by Hixon, Wayne
“Ideas about what?”
“I don’t know. Ideas about how to wipe your ass. What do you mean, ‘Ideas about what?’”
“I guess it seems simple, doesn’t it?”
“It’s never seemed simple.”
“Yeah.” Jacob took a sip of his coffee, now cold.
“What about you, Rain? Do you have any ideas?”
“I think we need some plan of attack.”
“A plan of attack is good,” Jacob said.
“So let’s use what we know about them...” Rachel began.
“And,” Jacob interrupted, “remember that everything we know about them might be wrong.”
“Right. Well, if it is them, we know where they should be. Out on Barker Road. Bones took us to the same place last night we were two years ago.”
“Except we might not be able to see where they’re staying. Their house,” Rain said. “I mean, I didn’t see it last night. Did you?”
“No,” Rachel said. “Besides, we might not be talking about the same people. It would be one huge fucking coincidence if it wasn’t, but it is a possibility.”
“True,” Jacob agreed. “So I think we need to get there during daylight. That way, if we can see the house, if it is visible, we can try to get in and do some exploring. I know for a fact their powers are not nearly as strong during the day. Whatever they are, you have to admit there is more than a little vampire in them. There’s also maybe a little human in them and anybody who operates mostly at night has to sleep sometime.”
“Yeah,” Rachel said. “I’d be the first to agree with you on both counts.”
“I’d probably be the second,” Rain said.
“Okay. So what do we do when we get there?” Jacob said.
“Do you want to know what I think we should do?” Rain asked.
“Well, that is kind of why we’re having this little pow wow here,” Jacob said.
“I think we should burn the fucking place to the ground.”
“Oooh,” Rachel said. “I like the way this girl thinks.”
“So we need to make a stop at the gas station,” Jacob said. “I have one of those big five gallon things. If it is off Barker Road then we won’t have to deal with trying to carry it all that far. And I think it’s safe to say that I’ll have a lighter. I don’t think a little fire is going to be the end of them but I guess it’ll be a good place to start anyway, burning them out of house and home.”
Rain took a sip of her coffee and said, “I have to tell you guys I’m scared out of my fucking mind.”
“How so?” Rachel said.
“Well, you just both seem so casual about this. These people are powerful. I saw what they did to Bones. I saw how much he wanted that to happen and it makes me kind of worried about what will happen to us if they’re that destructive towards someone who just wants to be one of them. They almost got to me. I mean, Bones wasn’t afraid of anything, but as much as he admired these people, I have no doubt it was just as much fear that made him do the things he did. How is it possible to destroy one of these things?”
Jacob ran his finger along the rim of his mug, looking at Rain. “Rachel and I have thought a lot about this over the past couple of years. My brother, James, left to find out about the Devils. He was convinced they were behind what happened to Rachel. Hell, by the time he left, he even blamed them for Mom and Dad’s deaths. I haven’t heard from him since but Rachel and I have a lot of theories based on our past experience with them. And just things pieced together from what James told me before he left.
“First of all, you have to stop thinking about destroying them. I’m not really sure you can destroy them. Whatever they are, they’re definitely not human. Think of them like a parasite. A parasite has to feed off the living for survival. There is no other reason for that parasite to destroy human life other than the sake of survival. Plants and animals, what you think about when you think about parasites, are incapable of evil or morals or anything like that. They’re merely trying to survive. I think that is why the Devils do the things they do. And I don’t think they are all malevolent. I think some of them have found ways to exist without sacrificing humans. Although, they may not be as powerful. I think those are what you would call ghosts.
“So think of the Devils, in their raw form, as spirits. The most powerful ones, like the ones that undoubtedly controlled Bones, are ones that are able to infest a human body and keep it alive, maybe even rejuvenate it. They are capable of insinuating themselves into your thoughts and making you do things you would not otherwise do. But their power is, more often than not, confined to a certain area. This is where their house comes into play. Whatever that structure is, it is not just an ordinary ‘house.’ It’s more like a portal. How else can it move from California to Lynchville? And I think if you were to go down into that house, you would find yourself looking upon a different world entirely and that would probably give you some kind of clue as to how the Devils operate.
“The less powerful ones, of which there are many more, are capable of typical ghostlike activities, showing up in strange places to give people a little fright. I don’t think their mind control is any more powerful than giving a person the occasional nightmare or two.”
“I don’t know if this is helping or just making me more scared.”
“Basically, my point was for you to not really think about destroying them. Rather, it will be like we are pushing them back or keeping them at bay. I think that’s all we can hope for, right now.”
“Yeah, but they are here for a reason. All of that stuff that you said about them being like parasites is kind of wrong because these people clearly can think and they are very capable of evil and they have to know what they’re doing is evil.”
“You’re right,” Jacob said. “They did come here for a reason and it is our goal to make sure that whatever the reason they came stays just out of their reach.”
Rain looked down into the emptiness of her cup. “They came for you and Rachel, didn’t they?”
“I’m afraid they did. Maybe more Rachel than me. In fact, I think they might just have come for all of Lynchville.”
