DRIP DROP DEAD (Emma Frost Book 12)

by Willow Rose

"What's going on?" Morten asked when I hung up. I rushed to the hallway and grabbed my coat, then put on my boots, not caring that I put them on the wrong feet, while yelling at him.

  "Maya is in trouble. Stay here with Victor and Skye."

  Before he could object, I was out of the house, running to my car. I had no idea what I was going to face, but I could tell Maya was terrified, and that was enough for me. I fumbled with the keys, jumped inside the car, and rushed off, driving through the snow, my heart throbbing in my chest.

  What was she doing at Alex's house? What could have scared her so much? Was it Alex? Had he hurt her somehow?

  Luckily, they lived so close that it took me less than a minute to get there. I didn't even turn off the car. I simply hit the brakes, then jumped out, leaving it with the keys in it and everything.

  "Oh, God, please let her be all right. Please, let her be fine."

  She called you. That means she's good, right?

  "Maya," I called as I knocked on the door and pressed the doorbell again and again like some maniac. It took a few seconds before it opened. I can't remember ever being happier to see my daughter's face, even though she was wearing nothing but a towel. I attacked her in a huge embrace.

  "Maya. Oh, you scared me. Are you okay?"

  She was soaking wet. I touched her hair while she hugged me.

  "It was awful, Mom…I…"

  "Have you been in the shower? What are you doing here? Maya? I don't understand anything right now; please explain."

  Maya looked into my eyes. Then she started to cry. "She's dead."

  "Who's dead?" I asked, startled.

  "Alex's mother. There was something in the drain…I…I was taking a shower, and something came up and grabbed me, and then his mom came out and…and then Alex was there and he…then he was attacked and then his mom…she…she…"

  Maya could hardly speak anymore. Tears were streaming across her cheeks, and her words were hard to understand because she was speaking between gasps.

  "Who killed her, Maya?" I asked, worried it was Alex and that Maya once again had fallen in love with a serial killer.

  "A thing…I don't know what it was. It was water, and then it was not…then it had eyes and hands…hands with claws, and it reached up toward me and grabbed me…and it had a face, Mommy; oh, it was so gross, so nasty."

  Maya shuddered and hugged me tighter. I held her for a few seconds more. There were so many things I didn't understand right now, like why my daughter was naked, showering at her boyfriend's house, but I decided now was not the time.

  "Where are Alex and Daniel?" I asked.

  "Upstairs."

  "And the animal or creature or whatever you'd call it?"

  "Disappeared into the drain after it killed her. I am never taking a shower again, Mom. Never."

  58

  "You said there was another boy? She had another son?"

  Morten's colleague, Allan looked up from his pad. I had called the police station after finding the body of Marie Finnerup in the bathroom. I was now sitting in her living room with Maya leaning her head on my shoulder and Alexander seated in a chair across from us, hiding his face between his hands.

  "Yes," I said. "Daniel is his name. He's her youngest. He was here earlier, right, Maya?"

  Maya nodded. She was still shaking and clinging to me. "I’m pretty sure I saw him here when…when his mother…he was standing in the hallway and he saw her. It all went so fast, though. I'm not sure what I saw anymore."

  "But he's not here now," I said. "He wasn't here when I got here either. He might have run away when he saw what happened to his mother."

  "We'll look for him," Allan said, then sighed and tapped his pen on the pad where he had written down everything we had told him.

  "And you say that the water spurted up from the drain and simply drowned her?" he continued.

  "Yes," I said. "It flooded everything. Must have been a cracked pipe or something. The kids were lucky they survived."

  It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. I had told both kids that there was no way the police would believe them if they began to talk about a liquefied creature seeping up through the drains to attack them. They would end up like Nurse Laila Lund. The world wasn't ready to know the truth.

  "I’ve called their dad in California, and he's gonna try and get back as fast as possible," he said.

  "The kids can stay with me till he comes," I said.

