by C. J. Anaya
Chapter Fourteen
“You’re not supposed to be able to do that,” said Tie.
He and Angie were still sitting side by side on the floor. I felt an unreasonable twinge of jealousy and tried to shake it off. I knew it was silly, but I had this crazy urge to plant myself in between them.
“Do what?” I sank to the floor in front of them, completely exhausted.
“Heal me like that. Nobody has ever survived a wound from a sword forged in the land of the dead.”
“That’s because the residue the sword leaves behind is able to turn your life force off. All communication between your brain, your life force, and the rest of your body is broken. After that it’s simply a matter of time,” I said.
Tie studied me, looking more than a little intrigued.
“I don’t understand any of this. What is a life force?” Angie asked.
“It’s like a person’s spirit or soul. It exists throughout the body giving every organ, every cell, every molecule a chance to live and function properly. It’s also the essence of that person. Like a personality, only more than that. It’s absolutely aware of everything that is happening within the body because it controls everything that’s happening within the body,” Victor tried to explain.
Angie held up her hand in protest.
“Okay, pretending I even understood any of that, what do you mean it controls everything? How?”
“Let me ask you this first,” I interjected. “Do you have any idea what makes your heart beat? Has science figured out exactly why a heart starts beating and doesn’t stop? In our physical world where anything that functions does so because of some man-made invention, how do we explain a heart that beats without the help of batteries, or solar power or even electricity?”
Angie shook her head, looking a little overwhelmed. It was a lot to take in, and there were already so many other things for her to be processing right now, but I tried to explain it anyway.
“It has intelligence. Your heart, and all the cells and molecules that make that particular organ what it is, have intelligence. These intelligences dictate how that organ functions, and that intelligence comes from a person’s life force. Once a life force enters a physical body those intelligences come to life. They are given instructions and they listen and obey.” I paused for a second trying to gauge Angie’s reaction.
“Is that it, or is there more to this stimulating conversation?”
Sarcasm, for Angie, was a defense mechanism. I was so not her favorite person right now.
“Once I connect with a person’s life force, I know what it knows, and I take on its role by treating it like my own command center in order to heal the body properly. I can show the life force how to heal injuries by giving it access to my computer.” I tapped my temple lightly. “Does that make any sense at all?”
“Oh, sure. Intelligences, life forces, strange healing powers, the fact that you’ve kept this from me for who knows how long. It’s all makin’ sense to me now.” She shook her head like the whole world had gone crazy.
Yep. She was totally mad at me.
“So where’s the land of the dead? Is that in Arizona or something?” she asked shifting gears.
“That’s very funny,” said Tie. “No. The land of the dead is the underworld. It’s where all men go to pay for the crimes they committed in this life. Highly unsavory sort of place if you ask me.”
I felt like my reality and my imagination had suddenly nose-dived into one another.
“This all sounds a little far-fetched,” I said.
“Says the girl who talks to life forces.” Victor sat down next to me and gave my shoulder a squeeze.
Tie rolled his eyes and continued talking. He seemed to be bothered by any kind of interaction between Victor and myself.
“While this is all very touching, it still doesn’t address how you managed to break through the barrier between life and death and act as my life force,” Tie said in an attempt to bring us back to the situation at hand.
“She couldn’t have broken the barrier,” Victor argued. “It would have killed her. At the very least her brain would have hemorrhaged and…” Victor trailed off looking at me completely horrified.
“No, Hope. Tell me you didn’t break through the veil when you were at the hospital tonight.”
“I was healing a friend. I had to break through something in order to get his cells to listen to me. His life force wasn’t willing to do it.”
“That’s because it wasn’t meant to. Hope, you can’t mess with the line between life and death. You can’t heal people that are meant to pass on. Playing that kind of role is not only dangerous for everyone involved, but it hurts you. Forcing a healing prevents you from healing yourself, and it weakens that part of the veil you’re pushing through,” he cried out.
“I don’t need to heal myself. There is absolutely nothing wrong with me.” “Well,” Tie began.
“Watch it,” I warned.
“If you divert all of your healing power toward something that isn’t meant to be then you will never become immortal, and you will never fulfill your destiny. When we found you screaming in that elevator you were already starting to die. The forces of life and death are not meant for us to control, and trying to control them could get you killed,” Victor lectured.
“Immortal? What are you talking about?” I felt ready to explode. “Kirby is dying from leukemia. I had to do something. I couldn’t sit there and allow him to waste away.”
“I don’t know who Kirby is, but if his life force isn’t willing to heal his body then it isn’t meant to. I think you know that already.”
“But I’m not willing to accept it. Was Tie supposed to die?” I was trying to throw him a verbal curve ball.
“That was different,” he said. “Tie isn’t meant to die. Not ever. I’m not totally sure, but I think the only reason you were able to bypass his life force without damaging yourself is because there was no barrier for you to break.”
“What are you saying? No one lives forever. It’s ridiculous!” Angie said.
Victor held up a hand before she could say anything else.
