“I didn’t expect to be doing this today. I don’t know where to begin.”
“I don’t know what to ask. I assumed a lot over the years.” The bitterness was apparent in her voice, in the stillness that lingered between them. “Do we have any family?”
“You have an aunt in Maine. She’s all that’s left of us.”
“Us, Who?”
“The family.” The way he said it sent chills through Katherine. “The McKlannens. That was our original name. I changed mine to McKalister the nigh…” Mitch fell silent, stared out the window at the rows of neat townhouses, their tiny lawns carefully mowed, trees neatly trimmed.
“Why would you change our name? The night that what?”
Mitch only continued to stare out the window as she pulled the car into a spot directly in front of the townhouse.
She glanced at her father; saw the uneasy way he sat crouched in his seat, the unfinished sentence still hanging. They stared out at the two story brick townhouse they had shared until she graduated college. The ornamental trees in front swayed and bent with the ever increasing winds. The pansies in the flower boxes under the downstairs windows bobbed their heads violently as little pellets of rain began to peck against the windshield.
“I’ll explain when I get back, you wait here.” Mitch opened the car door, then paused, looked at Katherine. He leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek. “I love you. Don’t ever forget.” He was out of the car and headed for the steps before she could respond.
‡
Mitch reached into his pocket, withdrew his keys and opened the dark green door with the gold knocker. All he ever wanted for his daughter was a normal life. He’d hoped the cleansing of the soul he knew her to be would have ended it. She had been the most powerful among the clan. A gypsy soul before a McKlannen. As things stood it had only made the situation worse. For so long it seemed she wasn’t affected. For years he’d watched for the first signs, for the dreams to begin. They hadn’t emerged and he’d breathed a sigh of relief, hoped that it had finally ended, after four centuries. Still, she had a chance none before her could claim. They didn’t own her like the others. At least not yet.
The house was still as he crossed the light blue tiles of the foyer and climbed the carpeted stairs, his hand gently sliding across the smooth mahogany of the spindled rails. At the top he paused, considered what he was about to do, then reluctantly entered the bedroom. On one wall was a row of cabinets along the floor, drawers above that and a mirror along the top. His eyes came to rest on the center drawer. The only one with a keyhole.
The deep blue comforter was plush and thick, the bed made up as it was every morning. There he knelt, withdrew two old, musty photo albums and tossed them on the bed. Scrambling to his feet he went to the drawer at the end and began to dig through its contents.
“I know it’s here somewhere.” After digging nearly to the bottom he came up with a small bronze key. “Ah, there it is.”
A rattle came from inside one of the cabinets. Hesitantly Mitch tapped the cabinet door with his foot.
“Damn rats.”
The noise came again. He leaned down, opened the door, and peered inside. Luminescent red eyes stared back from deep within the darkness.
“Shooo.” Moving to the side he stomped his foot. A door on the other end of the row flopped open, the tip of a tail protruding out. His hair tingled at the roots. There was a sick humor in the eyes that stared back from the gloom when he looked again. It rose from floor level and slowly toward the light.
Mitch backed away, tried to slam the cabinet but the creature within slithered out like an eel, wrapped itself around his body before he could react, restrained him in its tight embrace.
“Oh God, no! Not now, not yet!”
A deep chuckle rose from within its coils followed by a hissing, wispy sound. A deep voice replied, “God has nothing to do with it. But you already knew that.”
Its form was serpentine with a thin, starved human torso. One bony hand reached out to stroke Mitch’s face with an icy finger.
“It’s been a long time my friend. Soooo very looooonnngg.” The forked tongue rolled over the words as if they were a delicacy. The nearly toothless grin emitted a horrible stench causing Mitch to recoil. “What? Aren’t you glad to seee yoouurr old friend?”
“You’re no friend. I got out, a long time ago.”
It only laughed, drew its coils tighter.
“Family is family. You never get out or didn’t you learn that from your dear wife? You sold yourselves long ago.”
