Grim

by Thea Atkinson

  "Because I'm ready for it this time," he said.

  I sent harried glances around us. We couldn't fight that thing in the hallway. What if no one else saw it but us? In the end if we did anything, no doubt we'd be tossed out on our ears and Sarah would be left here alone with it.

  "What do you want?" I asked of it.

  It merely smiled at me with a snakelike grin that stretched across his face in an eerie yet calm movement.

  In that moment, a nurse exited from Sarah's ward room and brushed through the space where the doppelgänger stood. It disappeared like smoke and I felt as though a cold blast of wind had swept across my face. I shivered. Hugged myself with my arms crossed over my chest.

  "Did that make you as nauseous as it did me?" I murmured.

  "If you mean do I feel as though I just had a chance to get a really good whiff of death's armpits," Callum said. "Then yes."

  "Then that clinches it," I said, looking up at him and let the relief show on my face. He touched my chin with his thumb and then pulled it away as if he'd not meant to touch me at all.

  I looked at the space the thing had been. "It's not strong enough. Whatever she did to it back there, it's drained."

  Both of us converged on Sarah's room so quickly, that we met the doorway at the same time. He was so broad, however, he took up most of the space and I ended up having to squeeze past him when I saw Sarah lying in her bed. She was hooked up to an IV, sleeping.

  I crept up next to the bed and lay my hand on hers. She still looked pale but not as ghastly white as she had when we left the crypt. There was indeed one other person in the room with her, fiddling with her cell phone. I ignored the girl when she gave me an annoyed look and sat down next to Sarah. Callum flicked the curtain closed around us. The metallic clang of stainless steel rings against stainless steel rods met my ears. I waited until we were enclosed in the curtain before I lay a hand on her forehead, stroking the black bangs away from her eyes.

  I was relieved when they fluttered open.

  "Sarah," I said in a breath. "How are you doing?"

  I was relieved to see she wasn't in a strait jacket, but merely lay quietly in the bed. The sheets were tucked up to her collarbone and her arms lay outside them on the sheets. Tubes and wires ran everywhere. She looked at me without recognition at first.

  "Chemical restraints," Callum said. "They're keeping her quiet with drugs."

  "Shit," I said. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to be powerless and trapped in my body and shivered. "How is this safe for her?"

  I stared down and noticed her mouth working to speak.

  I pressed my ear against her mouth.

  "What?" I said when I felt her lips move but heard nothing.

  There was a moment when the tinnitus in my ear got so loud, I thought perhaps she had screeched into it and I flinched, pulling away from her without meaning to. It was then that I realized Callum had thrown himself onto the bed and was pushing me away from it. His shove sent me reeling back into the curtain and I grabbed the material to keep from falling.

  There, standing next to her bed, was the doppelgänger. It smiled very prettily, sweeping blonde hair away from its cheek and tucking it behind a duplicate of Sarah's delicate ear. Without a word, it sat down next to her on the bed and twirled a lock of her black hair around its finger. Pulled it out straight and then twirled around its finger again. All the while, it watched me as I stood paralyzed. I was vaguely aware that Callum had stepped behind me and that his arm was around my waist. I could feel his breath sweeping across the top of my head. For a second, I felt claustrophobic. The electric jolt of his touch firing off alarms in my tissues at the same time as the buzzing in my ears made me feel as though the room was closing in on me. I clutched at my chest, trying to remind myself my heart was still beating.

  "What in the hell is it doing here?" he whispered in my ear. I had the feeling he was hoping that thing couldn't hear us and at the same time was quite certain it could read lips.

  I shook my head. "I have no idea. But I can't just let it sit there with her."

  As if to confirm that it knew exactly what we were thinking, it lifted a finger and beckoned me closer. Fat chance of that. If anything, I was going to find something to throw at it. It smiled. Then it put the duplicate of Sarah's palm on the unconscious Sarah's head. I watched as my friend's mouth opened and a sound just sort of hissed out of it without her lips forming words.