“There’s no line between life and death for people like Tie and me because our purpose is continuous and eternal. Hope simply fixed what was never meant to be broken.” He turned to his left and addressed me. “Which, by the way, was also incredibly risky. Your spirit could have shut down just as easily as Tie’s.” Victor gave his cousin a hard look. “It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve placed her life in jeopardy.”
“I didn’t ask for her to heal me,” Tie shouted angrily. “I was a little preoccupied with bleeding to death.”
His words stung me more than I wanted to admit.
“Wow. Ungrateful much? Next time I’ll just let you die.” I stood up quickly, disgusting myself with an embarrassing need to cry.
Tie jumped up and walked over to me. He placed his hands on my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye.
“Tie,” Victor warned.
“Keep your shirt on, Vicky. I’m only going to apologize.” He turned back to me looking a bit uncomfortable. Actually, there were all sorts of emotions flashing across his features, but the one that stood out was this look of wonder, like he couldn’t possibly comprehend why I’d even bothered to save his life. “I’m sorry. What you did was incredibly brave, albeit incredibly foolish, and I’m grateful to you for saving my life. Thank you.”
His backhanded apology sounded a little forced, but his eyes actually held a small hint of warmth in them.
“I owed you one.” I gave him a tentative smile. “After all, you did kind of throw yourself between me and a lethal looking sword. You saved my life too you know.”
He shrugged off the compliment.
“Oh, I know. I’m a regular hero these days. My bad boy image is really starting to crumble.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re a creep, and you can buy your own dinner,” Angie threw in.
&n
bsp; “I think we should take a moment to rejoice, people. The fact that I’m still alive is cause for celebration.” Tie released my shoulders from his warm grip and walked over to the recliner in the corner.
“As much as I’d love to give you that moment,” Angie said, “I’m afraid it’s absolutely necessary that I address the elephant in the room. Or should I say the great, monstrous cat lying dead in the corner.” She pointed to where my headless father used to be. She was fighting hard to keep her voice steady, but I could tell Angie was on the verge of a very noisy breakdown.
And who could blame her?
I looked to where she pointed and caught my breath. Instead of a headless Dr. Fairmont lying motionless on the living room floor, there was a gigantic, headless, black cat with two very long tails.
“What is that thing?” I asked in alarm.
“That is a nekomata,” Victor said. He sounded like he was hosting an episode of Animal Planet. “They’re servants of the underworld and extremely dangerous assassins.”
“I gathered that thing was dangerous. How many more are out there?” Angie wondered.
“This is the only one. The demon god only ever sends one at a time. We have a small window of opportunity to get you to safety before he sends another.”
“Speaking of, I thought you said it wouldn’t be able to track us for a while. It certainly found us a lot faster than that,” Tie remarked.
“I can’t account for that. With the amount of voltage it received it shouldn’t have recovered so quickly, and it must have assumed we’d go here first. I should have thought that far ahead.”
Tie made a snorting noise and said, “Coming here first would have been obvious to a fifth grader let alone a demon cat from the underworld.”
“I thought we would have more time!”
“Demon cats and gods, huh?” Angie asked letting out a little giggle. “Since I can’t claim to know the difference between reality and fiction anymore, I’m gonna go with the flow here and pretend this conversation is the most normal thing that’s happened all day.”
I took in Angie’s mask of calm and knew it was only a matter of time before it cracked wide open.
“Let’s pretend for one second I believe you. Why does this demon god only send one assassin at a time?” I asked watching Angie from the corner of my eye.
“One assassin is all it takes,” he said. “Nekomata are dangerous because they can take the form of any human they wish. This is how they gain your trust, and then they strike.”
“And the fireballs?”
“Nekomata breathe fire,” Tie said.
“Of course they do,” Angie replied. “Cats the size of my refrigerator, are always pretending to be human while coughing up deadly hair balls of fire.”
“Angie?” I asked tentatively.
“I’ll be over here having a psychotic episode if anybody needs me.” She stood up and walked to the couch on the opposite side of the room, picking up her phone in the process. She quickly curled herself into a ball and remained motionless. I walked over to her. Besides needing some space from Tie and Victor, I was seriously worried about my best friend. I sat down next to her and began rubbing her back hoping to comfort her.
“Don’t think a back rub is getting you off the hook. My level of displeasure with you is skyrocketing. Not only has this double date turned into a complete and total disaster, but I think my hair got singed when that first fireball hit my car. I’m not going to be happy until we get a chance to talk this out.”
“We’ve got to get out of here, first,” said Victor getting serious again. “They know who Hope is now, and the demon god is not going to stop until she’s dead.”
“I’ve got about a million questions on that subject as well, but before we go anywhere we have to call my father. I’m not doing anything until he knows what I know.” I wasn’t about to budge on that one.
“Your father,” Victor said. He looked at Tie in alarm. “The nekomata was in the form of her father!”
“Victor,” Tie warned, “don’t say anything else. Let’s just get them out of here.”
“Don’t say what?” I asked. My stomach began to churn.
