“That went well,” Chad observes as he pushes their mom out into the hall. “You okay, Mom?”
“Right as rain.” Carrie Chamberlain looks small in the chair but her voice is much stronger than it had been the night before. “Things always work out for the best, remember that.”
“Yeah, Mom. You’re right.” Holly placates her Mom as she slides into step beside her brother. They navigate the halls in silence giving Holly time to reflect on what things are going to look like at home. She decides it will be best to set her mom up in the living room. She wonders if it will be best for her to take a longer break from school, perhaps the rest of the semester.
“I know what you’re thinking, Holly.” Her mom’s voice breaks the silence as they wait for Beau and his van. “You will go back to school and finish this semester.”
“What? How did you know I was considering it?”
“Because I’m your mother,” Carrie Chamberlain cranes her neck to look up at her daughter, “and I know you. I refuse to let you drop out of school, you’ll never go back if you do.”
“But I can just take the rest of the term off and go back in the fall,” Holly argues.
“No, you won’t. You’ve missed enough already. You should be in class, not holding a bedside vigil.”
“Nobody was here, Mom. I wasn’t about to leave you to wake up in an empty room.” Holly’s voice betrays her emotion. Mercifully, her brother pulls up in the van. She chokes down her feelings and climbs into the passenger seat. Beau looks at her quizzically but Holly just shakes her head and mouths, “later.”
Her brothers really come through on the drive home. They run interference with updates on her nieces and nephews, the only topics that can deter her mother anymore, leaving Holly to silent contemplation. She needs to call Carmen. The bubble of her mom’s hospital room has burst and the reality of her supernatural situation comes crashing back.
She wonders what she’s missed over the past few days. Maybe the darkness over her fate has magically disappeared. Somehow, Holly fears she’s not that lucky. Beau punches her leg playfully and offers a reassuring smile as they pull into the driveway. Holly sees a flicker of movement in the bushes and recognizes Petey. Nope, clearly not that lucky.
“I’ll carry you in, Mom.” Chad doesn’t give her any room to argue. He lifts her out of the van, cradles her in his arms like a child, and heads for the house.
“It’s gonna be okay, Holly,” Beau says as he gets out of the van. “We won’t leave you to handle her on your own.”
“I’ll get the door for Chad.” Holly jumps out of the van and sprints ahead of her brother to open the door. She’s not in the mood for brotherly pep talks right now. The front door swings open, seemingly of its own volition. Holly narrowly misses being struck in the face as Cody, the nurse, steps onto their porch.
“Hi. We’re all set up in here.” Cody addresses Chad and her Mom, completing ignoring Holly. He holds the door open for Chad to pass, follows him in and lets it slam in Holly’s face.
“What’s his problem?” Beau asks from behind her.
“I don’t know. He was one of Mom’s nurses at the hospital,” Holly explains. “He’s been rude to me almost the entire time.”
“Maybe he likes you,” Beau teases and nudges her with his elbow. “Mom would be thrilled.”
“No, I don’t think that’s it,” Holly answers. “Don’t you think it’s weird that a nurse from the hospital showed up for Mom’s private care?”
Beau shrugs. “Maybe it’s a side job?”
“I don’t know.” Holly’s spine tingles uncomfortably. Something doesn’t feel right. But, if he meant her harm, how would he have gotten through Carmen’s wards? Holly follows Beau into the living room where a hospital bed occupies the center of the room facing the TV.
“We opted to set you up in here, Mrs. Chamberlain. It seemed the easiest option for access to the bathroom. You’ll have to use the walker for a while but we’ll have somebody here with you constantly.”
Cody launches into an explanation of the set-up, how the bed works, and the names of all of the people who will be working with her. He hands Beau a notebook.
“This is all of the information on the company and most of what I just explained. We understand it is a lot to remember so you can refer back to this. Of course, we are all available to answer any questions you may have.”
“Thank you.” Beau accepts the book and flips through it. Holly peeks at it over his shoulder – Angels of Mercy is the name on the book. It’s surprisingly professional, seems legitimate.
“Do you have any questions?” Cody asks.
“Yes,” Carrie Chamberlain pipes up, “are you single?”
Cody chuckles and addresses the older woman, “Are you asking me out, Mrs. Chamberlain?”
She laughs weakly. “No, but my Holly is a good girl and she’s single.”
“I know, Mrs. Chamberlain, you told me at the hospital,” Cody reminds her, “several times, in fact.”
“Oh. Yeah, I forgot about that.” Carrie Chamberlain flushes.
“It’s okay, you were a little out of it. It’s to be expected,” Cody assures her. “Maybe you should rest a little now?”
“Yes, I feel tired.” Carrie’s eyes flick to her children and she flushes again, ashamed.
“Don’t worry about it, Mom.” Chad pats her leg affectionately. “Get some sleep and we’ll come back later. Holly will be here if you need anything.”
