Divine Vices

by Parkin, Melissa

  “Look at me.”

  Vulnerable, gutted, and heartbroken, I turned to him in full exposure.

  “I’m sorry, about what happened back there,” he said.

  “It’s not your fault. I’m the one who’s been acting like a complete jackass,” I said, wiping the tears that began forming again in the corners of my eyes. “Alienating my best friend for someone I barely know, no offense, isn’t like me.”

  “I know.”

  “No, you don’t. I can’t stand the fact that I’ve hurt someone I care about, let alone someone I love, someone who has been there for me through the hardest times in my whole life...”

  I turned from him, my body shuddering as every muscle contracted in agony.

  Jack came up from behind and wrapped his arms around me, whispering, “It’s okay.”

  I turned around and hugged him as well, burying my face into his chest, barely mustering the words, “I’m sorry.”

  When I finally released my grip on him, I climbed up to the tops of my toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek, repeating once more, “I’m sorry.”

  The kiss was closer to his lips than I had anticipated, and his right hand was suddenly on the nape of my neck.

  “It’s okay,” he mouthed again.

  Before any sense of rationality had a chance to catch up to my actions, without warning, I pressed my lips to his. At first, he didn’t react. I pulled away to see him looking back at me in complete disbelief.

  “I’m so sorry,” I muttered, retracting from him and heading for the door in even deeper befuddlement.

  I only got about three steps when his hand took hold of my wrist, spinning me back around. Taking a long stride towards me, his left hand fell upon the small of my back, pulling me in as close as possible before he crushed his mouth against mine. The sensation ignited every nerve in my already shaken body, leaving a chilling pulse of electricity coursing through all my extremities.

  So intense and unsettling, the ecstasy of it all felt sinful. His eyes burned with coveted longing as he pulled his lips from mine, and my mouth couldn’t resist the temptation. His fingers gently stroked over the side of my face before he brushed the loose strands of hair behind my ear. My hands hooked onto his neck as he kissed me again. Then I massaged my fingertips into the back of his hair when he lifted me up onto one of the art tables. There was something different about him, something more... visceral. Jack’s tenderness was now overpowered by an aggressive passion.

  That’s when I felt it. Something thick, and tacky, rubbing over my thumb as I ran it just below his cheekbone. I pulled both my lips and hand away as I opened my eyes, taking notice to a certain gooey, crimson liquid smeared across my fingertips.

  “Are you bleeding?” I asked, looking back up at him in complete dismay.

  There in front of me rested a badly beaten cheek underneath the most familiar pair of pale green eyes.

  “I-Ian?” I stammered.

  My other hand immediately dropped from his neck, and I pushed him off me forcefully.

  “What the hell is this?! Where’s Jack?” I yelped as I scrambled away, looking about the vacant room.

  All the color drained from Ian's face.

  “Oh shit,” he groaned gravely, clawing his fingers into his scalp as he looked back at me despairingly.

  “What the hell is going on?! How did you do that?!” I cried weakly, trying to contemplate what had just happened. Then I remembered everything Gwen had said. Shape-shifter. “What the hell are you?!”

  Ian still looked as if he was about to be sick. “Cassie, I can explain-”

  When he extended his hand out to me, I quickly batted it away and bolted for the door. I pulled it open about half a foot before he pushed it shut again as he scrambled over to me.

  “Cassie, listen-”

  “Get off me!” I cried, wrestling out of his hold. I clocked him in his already bruised cheek, and it was enough to get him to retract.

  Practically falling my way down the steps over my trembling legs, I hit the floor of the secondary cafeteria and raced through the corridors unremittingly as trampling footsteps began to echo from behind. I immediately charged out the side exit at the end of the hallway and raced into the scarce parking lot.

  Then it hit me. Gwen! I continued to run as I pried my cell phone out of my pocket, pounding in her speed dial number.

  “Gwen!” I cried the moment she answered. “Gwen! Can you hear me?”

  A thick wave of crackling overwhelmed her voice as she replied, “Barely.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Still... gym.” The static was getting worse.

  “Listen to me! You have to get out of there!”

  “What?”

  “Get out of the gym!” I shouted. “It’s Ian!”

  Nothing.

  “Gwen? Gwen! Are you still there?!”

  Nothing.

  I trotted down to a halt and turned back toward the school. “Shit.”

  Chapter 29

  Rescue Me

  Reentering the gym from the front entrance, I quickly immersed myself into the crowds, providing me with the gift of coverage as I scoured the space in search of Gwen. There she was, climbing back down a ladder. I began to head towards her when I noticed Jack in the corner of the gym. My hopes lifted a moment, until dread rushed back over me the next. How did I know it was him?

  “Can I borrow this for a second?” I asked Trish, pointing to the camera set up at the photographer’s station. I didn’t bother to wait for her response as I detached it from the tripod.

  “Help yourself,” she chuckled as she walked away.

  I aimed the lens in Jack’s direction and zoomed it in as far as it could go. SNAP! The photo came up on the screen a few seconds later, and I nearly cried at the sight of the black orbs covering Jack’s beautiful blue eyes. It wasn’t him. I looked back up to where he had just been, and panic arose in me as a chill prickled up my spine at his absence.

