Under a Blood Moon

by Zoë Fox

  Holding the key up so Sean could see, she smiled. “It’s not breaking and entering if you have a key. Happy now? We can’t get into any trouble.”

  Sean rolled his eyes. Being threatened hadn’t done anything to improve his mood. “No, we can still get arrested. It’s just called criminal trespassing now, or, in this case interfering with an ongoing police investigation. It’s still bad.”

  Alex ignored him as she inserted the key into the lock. Turning the metal, she listened for the pop before opening the door. Pulling down the yellow crime scene tape, she made room for them to enter.

  She held her breath as they stared into the dark abyss the door had been protecting. A minute passed as Alex tried to summon the nerve to walk inside. ‘This is ridiculous’, she thought to herself, willing her legs to move.

  “See, nothing to it.” She said, once she’d forced herself across the threshold. She went to take another step, but felt her feet go out from under her. She’d stepped on something hard, causing her to lose her balance.

  Lucas was there immediately, one had clamping down on her shoulder, the other wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him in an attempt to help her stand. His fingers dug into her skin through her jacket.

  “Um, thanks,” she said, trying to pull away. The front of her was pressed hard against the muscles of his stomach and chest. Her throat had gone dry from the contact, her pulse racing from the adrenaline her brain released when she thought she was going to fall.

  He stared down at her, his eyes hard. He could feel her heartbeat against his chest, a wild rhythm. The smell of her was enhanced by her fear. He inhaled deeply, the arm around her waist gripping her tighter to him.

  Her eyes widened in confusion. The intensity of his stare made her blush. Slowly he bent his head down towards her. Without thinking, she tilted her face upwards to him.

  “You guys okay?” Sean asked from the doorway.

  Lucas stopped, his mouth an inch from hers. “We’re fine,” he replied as he reluctantly released her.

  Alex steadied herself, wishing Sean had kept his mouth shut for just a few more seconds. Glancing around she found what she had tripped over. Someone had left a mop laying on the hardwood floor. She reached into her pocket and removed a small flashlight so she wouldn’t run into another obstacle. Turning it on, she shined it at the mop. She inhaled deeply, smelling bleach.

  “Bad things happened here,” Toad said, grasping her hand. “Really bad things.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “I have no idea what you hope to find here,” Lucas leaned his shoulder against the front door.

  “What a coincidence, neither do I.” She tossed a flashlight she’d found in the laundry room to Sean, who looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. She’d only thought to bring one for herself. Toad, however, surprised her by opening his candy filled briefcase to reveal that he’d packed his own flashlight.

  “Can’t we just turn on a light. This place is seriously creeping me out,” Sean whined.

  Alex rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because we really want someone to call the cops and let them know we’re here. Jeez, I thought you didn’t want to go to jail.”

  “At least it’s not this dark there,” he mumbled.

  “If you could only tell me what it is we are looking for, I might be able to speed the process up,” Lucas tried again as she and Toad flashed their lights across the darkened room.

  “Look, I’d tell you if I knew, but I don’t exactly break into crime scenes on a regular basis.” She said, taking Toad’s hand. “I’m going into the kitchen. You guys can follow me or stand there complaining for all I care.”

  When left with the decision of staying in a pitch-black room with a vampire or going after Alex, Sean was finally faced with an easy choice.

  Once in the kitchen, she shone her light around. Sitting in the middle of the room was a lone kitchen chair.

  “That’s where he tied her up,” Alex guessed. “My uncle says they found the body sitting there, exsanguinated and headless.” She shivered. The air in this room was much colder.

  “This place reeks of death.” Lucas said, the corner of his lip lifting in distaste.

  “Really?” Alex sniffed the air. “I don’t smell anything.”

  “You are lucky. The stench is almost overpowering.”

  Sean mimicked her. “I can’t either. You sure you’re not imagining it?”

  Lucas rolled his yes. “I have a highly-developed sense of smell. The odor left behind after death is something you never forget.”

  “Toad smells it.”