“Yeah, Mom,” Beau adds, “get some rest. I’ve got to get the kids to practice anyway.”
“Okay.” Carrie accepts kisses from her sons.
Holly walks her brothers out to the car, promising to call if anything else happens. She stands in the yard and watches until Beau’s van is out of sight. Not at all eager to go back inside, Holly pulls out her phone and dials Carmen’s number.
Carmen answers after just two rings. “Hi-ya, Holly! How’s your mom?”
“She’s okay, we just brought her home.” Holly heads for the mailbox. “Somebody paid for round-the-clock personal care for her.” She kicks at a weed with the toe of her shoe.
“Who would have done that?” Carmen echoes Holly’s own suspiciousness.
“I don’t know,” Holly says, “and the really weird thing is that the nurse here is one we had at the hospital. Why would he work at the hospital and for a private company?”
“Did you check him out?” Carmen’s voice has a strange edge to it. “I’m leaving work now, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Why? He can’t actually mean me any harm, can he?” Holly asks. “I mean, he got past the wards and is in the house.”
Carmen sounds a little relieved at that. “But there are always ways around wards, especially because I haven’t checked on them since you were at the hospital. I don’t know, if you think something is weird, then I trust your instincts and you should, too.”
“So what do I do? He’s in there with my mom, Carmen!” Holly’s voice raises an octave, even as she tries to keep it down.
“Petey is there, right?” Carmen asks calmly.
“Yeah, I think so, I thought I saw him earlier in the bushes.” Holly scans the yard for signs of the gargoyle and finally spies the tips of his ears. “Yeah, I see him.”
“Okay. Then he knows everything we’ve just said,” Carmen explains, “and he can keep you safe until I get there.”
“So, what do I do, just hang out in the yard in the meantime?” Holly asks.
“No, of course not. Just go in and act like everything is normal.”
“Sure. Act like everything is normal.” Holly tries to psych herself up. Nothing is normal. “Maybe I should see if Tristan is home?”
“Wait, what?” Carmen hisses into the phone.
“Oh, I have a lot to tell you.” Holly forgot she hasn’t filled her friend in on her discoveries. “Tristan is the mystery neighbor, I mean, I’m pretty sure he is. And, he’s been showing up at the hospital.”
“And you actually talked to him?” Carmen lets loose a barrage of questions. “Did he tell you where he’s been? Or why he’s been so secretive? What are you going to do about him? Did he kiss you at all? Oh, man, I have to get out of here. I’ll be there in two shakes.” The line goes dead. Holly stares at her phone, shrugs, and slips it back in her pocket.
“I’m going inside, Petey. I don’t know what’s up with this guy but if you could be on the lookout, I’d really appreciate it,” Holly mutters just loud enough for Petey to hear her. He doesn’t really respond but she sees the points of his ears bob a few times. Holly’s eyes flicker toward the house next door. She really wants to find out the answers to all of Carmen’s questions, plus about a hundred more of her own.
Can she make room in her heart for Tristan again? He’s been really great during all of this stuff with her Mom. And, he’s Tristan. Holly is contemplating the pros and cons of letting Tristan back into her life when she walks back into the house. She settles on the couch, curls her feet under her and watches her mom’s chest rise and fall. Holly contemplates her options, drifting into a daze as the thoughts whirl around her head, questions and all of the possible answers she can imagine.
“She’s weak.” Cody appears in the doorway to the kitchen, eyes trained on Holly. “Your mom’s a fighter but she’s weaker than she lets on.”
Startled, Holly blurts the first rational thought that comes to mind. “Will she recover?”
Cody shrugs but doesn’t step all the way into the room. “It’s hard to tell. It’s going to be her choice.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Holly studies him, her hand slowly sliding to her back pocket to retrieve her phone, just in case. Now that it’s just the two of them, Cody’s presence feels wrong.
“Don’t take your phone out, Holly.” Cody’s eyes narrow slightly.
Holly’s pulse quickens. “I’m expecting a call from my friend.”
“I know your friend is already on her way,” Cody replies calmly, his voice changing to something far more eerie, far less kind. “And I know that the dead one will rise soon and come calling.”
Heart pounding in her chest, Holly gauges her exit options. Can she make it to the hallway and out the door before Cody grabs her? Holly shifts her weight, stretching her legs so that her feet are closer to the floor. What to do, what to do? Keep him talking, she read that somewhere, keep your attacker talking. “So you heard my phone call?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry if it offended you.”
“It did not,” Cody replies. He cocks his head to the side as if listening for something. “The gargoyle is growing restless. You should let him come in.”
“I can’t.” Holly forgets herself for a moment. “My mom doesn’t know.”
“Your Mom is asleep.” Cody gestures stiffly toward her Mom. “She will sleep for a few hours still.”
“How do you know all of this?” Holly asks. “I mean, what do you want from us?”
Now Cody seems confused. “You do not know?”
