by Lizzy Ford
“I’m doing great. Much better than yesterday,” he replied and handed back the water. “But we could definitely use a ride or phone.”
“This isn’t exactly a main road,” she said. “I haven’t seen any houses or turnoffs, either. And no cars.”
“We’ll find something,” Eddy said. “Ready?”
They began walking once more in a direction that appeared as desolate as that from which they came.
Another hour passed, and the cool fall night turned cold, announcing dawn was coming. Warm from walking, Kaylee nonetheless felt the chill as her breath began to freeze. She crossed her arms and shivered. Eddy appeared immune to everything, including the cold.
As dawn began to lighten the eastern sky, a car appeared down the road.
Eddy grasped her arm and pulled her into the trees. He nudged her behind him, on full alert, his other hand lifting the firearm from its holster. His stance, intensity, and the strength he possessed, despite the damage done to his body, alarmed her. He wasn’t someone anyone with a drop of sense would mess with. If it came down to it, and he did decide to kill her, she’d be too afraid to run.
“Doesn’t look like 3G,” he said, watching the car as it neared.
She held her breath, hoping he didn’t decide to massacre the occupants for the sake of stealing either a car or a cell. She wouldn’t put it past him.
“What a shitty car,” he said. “It’s worse than mine. Definitely not 3G.” He didn’t relax despite the words.
The car closed in on their position, and Kaylee held her breath, praying he let the car pass in peace.
“Good enough,” Eddy decided and stepped out from the tree line. “Stay here.”
Shit. Kaylee obeyed, unable to look away as Eddy leapt across the gutter and strode towards the road.
Twelve
The dual stone was pulsing hot then cold in quick succession, its strength growing to the point Shanti could barely hold it. “Where are we?” she asked, shifting restlessly.
“Nowhere. Literally,” Todd replied.
Why would the stone want her to stop in the middle of nowhere? Shanti squeezed it, willing it to reveal something tangible but was forced to drop it after a few seconds. The heat was scalding, the cold freezing.
Suddenly, both hot and cold flashed through her with greater force, all but knocking the air from her lungs.
Todd slammed on the brakes.
“How’d you know we’re there?” she exclaimed and opened her car door.
Todd grabbed her arm. “Are you crazy? He’s got two handguns!”
Shanti shook him off. Too interested in the stone, she’d missed the energy of the man standing in front of their car. His energy was controlled, even, unnaturally void of any tells about his mood or intentions. Even trees gave off a more animated signature than this man.
Who can do that? She thought uneasily. Was this the source of the stone?
She snapped out her walking stick and stepped away from the car. She smelled the weapons.
“No one needs to get hurt,” said the man. “I need your keys and phone.”
Shanti ignored him and walked forward without hesitation, tapping the road to determine how far it extended before reaching grass or gutter.
“Fine,” Todd grumbled. “Bitch, stay still.”
She sensed their would-be robber shift into her path. He held out an arm, blocking her progress. The moment he touched her, a flare of warmth drifted through her.
She tilted her head, gauging the situation. The robber was not the source of the stone’s burst of energy. He wasn’t alone, then, if she felt the presence of the person to whom the stone was connected. Were there more than two of them? The forest confused her senses, gave her too many energy sources for her to determine which was human and which was not.
She smelled blood – a lot of it. The robber was hurt, which – along with surprise – would give her the advantage.
“Stay here, sunshine,” the robber said in an upbeat tone. “We don’t want you falling into a gutter, now do we?”
If there was anything Shanti loved more than proving someone wrong about her perceived weakness, it was ice cream. But that was it.
She snapped into action and drove her metal cane into the man’s stomach, followed by a punch and kick.
The robber spun away and deflected the kick. Undeterred, Shanti switched tactics to catch him off guard. She landed one more strike before her attacker’s reflexes knocked every other blow away. He moved with control, disrupting her balance rather than hitting her, and choosing to deflect instead of counterstrike. His reflexes were inhuman, his reaction instinctive.
