Charade (Heven & Hell)

by Cambria Hebert

  I grabbed his wrists and kissed him, standing up on tiptoe to press myself as close as humanly possible. I missed you this morning.

  Me too, Hev. Me too.

  Suddenly, he pulled back, breaking off our kiss. I pressed my lips together, trying to make it last just seconds longer. “You were with Cole?”

  My eyes shot up to his at his accusatory tone. “Yes… no.” I shook my head trying to banish the haze of fog his lips left in my head.

  He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at me. I glanced just beyond his shoulder, my eyes landing on a fish jumping in the lake. “I wasn’t with him. I just ran into him in the parking lot of the hair salon.”

  His whiskey-colored eyes narrowed and I felt his anger.

  “How did you even know?” I mumbled. I didn’t like when he got mad at me and I looked away again. The water was still rippling with the force of the fish’s jump. Must have been a big one… yet, it hadn’t really looked like a fish, in fact, it looked like…

  “You smell like him,” Sam said, his voice hard, drawing me out of my thoughts and tugging my eyes back to his face. “What was Cole doing at the hair salon?”

  “Getting a perm and some highlights.” I giggled. Sam didn’t seem amused. I let out an exasperated breath. “He works at the grocery store next door!” I demanded. Who cared anyway? Sam let out a gruff sound and then muttered something about Cole always being around, but I wasn’t listening. I was staring at the water again. Something wasn’t right.

  Something was slithering closer to the shore, and the way it moved along the surface of the water half-in, half-out was creepy and odd. I watched as its long tail propelled it faster. Its skin was bumpy and green like a crocodile’s. Except we didn’t have crocodiles in Maine. “Sam,” I whispered, but Sam was still muttering and making noise about Cole.

  I watched as the thing rose completely out of the water, standing on two legs, and I gasped. In one fluid motion, Sam turned, tucking me behind him. I thought I heard him sigh before his back went ramrod straight and his body began to quiver.

  I peeked around him to look. It was a crocodile. At least half of it was. The other half was a man. From the waist down, the crocodile man was green and scaly with a long, curving tail and wide feet tipped with sharp claws. From the waist up, he had skin that was olive toned and shiny with slime. His fingers were gnarled and crooked, and he didn’t stand straight, but hunched over like his short reptile legs couldn’t support his weight. His face was more disturbing than his half-man, half-reptile body. His nose was overly long and hooked, and his eyes were a flat-black color that stared at me with a surprising amount of hatred, considering how vacant they looked. His skin was not smooth, but rough, suggesting scales where there were none. He had no eyebrows. In fact, he had no hair at all and his aura was white.

  All these things had white auras.

  The absolute worst color an aura could be.

  “Go hide in the office,” Sam told me, not taking his eyes off the advancing creature.

  I stifled the urge to argue. He knew how I felt about hiding while he took on all the danger. I splayed my palm along his back, spreading my fingers wide, while I debated my options.

  Please, Hev. Don’t make me worry.

  I exhaled and stepped out from behind him to run toward the rental shack. Now wasn’t the time to argue. The creature let out a long, loud hiss, planted himself firmly on his short crocodile legs, and tossed his tail in my direction. To my horror, he had a tail like Gumby that stretched with the force of his throw and I stared, frozen, as the thing wrapped around my feet and began to tug me closer.

  His scales were slimy like his skin.

  With a roar, Sam, now a sleek black hellhound, pounced and used his razor-sharp claws to sever the thing’s tail. The crocodile man screamed in anger or agony, I couldn’t tell, and he fell forward to land on all fours. I watched in horror as it scurried across the ground toward me. I shivered because it moved like a spider. Sam wasn’t having any of it and rushed forward, landing directly on top of him as the demon thrashed about. A long tongue darted out of his mouth and began to wind around Sam’s neck. Panic built up in me as I struggled to escape the tail, which was still wrapped around me amazingly tight. I struggled for what seemed like hours, desperately wanting to be free to help Sam.