“No! What is up with all of this creepiness? If you want to kill me, just get it over with already,” Holly cries. “All of these games and the waiting and everything is just too much.”
Cody studies her for a long moment, his expression unreadable. “You think I’m here to kill you?”
Holly blinks at him. “Well, yeah. Isn’t that what’s happening here?”
“No.” Cody folds his arms over his broad chest, wrinkling his otherwise perfect blue scrubs. “Why would I kill you?”
“Oh, you know, the giant cloud over my destiny and all that foreboding crap. I’m so tired of looking over my shoulder and hiding behind wards and all that shit. Let’s just get it over with.”
Holly’s exasperation suppresses her fear, it started out as an attempt at bravery but now it just feels like freedom. There’s nothing really tying her to this place, nobody who can’t go on without her.
Cody laughs. It’s a strange sound, like a bark more than a laugh, but the man’s eyes light up with amusement. “You don’t know what I am, do you?”
“I don’t really care what you are,” Holly spits out.
“Holly, I think there has been a very grave misunderstanding here.” Cody smiles at her. He has dimples she hadn’t noticed before. “Tell your gargoyle to come in, he’ll confirm what I’m about to say.”
“No need,” Carmen chimes in from the doorway, “what’s up, Cody?”
“Ah, Carmen,” Cody’s smile reaches his eyes now, “it is a pleasure indeed.”
Carmen flies across the room and into Cody’s open arms. They talk rapidly in another language, laughing and at one point Carmen punches him playfully in the arm.
“I didn’t know you were working this part of the world.” Carmen beams at the nurse.
“Usually, I don’t. I’m here on a special favor,” Cody explains, leaning against the frame of the door and looking down at Carmen with something akin to admiration.
“Um…..anybody care to bring me up to speed,” Holly interrupts.
“Oh! Holly! Sorry, I forgot,” Carmen chirps. “I wish I’d known before. I wouldn’t have rushed over here. Cody is an old friend. He’s sort of an angel of death.”
“What?” Holly gapes at them, eyes flicking from one to the other.
“Supernatural communities often retain Cody and his kin to help human loved ones to cross over. They can be the difference between life and death sometimes,” Carmen explains.
“So, you paid for my mom’s private care?” Holly asks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Carmen looks confused now. “I didn’t, Holly. I swear. I wish I had thought to call these guys but I didn’t realize it was that dire for your mom. Plus, Cody’s not real easy to get.”
“So, who hired him then?” Holly falls back on the couch. This is too much information.
“You do not know?” Cody seems genuinely surprised. “I am truly sorry, I thought you understood what was happening. You know of our world, of who Carmen really is, of gargoyles and sprites. I did not realize you did not recognize me for what I am.”
“No, I certainly do not,” Holly snaps. “I’m really new to all this and I’ve had all this shit hanging over my head and now you’re telling me somebody paid you to come here and take care of my mom and what, help her die? Like pull a Kevorkian?”
“I do not know what it means to ‘pull a Kevorkian’ but yes, I was paid to help your Mom through this,” Cody explains. “I do not know yet whether she will live or die, it is entirely up to her, but I will help her regardless.”
“I see.” Holly doesn’t fully understand but at least he doesn’t want to kill her. “So who hired you?”
“The dead one,” Cody says. “You know him, yes? He’s been around, you smell of him.”
“Dead one?” Holly frowns.
“You’ve been seeing a vampire?” Carmen’s eyes flare. “Who? When?”
“I don’t know any vampires. What are you talking about?” Holly rubs her temples; her head is pounding. “And I don’t smell like anybody but me.”
Carmen crosses the room and sniffs her. “Yeah, you do. I smell vampire on you.”
“I’ve been around my brothers and the hospital staff. My sister hasn’t made it in yet so...” Holly thinks back. Then it hits her. “Tristan.”
“Whoa, your ex-boyfriend?” Carmen flops down beside Holly.
“Yeah, I guess it could be Tristan.” Holly feels her heart breaking all over again, the pieces ticking into place. “Could that be what happened?”
“Maybe that would be a good thing to ask him?” Carmen suggests.
“It can’t be, can it?” Holly breathes.
“You won’t know unless you talk to him. Give him a call.”
Holly shakes her head and looks up at Cody. “Is that who hired you? Tristan DuMonde?”
Cody shakes his head. “No, that is not the name that was used. It was Caulfield, a Holden Caulfield. But we only took th
e contract because a very old favor was called in by an old friend. Your dead one is well connected, Holly.”
Holly’s stomach drops, acid burns in the back of her throat. “The dead one who hired you, is he well dressed with shoulder-length hair?”
“Yes, that would be him,” Cody agrees. “He was at the hospital with you.”
“It has to be Tristan.” Holly’s mind is reeling. She needs to talk to him now more than ever.
“Hey, Caulfield, isn’t that the name of your new neighbor?” Carmen catches up finally.
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