Melba’s lips twitched after that, but no sound came out. I assumed she conversed with her ancestors again.
By the time I’d run through the grass to get to the buildings out back, the water had soaked through my sneakers. Standing in the doorway of the first building, I glanced over the nearly empty shed. Apart from some lawn equipment, the space looked deserted. The other two buildings were as empty as the first. Before I headed back, I stood in the downpour, searching the land, yelling out Excalibur’s name, but saw nothing.
By the time I’d run back to the car, Melba had the kitchen door opened for me and was standing just inside. “Nothing?”
“No sign of him.”
“It’s important to get that horse back. The longer he has control of Excalibur, the closer he is to becoming whole,” she said.
I stepped inside and pulled the wet, clingy T-shirt away from my chest. When I lifted my head, my heart constricted at the sight awaiting me.
“Solomon? What is it?” Melba followed the line of my widened gaze. “What do you see?”
The old slave woman stood in one corner of the room, her hands wringing together in front of her apron. She eyed me warily.
“Who are you?” I asked, taking a step toward her.
Without words, she pointed a finger toward the hall door.
“Solomon?”
I felt the pressure of Melba’s hands on my shoulders, reminding me she was there.
“Don’t you see her?” I asked.
“See who?”
“Never mind. It’s nothing.” I turned from the apparition and headed into the hall she pointed to. “I have to check on something.”
“Solomon, you’re dripping water all over the floors. I just finished cleaning the place for the grand opening.”
Her voice trailed close behind, but I ignored her ramblings. I took a left and then a right and soon stood in the open doorway of Solomon’s den.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” Melba said from behind me.
I could imagine her fingering her pendants.
“In all the years I’ve worked here. I never felt these hostile vibes in the air before. I think we should leave and go find Desi. Your horse isn’t here.”
“In a moment.”
Although nothing meant more to me than Desiree, I felt a pull beyond my control coming from within the room, and I couldn’t turn back.
I took a step inside, and then another. The den door slammed shut behind me.
Melba cried out my name from the other side. I tried the door handle from my end. It didn’t budge.
Then the stench of something familiar sickened me to my very core. Death. Nausea crawled over and under my skin.
I turned from Melba’s distressed voice and faced the room. It looked no different than it had the last time I was there. Everything was pristine and in its place—all except for the fire blazing in the hearth, lending no warmth.
The next step I took cursed me with a vision from the past. A young girl with hair as dark as coal and skin as light as Desiree’s knelt in front of her master, begging for his mercy. She held the front part of her dress together with slender fingers. It looked as if it had been ripped open by a pair of strong hands. My adversary looked on from his golden throne, not an ounce of remorse on his hardened face.
He bent forward and covered the girl’s slender neck with one beefy hand. Whimpers replaced her cries. The master, in all his inhumane glory, took the other hand and stripped the girl of the top part of her dress.
I knew I was powerless to stop the heinous act I was about to witness, but I yelled out anyway. And for a brief moment, the beast’s intense blue eyes met with mine. He curled his fingers into a claw. I ran toward them, lunging at my twin, but I only succeeded in grabbing an armful of air, as my body fell onto the throne. Suddenly I felt heavy and couldn’t stand. I gripped the wooden arms, trying to pry myself away from the front row view, but I was powerless.
The girl’s eyes, the same green as Desiree’s and widened with fear, stared into mine. I wanted to reach out to her, cover her, at least express my sympathy, but my muscles locked. All I could do was look on with sorrow and regret.
With a clawed hand bearing sharp and pointed fingernails, my evil twin reached out from within me, penetrated the girl’s flesh between her breasts, and ripped out her heart with one yank. Her last breath expelled, and she collapsed into a heap at our feet, her eyes froze open. But her heart, sitting in the palm of our hand—still beat the last bit of warm life through it.
Without wasting a precious moment, he brought the dying organ to our lips and drained it of its sweet liquid. Warm blood flowed down my throat and seeped into my flesh, mingling with my own. On one hand, I felt invigorated and all-powerful. On the other, I held back vomit and tears.
The girl’s frightened gaze etched into my mind as her life’s essence pulsed through my veins. I only hoped this wasn’t a memory. Not of my life. It had to be a twisted vision courtesy of my twin. Another frightful image that wasn’t real. Or had they all been real?
I licked blood off my chin and arm, watching the crimson liquid spill from the girl and pool onto the carpet, threatening to cover up the rose pattern in the center. As I swallowed the last drop, my insides tingled with new life.
A sharp thunderclap shocked me back to reality. In the same instant, Melba burst through the door. The fire in the hearth extinguished, leaving no lingering scent of char behind.
Melba stopped just inside, holding her chest, a look of relief highlighting her features.
“What happened? Why did you lock the door?”
Swallowing the last bit of metallic taste in my mouth, I said, “I didn’t. A draft must have blown it shut.”
Her suspicious gaze lifted to a blowing curtain hanging in front of an opened window that wasn’t opened a moment ago. Mumbling something about water stains on the floor, she rushed to close it.
I stood, towering over the spot where the girl’s body had lain. “We have to go.”
