The Dirty Dozen: Damsel Edition

by Kay Maree

  “Sit,” he commanded as she stumbled toward the fire.

  She sat where he’d indicated, across from him on the opposite side of the fire.

  He held a small tin cup in his hand. “Drink,” he demanded, passing her the cup over the top of the flames.

  Gina accepted his offering and brought it to her lips.

  The cups content was bitter on her tongue, but she drank it down in spite of the taste. Riverwind was the only one who could help her to find Colton. She’d drink blood if that was what it took to bring him back.

  She handed Riverwind the empty cup.

  “The White Buffalo’s path is not an easy one to walk,” he began, staring into the flame. “Such a gift as the one you possess is coveted by many, but gifted to few.”

  Warmth began to flow from the top of Gina’s head to settle inside her stomach. Her muscles relaxed, and her eyes grew heavy. “What am I supposed to do with a gift I don’t understand? I wouldn’t even begin to know how to use it, even if I wanted to.”

  Her eyes grew heavier until she stared at him through small slits.

  His face suddenly shifted. Paint adorned his cheeks in streaks of crimson. Two red lines started at his hairline and disappeared into his eyebrows. His hair appeared long and black as night.

  Four Cherokee warriors stepped from the darkness to flank him on both sides. Their faces were adorned with the same war paint as Riverwind’s.

  The flames from the fire grew higher, and the sound of thunder rolled in the distance.

  “Do what must be done,” the shaman ordered, his gaze hard and unyielding.

  Gina couldn’t look away from his eyes. “I don’t know how.”

  “Follow your heart,” Riverwind coaxed, his eyes glittering in the firelight. “You are the White Buffalo, the daughter of light and truth. Open your mind and allow your spirit to lead you.”

  Gina’s gaze bored into his, the edges of her vision blurring. She could see the warriors’ feet begin to move, and the distant sound of drums came alive around her.

  The flames grew higher, hotter. Sparks scattered through the night sky, but Gina didn’t care. Something was happening inside her, growing, expanding until she could contain it no more.

  Her gaze lowered to the flames, watching the shapes form in their midst until she stared into the eyes of Colton Baines.

  Though she could feel her heart pounding out of control, Gina couldn’t move. She could only watch as Colton stood in a room, tears streaming down his face.

  A moan rose up in her throat to be swallowed up by the screams suddenly alive in the fire.

  She wanted to cover her ears, to block out the horrendous sound, but her arms wouldn’t cooperate.

  Coltonhhhh! her mind screamed, pleading with him to hear her.

  “Put yourself aside,” the shaman’s voice whispered from a great distance. “Use your gift. Allow the White Buffalo to guide you.”

  The drums grew louder, the flames higher, and more warriors surrounded the fire. But the screams, God, the screams were deafening.

  “You are the White Buffalo, Gina. Believe…”

  The shaman was right. She was the White Buffalo.

  Closing her mind off to everything around her, Gina concentrated on Colton’s tears, his pain.

  “Look around you, and tell me what you see…”

  Was that the shaman’s voice she heard? She wasn’t sure.

  She studied Colton’s tormented eyes and noticed he leaned against something.

  As much as she hated to look away from him, she allowed her gaze to wander around the room he stood in. Something about the place looked familiar.

  Her gaze strayed back to Colton, to the tormented spirit leaning against that wall. She loved him. God help her, but she did.

  A sharp intake of breath brought her back to the present. It took her a moment to realize the sound had come from her. “I know where he is!”

  She surged to her feet, thanking the shaman for his help as she ran through the tress back to her car.

  Her mother sat in the passenger seat with the engine running and the air conditioning on. Her eyes were huge and questioning.

  Gina slammed her door shut, threw the car in reverse, and backed out of the shaman’s drive. “I know where Colton is.”

  Lani didn’t speak; she waited until Gina spun the car around and gassed it before asking, “Where are we going?”

  “To the old Collins’ place.”