  I heard a sharp tearing sound and looked up just in time to see the creature’s head splash into the lake.

  I stopped struggling.

  It was over.

  I couldn’t stop the tears that slipped down my face, so I settled for swiping them away quickly, hoping Sam wouldn’t have to see them.

  He came to me, his skin slick with sweat and slime from the creature, his pair of running shorts hastily pulled on backwards. I managed to get one foot untangled from the crocodile tail and was fighting with the other. Sam reached down, gently removing my hands and then grabbed the tail and yanked. It gave way, curling around his arm. He made a disgusted sound and jogged to the lake, throwing it out into the center, following the creature’s horrid face, where it sank out of sight.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, returning to my side to run his hands over me, checking for injuries that weren’t there.

  “I’m fine.”

  He kept checking.

  “Sam.” I took hold of his hands and squeezed. “I’m not hurt.”

  His shoulders slumped as he pulled me close, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “I never meant to allow it to touch you,” he said. “It’s tail…”

  I shuddered. “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” he said and pulled me along with him into the shack where he pulled a T-shirt out of his backpack and shrugged it on. “Where’s the scroll?” he asked in a clipped tone.

  I grimaced and pulled it from my bag.

  He groaned. “Heven, I told you to stop carrying it around everywhere with you.”

  “I can’t just leave it at home,” I protested. “Gran was home. What if something went there for it?”

  “Just give it to me.”

  “I can’t.” I felt like it belonged to me.

  He groaned again and swiped his hand through his already messy dark-blond hair. It stood out all over his head. “You know I’ll protect it.”

  I knew he would protect the scroll. With his life. All the more reason that I couldn’t give it to him. It would put an even bigger target on his back. Then there was the other reason I didn’t want him to have it…

  “Heven?” He did a great job disguising the vulnerability in his voice. I would have never known it was there without the Mindbond.

  I closed the distance between us, forgetting the conversation and momentarily letting go of my fear for his safety; my only thought was to soothe and reassure him. “I trust you.” I moved forward, cupping his face in my hands. “Of course, I do,” I murmured, lifting my chin until I could reach his lips with mine.

  He accepted my kisses and returned them with a fervor that boiled my blood. It was enough to erase away the past few horrible moments.

  “Then why won’t you let me have it?” His finger trailed down the length of my nose.

  I guess my kissing wasn’t as good as his because he deftly stayed on topic. I sighed and pulled away. “I don’t want you in danger and…”

  “And,” he prompted.

  “I’m attached to it, okay?” I flung the words at him, exasperated.

  His lips lifted in a silent smile.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t stand the thought of not having it.”

  It was his turn to sigh. “At least stop wearing the key that opens it, huh?”

  I looked down at the bracelet around my wrist and all the keys dangling from it. I guess that wasn’t my smartest move. All a demon would have to do is knock me out, then take the scroll and the key to open it. Something told me Airis would not be happy. A giggle escaped me. “Not too smart, am I?”

  “Of course you are,” Sam said, hooking me around the waist and towing me tow
ard him.

  I wrinkled my nose. I’ll stop wearing the key around.

  Good plan. Now, if I could only think of a way to keep from being attacked by demons on a daily basis.

  * * *

  When the hour finally turned late enough for me to feign exhaustion and slip upstairs, I did so gladly. As I trudged up the stairs to my room, I realized that maybe I really wasn’t faking how tired I felt. Being hunted and unexpectedly attacked by demons all the time was draining.

  I shut the door soundlessly behind me and turned, hoping to see Sam lounging across my bed, but he wasn’t there. Sam?

  Yes, beautiful? Is everything all right?

  I smiled; his voice in my head was a very good thing. Yes. How are you? I didn’t ask (even though I sorely wanted to) where he was and why he wasn’t here yet.

  Good. I’m going to be a while yet. Logan and I… his words trailed off and I understood that he was in a tough place, between his brother and his girlfriend.

  It’s no big deal. Gran and I were thinking of playing some cards, I lied, only because I didn’t want him to feel torn.