Less than two minutes later, the highway robber yanked her off balance and into his frame, whirling her into a hold. His arm locked around her neck at an uncomfortable angle, partially cutting off her ability to breathe. If she resisted, he could snap her neck with minimal effort. The lean frame at her back was well balanced and stable – but his breathing was irregular, and the other arm locked around her shoulder trembled from effort. The scent of blood made her nose crinkle.
As much as her dangerous position concerned her, Shanti’s focus was on the strange sense she’d met this man before while knowing she never had. Her body recognized him, and her soul whispered a secret she couldn’t quite make out. Whatever it was, it was directed towards the man holding her and not the source of the stone hiding in the forest.
“Just take the car and phone,” Todd said in irritation. “She tries that shit on everyone.”
The man at her back tensed. She’d challenged him and lost. He wasn’t the kind to walk away. Except, in that moment, she felt him hesitate. Was he experiencing the odd sensations she was?
“Eddy!” the cry came from the direction of the forest. “Please don’t.”
Shanti’s senses shifted instantly. The woman rustling the grass as she crossed the ditch was the source of the dual stone’s energy.
“Please, Eddy,” the woman called. “Let’s take their stuff and go.”
Shanti’s attacker shifted, as if he were considering his options. At long last, he released her and stepped away.
Shanti gasped in cold, pre-dawn air, rattled by her second brush with death in twelve hours. She heard Todd toss the thief the keys. The woman moved towards the passenger’s side.
“Wait,” Shanti said and started forward. She had come all this way to find the source of the stone. She wasn’t about to walk away now.
“Don’t mess with this guy, Shanti,” Todd said for her ears only.
Shanti ignored him. The woman’s presence was like a burr beneath her skin, but the thief’s affect on her, even at a distance, left her rattled. She refocused with effort, needing to stop the woman before she lost her.
“Stones!” Shanti cried, uncertain what else to say without giving herself and her purpose away.
The woman froze.
“Kaylee …” the man named Eddy started and then stopped.
Kaylee began moving again, but not before Shanti sensed Eddy shift.
“What is it?” he asked and closed his door.
“Nothing,” Kaylee answered.
“First time. Guess the honeymoon is over,” Eddy said with a laugh. “Toe or finger?”
Shanti listened, confused. Eddy was circling the car, while Kaylee stepped back.
“Neither!” Kaylee replied. “I just … I know her.”
“Two,” he said.
“Doesn’t it count I saved your life?” the woman retorted.
“We’re even, by my count.”
Shanti heard the sound of a switchblade whipping out. Kaylee’s aura changed. Her energy became frantic, fearful.
“She has to come with us,” Kaylee said quickly.
“Why?”
Silence.
“Three? So soon?” Eddy asked, entertained.
Shanti shivered. Whatever game the two played, it was freaking her out. Todd pulled her away.
“We don’t want to be here
,” he said.
“Speak for yourself.” Shanti wrenched away. “It’s okay if you tell him, Kaylee!”
“Tell me. Maybe we’ll go back to zero,” Eddy echoed.
There was a long pause. “She’s a key holder. One of the three,” Kaylee replied finally.
“Ahhhhh. Fantastic!” Eddy responded. “Back to zero. Good girl.” His words were accompanied by the whirring sound of the knife, and the scrape of metal against leather. Eddy had replaced the knife and drawn his firearm.
“Shit,” Todd muttered.
“Get in the car, Kaylee,” Eddy called. “You, too, gatekeeper.”
Shanti started forward.
“I’m supposed to deliver her to Bullet,” Todd said grudgingly. He then spoke a few short words in a language Shanti didn’t understand but which she guessed had something to do with the demon language Satanists used to communicate with demons.
The energy around Eddy remained steady. He responded in the language but didn’t holster his sidearm. “Kaylee, you’re driving.”
The woman hurried to follow his directive.
Shanti moved to the passenger seat while the two men remained in front of the car. She kept her door open, so she could hear what the men said.
“I’m supposed to take her somewhere,” Todd said.