“Why?”
“Because they like it here.”
Rain jumped across the booth when Stoop tapped his fingernails on the table. No one had even seen him approach. He was, as usual, dressed in head-to-toe black, looking more like someone dressed for a funeral rather than a bookstore and coffeeshop proprietor. He was well over six feet tall and looking up at him was kind of like looking at the ceiling.
“And how are you all this afternoon?” he asked.
“We’re... really good,” Rachel said.
“Is there anything I can get you?”
“More coffee?” Jacob asked the table as much as Stoop.
The girls nodded their heads. They were certainly having a two cup discussion. Stoop craned around to face the boy behind the counter. “More coffee, please, David.”
“Sure,” the boy said.
“Well, just let me know if there’s anything you need.”
“Thanks,” Rachel said. “We will.”
Stoop turned to leave, his black overcoat trailing out behind him.
“That guy’s creepy,” Rain said.
“He’s a good guy.”
“He needs to dress a little less scary. I think he was wearing eyeliner.”
“That’s just the way he is. He’s always dressed exactly like that. Why change now?”
“Good point, I guess.”
David brought over more coffee in a pitcher and went about refilling their mugs.
“I’m still scared,” Rain said after he walked away.
“You should be scared,” Rachel said. “The point is... no amount of talking is going to make any one of us any less scared. Some strange shit is happening and it’s just going to get worse until somebody decides to do something about it. I think we have to be those people. I don’t think anyone else in this town is any more equipped ment
ally to deal with it than we are.”
“I guess that’s what I’m afraid of. Is it all mental? I have these visions of like some violent showdown. I don’t think you can just destroy these people with your mind.”
“No, of course not. That would be ridiculous. But there is nothing that can prepare us for whatever that violent showdown is going to be. We just have to do it. We have to try and stay one step ahead of these people. Besides, you’ll be amazed with what you can do if you’re a little bit scared.”
“I guess,” Rain said.
“Your life has changed,” Jacob said. “And there’s no going back to your old life. That’s a scary thought too.”
Their conversation died down. Two teenagers came into the cafe and sat down near the window. Jacob was too lost in his own thoughts to pay any attention to their conversation but he had seen the looks on their faces when they came through the door. They looked scared. Or at least the tall skinny one looked scared. And Jacob had thought Stoop looked scared also. Maybe everyone just looked scared to him now. Maybe he was the one who was truly scared, only he didn’t feel that. He didn’t feel that at all. His life, with the exception of Rachel, had become so dreary the past couple of years he almost welcomed this little adventure looming in front of him. And he was happy to see the two girls shared his conviction. Until they had shown up last night, he had thought he had reached the point of madness, the final bend in the road. If Rachel and Rain hadn’t shown up with an account of their evening, he would have acquiesced to all of Dr. Bettermore’s wishes. He would have started taking the pills. He would have tried to get a job. He would have decided to give his battered mind a little bit of rest. But now he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that and he found that thought refreshing because it wasn’t something he wanted to do in the first place. Let Dr. Bettermore have his sane little world of perfect mental hygiene, Jacob would take his own world filled with vampires and demons and he would take that world because it was a world that offered hope. With so much terror in front of him, there was also the distant promise of angels. And that promise, ultimately, was what Jacob thought he needed.
Nineteen
“Whose car?” Charlotte asked as the two girls left the high school.
“I don’t mind driving,” Autumn said.
“Cool.”
They got in the car and began the drive toward town, toward the Wake Up Screaming. This had become something of a ritual for them. They would sit at a table they had now sat at enough times to consider it theirs. Then, over some frothy coffee beverages they would talk about their respective weeks at school. They were both fairly studious and didn’t really talk that much through the week. When not studying, Autumn read voraciously and attempted to write short stories, maybe the occasional poem that would usually make her wince two weeks later. Said poem usually found its way into the trashcan or fireplace. Most of the stories she hung on to. She wanted to send them out to magazines but she didn’t really have any ideas where to send them so she spent a lot of time revising. Charlotte played around with painting and photography. She had taken a class her sophomore year and knew how to develop her own pictures. Much to her parents’ dislike, she had turned the basement bathroom into a darkroom. Autumn had posed for pictures. Most of them involved fake blood and not a lot of clothes. She wouldn’t have posed for pictures if anyone else was taking them but she had learned a long time ago that she had something of a girl crush on Charlotte and would do just about anything she asked her to do.
The drive to the cafe was somber. All day, Autumn had sensed something bothering Charlotte. Well, not all day. She had seemed fine in English this morning. She guessed it really started around lunch. Charlotte had come to the table a little bit later than usual looking flushed and distant. And she was quiet. Charlotte was hardly ever quiet. She had even said herself she talked just to make conversation sometimes. She could normally comment on anything, be it the salt shaker at the table or Bobby Saxon’s ridiculous sweater. At first Autumn thought she had started her period or something but she knew that was wrong because their periods were during the same week.
