Awakening

by Catrina Burgess

  “I can heal him. Let me go!” I struggled to get free.

  Freddy arms tightened around me. “You can’t heal him, he’s dead.”

  “No, no, no. He’s okay, let me go, Freddy, I can heal him.”

  Darla was gently stroking Luke’s forehead. Tears were streaming down her face.

  Freddy said in a harsh voice, “I won’t let you turn him into a zombie.”

  I stopped struggling, stunned by his words.

  “He told me what you can do. There’s no saving him. He’s been crushed to death. The stone weighs a thousand pounds. Luke’s dead…” Freddy’s words ended in a choked sob.

  I shook my head back and forth. “He can’t be dead. He’s not dead.”

  Freddy pulled me closer. He leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Colina, listen to me. You can’t help him.”

  I started struggling against his grip again. “I can! Let me go! Let me go!”

  Black smoke was now billowing in clouds on the other side of the room. People were rushing out in all directions.

  Freddy started dragging me out of the room.

  I screamed, I kicked, I scratched, I bit at Freddy, but he didn’t let me go.

  When we were finally outside, he threw me to the ground. I started to get up.

  Darla was now at Freddy’s side. Her eyes were full of tears. “You did this. You killed him,” she said.

  I shook my head. “No, no…”

  Darla wiped away the tears and yelled at me, “You wouldn’t listen! You wouldn’t wait! He tried to protect you. He went in there because of you, and now he’s dead!”

  Luke wasn’t dead. I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. I stood there in a daze. Flames were now showing from the windows. The mansion was on fire. People in black robes were rushing from the exits. But there were others too, running across the grounds, others who were dressed in regular clothes.

  “Those people in the basement. We need to get them out,” I yelled at Freddy.

  Darla watched the bodies racing across the yard and said, “I set them loose. I went down to the room when Freddy and Luke came after you. All the people being held hostage are free.”

  I had gone back into the mansion with the intention of saving the innocent people Macaven held hostage, but I hadn’t given them a second thought once I set my sights on Macaven. I had been so bent on my revenge, so focused on seeing Macaven die that I hadn’t cared at all what happened to anyone else. I had killed a man in cold blood, and then watched as the zombie I created killed a dozen more. I was responsible for it all. For my family’s death. For Luke’s death. It was all my fault.

  I slumped toward the ground. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be truly happening, it had to be a horrible nightmare that I would wake from at any moment from.

  Freddy grabbed my arm and started to pull me into the bushes. I was pulled and shoved through the woods, I didn’t resist instead I moved as if in a trance. When we finally made it to the car, Freddy pushed me inside.

  Luke couldn’t be dead. This was not happening. I was dreaming, and any moment I would wake up. What madness had possessed me to do something so rash as to go back into the mansion? What had I done? Luke was dead, and it was all my fault.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Revenge Comes With a Price

  I lay in Pagan’s bed, staring blindly at the ceiling. The drive back had seemed unreal, like some horrible dream. The whole way back Darla had cried, sobbed, and moaned for her brother. Freddy had been silent, and I had stared out the window unable or unwilling to process what had happened.

  I kept waiting to wake from this dream, I was desperate to wake and find Luke back at my side. But Luke was dead. The words rang through my head and forced me off the bed onto my feet. I walked over to the window. Storm clouds were gathering outside. I wondered when it would start raining. It was cold in the room, but I didn’t care. I welcomed the chill, it matched the one surrounding my heart.

  The gypsy had warned me. She’d said the awakening was dangerous, and she’d been right. The awakening had triggered something inside me. The rituals had changed me. I’d become darker, reckless, no longer worried about my life or the lives of others. I’d given in to my anger and rushed in to seek my revenge, not caring about the consequences, and because of my actions Luke was dead.

  The demon had granted me my inner-most wish--to see Macaven dead. But watching Macaven’s body crumple to the floor hadn’t given me any true pleasure. Revenge hadn’t brought my family back. I had tried to save my father, my brother, but I had failed and now their spirits were forever intertwined with a demon, an evil creature that was out there in the world doing who-knew-what unspeakable things? It was my fault the demon was free. My reckless behavior had set that monster loose. And if the creature hadn’t lied, if he told the truth and my family was dead because of me? I shook my head trying to make sense of it all. Was I really just a puppet in the twisted creature’s game? The demon had said our fates were intertwined, and that he would see me again. That I wasn’t ready yet to give him what he needed. His words sent a chill down my spine. What did it all mean?

  Every time I closed my eyes I could see the image of Luke’s lifeless body, crushed under the stone. But no tears streamed down my face. I felt nothing now but a dark, deep, void. A cold breeze ran across my cheek, and there was a pressure against my arm. Something was here in the room, something that was not of this world. A breeze rustled against my neck.

  “I’m here.” The words slid across my brain.

  “Luke?” It was him. His spirit was there with me in the room, I could feel it. I sobbed and reached out my arms. His spirit was with me, but I couldn’t touch him, I couldn’t hold him.

  “Luke, I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

  “I’m here. I’ll never leave you,” the voice called out.