The harder Mitch struggled to free himself, the tighter its embrace became, the glistening dark green coils glimmering with each movement, until everything went black.
‡
Katherine waited in the car with the radio on low, watching the dark storm clouds grow thicker and lower. They hung over the buildings and the rain came swiftly in a torrential down pour as she fiddled with her keys, changed the stations, straightened her CD case. Finally she sat, drumming her thumb on the steering wheel.
“Come on Dad. What’re ya doing? Damn it, you’ve got to face me sooner or later.”
After what seemed like a long time her patience expired. She reached in the back floor, withdrew an umbrella, rushed through the down pour and into the house.
“Whew. What a rain!” She stood waiting for a reply. Nothing. “Dad?” She looked around the corner, but the small, sparsely furnished living room was empty except for the dark wooden end tables and cozy couch and chair. Glancing at all the pictures of the two of them lined up on the wall she called again. “Dad?”
Katherine made her way cautiously up the stairs. “Dad?”
As she entered the bedroom the smell of rotten leaves and lake water hit her square in the face. Her father lay stretched out on the floor, a horrified expression frozen on his face, his eyes fixed on the ceiling, gasping for breath. The blood in her veins slowed to a crawl, pulsing in her ears as she felt the chill in the room. It quickly dissipated as events caught back up to speed.
“Dad!” She rushed to the phone and dialed 911.
‡
“It’s okay,” she cooed to him. “It’s going to be okay, they’re on the way... Please, just hold on.” She grasped his hand tightly, tried to be strong. His eyes stared upward, never blinking. Finally, unable to keep the anguish off her face, she looked away. The glint of the brass key lying on the floor caught her eye. Reaching out, choking back tears she picked it up.
It was small, but looked like a skeleton key with scroll work at the top. She turned it over in her hand, thought hard about where it might go. Looking around the room her eyes came to rest on the drawers. Then she saw it, only one drawer with a bronze lock on it, right in the middle. Wiping her tears on the sleeve of her jacket she slid the key in her pocket.
The ambulance was quick to respond and whisk Mitch away. Katherine followed close behind, then paced in the waiting room. Finally a slight, short man in a white coat appeared in the doorway. His blond hair was disheveled, the tired expression on his face spoke of the hours he’d already spent there.
“Miss McKalister?” he quarried.
“Yes, how is he?”
The doctor paused, cleared his throat, his round face drawing up into an uncertain expression.
“Well, we’re not sure what’s causing your father’s distress, but he’s slipped into unconsciousness. He’s not in any need of support, other than the basic monitoring equipment. We’re moving him to a room. We’ll run more tests in the morning. His heart’s erratic, but strong. His breathing’s leveled off, but there’re no responses from him. While he’s unconscious; he’s not comatose. We’ve run a series of tests, done a preliminary CAT scan, blood work and so on. The tests are being processed now. If that doesn’t produce anything we’ll run some others tomorrow.” He looked into her face and couldn’t hide his
puzzlement.
“We really just don’t know what’s wrong. But I promise, we’ll keep looking. So, please. Go home, get some rest. Come back in the morning. We may know more then.”
“I’d just as soon stay.” Katherine’s face changed from one of desperation to stubbornness.
The doctor began to protest, but saw there was little point. “Okay, I’ll let the nurses know. You can stay tonight.”
She sat by her father’s side, dozing occasionally, trying to block out the evenings events.
“Oh, Dad. What am I going to do? I need you, now more than ever.” She leaned forward, clutched his warm hand. “I need to know what’s going on. What the secrets are. Why you didn’t trust me to know.”
Laying her head on the edge of the bed she breathed deeply of the sanitized linens and let the tears come.
“Please dad, don’t leave me. You’re all I’ve got. You’re all I’ve ever had. Not now!” Katherine cried herself to sleep.