  "I know what you are," it said, then let go a derisive snort from Sarah's mouth. The effect the sound made as it moved from her lungs as someone played with her vocal cords wasn't near as awful as the way her expression remained perfectly clean of emotion. Both made my skin crawl. The buzzing in my ears intensified to a growl. The tattoo on my calf ached as though someone was twisting the skin. I had to reach out for the bed to keep myself from collapsing beneath the pain of it.

  I felt Callum's hands spasm on my waist and I swallowed slowly, trying to form some response. I hated that it had managed to goad me, to frighten me.

  "I know what you are," I said to it. "And I don't care."

  I hoped it would get the message--that I had no plans to attack it. Heck. I didn't think I even could hurt it. I certainly hadn't been able to do so in the crypt the night before, and I was no better equipped today than I was yesterday.

  Kill or incapacitate is what Sarah had said of it. I'd accepted the explanation at the time without question, because I was still trying to process all of the information coming at me at the speed of light. But now that the thing was in front of me again, toying with Sarah's hair, I found myself wondering exactly what powers it had been imbued it with. What its purpose was. She had dug herself into that crypt for a reason. She had carried with her a cooler of viscera and a few sandwiches and lit candles and lived there for at least a week before she texted me. I hadn't questioned any of that then. I questioned it now.

  Whatever she was running from, it had to be worse than this. And this was pretty bad.

  The thing seemed to watch every thought cross my mind. It cocked its head back and forth from one side to the next and then finally angled its head so that those bright blue eyes so much like Sarah's took me in like lamplight. A smile tugged at the corners of its mouth.

  "You're still new," it mused from Sarah's mouth. "Fledgling." It stood to its feet and pulled its fingers down along Sarah's throat and shoulder and let them whisper all the way down her bare arm to her fingers. "How delightful."

  I halted. It seemed to be growing more solid as we watched, gaining power. No doubt from its connection to Sarah. In no time, it might have enough to come at us again. Or to harm her. I was just three steps away and I could lunge forward if I wanted, but I'd seen what it could do in the blink of an eye back in the crypt. I knew it could transform into something far more terrifying with long fingers and a strength that could strangle with one hand. It could slip that hand around Sarah's neck and choke the life from her while we watched. Then it would be Callum and I in here with her with no way to explain how a girl could choke to death without either one of us touching her.

  I tried to make eye contact with her, to see if she was aware of what was going on. Her eyes were opened, yes, but there was a vacant sort of look in them, as though the drugs were paralysing her and keeping her from processing anything she saw. Maybe that was a good thing. I held my hand out, nonthreatening.

  It lunged at me, but never took its hand from Sarah's. Even so, I flinched and jumped backward, landing solidly into Callum.

  "I don't think it wants to attack you," he whispered. "I think he's just trying to scare you."

  "He?" I said. "You think it's trans?" It was a bad joke, and I knew it, but I was too deep into the mucky pit of fear to rationalize whether or not it made sense. My fingers gripped the curtain, pulling the edges into my fist nervously.

  "What do you think we should do?" I said.

  "I say kill the bastard," Callum said.

  The doppelgänger grinned.r />
  "I think that's a dare," I said. I scrambled mentally for a way to do exactly what Callum suggested. Surely in a hospital room, there was more to hand than just a bedpan and a curtain.

  "I've never passed up a dare yet," Callum said and even as he lunged for the thing, I grabbed his elbow.

  "Not yet," I said. "We have no idea what it will do to Sarah. We don't even know how to kill it."

  "I say we start with the throat and work our way through to the spine." He ground out.

  I knew he was remembering exactly how he felt back in the crypt, surprised and powerless beneath the Doppelgängers grip. I understood exactly how he felt, but we simply didn't know enough to go on the offensive just yet.

  "I'd feel better if it wasn't sitting so close to her when we try to...kill it." I wanted to believe it was for her safety, but something in the back of my mind reminded me of what I'd suffer if we succeeded--I didn't think I'd want to end up lying there in chemical restraints when the staff found me screaming in pain as a brand seared itself magically onto my skin.

