The Fractured Fallen (A Dark Fantasy Horror): The Edge of Reflection Book 4

by Carver Pike

  Vincent peered over the edge of the ship with his hands raised to the sky. Black storm clouds rolled in from out of nowhere. He closed his open hands into tight fists, and as he did, the sky let loose black rain. The ebony drops pounded the earth, like black bullets being spit from a Gatling gun.

  The first drop hit Gabe in the forearm, and it hurt like hell. All around him, the wounded screamed in pain as the drops pelted their skin.

  “Fuck! Vision!” Gabe yelled as a drop smacked his forehead and another hit his shoulder and another hit one of his knuckles. “Now would be the time to let me go!”

  Vision looked back at him, rain hitting his white hair, but seeming to cause no pain. It only matted his hair and made it look soiled. Vision held up a hand and Gabe was able to move again. He ran to a broken bus stop shelter, rain blasting him the whole way.

  Hidden in the shelter, Gabe winced and stared out into a world being tarnished with black ooze. The dead were covered in black and the living were running or crawling to safety. He couldn’t see Ayana from where he was hiding, but he was sure she’d been able to find shelter in the cars she had hidden behind. Traven was probably lying out in the rain, getting severely beaten by the ferocious drops. He hoped Lisa was safe from the storm up on the ship.

  ***

  Lisa could hear the jumbled cries of agony from below and prayed that Gabe’s wasn’t one of the voices. She’d forced herself to her feet to see what was going on, and watched in horror as the world was covered in black. She looked at Vincent, who looked proud, like a child who’d built an amazing Lego house or had written his first real word on the fridge with alphabet magnets.

  “Impressive!” Lisa shouted over the sound of the torrential rain.

  “I live to make you proud,” Vincent said with a sneer.

  He turned to look behind him.

  “Changeling, can we get this thing moving, please?” he yelled.

  The strange, gender-changing figure standing behind him snapped orders at the few living slaves aboard the ship, and they quickly dispersed. Some disappeared below deck while others moaned and walked like zombies over to their oars, where they plopped down, picked them up, and started rowing. Soon after, the ship began to rise.

  “We’ll leave the area, but then we will need to slow down. We’ve lost many men and the few we have will grow tired quickly,” Changeling told Vincent, standing far enough back to retreat if his words pissed his new leader off.

  Lisa found it all a little bit amusing.

  “You enjoy having people fear you,” Lisa said.

  “It is one of the perks,” Vincent admitted.

  ***

  Gabe watched as the ship rose. He left his hideout, no longer concerned about the pain of the rain pelting his skin.

  “Vincent!” Vision yelled.

  Gabe reached his side and grabbed his arm.

  “Do something!” he yelled.

  “What would you have me do?” Vision asked.

  “Fly, for fuck’s sake! Save her! Save my wife. Save your mother.” Gabe searched for emotion in Vision’s eyes, but found only a strong, intense stare. “Vision, please. Do something. They’re getting away.”

  “I’m afraid it is too late,” Vision replied. “There is nothing I can do. It is written.”

  “What is written?” What was he talking about? Gabe grabbed his robe and pulled him in closely, ready to smack his son. “What do you mean it is written?”

  Vision remained quiet and lowered his gaze to his feet.

  ***

  Lisa looked over the edge of the ship and saw the land getting farther away. She considered leaping over the rail, but knew she’d die when she hit the ground. They’d already risen too high.

  “Lower this ship!” she ordered.

  Rage took over. She was no longer afraid of her son. She knew that if she didn’t escape now, she’d never get away. He wasn’t human.

  “I will not lower the ship,” Vincent said with a smirk.

  She launched herself at her son and slapped his face.

  “I’ll slap that fucking look off your…”

  Bam, he slapped her back, and his strike was much harder than hers. She hit the ground and slid back on her butt.

  “Look what you did,” he said. “You made me hit my mother.”

  “You’re a monster!”

  “I am what I am.”

  “Just take me back to Gabe. You don’t need me. I don’t even know what you want with me.”

  Vincent laughed and clapped his hands together.

  “Want with you? What do I want with you?”

  “What do you want with me?”

  “I want nothing with you,” he said.

  “Then why did you take me? You don’t need me,” she replied.

  Vincent grabbed her by her throat and lifted her high into the air. She screamed and kicked her feet as he approached the front of the ship. He held her over the ledge.

  “I simply needed a hostage,” Vincent said with a grin.

  “But I’m your mother!” Lisa screamed.

  Vincent yanked her face in close to his, so their noses were nearly touching. She could feel his breath on her lips. She felt her heart stop as she realized this was the end.

  “Goodbye, mother,” he said as he planted a soft kiss on her cheek, then let her go with a little shove.