“Sorry, dude,” Eddy responded. “Great to meet you. But you’re not part of the plan.”
Two shots rang out. Kaylee gasped. Shanti didn’t have to be told who had won this match.
Poor, stupid Todd, she thought, pitying the meathead involved in something much larger than him.
Eddy slid into the seat behind her. Shanti closed her door and assessed the woman she couldn’t see, trying to determine whom the stone had led her to.
“Ugh,” Kaylee said. “I need a second, Eddy.”
“Take your time,” was the cheerful reply.
Kaylee’s energy stilled, darkened, faded.
Shanti recoiled. It was different than the trace of darkness in both the woman and the dual stone representing her.
Kaylee’s sudden change resembled death.
“What the hell is –” Shanti started.
The cool blade of a knife slid against her throat. She froze, unaware of Eddy’s movement when she had been consumed with understanding what was wrong with Kaylee.
“You’re blind but not,” he observed. “You read energy.”
Shanti swallowed. She had the urge to roll down the window in the hopes of alleviating the cool heaviness of Kaylee’s energy.
“Stay quiet about this, sunshine,” Eddy whispered for her ears only. “We straight?”
Shanti didn’t understand what this was. But she knew Eddy was dangerous, and that the stone had fallen silent once Shanti spotted Kaylee.
“Yes,” Shanti whispered.
“Great!” Eddy didn’t remove the blade from her neck. “What’s your name?”
“Shanti,” she said.
Eddy began laughing hard enough she expected the knife to cut into her neck. It didn’t. His control was too solid.
“Why is that funny?” Kaylee asked. Her energy righted itself, and she started the car. She turned around and started back the way Shanti and Todd had come.
Eddy’s laughter wore off. “Her name means peace in Hindi. I’m betting her gateway belongs to War.”
“There’s absolutely nothing funny about that, Eddy,” Kaylee said in a hushed tone. “Stop threatening her.”
“I can’t hurt her,” Eddy said and removed the knife from Shanti’s throat. “Though I might take off a few toes or fingers if she attacks me again.” He sounded amused. “Everyone on the same page? Run or fight me and things get bloody real quick.”
“Yes,” Kaylee said softly.
“Yes,” Shanti echoed. She took a deep breath, suspecting she – like Todd – was involved in something over her head.
What was it about the cheerful killer that made Shanti shiver in more than fear? She hadn’t gotten the lethal vibe from Todd, who had accidentally left her to be murdered in a ghetto because he wanted an energy drink. Todd hadn’t possessed the control over his energy that Eddy did.
He definitely didn’t make my insides warm or feel like someone I’ve always known, she thought, perplexed.
“Who are you people?” she demanded.
“I’m not sure who I am anymore,” Kaylee replied wearily. “Eddy is my … protector. Sorta.”
Shanti was quiet, suspecting there was a great deal more Kaylee didn’t say. Like why her energy dissipated at the drop of a hat and why her situation seemed to be more like that of a hostage than someone with a bodyguard.
“Nice to meet you,” Kaylee added. “I’m sorry I can’t lie to save my life.”
“It’s okay,” Shanti replied. “I think we’re meant to be here together.”
“One big happy family,” Eddy said.
Kaylee was silent. Her energy calmed, but she was nervous. “Where am I going, Eddy?”
“To route fifty then west,” Eddy said.
Shanti wanted badly to talk to Kaylee privately, to understand the stone and what the hell Kaylee was doing with a man whose aura screamed killer, Satanist and something far more dangerous than anything Shanti had encountered during her lifetime.
He does smell good, though. The moment the bizarre thought entered her mind, Shanti dispelled it. She’d never noticed how anyone – man or woman – smelled before. She had been up all night. She needed sleep and hadn’t trusted Todd enough to allow herself to rest.
“Shanti, you have some skills,” Eddy said. “And the best cover ever.”
“You’re amazing,” Kaylee seconded.
“She reads energy, Kaylee. Right, sunshine?”