  "Maybe we can lure it away from her," I said.

  I looked sideways at him to see his jawline rigid and tight with fury.

  Callum took a step toward the bed but the thing didn't so much as move. It certainly wasn't threatened by a six foot four muscled fireman. At least it didn't lunge for us. I took a step forward, thinking maybe I could get his attention and draw it away from Sarah.

  The thing hissed.

  "Well, I'll be," Callum said. "It doesn't like you."

  I leveled my gaze on the thing that looked like Sarah. "Feeling is mutual, dude," I said.

  I wasn't sure what was holding it back, what was keeping it tethered to its place, but I was grateful for it. The curtains certainly didn't provide much security, and even with Callum standing right there, I was worried for the safety of the other patient. I wondered briefly if she heard us whispering about killing things behind the curtain, then I realized she'd been wearing her ear buds when we came in the room. But what of the nurses down the hallway? What if they came in and heard us? What if the thing decided to attack them?

  We had to act quickly.

  "Leave her alone," I said to it, hoping it would at least get distracted. "She told us exactly what you are. She told us exactly how to get rid of you." It was a ridiculous risk, but I didn't know what else to do.

  It stole a glance over at the semiconscious girl in the bed. "She did?" It said through Sarah's lips.

  I had the feeling it was glaring at her. I wasn't sure what powers the thing had. For all I knew, it could simply scoop her up and pop off into some other reality. I wasn't even sure if the thing was sitting there like a beacon for her family to hone in on. It had proven incredibly strong and dangerous in the crypt, and I couldn't put the rest of these innocent people at risk should it gather enough power to gain physical form.

  "Yes, she did," I said. "She told us all about you."

  "Is that a threat, Nathelium?" it said through Sarah's open mouth.

  "Na--what?" Callum said. "Is it speaking English?"

  "You're running out of time," It said through Sarah's mouth. Corporeality. It was gaining corporeality every second.

  I expected the thing to hurl itself at me, and when it swung his gaze back around to face me, it had transformed just enough so that Sarah's beautiful face looked like that troll thing we'd encountered in the crypt. I thought it was trying to bully me. I didn't take well to bullying. Before I could give it a second thought, I stepped forward. As I did, the thing stepped back, leaning away from me as though we were two sides of one magnet.

  "It doesn't want you anywhere near it," Callum said from behind me.

  I knew it was true even as I took another step. The thing seemed to be forced backward. I leaned forward, it leaned backward. I cocked my head at it. I didn't think it was afraid of me. It certainly hadn't been the night before, so something was different.

  The girl coughed from the other side of the curtain. Then she started into a coughing fit. I had the feeling she was going to press her buzzer and the nurses would be in at any moment. I was sure they wouldn't want to see the curtains around Sarah closed, wouldn't want to see someone in here at all. I jammed my hands into my pockets, searching for my phone so I could pretend I needed privacy to call a loved one.

  My fingers brushed against something soft.

  That was when I realized what was different about me today than yesterday. I yanked the bag Gramp had given me from my pocket and dangled it in front of me. In the very second I did that, the thing hissed and transformed so that Sarah's beautiful visage turned into something drawn and haggard.

  A bubble of giddiness tripped its way up my throat. That was it. Whatever Gramp had given me for Sarah, this thing was repelled by it. I waved it forward as a test, and for every inch I moved it in the doppelgänger's direction, the doppelgänger leaned that far back.

  "I'll be damned," Callum said from behind me.

  I took one look at Sarah lying there on the bed with that thing's hand touching her skin and I threw the bag onto her chest. My moment of victory as it landed on Sarah's chest was short-lived. I hadn't counted on the doppelgänger being free to attack me if I wasn't holding the bag. It leapt for me. I had less than a second to react, and I knew my reflexes were too slow even on a good day. I also knew it had what it needed to lunge and do damage.