  Lisa’s breath caught in her throat and she couldn’t even scream. She fell and that moment when they say your life flashes before your eyes, it didn’t. It was too fast. She was just afraid. And then she wasn’t anymore.

  ***

  The ship was too high up for Gabe to see what was going on. He’d fallen to his knees on the hard pavement. The rain had stopped and the ground was wet with black water. The stench was sickening, like raw sewage. It turned his stomach.

  Then she fell.

  She fell.

  His body hit the pavement at the same time as hers. His had clawed at the sky as if he’d magically find a power that would catch her in midair. But it happened too fast.

  The word “no” formed in his throat but never made it out. No vengeful cry or immediate sob left his body. He was simply frozen.

  Would he ever see her again? Something fell from the ship and it wasn’t until her arms flailed that Gabe realized it was Lisa. He must have screamed. That would be the natural reaction. But his ears went numb. He couldn’t hear anything except his own heartbeat, which pounded and pulsated through his brain.

  It all just happened so fast. He looked up and the ship was gone.

  “Wh…wh…why?” Gabe asked over and over again.

  He stumbled over to where she’d fallen, barely able to stay on his feet, tripping with each step. Through blurry, stinging eyes, he saw that her head was crushed and one of her legs stuck out at an awkward angle. It couldn’t be Lisa. It just couldn’t be. It looked like her. Those were her clothes, but maybe…maybe it was someone else.

  It couldn’t be Lisa.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Ayana hunched over next to him. She had a hand over her mouth and tears ran down her face. Was Gabe crying? He didn’t think so. He should be though. He knew it. He felt it. But he couldn’t control anything. It was like he was watching events from outside of them.

  He turned in all directions, searching for something, but not knowing what it was he was searching for. He looked at Ayana again and saw the tears running down her face. He went to Lisa’s body. He fell onto her and buried his face in her broken chest.

  Then the sobs came.

  He cried out into her stomach and pulled her body to his face, wishing he could sink into her flesh, crawl into her skin and hide away there forever. He wanted to die right there with her. It hurt so badly. The pain was unbearable, like his skin had been opened and all of his fluids drained out. He just felt empty pain.

  He stayed there for what felt like an eternity. It could’ve been minutes or hours, Gabe didn’t know. He’d lost track of not only time, but all other el
ements of life and the living. He didn’t feel right in his own flesh.

  Finally, he raised his head and looked at the others around him. He focused on Vision, who stood there emotionless as ever.

  “Why didn’t you do something?” Gabe asked.

  “I’m sorry,” Vision said. “I hoped he would spare her.”

  Gabe looked up at him for a moment, trying to judge him, wanting to know that his son was truly sorry, but he just couldn’t see it.

  “Are you?” he asked. “Are you sorry? I don’t know. Are you sorry at all?”

  “I am not immune to pain, Gabe. I’m just very well aware of what happens after death, and if you think this…” He gestured to the world around them. “If you think this is the best part of what you have ahead of you, then I pity you and your friends. If you think I came here to help you enjoy THIS better, you are very wrong. What I came to do will take you to a whole new spectrum, a whole new meaning of being.”

  Vision stepped back and stood with his hands on his hips. Right before their eyes, he aged again. His chest broadened, his hair grew longer, his face became more chiseled as he transformed into a man in his mid-twenties. The next time he spoke, his voice was deeper, wiser, and stronger.

  “Gabe, I am sorry for your loss,” he continued.

  “My loss?” He jumped to his feet and slammed into Vision, chest to chest.

  His blood boiled.

  “My loss?” he asked again. “She was your fucking mother! Does that mean nothing to you?”

  The veins in his head bulged. His eyes ran with tears and spit flew out of his mouth. He knew he must look like a savage dog. For the first time since their births, he wished neither of his sons were ever born. He was almost as angry at Vision for not stopping Lisa’s death as he was at Vincent for causing it.

  “You’re heartless!” Gabe yelled at him, jabbing a finger at the side of Vision’s head. “Heartless! You’re the same as Vincent, only you’re wearing white, like an immaculate, ivory, innocent…piece of shit!”

  Vision stood silent for a moment. Somehow his silence made Gabe even angrier. He’d welcome a slap, a punch, any sign of emotion at all.

  “Heartless!” Gabe spat once more.

  “Gabe,” Ayana said from somewhere behind him.

  Gabe looked over his shoulder at her, and it was clear she was trying to set aside the great deal of pain she was in to help comfort him. He turned back to Vision just in time to see him raise both of his hands and slam them down on Gabe’s shoulders.

  “See,” Vision said.

  A flash of light blinded him and suddenly he was lying on the ground. Vision stood over him, next to Ayana.

  “What did you see?” Ayana asked.

  “I don’t remember. It was bright.”

  “It was too much, too soon,” Vision said. “I tried. Did you feel it at least?”

  “Yes.”

