Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy

by Venessa Kimball

  Ezra’s eyes have glazed over; he is thinking about her. Monica’s death has made him think about Anna’s. Ezra’s head shakes and his voice trembles, “I have to know for sure. We can’t leave her.”

  I see Lathan look at Ira, and then move toward Ezra and me.

  He walks past us both into the woods and calls, “I’ll sweep the woods for her.”

  In a blur, he disappears into the woods. All of a sudden, Ezra sidesteps me and runs into the woods behind him. Nate and Xander are both on me instantly, grabbing both of my arms keeping me from going after him.

  “No! He can’t go out there alone!”

  Nate yells, “He isn’t alone! Lathan is with him!”

  I continue to struggle, yanking my arms from them.

  Having escaped their clutches, Xander growls, “Jesca!”

  All of a sudden, a gun discharges in the same direction Lathan and Ezra just disappeared, sending my heart into my throat. The gun discharges again and I sprint through the woods, only focused on getting to my father with the vague sound of Nate and the other guardians yelling for me to stop.

  CHAPTER 33: DARK PLACES

  Ezra

  I hear her choking and it spurs my urgency to get to her quicker before it’s too late, before the Dweller has a chance to take her. I come up on the enormous creature first, its body splayed out on its side and its heavy head caved in on itself. Monica coughs, and then whimpers breathily, drawing my attention to the lower half of the hawk-like creature. She is lying against the underside of the bird, still clutched by the ridged talons of the beast. I rush to her and prop her head up in my lap, instantly relieving the blockage of blood that has gathered and pooled in her throat.

  Her eyes widen when she sees it’s me. Her lips begin to tremble and a small moan resonates from her lips as her eyes narrow, concentrating on getting out what she is trying to say.

  I look closer to her and see that the lower half of her legs is under the body of the carcass. Pinching my eyes shut tightly, I feel a cold sweat wash over me as I see the image of Anna struggling for breath as her life fell away that fateful night in the cabin. I wipe my dampened face with the sleeve of my arm and whisper, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

  In the midst of my breaking point, I hear here my wife’s voice. “You can’t save her. It is all right, Ezra. You need to let her go. You know what you need to do.”

  A cold clammy hand clamps down on my arm, drawing me from the sound of Anna’s voice. Urgently, I look down at Monica and see that her eyes have gone pure black, pure darkness consuming her. I pull away from her just as her upper body begins to convulse and writhe from the Dweller now controlling her body. The only thing keeping her from reaching me is the fact that her legs are trapped underneath the beast.

  As Monica writhes and convulses, the Dweller consuming her tries to take hold of me once again. I groan loudly as I pull my gun from the holster, knowing what I need to do and resenting these final moments with her. I take a deep breath, aim it at Monica’s head and choke out, “I’m sorry,” before pulling the trigger twice.

  I release my breath before I open my eyes.

  I should have kept them closed.

  Paralyzed, the gun drops from my hand as I divert my eyes. My only comfort now is knowing that I can hear Anna again. In my darkest moment, I can hear her again and she remains the light.

  CHAPTER 34: PLAYING FIELD

  Jesca

  I spot Lathan first. He is standing behind Ezra, who is standing in front of the beast’s carcass with a body at his feet, Monica. I don’t look too long, just long enough to see the blood. When my stomach summersaults, I look away. The rest of the guardians and Rephaim run up on me, Shiva heeling at my side. Again, I worry about Tessa seeing this scene. I’m scanning the guardians, looking for her when my eyes stop on her small form wrapped in Xander’s arms. He is holding her to his chest with her face tucked over his shoulder, looking away from the scene. Xander is swaying side to side, hushing her and smoothing her hair. I’m so thankful he has scooped her up and shielded her.

  I move closer to Lathan and notice Ezra’s hands are splayed open, empty, no gun. I drop my eyes to search the ground around him and just as a strike of lightning illuminates the earth, I see the black metal shine of his gun next to Monica’s body; I make my sight of her brief again as a wave of heat stirs my repulsion. Now at Lathan’s side, I look up at him, hoping he will tell me what happened.