  Callum pushed me from behind onto Sarah's bed and even as I twisted around on it to see what was going on behind me, I caught sight of that thing lifted off the floor and flying toward Callum. With not so much as a change of expression, his hand snapped forward and caught that beast straight in the throat. One twirl and leg kick later, Callum had connected it with the back of his heel. As the doppelgänger fell sideways, Callum's fingers jammed forward and the thing opened its mouth to let go a silent howl. Then it leveled its clouded gaze at me, one eye socket oozing yellow fluid and the other looking as though something had clotted inside behind the lens.

  Sarah's chest lurched upward, her chest arching in what looked like a painful spasm. I watched horrified as the doppelgänger spoke through her again, this time letting her mouth move when she spoke.

  "I bet you don't even know what he is," It said in a hoarse voice that could have been gravel running over chalkboard. Sarah took to laughing with a throaty chuckle that sounded so far from her regular feminine tinkle. It made my skin crawl.

  "I do know," I said. "He's human. Just like me."

  The thing gave me one last meaningful look. Then it disappeared.

  I collapsed onto the bed, drained of every ounce of energy. I thought I could hear the other patient complaining on the other side of the curtain to stop all the noise. Then she swore. The next thing I knew, she was threatening to get the nurse.

  I lifted my gaze to Callum's face. He could have gotten hurt. That thing could've killed him. If it had gotten hold of him, if it had managed to get close enough, things might have turned out very differently.

  Even so, I had to give the guy credit. He'd stepped up. While I'd been frozen in fear with my slow reflexes, he'd done what I should have. Some grim reaper I turned out to be. I almost smiled, relieved I didn't have some preternatural abilities that would mark me as what Azrael claimed I had become. I almost laughed with relief.

  "That was something," I said. "Think you can teach me to do that?"

  He swayed in front of me for all of three seconds before he smiled.

  Then he collapsed to his knees.

  He was only then that I noticed the doppelgänger had somehow razored through his collarbone. A bloom of blood stained the front of his shirt.

  I might have jumped from the bed to call for help, but apparently the noise had already done that for me.

  The nurse flicked the curtain open and when she saw Callum on the floor and the blood pooling out from beneath him, all hell literally broke loose.

  CHAPTER 14

  I waited in the emergency room for three hours befo
re I saw Callum again. I paced and flipped through magazines without seeing a single word. I turned on the television and snapped it off again because Supernatural was on and I didn't even want to think the word let alone watch a show filled with the stuff.

  I was loathe to leave Sarah alone, and I hated Callum was somewhere behind the swinging doors where I couldn't see him. But I knew that if the doppelgänger had been repelled by the thing Gramp had sent for her, that tucked beneath her pillow, it should keep her safe enough till I returned.

  That didn't mean we were safe. I had to take it on faith the thing wouldn't show itself in a room full of doctors. That it would hover around Sarah but be unable to hurt her.

  I had no idea what was in the little satchel Gramp had given me, but if it was enough to repel a beast like that, then I resolved to ask him for a dozen of them.

  By the time Callum did come out of the triage room with a bright white bandage peeking out from beneath his shirt and a red stain covering him from collar to midchest, I was tired and hungry and about ready to claw my way through the nurse who ushered him out into the waiting room.

  "About time," I said grumpily. I didn't want to ask how he was. I was afraid of his answer.

  He gave me a sheepish, yet surprised grin. "I didn't expect to see you here," he said.

  I pushed off the plastic chair and took a step toward him, uneasy, tentative. I jammed my hands into my jacket pocket because I had no idea what to do with them.

  "Well I couldn't just leave you here," I said. "You still have to tell me how you did that."

  "And here I thought you cared," he said.

  I chewed my lip. "I do," I said. "I mean, it's just that..."

  For some reason, my hands in my pockets turned my jacket into some strangely winged bird flapping about. When I realized how ridiculous I must look, I pulled my hands free of the pockets and stuck them beneath my armpits, hugging myself and toeing the floor with the tip of my boot.

  I could barely look at him.

  "So you're going to be okay?" I asked from beneath the fringe of my bangs.