  Her mother blinked. “That old house that Jack inherited when we first married?”

  “Yes,” Gina responded, flying over the narrow wooden bridge she’d so carefully crossed on the way in.

  “But why?”

  Without taking her gaze from the road, Gina told her mother everything she’d seen in that fire.

  Lani’s hand went to her throat. “Why would Colton be at the old Collins’ place?”

  “I don’t know, Mom. But I’m about to find out.”

  The drunken feeling Gina had felt back at the fire still remained. Though she could see the road in front of her, it wasn’t necessarily straight.

  “Gina!” Lani snapped when the car veered off the edge of the road. “Pull over and let me drive.”

  Knowing her mother was right, Gina put on brakes and eased off to the side of the road.

  She slid over as her mother got out, ran around the car, and climbed behind the wheel.

  Lani adjusted the seat to fit her shorter legs, pulled back onto the road, and drove toward town.

  Ten minutes later they turned onto Highway 83, blowing through a red light and barely missing an oncoming car.

  “Are you calling Jack?” Lani asked, speeding around a slow-moving car in front of her.

  Gina fished out her cell phone and tried Jack’s number. It went to voicemail. “He’s not answering.”

  She pressed the End key and immediately dialed Victoria.

  Lani sent her a questioning look.

  “I’m calling Tori.”

  “What on earth for?”

  Gina thought about how much to tell her mother about Tori and Damien. She decided to forgo that conversation for a later date. “Because of the way I left out of there. She’ll be worried. She and Damien were at my house when I left to go see you.”

  “I see,” Lani murmured, glancing at Gina with a suspicious look.

  Gina reached Tori’s voicemail. “I may have found Colton. I’m not sure. But something is definitely wrong. Mom and I are headed out to the old Collins’ place. Colton’s there. I just don’t know why. Come if you can.”.”

  Lani suddenly slowed and turned off the main highway, taking a left down the long winding gravel road. “We shouldn’t be down here without some sort of protection.”

  “We have all the protection we need,” Gina assured her, jerking her thumb toward the glovebox. “My pistol is inside.”

  They rounded a corner that turned into a driveway. The house came into view a moment later. Gina noticed a light was on inside. “Someone’s here.”

  Lani blinked at her before opening her car door and climbing out. “I wasn’t even aware that Jack had power on at this place.”

  Gina followed her mother toward the steps. Her legs felt wobbly from the concoction she’d drunk back at the shaman’s.

  The screams she’d heard coming from the fire suddenly rushed through her skull like a train. She dropped to her knees at the foot of the steps, gripping her head in agony.

  Her mother’s arms came around her. Gina knew that Lani spoke to her, but her words were lost amid the ear-piercing screams now flooding her mind.

  Lani helped her to stand. Gina leaned on her mother for support, watching as Lani gripped the knob and opened the door.

  “Get away from here!” Colton’s voice penetrated Gina’s mind over the continuous screams.

  “Colton?” Gina’s gaze landed on a table in the center of the room. It appeared wet as if someone had r
ecently washed it, as did the floor beneath it.

  The screams abruptly stopped, leaving Gina to sag in relief.

  “Colton?” Gina whispered again, hoping against hope to hear his voice. “I know you’re here. I saw you in that fire. I saw this place.” Silence.

  Stumbling forward, Gina moved toward an open doorway off to the right. She glanced back at Lani. “Where does this lead?”

  “The basement, I think,” Lani whispered. “Maybe we should call the cops.”

  “And tell them what?” Gina cried. “That your daughter sees spirits and the two of us are here searching for one?”

  Lani ran a hand down her face. “I see what you mean.”

  Feeling around on the inside of the wall, Gina attempted to locate a light switch.

  “I don’t think they made switches in basements back when this house was built,” Lani whispered from somewhere behind her. “Matter of fact, I think most lights worked by pulling a chain.”

  Gina reached up, waving her hands above her head until her fingers came in contact with a thin chain. She gave it a pull, relieved when light flooded the stairs.

