A chill ran through me. “Believe them. There are things going on that I don’t understand. My past, for instance. This isn’t a bad case of amnesia I have.”
“Then what is it?”
I let out a frustrated breath.
She grabbed my hand and slipped hers in my palm. The backs of my newly cleaned fingers rested against her knee. I curled them loosely around her, burying her delicate hand inside my powerful one—the one that had held the whipping stick.
“What, Solomon? You can tell me.”
“I don’t really know myself. I saw the spirits. Three of them. They protected Excalibur from… from my evil twin.” I held back the next breath and looked on with bated anticipation.
“What? I don’t understand.”
As she stared into my eyes, waiting for an explanation, the table lamp behind me flickered, illuminating her pupils and the green rings surrounding them. Mirrored in the glossy, black centers of her eyes, I could have sworn I saw three wisps of smoke. But when I turned to look behind me, I saw just the lamp, steadily aglow again. Maybe the dangling fringe of clear beads around the rim of the shade was what I saw. When I bumped the lamp base with my elbow, light cast off the beads into a frenzy of striations on the yellow wall behind it. I accepted the excuse to save my sanity.
“Solomon?”
I turned, fixed my gaze on Desiree’s, and prepared to tell her the truth.
“Solomon Brandt, the notorious slave owner of the eighteen-hundreds. He’s been haunting me in my dreams and when I’m awake. His spirit chased me through the woods, and came after me at your aunt’s, but the three priestesses held him back—I think.”
She curled her fingers tighter around mine, reminding me that her hand was still in my grip.
“Are you telling me you actually saw the Priestesses? And the other Solomon Brandt?”
“Solomon, several times.”
“Those must have been bad dreams you had.” Her thoughtful gaze passed over my shoulder. “I want to help you get to the bottom of them.”
With an urge too strong to control, I lifted my other hand and placed it on her arm. The sleeve of her blouse felt silky against my skin. When I rubbed my thumb against the alluring material, the neckline opened slightly, exposing part of her collarbone and the dark crevice above it. Feelings I’d never experienced before awakened inside my stomach. A cool sensation traveled along my veins, surfacing on my face. As I stared at the newly exposed skin, I gripping her upper arm in a most gentle but determined way. I was aware of Desiree drawing nearer to me.
When I lifted my gaze to hers, I could tell by the new spark her eyes held, and the sudden heaviness of her lids, that she was as drawn to this moment as I was. My heart lurched forward, pulling my body with it. I slid my hand around back of her neck, under her ponytail, using my fingers as a guide to nudge her closer—not that she needed coaxing.
She’d already slipped her hand out of mine and inched it between my ribs and the sofa, resting it on my lower back.
“Desiree.” My mouth watered at the thought of tasting her, she was so close, but I felt it only fair to warn her first.” I don’t think it’s safe for you to be near me.”
“I’ll worry about that,” she whispered, her breath caressing my lips, heightening my urges.
At the same time that her eyes fell shut and I opened my mouth to claim hers, the apartment door flew open, banging against the wall.
“Desi!”
My heart pounded to new heights as we sprang apart and cast looks of surprise and resentment at the intruder.
She was already in the room, standing directly in front of us.
“Are you all right, Des?” Her straight blonde hair was a mess against one side of her head, and her pajama bottoms were in a twist at her slender waist. “Oh. My. God. I just heard what happened from Karen.”
As if she just noticed me in the room, she took a step back, her wide-eyed gaze roaming down my body. “Whoa.”
Desiree flashed me a flustered look, then stood.
“Chrissy, I’m fine. See.” She held out her arms and did a spin.”
“But Karen said—”
“There was some trouble, but…” Desiree paused, as though thinking of just how much information to give her obviously close friend. “Solomon came to my rescue, and everything is fine now.”
That was the inaccurate short version. Hopefully, her friend would accept it.
But Chrissy plopped into the only chair in the room, a red and gold striped, armless chair.