  “Hey.”

  A hand fell onto my shoulder, and I spun around with obvious terror.

  “H-Hi,” I stammered, looking into a pair of glacial blue eyes.

  “You alright? Looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  This Jack-imitator extended his hand back out when I shrugged it off and retracted. He took notice to the camera in my hand before I could conceal it behind my back.

  “Not exactly,” I snapped as Jack snatched hold of my wrist and pried the device from my grasp.

  He refused to release his grip on me, using his other hand to pull up the last photograph taken. I tried frantically to break free, but he was too strong despite my best efforts at pounding my fist into the gauze wrapped around his arm. What was I thinking? It wasn’t actually him!

  “Cass-”

  “Let go of me, or I’ll scream out at full volume!” Despite my attempt at sounding threatening, the declaration held nothing but sheer and utter terror.

  Jack exhaled roughly as he looked out into the crowds where several onlookers had taken closer notice. “I really didn’t want to do this, but it seems you haven’t given me much of a choice.”

  All the lights in the gym, from the large metal halide lamps to the countless decorative bulbs, began flickering once he returned his attention to me. I gave everything I had as I tried to thrash away from him with a violent yank, but the effort only left me feeling like I had ripped my shoulder out of its socket.

  “Should’ve left well enough alone,” he said, snapping his fingers.

  In that very instant, every bulb overhead exploded. I expected to hear screams from others, but as sparks and bits of glass fell onto the crowds, I noticed everyone looking suddenly weary.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” I cried.

  He dropped his hand, and with that, every last person in the gym collapsed lifelessly onto the hardwood.

  “Floor’s yours. Although, I really shouldn’t say that. It’s a bit occupied at the moment,” said Jack, looking amusingly down a
t the bodies dropped by his feet.

  “Oh my God,” I whimpered.

  “Far from it, honey.”

  Without the hope of someone coming to my aid, I had to think fast. Clearly, this game of tug of war with my arm wasn’t playing out in my favor, but what else could I do?

  Then it hit me. I had taken self-defense courses years ago with my sister. The details were a bit fuzzy, although with no alternative, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least try.

  I quickly rushed into Jack, driving my free hand over his opposing shoulder and forced him forward to the left under my arm. With a swift wrench, I twisted his wrist until its unnatural position became too much and he let go. Unfortunately, he was now blocking the exit that led to the front of the building, so I sped off to the other side of the gym where the duel doors would head out to a singular corridor that ran perpendicular to the sports hall. Strategically leaping between my fellow classmates, I made it to the entryway, taking one last look behind me to see Jack still in the middle of the gym.

  Just as I whipped back around, I collided with another figure. The force knocked me down, but the individual caught me just before I fell to the floor.

  “Ian?!” I jump backed, stupefied.

  “What the hell happened?” Ian demanded, looking out at the inconceivable spectacle.

  “You know, I underestimated you, Callaghan. I must say, you really have become a perpetual pain in my ass,” called out the voice behind me.

  I turned around to see Jack sauntering towards the two of us, stepping haphazardly over everyone incapacitated on the ground. Then I noticed it. His arm. Blood began to seep through the cotton wrappings where I had beaten just a moment before. The stitches had popped. It really was Jack.

  “Cassie, what is going on?” whispered Ian.

  Jack raised his hand with a fiendish grin, preparing to snap his fingers once again. I grabbed hold of Ian and shoved him out into the hallway just as the crack resonated.

  A harsh draft rushed over us as we fell to the ground, the gym doors belting shut behind us. The doors at the end of the hall to the right fastened to a close as well.

  “Ian?” I climbed up and shook his fallen frame, praying for a response.

  At last, he opened his eyes.

  “Thank God,” I said, pulling him upright. “We have to move, now!”

  Without warning, every single door down the right of the hallway began systemically hammering shut.

  “Go!” I cried, yanking him to our left.

  We each took off down the corridor at such an unremittingly rapid pace that a single misstep would discipline us with more than a mere face plant. Despite our speed, we were only managing to beat the doors from bolting closed by nothing more than a millisecond, so there wasn’t any hope of dodging into one of the classrooms. There was no place left to go but through the doors at the end of the hall leading up to the second story, if we could get there in time.

  “We’re not gonna make it!” I said.

  It was true. The doors were closing faster than we could run and there were waxing signs positioned at the mouth of the entryway to the stairwell.

  “Slide!” demanded Ian.

  “What?!”

  “Slide, on my count! One... two... three!”

  We both dropped to the floor and skimmed like bobsleds across the polished floors, crashing into the foot of the first steps as we narrowly cleared the entrance as the hinges pounded the iron doors shut behind us.

  “You okay?” asked Ian.

  “Far from it,” I panted. “You?”

  “I’m still breathing, so I can’t complain.”

  He lent me a hand and pulled me up from the ground. Exhaustedly scrambling up to the top of the stairwell, we fell out into the second story entryway, trying every single door down the hall without luck. They were all locked.

  “The library.”

  “What?”

  “The back door is always unlocked from the outside,” I said. “It’s at least worth a shot.”

