by Debi Matlack
The crash drove the air from my lungs in a rush and I did my best to get some back in loud whooping gulps. There was no pain from the impact, yet, but rather a stunned shock. Stunned, I wondered for a few seconds if I’d been struck by lightning. There was a good reason why I’d been stupid enough to risk falling out of a tree and it came back to me in a rush.
Him.
Run.
NOW!
I struggled to my feet, disoriented from the impact, unsure of which direction to flee. Even if I could run, it would take no effort on his part to find me, I wheezed like an asthmatic donkey. Still, I staggered toward the edge of the trees until I was caught by a hand tangling itself into my hair, the other twisting my arm behind my back.
“Nice try.” Helpless to do otherwise, I was hauled back into the barn.
I was pretty dazed because it took some time for me to realize that not only was I back inside, but I had been zip tied to an old school desk. Starting back to full awareness I recognized my own childish handwriting, impressed into the wooden surface. I guess I had a heavy hand as a kid.
A series of spelling words followed, mostly obscured by time and wear, but one still stood out, pressed into the soft wood.
“You are a smart one, aren’t you?”
Once I dragged my eyes reluctantly from the word to the speaker, I got a good, long look at him for the first time. Or maybe it wasn’t my first good look at him. It was Tony Fentriss, the man who’d killed Cora, the same man who’d murdered select members of my family for generations. Tony Fentriss was the first name I’d had to go with the countenance Cora supplied to me. I had little doubt that the generations of my murdered family members would know his face, whatever various names he went by. He was just as she’d shown him to me; stocky, muscular, dark hair shielding disturbing blue eyes.
“Not smart enough, it seems. I don’t know your name.”
My hands were fastened to the post that held the writing surface to the chair portion of the desk and something stabbed me in the arm. A set screw poked out of the metal support. Hiding my movements as best I could, I adjusted my hands until one of the zip ties contacted it. Hoping like hell the dim lighting would hide my motion, I pressed the tough nylon onto the sharp edges of the set screw.
“My name doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does. That face has a name to go with it.”
“The face doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does. It’s the name of a person, you, right there.”
What Dee said earlier now made sense. It started to dawn on me that I wasn’t talking to the man standing in front of me, but rather what occupied his body. It wasn’t mere mortals that had tried to eradicate our family line, it was an entity, a possessor, a puppet master. I came to a decision. I’d made no progress speaking to the one holding the reins; I needed to address the rightful owner of the flesh.
“You don’t want to do this.”
Faced with my own death, staring at me from those blazing blue eyes, my fear evaporated. If I was going to die, I was going to fight it every inch, with whatever means at my disposal. Since I was currently rendered helpless by restraint and isolation, my only weapons were words and my wits.
“Oh I do, I really do.” He bent closer, surveying my face as if committing it to memory, mouth open with a faint expression of delight. As his eyes met mine, I saw a flicker of something else behind them and the lips compressed into a thin, disapproving line. A millisecond of fear and disgust. That was the real Tony Fentriss, looking out through his own eyes and into mine before being shunted aside again by the… whatever it was that inhabited his body. His face blurred for a second and I was able to see it. A dark cloudy aura surrounded his face and the top of his head. Shadowy sockets blazed around his eyes, producing that unnatural shade of blue. The darkness covered his face like a shroud and it turned to me in surprise, independent of his physical body’s movement. A sneering frown drew the vague face into a demonic mask and a gaping maw opened in a soundless shriek. Then the smoky entity collapsed back into Tony’s body like he was sucked up by a vacuum and his physical eyes lit again in unholy glee.
“I’ve hunted your people for almost two centuries, moving from body to body. This family proved very capable of bearing my burden. Strong, not overly bright, perfect vessels.”
“Why?” I needed to know. “Why my family? What did we ever do to deserve being wiped out?”
He leaned forward, face inches from my own and whispered, “Not wiped out. Harvested.”