She looked at me, her hazel eyes big and curious. “Wow, so you were just there out of the blue, huh? Is that how you two met?” She brought a finger to her lip. “Yet you were kissing.”
She turned her attention to Desiree. “You never kiss on the first date.”
“What is this, a courtroom?”
“Just saying.”
“What are you still doing here?”
“Waiting for Karen.”
“What?”
Desiree stomped off to the far side of the room, which doubled as a modest kitchen.
“Well, you didn’t think we were going to let you spend the night alone after Tyrell attacked you, did you?” Chrissy called over her shoulder. “So,” she said, focusing back on me, one leg swinging rapidly over the other, “how did you two meet?”
“Chrissy!”
“Okay.” Her eyes rolled to the ceiling. “I’ll go wait on the balcony. Geez.”
Desiree sounded more annoyed than I felt. I thought it best I leave. She seemed to be in good hands.
“I’m sorry,” she said, rushing to my side once we were semi-alone. “Apparently she isn’t leaving my side tonight.”
“I should go anyway. It’s late. I’m sorry I showed up. If I hadn’t—”
She pressed a finger to my mouth to shush it. “No. I’m glad you came.”
With her smile lighting up the room, I forgot for a second about her friend peering in at us from the other side of the patio door. I wrapped my hand around her slender wrist and kissed her fingers, then let her go.
“I’m going to help you, Solomon. We’ll figure this out together.”
Before I entered the stairwell, I glanced back to see Desiree standing in her doorway, smiling. Beside her, three wisps of light gray mist appeared, hovering in the hallway. She would be safe tonight.
spent the bus ride back in a blur of people glaring at the bruised and bandaged guy with blood on his T-shirt—me. I shut out the gawkers by thinking only of Desiree, and our almost kiss. The moment her lips opened against mine, then froze as her panicked friend burst into the room. I tried to get that moment back, and at one point even felt my lips twitching.
It was nearly midnight when I arrived back at the motel. The parking lot seemed darker than it should have been. Then I noticed a blown light on the nearest streetlamp. I turned from the darkness, and forced the key into the lock. As I was about to step inside, someone called out my name. I turned to see Glyda waving a small piece of paper in her hand, from the office doorway.
“What in the good Lord’s name happened to you, boy?” she asked, once I reached the glow of the office light.
I had to think of something fast. “Oh, I fell… ah, at work. Tripped over a board. But I’m fine.”
“Uh huh.” Planting a look of suspicion on me, she held out the paper and thankfully, didn’t elaborate on the topic.
“You got a call tonight, not so long ago. Sweet, young voice on the other end. Asked me to give you a message, to call her at the number on the paper when you got home.”
Desiree McClinton. It had to be her, and she wanted me to call her.
“Thanks,” I said, deep into thoughts of Desiree again. I made a turn in the direction of the pay phone at the other end of the parking lot.
“Heck, you can use my phone. That’s not a long distance number. Come on in. Phone’s right there on the desk. I’ll make myself invisible. Be in the back room if you need anything…”
; I’d never used a phone before, but I saw Melba make a call once, and earlier that day, Justin had made several on the bus. It couldn’t be that hard. When I picked up the device off its carriage; a steady ring resonated. I clicked the numbers in a row as they were written down by Glyda, and waited. After a brief period of intermittent ringing, Desiree’s voice flowed into my ear. Just the one word, “hello,” almost satisfied the need to be with her again.
“Desiree.”
“Solomon. I’m so glad you called. There’s… I… I forgot to tell you something.”
Suddenly, the inanimate object I breathed into came alive. The soft drawl of Desiree’s voice floated inside my ear, for only me to hear, and in some ways, this moment seemed more intimate than the so-few others we’d shared.
“Solomon?”
“I’m here, Desiree.” I spoke low, so Glyda’s ears couldn’t pick up my words. “What did you forget to tell me?”
“That I missed you, too.”
As if her own hot breath had come through the receiver with her declaration, a flush of warmth gripped me like a hug on the inside, and I smiled to myself.