  Awesome. Have fun, okay? he said, and I sagged down on the foot of the bed. I’ll be there later.

  See you then.

  I glanced around the room, wondering what to do. I couldn’t really go back downstairs after making a big show of how tired I was. Plus, I didn’t really want to. I was tired but I knew it would be useless to try to sleep until Sam was here. I glanced down and caught sight of the bracelet hanging from my wrist. The key to the scroll was there, the biggest key on the bracelet. I thought back to the night Sam had given it to me. How thrilled I was to have something from him and how right it felt when he clasped it on my wrist. I couldn’t imagine not wearing it. Yet, I promised Sam I would stop walking around with the scroll and the key. Gently, I took it off, smiling a little as I pictured Sam’s large hands laboring over it to fix the broken clasp. I lifted the gift up to examine it closer, wondering how difficult it would be to take off the one key that opened the scroll. Turns out, it was easy to get it off, and before I knew it, the key was lying heavy in my palm. I looked around for somewhere to put it and settled on hiding it between my mattress and box spring. It was not lost on me that I probably got the idea from—shudder—China. It is where she chose to hide the scroll containing the Treasure Map (which we learned is basically a list of all the people that God had assigned to do good in the world, like cure cancer and end wars) after she stole it from wherever she stole it. Fortunately, Sam killed her before she could do anything with it, and then we found it. I glanced over at my bag where the bronze end of the scroll was jutting out. It gave me the willies to think what she might have done with it and all the people who would have been hurt… I shook my thoughts and gathered up what I needed for a long, hot bath. Perhaps the water would wash away some of today’s drama.

  The heat of the water coupled with the softness and sweet fragrance of the bubbles was exactly what I needed to unwind.

  Unfortunately, my break was short-lived.

  My cell phone began ringing and I leapt out of the water and wrapped myself in a towel, hurrying to answer. It was my mother.

  “It’s been a while since we talked. How are you, honey?” I paused at the tone of her voice. A tone I hadn’t heard in a long time. It was how she talked to me Before. Since she declared me evil and I moved to Gran’s, her voice was always tense and short.

  “I’m great, Mom. How are you?”

  “Doing great!” she said, and I actually believed it. “I was calling to ask you if you would like to join me for dinner this week.”

  “Uh, that’d be great, Mom. I’ll need to check my work schedule.” This call just seemed odd. She knew I was livid over the fact that she refused to sign the permission slip for me to go to Italy and the fact that she was trying to ship me off to some cult-church camp where they could ‘be gone’ with the evil in me.

  “Wonderful. And I was hoping that you could bring Sam.”

  My body jolted from shock and I almost dropped the phone. I sat there trying to decide if I had heard her right.

  Her light laughter on the other end made my head reel. “I know it seems a little strange with me inviting Sam, but I have come to the conclusion that maybe I could accept him as part of your life.”

  “Uh,” I stammered. “Yeah. I mean, sure, Mom. We’d love to come for dinner. Can I get back to you though? I’ll need to ask Sam which night he is free.”

  “Of course! I can’t wait!”

  “So… everything is going good then?” I couldn’t help from asking. Where was this change of attitude coming from?

  “Wonderful.”

  “Well, all right then,” I said, ready to end the call. I was getting cold, wearing only a towel.

  “There is one more thing, Heven.”

  This was it. What I was waiting for, the price I would pay for her ‘accepting’ Sam. “Yes?”

  “Someone else will be joining us for dinner,” she began. When I didn’t say anything more, she finished her sentence. “I—I’ve met someone.”

  I almost dropped the phone again. “What?”

  “We’ve been out several times now and I’d like you to meet him.”

  My mother was dating? Ewww.

  “Heven?” Mom said, the first signs of stress entering her voice. I guess I had been too quiet.

  “That’s great, Mom.” I cleared my throat and forced the words out. “I can’t wait to meet him. I’m sure he’s very special if he caught your eye.” Gag.