A black chill settled into my bones at his words. Fear was back and had brought his friends Panic and Dread along for company. My vision from the hammer slammed into me like I’d fallen from another tree and my heart contracted, trying to pull the rest of me along with it, to be as small and unobtrusive as I could.
He noticed my shift in attitude and leaned down, sniffed at my hair and smiled. “The fear makes it sweeter. I’m just going to let you stew in that for a bit. I so rarely get to take my time like this. It’s so nice when you can really savor something, isn’t it?” He was close his breath puffed strands of my hair against my face, and every follicle on my body stood upright. He turned to pace along the floor back to the door and I renewed my efforts to break the tough band of nylon holding me to the desk.
“That vampire had the Sight as a human, full to the brim with it. I was bound to that sinkhole, starving. He came along and was ripe…so tasty.” He turned and began a measured approach again. “But I was too weak to finish him and he became something else, something lesser, still corporeal, forced to feed on blood instead of pure emotion. But,” he leaned down, close enough I felt his breath on my face again, “I made him. Me. Every strength, every power he has, I gave him. There’s a reason I was once called ‘god’.”
He stood back up with an air of self-satisfaction, before turning his unnerving gaze back on me. “Just like I did to you. All those things you see, the ideas you get from the past, things you know about other people, those came from me.” He bent down to me again, inches from my face. “You should be grateful.”
“Fat chance, freak.” Anger didn’t begin to cover what I felt. “I never wanted it, my life has been a complete shitshow since you came along and you want me to thank you?” I snorted and shook my head. “If I could get out of this seat, I’d kill you myself.”
Incredibly, he laughed. “That’s the spirit! Anger is a different flavor, sharper, spicy. I like a little variety. It makes the feeding much more enjoyable, rather than simple sustenance.” He tapped me on the temple. “Silly girl.” He sniffed around my neck, and my flesh crawled, rage replaced in a flash by dread. “Your family has been my personal feeding ground for a very long time.”
So I was like a feedlot steer to him? I could almost wish to be as uncomprehending of my intended fate as a cow, but I was positive he meant to kill me, he’d tried once already. No, I had full, gloriously horrifying comprehension of my impending death, and he meant for me to. Each touch, twist of the head, each comment, all were calculated to induce every shred of panic and terror my brain could conjure. I had to knock the hamster in my brain right off that wheel. In desperation, I asked a question. Maybe if I understood a little, if I could put a name and face to the beast before me, a beast that I knew bore little resemblance to the body that contained it.
“What are you?”
He chuckled. “There isn’t a name for what I am. A long time ago, those” he nodded at one of the guardian spirits hovering anxiously nearby, “considered me a deity. I took the best of them as sacrifice, at the turn of the season. It was my right.” He shrugged. “Until they killed me and themselves to imprison me here. It doesn’t matter.” An eerie smile lit his face, the blazing eyes narrowing in satisfaction. “What matters is that I have you now, and I’m going to enjoy this. I’d almost forgotten about that brief glimpse I had of you all those years ago, after I tried for Woodrow the first time and missed. Do you remember that?”
“What the hel
l are you talking about? My mother wasn’t even alive then.”
He cocked his head like a curious dog. “Are you sure you don’t remember? A cheap hotel room, someone sitting at a desk, writing down their disappointments of the day?”
Revulsion dawned anew. The trunk and the vision it induced. The face, looking at its own reflection in the glass and seeing…me? I struggled to draw a breath around a sudden stricture in my throat, drowning in my own fear. His expression softened into a rapturous delight.
“Yes, lovely little morsel, I remember you.” His eyes glowed from within and he licked his lips as if anticipating a glorious repast. “Psychics understand more than ordinary people, and that makes a frightened psychic a veritable emotional buffet. I didn’t get to enjoy my time with your grandfather. I was in a bit of a rush. But his fear for you when I struck here first,” he touched the scar on the back of my head, “that made the taking almost as satisfying.” He circled around to face me and gave me that weird, beatific smile. “I thought I was going to have to wait decades for you to ripen, but you’ve developed at a prodigious rate. And,” he shrugged, “feeding more often has increased my appetite.” His smile vanished and his gaze sharpened. “Your niece will make me a lovely snack before very long.”