  "All right," Allan said. "Guess we'll go search for Daniel, then. As soon as Dr. Williamsen finishes up. But you're free to go. Do you want me to take you home or can you drive?"

  "I'm fine," I said and got up.

  Maya was still holding onto me like she was afraid I might leave her. I kissed the top of her head, and we walked over to Alex. I reached out my hand and put it on his shoulder.

  "Come on, Alex. We're leaving now."

  He didn't look up. He rose to his feet and simply followed us outside. I put my arm around his shoulder and guided him to the car. Maya got in the back with him, and they held onto each other while I drove back to my house, where Morten was waiting in the kitchen. He got up when we came inside. I had called ahead and told him what had happened. I had told him there was a leak and that Alex's mother had been killed by the water. I didn't enjoy lying to him, but Morten simply wouldn't understand. And I didn't want to discuss it with him. I was afraid he would just claim that Alex and Maya were drunk. They had, after all, been to a party.

  "You want something to drink?" Morten asked me after Maya had helped Alex up the stairs. I had told her he could sleep in the room next to hers, but I had a feeling they were going to hang out in her room for a little while. Alex had to be very worried about his younger brother, and I didn't think he'd be able to sleep till he was found if he would sleep at all tonight, the poor kid. He seemed in such a deep state of shock I wasn't sure he even realized what had happened.

  "I could do with a whiskey right now," I said.

  "That bad, huh?" he asked and found two glasses. He went to the cabinet in the living room then came back with an old bottle and poured us each a whiskey. He handed me one.

  "It was supposed to be such a great night for us," I said. "I’m sorry."

  "Well, if there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that life with you is never boring or even predictable, Emma."

  "I'll drink to that," I said, and we clinked glasses.

  59

  The drink knocked me out completely. Just like I had hoped it would. I fell asleep on the couch, and I guess Morten must have decided just to leave me there and go sleep in my bed since, when I woke up, I had a blanket on top of me, and I was all alone.

  It took me a few seconds to remember what had happened, but once I did, a tear escaped my eye while thinking about the two boys who now had to go on without their dear mother. How would Daniel react? If he was anything like Victor, his world would completely crumble. For kids like him, it was vital that everything remain the way it always was. Changes could throw them completely off balance. And this certainly was a huge change.

  I felt so terribly worried about the poor boy.

  I sat up on the couch, looking out into the yard where the moon shone on the ocean behind the trees. The glistening snow reflected the moonshine and lit up the entire area. It looked beautiful, so incredibly peaceful.

  It was while sitting there, looking outside, that I realized what had woken me up. It wasn't a dream or because I was worried. It was something else. There was a sound. The sound of dripping. Now, normally, you'd just think it was a faucet that wasn't closed properly, or maybe a leak, but I knew better by now. I remembered hearing the sound a few times before, and it scared me.

  Whatever this creature was, was it coming for me next?

  I took in a few deep breaths, then walked to the fireplace and grabbed a poker. With cautious steps, I walked to the downstairs bathroom and stood outside the door for a few seconds, wondering what to do next.

&nb
sp; Then I opened the door.

  I stared for a few seconds at what met me in there, not quite grasping what I was looking at.

  "D-Daniel?"

  I dropped the fire poker and rushed to him. He was sitting on the bathroom floor on his knees, looking at his hand.

  "Oh, dear God, I am glad to see you," I said and sat next to him. "We’ve been looking everywhere for you. The police are probably still out there searching the entire island to find you, and you were here all the time?"

  The boy looked up at me, and that was when I realized why he was looking at his hand so intently.

  "D-Daniel? W-hat's wrong with your hand? What's happening to it?" I asked, startled.

  His very clear blue eyes met mine. "I…I don't know."

  It was like his hand had melted. Like it had…liquefied itself. And now it was…dripping onto my tiles?

  What the heck?