  Wedging a display cart in front of the back door, Ian and I took refuge in the manager’s station in the library. Neither of us could get service on our cells, so we dialed 911 into the landlines after locking ourselves in the office.

  “911 op... State your... Hello? Hel...”

  “Can you hear me?! Hello?” bellowed Ian. “Hello?”

  Static overwhelmed the call, and it cut out.

  “Damn it!” He slammed the receiver down. “Okay, we need a new plan. Clearly, help isn’t on the way, and from Jack’s performance back there, I doubt that a rack of magazines blocking the doorway is going to keep him out of here. Suggestions?”

  “Why are you helping me?”

  “What?”

  “You know what I’m talking about, Ian,” I said, hoping his bewildered reaction would give way. “What happened to those girls, what happened to me last night-”

  “Wait, you honestly think I had something to do with that?” He practically barked the words at me.

  “You tell me,” I said, trying best to not show just how truly terrified I really was. “Clearly Jack didn’t fight himself last night, and those girls were attacked by someone that could morph into the appearance of others.”

  “Cassie, you know me-”

  I immediately jumped back the moment he took a step towards me. “I don’t know shit! But the videotapes and photographs don’t lie. Whatever that is downstairs isn’t Jack. My camera proved that. His eyes registered in my lens with the same freakish black orb effect that appeared on the footage of each of the suspects when they were incapacitated.”

  I jumped again when Ian dug his hand into his pocket, only to see him pull out his cell.

  “The signal’s still out,” I said as he tossed the phone at me.

  “Close your eyes.”

  “What? No!”

  “You want proof? Close ’em.”

  I hesitantly followed his instructions, my heart hammering faster and faster the closer I heard him walking towards me.

  “Open your eyes.”

  I fell into the desk behind me and nearly screamed at the sight. It was Jack! He quickly grabbed my shoulders, urging me to look him in the eyes.

  “Take a picture,” he said.

  My fingers trembled as I snapped a photo, waiting for the display image to appear on the cell’s screen. Sure enough, it was Ian. Jack’s presence stood before me, but the photograph told me with certainty that it was indeed Ian. And his eyes were just as green as they had always been.

  “What the hell are you?” I bellowed, looking back up at him.

  He was himself again. “No clue.”

  “What is this?”

  “An illusion. I don’t take shape of someone else. It’s purely a manipulation of the mind that tells you to see, hear, and feel what I project.”

  “Like hypnosis?”

  He nodded. “That’s why it’s me you’ll see on the image. The camera can’t be influenced. It only shows the truth.”

  “But what is this? Voodoo? Black magic?”

  “No, it’s just something I’ve always been able to do. It can be a bit erratic at times, so that’s why I do what I do, with the magic tricks and whatnot. It provides me with cover from freaking people out when I have a slip-up.”

  “So... you had nothing to do with what’s been happening here?” I questioned doubtingly.

  “You honestly think I’m capable of murder?”

  “Well, with the weird cult symbols popping up, it’s not exactly a detail I’m going to overlook.”

  He stepped closer, leaving nothing but a mere inch of space between us. “If you thought that I could have done it, then why did you save me back there?”

  I stood still and petrified. “I don’t know.”

  Chapter 30

  Red Right Hand

  “Get down,” whispered Ian, yanking me to the floor the instant we heard the main doors of the library kick open with an ear aching bang.

  I quietly
crawled over to the office window and peeked my eyes up to see Jack saunter inside.

  “Now what?” I whispered.

  Ian grabbed a small windup timer off the desk before unlocking the office door and cracking it open. “We get the hell outta Dodge.”

  “Where ever could they be?” called out Jack amusingly, strolling through the front departments. “Having trouble making a call? Can’t imagine why.”

  Ian and I barely managed to slither our way to the philosophy section when Jack headed over to the checkout counter, not fifteen feet from us.

  “Not exactly the smartest place to barricade,” said Jack, looking at the magazine stand in front of the back door. “Especially since you’ve just locked yourselves in here.”

  That wasn’t true. Given Jack’s flashy entrance, the main doors were still wide open, but we knew that scenario was fragile at best. With a flick of his hand, Jack would have us at his mercy.

  “Ready?” mouthed Ian.

  I nodded.

  We both furtively raced down the aisle, ducking behind the crown end displays at the other side as Jack rounded the corner to where we just were.

  RING!!!

  The timer’s metallic bell clamored in the office, causing Jack to run in to investigate.

  Ian and I took off running through the computer station and reading center, coming just yards from the front entrance when the doors suddenly snapped off the magnetic holders keeping them open.

  “Not so fast there, Dick and Jane!” called out Jack drolly.

  Ian ripped a book off the nearest shelf and skimmed it across the carpet, wedging it perfectly between the door and frame just as it was about to shut.

  “We bid you adieu!” said Ian, hurtling the door back open.

  He motioned me through and we both darted out, racing down the hallways with no other intent but to put as much distance between Jack and us as possible.

  “Impressive,” I said under a pant as we finally slowed down to a jog several hallways later.

  “Hands like magic,” said Ian, winded as well by the exertions.

  “What the hell is he?”

  “Got me, but nothing would surprise me anymore.”