Red Lineage

by Ozias Goldman

  I cut the headlights off and applied an ever-so-slight amount of gas, keeping the powerful engine to a low grumble, hoping to conceal my approach. Not that it mattered much. I still didn’t have a plan. Pulled to within twenty feet of the house, I slowed to a stop under the deepening shadow of a tree, then shut off the car.

  Whether or not I was ready at this point was irrelevant. I took a deep breath and slowly blew it out, then lifted the bone and held it in front of my eyes, checking one last time that I was at the right place. The bone vibrated in my grip, fighting against my effort to hold it steady. They were in there.

  Stepping out of the car, I was hit with a cacophony of songs from bird, insects and other exotic creatures I couldn't identify in a beautifully chaotic blend of sound. It was a blend of the physical world and the ether realm, and if I concentrated, I was able to make out the subtle differences in the way I perceived the sounds. But, so close to DJ, to Fati, I didn’t have time to concentrate on much of anything except for them, my family.

  I started walking towards the house, and a deep rumble of a growl filled the air from behind me, close enough to make me stop and turn around, my pulse racing on a visceral level. The sound was unlike anything I had ever heard, but I wasn't quite sure if it came from a creature in the physical realm or the ether realm. My first instinct would have been the latter because I had never heard anything remotely close to that sound, not in a zoo, but I felt that sound in my chest, the base, in a way I hadn't anything in the ether realm to this point. But looking around, through the darkening foliage and trees, I saw nothing at all.

  Cautiously, I turned back around and continued towards the house, taking in as much of the detail as I could as I went. Lights were on in every window of the first floor, but the second and third floors were dark. Silhouettes were visible through the curtains, and from the looks of the movement, things seemed casual.

  The bone throbbed in my hand as I stepped up onto the porch and stood in front of the door. I was as ready as I was likely going to be, so I slipped the dagger into my belt and pressed the bell before I found a reason to hesitate. It only took a few seconds before someone came and pulled aside the curtains at the large window beside the door, peaking out at me. With the backlight rimming the feminine silhouette, I couldn’t quite make out any features, but I knew it wasn’t my Fati.

  “Who’s there?” A voice called out.

  It was Patricia. We’d met countless times over the years; she had to know it was me, considering how well lit the front porch was, with four large lamps hanging in front of the awning in even spacing.

  "Patricia, hi! I…ugh, I need to speak with Fatima, please."

  “Darien?” She poured on the surprise in her voice a little too thick.

  I sighed. "Yes. Yes, it's Darien. I'm sorry to bother you, but I really, really need to speak with Fatima."

  “Gosh, Darien. Did she say she would swing by my place tonight? Haven’t seen my girl in way too long.” She forced a laugh. “In fact, you tell her Patty said next time we hang out she payin’. Matter of fact, next three times! And you tell her I ain’t playin’ around neither.”

  I breathed. "Patty, please, I know she's in there. I need to speak to her. I promise I'm not bringing any kind of drama your way.”

  There was a pause. “She don’t want nothin’ to do with you, dog. You get outta here, right now, or I’ll call the police.” She was shouting now, and I heard other voices deeper in the house begin shouting as well.

  “Hey, hey, hey, shhhh…” I said, desperately trying to get the woman to lower her voice.

  She paid me no mind, and turned her head entirely around and shouted back into the house. "Yeah it’s Darien…no, I'm not lettin' him in, relax. But I done warned you, girl. I ain't want none of this drama comin' to me and mine. Got enough of our own.”

  “Patty!” I pounded the door, now throwing caution to the wind. Red knew I was here by now. I needed to get Fati away from him, where she could be safe while I tried to somehow free DJ. “Please, just have her come to the door.” I pounded the door again, this time hard enough to shake the door on its foundation.

  “Fatima, bring my phone. I’m calling the police. Matter’a fact, fuck that, I’m callin’ Craig to come on over. This motherfucka ain’t gonna be knocking my damn door down like he the fuckin’ police.” She turned back around again, and I heard a voice from within saying something I couldn’t quite make out. “Okay, then. You come on and talk some sense into this man, because if he ain’t gone after you done, his ass’a be in jail.”

