.
“She controlled fire.”
“Like Abigail?”
Ryan felt Leah smile against her shoulder. “Yes, like Abigail.”
After several minutes, Ryan could feel Leah’s breathing slow, and she knew the woman was asleep. The house was quiet except for the sound of that ticking clock. It occurred to Ryan she had never actually seen the clock, only heard it. It struck her as odd that she should hear something she had never seen.
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