  He speaks carefully as his eyes stay pinned to Ezra, “The Dweller had her. He had to shoot her. As soon as it left her body, I killed it.” Lathan looks at me sideways with his piercing amber eyes and whispers “Go to him. He needs you.”

  I peer from Lathan to Ezra, still as a statue except for the hair on his head, feathering from the wind. Thunder rumbles above us as I move toward Ezra slowly, cautiously. Shiva walks beside me, not wanting to let me go alone. I avoid looking down at Monica’s body as I come to stand next to Ezra. I feel the uncomfortableness of death being a mere footstep away from where I stand. I look up at Ezra timidly, testing the waters before I say anything to him. If this were any other situation, I’d yell at him that he is a stupid, stupid man for running off like that, mocking his reaction to me running out to help the Rephaim and Errol earlier. As I look at his eyes, I see something in them that tells me not to unleash on him. He is hurting, tormented from what he had to do. He doesn’t need me doing that to him. He needs me to be here for him, bring him back from the dark place he has gone.

  “Hey.”

  The pause is long and I wonder if my greeting has been ignored. As I keep my eyes on him, checking his reaction, I watch as his head leans back and his eyes look into the sky through the parted canopy of trees. He breathes in deeply, and then releases it with no other sign of emotion, cold and empty. I expect to look up into the opening made by the hawk next to us and see hovering, stalking hawk like Dwellers. Instead, it is just the sky with darkened clouds backlit by underlying lightning.

  I slowly bend down to retrieve the gun, keeping my eyes level with the beast’s body in front of me, not daring to look down at Monica again. On the first attempt, I touch the metal gun and wrap my hand around it. Keeping my eyes on Ezra’s delirious gaze into the sky, I rise slowly and click the safety back into place before I push the gun into the holster on the other side of my hip.

  I slowly move my hand toward Ezra’s arm. I’m a little worried about touching him, wondering if it will crumble his catatonic state, sending him bolting from me. To hell with it, he is my father and I can’t let him break like this right here in front of me. I touch his shoulder and will myself to speak, even though I’m scared to death.

  Clearing my throat, I say, “You needed to do it, Ezra. She was already gone. If she were in your place—”

  Ezra’s voice croaks, “—I’d want her to do the same.”

  Looking at Ezra’s strong profile lit by the repetitive flashes of lightning, he drops his gaze from the heavens and turns his gaze to me, blinks quickly. He raises his hand across his body to rest it on top of mine. Together we turn around and walk toward the guardians and Rephaim.

  I watch his hardened face nod at Lathan as we pass him.

  Ezra’s worn voice surfaces, “The Dwellers can get to us just as easily in the bush as they can in the open.” His eyebrows rise as we walk up to Sebastian, ready to address him. “If there are animals in the bush, the Dwellers will use them, like it did with these mutated bird beasts. We have to be cautious, but swift as we make our way to the mounds.”

  He is talking so quickly, mechanically. I whisper his name to try to slow him down, “Ezra.”

  Ignoring my voice, he looks behind the guardians at Ira. Ira is no longer carrying Errol. He must have left him back in the meadow. Ezra continues his programmed rant, “You are just as vulnerable as we are. The playing field is being leveled as they contin
ue to use our world against us.”

  Ezra looks at Nate and Xander, then me. “This is when the hybrid Dweller will close in on us. It is setting traps. First taking Briggs, then the mutated birds striking down Errol, and taking Monica.” Ezra pauses and I look at him. He looks down in shame. “I fell into one of the traps by going after Monica.”

  He looks at all of the guardians and Rephaim. “It could have gotten any of you killed if the hybrid Dweller had decided to show itself and attack.” Ezra looks back at me. “Just like beyond the veil, it is looking for our weaknesses. It took my weakness and used it against me.”

  I feel my throat tighten with emotion for him as I think of the demons he has been fighting for years having witnessed my mother die and now Monica.

  Ezra places his hands on his hips and shakes his head before looking at all of us. “Don’t let it use your weaknesses. Do what you have to do to survive.”

  Ira and Cale lead us back in the direction of the meadow with Seth and Lathan pulling up the back. Daniel crouches to the ground and pulls a flashlight from his pocket, shining it on the dirt beneath him.