  Patricia walked deeper into the house, and everything went quiet for over a full minute. But then I saw another silhouette approach the door through the curtain and recognized Fati's walk immediately. She opened the door just wide enough for her to slide out, then closed it behind her.

  My breath caught at the sight of her, in nothing but a simple pair of sweatpants and one of my oversized sweatshirts, giving my flat world a small sense of the vibrancy it once had. She caught me staring at it, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I bought this, remember? I think that makes th—what in the world?”

  “What?” I frowned, then remembered my eyes, my scarred face. I shook my head. Red knew I was there, which meant I had very little time. “I promise I’ll explain my eyes later, hun, but ri—”

  “My name is Fatima. You gave up the right to call me anything other than that.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Fucking right you’re sorry. And I don’t give a fuck what happened to your eyes. You’re lucky that’s all that’s…” I closed her eyes and inhaled, held it a moment, and released a trembling breath. She opened her eyes again. “Hurry up and talk, before I let Patty call the police and lock your ass up again.”

  “Please, I know how things look.”

  “How things look?” She pulled her arm back and slammed her fist into my chest in what was part punch, part shove. “How things look! Fuck, Darien. You had a bitch calling me, gloating as she gave me details of how you…" Her words trailed off, and she brought her hand to her face as she leaned back against the door.

  I took the opportunity. “Please. You and DJ both are in danger. I need you to listen to me, no matter how crazy it sou—”

  "Crazy? Darien, you are fucking crazy.”

  “No, that’s not what I…” I sighed.

  She tried to punch me again, but grabbed her hand in both of mine and brought it to my lips. I landed a kiss just before she snatched it away, and gave me a look that let me know I shouldn't try it again. “I’m begging you, just hear me out, for DJ’s sake.”

  “Just talk, Darien. I’m out here because I promised Patty I wouldn't bring trouble her way, but you've already wasted about half of the time you're gonna get from me.”

  I lowered my voice to a whisper. “I know what’s wrong with DJ, babe.”

  She arched a brow at me.

  “Fatima,” I corrected. “He’s not sick. I wasn’t crazy. Somethin’s gotten into him. Somethin’ dark—a…” I hesitated, realizing how what I was about to say would sound, but could find no better way, so I just said it, “…a demon. Red. It might even try to harm him if it has to, but I think it’ll try to avoid endangering DJ at least, if at all possible.”

  Fati blinked. “You really are fucking crazy.”

  “Fatima, you’ve seen it yourself.” I leaned in to get the words out as quickly as possible.

  She must have taken my movement towards her as me trying another advance because she turned and shouldered the door open. She rushed inside the house and tripped, falling face first onto the carpeted floor. I cursed and rushed inside to help her, but she scrambled onto her back and scooted away before I could get to her.

  “What in the…” Patrica said, hurrying out of a room in the back. “You will get out of my damn house right now!” She brought the phone up to her ear, and a moment later I understood what was happening. “Hello. Yes, I need a—”

  I couldn't let her call th
e police, so I did the only thing I could—rushed to her and snatched the phone away, hanging up before any real information passed. "Patricia, I'm so sorry. But I can't let you call the police." I gestured to my wife, who had just got back to her feet. "She just tripped, that's all, nothing to worry about. I just need to speak with my wife."

  "Stay away from us, Darien," Fati said, but when I looked back, into her eyes, I saw the confliction. As angry as she was with me, as much of a lowlife as she thought me to be, and rightfully so, there was still something there. She still loved me, that much she couldn't hide. But my Fati had an iron will; her face hardened, and she doubled down on her words. “You stay the hell away from me and my son.”

  “D, hey, I’m surprised to see you here, man.” I heard DJ say from behind me as entered the room.

  My frustration surged to anger, and I whirled on him, ready to rip into him in a way I'd never done before, but froze. DJ stood at the entrance of what was the dining room with his arms crossed and a foot kicked back against the wall, smirking in the eerily similar way I'd seen Red often do for years. But it was the crimson aura radiating from him in thick steam-like plumes, mixing and mingling with the pure white aura of DJ's, that shook me to my core. To know my demon possessed DJ was one thing, but to gaze into the ether realm and see the taint in my innocent son's body with my own eyes was too much to handle.

