Someone ran behind her. Rachel twisted back, catching a glimpse of Jennifer’s foot. Rachel squeezed the trigger. The weapon echoed horribly loud throughout the underground chamber. A sharp ringing pained Rachel’s ears. Sidestepping, Rachel fanned around the pillar where she thought Jennifer hid. There was no one there.
Was it an Orphan? Rachel’s mouth dried out. The Sense tore at her, telling her to run. Rachel turned to the little girl. Save Clove. Save Peak. Get out.
Keeping the gun up, she rushed to the little girl. A sharp stinging slashed across her back, causing Rachel to stumble forward and yelp involuntarily. Jennifer had vanished behind another series of pillars. Rachel felt the twelve-inch cut that opened the back of her poncho, jacket, and flesh. It wasn’t deep, but the pain was persistent. Reminding herself that more blood leaked from Peak with every second she wasted, Rachel slid down next to the little girl and used one hand to untie her. The other hand aimed the pistol in different directions, firing two deafening warning shots to keep the killer at bay.
Rachel’s crimson-stained fingers fumbled with the knot that bound Clove’s wrists and ankles together.
“Watch out!” Clove shrieked.
Rachel turned back and saw the glint of the blade before it slashed across the side of her head. She went dark in one eye and felt a warm gush waterfall from her forehead and down her cheekbone.
Puffs of smoke and flickers of fire shot from the barrel with every blast of Rachel’s pistol. Jennifer zigzagged away and disappeared into the darkness. Rachel’s thumb tapped the button on the side of her Glock 22. The spent magazine fell out of the pistol and bounced on the ground. Rachel pulled out her only spare clip and shoved it in the butt of the handgun.
“You’re bleeding,” Clove said with teary eyes.
Rachel didn’t reply as she swiftly worked the knot. She blinked with her right eye. She could see, but the split flesh above her brow prevented her from keeping her eye open for long. Finally, the knot loosened and the bindings fell. With a grimace, Clove quickly freed herself from the rope around her cast-covered wrist and ankles.
“Go! Go! Go!” Rachel commanded, pushing Clove forward. The little girl ran for the tunnel where her bleeding father lay. Rachel chased after her, aiming left and right.
Jennifer screamed and dived on Rachel’s back. Both women crashed to the cave floor.
“Run!” Rachel shouted at Clove. The little girl turned back with a horrified expression but obeyed, leaving Rachel to deal with the Porcelain Killer.
Straddling Rachel’s back, Jennifer raised the sharp blade. Blindly, Rachel bent her elbow up and wrist back, shooting a bullet blindly at the woman. Jennifer stumbled back, clenching her deafened ear with one hand. Rachel rolled over in time to see Jennifer diving back on her.
Jennifer, seated on Rachel’s lap, slashed the blade down at Rachel’s heart. Rachel closed her eyes and squeezed the Glock’s trigger as many times as she could. Massive holes blew through Jennifer’s chest and stomach. Her body slumped on top of Rachel.
Breathing irregularly, Rachel rolled the warm corpse off her torso. On her back, Jennifer’s lifeless eyes stared at the cave’s ceiling. Rachel put her pistol back in the holster and forced herself to stand. Her legs felt like jelly. Her shoulder slumped against a rock column as she waited for her raging heart to slow.
“Al and I really had something, and you had to ruin it,” Jennifer said.
Rachel aimed her tired eyes at the Orphan standing before her. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Without warning, Jennifer plunged her knife into Rachel’s belly. Rachel lurched over at the lightning bolt of pain that shot up her body. The blade twisted and pulled from her flesh. Rachel stumbled back, looking at the hole in her torso. The world shifted and her balance weakened.
Jennifer smirked wickedly. “I don’t rightly know what’s going on, but I like it.”
Jennifer jabbed the blade at Rachel again. The detective tried to push it away, but her hand phased through the dead woman’s body. The blade’s point pierced Rachel’s stomach. It stole her breath. She slumped on the pillars, groaning in agony.
With her free hand, Jennifer gently raised Rachel’s chin. She glanced at the warm cadaver on the ground before locking her cold brown eyes with Rachel. “It almost feels like justice.”
Rachel felt too weak to speak. Her eyes widened as the Roper appeared behind Jennifer. Now there’s two, Rachel thought. They’re both going to kill me and over and over again.
Silently, Al raised his rope.
“This is justice,” Albert chuckled and cast it around Jennifer’s neck. He pulled the rope taut, tearing Jennifer away from Rachel.
Rachel looked down at the knife inside her. She tried to pull it out, but her fingers phased through it.
Eyes full of terror, Jennifer clawed at the noose. She kicked her feet and gagged as the life was being choked out of her. Al shouted from behind his potato sack mask. “I called you for help and you repay me with a knife to the belly? See you in hell!”
Al kept pulling tighter and tighter. Jennifer’s face turned red and then purple. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her kicking stopped. Suddenly, a blast of wind burst from the two Orphans, knocking Rachel off her feet. She crashed to the ground and gasped for air. Her bloodied hands hastily felt her stomach for any knife wounds. None were found.
The cave was oddly silent around her.
The Sense subsided.
Jennifer Blankenship and Albert Jacobson were gone.
With no time to celebrate the victory, Rachel rushed to Jenson Peak. Clove hunched over her father, holding his blood-crusted hand. “Please don’t go, Daddy.” Crystal tears tumbled down her cheeks.
“I’m here,” Peak said weakly. His other hand applied pressure on the wound in his belly. His half-closed eyes found Rachel standing behind the little girl. “I guess I’ll be seeing you soon,” he joked dryly and coughed.