  "Daniel…A-are you…I mean, can you…" I stopped myself. I had no idea how to ask what I was about to ask. Fact was, I wondered if he was the creature, if he somehow was the one who had killed all those people, but somehow it didn't really fit. Why would he do that? He was nothing but a sweet young boy. Why would he kill his own mother?

  He sniffled. "It happens sometimes," he said. "And not just to my hand. Also to my feet. One day it was my earlobe. It simply started to drip onto my shoulder."

  "So, you can't control it?"

  Maybe that was the answer. That he couldn't control himself when it happened? Could that be it? Maybe he didn’t know what he did?

  Oh, God, did the boy kill his own mother without knowing it?

  I reached out for the fire-poker and pulled it closer while staring at Daniel's hand. If he was about to turn liquid, turn into whatever this creature was, would I even stand a chance? Would my family?

  It was while wondering about this that I heard the pipes groaning in the walls. The groans soon turned to banging, and I turned to look at the shower and particularly at the drain.

  60

  I stared at the drain, paralyzed, my heart throbbing in my throat so hard I could hardly bear it. The pipes groaned and moaned, and something emerged from inside the drain, slithering its way through the small holes, emerging into my bathroom.

  As the creature grew out of the water and rose up in front of me, I backed up, fire poker in my hand, protecting Daniel behind me.

  A set of very blue eyes looked back at me from inside the water. It approached me, slithering its way quickly across the bathroom floor, and when it was close enough, I swung the fire poker with a loud cry.

  "Stay away from the boy!"

  Of course, the thing went straight through it. It was just like hitting water. Literally. The creature didn't even react, it just continued toward me, gushing at me, and soon I was completely soaked by a wave so hard it knocked me down. Water gushed into my eyes, my mouth and down my throat with such speed that I couldn't even react or move.

  I wanted to yell at Daniel to run, to get out of there while he could, but it was impossible. Water was everywhere, and all I could see were the creature's eyes staring at me from somewhere inside of it, such deep anger and hatred in them. I didn't even see Daniel rise to his feet. But somewhere from outside of the thick pillar of water, I heard him yell a muffled cry.

  "STOP!"

  Much to my surprise, the creature did as he said. The water stopped gushing and was sucked back to where it had originated from, shaping the creature into what more and more looked like…a woman?

  I coughed and threw up water, then looked up. The woman seemed to solidify herself and soon looked completely human.

  "Mommy!" Daniel exclaimed. "You can't kill her. She didn't do anything. She's been good to me."

  Mommy?

  "Danny," the woman said, her voice still sounding like she was in water, but as she spoke more, the voice turned normal. "Are you okay?"

  He nodded. The woman held out her arms, and the boy rushed into her embrace. They hugged while I got back to my feet, still coughing and still fighting the feeling of suffocation.

  I sat on the top of the toilet and looked at the two of them. "So…if she's your mother, then who was Maria?"

  The woman looked at me. "She took him from me."

  "Maria did? Why?"

  "Because of who he is and what he can do."

  I sighed. "I don't understand. Could someone please explain?"

  The woman looked at her son briefly, then kissed him. "It's okay, Mommy," Daniel said. "She's the good one. Remember, she took care of B-3? And she has been taking care of Victor."

  "B-3, that's Skye, right? We call her Skye," I said. "You know her too?"

  The woman nodded. "She escaped with me."

  "Escaped?" I paused. "Let me guess. Omicon? That's the place with the cords, right? The place where no one can hear you scream?"

  Daniel nodded. "I was born there."

  "Maybe we should tell her the story from the beginning, huh?" the woman said.

  I exhaled in relief. "Thank you. I'd appreciate that."

  61

  "I came here in nineteen-eighty-two. Through the sewers, through your pipes," the woman who told me her name was Lyn—which meant waterfall— said. "I was found and pulled out of a toilet by a man. I was just a child back then."

  "Through the sewers?" I asked, thinking about Samuel who had told us a similar story.

  She nodded.

  "Where did you come from?"