  And he was telling the truth. He’d definitely felt it. It was warm and light, kind of fluffy. No, that wasn’t the right word, but it came to mind, and it was the only word he could think of to describe it. He’d felt tingly, almost the way his foot felt whenever it fell asleep, but this was all over his body, and felt great. He’d been happy, almost too happy, if that were possible. He’d gone skydiving once, and the weightless joy he remembered feeling while freefalling was probably the most similar feeling to what he’d experienced when Vision touched him.

  Only there was no fear of hitting the ground. It tickled a little, but not the kind of tickle that makes you beg for it to stop. It just felt like every part of his being was alive for the first time, truly alive, and he’d felt like laughing for no reason at all. It just felt great. All pain, anger, disappointment…it all disappeared, flowing from his body as the glorious wind wrapped around his body and tickled his skin.

  “Gabe, trust me. Lisa is going to a better place,” Vision assured him. “She will be much happier than you could ever make her. You will see her again. I promise. And when you do, you’ll understand that this anger and hatred you’re feeling is all nonsense. It’s meaningless because there is so much more to come.”

  A white glow rose from Lisa’s body and wrapped around Gabe, running under his arms, around his chest, up between his legs, like a playful wisp of air. It ran past his face and tickled his nose. He laughed and knew instantly that Vision was right.

  “Are you doing this?” Gabe asked.

  He looked at Vision and for the first time saw emotion. Vision was smiling and looking almost surprised.

  “Amazing,” Vision said. “I am not doing this. She is saying goodbye.”

  “You mean, see you later?”

  “Yes.”

  The wisp of air ran around his body once more and then shot up into the sky and was gone. Gabe felt the smile on his face. The corners of his mouth were stretched up and he didn’t want that to change. He knew that everything Vision told him was the truth.

  Lisa was headed to a better place and to wish her back to life on the dark side of the mirror would be selfish and wrong.

  He closed his eyes and whispered, “See you later, Lis.” He could almost see her flashing her adorable scrunched up face, and he knew everything would be okay.

  The sound of Ayana’s whimper brought him back to reality. She pitched over and Gabe caught her before she hit the ground.

  She looked up at Vision, “Please…if…you…can…help…me…”

  “Shh,” Vision said as he took her in his arms and cradled her.

  He turned her over so he could look at her stomach. He touched her belly and something beneath the skin moved, as if trying to dodge his touch.

  “You have a mantra inside of you,” he warned her.

  “Please make the pain stop,” she cried.

  “Can you help her?” Gabe asked. “Like you helped Emma?”

  The bump below her skin slowly moved up toward her ribs, then shot forward as if trying to cram its way through the birth canal. Ayana screamed.

  Vision lay her on the ground and put both of his hands on her stomach. She writhed in agony, and bucked her hips like she was being possessed. A white light came from Vision’s hands and lit up her belly. She gasped and her eyes opened. She pursed her lips and sucked in a breath of air, then blew it out.

  A black mist seeped from her belly button, rising into the air like smoke from a campfire. Her eyelids threatened to close and a smile crept across her lips. Her pain had been replaced by ecstasy.

  “It’s gone,” she said.

  “It’s gone,” Vision agreed.

  Chapter 20 - Separate Ways

  Hawks shot out of the office building front doors as though a swarm of bees was hot on his trail. He mixed in quickly with the hustle and bustle of the morning foot traffic on Michigan Avenue, in Chicago, Illinois. The Magnificent Mile was the perfect place for getting lost in a hurry.

  Over his shoulder he watched as security from the Hancock Observatory came spilling out the front door. He was too far for them to give chase though. They’d never pick him out in the crowd, but he knew that any major city’s police force would be quick, so he needed to get far away before security passed the work on to Chicago’s finest.

  He’d been on the dark side a long time. He’d nearly forgotten the smell of delicious Italian cuisine, and when it wafted out of Pizzeria Uno, his stomach growled. He’d made it several blocks away from the Hancock building and had finally slowed down. Where the hell was he going to go?

  He saw his reflection in the window of a nearby building so he crossed the street to get to it. He touched the glass with his fingertips. It was solid.

  “Ayana…” he said to himself.

  How was he going to get back? She was out on the street, fighting her own battle while everyone else was involved in his or her own. He needed to get home, but his image was dead. There’d be no crossing over without the help of Vincent, or Vision. The brothers seemed to have some strange power over the mirrors, allowing them to pass back and forth as easily a
nd as often as they liked.

  “Hey buddy, you mind takin’ your hands off my fuckin’ window?” a hoarse voice called out. “Just cleaned that thing.”

  Hawks turned to see a big bouncer-looking guy with a T-shirt that read “Squeaky Cleaners.”

  “Sorry,” Hawks said.

  “Yeah, you outta be fuckin’ sorry.”

  “Hey, hey. What’s going on here?” came another voice.