“You will,” Rachel replied and ran from the cave. She withdrew her cellphone and prayed for service.
11
MERCY
Help arrived. They extracted Detective Jenson Peak via helicopter. The EMTs said that he wouldn’t make it through the night. They were right. Peak was clinically dead for three minutes.
With a stitched back and forehead, Rachel sat in the waiting room with Clove, Darla, and Lance. Victims of various crimes and failed surgeries walked the halls of the hospital, consistently phasing through nurses.
A nurse approached with a small smile. “He’s ready to see you now.”
They found Peak dressed in patient’s garb. His coal eyes were tired and hollow while his face was overly gaunt and pale. Without a word, Clove rushed to him and wrapped her one good arm around him. Peak winced but didn’t voice a complaint.
Hair frizzy and demeanors exhausted, Darla and Lance held hands nearby.
“Thank you, Jenson,” Darla said. She turned to Rachel. “And you too, Detective. We couldn’t imagine a world without our daughter.”
Rachel nodded at her.
“We know you’re okay now,” Darla continued. “Clove and I need our sleep. We’ll stop by tomorrow.”
“Yeah… thanks.” Peak replied.
Clove turned back to her mother. “But I want to stay.”
“Go home, sweetie,” Peak said weakly. “Daddy will be here tomorrow.”
Clove kissed him on the forehead and then gave Rachel a big hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Taken aback by the action, Rachel hesitated to touch the girl for a moment. Then she hugged her.
Lance gave Peak a pitying smile. Him, Darla, and Clove said goodbye a final time and exited the hospital room.
Rachel and Peak stood in silence until the door closed.
“How are you feeling?” Rachel asked.
“Like I’ve been stabbed. Repeatedly,” Peak replied. “How’s your head?”
Rachel brushed her fingers over the stitches that formed a line from her brow to over
her ear. “I’ll live. Battle scars are in style these days, anyhow.”
“Really?” Peak asked.
“Oh yeah. They’re the new sexy.”
“Hmmm,” Peak replied.
After a moment, the two of them traded looks and chuckled. Peak’s face contorted in pain. “Have you talked to McConnell?”
Rachel sighed, “Briefly. He’s not happy about our solo mission. I expect a scolding in the morning.”
“We survived two killers. We can survive an angry lieutenant,” Peak replied.
“Perhaps,” Rachel said. “Either way, I’m just glad it’s over.”
Peak looked at her with concern. “Albert gone?”
Rachel nodded. “Him and Jennifer. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Peak turned his dark eyes to the hospital's window. “When I was gone and before the doctors resuscitated me, I felt… I felt myself leaving my body.” A tear raced down his cheek. “I don’t know where I was going, but it was someplace that wasn’t here. Someplace that was... better.”
Rachel squeezed his shoulder with her hand. They stood like that for a while. Neither one of them had anything to say. Them being together was enough.
Herbs, roots, and spices sat across the countertop. Rachel washed the blender cup in the sink and listened to the news through the open kitchen door. “Another Highlands serial killer was stopped by local detectives as the town mourns for their late mayor…” The news anchor was muted by the roar of the blender.
The herbal mixture chunked apart and liquefied into a green/grey concoction.
“... Lexi Heavens has retracted her confession, claiming to have had her daughter threatened by Jennifer Blankenship, also known as the Porcelain Killer. However, the court sentenced Garrett Hodges to 180 days in jail for aiming his weapon at a law enforcement officer…”
Rachel filled a tall glass with the horrid-smelling liquid. She walked into the living room and sat on the bench in front of her easel. The news anchor went on about Jennifer Blankenship and Albert Jacobson’s unique relationship. “A selfish, sinister love affair born from disturbed childhoods and escalating desires,” they called it, and they also noted that the police were connecting Jennifer to a half dozen murders across the country.
Rachel took a sip of her drink and let herself relax. She turned off the news, ready to enjoy her few days of peace and quiet. Without Orphans walking about, her 1892 Queen Anne manse seemed much larger and more serene. The calm wouldn’t last, she knew.
After she finished consuming her toxic concoction, she swiveled the stool to face the calendar tacked on the wall. It displayed beautiful photography from Highlands and the surrounding Appalachian Mountains. She smiled at her ex-husband’s artwork displayed above the rows of days and weeks and couldn’t help but wonder about Brett and his life now. Was he content? Was Rachel? There would always be another Orphan to save and another wayward soul to guide back home. Though she was scarred, bruised, and practically killed, Rachel promised that she wouldn’t waste her Gift. She would keep fighting for the lost until she drew her last breath.
Rachel checked the date. It was a Tuesday. Rachel and her father would dine at Chan’s tonight. He would mention another suitor. Rachel would put him down gently. Life would be “normal.” There were still a few hours to kill. Rachel studied the blank page on her easel. She chewed at the end of her pencil, contemplating what to draw next.
THANK you for reading my story!
Writing has been a major driving force in my life and it is unbelievably satisfying to know that you took the time to explore my world. I am grateful and eagerly await your feedback. As an author, Amazon reviews can have a huge impact on my livelihood. So if you enjoyed the story please leave a review letting me know. Your input matters to me and allows me to continue writing stories that will thrill and excite.
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Until next time,
J.S. Donovan
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
The Haunting Of Rachel Harroway- Book 2
Prequel- The Haunting of Rachel Harroway - The Beginning
1. Collapse
2. Breaking Point
3. Dreamcatcher
4. The Yellow Moon Motel
5. Tasting Death
6. The Chosen One
7. Proof
8. The Girl
9. Trouble
10. Faded Photographs
11. Mercy
About the Author
The Haunting of Rachel Harroway- Book 2 Page 12