  “Fatima,” I said, sliding the bone from my belt and inching closer to her. “Baby. You have to trust me.” I unwrapped the cloth and revealed the dagger. I heard Fati gasp, but there wasn’t any more time to convince her. “I’m not sure I can help him, but I’m going to try…until the end.”

  Fatima rushed passed me before I knew she was even moving and came to a stop beside DJ.

  “Fati, no! Get away!”

  Her face twisted into a rage. “Stay. Away. From. My. Son.”

  “Y’all have to go, Fatima. I’m sorry, but this shit is too much for me. I don’t need this kind of mess in my home. I told you when you asked to stay with me—”

  “Fatima,” I cut in, talking over Patricia. “All those years, the talking to myself…the things I’ve done, that you’ve seen, it was all Red.”

  “Ah, come on now, D. I know you ain’t ‘bout to blame me for everything. Everything? The money, sure. The cars, the investments, yeah okay. But the fights? Nah I don't know about that. Don't know about the partying neither. And it damn sure didn't take much convincing for the women.” DJ said, and he laughed.

  Fatima’s face twisted into a rage, then paused. She turned to DJ with furrowed brows, as if seeing him for the first time.

  DJ laugh harder, head back and holding his belly. The high pitched laughter of the pre-teen gradually deepened, until it was replaced entirely by the deep rumble I'd known from Red all these years.

  Fatima eased away from DJ until she had equal distance between the two of us. She glanced at me, and I could tell, for the first time, she thought there might be truth in my words.

  "Babe, I know this seems crazy. Trust me, but it was your friend Bezi that confirmed it for me. You saw how she reacted back in her house. It's because she saw it too, the way I can now."

  Something clicked in her memory. I saw it on her face. She brought a hand to her mouth and glanced down at the carpeted floor, shaking her head as Red's laughter bombarded us.

  I had to shout over Red's voice, "Ms. Bezi gave me something that might help us.”

  Red went silent, drawing everyone’s attention to him, and I knew I’d said too much. DJ frowned. “I told you not to go see that old bitch, D. I warned you. And now, after everything I’ve done for you—protected you, gave you wealth, made you strong, fuck, made you the kind of motherfucka’ she,” it pointed DJ’s finger at Fati, “would actually want to fuck, you work against me to send me back to the nether…especially after you’ve seen it yourself.”

  I took a deep breath. "Red, I just want my son back. I don't want to do you any harm. I'll even help you find another host; you have my word on that."

  “You don’t want to do me harm?” Red asked. DJ’s face grew hard.

  I took a step away from Fati. “Babe, I need you to go to the car. Right now.”

  "No one's going anywhere," Red said. The temperature in the room plummeted, so fast that numerous pieces of glass throughout the room began to crack, almost in unison. And the temperature was still falling.

  Patricia screamed and tried a run for the door only a few feet behind her. But Red was a blur, dashing the full length of the long hall to reach her before she managed a second step. He had a hand tight around her throat, and Patricia’s outstretched toes kissed the ground as she desperately kicked, trying to find purchase. The poor woman spasmed one violent time, eyes wide, and then went limp in Red’s grasp.

  Red released her, and she crumpled to the carpet, looking dimmer than she had just a moment before. An ashen imprint of Red's fingers remained on her throat and began webbing out in all five directions, freezing her skin solid.

  Fati and I both watched the gruesome sight to completion, until she was frozen as solid as if she had just come out of a freezer. Red watched as well, arms limp at his sides, taking deep, even breaths. He shrugged. “I just said no one leaves.”

  "Oh my god," Fati said, echoing my thoughts.

  “It’s Red, Fati. Remember that. It’s not DJ doing this. I’ll find a way to free him.”

  "No, you won't, Darien. I will not make the same mistake I did with you." Red said. It closed its eyes, then Red's radiating aura flared so bright I had to turn away. I sensed a struggle, between Red and DJ, and the demon's aura flared brighter, and then DJ's winked out, all at once.