“Hope, if the nekomata was in the form of your father that means your father is dead!”
Maybe Victor thought he was being gentle in his delivery of such an awful factoid, but what normal human being could receive that kind of news without feeling like their world had broken in two.
“Victor, stop!” Tie jumped up from the recliner and grabbed Victor by the collar. “I’m all for tough love, but news that devastating is going to take a while to process. We don’t have time for that.”
“You’re lying,” I squeaked out. I felt the walls closing in on me. My surroundings were shrinking, and I was tripling in size. The dead cat in my living room appeared to grow larger with every painful breath I took.
Victor shrugged himself out of Tie’s grip and took a step toward me.
“Hope, I’m sorry, but I’m not lying. You need to know. Nekomata take on a human form by killing what they become. They don’t want to risk an encounter with the human they’re impersonating.”
“Shut up,” Tie yelled. “Is this really helping? We’ll have to tranquilize both of these girls just to get them out the door!”
My head was starting to feel heavy.
“I suppose improving the truth would be better?”
“It’d be a hell of a lot more kind!”
“Quiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiet!”
Angie’s voice broke me from my racing thoughts and effectively shut everyone up.
“I can’t hear a thing with you guys screeching at the top of your lungs.” She turned her focus back to the cell phone in her hand and spoke into it.
“Dr. Fairmont? Hey, it’s Angie. Just calling to make sure you’re not dead. I was thinking it would be real sweet of you to drop everything you’re doing and come on home because some psycho who looks exactly like you just tried to kill Hope, and Victor cut his head off, and...hello?”
Angie paused, listening to nothing but silence on the other end of the line while Tie, Victor and I gaped at her in disbelief.
She put her phone in her pocket.
“I guess that means he’s on his way.” She let out a great big yawn and curled back into the fetal position.
I started laughing so hard I began to cry. I was usually the logical one in a crisis, but emotional, high strung Angie was the only one who’d actually had the presence of mind to call my dad. I continued laughing and crying uncontrollably while rocking myself back and forth on the couch.
I felt Angie begin rubbing my back, and then two powerful arms surrounded me and held me tight.
“You see that, Hope?” Tie whispered into my ear. “Nothing to worry about.”
He cradled me in his arms while I bawled like a baby.
“I don’t understand,” I heard Victor say dumbfounded. “He should be dead. Why isn’t he dead?”
“The nekomata wasn’t sure it was me,” I managed to get out. “He was here this morning before I went to school. He tried to get me to heal him.”
I heard Tie let out several expletives and almost started giggling again.
“I didn’t know that thing wasn’t really my father until I asked my dad about it when I went to the hospital. He thought whoever was impersonating him was working with you.”
“So your dad knows about us then?” Tie asked sounding amused.
“I told him how you guys staged that fight in the cafeteria, trying to trick me into healing you. It’s a shame you battered up your face for nothing, by the way.”
Tie let out a big belly laugh.
“She’s smart, Victor. I think you’re gonna have your hands full with this one. You better hand her over to me.”
Tie was still holding me possessively, and even though he was joking around there was a serious edge to his words.
Victor glared at him, but didn’t say anything. I slowly slipped out of T
ie’s embrace, feeling cold as I did so. I gave him a smile tinged with embarrassment. I really needed to get a grip on my emotions. In a matter of just a few minutes I had managed to find myself in both Tie’s and Victor’s arms, and I was feeling very confused by it all.
“Hope,” I heard my dad yell from the back. He burst into the room and came to an abrupt halt once he spotted the dead cat on the floor.
“What is that?”
“Dad,” I cried. I jumped up from the couch and raced over to him, launching myself at him and wrapping my arms around his waist. He held me tightly and kissed me on the forehead.
“Why are Tie and Victor here? What in the world are you wearing?” he pulled me away from him and studied me from head to toe. “Why are you covered in blood?” With each new question my father’s voice became more concerned.
I looked down at Angie’s white blouse and mini skirt drenched in Tie’s blood. I hadn’t even noticed what a mess I was until now.
“Explanations are going to have to wait. Hope’s safety is the main concern right now,” said Tie.
My father released his grip on me and turned to Tie. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped open.
“You’re him,” my dad whispered.
Tie looked at my father warily.
“What are you talking about, Dad?”
“I didn’t recognize you at the hospital because your face was so messed up. You were there when it happened.” His voice was raised in disbelief.
Tie nodded his head in acknowledgment, but said nothing. He didn’t look bored or indifferent or even smug. He just looked sad.
“How do you know Tie?” I asked totally confused.
“He was standing not ten feet from us when you were born, Hope. He was there.”
I looked at Tie and waited for him to deny it, but he didn’t. He simply folded his arms across his chest.
“Dad, that’s impossible. He’d be at least as old as you, and he’s clearly closer to my age.”
My father must have been suffering from shock or post-traumatic stress. It wasn’t easy seeing a human sized cat lying dead in your front room.
“That isn’t entirely true, Hope.” Tie finally spoke up. “I’m actually thousands of years old.”