‡
She woke to the sound of the curtains being drawn open and the bright light of morning filling the room. It was the first night in a long time when she couldn’t remember dreaming. As she looked at her father she could only hope his night had been as peaceful.
“Oh, sorry ‘bout that love.” A petite little nurse with fire red hair went to the head of the bed and began to check vitals and readings. Katherine squinted in the bright light and rubbed her eyes.
“Quiet the bright morn’ isn’t it? Going to be a glorious day indeed. You’ll be glad to know the readings ’re good. The doctor’ll be in shortly to let ya know what came back on the tests.”
The woman was far too perky for Katherine to like her. She seemed to bounce with every step, her shoulder length hair shaking from one side to the other. However, the mild English accent was endearing and she decided to like her anyway.
“Can I get ya anything? Sure your throat’s sore after all that crying. Probably could find ya some eye drops, too. And there’s a cafeteria of course. Ya should probably go down and get some coffee and som‘en to eat. It’s like to be a long day for ya both.” She paused, waiting for a reply on any of the suggestions presented.
Katherine stretched, contemplated, and then looked up at the nurse who now stood over her as if she were the patient.
“I suppose I could use a drink and a stretch.” She got up, paused to get her balance, then stretched her back.
“Be sure to eat, deary. We needn’t put ya in the next bed there. That wouldn’t help ‘im any. And talk to ‘im, a lot. If you’re everything to ‘im, like he seems to be to you, then he needs to hear your voice. And he can hear ya , so make it good. Good times, or plans you had or something worth not missing.” She patted Katherine on the shoulder.
“Off with ya, while I take care of ‘im.”
Katherine obeyed. As she walked toward the elevator she shoved her hands in her pockets. She withdrew the key, turned it over in her palm.
“What happened? What exactly is our secret?”
Wandering absently down the brightly lit hallways with their gleaming buffed floors Katherine made her way to the cafeteria. There she gathered a biscuit, some bacon and orange juice on a tray. From a small table by the window she looked out at the parking lot. Far off in the distance the mountains rose over the valley. They were captivating and she stared at them for a long time.
“Good morning.”
Katherine came back to the reality of the cold, clean hospital as the doctor from the night before sat down.
“It’s quite a view. Guess we kind of get used to it after a while. We forget how special things really are when we’re around them all the time.” He looked at her. “The nurse said you were down here. I’ve finished up my shift. Thought I’d get some coffee and talk to you.” He cradled his coffee cup easily, looked back out at the mountains.
“It’s not good is it?”
They looked at each other. In his eyes she saw the helplessness she’d felt in the bedroom last night.
“Well, his heart’s strong, for his age. No odd rhythms or anything abnormal this morning. His breathing was seriously erratic when he came in, but seems nice and deep now. The tests all came back inconclusive or good. Blood work shows nothing bad so far. CAT scan showed nothing. I’ve ordered some more tests, but his care will go over to Dr. Salvador. I’m really just an ER Doctor.”
“Oh, I see. Well, in your opinion, what do you think is wrong?”
The young doctor squirmed, looked back at the still parking lot.
“That’s just it, there really doesn’t seem to be anything wrong. For all intents and purposes he’s in a deep sleep, not comatose, but still unconscious to the point of being past waking. Maybe something’ll come up on the tests today. Dr. Salvador’s very good at diagnosing and treatment. He’ll get to the bottom of it.”
“Thanks for your help.”
“Well, he’ll be going down for testing in a few minutes, so it’s a good time to go home and get changed, bring back stuff to read. That’ll give them time to do their thing and he should be settled back in by the time you come back.” He gave her a smile and patted her arm. “I never promise it’ll be okay, because you never can tell. But cross the bridges as they come. It could go either way and positive thinking will carry over to him.” With that he left.
Subconsciously she reached in her pocket and felt for the key. Something more was going on and she suspected the thing that followed her out of her dreams was trying to kill her father. A desperate part of her felt responsible. For not telling him sooner, for letting him out of the dreams.