  My sense of the ether realm dimmed for a few seconds, like eyes having to readjust to darkness after staring a bright light, but as my ethereal vision returned, my eyes widened when only Red's essence remained, enshrouding DJ's body in a crimson haze.

  My legs gaze out, and I staggered backward, saved from falling only because the wall braced me. “You…you…DJ’s gone.”

  “What do you mean?” Fati said.

  I could hear the confusion in Fati's voice, but couldn't bring myself to tell her. My mind still reeled from the shock. Finally catching my breath, I looked back at my son's smirking face and asked the only thing that would come to mind. "Why?"

  “Because of you, Darien.” DJ’s voice grew coarse, resembling the chilling rasp I heard when Mbwiri finally revealed himself to me. “You killed your son.”

  The words cut into me like a knife, stoking my anger to a rage I could barely contain. “How dare you…”

  Red shrugged. “It’s truth, D. All you needed to do was lis—”

  I was sprinting towards Red before I gave any thought to what I was doing, roaring at the top of my lungs as I closed the gap, dagger gripped tight in my hand leading my charge. Red gave me a curious look but kept DJ's arms down at his sides as I closed.

  I lunged at Red, the point of the bone dagger rushing towards the center of DJ’s chest. Something in the back of my mind protested, but with my ethereal sight, I knew DJ was gone, and I did not hesitate.

  Somehow, at the last moment, Red must have sensed something in the bone, because DJ's eyes shot wide open at the same time it threw DJ's body backward, keeping his feet planted, letting the point pass cleanly over his torso. DJ's hand closed tight around the forearm of my outstretched arm in a grip so tight I couldn't pull it back.

  There was a pause, with me looking down at DJ’s body bent backward to the point it was parallel to the ground, and while Red intensely studied the dagger suspended inches over his face.

  I pulled at my trapped arm once, twice, but before I could manage a third tug, Red chopped his other hand down at the fold of my elbow, snapping my forearm—and the dagger—up towards my face.

  With only a moment to spare, I let the dagger go and accepted a stinging slap to my own face from my now empty palm. Red shoved me back a step with shocking strength, and then straightened—just in t
ime to meet my oncoming fist, connecting flush on DJ's jaw and violently snapping his head to the side.

  The single blow did little damage if any at all, but I quickly followed up with a hook to ribs that doubled him over, driving the air from him in a huff, and should have cracked a bone at least, especially on DJ's thin frame. But I didn't wait to see, pouring on a blistering combination that worked DJ's entire body, high and low, and finished off with a straight right hand that had felled more than one sparring partner back at old Jasper's gym.

  DJ took two steps backward and stopped, his hands still limp at his sides, head still turned from the force of the last punch. A thin line of blood spilled over DJ's lip, down the corner of his mouth, and Red chuckled. It was the same laugh I'd heard over many years.

  I rushed forward again. But this time DJ’s head snapped towards me, and instead of accepting the blows as he did before, he ducked clean under my first punch and came up with a quick uppercut-hook combination that stunned me. He grabbed the neck of my shirt and yanked my head down towards his rising knee, landing at the point of my chin with jarring impact.

  The next thing I knew I was flat on my back, looking up at DJ standing over me with cold eyes.

  "This is disappointing," Red said as he stomped DJ’s heel down into my belly, forcing the air from my lungs. I rolled away, struggling to find my breath. “I taught you better than this, D. But I’m more disappointed in myself than anything else. The fact I didn’t see your betrayal coming proves I allowed myself to get soft, so it’s no wonder you are too.”

  I finally sucked in a ragged gulp of air that gave me the energy to roll onto my hands and knees. “Betrayed you? You lied to me for years, demon. I will never coexist with an evil pres—“

  Red drove DJ’s elbow down onto my spine, sending a jolt through my body that tingled my legs and left me flat on my belly “Shut up! You pathetic, disloyal motherfucka’. Evil?” Red shook his head and began circling me. “I’ve known you half your fuckin’ life, D. And the old bitch talks you into a decision you don’t even understand the full implications of.”