  Alex turned to look at her brother, shocked. “What do you mean? You can actually smell it?”

  Toad nodded, his eyes wide. “It smells like fear and blood and trash and everything else bad. It’s bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.”

  “You can’t smell fear,” Sean argued.

  “Toad can and Lucas can.” The little boy responded, his voice wavering as he spoke. “She was scared and it hurt and he didn’t care. He was hungry and he didn’t care if it hurt her.”

  Lucas stepped away from the wall he leaned against and grasped Toad’s hand firmly, offering comfort. The idea of a child being able to sense even the smallest bit of what he could smell seemed wrong to him. Toad smiled up at him as if to say thanks.

  “I think we ought to take your brother home now.” Lucas had no way of knowing exactly what Toad was experiencing, but he knew it couldn’t be good.

  Toad shook his head. “She needs me.”

  “Who needs you Toad? If you’re worried about me,” Alex said, “I can come back later, okay? If you’re scared, I’ll take you home.”

  “Toad not scared! Toad needed here!” He insisted. Looking up at Lucas, he took a deep breath. “She’s still here.”

  “Who?” Lucas said calmly. “Tell me.”

  “She. The lady who died here. She’s still here. She’s trapped. She’s scared and she’s still hurting.” Toad squeezed Lucas’ hand. His voice sounded panicky. “Toad has to help her.”

  “What the hell is he talking about?” Alex demanded of Lucas. It seemed he had some idea of what was going on and she needed answers.

  “I have taken an oath of silence on the subject, Alex. I will not break a promise.” Lucas glanced down at Toad, hoping his smile appeared reassuring. He would not betray the child’s confidence.

  “If you know what’s got him so worked up, you need to tell me.”

  “I cannot.” Lucas stood firm, holding Toad’s tiny hand in the dark.

  “Sometimes I seriously want to stake you,” Alex glared at him. “He’s my brother—”

  “And he has asked that I keep his secrets.”

  “He’s six! He doesn’t have secrets.”

  “Toad has secrets.” Her brother interrupted. “Toad has secrets he can’t talk about. Doesn’t know how.” He pulled on Lucas’ hand to get his attention. “Tell her. She’s scared and needs me and they have to help.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Toad nodded. “Toad doesn’t know the words, but Alex needs to know and Lucas does know. Lucas should tell Alex.”

  Lucas nodded. “Alex, your brother is a highly talented psychic. Exactly what he’s capable of, I don’t know, but his talent is as I have never seen before. If he says that the woman who died here hasn’t left, then I would believe him.”

  Toad nodded. “Toad knows things.”

  Alex glared at Lucas. “And you’ve known this how long and didn’t tell me?”

  “I made a promise.” Lucas said firmly. “I stand by my word.”

  “He’s my brother. If he’s some kind of psychic, I should know,” she insisted.

  “Stop arguing now.” Toad yelled. “She’s already scared and you’re making it worse. She’s hurting and you’re arguing and it’s stupid when someone is in pain.”

  Alex sighed. Could this night get any weirder?

  “What can we do to help her?” Sean asked.

  Lucas and Alex both
turned to look at him, having forgotten that he was even there.

  “What? The kid says there’s a scared ghost here and she needs his help.” Sean was shaking, but for a different reason. “Look at him. He’s not leaving until he fixes whatever he thinks he’s supposed to do and I want to get the hell out of here, so can we just help the dead chick already and leave? Please?”

  Alex nodded. “What do you want us to do, Toad.?”

  “Hold my hands.” He reached for Alex’s palm. She gripped his tightly. “Now you,” he said, looking at Sean.

  “Let Lucas help you.”

  “You said you wanted us to help, so quit being a baby,” Alex glared at him.

  “Like I said, hold Lucas’ hand. She can’t hurt him.”

  Toad narrowed his eyes at Sean. “Lucas is dead. You’re not. Dead can’t help dead.”

  Sean stood where he was, not moving.

  Toad glanced at Lucas. “Help.” He reached for the older man’s hand.