“Solomon! You’re bleeding”
Out of instinct, I checked my hands.
“The corner of your mouth.” She touched her own mouth.
I wiped the salty liquid away with my tongue. “I bit my lip.”
She gave me a pointed look. “Boy, you’re not telling me the truth. You’ve been in here almost an hour. Didn’t you hear me yelling?”
“What?” Alarms went off in my head. So much time wasted. “We have to get out of here and find Desiree. Now. Come on.”
I herded her toward the door, glancing back as lightning lit up the room in its eerie glow. On the second flash, the image of Solomon appeared—a bloodied sneer across his face. I slammed the door shut and rushed toward the kitchen. I felt the old woman’s presence, but I didn’t glance her way.
When I stepped out into the rain, I couldn’t hold back the horrors of what I’d seen. What I’d participated in. My stomach heaved, emptying its contents, a piece of toast and a glass of water. But the pile of vomit on the grass was tinged red.
“Solomon, are you all right?”
With my hands on my knees for support, I lifted my head and filled my mouth with rainwater, swirling it, then spitting.
“Yes.” No! Far from it. When my stomach settled, I got in the car.
“Are you sure you aren’t coming down with something?”
Yeah, a bad case of memories. “Let’s just get to Desiree’s before it’s too late.
“Too late for what?” Melba peeled out of the driveway and sped past the estate. “What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing.”
Melba picked up a pendant, brought it to her lips, and whispered into it for the remainder of the drive.
It was early evening when we arrived at Desiree’s apartment. The rain had slowed and the thunder paused. But the sticky dampness prevailed. Besides its gnawing emptiness, my stomach was in knots with worry. When Desiree didn’t open her apartment door, Melba used a key from her purse
to let us in. The first thing I laid my eyes on when I walked in was the rose I’d given her the previous day. It stood in a tall glass of water in the center of the small kitchen table. I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face from the memory of our date.
Melba called Desiree’s cell phone, and when she didn’t receive an answer, she called the coffee shop, but didn’t reach her there, either. She hung up the phone and turned to me, her face lit with worry.
“Now what? There has to be somewhere else we could look.” I refused to believe that vile creature had her.
Then a new light switched on in Melba’s face. “The campus. We’ll check there. She could be studying. I think she has another test tomorrow.”
“Right. Let’s go, then.” I rushed Melba out of the apartment.
Savannah State University was a city in itself. Finding Desiree here would be like finding a particular ball of cotton in a field ripe with cotton plants.
Melba drove from building to building. I followed her inside the ones that weren’t locked, but we had no luck in finding Desiree. As hope dwindled of ever seeing her again, we came to the library. Before I could get out of the car, I spotted her head of vibrant curls as she walked under a streetlight.
“There she is.”
“Thank God, child,” Melba said when we reached her.
Desiree looked more confused, and also a little annoyed, than happy to see us. Melba threw her arms around her niece. I didn’t think she would let go, but Desiree soon squirmed out of her grip. Melba captured her hand.
“What is this?” She looked from me to her aunt. “Did something happen? Are you okay, Auntie Mel?”
“Yes, yes. I’m fine. I want you to come with us, back to your apartment.”
What?” She grabbed her hand back. “No. I just got here. Now what are you two up to?”
I stepped in. “Desiree, it is for your own protection that we barge in on you this evening. Now please listen to your aunt and come back with us. I’ll explain everything there.”
“Seriously?” She couldn’t seem to get her mouth to close.
“Please.” If I had to get down on my knees and beg, I would.
She threw her hands in the air. “All right. Fine. But if I fail the test tomorrow, I’m blaming both of you.”
Despite the circumstances, I found her anger stimulating. Everything about this girl filled me with some level of renewed life.
So she didn’t have to leave her car behind, I went with her, leaving Melba to lead the way.
Music blared when she turned the key in the ignition. She turned it down, and melted my heart with a sweet smile.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“I told you, when we get back to your apartment.”
Her smile turned into a frown. “Have you gotten yourself in trouble with the law?”
“No.”
“Is Melba in some kind of trouble?”
“No.”
“Fine, keep your secrets. But I want answers once we get home.”
“And you’ll get them.” Probably more than you will really want.
When we reached her apartment, she turned to face me before getting out. “This whole mystery is kinda scaring me.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to scare you.”
“Hmm. Not even a smile? Yesterday, I had such a good time with you. Did I do—?”
“No, no.” I reached for one of her hands and held it between us. “You didn’t do anything. Yesterday was the best day of my life, and I wish I could relive it every day.” Looking into her eyes, I saw the girl in the mansion’s den. My heart ached for both of them. “Come. Inside where it’s safe.”
“Okay, I’ll play along,” she said, with a hint of amusement in her tone.
Melba stood by her car, flashing us looks of suspicion and annoyance. When we reached her, she grabbed Desiree’s hand again and held it until we were inside the apartment with the door locked and deadbolted. Then she had a quick look around and joined us in the living room.
“All right. I can hardly stand the suspense, so spill.” Desiree assumed authority, standing with her hands on her hips, shooting pointed looks our way.