  “Well, isn’t that sweet.”

  “Listen; I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know when we will be able to come.” It was all I could do not to hang up. I could hardly believe that my mother was dating. I never in a million years saw this one coming.

  “Great! It will be so good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

  My heart softened a bit at hearing this because, really, I missed her too. “Me too.”

  “Bye, then.”

  “Wait! Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m really happy for you.”

  “Thank you.” She sounded so happy.

  I hit the END button on the phone and dropped it onto my bed. I stood there, numb, in the center of the room, until my toes felt ice cold. I looked down at myself, half dried, dressed in only a towel and a hysterical laugh bubbled out of my throat. It was just too much. My mother had a boyfriend.

  I couldn’t help but wonder what the man would be like and if perhaps, my mother’s new-found happiness might sway her to sign the permission slip for me to go to Italy.

  Chapter Two

  Sam

  The trees were dense this far into the woods, which I liked because it was better to conceal ourselves; we had more freedom to move without fear of being seen. It was dusk and since it had not been a clear day, the clouds in the sky made it darker than what it might have been. It was oddly gray outside and the trees looked black against the sky, making everything appear as though it was a scene from an old black-and-white postcard that has yellowed slightly from age.

  I glanced over my shoulder at Logan, who was trailing a few paces behind me. He didn’t want to be here. I had to make him get in the truck and come. He needed this. I just wish he understood that. “I think we’re far enough in,” I said, stopping and turning around.

  “Tell me again why we’re here,” Logan said, glancing around at the trees.

  “We’re here because you need to get more comfortable with the hellhound inside you. You have to learn some more control and how to shift.”

  “I don’t want to shift.” His eyes continued to look at everything but me.

  “Yeah, I know.” I sighed. When Logan first arrived, I really thought that he had just been confused, that he was scared and freaked about everything that had happened to him. He had been all alone at fourteen with strange, unexplainable things happening to his body. But the longer he’s with me, the more that I see Logan’s issues went deepe
r than I realized.

  “Why don’t you want to shift?”

  His wandering eyes snapped to me. “I told you. I don’t want to be a hellhound. I don’t want to be a freak.”

  “I get you don’t want to be a hound. But you aren’t a freak. You just have abilities that other people don’t have. I really think if you learn about them, about yourself, you won’t be so freaked out about who you are.” Logan lifted an eyebrow when I said “freaked.” I shoved at his shoulder, “I wasn’t calling you a freak. Not yet anyway.”

  The side of his mouth tilted in a half smile. First smile I got out of him all night—I’d take what I could get.

  “Let’s try something,” I said and the smile vanished from his face. “There’s a deer in here, in the woods. I smelled it on the way in; I can hear it too, shuffling around every few minutes. Tell me where it is.”

  Logan began looking around.

  “You won’t be able to see it. It’s too far away. You’re going to have to use your senses.”

  He gave me a ‘yeah right’ look. “You have amplified scent and hearing, Logan. Come on and try.”

  At first, I thought he would argue, but he didn’t. He closed his eyes and I could see the concentration on his face. Long, quiet moments passed as we both listened to the sounds in the night. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at me. He cocked his head to the left and made a slight motioning with his hand. “Over there,” he said hushed.

  I smiled. “Very good.”

  Logan grinned.

  “Let’s shift now and use our senses in hound form to find it. This time, though, we will sneak up on it. You’ll have to move quietly so it doesn’t hear us coming.” I pulled my shirt up over my head and tossed it on the ground. I reached for the button on my jeans, then stopped and looked at Logan who wasn’t moving. “I’m not wasting a perfectly good pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Come on, Logan. It will be fine; you’ll see.”

  He nodded and we both stripped down. My body began to shake; the hound in me seemed anxious to get out. Then I was shifting; I was so used to it, I barely noted the way my bones and muscles seemed to stretch and re-align. The way my back arched up and my spine popped into place. It didn’t hurt like it had the first few times and it only took moments for the transformation to be complete.