  * * * *

  The cemetery didn’t look any less spooky in the daytime. I was on a hill close by, watching the proceedings from behind a tree. Fifty people were gathered in a semicircle, all dressed in black. I had watched six strong men carrying Luke’s casket through the cemetery. It now rested near an open grave.

  Storm clouds filled the sky. It hadn’t started raining yet, but a cold wind whipped through the trees.

  “Thank you.” The words whispered across my ears, and a cold chill ran across my fingers.

  I looked up into the face of Sarah’s ghost. Her Spirit stood before me, almost solid.

  “Because of you, I’m finally free. I wanted to thank you before I go.”

  “Were you the one guiding me, helping me find Darla?”

  Sarah nodded her head, and her image started to go translucent.

  A light, a brightness like the sun, appeared only a few feet away. Like before, there were forms, shapes at the other end of the light. An incredible feeling of love and joy radiated out from within the light, and voices began calling out Sarah’s name.

  Sarah turned toward the light and then back to me. “My family is calling and, because of you, I can finally go to them.” She looked down at the funeral procession. “I’ve a message to pass onto you before I go. “

  “A message from who?” Was it from my mother? Could spirits commute with each other on the other side? I hadn’t seen or heard from my mother since the night we worked the Ouija board spell.

  “Don’t forget who you are,” Sarah whispered as the light reached out and engulfed her, and she disappeared.

  “Don’t forget who you are.” Those were the same words the gypsy healer had told me when she gave me the protection pouch. But I had to forget who I had been. For I was no longer the gentle healer. I was no longer on the path of light. I walked in darkness now, and death and destruction shadowed my every step.

  I had set the demon free. It was running out there running loose in the world disguised as a young child. And Luke. The image of his lifeless body flashed before my eyes. I gave myself a mental shake. I wouldn’t think about that now. I’d lock those imag
es into the deepest, darkest corner of my mind, and maybe one day I would deal with them, but not today.

  It was then I felt another presence, not a spirit this time, but a person. I said her name, but I didn’t turn around. “Darla.”

  “I knew you’d be here.” She waited for me to say something, but when I remained silent she continued. “Macaven’s coven is broken, my guild is hunting down those members responsible for the killings, and there’ll be a reckoning for what they did, for the lives they took. They hid their actions by blaming the deaths on the Redeemers, but everyone knows the truth now. Word has spread about what happened. Rumors have started about my kind. People are blaming us for those creatures at the hospital, for the massacre at the mansion. My family is in danger because of what you did. I know that you can raise the dead. Freddy told me what you did at the hospital and I told my family. They had to clean up what you did at the mansion. That thing you left…all those people dead…”

  I turned and looked at her. A black scarf covered her hair and her dress was long and black.

  I forced myself to ask the question, “How many dead?”

  “Twenty dead, a dozen more in the hospital.” Her eyes filled with hatred. “You saved me, and for that I’ll give you this warning. My family wants you dead. They blame you for what happened to Luke. I blame you. He should never have gone back into that place. He’s dead, and it’s all your fault. Don’t come back here. If I see you again, I’ll kill you myself.”

  I started to walk away, and she grabbed my arm. “Luke is around, I can feel him. We tried to do a ceremony to get his spirit to go into the light, but he won’t.” She sobbed, “I know it’s because of you. Freddy told me what you did to Thomas. You can make Luke go into the light, you can free him.”

  I shook my head.

  “You can do it,” she pleaded.

  “No. no, I can’t. I won’t let him go.” I shook off her grip and walked away from her.

  The sky overhead opened up and rain poured down. There was nowhere left for me to go. My clan would never let me come back once they found out what I’ve become. Once they found out the terrible acts I had committed in the name of revenge. I had killed a man in cold blood and there was a demon out there roaming around because of me. Dozens had died that night in the mansion. I hadn’t cared about their lives—I’d been too intent on revenge. A sob escaped my lips. Luke was dead. It was my fault. I could never take back the things I had done to avenge my family.

  I wiped the wet hair from my face. Luke’s death had been violent and unexpected, which meant that, for a short time at least, his spirit should be unsettled, roaming the ether sea. But Luke’s spirit was here, with me. I could feel him at different times around me.

  Possession. The word gave me hope. Luke had said a spirit could over power someone weak, or someone on the edge of insanity. Wanda’s spirit had possessed me. Her very essence had filled me, moved my body and limbs at her command. With Luke's help, I had been able to force her out, but what if I hadn’t? Wanda would have been able to roam the world using my body.

  Possession. I was a death dealer now, I could bring him back, Luke could possess someone and come back to me. I could help force his spirit back into a living body.

  I looked up at the dark sky and rain fell down on my face. I didn’t have a lot of power. I had survived the rituals, but I hadn’t finished the death dealer training. There had to be someone out there who could teach me. I could learn spells, and I could find the books that would help me.

  Possession. It was my one chance to bring Luke back. If there was a way to bring him back, I’d find it. He was the only thing I had left. The only reason I still had to go on.

  I wrapped my arms around my body and looked out toward the cemetery. “Whatever it takes,” I vowed. And as I said the words, I felt a chill run across my neck and a ghostly touch slide down my cheek.

  THE END