With Melba at a sudden loss for words, I decided to tell what I knew.
“Solomon Brandt, the one from the plantation, is haunting me.”
“In your dreams?”
“Yes… and also when I’m awake.”
“Welcome to the second most haunted state in America.” As soon as she said it, remorse twitched in her eyes then she grinned. “Sorry, bad joke.”
“On my way home last night, I saw him in the park, riding Excalibur.”
Skepticism flashed across her features. “What? Really?”
“Yes.”
“How can you be sure it wasn’t one of the tour guides taking a horse home?”
“Solomon stopped and spoke to me. He was a faded image of himself. But Excalibur was whole. He used the horse as a vessel to enter this time period.”
Desiree turned her skeptical gaze on her aunt. “Is this for real?”
“Yes, Desi. Everything he says is true. The real Solomon died a tortuous death”—Melba flashed me a pointed look—”as was fitting. His black soul remained imprisoned by Hoodoo magic for a century and a half. Now he is risen—a true demon who reeks of evil and wants to dwell among us.”
“Why?”
Melba and I threw each other grave looks.
“He’s here for me.” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell both of them the truth as I knew it.
“Why does he want you? Who are you, really?”
That, I couldn’t even admit to myself yet. My heart raced on overload as I considered her question and how to answer. I began to wonder if I had ended up at Melba’s by accident that first day, or if some higher power had planned it?
I looked into her questioning eyes. “I think I am… he himself.”
The half-grin she sported then did nothing to lighten the mood.
“That doesn’t make any sense. You can’t be two people.” Her gaze begged me to take back my confession.
“That’s all I have.” And with that small statement, I felt the justification of how powerless I really was in this whole plan.
A spiral of hair brushed Desiree’s cheek when she shook her head. “Uh-uh. I don’t believe that.”
“There’s something else you both should know,” I said in a most serious tone.
Silence.
“He wants you, too, Desiree.”
Melba gasped, mumbled something into the air, and then grabbed my arm, spinning me toward her. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“I agreed she was in danger.”
“What a minute,” Desiree chimed in. “I’m still here, remember? Now what does some dead plantation owner want with me?”
I glanced at Melba, whose skin tone had turned a sickly gray, then clouded the truth with a lie. “I don’t know, exactly. But you are in danger, and I’m not leaving your side. At least tonight.”
Or ever. But I would take things one day at a time.
Melba stepped closer to Desire. “I’ll stay, too.”
“There’s no need. I’m sure I’ll be safe here with Solomon.”
Melba cast me a shrew look. “Mmm hmm. I don’t think so, Des—”
“You can trust me,” I said softly to Melba.
“I do, but—”
“Auntie Mel, I’m an adult. I’ll be fine.”
“Hmm, well, I know when I’m not wanted.”
Her lips twitched, and immediately, I felt a familiar ghostly presence nearby. Melba would see to it that her beloved niece was well protected.
“Solomon, you take good care of her. You know what’s out there.”
Desiree locked the door behind her aunt, and then turned to face me. And judging by the new flush of pink in her cheeks, she still didn’t take the danger as seriously as I did.
“So, here we are, alone,” she said.
&
nbsp; But were we really alone?
o you really think I’m in danger?” Desiree asked, picking up the phone.
“Although it pains me to say it, or even think it, yes, I—”
She cut me off and spoke into the phone. She ordered a spinach and artichoke pizza with chicken and extra cheese, then hung up and looked at me. “Sorry, I’m starving. Are you hungry?”
Although hunger gnawed at my stomach, food was the furthest thing from my mind.
The image of the girl whose blood I helped devour came into view again. Her pleading gaze haunted me through Desiree’s eyes—a fitting punishment. I shook the poor wretch from my mind and concentrated on the warm, breathing body in front of me. Desiree—very much alive—stepped closer until the hardened buds beneath the silky fabric of her top pushed against the muscles in my chest. Already, I could barely breathe from her intoxication. She slid her hands up my arms, and rested them on my shoulders. A pleasant, cool sensation followed, settling in my cheeks, forcing me to take a deep, shuddering breath.
I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up into my arms and carry her to a place of peace and euphoria, where desires could be fulfilled without the threat of evil looming. But, instead, I summoned all the restraint I could devise and tried not to concentrate on the pleasant tingles shooting through every part of my body.
“Oh, Solomon, I’m sorry for not taking this as seriously as you are, but, well, it’s kinda hard to believe, you know? This isn’t how I pictured the mystery surrounding your identity to unfold at all. Do you really think you’re… him?”
Her voice was no more of a distraction than her fingers tickling one side of my neck. I pushed hair back from my face and nodded.
“Well, my aunt believes it. But she believes in a lot of nonsense.”
Unable to resist touching her any longer, I lifted my hands from my sides and slid them to the deep arch in her back. “Desiree, the things she believes in are not nonsense. What about the dream you told me about?”
She considered my question. “Yeah, it did feel real, and I did see something the other night when you were here.”
“The bug?”
Reborn Page 15