Fresh horror bloomed through my belly, a velvety black flower made of ichor and ice. I was frantic. The zip tie refused to come apart. “Tony, you don’t want this.”
His face crumpled in disgust. “Haven’t we been over this already?”
“I’m not talking to you, nasty whatever you are. I’m talking to Tony. I’m talking to the human being that you stole for a joyride.” I narrowed my eyes, squinting, trying to see the real person inside the possessed body. “I know you’re in there, I saw you look out at me. You’re scared and angry, well, join the club. You don’t want to be a part of this any more than I do.”
His face compressed into a smirk. “That old man practically invited me in. He was a drunken idiot that sacrificed the future of his entire family for the sake of vengeance, to avenge the supposedly soiled honor of his daughter. I was just lucky that your kinsman was sweet on her, it made them both vulnerable to me. He even sealed the deal with blood. Entirely unnecessary, since it forced me to wait before I could take possession of one of them, but it all worked out, didn’t it, my sweet?”
I refused to give up. “That’s not you talking, Tony, you aren’t responsible for what your great-great-whatever grandfather did.”
“Shut up.”
My panic subsided in the face of my freshly rising fury. My family and I were this piece of shit’s personal gourmet restaurant? No way in hell, not any more. “No, you shut up, jackass. I said I’m talking to Tony.” Even though I faced the same physical body, my voice changed as if I were addressing another person in the room. Because I was.
“Tony, he’s right about one thing, you’re strong. You have to be to have carted his worthless ass around all this time. And you’re strong enough to have looked out at me through your own eyes and show me that you’re scared and horrified by what this thing has made you do—”
The mask faltered and the blue eyes dimmed to a normal hue for a moment before blazing anew. “I said shut UP!” He bent over me and I saw the dark mask detach from his face and reach toward me, maw opening.
“Tony, do it! Do it now!”
The dark disembodied face stretched into a mindless maw, opening up to swallow me. I went blind as that black shroud blotted out the rest of the world. Heat, light, life drained from me and I thrashed against my bonds, upsetting the desk, the damaged zip tie finally breaking on impact. I fell to my side, Tony and the entity attached to him looming over me
It pulled at me, I could feel what I was, my very being, forcibly dragged, shred by shred from my physical shell. It hurt like nothing I’d ever felt before. I burned, I froze. I was crushed and torn apart, hurled into the sky and buried beneath the deepest reaches of Hell. My soul, hauled from my unwilling flesh, left jagged, tearing wounds deep within and I fought, begged, screamed, thrashed, all to no avail. My head was gripped by enormous slavering jaws, canines pierced my cranium and penetrated my brain, razored talons reaching inside to rake the interior of my skull. They grooved the inner surface, making hash of my brain and light exploded in my eyes. Something almost solid insinuated itself in my nostrils and mouth, filling my ears, and left a slimy residue in its wake. It was trying to take ME. Somewhere deep within, I found a little spark, willed it into a flame and hurled it at my violator. I felt/heard/tasted an unholy shriek of defiance, then the dim lantern light faded with my awareness.
I was startled back into awareness by voices shouting at the door, but the sound came from below me. I didn’t know how long I’d been out. My vision cleared and I found myself at the edge of the loft, seated next to Poppy. He was a solid, warm presence and he patted my hand in reassurance. His callused fingers rasped over mine, a touch I hadn’t felt in over a year and I scrambled back reflexively.
Whoa, Poppy, what the hell?!
He raised his hands in a placating gesture. Take it easy, little girl. You’ve got some hard decisions to make and not much time.
I grabbed his hand and squeezed. Why can I touch you now?
His smile was touched with pain and he pointed.
Below us on the barn floor lay two bodies. One stirred weakly and sat up. Tony. He looked around, saw the other body and started to cry, crawling over to shake the unresponsive mass. The shouting and banging at the door got louder and he stumbled over to lift the crossbar on the main entrance. The doors were flung open to admit a bright light and two figures. One drew a gun and backed Tony away toward the wall while the second fell to its knees beside the still recumbent body.