  Taking Toad’s palm into his, Lucas was immediately overtaken by a series of images. Black and white. Open and shut. Life and death. Opposites. Toad was sending him flashes of opposite forces in an attempt to explain what he couldn’t vocally. Every set came in threes, a well-argued sacred number.

  Lucas let go of the child. “Sean, life and death are opposites. I am, technically, no longer living, where as you are.”

  “So?”

  He sighed. “In order to send her, the woman who was hurt here, a message, Toad needs the power of life behind him. He requires three living beings in order to have enough energy to reach her. I cannot help with this. It has to be you.”

  Toad nodded. “She’s scared. Help, please.”

  Sean’s breath came out uneven, his pulse raced. This was crazy. No one could talk to the dead. It didn’t make sense. He glanced over at Lucas. Then again, vampires didn’t exactly make sense. If he got out of this alive, he was seriously going to simplify his life. He should be worrying about grades and girls, not vampires and dead women.

  “Fine,” He said, reluctantly grasping Toady’s hand.

  The second Sean’s skin touched Toad’s, it was if the final wire in a circuit was connected to a battery. Energy flooded through the three of them, causing the hair on the backs of their arms to rise.

  “Is this supposed to happen?” Sean asked, his skin tingling.

  Toad shrugged. “Don’t know. Never tried it before. Now Shhh! Only Toad gets to talk.”

  Alex squeezed his hand tighter. She had no idea what her brother was up to, but she was afraid for him. Still, he’d asked for silence, so she didn’t say anything.

  “Can you hear me?” Toad called out into the room. “I see you. Can you see me?” From the corner of his eye he could see her walking aimlessly through the kitchen, confused. There was so much pain and fear in that room that he wanted to close his eyes and hide behind Lucas.

  Alex and Sean were filled with the same sensations as Toad. The pain became a lump in her throat, preventing her from crying out.

  “Toad is here to help you.” He said reassuringly. “You’re scared, but you don’t have to be. Toad can help. No one can hurt you anymore.”

  The power between them connected to its opposite force the moment Toad caught her attention. Death and life blending, the current from the three linked to the spirit and then hit Lucas. He stood up straight with the jolt of the force, an unexpected shock

  The power of the circuit they created energized the spirit, bringing it into focus for all their eyes. Before them stood a woman made completely of shades of gray, the refrigerator visible through her transparent skin.

  Someone, Alex didn’t know if it was her or Sean, inhaled deeply. This couldn’t be happening. She had to be dreaming.

  “He was mean. Toad knows, but you have to sleep now. It won’t hurt any more if you sleep.” He sounded like he was trying to coax a scared animal to him.

  The woman stared at Toad, confused, her face a mixture of pain and fear. She hurt too much to think about resting.

  “Toad wants to help!” He insisted. “Toad knows it was bad and nobody should hurt like that. But you’re dead now. You’re dead. You’re dead and you have to rest.”

  The specter before them shook its head.

  “She’s scared.” Toad told the others. “She hurts and she can’t get away from it. She’s afraid. We have to help her.”

  “I thought that’s what we’re going now!” Sean’s voice was filled with panic. Twice he’d tried to rip his hand from Toad’s, but the energy flowing through them acted as a magnet, connecting the pieces. The circuit refused to be broken.

  “No, Toad had to get her attention. Now we help.”

  “What does that mean,” Alex asked. Her skin felt like it was going to crawl off if Toad didn’t let go of her soon. Every instinct inside of her screamed for her to run, but the face in front of her was so forlorn she couldn’t imagine walking away.

  “We have to take her pain away.” Toad took a deep breath. “Get ready. This is going to hurt.”

  “I didn’t sign up for this!” Sean screamed, just before his vision went blank, his eyes failing him.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  For a moment, Alex felt like she was floating. She had the uncomfortable sensation of being bodiless. As if everything she was made of was composed of that horrible feeling that happens when a foot falls asleep.