  He waves his hand for us to move closer as he draws in the dirt with his finger. “Look, we are here, about fifty yards into this wooded area. It is dense, but it only stretches a width of about five hundred feet.”

  Sebastian adds in, “It will protect us up to Natchi Trail, and then it is open field. Well, was an open field a year ago. Don’t know what it looks like now.”

  Sebastian looks at Daniel for reference. He nods. “Tall grasses, but no cover, so yes, open all the way to the Etowah Archeological Museum. That is our halfway point. The rest of the way is the same, low grassland with no cover.”

  The bad news makes me restless as I think of a way to get to the mounds from the cover we have here. I concentrate on the ground just beyond Daniel, willing myself to be there. I feel the lightening within and everything around Daniel’s crouching body blurs. My sight of him blurs slightly, and then comes back into focus sharply as I stand behind him looking at the back of his crouched body. My soundlessness does not make up for his awareness of my presence as he jumps to his feet and backs away from me.

  Before he can reprimand me for obviously scaring him I say, “We can jump.”

  Sebastian steps toward me. “Each time we use our abilities, it weakens us. It drained you out there defending Ira and Errol.”

  Ira interjects, “It drains us as well. It will put us at greater risk if we get caught in a swarm of Dwellers or these mutated creatures.”

  Nick jumps in, “It doesn’t drain us for long though. I already have my strength back from using my Pyrokinesis.”

  I remember Ezra’s telling me that he hoped the drain wouldn’t come at a time that I needed it most. I look at Nick. “He’s right, if the drain happens while we are under attack, we will die.”

  Ezra speaks up, “Jumping is the most draining ability and the most dangerous.”

  Jake adds, “You don’t always know where you will land. Might land in a nest of Dwellers.”

  Siobhan adds, “Or a flock of Dweller birds.”

  Ira’s hardened stare rests on Daniel, waiting for him to call the shots as to what we must do next. Daniel stammers as he explains, “Travel south in the woods as long as we can and be prepared for anything to strike at us. Use your abilities when you need to and stay together.”

  I add, “Don’t leave anyone behind.”

  Ira stares at me, his narrow eyes softening for a moment, before he draws his dagger and strides into the heavy brush. Cale draws his dagger and follows tightly behind Ira. All of us fall in quickly behind them with Lathan and Seth trailing us closely.

  CHAPTER 35: STRIKING DISTANCE

  Jesca

  The rain has stopped falling through the canopy of trees. The leaves are no longer being pelted with the heavy deluge that has been hammering us. I look up through the trees as we move cautiously through the brush, keeping Ezra’s words in mind: Be prepared for anything to strike at us.

  I notice something to my left. The kindling fire that engulfed the house has died and the blaze that once was is now just a small glow barely detectable from the heavy trees and shrubs we are sheltered in.

  “I know this part of Cartersville well. We are near Dellinger Park,” says Elicia.

  Daniel adds, “There is a lake about five hundred feet to the west.”

  I take a much-needed deep breath to clear the last image of both Errol and Monica. I don’t feel bad for trying to forget about them. Under normal circumstances, I’d have chided myself for being so apathetic and cold about my reaction to block out what I just witnessed, the death of a brother and a friend. This isn’t normal circumstances though. I’m not sure normal will ever be a circumstance I’ll experience again.

  The smell of burning wood fills my nostrils and tickles my throat. A chain of coughs behind me draws my attention from the tickle in my own throat to Elisabeth. Her condition has worsened. As she coughs and wheezes, she attempts to cover her mouth while keeping up stride with Sebastian next to her. I can’t help but wonder why in her right mind she would not be implanted. Suddenly, she stumbles and falls to her knees. I turn around and kneel next to her, as does Sebastian.

  Urgently, he calls her name, “Elisabeth,” then looks at us and asks, “Does anyone have water?”

  “I do,” says Corinna. She hands her canteen to Sebastian and he puts it to Elisabeth’s dry lips immediately. She only drinks a small amount before she begins to cough again.

  I look at Sebastian wearily, seeing the sadness and fear in his eyes as he watches his sister dying before him. Ms. Olivia comes up behind Elisabeth and helps her to rise. “Here, Elisabeth, I’ve got you,” she says.