“Maeve…No, no, no, nonono…” The head turned and I saw his face in the light. Barrett. He bent down and quickly turned the body to lie on its back.
My body.
I held out my hand, poked myself in the leg, then stared uncomprehending at the cluster of people downstairs. As the truth sank in, I scrambled back and away from the tableau. To see it was to make it real. Holy shit, am I dead?
Poppy shrugged. That’s what I meant about decisions. You can come with me, or you can stay. His eyes strayed to the floor below and he grimaced. Neither choice is going to be easy.
Why? I don’t understand!
Barrett stacked the heels of his hands on my chest and started CPR, counting out loud with each compression, face grim with concentration. Tony stood in the corner, his eyes as wide as a frightened child’s, one hand covering his mouth to stifle a silent scream. He made no effort to resist or run. Scott seemed to come to a decision. He holstered his pistol and dropped to his knees beside Barrett. More commotion came from outside and Mike bolted through the door, Adam on his heels.
“…twentyninethirty.” Scott blew two quick breaths in and the cycles started over. It was beyond surreal to see my body being treated while I sat above. I felt real and solid to me, I didn’t know what to think.
Mike advanced on Tony who still stared at the ruckus surrounding me with tears flowing down his face. “Did you take my daughter?! Did you do this to my sister?!” Mike roared, drawing back a fist. Tony shrank back with a frightened cry and Adam stepped between them.
“Mike! It’s gone, what hurt Maeve is gone.” Unheeding, my brother dove at the terrified man and Adam caught his arms in a powerful grip.
“Michael! It’s gone. Look at him! He’s little more than a child now.” Mike subsided, jerking his arms free, his concentration drawn back to Scott and Barrett’s efforts to resurrect me, as if by staring daggers at me he could somehow assist.
Maeve. Maeve! Poppy drew my attention back to him. Listen up, little girl. If you come with me, you’re leaving Mike and Karen and the kids—
Kids? Deanna’s okay?
She is, Adam found her and she led them here. He cast a glance over the scene below. You’d be leaving that boy there, too. His tone regarding Barrett now seemed accep
ting, even approving. He’s busting his hump to keep you alive, I can’t fault him for that. If you go back, it’s going to be hard too. That thing that attacked you scrambled up all kinds of stuff inside your head, stuff that no doctor can fix. It’ll be up to you to figure it all out, but you’ve been doing a good job so far.
Poppy, I don’t understand.
I know, kitten. I hadn’t heard that nickname since I was a little girl and it tugged at me. The counting below was now in Scott’s voice and I heard Barrett’s fervent whisper of, “No, no, no” like a prayer.
“…twentyeighttwentyninethirty.”
Barrett sealed his lips to mine and blew in two breaths before Scott started compressions again. He stayed bent over me and I heard him whisper, the sound close to my ear, even up here in the loft, “I love you. Don’t go.”
Startled, I glanced at Poppy. He gave me a quiet smile. That reason enough to stay?
I smiled. Among other things. I hugged Poppy, reluctant to let him go. He gave me a gentle push. I stepped off the edge of the loft and fell back into my body.
Chapter 26
“…thirty-two year old female, found in full cardiac and respiratory arrest, CPR performed approximately five minutes before patient resuscitated. BP currently 95/50, pulse 100 and thready, IV access obtained, administering bolus of normal saline, patient maintaining 97 percent oxygenation on room air. ETA approximately ten minutes.”
A siren wailed overhead and I felt motion. It took the strength of a half-dozen Hercules (Herculi?) to open my eyes. The first thing I saw was Barrett.
“Hey.” His face sagged with relief for a moment before he opened his eyes again and smiled. “We’ll be at the hospital soon.” Ambulance. I got it.
Drawing breath to speak was even harder than opening my eyes. I felt like a tree had fallen on me, several times. “I saw…”
“Shh… you just take it easy.”