  "A place very different than this. A place of war. My parents sent me through the tunnels to escape, to get to safety. It was believed that the tunnels led to a different world, one where you could live in peace, but most people thought it was just superstition. My parents believed. They wanted a better life for me. A lot of parents did the same. We were a flock who entered the tunnels and came here. Our parents would come later, they said. But they never did. Some drowned in the water, but many of us managed to survive. Some of us didn't end up in a better place. Instead, we were taken by men in black clothes and experimented on. I was pulled out of a toilet by a plumber and a nurse. Three others and I were. But when the nurse called for help, men came, and they killed the plumber. The entire building containing the restroom where we had come through was closed off. They kept us there for years before they transported us somewhere else. To a building with no windows. I was placed in a room with no escape. The men and women did terrible things to us there."

  "Sven Thomsen," I said. "Ann Mortensen, Hanne Carlsen, Maria Finnerup. They all worked there, didn't they?"

  "They made me with child. Using human semen. Wanted to create a super-human, they said. For war. Soon, I gave birth to twins. A girl and a boy." Lyn's face darkened. She looked down at her son. "But as soon as the babies were born, they were taken from me. I could hear them scream for me at night. They did things to them. Unimaginable things. They wanted to see if the children were like me, but they weren't. But they kept pushing, kept putting them into water, holding them down, trying to force them to change, to be like me. One day, when the twins were eight, they told me my daughter…she didn't survive. They had killed her. Drowned her. They went too far, thinking if she stayed long enough underwater, she would change. But she didn't. She died. Drowned in that tank of theirs. I spent years in grief and anger, planning how to get back at them for what they had done. Recently, I managed to escape through the sewers one night when they were so careless that they forgot to plug the keyhole to the room they kept me in. I squeezed through it, then rushed for the restrooms. I swore I would stop them, stop what they were doing. I managed to take B-3 with me because she was in the room next door to me, and when she saw me rush out, she spoke to me in my mind, pleaded with me to take her too, but I lost her somehow once we got out. I had actually thought she died in the water because it was a very long swim for her. I went looking for Daniel, who was living with another family now, while they waited for his change to come. I’ve been keeping an eye on him, and on B-3 since I realized where she was, that she
was here. I only did to those people what they did to my daughter. And now, all I want is to be with my son."

  Lyn kissed his forehead, and Daniel closed his eyes. Then something happened as the two of them hugged. It was like they both turned to liquid and their two bodies became one. It lasted only for a few seconds, till they both returned to normal.

  Lyn realized what had happened, then exhaled with a smile.

  "Look, Mommy," Daniel said. "I am like you. Well…almost."

  Lyn sighed and held her son close, a concerned look in her eyes.

  "They will come for him," she said. "He can't survive in the water yet. It's still too new, and he might have too much human in him. We don't know yet."

  She turned her head and looked at me. "Can he stay here? I’m looking for a way back to where we came from. When I find it, I'll come for him. But for now, I need a safe place for him to be. You have kept B-3 safe. You can do the same for my son."

  My eyes grew wide. "I…I don't know."

  Lyn grabbed my arm and squeezed it, her pleading eyes lingering on me. "Please. I have nowhere else to turn. I can't send him back to those people. The father in that family, he's part of it too. If they find out what he can do, what they have created, there is no telling what they'll do to him."

  "I have his older brother, Alex, sleeping upstairs," I said.

  "Don't let him see Daniel. Don't tell the father or anyone else. Keep him hidden till I come back. I am certain I will find it soon. If there is a way into this world, there must be a way out."

  I swallowed, feeling slight anxiety growing, thinking about the men I had faced earlier in the night. But how could I say no to a mother who wanted to keep her son safe?

  "All right," I said. "But the killings must stop. They might deserve it, but it solves nothing, Lyn."

  "Deal."

  Lyn reached out her hand, and I grabbed it. It felt normal at first but then turned wobbly as she slowly turned to liquid and soon was nothing but a puddle. The puddle then moved toward the drain where it disappeared down the holes.