“Is your friend still there?”
“They’re both here, camped out on the sofa bed. I’m in my room… in bed, wishing Chrissy had never interrupted us.”
“That was most unfortunate. Maybe we could meet somewhere, sometime.” My words sounded formal, but I didn’t know any other way to express myself without her in my sight, or in my grip.
“Soon, Solomon. But not for a couple days. I have a major exam coming up, and I have to study when I’m not working. How about Saturday? Do you work that day?”
“Saturday sounds great.” If I can make it until then without you. “Where?”
“Do you know Chippewa Square?”
I perused the desk in front of me until I located a pen, and then scratched the name down underneath her phone number. “I’ll find it.”
“Okay. I get off work at noon, so how about 2:00 p.m.? Look for General Oglethorpe’s statue.”
By the time I had everything I needed written down, I’d used one side of the paper.
“I’ll be there.” And I’ll hold my breath until then.
“Well, I don’t want to hang up, but it’s so late, and I have to go to school in the morning.”
“I’ll miss you ‘til Saturday, Desiree.”
“Good night, Solomon.”
“Good night, Desiree.”
Even after the soft click, I didn’t want to hang up. Maybe she would come back. But Glyda entered the room behind me, as if she somehow knew the conversation had ended.
“My, don’t you look all smitten.” Her grin revealed a dark crevice on one side of her mouth, where a tooth had once been.
I hurried to the door, wanting to keep the phone conversation fresh on my mind, not the one Glyda carried on. “Thank you for the use of your phone. Good night.”
The warm glow of the orange room greeted me as I closed the door behind me, locking it. A good night’s sleep was in order. That night was the first in a long time, maybe forever, that I felt truly happy. Sleep claimed my conscious mind, depriving me of the images of Desiree’s satiny peach lips and lustrous peridot eyes that floated in my mind. I wanted more time to fantasize, to finish what we had started on her sofa, but the ill-timed drowsiness won over, and her image faded into the void of sleep.
Sometime later, a loud crack replaced the unconscious silence, startling me. Several more followed. With each commotion, the odor of something burning grew.
I threw off the covers, jumped up, and pulled on my jeans. It was then, after I stood, that I noticed how dark my surroundings were—unusually dark. Remembering the light switch on the wall, I shuffled in the direction of the door, banging my knee on the luggage rack at the foot of the bed. I continued on with caution, and for each step I took, my heart beat faster, and faster, until my chest hurt. The char-scented air around me thickened, until I had to fight for breath. When I reached the wall, I ignored the light switch and threw open the door instead. Darkness prevailed in the parking lot, and the streets of Savannah beyond. All except one corner of the lot.
In that particular spot, a lone street lamp illuminated a small area like a spotlight, shining a circular glow on a beat-up white pick-up truck, displayed on a piece of broken pavement.
“Solomon.” The long, drawn-out summons came from outside.
Barefoot and shirtless, I stepped out into the night. The world seemed deserted. The parking lot empty of vehicles. All but the white truck. Not a motor could be heard anywhere. Not even the steady bark of a dog I was accustomed to hearing from somewhere else in the city. In the eerie silence, the sound of my feet shuffling across the warm pavement seemed amplified. Like my breathing. As I drew closer to the dreary beacon, I could see bits of broken glass at the bases of each street lamp I passed.
“I find it oppressing, if not downright depressing, don’t you?”
The voice I’d come to know and dread sent a chill across my hot flesh. Although, the tone was neutral, not belligerent, as I had come to expect.
My evil twin leaned casually against the white truck. One hand rested inside a pocket, while the other fingered a coin, nonchalantly. I halted at the fringes of darkness, letting the evil Solomon own the light.
Not nearly as offensive in appearance as before, his dapper attire consisted of a crisp white shirt covered by a dark suit, complete with swallowtails. His hair, probably slick with its own grease, smoothed down the side of his head, curving over his shoulders. I supposed he could have been considered handsome in his day.