  She glanced back at her mom. “Why don’t you go keep an eye out for incoming cars? Someone’s been here recently, and they could very well come back.”

  Lani glanced behind her toward the door. “Where’s your cell phone?”

  “In the car.”

  Nodding, Lani turned toward the front door. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

  “Me too, Mom. Me too.”

  Gina waited for her mother to exit the house before she made her way down the steps into the belly of the basement. What she saw there would remain with her for the rest of her life.

  A huge hole had been dug in the center of the floor, surrounded by some sort of wood in the shape of a Heptagram.

  Her heart began to pound in fear and more than a little panic. She’d seen that shape before in an old book her mother had in the attic. It represented the entrapment of souls. The Heptagram, as some would refer to it. Only it wasn’t meant to trap demons as portrayed in the movies, but souls.

  Forcing herself to move closer, Gina peered over into the pit, a scream trapping in her throat as its contents were revealed.

  There, in a hole that had to be eight feet deep were dozens of skeletons, along with a fresh body that still had color in her cheeks.

  “Gina…”

  The sound of Colton’s voice penetrated Gina’s horror. She staggered back, her hand going to her mouth to hold back the contents of her stomach.

  She scanned the basement for signs of Colton, but none could be found.

  “Are you trapped down here?” she whispered, tears dripping from her eyes. “Please, Colton. Answer me. I need you.”

  The sound of silence echoed back.

  But then another voice swirled through her mind. The shaman’s voice. “Put yourself aside. Use your gift. Allow the White Buffalo to guide you. You are the White Buffalo, Gina. Believe…”

  A calmness settled inside her, pushing away her fear, her horror at what lay in that pit. Dozens of souls were trapped inside that grave of dirt, surrounded by a Heptagram laced with an evilness they couldn’t escape.

  Her gaze swept the basement, landing on a shovel perched in the corner.

  She hurried over, gripped the shovel, and moved back to the pit.

  Gina knew in that moment when she broke the Heptagram surrounding that pit, she would not only free the souls buried within, but she would free Colton as well.

  More tears spilled down her cheeks. Her chest hurt so bad she nearly doubled over from the pain. “Goodbye, Colton…”

  She brought the shovel up high behind her.

  “Don’t do it, buttercup.”

  Gina stilled, certain she hadn’t heard right. Her head slowly swiveled toward the deep voice coming from the stairs. “Dad?”

  A twinge of sadness swam in his eyes. He held a revolver in his hand, and it was pointed straight at her. “Why did you have to come here, sweetheart?”

  “You did this?” Disbelief registered along with rage. She took a step toward him, her gaze flicking to the Heptagram surrounding the pit. “You killed all those people in that hole?”

  He shifted the gun higher, aiming somewhere at her chest level. “You would never understand. But I’ve worked too hard and too long to allow you to come in here and ruin everything.”

  “But why?” was all she could manage, her mind rebelling against his words.

  Jack’s eyes glazed over. “I don’t know when it started, really. My first memory of actually enjoying the kill was before I became a teenager. My first victim ended up being the neighbor’s dog. It frightened me to begin with, but watching the life fade from his eyes…”

  He eased down another step, continuing to talk in a melodic voice. “It didn’t take long before the animal kills no longer satisfied me. The first person wasn’t easy. In fact, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I hadn’t intended on killing her so quickly, but she wouldn’t stop with that godawful screaming. The hardest part was hiding the body. I couldn’t afford to get caught. I was in law school and had just married your mother.”

  It registered in Gina’s brain that he’d been killing for more than thirty years.

  “I kept the body here for a few days, even had the power turned on, so I could come visit her at night. But she began to smell, so I buried her in a shallow grave, intending on going back for her later. But her body was found before I could move it. The next one was a bit easier. I kept her alive for days before ending her life. Unwilling to lose her like the first one, I buried her here in the basement.”