“It’s time to find out what I need to do to fix this.”
Katherine climbed into the Jeep, fastened the seatbelt and leaned back with a heavy heart. In just twelve hours her entire existence had been irreversibly changed. At the moment she felt helpless and vulnerable and she didn’t like it. The tears came and she brushed them away like an unwelcome rain. Leaning forward, she turned the key , put the car into drive and navigated toward the exit.
The morning was hazy, with a thick veil of fog rising off the mountains in the distance. She pushed the button to roll the window down, letting in the fresh air. Relaxing she gave a signal to turn out of the hospital parking lot toward the townhouse. Glancing sideways, she fumbled in the CD case. Frustrated, she slowed down to look more closely, glancing into the mirror to make sure there was no one behind her. Two radiant red eyes shined back from the darkened interior of the back seat.
Katherine slammed on the breaks, struggled with the seatbelt, trying to get free. A filmy smoke formed around the eyes, slowly solidifying into a starved human form. It was almost skeletal, with thin gray skin stretched so tightly over bones it seemed ready to tear. The eyes were cold, no warmth, no heart, no soul lived within. As the smoke took form the sharp facial features stretched into a grimace, showing sharp, pointed teeth where there were any. From the black cavernous throat beyond a red ribbon with a forked end slid quickly in and out as if it were sensing the surroundings.
The car rolled into a curb as Katherine pushed the gear shift into park and stumbled out into the street. Something had her firmly by the arm and she spun around, all her anger boiling up inside, ready to fight. The seatbelt was wrapped around her arm holding her fast, but the car was empty. Backing away she hunkered on the bank opposite the vehicle. Shaking badly she drew her knees to her chest, took several deep breaths, choking back tears.
“Am I going mad, insane, totally nuts!?” she paused, looked around, the anger dissipated into embarrassment. The parking lot lay silent. Considering the circumstances she might have welcomed a curious passerby or good Samaritan.
“It’s all in my head. They’re messing with me,” she chided herself, tried to compensate for the lack of anything else to calm the fear. It was all too real. The dreams, these things she was seeing. If only she could stave it off
for as long as possible maybe she could prove herself wrong.
Slowly she stood and approached the back of the Jeep. No movement came from within. Katherine cupped her hands to see into the car through the tinted glass. The back seat and floor were empty. Stealthily she slid back toward the next set of windows and peered into the back cargo area. Nothing but the neat, orderly plastic tub that held emergency supplies.
With an odd feeling welling in the pit of her stomach, she approached the front driver’s door, which still stood open with the loosened seatbelt dangling out. Cautiously she leaned in and looked around. Nothing stared back. A car approached, slowed to a stop and rolled down the window. A nice looking, clean cut, middle aged man leaned over the passenger seat and smiled.
“You okay? Need any help?”
“No, just… uh, just a bee. It’s out now. Everything’s okay, but thanks for stopping.”
“Okay.” The window rolled back up as he drove away.
Saint Albans Mental Hospital was just a few blocks away and she knew if she shared this with anyone that’s where she would end up. Tucked away in a padded cell, wrapped securely in a straight jacket, unable to do anything to help her father.
Katherine climbed into the Jeep once again, foregoing the seatbelt this time. The doors locked with a dull click.
“Lotta good that would do,” she grumbled and a wave of nerves rushed through her. At the stop sign she reached around and retrieved the seatbelt.
“If they could get you they wouldn’t be playing games.” The buckle snapped into place and in some strange way it made her feel better. She drove to the town house, pulled into a parking space and stared at the brick structure.
“What am I going to find in there Dad? Answers? Or just more questions?”
Katherine picked up the paper on the way up the steps, thought to check the mailbox as well. Flipping the lid up and finding it empty she put the key in the door. Her eyes watered with the thought that all of the things she did so naturally, things she had done practically all her life, picking up the paper, checking the mail, might soon be gone forever. Shaking it off she turned the key.
Soul Inheritance Page 3