Autumn decided to wait until they got to the cafe to talk about whatever was bothering Charlotte. Talkative as she was, she kept things jovial at school. Seriousness—emotions—conveyed some kind of weakness. Autumn knew, if anything was bothering her, it would have to wait until after school.
As they drew closer to the cafe, Autumn didn’t really know how she was going to broach the subject. She would probably be brash and just come right out and ask her what was bothering her. She lacked subtlety. Or maybe she just lacked social refinement. Charlotte was the only person she really talked to. It was probably just the new boy she was seeing, Autumn thought. She didn’t even know his name. She just thought of him as the mystery boy.
Autumn pulled her small car up to the curb in front of the Wake Up Screaming. A dreadful parallel parker, she ran the tire against the curb before backing out into traffic and finally managing to get her car straight enough for it to classify as a parking space, rather than being half in the road and half-parked.
“Good job, little driver,” Charlotte said. “That only took about ten minutes.”
“You could have driven.”
“I don’t like to drive.”
“I don’t like to park.”
“I don’t like to do that either.”
They got out of the car and walked through the afternoon sunshine into the darker confines of the cafe. Autumn recognized David Macklin behind the bar. He had graduated last year and she was pretty certain he didn’t have a clue who she was. Not that things like that really mattered to her anyway. Besides, most of his attention was given to Charlotte. It was like he couldn’t look away. Charlotte dressed and moved like a model. Her dress probably had the boy wondering how long her legs were.
Autumn ordered a cafe mocha with an extra shot of espresso and Charlotte ordered a skinny latte. The girls went and sat down. They knew the boy would bring them their coffee when it was ready. He moved painfully slow and Autumn thought she would die if she had to stand there and watch him do this.
They sat in the seat by the window, hardly noticing the strangers huddled in the back corner of the cafe and only dimly aware of the sound of hushed, almost conspiratorial, conversation.
“So what’s been bugging you?” Autumn asked.
“Nothing, really.”
“Is it the mystery guy?”
Charlotte was silent for a minute. “Yeah, maybe it is the mystery guy... But there are other things.”
“Like what?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Wait, you can’t say something like that and then say you’ll tell me later.”
Charlotte met Autumn’s eyes. “Well,” she said. “Some of it’s kind of strange and I just think it would be easier to talk about around a campfire with some wine in our bellies. Not out in public like this.”
“Okay. Well, what kind of stuff is it?”
Charlotte looked at the table and shook her head, knowing Autumn wasn’t going to let up easily.
“Is it sexual stuff?” Autumn asked just as David set the tall glasses of coffee down on the table. Undoubtedly hearing what she had just asked, he lingered a little longer than was necessary. In order to shoo him away, Autumn said, “That’s all for now. Thanks.”
He lowered his head and crossed back to the bar dejectedly.
“Really,” Charlotte said. “I promise I’ll tell you about it later.”
“What if there is no later? What if there is only now? What if the world ends before tonight? What then? Huh? I’ll tell you what then. Then I go to my grave always wondering and never knowing what was bothering Charlotte Black.”
“Nothing’s really bothering me, okay? I’ve just never really had to deal with things like this before.”
“Things like what?” Autumn couldn’t really understand what all the fuss was about a boy. At least Charlotte had a boy.
“I don’t know.”
Then it hit Autumn. “Oh, I get it. You love him, don’t you? Charlotte is in love. Is this your first time?”
“I’m not in love. Love is for desperate people. But I think I’m in something.”
“Is it a cult?”
This caught Charlotte off guard momentarily. She almost thought Autumn was being serious. “Of course he isn’t in a cult. Cults are so passé. Do you really think I would be some kind of cult slut?”
The people at the other table, two girls and a guy, got up to leave the cafe. Autumn’s back was to the door. Charlotte watched them closely. There was something that wanted her to look at them. They all looked kind of hodge-podge and disheveled. And they had dark circles under their eyes. They looked like she felt. Too many late nights maybe. She wondered if the guy was sleeping with both of them.
“Okay,” Autumn interrupted her staring. “So I guess if you absolutely promise to tell me tonight then I’ll stop bothering you about it.”
“What are we doing tonight, anyway?”
“The usual sounds good.”
“So you want to do the wine and campfire thing again?”
“Might as well. It’ll be too cold before too long. You don’t have any plans with the love of your life do you?”
Not knowing it, Autumn had struck to the core of what was bothering Charlotte. She probably could have told Autumn that and saved a lot of time later. Instead she shrugged and said, “No. We don’t go out every night. Hardly ever in fact.”
“Oh, I see. It’s just sex. You are sleeping with him aren’t you?”
“But of course. Jealous?”
Autumn knew this was referring to a time earlier in the summer when, very drunk, the two girls had decided to make out. Charlotte had immediately forgotten about it, relegating it to the status of a joke. Autumn had obsessed on it for some time afterward. She had enjoyed it. That bothered her at first but she figured she knew it would before they ever did it and she had come to terms that Charlotte was just not into that sort of thing and Autumn knew Charlotte was the only girl she could ever do that particular thing with. That made it kind of intangible.