Shanti didn’t think there was anything safe to say to Eddy. But lying to him didn’t seem like a good idea at the moment, either, if Kaylee’s very real fear was any indication.
“Yes,” Shanti said. “Energy and auras. My senses put together the rest of the picture.”
“So you can see in a sense?” Kaylee asked curiously.
“Not like you can. It’s more of … sensing. Primal instinct kind of stuff,” Shanti answered. “It’s how I hitched a ride with Todd. I kicked his ass and cuffed him to his steering wheel.”
Kaylee laughed.
“My kind of girl,” Eddy said, a smile in his voice.
Shanti didn’t have to know more about him to understand Eddy’s favor wasn’t a good thing.
She couldn’t read him. Eddy controlled his energy well enough to shield himself from her somehow. She’d never thought to ask this kind of question of Julie, who knew much more about the supernatural world and Other Side than Shanti could remember after five incarnations. Then again, she’d never had a reason to ask about the abilities of others. She’d been isolated from the supernatural world her entire life. It was possible there were a lot of people like Eddy, but she didn’t know.
She twisted towards Eddy, struggling to pick up something she could use to identify him.
Nothing.
“Can’t read it, can you?” Eddy asked casually.
“There is something really screwed up about both of you,” Shanti replied.
Kaylee slammed on the brakes. Shanti was thrown against her seatbelt. Her attention shifted forward. The energies of those in front of the car were jumbled on top of one another, an indication the people were likely in a vehicle, probably a van based on the number of people she was picking up.
“3G,” Kaylee said. “I’m not going with them, Eddy.”
“Don’t worry,” he replied. “I got this.”
Shanti focused on the energy, recalling Todd’s words. “Rebelling guides?”
“Something like that.” Eddy stretched past her to the glove box and opened it.
Shanti froze, a strange sense moving through her. It wasn’t emotion or intuition. It was … deeper. Different. His effect was stronger this time. It was as if her soul knew him. Had they met in a past life?
Eddy dropped back into the backseat, armed with two weapons. “Kaylee, you shoot anyone I miss. Understand?” he asked and opened the door.
“Yes,” Kaylee said.
She had a weapon and was still scared of Eddy? Shanti didn’t think that boded well for either of them.
“How many, Shanti?” Eddy asked.
The people were emerging from the vehicle and putting space between them, allowing her to separate the different signatures.
“Six that I can tell, including the driver and one sitting in the back,” she responded.
Kaylee’s breathing had quickened unnaturally.
“Deep breaths, Kaylee!” Eddy called. “Breathe in. Breathe out.”
Eddy left the car. Shanti tracked his energy as he approached the van. He said something to the others, who responded by preparing weapons. One of them spoke.
“You can shoot?” Shanti asked Kaylee uncertainly.
“I won’t have to,” Kaylee replied. “I can’t handle it when people get hurt.”
Gunfire erupted from the people in the road. She covered her ears, sensitive to anything loud that might interfere with her ability to assess her surroundings.
“Breathe in, Kaylee!” Eddy shouted cheerfully, as if sensing Kaylee was in meltdown mode.
“It’s okay,” Shanti said and rested her hand on Kaylee’s arm. The source of the dual-stone was shaking.
“Breathe out!” Eddy called.
Several more shots rang out.
Shanti watched the energies. One by one, in quick succession, all six stilled. The seventh, Eddy, alone remained standing. He went to the van and hauled the body out of the back, along with the driver.
He returned to Kaylee’s side of the car. “You did great. Come on. I got us a better ride.”
Kaylee hissed out a breath and opened her door.
Shanti climbed out of the car and trailed Kaylee past the bodies to the van. Kaylee’s breathing remained erratic. She was unaccustomed to death and killing, Shanti assessed. After losing three spirit guides and witnessing each of them wipe out demons, Shanti wasn’t bothered anymore by the idea of death. She had been trained in martial arts, self-defense and boxing, hobbies that didn’t exactly promote peace and non-violence. She understood the nature of violence, even if she’d only recently began to commit it on her own.