  Gina couldn’t hold in the contents of her stomach another moment. She bent forward and vomited on the dirt floor.

  Jack continued as if he were talking about the weather. “I began collecting things from them, things to remind me of them. But it wasn’t enough. The need to keep them with me became overwhelming. I was looking through the attic one day and ran across this old book your mother had packed away. Once I saw the symbol of the Heptagram, it all made sense to me then. Not only would certain possessions of theirs belong to me, but their souls would as well.”

  Gina heaved again. She slowly straightened and met her stepfather’s gaze. “You need help, Dad. You’re sick.”

  A shadow passed through his eyes, however briefly. “I’m sorry, buttercup. More than you will ever know. I would never hurt you for the world, but I can’t let you leave here.”

  “And I can’t let you get away with this.””

  “Don’t,” he snarled as she raised the shovel above her head.

  “Noooooooo!” Colton’s desperate cry vibrated inside her mind.

  A shot rang out, sending white-hot fire through Gina’s side. But not before the sharpened end of that shovel splintered one of the pieces of wood.

  Another shot exploded with her second swing, a swing that severed the piece of wood, breaking the Heptagram.

  Agony seared her chest, and breathing became impossible.

  The sound of more gunfire erupting throughout the room could be heard as Lani barreled down the steps, gripping Gina’s gun in both hands while emptying the chamber into Jack’s chest. His body slammed against the wall before toppling over onto the dirt floor.

  A bright light burst from the pit, and Gina caught a glimpse of Colton lying on the ground next to her.

  She could barely hold her eyes open as he crawled over to her and attempted to hold her.

  Why couldn’t she touch him?

  Her eyes slowly rolled back toward the pit in time to see dozens of iridescent lights swirling upward. She’d done it. The souls of the many who’d died at the hands of the Strangler were finally freed.

  “I love you, Colton…” Her lids slid shut as death came to claim her.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Colton roared in denial. Gina couldn’t be gone. She just co
uldn’t.

  “My baby!” Lani screamed, running to her daughter’s side. She still held the gun she’d used to kill her husband.

  A blur of motion on the stairs caught Colton’s attention as Tori and Damien suddenly appeared behind Gina’s mother. “I got Gina’s message…”

  Tori’s voice trailed off. She dropped to her knees and laid her head on Gina’s chest. “She’s dying,” she bit out to no one in particular.

  Colton stared in disbelief and horror at the woman he loved more than anything. Yet he couldn’t touch her.

  Warmth enveloped him, lifting him from the dirt floor with almost a caress. He turned his head to see his sister standing in the brilliant beam of light surrounding the pit.

  “Come, brother. It’s time for us to go.”

  Tears spilled from Colton’s eyes. “Leanne. God, how I’ve missed you.”

  “We’re free now,” she whispered, holding out her hand. “We’re finally free.”

  His body continued to rise until he stood before his beautiful sister. “I love you, Leanne. I will always love you. But I can’t go with you.”

  Leanne’s gaze moved to Gina’s still form. “She won’t last much longer, brother. Bring her with us.”

  More tears spilled forth. He wrapped his arms around his sister’s form and bid her goodbye. “I will see you again someday. But today is not that day.”

  He watched in sorrow as she slowly faded from his sight.

  Turning back to Gina, Colton gathered every ounce of strength he had left and forced himself to her side.

  “She’s not going to make it,” Tori whispered, sorrow seeping from her pores.

  Colton pulled himself closer, his hand going to Gina’s one more. He could feel a tiny spark of her warmth. “Change her!”

  Tori jerked her head in his direction. “She would never forgive me for—”

  “I don’t give a shit if she hates you for eternity! Change her,” Colton snarled.

  “Please.”

  All eyes swung toward Lani. “I don’t know what you are, Victoria, nor do I care right now. But If you have the power to save my baby, you do it, or I will kill you myself!”

  “I’m a vampire,” Tori hissed, presenting Lani with her fangs. “Is this what you want for your daughter?”