“Southern charm abandoned like the runt of the litter. That’s what’s happened to this motorized world.”
My adversary eased himself away from the side of the truck and turned to face me. Red rings of hellfire smoldered around his striking blue eyes set into his gaunt face. The gentlemanly image before me was no more.
When I took a step backward, he took one forward.
“You remember Savannah in her glory days, don’t you, Solomon? The cotton mill next to the river? Our mill, Solomon. Our shipyard. Half this city was labeled ‘Brandt.’ Those were the days of grandeur, were they not?”
A grin as evil in appearance as his eyes spread across his face.
“What do you want from me?” I asked. trying to keep my voice low and steady.
A deep laugh reverberated somewhere inside him. “It’s rather simple, actually. I want to live, as you do.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I really don’t know what part of me you derive from, Solomon. You’re weak—”
My hands turned into fists at my side, flexing upper body muscle. “I’m not weak.”
“Brawn doesn’t give man strength if he has no will to use it. That boy would have pounded you into sunrise if I had abandoned you to fight your own battle.”
Was he right? Would I have just stood there and let Tyrell beat me? No. I didn’t think so.
“You don’t have what it takes. You’re only half of yourself.” The smoldering rings around his eyes burned brighter as his excitement heightened. “But with my essence, and your body, we can both become whole again. Two of us, equal in stamina and intelligence. Savvy twins working together. What say you?”
The terror of what he suggested seized my mind briefly. I didn’t notice when he advanced, but now, he stood just inside the circle of light, the toes of his black polished shoes grazing the border of darkness.
I pressed my teeth together, tightening my jaw. “I’ll never help you gain entry into this world.”
“Oh, I think you will. In fact, you have only two choices, Solomon. Give me what you most desire.”
Desiree? He wants Desiree!
Another chill fell over me, and for a moment, I couldn’t unhinge my jaw to speak.
“That’s right, Solomon. Bring me your heart. Bring me Desiree.”
Her name slipping though his lips was all it took to release me from my fear.
With a roar crawling up out of my throat into the quiet night, I lunged at the beast, but as my skin touched him, it burned. I jumped back, glaring at the charred skin on my hands and arms. The scent of burning flesh—my flesh—sickened me to the core.
Another low, throaty laugh came from the demon in front of me. Flames danced off his form, licking at the air. His defenses rendered me powerless against him. I held out my arms, away from my body in shock, not knowing what to do next.
The next time the evil Solomon spoke, it was in the harsh, demanding tone I’d come to expect. The fire surrounding his eyeballs blazed wildly. “Bring me the mixed-breed bitch so I may cut out her heart and drink of her purest blood. Then I will give you charge of her body to do with what you will, and you and I can part ways permanently. If you do not bring her to me, I will find her and take her. There will be no mercy shown. I will rip her to pieces slowly, and when I come upon the organ that beats in tune to yours, I will devour it and every drop of blood in her body. But, not before I ravage her.” The demon’s grin widened.
I’d felt the blood drain from my body moments ago, and stood there fighting the faint feeling that had possessed me.
“You choose her fate, Solomon. A quick death, or prolonged agony.”
Weakness won over, and my knees hit the pavement. White flame engulfed the demon, all except for the eyes—they blazed red. Acrid, green smoke lifted off the human-shaped fireball. The scent of a hundred and fifty-year-old charred and rotted body wafted up my nose and crawled into my lungs. I fought back the vomit that surged up the back of my throat and used my scorched hands to pull myself away.
But the putrid-smelling monstrosity kept its advance. Molten venom rained over the parking lot as the demon lifted its arms in rage. Sizzling holes appeared in the pavement. One drop burned through the hem of my jeans, just missing my foot. I rolled onto my stomach and pushed myself up. Hellfire licked at my feet as I ran as fast as I could in my weakened state, barely making it back inside the motel room. As I slammed the door and set the deadbolt, the beast lurched against it. Hinges creaked. Wood splintered. The door burst into flames.
Reborn Page 12