  Ms. Olivia looks at me and winks as she walks ahead of me with Elisabeth at her side. The other guardians follow the two as they fall into step again, moving forward behind Ira and Cale’s lead. With Sebastian standing next to me and Elisabeth out of earshot, I voice my concern, “The closer we get, the stronger we get. It seems the closer Elisabeth gets, the weaker she becomes.”

  Sebastian places his hand on my back, guiding me as we walk behind the others. “I’ve noticed,” he says grimly.

  “If she was given the opportunity to be implanted, she should have taken it. She wouldn’t be on the verge of death right now.”

  I look up at Tessa, still clinging to Xander, and continue, “So many could have been saved, but just didn’t have enough time or resources. She had time and the opportunity and she chose to turn it away.”

  Just as it comes out, I wonder if I’ve overstepped my boundary by talking about this woman like this to her brother. Sebastian doesn’t say anything to me right away, making it obvious to me that I’d overstepped it. I’m about to apologize for my rant, when Sebastian takes hold of my arm gently and stops me from walking, Lathan and Seth pausing behind us.

  Sebastian acknowledges, “So many seek redemption in our world, Jesca. Sam, Corinna, my own son Balthazar.” He shakes his head then continues, “It is accepted as a means of survival, but what about repentance being a means of survival.”

  I’m confused. “Repentance?”

  Sebastian looks ahead of us, keeping an eye on the growing division between the other guardians and us as they continue to walk on. Sebastian’s eyes meet mine. “What if she is letting herself suffer like this because of her remorse for leaving her only daughter?”

  I remember my vision and my mother’s forgiving words. “My mother forgives her. My mother understands why Elisabeth left her with you.”

  Sebastian looks at me curiously for a second, then closes his eyes and shakes his head. “You don’t understand. She blames herself for more than just leaving her.”

  Suddenly, Elisabeth’s cough overpowers our discussion and we both look after her. Ms. Olivia is standing with her, arm wrapped around Elisabeth
as she leans into the cough.

  Over her cough, I hear Nick holler, “Nate, where are you going?”

  I scan the group for him just as I hear Tessa let out a sharp, short scream. I see Elisabeth falling to the ground, taking Ms. Olivia down with her. The rest of the guardians move in on them and Sebastian leaves my side in a flash to help. Suddenly, I see Siobhan jump back from Ms. Olivia and Elisabeth. She looks at Jake, then down at Sebastian as she yells, “It has her!”

  All of the guardians look at her, bewildered, and start to back away, leaving Sebastian on the ground with Elisabeth convulsing. Sam and Luke are pulling Ms. Olivia up and away from them, as Siobhan keeps her gun aimed at Elisabeth’s shaking form.

  Lathan and Seth act when they see Siobhan’s gun aimed at Elisabeth’s writhing body. They rush past me toward the yelling crowd surrounding Sebastian and Elisabeth.

  Sebastian holds his hand up to Siobhan begging her, “No! Just wait! Please! It is a trap!”

  A trap?

  His plea is ignored as the guardians yell and holler while Sebastian covers Elisabeth’s body with his, blocking Siobhan from having a clear shot at her.

  As Ezra and Daniel ignore Sebastian’s plea and draw their own guns on instinct, everything suddenly slows to a lumbering pace; the multiple hands reaching for guns, Siobhan moving in toward Sebastian, Ms. Olivia trying to lunge at Sebastian and Elisabeth appearing to shield them, the Rephaim moving in with their daggers.

  A trap.

  I open my mouth to yell, at them. Tell them to believe Sebastian that it is a trap, but my mouth isn’t working.

  It’s numb, paralyzed.

  I will myself to run toward them, but while my mind is still working, my body is idle.

  I’m not in control.

  No! No! No! The hybrid, it’s here!

  The guardians and Rephaim continue their slow motion circling around Elisabeth as Sebastian’s wail draws out. Breaking from the pack, I see Xander cradling Tessa in his arms, moving slowly into the open. His eyes meet mine and he watches me curiously, like he is wondering why I’m standing all the way over here, unmoved. When he calls my name, it is drawn out. “Jeeessssccca.”