  She couldn’t breathe. She willed her lungs to intake air, but they wouldn’t. All she could see was a never-ending blackness, a cold, dark void of nothingness. And then the reality of what the woman suffered hit her.

  She was trapped, her hands bound to a chair. She felt the razor-sharp knife dig into the sensitive flesh of her wrists. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. Only blood. There was only blood and pain. Her entire world was made of it. There had never been anything before the panic, nothing before the pain and the blood falling steadily into the white buckets at her feet.

  The man in front of her was talking. The voice seemed familiar, but she couldn’t focus. She’d heard it before, but his words didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense.

  Her heart raced, her own pulse speeding up the stream of blood crawling down the soft skin of her arm. And then the knife came again. He slashed it, more savagely this time, across the other wrist. The pain intensified. Before she would have thought that impossible, but it got worse. Her skin burned, her veins ached.

  He laughed at something he’d said. A cruel sound, like a can opener on rusty aluminum. She begged him to help her. She promised him anything, yet nothing moved him.

  She forced her head up, the act draining her of energy. She tried to see who it was doing this to her. Who it was that could be so evil. But he’d stepped into the shadows. There was something about him. She knew him, but she didn’t. She knew nothing but pain. Had there ever been a time when she didn’t hurt like this?

  It felt like there was a weight pressing down on her chest, making each breath a labor. She was tired, but something told her not to close her eyes. If she did, it would be over and there’d be no hope for her. Her line of sight began to blur, the blackness of his soul clouded her vision. It threatened to creep over her completely, consuming her with its horrible nothingness.

  The room was silent, except for the awful sound of blood dripping into the bucket. Every drop that fell signified one more second of her life gone, like some perverted hourglass. Who could be this cruel? What had she done to deserve this?

  She moved her arm, trying to struggle against the ropes that bound her, but she was losing energy fast. She barely managed to change the angle of her wrist. A drop of blood slid silently against the outer side of the white plastic bucket.

  She was getting sleepy. Her head lolled hopelessly on her useless neck. She tried to straighten herself, but she couldn’t force her body upwards. Everything inside her, the world itself forced her downward as her body slumped in the chair. It was as if whatever made her a person was crawling
down her arm towards those buckets, leaving one orb of fluid at a time.

  Her eyes were useless. The darkness had encompassed her whole world. There was nothing but blackness and pain. She was scared and he was laughing again. She didn’t know who he was, but she hated him. Hated his laugh. Hated the way he smelled. Hated him with everything that was left inside her, everything that hadn’t yet made its way into those buckets.

  And the pain stopped, as suddenly as it had started. Her eyes opened tentatively, expecting to find herself still trapped in the chair. Instead, she felt the softness of Toad’s tiny hand in hers. Through it all, she hadn’t let go.

  He was sweating, his tiny brow covered, his eyes fixated on something across the room.

  Alex forced herself to look. The transparent woman was now bathed in light. She’d turned her back to them. Glancing over her shoulder at the child, she mouthed something Alex couldn’t make out. And then she was gone.

  “Bye-bye. Sleep now.” Toad murmured.

  “What did she say?” Alex asked, her voice hoarse from swallowed screams. Her wrist still burned.

  Toad glanced over at her, his tired eyes appearing much too old in his small face. “She said ‘thank you’.”

  Alex nodded. Breathing was still a chore, but her lungs were beginning to respond again. She turned her head, intending to check on her friend.

  Although Toad still held his hand firmly, Sean had slumped to the floor. Somewhere in the middle of it all, he’d passed out cold.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Lucas asked for the third time. He passed her one of the mugs he’d picked up a few days ago. After they’d revived Sean, Lucas had thought it best to bring them all to his residence. Sean was still shaken up and Alex seemed completely drained of energy. She’d had to lean on Lucas for most of the walk. The side of her body pressed against him, he found himself wondering how she would have reacted had he kissed her earlier that night, before everything took a turn for the worse.

  Alex nodded. Lifting the mug to her lips, she took a small sip of hot chocolate only to find it cold. Her face screwed up at the displeasing surprise of something other than expected.